Ritter wins award, boat registrations down
Have you ever wondered what life was like 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 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 Oct. 19-25, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• County Solicitor Lacy Mahon abandoned prosecution of Burlie Smith and Roger Bedell in the Feb. 27 larceny of a $3,000 payroll from the Ponte Vedra Club.
Smith, a retired police detective and a private investigator and Bedell were among five men originally charged with conspiracy to commit grand larceny and grand larceny in connection with the payroll theft.
Harry Sands and Milo Wiley, former employees of a private detective agency in which Smith was an officer, had been found guilty by a Criminal Court jury on both the conspiracy and grand larceny counts. Sentence was deferred until Nov. 6 pending disposition of a motion for a new trial.
N.M. Ulsch Jr., head of the private detective agency, was acquitted by the jury on charges of conspiracy and receiving and concealing the stolen property. Smith and Bedell were not tried with the other three defendants.
Mahon appeared before Judge A. Lloyd Layton to announce that he was dropping the charges against the men. Mahon said his action was taken since the judge had properly ruled that written statements of Sands and Wiley, implicating Ulsch, could not be considered by the jury as evidence against Ulsch since they were not made in his presence. Mahon pointed out the statements, which also implicated Smith and Bedell, likewise could not be considered as evidence against them if they were brought to trial.
The statements were made to an investigating officer long before the trial and confessed the theft. The statements were later repudiated at the trial by Sands and Wiley, who claimed innocence. If Sands and Wiley had given direct testimony at the trial it would have been admissible.
“Without these statements, the state does not feel it would have sufficient evidence to continue the prosecution,” said Mahon. “This fact is supported by the jury verdict of not guilty as to the defendant Ulsch.”
The payroll money was stolen from Collis Quarterman, chief bellman at the club, after he picked it up at a Jacksonville Beach bank.
In addition Sands and his brother, Thurland Milton Sands, a suspended patrolman on the Jacksonville police force, were charged with the $428 robbery of a Main Street night club operator on Sept. 25 and were scheduled to be arraigned on that charge. Harry Sands was also charged with aggravated assault on the robbery victim and with forging endorsements of four checks, each for $50, and uttering the endorsements.
• City Commissioner Louis Ritter was named the 1959 winner of the Jacksonville Junior Chamber of Commerce Good Government Award. The presentation was made by club President Bob Harris at a banquet at the Seminole Hotel.
Ritter’s accomplishments as a City Council member and his work as commissioner in charge of highways, sewers and airports were cited by Harris. Ritter’s service on the City advertising committee and on the Board of Governors of the Traffic Bureau also were noted. In 1956, Ritter received the Jaycee Distinguished Service Award.
• Tax Collector Clyde H. Simpson reported that only 5,135 motor boat licenses were sold as the registration deadline passed. It had been estimated that between 10,000 and 40,000 licenses would be sold in Duval County.
The 1959 Legislature adopted a law requiring registration of all boats with more than 10 horsepower motors. The law became effective July 1 but the State Department of Conservation granted a time extension for owners to buy state licenses. Violation of any provision of the act, and registration was one of them, could result in a fine up to $75.
• Al Bonati joined the Jacksonville University College of Music as an instructor of trumpet and trombone. The announcement was made by Gerson Yessin, director of the preparatory division. Bonati had graduated from the college in August with a bachelor of music degree.
• Doris Lee didn’t wait for help to capture a shoplifter. She was a clerk at Furchgott’s department store and saw a man pick up a $7.95 handbag and walk out a side entrance. She followed him out the door and yelled, “Stop.” When the man threw the bag down and started to run, Lee grabbed him by the arm and held on until help arrived.
Hackett Robbins of 509 W. Seventh St. was arrested by Patrolman E.M. Repper and booked on a shoplifting charge.
• Jacksonville Beach Mayor I.D. Sams confirmed to authorities that his wife, Elizabeth Lopez Sams, a principal suspect in the shortage of more than $182,000 from the Jax Police Credit Union, was admitted to a local hospital for “further diagnosis of an abdominal ailment.”
She had been released from Baptist Memorial Hospital the previous month following surgery but Sams said she was taken to St. Vincent’s hospital by ambulance after complaining of abdominal pain for several days.
Motions to quash information filed against her, which charged seven instances of forgery and one of issuing a worthless check, had been postponed Sept. 18 when she underwent exploratory abdominal surgery. Mrs. Sams’ attorneys won a continuance until Oct. 28, bond plea day for Criminal Court cases. Attorney Walter Arnold pleaded illness on her behalf.
She was dismissed as clerk of the credit union after the shortage was discovered and accounts were being scrutinized by investigators and auditors. A claim for estimated losses by the savings group had been filed but no settlement had been made.
• Two-year-old James M. Wayne Jr. yelled “ouch” twice and an examination of his discomfort led to the discovery of a two-foot rattlesnake under his feet.
The rattler had struck twice while the boy and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James M. Wayne Sr., were in their yard at 6122 Regiment Rd. in Arlington. Young Wayne was taken to Baptist Hospital by Patrolmen J.S. Davis and L.B. Williams.
The snake was killed by the elder Wayne with a shovel and the boy was listed in good condition at the hospital.