Government witness in civil rights trial impeached, Popwell wins local Soap Box Derby
Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It may have been 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 1960. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• The trial of 14 former Raiford State Prison guards entered its fourth week with no end in sight. The guards were being tried in federal court charged with violating the civil rights of 21 inmates of the prison’s maximum security building. The government contended the violations were the alleged infliction of unauthorized and illegal forms of punishment upon prisoners charged with breaking prison regulations.
The prosecution had presented 20 witnesses in the first three weeks of the trial. At the outset, defense attorneys were provided with a list of 120 potential government witnesses with the statement that all of them probably would not be called.
The most drastic form of punishment allegedly used upon prisoners, and which a number of the prisoner witnesses claimed to have suffered, consisted of shackling inmates to the bars of their cells.
The prisoners’ complaint was not that they had been shackled, but the length of time they were forced to remain restrained. The prisoners testified they had been shackled for as long as 72 hours.
Defense attorneys were disputing the length of time the inmates were shackled and also contentions that some of the prisoners had been forced to sit in salt or were sprayed with water from high-pressure hoses while they were restrained.
The defense was also attempting to show that the character of the convicts was such that physical restraint was often necessary. In one instance, it was brought out that a prisoner was handcuffed after he inflicted superficial wounds on his arm and abdomen on successive days.
One of the government’s witnesses was Charles Bashlor, who was convicted in 1951 for the murder of John Stephenson when the Jacksonville banker surprised Bashlor, who was prowling in his home. The life-termer was on the witness stand for almost four hours and testified he was shackled, salted down and hosed by guards.
Under cross-examination, Bashlor’s criminal record prior to the Jacksonville killing was brought out, including that he had stolen in Miami the pistol with which the banker was shot to death.
During cross-examination, Bashlor became irritated about questions concerning his early life and said, “I don’t see why the type of boy I was 10 years ago, at 16, has anything to do with the type of man I am now.”
After being assigned to the Apalachee Correctional Institution for young offenders, Bashlor escaped and fled to his hometown, Detroit, where he was recaptured two weeks later. After his conviction and sentencing for the murder, Bashlor unsuccessfully attempted to escape from a Raiford work detail, his prison record showed. While in the prison hospital being treated for psychoneurosis, he reportedly dismantled his bed and used a metal part from it in an attempt to smash down the door to his hospital room.
Following the incident, Bashlor admitted, he was placed in a bare cell in the hospital and while there broke out a piece of window glass. He used it to slash his wrist so that he would not be removed from the hospital and confined and punished for damaging the door.
Bashlor testified he was placed in solitary confinement, however, and was handcuffed to his cell door for 18 hours and sprayed with tear gas.
On Wednesday, an inmate admitted fellow prisoners had told him what to say when he testified in the trial of the guards. The admission came from Charles Wheeler under cross-examination by defense attorney Chester Bedell.
After Wheeler, under redirect examination by U.S. Attorney E. Coleman Madsen, declared his previous testimony was untrue, Madsen immediately moved for the dismissal of the indictment about which the convict was testifying. The indictment charged Earl Chesser, guard lieutenant in charge of the maximum security building, and guards James Barton and Russell Carter, with mistreating Wheeler.
The government’s motion to dismiss was granted by U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson. It was noted the dismissal would have little effect on the rest of the trial since Chesser was named in 21 other indictments, Barton in 10 others, Carter in six others and all of them were named in two conspiracy indictments.
Bedell, before attacking Wheeler’s credibility, brought out that the prisoner, who was serving a life term for murder, had been in prisons most of his adult life. He had also been charged with many violations of prison regulations including attacks on fellow inmates, fighting and attempting to escape a number of times.
The breakdown in Wheeler’s testimony began when Bedell pointed out that while Wheeler, in court, had said he was chained to his cell bars for one day and hosed once, he told FBI agents and a federal grand jury he had been cuffed for 48 hours and hosed four times.
“Did somebody tell you what to say when you were questioned about this case?” asked Bedell.
“Sure,” said Wheeler.
Madsen attempted to draw from Wheeler which part of his testimony was untrue but Simpson halted that line of questioning with the ruling that it was improper for the government to attempt to impeach its own witness.
• Shaking off a bad start, 12-year-old Wade Popwell secured his spot in the All-America Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio, when he won the local gravity-powered car competition.
In his aptly named homemade racer, “Wooden Nickel,” because it was hard to pass, Popwell out-coasted one driven by Peter Setley, 14, who was the other finalist.
The winner lined up his car slightly off course and when the race began, the car sideswiped the launching ramp and almost overturned. Popwell managed to keep it under control but then found himself skidding over thick layers of clay spoiling his lane on the slope of the Western Expressway near Ellis Road.
Undeterred, Popwell’s racer overtook Setley’s about midway down the 1,000-foot race and finished with a four-length lead. The winning time was 39.5 seconds.
H.J. Williams, chair of the Jaycee-sponsored project, said he thought Popwell would do well in the national competition.
“Last year’s champ, the first ever to represent Jacksonville, lost out in his first race, but Wade has put in a lot of time and talent in his car and its speed indicated he can do all right,” said Williams.