 Allen, who was before the bar for sentencing after being convicted of taking a prisoner from a deputy sheriff, allegedly triggered the shooting at the Carroll County Courthouse in Hillsville on March 14, 1912.Floyd Allen was born in 1856 and spent much of his life living in Cana, Virginia, located below Fancy Gap Mountain in Carroll County.He was the patriarch of the county's most prominent family, which in addition to owning large tracts of farmland and a prosperous general store, were also active in local politics as proud Southern Democrats.