HUNTING OUTLAWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 204, 8 May 1912, Page 4

HUNTING OUTLAWS.

BAND AT BAY LV "DEVIL'S DEX." MILITIA CALLED OUT. The hunt f:>r the notorious gane of Virginia outlaws known a 8 the Allen gang, grows keener every day, but th« desperadoes have established themselves m a position from which it is thought that only starvation will dislodge them One of the gang, James, was tried ai Hillsville and found guilty of petty theft Directly the verdict was returned James drew a revolver and shot the foreman' dead. This was the signal for a general fusiladc, in which the relatives and friends of Allen, the court officials and the jurors joined. The judge, prosecuting counsel and a twelve-year-old girl were killed, and twenty people wer« wounded. With one exception, the gang got awar to the mountains. That exception wag Sidney Allen. He got away from th. court, but he had a bullet-wound in the chest, and was unable to follow the rest of the gang. So he rode to his house seven miles away. Here he was followed by a sheriff's posse, who found the house strongly barricaded and loopholed. Sorely wounded as he was, Sidney Allen opened a brisk fire on the posse, his wife reloading the rifles for him. b Strategy had to be resorted to K number of the assailants kept the attention of the defenders centred on tht front of the house, while a strong body made their way unobserved to the rear, and forced an entrance through the back door. Allen, who had received two more wounds, was unable to make further resistance, but his wife fired on the intruders, who replied, stretching her dead by her husband's side. Allen wan taken to the hospital. He is not expected to survive. Next day the police found Garland Allen, a Primitive Baptist, and brother of Sidney, in front of the latter's house. The police made the preacher precede them in a sortie to Allen's house. The latter, when searched, was found to be deserted. They then released the preacher, as there was no charge against Meanwhile the State Militia had been called out, and, with the aid of parties of civilians, had located the hiding-place of the rest of the gang. It is in a mountain pass known as Devil's Den Cave. Thk cave is a deep fissure in a granite cliff in the highest part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the gang, some thirty in number, are in an excellent position,'ftnd ; well supplied with arms and ammunition. Tt is quite certain that the Aliens will not surrender, and it will be necessary to exterminate them, as they will fight to the last man. Machine guns are being taken to the spot, though with great difficulty, because the roads are deep in mud, but the bandits have no hope of escaping the thick cordon which has been drawn around them. It is believed that the gang is illprovided with food, since their retreat was so hasty, and they had little resources at their command. On this account, though there may be active fighting, chiefly of the skirmishing order, the authorities hope to starve them out, and the troops are making preparations for a siege. One difficulty that presents itself is that the outlaws have numerous friends, and it is feared that these men, whose cabins are scattered throughout tho Blue Ridge* in the same district, mav come to the aid of the Aliens, and thus place the troops between two fires. (According to the latest cable advices two of the gang are still at large, but the ringleaders were captured without bloodshed. They were tracked by bloodhounds).