Beneath a Ruthless Sun
Page 40
Mabel tracked down Bill Fisher: MNC.
The uncharacteristic silence: Ibid.
Still, candid as he was: NARA-FBI.
“Has politically powerful Sheriff Willis McCall”: MNC.
And there was a shocking new detail: Ibid.
Mabel reported that, on her advice: Ibid.
By a county court order: LCC.
Kennedy mounted: State of Florida v. Sam Wiley Odom, LCC.
Later, in tears, he’d tell Mabel: Ibid.
Less convincing in Kennedy’s closing statement: Ibid.
The tactic was not: Lisa Lindquist Dorr, White Women, Rape, & the Power of Race in Virginia, 1900–1960 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004).
Oldham also called: Santo Trafficante Jr. and Henry Trafficante v. State of Florida, 92 So. 2d 811 (Fla. 1957).
With testimony and arguments complete: State of Florida v. Sam Wiley Odom, LCC.
Judge Futch ordered Odom: Ibid.
Despite being certain of his client’s guilt: LCC.
What the reporter likely did not know: Office memorandum, SAC, Jacksonville to Director, FBI, May 29, 1958, Subject: Citizens’ Council, Lake County, Florida, FBI 62-24240-1.
Approaching Futch outside the courthouse: MNC.
The response infuriated Mabel: Ibid.
“We haven’t had any”: William Peters, “‘The Law’ of Lake County,” Coronet, Dec. 1958.
Settled back at his desk, McCall expounded: Ibid.
Going door-to-door: Pearl Daniels to Mabel Norris Reese, undated, MNC.
Along with clippings of Mabel’s stories: Pearl Daniels to Agent Quinn Tamm, Nov. 17, 1958, NARA-FBI.
Pearl closed her letter: Ibid.
The FBI “is not able to be of help”: J. Edgar Hoover to Pearl Daniels, November 26, 1958, NARA-FBI.
Pearl wrote back: Pearl Daniels to J. Edgar Hoover, Dec. 1, 1958, NARA-FBI.
Hoover wrote again: J. Edgar Hoover to Pearl Daniels, Dec. 4, 1958, NARA-FBI.
White did not hesitate: NARA-FBI.
CHAPTER NINE. SO MUCH RACE PRIDE
Prepared for a long day’s work: Interview, Lawrence King.
The Reeses managed to scrape by: Mabel Norris Reese, “Crusades Are Not Cheaper by the Dozen,” in Main Street Militants: An Anthology from Grassroots Editor, ed. Howard Rusk Long (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1977).
The information Pearl gleaned: MNC. Also FDLE. Cope was interviewed by FDLE agent Al Albright. Albright’s report is dated July 19, 1972, fourteen years after Sam Wiley Odom’s arrest. Cope’s recollection does not appear to be accurate, or there was a misunderstanding in the conversation or transcription. She claimed the deal for her son to name Melvin Hawkins as Blanche Knowles’s rapist occurred at Raiford while Odom was awaiting execution. At that time, Jesse Daniels was already locked away at Chattahoochee, and it makes little sense that McCall would be attempting to reshift blame to Hawkins at this point. Since Odom was being held in the Lake County jail at the same time as Melvin Hawkins just days after the rape, it makes more sense that McCall was trying to get Odom to finger Hawkins while the two young men were in custody in December 1957.
Pearl learned further: MNC.
When Cope had visited her son: FDLE.
“Why?” she beseeched: Pearl Daniels to J. Edgar Hoover, Nov. 25, 1958, NARA-FBI.
In a letter to him: Pearl Daniels to W. Wilson White, Dec. 13, 1958, NARA-DOJ.
She was surprised to learn: Leesburg Daily Commercial, Sept. 19, 1958.
One of those agents was Ted Tucker: NARA-FBI.
She told him, “Both my husband and I”: Ibid.
But the agents did include: Ibid.
Sheriff Willis McCall played his recording: Ibid.
McCall did furnish the FBI: Ibid.
McCall’s own notoriety, he asserted: Ibid.
On February 4, W. Wilson White informed: NARA-DOJ.
“What are you doing believing that Communist?”: FHWP.
In the motion, Kennedy argued: State of Florida v. Sam Wiley Odom, LCC.
the court upheld: Sam Wiley Odom v. State of Florida, 109 So. 2d 163 (1959), FSH-SAF.
