The 1915 Wyman Murders

Sometime between 1905 and 1910, Guy Herbert Wyman, and his father Peter Wyman surveyed the Florida coast between Pensacola, and Destin. They purchased around 200 acres in what was then called Harris, but now known as Navarre. Guy’s parents, Peter and Emily Wyman built a home on what is called Lower Pritchard Point on Santa Rosa Sound.

On June 17^th 1915, neighbors of the Wyman’s were getting concerned because no one had seen them, and the chickens had not been let out of the hen house. It was noticed that freight on their dock that had not been attended to. Upon further investigation, the horrific murders of the elderly couple were discovered and the authorities notified.

The Wyman’s were found in different rooms. Mr. Wyman was shot, it appeared, while he was lying down, or possibly starting to rise. He had been shot once with the wounds located in his neck and left arm and shoulder.  Emily Wyman had been shot at least twice, and it looked like she had been trying to flee the attackers. One was almost a contact wound as her gown had scorch marks. Deputy S.H. Lowery later testified that the head wound was the size of the palm of his hand, and there was blood and brain matter on the wall.  W. W. Day, a Forest Ranger living in the East Bay area, was also one of the first on the scene and he described finding shotgun shells by a window, one on the front porch, and one on the mantle inside the house.

Santa Rosa County Sheriff J. H. Harvell arrived later on the 17^th. He stopped in Holley to get the services of a physician, and undertaker. Deputy Lowery found four sets of bare footprints by the front gate and traces near a window. There was one large set of footprints and three smaller sets. The large set was peculiar and quite distinctive because the big toe was extended more than normal.

Sheriff Harvell spent a lot of time over the next couple of days examining the crime scene, and talking to people in the area.  By the 19^th he had four local men in custody in the Santa Rosa County jail in Milton. The four in custody were Brothers, Jim Roberts, 17 years old; Preston, (Percy) Roberts, 18, and their half-brother, William Brady Roberts, 24. Also in custody, was Elder Mitchell, 19 years old. Another suspect named John Barbaree, 33, would soon be arrested also. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 24^th. All those arrested lived in the Holley, East Bay area.

The 1910 census shows the Roberts family living in the Holley, East Bay area. Their father was John, (Jake) Roberts and their mother was Dora. Brady Roberts was Dora’s son by her first husband. His last name was Cordill, or Cordell, but at this time he was using Roberts for a surname. Brady was the only one of the brothers to be married. His wife was Alice (Rigdon) Roberts.

Elder Mitchell was the son of Henry, and Emmaline Mitchell who lived in the Holley, East Bay area. In the 1910 census, he was living with his widowed father near John Barbaree, and his wife Missouri.

The motive for the killings seemed to be robbery. The Wyman’s were well-off, and rumors indicated they had a large stash of money. Stolen items were two watches, two pistols, and other articles not listed. Also, in one article there is a claim that $80 was stolen. The bodies of the Wyman’s were removed to the undertaker parlor on West Romana St, in Pensacola operated by Frank R. Pou. Later their bodies were shipped to Ottawa, Illinois an interred in the Summer View Cemetery.  A telegram had been sent to Lt. Wyman in the Philippines informing him of his parents’ deaths. Word was received that Wyman was on his way back to the states. He was going to Peoria, Illinois first, then making his was to Florida.

The Trial of the Roberts Brothers

The trial for the three Roberts brothers was severed from the prosecution of Mitchell, and Barbaree. Mitchell was talking to the prosecution at this time, and that is the most likely reason.  The trial was also only for the murder of Emily Wyman. This was a hedge against the possibility of acquittal. The Peter Wyman murder trial was held back to prevent a possible double jeopardy situation.

A brief timeline: The Murders were committed 15 June 1915, and the arrests occurred on the 19^th of June after a quick on-scene inquest, where evidence was examined, and witnesses called. Council was obtained on the 21^st by two uncles of the Roberts boys. William Pinson Roberts, and his brother James Wilson Roberts were both doctors living in Alabama. They retained Attorney John McDuffie of Monroeville, Alabama to assist William W. Clark of Milton for the defense. John McDuffie later became a U.S. Congressman, and a Federal Judge.

Observing the prosecution was Thomas F. West, the Attorney-General.  He was later a Justice on the Florida Supreme Court, and a circuit Judge.

Judge: Angus G. Campbell

State Solicitor: John P. Stokes

Atty General: Thomas F. West, (conferred with Stokes, and took notes, but did not participate)

Defense: Mr. William W. Clark, from Milton, Florida.

              Mr. John McDuffie, from Monroeville, Alabama.

State had 21 witnesses listed.

Assembling the jury took about three hours.

