Virginia, A, 1795-1981, Undated

along the roadside. His confidence in
himself and his plan returned.

Near Fredericksburg his motor be-
acon “aeting up” and he drew the ear
to the side of the road and alighted
to look for engine trouble. He had
itted the hood and was peering into
the mysterious jumble of automobile
mechanism, when he heard his name
ealled. For a few moments he piid no
heed. His head bent lower toward the
tangle of machinery as if he would
shrink into the maze and become part
of it. Then he heard a horn blow and
his name called again.

“Mr. Abdell!”

He straightened up reluctantly and
turned to meet the owner of the voice.
A car was backing up beside his and
a Woman seated in it was calling:

“Why, Mr. Abdell, what are you
doing here?”

With leaden feet that seemed bent
on resisting the instructions of his
mind, he walked over to the ear.

“Hello, Mys. Facchini,” he greeted,
with an attempt at a smile. “Who’d
have expected to see you?”

“How about yourself?” replied the
attractive woman. “What are you do-
ing way up here? But—meet my

Abdell nodded; seemed preoccupied.

“Why, Mr. Abdell,”’ continued Mrs.
Faechini, “how in the world did you
get those scratches on your cheek?”

Abdell appeared to be in a hurry.
He swung around and walked away.
“Tl be back,” he called, and waved
to them.

(Right) The second “suicide” note, which the killer
believed would further his plans—instead it be-
(Below) Arrow indicates the
suave and despicable murderer on his way to
prison, after ace sleuths had brought him to justice

came a boomerang,

Love-Making Broker

Reaching his tar he must have
thought better oi his churlishness,
for he quiekly turned and approached
the Faechini machine acain, -There
was a smile of anuability on his face
now.

“WOURE going to Washington, Mrs.
Facchini?” he queried. “What
hotel are vou going to stop at?”

“None,” replied the woman with an
answering smile. “I’m going to stay
with mother.” She reached over and
hiehtly flicked a hair from the lapel of
his coat, commenting mischievously on
its presence and color.

Abdell laughed a little nervously.

“Don’t tell anybody you saw me,”
he said, trying to adopt a jocular tone,

“My goodness, why?” asked the
puzzled woman.

. Abdell bent over slightly toward her
and said, smiling, and in a lower tone,
“I’m superstitious.”

With that he bade the women
good-by, climbed buck into his ear
and was soon on his way to Washine-
ton. Reheved at being alone again,
and rather pleased with himself for the

_ way in which he had handled the sit-

uation, he sped northward. But from
time to time his thoughts were troubled,
and frequently they struggled with his
will for mastery.

A little after four on Wednesday
afternoon, young Bobby Abdell rode
his bicycle up to the back of his home
and sprang lightly from it. He was
puzzled when he noted that the back
door was shut; (Continued on page 64)

;
Wy

Mrs. Michael Facchini (above), who talked
with the accused man on the road to Wash-
ington,

gy .
8 cat
Bao? Ae se

as

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E é pe EEE
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& Pe ees ra Be

hadley gh oh Lak SAS ae 5 PPP

ae LAK brace Ag LB Rt Ho)
eb rh,
serihed: Leyet

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puzzied at

his strange actions.

se


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And right there, « new blow fell. De
Grasse, seriously il, had had to be re-
moved to a hospital, where physicians re-
ported him apparently ino an advanced
sluge of tuberculosis. His recovery. was
doubtful; his ability to faee trial ex-
tremely problematic and certainly far in
the future.

So there went our case. We couldn’t
keep Walsh and Gregg waiting around,
forever. When all else had failed, Na-
ture had apparently come to the aid of the
bunco men, in striking down De Grasse
right when we felt we had him behind
penitentiary bars.

WE strove to find a way out, and all
at once we saw a ray of hope. This
was not the first time De Grasse had
escaped trial because of serious. illness.
And it had always been the same illness!
“We got hold of Dr. 0. D, “Hamlin,
County Physician, told him the story, and
asked for a checkup on our man. Within
an hour we had his reply: “Faked! Just
a case of mild tuberculosis, that’s all.”
De Grasse came to trial on a hospital
cot. his flushed face, burning eyes, and
hollow cough sufficient to convince any
jury that it was trying a dying man—
until Dr. Hamlin’s testimony blasted this

play for sympathy.

District Attorney Earl Warren, now At-
torney General of California, who had
investigated De Grasse’s remarkable rec-
ord, assigned Assistant District Attorney
J. Frank Coakley to the prosecution.

The men were tued on two counts:
grand theft, and conspiracy to commit
grand theft, and the jury found them
guilty on both counts. The sentences were
from one to five years on the first count;
from one to ten on the second; to run
consecutively.

So, after thirty years, the law at last
had overtaken ‘Lucky Jack” Hall and
“Movie Director’ Leo De Grasse.

The identity of “Charlie Meyer’ has
not been established as yet.

There is a grim sequel to the case. Hall,
whose health was never in question, died
in San Quentin.

De Grasse, dying of “advanced tuber-
culosis” in 1932, is still there, serving out
the slow, soul-deadening years behind gray
walls, and about convinced now, even as
tough as he is, that crime doesn’t pay.

(In consideration for the persons concerned,
the actual names of six of the characters in the
foregoing story have been withheld, and ficti-
tious ones substituted, namely: Mr. and Mrs.

Frank M. Gregg, Jim Snelb, Norman Marwell,
Henry Coleman and Alfred H. Walsh.—ELd.)

Love-Making Broker

(Continued from page 7)

much more so when he tugged at the
handle of the screen door and found it,
too, was locked. He tried the front, but it
also was fastened. Then he saw that all
the shades were down. He called to his
mother to Jet him in, but there was no
response.

The experience was so unusual that the
youngster became concerned. He ran
over to a neighbor, Mrs. Lola Dorman, at
1519 Royal Terrace, whom Mrs.. Abdell
often visited.

“Ts mother here?” he asked.

“No, Sonnyboy,” she replied, ‘she isn’t.
I haven’t seen her all day.”

At the boy’s request the woman ac-
companied him back to his home. “I
thought I smelled gas,” remarked Bobby
as the two stepped up to the back door.

“T notice it, too,’ commented Mrs. Dor-
man, “and this door is fastened tight. Vl
go for help.”

She hurried to the home of H. A. Shan-
non, a neighbor connected with the Nor-
folk Police Department in the capacity
of Sergeant. JFinding all doors and win-
dows locked on the inside, he pried open
a kitchen window and sprang in. The
kitchen was filled with gas and the hiss
of it escaping from open jets could be
plainly heard. Holding a_ handkerchief
over his mouth and nose the Sergeant, with
one sweep of his hand, closed the six jets;
then, gasping for breath, he threw open
the door and another window which was
tightly shut.

Returning to the stove after a few
deep breaths of reviving air, he found
that a blanket had been draped from the
stove to the floor, making a tent-like gas
chamber. He tore it away. Underneath
lay the body of a woman covered with
another blanket. She was dead, appar-
ently from the gas fumes. Beneath an
ironing board near by a cat was stretched,
lifeless.

“Suicide,” said the Sergeant to himself.
He walked over to his home. From there
he telephoned the fire department to send
an inhalator, and notified the police. He
then returned to the Abdell residence to

Ae

i

Special Investigator Leon Nowitzky push-
ing his way through a crowd that sur-
rounded the house.

Nowitzky studied the tent-like struc-
ture for a few minutes, and there was a
puzzled puckering of the forehead as his
eyes took in the details. Then he bent
over the still form, which lay on its left
side. Suddenly he straightened up and
there was alertness in his movements. He
walked for about ten feet across the

~ kitchen floor:as if following a trail. -He

touched the cat-with the toe of his shoe.
Then, stepping back to the woman, he
said to Sergeant Shannon, who had been
watching him curiously:

“Rather ingenious suicide, Sergeant,
don’t you think?”

“TL say,’ replied Shannon; but there
was that in the tone of his voice that made
Nowitzky glance quickly at his face, as
if to find the real significance of the in-
tonation. Apparently satisfied, he began
an inspection of the room. <A chair was
heaped with clothing, evidently ready for
ironing. On a table were two folded
pieces of paper. On the outside of one
was written “For Clifton and Bobby;” on
the other, “For J. Clifton Abdell.”

HE investigator ran his eye hurriedly

over them. “Suicide notes,” he re-
marked to the Sergeant, and thrust them
into his pocket. He then joined Coroner
C. D. McDonald, who had arrived and
was bending over Mrs. Abdell.

“What about those bloodstains, Doc-
tor?” he asked, indicating the victim and
a trail across the kitchen floor.

“Just a natural hemorrhage, Leon,” re-
plied the Coroner, “but Vl make a thor-
ough examination later. Nothing much
here to go on except that the woman is
dead from asphyxiation.”

Chfton Abdell in the meantime had
come in and been apprized of his mother’s
death. Nowitzky talked with him and
Bobby, but they were unable to throw any
light on the tragedy. Asked when they
had seen their father last, they both re-
rlied: “Sunday.” Bobby tearfully added
ad puidy went to Wash: Sun-

nervpton

66

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Master

saw oa bill advertised that seemed to fit
his mood. Entering, he watched the film
for some time,

The event of the evening was the ap-
pearance of Walter Winchell, the New
York columnist, who had condescended
to publicly select the prettiest girl among
a number gathered from the employees of
the United States Government. Abdell
was an interested spectator, and his face.
as he watched the proceedings, offered
no suggestion of a troubled mind,

Leaving the theatre shortly after ten, he
stopped to buy a bottle of gin and re-
turned to his hotel room.

Bereft of the reassuring presence of
others, he felt depressed. and mixed a
drink to raise his spirits. A sense of
security returned after a few  highballs,
and he began to laugh at his own fears.
There was nothing to be afraid of. His
plan had been too carefully thought out
to fail him at this stage. he believed.

With a twisted, triumphant smile on his
face as his thoughts returned to Nor-
folk, he Jaid his head on the pillow and
Was soon in a deep sleep.

Detective

UT his untroubled conscience was not

to rest untroubled for long. Shortly
after two on Thursday morning. the broker
was aroused to a sitting position in bed
by a noisy banging at his door. Alarmed,
he sat there for a few moments, while the
accusing, hammering summons continued.
Finally he got up and opened: the door
slightly. He could not prevent a start. A
man in uniform stood there facing him.

“Mr. Abdell?” he asked.

“Vas.”

“Sorry, I have bad news. Your wife died
yesterday morning of carbon monoxide
poisoning.”

Abdell recoiled; then waited. But the
officer said no more. Looking pityingly
at the pajama-clad figure, he turned slowly
away and strode down the corridor.

Returning to his bedside, Abdell sat
down to collect his thoughts, and again
study his plan in the light of what was
happening. The arrival of the officer had
disconcerted him. He had expected the
news to arrive over the telephone, or by
telegram. But he soon pulled himself to-
gether.

He slipped on his clothes, went down to
the Jobby, and called his sister at Nor-
folk over the long distance telephone.
Then, packing his things and checking out.
he jumped in his car, and in the early
morning hours was speeding to Norfolk
with no companion but his conscience. Ar-
riving there, he visited his sister and then
drove to the residence of an attorney,
Ivor A. Page, Jr.

While Abdell was carefully but cheerily
preparing himself for the. supreme test of
his cunning, which he knew he was about
to face, Detective Nowitzky had not been
idle.

He had obtained samples of Mrs. Ab-
dell’s handwriting, and these, when com-
pared’ with the suicide notes, convinced
him and Sergeant Shannon that. the wo-
man now dead had never written them.

This deduction was confirmed a little
later by Mrs. Dorman, who. called at
Headquarters very much upset.

“Mr. Nowitzky,” she explained, “I’ve
been withholding some information I have
because I didn’t want to get an innocent
man in troubles Mrs. Abdell never wrote
those suicide notes. She found them in
her husband’s room Tuesday morning.
She brought them to me because she had
been terrified at their contents, and she
asked me what she should do. I sug-
gested that we both take them to A. Ix.
Swartz. of the Domestic Relations Court.
We did, that verv day, and on Mr.

" yy minenidat oo; Nias \bhdell

bea ’

wrote a letter stating she had not penned
those notes,”

This was news indeed, But more dam-
ning than Mrs, Dorman’s information was
the report of the Coroner. Bruises which
he had found on the dead woman’s head
could not have been the result of a fall.
The Doctor was convinced that Mrs. Ab-
dell had been knocked unconscious before
being subjected to asphyxiation by gas.
In other words, to his way of thinking,
the case was definitely one of murder.

Slowly the defense wall of the suave
broker was crumbling; but, as Nowitzky
realized, there was enough of it still stand-
ing to safeguard the man they were sus-
pecting of murder. The straw hat was
still unexplained; there was no apparent
reason why Abdell should have been will-
ing to take the risk of killing his wife;
and more than this, the broker had been
in Washington when Mrs. Abdell died
so mysteriously.

At noon on Thursday the bereaved hus-
band walked into Detective Nowitzky’s
office, accompanied by his lawyer, Ivor
Page. After an exchange of greetings,
during which the investigator studied the
broker with the keenest interest, Abdell
stated. that he wished to see the body of
his wife. He appeared to be in a calm
but serious mood and expressed his grief
at the news with a reserved dignity.

As they walked over to the funeral
home, Nowitzky turned suddenly on the
solemn-faced broker and said:

“How did you get all those scratches
on vour face, Mr. Abdell?”

The man laughed a little nervously. “I
had a struggle with a friend of mine.” he
replied, “and she took a woman’s usual
advantage.”

“Who is this friend, if I may ask?”
queried the detective.

“PI tell you later, after I’ve scen my
poor wile.”

As they stood beside the body, the man
seemed to pull himself together for the
ordeal. Looking down at the woman he
had murdered, he exclaimed:

“My poor wife! She was always des-
pondent, but I never dreamed she would
take her life like this.”

As they turned away,
witzky asked:

“Mr. Abdell, did you buy a straw hat
within the last few weeks?”

“No,” he replied, “why do you ask?”

Detective No-

“ E found a new straw hat in a bed-
room on the first floor of your
home. Can you explain that?”

“What size was it?”

“Seven and three-eighths, Mr. Abdell.”

The crafty side-glance of the broker
was indescribable,

“That’s not my size, Mr. Nowitzky,” he
replied, “and I haven’t any idea to whom
the hat belongs.”

“We'll let it go at that,”’ commented
the detective meaningly. “By the way,
what was the name of that woman with
whom you had a fight?”

“Mrs. Janet Deering.”

“Where does she live?”

Abdell hesitated for a few seconds, then
he gave the address.

As soon as the broker had left with
his lawyer, Detective Nowitzky made a
beeline for Mrs. Deering’s home. It
proved to be an impressive residence in
the Fairmount Park district, and the offi-
cer soon found himself talking to an at-
tractive young woman of about twenty-
four.

“Do you know a Mr.
her.

“Yes.” she admitted. “I do.”

“Did you two have a quarrel lately?”

“No. not that I reeall. Why?”

c : : i .

“My Aba Vi

4 PyO uss gS

Abdell?” he asked

ind

Ipril, 1939

Giving instructions that Mr. Abdell be
located in Washington, and notified of the
suicide of his wife, Nowitzky began a
careful examination of the house. This
he did as a matter of routine, While all
the evidence pointed to. self-destruction,
no police officer can take this as the ex-
planation until all other possibilities are
forced into the diseard.

The home proved singularly Jacking in
clues, with one exeeption. On a bed in
a room on the first floor Detective Nowit-
zky found a new straw hat stamped on
the inner band with the initials “W A.C.”
The investigator was puzzled. All the
windows were fastened on the inside.
Front and back doors had been found
locked. Yet presumably Mrs. Abdell had
had a visitor, either. that morning, or
sometime between her husband's depar-
ture on Sunday evening and the time of
the tragedy.

Nowitzky interviewed a Mrs. J. A.
Wright, who occupied two upper rooms
of the Abdell home, with her husband.
Both were business people who were ab-
sent all day; but who, as they lived there,
should be more familiar with the intimate
details of the victim’s family life than
any other known persons.

OT Mrs. Wright could throw no hight

on the death of her landlady. As far
as she knew Mrs. Abdell had been cheerful
and unworried about anything.

“We've found a straw hat in a bedroom
with the initials “W.A.C.” said the de-
tective. “Do you know of any friend of
Mrs. Abdell whom those initials would
fit?”

“No, I don’t,” replied the wonian.

“Would you know if Mrs. Abdell had
any men friends who called on her?”

“No, I wouldn’t. I’m away all day.
But I don’t believe she was that kind of
woman.” In fact, Mrs. Wright could not
speak too highly of her friend downstairs.

He got the same reaction when he
queried Mrs. Dorman.

“Audrey and her husband have been
separated for some time,” the latter told
Nowitzky. “I suppose you know that.
But I’m sure she was not interested in
any other man.”

“Tf Mrs. Abdell was separated from her
husband,” countered the detective, “how
do’ you explain young Bobby’s statement
that his father was home Sunday?”

“Because it was a friendly separation,”
replied Mrs. Dorman,. “and Mr. Abdell
frequently visited his wife and children.”

Every avenue the investigator took
seemed to lead nowhere; and the more he
studied the facts the more they seemed
to point to a death self-inflicted. But
who was “W.A.C.,” and how had he come
to leave his hat in the Abdell home?

The officer returned to Headquarters to
mull over the information he had gath-
ered, and to lear what the fingerprint
men, who had visited the scene in. the
hope of getting a clue, had found. Their
report. was discouraging. No fingerprints
were in evidence; not even on the porce-
lain gas jets of the fatal range. And
as a further wet blanket to his hopes. the
police had been unable to trace the where-
abouts of Abdell .in Washington.

But the latter problem was soon to be
solved. Within a short time Bobby Ab-
dell called Nowitzky on the telephone, and
between sobs told him he had found out
where his Daddy was.

The detective, accompanied by Sergeant
Shannon, drove hurriedly to the home of
Mrs. Dorman. She had taken charge of
the two children for the time being,

“Mr. Officer,” said the voungster when
the two men entered, “here is a letter
Daddy gave me Sunday before he left. He
told me not to open it unless sone Hivver

Master Detective
happened.”

The detective took the noite.
aus follows:

It read

If you need me before I get back,
wire me collect, J. C. Abdell, c/o
Hotel Harrington, Washington, D. C.
You be a gocd boy and always re-
member your Daddy loves you, no
matter what anybody says.

“Why didn't you show me this note
before, Bobby?” asked Nowiizky.

“I'd forgotten about it.” the boy re-
phed. “Daddy said if nothing happened
I was to give it back to him. And I ‘hid
it in the pantry. And nothing happened
until—until--” Sobs shook the little boy’s
body and he could not continue.

“Unless something happened.” Did that
mean Abdell had expected his wife to
take her own life? Nowitzky hastened
back to Headquarters. From there he
telephoned the Washington police and
asked them to advise J. GC. Abdell at the
Hotel Harrington of the sudden death
of his wife. Then, taking up the suicide
notes, which he had read and_ reread
many times since he picked them up from
the kitehen table, he studied them word
by word, in an endeavor to trace a hidden
meaning in the sentences written there.
They ran as follows:

Dear Clifton and Bobby:

I am going away on a long trip and
not coming back. I want you both to
love and obey your Daddy, for I.
realize that even with his mistakes he
has been far better than the average
father. I also realize more than ever,
these past few weeks, that I have not
been the kind of wife I should. You
boys do not understand now, but with
God willing I hope some day will.

So now before leaving may I again
say be good, be kind, be true and
mind your Daddy and I’m sure he will
always stick by you.

Lovingly,
Mom.

The second read:

Dear Clifton:

I am going away, but before I go
may I wish you all the luck and hap-
piness in the world. I know you have
done many things you should not of
done, but I let my jealousy and mad-
ness get the best of me, and now that
I realize there is little or no happi-
ness for- us together because of my
many shortcomings, I beg you to for-
give me for leaving. Forgive me for
being the deceitful and rotten wife
I’ve been and forgive me for causing
you so much worry, so many heart-
aches, by talking about you to every-
one, by pulling always against you, by
making the children work against you
and letting my meanness ruin you and
everything you worked and strived
for. I’m leaving the children in your
care, for I know you will take care of
them. May God bless you.

While detectives were running down all
clues, and. regarding suspiciously the events
of Wednesday, J. C. Abdel]. the appar-
ently upright and respected broker of
Norfolk, Virginia, was enjoying himself
in Washington.

After two highballs in his room at the
Harrington and an appelizine dinner at
a restaurant, to which he did full justice,
he strode up the well-lehted street. His
figure was jaunty in its expression of well-
being and achievement. He felt, a sense
of freedom that he had pot known for

yoes } { i

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: Department
lifton Abdell.”
\bdell.”

a moment be-
paged to an-
1e at the swank
shington, D.C.,
mor that crept
cning that his
ice.

ited, dread en-
is he realized
‘y wrong back
vould never be
ince, the cold
d of the wire

. you, Mr. Ab-
just met with
of the young-

beside the gas
of your home.

4.”
ere was a dead

hen J. Clifton

k candy vend-

turer,. got up

t the question

take her own
e hardly above

eded, Mr. Ab-
thing humanly

her. But we
came home for
1 your home
neighbor who
ugh a window.
itly turned on

ee hours before,
the children’ left’ for

Five minutes after re
telephone receiver, Abdel
ing out to the Nationa] Airport. ‘There
he managed to hir
to rush him to his
up to the front of his n
at 1318 Lafayette Boulevard, he saw
a crowd of neighbors milling about
outside the place.

A moment later a handsome thir-
-year-old. boy rushed up to -him.
bie Abdell had run from the house
when he saw his father arriving. His
fifteen-year-old brother Jimmie re-
, talking with an elderly,
: n who had arrived within
a few minutes of the discovery of the

the: gas about thr

e a private plane
e city. Driving
ew white house

mained inside.
heavy-set ma

I tried to call you like you
they kept questioning us,”

happened to mother—they think that
someone wanted to hurt her.”

God, Bobbie, you mean that
. mother didn’t ... . didn’t do it. her-
Abdell stared unbelievingly: at
his younger child. This was the first
received that in the death
dark-eyed young
ht lie something far

of his attractive,
wife there mi
more sinister t.
_In another moment
manufacturer was g
steps to his'front door. There
y his closest neighbor, Police
eant Thomas Shannon.

terrible thing, Clif,” the police

the middle-aged

\

\

official commenced. “Perhaps: everr
worse than we thought. ‘I’ve had to
call in Leon Nowitzky. He’s upstairs
now; talking with one of the ys.”

Leon Nowitzky, Abdell:- knew, was
a special investigator for the office of
Commonwealth Attorney John. M.
Arnold. He knew, too, that Nowi A
whose reputation for solving homicide
cases was known throughout the coun-
try, would certainly have never been
called in if the death of Audrey Abdell
was a clear case of suicide.

The husband was met by Coroner
C..D. M. McDonald as he started
through the house. McDonald had
just come from the kitchen, where the
woman’s body had been discovered
hours before.

“T’'d like to have you look the room
over Mr. Abdell,” the coroner stated
gravely. “She was found about
eighteen inches from the stove, facing
the burners in a crouching position.
A grey blanket, evidently taken form
one of the upstairs beds, was wrapped
about her body. in such a manner as
to leave her head and feet exposed.
A second blanket, an old Army issue
which the boys tell us was never used
in the house, lay in a heap on the
floor at her side.”

Abdell stared down at the Army
blanket for several moments, -then
turned slowly to the coroner.

“That’s strange,” he commented.
“Never saw that around here before.
I’m sure no oné here in the house ever
used it.” J é
“Yes, but the really strange thing

‘
at

Death walked in

and made himself

at home when the

husband left on

a business trip


—

weeny)

ABDEL, J. Clifton, white, elec.

| | = is OLK Police Department the gas
calling Mr. J. Clifton Abdell.” right af

“This is Mr. Abdell.” school.”
The man who a moment be- Five n
Ni for had been paged to an- | telephone
swer the telephone at the swank | ing out tc
Hotel Harrington in Washington, D.C., he mana
tried to control the tremor that crept to rush h
; into his voice on learning that his up to the
. call came from the police. at 1318 I

. But even as he hesitated, dread en- ‘ a crowd
| tered into his heart as he realized outside t)
b something must be very wrong back A mon
‘ at home or the police would never be teen-yea!
| calling him long distance, the cold Bobbie A
voice at the other end of the wire when he

For a long'moment there was a dead the child

: went on:
Nf “We regret to inform you, Mr. Ab- au hsp
f } dell, that your wife has just met with heavy-sei
a serious accident. One of the young- a few haar
sters found her lying beside the gas tragedy
range in the kitchen of your home. “Dadd
j Both burners were open.” | said bur

silence on the line. Then J. Clifton happened
| ; Abdell, wealthy Norfolk candy vend- someone
‘ ; ing machine manufacturer,. got up ‘My G
| 5 enough courage to a the question mother co
i that was in his mind. | self?” Al
4 : “She . ,. tried to take her own | his youn;
as life?” he asked in a voice hardly above hint he'd
7 a whisper. | of his a
i “I’m afraid she succeeded, Mr. Ab- wife the:
i dell. We've done everything humanly more sin
. possible to try to save her. But we In anot
: ae eg rger tn gPiacd a a for manufact
{ unch at noon, found your home
B y H A L W H IT E locked, and called a neighbor who sie Red
managed to get in through a window. Remwesnt
Mrs. Abdell had evidently turned on “A tery

VICTIM’S SHROUDED BODY—
The corpse of the victim was still wrapped in an
old Army blanket when the husband returned home.

TADOTIARTERS DETROCTT VE
HEADQ ARTERS pills ie a) 0 TIVE,

January, 1947


a

‘

—t

oy

‘ “Yes,” he said, “I suppose so. Now |

tell me ‘this, and I’m not asking for
mere curiosity. Did you ever suspect

your wife of being interested in another

man?”

“Oh, no. Nothing like that. She was

all wrapped up in her home and the
children.”

_ “Still, she was asking for a separa-
tion?”

Abdell merely nodded and looked
down at his big strong hands.

“Was she jealous? How about your
interest in other women?”

Abdell’s embarrassment was as obvi- *

ous as a noonday whistle in a factory
town, but he smiled slyly and shrugged.
“Oh, you know how it is when a

man travels.a lot,” he said with a con- -

fidential air. “Naturally I get lonesome
and occasionally go out with a girl,
but it don’t mean a thing,”
“You mean you haven’t any interest
in’ any particular one. Is that it?”.
“That’s right. Anyway my wife would-
-n’t know about such things, so why
would she be jealous?” .
“She might surmise something if she
saw those scratches on your face. By
the way, how did you get them?”
Abdell attempted a smile.
“Well, I see. you don’t miss much.

You've guessed it. I was out with a -

girl the other night. We had a little
spat and she scratched me. It didn’t
amount to anything.”

‘Nowitzky poised his pencil over a
note pad. —

“What’s her name and address?”

Abdell remopstrated mildly, saying it
was of no importance and tried to dodge
‘tthe ‘direct question. He said he didn’t
want to get a nice girl’s name mixed
up in such an affair. But when pressed,
he said she was Laura Mitten. He also
gave her address and the date of. the

“Now these slot machine men,” No-
witzky went on. “We know you've had

_trouble with some of them off and on.

Do you think they committed this crime
to get revenge on you?”
“No, nothing to that. They resent

If ‘they did, they'd go after me, not
Audrey. Everybody liked her. I think
it was some prowler who maybe saw
she was alone and thought he saw a‘

“J guess that about covers every-
ing,” said Nowitzky. “You won’t go
town, of course, until we get
is thing settled. Keep me informed "
to reach you the minute anything

rose, reached for his hat.

ing could drag me away until
_who did this thing is safe.

Hie

i

;
:

operating here but it isn’t reasonable _
.to suppose they’d go to that length.

_ pone

«. “This is the man who was in Abdell’s
back yard yesterday morning.”

“What’s your name,” Nowitzky asked,
“and what were you doing around Ab-
dell’s house?”

“I’m Carl Snyder, a paperhanger and
painter. I went there to finish a little
job I started a week ago. It was
carpenter work. I do little odd jobs -at
that, too.” oO

-“Was Mrs. Abdell expecting you?”

“J dunno. We didn’t have no regular

' time set.”

Nowitzky remembered seeing a ladder
leaning against the house and some
carpenter’s tools on the steps. .

He questioned the old fellow at length
but got nothing for his trouble. The
man to know nothing about
the murder and couldn’t be sure just
when he was at the house. It may have
been anywhere between 9:00 and 11:00
o’clock. He said he wasn’t keen to do
the job anyway, and when he saw

‘there was nobody at home he went
- away.” Altogether he seemed quite in-

capable of making the elaborate prep-
arations for’ the murder, and he was
released. .

Of the two possible suspects only one
remained—the mysterious man who had
been seen at the front door.

The telephone rang and when Nowitz-

-ky answered the call a woman’s voice

“I’m Mrs. Sellers, a friend of Mrs.
Abdell. I saw those notes that the
Ledger-Dispatch printed this morning
and I know positively that Mrs. Ab-
dell didn’t write them.” ©

“Why are you so positive, Mrs. Sell-
ers?” * i ane

“Because I was there on Tuesday
when she found them in her dresser
drawer.” . '

“When she what?”

“When she found the notes in her
dresser drawer. They frightened her. and
she_asked me what to do with them.
I said take them to the police, but she

“You're sure that was on Tuesday?”
“Yes, of course I’m sure. That was

the last time I saw Audrey alive.”

evidence Nowitzky had heard—if in-

deed it were true—and he lost no_

time in an at! to verify it. A tele-
call to Judge Swartz brought
corroboration. Abdell had
mentioned and had

oe
a

A
eRe
i
ae
i
jplet
iit

F
E
: ai]

The man who was seen leaving the front of the Abdell home the fatal morn

night in question, but denied absolutely

‘the quarrel ‘and the scratching episode.
Nowitzky had Abdell brought in. He

seemed surprised at being called again

50 soon.

DF dye giahg new. developed?” he ask-

“No, just checking some details.”

. He then had Abdell recount again
the routine and incidents of his Wash-
ington trip and his narrative was pre-
cisely the same as given before with
one exception. He said that on the

way to Washington he had stopped at.

Richmond for lunch,

. Nowitzky gave'no outward sign that -

he had noted the slip, for slip it cer-

tainly was, since Richmond is not on

U. §S. route 30 which Abdell said he
had taken, ;

At that opportune time an officer
called .Nowitzky outside. There he
found J. M. Palmer, a well known local
businessman who had come to offer what
he thoughts might be important infor-

Palmer said he happened to drive past
the Abdell house. between 9:00 and
10:00 o'clock Wednesday morning and
remembered seeing a man come out,
close and lock the door and leave hur-
riedly. What. attracted Palmer’s atten-
tion particularly was the fact that he
had seen blood on the man’s face. On
seeing that he was observed, the man
pulled down his hat brim and turned
away. Re:

“Do you know the man?”

“No,” said Palmer, “but I got a good
dlook at his feat and could readily
identify him if 1 saw him again.”

“Very good,” said Nowitzky. “Here’s
what we'll do...We have several sus-
ts here and some ‘other prisoners.
‘ll line them up and let you look them

over to see if your man is among t!
If he is, don’t say anything at
time but tell me privately afterw:

When Nowitzky reentered his o
Abdell was ready to leave.

“Tf ther’s nothing else . . .” he

“Take it easy. There are se
things I want to discuss with you. C
with me.”

Much inst his will Abdell
placed in the line-up and paraded w
Palmer could see. When they werc
turned to their cells Palmer unhesita
ly pointed out Abdell as the mar
had seen on the porch on Wedne:

When Abdell was formally cha
with the murder of his wife his e

changed. He could no lo

‘maintain his mild-mannered pose

flew into a violent rage and po
forth a-torrent of vile epithets
violent abuse that betrayed. his
character. ~. ;

Laura Mitten identified Abdell as
man she knew as Fred Granger
his dual life was completely expose

‘ all its sordidness. It became evi

at his trial. that his wife had lea

>) of his philandering. And to prevent

possibility of her using it to win
separation, he had brutally murd
her. His carefully fabricated alibi
torn to bits. when detectives prod
a witness who had met Abdell on
road heading toward Richmond on
day of the murder.

On July 1, 1938, James Clifton
yg cape of the first de
mi of his wife, Audrey S
dell. He paid the penalty for rrmil

in the electric chair on January 5, 1

NOTE: The names Laura Mitten, :
, and Mrs. Sellers are fictit
to save innocent persons embarrassm

Sergeant H. A. Shannon, who was returning’
to his home when ‘he discovered a murder.

‘Sergeant H. H. Shapiro, who’ assisted

in the

investigation that followed.

‘dell. stopping

were available. The coroner gave his
opinion that these wounds could not

an accident. An“ examination of the
scrapings from under the victim’s finger
nails showed traces of human skin, in-
dicating that she had probably scratched
her assailant. Furthermore, the blood
spots on the linoleum could not be
traced to any wound on the woman’s
body. The time of death was placed
between’ 9:30 and 10:00 o’clock that
morning, and murder was clearly in-
dicated. ’

:Nowitzky’s face did. not change ex-
pression when he found his murder
theory thus corroborated, but merely
went on. reading other reports on his
desk. Among them was that of the
handwriting experts which emphatically:
stated that the notes had .not been
written by ‘Mrs. Abdell. * :

Nowitzky had detailed others'to study
the background and business connec-
tions of Abdell, and to find where he
could be reached. Reports were coming
in but so far his whereabouts were
_ A check-up with the proprietor of
the Machen Grocery Company brought
the information that a delivery boy
had taken some things to the Abdell
house some time before 10:00 o’clock
and had returned a few minutes later.
‘The boy. was brought downto head=
quarters but after close questioning he
was released as Nowitzky was satisfied
he knew nothipg of the matter. The
boy had seen no one else ‘near

that Nowitzky first learned where to
reach Abdell. She telephoned that Bobby
had shown her a note his father had
given him, which said he would be at
the Hotel Harrington in Washington.
Nowitzky immediately called the Wash-
ington Police Department.

“There’s a man named J. Clifton Ab-
at the Harrington Hotel;”
he said. “His wife has been murdered
and I wish you’d send a tactful man
to break the news to, him.”

“Shall we take him in charge?”

“No, nothing like that.. There’s no
suspicion against him. I understand he’s
been there since Monday. But just as
a matter of routine, you might check
up on his movements a little and call
me back.” \

He was promised prompt cooperation.
An hour later information came back
that Abdell had been reached. He was
prostrated by the news of his wife’s
murder and would drive back to Nor-
folk at once to help in any way possible.

The police report further stated that
Abdell had checked in at the Harring-
ton around 7:00 o’clock Monday eve-
ning. His movements were ‘completely
accounted for from that time. until he
had been interviewed and his statements
checked with the hotel record. Abdell
had shown no inclination to side-step
any questions and had produced a
memorandum book of appointments and
had given the names and addresses of
various people he had called on.

Pending Abdell’s. arrival Nowitzky
studied reports his men had turned ‘in
concerning him and his business con-
nections,

Abdell was listed as a merchandise

which had been banned in the state.

na asta age

—yeen  around—~your-

The suggestion was made that some |
of the gentry engaged in this illegal
pursuit had murdered Abdell’s wife to
force him out of the field. The’ report
stated that several of Abdell’s‘ machines
had been smashed or otherwise put
out of working order. P
- Men were sent out to bring in every
one suspected of being connected with
slot machines. A number were rounded
up and questioned. But when it was
‘all over, there was nothing to connect
them with the crime. They all seemed
unanimous in their dislike of Abdell,
which was not very surprising if’ their
interests conflicted. They all character-
ized him as a trouble maker, given to
foul and insulting language.

Nowitzky had not expected much
from the investigation as it was unlikely
that any of them would make any in-
criminating statement. Anyway, it was
one thing to smash a rival’s i
but quite another to murder his wife.
The next morning a short, stout man’
in his early forties, with double ter-
raced jowls and rough hewn features
called at Nowitzky’s office.

“I’m Abdell,” he said in a mild low -
voice. “I drove through from Washing-
ton as fast as I could. This is a. ter-
rible shock to ine. Have you any sus-
pects yet?” . :

“We're looking for two men who were
times yesterday morning. We'll know
more about them pretty soon and we
have witnesses who can identify both
of them when we do find them. You

like you were about all-in??———-____,

“T am, naturally. My nerves are rag-
ged from driving a couple of hundred
miles with this: terrible thing weighing:
on my mind.” | bs

Nowitzky was studying the man,
drawing him out. He had been repre-
sented as a harsh, quarrelsome, loud-
mouthed man, but in reality he ap-
peared quite the opposite.

“Well,” he said, “just as routine and
to get the record straight, will you give
me an account of your movements si
you left here last Monday? Not that
it has any bearing on the case except
that someone may have known of your
movements and planned accordingly.”

; ee seemed anxious to cooperate
ly.

“Why, certainly, I understand. Well,
I left here Monday a while before noon
and drove up U. S. 30 to Washington.
I checked in at the Harrington Hotel
as soon as I got there, sometime around
6:30. After a bite to eat I went to a
movie. Next morning I got a shave at

_ the Central Barber Shop where I often

go, then called on several people. I
lunched at O’Donnell’s and had appoint-
ments all afternon, then dinner at the
hotel and .went to bed early.”
_ With punctilious attention to detail
he accounted for his time up to the
moment the police had called at his
hotel late Wednesday night. When No-
witzky asked for names of: those: he
had called upon he referred to his
memorandum book and gave them with-
out hesitation. 3

"THROUGH all this Nowitzky failed to
.~ see any of the characteristics that
had been ascribed to the man by his
business rivals.

“You’ve had trouble with your wife,
haven't you?”

“No—o, I wouldn’t say trouble ex-
actly. You see, she was always a home
woman and my business takes. me out
of town a good deal. I suppose that
tends to draw a couple apart more or
less. They finally get’ so they are not
interested in the same things.”

Nowitzky nodded understandingly.

‘


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and
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those
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‘unice
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( saw
rning
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‘no he
' And
th an
e de-

remember. And if you don’t tread care-
fully, you’ll walk yourself right into it.
There’s only the one thing for you to do
—tell us the truth.”

“I had nothing to do with Mrs. Abdell’s
death.”

“You know more about Cliff Abdell’s
movements these past few days than you
have admitted.”

Mrs. DeLong was soon induced to ad-
mit that she had seen Abdell here in Nor-
folk very early Wednesday morning, be-
fore the hour of his wife’s alleged suicide.
His face had been unscratched then, bore
no marks of any kind; but when she saw
him Thursday morning the scratches
which he seemed unable to explain—were
deep and angry looking. What was more,
he had urged his fair Eunice to say, should
anybody ask her, that he had got these
lacerations of the countenance while en-
gaged in a tussle with her. But she had
never promised to tell this lie, and now,
to Nowitzky, she was specifically repudi-
ating her lover’s alibi, both facial and
geographical. Abdell had been in Nor-
folk at the hour stated by the voluntary
witness, Pelam.

Nowitzky, Coroner McDonald and Ser-
geant Shannon now met in conference
with Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney
James H. Tyler III. The Commonwealth of
Virginia had built up an_ exceedingly
strong case, it was agreed. The final re-
port of the coroner was as follows:

“Mrs. Audrey Thelma Abdell died at or
about 9:30 a.m., May 11th, 1938, of carbon
monoxide poisoning. Multiple wounds,
bruises and abrasions were found on the
body. It is the opinion of the coroner
that these wounds entered into the scheme
of death. It has been charged that J. C.
Abdell, her husband, is answerable for the
death referred to in the foregoing.”

Thus the arrest of the accused broker
was decided upon. It was Friday, the
13th—no lucky day for Abdell whom all
acquainted with the facts in the case now
believed to be a vicious killer.

Taken into custody he was suave and
defiant, denying everything. The buying
of the “W.A.C.” straw hat had been traced
to a Virginian haberdasher; but Abdell
persisted in denying that he was the hat’s
purchaser or that he had intended its
presence at the scene of the “suicide” to
blur and confuse the inevitable investi-
gation.

He insisted that he had not discon-
nected the doorbell wire out in the
kitchen where gas was to accumulate in
the tightly closed room, and a single tiny
spark might have touched off a shattering
explosion. None, however, believed that
Audrey Abdell, at the scene and very
moment of her intended suicide, would
have troubled to pile freshly washed
clothes—which she was never going to
iron—back on the chair on which she had
just been standing. .

Bobby’s brother proved particularly bit-
ter when informed of the murder evi-
dence. “If my mother was murdered,”
he told Leon Nowitzky, “dad did it.” Asked
why he thought this, the sad-eyed youth,
exclaimed, “That’s easy, sir. When he
visited us about ten days ago I heard dad»
tell mother in an angry voice that her’
constant. complaining didn’t count any
more—she would soon be among the miss-
ing.”

J. Clifton, more cocksure than ever,
paced his cell, proclaiming his innocence,
yet declined to leave that cell so that the
witness, A. D. Pelam, might take a good
look at him. Nowitzky and warders had
to drag the prisoner into the jail corri-
dor for the routine identification cere-
mony. Mr. Pelam’s identification was em-
phatic.

The murder trial opened on Wednesday,
June 29th, 1938, with Judge Richard B.

|
|
|

e@Nature put the flavor in P. A.’s
tobacco. Prince Albert’s special
process keeps and improves ¢
this wonderful flavor.

. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Spindle presiding. The accused broker
was brilliantly defended by two attorneys,
Ivor Page and W. H. Venable. It was the
latter who came at the jury with a re-
markably ingenious gas-metering argu-
ment by which he sought to show that
Audrey Abdell could not have died at the
hour the coroner and prosecution alleged.

The attorney produced the records of
the Virginia Electric and Power ‘Com-
pany, revealing the average consumption
of gas in the Abdell home for the past
year. These records, he said, proved
that Mrs. Abdell could not have died as
early as 9:30 a.m., with the six jets of
the gas range pouring forth their com-
bustible product until Sergeant Shannon
broke into the kitchen and shut off this
maximum flow around 4:30 p.m.

Thus, the defense attorney endeavored
to prove that Mrs. Abdell had not died
until early afternoon—at which time the
accused broker was well on his way to
Washington, was, in fact, nearing Fred-
ericksburg and his quite unexpected meet-
ing with Mrs. Olin and her sister.

Taking the stand to fight for his own
life, Abdell was suave, pleasing and sar-
torially impressive. He now conceded
that it was he. who had penned the two
suicide notes. But he swore that he and
his wife had composed them together “in
a spirit of sheer fun” and that he had
“inserted those little barbs to prod her
feelings.”

He further admitted having called at
the Lafayette Boulevard house—which A,
D. Pelam had seen him leaving—on that
fateful morning of May 11th. But his
wife, Abdell contended, had started nag-
ging him as usual the moment he walked
in, had soon picked a fight with him, so
he had up and fled the place with her old
threat to kill herself ringing familiarly
in his ears.

‘and forty minutes,

The Virginian jurors would have none
of it.

Attentive and dispassionate throughout
the dramatic courtroom contest, the 12
men now deliberated for only one hour
then voted Abdell
guilty of murder in the first degree with-
out recommendation of mercy. Judge
Spindle sentenced the convicted broker to
die in the electric chair at Richmond
Penitentiary on November 18th, 1938. But
the customary appeals were to stay this
execution for many months to come.

Venable and Page, the condemned man’s
lawyers, were as ardent in trying to save
his life as they had been when seeking to
win him an acquittal. But all these in-
volved legalistic efforts failed to win
favor with the Virginia Supreme Court of
Appeals.

January 5th, 1940, a Friday, was finally
fixed by the courts as James Clifton Ab-
dell’s last day on earth. Still steadfastly
asserting his innocence, he ordered a rich
meal of roast chicken and devoured this
delicacy right down to the bones. He then
used the chicken bones to stuff up the
lock of his cell door. It took his warders
an extra 40 minutes to get in when the last
moment came. A broker of vending ma-
chines and an appliance expert, Abdell
had contrived this final ingenuity, and
what it got him was 40 minutes longer to

live. oo

Epiror’s Nore:

The names, A. D. Pelam, Mrs. Adele
Fisk, Mrs. James Olin, and Mrs. Eunice
DeLong, as used in the foregoing story,
are not the real names of the persons
concerned. These persons have been
given fictitious names to protect their
identity.

65


64

FOWL AFFAIR

by ROBERT SEAVER

TOOL PIGEONS, as anyone who

is conversant with criminal af-
fairs knows, often sing to the police
and thereby betray the ugly machina-
tions of the underworld to the forces
of justice. But it is seldom that a
chicken so much as clucks at a po-
lice officer, and even more seldom
that such a communication leads to
an arrest.

The chicken which caught the at-
tention of Patrolman Patrick Kirk in
a small town in Texas last November
was well-dressed, however, and ev-
eryone knows that a well-dressed in-
formant carries more weight in
criminal investigations. This chicken
was, in fact, ready for the oven and
looked almost as surprised as the pa-
trolman felt when it soared out of the
window of a passing car and landed
with a thump at his feet.

Kirk picked up the chicken and
turned to hail the driver, thinking
that the loss of the fowl] had been ac-
cidental. But he was just in time to
see a second, identically plucked bird
sail out the car window a block away.
The’ auto proceeded without slacken-
ing pace and Kirk began to wonder
whether the driver was feather-
brained, or merely a dumb cluck. He
leaped to his nearby motorcycle, and
gave chase. Three blocks further, he
curbed the auto.

“You,” said Kirk, “dropped this
back there.”

“Who, me?” responded the driver,
a grey-haired, distinguished-looking
gentleman. “Why, I’m sure you must
be mistaken, officer.” .

Kirk said firmly, “No sir I am not.
What’s more, you dropped another
one that I didn’t have time to pick
up. Don’t you like chickens?”

Seeing that the jig was up, the
driver became confidential. “Well,
you see, officer, I know this may seem
a little irregular,’ but I have my rea-
sons for disposing of the fowl. Is
there a law against that?”

“No,” said Kirk. “But there is a law
against drunken driving, and in my
opinion you are either drunk or
crazy. Either way, I think we had
better go down and see the sergeant
at the station house.”

The driver, who identified himself
as Rayford Peter Jones, was no more
cooperative in explaining his flighty
actions to the sergeant, and in fact
excited further suspicion by changing
his last name with every other sen-
tence, for a final tally of 17.

“I think,” said the sergeant, “that
we had better take a look at the car.”
They did, and in the trunk found a
veritable treasure trove—$19,000 in
$100 bills, $11,000 in money orders—
all fake—plus fake social security
cards, drivers’ licenses, and payroll
checks. There was also a compact
but efficient engraving plant, two pis-
tols and a blackjack.

Confronted with the evidence, the
driver conceded that his goose was
cooked, and admitted that his name

- was Rayford Peter Smith, age 61, of

St. Louis, Missouri. He explained that
he had turned his hobby of photogra-
phy into a counterfeiting racket, and
came to Texas to trade his wares, go-
ing from market to market buying a
dressed chicken at each to establish
himself as a regular customer and
paying by check. After he was ac-
cepted as a reliable patron he pre-
vailed upon the shopkeepers to cash
further checks made out for larger
amounts than the price of the bird.

He pocketed the money, he said,
and, having no further use for the
chickens, threw them out of the car
as fast as he bought them. Later, he
returned to repeat the performance.
His operations covered several towns
in eastern Texas, where he was
known as a connoisseur of fine poul-
try.

“It worked fine until that cop got
the bird,” he said. “But I guess now
it’s the coop for me.” oo¢

had allowed his long grievance against
Audrey Abdell to dictate phrases which
no morbid woman, no discarded wife, no
deeply devoted mother of sons, would
have composed so humbly or in a way
so disparaging of herself as she faced
self-extinction. And now, if Mr. Pelam’s
recollection was as accurate as he made
it sound, the crafty J. Clifton had slipped
up badly a second time. Since it had
been his abrupt action, his inexplicable
furtiveness and turning his back, hat
jerked low, which had caught the passing
Pelam’s attention and virtually photo-
graphed the incident on his memory.

Next into Detective Nowitzky’s ken
came an embarrassed lady ‘who hated
what she was going to do but saw no other
course open to the law-respecting native
of Norfolk. “I am Mrs. James Olin,” this
attractive, intelligent looking young wo-
man introduced herself, “and I live right
acress the boulevard from the Abdells.
Know them both well! And—I’m afraid he
hasn’t been telling you people the truth
about what he did and where he was on
Wednesday.”

Early this past Wednesday afternoon
Mrs. Olin had been driving from Norfolk
to Washington and was nearing Fred-
ericksburg on the Rappahannock when
she saw a man whom she instantly recog-
nized standing beside a car no less familiar
to her. He had the hood lifted and was
peering at the engine, which, evidently,
was giving trouble. “Mr. Abdell!” the
neighbor, Mrs. Olin, had called. And,
when the man became only the more ab-
sorbed in his mechanical difficulties, she
had stopped and sounded her horn. .

“Why, Mr. Abdell, what are you doing
here?” she had called out more loudly.
And she had remarked the forced smile,
the far from enthusiastic greeting, but had
ascribed his hesitation and curtness to
his motorist’s mishap. Then he had sud-
denly changed from being hurried and
curt, perhaps reminded that unexpected
churlishness makes a deeper impression
on people than amiability and politeness.

Mrs. Olin had proceeded to introduce
the now thawing Abdell to her traveling
companion, who was her own sister. And
he had acknowledged the introduction
with a flourish, noted the likeness and
relationship with a witty compliment and
asked gallantly, “So you are going to
Washington—what hotel will you ladies
be stopping at?” He had pretended to
be crestfallen but had actually seemed
somehow relieved when told, no_ hotel,
but the home of a relative.

