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The Blue Sink Murders

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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Sunday, January 22, 2023

Lester and George

 Lester Pooley and George Wallace

Lester Pooley, older brother of Ben Henry Pooley of Bagdad, Florida had more than 300 pro, and amateur fights. He lost only 9. He fought as a 112-pound flyweight. It was said that he was, “Quick on his legs, fast with his fists.” And “rugged, cunning, and tough.”

In 1935 he won the southeast AAU championship at 16 years old. While still an amateur he would use a false identity to fight professional bouts. The sawmill in Bagdad had shut down so he fought against professionals to support himself.

He defeated Joe Dan Trotman who later became a Judge in DeFuniak Springs. He also knocked out Lew Jenkins, a future lightweight world champ in a Bogalusa, Louisiana fight.

On Feb. 12, 1936 in a Golden Gloves semi-final bout in Nashville, Tenn., he fought future Alabama Governor George C. Wallace and won by unanimous decision.

Many years later at an airport press conference during his presidential campaign Wallace said, “I’m sure glad to see this outpouring of support for my campaign and I’m certainly glad to see my old friend Lester Pooley. You know, Lester whipped me once in a Golden Gloves competition, and he did a pretty good job of it. I’m glad to see he’s on my side now.”

On more than one occasion, Wallace asked Pooley to join his staff as a bodyguard. Pooley always refused. He told the Governor he had a drinking problem, “I might stay sober for a time, but if I took the notion to get juiced-up, I’d do it.” I told him I might help him, but I believe I’d hurt him.

Nov. 30, 1975, Pensacola News-Journal

             

                                                                          Feb. 23, 1936, Pensacola Journal

Monday, January 9, 2023

Death in a Turnip Field

            

             Mrs. Estelle Phillips, a 32-year-old mother of six children, was working in a 40-acre turnup field one day near Robertsdale, Alabama in late March 1941, when an airplane swooped down and sliced her head off. The aircraft left a 6-inch-deep furrow in the ground from a wingtip and a small boy was also injured. Later folks in an adjoining field reported that the aircraft had made dives at them too.

            The police were called to the scene and took eyewitness reports and it wasn’t long before their investigation crossed paths with an investigation out of Corry Field in Pensacola concerning a Boeing Stearman trainer aircraft that had returned to base with damage. Two Naval Ensigns who had just recently graduated flight training and were named instructor pilots were taken into custody.

            Ensign Paul C. Brown, from Chicago, who was the pilot that day, and Ensign Joseph C. Thompson, from Healdsburg California, were court-martialed. They were convicted of Involuntary Manslaughter. Brown was sentenced to 24 months, and Thompson got a 12-month sentence. Both were to be served at the prison in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

            The Federal Government gave $5000 to Mrs. Phillips’s husband and six children for compensation which even though it was 1941, doesn’t seem nearly enough.

            The two culprits in this case only served 5 months and Brown got married four days after he was released in New York City. In a newspaper from December 1942, I found an article saying that Thompson had a job instructing Naval Cadets at Plumas County airport near Beckwith, California.

            Hopefully, Mr. Thompson taught the young cadets about the fatal consequences of childish displays of bravado when your ego outweighs your talent.