Jury: J.H. Plant, George L. Abbott, (later named Jury Foreman), J.W. Wheeler, J.A. Nichols, J.B. Wiggins, A.B. Lewis, R.G. Payne, A.L. McArthur, E.D. Cooper, E.H. Pitts, W.E. Stanley, and I.D. Mock.

Defense asked for a continuance- denied by Judge Campbell.

Defense asked for a change of venue to Walton Co.- Judge Campbell denied.

The morning testimony were witnesses about the scene of the crime, including,

Dr. Phillips: From Pensacola. Called as first witness by state. Physician called to scene of murders. Testified as to condition of bodies. Mrs. Wyman found on a bed; shotgun wound to right side of head the size of the palm of his hand. Her gown had been scorched.

Peter Wyman found in different room. Both had been dead 48-60 hours and decomposition had set in.  He also testified that there was a hole torn in the screen where Mr. Wyman was found. He had no powder marks on his body.

Charles Cottrell: Pensacola photographer, with studios at 204 ½, S. Palafox.  Took photos of crime scene about 2-3 weeks before trial.

T. H. Lempke: Bagdad Draftsman, created diagram of Wyman home 2 weeks before trial. Measurements were accurate, and diagram was displayed to jury and witnesses during testimony.

W.W. Day: Testified that he was a forest ranger and lived on the East Bay. He was one of the first to visit the house after the bodies were discovered. He found empty shells under a window, on the front porch, and one on the mantel. He notified Sheriff Harvell.

Elder Mitchell: Testimony: He is about 20 years old, but doesn’t know for sure. He knew where Wyman home was located. He knew the Roberts brothers, and was afraid of them. Before the killing, he talked to Barbaree, and Brady Roberts, who asked him if Barbaree ever said anything about, “going up there and take what the old folks had.” Mitchell claimed he refused to go and Barbaree, and Brady Roberts said they would kill him unless he went. He said he tried not to go, and again was told he would be killed.

On the afternoon of the murders, he claimed Jim Roberts came to him and they had a talk about going up to the Wyman’s house and “taking what they had”. Roberts told him they were going and he would have to go. Roberts left, but later returned. Mitchell took his father’s gun and Roberts had his own gun. They went over to the Sound and walked up the beach where they joined Barbaree, and Percy Roberts. At some point Brady Roberts joined them.

They all walked up the beach to the wharf near the Wyman’s house. Jim, Percy, and John Barbaree went to the house. Mitchell, and Brady Roberts stayed at the wharf. The house was 150-200 yards away. Percy, and Jim were carrying the guns.

While on the wharf they heard three shots fired about an hour after the three had left and walked toward the house. Brady Roberts then left the wharf and walked toward the house, leaving Mitchell on the wharf by himself.

Shortly thereafter, the Roberts brothers, and Barbaree returned to the wharf, and Barbaree, Jim and Percy Roberts each gave Mitchell one dollar. Then they all got into the Wyman’s skiff and went to the Roberts boat. They then set the Wyman skiff adrift. All were barefooted except Barbaree. They went to Oglesby’s Rosin wharf about a mile away. At that time, Jim Roberts, Mitchell, and Barbaree went to Mitchell’s house and stayed the night. The others stayed the night at the old mill office. (Mitchell stated that the shots he heard happened around midnight.)

Mitchell said the arrests occurred the day after the inquest. He said the killing was a Tuesday in June.

Defense Attorney Clark cross-examined him at length and succeeded in confusing Mitchell about his statements leading up to the trial. He acknowledged his fear of the Roberts brothers, and when asked why he didn’t inform the Sheriff he said he was, “skeered to do it”.   He also said he had been promised nothing for his testimony.

Ethel Mitchell: (wife) testified that Jim Roberts, John Barbaree and his wife had visited her home the day of the murders. She testified about her husband leaving with a gun that night, and returning the next morning. While testifying, she had a child in her lap that cried and wriggled possibly shortening her time on the stand.

Mrs. Missouri Barbaree: Said on night of killing she stayed at the Mitchell house. She saw Jim Roberts with Mitchell that night.

John (Jake) Roberts: Father of Roberts brothers. Said he could not be sure if a shotgun shown to him belonged to his son Jim. The defendant said out loud, “That’s mine alright”. He said Jim, and Mitchell worked for him in the turpentine business, and Percy and Brady fished for him.

Gus Harvell: Lived at the head of East Bay. He fished the Oglesby wharf, and was there with his brother Dock Harvell the night of the murders. He heard shots coming from the east. Two shots quick, and one about a minute later. Dock was asleep, but said Gus woke him up in time to hear the last shot. They were related to Sheriff Harvell.

Robert Oglesby: He knew the Wyman’s and had worked for them. He was the person who found their bodies.