“How in the world did you get those
scratches on your cheek?” Mrs. Olin re-
called having asked him, but his expla-
nation had been vague and lost in a flurry
of attempted humor. Abdell’s easy laugh-
ter barely covered his still quite obvious
uneasiness, Mrs. Olin said. But he had
kept on trying for the jocular and con-
fidential, leaning close and saying, “Better
not tell anybody that you met me here.”

Mrs. Olin, puzzled, remembered having
exclaimed, “Good gracious, why not?”

And he had then leaned the closer to
murmur to them wryly, “Don’t tell this,
either—I can’t help myself, I’m_ incur-
ably superstitious.”

Detective Nowitzky now found himself
armed for a second meeting with that love-
ly and beloved young lady, Mrs. Eunice
DeLong. He drove rapidly to her resi-
dence. His approach this time was brus-
que and firm and so intended.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you saw
Cliff Abdell not only yesterday morning
when he was just back from Washington,
but also Wednesday morning when he
was supposed to be in Washington?” And
when she started to come back with an
arch glance and breezy denial, the de-
tective warned, “This is a murder case,

remem!
fully, :
There’s
—tell t
“T ha
death.”
“You
movem
have a
Mrs.
mit tha
folk ve
fore th
His fac
no mal
him T
which
deep a:
he had
anybod
lacerat:
gaged
never
to Nov
ating }
geogra)
folk at
witness
Nowi
geant
with A
James
Virgini
strong
port of
“Mrs
about
monoxi
bruises
body.
that th:
of deat
Abdell.
death 1
Thus
was de
13th—n
acquair
believe
Take
defiant.
of the
to a \
persist
purcha
presen:
blur a

kitchen
the tig
spark }
explosi
Audrey
momer.
have
clothes
iron—1
just be
Bobkt
ter wl
dence.
he told
why h
exclair
visited
tell m
consta:

mony.

phatic.
The

June :


( of the
ot have
id, they
the vic-
nscious-
phyxia-

d, “that
ve had
ind the
are up

3ut I’m

» knew

While
worked
ursday,
a pat-
formed
cept on
rtment.
Clifton
achines
om as-
where
proved

ahead
9 have
‘Yr mid-

many
hen a
2 door

blond
drow-
as and
pected
“Yes?

@:
erday

1i0oxide

re. «86

Clif-
ipolo-
> him
» Step
vanks.
bdell.
got a
bably

his
and
‘here,
to a

en oa
office
ntro-
ity,

Ivor

2cOg -
And
> the
drey
need
1 the

ugh-
tonic
tring

see
rted
hich
‘tion
Thile
rdell

seem

“Oh—why, yes—certainly.” Abdel) gave
a somewhat affected chuckle and said, “It

‘scarcely suits the occasion, I’m afraid.

But as you, sir, undoubtedly know, my
wife and I have been separated for quite
atime. These scratches—they’re the work
of a friend of mine. We had a bit of a
struggle, and she took a rather feline
advantage—”"

“Fingernail scratches often get infected.
You should have let a doctor look at
them. By the way, Mr. Abdell, who is the
feline friend?”

“Does it matter?” he asked, then saw
in Nowitzky’s keen, patient eyes that, yes,
it did. “Oh, very well. I’ll tell you about
it—after I’ve seen my wife.”

The contrite and respectful demeanor
of J. Clifton Abdell while at the funeral
home, viewing Audrey’s remains, was cor-
rect beyond question. “My poor wife,”
he murmured. “She always showed a
despondent streak. But who could have
dreamt it would take her to such an ex-

, treme?”

Once he had surmounted this ordeal,
the broker seemed entirely composed and
turned to Nowitzky with gracious readi-
ness, as if to say—okay now, you had some
questions.

The detectives didn’t return at once to
the matter of the fingernail gashes and
lacerations, but began by asking, “Did
you buy a new straw hat recently?”

“Why, no. Why should I?”

“Lots of men do in May and June,”
the detective reminded disarmingly. “We
have been wondering about a new straw
hat found in a bedroom on the first floor
of your wife’s home.”

“What size of hat?”

When Nowitzky told him, Abdell made
haste to say, “Too big for me. Even when
I need a haircut badly, I just make a
seven and an eighth.”

Pressed to account for the straw hat’s
presence in the house, Abdell’s answer
was quietly magnanimous. In the tragic
circumstances, he didn’t think he ought to
be expected to discuss what friendships
with men his estranged Audrey might have
formed. So Detective Nowitzky came back
with a request that he discuss the lady
with whom he himself must have formed
a sort of combative friendship, the lady of
the sharp fingernails.

“Mrs. Eunice DeLong,” the broker
named her reluctantly. And it took even
more artful prodding to get him to tell
her address. “You understand, I’d hate
to have Eunice bothered at a time like
this.”” :

Detective Nowitzky didn’t hesitate to
bother Eunice, once the suave Mr. Abdell
and his unobtrusive attorney had bowed
themselves out. And to the detective
the residence in the Fairmount Park dis-
trict in which he found Mrs. DeLong sug-
gested above average comforts near- to
affluence. While young, Mrs. DeLong
proved to be so attractive that she might
well have learned to defend herself from
overbearing males at a much earlier age
than her present 24 or 25.

She freely admitted her acquaintance
with J. Clifton Abdell. And, yes, she
said, she had seen with horror in to-
day’s paper that Mrs. Abdell was a sui-
cide. Had she ever heard anything from
Mr. Abdell that had Jed her to expect
this tragic outcome?

“Never. But I felt terribly sorry for
her when I read about it, and I feel very
sorry for Cliff. If Mrs. Abdell had come
to hate her existence that much, I think
I can understand. Cliff, as I happen to
know, can be a wonderful companion when
he wants to be.”

“He’s in love with you, isn’t he? Is
that what broke up his marriage?”

The shapely, dark-eyed young woman
asked whether she had to answer that

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one. And Nowitzky shook his head

gravely.

“T’ve seen Mr. Abdell, and now I've,

talked with you—so I think I have the
answer,” he said. “But you can tell me
this—did you two have a lovers’ quarrel?
What happened, why scratch his face so
savagely?”

Mrs. Eunice DeLong grew pale. She re-
torted hotly that she hadn’t quarreled or
even had an argument with Abdell. She
had not scratched his face.

“Well, believe you me, somebody did!
Your friend Cliff looks as though he’d
tried to tame a bobcat.”

“If he does, I know nothing about it.
I wouldn’t have a man friend, Mr. No-
witzky, who so misbehaved himself that
I had to claw him like that.”

The detective pounced. “Then you’ve
seen it!”

The uncomfortable Mrs. DeLong ad-
mitted she had, that Abdell had come to
see her early this morning, directly after
driving here from Washington and before
going on to discuss his wife’s suicide
with his lawyer.

‘All day Thursday it remained impos-
sible to connect Abdell with what the
coroner, Dr. McDonald, Nowitzky, Ser-
geant Shannon and others now considered
mo suicide but a brazen and despicable
murder. The husband of the woman victim
had an alibi which rested solidly on this
set of facts: he had told both his sons
this past Sunday that he was going to
Washington on business, he had wired a
Washington hotel and checked in at that
hotel a few minutes past Sunday midnight,
and he had still been stopping at the hotel

after midnight Wednesday when the cap- .

ital city’s policeman came to tell him the
bad news relayed some hours ayo to Wash-
ington from Norfolk.

Early on Friday, however, new evi-

dence commenced to undermine the im-
pressive structure of Abdell’s alibi. News-
paper accounts of the “Audrey Abdell
suicide mystery” provoked such intense
local feeling that things began to happen
around the office of the unsparing Leon
Nowitzky, who had, on occasion, been
termed “Norfolk’s one-man Homicide
Squad.” Two different public-spirited
citizens—fully aware of but prepared to
endure the unwelcome publicity—came
forward to tell the detective of chance
encounters linking each with the Abdel)
case.

Mr. A. D. Pelam said: “I have read in
the papers that your man Abdell insists
he was in Washington all day Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday. Now I be-
lieve that is a lie, Mr. Nowitzky. I don’t
know. the man by sight. But here is what
happened—”

This past Wednesday, about 9:30 A.M.,
Mr. Pelam said that he had been driving
past 1318 Lafayette Boulevard, driving
slowly. He had seen a man come out of
the ‘front door and down the steps of the
dwelling. But when this man had seen
him he had acted with eye-catching oddity
and abruptness.

“As soon as he saw me glancing his
way, he jerked his hat low over his eyes,
swung around, turning his back towards
me and strolling over to a hedge.”

Nowitzky asked casually, “And you be-
lieve you would recognize this man if you
saw him again?”

“Practically certain I would.”

“And the day and hour?”

“There I’m positive. It was nine-thirty
Wednesday morning.”

So, if J. Clifton Abdell were his wife's
slayer—as Nowitzky and his colleagues
now believed—then he had made his second
fatal slip. First, in the wording of the

messages of apology and farewell, he .


Case found tn ox 138, Exec. Papers
of Gov. Ipear mans were frase and

Ads Look, SMAVES

of one Maes

yurard. On WA1-[803 tty Billed

him in bis Slap witha

dumped lis body”

Giana Gis) for geal / 2-47-4602
Charleston, Kanawha County, Va., now West Virginia)

"Tyo negroes named Abram and Isaac, were executed in Dec.,
1803, for the murder of a slave trader. It was developed
afterwards that Abram was innocent of the crime, ._The exe-
cution took place in the woods in what is now the back
part of the city, The gallows was of the rudest construc-
tion possible and consisted of a stout pole placed against
two trees standing about 15 feet apart and supported byw
forks, cut from other saplings to the height of about 12
feet from the ground, The condemned man was driven under
it in a cart, the ropes adjusted, and the car driven from
under them,"

A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY: THE EXECUTION, DEFE AND CRIME DF FELIX
KAMPF by John C, Neale, The Charleston (“, Va.) Daily &

Weekly Star, 1890, Page 10, See over


Aug 6] ZAt- {0
Slave ABRAHAM, hanged Buckingham County, Virginia, ° 9

"Capt. John Patterson, inspector at Horteley's Warehouse, Dingwidsville, in Virginia,
was lately murdered by Abram, a negro slave, his property, By the confession of this
wretched culprit, he had long meditated this cnuel deed, which he perpetrated

in the most shocking manner, by striking him with a garden hoe, and afterwards

stoning him to death, He said his resentment arose from his master's punish-

ing him for a misdemeanor of which he had been guilty. Capt, Patterson possessed every
quality that eonstitutes a good citizen and amiable member of society, After

this offender was hanged, his head was struck off, and exhibited on a pole in

view of the warehouse where he was employed,"" REX ISTER, Raleigh, NC, Sept. 23,

1800 (3/3)

This case is detailed in the VIRGINIA ARGUS, Sept. 5, 1800; A
condensed version (by Hearn) follows: Abram, alias Abraham, was a slave
of Capt. John Patterson, Inspector of Horsley's Warehouse in the

town of Diguidsville, Buckingham County. His daily routine con-

sisted of working at the warehouse with his master. But he nursed a
grudge because of a reprimand and on August 19, 1800, while on the way
home from work with his master, he nacked Patterson to death with a hoe
and bashed his head in with a rock. He was apprehended and confessed
on the same day. THE VIRGINIA ARGUS article states that he had
already been executed in Buckingham County and his head fixed atop a
pole, 2) feet high, near Horsley's warehouse.

The following ins condensed from the Auditor's Ree@ords, Box },

Item 153, 1801 envelope, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, but
the dates, with the possible exception of the date on which the
Sherif? attested execution for compensation purposes are wrong:
Slave Abraham, the property of Jon Pattbrson, deceased,

Tried in Buckingham County Court on 10-12-1801, for the mur#er

of his master, and valued st 100 pounds. The Sheriff attested

execution but did not give the date,


Slave ABRAHAM

See Other Side.

