Mistrial in prostitution case, Florida Theatre robbed
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 similarities may be, so are the differences. These are some of the top stories from the week of Nov. 16-22, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• A 23-year-old woman testified that she acted as an undercover agent for the State Beverage Department and police officers to trap nightclub operator and comedian Sammy Serpa on a charge of agreeing to secure her for prostitution.
Nita Johnson was the prosecution’s key witness in Criminal Court against the 51-year-old Serpa who was performing at the Harem Club on Atlantic Boulevard under the stage name of “Sammy Sweet” when the club was raided on June 17.
Johnson told a six-man jury she worked for Serpa at the club from Feb. 1-April 1 as a B-girl and then returned June 15 when Serpa asked her to fill prostitution dates in an apartment she was to occupy in the rear of the club. She said she never actually prostituted herself but on that date entered into a plan with Chief Criminal Deputy Sheriff J.C. Patrick and Robert Harding, a beverage agent, to trap Serpa.
Questioned by Asst. County Solicitor Carlton Maddox, the woman said Serpa had agreed to pay her a $50 weekly salary and to let her have half of the proceeds of her dates with the understanding she was to charge a minimum of $50 per date. Johnson also said she was to pay $50 per month rent on the apartment.
A sting ensued June 16 when Harding gave Johnson $50 in marked money, which she then turned over to Serpa before going into the apartment on the pretense of fulfilling the date. The vice squad then raided the club and found the money on Serpa, who claimed Johnson told him when she gave him the money that the $50 was a tip for dancing with someone.
Serpa denied in court that he had asked the girl to prostitute herself. He also said he was a family man and didn’t have to make money off prostitution because the club was a profitable enterprise.
A mistrial was eventually declared when the jury could not agree on a verdict after deliberating for almost three hours.
A new trial date was not set immediately on the prostitution charge or another count on charges Serpa contributed to the delinquency of his 16-year-old son by causing the youth to frequent a house of ill fame.
Serpa also was awaiting sentence by Criminal Court Judge William T. Harvey on a conviction for selling a half pint of whisky at the Harem on Feb. 14 without a license. Harvey had deferred sentence pending disposition of the prostitution charge.
• The curfew for consumption of cocktails at “elite country clubs” outside municipal limits was extended from midnight to 2:30 a.m.
The change, adopted on a resolution offered by County Commissioner Joe Burnett, did not alter the midnight cutoff point on the sale of intoxicants but would permit the members of the larger country clubs to consume drinks until 2:30 a.m.
• A 20-year-old sailor was arrested and charged with the brutal kicking of a police officer who had been knocked down in a melee at a drive-in on Main Street.
Jan Michael Randolph, who was stationed at Jacksonville Naval Air Station, was identified ny Patrolman Hayward McDonald as the person who repeatedly kicked him in the face.
Meanwhile three members of the City Pardon and Parole Board approved a pardon for one of the men who attacked and beat the officer then revoked it after a member of the media questioned the quick pardon.
Leslie Williams, 24, who was sentenced to 30 days by Municipal Court Judge John Santora on charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, was pardoned before he had arrived at the City prison farm. The pardon had been issued at a regular meeting of the board at 2 p.m. Williams did not arrive at the farm until after 4 p.m. with a busload of other prisoners.
Board chair Lemuel Sharp advised police headquarters shortly before 6 p.m., following the conversation with the reporter, that he had ordered the pardon revoked “in light of new evidence.”
Rules laid down by the City Council required that the arresting officer be notified prior to a hearing so he could be present if he had objections to raise. McDonald was not notified of the hearing.
Board members Brad Tredinnick and James Peeler, who were reached at a gathering of City Council members at the Mayflower Hotel, said they concurred with Sharp’s decision to cancel the pardon or at least delay it until the next session when the full facts of the case could be reviewed.
• Four of five defendants charged with conspiring to smuggle guns to Cuba a year prior failed to appear in U.S. District Court when their case was scheduled for trial. The lone American charged in the smuggling attempt, Charles Hormel of Miami, was the only defendant present.