S. H. Lowery: Deputy Sheriff. Found tracks around the house of barefoot men. He told of seeing footprints near the front gate, and slight traces near a window. The prints were from multiple bare-footed men and one set of prints of shoes. One set of foot prints were larger than the others. It was peculiar due to the abnormal extension of the big toe. During the inquest, Brady Roberts foot was compared to the peculiar set of prints, and found to be a perfect fit. He also testified that he found trunks open and contents disordered. Several empty pocket books were found.

Next day’s testimony:

Sheriff Harvell: Called to the Wyman house at Lower Pritchard Point on Santa Rosa Sound on June 17. He stopped at Holley to get a Physician, and an undertaker. He then testified about methods used to compare exploded cartridges found at Wyman house with cartridges exploded for the jury.  The finding was that the guns taken from the defendant’s homes were the murder weapons. 

The Jim Roberts Letters

Jim Roberts, while in jail, wrote a series of notes intended for Elder Mitchell. Roberts was imploring Mitchell not to testify against the brothers, and repeatedly confessed to the murders.

The notes were given to a prisoner named G.W. White while the brothers were in the Escambia County jail. Instead of passing them to Mitchell, White gave them to the authorities.

Chief Deputy C. J. Hoffman of Pensacola testified to a conversation he overheard between Roberts and White in which Roberts told how he shot the Wyman’s.

Jim’s notes:

G. W. White testified about the notes. He was in the county jail in Pensacola.

1^st note:  Elder, don’t tell nothing on me, for I like you, and if you was to tell all you know on me and Purce and John it would go hard on us. You know you did not go to the house, you ought to went. Don’t forget me Elder. I am sending this by G.W. White. From your old friend, Jim Roberts.

2^nd note: Hello Elder, How are you getting along. I am worried bad, Elder. I don’t believe you will tell anything on me and Percy and John and Brady. If you won’t tell that I won’t ever forget you Elder. You know you wouldn’t go to the house. That is the reason I wrote this. Don’t tell this for God’s sake, Elder. I don’t think you will Elder. John said when we was at the house, he said ‘that boy is a-going to tell this Jim. We ought to have made him come along.’ Well I guess I will stop for they might catch me writing and then I would be up against it. I am sending this by White. He is all right, I think. Don’t forget me old boy. From Jim Roberts

3^rd note: “Well Elder, this is the last one that I am a-going to write you, and now Elder if you tell this, we’ll put it all on you, for there is four against one and you know that. Elder I don’t believe you will tell what you ---- on us. John said you would tell it. I told him you wouldn’t Elder. Me and Purse done all the work, so don’t tell it on us, for God’s sake. Well I won’t write no more, so good-bye, my old friend. Jim Roberts

When the jury was presented the notes, it was absolutely quiet in the crowded courtroom. Every jury member scrutinized the notes carefully.

White said Roberts told him how he had shot the old man when he started to arise, and he fell after being shot, with his feet hanging over the side of the bed.  White was in jail for selling liquor without a license. He had resided in Century for about a year.

After learning Mitchell had given the letters to the authorities, and seeing him at the courthouse, Roberts told him he would have people in the courtroom who would get him when he got out.

Alibis:

Percy, (19) said on the night of the murder, he and Brady were on Santa Rosa Sound fishing, and had been there for two weeks. They had a net and two skiffs. He claimed Brady was wearing shoes. Brady also claimed he was fishing at the time of the murders.

All three Roberts were found guilty with no recommendation for mercy for the killing of killing Emily Wyman. The jury deliberated for 30 minutes.

Elder Mitchell gave self-serving statements implicating the others in the murder. If Jim Roberts had not wrote the notes, and kept his mouth shut, there would have only been circumstantial evidence against them. Chances are they would have been convicted anyway, but Mitchell’s testimony, along with the letters, sealed their fate.

In August, all three were sentenced to death by hanging which would have happened in Milton.

Later, eight jurors wrote to the state parole board asking for mercy. In December 1916, the parole board commuted the sentences to life.

There was a trial in November 1915 was for the murder of Peter Wyman in which the Roberts brothers, and John Barbaree were found guilty of his murder, and all sentenced to Life in prison. This trial had the same witnesses and testimony of the first trial except that Lt. Guy Wyman, son of the murdered couple, testified that a watch recovered from the Roberts’ had belonged to his father.

Elder Mitchell, (probably in the Hall of Fame for jailhouse snitches), pleaded guilty to two counts of 2^nd degree murder, January 1917, and was given a life sentence.

In the Pensacola News Journal on 28 June 1917, it was reported that all five convicted for the Wyman murders were loaded on a train, and sent on their way to Raiford, the Florida State Prison.

Elder Mitchell’s Prison Break

From the Tampa Tribune, 14 June 1923:

Elder Mitchell, and a convicted murderer from Panama City, named Leslie Layman, escaped from the Captain Willis Road Camp near Ehren, Fla, which is east of New Port Richey in a swampy area.  They escaped on 10 June, and were recaptured on Wednesday afternoon, June 13.