Slave Abraham, the property of John Patter: deceased, \
~~~“?ried in Buckingham County Court™o1 <10=12=1801) for the : :
____Murder of his master, and. valued. at 100 pounds.—-The-—__— \

Sheriff attested exccution 12-1-1801, but did not give \r

~ date of execution which was probably in November, 1801. ay

“Archives of Virginia, Auditor's Records, Box h, Item

(v
\
— 153, 1601 “envelope.” Xt? /;

¥


ABRAHAM (Slave) Hanged Ve A tyeg

"1772= Abraham, runaway Negro from Goochland, broke into
John Baylor's stable, stole horse and clething - HUNG,"
COLONIAL CAROLINE, A HISTORY OF CAROLINE COUNTY, VIRGINIA,
phe Ee Campbell: Richmond: Dietz Press, Ince, 195h; page
33h

Case found in Cartline Cately Order Goh (1170-(774)
peje H19- Save + Edmund Curd of Coohland

County Purglary. Abratans value « J0-

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Nghe een apa oo Mie _ 3428-1913.
Claude: and Floyd, whites, electrocuted Virginia (MA®XMXX County) on

Page 14B, Thursday, July 1, 1976, The Carroll News Bicentennial Edition, Hillsville, Virginia

Hillsville Courtho
Shocked World B

(Editor’s Note: The followin;
: article appeared in the Roanok:
Times November 19, 1961 anc
was written by Ben Beagle
Times Staff Writer. The
information was submitted tc
The Carroll News by Roy Davis
of Hillsville, to be included in
the Bicentennial Edition).
March #4, 1912, and the
weather is bad. The month i:
Western Virginia’s Blue Ridge
country is spiteful, refusing tof
Jet go and let spring come. I: |.
makes the roads bad and the
day gloomy. ae
Circuit Judge Thornton L
Massie will convene his court a
“4 Hillsville early this morning, ar
<= hour before the usual time fo:
S +- the formalities. He will conven:
“— dt early because there ar

4 gumors of trouble in Hillsville.
rumors which spread like dark
streamers from Floyd Allen, the
mountain man who will be
found guilty this morning of
what his friends and relatives
conclude to be a minor offense.

But Floyd Allen, a proudand |"
well-to-do mountain man, will
get one year in jail. 1p
Zt : z Judge Massie convenes his
ee Saas ats) ; ; “ ’ court early, hoping to get the
| oe eee Pek ge wee f , . e ; or 1 Allen case out of the way before
| 7 BE ai die ee EM .. me sgl ecfay Sooo SE e the crowds gather, but he may;

‘ é , f, » as well have gone on with the
rs a.m. opening. When Floyd
Allen, a neat, handsome man
with a broad mustache, sits with
his attorney in the small railed
enclosure in front of the bench,
the courtroom will be full. ..,

Last time for Judge Massie
‘ For Judge Massie, it will
Caen the last time he will run
mf the practice, formalistic a
: very old procedures of the law
Shortly after he prou
sentence on Floyd Allen he
be dead. .

‘The jury, which got the ca:
yesterday, files in from 7
= overnight stay at the hotel, a
~<a comes out now with a gui

ene verdict. In the courtroo
where they have been a
spectators since the tria
started--are several of th
prisoner's ' relatives—-Sidn
Allen, the brother, Claud:

—— |

ctavp ALLEN

sr 0 tear se aker Hutchins with horse and buggy.


He made a fire in the sample room that opened on the
front porch and set up acot. Soon they brought Floyd in
and stretched him out on the narrow bed.

Victor stayed with him and Mrs. Edwards and Byrd Marion.
Out on the road, Cabel Strickland had heard about the
shooting. He threw his gun in some bushes and turned his
horse toward Hillsville. There he found Floyd and remained
to help. Later Jasper came to see his brother but he was
Sick and did not stay long.

Terror and pandemonium pervaded Hillsville and miles
around. Men, women, and children hastened ta the
courthouse as to a fortress for protection. Word got
around that the Allens were coming back to get Fisoyd and
shoot up everybody who was left. Men jumped on their
horses and fanned out in Beaver Creek valley to spread the
news and get help. Some reached the telegraph office at
Betty Baker and sent word of the shooting to Richmond. They
said one telephone line into Hillsville, was cut, but later
this was found to be a mistake.

DETECTIVE MADE CHARGE

The news reached Richmond within an hour but it was near
nightfall before it was to be effective. Governor W. M.
Mann sent Judge Waller 5B. Staples, of Roanoke, to
re-organize the court and Fioyd Landreth was appointed to
take the place of Commonwelath Attorney Foster. The judge
was not able to get to Hilisville until the day following

but in the meanwhile, members of the Baldwin-Felts
detective agency, some of them mountain men from Galax and
Roanoke, had arrived. Governor Mann had telephone

instructions to them to take charge and on coming to the
Village, they had stationed themselves near the Elliott
House where Floyd lay. They had made a big bonfire in the
street for warmth while they watched. Three national guard
officers from Roanoke with 150 rifles and ammunition made
ready to do their duty in Carroll County.

& reward of $35,000 was immediately offered by Governor
Mann. for the Allens, “dead or alive."

Thirty citizens were armed to patrol the town until
Judge Staples could establish order and deputize them
according to law.

MANY FALSE RUMORS

"Through ten or twelve years the Allens had done as they
Pleased” — Through years they have ruled and terrorized
their.-part of the county" —- "Five hundred Winchester
_€artridges had been bought at Pulaski the week befoe and
sent to Hillsvilile” (but the Allens ail used revolvers or
pistols) - "Floyd Allen had on a Bullet proof vest" (but


nobody found one when they undressed him, even though three
different men claimed to have shot four times apiece and
aimed point-blank at Floyd’s heart. Why wasn’t he killed,
if he didn’t have on a breastplate?)

"No Allen ever was arrested while he could fight and

none ever will be" - Sidna Allen saw men running in the
streets and thought they needed shooting at."

DARKNESS, DEATH AND FEAR

There was a lot of talk and a lot of fear. After dark
the streets of Hillsville were dotted with lights of many
lanterns, like fireflies in the murky light except for the
one big flame of the detectives’ bonfire. In two houses,
families were having their dead prepared for burial. In
another, a daughter was dying, and in another, a husband
had only a few hours to live. In still other homes, there
were men not expected toa survive. Judge Massie lay in
state, waiting to be carried next morning to Galax, the
nearest railroad point, where a special train would take
him to him home in Pulaski.

The rain spattered down and the mud slushed under the
feet of the patroling men, around the hooves of the horses.
Houses were locked and barred — perhaps for the first time
in the history of the village.

But the Allens were harmless -— those who were left in
Hillisville.


large part of the country. Hillsville had taken on the
aspect of a besieged village. Every man went around armed
and the town bristled with carbines brought from a national
guard armory. The town and county became the unwilling
stage for a drama that was to make the first page of
Virginia newspapers for months, driven off only be the
Sinking of the Titanic, and by the nomination, election and
inauguration of its native son. Woodrow Wilson, as
President of the United States.

& few of the Baldwin-Felts detectives arrived on the
night of the fourteenth and by seven o’clock the next
morning they were coming in full force. Chiefs of the
organization were men from southwest Virginia and large
numbers of their employees were working for mine owners in

the coalifields of Virginia and West Virginia. "Strike
breakers," they were called. Members of the new court
appeared to deputize the detectives and others. By then

the story had troken in the large newspapers and some
thirty-odd reporters descended on the little village from
Chicago, New York, Washington, Balitimore, Richmond, and
smaller centers. The one telephone wire out of Hillsville
Was a scene of frantic and futile efforts on the part of
officers and newsmen alike. Attmepts were made to bring a
telegraph line the next week.

MEDAL FOR JEZEBEZ GOAD

Early in the case a Richmond paper started a fund toa
provide a medal for Jezebell Goad, daughter of Dexter, who
was reported to have handed her father a gun in the
courtroom and loaded his pistols at the door of his office
as he needed them. Mrs. Mann led the drive for
contributions and designed the medal, an inscription on one
Side, and the Virginia seal on the other. It was presented
to the embarrassed Miss Goad a few weeks after her father
testified that she had not performed the heroics attributed
to her.

The detectives arived in force and spead out into the
hills on borrowed horsess many of the men being unused to
good mounts, ruined the highsteppers of the mountains.

E. CC. Payne, one of the detectives. was in the West
Virginia coalfields when his chief fT. Low Felts, phoned him
from Roancke and told him to take the first train cut and
meet him in Hillsville.

“T’?m miles from the nearest railroad station and got no
way of getting there," was Payne’s objection.

"Yes. I can slide if necessary, " came back the
enthusiastic answer, and Payne got out afoot, with his bag
in one hand and his rifle in the other.

CHAPTER 14

“HEADLINES AND INVASION", EDITOR WAS THE UNDERTAKER

"Send troops to the county of Carroll at once. Mob
violence. Court, Commonwealth’s attorney, Sheriff. some
jurors and other shot on the conviction of Floyd Allen for
a felony. Sheriff and Comonwealth’s attorney dead: (hurt
serious - Dexter Goad, Clerk, Circuit Court" -— Telegram
sent to Governor William M. Mann, in Richmond, March 14,
19i2.

The distrust between lowlands and highlands, the
ignorance of the remote wilderness on the part of the
dwellers in city and coastal country made ripe the

opportunity to publicize, dramatize, and misinterpret the
Hilisville happenings.

Seon after the telegram was laid on Governor Mann’s
desk, the newspapers had a story about the shooting and the
appointment of the Baldwin-Felts detective agency, a
privately owned and operated concern, to take charge of the
Situation and instigate a search.

The last extra of the Richmond evening paper announced a
few hours later that the “Allen Gang Is Escaping Through
the Mountains —- Shot five Men to Death in Carroll," and
assassins off to mountains." In the body of one of the
front page stories, "Floyd Allen, leader of the gang,” was
said tao be the most dangerous man in Carroll County." &A
description of the shooting had it that "Floyd Allen,
fighting like a fiend and encouraging his friends with
deep, blood-curdling shouts, was shot three times, and fell
to the floor under the mass of struggling men."

Every thirty minutes telegrams went out to the governor
and news spread over the country telling of the "Allen
Gang" and the Assassins." A&A week later, the tragedy was
reenacted by a motion picture company. Photographers came
in to make postcards and hawk them about the land.

NO "CARROLL-JOURNAL”" ISSUED

The editor of the "Carroll Journal", published in
Hillsville, got no paper cut for the fourteenth. He wrote
in the next issue, “the Journal failed to appear last week,
owing to the fact the editor being an undertaker at this
Place had to use our force to help care for the dead of
last Thursday’s tragedy.” His headlines were "THE HORRIBLE
MUDER OF OUR COURT OFFICIALS BY THE ALLEN AND EDWARDS
CLANS."

Hilisville and Carroll County, Llong-neglected, had
finally become the center of attention for Virginia and a

ALO
CHAPTER 19
“PREPARING FOR TRIALS FIND THE
COURT OFFICIALS IN & SPOT”

CLAUDE — YOUNG, GOOD LOOKING AND BRILLIANT

Although Floyd’s trial was to lead off the series of
cases, it was Claude who held the attention of the public.
As the scores of witness jurors, lawyers, and prisoners
moved about the court from day to day and week to week, he
became the dominating figure. He was not the youngest -
Friel and one of the Edwards both had fewer years than he.
Both Friel and Sidna Edwards were probably as good-looking.
There was something else about Claude to bring despair to
his friends and to rile his opponents. He was “young, fair
and handsome." He was in love with a nice girl and he was
respectiful to his parents -- all virtures with great
appeal. He was the mainstay of Floyd, to whom old age and
iliness had come suddenly along with a broken heart because
of the evil that had fallen upon his boys.

"A Brilliant fellow," they said of Claude, and told how
his untrained mind had gripped the Bible passages as he
read to his father in prison. Floyd’s glasses had been
taken from him, the authorities fearing a self-injury after
the attempt at suicide in Hilsville. He “couldn’t see to do

no geod withouten his specs” and Claude automatcally
memorized chapter upon chapter of Holy writ. With “the law”
against him, Claude showed only respect and courtesy -—- as

through he were caught in a web beyond his comprehension.

The chilly, dreary afternoon of April 22, the prisoners
and their party got off the train from Roanoke at Hlair
(Cliffview) and were entertained at the home of Detective
Tom Felts while they waited for transportation to
Hillsville, i535 miles away. Floyd, in his plaster cast had
to be carried. As guests of the office, they had a good
meal and listened ta the music of a graphophone. Later
three hacks and two surreys pulled up before the
detective’s big house to take them to Hillsville, Floyd was
laid on the floor of a hack and handcuffed to officers and
surrounded by men who were mounted and carrying carbines,
made up the rest of the procession as it splashed through
the mist and slush. Crowds came out as word got around of
their approach, in spite of rain and the cold and the
oncoming night.

In the dismal twilight, Wesley Smith and Cabell
Strickland met the parade at the jail, and the detectives
feared attempt was being made to the Allens from their
custody. storm the brick building, or get guns toa the
prisons. Payne told of beating up several of the party and
arresting others, chasing them out of town, in spite of
warning by the defense attorney. Somebody else said Smith


was drunk and was locked up briefly for that charge. The
gun smuggling idea was hooted at.

PROMINENT LAWYERS FOR THE PROSECUTION AND DEFENSE

Attorneys for the prosecution were J. C. Wysor, W. 5S.
Poage, J. S. Draper, Stuart Campbell and F. Floyd Landreth,
who had been Commonwealth Attorney to take the place of
Foster, a victim of the shooting. The defense consisted of
W. WW. Coxe and C. FF. Cocke, appointed by the court after
the Allen property had been attached and they were left
without funds. R. Holman Willis, Judge N. H. Hairston, and
Judge N. FP. Oglesby later joined the defense. This latter
group changed personnel from time to time as the trials
progressed, but the prosecution continued the same. Waller
R. Staples was trial judge in place of A. A. Campbell,
successor to Massie, who was disqualified.

Upon arraignment, the prisoners elected to be tried
separately and on one charge at a time. The atorneys for
the defense had the cases transferred to Wytheville, seat
of Whythe County, some 20 miles away, across New River and
over the Blue Ridge on a high airy plateau. Wytheville was
larger than Hilisville, on the direct route southward
through Tennessee and on to New Orleans. [It had been a
railroad center, had street lights, telephone and telegraph
systems, and was a market point for the vast rich farmlands
on the high land between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian
ranges.

COURT OFFICIALS ON THE SPOT

It was brought out that since the Carroll court
officiais had participated in the shooting, the trial could
not be held in Hillsville and furthermore, the court found
itself in a peculiar situation -- if it admitted the
shooting, just about as many members would be involved as
there were Allens and if it failed to admit it, the
officials could be charged with neglect and inefficiency.

Preparations were made to take the prisoners to
Wytheville, where at another special Grand Jury session,
indictments were to be made for the third time on April 2.
The original papers had been lost, testified Clerk Goad,
whose woulded neck had about healed.

Mrs. Floyd Allen frail and clad in black as always
afterwards, visited her husband, two son, and the other
prisoners at the Hillsville jail. Floyd had said, "I’ve
got a good wife —- I wish I’da done as she said and I
wouldn’t have got into this trouble." He was suffering
with his badly set leg and other wounds, with toothache,
neuralgia, and rheumatism. The tan of outdoor like had
faded into the wan pallor of confinement.


Mrs. Allen had left her daughter-in-law, Victor’s wife
and their three little children at home. They lived in a
box house om 200 acres adjoining his father’s land and the
two women had planned they would take turn in visiting the
jail on alternate days, Mrs. Floyd first, then Mrs. Victor.
The latter’s turn would come the next day. but by that
time, the prisoners were on their way to Galax to catch the
train to Wytheville.


CHAPTER 20

FLOYD’S TRIAL OPENS, ALSO
CLUADE’S GETS UNDERWAY

HUNDREDS FLOCK TO WYTHEVILLE

Floyd’s case was set for Tuesday, April 30, and he was
to be tried for the murder of Commonwealth Foster. Ail the
counties around Wythe and Carrol poured out their peopie
for the event. In ox drawn wagons, equipped with stoves,
beds, and provisions for man and beast they came. In
buggies and surreys, in wagons large and small. Some rode
horseback, some came on wiry, shaggy mountain ponies, and
others walked —- from as far away as 40 miles and looked no
worse for it,” commented the newsmen from the paved
streets of big far-off cities in wonderment. Court was the
time for trading and selling and there would be crowds when
the Allens were tried. People swarmed the streets of
Wytheville and camped on the big lawn in front of the gray
brick courthouse. The citizens of the town appeared to be
as scared as those in Hillisville, at first, but that failed
to prevent the gathering in the courtroom and along the
streets to observe the procession of prisoners and guards
as they passed from the jail, a block and a half away, to
the court house and back again -—- twice a day.

A circus was performing at Wytheville and beyond their
hars the prisoners could see the color and lights and hear
the brass bands and calliope.

Floyd was still unable to walk and although he had five
guards and was taken from jail to court and court to jail
in a motorcar, he was heard to remark one day. "If I had
two good legs, I’d jump out of this here automobile and go
to the hotel and get dinner," a sample of the mountaineer’s
humor, taken to imply an escape attempt in some quarters.

A block away was the elegant Fourth Avenue Hotel. a
three-story white building with an mansard roof. There,
the jury was housed and there some of the lawyers gathered
to discuss the proceedings. Members of the prosecution and
Judge Staples had quarters in one of the old homes, high
columned and dignified.

SELECTION OF A JURY

when court opened on April 30, five venires were
summoned before a sufficient number of jurors were sworn in
on the first of May. Finally, nine farmers and three
merchants qualified.

Floyd was charged with murdering Commonwealth’s Attorney
Foster. Past threats were introduced, Sam Weddell


Many costs were not included, such as the judge’s salary
at $10 a day and his expenses, the pay of the veniremen who
did not serve, and others. Nor was the cost ta the
families listed, nor the price paid by the five windows and
the 30- odd fatherless children who were left. There were
also the costs paid by the state - at least $37,000 for the
detectives, for rewards, and other incidentais. Then,
there were attorney fees - £17,500 asked for by the
prosecution. In the legislative session of 1914 an award
was made for #14,000 to pay the lawyers. The bill
succeeded in the Senate by a vote of one and in the House
by five.

TRINKLE AND BYRD ISSUE PARDONS

The years passed quietly over the graves of Floyd and
Claude and the four men in the penitentiary became known as
model prisoners. Constantly there were movement ta have
them released. Finally, Governor E€. Lee Trinkle pardoned
FRIEL ALLEN AND SIDNA EDWARDS ON OCTOBER 6, 1922 AND FOUR
YEARS LATER SIDNA ALLEN AND WESLEY EDWARDS WERE RELEASED ON
APRIL 29, 19245 BY GOVERNOR HARRY F. BYRD.

In the pardons for the men an odd phrase occurred —
“peculiar conditions." Concerning Sidna Allen, there was
the paragraph —

“WHEREAS, it appears toa the Executive that upon the
application of thousands of citizens, this man having
served about thirteen and one-half years and made an
excellent prisoner and feeling that under all the
circumstances and also by reson of the peculiar conditions
surrounding the case that he has probably been sufficiently
punished as to warrant giving him another chance, and that
he is a fit subject for clemency ---"

What was meant — "by reson of the peculiar conditions?”
MRS. FLOYD ALLEN DIES SHORTLY AFTER TRIAL

None of the four returned home ta Fancy Gap and
Hililsville. Their homes and storehouses had long since been
put up for public sale to pay the court costs. Two moved
to other states and two found jobs in larger cities. Even
Yictor gave up his home and took his mother out of sound
and hearing of the tragedy. Not long after the trial, Mrs.
Fioyd Allen died, "far from her Carroll County hilis,”
haunted and broken hearted, in a strange land, grieving for
her husband and son.

LAST OF THE ALLENS DIED AT A REST HOME IN WYTHEVILLE
SPECIAL NOTE FROM ENTERPRISE EDITOR -- The following

story is taken from the January 24, 1943 edition of the
ENTERPRISE.

OF VIRGINIA” -—- that was the way they said it read, but

years have passed since the words were chiseled
stone.

out of the

ADL?
CHAPTER 28

PARDONS GRANTED BY GOVERNOR E. LEE
TRINKLE & HARRY F. BYRD

In the courthouse at Hilisville two plaques were placed,
one on each side of the judge’s desk in the courtroom that
has long since been renovated. The first honors Judae
Massie and the second, the others who were killed.

On the steps leading down on the southwest corner are
two holes —- a brick partly shot away and a bullet scar in
one of the risers are pointed out to the curious. For
months after the shooting, holes were gouged in the walis
and steps and anywhere else that might shelter a bullet.

In the courthouse at Wytheville a plaque similar to that
across the mountains in Carroll County was likewise
“erected by the State Bar Association of Virginia, as a
memorial of the legal accomplishments, the fidelity to
duty, and the courage unto death of Thornton Lemmon Massie,
Judge of the Twenty-First Virginia Circuit who was
assassinated."

COST IN THE CASE OF FLOYD were:

Attendance of witnesses $1,723.60
Jury (panel of 16) 335.45
Keep of jury 2790.00
Sheriff and Deputy, waiting

on the court 144.00
For summoning the venire 14.00
For guarding jury 20.00
For summoning 124 witnesses 24.00
Attorney i900
Clerk Za
Total $2,558.35

IN THE CASE OF CLAUDE:

Attendance of witnesses $ 356.50
Jury (panel of 16) 220,00
Keep of jury i80.00
Sheriff and Deputy. waiting

on the Court 86.00
For summoning the venire i9.00
For guarding jury 20.00
For summoning 64 witnesses 12.40
Attorney 19.006
Clerk ham
Total $1,097.40

HEEEEEEEREEEREEHEEHEEEEEHEEESE

The last remaining member of the well-known Allen family
of Carroll County, children of the last Jeremiah and Nancy
Combs Allen died on January i7 at the age of 74. Elder
Garland Perry Alen, had been a resident of Virginia’s Rest
Home in Wytheville for the past few years. He was the
youngest of the seven Allen brothers. Death had claimed in
former years, Floyd Allen, Sidna Allen, Jasper (Jack)
Alien, Washington Allen and Anderson Allen.

Mr. Allen was a Primitive Baptist minister for more than
30 years, and until up in the 1940’s operated a mercantile
business near Fancy Gap and later in Galax.

Garland Allen was born on September 24, 1868, a tlittie
less than three and one-half years after the close of the
Civil War and practically in the midst of the South’s
memorable periad of Reconstruction. His father served the
Confederate States of America throughout the four years of
the Civil War. His oldest brother, Anderson Allen, is said
to have been killed during the war while serving as a4
soldier of the Confederacy. It is said also that one of
his direct Allen ancestors was a soldier in the
Revolutionary War. .

The last years of Elder Allen’s life, before moving to
the rest home in Wytheville, were spent in the home of his
son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Paul L. Cox, who
reside just east of th Spivey Hill section, Galax.

The above THE STORY OF “BOTH SIDES --- FATAL DOOM OF THE
ALLENS appeared in the SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA ENTERPRISE
starting with chapter ii from October 4, 178i to January
26, 197Bd;

ugitive?”

“But it
2 posses,
ht away
boys go
eep the
e work

@ posses

dropped

the va-

a mes-
needed.

‘S were
hooves

Private Detectives Thomas Felts (left) and Colonel Al
Baldwin were commissioned to track down the clansmen.

Baldwin and Felts saw a shadowy fig-
ure steal up to the Floyd Allen home.
From their hiding place in brush across
a narrow dirt road, the detectives
watched the man open a side door and
enter. A light appeared inside.

The officers waited patiently for a
almost half an hour, and then saw the
figure leave as stealthily as it had come.

. They followed. A couple of hundred

yards down the road he untied a horse
from a rail fence, and rode away at a
slow trot. oe

Dashing back to their own mounts,
the detectives gave chase, taking care
not to alarm the rider they followed.

In the bright moonlight they saw him
turn into the main road between Hills-
ville and Mount Airy. For more than
five miles they pursued him southward.
Then on the outskirts of Lambsburg, a
small village at the foot of the moun-
tains, the rider reined his horse sharply
before a ramshackle inn,
- Yellow lights glowed in the gray
clapboard building. A hostelry for al-
most a century, the inn now rarely took
guests, the officers knew, although its
taproom was a favorite haunt of moun-
tain oldsters.

The detectives waited until the door
closed behind the man they were fol-
lowing, and then followed him. inside.

Two Captured

With revolvers drawn, Baldwin and
Felts confronted the startled proprietor.
He was alone... ~

“We're looking for the man who just
came in,” snapped the colonel. “Where
is he?” ae

The proprietor’s eyes narrowed as the
detectives flashed their badges. “Right
upstairs,” he replied. “First room to
your left on the second floor.”

Baldwin and Felts advanced cau-—

tiously up the steep stairway.
’ The colonel knocked on the locked
door, but there was no response. “Come
on out!” he roared, “Or we'll blast this
door off its hinges!” se .
For answer two bullets tore through
the wooden panels from inside, nar-

“srowly missing the officers as they
“Sducked. Baldwin and Felts riddled the
a in reply, but their fire drew, no

es

further shots.

Baldwin kicked the lock from the
door. Spurning danger, he and Felts
dashed inside and wrested two re-
volvers from husky young Victor Allen,
eldest son of Floyd. Cursing, he sub-
mitted to handcuffs.

On the old brass bed, pale as a ghost
and too weak to hold a gun, lay Floyd
Allen, his chest swathed in bandages

‘torn from a sheet. He had been seri-

ously wounded in the courtroom battle.

“A smart hideout,” wryly observed
the colonel as he inspected the old man’s
wounds. “Who would look for a fugitive
mountaineer in bed ata hotel?”

“Tf I could }.id a gun,” said Floyd
bitterly, his voice barely above a whis-
per, “you all wouldn’t be here to. say
that.”

Borrowing a wagon from the inn
proprietor, the detectives took their
prisoners back to Hillsville. ;

In the Carroll County jail, Floyd and
his son were grilled relentlessly all
through the night, but they steadfastly
refused to divulge the whereabouts of
the other fugitives or to admit that the
wholesale slaughter in the courthouse
had been premeditated.

“Sheriff Webb was out to get us the
day I was sentenced,” the old man
declared. ‘“We heard he brought 100
rounds of ammunition to court, so us
folks was prepared. The deputies fired
first. We couldn’t do nothin’ but shoot
back.”

Young Victor swore that he had not
even been armed that morning. He had
come to court, he insisted, only as a
witness for his father. This was mani-
festly untrue, since the elder Allen
already had been convicted, and no
further witnesses would be heard.

With two of the eight fugitives in

custody, the officers spurred their hunt

for the others. Deputies led packs of
bloodhounds to the roadside inn in an
effort to pick up a trail. But the dogs,
after striking out in several directions,
could not pick up a definite trace.
The day after the capture of Floyd
and Victor one of the wounded jurors
—Fowler—lost his battle to live. His
death brought the murder toll to five.

In a strongly worded telegram to

Bi 4

‘need _ supplies:

Baldwin, Governors Mann again de-
manded that: every one of the slayers
be captured, dead or alive. The gover-
nor posted additional rewards of $1,000
each for the capture of Sidna Allen,
leader of the clan now that Floyd was
locked up, his nephew Wesley Edwards,
and Floyd’s youngest son Claude. Wit-
nesses declared these three were the
first to shoot.

“I’m afraid,” Baldwin told Felts, “that
we'll have to try a new angle now.
After what happened to Victor, it’s
doubtful if the families will send any
more messengers to the men who are
hiding out.”

Felts nodded, then cocked his head.
“I’m not so sure. The others will still
The Allens are just
daring enough to try it again.”

Four More In Custody.

Tom Felts was right. On Friday after-
noon, March 22, a tall young moun-
taineer limped through the streets of
Lambsburg. He was a stranger. A
grocer telephoned the sheriff's office at

Hillsville, reporting the youth’s ap--

pearance. Colonel Baldwin received the

call. '

“Sounds like a description of Sidna
Edwards,” said the veteran investigator.
“He recently burned his left foot in the
explosion of a still. We'll be right
down.” SK

The two private sleuths and a posse
of deputies mounted horses and rode
southward to Lambsburg. The grocer
said he had last observed the man
limping out of town on foot, headed for
the Face Mountains. .

Two miles out of the village the’

possemen_ overtook their quarry. He
was Sidna Edwards, unshaven, weary,
bewildered and in great pain from his
swollen foot, which had become in-
fected. He surrendered without any
attempt to resist.

The eldest of Sidna Allen’s nephews
admitted that the other fugitives had
sent him down to Lambsburg for some
badly-needed supplies. But true to the
mountain code, he refused to betray
their whereabouts. He insisted that he
had fired none of the shots in the court-
room, but had (Continued on page 49)

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Avenging Virginia’s
Courtroom Massacre

(Continued from page. 23)

accompanied the clan purely out of family
loyalty. ;

On the following day the officers were
surprised when two more of the outlaws
appeared at their homes, denying they had
been evading the law. They were Jack
Allen, second brother of old Floyd, and the
cousin, Byrd Marion. They submitted to
arrest, and insisted that they had fired no
guns in court. They explained their ab-

-sence after the massacre by claiming that

they were looking for the other fugitives
J an effort to persuade them to surren-

er. .

This left four of the Allen clan still at
large—Sidna Allen, his nephew Wesley
Edwards, Floyd’s ‘son Claude, and Jack’s
17-year-old boy Friel. Of the quartet,
only young Friel seemed to have a clean
record,

Because of this Colonel Baldwin went
to work on the youth’s father. Ingrained
as he was with loyalty to the clan, Jack.
Allen’s concern for his son’s safety was
stronger.

“We can offer you nothing,” Baldwin
told Jack. “But we do say this—when the
bunch of you go on trial for murder, any-
thing you might have done to help the
law will weigh heavily on your side before
the jury. And that Se for your boy
ary It seems a shame to ruin his
ife.

The colonel’s appeal turned the trick.
“All right,” said Jack Allen, staring at the
floor. ““I’ll tell you where you can find the
others. They’re across the border in Caro-
lina. If you'll give me paper and a pencil
Yll draw you a map that will lead you
straight to their base.”

Friel came in and gave up. Five days
later, on March 29, the detectives and a

osse headed by Sheriff Haynes of Surry

ounty, N. C., descended on a woodland

lair three miles from Mount Airy. They
surprised Claude Allen, stretched out on
the bags for a midday nap, and pounced
on him before he could reach for his
weapons nearby.

Wesley Had a Girl

The thicket was well stocked with food,
arms and ammunition. However, Sidna
Allen and Wesley Edwards, two of the
most desperate clansmen of all, were
nowhere to be seen. Claude’s horse was
found a few yards away, but their mounts
had vanished. ;

“You'll never find ’em,” sneered Claude,
straining at the handcuffs on his wrists.

-“They’re miles from here by now, for

sure. ‘

Days and weeks passed as the detec-
tives and the deputies searched in vain for
the two remaining fugitives. Meanwhile
the Carroll County court reconvened with
a-new iuflst. Judes Walter. R. Staples of
Roanoke—presiding. The jurymen, wit-
nesses and spectators gazed with awe at
the scores of bullet holes in the white
walls and ceiling and at the ugly blood-
stains on the floor, grim reminders of the
tragic slaughter of March 14. ;

The grand jury returned first degree
murder indictments against every one of
the fugitives except Jack Allen, who had
aided the state. Separate trials were: or-
dered, with that of old Floyd set first,
early in .May. ‘

By the middle of April Baldwin and
Felts had become convinced that Sidna

{|-Allen and Wesley Edwards had fled to
Yanother part of the country. . If,.so,-the,

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detectives knew their only hope was to

ick up the trail through some clue the
ugitives might unwittingly have left be-
hind,

“They’re too: smart to write letters

back to ‘their families,” reasoned Colonel
Baldwin. “Indeed, I doubt if old Sidna
can write, although I know young Wesley
can.
“The nephew is our best bet, all right,”
‘agreed Felts. ‘“He’d be more apt to take ¢
chance than his uncle. But if he didn’t
communicate with his folks, who would he
write to?”

Baldwin’s gray eyes twinkled. “Wesley
was supposed to be quite a ladies’ man.
Maybe he’s got a steady girl who’s receiv-
ing mail from him.”

His partner grinned. “Seems to me I
heard he spent a lot of time down around
Mount Airy.”

That afternoon the detectives rode to the
Surry County seat where they found Sher-
iff Haynes eager to assist them. “I’ve seen
Wesley Edwards here on many a week-
end,” he declared, “and I’ve seen him with
girls. ‘We'll soon find out if he was sparkin’
one more than the others.”

Inquiries developed that Edwards had
courted pretty blonde Mabel Iden. They
were engaged to be married, although the
date had not yet been set.

Miss Iden was quick to defend her
sweetheart. Her ivory cheeks flushed with
anger, she indignantly declared that her
fiance could have had no part in the
actual shooting.

“He’s just a hot-headed mountain boy,”
she insisted. “Naturally he’s loyal to his
kinfolks. But he don’t carry a gun. He’s
not a killer!”

“If he’s innocent,” the colonel gravely
pointed out, “he should have no reason to
evade the law. Miss Iden, you must be
honest with us. Have you seen Wesley or
had nag J word from him?”

Her long lashed lids fluttered.
tainly have not!” she replied.

The detectives saw that the loyalty of
this coy young belle'to her husband-to-be
was so intense that she would not have
told them the truth if she believed it
would harm Wesley Edwards. The
quickly returned to the office of Sheri
Haynes.

“If Edwards does write to her, we feel
sure she’ll never tell us,” said Baldwin.
“Our only alternative is to keep her under
— surveillance and to intercept her
mail.”

“I cer-

Watch Mail

Haynes helped to persuade the local
postmaster that the capture of two dan-
gerous criminals hinged upon their access
to the girl’s mail. The postmaster ob-
tained formal permission from Washington
for this. ;

Two more weeks went by without re-
sult. Mabel Iden was shadowed every-
where she went and her home was watched
day and night. Every letter addressed to
her was opened, read and resealed. Ap-
parently she had been telling the truth
when she said she had received no word
from her fugitive fiance.

Meanwhile old Floyd Allen was placed
on trial before Judge Staples and a jury
in Wythe County court at nearby Wythe-
ville, by mutual consent of the prosecution
and defense. The change of venue was
intended to reduce the possibility of either
prejudice or intimidation, and to minimize
the likelihood of another outbreak. This
time all persons were searched before
entering the courtroom.

On May 17 the jury found Floyd Allen
guilty of first degree murder in the slaying
of Judge Massie. The prisoner, weeping in
despair, was sentenced to die in the elec-
tric chair at Richmond, but execution

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was postponed to permit him to testify
at later hearings of his kinsmen.

Claude’s trial followed swiftly. On June
1 the jury convicted him of second degree
murder in the death of Judge Massie and
recommended a 15-year prison term. But
before sentence he was put on trial again
—this time for the slaying of Prosecutor
Foster—and convicted of murder in the
first degree! Like his father, he was sen-
tenced to die but was given an indefinite
reprieve to testify at later trials.

On August 17, before trial, Sidna Ed-
wards and Friel Allen pleaded guilty to
second degree murder and were sentenced
to 15-year terms in the penitentiary. Short-
‘ly afterward Victor Allen was tried and
acquitted, while Byrd Marion was dis-
charged for lack of evidence. .

During the hot summer months Detec-
tives Baldwin and Felts, with another of

the colonel’s ace: operatives, Detective
Jim Lucas, continued to shadow Mabel
Iden and to read her mail. Early in Sep-

.tember their patient efforts were rewarded.
A letter from Wesley Edwards, post-
marked Des Moines, was intercepted. The
envelope contained $100 in $10 bills, and a
fervent letter begged the girl to come to
Iowa and marry him!

The detectives carefully replaced the
money and the letter in the envelope, re-
sealed. it and then allowed it to be deliv-
ered.

During the next few days the investi-
gators observed Miss Iden in a flurry of
activity us she shopped for a modest
trousseau, bought her railroad ticket and
packed her bags.

When she boarded the train the detec-
tives were not far behind. Little did she
suspect on her arrival in Des Moines the
warm morning of September 14 that the
same train carried the men who wanted
her fiance for murder.

The blonde took a hansom directly to
‘ a rooming house at Eleventh and Locust
Streets, the place named by Edwards. The
detectives followed in another rig.

At the door Mabel asked the estat
for “Joe Jackson,” the alias under whic
Wesley had written he was living. “I—I’m
to marry him tonight,” she added with a
nervous smile.

“Why, bless your soul!” responded the

landlady. “Come right in and sit down in
the living room. I think Jog is out working
at his job on the paving gang, but I’ll see

.if I can’t reach him.”

Moments later the detectives rang the
bell. At the sight of uniformed Chief
Peter Jenney of the local police, who ac-
companied them, the rooming house keeper

aled.

” Confronted by the officers, Miss Iden
fainted on the sofa.
vived the girl with a cold cloth and a glass
of water Baldwin spoke up. ;

“Does Jackson have a roommate?”

The landlady nodded. “You. mean Tom
Sayre—the big fellow. I think he’s up in
the room now.”

“Tell him we want to see him!” snapped
Chief Jenney. The landlady padded to
the foot of the stairs, with Mabel Iden
following, her face 'a mask of fright.

-you,” the landlady called.
“Yll be right down!” boomed a deep

voice.

The big man appeared at the head of the
stairs and stopped short, staring down into
the muzzles of the officers’ drawn re-
volvers. , It was Sidna Allen, leader of the
clan. He glanced sullenly from Mabel to
the detectives.

“We've got you, Sidna!” roared Colonel
Baldwin. “Reach for the ceiling and come
down peacefully, or you'll be a dead
man!”

Rane See Ne ROE. ei Sah

The big man grunted and slowly des-
cended with his arms in the alr, The

As the landlady re-:

“Oh, Mr. Sayre! -Some people to see.

you,

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Nae:
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Master, Detective

“Yes, Dad,” the child rephed.

“T am going away tomorrow.’

“Aw, gee, Dad, why don’t you come
back and stay with us?”

“T can't, son. l’ve got to be away
on business. But you know your
father Joves you, don't you!” There
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“Here is a sealed letter, Sonnyboy.
If anything happens while l’m gone,
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The boy's eyes widened in astonish-
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“But what's
Daddy?”

Ignoring the question, the man went
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the pantry. At times he had been
tempted to tell his mother about it;
but it was his father’s secret and his.
Most certainly he wouldn’t tell his
brother, Cliton, Ihe latter was 4

going to happen,

little more than a vear older, and acted
toward him as if he were already a
full-erown man. Besides, Chlitton and
his father didn’t: get along so well.
They kept out of each other’s way as
much as possible.

No; if he couldn't tell his mother

about the hidden note, he couldn’t tell

anybody. But nothing had happened;
and he’d have to give it back to his
father soon, anyway.

Wednesday morning eame, and at
nine-thirty James Clifton Abdell, mer-
chandise broker, walked down the steps

' his home on Lafayette Boulevard.
Ilis mien was jaunty, his step elastic,
and his face held an expression of satis-
faction that in the dancing hghts of his
eyes approached elation.

Suddenly, however, he seemed to
shrink within himself. Savagely he
pulled his hat down over his eyes.
Turning back to face the house he had
just left, he walked toward a hedge
and glanced over into a yard adjoining
it. For a while he waited. Then, re-
covering his poise, he turned again
toward the street and was soon speed-
ing away.

N R. ABDELL had had a shock; the

kind of shock that comes from
suddenly meeting the unexpected.
Something had happened that he had
not foreseen and he cringed in the
face of it.

His hands, which had:trembled when
he took the wheel of his car, grew quiet
and firm. He began to smile with the

carelessness of the wind in the trees

Faced with misleading clues and a seem-
ingly unsolvable enigma, investigating of-
ficers were grateful for the vital informa-
tion given by J. C. Palmer (below). His
evidence helped break the suspect’s alibi

(Top) One of the “suicide” notes supposedly written by Mrs. Abdell
to her two sons. It proved to be part of a killer’s evil scheme. Trag-
edy entered the lives of these boys, Bobby Abdel! (Jeft) and his

brother, Clifton, when their mother died under strange circumstances


PSPS her Reeser wreenet ene

erErcmmme

eee

SOLVING
VIRGINIA’S
“METERED
DEATH”
RIDDLE

rs

The mysterious death of
Audrey Abdell
(right) was believed to
be suicide, until alert de-
tectives came upona
more sinister solution

Mrs.

Fe: Atdell
I Hotel Harrineone
» Wash INGTON,

MASTER DETECTIVE, April, 1939

cree N fag Te ;
Alssays Rennbes Your

clad ¥ heves! ou

of And

N o Neath a

TALL, muscular man with blond hair and cold blue

eyes that fluctuated between expressions of keenness

and craftiness, walked nervously backward and for-

ward in the comfortable living-room of the house at
1318 Lafayette Boulevard, Norfolk, Virginia.

It was Sunday afternoon, May Sth, 1938, but his evident
preoccupation was not with religious thoughts. He was plan-
ning a murder. As he walked his mind was busy in putting
the final touches to the evil plan he had conceived. It had
taken him months to perfect, and now at last the time was
propitious. The grim smile hovering at the corners of his de-
termined mouth must have indiested his satisfaction. It was
an ingemous plot; he had to admit that himself. It would
remove his victim skilfully, and permit him to go happily
on his way, without even a breath of suspicion to taint his
name.

Pausing in his nervous pacing, he strode over to a desk,
and t: king a memorandum pad, hi astily scribbled a note upon
one of its sheets.

Folding this carefully he placed it in an envelope which
he sealed; the grim smile disappearing for an instrnt as he
ran his tongue along the flap. It returned with all its sinister
import as he walked to a window and wuited.

It was not for long. A boy of thirteen, filled with the in-
souciance of a youngster with nothing to worry about, and
exhilarated by exercise in the spring air, rode up the path on
a bicycle. He was whistling gayly.

“sonnyboy,” ealled the man at the
window. The boy heard his father’s
usted to “Sonnyboy, voice. Jumping from the seat and
with dnstractiony not wheeling the bicycle to a_ resting
fx .vead it unless place ae: unst the ‘house, he e entered,

“anything ‘apoercd? Son

This note was en-

negated 1 fa they

a


denunciations as he was led down the
stone corridor and into the detective
lieutenant’s office.

“What’s the idea of forcing me to leave
my wife’s funeral?” he demanded.

“A sudden turn in the investigation de-
manded your immediate presence,” quiet-
ly announced Nowitsky.

“What's happened now?” he stormed.

“Tam charging you with the murder of
your wife, Mr. Abdell,” the detective said
calmly.

The words failed to have the slightest
effect upon the broker’s arrogant attitude.

“Look here, Nowitsky,” he said, “you
have a good record in solving crimes but
this time you are making the mistake of
your life, one that is apt to cost you your
job.”
“Not if you will admit the truth,” defi-
antly countered the detective.

“T have told you nothing but the truth,”
declared the broker.

Nowitsky looked the accused man
straight in the eye and slowly shook his
head. “But you haven't,” he said. “A
guilty person never does. You planned to

-get rid of your wife before you left the

city. You wrote the suicide notes your-
self, hoping they would not be discovered
until after she was dead. Then you went
to Washington to establish your alibi.
You' drove back here under the cover of
darkness Tuesday, later going to your
home at a time when you knew your wife
would be alone.

“You had a quarrel with her and beat
her into unconsciousness. That blow on
her chin was sufficient to knock her out.
Then you put her body in the kitchen and
turned on the gas, making everything ap-
pear a deliberate suicide. But you were
seen sneaking out of your house after-
wards. When you drove back to Wash-
ington you were sure you had committed
the perfect crime, so sure that you gave
the scratches on your face no thought.
Again, you were a little too trustful of
your lady friend. She didn’t put those
marks on your face. But she knows how
they got there and she is ready to tell the
truth ‘in open court.”

“Y OU’RE crazy,” shouted Abdell.
“You're guessing. You have no
proof. Any jury will believe me before
they believe her.”

“Those notes alone will send you to
the electric chair,” Lieutenant Nowitsky
replied. “It is an easy matter for experts
today to identify handwritings.”

“That won’t be necessary. I wrote
those notes,” came the surprising admis-
sion from the lips of the accused man.

“Why?” asked Nowitsky.

“It is a long story but one that will hold
up in any court,” he haughtily replied.

“Let's have it,” suggested Nowitsky.

Abdell began by saying his married life
had been unhappy and had finally reached
a breaking point. His wife knew about
him and the other woman, he said, and a
week before she died had suggested that
she go away so that he would be able to
get a divorce on the grounds of desertion.
At her suggestion, he had written the
note to their two sons because she did
not know how to word it. He said he had
written the other note to himself “just for
a dig,” to make it appear that she was to
blame for their wrecked married life.

“When I returned from Washington I
hoped to find her gone as she had planned.
But I never expected to-find her dead. I
gave Sonnyboy that note so he would be
able to find me. There is not one word

about suicide in any of the notes. That
was her own idea.”

“Mr. Abdell,” Nowitsky addressed him
after he had finished the narration, “that
is the weakest explanation I have ever
heard an intelligent man give. What
have you to say about slipping back to
thé city and your home?”

“I see that my words are falling upon
unfriendly ears,” Abdell sneeringly re-
marked. “I shall make no further state-
ment without the advice of my counsel.”

J. Clifton Abdell was locked up in the
city jail on a charge of homicide. When
arraigned in police court, he entered a
plea of not guilty and his counsel declined
to ask for bail. Through the press he
made the statement to the public that he
was innocent and would prove it from the
witness stand.

With the arrest of the broker Lieuten-
ant Nowitsky’s real, job lay ahead of him.
He was convinced he had found the
guilty slayer but to establish that guilt
in court would be difficult. He needed
more evidence to strengthen the links
in the chain he had begun to mould. He
knew it would be futile to try to wring
a. confession out of the accused man.
Abdell was too proud, too self-centered
and important, ever to admit he could be
guilty of such an offense.

OWITSKY kept plugging away at in-
terviews, hour after hour, day after
day. It was an endless task but not with-
out its rewards. By the end of a week he
had dug up sufficient evidence to shatter
the broker’s Washington alibi. Although
Abdell refused to come out of his cell to
face the officer’s business man informant,
the latter was ready to swear, from the
glimpse he was able to catch of the
prisoner, that Abdell was the man seen
to emerge from the Lafayette boulevard
house that fatal morning of May 11.

Others were found who had seen Abdell
in Norfolk that same Wednesday morn-
ing when he claimed he was in Washing-
ton. And he had been seen on the high-
way between Richmond and Washington,
going in the direction of the latter city,
shortly after the noon hour of that same
day by a neighbor who lived diagonally
across the street from him.

' This neighbor told Nowitsky she and
her sister were driving to Washington on
May 11 when, at 1:30 in the afternoon, she
saw Abdell standing beside his car on
the highway near Fredericksburg. Steam
was rising from the radiator of his car.
She had stopped and talked with him,
she said, and had remarked about the
scratches on his face. She had also seen
a long hair on his coat lapel and had
joked him about that.

“Don’t tell anybody you saw me,” she
quoted Abdell as saying when they de-
parted. “It might cause gossip, both of
us going to Washington.” Her reply to
this was that she had her sister with her
aye that possibility of gossip was ridicu-
ous, :

The Norfolk broker was brought to
trial in Corporation Court Number One,
on the morning of June 29, 1938, under
the vigorous protest of his counsel who
asked for more time but was refused by
Judge R. B. Spindle, Jr., presiding at the
trial. Through less than a dozen wit-
nesses Commonwealth’s Attorney John
M. Arnold and his able assistant, James
H. Tyler, 3rd, built an impregnable wall of
evidence about the accused.

Painful to the accused man was the
sight of his “lady friend” who, as a prose-

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Each month FOR MEN publishes twen-
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Js i oo aE eae URS


—
Sen ae a na nn

cution witness, laid bare her life with the
philandering broker. Abdell’s eyes sought
the floor when she told of his visit to her
room on the morning his wife met her
death. The woman appeared daily in
court dressed in black and carrying a
light coat, an attire which quickly earned
for her through the press the sobriquet
of “the woman in black.” Photographers
tried in vain to snap a photo of her but
i coat always shielded her attractive
ace.

In opening the defense, counsel for the
accused boldly made the statement that
the case was “one of first-degree murder
or nothing.” The time of Mrs. Abdell’s
actual death became the most bitterly
contested point. Through Coroner Mac-
donald and experts of the gas company,
who were able to guage the actual flow
of gas per hour through the open jets of
the range, the prosecution set the hour at
9:30 a. m., the same time Abdell was seen
leaving the house.

The defense produced two witnesses to
show that Mrs. Abdell was alive at that

ERI a BO RAL mA “A ARON SE Bg. 2
rotary

time. An elderly painter swore that he
had gone to the home at 10 o’clock that
morning to collect some money due him.
He said Mrs. Abdell had appeared at the
front door to inform him her husband
was out of the city. A negro delivery boy
said he had knocked at the back door
about 10:30 with groceries without get-
ting any response. He swore the kitchen
shadés were not drawn at the time and
that he had seen nothing wrong nor had
he detected the odor of escaping gas.

When the accused broker took the
stand in his own behalf he told a some-
what different story from the one pre-
viously related to Lieutenant Nowitsky.
He offered the same explanation about
the “suicide” notes he had written and
admitted his association with “the woman
in black.”

Then he surprised everyone by stating
he had returned to the city during the
early morning hours of May 11 “for busi-
ness reasons.” He added that he had
gone to his home about 9:30 to shave and
get aclean shirt. There he had quarreled

with his wife and a fight ensued. He
swore he had fled from the home when
his wife attacked him with a butcher
knife.

“She took her own life after I left,” he
said in conclusion.

The idea of a man on a business trip
returning to his home to “shave and get
a clean shirt” was flayed by the prosecu-
tion as a very weak alibi.

The case went to the jury late on the
afternoon of the first day in July. One
hour and 40 minutes later the 12 men
filed back into the tense courtroom with
a verdict of guilty. The penalty was
fixed at death in the electric chair. The
extreme penalty, the first to be given a
white man in a Norfolk court in 30 years,
brought to a close the most sensational
trial ever held in the coastal city and
the strangest “Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde”
case ever recorded in the Old Dominion.

(To protect the identity of an innocent person,
the name Mrs. Grace Amory is not actual but
fictitious.—Editor.)

Ghost of Marrowbone Creek

phantom himself, going through barns
and outbuildings.

At 9 o’clock the next morning he was
‘back in his office. Webb was with him.
Both men were red-eyed from lack of
sleep. Outside the office newspaper men
milled around, waiting for a chance to
talk to the sheriff. All the leading papers
of the south carried screaming headlines
about the mystery of the Marrowbone
creek ghost and the cabin murder.

“We drew a blank last night,” Webb
said wearily. “Questioning these moun-
tain people is a waste of time. What
did you find?”

“Where the gasoline came from,”
Sheriff Kieth replied.

“Where the gasoline came from?”
Webb shouted.

“The gasoline,” Kieth continued, “came
from Melvin Davenport’s car.”

“Melvin Davenport!” Webb exclaimed.
“We've checked every movement he made
that night and he didn’t leave the house.”

“y talked to Dwight Robinson,” Sheriff
Kieth explained. “He’s a young kid who
lives on the’ Hydes ferry road: He told
me he went to Selvin Davenport's house
to get some gasoline for his lighter yes-
terday morning. He took the gasoline
from the car Saturday and the tank was
full. Yesterday morning, the morning
after the murder, it was empty!”

“Driving a car,” Webb remarked,”

usually empties a tank.”

[Continued from page 20)

“Melvin Davenport’s car wasn’t driven
over the weekend,” the sheriff answeréd.
“It wasn’t taken out of the shed, I spent
a good part of last night making sure.”

‘Melvin Davenport,” Webb said,”
could not possibly have had any motive
to kill those boys. One lived with him.
He is a hard working and respected
citizen.”

“I didn’t say Melvin Davenport killed
the boys,” Sheriff Kieth countered. “I
said the gasoline from his car was gone
and I’m playing the hunch that his gaso-
line burned the cabin.”

“All right,” Webb said, “but who took
it from the tank?”

“I think,” the sheriff said quietly, “that
the ghost of Marrowbone creek took that
gasoline from Melvin Davenport’s car.”

“The ghost of Marrowbone creek?”
Webb grunted. “You're getting as nutty
as these mountaineers about that crazy
ghost.” ;

The sheriff pulled a small hose, about
three feet long, from his coat pocket.

“Even ghosts makes mistakes,” he
said. “And this is the mistake that the

host of Marrowbone creek made. He
eft this hose, used to siphon the gasoline
from the tank, in Melvin Davenport’s
shed near the car.”

It was 10 o’clock when Sheriff Kieth
left his office. The town of Ashland was
filled with special detectives from the
state criminal bureau. They were chas-,

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ing down endless clues. They had avail-
able every form of modern equipment,
but the work of special detectives had
failed to uncover one remote lead to the
strange mystery.

Sheriff Kieth worked alone. Nobody
saw him in Ashland that day. At noon
he was at the cabin site, kicking around
in the ashes. An hour later, he was in a
car headed for Nashville. He spent less
than an hour there. On his return, he
stopped at the little mountain village of
Claston where he went into a store and
talked to the owner.

The next morning a girl sat in Sheriff
Kieth’s office. She was Marie Norton,
the girl who worked for Lee Nesbitt and
Albert Davenport. Her face was pale
and her lower lip quivered. Her eyes
were wild and terror stricken.

Webb and Harris were with the sheriff.
They .looked at the girl with puzzled
eyes. Sheriff Kieth pleasantly smiled at
her and said: “You can go in the other
room and wait until we call you, Marie.”’

+ rose weakly and walked out of the
office.

OON after, Lee Nesbitt and Albert
) Davenport walked into the office.
They were wearing overalls and they
looked nervous and embarrassed.

Sheriff Kieth reached for the double-
edged axe that had been found in the
ashes of the cabin.

“Sit down, gentlemen,” he told the two
mountaineers. “We want to clear up
several little details about what those
four boys did after they left your cabin.”

Nesbitt and Davenport sat down awk-
wardly. Nesbitt was chewing tobacco and
his jaws were working rapidly.

“You said that Bertie Spicer carried
this axe with him when he left your
cabin,” Kieth said.

“Sure, he took it,” Nesbitt answered
uneasily.

Kieth stood up. He was holding the
axe in his right hand.

“But the truth is that Bertie Spicer
didn’t carry this axe with him when he
left your cabin. Marie Norton is in the

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afee | dell

“<

at do you want?” demanded Ab-

“T want you to appear in an identi-

"fication line-up, Mr. Abdell,” I in-

formed him. Even in the dimness of the

os. cell I saw the broker stiffen.

“I don’t care to come out! My lawyer

... told me not to talk about the case,”
-.), announced Abdell shortly.

“I don’t want to talk about.the case,

_-Mr. Abdell. Ihave a man here who says

he saw you come out of your house on
Wednesday morning at nine-thirty. If

a it wasn’t you, then you have nothing
- to fear.” For several moments there

was complete silence'‘in the cell.
“T'm not.coming out!” declared Ab-

. dell flatly.

“But you: will come!” I told him
grimly. I reached inside the cell,
grabbed him by the belt, and hauled
him out.

I managed to get Abdell into the
corridor. Suddenly Palmer called out.

‘“You_needn’t bring him any farther,

Mr. Nowitzky. That’s the man I saw!”
Abdell glared at Palmer, his lips a
hard, thin line.

[HE NEXT MORNING newspaper

headlines shrieked out the sensa-
tional news of Palmer’s identification
of Abdell as the man who hurriedly
departed from the Abdell residence on
the fatal morning. And late that same
afternoon, following a dramatic in-
quest, Coroner C. D. J. McDonald re-
turned the following verdict:

“Mrs. Audrey Thelma Abdell died

