Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It was 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 1961. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Jno. H. Swisher Inc., manufacturer of the King Edward cigar and owner of the largest cigar-producing factory under one roof, marked its 100th anniversary with a “blue-ribbon buffet” at San Jose Country Club.
More than 500 business, civic and church leaders attended the dinner honoring both the company and its president, Carl S. Swisher.
Mayor Haydon Burns called the celebration “a fitting recognition for a concern that has been part and parcel of the city economy for most of its recent history.”
Burns praised Swisher for his contributions to the progress of the community, singling out Swisher’s support of Jacksonville University.
L.D. Hupp, executive vice president of Swisher, said the celebration was to “pay tribute to the many Jacksonville citizens who have helped make our growth possible.”
Since being founded by Swisher’s grandfather as a rolling wagon store operating throughout the Midwest, the company had expanded to one of the largest of its kind.
The King Edward factory on East 16th Street was one of three owned by the company in addition to five tobacco handling, processing and storing plants.
In 1961, Swisher had 1,600 employees and manufactured 34 million cigars daily that were distributed in all 50 states and 47 foreign countries.
The company began in a one-room shed that David Swisher, a Newark, Ohio, merchant, accepted as payment of a business debt.
In 1913, Carl’s father, John H. Swisher, bought out the interests of his three brothers. The King Edward cigar made its debut in 1918.
The company was incorporated in 1926 and after it began producing machine-made cigars, moved its headquarters from Newark to Jacksonville.
The local factory made additions for increased production in 1935, 1939-40 and 1941.
An industrial nursery for preschool age children of employees, the first of its kind in the United States, opened in the Jacksonville plant in 1939.
Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director William Johnson said Swisher was one of Jacksonville’s “original industries” and one that offered “immeasurable contributions to the community.”
In a message signed by Executive Vice President Harold Colee, the Florida State Chamber of Commerce recognized the business as “greatly benefiting the basic economy and cultural life of Florida over the years. It is the wish of the Florida State Chamber of Commerce that the name ‘Swisher’ be forever embroidered in the economic fabric of this state.”
• Continued from last week: Criminal Judge William Harvey took under advisement a motion by Will Rogers Perry to vacate a 12-year sentence imposed when he entered a guilty plea to the burglary of the Mayflower Hotel and for permission to withdraw the plea and enter one of innocent.
Harvey directed County Solicitor Edward M. Booth and Perry’s attorney, Giles P. Lewis, to submit as soon as possible memorandum briefs on the law involved in the case.
During more than two hours of testimony, Perry alleged he had entered the guilty plea only because he believed he would be sentenced to no more than five years in prison.
Perry said his action was based upon a statement made by Police Lt. John Greene, who arrested him for the burglary.
Perry told the judge that while Greene and other officers were interrogating him June 14, he asked Greene to call Assistant County Solicitor Hudson Oliff, who had once defended Perry in an armed robbery case, to ask if he could help in the burglary case. Perry claimed that after Greene talked to Oliff, Greene turned to him and said “you won’t get more than five years.”
Greene categorically denied Perry’s statement. He said he did call Oliff at Perry’s request, but Greene said Oliff told him that because of Perry’s previous record, he could not expect any help from the solicitor.
When he appeared before Harvey with the motion to vacate, Perry brought a signed statement expressing regret that Oliff’s name “was innocently brought into this matter, since he did not make any representations to me.”
After his guilty plea, Perry was taken to Gainesville for a lie-detector test, during which Perry said Greene had not promised him a lighter sentence for the burglary if he entered a guilty plea.
In his closing arguments, Lewis declared that the Florida courts had held that where there was the slightest hint that a guilty plea was induced by an expressed or implied promise of leniency, it should be set aside.
Lewis said the fact that all concerned admitted Perry’s confession to the Mayflower burglary was signed shortly after Greene’s conversation with Oliff indicated Perry must have received some impression he would be given a light sentence.
Booth argued that the court should take into account Perry’s credibility. Booth noted that Perry’s own testimony showed he had lied about various aspects of the case and when arraigned on the burglary charge, told the court that his guilty plea was a voluntary one and not induced by any threats or promises by the arresting officers or the County Solicitor’s Office.
Harvey did not indicate when he might rule on Perry’s motion.
• Municipal Judge John Santora addressed members of the Jacksonville Board of Realtors and spoke about the scope and seriousness of his court’s activities, but admitted he found comic explanations and events “a relief from the frequent pathos” he encountered in dealing with lawbreakers.
Santora said drunkenness was the most frequent and often the most amusing case to appear before him. He said he had to differentiate between the alcoholic still managing to support his family and the “common drunk.”
“You can’t help the drunkard unless he will help himself,” said Santora.
“He has an excuse for everything and he’ll do whatever he can to keep from getting caught. Brought into court, he’ll even hide his driver’s license in his shoe if he thinks there’s a chance it will be revoked,” he said.
Physical violence was committed by persons who didn’t place ordinary values on human life, he said.
“We had a man who had shot a friend of his with a shotgun,” Santora recalled. “He said he really didn’t want to hurt the man – if he had, he would have gotten closer.”
Excuses were also part of the judge’s day.
“A man arrested for carrying a switchblade or a pistol has just found it. If he has a razor, he says he’s a barber on weekends,” said Santora.
“Many violators try to play on my weakness for children by bringing a lot of kids into court so I won’t give a heavy sentence.
I bit on this several months ago, then I discovered the woman was collecting all of her neighbors’ children and bringing them to court as hers,” said Santora.
He said his court handled an average of 30,000 cases a year and about one third were traffic violations.
“People’s attitudes towards traffic violations are, ‘I want you to be really tough – except with me and my friends,’” said Santora.
• A thief stole more than five dozen shoes from a car parked Downtown, but it was unlikely the loot would do him any good.
The shoes, 69 of them, were all for the right foot.
The footwear was filched from the car of shoe salesman Morris Goldberg, said patrolmen M.J. Haynes and C.J. Stenbeck.
They said Goldberg left his locked car parked in the 900 block of West Adams Street overnight and then discovered someone had broken a vent in the front window and stole $401 in merchandise from the vehicle.
Goldberg said in addition to the shoes, a salesman’s case, a topcoat, a suit and two pairs of slacks were also missing.
The 69 left-foot shoes to match the stolen ones were given as samples to another salesman in Goldberg’s firm.