Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It was a different era of history, culture and politics but there are often parallels between the kind of stories that made headlines then and today. As interesting as the differences may be, so are the similarities. These are some of the top stories from this week in 1961. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Suspended Criminal and Civil Court Clerk Kathleen Hartley and W.W. Richardson, her former chief deputy clerk, both entered pleas of nolo contendere (no contest) to amended charges of embezzling court funds.
The defendants’ pleas were entered in Criminal Court before Judge A. Lloyd Layton.
County Solicitor Edward M. Booth, in explaining the plan to the media, said the pleas were “tantamount to a plea of guilty.”
The amended charges filed by Booth accused Hartley and Richardson of embezzling $8,668, or a total of $17,336, from the court clerk’s office. They were charged originally with embezzling a total of $35,896.30.
After hearing testimony from witnesses produced in the case by Booth, Layton deferred a verdict and sentencing of Hartley and Richardson until April 17. Both were allowed to leave the courtroom under the $5,000 bond each had posted.
Each defendant was facing an automatic fine of $8,668 and whatever other punishment the court deemed fit to impose. Each could be sentenced to 20 years in prison on the embezzlement charge, Booth said.
• At a program commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, Rotary International President Joseph Abey urged the club’s members to “light a candle of friendship and service that will shine around the world and prove that Rotary is alive and Rotary is worthwhile.”
The special guest at the banquet, held in the auditorium at the George Washington Hotel, was Gov. Farris Bryant, who spoke briefly and welcomed Abey to Jacksonville and to Florida. Bryant was a member of the Rotary Club of Ocala and an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Tallahassee.
“It’s a pleasure to visit a state where the people had the good sense to elect a Rotarian as governor,” Abey said.
In his address, Abey said that “during blood wars we work together with our allies through a central command. I can’t understand why we don’t do this during these times to serve mankind.”
He said he believed that Rotary International could promote people joining together in service.
“We can join hands to be effective around the world, but we must start at home to build strong communities and a strong nation, then bring free nations together and force communism to its feet,” said Abey.
Abey, from Reading, Pa., was introduced by S. Kendrick Guernsey, member of the local club and a past international president.
• The law in 20th century America had become so complex that no single man could master all of it nor could a man without legal training or advice effectively protect his rights or obtain justice, said Circuit Judge Roger J. Waybright.
He said the situation made the founding and expansion of legal aid societies “vital to avoid the trampling of the rights of those who could not afford legal advice.”
Waybright made the remarks at the annual meeting of the Duval County Legal Aid Society at the Robert Meyer Hotel.
Waybright noted the changes in American law from the days of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln to 1962, when, he said, specialization in legal practice, as in medicine, went on “without limits.”
He said the point had been reached in legal relationships that a man could not do anything for himself.
“We have got to have an escape valve so that a person who cannot afford a lawyer can get legal service and justice and where he can get legal aid without a trampling on his rights,” Waybright said.
At the meeting, John H. McCormack Jr., vice president of the Atlantic National Bank, was elected president of the society, succeeding Dr. Jack G. Hand.
Officers of the society elected with McCormack were Franklin Reinstine, first vice president; Madeline Downing Knight, second vice president; Lewis Ansbacher, secretary; and Luther H. Paul, treasurer.
In his annual report, Hand said during 1961 the society closed out 1,191 of the 2,171 cases brought to it. He reported 101 cases had been assigned to members of The Jacksonville Bar Association, who contributed their services free of charge.
Hand noted one case of particular interest in which society help was most urgent.
The plaintiff in the case was a tenant who was in arrears in his rent and asked the society’s aid in recovering his upper dental plate.
The man’s landlord was holding the false teeth until the rent was paid. The society got back the man’s teeth.
• William Foster Jr., who was sentenced Feb. 24, 1961, to imprisonment for a year and a day upon his conviction for intimidating two FBI agents, began serving his sentence.
Foster, of 8255 Hogan Road, appealed his conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which affirmed the finding of the U.S. District Court in Jacksonville. After the mandate of the appellate court, Foster was given 10 days by U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson to get his affairs in order before beginning his sentence.
Foster was convicted of threatening the agents with a rifle when they called at his home and sought to question him in connection with an investigation of the Oct. 12, 1958, bombing of a Jewish synagogue in Atlanta.
The agents testified Foster ordered them from his property after they identified themselves.
The agents said that when they again asked him to answer a few questions, Foster stepped inside the house and immediately returned with a rifle, which he brandished at them and repeated his order for them to leave.
During the trial, Foster denied he had threatened the agents with a rifle. He contended that they were trespassing and should have obeyed his order to leave.
The appellate court, however, declared the agents were at Foster’s home in the discharge of their duties, and that after being ordered to leave the premises were not permitted time to do so before being threatened by Foster.
• Robert Hall Jacobs, director of the Atlanta Public Library System, visited Jacksonville and said the city’s need for a new public library was the most critical of any city in the United States.
He had in 1958 surveyed library needs in Jacksonville and subsequently took an interest in the improvement of the local library facilities.
Jacobs’ comments were echoed by City Commissioner Dallas Thomas, who described Jacksonville as “woefully behind other American cities” in terms of developing library services.
Jacobs and Thomas urged support of a proposal to issue $7.65 million in general obligation bonds to finance a new central library and other municipal projects.
The bond issue, $3.9 million of which was earmarked for the library project, would be voted on April 3 in a freeholder’s referendum.
Both Jacobs and Thomas said the acquisition of the Windle Hotel next to the proposed library site at Adams and Ocean streets would be necessary if the new library was to be constructed adequately in terms of future needs.
Other designated uses for the funds would be a Downtown improvement project calling for bulkheading and filling of property adjacent to the Duval County Courthouse and City Hall and construction of a waterfront drive from the Broad Street viaduct to Market Street.
A waterfront park between the Acosta and Alsop (Main Street) bridges also was part of the plan for the proposed bond issue.
The park would be “not just another park, but a beautiful showplace,” said Thomas.
Plans called for installation of 50 small piers capable of docking boats up to 50 feet long and an illuminated fountain which would be visible at night.
• Americans had become an undisciplined people and their respect for law and order fell far short of the best standards of good government, members of the Meninak Club of Jacksonville were told at their meeting at the Mayflower Hotel.
Circuit Judge Frank Elmore said many Americans confused liberty with license to shun the obligations of freedom.
“Some public officials feel free to use their office not as a public trust, but to gratify personal ambition and greed. Some citizens feel free to be indifferent or cynical and not vote,” said Elmore.
Under such conditions, self-government ceases to be democratic and becomes tyrannical or corrupt, he said.