2 at nine A. M. May 11th, 1938, of carbon

monoxide poisoning. The coroner
found multiple wounds, bruises, and
abrasions on the body. It is the opinion
of the coroner that these wounds may
have entered into the scheme of death.
It has been alleged that J. C. Abdell,
her husband, is answerable for the
death referred to in the foregoing.” ~
Suspicion had now closed in official
form over the broker. But it was obvi-
ous that: our work was far from
finished. Dramatic indication had al-
ready been given us that Abdell’s at-
torneys, W. H. Venable and Ivor Page,
two of the State’s most brilliant bar.
risters, were planning a furious battle
to free their client without any loss of
time. At the inquest Attorneys Venable
and Page had strenuously sought to

learn every item of evidence we had.

at hand, and had clomored for posses-
sion of the all-important suicide notes.

This we had summarily refused.

I plunged back into an intensive in-
vestigation, determined to ferret out
every iota of incriminating evidence
against Abdell.

The first thing I had to clear up was
Abdell’s motive. Logically enough the
finger pointed to Mrs. Crosswood.
What was she withholding? What part,
if any, had she played in the cunning
murder scheme?

I hastened back to her house. Arriv-
ing there-I bluntly informed her that
there was every Possibility she might
be drawn into the case. Turning white,
she suddenly burst into tears.

“But I didn’t have a thing to do with

the death of Mrs. Abdell!” she pro-
tested.

“But you do know more. than you .

have told us, don’t you, Mrs. Cross-
wood?” I shot out.

The attractive woman wiped her

; gare Rit ay slowly, poner burst ete
~ 6 ! ; ’ i .
eethie we ee oe e - “whose schedule he had learned.

the truth!”
“Go on!” I urged tensely.
“Cliff was here Thursday—no, it was

ty Wednesday morning first "

FS Se ee

“What time?” |
“Around one o'clock, I think. He left

~ around three o’clock.”

“Go on, when did you see him next?”

“Thursday morning, around eight
o'clock.” ;

“Did you see any scratches then?”
_ “I didn’t notice until he told me that

“if anyone asked me how he had gotten
the scratches on his face to say he had
been in a fight with me!”

The cunning of Abdell was becoming
more and more obvious. I probed Mrs.
Crosswood rigidly, learned that Ab-
dell had occupied a room in the house
‘under the name of Mr. Crosswood for

“ over a year. ‘

“Who rents this house?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Mrs. Cross-
wood. :

“You mean you don’t care to say,” I
returned shortly.

But two hour’s investigation among
the real estate offices gave me this in-

' formation. Abdell himself had leased
the house for three years under an-

other name. The palatial home had —

been intended as a love-nest for three
years—without Mrs. Abdell to trouble
the two. Remembering how Mrs. Dor-
man had told me little Bobby and Clif-
ton had been forced to turn over every
cent they earned from newspaper
routes to their father, I marveled at
the utter heartlessness of the suspected
broker.

ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, June

29th, 1938, as a huge throng, seeking
to gain entrance to Norfolk’s Corpora-
tion Court hopelessly blocked street
traffic throughout the morning, the
trial of the accused broker com-
menced. His blond hair combed
smoothly back, his blue eyes surveying
the crowd calmly, Abdell listened at-
tentively as Commonwealth’s Attorney
Arnold, assisted by his youthful but
exceedingly keen-minded aide, James
H, Tyler Ill, began the parade of State

’ witnesses.

His face expressionless, Abdell ap-
peared not even slightly concerned as
the chain of damning evidence began
gripping him with tentacles of steel.

- The dramatic climax of the first day

_ occurred late in the afternoon as Mrs.

Crosswood, draped in black, with a
flowing black cape and black veil
draped on a black turban, ascended to
the witness stand. To all questions con-
cerning her affair with Abdell the at-
tractive witness either replied “I don’t
know,” or “I can’t answer that.” She
did, however, repeat the damaging in-
formation she had given me previ-
ously.

On the following day the defense
threw a bombshell with the introduc-

tion of a surprise witness, one William’
N. Miller, sixty-eight-year-old. paper- -

hanger and painter, who testified that
he had worked for ten days papering
the Abdell home, and went to the resi_
dence on the morning of May 11th to
collect his money. Miller averred he
left his home on 38th Street near
Hampton Boulevard at nine A. M., and
proceeded to the Abdell home by street
car. At ten minutes of ten o’clock he
knocked on the front door. A few
minutes later the door was opened
about four inches by Mrs. Abdell, who
informed him Abdell was not at home.
Under cross-examination, Miller ad-
mitted he had no watch, but had judged
_the time by the passing street cars,

Finally, as the courtroom stirred in

a fever of expectancy, Abdell mounted
to the stand. Mrs. Crosswood, this time -

draped entirely in white, leaned for-
ward expectantly, regarding her ac-
cused lover steadily. : :

From the outset it became immedi-

_ately obvious that Abdell was to be the

Star witness in his own behalf. He
answered Attorney Venable’s questions
with impressive candor and sincerity.
Bit by bit, carrying his client along
skillfully, Attorney Venable brought
out convincing explanations of almost
every bit of damaging evidence.

“Mr. Abdell, when did you go to
Washington?” asked Venable.

“I left for Washington around five- -
thirty Tuesday morning,” replied Ab-

dell. eek
“Why did you go?” = i
“T had a tentative appointment wit
a man who operates electric -phono-
raphs. I had made a contract to buy
ty machines, and I found that I
could make such an outlay at one time.
I went to see if I could buy the ma-
chines on a commission basis. I also
wanted to go to Fort Meade and Quan-
tico to see about putting in the ma-
chines. I got to Washington around
ten-thirty, and checked in the Hotel
Harrington.” j Spe
“Were you successful in your nego-
tiations?” 4
“No, I wasn’t. I telephoned the office,
but my party wasn’t there. I went back
to the hotel around four-thirty, mean-
while stopping to get some sandwiches
at a restaurant. In my room I mixed
a couple of highballs, ate the sand-
wiches, and lay down. I was reading in
bed, and suddenly I couldn’t remember
whether the sample vending machine
I wanted was in my car. I put on my
trousers and went down and found
that it was not, so I decided to come
back to Norfolk for it. It was useless
to go to Fort Meade without it.”

“What. time did you leave for Nor- ;

folk?”

“About nine o’clock. I came straight

to Norfolk.” ‘
“Did you see Mrs. Crosswood?”
“I did.”

“She says you arrived there at one
o’clock in the morning.” i

“Mr. Venable, it’s almost an impos-
sibility to make it from Washington
to Norfolk in that time.”

“All right, go on and tell the jury
what happened next.”

“I went into the kitchen and saw a
gin bottle. I surmised she had been
drinking. Inasmuch as I was opposed
to it, I talked to her about it. Then I
went back to my room. I lay down for
awhile, then got back up and washed.
I went back to the garage and got my
machine. Then I started for my home
on Lafayette Boulevard.

“I went in’the front door and my
wife was on the landing between the
kitchen and the front room. When I
walked in she said: ‘Good Lord, are
you back? I thought we’d got rid of
you.

“I said, ‘Don’t bother me now. I’ve
got to get back to Washington,’ and she
said, ‘What did you come back for?’
I didn’t like it, and I said: ‘Leave me
alone,’ and I went on in the bathroom
to shave. RG aret

“Then she came back in the bath-
room and said: “I want the scarf off the
bureau,’ and we got to arguing about it,
and then I slapped her. I went on down
to the kitchen to put some water on the
stove to shave with. She followed me,
and when I came back she jammed me
against the table and I said: ‘Will you

please leave me alone, I’ve got to go. mo

“She said: ‘You’ll go when I get good =
and ready for you to go,’ and then WE gi

a. ie Aten te ie x

GIR meets 4

—y

a ae *
ecrentlactin, * 26

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eps, along
ught
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ou go to
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plied Ab-

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nd Quan-
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emember
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the jury

id saw a
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eave me
athroom

re bath-
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Ww (12,
meee me
Will you
»f to go.’
get good
then we

started fighting. She bit me on the left
breast and left a mark, and I said: ‘For
God’s sake, let me alone,’ and then she

scratched me with her hands, and I -

broke away from her.

“when we broke loose, she said: ‘I’m
going to kill you,’ and she ran to the
cabinet to get the butcher knife. When
she did that I ran and got my coat and
hat from the settee and ran out of the
house. I heard her say, ‘All right, damn
your soul, you’ll go to the pen for this!’
I got in my car and started for Wash-
ington. : rath!

“T went back to the hotel, had a
couple of drinks, then went to a sea-
food restaurant for dinner. I left about

seven o’clock and went to Loew’s Capi-~

tal theatre. I left about ten o’clock,
bought a pint of gin, drank a couple

of highballs in my room, and then went

to sleep. A ;

“The next thing I knew somebody
was banging on my door. I got up and
opened it. It was a police officer. It was
then I heard him say: ‘Your wife has
just died of carbon monoxide poison-
ing.’ It was like a bolt from the blue.
I didn’t know what to do. I put my
pants over my pajamas and came down
to the lobby and called my sister in
Norfolk, anxious to secure more details.
After talking with her, I dressed, went
to a garage to make a temporary re-
pair on my car muffler so I could re-
turn. a5 oo

“When I got to Norfolk I went
straight to my sister’s and talked to
her about my wife’s death .Then I went
to the residence of Ivor Page, Jr., my
Attorney, and after conferring with him
I went to the home of Mrs. Crosswood.
I roused her out of sleep and told her
that if anyone asked about the
scratches to say she did it. I then went
back to Mr. Page’s office, and we went
to see Mr. Nowitzky. He saw my
scratches and asked me where I had
gotten them. I told him J could explain
them easily enough.”

Clifton Abdell then went on to tell
of his arrest, of his refusal to come out
of his cell because his attorney had ad-
vised -him not to talk of the case.

“Did you-write the notes that were
found?” asked Attorney Venable.
“Yes,” replied Abdell unhesitatingly.
“Nowitzky showed them to me at the
funeral home.” ars.
“Explain how you came to do it.”
“Well, for a number of years my
wife and I have not been getting along
so well. We discussed two or three
times getting a divorce, and several
days before this happened I was talking
to her and she said: ‘What’s the best
thing to do?’ I said I didn’t know. Then
she said: ‘Suppose I went away and
didn’t say where, you would have
grounds for a divorce on desertion.’
“Then she suggested that I write a
note, and I did. There’s a lot of hotel
stationery in my desk at home, and I
wrote one note to the boys—there’s
nothing in that note that says any-
thing about suicide. Now the other
note, I did it just for a dig, you might
say. I use that expression because I
knew doggone well she would never
admit to not being a good wife to me.

TAUANE a oe

In my own mind I was confident she
would never write anything like that.”

-Commonwealth’s Attorney Arnold
tore into the accused man in his cross-

- examination. Questioned as to whether

he ever used a name with the initials
“w.A.C.”, Abdell replied in the nega-
tive. Shown the straw hat found in the
residence, Abdell readily admitted he
had purchased it. : ;
“Whose initials are those?” thun-

| dered Arnold.

. *T don’t know.”

_. “Why did you leave that hat on the

ed?”
-“I don’t know. I guess I just left it

there. I never even wore it. The initials .
.. May have been in there when I pur-

chased it.”
Finally the last phases of the bitterly

fought trial commenced. The youthful

assistant prosecutor, James Tyler III,
denounced Abdell as a “super-killer
whose clever scheme of murder was

‘shattered by the excellent work of our

police department.” In a swift, forty-

_ minute address, he categorically re-

viewed the discrepancies evident in
Abdell’s story of innocence.

Attorney Ivor A. Page Jr., for the
defense, delivered a forceful argument
based on W. E. Miller’s testimony,
namely that Mrs. Abdell was alive at
ten A. M. on the fatal morning, forty-
five minutes after Abdell was alleged
to have departed. .

Tearing into Abdell’s clever plotting,
Arnold asserted in his rebuttal that the
broker, once he saw his alibi collapsing,
swiftly commenced scheming a logical
explanation of his actions. “The ac-
cused believed that he had arrived
closer to the perfect crime than any-
one in the state of Virginia! It was a
perfect crime—almost! It lost its per-
fection because of the astuteness of our
police and detective forces, for which
I am deeply grateful.

_» “The cruel death of an innocent wo-
man almost became unavenged. A cold-

blooded murderer told a great deal.
Her lips were silent in death. There was
no answering for her. He should not be
permitted to come here with false-
hoods, with lies from beginning to end,
to commit perjury, to brazenly en-
courage potential murderers to en-
danger the lives of your own beloved
ones! Take this murderer and give him

. the supreme penalty!”’ thundered Ar-
nold in conclusion. Pas

One hour and forty minutes later. as

‘the rays of the hot July sun stained the

arched windows of the courtroom in
prophetic hues of red, the jury filed
back with its fateful verdict—a ver-
dict unheard of for a white man in Nor-
folk since 1908—death by electrocu-
tion! ~

The convicted murderer, his face
ashy white, stared unbelievingly at
the jury. He made as if to speak, then
slumped back, as if overwhelmed by
a sudden dawning realization that the
last strand in his scheme of perfect

murder had been smashed and broken.

The name—Mrs. Martha Crosswood

—is fictitious and is used thusly to pro-

tect an innocent party. = 5

R EAD FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE |
: EVERY. .MONTH 9) 3
On Sale Everywhere the 15th of Each Month e

DRUC COUNTERS
NeW! |


J

By JOHN

PAWLING

Special Investigator for Sensational Detective Cases

basket of freshly laundered clothing and
household linens all ready to be ironed.
“Looks like plain ‘suicide,” suggested

Nowitzky wasted few words. “Could
be,” he agreed.

"Then he noted something that the
younger’ officer had overlooked. Curled
up among the clean laundry was the

. lifeless body of a little kitten.

“Bobby’s pet kitten!” Shannon ex-
claimed. “He'll be heartbroken. I never

the ironing and then changed her mind

‘.and took the short way out.”

“No telling what a suicide will do,”
reminded Nowitzky. “In that frame of
mind, a person isn’t accountable. Here’s
the coroner. We'll see what he has to
say.

Dr. C. D. J. McDonald dropped on
.one. knee and carefully examined the
body. After some minutes he rose, nod-

0
for the body to be removed.
“What’s the verdict, Doc?” asked

f
|
i

_ bruises about the face and throat. I

couldn’t’ say definitely until after an
autopsy.”

“My dear Clifton ond Bobby:
“I am going on a long tri

the officers and gave permission -

the best of me and now I realize
+ there is little or no happiness for
us together because of my short-
comings. I beg you to forgive me
for being the deceitful and rotten
wife I’ve been and forgive me for
causing you: so much worry, so many
heartaches, by talking about you to
everyone, by pulling akways against
you, by making the children work
against you and by letting my tnean-
ness ruin. you and. everything you
worked and strived for. I’m leaving
the children ti your care for I know
. youll take good care of them.
May God bless you.”

! " Nowitzky turned to Shannon. “You
knew these people pretty well, did they
have a lot of family quarrels?”

“Well, they didn’t quarrel and fight
that I ever heard of. There’s some
talk that they were about to separate
but I never took much stock in it.”

“What kind of a guy is this -Abdell?”

“Oh, he’s gruff and surly, not very
sociable. I nevér took a liking to him.
He’s away a lot and I don’t see much

“Any gossip or scandal connected with
r?” ; . é

“No, not a word. She just tended to
her own business and devoted herself

ef

with the notes.” '
The only other bit of feminine writing
available was a roughly penciled groc
list found in the kitchen. - :
“It’s the same writing,” said “Shapiro.

“That settles it. It was suicide, no doubt ~

greasy surface-of the range. Anyway,
if the woman committed suicide, there

the job. A suicide is either
premeditated and planned or it’s done
on the spur of the moment.”
Shannon said, “Well, this -looks like
it was planned all right. She pulled
down the blinds and closed up the
house so tight the gas couldn’t . escape.
‘Then she stuck -her head in the oven
and even covered herself over with that
blanket to make sure of the job. And

‘the notes she left, they tell the story.”

“They tell one thing, sure enough,
it was not done on the spur of the
moment. It took a lot of time to do all

not
that
The

- back porch.

mi

So where did ih
lock the place ! put a guard
here. Then we'll « iwighborhood
to-find out who ® around
the house today

7
3
E

the kitchen was ery and checked

‘Audrey Sharp Abdell. Wa

it

s she a suicide or a murder vietin

EVERYBODY ‘who had been with

sight: of the place was questione
One woman said she had seen an o
man loitering around in the back ya
early in the forenoon. She did not knc

' who he was and had thought nothi:

of it at the time. She had also se:
a colored boy at the back porch befo
she saw the old man. The boy, s/
thought, was delivering groceries.

Another neighbor, Mrs. A. J. Wrigt
sfid she had a shopping date with Mi
Abdell that morning, but when she d
not come, Mrs. Wright had gone «
without her.

“Did you order some groceries whi
you were out shopping?”

“Yes, I did, but they haven’t con
yet.”

‘“T guess .the boy left them at Al
dell’s by mistake. They are over on tl
back porch now.”

A man was found who said he hi

: the house between nine and t
o’clock that morning and had seen
man on the front porch. He was n
Suute see ae tell who it was «

i t he naturally suppose
it was Mr. Abdell, since he lived ther

“We'll have to find out some wi
where Abdell is,” Nowitzky told Sh
piro, “and send him word. Noboc
around here seems to know where |
went.”

They returned to police headquarte
and gave their attention, first, to tl

autopsy: report of the corone
Dr. McDonald had discovered that tl
victim had been struck a heavy blow o
the head which probably had rendere
her unconscious, There were bruises 0
her face and neck showing that sl
had been choked but no finger prin

1

a

ee ior x
oe ee
1 Heaatl Song

©

WOULD A WOMAN GET OUT THE FAMILY WASH AND START TO IRON AND THEN STOP IN
THE MIDDLE FOR SUICIDE? WOULD SHE. FORGET TO PUT HER LITTLE SON'S PET CAT OUT?

HE balmy May day was drawing

to a close when Patrolman Shan-

non of Norfolk, Virginia, a
proached his home. The thought
uppermost in his mind was to get his
tired feet into a pair of slippers and
relax in the big porch chair with the
evening paper.

In the next yard two neighbor
women, Mrs. Kirles and Mrs. Dorman,
were talking animatedly with youhg
Bobby Abdell. One of the women,
seeing the officer,. called to him.

\

Detective F: P. Flynn of the
homicide squad.

"Oh, Mr. Shannon. Will you come
over here? I'm afraid something is

wrong.”

Forgetting his tired, feet for the mo-
ment he joined the group. ““What’s the
trouble?” he asked.

“E can’t get in,” said Bobby, “and I
can’t find my Mommy.”

Shannon patted the boy on the back

“Oh, is that all? Why, she’s probably
gone to one of the neighbors and for-
got the time. I'll see if I can help you
get in.” He turned to the women. “Does
either of you know where Mrs. Abdel!

. went?”

Neither one did.

Mrs. Dorman said, :
her since early this morning and the
house has been closed up all-day with
the blinds drawn.”

“Yes,” said Bobby, “and all the win-
dows are locked, too.”

They had approached the back door
and. Shannon knocked loudly. There was

no answer. He tried the screen door and —
4 |found it fastened from the inside. Shan-
/  |non paused abruptly, wrinkled his nose
‘2 !and sniffed. There was a peculiar odor

in ‘the air—an odor that he quickly
recognized. 4 :

The complacent smile disappeared
from his face.:Gone was his leisurely
manner. Without a word he grasped a

“mallet from among some carpenter’s

tools on the back step and smashed a
kitchen window, stepping back quickly
as the fumes of illuminating gas threat-
ened to choke him. Covering his face
with his handkerchief he quickly un-
locked the window and raised the sash,
then clambered into the gas filled room.

' Bobby, now thoroughly frightened, at-
tempted to follow, but Shannon ‘ordered

him back. Choking with the fumes he -

snapped off the gas jets, threw open

se

“T haven't seen

the windows and doors and retreated to
the fresh air outside.

“Keep Bobby with you till I see
what’s happened,” he told the -women.
Then without waiting for the room to
clear he rushed back to the kitchen
where a gruesome sight awaited- him.

A woman was sprawled on the floor

_ Near the range, her head and shoulders

covered with a blanket. Shannon drew
aside the covering. Her flesh was cold
to his touch and there was no pulse.
He knew that she ‘was dead.

He shook his head dejectedly as he
stepped outside and the women seemed ,
to understand even before he spoke. ~

“Too late,” he said. “Asphyxiated. |
One of you better take Bobby home
with you and the other see that nobody
enters the house.‘ I'll step over home
and report.” A pie

THE first squad car to arrive brought
~ Detective Leon Nowitzky, chief in-
vestigator of the coroner’s squad, and
his assistant, Harry N. Shapiro.
There was nothing of the story book
detective about. Nowitzky—no mysteri-

_ous air, no flashing steel-gray eyes that

struck terror to his victims, no startling

‘deductions: or showmanship. Neither was

he the other extreme, the tough; brow-
beating cop. Large of bulk, his slow,
deliberate movements gave no indication
of his dynamic energy and his sleepy-
looking eyes bore no hint of: his mental
alertness. But he had a long, enviable
record for getting results.

Shannon gave him a quick report of
what had happened. oe

“Is everything just as you found it?”
- “Yes,” said Shannon, “except that
blanket was draped over the stove and

-down over the woman’s héad. I turned
‘it back to see if she was still alive, but-

she was dead.”
“Have you identified her?” Nowitzky
asked. : : 5 :

oS oe bee eo 6 NS POE res

“Oh, sure. I live next door and I know
her and alt the family. It’s Mrs. Abdell,
Audrey Sharp Abdell.” | -

“Who else is in the family and: where
are they?” Sas

“Why, there’s little Bobby who was
trying to gét in when I came over,
and his brother Clifton, Jr., whe is
out delivering papers. Her husband, J..
Clifton Abdell, has been away on a
business trip since Monday.”

Nowitzky stood ‘for what seemed a
long ‘time, his eyes taking in the -de-
tails of the scene, The woman’s body

Detective Leon Nowitzky, chief in-
vestigator of the coroner's. squad.


ee

lived together for quite some time,”
the neighbor and friend of the deceased
went on, “but they have done their

best to keep things on a wholesome and

cordial basis.”

“Then that explains the younger
boy’s saying his father left for Wash-
ington last Sunday night?” ‘

“Yes—Mr. Abdell often came and
visited his estranged wife, so that they
might be together with their two fine
sons. They were both very proud of
those boys.”

“Even so, Mrs. Abdell could have be-
come interested in another man?”

“Of course. But I don’t think she
had. Audrey and I, you see, were
bosom friends. I can’t believe she
wouldn’t have told me—or, at least,
let slip some hint—if she had met
somebody new. She was a splendid
person and deserved a happier, fuller
life than she’s been leading. She knew
I thought.this, too, for I’ve often said
so. That’s why I’m sure she would
have confided even the mildest little
passing flirtation.”

Detective Nowitzky was ‘a good deal
less sure. In his- professional experi-
ence he had often been surprised by
the delicate intimacies or romantic
secrets which women even more than
men are able to withhold from their
intimate friends.

At length returning to police head- .

quarters, Nowitzky checked with the
bureau of identification. Fingerprint
men had given the kitchen and sur-

Investigator Leon Nowitzky spotted the slightly
fishy details that led police to catch a killer

roundings at 1318 Lafayette Boulevard
a thorough going over, but had drawn
a blank. They hadn’t even been able
to develop a valid print on one of the

porcelain jets of the Abdell gas range.

The police, it seemed, were meeting
with no better luck in trying to locate
J. Clifton Abdell’s present whereabouts
in the city of Washington.

Not long after Nowitzky reached his
desk at headquarters, however, he had
a surprising phone call. The voice on
the line sounded very young and very
rattled. “This is Bobby Abdell, and I
think I know now how to reach my
dad.”

Dissatisfied with the odd nature of
this communication by phone, the de-
tective drove at once to the home of
Mrs. Fisk. That good neighbor was,
for the. present, offering the shelter
of her comfortable home and the con-
solation of her warm friendship to both
of the Abdell brothers. Sergeant Shan-
non accompanied the detective.

“Here,” said Bobby, when the offi-
cers entered to interview him, “is the
letter my dad gave me last Sunday
afternoon. It’s sealed, you see—and he
told me to keep it safe somewhere and
only open it if anything ever happened

‘that made me think:I. needed him. If

there was no use for it,:he said I was
to give it back to him, unopened. Once
before he gave me an envelope like this
and, when I didn’t need to use ‘it, he
took it back. But this time—since my
mother—”

; So? Cae PP ay
hie gi oe hag hint,
Ae

-me to—hid it in the  pantry—And

The youthful face became strained
and pitiful, the clear, honest eyes sud-
denly abrim with tears. and running
over.

Leon Nowitzky waited. He and
Shannon touched on the subject of
their police work, hdping to distract
the youngest of the stricken Abdell
family. Finally the detective ventured
to ask in a genial way, “Why did you
wait to tell us about this, son? You
should have told it right: away, you
know.”

“Honestly, I forgot about it,” the boy
assured him. “I’d hid it like dad told

then—” He broke off miserably, un-
able to say any more. .

The detective took the plain envelope
which the boy offered him in a hesi-
tant way and tore it open. He drew
out a piece of paper which appeared to
have been torn from a memo or order
pad and which bore the firm name,
Jackson Bros., Boesel & Co. He and
Shannon read: “Sonnyboy: If you
need me before I get back, wire me
collect. You be a good boy and always
remember your Daddy loves you, no
matter what anybody says.”

Nowitzky drew the other brother
aside and asked him, “You knew noth-
ing of this? You’re the older. Why
didn’t your father, if he thought he
might be needed in some emergency,
make this arrangement with you?”

Clifton Abdell, a handsome, straight-
forward youth, (Continued on page 62)

124

Courthouse was scene of one of Norfolk’s most famous murder trials

43


Quiet city of Norfolk, Va., shook to news of scandal that blazoned a respected family name across newspapers from coast to coast

mother would be expecting them. If
for any unusual reason she had been
obliged to go somewhere suddenly,
she would have left the back door
open to them. Qr, if she hadn’t thought
it safe to do that, she would have left
a note for the brothers, prominently
placed and explaining her action, in-
structing them what to: do.

‘Bobby Abdell, thoroughly troubled
by this time, did the first thing that
occurred to him, hurried to the home
of his mother’s friend, Mrs. Adele
Fisk. She lived nearby on Royal Ter-
race; and it wouldn’t have surprised
.the boy to find his mother calling here.
Hers, he suspected, was not a very
jolly life. She worked hard at home,
taking care of everything and had
little enough recreation. Her close
friendship with Mrs. Fisk was some-
thing she really cherished. But not
today—Mrs. Fisk assured the polite,
nice looking, worried youngster that
she hadn’t seen Audrey, his mother,
all day.

And the kindly neighbor, seeing his

boyish disquiet grow, offered to re-
turn with him to the house on the
boulevard. The two began a second
check of the secure fastening of the
back and front’ doors. “I kind of
thought I smelled something when: I
was here the first time.” Bobby’s voice
was tight. “You notice something—
gas?”

Mrs. Fisk sniffed, then said in shiarp
distress, “I certainly do. It’s gas, all
right. Wait here. I’ll.run to the Shan-

‘ non’ and get help.”

‘Luckily this other neighbor, Ser-
geant H. A. Shannon of the police
force of Norfolk, was at home. He
ran back to the Abdell dwelling and
investigated for only those few split-
seconds that it takes a robust man to
draw a deep breath. The front door
locked, the ‘back doors locked on the
inside, all the lower windows locked
tight. Sergeant Shannon succeeded in
prying open one of the kitchen win-

dows. He was met by a noxious wave °

of illuminating gas. Covering his nose
and: mouth with his handkerchief, he

climbed in. He could now hear what
he could smell and almost see: the
sinister pulsating hiss of gas from jets
turned on to the full.

Shannon ‘bounded across a kitchen
that was like a lethal vault or execu-
tion chamber. Six jets were wide
open on the gas stove. And the dar-
ing intruder shut them off with a
single, slam-bang gesture of the ‘hand.
Turning, he raced to the door, un-
locked and threw it wide, then flung
up another window. Refreshing air
from the sunny spring afternoon out-
side probed the deathly fumed kitchen.

The police sergeant gulped it in,
then turned back to his second emer-
gency task, an even. grimmer one.
There was a blanket draped from the
gas stove to the kitchen floor, making
an impromptu canopy or tent. Shan-
non hurled it aside. On the floor by
the stove—where the blanket had
been ingeniously draped—lay the body
of a woman. She was covered with a
second blanket and she was unmistak-
ably dead.


62

The Killer Tried
the Hat Trick

(Continued from page 43)

looked the investigator in the eye. “My
father and I haven’t been getting on too
well,” he said. “You See, sir, I side with
mother.” He paused, thought it over and
revised this to, “I sided with her before,
I mean. Bobby was his favorite anyway.”
Nowitzky and the sergeant hurried back
to headquarters, and the former tele-
phoned the Washington police department
at once, requesting that Mr. J. Clifton
Abdell, presumed to be a guest of the
Hotel Harrington, be informed of his
wife’s sudden death at her home in Nor-
folk. Having expedited this vital matter,
the coroner’s detective and: Sergeant
Shannon could now give full attention
to the pair of “farewell messages” they
had found on the table in the suicide
kitchen. The shorter of these, meant for
the sons, was a moving document: “My
Dear Clifton and Bobby: I’m going away
on a long trip and not coming back. I
want you both to love and obey your
Daddy, for I realize that even with his
mistakes he has been far better than the
average father. I also realize more than
ever, these past few weeks, that I have
not been the kind of wife I should. You
boys do not understand now, but with
God willing I hope some day you will.
“So now before. leaving, may I again Say,

be good, be kind, be true and mind.

your Daddy and I’m sure he will always
stick by you. Lovingly, Mom.”

The other message, addressed to the
husband, read: “Dear Clifton: I’m going
away but before I go may I wish you all
the luck and happiness in the world. I
know you have done many things you
should not of done, but I let my jealousy
and madness get the best of me, and now
that I realize there is little or no happi-
ness for us together because of my many
shortcomings, I beg you to forgive me
for leaving. Forgive me for being the
deceitful and rotten wife I’ve been and
forgive me for causing you so much
worry, so- much heartaches, by talking
about you to everyone, by pulling always
against you, by making the children work
against you and letting my meanness
ruin you and everything you worked and
strived for. I’m leaving the children in
your care, for I-know you will take care
of them. May God bless you.”

When Shannon finished reading, his
companion cast him a quizzical glance
and asked drily, “Any comment?”

The sergeant said, “I sure have. Dad

leaves Bobby a note of instructions, on
the off chance something’ll happen. And
then something happens! And in her
‘suicide notes’ all poor Audrey Abdell
does is call herself nasty names?”

“I have had to study quite a batch of
these heartbreaking compositions,” No-
witzky said. “Often they’re bitter and
loaded with self-blame. But I never be-
fore this saw one in which a mother—and
the neighbors say she was a good and
devoted mother—addresses minor chil-
dren she loves but refers to herself as a
wife. Here it is, ‘I have not been the
kind of a wife I should.’ Is that a mother’s
way of thinking?”

Shannon’s expression was grim. “And
in this one, to the husband, she pours it
on. Look—‘the deceitful and rotten wife

- I’ve been’ and here, ‘letting my meanness

ruin you.’ Somehow, this Abdell doesn’t
sound ruined to me. He’s up in Washing-
ton on business right this minute and, we

understand, stopping at a good hotel.”

So Detective Nowitzsky acted on their
combined hunch about these forlorn fare-
wells and sent an officer to ask Mrs. Fisk
if she could provide them with authenti-
cated specimens of the handwriting of the
late Audrey Abdell. In a short while the
officer who had gone to the house on
Royal Terrace phoned in a curious report.

“She says that she has no handwriting
specimens that she knows of. She did
have some picture postcards dating from
two summers ago, but remembers thraqw-
ing them away. But here’s the funny
thing,” the policeman went on “She keeps
saying that all this worries her but she
doesn’t want to get an innocent man
into any trouble. When you ask’ her who
is her ‘innocent man,’ she says to take it
up with A. K. Swartz of the Domestic
Relations Court. He has on file some
recent writing done by Mrs. Abdell and
knows all about it.”

Nowitzky got in touch with Mr. Swartz
at his home and found him both amazed
and cooperative. “Of course, I know her,
I talked with Mrs. Abdell only yesterday.
And let me tell you—as of then that
woman had no more thought of taking her
own life than I have at this moment.”

The _coroner’s investigator hurried
around to confer with Mr. Swartz. After
reconstructing what the official of the
Domestic Relations Court had to reveal,
Nowitzky had this odd episode for his
growing file of suspicion. Yesterday,
Tuesday morning, Mrs, Abdell had been
cleaning the room that still held many of

May issue of

on sale at all
newsstands March 27th

her estranged husband’s belongings. And
she had, to her bewilderment, chanced
upon the “My Dear Clifton and Bobby”
and “Dear Clifton” messages. She knew
she hadn’t written them. Their humble,
hopeless and apologetic wording greatly
alarmed her. So she had hurried to show
them to her dear friend, Mrs. Fisk.

It was she who had urged Audrey to
take some immediate action to protect
herself, and had sagely suggested that
they go together and lay the puzzling mat-
ter before Mr. Swartz. Whereupon, on
his recommendation, Mrs. Abdell sat down
and wrote out a statement, duly signed
and witnessed, in which she declared that
she was not the author of any notes of
farewell addressed either to her sons or
her husband.

Mr. Swartz told the detective that he
had virtually dictated this statement, that
it was on file with the Court and that
Nowitzky might see it there first thing
in the morning.

Nowitzky now rang up the coroner to
acquaint him with this latest develop-
ment, only to be told, “Look, Leon—I was
just on the point of phoning you.”

Had the autopsy examination turned up
something?

Bruises, said Dr. McDonald—bruises

which he had found on the head of the
dead woman and which could not have
been the result of a fall. Instead, they
seemed clearly to indicate that the vic-
time had been beaten into unconscious-
ness before being subjected to asphyxia.
tion by gas.

“In short,” the coroner concluded, “that
slightly vague case of suicide we had
this afternoon takes a turn around the
block and now it’s back and we are up
against a definite case of murder.”

“I'm sorry to hear it, doctor. But I’m
not surprised,” Nowitzky said.

The police of Washington, D, C., knew
nothing of these developments. While
Officers and officials in Norfolk worked
into the early morning hours of Thursday,

.,May 12th, and gradually discerned a pat-
tern of premeditated homicide, uniformed
patrolmen in the nation’s capital kept on
trying to oblige the Norfolk department.
All they had to do was find J. Clifton
Abdell, a broker of vending machines
and similar appliances, in the room as-
signed to him in the 300-room hotel where
he customarily stayed. But this proved
quite a task. Mr. Abdell had wired ahead
for his reservation and was said to have
occupied the room since shortly after mid-
night of Sunday. But now, after many
tries, it was 2 a.m. Thursday when a
Washington officer knocked on the door
and received an answer.

A tall, muscular looking man with blond
hair and blue eyes opened the door, drow-
sily. He wore gaily striped pajamas and
appeared unperturbed by the unexpected
sight of his caller’s blue uniform. “Yes?
I was just turning in,” he explained.

“Mr. Abdell? Norfolk has been want-
ing us to find you. I’m afraid it's bad
news—”

“T’ve a family in Norfolk.”

“It’s your wife. She died yesterday
morning, they say.”

“In an accident?”

“All we know, sir, is carbon monoxide
poisoning—”

“A suicide? But that couldn’t be. I
have our car here with me.”

“Gas range is what they said.”

“Suicide, then. My poor wife!” J. Clif.
ton Abdell rallied immediately, apolo-
gized to the officer for having kept him
standing at the door, invited him to step
in. The other declined with, “No, thanks.
I've told you all we know here, Mr. Abdell
Just carrying out an order. You've got a
lot to think about now. Will probably
want to call them in Norfolk.”

The bereaved widower repeated his
courteous thanks, dressed hurriedly and
went down to the hotel lobby where,
from a booth, he put through a call to a
relative in Norfolk.

It was 11:50 a.m. Thursday when a
weary-looking Abdell arrived at the office
of the coroner’s investigator. He intro-
duced himself with appropriate gravity,
then presented his companion, Mr. Ivor
A. Page, Jr.

Detective Nowitzky had instantly “recog-
nized the well-known local attorney. And
it had struck him as significant that the
husband of the alleged suicide, Audrey
Abdell, had thought he might have need
of expert counsel when he approached the
authorities.

Abdell expressed his grief in a thorough-
ly dignified manner, making no histrionic
pretenses of “being brave” or “bearing
up.” He asked to be permitted to see
his wife’s body. And Nowitzky escorted
the two men to the funeral home to which
it had been taken following the completion
of Dr. McDonald’s autopsy. All the while
the detective had been watching Abdell
closely and finally he asked, “You seem
to have some pretty ugly scratches on
your face, Mr. Abdell. May I ask how
you came by them?”


42

Her suicide notes were too self-blaming
to ring true, those who knew her said

Warning Mrs. Fisk and Bobby
Abdell to keep out of the gas impreg-
nated dwelling, Shannon hurried back
to his own home and to the telephone.
First he called the Norfolk fire de-
partment, asking that an inhalator be
rushed to the house. Then he called
the police and the office of Coroner
Cc. D. McDonald.

The firemen who sped to Lafayette
Boulevard with the inhalator saw
with grave, knowing eyes that there
was nothing left for them or their life-
restoring equipment to -do in_ this
somber kitchen. But when Coroner’s
Special Investigator Leon Nowitzky, a
man of formidable reputation in this
quarter of tidewater Virginia, arrived
at the Abdell residence he appeared,
in his quiet and casual way, to find a
great deal left for him to do or, at
least, look into. He first drew Shan-
non aside and got the basic details of
the discovery.

“With that concentration of gas,” the
investigator remarked, “the lad might
have wrecked the place and hurt him-
self badly—if he’d rung the front door-

bell. I wonder he didn’t.”
“Shannon crossed the room and
pointed. “There’s a mother for you.

Even in her despair,” he said.

’ High above the doorway leading into
the front ‘of the dwelling was the small
electrical appliance wired through to
the pushbutton outside by the front
door. Some considerate hand, even at
that fateful moment the sergeant had
called despair, had jerked and broken
_ the bell-wire connection. So the door-
bell couldn’t ring; and there had been
no small spark to ignite the heavily
combustible cloud of gas pressed in
between these walls, doors and tightly
locked and shaded windows.

Nowitzky cast a faintly perplexed
glance at the body on the floor, await-
ing the coroner’s arrival. “It’s rather
high for her to have reached,” he said,
“unless she stood on a kitchen chair.”

“The way it looked when I broke in
here, she did everything in just that
calm and calculated way,” Shannon
abserved. “I mean, the way the blan-
ket was fixed, sort of tent-like, to hold
and funnel the gas downward. I’m

- sorry I had to toss it aside,’ he told
the coroner’s ace investigator, “but
how could I tell? There still might

+ have been a chance to save her. Noth-
ing else but that one blanket was dis-
turbed. I saw to that.”

“Good,” Nowitzky nodded.

He began a close inspection of every-
thing in the kitchen. The one sturdy
chair was heaped high with clothing
which appeared to have been sprinkled
and made ready for ironing. Again
Nowitzky glanced at the broken wire
of the doorbell. It would have been on
this chair that the unfortunate Mrs.
Audrey Abdell stood to reach the elec-
trical connection. Had she even then
wavered, changed her mind, decided
to do her usual ironing before going
through with her morbid design?

On a table there were two folded
pieces of ordinary tablet paper. Writ-
ten on the outside of one of these the
detective found, “For Clifton and

“Bobby.” On the other, “For J. Clifton
Abdell.” Suicide notes? Nowitzky
studied each of the messages briefly,
then put them away in an inside coat
pocket for more attentive consideration
when he was not being disturbed and
there was less to do.

Coroner McDonald had arrived at
the Abdell home and was now in the
kitchen, scrutinizing the body of the
victim as it lay on the floor by the gas
stove.

Nowitzky pointed out a thin trail of
stains darkening the floor beside the
body. “Blood?” he suggested.

“Yes. It would appear to be a
natural hemorrhage,” said Dr. Mc-
Donald. “But later on, of course, I’ll
make a complete examination. The
woman is dead and she died of as-
phyxiation—beyond that, until the au-
topsy, there is nothing else to say about
this case.”

The coroner thereupon signed the
customary order permitting the police
to remove the victim’s body to the
morgue of a local hospital.

The older son, Clifton Abdell, had
returned and been met by the family
friend, Mrs. Fisk and Sergeant Shan-
non, whom he knew as a neighbor.
The boy, who was 15, was trying to
bear up bravely, if only to lend ex-
ample to his younger brother, who had
felt the full force of this tragic dis-
covery and was by now finding it
nearly impossible to control his bitter
grief,

“Where’s their father?”
asked Shannon.

Nowitzky

‘

“They don’t seem to know—”

Clifton Abdell came and stated that
he had last seen his father this past
Sunday afternoon. And then the dis-
tracted Bobby broke in with, “Dad
went up to Washington Sunday night.”

“He often has business in Washing-
ton?”

The boys agreed that this was so,
but neither seemed to know with
whom their parent transacted his busi-
ness in the capital or under what firm
name the authorities now might reach
him, to notify him of his wife’s suicide.

Nowitzky searched the entire house
before leaving it. This he did as a
matter of routine. The case thus far
presented few aspects that stirred the
investigator’s doubt or seemed to call
for extensive inquiry. And, in his
search, he came upon only one strange
item. On the bed in a bedroom on the
first floor he found a man’s straw hat.
It looked brand new and bore the ini-
tials “W.A.C.” stamped in gilt in the
leather sweatband.

If the late Mrs. Audrey Abdell had
had a male caller at her home since the
departure of her husband this past
Sunday night, it must have been rather
a dudish individual who came carry-
ing a new hat which hadn’t yet been
worn. The weather had been quite
warm for early in May. And Leon
Nowitzky believed that, if the hat's
W.A.C. had worn it for even half an
hour, the perspiration of his forehead.
would have registered however faintly
on the glistening newness of his sweat-
band.

What was more, the detective found
a small black tag with the size of the
hat, 7% ths, inscribed on it in white
numerals. The hat, then, was so fresh
from the store that it still had its size
marker caught between the. straw
crown and black ribbon band. And
who was this negligent W.A.C. of the
gilt initialing?

Nowitzky made discreet inquiries in
the Abdells’ neighborhood. He talked
with a stenographer who, with her
husband, occupied two upper rooms in
the Abdell house. The pair were a

. business couple; and the wife professed

to know only a little about the social
contacts of the late Mrs. Abdell. How-
ever, she spoke in high praise of the -
woman who for some time had been
her landlady. Audrey Abdell, she said,
was not the kind. of person to have
mysterious male callers. She had been
unhappily but not rancorously separat-
ed from her husband and was wrapped
up in the welfare and future prospects
of her two attractive boys.

Mrs. Fisk, when the coroner’s in-
vestigator questioned her, said much

_ the same thing. Although she could

think of no Abdell friend whose initials
would be W.A.C., she was-positive that
Audrey would never had entertained
a man in her home in a furtive-seem-
ing way, while her sons were at school.
“She and the boys’ father haven’t


Slave ABRAM re Box 260, Executive Papers of ow. >

James City County, Va., Abram, property of John
Crowdas, deceased, executed for murder on April
7, 1820, Valued at $360.00 and execution was
certified by H. Edloe, Dep. sh.

A uditor' s Records, archives of Va., Item 153,
Box 4, 18 20 knvelope.

Murdered Negro Nat, slave of Mr: Archer Mawtiins, 017 4/25/19
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Lugid hanged cr FRF-O4
ABEL and CUPID (Slaves) Age! hanged on 6-22-62

"1762-Cupid, slave of John Allmond, killed Frank, slave
of John Cheadle - HUNG; Abel, slave of Nicholas Oliver,
participated in crime above - HUNG; Sam, slave of John
Burk, participated in crime above = 39 lashes at the
whipping post." COLONIAL CAROLINE, A HISTORY OF CAROLINE
COUNTY, VIRGINIA, by Te E. Campbell; Richmond: Dietz Press
Inte; 195h; pare 3336

Case found 1» Carine County Order Sook (1159-176»
pages F/0 II). Jha weap ae Capi, Maes

valued at X60 and 1be/ at K50:

Wildiam Pettway, certifying, Allen valued at
75 pounds and Reuben at 100 lbs,

Auditor' g Records, Archives of Virginia, Item
153, Box 1, 1795 énvelope, ~

We, [Poste (MiG

Box 9, Exec. fryers of Gov.
Mew age 17 feuben age 42.

TO

en) og :
: Cale) o.
ALL fo BEEN es on, 1795704 Ste NOTE

Slaves of David Mason, sentenced to be hanged on Aug
28, 1795. for the attempted murder of David Mason,
(NOTE: Evidently Mason was later mrdered by a slave
named Bob around 182). One was sentenced to be hanged

then or thereabouts for his murder, ) Beraie ZC be

es ook, Court of Oyer and Terminer, 175-1801. pages
9= le

They had attempted to poison their master,
David Mason, Were granted a reprieve by the
Governor to the first Friday in October and
then by the Lt. Gov. to the last Friday on
which day they were executed, Deputy Sheriff

Sb

\ SLAVES ALLEN and REUBEN, hanged Sussex Court House, Virginia, Uctober 30, 1795.
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Slave ALEXANDER (or ALECK), black, hanged Bedford Court House, Virginia, Oct. 16, 1829,

"Lynchburg, Vaey Septe 1, 1829 = AWFUL OCCURRENCE, = An attempt, which we regret to say
proved too successful, to poison the family of Dr. Floyd, who resides a few miles from
tyis place, was made by his servants on last Thursday morning, While the family #d&were
at breakfast, they were taken with vomiting which immediately created the suspicion that
some poisonous ingredient had been pit in their coffee, The cook was called upy who
denied any knowledge of the fact, and willingly partook of a cup of the coffee, = A nezro
man, that was ihn the kitchen, was then sent for, who declined to drink of the coffee
offered him, but, on being compelled to partake of it, was immediately taken violently
sick, and confessed the fact of having put arsenic in the coffee pot. This was a dis-
tressing moment. Physicians were sent for, but with all their skill were unable to save
all the family from the sudden jaws of death, An interesting little boy, about teh years
old, died about | o'clock af that evening, It is said he drank his cup of coffee be-
fore eatine, which caused the poisonous draft to act more powerfully upon his empty sto-
mach, We learn that it is supposed several of Dr, Floyd's negroes were engaged in this
conspiracy, and that five hate been lodged ih Bedford jail to answer for this hellish
deed, = BIRGINIAN." REGISTER, Raleigh, North Carolina, September 10, 1829 (1:1.)

Sheriff Webb lay flat on his back, a toothpick
protruding from half opened lips. Thomas and Bolen picked
him up, stretched him out on a table. They felt for a
heartbeat. But the sheriff was gone. No use trying to do
anything for him.

JUDGE MASSIE DIES

Above them Judge Massie slumped over, stirred feebly.
Thomas mounted the platform, caught hold of the judge’s
shoulds, and tried to raise him.

“I?m dying-I’m dying Sidna Allen shot me - give me a
drink,” he moaned, gasping. By that time Judge Boen had
reached him.

"Go get a doctor," he ordered and Thomas ran out for a
physician.

Other men had begun to filter into the courtroom, from
the offices and from the street.

The judge cried out agin in agony, "My wife-my wife-"

Somebody put a pillow under his hed, snatched from the
hands of a frightened girl who had come running from the
Thornton House next door. The doctor arrived and
administered a hypodermic.

"Tell my brother to take care of my wife and children,"
Judge Massie panted as he went limp.

"He*s dead." the doctor said. & bullet had passed
through his lungs in addition to other wounds.

They turned to the other injured, two jurors and three
spectators. They lifted them from the floor and made their
way down the street.


CHAPTER 12
“BOTH SIDES ARMED —- MANY FALL IN THE COURTROOM”

Floyd Allen arose slowly from his chair and slowly made
the famous statement -— "Gentlemen, I do not intend to ga."
The shooting started, bedlam, shouts, people running over
each other followed.

The jurors, “expecting trouble," scattered like a covey
of quail. One fell to his knees, crawled between the
rushing stumbling bodies, and found refuge in the fireproof
vault of Clerk Goad’s office. Juror Cain fell wounded in
the back and leg. Faddis fearing he waould be shot into a
frazzle, escaped down the stairs and ran all the way home.
Another sought safety in the judge*s office and found the
door locked against him.

Young Attorney, Floyd Landreth, attending court to
observe the older members of the bar, slumped over in his
chair, unaware of what was happening.

"Help me take care of my baby." a woman held the child
above her head and a man stepped between her and the crowd.

&t the doors leading to the outside steps, men, women
and children swarmed and fell over one another.

"Let me out of here," shrieked little Bettie Ayers, who
had been called as an Allen witness.

“Lord, nave mercy on us," cried another.

A bit of fluff bounced from Bettie’s back as she fell
and was almost trampled. Somebody pulled her to her feet
and she stumbled down the steps.

BULLET PARTED HIS HAIR

A. 7. Howlett, witness for another case, jumped in front
of his wife and baby and was shot in the back. Stout Tom
Hall, proprietor of the Elliott House, was knocked down in
the rush and the meat man, William Hodge, equally hefty,
fell on top of him. H. K, Lindsay felt a bullet part his
hair as he ran. From the offices in front and back men
rushed out, guns in hand. Duputy Quesenberry from the
clerk’s room pulled the trigger of his 25.

Floyd fell against Judge Bolen knocking him down, as the
bullets spat around his head, shattering the bannisters of
the railing just beyound.

"Get off me, for God*’s sake, before they kill me
shooting at you,” panted the corpulant attorney.

Floyd got up, jumped over the railing, and made for the
door. His bullets spent, he grabbed another gun from the
hands of Sidna Edwards, and shouted “I’m shot bad,” ran
down the steps to the ground.

The sheriff had whirled once and slumped to the floor, a
spurt from his gun pointing to the ceiling as he fell.
Commonwealth Foster, his big book in one hand and a gun in
the other, staggered out of the enclosure, on around the
rail to the jury room, blood pouring out of the right side
of the head. Judge Massie fell forward on his desk.

GOAD SHOT 10 TIMES BUT HE SURVIVED

The shooting continued. Jurors and spectators were
falling. Goad fired as he ran from his desk toward the door
of his office. A bullet had hit him through his open
mouth, nicked off a tooth, and passed out the back of his
neck, breaking the collar button. Blood ran out of his
mouth and down the back of his neck. Ten other shots
struck him but without serious effect. He threw his gun
down, pulled another from his pocket. It caught briefly
before he jerked it loose.

Claude Allen was aiming at Goad. His uncle Sidna had
passed, dropped on one knee and reloaded his revolver.
They raced toward the door firing as they ran, and dodging

the fire of others. They reached the ground and Sidna took
refuge behind one of the white columns while he and Goad
cracked at each other. Then Sidna rushed behind the

monument still firing.

Floyd had reached the street, bullets still whizzed
around him. He stepped oan a stone as his leg gave way.
Sidna and another helped him in the saddie and he
collapsed.

"Get a buggy,” he called as the stains around his hip
and knees began to cover his trousers.

FLOYD FAINTS FROM WOUNDS

He fainted again when the buggy arrived and they put him
in it. They took him cut and laid him on the ground near
Burnett’s stable, thinking he was dying.

Up in the courtroom the smoke was clearing away as cold
fresh air poured in from the open windows and doors.
Daniel Thomas, who had managed to escape both bullets and
stampeded, gazed about the blood shottened shambles. Judge
Bolen lumbered to his feet. Deputy Quesenberry pocketed
his gun. Only the three were left in the courtroom beside
the dead and the wounded.

A004
CHAPTER 13

“HANDFUL OF BULLETS FALL FROM VEST OF DEAD C. A."

Back in the jury room behind the clerk’s desk,
Commonwealth Foster lay on a couch, his head resting on his
big book. His clothing was beginning to stiffen with the
blood that dripped from his head. His automatic had fallen
to the floor. Mrs. Foster rushed in, surrounded by other,
and just as she reached the attorney, he breathed his last,
never regaining consciousness nor knowing she was there.
They picked him up and a handful of bullets fell from his
pockets. Somebody took charge of the gun, passed it toa
another, and they examined it.

THREE DEAD AND TWO DIED A FEW HOURS LATE

The Judge and the Commonwealth Attorney were dead. The
sheriff was dead. Bettie Ayers was to die the next day, and
Juror Fowler the day after that.

Out in the rain Floyd Allen still lay prostrate on the
ground. Victor Allen, Mrs. Edwards and Byrd Marion stood
over him, not knowing whether the next breath would be his
last. One bullet had entered the upper part of his leg and
another, from a .25 like GQuesenberry had used, had pierced
his shin bone. The bone had held together until he had
turned his ankle on a stone as he tried to mount his horse.

Then it had broken and he had fainted the first time.

"This thing hurts me —- I’ve always tried to do right,”
Victor spoke slowly and shook his head as he gazed down at
his father and began to realized the enormity of the day’s
tragedy.

THOUGHT FLOYD WAS DYING

Floyd rousing briefly, said, “TIT made peace with my God
about seven years gone-me-think I see him now," and a
voice from the crowd that had gathered around him came
back, "No - It’s the devil that you see."

Tom Hall, recovered from his collision with Hodge, the
meat man, stepped forward. he also thought Floyd was
dying.

“What are you going to do with him?" he asked the
Allens.

Victor shook his head. He didn’*t know.

"If you can’t find anywhere else tao take him, bring him
in my place.” Hall suggested and left to go to his hotel.

A009
CHAPTER 18

"THE TRAP IS SPRUNG"
FATHER OF WESLEY’S SWEETHEART HELPS SET THE TRAP

Back in Carroll County, Maude began to make trips to
Mount Airy, the greatest distance she had ever been from
her home, ten miles down the mountain in North Carolina.
She never asked her father for any money and he became
Suspicious. He got in touch with the postmaster there and
asked him not to deliver any mail to her and he aiso
suggested to the detectives that his daughter would bear
watching. All along, he had known that his new farm hand,
H. H. Lucas was one of the Felts boys. Someone said Mr.
Iroler saw her hide a paper and money under a rock in the
Garden one day. After she left it, he went cut, turned up
the stone and found a letter with $50 from Wesley.

"She’11l lead us to him," Lucas advised her father, and
he did not interfere with her preparations.

Maude told her father she was going to Hight Point,
farther down in North Carolina than Mount Airy and he made
na objections, even when she did not ask for money. But he
told Lucas about it.

At the station in Roanoke, she bought a ticket for Des
Monines and in the same coach was Detective Lucas. Nobody
ever said whether or not she recognized the "farm hand."
Several cars behind were W. G. Baidwin and Oscar Monday,
other members of the agency who had been informed by Lucas
"in code" of the turn of events.

Early on the morning of September 14, a Saturday, they
arrived in Des Moines and Maude inquired the way to Mrs.
Cameron’s. Lucas found the place ahead of her and had
rented a room by the time she arrived with the other two
detectives at her heels. Baldwin took a telegram out of
his pocket, addressed to a "Mr. Thomas" stating that his
daughter had run away from home to marry a man Living at
Mrs. Cameron’s and that while he did not object, he did not
want his daughter going all over the country with a man
until she was married.

SIDNA AS "TOM SAYERS" CAPTURED AT BOARDING HOUSE

Mrs. Cameron said she knew about the approaching wedding
and that Joe Jackson, the prospective groom was not at home
although his friend, Tom Sayers, was in their room
upstairs.

Sidna, as Tom Sayers, was immediately arrested and local
police jcined in the seach for Wesley as Joe Jackson, who
could not be found where he was supposed to be working.


for nearly two weeks before most of the men were recalled.
Sidma Edwards, tried of hiding had given himself up on
Marth 22, he limped out of his hiding place, tall,
well-built, straight eyed. They said he had burned his
foot in a tub of hot mash. When they took him to jail, he
begged to be allowed to stay in the corridor but he was
walled up, like the rest.

CLAUDE AND FRIEL CAPTURED

Six days later, Claude was surprised in a laurel thicket
and captured. When order to come out he raised both hands,
& Six-shooter in each, with which he could have easily
killed the officers, had he the mind to. Word had it that
he had taken a handful of gold from a bureau drawer at
