December,1910, Cana, Virginia: At a "corn-shucking," a teenager was lucky to shuck the red ear of corn, giving him, by tradition, the choice of kissing any girl at the event. The boy kissed the girlfriend of another teenager and this led to a fight the following day, involving the teenagers and several members of both boys’ families. The fight led to warrants being sworn, indictments being returned and the arrest of the kisser and his brother. These arrests led the kisser's uncle, to help his nephews escape. For assisting in the escape, a sentence was imposed - one year in the State Pen. This sentence led to a courthouse shoot-out, where five were killed (including the judge) and seven wounded. J. Sidna Allen, a family member of the accused, was one of the shooters and he fled. The shooters were captured, tried, and two were sentenced to the electric chair. Sidna got 35 years and other family members got 27, 15 and 18 years respectively.

    While in prison, J. Sidna Allen made folk marquetry objects. The marquetry table in this real photo postcard  "contains more than 75,000 pieces, finished in natural wood finish, no paint, no stain, the different kinds of wood make the color,"*  and it took 3000 hours to make. Sidna was eventually paroled and organized a tent show for exhibiting his prison art.

   First hand accounts by makers of folk marquetry are rare. J. Sidna Allen in his memoirs talks about his family, youth, travels, alleged crimes, trial, conviction, escape, capture, prison life, and his pardon among other things. The following excerpts concern Sidna’s folk marquetry; how he made these objects in prison (Roanoke Va.) and their eventual exhibition.

    "At first I was not allowed to make anything for myself. I could only work on regular prison jobs. All the time, however I was doing my level best, trying to please the officials so they would allow me to do things for myself during off hours. I made beautiful wooden novelties and gave them to prison officials, who seemed glad to get them, but would not yet allow me to make anything for my personal use or to sell. I stayed in the shop after closing time several hours each day making these things and praying for the day to come that would bring me permission to make things for myself.

    I was eager to make things for myself in order that I might sell them and get money to send to my wife and children. I knew they were in a hard circumstances and therefore badly in need of money. But as hard as I tried, it was over two years after I went to prison before I was permitted to make anything to sell or keep. …

    As stated before, at first I made things, which I gave prison officials, but later I started making things for myself. Besides the objects I made to sell, I soon began making a collection of furniture. In doing this I had a definite purpose in mind. I knew that when I left prison, if I ever did get away, I would have to have some means of making a living, and I made the furniture with the express purpose in mind of having a collection to exhibit to the public when I should again be free. …

    It may seem strange that while in prison, I, a man who had never done anything of the kind before, should turn my attention to the making of artistic pieces of furniture; but when a man finds himself in a fix I was in he may do many things he never before dreamed of doing. The making of this furniture provided me with a painstaking task – a task that would require intense concentration and thus take my mind from other things, which was just what I needed. …

    My first work of art is a table made from seventy- nine varieties of wood. This piece was started March 19, 1917 and completed August 19, 1917, and represents approximately 3,544 hours of labor. It stands thirty-one inches from the floor and the top is twenty-two inches square. I can safely say that in all the world there is not another like it.

    The names of the different kinds of wood that went into this table follow:

    Ash, baywood, chestnut, cottonwood, ebony, fig, locust, lignumvitae, lemon, maple, mahogany, orange, cherry, pitch pine, red cedar, red beech, red oak, rose, red hickory, red birch, peach, pomegranate, magnolia, spruce pine, sourwood, white oak, White beech, white pine, white cedar, water oak, white polar, walnut, white birch, white hickory, yellow popular, yard maple, bird’s-eye maple, seven bark, grape fruit, willow, elm, alder, hackberry, plum, sumac, sassafras, privette willow, persimmon, sycamore, mullumbia, popular, catalpa, pear, chinquapin, grape vine, redwood, cypress, juniper, cucumber, French brair, mock, orange, service, apple, Formosa, wild plum, paradise, teak, yellow norel, vermillion, ivy, boxwood, yellow locust and Philippine mahogany.

    In the table are many scraps, such as parasol handles, hair brushes, drums, chairs, window sashes, sewing machine arms, butter boxes, barrel hoops, hoe handles, policeman clugs, gate posts, mauls, and many other miscellaneous articles that I picked up here and there. In it is also some of the wood from the old Virginia prison building which was torn down while I was there. …

    Another table, which I call my masterpiece, contains more than 75,000 separate pieces of wood. This was the last table I made. I tested myself to see what I could do.

    Taken in its entirety, my collection is the eight wonder of the world. In it are four tables, one suitcase, ten treasure boxes, four cups and one vase – twenty pieces in all. In the suitcase are 386 pieces of wood, while the treasure chests contain anywhere from 641 to 2,350 pieces each. The four cups each contain from 130 to 140 pieces. In the vase are only five pieces.

    I was 11 years making the articles in the collection. The fact that I could work on them only a little while at the time added to the difficulty of their making. They were made during my spare time and under conditions far from ideal.

    No paints or stains were used in finishing any of the articles. They are all finished and polished in their natural colors. Each tiny block of wood as cut and put in place by hand. A hammer, saw, plane and pocketknife were the tools I used.

    Sidna received a pardon and in1926, true to his plan, set out to exhibit his collection of folk marquetry to the public. Over the next several years Sidna’s collection was shone throughout the communities Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia. The court house shootout that sent Sidna to prison had made him a celebrity as the event received extensive coverage by the American press. In the communities that Sidna visited and exhibited his art (for a small admission fee) he was as much a curiosity as his collection.

    Those who have viewed my exhibit, and thousands have done so, have seemed much interested. Frequently, moreover, they ask me questions concerning myself, and sometimes I have difficulty in convincing them I really am Sidna Allen. They appear to be looking for a big rough looking man – who looks the part of a regular desperado."**