At 2 pm on the 13th, Deputy Sheriff L.B. Lennon received a call from the Chapman district, where two men had attempted to steal a “large touring car”, from a private garage.  Accompanied by Constable James Stokes, he found Layman being held by three men. Layman admitted his identity, and was taken to the county jail. Lennon contacted Captain Willis, and along with Stokes, began searching for Mitchell. Soon Willis arrived with bloodhounds, and a small posse. The hounds tracked Mitchell to a secluded neighborhood east of Chapman where an old friend of Mitchell lived. He was taken into custody there.

Mitchell had been a trustee at the Camp for seven years.

Layman had been convicted of killing a woman in Panama City in 1920. He killed her, and stole her car, drove it to Alabama, where he was captured.

Parole

It seems that once upon a time, if you got the death penalty, you would usually be executed within a couple of years. Apparently, life sentences meant that you would serve around ten years, (at least in this case). There was an article in the Tampa Tribune on Sept. 7, 1924, “Pardon Board will Decide on 81 Pleas.” The three Roberts brothers were listed.  Jim Roberts was pardoned April 1, 1925. His brothers were pardoned around the same time, but I could not find a newspaper report. Mitchell, and Barbaree were pardoned in 1929.

Jim Roberts Lawsuit

In May of 1929, there was a report of a lawsuit, and subsequently a bill introduced by the state legislature to compensate Jim Roberts, who was living in Bagdad since his parole. On Dec. 15, 1922, the Raiford prison doctor, J.L. Chalk operated on Jim for appendicitis. Apparently, he left forceps inside Roberts’ abdomen which caused constant pain until removed in another operation on March 13, 1929. The compensation was $5000.

Epilog

In March of 1929, the Tampa Times reported that Elder Mitchell was pardoned. The same article stated that Restoration of Citizenship had been restored to John Barbaree. I’m not sure if it is the same Barbaree, but probably is.

In Feb. 1935 Elder Mitchell and his wife were seriously injured while passengers in a truck driven by Ossie Rigby, who died in the crash. Five miles south of Crestview, they ran into a parked car on the side of the road with no lights. They were taken to the Enzor Hospital. The Mitchell’s were living in Ft. Walton Beach at the time. Elder Mitchell died on 28 August 1946.

John Preston, (Jake) Roberts, father of the Roberts brothers, in 1920 was running a boarding house in Bagdad with his wife, Dora on River Front Water Street. In 1924, Dora died in Bagdad, and is buried in the Bagdad cemetery.  In 1930, Jake is either remarried, or cohabiting with a woman named Emma. I could not find a marriage record.  By 1935, maybe using Jim’s settlement money, they had relocated to East Tampa, in Hillsborough County. In 1940 he was living in the same place with Jim and was listed as a widower. He died in 1948 and was buried in the Providence Cemetery in Hillsborough county.

By 1930, Brady was living in Deland, Florida; 1940 in Volusia County, Florida; 1945 in Duval County. At some point he began using the Cordell surname, and died in Duval County, July 19, 1964.

John Preston “Percy” Roberts died in Hillsborough County, Florida on March 9, 1977.

James Milton “Jim” Roberts died in Hillsborough County, Florida on June 1, 1970.

John Barbaree was paroled in 1929. In September of 1933 he took up residence in Pahokee, Florida, which is located on the southeast side of Lake Okeechobee. He was working for the Southern Sugar Company, and in March of 1934 allowed a man named J.C. Morton move in with him. On April first, the body of John Barbaree was found 3 miles east of Indiantown, Florida. Supposedly Barbaree had $200-$500 on him from the sale of some property. His money, his car, and his roommate were missing. Through investigation it was determined that Barbaree was most likely attacked while he was asleep. He had a wound near his temple, possibly from an ice pick, and he had been hit in the head with a blunt instrument.  It is thought he was killed around 10 pm on Saturday night, wrapped in a tarpaulin, and dumped where his body was found.  Nothing more on J.C. Morton could be found.

Lt. Guy Herbert Wyman.

Wyman had an interesting life. There is much written about him and his life in the Panhandle. He sold much of the land he owned on Santa Rosa Sound to developers, and his war-bride Noelle gave it the name, Navarre. 

Later Wyman and Noelle were divorced, and he remarried. The Pensacola News Journal on July 15, 1932 reported that Wyman had shot and killed his ex-wife Noelle when she showed up at his home. This was the same house that his parents died in back in 1915. He shot her twice with a 30-30 rifle when she threatened his new wife.  He claimed self-defense, and was acquitted in trial.  During the depression Wyman sold some of his land to the county, and part of that parcel is now the Navarre Park.