home, dressed up in Sunday clothes and headed for the west.
Somebody else told of a large amount of money paid out toa a
person who turned Claude in.

The day after he was taken into custody, Friel was
discovered hidden in the body of an old coveraged wagon in
his father’s barn.

His capture was recalled later by Tom Felts, detective
chief: Jasper, Friei*s father, wat concerned that the
others would not surrender without a fight and Friel would
not surrender without a fight and Friel would be shot. He
told Felts that he thought he knew where the three (Sidna,
Wesley and Friel) were and if Friel would be saved from
injury, if the detective would dowhat he could to get a
short sentence, not more than five years then Jasper would
cooperate. Felts replied that William Baldwin, head of the
agency, would have take the matter up with Governor Mann.
& few days later, Felts reported that the governor
"approved this arrangement,” and Jasper said he had located
the fugitives. They were not discovered because the man in
charge of the posse failed to carry out instructions, Felts
Claimed. However, Friel was taken in his father’s barn and
carried off to jail.

SIDNA AND WESLEY IN DES MOINES

By the time the detectives were called off the mountain
search, Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards had found jobs in
Des Moines, Iowa, the former, as a carpenter under the name
of Tom Sayers and the latter, a member of the city’s paving
force, under the name of Joe Jackson. Other places than
the mountain were familiar to the older man but it was the
first time Wesley had been away from home. The west had no
appeal for him as he thought of the blue veiled hills of
home, of his mother and of his sweetheart Maude.

The letter he had left with his mother had been
delivered weeks after he had disappeared. One day. Maude
could not find it, but Wesley did mot know about that, not


Lather, he was discovered on a streetcar and captured while
he was trying to reach Maude. The girl was calm, though
surprised, at the arrests resulting her trip, and she had
no idea anyone was following her.

Wesley had not resisted. he knew “all was up,” he
commented, "and what else could I do for her sake?”

Later, he admitted he had not expected her on that
particular day.

Thirty minutes after his arrest, they were all on their
way back to Virginia, each man handcuffed ta a detective.
Newpapers carried stories all over the country and crowds
thronged the depot where the party transferred from one
train to another.

WESLEY GIVES MAUDE HIS BELONGINGS

A picture appeared of Maude, September 14, cut off a
postcard she and a girlfriend had made together. 4rriving
in Roanoke, noon the day before, she was rushed ta the
Ponce de Leon Hotel and registered as Maude Thomas, a nurse
from North Carolina. The prisoners were hurried to the
jail in a big touring car while thousands of people
gathered to gaze at them as they passed throught the
streets. Wesley gave Maude his gold watch, the change he
had left —- $22.24 —- and his suitcase, before they took him
away and put him in a cell that his cousin Claude had first
occupied.

SHADOW OF DOOM

“Down with anarchy! God save the Commonwealth!" - F. C.
Wysor, Attorney for the Prosecution, to the Floyd Allen
jury, reported in THE ROANOKE (VA) TIMES, May 17, i912.

The elements seemed aware of the fatal days of the
Allens and their blod kin. The gloom and gray mist of
March 14 was a 1Jlittie colder but not darker than April 22,
when Floyd and Claude, Victor and Friel, Sidna Edwards and
Byrd Marion, guarded and handcuffed, were taken from their
celis in Roanoke to the square block jail in Hilisville.
In April, the time of apple blossoms, there was a threat of
snow.

There has been other arrests. many of them, but what was
thought to be proof turned out to be rumor and the men were
released, all but the six, under six indictments each.

Maude fearfully denied receiving any reward. The
newspapers said it was divided between the detectives and
Frank EIroler but somebody insisted she was given $500 for
"information." Rumors continued that she was given some
amount but Baldwin refused to verify.

then.

In their room at Mrs. Cameron’s boarding house, the two
homesick men talked of their family. Wesley announced that
he could not bear it any longer- he was going back home and
see his mother at least for a visit. The older man
suspected he wanted to see Maude as well, but he did not |
argue. He knew too well, from his own feelings, what
homesickness meant. A few days later, Wesley left, then
returned, never coming into contact with the officers. He
brought the first news of the family and it was bad.

DOOM IS SEALED

A day or two after he got back, he told Sidna he had
talked with Maude and had made plans for her to join him in
Des Moines, so they could be married.

"Just as sure as that girl comes out here we'll be
arrested —- the detectives will follow her," the older man
warned.

Sidna was “convinced beyound all doubt" that their doom
would be sealed the moment she appeared but he refused to
desert his nephew. He was homesick, too, and it would be
better to return and see his family than toa keep on
wandering over the face of the earth.


was ordered for duly 17. Ninety actual or prospective

jurors were paid at the time. Counties all over the
section were scoured for jurors during the Allen trials and
toward the last veniremen were summoned from Eastern
Virginia.

When he case was reopened the clothing worn by Foster
and Webb was introduced, bullet torn and bloody. Then the
political feud between Goad and Floyd was brought up again,
the latter saying the clerk offered to get a jury ta acquit
him in Hillsville if he would support Goad’s party. John
F. Moore, accused previously of aiding the Allens to escape
in Carroll county, denied it when the defense attempted to
refresh his memory on a statement that he had seen Goad
draw his gun before the shooting commenced. Moore himself
had been among those indicted for murder the day after the
event. They said he was standing betwen left-handed Sidna
Allen and the door to the judge’s office, but close injuiry
was not made as ta that.

While Claude’s trail was in progress, the award was
presented to Jezebel Goad for helping her father load his
guns, for handing him another when the first gave out, and
for helping the wounded and dying. [It was a gold medal and
Mrs. Governor Mann had written the inscription. OGnly a few
weeks before the presentation, Clerk Goad denied his
daughter*’s activities and admitted it was a made-up story.

On the 27th the court was packed. The 22 years-old
prisoner, with his mother and sweetheart. appeared calm = and
dignified as they waited before the bar. He was "neatly
and tastefully dressed” in adark suit, his black hair
parted in the middle, his gray eyes gaziang steadily toward
the door of the jury room.

GUILTY OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER

The 12 men filed in. Foreman S. W. Keys read the
verdict: "We the jury find the defendant. Claude Swanson
Allen guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in
the within indictment.”

There was a breathless quiet as the significance took
effect.

Mes. Allen rose and threw her arms around her boy’s
neck. Nellie cried aloud in tragic surprise, and tears ran
down Claude’s prison paled cheeks, and he reached one hand
out toward the girl.

The Allens should have insisted on autopsies, it was
Said later; then people would have known which bullets
killed the judge. Foster, and the rest. But years had
passed by that time.

lines of fire. I dropped to the floor and got partiey
under a bench, and after a few seconds Floyd Allen fell
upon me. I said "For God’s sake get off me, or they will
kill me in shooting at you!” and after a while succeeded
in getting from under him.”

AQ14
CHAPTER 23

HUNG JURY IN FIRST TRIAL OF CLAUDE
QUICK SECOND TRAIL VERDICT
FIRST DEGREE MURDER
WHO DID FIRE THE FIRST SHOT?

Seventeen other witnesses were said to have sup

ported

the statement that the first shots had come from the
northeast corner of the courtroom and several testified
that Claude fired the first shot. There were others,

however, who maintained that Goad or Webb fired first.

Lawyer Wysor reiterated his belief that the Alle
Planned to shoot up the court if Floyd was convicted
Giving ground for the charge on conspiracy.

SHOT AT GOAD IN DEFENSE OF DAD

One of the jurors became ill and the proceedings
interrupted briefly. Women again thronged the court
Mrs. Floyd Allen and Nellie Wisler added their blac
presence in faithful attendance. Propped up on

ns had
» this

were
where
k clad

his

crutches, Floyd wept effortlessly as his son repeated his

asertion that he had shot at Goad only in defense
father. Again the conspiracy charge was made and d
Friel, accused of participating vowed he was in Hill

of his
enied.
sville

on business for his father the day before the shooting and

he stayed the night because he was sick. The druagg

ist at

whose store he had stopped on the way to the courtroom,

testified in his behalf.

At the close of court, July 12, the case went
jury and mext day at 11:40 in the morning, word came
the i2 men could not agree - eight wanted convicti
four, acquittal.

to the
that
on and

A newspaper editorialized on July 13s, "The Allens had
full sway in Carroll and in Surry County, North Carolina,
until they had gone as far as they could be stood by the
people --- The County of Carroll had been somewhat

paralyzed since March 14. People going to court, det
raids, etc., have demolished business and farming to
extent, But living in the coutry of Floyd Allen is
living in hell without the devil. Good honest peop
were afraid to pass the home of Floyd Allen driving

ective
some
like
le who
their

tanbark, wood, and apples to Mount Airy, North Carolina, by

which they lived are now doing their hauling quiet
knocking on without being afraid to travel the road.

SECOND TRIAL ARRANGED

Claude’s mistrial was speedily remedied as another

ly and

jury

_— =< 7. =


Case was reported as observing-through even the Allens did
not believe it - "Hardiy had Allen (Sidna) faced me when I
chanced to glance out through the windows of the little red
courthouse and remarked a score of roughly-clad men mounted
eves looked staight ahead.

Motion was immediately made for a new itrial on the
grounds that improper evidence has been introduced over
ebjection of the defense and that defense evidence had been
excluded. It was overruled.

Sentence was not passed because Floyd’s testimony would
be necessary in the cases to follow against the other
prisoners.

Somebody detected a flare of defiance in Floyd when he
heard the verdict. “if they’d give me a couple of guns,
I*d never be electrocuted," it was reported, and later,
"They put one over on me this morning, but I have friends
yet in Carroll County."

Back at the jail in such privacy as was possible Floyd
began to weep. Learning over, he kissed his wife, who was
broken and distraught. What he whispered was not heard by
press and police.

JUDGE BOLEN GIVES HIS VERSION

Claude’s trial was set to begin three days later, May
20. He was charged with murdering Judge Massie.

Once more the entire shooting was reviewed and the
testimony of Judge Bolen was closely attended. After
telling how he saw a pistol gleaming in the father’s hand,
the attorney went on, "I looked first to Victor Allen as I
had always considered him as a peacemaker and then looked
at Claude Allen. I saw him in th act of leveling a pistol
at Judge Massie. I saw the smoke and spray from the pistol
as he fired, and saw the lint fly from Judge Massie*s right
shivered as the bullet struck him, turned and looked toward
the north wall, and began to sink in his chair. A second
shot followed from a point to the right of where Claude
Allen was standing and its smoke covered Judge Massie’s
person. I could not see who fired the second shot, but
immediately Sidna Allen emerged from out of the smoke, with
a pistol in his hand and with Claude Allen by his side,
both advancing in the direction of the court officers and
firing rapidly upon them.

"First there was one shot fired, then after a short
interval the second shot was fired, then a batch of shots

almost instantly. I turned and looked toward the northwest
corner doar and saw Wesley Edwards advancing and firing
rapidiy in the direction of the officers. Then the

shooting became general, and I found myself between the two


VICTOR FOUND "NOT GUILTY”

Victor’s trial dragged through eight days and finally at
42:30 on the afternoon of the i2th, the jury retired to its
room to consider the evidence. Only 30 minutes later they
came back and their verdict was “not guilty.”

The courtroom Burst out with shouts of approval, with
weeping far q7oy, hand-clapping.,. and sighs of relief.
Victor shook hands with members of the jury, then gathered
his wife and children in his arms.

The sudden spontaneous reaction was natural after weeks
of tense waiting and the over-whelming air of
despair-particularly among the Allens and their friends whoa
had heard the judge the day before when he ordered that
Floyd and Claude be carried to Richmond between October 23
nd November 7. both to be electrocuted on November 22
*"hetween sunrise and sunset.”

Even with such a decision, the Allens did not give up
hope, and Victor’s acquittal inspired further optimism.
Two days after he was released, word came to the section
that Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards has been captured in
Des Moines.

SIDNA SAY GOAD "SHOT FIRST"

After the drama and tension of the other trials, the two
last were in the nature of any anti-climax, except for
those most intimately concerned. Sidna was tried first,
November il. He maintained he had not fired until Goad
shot at him and never did he airm at Judge Massie.
Witnesses denied it, saying the first shot came from the
"Allen corner” where Sidna and Claude stood. dudge Bolen
testified again, repeating his evidence.

Defense countered the accusation of conspiracy with the
fact that the day before the shooting, Sidna has deposited
a large amount in the Hilsville bank which would certainly
not indicate he was preparing to shoot up the court and
make a get-away.

Sidna declared that he and his brother had “heard a few
days before Floyd Allen*s trial began that Sheriff Webb had
Bought 100 rounds of cartridges and had made the remark
that he was going to show the Allen gang some “real court."
" Sidna went on, "We did not expect trouble that day, and
there would not have been any if the officers had not begun
it.”

The counterfeiting case was again aired and a farmer
from near Greensboro told how the Allens had planned to get
the Federal court if Sidna had been convicted.

"The position of the Commonwealth is indicated. Her
purpose and ability to enforce her own laws is proved," an
editor declared.


UNION RAISED MONEY FOR SIDNA’S DEFENSE

Out in Des Moines, soon after his capture becme known,

the Carpenter’*s Union met in Sidna’s behalf. "Allen is a
member in good standing,” President Jd. &S. Walker declared
as funds were raised for his defense. "He paid his dues
promptly and was square in all his dealings. He was

industrious, an honest man, and we are not going to see him
ili-treated.

Along with Sidna’s trial went appeals in behalf of Floyd
and Claude. On November 19 execution was put off until
December 13, during which time the case would be presented
te the Supreme Court.

Then, on November 22, Sidna’s verdict was announced
after 18 hours of discussion — "Guilty of murder in the
second degree with 15 years imprisonment." A total of i151
yvenirement had been summoned and paid, toa assemble the
necessary jury for trial.

"The people they all gathered from far and from near to
see poor Sidna sent to the electric chair, but at last with
surprise, the judge he said, “he is going ta the
penitentiary instead.”

That was how they sang about it in Detroit, Michigan, 25
years later. At home, through, the editor then of the
Wytheville ENTERPRISE, described the results of Sidna’s
trials and pleas, another miscarriage of justice."

His first trial concerned the judge. He pled guilty toa
second degree in the case of the sheriff and was given five
years sentence when he was convicted of manslaughter
related to Foster. Thrirty-five years of confinement was
the total of the three sentences. Other charges were
dismissed. Wesley Edwards received a total of 27 years.

AD1S
CHAPTER 24

“HEARTBREAKING SCENE IN THE WYTHE COURTHOUSE”
MADE DEAL WITH DETECTIVES

Friel’s case was called next and it was brought out that
his father had made an agreement with Detectives Felts and
Baldwin, that he would surrender the boy if the state would
permit him to plead quilty tc second degree murder and
would pardon him after serving five years, Felts, who made
the arrangements and whose men found Friel in Jasper’s
barn, was not present, and on August 18 Friel was given i8
years in the case of Foster and other charges were
dismissed. Sidna Edwards was given a choice between a jury
trial and plea of quilty to second degree murder. He and
his mother consulted and chose the former with the
resulting penalty of 18 years

Concerning Friel’s plea, an editor observed, “(it) is a
confession that the Allen spirit is broken at last; that
these people feel and understand that they are powerless
against the Commonwealth over which they undertook ta
prevail by violence and terrorism.”

Thus were the indictments against five of the eight
suspects handled. Victor was yet to be tried and Sidna
Allen and Wesley Edwards were still at large.

PUBLIC OPINION SWUNG TO THE ALLENS

During the summer months. public opinion had been
changing rapidly about the prisoners. Some people said the
press had made heroes cut of them and other declared the
newspapers had hailed them as “outlaws.” Circulars were
issued to explain the side of the Allens. Church
organizations and other groups and individuals donated

funds for them and began urging leniency. The attachments
against their property were dismissed.

After the medal was presented to Jezebel Goad, friends
of the Allens proposed one for Claude, signifying their
belief that his testimony was true-that he shot only ta
protect his father.

Tt was a more sympathetic group of spectators who
gathered on September 4 for the trial of Victor, who was
charged with shooting Foster. Testimony brought cut that
he was the peacemaker of the family, and Claude told again
how he had taken Victor’s pistol from their hotel room the
morning of the shooting. When asked why he had not been on
his mail route at the time, Victor convinced the court that
he had been sick.

CHAPTER 26
Thousands View Bodies and Weep
FOYD AND HIS SON GO TO THE CHAIR “UNAFRAID”
SWEETHEART BEGS GOVERNOR TO SEE CLAUDE
"Miss Nellie Wisler," as a newspaper described Claude’s
sweetheart, was in Richmond during the last weeks. One

day she pled with Governor Mann to iet Claude talk to him,
that she would go to the death cell in his place and stay

there while they talked. Nellie would have married Claude
but he insisted he would not let her ge through life
Branded as the wife of an executed prisoner -- a convict.

Together they composed letters for the newspapers that were
printd on the morning of the 27th.

CLAUDE DECLARES HE IS INNOCENT

"“T have only a few days to live,” wrote Claude,” and as
I will say at the bar of God, so I can say to you - I know
of no conspiracy and I did not fire the first shot in the
courtroom at Hillsville, March 14, i912.

Nellie’s letter, expressing appreciation for what had
been attempted and what had been done, was clipped from
the newspapers and pasted in many a scrapbook. Most of
all, she regretted that Claude must go to his death
unbelieved.”"

Claude’s medal had been made for the people of Carrall
and nearby counties, but the penitentiary officials had it.

A Mass meeting of protest against the execution was
planned at Richmond the day the letters appeared but it wae
called off. Letters. telegrams, phone calls, and pleas of
all descriptions continued to pour in from prominent folk
and lowly. Colonel R. £. Byrd. speaker of the House of
Delegates, urged the governor to spare the lives of Floyd
and Claude.

Governor Mann went to Philadelphia.

March 28 dawned with ailast flicker of hope for the
doomed men. For the last time the weather seemed to take
part in the affair of the men. A tornado in OQhis had
ripped into Southwest Virginia and its fringe had even
reached Richmond early in the week. Gn Friday the wind had
died down but there were heavy clouds and a constant
dripping of rain.

A FINAL LAST ATTENPT

A016
CHAPTER 25

NEW eWipence FOUND — CASE CARRIED TO U.S. SUPREME
COURT. APPEAL WAS DENIED

About ten days before Christmas Sidna Allen and Wesley
Edwards began serving their time in the penitentiary in
Richmond and after months, were allowed to see Floyd and
Claude, Friel and Sidna Edwards.

Y———it i165 fair to assume that no criminal trials have
ever taken place in this Commonwealth that were of more
real importance in the administration of the criminal laws,
and in the vindication of the supremacy and power of the
courts of the Commonwealth to administer the criminal laws
of the State, than were the Alien cases," From Report of
the Attorney General of Virginia of i913.

Fioyd and Claude Allen convicted of the murder of
Commonwealth Foster, were in the death house at Richmond
penitentiary. Hope was continually held out for them as
execution was postponed time afer time. Particularly in
the case of Claude was there optimism among his friends and
legal advisors. Father and son had been tried before the
others and the evidence brought out in the later testimony
was at variance with some of that given to the juries in
the early triais.

NEW EVIDENCE — THE BULLET IN JUDGE MASSIE’*S CHAIR

The defense explained that Claude had not been present
when the reputed threats against the court had been made by
his father. And what absolute proof was there that
Claude’s bullets had killed Foster? No tests were made nor
was there an autopsy and the courtroom models presented at
the trials had been constructed five weeks after the
shooting. By that time so many people had gouged out the
Bullets in the walls and furniture that nobody could tell
whether the holes had been made by bullets or pocket
knives. In the Foster case evidence was had concerning the
Massie death, in which Claude had drawn a second degree
murder conviction and never did the young man have the
opportunity to see the records of the trial in which his
father had been convicted of first degree murder of Foster.
There was aiso the matter of the back of Judge Massie’s
chair. The defense believed the hole in the wooden frame
had not been made by a bullet and was made by an insect, or
perhaps it wa merely a sign that the chair was wearing out.
Then, on February 1, eleven months after the shooting the
defense was able to get the piece, split it, and discovered
a bullet imbedded. Indications of its course showed that
it had been fired from in front of Massie, and everybody
knew that Claude had been practically behind the judge as
he leaned on his right elbow. There was also the matter of


Peter Easter. He had been in the courtroom all the time
and he was not brought out to testify. Some of the jurors
appeared to have formed opinions before they were sworn in,
it was aiso claimed.

SCORES OF PETITIONS — EXECUTION [5 DELAYED AGAIN

Petitions came in by the score to the newspapers, to the
authorities, toa friends. Execution was postponed from
November 22 to December 13 and then to January i7. The
Supreme Court of Apealis heard the attorneys on January 16
when they based their pleas on “evidence discovered when
Floyd was in jail and could not get it in time for triai.”
The appeal was denied but the governor permitted another
stay until March 7 to give the lawyers opporturnity to
present their case before the United States Sumpreme Court.
Popular opinion was high and much was said about how Claude
had been tried three times for murder.

Meanwhile aocry had come cut of Carroll County to
Governor Mann: “Be easy on me aor there will be another
Allen affair." The law of the level land had not succeeded
entirely in the hills, although two men were slated to die
and four others had long penitentiary terms. If Floyd and
Claude were not executed, would the law have proven ifself
supreme? If the Allens were not properly punished, other
people could get by with their misdeeds.

And Governor Mann also learned something else about
Claude, not brought out in court and not published in the
papers. There was the story that Claude had the famous
Allen temper, that one time he got mad at a man who had
just planted an apple orchard, and in the dark one night
had gone into the man’s land and pulled up all the little
trees. Hadn*t he helped his father run a man out of the
county who didn’t like the Allens? And what about the time
he shot a boy in the neighborhood and wounded him
seriously? There was that still, too. Detectives had told
of finding a big one on Floyd Allen’s place. Floyd denied
knowing anything about it and they said it was really
Claude’ s. And why didn’t Claude have a job if he was 50
well prepared tao hold one with all that military schooling
and a business college? To be sure, all those beliefs or
theories had never been investigated and the fact was that
Claude Allen had never been in any trouble with the law
until the shooting.

TURNED DOWN BY U. S. COURT

Whatever the defense attempted, the prosecution always
insisted on the verdict and even through most of the jurors
signed the petitions, the prosecution held firm.

On March 7 a fourth postponement was made by the
governor as the defense had not yet taken the case to the


highest court in the land. Then, on March 24, Justice
White and Justice Hughes refused a hearing, the attorneys
for the Aliens left Washington and went back to Richmond
with the grim tidings. Executions was set for March 28.

Victor left the funeral home and while he was away,
thousands of the curious - at Ileast 15,000 it was said-
seeped in to look and comment. They filed past the open
casket, covered with black broadcloth and bearing the words
"AT REST” in silver. Women who had come to town to shop,
school children on their way home, and young people en
route to and from the theatre —- many wept as they they saw
the still, quiet faces.

CHAPTER 27

THOUSANDS ATTEND FUNERAL OF FLOYD AND CLAUDE,
BURIED IN THEIR NATIVE CARROLL

It was nearly midnight when Victor was finally allowed
tao have his father and brother moved from the Richmond
funeral home to the railroad station where they were
carried to Mount Airy. They were met by friends and family
among & crowd of more than a thousand. Two wagons carried
the coffins over the rough roads, on the steep hairpin
trail up the mountains to the home near Fancy Gap. Away

from the staring, curious crowd, they wound their sorrowful
way.

3.900 ATTEND SERVICE AT GRAVESIDE

Father and son were buried side by side in the family
graveyard on the slope of a hillside about a mile from

their home. Five thousand attended the service, it was
reported, some arriving as early as nine o’clock in the
morning of March 30 - one year and 16 days after the
shooting. They came in all sorts of vehicles, on horseback
and on foot —- some walked as far as 35 miles.

From the home, the procession started at 2 o’clock. "No
Flowers" was the request but there were many, Glaborate and
beautiful. Some wreaths and sprays bore cards fram

Richmond.

A slight rain was falling and gray purple mists covered
the tops of the mountains. An uprooted tree here and there
remained from the storm that had begun on Monday and was
edging off. In the earth there were two red gashes for
gravs. Perfect order and decorum prevailed. Mrs. Fioyd
Allien and Nellie Wisler rode in a two horse carriage with

Victor. Broken hearted and ill. Mrs. Alien -— “The women of
Woe" -— remained in the carriage during the service.
No scripture was read, no text announced. Three Baptist

ministers made short talks of warning as the caskets waited
im the mist. The procession formed to take one last look
before the lids were closed and for an hour three old men
with wavering voices sang familiar hymns as the spectators
passed by. The privacy of a few last sad moments remained
for the family. Nellie Wisler approached, her hand on
Victor’s arm. He leaned over Claude, reached toward the
lapel on the dark suit, and unfastened a pin. He turned to
Nellie and placed in her ‘outstretched hand, Claude’s goid
medal, presented to him the afternoon before his death “far
bravery in defending his father.”

SONG ABOUT CLAUDE

“Between sunrise and sunset,” the sentence read.
Before daylight the prison superintended had agreed to hold
off the execution until Attorney General Williams could
look up the constitutional law and find out whether
Lieutenant Governor Ellyson could grand clemency since the
cheif executive was out of Virginia. While the attorneys
worked furiously in the smail hours of the day, the two
prisoners waited for the final signal, unknowing of the
last sad attempt in their behalf.

As the law was being search, the young son of Governor
Mann phoned his father and told him what was taking place.
fAroused, the governor got word into Richmond that he would

arrive in a few hours. Shortly, a telegram was received
from Alexandria —- the governor was on Virginia soil and the
executions would proceed as ordered. When he reached

Richmond he was met at the train by a bodyguard sent’ for
his proteciton.

The two men were taken from the cells and carried to the
death chamber. The two juries, required by Virginia law,
gathered in dark clad somberness and wordlessly took their
places. Through the gloomy gray corridors Floyd limped on
his painful, badly set leg. Half-weeping, half-praying at
first, he was calm and dignified as he reached the room and
said he was “ready to go." They strapped him in the
chair." Without a pleas or quiver he submitted. At 1:31
he was removed.

UNAFRAID OF DEATH

Claude approached the death chair. "silent and
unaftraid-like a young Greek god." the newspaper said. He
helped his executiners adjust the straps around his wrists.
At 1:42 he was taken away.

THOUSANDS WEPT

Victor was waiting, the peaceable, protective Victor,
for whom all had a good word. Four othes-Friel and Sidna
Allen, Wesley and Sidna Edwards - in their cells in the
prison - knew what was happening. The night before they
had been allowed to see Floyd and Claude briefly, for the
last time.

When the prison doctor had finished his work, the bodies
of father and son were taken to the funeral pariors. A
special police force was on hand to guard and a promise was
made toa Victor that there would be no public exhibition.
Ropes were stretched around the place tao keep visitors
away.

But something happened, something in the arrangements
slipped up.


NOTE FROM ENTERPRISE EDITOR

The following song was reportedly written by Cay Reedy
of Rugby. The copy of the son which was written after the
execution, was submitted to the ENTERPRISE by two readers,
and to each we express appreciation. Mrs. Al. (Bridie)
Lambert of Rural Retreat and Frances M. Waddell of Wise,
sent us the copy of the song, with the title "Claude
Alien,” which is as follows:

"Claude Allen and his dear old father

met their fatal doom at last

Friends are glad their troubles are over
Hope their souls in heaven at last.

"Claude was young, fair and handsome,
And he hoped unto the end
Shun his death at the rich man’s pen

"But the governor being so hard hearted,
Cares not what his friends may say.

They finally took his sweet life from him
In the cold ground Claude now lays

"Sad, indeed, to think of killing
A man just in his youthful years,
To leave his dear old mother weeping
And all his friends in bitter tears.

"Claude, he had a pretty sweethearts
Lost one gone, she dearly loves;

She hopes to meet him over the river
His fair young face in heaven above.

"Come, all of you young people,

Take warning to what [ says;

Or you may be like poor Claude Allen:
Have this awful deed to pay

"Way up on that old, high mountain,
Claude all lays beneath the clay,

We no more hear his words of mercy,

Or see his face till the Judgement Day.”

JUDICTALLY MURDERED

Claude and Floyd wrote two long statements that were
published the morning of their death. Each disclaimed any
knowledge of a conspiracy and each maintained that the
court officials fired the first shots.

Sometime later a monument was raised in the cemetery and
the inscription read: "SACRED TO THEMEMORY GF CLAUDE S&S.
ALLEN, JUDICALLY MURDERED BY THE ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR OF
VIRGINIA, OVER THE PROTEST OF ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND CITIZENS


=

te
tl

ATTEN. (C1: ral w + boc A 7 I }
ALLEN, Claude S. & Floyd, whites, elec. VA (Carroll) March 28, 1913.

The AMAZING “ALLEN GANG"

ILLSVILLE, the unpretentious county seat of Car-

roll County, Virginia, is at the top of a muddy

trail corkscrewing tortuously up a mountainside

until it reaches a point 2,000 feet above sea level.

As the first streaks of dawn were reddening the

sky in that vicinity on the 13th day of March, 1912—a

dawn shadowed by heavy, dull clouds—Hillsville looked

lonesome. Its only signs of life were the blue smoke rising

from kitchen chimneys and+the appetizing smell of break-
fast being prepared in typical Southern homes.

Soon, however, country people could be seen streaming
into town—some on horseback and some on foot. Whinnies
were mingling with brays at the hitching posts, and men
were straggling, muddy-footed, up the steps of the court-
house—a quaint old red-brick structure fronted with four
white Tuscan pillars, which stood on a green square, well in
the center of the village. An exciting time was expected, for
an Allen was to go on trial that day.

Members of the Allen clan held no official position in the
county government machinery, but their word had been law

Below) Left to right: Sidna Allen, sentenced
to thirty-five years; Floyd Allen, electrocuted; PI
Claude Allen, electrocuted; and Friel Allen, , i
sentenced to fifteen years; all leading
members of the notorious “Allen os
Gang,” which fora while terrorized gs
the law-abiding community all
within its working range S
L. 4b

yo

e »

PRR REE

Here is one of the most astound-
ing recitals of a startling
tragedy—a crime that stirred
the world by its boldness and
quick-trigger methods—

with a terrible but
dramatic
climax

al cover een Ne A I ARR TCE ANBAR SE ANE AT
A ee mam

99

NG

stound-
irtling
stirred
ss and

Court-Housrt Massacre

in the community for many years. When the breeze blew
to suit them, they were satisfactory citizens; but the mo-
ment it turned, they were demons, Then their pistols were
as visible and as much a part of them as horns are a part
of a Texas herd; and they used them without regard for
kith, kin or kind.
The father of the present generation of elder Allens was
Jeremiah Allen, a Confederate soldier, fearless and with
a spirit of fighting that was transmitted to his sons,
: Sidna, Floyd and Jasper. These members of
>, - the Allen clan were among the wealth-
Iw iest men in the community. Far-
res mers, most of them, they
owned thousands of acres
of land. Sidna Allen
had the second
finest home

—

By FRANK H. WARD

FORMERLY OF

THE SCRIPPS-HOWARD LEAGUE
OF NEWSPAPERS

in Carroll County. It was a modern house, a trifle garish in
architecture and of a type more frequently seen in a small
and prosperous city than in a rural section. There was a
windmill that controlled a water plant; modern plumbing;
bathrooms; and a telephone connecting the inmates of the
house with the outside world. The homes of the other
brothers, although not so showy, were comfortable.

Sidna Allen—who was considered more crafty, cruel and
covetous than his brothers—in addition to his farming, car-
pentering and merchandising, invested in the purchase of
a plating machine with a tenant, Dickens. A plating ma-
chine in a rural general store was as unusual as a canning

factory would be in a desert, and Uncle Sam’s sleuths

(Below) Left to right: Wesley Edwards,
sentenced to eighteen years; Sidna Ed-
wards, fifteen years; Victor Allen, ac-
quitted; and Byrd Marion who died

before the trial; additional mem-
me; bers of the ‘‘Allen Gang”’
“py. who were caught in
ey the famous hunt

Pr anid

POSTE EIEE

Baker nea!

fone

mma
Court-house at Hillsville, Carroll
County, Virginia, which, during the
trial of Floyd Allen on March 14th,
1912, was entered by members of
the “‘Allen Gang,” who killed three of
the Commonwealth’s officers


30 The Master Detective
soon corm nenced to sniff around. They found that the two through Floyd’s abdomen—purely as a matter of retribution
platers wre making frequent trips from Hillsville, and that Physicians came and patched up the punctured intestines
counter!’ gold coins were appearing in their wake. Sidna_ but left so little hope for his recovery, that Floyd sent for
Allen an Dickens were arrested and tried for counterfeit- Jasper, claiming that he wanted to make peace with him
ing in th Federal Court at Greensboro, North Carolina. before he crossed the great divide. When Jasper, with
When ‘heir trial opened, the Allen clansmen appeared at bandaged head, approached Floyd’s bed, however, the latter
Greensbovo, en masse. But the Government's quickest pulled a revolver from under his pillow to shoot him. A
under-co. er men had been strategically stationed to keep relative standing by, stayed his hand.
their ey:. on every Allen. Dickens went before the jury,
swore ‘tt he was the full owner and operator of the Al another time, Floyd wanted to buy his brother's farm.
counter! iting plant, and was sent to the penitentiary for but at his own price. While waiting for acceptance of
five yea Sidna Allen was acquitted, but Federal Judge his‘ offer, a neighbor—Combs—bought it at a higher figure.
Boyd he | him arrested for perjury, and for that crime he As a penalty for “butting in,” Floyd Allen shot Combs in
was sep -nced to two and one-half years in the Atlanta the leg, inflicting a serious wound. The county court sen-
Federa! orison. He was now out on bond, pending appeal. tenced him to an hour in jail—a shockingly short sentence
Both | loyd and Jasper, on the other hand, had reputa- for so grave a felony—and ordered him to pay the costs.
tions as men quick on the trigger. At the time their father’s But this way out was not easy enough for Floyd Allen.

Home of Sidna Allen, the second
finest home in Carroll County,

Virginia
the most covetous, crafty and
cruel of
power in the County was
ind far-reaching

great

estate

gardinule SEY OE RE PE

OW UM, OR 2 ae i ¢

i

He was considered

the Allens, and his

was being di-

VV EWU Peewee

mal

(Below) Home of Floyd Allen.

at the time of the massacre.
He had just been found
guilty of assault, and sen-

It was Floyd who was on trial

tenced, when the mur-
derous attack was begun

Soon, a message came

from the Governor of
Virginia, pardoning
Floyd from his prison
sentence. Still that was
not sufficient and he in
turn went to Combs and
made him pay the costs—
under threat of death.
Some months before, two of
Floyd’s nephews had whipped
some young men in a brawl
back of a schoolhouse, and then
fled across the State line into North
Carolina. Carroll County officers
crossed the line, arrested the belligerent

vided. they got into a

wrangle over the divi-

sion © several barrels of

brand: , and in the midst
of the discussion Floyd 4 4
Allen \erked out his pistol ie gers &
and fred at Jasper, split- page ND
ting the top of his head, and
sending him, unconscious, to
the ground. Floyd then
grabbed a stone and struck his

brother at the base of the brain.
This blow counteracted that of the
bullet and restored Jasper to conscious-
ness; whereupon he calmly serit two bullets

bbbhbhs Rian |

SF Ppeannernes neces lan. habetateehetaindahale é

TPL STR NT

STEEN

29 ST REE


* retribution.
ed intestines,
oyd sent for
ce with him
Jasper, with
er, the latter
1oot him. A

other’s farm,
acceptance of
higher figure.
ot Combs in
ty court sen-
hort sentence
ay the costs.
Floyd Allen.

e of Floyd Allen.
who was on trial
of the massacre.
ast been found
assault, and sen-
when the mur-
attack was begun

message came
‘e Governor of
pardoning
m his prison
Still that was
nt and he in
» Combs and
the costs—
death.
efore, two of
had whipped
in a brawl
se, and then
e into North
inty officers
re belligerent

re = ome ~ campers arene ENR 4) ~

The Amazing ‘‘Allen Gang’’ Court-House Massacre 31

nephews, and started with them to Hillsville.
En route, they were stopped by Floyd Allen
and his gang, who took their pistols
from them, beat them brutally and
liberated the two boys.

It was for this offense that Floyd
Allen was to face a jury at Hills-
ville on March 13th, 1912. There
was no county judge on the
bench who could be intimidated
by the Allen clan now. Vir-
ginia’s new constitution had
gone into effect, and Judge

(Below) A view of the Hillsville,
Virginia, court-house as it looked
shortly before the massacre of the
judge, attorney and sheriff by mem-
bers of the desperate ‘‘Allen Gang”’

Thornton L. Massie, of the Twenty-first Vir-
ginia Circuit, was to preside.
Commonwealth’s Attorney William M.
Foster, who had defeated one of the
Allen clan for the office he held, was
leading the prosecution, and former
Circuit Judge D. W. Bolen, who
lived on a mountain top near the
Allens, headed the defense.
Sensing trouble, the county offi-
clals asked Judge Massie to
disarm all those entering the
court-house. After conferring

(Left) Circuit Judge Thornton L.
Massie, the one-armed judge who
presided at the trial of Floyd Allen,
and who was killed in the massacre
that followed the verdict

OTT

(Above) Commonwealth’s Attorney William M. Foster, (Above) Sheriff Lewis F. Webb, the third to fall amid the
another of the victims. He had defeated one of the Allens hail of Allen bullets. He had stepped forward to take

for the office he held, and led the prosecution of Floyd charge of. the prisoner Floyd, when ‘the attack began


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detectives quickly deprived him of two
pistols.

“Wesley and I would’ve gone back to
stand trial a long time ago if we thought
we'd have a fair show,” he grumbled as

. the handcuffs clicked. “But look what they

did to poor Floyd and Claude.”

Leaving Sidna under guard of Detec-
tives Felts and Lucas, Colonel Baldwin
and Chief Jenney set out to find Edwards,
alias Joe Jackson. The landlady said he
was supposed to be working ‘on a paving
job in the western part of the Iowa city.

In some mysterious fashion Wesley Ed-
wards apparently was tipped off that his
uncle had been captured. Arriving at the
paving project, the officers were told that
he hhad suddenly thrown down his tools
— left the job only a few minutes ear-
ier.

Jenney telephoned headquarters at once
and a city-wide alarm was sent out for the
fugitive. It was not until early evening
that Baldwin, Jenney and a cordon of offi-
cers cornered Edwards as he boarded a
streetcar,

The young desperado shrewdly attempt-
ed to escape by dropping to his knees on
the floor of the crowded car and working
his way toward the front end, knowing the
police would withhold their fire for fear of
wounding passengers.

He was half-way out the front door
when the officers, wise to his trick, covered
him before he could draw and hand-
cuffed him.

Tears of rage and disappointment filled
the hot-headed mountaincer’s eyes, “Damn

oul” he screamed. “I was going to git

itched t’night!”

Last Trick Fails

Locked in separate cells awaiting extra-
dition, the prisoners were questioned about
their movements since the day of the
tragedy. Edwards refused to talk, but Sidna
Allen spoke freely,

He and Wesley had hidden out in the
hills of Virginia and North Carolina until
the others were captured, he said. Early
in April they had worked their way to
Kentucky and spent a week in Louisville.
Their next stop was St. Louis, from which
uy went to Des Moines, arriving on April

Returned to Virginia, the prisoners were
tried separately. Sidna Allen was con-
victed of second degree murder for Judge
Massie’s death and sentenced to 15 years.
Placed on trial for the slaying of Prose-
cutor Foster, he was convicted of voluntary
manslaughter and sentenced to five years.
As a third trial loomed for the murder of
Sheriff' Webb, and Wesley Edwards faced
three similar trials, the authorities called
a halt in the lengthy proceedings.

In a compromise worked out between
the prosecution and the defense, Sidna
Allen was allowed to plead guilty to sec-
ond ‘jegree murder in the slaying of Webb
and seceived another 15-year term. The
combined sentences, running consecutively,
totaled 35 years.

Wesley wards also was allowed to
plead guilty to all three indictments, taking
a nine-year term on each—a total of 27

. years.

Both Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards
were pardoned in 1926 by Governor Harry
Flood. Byrd. Edwards di
in Richmond in 1939, and Allen died in
Hillsville in 1941. Governor E. Lee Trinkle
in 1924 pardoned Friel Allen and Sidna
Edwards.

Floyd Allen and his son Claude lan-
guished in the death house at Richmond
while their attorneys rushed through ap-
peals. Losing an application to the Vir-
ginia Appeals Court, they carried the case
to the United States Supreme Court. The
lawyers charged that Claude had been

ied of pneumonia’

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2 Nerthwastern Station, Pert. @106, Dotroit 4,

mond
around

after I left
duty to hu
repeat that
tion of th
slightest do
Claude Alle
law must t:

Shortly a/
led to the e!
At 1:26, he

A gold me
eer sympath
given to Cla
was unpres
warden’s sa/{
man went tc
at 1:35,

The sens:
massacre, w!
her depths a:
had been ay,

Eprror’s Nc
barrassment
name Mabel .
not.real but ; /

ms
ice
oie’. *

‘A i

placed in double jeopardy being tried
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bert had
the sad
inopened,
ger son §

collect,
1 ington,

while the address and latter part were printed in bold letters. The
blue-eyed lad explained that the note had been given him by his father
two days previously just before the latter left the city on a business
trip. The instructions were that the envelope was not to be opened
unless something happened which necessitated the father’s immediate
presence in the home, .

Although the tragedy was apparetitly a well-planned suicide,
there were extenuating circumstances which the investigating au-
thorities, particularly Lieutenant Leon Nowitsky,, wanted to have
cleared up. Nowitsky, ace investigator of the coroner’s office, had
an enviable record. He was responsible for the solution of many
baffling mysteries and had become recognized as one of the outstand-
ing sleuths in Virginia, if not in the south. A man who refused
to jump at conclusions without weighing all circumstances after a
thorough investigation, he was one among a very few who believed
investigating officers were too ready to accept prima facie evidence
of suicide as conclusive,

The body of the dead matron was removed to the city morgue and
an autopsy ordered. The shocked husband was notified at the hotel

in Washington, where he was registered, and he left immediately for
his home in the Virginia city.

M EANWHILE Lieutenant Nowitsky began quietly

probing into a death which a sorrowing city was will-
ing to accept as one of the regrettable tragedies of life
which cannot be understood. The experienced investigator
first delved into the circumstances immediately preceding
the death in an effort to ascertain the how, why and where-
fore of the fatal act. The most puzzling factor was a
number of bruises and scratches found on the dead woman’s
face and body. An overturned chair in the death ‘kitchen
made it highly possible that she had sat there when first
starting to inhale the poisonous gas and had toppled off
as she began to lose consciousness.

The fall would account for the bruises and scratches and
it might also have produced the internal hemorrhage which
Dr. MacDonald said had taken place before death
came. But what was the explanation of the blanket
over her face? How could the unconscious woman
have gotten under it after toppling off the chair?
And, if she did not fall off the chair, what was the
explanation of the bruises and scratches ?

Another strange factor was the presence in the
kitchen of an ironing board, across which lay some
ladies’ underwear recently washed. It was obvious
that Mrs. Abdell had intended pressing the under-
clothes the day of her death for the iron was still
plugged. in the electric socket when her body was
found. Why had she changed her mind? And

[Continued on page 63] ‘

‘Mrs. Abdell’s slayer went on tri

Breaking open the locked door indicated by an arrow
at top, Police Sergeant Shannon made a shocki dis-
covery. Subsequent investigation revealed the bizarre
death notes shown directly above. Curious crowds
milled outside the Norfolk courthouse, left, when
al for his life.


‘

a peculiar odor. She sniffed the air cautiously, then placed
her nose close to the key hole of the kitchen door. Trying
to suppress a fear that had gripped her, she announced that
she would be back in a moment and told the boys to wait for
her on the front porch.

Mrs. Dorman sped to the home of Police Sergeant H. A.
Shannon, who lived immediately behind the Abdells. He was
off duty at the time. After listening to her brief story the
officer dashed through the back yard to the Abdell home. As
he stood on the back porch the smell of escaping gas was
plainly noticeable. ;

Unable to gain an entrance otherwise, the officer smashed
the glass in the kitchen window and threw up the shade. Then
he staggered back as the obnoxious fumes poured through the
broken aperture. A moment later, holding a handkerchief over
his nose and mouth, he climbed through the window into the
gas-filled kitchen. Turning off the jets of the range, all six
of which were wide open, he threw open the doors and windows
and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air.

poli dams ein he turned his attention to the figure of a
fully-clothed woman stretched out on the floor directly
beneath the gas stove. He immediately recognized her as Mrs.
Abdell, the attractive wife of one of the city’s most prominent
business men. A moment later he was at the telephone in the
house summoning the rescue squad of the fire department and
notifying police headquarters. Everything possible was done
to bring life back into the prone body. But the efforts were
in vain. City Coroner C. D. J. MacDonald said Mrs. Abdell
had been dead for hours.

There was every indication that the popular young society
matron had committed suicide. The kitchen had been tightly

closed and all holes and cracks stuffed with paper. A blanket had.

been hooked on the grates over the burners of the stove and ex-
tended down-over Mrs. Abdell’s face in such a way that the

full force of the deadly gas had gone directly into her lungs.
A tiny stream of blood which had trickled across the floor away
from her mouth, indicated that the victim had suffered a
hemorrhage before she died. A pet cat lay near the body, like-
wise a victim of monoxide gas.

Searching through the home to unearth some motive for
suicide, investigating officers found two notes in the dead
woman’s bedroom. They were addressed to her husband and
her two young sons. Their tone revealed a despondent and
morose woman who had grown weary with life but could not
forget the loved ones she was leaving.

Neither of the notes were dated and both were written in
pencil in a nervous hand. The one addressed to the sons read:

“My dear Clifton and Bobby:
I’m going away on a long trip and not coming back.
I want you both to love and obey your Daddy for I realize
that even with his mistakes he has been far better than
the average father. I also realize more than ever, these
past few weeks, that I have not been the kind of wife I
should. You boys do not understand now, but with God
willing I hope some. day you will.
Lovingly,
MAMA.”

The second note, addressed to the husband and unsigned
read:
“Dear Clifton:

I’m going away but before I go may I wish you all
the luck and happiness in the world. I know you have
done-many things you should not of done but I let jealousy
and madness get the best of me and now that I realize
there is little or no happiness for us together because of
my many shortcomings, I beg you to forgive me for leav-
ing, forgive me for being the deceitful and rotten wife
I’ve been and forgive me far causing you so much worry,
so many heartaches, by talking about you to everyone, by
pulling always against you, by making the children
work against you and letting my meanness ruin you
and everything you worked and strived for. I’m
leaving the children in your care for I know you'll
take good care of them. May God bless you.”
There was still a third note which young Robert had

hahded Sergeant Shannon a few minutes after the sad
discovery. This was sealed in an envelope, unopened,
and was addressed to “Sonnyboy,” the younger son’s
nickname. It read:

>

“Sonnyboy :
If you need me before I get back wire me collect,
‘. C. Abdell, c/o Harrington Hotel, Washington,
hee

, You be a good boy and:
always remember your
Daddy loves you no mat-
ter what anybody says.”
This note was unsigned

and bore no date. The first
part was written in long hand

J. Clifton Abdell, husband
of the murdered woman, is
shown at left leaving the
Norfolk police station after
telling authorities his ver-
sion of the baffling mystery.

Accompanying Abdel] is
Police Sergt. F. C. Messick.

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Virginia’s Riddle of the Unwanted Wife

[Continued from page 7]

had she changed it before or after writing
the suicide notes?

Lieutenant Nowitsky learned that Mrs.
Abdell had had a business engagement
downtown which she failed to keep the
afternoon she died. Coroner MacDonald

placed the time of death at 9:30 a. m.:

The two sons had departed for school at
7:30 and the husband was in Washington.
The last known person to have seen her
alive was the wife of a young couple who
rented several upstairs rooms in the Ab-
dell’s home. This woman told the investi-
gating officer she had left at 7:45 a.
m. for the downtown department store
where she was employed. Before she
left she had seen and talked with Mrs.
Abdell. At that time, she said, the comely
matron was looking unusually pretty, well
and happy.

Every precaution had been taken to
make death certain in the tightly-closed
kitchen and to prevent neighbors from
detecting the odor of escaping gas. The
interior of the home had been left.in im-
maculate condition by Mrs. Abdell, who
did her own housework. The fastening
of all doors and windows, and the lower-
ing of shades, were also strong indications
that she had laid definite plans to leave
this world quietly and without interrup-
tion.

The two notes found in the bedroom
were frank admissions that married life
had become tempestuous and unbearable
for the wife. And the father’s note to
the youngest son before his departure
from the city likewise intimated marital
difficulties. This fact was further at-
tested to by intimate friends and neigh-
bors of the family whom Lieutenant
Nowitsky interviewed. All unhesitatingly
admitted that the couple had been virtu-
ally separated for the past year and a
divorce was being contemplated. No one
attempted to place the blame for the un-
happy marriage although the unanimous
opinion was that the thought of divorce
was abhorrent to Mrs. Abdell on account
of the two sons whom she adored.

A NEW and startling angle was thrown
into the mystery late on the night of
the tragedy when a business man of the
city walked into the office of Lieutenant
Nowitsky with the voluntary statement
that he had some information that might
be of interest.

“I have been debating what procedure
I should take,” he said, “and have decided
it is my duty as a citizen to aid justice
whenever and wherever possible.” __

The suave police lieutenant thanked the
man for his commendable attitude and
settled back in his chair to listen. The
visitor began by saying he drove down-
town that morning between 9:30 and 10
o’clock and had passed the house in
Lafayette Park where Mrs. Abdell was
found dead some hours later. He de-
clared that as he passed the house he had
seen a tall, well-dressed white man walk
out the front door and descend the steps
toward the street where a dark coupe or
roadster was parked.

Instantly alert at this valuable and un-
expected information, Nowitsky pleaded
for a description of the strange man. But
his informant could only recall that the
man was tall and wore a dark blue suit
and a light felt hat with a dark band.

“I was unable to see his face,” the
business man stated,“ for he pulled his
hat down over his eyes as he walked down
the steps. He was looking back at the
house in such a way that his face was
hidden from me.” .

“Are you acquainted with Mr. and Mrs.
Abdell?” inquired Nowitsky.

“No,” came the reply, “I have never so
much as seen either of them.” (

“Are you sure about the time?” the
detective asked pointedly.

“Absolutely.”

“And equally sure about the place?”

“Yes. I know the Abdell home.”

“One other question,” said Nowitsky,
rising from his chair and strolling across
the room in deep thought.- “There was
nothing unusual in a man walking out of
that house at that hour in the morning.
en attracted your attention to
him

“The man’s peculiar actions,” calmly
stated the informant. “He acted very
nervous and upset. So much so that I
brought my car almost to a dead stop
when passing the house. But later I for-
got all about it until the news of Mrs.

Abdell’s death reached me. That's why

I came here.”

Lieutenant Nowitsky again commended
the business man for his thoughtful co-
operation, wished there were more like
him in the world. And the latter departed,
a great load apparently lifted from his
shoulders, after assuring the investigator
he was at his command if needed further.

When Nowitsky retired that night,
eight hours after the gruesome discovery
in the sumptuous Abdell home, he was
thoroughly convinced of the one thing he
had believed from the beginning. The
38-year-old wife of the prominent broker
had not taken her own life: She had
been shrewdly murdered.

He realized, however, that believing it
murder was far easier than proving it
murder. But the information that a man
was seen leaving the house that morning
at precisely the estimated time of death,
cleared up somewhat that part of the
mystery which involved the question of
how the murder could have been com-
mitted. Nowitsky was positive that man
was Mrs. Abdell’s slayer.

But: who. was he?

Nowitsky decided to grill secretly
everyone who might be connected with
the mystery either directly or indirectly.
His first subjects were the two young
sons, Clifton and Robert Abdell. Neither
of the boys had any information to pass
out of their own volition but both an-
swered all questions in a simple, straight-
forward manner.

Apparently neither of the boys could
understand why the dreadful tragedy had
visited them. As gently as he could
Nowitsky explained that he was simply
making a routine investigation. He
showed the boys the two suicide notes.
The youths studied them intently. Then
one of the boys. brought the veteran
sleuth to his feet with a gasp when he
quietly said:

“My mother never wrote either of those
notes.” '

“How do you know?” questioned No-
witsky.

“Because she found them in my father’s
room the day before she died, and showed
them to me,” the son replied.

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Pressed for further details, the boy
added that the discovery had upset his
mother terribly. She became so fright-
ened that she had him purchase extra
safety locks that afternoon. These he
had placed on the front and rear doors of
the home besides making sure all window
locks were secure.

“Do you know who did write the
notes?” the detective asked.

“No, sir.”

Thanking the boys Lieutenant Nowit-
sky showed them to the door. At last,
he was sure, he had something definite
to go on.

Through one of Abdell’s business ac-
quaintances, Nowitsky learned that the
broker had returned to the city that

morning from Washington. After sev- -

eral attempts to locate him, he was finally
found in the offices of his attorney. No-
witsky asked that the broker call at his
office to see him.

Thirty minutes later a tall, distin-
guished-looking man, once handsome and