Hormel told the court he had recently returned from Cuba, where he attempted to locate the others.
The day before the hearing, Hormel said through his attorney, Gino Negretti of Miami, that he would plead nolo contendere (no contest) to that part of the conspiracy indictment charging him with illegal possession of firearms, but not to the portion of the charge alleging he intended to smuggle the guns to Cuba.
James Guilmartin, U.S. District Attorney, indicated the government would drop the smuggling charge but U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson said he could not accept a plea to only part of an indictment.
Guilmartin and Negretti indicated they would confer before the next hearing to determine if the government would dismiss the conspiracy indictment and substitute a direct information charging Hormel only with illegal possession of firearms.
Eventually, the conspiracy charge was dropped and U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson imposed upon Hormel a $1,000 fine on the possession charge. Simpson gave him two weeks to raise the money because Hormel said he was broke and about to lose his cattle business and his home in Miami.
After the fine was imposed Negretti said Hormel had a record of previous criminal activity but since his marriage to a Cuban woman in 1946, he had lived an exemplary life.
“This man is not a soldier of fortune as newspaper stories have said. He didn’t take a penny from these enterprises, he put his own money into them. The cause that claimed him was fighting for the freedom and liberty of the Cubans and no person can be blamed for pursuing the cause of freedom and liberty,” said Negretti.
• Funeral services for Agnes Gustafson, 88, of Green Cove Springs, were held at Green Cove Springs First Baptist Church.
Gustafson was well known in connection with the founding and operations of Gustafson’s Dairy. She moved to the United States in 1889 and settled in Green Cove Springs with her late husband in 1894. He died in 1955.
They founded Gustafson’s Dairy in 1908 and Gustafson Motor Company, the oldest Florida Ford automobile agency at the time, in 1914.
• The Christmas season was welcomed officially to Jacksonville Friday night with a big parade Downtown highlighted by the arrival of Santa Claus.
Santa made his first appearance of the season on the eastern section of the municipal parking lot. After his arrival by fireboat, he was handed the key to the City by Mayor Haydon Burns. He was also greeted by Glenda Adams, Miss Downtown Council of 1959.
Santa then climbed aboard a fire engine and led the parade to Hemming Park where candy was given away to children.
It was noted that “huge searchlights lit up the sky” and hundreds of new Christmas decorations on Downtown streets were illuminated for the first time.
• Jacksonville Beach’s newly-organized Downtown Council adopted as one of its major goals the improvement of the oceanfront area which was described as “a blight upon the heart of the city.”
Shortly after taking office in October, Mayor I.D. Sams commented that something had to be done about the boardwalk if the city expected to continue as a major summer tourist center.
A plan of redevelopment for the oceanfront had been recommended eight years earlier in a comprehensive city plan prepared by George Simons Jr., a planning consultant, but the plan was never adopted.
When the council announced its goal, Simons pointed to the ever-present danger of erosion and proposed that oceanfront land be acquired with public money and converted into a park, not only for beautification purposes but also to minimize damage to property along the beachfront. The erosion problem had become greater since the construction of the jetties at the mouth of the St. Johns River which hampered replenishment of sand to the beach.
• Thomas Thayer, the manager of the Florida Theatre, was found chained to a radiator and gagged with his own necktie in the theater’s office. He was found at 4:32 a.m. by a cleaning woman who was attracted to the office by strange noises.
Thayer told police that shortly after closing the theater at midnight he went to a nearby restaurant to wait for a friend. When the friend failed to arrive by 1 a.m. Thayer said he got in his automobile and started home.
At Stockton and College streets he stopped for a traffic light and was attacked by a man who Thayer said motioned to his wrist, indicating he wanted to know what time it was. While Thayer was looking at his wristwatch the man jumped into the car and forced him to return to the theater. Thayer said the suspect displayed a revolver and threatened to harm his wife and children if he gave him any trouble.
When they returned to the theater, Thayer was forced to open the safe, which was looted for about $1,000 and he was then chained to the radiator.