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Tampa Tribune 19 Oct 1967   On the 19 th of October 1967, students at Florida High School in Tallahassee were summoned to a meeting with Dr...

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Blog Contents, (not the book)

This is an incomplete list of the stories included in this blog. They are listed in order of latest to earliest added. You can either enter a search in the provided space, or scroll to the bottom to find the earlier posts. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy researching and writing about this aspect of our local history.

The Gainer / Collins Murders
The Infamous Coldest Case
The Treachery of Mrs. Vann
Husband believed in her innocence
Area War Dead
One small portion of a much too long list
Killer on the Road
Robbery, Kidnapping, Murder
Burden of Guilt
Solution to a Cold Case
A Killing, A Brothel and ....
The Armantrouts of Pensacola
A Very Tragic Chain of Events
A very sad tale
Murder on South Palafox
Workplace violence in 1905
The Tragic Death of Big Ed Morris
Fight at a Fatal Fish Fry
The Curious Killing of Charles Sudmall
Successful Russian Businessman killed in town
Tale of a Lynching
Prisoner J.C. Evans, left dead on the side of the road
Sheriff McDaniel of Jackson County
Shootout in his Driveway
The 1915 Wyman Murders
Home invasion and killing of Elderly Couple
The Kidnapping of Mrs. Phelps
Holmes County 77 year old widow kidnapped and beaten.
The Mulat Murders
Murder of Julian, and Mae Edwards
Bank of Jay Part II
Were the robbers Pensacola Police Officers?
The Jay Bank Robbery
January 1963 Bank Heist
Killing in Crestview

Was there really Justice for Lester Wilson's death?

The Phantom Ghoul of Whitmire

Grave desecration at the Roberts, and Whitmire cemeteries

Tragedy Near McLellan

The murder of Daisy Locklin Padgett

The Turpentine Feud of 1911

The Cooley family ambush and events leading up to it.

The Allen-Whitmire Shootout

Articles about the shootout at the L&N Depot in Milton

The Acreman Family Murder

The murders and arson of an entire family near Allentown

Retired School Teacher Kills Three Police Officers

Happened in Ocala, Florida

Unsolved Pensacola Axe Murder

Family attacked as they slept

Unsolved Murder of Henry Hicks Moore

Pensacola Lovers lane murder

Unsolved Hinote/Byers Murder

Young couple killed

The Short Life and Fast Times of Frank Penton

Chief Deputy and local Gunslinger

The Fate of Judge Trueman

Killed in Ogden, Utah

The Killing of John Wesley Penton

Shot down in the street in Milton

The Trial of C. B. Penton

Suspected of killing S.G. "Babe" Collins

The 1931 Pursuit and Capture of Criminals Near Milton

Captured in Mulat swamp



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Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Kidnapping of Mrs. Phelps


The Kidnapping of Mrs. Phelps

Mrs. Sophia Phelps of Bonifay, Holmes County, Florida, 77 years old and described as a crippled 95-pound woman, was the widowed wife of Confederate Civil War veteran, John Lucas Phelps. She was his third wife and had been married since 1890. Mr. Phelps received a pension from his service in the war, and had received a fairly large settlement not long before he died in 1931.

            There must have been rumors in the area that the widow Mrs. Phelps had a large sum of money secreted away in her home in Bonifay.  On the 17th of May in 1934, two brothers named Millard, and Dewey Keith, along with a friend named Bonard Retherford took a trip from Geneva, Alabama down the road to Bonifay and knocked on Mrs. Phelps front door.

            She answered the knock and when they told her that her Daughter-in-law was dead, she opened the door and let them in. Reportedly this was when Millard Keith slapped the 77-year-old woman and demanded money. She initially resisted, and then produced $1.80 and claiming that was all she had, gave it to them.  Not believing her, they took her out of the house and put her in their car. About this time, neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bailey were stopped outside near the house by Dewey Keith and at gunpoint told to get in the car.

            Unknown to the kidnappers, there was a guest, Mrs. Minnie Hudson, in another bedroom and she fled the house through the back door and went to the home of a neighbor named, Walter Fielding. Before the police could be notified the three men along with Mrs. Phelps and the Baileys, had departed the area.