still striking in appearance, walked into
police headquarters. His face was round,
set off by a prominent Roman nose. His
sandy hair was graying at the temples.
He wore a dark blue suit of clothes and
a light felt hat with a dark band.

“vy AM J. Clifton Abdell,” he announced
in a deep, clear voice when ushered

into the office of Lieutenant Nowitsky. “I

understand you wish to see me.”

“Yes, Mr. Abdell. Please have a.seat.
I~” Nowitsky stopped abruptly as he
turned to face the broker. There was
something strangely significant in the
man’s appearance. He looked as if he
had been in a fight.

“Where did you get all those scratches
on your face?” asked the detective. “They
were inflicted quite recently.”

Undismayed by the unexpected greet-
ing, the man ran his hand over his face.
His lips twitched with a faint smile.

“Oh, these little nicks?” he parried.
“They're nothing: You know women,
what spitfires they can be. Well, I had
a slight altercation with one,”

“She didn’t happen to be your wife,
did she, Mr. Abdell?” Nowitsky asked
pointedly. 4

“Absolutely not,” he replied. “You fel-
lows are always so suspicious. She hap-
pens to be just an acquaintance of mine
with an uncontrollable temper.”

“Her name, please?” requested the in-
vestigator. .

The broker declined to give her name,
stating that he did not wish her “brought
into this mess.” But Nowitsky insisted,
explaining that he was conducting an.in-
vestigation and nothing should be with-
held. With much reluctance the man
finally disclosed her name and the in-

vestigator turned his questions in another -

direction.

“T wanted to ask you about these two
notes found in your home,” he said, hand-
ing them to Abdell for his perusal, “Is

that your wife's handwriting?”

“I presume so,” replied the broker, “al-°

though I cannot be positive.”

“Why can’t you be?” asked Nowitsky.
“A husband should be thoroughly familiar
with his wife’s handwriting.”

“The writing is so eastpeis—the must
have been under a terrible strain,” Abdell
said, “when she was writing these suicide
notes.”

“You believe it was sujcide?”

“Emphatically,” stated the husband,

64

“but I understand you are trying to make
more out of it.” ;

“Routine investigation,” Nowitsky
calmly explained, “I’m simply trying to
get to the bottom of the affair, which I
presume you also desire.”

“T do, of course,” he said, “but the
thought of murder is absurd. Any in-
vestigation in that direction is a reflection
upon me and a gross injustice to my
family. As for myself, I have nothing to
fear. I have an airtight alibi. I was in
Washington, more than 200-miles from
home, from last Monday afternoon until
this morning.”

“Then you can give me no information
about your wife’s sudden death?” the
detective asked.

“IT know absolutely nothing except what
I have been told,” was his firm answer.

Before J. Clifton Abdell departed some
minutes later, he made the repeated re-
quest that his lady friend, whom he
said had scratched his face, should not
be subjected to the humiliation of police
questioning. He suggested that he would
personally escort her to headquarters at
some convenient later date.

But the detective lieutenant had no in-
tention of complying with the senti-
mental request. Nor did he\intend to let
the broker contact her before he had an
opportunity to talk with her. No sooner
had Abdell left than a squad car was
speeding to Thirty-fifth street to bring
in the mystery woman.

A few minutes later a slim and attrac-
tive brunette, smartly dressed in black,
sat in Nowitsky's office and calmly un-
folded a story which pointed a finger of
guilt to the murderer of Audrey Sharpe
Abdell. Giving her name as Mrs. Grace
Amory, a widow, she confessed that she

had hourly been waiting to be questioned
by the police and expressed a complete
willingness to “tell everything.”

She said’ she had known Abdell_ for
several years and that in March, 1937, he
had rented the house she now occupied
under the name of John W. Amory. Sev-
eral months later he had moved in and
had taken a separate room when he said
life in his own home had become un-
bearable. She admitted that he was re-
garded as her husband but denied she
had ever lived with him as man and wife.

Asked when she had last seen Abdell,
the slender brunette said he had come to
her house at 1 o'clock the morning of
May 11 and remained with her until 3
o’clock, when he'retired to his own room.
She did not know what time he arose
the next morning and did not see him
again until several hours later when he
came back to the house and stated he
was returning to Washington on business.

“Did he have scratches on his face at
that time?” pressed Nowitsky.

“Yes,” she replied, “on his face and
neck.”

“Did you put them there?”

“No, but he told me to say that I had,
if anyone should question me about
them,” she said.

“How did he say the scratches had
gotten there?”

“By shaving,” she replied, then added,
“but I knew differently at the time.”

Nowitsky swore the woman to secrecy
and dismissed her. He then radioed
crusier cars to pick up J. C. Abdell. He
was found at the funeral home where
brief rites were about to be held for his
wife before her body was sent to Roa-
noke, Va., her birthplace, for burial. The
air was black with angry protests and

“We're breaking him from biting his finger nails!”


= se wee « a

J. M. Palmer furnished valuable

information to the police, thereby
~. enabling the officers to bring the |

Abdell case to a speedy solution.

with a killer who believes he fan committed the perfect
crime!”

“What about the straw hat?”

“T think that was a plant, also. That hat was never even
worn. The size ticket was never removed. No man, unless he
was drunk, would go out on the street like that. No, that size
ticket was a slip on the part of ——”

The jangle of the telephone came shrilly and I picked up
the receiver.

“Is this Mr. Nowitzky?” a childish voice asked hesitantly.

“Right,” I responded.

“This is Bobby. Will you come out here right away?”

Sergeant Shannon and I hurried to the Dorman home. The
youth, his face still streaked with tears, handed me a note
and an envelope.

“Mr. Nowitzky, here is a note my daddy gave me Sunday
afternoon. He told me not to open it unless something hap-
pened. Well, something—his voice broke—“did.”

I quickly read the note. It was addressed to Bobby with
his nickname, “Sunnyboy,” and read:

“If you need me before I get back wire me collect—J. C.
Abdell, c/o Hotel Harrington, Washington, D. C. You be a
good boy and always remember your eucdy loves you, no
matter what anybody says.”

“What did you do with the note whan you first got it,
Bobby?” I asked the boy.

“T hid it in the pantry. He told me not to open it unless
something happened, and if nothing did to hand it back to
him when he got back.” ~

The case had suddenly whirled about and Gasumned a gro-
tesque, sinister mask. Unless something happened. Why had
the boy’s father said that? Had he had some inkling of the
impending tragedy? Were we barking up the wrong alley
entirely, with the broker being resigned to his wife’s deter-
mination to commit suicide? Or was there a far more omi-
nous significance to that simple instruction?

Hastening back to headquarters I telephoned the Metro-
politan Police Department at Washington, and urged them
to notify Mr. Abdell at the Hotel Harrington of Mrs. Abdell’s
sudden death.

Meanwhile we received word from the identification bu-
reau that not a single print could be obtained from the porce-

lain jets. “They appear to have been wiped-clean=possibly-—-——“‘I_ mean this. He has several scratches on his face. Says |

with that wet towel that lay on the sink,” Lieutenant Wilson
informed me.

Late that night Coroner McDonald concluded his autopsy
of Mrs. Abdell at the funeral home and informed me that
the bruises were the result of a blow sufficient to, cause
unconsciousness.

“Are you satisfied Mrs. Abdell was arardereat” I asked.

“At the moment, yes!’”’ returned Dr. McDonald evenly.
pape rest is up to you!”

—

Mrs. Michael Facchini told police
authorities that she had seen the
accused man on the highway
- and talked and Joked with him.

Late that night I received a call from
the Washington police advising me that
Abdell had been located at the Hotel

death.

Norfolk attorney, walked into my of-
fice followed by the bereaved husband
—a fairly tall, heavy-set, blond-haired
man. Why had Abdell sought out his
attorney before anyone else? The
question immediately loomed large i in
my mind. 96
Expressing a wish to be taken to the
funeral home, Abdell started to leave.
I immediately noted several scratches
on his neck and chin—thirteen all told!
“How did you get those nasty
scratches, Mr. Abdell?” I asked casual-
ly as we started toward the door.
AAbdell waved a deprecatory hand.
“Well, you know how women are. I
got these in a fight with a girl-friend.”
“A girl-friend, eh! Would you mind
telling me who it is?”
“Yes, Mr. Nowitzky, I'll tell you, but
not right now. I’m anxious to see my poor wife.” _.
“How long have you been in Washington, Mr. Abdell?” I
asked him.
“Since Monday,” Abdell replied.

~ Once at the funeral home, Abdell gazed solemnly at his

dead wife. “My poor wife—she had been despondent for a
long time—but I never dreamed she would do this,” he mur-
mured. :

I turned and faced the broker. “Mr. Abdell, your wife
didn’t commit suicide—she was murdered! We found two
suicide notes, but have determined they weren't in her
handwriting.”

Abdell’s look of surprise appeared genuine Enough. “That
is strange, indeed, Mr. Nowitzky!”

HORTLY BEFORE NOON on
Thursday, Ivor A. Page, noted -

Harrington and notified of his wife’s

-

“Have you purchased a straw hat recently, Mr. Abdel?”

I asked him suddenly.

- Again the broker’s brow crinkled in puzzlement. “No, I
haven’t, Mr. Nowitzky. Why do you ask that?”

“Because a new straw hat was found in a bedroom in your
house.”

“What size was it?” questioned Abdell. RPO NE:

“Seven and three-eighths.”

Abdel shook his head. “That’s not my size. It couldnt be —

mine.”
‘ I waited impatiently as Abdell concluded funeral arrange-
ments with the mortician.

“What did you say was the name of the woman with whom

you had a fight?” I finally managed to ask him.
“It was Mrs. Martha Crosswood. But please don’t embar-
rass her, Mr. Nowitzky.”

Leaving Abdell with his attorney, I hurried to the home

of Mrs. Crosswood. In a short while I was at the house—an
imposing, spacious residence. A slender, extremely attrac-
tive woman of around twenty-five answered my knock.
“I would like to see Mrs. Crosswood,” I informed her.
The woman’s eyes widened perceptibly. For a moment she
said nothing, merely stared. Then—‘“I am Mrs. Crosswood!”

“My name is Nowitzky, from police headquarters,” qt in--

formed her. “Do you know J. Clifton Abdell?”
Mrs. Crosswood paled, then replied: “Yes. I do.”

“Did you have a serious argument with Mr. Abdell ae .

“Just what do you mean?”

he got them im a fight with you!”

The woman flushed. canets not true, He 1 never got any : is : a

scratches from me!”

Wondering whether Mrs. Crosswood was declining to sub-
stantiate Abdell’s claims for her own Personal reasons, I
started back for headquarters.

At_headquarters I found another npeedy development

Gieg Taught with electrifying significance. A man, giving
fhe name of J. C. (Continued on page 37)


far better than the average father. I also realize more than ever
these past few weeks that I have not been the kind of wife I
should. You boys do not understand now, but with God willing
I hope some day will. AW

“So now before leaving may I again say be good, be kind, be
true and mind your Daddy and I am sure he will always stick
by you.

“Lovingly, Mom.”
The second was addressed, “Dear Clifton,” and read:

“I am going away but before I go may I wish you all the luck
and happiness in the world. I know you have done many things
you should not of done, but I let my jealousy and madness get
the best of me and now that I realize there is little or no happi-
ness for us together because of my many shortcomings, I beg you
to forgive me for leaving. Forgive me for being the deceitful and
rotten wife I’ve been and forgive me for causing you so much
worry, so many heartaches, by talking about you to everyone,
by pulling always against you, by making the children work
against you and letting my meanness ruin you and everything
you worked and strived for. I’m leaving the children in your
care for I know you will take care of them. May God bless you.”

Pocketing the notes, I bent over the still form of Mrs. Abdell. I
immediately noticed several tiny scratches and two distinct bruises
on her face. The question quickly popped into my mind: Why the
scratches? Could the cat, sensing impending death have madly
sought to escape the room and scratched his mistress? Could Mrs.
Abdell’s bruises have been acquired by a fall from the chair as she
awaited her terrible fate?.I turned to Shannon.

“Sergeant, have you moved that chair?”

“Not an inch, Leon. I left everything as it was, except for turning
off the gas,” Shannon replied.

The gnawing tooth of suspicion began boring. From all outward
appearances Mrs. Abdell had taken her life voluntarily, leaving two
farewell notes. Yet how could the scratches and bruises be satis-
factorily explained? Superficial examination of the claws of the cat
with my glass revealed no evidence of blood or skin on the sharply-
pointed prongs. Moreover, it was a remote possibility that Mrs. Abdell
had fallen from the chair and, in semi-conscious state, rolled clear
to the stove. If so, how had she placed her head so carefully under
the improvised tent?

Meantime, Coroner C. D. J. McDonald had arrived and, after

oo eS

Clifton Jr. and Bobby Abdell, sons of the slain woman. It was a
note left to Bobby that set detectives on the trail that finally
led to the apprehension of a brutal murderer.

CG PEK LORS res re

seh de

Right: J. Clifton Abdsll,
husband of the ill-fated
woman. Abdell ex-
plained that he was
making a business trip
to Washington, D. C. at
the time of the murder.

Gn gs Sue Ae
Sea

7 ABOUT VIRGINIA

Seacee” WA MNT MN I HH ey ON
cdagigeleaheidlidhcepailad aed


Below: Sergeant H. A. Shannon

who first investigated the strange

situation in the Abdell home—
Norfolk’s house of death.

ted ae :

Right: These are the suicide
notes found on the scene of the
crime. Were they genuine or were
they placed there by the killer?

concluding his preliminary examina-
tion of the body, had ordered the dead
woman to be removed to a local fu-
neral home.

“What about the blood—and the
bruises, Dr. McDonald?” I asked. I saw
the doctor regard me steadily. I knew
at once that in the mind of Dr. McDon-
ald the seed of suspicion had been
sown.

“The blood, Leon, is from a uatiral
hemorrhage. The bruises—well, I can
speak with conviction after my autop-
sy, but right now I can say that I don’t
believe they were incurred acciden-
tally!”

“That’s my opinion, too, doctor! I'm going ahead with ; an
investigation and see where we land.”

. “Exactly! That’s just what I want you to do!”

From Clifton and Bobby, I learned that the bereaved
father, J. Clifton Abdell, had, to the best of their knowledge,
been away since Sunday. It was now Wednesday.

Calling back to the police department, I requested the
identification bureau to send a man to the Abdell home.
Then I started a careful examination of the premises.

Fifteen minutes later I had made two startling discoveries.
One, that the window in the parlor, opening on the front
porch, had been smashed. Two, a new straw hat bearing
the initials “W. A. C.” in the lining lay on a bed in a first
floor room. A singular circumstance was the fact that the
size slip, stuck in the band, had never been removed. Who
was W. A. C.?

I sought out Mrs. J. A. Wright, who lived above the Abdell
home, and began questioning the attractive young matron.

“Mrs. Wright, I want you to be utterly truthful with me.
It’s very important. I don’t believe, to be frank with you,
that Mrs. Abdell committed suicide. This whole thing smells
of murder! Moreover——”

“That’s just what I think!” Mrs. Wright burst out.

‘ “Why do you say that?” I shot back.

“Because this morning Mrs. Abdell told me she would
see me downtown when she had finished her ironing.”

“Then Mrs. Abdell didn’t appear depressed or worried?”

“Not in the slightest! She seemed to be in extremely cheer-
ful spirits.”

<a a ds

is me av eee te
Auth a ee = a 4

“ame

NEXT TURNED to questioning Mrs. Dorman, who seemed
to have been one of Mrs. Abdell’s most intimate friends.
It became immediately obvious that Mrs. Dorman had held
her friend in high regard.
“Audrey had been separated from her husband for some
time,” said Mrs. Dorman, “but I never once saw her even K
look at another man!” - Saad
“You mean Mr. and Mrs. Abdell have Beer peoarated for ais
some time? How could that be when Bobby says he was at.
the house Sunday?” ae
“Oh, it was more or less of a friendly separation. “Mr.”
Abdell frequently came to the house.” me .
A thought suddenly struck me. “Mrs. Dorman, ‘ds you
happen to have anything written by Mrs. Abdell?” I asked.
Mrs. Dorman nodded. “I think so; last week Audrey and
I spent an afternoon together composing a wedding anni- +
versary greeting. I think I still have it. Wait just a minute.”
_ In a few minutes Mrs. Dorman had returned with two slips |

of paper.
“If you don’t ind, I'd like to take these with me.’ “ft
“Certainly!” assented Mrs. Dorman. tua: ae

Returning to my office at police headquarters, I rie :
myself with Sergeant Shannon, who had been instructed * 7
to assist me in the investigation. Pulling out the suitide notes.” » 7
we placed them beside the congratulatory notes Mh oer “a
by Mrs. Abdell. aos Saas
- “Not one bit of similarity!” grunted Sergeant Shannon,

“I didn’t think there would be. These notes were planted.
This whole thing is building up to a gigantic murder scheme, :


» Cunningham’s eyes.
jgging all day long in
‘ditch. Tomorrow, we
vered her body. We
a corpus delicti, and

. been_ arrested and

‘rder. Now we know

e ~~--'d have direct-
rou.”

TERING flares and

‘ electric lights, the
ora Cunningham was
e sewer ditch grave,
een thrown by her
.M., Saturday, March

ig face upward. Rog- .

newspaper over her
1g in the dirt on top
was taken away to
home.
’ exclaimed Morris.
have stood by and
he tractor push .the
’s body, burying her
of ground, on that
th. What a macabre
py marriage!”

7 went back to have
1 1 Cunningham to try

information con-

e for one of Okla-
publicized murders

ked, doing my best
money to save our
uingham finally said,
minute silence. “Eu-
me and nagging me
if we lost our home
commit one of the
suicides Oklahoma
n. She got after me
at making enough
1 * ~juld overwork
i€ ‘e, she nagged
{ y got so I just
ny more.

iy night, we drove
ses where you found
t to start to look at
in particular that I
w much work had
t Monday. She got
if I didn’t get back
and take her home,
valk to town. I lost
bed her, choked her
’ the rest.”

Vrs. Stokes learned
orning what had
ith cried, then said
ank God, we know
is daughter is now
give her a decent
it everyone to know
ilice toward Roger.”
a’s funeral was con-
rning at 11 a. M. in
home. Roger didn’t
ven make a request
dy after it had been

FRONT PaGE DETEC-
Roger Cunningham
entenced, but plans
bring the case toa
There is no doubt
ult and there is no
vs of the State of
‘nforced to the lim-
1a as broken the
al lhe must pay
m Ss experience
lasting proof to all
1 none of its forms
anything but trag-
yaction for the man

:

Framed Alibi

(Continued from page 25)

Palmer was awaiting my return.

“Mr. Nowitzky,” he began hesitantly,
“I’ve been reading in the newspapers
that this Abdell fellow claims he has
been in Wasaington since Monday.

“Well, [ve thought about this thing,:

and it’s worried me a lot. But I’ve de-
cided to come and tell you the truth
of this thing!” z

“What do you mean?”

“Just this. On Wednesday morning,
around nine-thirty, I was driving by
the Abdell house and Isaw a man come
out the front door. I was driving slow-
_ ly, and I happened to notice he ap-
peared awfully agitated. He saw me
and pulled his hat over his eyes. Then
he walked down the steps and stopped
at the hedge, pretending to look over
into the other yard.”

“Do you know Abdell?” ;
“Never saw him before in my life.”
“Would you recognize that man who

came out the door if you saw him
again?”

“Yes, I believe so, particularly if I
got the right slant at him,” replied
Palmer.

Elated at this sensational bit of in-
formation, I urged Palmer to keep
quiet about the matter and hold him-
self in readiness for the all-important

- identification.

The finger of suspicion was now
pointing straight toward the calm-
mannered broker. Was he really a su-
perbly cunning murderer—or were we
making a* gigantic mistake that we
were eventually to regret?

There was another angle I com-
menced wondering about right away.
How would the Abdell boys react to a
suspicion of murder against their
father? Would there be stout defense
—or distinct distrust?

Mrs. Dorman had temporarily taken
charge of the boys pending arrival of
Mrs. Abdell’s relatives from Roanoke.
I hurried back to the Dorman home.

Clifton and Bobby sat.on the divan,
their faces drawn and wan. It was clear
to me that the two kids had been hard-
hit by the ghastly fate of their mother.

“Clifton,” I began, “how do you re-
gard your “daddy?”

‘Not much!” he returned bitterly. “I
know what you’re after, Mr. Nowitzky.
I know you think my daddy had some-
thing to do with Mother’s death. Well,
about a week ago he came over to the
house and I heard him tell Mother that
some day she would be among the
missing!”

Here, then, was the first dramatic
hint that Abdell had threatened the
life of his wife—voluntarily furnished
by his own son!

In my mind suspicion against the
broker was now too overwhelming to
ignore. A hurried conference with
Commonwealth’s Attorney John M.
Arnold, his assistant, James H. Tyler,
and Assistant Chief of Police Tom Pet-
ty ensued, and we: decided to arrest
Abdell.

The iron-jawed broker hailed his
sudden arrest as a rank outrage. An
hour later we were busily arranging
a line-up for possible identification by
Palmer. Going to Abdell’s cell, I re-
quested him to come out.

x
4

oe

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FUNCTIONAL DELAY =} civ.

the dis-
, the at-
th, John
f officers
nad what
informa-
tigation.
rom the
ciates.

tor com-
‘equently
This has
who say.
t a time.
ople with
nat there
r him to
2 learned
< care of
vould be
s during
dly driv-

exactly
?” asked
rt of the
Abdell of
t his own

t that on
\l’s death,
y a local
his neck.
ry finger-
. minutes,
ere. Tm
slain just
‘ss. You'll
ining to
‘e similar
neck and
or to her

physical
, and it’s
fight both
z at each

our later,
manufac-
rouse of-
told that
‘elopment
g into the
ence dur-

put the
uld catch

want you

received
for which
ay morn-

‘tinctively
ffused his
ous effort
ymposure.

of those
it neces-
like this.
tirl friend
ack from

ag note in
zky as he

giving us
y enough.

to realize
ait him in
{ gave the
iter, oper-
lorfolk.

ppened in
-here with
Nowitzky
sd toward
1 his face

>» Arnold’s
man who

da I i i SS lS

identified himself as Abdell’s attorney
stepped inside. Upon his advise the
man refused to make any further
statement. After another minute the
two ieft together.

Nowitzky now lost no time in goin,
to the house of Abdell’s girlfriend.
There he found an attractive middle-
aged woman who answered to the
name of Mrs. Ursula Webster.

Under the detective’s adroit ques-
tioning, the woman admitted that she
had, for more than a year past, been
on extremely friendly terms with the
husband of the slain woman. Those
days when he’d presumably been away
from the city on business had actually
been spent in her home where he
rented ‘one of the rooms she had for
hire, Mrs. Webster volunteered.

“And when did you see him last—
when did you get into the quarrel with
him that ended with his neck being
clawed?” demanded the investigator.

“Why, I never quarreled with him.
If his neck was clawed it wasn’t me
who did it.”

The dark-eyed woman was vehe-
ment in her denial. She went on to
state that the week before Abdell
actually had gone to Washington. But
he had returned on the night before
his wife’s death, stayed at her home
for several hours and left early’
Wednesday morning, stating he was
driving back to the capital.

Following his visit to the woman,
Nowitzky returned to Arnold’s office,
and despite the fact that all he had to

-g0O On was purely circumstantial evi-
‘dence, he asked that a warrant be
issued for the suspect. While the
prosecutor was considering the matter,
the detective returned to headquarters
and once more took out the two sheets
of paper that had been found by the
husband in his wife’s desk. ,

A strange circumstance in his in-
vestigation had been the fact that al-
though there were many papers in the
woman’s desk, none bore her own
handwriting. Now, studying the two
letters; he suddenly remembered a
third—the letter which the man had
admitted having written to his wife
on the very morning of her death,
while he was presumably sitting in his
hotel room in Washington, D. C.

That letter, turned. over to the de-
tective at the start of his investigation,
was still in his possession. He re-
trieved it from his desk, laid it beside
the other sheets of paper and saw
with surprise that the texture of the
paper on which all three were written
was the same.

Don't Miss

PASSION PUZZLE
BEAUTY IN
THE NIGHTGOWN

In the February Issue of

HEADQUARTERS
DETECTIVE

—

The letter from Washington, it was
true, was on hotel stationery. But ‘it
took no highly technical analysis to
see that the.other sheets had obviously
Nae, cut from stationery of the same

ind. . i

Nowitzky now realized that he had
something concrete to goon. True, the
evidence was still purely circum-
stantial, but if he could prove that the
two letters found in the Abdel! home
had been written at the instigation of
the husband, presumably by one of his
women friends, it would a strong
factor in showing premeditation.

The following day Arnold issued a
warrant charging the man with first
degree murder. And after that, half
a dozen persons came forward to tell
of difficulties in the marital relations
of the couple. 4

Among these were Mr. and. Mrs.
A. J. Wright, who rented a small
apartment on the second floor of the
Abdell home. Neither had been in the
house on the day of the woman’s
death, but both had heard the pair
quarreling in the past as the result of
Abdell’s attentions to the other
woman.

“Why, he threatened her more than
once,” declared Mrs. Wright heatedly.
“She told me herself she feared that
he might some day take her life. And
she was even afraid that he might do
it in such a manner as to make it look
like suicide. That’s why she kept her
door locked when the boys weren’t
around,”

URING the next few days the case
was. given wide publicity, and
within a week a former friend of

the family, Mrs. Marie Facchini, came
forward to testify that on the Wednes-
day morning when ‘Abdell was sup-
posedly driving from Mrs. Webster’s
rooming house to Washington, having
left at about 1:30 A. M., she had
passed his automobile coming toward
Norfolk at about eight A. M.

Before the trial Nowitzky ques-
tioned garage attendants and learned
that the old Army blanket had been
used to wrap tools in the place where
Abdell kept his car. It had disap-
peared on the night he had left for
Washington. :

Palmer, the witness who had a
heavyset man leaving the Abdell home
shortly after the paperhanger left the
place on Wednesday morning at ten
o’clock, viewed. the suspect in the
county jail and said he was confident
Abdell himself was that man. It was
evident the husband had managed. to
get back to Norfolk, enter his home
without being seen, slain his wife an&
arranged the suicide setting.

The trial did not take place until
six months later. Theh on November
18th, 1938, Abdell went before a jury
to answer to a charge of plotting the

. slaying of the woman from whom he

wanted to free himself that he could
pursue his affair with another.

The jury found him guilty after two
days’ trial, and he was sentenced to
die in the electric chair. It was not
until January 5th of 1940, however,
that J. Clifton Abdell paid the extreme

- penalty for what Nowitzky claims was

one of the most ingeniously executed
crimes ever to confront the Norfolk
police.

He went to his death swearing that
he was innocent of the crime.

Eprror’s Note: The name of Mrs.
Ursula Webster is fictitious to protect
the identity of an innocent person and
to spare her from embarrassment:

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| that had formed a sort of tent over

her crouching body. No member of
the family had ever seen this before,
and Abdell was ‘positive it had never
been in the house.

The blanket itself showed traces of
machine oil, and Nowitzky concluded
it once had been used as a wrapper

| for tools or similar articles.

‘Leaving the house, Nowitzky went
to the homes of neighbors... After
hours of random questioning, he lo-
cated a young woman who lived sev-
eral doors away on the opposite side
of the street. This woman ‘told the
officer that on the Wednesday morning
of the slaying she: had seen;.a slim,
dark-complexioned man go. to the
front door of the house, ring the bell
and. wait until-his summons was: an-
swered. The woman,*Miss . Janyce
Mattox of 1307 Lafayette ‘Boulevard,
was unable to see who answered the
door, but the man had remained in
conversation for several:.minutes be-
fore leaving.

_ It had been at about eleven: o’clock
in the morning when this occurred,
_Nowitzky was informed. =. *

_ At the. home of J.’M. Palmer, the
detective had partial confirmation of
the’story told by Miss Mattox. Palmer,
another neighbor, volunteered that on
the same morning he’d passed the Ab-
dell home just as a man came down
the front steps of the house.

_“Fellow appeared nervous and ex-
cited, but he pulled his hat down over
his face as I approached and I failed
to. get a good look at him,” Palmer
related. ‘

“stories told by these two witnesses
failed to jibe, however. That was
that Palmer was positive he’d seen his
man, whom he described as being
heavyset, at ten in the morning while
Miss Mattox had seen the slim man at

Titer was one point on which’ the

‘| eleven.

Before the day was out Nowitzk
had what he believed was a strong lin
in the case he was building against his
as yet unnamed ‘suspect. is came
when, acting on information given
by other neighbors to whom he des-
cribed the man'seen by Miss Mattox,
he located one William N. Miller, a
67-year-old paperhanger who lived
not far from the Abdell residence.

Miller said that he was the “slim
man” seen by Miss Mattox at the Ab-
dell’s door on the fatal morning. “But
it wasn’t eleven o’clock, the paper
hanger stated emphatically. It was at
a few minutes after ten. I went up in
reply to a summons from Mrs, Abdell.
She’d told me she wanted me to re-
paper her husband’s bedroom while he
was away.

“Then, when I arrived, she an-
swered the door herself. She ap-
peared nervous and upset. Said that
her husband had had to leave unex-
pectedly and would be away from the
city several days longer. She hadn’t
had a chance to talk with him about
the new paper before he left and
asked me to wait ’til he got back be-
fore going ahead with the job.”

Miller said that he had- no way of
knowing whether the woman had
| been alone in the house at the time.
However, he had observed that she
appeared in a highly nervous’ state
standing with the front door opened
only a crack while she talked with
him. He had seen nothing of the
heavyset man who was supposed to
have been near the house at about
the time he finished his conversation
with the woman.

On the third day following the dis-
covery of Mrs, Abdell’s body, the at-
torney for the commonwealth, John

- Arnold, called a conference of officers
working on the case. Arnold had what
he believed to be important informa-
tion bearing on the investigation.
This had been obtained from the
husband’s own business associates.

“Mr. Abdell,” the prosecutor com-
menced, “tells. us that he frequently
left the city on business. This has
been confirmed by his sons who say
he would be gone for days at a time.
But I’ve learned from the people with
whom Abdell did business that there
was actually no occasion for him to
be out of the city at all. I’ve learned

efrom.the garage which took care of
his car that the machine: would be
left there for long intervals during
which its owner was supposedly driv-
ing to other cities.”

‘And have you learned exactly
where he spent that time?” asked
Nowitzky, who since the start of the
investigation had suspected Abdell of
not telling all he, could about his own

past.

“No, but I have found out that on
the day following Mrs. Abdell’s death,
her husband was treated by a local
physician for an infection on his neck.
It was an infection caused by finger-
nail scratches. Now, in fifteen minutes,
the man himself will be here. I’m
going to suggest that he explain just
how he received those injuries. You'll
remember,” Arnold said turning to
the coroner, “that there were similar
scratches on the woman’s neck and
body. It’s certain that prior to her
death she had engaged in physical
combat with another person, and it’s
my opinion that during that fight both
of them resorted to clawing at each
other with their finger-nails.”

When, less than half an hour later,
the candy vending machine manufac-
turer arrived at the court-house of-
fice of the prosecutor, he was told that
there had been a new development
in the case. But before going into the
matter of his mysterious absence dur-
ing recent months, Arnold put the
question which he hoped would catch
his man off his guard.

“Mr. Abdell,” he asked, “I want you
to tell us exactly how you received
the scratches on your neck for which
you were treated last Thursday morn-

ing.”

The man’s hand went instinctively
to his throat. A’deep flush diffused his
face, and only after an obvious effort
he appeared to regain his composure.
Grinning, he said easily:

“Nothing to it. But one of those
things that I hardly thought it neces-
sary to go into at a time like this.
You see, I had a spat with a girl friend
a few days before I got back from
Washington.”

There was an understanding note in
the voice of Detective Nowitzky as he
took up the questioning.

“I’m sure you won't mind giving us
her name,” he said casually enough.

BDELL, seeming suddenly to realize

that the incident had put him in

* a bad light, complied and gave the

name of a Mrs. Ursula Webster, oper-
ator of a rooming house in Norfolk.

. “But you said this had happened in
Washington. Was she down there with
you on your business trip?” Nowitzky
shot the question and stepped toward
the husband with a look on his face
that demanded a reply.

At that moment the door to Arnold’s
office was opened and a man who

identified him
stepped insid
man refused
statement. A
two ieft toge
Nowitzky n
to the house
There he fow
aged woman
name of Mrs.
Under the
tioning, the w
had, for more
on extremely
husband of t
days when he’
from the city
been spent
rented one of
hire, Mrs. We
“And when
when did you
him that end
clawed?” den
“Why, I nev
Tf his neck w
who did it.”
The dark-e
ment in her
state that th
actually had g
he had retur:
his wife’s de:z
for several
Wednesday n
driving back
Following !
Nowitzky reti
and despite th

,gO ON was pu

dence, he as}
issued for t}
prosecutor wa
the detective 1
and once more
of paper that
husband in hi
A strange «
vestigation ha
though there \
woman’s des}
handwriting.
letters; he si
third—the let
admitted hav:
on the very
while he was }
hotel room in
That letter,
tective at the ;
was still in
trieved it fron
the other she
with surprise
paper on whic
was the same

Don't Miss

PASSI:

BEAUTY
THE

In the F

HEAD
DE


ABDELL, J, Clifton, wh be, ele a. SP (Norfolk) 1-5-1940,

| ers

’

‘THE KILLER
| TRIED THE
‘HAT TRICK

The case had a pungent odor—

‘first of gas, then’ of a red herring

by R.J.GERRARD

He stuffed the lock with chicken bones to delay execution (

cycle right up to the back door

of the house. He was returning
from school to his comfortable home
out here at 1318-Lafayette Boulevard
in Norfolk, Virginia. And Bobby, an
alert and intelligent boy of 13, sensed
that there was something amiss even
before his nimble feet hit the ground
as he slid from the bike. :

Why, he wondered, were all the
shades on the first floor of the house
pulled down? The back door, which
should have been open on a warm
Wednesday afternoon in May, was j
shut. And the screen door also, both
tightly locked. Bobby hurried around
to the front door, but, as. he half ex-
pected, that was tightly closed to him
also.

In back he had knocked loudly, and q
he now did the same thing in - front.
And he ran along the side of the
house, calling to his mother that he a
: was home and please to let him in. 4
i It was after 4 o’clock. Soon his older ‘
| Killer disconnected doorbell so no spark would turn sealed death house into a bomb brother, Clifton, should be home. Their ;

Booe ABDELL RODE his bi-

THO ee OO

OO ee te OR oe

a

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aN
=,
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ae
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reraft
were
‘ouser

Wilde

1945,
» kill-
iward
carter
ection

iS Ma-
exon-

Wilde
val of
guilty
H.R

ymptly
ament.
ace at
awlins,

Henry
Mason
to pro-
IeTSONS
arrass-

ggested

a case
ry pos-
vy more
1k with
ighbors.
on why
ike her
ly have

vard the
Audrey
ole slab
xamina-
» follow
mething

ake her

‘Not a
’s hardly
~at least
othing—
1. There
70 blows
it would
bout loss
he direct
But it’s
dell was
the time
fumes!”
of death,
venture
he blood
‘hich had
unclotted
nine that
nted out,
iently re-
d for as

ts in al-
$s poison-
) we can’t
ining the
crouching

blanket and left with the other
blanket thrown over her so that the
fumes would strike directly.” :

EFORE he left, Nowitzky read the
letters over once more with Coro-
ner McDonald.

“Thing I can’t understand,” he com-
mented, “is this reference to her hav-
ing ruined the person to whom she
was writing the second, unsigned
letter.”

McDonald, an acquaintance of Ab-
dell for many years, replied that al-
though there could be no doubt that
it was to the husband she was writing,
he knew personally that Abdell was in
excellent financial standing.

“There’s always the chance that
her mind became suddenly deranged,”
observed the coroner. “Yet that hard-
ly fits in with the theory of a pre-
meditated murder. .A murder ar-
ranged to look like suicide. Then there
is the condition of the body itself.
Mrs. Abdell might well have been
beaten into submission, forced by
her assailant to write those notes be-
fore he knocked her unconscious

put her body there before the

opened stove.”

“Quite true. But the notes them--

selves are so obviously phosy that no
one could be taken in by.them once
the circumstances of her life were
known. Abdell himself certainly ap-
peared to be completely puzzled. And
I’m quite sure he’d never have re-
vealed their contents had there been
any truth behind her hints at family
dissension. ‘It’d certainly have been
simple enough for him to simply for-
get their existence.”

On the day following the discovery
of the tragedy, Detective Nowitzky re-
turned to the Abdell home and asked
permission to make a more thorough

investigation. During the early hours’

of the morning his own men had
checked the stories told by members
of the family and others.

Abdell, it was found, had checked
into the Washington hotel about two
hours after he left home three morn-
ings before the death of his wife. He
had kept his business appointments,
driving about the capital in his own
automobile, and on the morning of her
death had written her a letter and
posted it in the hotel where he was
staying. In this he had mentioned
pe he’d be delayed for several more

ays.

Both boys had attended their school
classes that same -morning, a
check with merchants with whom the
soa § traded revealed that none had
called at the house that day.

Now, going over the bi use once
more, Detective Nowitzky. searched
for some clue to the identity of the
person he believed must have spent
considerable time in Mrs. Abdell’s
home between the time when the
boys left for school and noon.

ingerprints were taken from doors
and tables, but comparison of them
with those of the dead woman and
members of the family failed to show
the presence of any stranger. There
was no article which might have been
used in the assault of the woman, and
had her slayer—there was no longer
any doubt left in the mind of the au-
thorities that Audrey Abdell was the
victim of a murder plot—employed
any other instrument than his fist,
he must have taken it with him when
he left. ;

The one thing which was still the
greatest puzzle to the investigator was

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Correct olate may be PLb-1862. eee at ta
Entry to Exec. Journdf Of Gov. Save ADDISON
‘ . . 5 7) _
dltted bff Of of cites mpandiag Addison, slave of William Jarrett, was hanged at Dinwiddie
€x. dare f Yabfe of. But Court House, Virginia, for attempted murder on July 26,
1861,
Case reappears in éuty Safed |

V/16 fo? [t4 9009099 EX- Provided by Schwartz, 7-6-1985, sourcing: Virginia T,easury
A bh seal aug Office, Cash Disbursements Journal, Virginia S,ate Library;

wate of YAb/ GA 1s A 0,der Book, Dinwiddie Couty, 1858-1863, page 21, \

tconcetiable that a ond year a Vor)
pespihe Ws qpurted, ~ oe , f Lior?
a haus | ste 6 Ley
fer Re. 6 ae a 7 | .

Marks valuation X40. He pleaded quuitty.

Attlax. almost certainly executed at Williamsburg but must
SHil leave UnconBboned.parnds the Shave hysrever?

AFFLAX, Géorge and 1 Slave See often svole _

(Not confirmed, )

"June 15, 1750: On Tuesday last at the Court of
Oyer & Terminer held in Williamsburg, William
Simmons, Nicholas Meads, and George Afflax were
tried for the murder of their master, Col, Pres=
sy. The two former were acquitted and the lat-
ter being found guilty, received sentence of
death. We are also informed from Northumberland
County that a negro boy who was aiding and abet~
ting in the murder of Vol, Pressy has been sen-
tenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered,”
PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE, Phila., Pas, 8-2-1750

PYCZEAS.. Nortuumberland County tle. —,

— Mecho Mark. Hanged 4 tluartered on Z U1 760.

ADO2
CHAPTER 11

“GENTLEMAN — I DIN’T AIM TO GO ---"
THE SHOOTING BEGINS

The morning of March 14 had arrived. A tenseness fills
the court room. Friends and foes of Floyd are waiting for
the verdict of the jury which as pointed out was carried
over from the preceeding day due to failure to agree.

NOTE -- The charge against Floyd Allen was for forcing
release of his nephews (being brought back to Virginia from
North Caolina), from two deputies. Judge Bolen is the

lawyer defending Allen.

Since 2:30 the afternoon before (the iS3th day of March,
ivizZ), the jury had been considering whether or not Floyd

Allen was guilty of taking prisoners away from officers of
the law.

Judge Massie decided perhaps futher instruction were
needed. The twelve men filed out of their room, took their
Places at the feet of the judge, and swiveled around toa
face him.

They were "nen selected because they would be
conscientious ---" they had "a duty because of the
confidence reposed in them to decide that Floyd Allien was
guilty, if the facts as proved warrented such a decision
—---" he spoke for about thirty minutes and the jury retired
again.

The waiting crowd was anxious -- babies whimpered, men
scraped their feet back and forth on the floor, women
sighed. Same, more eager than others, climbed up and sat
on the back of benches, their feet on the seats, “creening
their necks” to see over the heads of the crowd.

After half-an-hour or so, a knock sounded on the closed
door of the jury room. 411 eyes followed the siight figure
of Gheriff Webb as he turned the knob and opened the door.
Once again the twelve men took their places in front of the
court. The sheriff remained standing at their left.

Judge Massie called for the verdict.

Floyd Allen leaned forward to listen and Judge Solen
turned his head to hear better with his good right ear.

FOUND GUILTY

"Guilty as charged in the indictment -- one year in the
penitentiary." It as signed by C. L. Howell, foreman.

The blank stillness of the next few seconds was portent,
tense spectators waited with sudden indrawn breath.

“Just a monent.” Judge Massie had found a technical
error in the wording.

The Sheriff took the paper, handed it to Commonweaith
Foster. The Judge dictated the proper form and Foster,
still standing, wrote it down on a sheet of paper on the
big book resting in the curve of his left arm. The sheriff
reached for the correced paper and gave it to Clerk Goad.

The clerk rose, stood in the door of his enclosure.
Nearly six feet tall and heavily built, he was a dignified
officer in his longtail black coat. He held the paper in
his right hand, the left hanging at his side.

Floyd Allen’*s eyes were keen electric blue as he looked
at Goad and listened. Everybody else was intent on Floyd.

There was another pause.
DEMANDS NEW TRIAL

Judge Bolen stepped forward ponderously and caught the
court’s attention. Another trial was demanded and
opportunity to introduce new witnesses.

As the lawyer spoke, the tenseness subsided, but ail
eyes centered of Floyd.

Bolen called to Claude, who left his place in the
corner, entered the railing near his father and the
attornery.

"Hilliam Dawson and H. T. Rigney,” were the names. They
had not appeared before.

Then. “hand to cheek and mouth to ear,” Claude and his
father whisperd because “it wasn*t proper to talk loud
before the court,” the boy explained later.

"What horse must I take, Pap?"

"Mary - she’s already saddled and hitched in the
courthouse yard," was the answer.

Claude started out of the enclosure. But "are the boys
all ready?" was what somebody said he heard Floyd ask his
son, as he sat down in a chair.

Claude went back to his place in the corner. He thought
maybe he might have to have court paper before he could get
the men to come, was the reson he gave for not leaving
immediately.

REFUSED BOND

Judge Bolen wanted bond made until the two witnesses
could be brought to court which at the earliest would be
the next day. Judge Massie said it could not be granted as
the prisoner had been convicted and sentenced. He would
have to spend the night in jail. Tt was different from
Sight years before when Floyd had been allowed bond and had
gotten himself a pardon.

"Take it easy, Floyd, there are better days ahead,”
Judge Bolen put out a hand toward his client’s hand.

"T?m going to take it calm, I just hate it account of my
boys, " came the reply from Floyd in even tones as he
continued to stare at the clerk.

“The sheriff will take charge of the prisoner," Judge
Massie announced, leaning forward on his right elbow.

Floyd caught the "arm of his chair and riz up," and his
right hand began fumbling with the buttons of his sweater.
His sharp eyes turned from Goad to the Sheriff. Men around
him beaqan to hedge him in.

fs he stood up, he pauded briefly.

THE SHOOTING BEGINS
"Gentlemen," he said slowly, "I DON’T AIM TO GO."
And the shooting began.

"Tt sounded like the crackling of laurel leaves somebody
throwed in the fire," a man said later.

In less than a minute, the horror-stricken people were
fighting each other ta get to the doors and windows. S5lack
smoke from the guns filled the courthouse, threaded by
spurts of flame from the mouths of the pistols. The dark
day became night and a person could hardly tell friend from
foe. Skrieks of terror, curses, wails from children and
prayers from women intermingled with the shots. Chairs and
tables and benches slammed over the floor, blocking the
flight of the crowd.


AOOL
THE STORY OF "BOTH" SIDES -—---
FATAL DOOM OF THE ALLENS

The following story was run in the SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
ENTERPRISE of Wytheville, Virginia. Chapter ii started on
October 4, 1981. It was an authentic story prepared after
many months of research written approximately 33 years ago
by Louise Jones DuBose.

Synopsis of Chapters i thru 10

A period of 69 years has veiled, confused the story of
the Allens and how the court was “shot up" on the morning
of March 14, 1912, in Hillsville, Seat of Carroll County
(Va).

The Aliens, around whom the circumstances largely
centered, had lived in the isolated mountains ever since a
forfather had returned from the Revolutionary War and
settied there. Through had work and intelligence they had
become probably the most prominent family in the community,
with large possessions and prestige, Floyd Allen, the head
of the family in 1912, had held public office and was a
Democrat. OBVIOUSLY POLITIC PLAYED & BIG ROLE IN THE FINAL
OUTCOME -——- THE TRAGEDY THAT OCCURRED ON MARCH 14, 1912.

The seeds that had been planted by many cropped out in
the “noted schoolhouse row" when Floyd’s nephews, the
fatherless Edwards boys, had a fight with other youths and
were arrested in North Carolina by Virginia officers who
had no authority to cross the state line for that purpose.
Wesley Edwards and Sidna Edwars were chained to buggies the
deputies were driving. Floyd met the group on their way
from North Carolina t the Carroll County courthouse. H
protested the treatment of the fatherless boys, a fracas
occurred.

Floyd had been cleared of all charges but that of
rescuing the prisoners this nephews) in custody.

The trial on this charge was related in installments ?
and 10, and Judge Massie warned Commonweath Foster that the
cases against the Allens had to stop.

They jury got the case, but by S:30 that afternoon
(March 13, 1912), they reached no verdict. The case was
carried over to the next morning. What really happened
that night among the Allens? Among the court officiais?
It is still a mystery.


A0D7
CHAPTER 16

"DETECTIVES SEACH MOUNTAINS FOR TWO ALLENS”

The Baldwin-Felts Detectives, who were mow in Hillsville
and Carroll County by the hordes continued their seach and
reported their stories for the press of the nation:

“However, we found Sidna Allen’*’s bloocdstained sweater
with a Bullet hole in the arm.

“Garland (Preacher) Allen, was put through a severe
“third degree” questinoning, but he positively denied
haveing seen Sidna, or any of his companions, and asserted
that he knew nothing of their whereabouts."

A P STORY WAS FANTASTIC

The next morning after the fruitless and unexciting
search, the Associated Press carried a story throughout the
country about the pitched tattle there. The detectives
surrounded the house, the Allens shot it out with them,

while the women loaded the guns of the Allens. Sidna
Allen’s wife was killed in the battle and he was caught,
proclaiming, “You got me because I couldn’*t fight no
longer."

Sidna had ridden out of Hillsville alone that day of the
shooting. Leaving his brother Floyd = on the ground,
surrounded by others, he thought the older man was dying
and he knew for his own safety*’s sake, he had to clear out.
He cut across private property to avoid the road on the way
to his home and before he got there, he met his nephews,
Wesley Edwards, Friel and Claude Allen. They stopred
briefly while he told his wife and two littie giris gaoodby
and got a supply of ammunition at his store. They decided
to meet Jasper Allen’s that night of the fourteenth and
Plan where to go next. Claude did not show up but the
other three talked it over and took “to the bush," as they
expected no justice in Hillsville, if they gave themselves
up. Claude decided upon his own course and Sidna Allen,
after lingering in Hilisville a few hours after the
shooting went into hiding near his mother’s home. A few
days later, Friel left his uncle Sidna and Wesley and hid
out near his father’s house.

DETECTIVES OUTDONE

The night of the fifteenth three of the fugitives
stopped at Mrs. Edwards’ place in the Flower Gap section,
and word of the visit reached the detectives who were
outdone with the failure of their attack on Sidna’s house.
Eariy Sunday morning they started across the Blue Ridge.


"We made our way to within a mile of the Edwards house,
which is a natural fort," Detective Payne noted, “and
Placed the three militiamen (whoa come down from Roanoke) in
position from which, with their long range rifles, they
could command the country thereabouts, and watch by aid of
Glasses for any Suspicious movements.”

Horsemen surrounded the place. One man, searching a
cabin, slipped through a hole in the floor and fell into
the post of a big still. Two complete outfits were found.

They reported, one showing signs of a visit from revenuers.
Furnace and mash tubs were discovered at the foot of the
mountain.

Two other men galloping around the neighborhood captured
two youths who failed to give out any tidings even under
pressure. Later it was said the posse whould have “highly

prized the information they possessed but would not
divulge.”
Then, “after a weary search of the bushes and rocks,

including a cliff which we supposed was the notorious
“Buzzard*s Roost." all of us met at the Edwards home, where
we bought and ate ali the eggs Mrs. Edwards had."

Meanwhile, at Buzzard’s Roost. the fugitives were
observing the search far below. Friel, who had not yet
left for his father’s place, was reported later to have
said that he and Wesley had wanted to shoot but his unice
Sinda advised, "Wait till they get clioser. If we can kill
them big fellows, the leaders, we can scatter that bunch.

The posse continued their scouting. At Flioyd’s house

they “asked Mrs. Allien to prepare a meal-- She was very
kind to us, and is a fine woman and much to be pitied. We
paid her liberally for our supper and ~*for the feed

furnished our horses.

THEY FOUND A STILL HOUSE AND WHISKEY

In floyd*’s storehouse they found a still and a quantity
of whiskey - ninety gallons, it was reported. Later they
uncovered beneath fodder and leaf tobacco at the Edwards
place, a S36 gallon barrel of corn whiskey, so cid that the
wire nails holding the bung in had aimost rusted into the
wood. They knocked the top in and poured out the contents.
& wagon was obtained to haul the pots, worms, tubs, liquor
and other items into Hillsville where a picture was made.

They passed awinding way into the hills. "Don’t aa
this path, was the warning posted, and people said it led
to Floyd’s still.

“Every pine tree shelters a still,” wrote a
correspondent to this paper.

But, “A great injustice has been done me, stating that I
sold or handled blockade whiskey. I have never run a
blockade still in my life -- I never sold whiskey and
drank very little of it," Floyd stated about a year later.
Some people believed the detectives had planted the stills.

CHAPTER 17

YOUTHFUL CLAUDE 15 CAPTURED
DECTECTIVES AND BLLODHGUNDS WITHIN 75 YARDS OF
SIDNA AND WESLEY

Fifty volunteers were armed in North Carolina just over
the line to assist fifty others in Carroll County. Then it
was that Sidna and Wesley might have been captured.

"& country merchant furnishing the information," Sidna
wrote in memoris seventeen years later. "He was known as
Sugar Smith and had a small store located on the Wards Gap
Road --- At one o’cliock in the night, we aroused him and
asked to buy food but he declared that he had nothing
edible in stock --—- we went away empty-handed and he

hot-footed it for the officers. The consequence was that
at eight o’clock next morning bloodhounds opened on ocour
trail...”

Fanny and topsy arrived on the morning of April second,
with Mr. Lane, their handler.

"When first placed on our trail, the dogs were within
three or four hundred yards of us and never seemed to get

much nearer. They opened a few times and then lost the
trail or else their voices. We heard them no more. Some
of the officers accompanying the dogs passed within

seventy-five yards of us without detecting any indication
of our presence. Apparently they were no better at hunting
than the dogs," Sidna recalled.

By April 13, the two had decided they had had enough of
hiding out in the mountains, s0 near their homes and
families where they knew detectives were posted. That
night, they arrived at Wesley’s mother’s home where he told
her goodbye. They left early in the morning, before day,
and he turned over aitletter to her, to be given to his
sweetheart, Maude [roler.

POOR PICTURES ON POSTER

Gut in the shadowy morning light they went, long before
sunrise. A dog howled -- was it one of the bioodhounds?
They picked their way down the mountains into North
Carolina and in a railroad station next day bought tickets.
Fosted on the wall before their eyes were pictures of

themselves and notices —-- $1500 reward for Sidna Allen,
dead or alive." read one of them, and #500 reward for
Wesley Edwards” the other echoed. The pictures were so

poor, Sidna commented, it was hard for them to recognize
themselves.

Back home in Carroll County, the search was to continue

from Greensboro and always went there by train, but if they
had ridden, they would not have been on shagaqy mountain
Ponies -—-" The Allens owned and rode good horses."

The second trial of Claude began July i, and he was
charged with shooting Attorney Foster --the Webb affair
apparently would have to wait.

"Claude’s case was called in ten minutes," one of his
attorneys recollected. “We had been told that Friel would
be tried next, but ten minutes before court opened, we
learned that it would be Claude.”

Motion was overruled to continue the case. The defense
claimed former jeopardy, asked for murder in the second
degree, and protested the consolidated indictments.

AD1L2Z
CHAPTER 21

JURY HEARS TESTIMONY IN TRIAL GF FLOYD

FIRST CHARGE-SHOOTING OF THE COMMONWEALTH ATTORNEY

The trial of Fioyd Allen had just got underway. He had
formerly been a duputy sheriff, supervisor, leader. He had
told a friend that Sheriff Webb drew a gun and that Clerk
Goad had aqun hanging down at his side when he read the
Verdict that fateful day of March 14, i712.

Floyd claimed in court, however, that he saw a wink pass
between Goad and the sheriff. a signal for shooting. A
letter of Goad’s was introduced stating that he saw Webb
advancing on Floyd before the latter shot the first time.
Floyd said Foster had written a letter asserting that it
would be mighty hard to get a fair trial there in Carroll
County “if Mr. Dexter Goad took stock against a man."
Attempts were made to keep the political antagonism out of
the picture but many present knew that Foster and the
Allens hadn’t "spoke howdy" to each other in some time.

Judge Bolen, who had been Floyd’s attorney in
Hilisville, proved to be the most consistent witness during
the subsequent trials. He described what he saw taken

place, some of which occurred while he was flat on the
floor yelling for Floyd to get off him lest he-Bolen—-be
Shot while they were aiming at Floyd.

“WOMAN OF WOE”

Floyd attended court in a dark suit, comb and toothbrush
in his breast pocket. He showed no fear, littie
animosity, but a deal of calm dignity. Mrs. Allen was
there as often as her health allowed-slight, thin, and
straight-shrouded in black from her shoes to her itlong
straight Black bonnet. Seon she was know among newsmen as,
*The Woman of Woe." At first, there were only men
attending the trial and not until it had progressed for iS
days were women present in any number. That day, they
occupied the entire front row.

The upstairs courtroom in Wytheville was similar toa that
im Hillsville in most respects. Neariy SO feet square, it
was divided about midway by a railing that stretched across
the entire room, the court on one side and ten spectators
on the other. & second railing joined the first to the
Fight of the spectators and extended toa the back wall near
the clerk*s desk, opening first ta the right of the
spectators, second ta the court’s enclosure, and made an
aisle from the wall toward the spectators, a door at its
far end and another to the big hallway of the second ficor
of the courthouse. The judge’s desk and that of the clerk

substantiating them against defense charges that he was not
a reputable witness. J. M. Bevill ta neighbor of Floyd’s,
nearing 70 years of age, gray breaded and dressed in
striped trousers with a checked jumper under his coat,
reported that he had said, "Mr. Allen, I hope you won’t get
into no such thing,” when the Allens had predicted trouble
and announced they expected no justice in a court with
