Romance, Gunfire, and the Hillsville Courthouse Massacre
There’s little difference between the raging hormones of teen romance and the frantic mating rituals of beasts. Hearts race, tempers flare, and decisions are made in the heat of the moment. The rules of teen romance are firm: Stay away from my guy. Don’t mess with my girl.
Such was the case with young Maude Iroler and Wesley Edwards in the spring of 1911. Wesley crossed a line. Maude liked it. Maude’s boyfriend didn’t. Their brief romance triggered a string of events that ended with five people dead, two others executed in Virginia’s electric chair, and others serving decades of prison time.
A Red Ear of Corn
The inciting incident happened at a Saturday night corn shucking at Hubbard Easter’s barn. A corn shucking is a communal event where neighbors come together to celebrate the end of the corn harvest by shucking corn, dancing, feasting, and playing games. One tradition involved finding a red ear of corn. These are rare, and any single young man lucky enough to find one was encouraged to kiss the single young woman of his choice—if she’d let him. Wesley, who, by all accounts, was a handsome young man, shucked a red ear of corn. He chose the lovely 17-year-old Maude Iroler, who was receptive to his advance. Maude was “spoken for,” but she apparently didn’t care. Her boyfriend, Will Thomas, did. But he wasn’t at the corn shucking.
Sunday morning, Will Thomas, his brother, and two other young men went looking for Wesley. They found him at church with his family. Wesley left the service and went outside to meet the brothers with his cousin Friel. A fierce fight ensued, involving brass knuckles and rocks. Wesley and Friel bested the Thomas group.
The following week, a Sheriff’s Deputy served Wesley with a court summons. He was charged with assaulting the Thomas boys.
Flight Across the Border
Edwards might have won the fight at church, but he couldn’t shake the trouble that followed. Word spread fast, and the law wasn’t far behind. Not long after the brawl, a sheriff’s deputy knocked on Wesley’s door with a court summons in hand, charging him with assault. Facing the prospect of trial and a possible conviction, Wesley skipped town, fleeing to nearby Mt. Airy, North Carolina, hoping to lay low until the storm passed. But the law had a long reach in Carroll County, and staying under the radar wouldn’t be easy.
Capture and Return to Hillsville
It didn’t take long for the law to catch up with Edwards. A Carroll County deputy left his jurisdiction, went into Mt. Airy, and arrested Edwards. Shackled and chained behind a wagon, Edwards began the 20-mile trek up the mountain to Hillsville: a 2,000-ft change in elevation. On their way up the mountain, Edward’s uncles, Sidna and the influential Floyd Allen, confronted the pair. Floyd disarmed and beat the deputy and released Edwards.
What should have been a straightforward legal matter soon snowballed into something far deadlier. Floyd was arrested and charged with interfering with a deputy. The tensions between the Allen and Edwards families and local authorities began to boil over. The courthouse in Carroll County was about to become the stage for one of Virginia’s most notorious shootouts.
Hillsville Courthouse Massacre
March 14, 1912, was supposed to be a routine day in court for Floyd Allen, but things quickly spiraled out of control. The courthouse was packed, and the air was thick with tension. When the judge gave Floyd a stiff sentence, he stood up, refusing to be taken into custody. In the chaos that followed, gunfire erupted. Bullets flew in every direction, leaving five people dead, including the judge and the sheriff. Henceforth dubbed “The Allen Gang,” most of the Allen and Edwards boys managed to slip away, disappearing into the hills and out of reach—for the moment.
Escape to Des Moines, Iowa
Wesley and Sidna knew their time in Virginia was up. With lawmen combing the countryside for them, they fled westward, making their way to Des Moines, Iowa. It was far enough from Hillsville, or so they thought. The plan was to lay low, work odd jobs, and start fresh. For a time, it seemed like they’d outrun the law. But even in the quiet streets of Des Moines, the shadow of the Hillsville Massacre loomed large. Baldwin-Felts detectives, hired by the Governor of Virginia, were closing in.
Maude Iroler’s Inadvertent Treachery
Maude Iroler might have been Wesley’s love, but in the end, her connection to him would lead to his downfall. The Baldwin-Felts detectives were relentless, and they knew Wesley couldn’t stay away from Maude for long. They followed her movements, hoping she would unknowingly lead them to the fugitives. Their patience paid off when Maude’s travels took her to Des Moines. The detectives pounced. Wesley and Sidna were arrested and brought back to face the consequences of the deadly courthouse shootout. The dream of a fresh start was over.
Trial, Conviction, and Release
Wesley’s return to Virginia was anything but triumphant. His trial was swift, and the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Convicted for his role in the massacre, Wesley faced the grim reality of a long prison sentence. Sidna fared no better. The Allen family’s influence had run dry, and the law was ready to make an example of them. But time has a way of dulling even the sharpest of vendettas. After years behind bars, Wesley was finally released. The boy who had sparked a romance that turned deadly was now a free man—but the memory of that fateful day in Hillsville would haunt him forever.
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