            The kidnapping trio, took their hostages 12 miles north of Bonifay to a wooded area near a lake. Mrs. Phelps later said that one of the kidnappers told her he was John Dillinger and that, “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you don’t give me your money”.  He also threatened to kill her if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. According to Retherford’s later testimony, Millard Keith beat Mrs. Phelps and she finally told him she would give them her money. They returned to her home, but the Sheriff and a crowd of people were there. They abandoned her in the still moving car and fled the area. The Bailey’s had stayed under guard by Retherford, (according to his own confession), at the lake until released at daylight unharmed. I believe Dewey was the one who stayed with the Baileys at the lake. When the Sheriff arrived at the lake, the kidnapper thought it was his partners returning. When he saw the Sheriff, he jumped into the lake and swam away, later to be arrested at a friend’s house.  The Baileys hid in the woods until they saw it was the Sheriff and they were safe.

            The authorities investigated and found that Mrs. Phelps had $1200 in her home. They made her put it in a local bank. The three men were quickly arrested and held at Chipley in Washington county for their safety.

            On July 4, 1934, James Bonard Retherford, and Millard Keith were found guilty with no recommendation for mercy in the kidnapping.  Dewey had a separate trial and on the 14th of July he was found guilty but received a recommendation for mercy.

            These three young men were found guilty under the new “Lindbergh Kidnapping Law” which called for the death penalty if found guilty without a recommendation for mercy. Millard Keith, and Retherford were sentenced to death, and Dewey Keith was given a life sentence.

            In September of 1935 the convictions, and death sentences were overturned by the Florida Supreme Court and the two were granted a new trial due to the finding that the Holmes County Circuit Court failed to charge the jury correctly.  It was decided that the crime did not qualify as a kidnapping due to the fact that Mrs. Phelps was released after 2 hours, and no ransom was paid. It was considered an armed robbery. They were still found guilty and sentenced to life terms.

            Mrs. Phelps passed away 24 Nov 1939. She is buried next to her husband in the Red Hill Cemetery in Holmes County.

            I don’t know much about the Keith brothers after their convictions. I know Millard Keith was married and living in Jacksonville, FL by 1946.  He passed away in Gadsden Co., FL on 15 Sep 1987.
            Admiral Dewey Keith, (yes, that was his name), passed away in Geneva County, Alabama on 17 November 1996.

            Then we get to James Bonard Retherford and the rest of his short life. 

            Bonard Retherford, and the Keith brothers entered prison on December 20, 1935. On March 20, 1940, Retherford and two others escaped from a prison road camp in Alachua Co. On the 20th of July, 1940, he was recaptured and returned to the prison camp.

            He was paroled March 20, 1943 and registered as a criminal with the Orlando Police Department on the 27th of July.  He found employment as a truck driver by a friendly manager at the X-Cel Feed Company. After a few weeks, Retherford stole the manager’s car and drove it “Jooking” all over Florida and up into Alabama. He finally abandoned the car near Tallahassee, and was soon arrested on the 29th of December, and returned to Orlando. He pled guilty of the auto theft and was fined $100 and given six months in jail. His parole was revoked and he was returned to prison to serve more of his life sentence in the Phelps case.

            When his parole was revoked by Judge W. M. Murphy, Jr. Retherford turned to police officer, Sgt. Cloyce Palmer, who had tracked the auto theft case and brought Retherford back to Orlando, and told him, “I’ll be back.”

            On April 5, 1944, Retherford escaped from the road camp in Floral City, Florida. He made his way to Orlando, and took a taxi to the home of Sgt. Palmer. When Palmer answered the door Palmer told him, “Make a move, and I’ll kill you.” Palmer immediately attacked and grappled with Retherford, and during the struggle the escaped convict was fatally shot.

            Sgt. Cloyce Palmer retired from the Orlando Police Dept. on 30 June 1967 after 28 years on the force including 25 as a Sgt.  He passed away on Sept 18, 1987.