Foster as attorney for the Commonwealth.

Hadn’*t Allen warned that he was going to "shoot a hole
in the court?”

Dld feuds were opened —- past troubles between the Allens
and the Edwardses who were not blood kin to them — between
the Allens and the Towes over the old revenue scrape that
put Towes in the federal penitentiary. Half—-a-dozen other
quarrels were aired that had only indirected bearing on the
case at hand.

"Floyd Allen shot first" was the testimony and another
told how Floyd fumbled with the button of his sweater, drew
@ gum out of the holster under his left arm and began
firing.

OVER 100 WITNESSES

More than a hundred witnesses were summonded and paid by
the court.

Proffessor £—.J. Cooley, a character witness for the
defense, testified and the spectators were amazed. They
vowed they had heard him speak for the Commonwealth.

"That was my twin brother,” the schoolman assaured them.

Mrs. Davis Ayers, sister-in-law to Bettie who had been

killed, was in court. When the death of the girl was laid
to Floyd, he angrily revolted against the accusation with a
vehement, "I never did no such thing!" Lawyer Willis

maintained that she was shot accidentally and a bullet of
Clerk Goad’s was responsible.

Allien, on his part, disappointed the public with his
lack of dramatic defense. His lawyers later told how
447260. 1S was as the mountains were overrun with
detectives for the coalfields whose methods and threats
inspired terror on the part of many Allen sympathizers.
The newspapers noted how few witnesses appeared on his
side. They said Floyd was sanctimonious, however, as he
Claimed in a Sarcastic voice that he had little jobs, with
the county, such as supervisor, deputy sheriff, assistant
treasurer, for something like 14 years. During the trial,
he sucked lozenges and taiked very little. The foreigners
wha expected & ripsnorting hellion vere woefully
disapointed.

Afterward, Floyd remarked that he had seen Sheriff Webb
draw agun and that Goad had one in his left hand hanging
down at his side while he read the verdict that fatal day
of March 14. He had seen that before he drew his own.

"Why didn’t you tell the court at the time?" his friend
asked in exasperation.

"IT don’t know - I always been a-taking care of myself
and mine - I though I could then," was the slow spoken
reply.

Claude, on the other hand, said Judge Massie was a
friend of the Allens, that if he got shot by any of them,
it was an accident. "When Father got up, I saw Clerk Goad
standing with his gqun pointed at Pap. I believed he was
going to shoot Pap and I reached for my gun. Beforre I got
it out, Papa fell and I started shooting at Goad," and "I
shot four times and aimed at Goad’s head." Running cutside
the courthouse, Claude took another shot at Deputy Sheriff
Gillespie, who was aiming at him.

On behalf of his son, Floyd denied the charge of
conspiracy and again said he had seen Goad wink at the
sheriff before any guns were pulled, that he had been shot
before he could draw his. Floyd also said, "if it hadn’ta
been for Goad, I’*da gone with the sheriff." Another Allen
wanted ta know how Judge Bolen could observe the details if
he were lying on the floor with Floyd on top of him. And -
how could he tell much about the sounds when he was deaf in
one ear?

There was Daniel Thomas* report of Judge Massie’s last
words, "I'm dying —-I’m dying —- Sidna Allen shot me." This
had been published just after the shooting. but on the
stand, Thomas* veracity was called into question.

The trial lasted from May 20 when selection of the jury
began, through the first of June when the verdict was
rendered.

MANY WOMEN IN ATTENDANCE

Appearance of the courtroom had changed since the
beginning of Fioyd’s trial. Women were there in large
numbers. Mrs. Victor Allen with three small children came
with her mother-in-law, who faithful and dignified,
accompanied her husband whenever her health permitted "and
om shaqgy mountain poinies bearing toward me at a furious
pace. Quickly they dismonted, tethered their ponies, and in
Single file tramped into the courtroom -- as grim a looking
set I never saw before.”

Referring to that, Sidna said the Allens lived 75 miles

64

‘The Master Detective

The Amazing “Allen Gang” Court-House Massacre

turned to Floyd Allen, ordered him to
stand up, and sentenced him to one
year at hard labor.

Then turning to Webb, Judge Massie
said: “Sheriff, take charge of your pris-
oner.” There was considerable shu ing
of feet and a general movement among
the mountaineers in the back of the
room as Sheriff Webb, a small man,
started for his strapping prisoner. Little
did the interested spectators anticipate
the next move, nor suspect that it was
to end in grim tragedy.

AS the diminutive Sheriff came toward
the bar for Floyd Allen, the pris-
oner started to rise, fumbling at his
coat and sweater, and muttering, “I
just tell you I ain’t a-goin’.” The ‘words

ad scarcely passed his lips, when there
was the crack of a revolver. Judge Mas-
sie, who had partly risen from his seat,
crumpled to the floor. In an instant
other clansmen’s pistols were popping,
bullets were zipping, wounded were
groaning, women were screaming and
the crowd was scrambling, pell-mell, to
the doors.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Foster,
who was sitting directly in front of the
Judge, was the next to succumb to the
well-directed shots of the suddenly
turned outlaws, who had taken the exe-
cution of the law into their own hands.
Sheriff Webb whipped out his own re-
volver as he made for Floyd Allen, who
had joined in the shooting, but he had
not gone ten feet before he was stopped
by a hail of lead and also dropped to
the floor in a lifeless heap.

The assassins’ shots were then di-
rected at the jury box, where one man
was killed and two wounded.

By this’ time, the shooting in. the
court-room had become general.

Holding the panic-stricken crowd at
bay with their revolvers, the mountain-
eers backed out of the courthouse, across
the green and down the alley to their
ponies.

Clerk Dexter Goad, who. had fallen

with a bullet through his cheek, soon

regained his feet, snatched a revolver
from a man named Easton, and emptied
it after the assassins. Rushing down
into the street with: his ey revolver,
bullets whistling all about him, Goad
was met by _ his seventeen-year-old
daughter, Jazabel, who was his deputy.
She quickly thrust a fresh revolvers into
his hand and with this, he pursued the
Allens and winged both Floyd and
Sidna.

The Allens had come—and gone. The
tall, mirthless men of the -Allen clan,
with the barrels of their guns still
sullied by the powder with which they
had turned Judge Massie’s court into a
shambles, hurried through the hub-deep
mud to the North Carolina border and
friends of their own lawless character.
They half dragged, half carried: with
them, Sidna Allen, who appeared seri-
ously wounded.

Floyd Allen, limping from a bullet
that had shattered a bone in his thigh,
tried to mount his horse. When he

(Continued from page 33)

threw all his weight on the splintered
leg in order to put his other foot in
the stirrup, the bone snapped; drop-
ping him to the ground in agony. His
brothers carried him to a clansman’s
buggy, but by this time the pain was so
severe, that they had to take’*him to
the abandoned annex of a hotel and put
him on a cot—where they left him in
charge of his seventeen-year-old son,
Victor. Then the rest of them mounted
their horses and started home.

When the pall of smoke had. dissi-
pated through the doors and windows
of the court-room, it revealed Judge
Massie and Betty Ayers—a twenty-
year-old girl from the Fancy Gap re-
ion, who had been a witness for the

mmonwealth—mortally wounded;
Sheriff Webb, Commonwealth’s Attor-
ney Foster and Juror Fowler dead; and
Clerk Goad in a dangerous condition.
The entire human fabric of the Carroll
County Circuit Court had been wiped
out!

The village of Hillsville was in a fer-
ment. The wiping out of the law offi-
cers left affairs in the hands of un-
trained citizens, but they rose to the
occasion as Americans can be depended
upon to do. While. the town’s three
doctors were busy with the wounded,
and the undertakers were taking charge
of the dead, the other citizens gathered
together on the greensward in front of
the court-house.

BEFORE the clansmen were a mile
away from.the scene of the mas-
sacre, the following message was drafted
and sent by a mounted courier to thé
nearest telegraph station at Betty
Baker mine, eight miles away, to be

flashed to the State Capital:

To William Hodges Mann, Gov-
ernor, '
Richmond, Va.

Send troops to Carroll County at
once. Mob violence. The Court,
Commonwealth’s Attorney, some
jurors and others shot on convic-
tion of Floyd Allen. Sheriff. and
Commonwealth’s Attorney dead.
Court serious. Look after this now.

It was signed by J. G. Ayers, who
was acquainted with the Governor.

Governor Mann acted with character-
istic swiftness. He knew that the militia
in that section would be as helpless as
were General Braddock’s Redcoats in
Colonial. days. But he mobilized two
companies of militia at Lynchbur and
Roanoke, and held them in Taikiines
for the possible invoking of martial
law; ordering Captain F. W. Devant,
of Company F, Second Virginia: regi-
ment, to Hillsville with two men,

twenty rifles and plenty of ammunition.

The Governor’s next step was to hire
the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to
take charge of the situation in Carroll
County. He had Tom Felts, in’ charge
of the agency’s Bluefield office, and
W.G. Baldwin, of the Roanoke branch,
both start: for Hillsville with picked

men. A second message, telling of Judge
Massie’s death, now reached the capital,
and Governor Mann dispatched Cor-
a Judge Walter S. Staples of

oanoke, to fill out. the judicial term,
and sent Samuel W. Williams, Attor-
ney-General. of the Commonwealth, to
replace the martyred Foster.

In the meantime, Hillsville citizens,
rapidly bringing organization out of
the chaos, had established a heavy
guard over the wounded Floyd Allen,
and sent couriers down the valley to
spread the news of the tragedy and to
get help.

Soon, from every town within a ra-
dius of fifty miles of Hillsville, expe-
rienced gunfighters came, anxious to
participate in the death hunt of the
Allens.

Detective Baldwin’s special train from
Roanoke stopped on signal at Pulaski
to pick up a dozen indignant neighbors
of the late Judge Massie, who insisted
on being “in at the kill.”

When Baldwin’s special, and that of
his partner, Tom Felts, converged at
Galax, twelve miles away, Hillsville
citizens were there in covered buggies
to meet them.

Feeling that Floyd Allen’s friends
might come after him, Detective Felts
immediately stationed sentinels at dif-
ferent points of entrance—then went
into the hotel and arrested Floyd, as he
lay on his cot, guarded by his sleeping
son, Victor. With his physician’s con-
sent and-his cot for a stretcher, they
Bicked Floyd Allen WP and started to

il. On the way, they noticed him
pull the blanket up over his chin and
contort his face in agony. When he
was set down in jail—the jail that had

. never before housed an Allen—and the

blankets were thrown back for inves-
tigation, it was discovered that he had
attempted to commit suicide with the
aid of a knife which he was holding.

Victor Allen and Byrd Marion, the
latter a relative of the Allens, also were

laced under arrest on that same day,

arch 15th, .and held as material
witnesses.

During the night, the feudists had
looted a hardware store of its rifles,
revolvers and cartridges and they were
now hidden in the hills and pockets of
the Blue Ridge Mountains, which la
southward across the intervening val-
ley, like a line of indigo drawn across
the sky. Back in the hills were the gun-
fighters, protected by roads deep in
mud, with the eyes of their friends scan~
ning every approach in their behalf.

WHiLe the trio of the Allen clan in
custody were being hustled’ to Ro-
anoke for safe-keeping, Judge Staples
and Attorney-General Williams arrived.
Judge Staples, sitting in the chair from
which Judge Massie was shot—a strap-
ping deputy with a horse pistol belted
to hina at his side—proceeded to im-

anel a grand jury. Deputy Sheriff G.
E. Edwards—just named Sheriff by Gov-
ernor Mann—and Detective Tom Felts
searched all who entered the court-room.

its

ay
G
m
al

an otyeu

udge
vital,
Cor-
s of
erm,
ttor-
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zens,
t of
eavy
llen,
y to
id to

i Ta-
>xpe-
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’ the

from
ilaski
ibors
sisted

at of
‘d at
sville
iggies

iends
Felts
: dif-
went
as he
eping
con-
they
ed to
him
1 and
on he
t had
d the
inves=
e had
h the
ing.
1, the
) were
: day,
iterial

3 had
rifles,
* were
ets of
th lay
x val-
across
2 gun-
ep in
, scans
ialf.

lan in
o Ro-
staples
‘rived.
‘from
strap-
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o im-
riff G.
v Gov-
1 Felts
-room.

January, 1932

The machinery of the law had adjusted?

itself. 16! bag

~The grand jury grimly went about! its::
task, and before nightfall on:Saturday,
returned. indictments: for ‘murder, and:
complicity to murder, against. Floyd!

Allen, and his sons, Victor and Claude},

Sidna’ Allen; Wesley .and : Sidna »Ed-
wards, nephews of idna Allen; «Friel:
Allen, son of Jasper Allen, and Byrd;
Marion. yest oyshen
A y Opa reo oCl
PRINTING presses, in\the meanwhile,
had been grinding: out police: circu-,:
lars, which were hurriedly broadcast; in.
which $3,100 in rewards was offered by
Governor Mann for: the. five missing»
members of the Allen clan, dead or’.
alive. Va if
The- eee. after the Governor's:
proclamation had been plastered on
fences and telegraph poles throughout.
the State, the detectives: found poste
beside one of them, less than three
miles from. Hillsville, this word from
the Allen clan:

To those who have made it their’
concern: We -have plenty of arms
and bullets. We. know: how to use
them. These hills aré a unhealthy

_ place. for strangers to visit. Re-
member this, you can get us in the
end, but. we will get you first.

Detective Tom Felts knew that}in»
running down the Allen gang hetigeeded
no inspired, intuitive, brilliantly\logical |
super-sleuths who could ‘trace’ criminals
through’ monogrammed ! cigar bands; |
instead, he gathered together con-'
servative, plodding, hard-working,’ un-:
imaginative men—men who wore the;
same cowhide shoes, the same blue flan-
nel shirts and shot with the same deadly
accuracy as the clan they pursued; be-)
cause they also’ came from the moun-’
tain country. Lia

It was dow work in the mountains:
for these men. The Allens could. see
without being seen, and they: knew the
caves and wild-wood coves as well as
rats know their holes. More than that,’
they had two-faced followers ‘who
coated their cunning. with simple ‘sin-
cerity, capable often of switching the
strongest scenting sleuths to the back
track.

On Monday night, March 18th, Sidna
Allen had the audacity: to spend the
night at his home; risking it although
badly wounded. At2 A. M., a Baldwin-
Felts scout dashed into Hillsville with
the news. Within fifteen minutes, fif-
teen men were in their saddles gallop-
ing toward Mount Airy. They - dis-
mounted a mile from their destination,
but hatdly had the whispered order
“dismount” been given before, from a
hill in the distance, came the sharp
crack of a Winchester.

Before the echo had ceased reverber-
ating in the hills, there came another
report from a greater distance; still an-
other farther off, and yet another; until
the sound of the desultory firing died
away in the distance. These shots were
fired by Allen pickets. They were the
night signals warning Sidna of the ap-
proach of a posse.

The first shot had aroused the fugi-

cs
a

The ‘Mastér Detective:

tive) who had: sprung out of; his. bed,

and within a few! minutes | Was' lost ..in |

the heavy forest.; Sidna,Allen’s bed was »

still;warm when the posse attived. His
wife, 'sleepy-eyed,and yawning; came to

the : door. | Huddled behind yher’ were »

her, two daughters, Marguerite, ten, and

Pauline, just :fives:They, of course, had

not’ seen Sidna. | vos cs ream O14 [yeh |
-Why. were the;mountaineets| protect-
ing);the Allens? /One reasonj,came out
when Jordan Edwards,'a distant; rela-
tive, was arrested on a charge'of aiding
ik ei by ‘giving ‘them food and
shelter. 42 ees Thies

SM yi xoghen AMMA hy ets
COUPLE of years before Sidna Al-
‘len had given:him/ two acres of for-

{ i

hoped to make a living and pay off, his
debts. He was felling, a ttee one day,
and as it toppled over| he saw his, only

d» child, a boy of ten,:in its path. Sidna

Allen ran forward and threw him out
of the way—the tree striking his right

» arm, and making it, uséless;for many

months. ie ie ars
Detectives made desperate efforts to
induce Edwards to tell the whereabouts
of the absent kinsmen. It was pointed
out that he might gain a reward of

General Samuel w. Williams

$3,100: by betraying them, But Jordan
Edwards: didnot for a moment con-
sider the offers)) 9: 7)) i

It was. then learned that Sidna Ed-
wards, surprised by the appearance
of detectives near his home on Satur-
day, had stepped. accidentally into a
big caldron of hot corn’ mash at his
moonshine still and,. being barefooted,
had been severely burned,’
~He had left: in aueniereee tate haste
that the posse during the search, found
his revolver hanging from its holster on
a wall of his mountain cabin. His rifle
was missing, however... Twenty . gallons
of moonshine were seized and his two
stills wrecked. iis
“At Floyd Allen’s home a_ similar
amount of “mountain dew” was un-
earthed, anda still put out of com-
mission.

The first capture in the mountains
was made eight days after the tragedy.
On March 22nd, Detective LeGrand
Felts and W. W. Phaut came upon
Sidna Edwards, emaciated and worn
from a week’s wandering in the thicket,
asleep ina hut a mile from his home.
He was unarmed. It was 4 o'clock in

Cd

, est. land, with. which; young) Edwards .

65

the. morning when the capture was
made. :
His captors took him to Lambsburg,

Virginia, kept him in a farmhouse the

balance of the night, and then started
for! Hillsville. Jasper Allen, his uncle—
one ‘of the Allens who was not at the
court+house the day of the tragedy—
joined -his nephew on the way in and
galloped along with the party.

“LThe. strange code. of the Allen clan
was exemplified the following’ day.
While’ Floyd Allen wast wounded—a
prisoner—the posse hunting his relatives
were guests at his table. They were
searching -his place for the third or
fourth time when the dinner bell in the
yard’summoned the hired men from the
fields. A posse of twenty-three mounted
men stood:in the yard and Floyd Al-
len’s wife, and the wife of his son,
Claude—for' whom they also were
searching—hospitably prepared a meal
for these prosecutors of their husbands.

FIRTEEN days after the murders, on
March 29th, the youngest.of the fu-
gitives, Friel Allen, was taken at_the
homé of his father, Jasper Allen. Only
eighteen, . pink-cheeked and_ slight of
build, he had separated from the others
and sought refuge. He asserted he had
left his relatives two days before in a
wild place called No Man’s-Land. They
had been there ten days, hiding under
shelves of rock, and always with fallen
trees near, as breastworks. The day
after the shooting, he said, some of the
posse had come within fifteen or twenty
yards: of them.

“We stayed in the laurel bushes for

ten days, and had nothing to eat but
crackers,” the youth said. “I was just
‘starved out. I left them at.the moun-
tain nag

-«The boy brought this message from
the fugitives: “It will bea battle to
‘the death. If the posse. gets us, they
will get dead men. We might as well
die with our boots on as in the electric
chair.”

The next: day, in one of the wildest
sections of Fancy Gap, Harry Lucas, a
keen-eyed mountaineer detective, was
making his way along the mountain-
side, when he chanced to turn and look
back over the trial that he. had been
following. It was well he did so—
about thirty yards away, topping the
thicket of faurel, he caught sight of a
man’s face, haggard: and bearded, with
sunken eyes.

“Hold up your hands,” shouted
Lucas, ‘slinging his rifle to his shoulder.

Starving, sleepless and _ fatigued,
Claude Swanson Allen—namesake of a
United States Senator and former Gov-
ernor of Virginia—came out of the
laurel thicket, pointed two six-shooters
to the sky, and gave himself up. His
pounched eyes and roughened face con-
firmed his plea of exhaustion; but his
broad shoulders towered above the man
who had taken him.

“T could have shot you,” he said to
Detective: Lucas, “but I was a little
excited at having you come upon me
so soon. Anyway, I didn’t want to
shoot anyone.” ;

Bread and a cask of water were
found hidden in the thicket, and


32 The Master

with Foster and Judge Bolen, however, Judge Massie decided
that letting them retain their arms might be safer in the
long run, than undertaking to disarm them.

The case against Floyd Allen went to the jury late that
afternoon. Commonwealth’s Attorney Foster had ended his
argument with these words: “This man has set the law at
defiance in this county for years. He has been a menace
to peaceful citizenship. He is guilty beyond question, and
| ask you, gentlemen of the jury, not to falter.”

There being no hope of a verdict before morning, the
crowd rose stiffly, jostled disappointedly downstairs, and

(Below) Judge Walter S. Staples, dispersed to their re
who presided at the trials of the spective homes. Judge
various members of the ‘Allen Massie announced that
Gang’”’ for murder; and who

passed sentence on
the guilty Pres

ai

Detective

court would be opened earlier than usual the next morning—
at 8 instead of the usual hour of 9—as he knew that
the jurors would be wanting to get home to their chores.

Winter was waging a losing fight against Spring when
Thursday, March 14th, a red-letter day in Virginia's histor)
dawned. A drizzling rain was melting the snows from the
mountainsides, but many travelers were Hillsville-bound.
They expected to see something out of the ordinary that
day, but what, they knew not.

The court had barely opened when through the streets of
Hillsville was passed the word, “The Allens are coming.”

A ae *, alle (Below) Dexter Goad, Clerk of the
taineers, all O € ‘ en court, who was seriously wounded
clan, soon galloped into during the pursuit of the Allens.

His brave daughter rushed
to his aid, amidst the

flying bullets

A familiar sight during the hunt after the Allens.

{
:

ae

A posse, fully armed, is here seen on the trail of the hunted
mountaineers

re base


2xt morning—
e Knew that
their chores.
Spring when
sinia’s history,
ows from the
\Isville-bound.
ordinary that

the streets of
are coming.”

ad, Clerk of the
ously wounded
of the Allens.
aughter rushed
aid, amidst the
flying bullets

The Amazing ‘‘Allen Gang’’ Court-House Massacre 33

IMRT PERRIER HY UNIEE I  Y

Posse of detectives and aides in front of the Eliot House, Hillsville, Virginia, during the hunt for the escaped Allens

town on foaming ponies, dropped
their bridles contemptuously at the

hitching post in front of
the tiny jail that had never
yet housed an Allen, and
walked into the court-room
with the swagger and bulg-
ing hips of men ready for a
fight. Silently, they took
their places in the rear of
the court-room, which was
jammed with at least two
hundred people—most of
them standing.
Apprehension could be
seen on every face, espe-
cially those of the court
officers. Though cool and
composed, Judge Massie—
the one-armed jurist who
had the nerve to try an
Allen; Dexter Goad, Clerk
of the Circuit Court; Sheriff
Lewis F. Webb and Com-
monwealth’s Attorney
Foster—all seated at their
respective posts of duty—
seemed to sense the omi-
nousness of their presence.

AoA DCR ht

HF (gna

There was a shuffling of un-
seen feet, and all eyes turned
and watched the jury file in.
It seemed an eternity, those

few seconds during which
the foreman handed a
folded slip to -Judge
Massie, who glanced at
it quickly and then
handed it to Clerk Goad.
Immediately, he began
to read aloud: “We, the
jury, find the defendant,
Floyd Allen, guilty as
charged in the within in-
dictment and fix his pun-
ishment at confinement
in the penitentiary of the
State for one year.”

UDGE BOLEN arose

and, amid the tense
silence that gripped the
room, requested that his
client be released under
bond, pending filing of a
motion for a new trial
The Court refused, saying
it was not customary to
grant bail after verdict

“Is there anything
further you can do with
your case today?” in

(Left to right) Detectives W.G.
Baldwin and Tom L, Felts, who
took a leading part in the hunt
for and apprehension of the
members of the “Allen Gang”’

quired Judge Massie and
me | when the defense counse!

“hte. shook their heads

(Continued on page ¢

+

Civen Oct. (118 Norfhumbecland C

Necro Aaron . Slave of Sos Fearson.
X 200 Comp: pad on IX-1S- 78. Get details.

4 WS. fforttunlbertand Chim 73
Lrolr Lok fO28-17 FF.
Executed 4-6 -/778 tor robbihg Miabtl

hinner’s storehouse. bs ntsler Was & (e-
toeat oF CParlofte Coua’ly.

ABBELL, J. Clifton, white, elec. VAP (Norfolk City) January 5, 1940

~ | By
WALDEN SNELL .

C LIFTON and Robert Abdell raced home from school

on the afternoon of May 11, 1938, to get in every

possible moment of play with their neighborhood
friends before supper. Fifteen and 13 years of age, re-
spectively, they were the only sons of Mr. and Mrs. J.
Clifton Abdell, prominent in business and social life in the
city of Norfolk, Virginia's leading coastal metropolis.
Living some distance from the Maury high school which
they attended, it was after 4 o’clock when the boys alighted
from the bus and hurried through Lafayette park, an ex-
clusive residential section, to their home on Lafayette
boulevard.

“Bring my glove, bat and that new ball on top of the
bureau,” directed Clifton, removing his coat and hat and
handing them with his school books to his younger brother
as they arrived in front of their house. “And don’t forget
to tell mother where we are going.”

Robert worshipped his older brother. The bright-eyed
lad, his arms heavily laden, cut across the lawn and ran
up the front steps, leaving his brother waiting on the side-
walk. He tried the front door and found it locked. He
then went to the window opening onto the porch and found
that it, too, was fastened. Returning, he pushed the bell
impatiently several times but received no response.

“Hey, Cliff,” he called to his brother, “I can’t get in.
The -house is locked.”

“See if there is a note under the mat,” said Clifton.

Robert looked under the door mat and reported nothing
there.

“Keep pushing the bell,” Clifton directed. ‘Mother must
be lying down. She’ll hear you.”

The younger brother pushed the electric button incessantly
for some minutes. But there was no answer. Clifton,
somewhat perturbed over the delay, climbed the steps. To-
gether the boys tried to open a window. It was locked.
They went around to the back of the house, hoping to find
| the rear door open. As they walked around the house they

ec

saw that all the shades inside were drawn.

“Mother is not at home,” Clifton announced. He knew
his mother always pulled the shades down whenever she
went out and made sure the house was securely locked. If
she was to be absent for any length of time, she always
left a note where the key might be found. But if she were
only visiting in the neighborhood, she didn’t bother.

“T'll find her,” said the older brother and ran off to the
nearby home of Mrs. Lola Dorman, one of his mother’s
closest friends. Inquiring there, he was told she had not
been seen all day. Mrs. Dorman added that she had tried
several times during the afternoon to reach the mother by
telephone but had been unsuccessful.

She returned with Clifton to the Abdell home. Together
they tried every door and window but found all locked.
Standing on the back porch Mrs. Dorman suddenly detected

‘ystrates in the picture.at left how she ;
‘found the body of attractive Mrs. Audrey
Abdell, above, beneath a blanket. cover-.
g the gas stove. The position of the ~~
lanket played an important part in the
ficient investigation that followed. >


AARON (Slave) Hanged Il’ [4 -f, 74 OS

"1765-Aaron, slave of Robert Armistead, broke into mas-
ter's house = HUNG." COLONIAL CAROLINE, A HISTORY OF
CAROLINE COUN'Y, VIRGINIA, by T. E. Campbells Richmond:
Dietz Fress, Ince, 195, p 33h

Case found th Caroline County Order fdook
(1765-/767) pyes A 9/-252. farosSs valie
Set at X 70.

-ipru, L939

and he tells me that it happened during an
argument with you,”

“That’s not true,” answered the er]
with a toss of her head. “I never did
such a thing.”

“Quite sure?” questioned her caller.

“Quite, Mr. Nowitzky.”

So Abdell had lied about the scratches.
How had they been inflicted? It was pos-
sible, of course, that he might have got
them during a struggle with another
friend, in Washington. But, if so, why had
he lied and placed the blame on Mrs.
Deering? This was just one more of the
inexplicable things with which this case
seemed so befogged.

Then, unexpectedly, the investigators
profited by a series of breaks, The ex-
fensive space given to the mystery by the

newspapers brought information ~ that
threatened Abdell’s account with com-

plete collapse.

A man named J. C. Palmer visited De-
fective Nowitzky and told him the fol-
lowing story:

“PVE seen in the newspapers that this
man Abdell says he was in Washing-

fon ever since Monday. I think he’s lying.

Wednesday morning about nine-thirty, as
I was driving slowly by the house at 1318
Lafayette Boulevard, I saw a man come
out of the front door and walk down the
steps. When he saw me, he jerked his
hat over his eyes, turned his back and
walked over to a hedge.”

“Do you know Mr, Abdell?” queried the
detective.

“No. sir”

“But you would recognize the man you
saw Wednesday morning if you saw him
again?”

“T think so.”

“And you're sure it was Wednesday ?”

“Certain of it.”

The first crack had been made in the
broker’s alibi, and it was to widen threat-
eningly before the day was out. Mrs.
Michael Facchini, who lived right across

the street from the Abdells, had met and-

talked with the suspect near Fredericks-
burg on the road to Washington. She was
ready to swear it was Wednesday. In
telling her story she emphasized the fact
that the broker had requested her not to
say anything to any one about their meet-
ing.

If Abdell had been in Norfolk Tuesday
or Wednesday, thought the detective, he
must have visited Mrs. Deering on either
of those days. With this idea in mind,
he called on the attractive young woman
again.

“Mrs. Deering,” he said severely, “when
did you see Mr. Abdell last?”

She hesitated.

“If you’re not careful, you will be drawn
into this case.” he continued. “It will be
much better for all concerned if you tell
the truth.”

“Mr. Nowitzky,” she replied, “I didn’t
have a thing to do with the death of Mrs.
Abdell.”

“T didn't say you had, but T feel sure
you know more than you have told me,”

“There is more,” she admitted, “and Tm
going to tell you; I’m going to tell the
truth. Cliff was here Wednesday morn-
ing.”

“What time Wednesday morning?”

“About one o’elock. He stayed for a
couple of hours.”

“Notice any scratches on his face then?”

“No.” °

“Did you see him after that?”

“Yes, Thursday morning about eight
o'clock.”

“Did you see scratches then?”

“Yes, and Cliff begged me to say. if anv
one asked me, that he, had got those
scratches in a fight with me.”

Master Detective

“Mrs. Deeriiia asked the detective
softly, “Mr. Abdell was in love With you,
Wasn't he?”

The young woman bowed her head.

When Nowitzky left he felt elated. Not
only was  <Abdell’s — alibi completely
smashed, but the motive for the murder
Was now as clear as crystal.

The authorities decided the time for
action had come and they moved swiftly.
Abdell was suddenly arrested. He Was in-
dignant at first, but soon Telapsed into
his usual state of suavity,

“I had nothing to do with my wife’s
death,” he reiterated. “She committed
suicide.”

“Mrs. Abdell was murdered.” Detective
Nowitzky told him sternly, “and you were
in your home when the crime Was com-
mitted. You were not in Washington.
We have witnesses to prove that.”

The words of the investigator were
hke hammer blows, and the broker flinched
under their impact. He had had no ink-
hing of the collapse of his carefully thought
out alibi, and he struggled for at least an
appearance of self-possession.

The _ relentless detective did not spare
him. He emphasized that the suicide notes
had not been suicide notes at all; that
Mrs. Abdell had not. written them; that
his wife had found them in his own room,
and that there was no doubt that he had
written them himself. The straw hat had
been a crafty plant, but it was nothing
more than a plant. It had never been
worn and still had the size label projecting
from the band.

“Just one more of the little things on
which you slipped up, Mr, Abdell,” said
Detective Nowitzky.

The arrest of the prosperous broker for
the murder of his wife startled his many
friends and acquaintances. Their feeling
against him was intensified when Detective
Nowitzky learned that, in spite of his pros-
perous business ventures, he had forced
his two boys to sell newspapers and tur
their earnings over to him. .

The older boy, Clifton, was particularly
bitter against his father when the subject
of his mother was brought up. His dislike
for Abdell was apparently intense.

“If Mother was killed.’ he told No-
witzky, “Daddy killed her.”

“Why do you think that?” he was asked.

“Because when he visited us about a
week ago I heard him tell Mother that
she would soon be among the missing.”

GAINST the tide that was rising
to submerge him, the cornered broker
stood firm, He eontinued to believe that
his plan had been perfect; that no evi-
dence could be obtained to prove him
guilty of his monstrous deed. To everyone
he expressed confidence that his innocence
would be established, and he said. this
often and appeared to believe it himself,
As to the crime itself, he refused to say
a word, standing on his rights and the ad-
vice of his lawyer. He even refused to
leave his cell so that the J. C. Palmer,
who had seen him Jeave his home that
Wednesday morning. might have a chance
to identify him. Detective Nowitzky had
to drag him forth into the corridor and
hold his struggling prisoner until Paliner
shouted:

“That’s the man!”

The trial opened Wednesday morning,
June 29th, 1938, and interest in it was at
fever heat. Crowds surrounded the court-
room early in the day. Extra traftie police-
men were necessary to direct the long lines
of cars bringing people from all parts of
the county. to attend what promised to
be the most spectacular trial in Norfolk
in many years.

The prosecution’s charge was based on
the following report of the Coroner:

67

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By DETECTIVE LEON NOWITZRY
_ Norfolk, Virginia, Police Department
| _ As Told to Herbert Rudlin

FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE, June, 1939 ,
HISTLING CHEERILY, 13-year-old Bobby Ab-
: V V dell wheeled his bicycle into the rear yard of his
home at 1318 Lafayette Boulevard, located in
Norfolk, Virginia’s, exclusive Lafayette Park. 2

-It was May 11th, 1938—a bright spring afternoon, with.
a warm breeze sweeping in from the bay. Bobby won-
dered why the back door was shut tight, and the shades
‘in the house pulled down. Never before could he recall
all the shades being drawn in such a singular manner.

Dismounting from his wheel, Bobby swung his books
over his shoulder and trudged up the back steps. He

pulled against the screen. It was locked tightly. The boy
pounded on the screen. No answer—only mocking silence
and the hum of bees in the flowering shrubbery.

Suddenly a faint odor of gas assailed his nostrils. Young
Bobby stiffened. An ominous, paralyzing feeling of dread
swept over him. Quickly he shook it off. His mother was

- probably over at Mrs. Dorman’s.

Bobby ran across to the home of Mrs. Lola Dorman, at
1519 Royal Terrace. In reply to his questions, Mrs. Dor-
man said she hadn’t seen Mrs. Abdell all day. Bobby’s
brow crinkled. >

“Mrs. Dorman, I wish you’d come back with me. I
thought I smelled some gas!” the boy said hesitantly.

In a few seconds Mrs. Dorman was at the back door of
the Abdell home. ee : ¥

She paled as she detected the unmistakable odor of

“escaping gas. : :

Mrs. Dorman called toward the home of Police Ser-
geant H. iA. Shannon, who resided at 1518 Royal Terrace,
directly in back of the Abdell home. It was Sergeant
Shannon’s day off. ares :

Hearing the summons, Sergeant Shannon lost little
time in getting over to the Abdell home.

Sergeant Shannon swiftly tried the rear door and win-
dows, finding all of them tightly locked. Quickly secur-
ing a screw driver, he broke in the side kitchen window
and crawled into the darkened room.

-

5, 190.

- The hiss of escaping gas was almost a roar in the stifling |

room.

Pressing a handkerchief against his face, Sergeant —
Shannon rolled the palm of his hand along the jets, closing ~ «>
them in a single, swift movement. Beside the stove he

_ discerned the dim outlines of a woman’s body.

Shannon jumped to the rear door, hurled it open, then
raised the window. Light poured into the room, revealed
all the ghastly details of death.

goad

Beneath a blanket lay the motionless form of Mrs.

Abdell. Another blanket, tucked into the grates, draped
over her face in the form of a tent. Thrusting the blankets

away, Sergeant Shannon bent over the lifeless wornan.

Avoiding the questioning eyes of Mrs. Dorman and
young Bobby, Sergeant Shannon hurried home and called
the fire department for an inhalator squad, then called
the police department. : pale

-T\HE REPORT of Mrs. Abdell’s death was quickly re-.

layed to me. As special investigator for the coroner’s
office, it is my duty to investigate every unnatural death
in the city of Norfolk. Accordingly, I lost little time in
getting to the Abdell residence.
Pushing my way through the crowd of curious neigh-
bors swarming ‘around the house, I met Sergeant Shannon
at the door. — sacend
“Suicide?” I asked. .

“Maybe!” replied Sergeant Shannon cryptically. | We Se ;

I walked into the kitchen. The body of Mrs. Abdell lay
on its left side, a stream of blood tracing a course from
her face to a point on the kitchen floor about ten feet

away. Beside an ironing board lay a dead cat. A chair, ag
containing several articles of clothing, stood nearby. On ne

the kitchen table were two notes.

Picking them up, I saw that one was addressed to the ~
two boys, Clifton and Bobby. The other had been ad-

dressed to her husband, J. Clifton ‘Abdell. The first read:

“Dear Clifton and Bobby— SRE Bate Se A
“I am going away on a long trip and not coming
back. I want you both to love and obey your daddy
for I realize that even with his mistakes he has been
Mrs. Audrey Abdell, victim of one of the most
startling crimes in Virginia history. Detective
Leon Nowitzky tells the complete inside story.


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Master Detective
“Mrs. Audrey ‘heima Abdell died at or
about nine a. M., May 11th, 1988, of car-
hon monoxide poisoning. Multiple wounds,
bruises and abrasions were found on the
body. It is the opinion of the Coroner
that these wounds entered into the scheme
of death. It has been alleged that J. C.
Abdell, her husband, is answerable for
the death referred to in the foregoing.”
Assistant Com nonwealth’s Attorney
James H. Tyler III described Mrs, Abdell’s
death as cold-blooded murder, adding
that it would have been a “perfect crime”
had Fate not worked against the defend-
ant. But Fate has a way of eventually
uncovering the deeds of criminals. He said
that the woman had been beaten, knocked
unconscious and died when overcome by
the gas from the range turned on by her
husband. The latter had then attempted
to build up an indisputable alibi, by pre-
tending to have been in Washington since

Sunday; whereas he had made a hurried’

und secret trip back home to commit the
crime,

The defense’s answer was that Mrs. Ab-
dell had committed suicide while in an
unhappy frame of mind over the separa-
tion from her husband.

HE imperturbable broker looked his

usual sleek and suave self as he sat in
the courtroom with his two brilliant attor-
neys, Ivor A. Page, Jr., and W. H. Ven-
able.. They were prepared to make an
unprecedented fight for their client’s life.

And he needed all their ability. As
witness after witness for the prosecution
followed each other on the stand, the
bulwarks of the defense seemed shattered
beyond repair.

There were J. C. Palmer, who had seen
the broker leave his home on the morn-
ing of the murder; Mrs. Facchini, who had
met him on the road to Washington with
the incriminating scratches on his face;
and Mrs. Janet Deering, whose house he
had left in the early hours of Wednesday
to visit his home, slug his wife into un-
consciousness, and leave her dying in an
extemporized gas chamber, after he had
opened all the jets on the range.

One after another they blasted his care-
fully planned alibi; one after another they
revealed what a scheming, cold-blooded,
murderous wretch the supposedly honest
broker actually was.

His two sons took the stand against their
father and crumbled whatever remained
of the ramparts of defense. But against it
all Abdell stood firm and confident. From
time to time nervous tremors shook him,
but he appeared to get a quick grip on
himself, and smiled back at his accusers.

The prosecution received a blow, how-
ever, when the broker’s attorneys placed
a surprise witness on the stand in the per-
son of W. N. Miller, a paper-hanger. He
testified that shortly after ten o’clock on
the morning of the murder he had called
at the Abdell home to collect $15 owed
to him; that he had seen and talked with
Mrs. Abdell at that time.

If Miller was not mistaken as to the
time his evidence was a strong card for
the defense; because it was the prosecu-
tion’s charge, backed up by the Coroner’s
findings, that Mrs. Abdell had died short-
ly after nine o’clock. Also, Abdell’s alibi
as to his whereabouts from ten o’clock
that morning was almost indisputable.

In support of Miller’s statement, De-
fense Attorney W. H. Venable placed be-
fore the Court an ingenious attempt to
prove, by gas consumed at the Abdell
home, that Mrs. Abdell could not have
died at the time the prosecution claimed.

He had obtained from the Virginia Elec-
tric and Power Company records showing
ths consumption of gss in the Abdell

+

( hap ; fay * Tt was his

contention that the whole case of the
prosecution hinged on the time element,
and waving these records before the jury,
he said he would prove that they made
the woman’s death at nine o’clock im-
possible.

“You have heard power company tech-
nicians testify,” he declared “that the
six burners, wide open, consumed gas at
the rate of two cubic feet a minute, or
120 cubic feet an hour. Now, from June,
1937, through May 11th, 1938, the Abdell
stove consumed a total of 20,000 cubic feet
of gas, an average of 60 cubic feet each
day during the 335-day period.

“From April 15th, when the meter was
last given a routine reading to May 10th,
1.507 cubic feet had been used. On May
11th when the stove jets were shut off by
Sergeant Shannon at four-thirty o’clock,
the meter registered an even 2.000 cubic
feet. This indicates that 492 cubic feet
of gas were used on May 11th. Therefore,
with the six burners consuming gas at
the rate of 120 cubic feet an hour, it would
require slightly more than four hours
for that 492 cubic feet of gas to be con-
sumed. We know the burners were open
at four-thirty o’clock, therefore they must
have been opened at twelve-thirty that
day ! This evidence, gentlemen, is con-
vincing. It’s nailed down, unshakeable!”
_ The theory lost none of its brilliance
in being later disputed by the prosecution,
and it was listened to with rapt attention
by the Court. .

With the resourcefulness of a cornered
rat and a cunning that was typical of the
man, Abdell conceded his presence in
Norfolk on the day of the murder when
he took the stand in his own defense.
Methodically and with amazing poise, he
explained away each incriminating link
in the chain that bound him to the atro-
cious crime,

According to his story, he went to
Washington on Monday to see a man
about leasing some electrical phonographs,
which he expected to be able to place.
He found the man was not in his office,
but waited in Washington until about
eleven o’clock Tuesday night. Then he
suddenly recalled that he did not have
a small machine he wished to demonstrate
to another prospective customer. He de-
cided to return to Norfolk and pick this
up.

ONTINUING his story, he said he ar-

4 rived there at two o’clock Wednesday
morning. He went immediately to the
home of Mrs. Deering. He talked with her
for a few minutes and then retired to his
room. He arose at eight-fifteen Wednes-
day morning; put the vending machine
he wanted in his car, and drove to his
home on Lafayette Boulevard,

As soon as he entered the house, he
stated, his wife started an argument, and
a fight followed. She threatened to kill
him, he said, with a knife. Seizing his hat
and coat, he ran outside; jumped into his
car and drove to Washington.

Abdell admitted meeting Mrs. Facchini,
and asking her not to say anything about
seeing him, but explained this by his fear
of arousing jealousy.

He also admitted writing the “suicide
notes,” contending that his wife and he had
composed them together in a spirit ‘of
fun; he inserting little barbs to prod her
feelings.

It was a carefully built up explanation
that took care of everythimg the prosecu-
tion contended: and it showed the stamp
of mind: that had carefully planned an
atrocious crime, and almost got away with
it.

But its “cleverness” apparently had little
effect on the jurv. The twelve men who

dos Miller's

?

April, 1939

statement that he had scen and_ talked
with Mrs. Abdell at ten o'clock Wednes-
day morning; passed. over the ingemous
deduction from the consumption of gas
in the Abdell home, and evidently ignored
the suave broker’s explanation of his ac-
tivities from the eventful Sunday night
to Wednesday morning. After being out
an hour and forty minutes it found J.
Clifton Abdell guilty of the murder of his
wife, and doomed him to death in the
electric chair.

On November 10th, 1988, Abdell’s at-
torneys argued an appeal before the Vir-
ginia Supreme Court of Appeals, alleging
that numerous reversible errors were com-
mitted in the trial. As this is written,
the Court’s decision is awaited.

(In consideration for the person concerned,
the actuai name of one of the characters in
the foregoing story has been withheld, and a

fictitious one substituted, nar g Mrs. Janet
Deering.—Ed. Ete USS! GD

Clue of the Broken
Gun

(Continued from page 21)

against Hall and O’Brien.

“About six or seven weeks ago I met
John Hall and Tommy Young at the
Anderson dance hall, 508% South Main
Street. I saw them several times reading
South Bend papers at the dance hall. Once
J heard Johnnie remark that he ‘had to
give it to him. It was after they had
finished reading a newspaper.

“The gun. found by Elkhart police had
been in my room since May 7th. Tommy
came up to my place that morning. He
was wearing a light suit coat. He took
the coat off and left it there. When he
went to town, I picked the coat up to hang
it in the closet, and I noticed something
heavy in the pocket. I took out the gun

and stuck it under some clothes. It was
loaded.
“Johnnie and Tommy always had

plenty of money and never worked.

“T heard Tommy tell ‘Red’ at a dance,
‘Here is the gun he snapped, and it didn’t
go off’? He had the gun that was found
in my room in his hand at the time .. .”

A check of the fingerprints of the two
men brought word from the FBI, at Wash-
ington, that Hall, whose real name was
John Grzyb, and whose age was twenty-
one, had served twenty-seven months in
the Utah State Prison for burglary, get-
ting out in January, 1926, a few months
before he appeared in Elkhart.

Thomas O’Brien, alias Thomas Young,
Fox and Morgan, and whose real name
was Thomas [Felix Mallahan, had served
time in the Nevada State Prison, from
November, 1922, to April. 1924, for grand
larceny; and had served time in the Utah
State Prison, at Salt Lake City, from
October, 1924, to November, 1925, for sec-
ond-degree burglary. He was twenty-five
years of age, and had originally hailed
from a town near Boston, Massachusetts.

Becoming acquainted while in the Utah
prison, the two had met upon release and
taken up a career of crime together, end-
ing in the Elkhart jail accused of murder.
The fact that “Crime does not pay” must,
by this time, have penetrated the minds
of these human rats.

Arraigned at South Bend on June Ist,
the case was venued to Elkhart County,
where our Prosecutor, Glen R. Sawyer,
was called upon to assist. Prosecutor Harry
S. Taylor, of St. Joseph County (South
Bend), try the two men in the Superior
Court at Elkhart, on September 27th,
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22

about it is that before Sergeant Shan-
non turned off the gas, he took that
blanket down from where it was ex-
tended like a tent to the burners

where the hem had been tucked under

the detachable grates.”

HE coroner demonstrated how the
blanket had been found, continuing
to speak as he did so.

“Now, you'll see that with Mrs.
Abdell in the position in which she
was found, it would have been utterly
impossible for her, swathed in_ the
other blanket as she was, to have
reached up to tuck the end of this
pratt blanket under the grates of the
stove.” ;

As the coroner finished speaking,
Nowitzky entered the room, In a few
brief sentences he repeated the story
of the discovery of the tragedy as he’d
just heard it from the older Abdell

oy.

“Seems your youngest son returned
from school at a few minutes after
twelve,” Nowitzky related. “Found

the house locked up tight and went.

across the street to see if, his mother
was visiting her friend, Mrs. Lola
Dorman.

“When he found: that his mother
was not there, the lad returned, ac-

companied by Mrs. Dorman. It was-

she who caught a whiff of the gas
that leaked from the window. casing

as they attempted to peer through the

SCENE OF BIZARRE SLAYING—

YS

curtains of the living room windows.

“It was then,” Nowitzky went on,
“that Sergeant Shannon was called.’

The officer piled boxes beneath a
kitchen: window, cli up and
found it nailed down from the inside.
Inthe. meantime, the older boy had
returned from school and, at his bid-
ding, the police sergeant broke ‘the
window. A blast of gas struck him in
the face.

A few minutes later the officer was
able to enter the room. There he
found Mrs. Abdell, apparently a sui-
cide. Radio. '

hour an inhalator crew worked in
vain. It had been while they were
working that Shannon started putting
two and two. together, came to- the
conclusion that foul play had occurred,
and put through: his call. for the vet-
eran homicide investigator. .
Meanwhile Bobby Abdell told the
authorities that two days before ‘his
father had gone to Washington, D. C.,
on business. Before leaving, the father
had told his’son he’d be away on busi-
ness for about''a week, but that if
there should be ‘occasion to get in

- touch with him,<he’d be at the Hotel
Harrington. The lad could telephone

him collect. .

Mrs. Abdell and her older son were |

not at home at the time. The trip had

been decided upon suddenly, after the

husband received a call from:a busi-
Ht: PRS Se CR

*

Neighbors saw a nervous and excited man leave
the Abdel! home on the morning of the murder.

lice. responded to an’
emergency call, and for more’‘than an’

ness associate in the national capital.
“Then,: you were expecting that
something like this. might happen?”
suggested Detective owitzky on
learning of the instructions left with
the younger son.
“Good God, no. It was only that I’d

_ been called away suddenly and didn’t

have an opportunity to see Mrs. Ab-
dell, who was in town eeppine. Why,
Audrey never had a day of illness in
her life. She was apparently in the
best of spirits oti a few hours before .
I left. I’m sure she could never have

-entertained any idea of taking her
,own life.”

“That’s right, daddy,” the older boy
interrupted. “At least up until the
day you left. But something happened
right after that. Mother came back
from town, went straight to her bed-
room and stayed there all afternoon.”

“Tell us everything you remember
that occurred that day,” interjected
the investigator, turning once more
to the youth whom he’d been question-
ing before the husband’s arrival. “Try

- and remember son, every word your

mother spoke.” ‘
_.“Well, she didn’t say hardly any-

ing. Bobby and I went up and asked
her-if there was anything we could
do, and all she said was that she had a
headache, and we’d have to get our
own supper. Later I asked her if we .
should call daddy. but she said that
wouldn’t be necessary.”
5 ny \ ee lux

°

“You w
her at th:
gator.

“No, we
door. She
funny bec
to lock a
time she’:
having he

The yo

“Yes, it
of someth
of her ro
But when
ing and w
that that
when I kr
that some
bad. If ¢s
have wan

HANNC
found
with tl

and back
cured in
kitchen t}
tight. The
a struggle
and Mrs.
fully clot!
Along
sergeant <
through t)
the end o

orted th:

urglary.
than a hvu
found in }

“Did M

enemies ;
asked the

“None ~

there wa:
past that
her,” rep]

Asked a

might hav
her life, t!
his decla

MRS. AUD
The clever
making her


ited man leave
of the murder,

tional capital.
<pecting that
sht happen?”
Yowitzky on
ions left with

; only that I’d
uly and didn’t
see Mrs. Ab-
vopping. Why,
f illness in
rently in the

hours before .

d never have
f taking her

the older boy
up until the
ing happened
rT came back
t to her bed-
ll afternoon.”
ou remember
” interjected
g once more
een question-
arrival. “Try
‘y word your

hardly any-
up and asked
ing we could
hat she had a
re to get our

ced her if we.

she said that

.“You went into the room and saw brunette had ‘been a-perfect wife and “I'm going away on a long trip and
her-at that time?” asked the investi- mother and had “never even looked not “pn | ack. I want you both to
gator. Berd \ at-other men.” » ; fa love and obey your Daddy, for I real-

“No, we talked with her through the Sergeant. Shannon, who had been ize that even‘ with his mistakes he
door. She’d locked it. And that was at his home all morning that da , Sit-. -has been far better than the average
funny because I never knew mother ting on his front porch, ‘co: ed father. I also realize more than ever
to lock a door before. It was the first Abdell’s statements and added that these fag few weeks that I have not
time she’d ever said anything about he had had the house in view most of — been

~*~

e kind of wife I should be. You

having headaches.” the morning and seen no one ap- boys do not understand now, but with

The younger boy then spoke up: proach it. x ‘God willing, I hope some day you will.

“Yes, it was like mamma was scared “Saw the boys leave for school about “So now, before leaving, may I again
of something. She wouldn’t come out 8:30,” he stated: “Jimmie says he was | say, be good, be kind, b

e true and
of her room and wouldn’t let us in. raling ‘with his mother over their mind your Daddy, and I am ‘sure he

But when I told her about daddy leav- breakfast in the kitchen just before will always stick by you. Lovingly,
ing and where he’d gone, she just said that. She still seemed somewhat ner- Mum.”

that that was ‘just as well.’ Then’s vous, but she told the boy she believed The second sheet, in the same hand-
when I knew that she was frightened, her headache was cured. She planned writing, was unaddressed and un-
that something must be bothering her to go shopping again before noon, but _ signed.
bad. If she’d just been sick, she’d I’m positive she never left the house t read:

have wanted one of us to help her.” at least by means of the front door.” “I am going away, but before I go

: It was evening when Nowitzky de- I wish you all the luck and happiness
HANNON then reported that he had spake from the house on Lafayette in the world. I know you have done
S found all doors in the house locked oulevard. The body of the dead many things you should not have ?
with the keys on the inside of front woman had already been taken to the done.
and back doors. Windows’ were se- Norfolk mortuary, and Coroner Mc- “But I let m
cured in every room, and in the Donald, who had left sometime since, get the be
kitchen the windows had been nailed _ said he’d have an autopsy report be- there is little or no happiness for us
tight. There had been no evidence of fore et iy ape oe because of my shortcomings.
a struggle in any part of the house, ‘Nowitzky had barely reached police ‘I beg you to forgive me for causing
and Mrs. Abdell, when found, was headquarters where he planned, as a you.so much wor , SO many heart-
fully clothed.. ; matter. of routine, to check on the aches by talking about you to every-
Along with Nowitzky, the police stories of all witnesses when he re- one, by pulling always against you,
sergeant and Abdell started a canvass ceived a call from Abdell asking him and by making the children work
through the house, room by room. At to return to the house. against you, and by letting my mean-
the end of an hour the husband re- “Something’s come up—something.I ness ruin bigs and everything you
) sere: that there was no evidence of don’t think ‘d better mention over worked an

strived for. I am leav-

urglary. His wife’s jewels and more the phone,” the stricken husband said ing the children in your care, for I

than a hundred dollars in cash were ravely. “But it may be a clue. You’d .know you’ll take good care of them.

found in her second floor bedroom. etter get back out here as soon as a od bless you.”
“Did Mrs. Abdell ever make any possible.” . Now

jealousy and madness
st of me, and now I realize

: ; itzky finished reading the notes
enemies around the neighborhood?” ‘It was aftér. dark when the investi- and looked up without speaking to
asked the investigator. por returned. He was met at the the big man before him.

“None that I ever heard of. And ront door by Abdell, who held two In the eyes of Abdell was a com-

there was certainly hana in her sheets of note paper in his hand. With- _ plete lack of expression. After a long
ast that could have been troubling out a word he turned these over to minute the man lowered his glance |
her,” replied the manufacturer. Nowitzky as the two went into the and spoke: |
Asked as to the porno d thatthere living room. } “They’re absolutely unaccountable,” |
might have been some other man in ‘ The first letter, addressed in a qua- . he said slowly. “When I left the other |
her life, the husband was emphatic in vering hand to “Me Dear Jimmie and_ day I could Swear there wasn’t a thing

his declaration that the attractive Bobbie,” was as follows: on her mind. (Continued on page 62)

ee! 4

ite ei Od

MRS. AUDREY ABDELL— VICTIM'S HUSBAND— © ACE SLEUTH—
The clever killer almost succeeded in J, Clifton Abdell told the police that Investigator Nowitzky found important
making her -murder look like a suicide. his wife had never made any enemies. clues in the victim’s farewell letter.

Bt

rer 2 eS Lisa 23

a ies < 8
mig TOES SOR eae ‘ Ee OS MR RN Lo) ORION


62

door, the men standing ranged along
the wall of the house.

There was a slight pause before
Minnie’s voice asked again: “Who is
it, and what do you want?”

“Ellsworth and I want that cup of
coffee,” Casey said.

“No... go away. I’m busy.”

“Minnie, open that door or we'll:

bust it down.” Ellsworth’s voice was -h

commanding. He waited. There was
no sound from within. “O.K., boys,”
he said, “give it the works.”

With a rush, four men threw them-
selves against the door, beating it in
with their gun stocks. Others, sta-
tioned at the windows, shattered the
glass. In two seconds the officers had
forced an entrance. They found
Minnie trembling beside the kitchen
stove, while in a corner a dark: man
with a scar across his face and a black
moustache, held a revolver in’ a
steady hand.

“One step and I’ll shoot!” he threat-
ened. His voice was hoarse and
murky.

With men coming through windows
and doors, it seemed impossible that
one man could defy them all. The

-gunman’s black eyes were like those

of a hunted animal. pis
“He'll » shoot!” Minnie ~Herbold

warned. “Please go, I beg you.”

Suddenly a shot rang out. a flash,
the gun that the man so confidently
