Murder suspect freed, blood bank dedicates new wing
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 the week of April 25-May 2, 1960. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Carol Nadine Rogers, the 27-year-old companion of a $20,000-a-year executive who died of a stab wound in a rented house in Empire Point April 18, was cleared of murder charges in Circuit Court.
Judge Charles Luckie freed the woman on a writ of habeas corpus and said, “I am convinced that suspicion, conjecture and surmise cannot take the place of facts.
“I am extremely reluctant to discharge this petitioner, but I can’t help but feel the grand jury would fail to indict and any other jury would fail to convict.”
Rogers, who was described as a “plump, attractive brunette,” sat through hours of testimony and legal arguments for two days with little show of emotion, but burst into tears when she heard the judge’s ruling.
Appearing at somewhat of a loss as to what had happened in the judge’s spectator-filled chambers, Rogers hesitatingly asked outside, “Am I free to go now?”
Attorney Wayne Ripley, who represented Rogers against the charges of fatally stabbing Joseph Morrison Clark, 57, replied, “You are as free as I am.”
After hearing testimony from Roselle Clark of Daytona Beach, wife of the deceased, concerning the freed woman’s two-year association with her husband in several cities around the country, Ripley and Assistant State Attorney Nathan Schevitz argued pro and con on whether the accused should be released by the court.
Ripley hammered away that the state had shown no motive for murder, that there was no evidence a murder had been committed nor a showing of probable cause that a crime had been committed, either by Carol Rogers or anyone else.
Roselle Clark and other witnesses testified that the executive had rented apartments in several cities and had given his companion lavish gifts.
Ripley stressed his theme of lack of motive and said, “It would be like a child killing Santa Claus for this lady to kill her benefactor.”
Carol Rogers gave conflicting accounts of the incident concerning Clark “falling on the butcher knife” that was on the chair.
“There is certainly a strong suspicion that this woman killed J.M. Clark,” said Schevitz. “We have positive evidence that Clark was killed by a butcher knife when he was alone with this woman.”
Schevitz also said the suicide theory was ruled out when the woman told investigators that Clark fell on a butcher knife on the arm of a plush chair in the bedroom at the home.
Mrs. Clark testified at length under questioning by State Attorney William Hallowes regarding how her husband met Rogers in 1958 in Hot Springs, Ark., and how the pair visited various cities when Clark was on business.
Relying on testimony by Mrs. Clark regarding telephone conversations with her husband, Schevitz said there was an inference that Clark was going to leave Rogers and added, “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.”
Luckie struck out the testimony on Ripley’s objection that it was hearsay and also stated that conflicting statements by Rogers to police did not prove homicide.
After the hearing, Schevitz said Rogers was free to go and could not be charged further with Clark’s death unless new evidence was brought into the case.
• A cleanup program began at the Mayport Naval Station to eliminate its “jungle” areas and abandoned buildings.
“It looks like a mining camp,” declared base Commanding Officer Robert Farkas.
He said he didn’t expect to turn the base into the “garden place of the world,” but the program was designed to make the property more appealing and healthful.
Drainage ditches were to be dug and the soil used to fill in low-lying areas as a means of mosquito control. The Navy would open bids May 18 in Charleston, S.C., for the demolition of 30 old houses, nine garage buildings, five chicken houses and a warehouse. The structures were on several hundred acres of land purchased in 1959 for base expansion.
• City offices were closed Tuesday in observance of Confederate Memorial Day. Other government offices maintained normal hours.
United Daughters of the Confederacy chapters gathered to place a wreath at the base of the Confederate soldier statue at Hemming Park. The Southern Railway System freight station was closed, but freight stations at other railroads were open.
• Thousands of people went to Jacksonville Beach for the official opening of the “spring and summer swimming season.” The Welcome Day program at the “resort,” as the area was identified, was highlighted by a long parade of floats, decorated vehicles and marching bands. Cars lined North First and North Second streets for eight blocks as residents and visitors witnessed the spectacle.
An automobile covered with lilies, the entry from the Ribault Garden Club of the Beaches, won first prize in the noncommercial division of the decoration contest. Miniature antique cars, sponsored by the Children of the Confederacy, placed second.
In the judging of commercial entries, a float by the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of Jacksonville took first prize for firms outside the Beaches area and the Willis Neon Signs decorated truck was second.
Floats displaying “bathing beauties” entered by Strickland’s Restaurants and the Beach Plaza Shopping Center came in first and second, respectively, in the Beaches commercial entries.
A riding lawnmower sponsored by Proctor’s Hardware Store was selected as the most unusual entry in the procession.
• The Jacksonville Blood Bank opened a new wing that doubled its capacity. The addition was dedicated to I. Beverly Nalle, the organization’s president.
Dr. Floyd Hurt, president of the Duval County Medical Society, made the dedicatory remarks and praised the blood bank’s directors and officials for having the foresight to anticipate the need for the addition.
“By careful use of businesslike methods they have made this institution self-supporting,” he said. “We of the Duval Medical Society fully realize the usefulness of this organization.”
Commenting on the opening of the blood bank in 1942, Hurt said, “Who in 1942 would have realized we would be performing open-heart surgery in 1960?”
Nalle, who was named to the board of directors and served as treasurer in 1944, presided over the ceremonies. Following the dedication, a plaque was unveiled in an interior courtyard which bore an inscription honoring the president. Dr. Robert McIver, chair of the board of directors, said Nalle was unaware he was to be honored.
During remarks following Hurt’s talk, Nalle praised the blood bank’s five members of the “5 Gallon Club” who had each donated that amount of blood during the bank’s 17.5-year history, recognizing William Foley, Mrs. John O’Brien, John Culpepper, Lonnie Smith and Mrs. Elizabeth Bascoe.
On a tour of the building, about 200 guests inspected the new gas analysis laboratory, the second one in the state. It was headed by Mary Wilcox, a specialist in tests used to determine the need for open-heart surgery.
• Only 850 cases were on the bond plea calendars for the two divisions of Criminal Court. It was one of the lightest calendars in years.
Bond plea day was set at the beginning of each two-month term in Criminal Court, principally for arraignment of defendants free on bond. Many of the minor cases, particularly traffic charges, were disposed of when defendants failed to appear and their bonds were forfeited.