On March 12, 1912, a gunfight broke out in the Carroll County Courthouse after the conviction of Floyd Allen, wealthy landowner and patriarch of the then-powerful Allen clan. The story made national headlines until it was eclipsed by the sinking of the Titanic on April 12, 1912. Floyd Allen was on trial for illegal rescue of prisoners, assault and battery, and interfering with deputies. The charges stemmed from an altercation during which he freed his nephews—who had been arrested for brawling and disrupting a religious service, fled to North Carolina, but were recaptured and being taken to the Carroll county jail—and pistol-whipped a deputy sheriff with his own malfunctioning gun, leaving the officer unconscious.
On March 12, 1912, a gunfight broke out in the Carroll County Courthouse after the conviction of Floyd Allen, wealthy landowner and patriarch of: the then-powerful Allen clan. The story made national headlines until it was eclipsed by the sinking of the Titanic on April 12, 1912. Floyd Allen was on trial for illegal rescue of prisoners, assault and battery, and interfering with deputies. The charges stemmed from an altercation during which he freed his nephews—who had been arrested for brawling and disrupting a religious service, fled to North Carolina, but were recaptured and being taken to the !Carroll county jail—and pistol-whipped a deputy sheriff with his own malfunctioning gun, leaving? the officer unconscious.