Have you ever wondered what stories made headlines in Jacksonville 50 years 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 the news in 1958 and today. As interesting as the similarities may be, so are the differences. These are some of the top stories published in the Florida Times-Union 50 years ago this week. The items were compiled by Staff Writer Max Marbut from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives.
• A “pay up or else” edict issued by County Solicitor Lacy Mahon Jr. to bail bondsmen who had not settled accounts on forfeited bonds came to light at a meeting of the County Commission. Bondsman Fred Guy Crews appeared before the Commission and asked them to accept $7,380 as payment for $12,000 in judgments against his agency resulting from bonds estreated in the Criminal Court of Record. The Commission called on Mahon for clarification before acting on a resolution to accept the settlement that was introduced by Commissioner Joe Burnett. Mahon told the commissioners he had no recommendation to make but did say, “I think the judgments of the court are good and the securities (to cover the full payment of the bonds) are there.” Mahon and Assistant County Solicitor Norman Freedman also said a cursory check of unpaid bond estreature judgments showed that between $20,000 and $30,000 was still outstanding by various bonding companies. Some of the judgments dated back to estreature cases in 1950.
• County work crews began installing a sidewalk across the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad tracks at Timuquana Road just off Roosevelt Boulevard. County Commissioner Julian Warren ordered the 6-foot walkway installed for pedestrians, primarily several hundred Venetia Elementary School students, who used the crossing every day. The railroad was to install crossing arms that would block the sidewalk as well as the roadway when a train passed.
• Jacksonville astronomers had their first close-up look at the rocket casing of Russia’s Sputnik III satellite. Ernest Rowland, president of the Jacksonville Astronomy Club, reported an “excellent” sighting of the rocket section. The casing was 12 feet long and 5 feet in diameter and was estimated to weigh as much as an automobile. Rowland and several other amateur astronomers viewed the object through a 15-power telescope for about three minutes as it passed over in the sky over Jacksonville. The Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. estimated its altitude at 200 miles.
• One of the biggest gambling operations in the state was broken up by Duval County deputies and agents of the Florida Sheriffs’ Bureau who raided a “big layout” in the St. Johns Apartments. Seven people were arrested following a six-week undercover investigation by the two agencies. City police were not informed of the raid and the search warrant was issued by and returned to Juvenile Court Judge Marion Gooding. “The apartment was the hub of Cuba (a lottery-type game) collections and payoffs in Duval County. “It is at least a $50,000 a week operation,” said Duval County Sheriff Dale Carson. While the raid was in progress, the officers answered several telephone calls from persons requesting the winning Cuba number which was selected in Havana between 2-4 p.m. each Friday.
• The sale of $2.5 million in Duval County school bonds served to “spotlight financial inadequacies holding back the proper development of the County school system,” according to School Superintendent Ish Brant. The bonds were purchased in Tallahassee at an interest rate of 3.9168 percent by the Ira Haupt Company of New York. Brant said the bond sale is “merely squeaking Duval County through on a short-range school construction basis that will by no means take all our children off double sessions.”
• U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett was cited for his “outstanding adjustment to a severe physical handicap” at the closing session of the Florida Society for Crippled Children’s annual convention held at the Roosevelt Hotel. Bannett was stricken with polio in 1945 and received the society’s “Who’s Crippled?” award. Mrs. E. J. Ruschuni, convention chair for the Duval County Society for Crippled Children and Adults was named to the state society’s board of trustees.
• A “1958 model car” was found in the St. Johns River at the foot of Mallory Street in Riverside and its owner was picked up a short time later, wet and wandering about a half-mile away. James Bell Truesdale of 128 E. Sixth St. told patrolmen J. E. Miller and N. E. Almond he did not know who was driving his car when it hurtled the concrete bulkhead at the south end of the street. The officers said despite Truesdale denying he drove the car into the river, he produced a set of keys for it from his pocket when questioned. Skid marks of tires indicated the car was traveling at a high rate of speed down the narrow residential street.