The Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, W. Va.
Thursday Morning, December 5, 1912

NO DECISION RELATIVE TO
CLAUDE ALLEN PLEAS

Governor Mann May Give Out State- ment End of Week but There is No Certainty of This.

Richmond, Va., Dec. 4. ---Governor Mann, who is busy entertaining the governors from other states, has not yet handed down his statement relative to pleas for commutation of Claude Allen's sentence.

If the governor should defer a decision until after the governors depart for their homes, nothing as to the Allen case will be heard from him until next Friday. He may give out a statement some time Friday or Saturday, but there is no certainty that such will be the case.

Efforts of friends of Claude Allen to present their appeals in certain newspapers continue unabated. All manner of narratives concerning his life and training and connection with the shooting are being published. Whether or not these will have any effect cannot of course be stated. There are many who believe that such a campaign is doing Claude more harm than good.

ARTICLE #2

GOAD TELLS COURT
HE EXPECTED TROUBLE

Did Not Warn Judge Massie but Did
Discuss It With Commonwealth's Attorney Foster.

Wytheville, Va., Dec. 4. --Dexter Goad, clerk of the Carroll county court, who, the defense charges, was responsible for the court house tragedy at Hillsville, was the state's witness today in the trial of Sidna Allen for the murder of Prosecuting Attorney Wm. M. Foster. Goad told the same story he had told at former trials concerning the tragedy and his part in it. On cross-examination he stated that he had expected trouble from the Allens if Floyd should be convicted. He did not warn Judge Massie, he stated but did discuss it with Commonwealth's Attorney Foster.

Interest in the trial is on the wane. Outside the court officers, attorneys and witnesses the attendance has been small compared with the exciting interest manifested during the first trial.

Dexter Goad was the first witness on the stand this morning. His examination and cross-examination occupied most of the morning. Nothing was materially added to former recitals of the tragedy as detailed by the clerk of the court who was shot through the head. He told of the events which led up to the tragedy by reciting the details of the trouble with the Edwards boys at the schoolhouse, their subsequent arrest and the various trials that grew out of it.

Four other witnesses were examined this morning. They were R. B. McLoughlin, who was in the court house at the time of the tragedy; J. N. Early, W. F. Nestor and M. P. White. The last three were jurors in the Floyd Allen case, and told of the first shots coming from the northeast corner of the court room. Their testimony did not materially differ from former statements made by them.