held was knocked right out of his
hand, With a swift movement Ells-
worth stepped forward and manacled

im. :
Once handcuffed, the man suddenly
lost his bravado. He became hysteri-
cal, fighting, biting and kicking. With
a well-aimed blow, a:deputy. knocked
him over the head with the butt of
his gun, and he was°earried uncon-
scious out to one of the’cars lined up
at the road. ‘es

Later, back at Kemmerer head-
quarters, Ellsworth discovered that

the slug which had been removed.

from Wallace’s head «matched the

shells remaining in the small .32 Don.

Wilde had. when apprehended. Then
Lewis and. Mason.-were .ushered . in.
“That's. him, all right,” they shouted

unison. ° :

Searched, the suspect was found to
be aig | a wallet identifying him
as Don Wilde, age 29, of Hammond,

Indiana, ‘married, and an_ aircraft
worker. Almost $500 in bills were
found:in a case in his back trouser
pocket.

Still protesting his innocence, Wilde
was charged on November 16, 1945,
with first degree murder for the kill-
ing of his benefactor, Henry Edward
Wallace of Dexter, lowa, Henry Carter
having been cleared of any connection
with the murder.

Mason and Lewis were held as ma-
terial witnesses but were later exon-
erated of any part in the crime. .

On. December 13, 1945, Wilde
changed his plea, with the approval of
his lawyers, from not guilty to guilty
of first degree murder. Judge H. R.
Christmas of Kemmerer promptly
sentenced him to life imprisonment.
He is now serving his sentence at
the state penitentiary at Rawlins,
Wyoming.

Eprror’s Note: The names Henry
Carter, Minnie Herbold, Ralph Mason
and Oscar Lewis are fictitious to pro-
tect the identity of innocent persons
her to spare them from embarrass-
ment,

HEADQUARTERS

DETECTIVE

And those references to misunder-
standings between us—I assume she
was referring to me—and .her sup-
posed shortcomings are completely be-
wildering. We never had occasion to
quarrel, and certainly she never
showed nor had reason to show
jealousy.”

N reply to Nowitzky’s questions, the
man related that he’d been going
through the papers in his wife’s
private desk in the hope of uncovering
some clue to the mystery behind her
death, when he’d run across ‘the two
notes.

“Audrey had her own stationery,
and if she’d written those letters
voluntarily, with some plan of leav-
ing them before going away or taking
her own life, I’m sure she’d have
used that stationery. It’s possible, of
course,” Abdell went on, “that these
were mere drafts of letters she in-
tended to write. -But the reason be-
hind them is certainly beyond me.”

Forced once again to take into con-
sideration the possibility of suicide—
suicide that might even have been
aided by a second party—the investi-
gator was still at a loss to account for
the fact that the notes had been left
buried among a pile of other papers
and letters on the slain woman’s writ-
ing desk. A new thought came into
his mind.

“Been out of the city a great deal
lately?” he asked softly. “Give Mrs.
Abdell any reason to imagine that she

was being neglected? Let the thing -

get working on her mind?”

“Well, with business as it is I’ve
been obliged to be away from home a
lot of the time,” admitted the husband.
“However, now that the boys are old
enough to take care of themselves,
I’ve always made it a point to ask her
to accompany me. But Audrey was

~ BEAUTY IN THE BLANKET

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

-

¢

a woman who lived for her home and
family. She couldn’t bear to leave
the children alone. That’s my prin-
cipal reason for believing that she’d
never have taken her own life.”
When he left, Nowitzky took the two

sheets of note paper with him. Then,

on his way back to, headquarters he
stopped at the mortuary to confer
with Coroner McDonald. There was
a grave expression on the face of the
coroner when he met the officer.

“T’ve just finished the post mortem,”
commenced McDonald, “and it looks
even worse than we’d suspected. I
want you to...” ;

But Nowitzky interrupted the other
man in mid-sentence. “Never mind
that now, Mac,” he’ said. “I’ve got
something that must be checked right
away. Is she in condition for me to
get a set of her fingerprints?”

Within fifteen minutes the investi-
gator had the desired fingerprints: and
was comparing them, under a power-
ful. magnifying-glass . with those
which he had brought out on the let-
ters found by the woman’s husband.
When he finished his examination he
turned to McDonald with a puzzled
expression in his eyes.

‘Well, I guess I was on the wrong
track,” Nowitzky said slowly. “Those
are her prints on both sheets of paper,
without a doubt. Left by the index
and second fingers, also by. the out-
side of the left thumb. Just as they
would have been had she torn the
sheets from a scratch pad and held
them while writing the notes.”

“That ‘all that’s on ’em?”. asked the
coroner. :

“No, there are others, larger ones.
But they must be Abdell’s. He found

them and naturally would have picked '

them up. while reading them,” replied
Nowituey! ee abate, at ise eae
-“Then;’ ‘you “thought » at .first | she

leis iit 1 ei ee bnteanbiegs hayes oae iy tet
beats x Cirsaadhhc, Aisa aah R RIEL ner

never even wrote those,” suggested
the coroner.
“Yes..I guess I did. But in a case
like this. we have to take every pos-
sibility ‘into mind. ITll know more
when I’ve had a chance to talk with
the woman’s friends and neighbors.
If there really was some reason why
she- wanted to get away—take her
own life—someone would surely have
gotten a hint of it.”
ing back toward the

turning
room in which the body of rage td
Abdell still lay on the marble sla
where he’d performed his examina-
tion, motioned the other to follow
him, saying that he had something
very important to show him.

“She certainly never did take her
own. life,” he-said succinctly. “Not a
doubt about that. Why, there’s hardly
a single portion of her body—at least
those parts covered by her. clothing—
that isn’t bruised or scratched. There
are definite indications of two blows
to the back of the neck that would
have been sufficient to bring about loss
of consciousness. Death was the direct
result of the gas all right. But it’s
my opinion that Audrey Abdell was
helpless and unconscious at the time
she breathed in those deadly fumes!”

As to the approximate time of death,
however, the coroner would venture
no guess. The fact that the blood
about the areas of her body which had
been cut and bruised was unclotted
could not be used to determine that
time, for, as McDonald pointed out,
that particular type gas frequently re-
tarded the clotting of blood for as
long as a week.

igor mortis usually sets in al-
most at once in: cases of gas poison-
ing,”. McDonald wenton. “So we can’t
use that as a basis of determining the
time she was placed.in that crouching
position, wrapped . securely in a

3 be IS

blanket and
blanket throv
fumes would

EFORE he

letters ove
ner McDo:

“Thing I ca:
mented, “is ti
ing ruined tt
was writing
letter.”

McDonald,
dell for man)
though there
it was to the !
he knew pers
excellent fin<

“There’s a
her mind bec:
observed the
ly fits in wit
meditated m
ranged to loo)
is the condit
Mrs. Abdell
beaten into
her assailant
fore he knoc)
put her k
opened stove

“Quite truc
selves are so
one could be
the circumst
known. Abd
peared to be
I’m quite su
vealed their
any truth be
dissension. |
simple enoug
get their ex)

On the day
of the traged:
turned to the
permission t
investigation
of the mor:
checked the
of the famil

Abdell, it
into the Was
hours after I
ings before t
had kept hi
driving abou
automobile, <
death had v
posted it in
staying. In
that he’d be
days.

Both boys
classes that
check with n
family trade
called at the

Now, going
more, Detec
for some clv
person he b
considerable
home betwe
boys left for

ingerprin
and tables,
with those «
members of
the presence
was no artic]
used in the a
had her slay
any doubt le
thorities tha’
victim of a
any other i
he must hav:
he left.

The one t
greatest puz7
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Case 1s detailed in the Virginia Argus ( a.muspsper) issue of Stet. 5, /800-

Abram abies Abraham was slive of Capt: John Patterson, hospeclor of Horsley 5
Warehouse in the Tout of Diuguids vite, Pachinghen County. Hs arly rowhine
consiskd of working at the warehouse with iS master. Bit he nurstd a grudge

on account of a reprimand and sie Qeerip~ on 8-/9-/800 while on the
way home from Work with his master, hacked hin 7o death with a hoe and
bashed his head to, jelly with a rock. He wes apprehended and confessed On
the Same dy. The Viiysme Argus article States that he had afready bees X-
ccuted in Buckingham Co. and his fread fixed atop a pole, 2 feet hifhy
near Horsley's warchouse. Hence the date of execution Falls some tive

between August 19 and S¢pt. 9, /§00.

Page 14B, Thursday, July 1, 1976, The Carroll News Bicentennial Edition, Hillsville, Virginia

Hillsville Co
Shocked World Bacl

sania sber-oilbariitiinisti ia

Stavo ALLEN

Wo Sige

Our thousse

(Editor’s Note: The Sollowing
article appeared in the Roanoke

Times November 19, 1961 and:

was written by Ben Beagle,
Times Staff Writer. The
information was submitted to
The Carroll News by Roy Davis
of Hillsville, to be included in
the Bicentennial Edition).

March #4, 1912, and the
weather is bad. The month in
Western Virginia’s Blue Ridge
country is spiteful, refusing to
let go and let spring come. It
makes the roads bad and the
day gloomy.

Circuit Judge Thornton L,
Massie will convene his court at
Hillsville early this morning, ae
hour before the usual time f

+ the formalities. He will conve

it early because there are
rumors of trouble in Hillsville,
rumors which spread like dark
streamers from Floyd Allen, the
mountain man who will be
found guilty this morning of
what his friends and relatives
conclude to be a minor offense.

But Floyd Allen, a proud‘and
well-to-do mountain man, will
get one year in jail.

Judge Massie convenes his
court early, hoping to get the
Allen case out of the way before
the crowds gather, but he may
as well have gone on with the 9
a.m. opening. When Floyd
Allen, a neat, handsome man
with a broad mustache, sits with
his attorney in the small railed
enclosure in front of the bench,
the courtroom will be full.

Last time for Judge Massie

For Judge Massie, it will be.
the last time he will run through
the practice, formalistic- and
very old procedures of the law.
Shortly after he prounces
sentence on Floyd Allen he will
be dead. .

The jury, which got the case
yesterday, files in from its
overnight stay at the hotel, and
comes out now with a guilty
verdict. Im the courtroom—
where they have been as
Spectators since the trial
Started--are several of the

prisoner’s  reialives--Sidna, |

Allen, the brother; Claude

The Allen:
and several o1
are shooting

Floyd Alle
heavily on h
lawyer begs fb.
version has .@
leaping over
making for t!
Says the atto:
from under tt.
best he could

Judge Mas
flying from t
coat, and
wounded.

Before the
Commonw
William M. F
after he has w
of the court
again before

Sheriff D

Sheriff W.
bullets as he
holstered ¢

forward. Ck
will be wou:
and will surv,

Augustus

and a 19 ye.
Nancy Ayer
They will bo:
48 hours.
Floyd Alle
of town, but .
horse or ric
Relatives not
courtroom sh.
courtroom sh
to the hoteh i
until the detec
tomorrow. W:
will try to cut
pen knife. _
That was .
with March w.
Blue Ridge c
dark. That wz
when thes. s
Hillsville cou
the world ar &
Allen and his
death in the e
It was not ~
bandits -sh
courthouse, It
case of ign.
flaunting the
belonged in n
It ‘would: n.

119 66 mama:

Wilkinson Mill Destroyed

By Fire As Hundreds Watck

a.

Wilkinson mill, perhaps the
_ Most picturesque landmark in
this vicinity, was destroyed last
night by fire of undetermined
origin—as hundreds watched.

Located on Koute 58 abouta
half mile from here, the mill had
served the people of this area
for almost a hundred years.

Four stories high with its:
twenty-five foot water wheel.

visible from the highway, it was
attractive to tourists and a
familiar sight to all in this
region.

Finished in 1860 (it is said to
have been under construction
for four years), it was built by
Thomas Crandall and Christian
Denton who did much
construction work here in the
early days. John Wilkinson,
John Watson and F. L. Hale
were the original owners. For
many years the mill and a large
boundary of surrounding land
has belonged to the descendants
of John Wilkinson, with R. E.
Wilkinson the present owner.

Water Powered

The mill, powered by water
diverted from Beaver Dam
Creek and fed onto the wheel by

Mountain burrs for making

_ corn meal. Modern rolling mill

equipment was added later. The
orginal wooden water wheel
was replaced by a metal one
some years ago. In almost
continual use since it was built,
it had been idle for about a year.
The last to operate it, Monroe
Hines, took a jod at the
Radford defense plant.

As the flames leap skyward
almost as high again as the mill
itself, the sturdy framework
outlined against the flames gave
final testimony to the
endurance of six to twelve inch
hand hewn timbers cut from

‘prime oak. With the entire
interior blazing for over an
hour and the wood shingle roof
giving way in the early stages of
the fire, many of the huge
upright timbers stood and
onlookers wondered if they
might not survive. ©

It was evident from the start
that the mill could not be saved,
but the Hillsville Volunteer Fire
Department kept the fire from
spreading to nearby woods,
saved a grain storehouse in
front of the mill and kept a
bridge across Beaver Dam from
burning.

2a

“Ag

“> -—— Allien, the son, and others of the = 7"

Allen and Edwards clans.
Judge Massie agrees to a

Judge Massie agrees to a
defense request that he study a
motion for a new trial, but he
says he can’t let Floyd Allen go
free on bond while he is doing it.
He tells Sheriff Lewis Webb to
take charge of the prisoner.

“Gentlemen,” says Floyd pone,
Allen, “I just ain’t a-goin’!” d eke a
Then, incredibly, perhaps —

uniquely in the history of
American jurisprudence, guns
began to rattle in the circuit
courtroom at Hillsville. A
witness later will say that it
“sounded like the snapping ofa
mountain laurel.”

Sidna Allen, in his memoirs,
describes an inferno-like scene
in which thick smoke added to
the gloom in the small
courtroom, with the flashes
from the guns slicing through
the smoke and March gloom
“as lightning illuminates cloud
banks at night.”

SIDNA ALLEN MASTERPIECE - 75,000 PIE

~~ half a center:

stated that
Milisville.
It has no

still find peor
about March
those who s
and Edward:
politics a
politicians,

The ridi
incident whi
death in
courtroom h
spring of 191%

Nephews i

Two of
nephews had
fight with se-#
a church ser
Gap section d
The nephe\
Sidna Edwai
with disturbi.f

Two depu
bring them i:
did—althougt
to claim tl

x

J. Sidna Allen Masterpiece - This table contain fy
inlaid wood of every variety in the world. J.Sic
over 3,000 hours making this table.

the old-time mill race, was
equipped with French burrs for
grinding flour and Brushy


2 following
1e Roanoke
9, 1961 and
jen Beagle,
riter. The
ubmitted to
y Roy Davis
included in
tition).

2, and the
he month in
Blue Ridge
. refusing to
ng come. It
sad and the

hornton L.
2 hiscourtat
moming, an
ual time for
will convene
there are
in Hillsville,
ad like dark
vd Allen, the
ho will be
morning of
nd relatives
nor offense.
a proud and
n man, will

onvenes his
~ to get the
~ way before
but he may
n with the9
‘hen Floyd
-dsome man
che, sits with
small railed
f the bench,
be full.
sagige Massie
bie, it will be
run through
aalistic and
s of the law.
prounces
Allen he will

1 from its
e hotel, and
ith a guilty
courtroom—
e been as
the trial
cal of the
ves~Sidna
er; Claude

«

zot the case

The Allens, the Edwardses
and several officers of the court
are shooting wildly.

Floyd Allen is hit and falls
heavily on his attorney. The
lawyer begs him to get up. One
version has Floyd obliging by
leaping over the railing and
making for the door. Another
says the attorney squirmed out
from under the injured Floyd as
best he could.

- Judge Massie is hit, the lint
flying from the padding of his
coat, and he falls fatally —
wounded.

Before the shooting is done,
Commonwealth’s Atty.
William M. Foster will be dead,
after he has walked the distance
of the courtroom and back
again before finally falling.

Sheriff Dies Reaching

Sheriff Webb dies in the
bullets as he reaches for his
holstered gun and moves
forward. Clerk Dexter Goad
will be wounded superficially
and will survive.

Augustus Fowler, a juror,
and a 19 year old spectator,
Nancy Ayers, are wounded.
They will both be dead within
48 hours.

Floyd Allen tries to ride out
of town, but he cannot sit ona
horse or ride in a wagon.
Relatives not involved in, the
courtroom shooting carry himn

‘courtroom shooring carry him
to the hotel. He will stay there
until the detectives come for his
tomorrow. When they come, he
will try to cut his throat with a
pen knife.

«- That was March 14, 1912,
with March weather making the
Blue Ridge country bitter and
dark. That was March 14, 1912,
when the shooting at the
Hillsville courthouse shocked
the world and marked Floyd
Allen and his son, Claude, for
death in the electric chair.

It’ was not a simple case of -
bandits shooting up a
courthouse. It was not a simple
case of ignorant hillbillies
‘flaunting the law. The Allens
belonged in neither category

It would not easily die>*the:
wat mamnnd PRESET wihton’

ouse Shooting

iBack In May 1912 ©

arrested them in North
Carolina without the benefit of
extradition pape

redo para.

Floyd Allen tries to ride out
of town, but he cannot sit ona
horse or ride in a wagon.
Relatives not involved in the
courtroom shooting carry him
to the hotel. He will stay there
until the detectives come for
him tomorrow. When they
come, he will try to cut his
throat with a pen knife.

At any rate, the deputies

started for Hillsville and either
unfortunately or deliberately
they took the road through
Fancy Gap which would take
them by Floyd’s home and
Sidna’s store.
+ Floyd’s backers have claimed
the deputies had the boys
trussed up like hogs and lying in
the back of a wagon. Floyd
protested the treatment of the
boys, they said, and one of the
deputies drew a gun. Floyd
broke it against #rock and the
deputies went back to town
alone. Floyd is said to have
brought the boys into Hillsville
himself.

But Floyd was charged with
helping his nephews escape the
law and he was indicted for it.

That was the charge--
ignoring the controversies and
-innuendoes that have grown
about it—and because of it

Floyd Allen found himself _

facing the jury that morning.

There bad been rumors—and
some even claimed that Floyd
himself said it—that Floyd Allen
would never go to jail.

After the guns had stopped
snapping and after -Floyd
himself lay in the hotel bed,
Tailroad detectives from
Roanoke’s Baldwin-Felts
Agency reached Hillsville and
the governor appointed a
temporary staff of court officers
for Carroll County..  -. =

Possee searched hills
A possee began riding the

“spring trails of the Blue Ridge in
search of the other wanted men..:
_ The detectives: rode the ridges

te tah anwared ellen and

2

Petitions signed by thou-
sands of Virginia citizens
poured into Gov. William H.
Mann’s office, asking a
commutation to life imiprison-
ment for Claude. Lawyers tried
to get the case reviewed and
Byrd himself, at that time
Speaker of the House, asked the
governor to commute Claude’s

‘ sentence.

Finally on March 28, 1913, a
year and two weeks after the
guns had rattled at Hillsville,
Floyd, 56, and his son, 23 went
to their deaths in the electric
chair. ;

They would be brought back
to the beautiful Blue Ridge
country and buried. Claude
would get a posthumous medal
from his relatives and admirers
for his bravery in defending his
father and on their gravestone
an inscription would charge
that they had been “judiciously
Casbah gx, te ts hae oe

ba Ast ree Spdiatin ar ‘emg?

Laurel Fork Fire =
Department History :

In the latter part of 1965 three
of our local citizens, Elmon
:“Stinley, -Haywood.. Bowman

“and Inmex Fo Tiirnér. became *

&
<%
murdered by the governor of
Virginia.”
Both of them, in last ~

statements, denied a conspiracy
to shoot up the courthouse.
Floyd charged that prosecutors
trying him on the original
charge of helping his ba so |
escape had twisted the facts.

Claude, in an eloquent
statement in which he forgave’
everybody, said he was only +
shooting to protect his-father.

It has been almost a century
and legend has had its time to 4)
clothe the tragedy at Hillsville
in the softer, more colorful’is
tones which legend likes. Andi‘!
legends grow well in the Blue 13
Ridge country where March is)H
sometimes dark and bitter. oi
- But memories, still bitter and O!
dark, stay and will not
disappear down the green, 15
twisted trails that the Allens.‘i!
used to ride. - Thi
ay
od

{si

men. The total of all classes inw
1966 was 105. After. ten years>
the present roster consists of 27

active firemen, 8 junior foremen,;


thers of the ~~

clans.
‘Trees to a
crees to a
he study a
“ial, but he
vd Allen go
2 isdoing it.
is Webb to
orisoner.
ays Floyd
.-goin’!”

“, perhaps
history of
‘ence, guns
the circuit
lIsville. A
say that it
lapping of a

is memoirs,
o-like scene
ke added to
the small
the flashes
ng through
arch gloom
nates cloud

MOS apew ssawe 7, Anes oie Same

planted that drah March day in
Hillsville

It has not died yet, almost
half acentury later, and youcan
still find people reluctant to talk
about March 14, 1912. Still find
those who say that the Allens
and Edwardses were victims of
politics and high-handed
politicians. Others say they
were hard-riding, hard-
drinking mountain men who
made their own laws.

The ridiculously small
incident which led to the day of
death in the Hillsville
courtroom had occurred in the

‘spring of 1911.

Nephews involved in fight

Two of Floyd Allen’s
nephews had been involved ina
fight with several other boys at
a church service in the Fancy
Gap section of Carroll County.
The nephews, Wesley and
Sidna Edwards, were charged
with disturbing public worship.

Two deputies were sent to
bring them in and they almost
did—although the Allens were
to claim that the deputies

x

FEE SUB pu wesw FALILR sims

. before long all but: two ofthe

wanted men—Sidna Allen and

Wesley Edwards--were in.

custody.

~ On May 17," 1912, Floyd
Allen was given the death
penalty after a trial in

“Wytheville. Allen would always

deny there was ever a
conspiracy to shoot up the
courtroom.

His son, Claude, was given
the same sentence on June 27.
Claude, a handsome 23. and
with a sweetheart, would
always say he started shooting
on the “spur of the moment”
when’ he saw his father
endangered.

The image of young Claude,
drawing in defense of his father,
inspired a mountain ballard,
“Claude Allen.”

Friel Allen and Sidney
Edwards were found guilty of
second degree murder later in
the summer. Allen got 18 years
and Edwards 15.

Sidna Allen and Wesley
Edwards weren't to be found in
the Blue Ridge, however, and it
wasn’t until mid’September
wasn't until mid-September
that the detectives caught them.

And then into a case already
fraught with melodrama, high
adventure and tragedy came
Miss: Maude Iroler, who added
the woman’s touch. Maude was
a Carroll County girl and she
was Wesley Edwards’ swect-
heart.

Although Sidna would claim
in his memoirs that Maude
betrayed him and Wesley for
the reward, she would say she
had followed her heart to Des
Moines, Iowa and that the
detectives followed her.

Maude arrived im~<Des

.. Moines on September 14—the

detectives following, they said,
on a tip from her father—and on
the day he was to have been
married Wesley Edwards was
arrested, along with Sidna
Allen.
. Sidna, who had been making
a living by carpentry in the
West, was given 35 years and
Edwards was given 27. They
would be pardoned in the mid-
Twenties by Gov. Harry F.
Byrd.
No pardon for Fioyd
But there would be no

’ pardons for Floyd and his son.

Their’ executions would be

‘d@elayed--at first from

November 22, 1912 to

MASTERPIECE - 75,000 PIECES OF woop December 13.

isterpiece - - This table contains 75,000 pieces of

‘ry variety in the world. J.Sidna AHen worked
naking this table. 7

Three more times they waited

in the death row to be saved --

temporarily by stays of
_ yxecution. _ .. .

mene een mee

. concerned because our
community was so unprotected
from fire. They got the idea if
enough people were interested a
successful fire department
could be organized and
operated. With this idea in
mind, permission was obtained
from the principals of
Gladesboro Elementary, Laurel
Fork Junior High and
Meadows of Dan High Schools
to run a survey to see if the
people felt there was a need for
a fire department. All three
areas reported favorable. Later,
the Meadows. of Dan. area
decided to have their own
department and not go along
with Gladesboro and Laurel
Fork communities.

With the favorable results of
these surveys as 9 starting point,
meetings were held at Laurel
Fork and Gladesboro schools
to discuss the proposed fire
department. A combined
meeting followed at Laurel
Fork school on January 24,
1966 and the group elected
Elmo McAlexander as chief,
Elmon Stanley as assistant chief
and Robert. P. Jackson,
secretary-treasurer. This was

“the start of the third fire .

department in Carroll County
but without county support. On
February 14, 1966 the Ladies
Auxiliary was organized with
Eunafaye McAlexander as
President.

The fire department

consisted of three classes of
members: active firemen, junior
firemen and organizational

Ellery Wrote Epigrams

| About Declaration Signers

William Ellery, a witty
man from ‘Rhode Island,
wrote epigrams about his
fellow delegates while they
spoke in Congress. While the
Declaration of Independence
“was being signed, he picked a
place where he could witness
each signer as they penned
their name. ‘‘I was
determined to see how they
all looked as they signed what
might be their death
‘warrants. ~- Undaunted
“resolution was displayed on

. every countenance.” He made

lots of friends with his kindly
manner and quick wit and
found fun in almost every
:subject, Rhode ‘sland patriots
became impat-nt with the
failure of tue first

- enough income to live quietly

and 5 organizational men, with —
Elmon Stanley, Fire Chief and,
Larry Sykes organization;
President. Mrs. Rogene Nester, .
is president of the Ladies,
Auxiliary at the present time,,.,
Both groups meet on the first, -
Monday night in each month. .,:
Flavous M. Marshall,
donated % acre of land in April,
1966 and the members set forth:..
with much effort and labor to §
raise the $16,500 to build a
building 38’ x 60’ to house the %
fire equipment in the basement 4
and have acommunity center of .-
the ground level. The first fire :
truck was purchased in’
February, 1967 for $2900. Ans
additional % acre of land was"
purchased from Ronni §
Jackson in August, 1970. After”;
many fund raising suppers, ?
dances, canvassing and other &
activities the department &
became debt free May, 1971. :
In order to receive enough 4
funds to keep the department in pa
operation, the title to the land,
building and equipment was
transferred to the county in-~z
August, 1972. A new pumper sg
truck was purchased for these
department by the county in.
September, 1972. The-¥
department has 6 pieces of ¥
equipment in operation at this?
time. ak
The communities surround-°;
ing the Laurel Fork District.
Volunteer Fire Department are *
proud of their firemen and the<
work they put forth to make our €
community a better and safer.
place to live.

8¢

‘ v hiss as me
se PED NP RRL SS PAOLO LS

.

Continental Congress to vote*>'
for independence. So the’
legislature declared itself>x
completely free of British*
rule in May of 1776. Ellery>®
ardently believed that no"s
sacrifice was too great to}
make for freedom. During the”
war, Ellery saw most of his §
property destroyed as aéy
Teprisal for his patriotic:§
activities. After retiring eet 3
Congress, he declined
offers of government Biss
and instead chose to be a

customs collector int
Newport. He needed only §

and enjoy reading. He died

peacefully at age 92 whils
reading Cicero in bed. 2


Payne and others of his agency arrived in
soon after dark on the fifteenth, through
sleet, and the universal mud.

By that time the search had been organized,
out the next day.

Hilisvillie
snow, rain,

ready to fan

AOS
CHAPTER 15

FLOYD ATTEMPTS TO TAKE HIS LIFE

Eariy on the morning after the shooting Floyd was taken
to the Hillsville jail after an officer had kicked in the
door of the hotel room where he lay. Stretched out on a
cot, he was covered by a blanket and carried to a light
wagon. Someone noticed a movement near his neck under the
covering. Pulling it back they found Floyd was attempting
to cut his throat with the broken blade of a rusty
pocketknife. In the jail, his wounds were dressed and his
broken leg set. Victor was arrested with his father, as
was Byrd Marion, both of whom had been with Floyd since he
was put to bed in the Elliott House.

Two days later they were all put in hacks and surreys,

driven to the railroad station at Blair (Cliffview,
nowadays), where s special train picked them up at four
oO’ clock in the afternoon. Floyd, too ill to sit up, was

laid on the floor in the baggage room and there with the
other prisoners and two attorneys, went to Roanoke. They
were lodged in jail there, Floyd’s broken leg getting
caught in the banisters as he was carried up the steep
stairway to his cell, on a stretcher.

"How’s your father?" one of the newsmen in the crowd of
onlookers asked Victor.

"“He’s pretty peart.” was the son’s reply, although he
knew Floyd was suffering.

In Hilisville, there had been three funerals and only
that day, Juror Fowler had died of his wounds. Judge
Massie*’s remains had been taken tao Pulaski and from there
to Lynchburg, where he was buried.

All around was the half-spoken dread that the "Allens
would return and kill Goad."

36 MURDER INDICTMENTS

& special grand jury was called for Saturday, the
Sixteenth and 36 indictments for murder were made, four
each for Floyd, Sidna, Claude, Victor and Friel Allen, for
the Byrd Marion and John F. Moore. At that time Juror
Fowler had not died.

Doctor Nuckolis, the physician-corner, had given the
bodies a perfunctory examination but later he was not able
to tell what sort of bullets had killed the victims, nor
had he determined the angle of entrance of the fatal shots.

Ten days later, after accumulating other evidence and


after the death of Fowler, the cases were dismissed when
said they were not to be prosecuted, and other charges made
instead. Five murders were charged in the cases of all the
former Allens, Edwardses, and Byrd Marion with the addition
of "conspiracy." John F. Moore’s name was omitted from the
list. A total of 48 cases were made.

There was little sympathy, if any, at that time for
Allens. The hometown editor wrote, "Floyd Allen is now
where he said he never would go- in jail- and his pride has
suffered an injury that he has long fought to prevent. He
was wiling to pay a money price for his devilment but to be
jailed as a common prisoner was a wound his peculiar pride
abhorred ---. This is the one thing he fought against for
years and confinement as a criminal was an insult to which
he boasted that he would never submit.”

Suddenly, the Allens were not the persons of property
they had been nor friends to lead and boast about. A few
days after the shooting, five suits, for $10,000 each, were
filed by families of the victims against the Allens, under
the provision of the Virginia law. Thus all property of
the prisoners and the fugitives was under jurisdiction of
the court and lawyers for the defense had to be named by
the Commonwealth.

Mrs. Sidna Allen rode into town one day in an ald
barouche to plead that the store be exempted and a little
latter she posted bond for use of land, horses, and tools
so she could plant a crop. The families of Victor and
Floyd were said to be in almost a destitute condition
because of the pending suits and their friends were afraid
to aid them.

ALLENS HAD MANY FRIENDS
The latter observation was rather out of line however,

as it was discovered that numerous friends were helping
them, both those who had escaped to the hills and those we

remained at home. Baskets were sent toa the jail in
Hillsville and in Roanoke, and the young men began to
receive letters from friends, known and unknown. One man

was suspected of helping, arrested, and even offered part
of the reward if he would tell where and how he had given
aid. He refused. A receipt. signed by Sidna Allen “away
from home," was picked up. It inspired Governor Mann to
Give notice that the Allens were to be starved out of their
hiding places in the mountains. Posters were tacked up on
Buildings throughout the county, warning that prosecution
would follow arrest if such could be proved.

The law of the level land had stepped in. BS
representative was reported to have said, "S11 of the
Allens will be chased out of the State, killed, sent to the
penitentiary or the chair or brought to good behavior."

The detectives and the "great posse" of scores of men
were attempting to do their part. Two days after the
shooting some of them set out for Sidna Allen’*s house.
"Persistent rumors had it that the Alien clan were (there)
—~- and were fortified in a brick basement under a store.

Thety) found Mrs. Allen at a neighbor’s and she turned
over the keys tao them. Then, taking advantage "of the
hilis,"” they "got within about one hundred yards of his
house, when we made a rush and surrounded the house on all
Sides,” one of the detectives recalled. Three of them met
at the front door and so eager were they to get in they
"almost “jammed" together on entering" -- Sidna Allen’s
home contained “more cannies and cubby holes than I have
ever found in any of the hundreds of houses I have
searched,” the writer continued. "We expected a fight and
a fierce one, but a strict search of the house,
outbuildings and store failed to reveal the presence of any
of the Allen gang."


procession of prisoners and guards passed from the jail to

the courthouse. Claude’s hand were manacled behind his
back. Victor and the others followed. In the courtroom
Floyd stumbled into the prisoner’s dock - for the first

time not assisted by the gquards-he used crutches that May
i7. 5 the court opened the judge gave additional, special
instructions to the jury. They went into their room = and
Closed the door. Thirty-six minutes later, five sharp raps
sounded on the door.

Fisoyd stopped fingering his mustache as his eyes
followed the sheriff, who opened the door. The 12 men
filed in and took their places.

The judge called for the verdict.

Forman Frank E. Nelson stood up. "We. the jury, find
the defendant guilty of murder as charged in the within
indictment,” he read and gave the paper to the judge.

The sentence far Floyd was withheld, as he was to
testify in other trials.

Not a muscle twitched on the face of the Allens. And
there was Nellie, Claude’s 18-year-old sweetheart, tall,
erect, slender, with dark hair-as pretty as a posy when she
was happy. Like Claude’s mother, she always dressed in
black.

When asked if he were not planning to be married during
the summer, Claude said he “was thinking about it," and his
counsel used that as an argument against any planned
conspiracy.

CHAPTER 22

"YOUTHFUL CLAUDE GOES ON FRIAL CHARGED WITH
SHOOTING JUDGE MASSIE”

FLOYD FOUND GUILTY

The trial of Fioyd in the Wythe County Court House in
Wytheville was completed May 16, 19712. The jury received
the case and deliberated until 9? p.m., the Court was
recessed until the next morning. On May 17, after 36
minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of
“the defendant guilty of murder as charged within the
indictment." Sentence for Floyd was withheld as he was to
testify in other trials.

The stage was then set for the trial of Claude, the
youngest son of Floyd.

Day by day the Allens and their guards marched from the
gail to the courthouse and back again. Often Nellie
18-year-old sweetheart of Claude was here with Claude.

The judge’*’s scarred chair with its leather upholstery
and exterior torn away to show the bullet holes was
submitted for evidence. It was not carefully examined,
however. four months afterward a piece of the wooden
portion of the chair that had been directly behind Judge
Massie’s back. “Later” was after the case had closed.

"OLD BYRD MARION" DIED

Byrd Marion, still a prisoner, was brought in as a
witness and on his testimony that he had nothing to do with
it all. supported by that of others, was released under
bond of $1,000 one day, only to be arrested on the next, on
contradictory evidence. He was held until the jury
reported and ultimately missed being tried at all. "Olid
Byrd Marion," as they called him, died.

The last day of May they hoped evidence and argument
would be ended and court continued late into the night. tt
was not until the first of June, though, that the jury took
the case at 2:30 jin the afternoon. After two and a half

hours of deliberating they brought in the verdict, "murder
in the second degree -- confinement in the state
penitentiary for 15 years." H. K. Hix was foreman. The

sentence was suspended sco Claude could testify in the
following trials.

The prisoners were returned to Roanoke and notice was
given that Claude would next be tried for the shooting of
Sheriff Webb.


were on a raised platform against the wall, each boarded
in, yet separate from the other. In front of the judge the
jury sat in swivel chairs and before both was the witness
chair, boxed in by polished ocak boards. On each side of
the witness stand was a long table for the lawyers,
prosecution toa his right and defense to his left.

15-DAY TRIAL

For iS days Floyd’s trial went on and on. He was
accused of the murder of Faster but the testimony about
what seemed only incidental to the many stories that were
told. Massie, Webb, Bettie Ayers, and others were drawn
in, in the effort to prove a conspiracy. Prisoners and
court officials testified. Prosecution insisted on the
conspiracy charge because of the Allen crowd were said toa
have assaulted only the court officers, because of the
interrelationship, of all the prisoners, because they were
all at court at the same time, and because the attack
seemed toa take place as though it had been arranged.
Aithough conspiracy was one of the charges, it was never
proved, and Floyd persisted in his plea of self-defense.

On the day evidence and argument concluded, the court
was thronging with epectators. Attorney Wysor, for the

prosecution, finished his argument with the ringing
exhortation, * Down with Anarchy!” God Save the
Commonwealth!"

THE JURY GETS THE CASE

On May 164 about 2:30 in the afternoon the case was given
to the jury. For hours everyone waited. Floyd twiried the
ends of his mustache. Mrs. Allen sat still at his side, a
bit of white ruching brightening up the somber black of her
dress. She shielded her face from curious onlookers with a
Black bordered handkerchief. The judge and the clerk were
at their desks. Floyd waited in the prisoner*s dock. Ali
others had moved out of the enclosure except the three
detectives behind Fioyd with their drawn guns. Armed
pickets patrolled the courtroom - Judge Staples was going
to see that the Hillsville performance was not repeated.

Mine ov’ciock came and word filtered out that the jury
was split as to first or second degree murder. Jasper

Allen sat reading a paper in the courtroom. Gariand came
im wearing a white cotton shirt and dark trousers, his bald
head shining under the electric lights. He sat down and

Waited with the others. Just after nine o’clock the judge
rose-court would be dismissed until the following morning.

FOUND GUILTY

May if was another dark day, cold, glicGwering with snow
expected, as late in the season as it was. Gnce more the

REWARDS OFFERED

In the meantime, further inducements for the capture of
Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards were posted. Rewards of
$1,500 for information leading to capture of Sidna were
announced with $750 and $500 similarly, for Wesley.

Down on the farm of Frank Iroler, Maude’s father, at

Cana, there was trouble. Her father showed strenucus
objection to the match between his daughter and Wesley for
a while, then seemed to become reconciled. Harvesting his

grain kept him busy and he welcomed another farm hand, H.
H. Lucas.

From Greensboro, North Carolina, came word that Sidna
Allen has forteited the $5,000 bond he had posted against
his appearance in Federal court here under the charge of
perjury that had grown out of a former accusation of
counterfeiting in which he had been found gqguiity. An
enthusiast, disregarding the fact that the bond would be
added to the reward for his arrest. H. T. Thomas, a United
States agent. had offered to join in the search, knowing
Sidna, having assisted with the counterfeit case.

That affair involved Preston Dickens, a workman who had
helped Sidna Build his house. Twenty dollar gqoid pieces
had been passed and the two were arrested. Dickens was
convicted and although Sidna was freed on that count, he
was convicted of perjury, was awarded anew trial, and
awaiting that, was out on bond. Sidna always scorned the
idea of his having anything to do with the gold-plated
coins, saying if he had had, he would have done 4 better
job. Dickens testified that Allen was not concerned = and
after withdrew his statement asserting he had made it after
Sidna had threatened to kill him if he didn’t. Some said
Sidna had gone to the Klondike to learn counterfeiting.

MORE RUMOR

After the Hilisville affair. rumor declared that the
Allens had been prepared ta shoot up the Federal court if
Sidna had not been allowed a new trial, or had been
convicted of counterfeiting. It was said they made several
attempts to kill one of the detectives. This was all
denied and Sidna commented that if they planned to get the
officer they would have suceeded in one of the many efforts
attributed to them.

Sermons were preached about the cases all during the
Summer . In one it was said a misinster asserted Sidna and
his brothers "made an agreement that no one -- shall ever
ga to the penitentiary,” and were prepared to back up their
pack with their guns.

Judge dames E. Boyd, Federal Judge in the counterfeit


66

Floyd Allen’s oldest son said they were
all he had been living on for several
days. Lucas declared that one of the
revolvers in Claude Allen’s hands had
been used in the court-house shooting.

It was but sixteen days since the
court-house massacre, and only Sidna
Allen and Wesley Edwards of the Allen
clan were still at large!

Without food or bedding, and cut off
from friends and relatives who could
keep them regularly supplied with
nourishment, they were believed to be
only a short distance ahead of their
pursuers. They had been forced to
throw away their canteens of «water,

acks of rations, quilts and blankets.

hey retained in their flight only their
revolvers and rifles.

ON. April 2nd, two bloodhounds ar-
rived from the State Penitentiary at
Richmond. They were the same dogs—
Fanny and Topsy—that had been used
in the Beattie murder case at_Rich-
mond the previous Summer. Though
given what detectives considered the
best trail they had found so far, a
heavy rain had apparently washed
away the scent, and at nightfall the

posse had met with no success—except |

to discover a bed of leaves in a secluded
ravine near Sugar Loaf Mountain.
There was every indication, however,
that this had been the sleeping place,
the previous night, of Sidna Allen and
Wesley Edwards.
While preparation was being made
for the trial of the six members of the
Allen clan in custody, by S. Floyd.
Landreth—a young Galax attorne
who had succeeded Samuel W. Wil-
liams, temporary appointee—a move-
ment was started by the First Lady of
Virginia to raise funds to purchase a
gold medal for Miss Jazabel Goad, in
recognition of her heroism in carry ee a
loaded revolver to her wounded father
during a hail of bullets. i
People of Cumberland County, Vir-

ginia, immediately counteracted this.

movement by raising funds to buy
Claude Allen a trophy in recognition of
his defense of his father, Floyd Allen.
They declared that if Miss Goad
merited the recognition she received,
then Claude deserved a tribute “for de-
fending his father when the officers
began firing at him.” Sympathizers
with the Allens maintain to this day
that the Allens did not commence the
shooting in the court-house.
The Baldwin-Felts detectives and
State officials soon began to withdraw
from the region and simultaneously
with their departure, a young fellow
drifted into Carroll County looking
for work as a farm-hand. He was.a
good-natured, strapping fellow, who
could pitch horseshoes with the best of
them, and in the hayfields he wielded
a mean pitchfork. Physically he was
all that one could ask for, but -he
seemed to be just a little shy on mental-
ity. A half-wit was Tom Jones, the
folks thought, and he was the butt of
many jokes as he sat around the cracker
barrel in the general store at Hillsville
on Saturday nights.
For almost six months Tom | Jones,
the half-wit, worked for one farmer

The Master Detective

after another—all along the valley be-
tween Hillsville and Mount Airy, North
Carolina. He helped out Mrs. Sidna
Allen, and her two charming little girls;
working under direction of William
Quesinberry, the hired man. If the
family ever heard from the missing
Sidna, nothing was said about it to
Tom Jones.

Meanwhile, the trials of the prison-
ers were begun at Wytheville, the
County seat of the adjoining County of
Wythe, to which they had been trans-
ferred on a change of venue. They
opened on April 30th, 1912.

Floyd Allen, who was tried first, was
convicted on May 17th and sentenced
to electrocution. His son, Claude was
next placed on trial, charged with the
slaying of Judge Massie. The jury
gave him fifteen years for this offense.
He was convicted again, however, for
the murder of Commonwealth’s Attor-
ney Foster—the jury this time bringing
in a verdict of death. Victor Allen, the
youngest son of Floyd, was acquitted,
there being no direct evidence that he
had participated in the shooting.

Friel Allen was convicted of com-

Judge D. W. Bolen

plicity in the murders, and given fifteen
ears in the penitentiary, while Sidna
dwards, also found guilty, paid the
same penalty. Byrd Marion died a
natu death before his trial.

DURING this time, the information
came to the ears of the half-witted
farm-hand, Tom Jones, that Maude
Iroler, the eat eighteen-year-old
daughter of Frank Iroler, a tobacco
raiser near Mount Airy, was about to
be married. No local swain was men-
tioned in that connection; in fact there
,, seemed to be a deliberate silence as to
the identity of the groom. Now,
Maude Iroler and Wesley Edwards had
been sweethearts, and when the half-
wit learned that’ the girl was going to
Des Moines, Iowa, to live, he began the
simple arithmetical problem of adding
one and one to: make two.
Therefore, when Miss Iroler’s train
pulled: out of Galax one day in Sep-

tember of 1912, Detectives W. G. Bald-:
‘G. O. Mundy’

win, Harry Lucas and

were aboard, unknown to the bride-to-'
be. At Des Moines:they followed her:
to the home of John Cameron, at the
corner of Eleventh and Locust Streets.

Sidna Allen, who had been living there
under the name of Tom Sayre, and
working as a carpenter, was in an upper
room writing. When informed that he
had visitors, he came downstairs. As
he did so, Detective Lucas covered him
with a revolver.

Allen hesitated, and then threw up
his hands, remarking, “I guess I’m your
man.” He was handcuffed and placed
under the guard of city officers. while
Detectives Lucas and Mundy remained
to await the coming of Wesley Ed-
wards, who lived there under the name
of Joe Jackson.

In the meantime, Detective Bald-
win and Chief Jenney of the Des
Moines police went in search of Ed-
wards, who was employed on a city
paving gang.

UST as Edwards boarded a street car,

detectives surrounded it. The fugitive
fought his way through the crowd to
the front door. He knew it was he who
was wanted, as he had read of Sidna
Allen’s arrest in the afternoon papers.

As he reached the door, he.made an
effort to jump off, but Chief Jenney who
was on. the front platform, grabbed
Edwards around the legs, and he was
soon subdued. .

The prisoners talked freely of_the
events of the past six months. They
had remained in the mountain country
of Virginia and North Carolina for
about a month, and then had gone to
Louisville, Kentucky, where they spent
several days. Their next stop was St.
Louis, where they remained a week.
Having had sufficient money for their
needs, they had traveled as first class
passengers.

Captured on September 14th—just
six mdgths to a day from the date of
the a ey last of the Allen clan
were back in Virginia on September
a They went on trial on November

th.

Judge Staples overruled a motion to
consolidate the four indictments against
each of them, and Sidna Allen went to
the bar, charged with killing Judge
Massie. He was found guilty and was
given fifteen years. For the slaying of
Sheriff Webb, he drew another fifteen
years, and the murder of Common-
wealth’s Attorney Foster, cost him an
additional five years. The sentences
were not to run concurrently.

Wesley Edwards entered a general
plea of guilty of murder, and Judge
Staples, who sat in this case as well as
in all the others, termed it second
degree murder, after hearing evidence
to fix the degree of the crime. The sen-
tence was eighteen years. :

On November 22nd, while the last
trial was still in progress, Floyd Allen
and-his son, Claude, paid the extreme
penalty of death.

All other members of the Allen clan
who' received sentences, have since been
freed. Friel Allen and Sidna Edwards
finally received conditional pardons on
October: 6th, 1922, after having served
about ten years and Sidna’ Allen and
Wesley Edwards were also condition-
ally pardoned on April 29th, 1926,
after about fourteen years of imprison-
ment.

January


cede ae

March mo .
to be senten pha ga
lif hills, the elderly
Me Allen clan at last

ustice,
» Only a minor
convictedine ry
2t one of his relatives
at Hillsville

courageous jury re-~
't the Previous dey,

RPLOE SBR Rnd -ap Py art ger

-

yn

Floyd Allen boasted he never would
go to prison. Turning with a confident
toss of his head to his kinsmen, he had
roars out before.a bailiff could silence

‘T’ll stand for a fine, but if they try
to send me to.the pen I'll make the
biggest hole in fils court any man ever
did. So help me!” ;

‘This was the day of reckoning. Would
square-jawed Judge Thornton Massie
mete out the sentence Allen deserved?
Or would he allow the hawk-faced
mountaineer to “intimidate him and
escape with a mere fine?

At 10 o’clock the atmosphere in the
courtroom was electrically tense. Grim,
weather-beaten Sheriff Lewis Webb

was prepared for trouble. His depu-'

ties, Winchesters at their sides, stood
in the four corners of the room and

guarded the entrance. The sheriff
posted himself beside the judge’s bench,

Commonwealth’s Attorney William
Foster, who had prosecuted Allen, was
holding a last-minute whispered con-
ference with Judge Massie. The de-
fendant, a haughty’sneer on his face,
sat in the front row with armed depu-
ties flanking him.

Boots clumped at the doorway, and
the faces of all spectators turned in
unison to see the late arrivals.

The Allens were coming in, swagger-

ing, overbearing, defiant. In the van |
was husky, imperious Sidna.- Allen, -

Floyd’s eldest brother, who after him
held the family rule. Close behind
strode Claude, Floyd’s 22-year-old son,
wiry as a leopard and just as dangerous,
and beside him were Sidna’s two
nephews, Wesley and Sidna Edwards. -

‘

BY
DAVID
ROBINSON
GEORGE

“ gpreadin

In the rear were Victor, Floyd’s other
son; Jack Allen, the old man’s youngest
brother; Jack’s son Friel; and Byrd
Marion, a cousin. |:

The eight men elbowed their way
through the standing spectators to take
up places with their backs against the

- wall,

So unexpected had been their en-
trance that the two deputies at the
doors had no time—if. indeed they
dared—to search the clansmen for
weapons. Such a move, Sheriff Webb
and his men well-knew, might have
precipitated a battle on the spot. The
officers believed there was a good
chance that no violence would occur.
Surely no man in his right mind would
draw a gun in a courtroom.

The judge brought the court to order.
The room was deathly still as Massie
‘motioned the deputies to bring the
prisoner before the bar. Floyd Allen,
‘ee between his captors, faced the

udge.

“I hereby sentence you,” pronounced
Massie, his voice loud and clear, “to
serve One year at hard labor... .”

The crack of a revolver cut him
short. A split second later, a torrent
of lead roared from guns in the hands
of all eight Allen clansmen. Another
pistol went flying into the ready hands
of the prisoner. | :

While the spectators rushed for win-
dows and doors, the deputies let loose
with their shotguns. Men cursed and
women screamed.

Clansmen Escape

. Judge Massie pitched forward on the

bench, blood streaming down his robes.
Prosecutor Foster .toppled to the

floor, his head riddled with bullets.
Sheriff Webb whipped out his revol-

ver and lunged for Floyd Allen, but.

crumpled in the leaden hail and fell
heavily on his face,

Dexter Goad, clerk of the court,
clutched at his neck, from which blood
spurted.

Three jurors slumped unconscious

‘and bleeding in their seats.

Sprawled on her back in an aisle wis
Elizabeth Ayres, pretty young blonde
witness for the state, a crimson stain
over her heart.

Guns blazing, the Allens—with old
Floyd now in their ranks—backed out
.of the smoke-filled courtroom, sprang
on waiting horses ‘and galloped off
‘toward the hills. A parting volley from
the deputies failed to unseat any of
the fleeing clansmen.

The massacre had taken place within
the space of a minute or two. With
“every eye in the courtroom on the-pris-
oner at the bar, no one had seen the
Allens draw their weapons. wate

The sound of the gunfire had thrown
the village of Hillsville into a tumult.

Smite ws
ae semi}
aad i &

a .

ey

A

x!

. fm ~~ ~y
warm wy pol pea 1 “
etn DOLL 20, 1913

- ; HE stuffy: little courtroom was “j. Floyd Allen

T cxowded, Lanky mountaineers, —{~ go to prison

scuffing their boots on the floor, sat 7 toss of his h

peside their wives on the rough | roared out !
benches. Some stood awkwardly along .— ~~ him.

the walls. ; a “Til stanc

Outside the red brick Carroll County < to send mé

courthouse in the Blue Ridge Moun- ~~ biggest hol:

tains of Virginia, saddle horses and © did. So hel

buggy and wagon teams were tethered. 7 _ *This was

On that chill March morning old “| square-jaw

Floyd Allen was to be sentenced. Long © mete out t

the terror of the. hills, the elderly |. Or would

: leader of the prolific Allen clan at last ~~ -mountaine

had been brought to justice. $.-7 ~ escape wit

It was, however, only a minor charge ~*~ _ Atldo

. on which he had been convicted—aid- * courtroom

irig in the escape of one of his relatives weather-t

from the county jail at Hillsville. was prep:

But when-the courageous jury re- ties, Win:

turned the verdict the previous day, in the fo

The fugitive slowly descended with
his arms in the air. He glanced
- from Mabel to the detectives...

(Photo specially posed by professional models.)

Fepur [$es Derec tive

rw. (44

y

Grim-faced men hastily strapped on
sidearms, or reached
_and ran for their horses. Three posses
were hurriedly formed.

In the tiny courtroom the two village
physicians ministered to the wounded
and coynted the dead. Women brought
basins of hot water from their nearby
homes and turned the chamber into a
makeshift hospital. : :

Judge Massie, Prosecutor Foster and
Sheriff Webb had been killed instantly.
Betty Ayres died as the doctors strove

to stanch her hemorrhages,

- Goad and one juror, Augustus Fow-
« ler, were critically wounded. The two

other. jurors were less seriously hurt,

and eight’ spectators were treated for
minor wounds.
Meanwhile a deputy hurried back to
Webb’s office and telephoned the
‘sheriffs of the surrounding counties of
Wythe,..Grayson, Floyd, Pulaski and
Patrick, Because Carroll County was
on the southern state border, he also
notified Sheriff C. H. Haynes at Mount
“Airy, N.C. -
The Virginia sheriffs promised to
- organize posses at once to hunt for the
murderous Allens, while Haynes ad-
-vised that he and his men would be
on the alert if the fugitives crossed
the line. ; :
Word of the courtroom massacre was
flashed to Goverrior William R. Mann
at Richmond. Mann posted a $1,000
reward for capture of the slayers, and

ordered the militia companies at Roan-. .

oke and Lynchburg to be prepared to
proceed to Hillsville if further dis-
orders broke out. ’ >
-, And finally the governor put through
‘a call to.the private detective firm of
Baldwin & Felts at Roanoke, on whom
he had depended many times in the
past. Aggressive young Albert H. Bald-
. win answered.

“I want you and your partner to go
down. and get the men responsible for
the massacre,” Mann said. “I don’t care
how long it takes, or what it costs.”

Al Baldwin and Tom Felts, some
years his senior, caught the next train
for Barren Springs, the nearest rail-
road station, 15 miles from the murder
scene. They completed their journey

. by wagon. The date was Thursday,

March 14, 1912..

22 - It was late afternoon when the de-

Ss

or their rifles, ‘

tectives arrived. Possessing a_ rich
background of mountain lore and. per-
sonal knowledge of the wild Allen
clan, Baldwin and Felts quickly inter-
preted what they learned from wit-
nesses.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” de-
clared Baldwin, who carried the hon-
orary title of colonel, “that the Allens
came to court this morning prepared
to rescue old Floyd. It would have
been the same story no matter what
sentence Judge Massie passed.”

Traps Are Set

. The three Hillsville posses had probed
the mountain fastnesses since shortly

cou

Aree

of the family leads us to the fugitive?”
Felts queried.

“Right,” nodded the colonel. “But it
would be wrong to call off the posses.
The Allens would know right away

what was up. We'll let the boys go-

right on hunting. -That’ll keep the
fugitives .occupied “while we work
undercover.”

Baldwin and Felts joined the posses
for brief rides, but always dropped
back to shadow the homes of the va-
rious fugitives in the hope that a mes-

senger would be sent out with needed.

supplies for the hunted men.
Traces of the. fleeing Allens were
discovered, . Fresh imprints of hooves

z

Bee: captured old Floyd Allen in bed, wounded. “If |
d hold a gun,” he. croaked, "you wouldn't be here."

Grim-faced mountaineers and adventurous boys gathered in front of ite
Carroll County courthouse after the battle in which five were killed.

after the massacre, but riders came
back to report that no trace of the
fugitives could be found. Deputies vis-
ited the home of Floyd Allen high in
the Face Mountains, where a careful
search convinced them he had not re-
turned since the shooting. Two depu-
ties, however, were left behind in the
event he did show up.

“The Allens know these hills *so
well,” observed Colonel Baldwin, “that
they may lead us a merry chase for
months if-we play hide and seek with.
them. The quickest way to capture
them is to set traps. They'll have to
get food. and ammunition from. their

’ relatives, and above all, tobacco. None

of the clan can go long without a good

' chaw in his cheek.”

“We play a waiting game until.

‘aoe

one

semana fhe

in the red Virginia clay, trampled brush
and discharged: shells several times
showed the searchers they had nar-
rowly missed their quarry.

The posses even heard the crack of
the Allens’ guns. Each time the hunt-
ers came within half a mile of the fugi-
peathan Sgro mes would be noted at oddly
spa intervals—always the same.

“They are watching us through field
glasses, an old trick of theirs,” said

_Baldwin. “They’re spread out, the bet-

ter to evade capture, so they have to
warn each other of our approach. They
do that by shots spaced to form a code.”

For three days and nights the searoh
continued ‘unabated. Fresh volunteers
relieved weary possemen. Still the
Allens remained at large.

Signe ber

Sonar Manet Dilias Sete ine A batt

late in the night of March 18 _ Es PE

ore od

Private

Baldwin

Baldwin
ure stea
From th
a marr<
watched
enter.