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.
• A Miami man who learned from library books how to counterfeit bills was arrested and booked into the Duval County jail in lieu of $1,500 bond.
Charles Sturdivant, 49, waived a preliminary hearing before U.S. Commissioner T.V. Cashen on charges of possession and passing $10 counterfeit bills.
R.N. McDavid, agent in charge of the Jacksonville office of the U.S. Secret Service, said Sturdivant admitted making the notes and passing several, the first on May 29 in Miami. Sturdivant also admitted passing two of the bills in Savannah, two in local theaters and one in a bar.
It was the fake $10 bill he passed in a tavern that landed Sturdivant in jail. A bartender said she spotted a fake bill given to her by Sturdivant for a drink and notified the bar manager, Ray Galton, who called police.
Sturdivant was picked up about 9 a.m., shortly after he left a bar at 125 Main St. by police Sgt. J.R. Jenkins and Patrolman M.M. Woodley and placed in the jail.
A search of Woodley’s patrol car turned up four counterfeit bills stuffed under the back seat and a key to a locker at Union Terminal.
A search of the locker revealed Sturdivant’s suitcase, which contained another 27 of the fake bills. McDavid described the bills as “crude.”
Sturdivant told investigators that he operated alone and made the bills himself. He said he read books about engraving and photography in the public library in Miami and used homemade equipment to manufacture the counterfeit currency.
• H. George Carrison, an investment banker, was selected to lead a task force of community leaders seeking to put Blount Island on the map.
He was a senior vice president of Pierce, Carrison and Walburn. He was named by County Commissioner Bob Harris to chair a committee of 50 civic, financial, political, industrial and labor leaders who were to present a workable solution to financial challenges associated with the development of the island as an industrial and shipping center of the Southeast.
The primary duty of the committee would be to devise a feasible plan to finance the development of the site. The other goal would be to come up with a program of public and political relations to generate widespread interest and support for the project.
Commission Chair Fletcher Morgan asked for support, hard work and cooperative effort from the members of the committee, who would study a previous report before meeting in common session.
County Engineer John Crosby outlined the island’s economic potential and said a bridge could be built between the western side of the island and Heckscher Drive for about $500,000.
Carrison said he would call a meeting of the group in about a month.
• A lie detector test was administered to a man who claimed two Jacksonville detectives got him drunk and induced him to confess a series of local burglaries.
Will Rogers Perry, who was sentenced July 10 to serve 12 years in prison on his plea of guilty to a $4,380 burglary at the Mayflower Hotel, requested the lie detector test in a letter he wrote to Criminal Judge William T. Harvey. Perry had also filed a motion, through his attorney Giles Lewis, asking the judge to vacate the sentence.
Claiming innocence, Perry charged that the detectives had induced him to admit the hotel burglary with the promise he would be sentenced to no more than five years in prison.
Perry’s motion said he was questioned until about 11 p.m. June 13 when the detectives promised him a light sentence if he confessed.
Perry claimed one of the detectives called Assistant County Solicitor R. Hudson Oliff at the prosecutor’s home, conversed with him, then turned to Perry and said, “Mr. Oliff wants to know what your angle is – two, three or five – so there you go, five is the most you can get.”
Perry said the officers later got him drunk on whiskey and he confessed five more burglaries on a promise they’d never be used against him. No charges were filed against Perry, except in the Mayflower burglary.
Perry quoted the detectives as saying they wanted his confession so they could “clean up their old outstanding records.”
County Solicitor Edward M. Booth denied that Oliff made any statement to the detectives as alleged in Perry’s motion. While Perry did not claim he had talked to Oliff about the case, Booth said he wanted it clearly understood that Oliff never discussed it with Perry before the sentence was imposed.
Booth arranged for the lie detector test to be administered in Gainesville by Alachua County Deputy Sheriff Harry Layfield. Booth said Layfield was an expert with the lie detector machine whose services were used by prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement officers throughout North Florida.
During the test on Saturday, Perry admitted he lied. Layton filed a report, which was expected to play an important role in the hearing before Harvey at 10 a.m. Monday. (To be continued.)
• The Federal Communications Commission proposed a third commercial television station for the Jacksonville area.
Jacksonville was one of eight cities which might be allocated an additional VHF (Very High Frequency, channels numbered 2-12) under special exceptions to the rules relating to the distance between transmitters.
The FCC also announced a program of television channel shifts in various parts of the country designed to encourage the use of UHF (Ultra High Frequency) channels, numbered 14-83.
• The City Pardon Board ordered five prisoners released from custody. Applications from two other prisoners were denied and the board deferred action on two more.
One of the prisoners was released for treatment of tuberculosis. A mother of five children was freed to deliver her sixth child outside the prison farm. Both inmates were released on recommendations by medical authorities.
Another woman, the mother of four children and foster mother of two others, was released from a 90-day sentence imposed June 21 for shoplifting lunch meat from a market.
The board denied the request from the mother of an 18-year-old youth who was sentenced to 90 days June 12 for loitering. His record showed four arrests in the past year.
City Council President Oscar Mattox and Council member Ralph Walter deferred action on one applicant with an extensive record of drunkenness and referred him to Alcoholics Anonymous.