Crime History: Five killed in Virginia courthouse massacre 101 years ago

Published March 13, 2013 4:00am ET



On this day, March 14, in 1912, in Virginia, five people — including a judge, prosecutor and sheriff — were shot to death in what is known as the “Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy.”

Judge Thornton Massie had sentenced Floyd Allen, the patriarch of a mountain family, to a year in prison for his role in a fight that began over a kiss between two youngsters at a corn-shucking festival.

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