In June, Kennedy petitioned: LCC.
On May 2, Betty Jean Owens: Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power (New York: Vintage, 2011).
Owens’s companions, meanwhile, drove: Ibid.
The four intoxicated white men: Tampa Tribune, May 3, 1959.
Reportedly, one white woman: Ocala Star-Banner, Jun. 12, 1959.
A Florida A&M student: McGuire.
In advance of the trial: Pittsburgh Courier, May 16, 1959.
Ella Baker, director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference: McGuire.
On June 11: Ibid. Also Baltimore Afro-American, Jun. 20, 1959.
The defense attorneys took advantage: McGuire.
The defense called friends and family: Ibid.
The presence of alcohol: Ibid.
Those watching from the Jim Crow balcony: Baltimore Afro-American, Jun. 20, 1959.
One of the defense lawyers: Pittsburgh Courier, Jun. 27, 1959.
After the trial, Betty Jean Owens told a reporter: McGuire.
After praising the jury: New York Amsterdam News, Jun. 20, 1959. Also Aug. 8, 1959.
Editorials in many national newspapers: New York Times, Jun. 16, 1959.
“True-to-tradition white men”: Baltimore Afro-American, Jun. 20, 1959.
The Pittsburgh Courier called attention: Pittsburgh Courier, Jun. 27, 1959. Also Palm Beach Post, May 27, 1926.
The Chicago Defender mocked the adulatory tone: Chicago Defender, Jun. 27, 1959.
With racial tensions already running high: Ocala Star-Banner, Jun. 14, 1959.
Yet when he appeared: Ocala Star-Banner, Jun. 17, 1959.
As in the court trial: Ibid.
As for the six-minute deliberation: Ibid.
Nor did Leesburg police chief Bill Fisher: Ibid.
The Okahumpka youth would have: LCC.
On his return to Lake County: NARA-DOJ.
CHAPTER TEN. DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT CONSCIENCE, LADY
Bettye Odom, Sam’s twenty-one-year-old sister: LCP.
“Governor, I don’t ask you”: Ibid.
In his response to Cope: Ibid.
The black churches of Leesburg and Okahumpka: Ibid.
Although the governor—despite his personal opposition: Ibid.
Mabel Norris Reese remained focused: Daytona Beach Evening News, Oct. 28, 1958.
But the sheriff refused to answer: Ibid.
After much “knocking on doors”: MNC.
On August 18, Mabel and Pearl: This scene is drawn from Mabel’s story in the Mount Dora Topic, Aug. 27, 1959.
The governor, Sinclair indicated: Orlando Sentinel, Aug. 25, 1959.
Collins’s office sent word: Mount Dora Topic, Sept. 3, 1959.
That Sam Wiley Odom had “implicated”: Ibid.
Just after midnight: This scene is drawn from an extensive transcript of an interview with Sam Wiley Odom taken by deputy court reporter Janice Burleigh, with Gordon Oldham, James Yates, Bryant Spears, and a prison guard present, beginning at 12:05 a.m. on August 21, 1959, at Raiford. LEG-SAF.
Earlier in the evening of December 17: This scene is derived from James W. Kynes’s interview with Sam Wiley Odom on August 22, 1959, at Raiford. DeWitt Sinclair, Superintendent, Florida State Prison, was also present, as was an unnamed stenographer. LEG-SAF.
Oldham himself interviewed: LEG-SAF.
Over the next few days: Ibid.
Laura Cope drove to Raiford: Ibid.
Odom’s letter opened wi
th an admission: LCP.
On August 25, Francisco Rodriguez: LEG-SAF.
“I don’t know nothing”: Mount Dora Topic, Sept. 3, 1959.
His report to the governor: LEG-SAF.
Collins said he would pray: LCP.
The night before, DeWitt Sinclair attended to: This scene is drawn from a story in the Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 2, 1977.
On the morning of the 28th: Orlando Sentinel, Aug. 28, 1959.
Odom appeared to be calm: Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 2, 1977.
In Okahumpka, a heartbroken Laura Cope: Ibid.
CHAPTER ELEVEN. WAY OF JUSTICE
The sun was just beginning: This scene is drawn largely from interviews with Tom Ledford, as well as newspaper accounts where indicated.
On his arrival: FDLE.
At about one a.m.: Ibid.
Elmer and Delmer Wilkinson: Ibid.
A brief article: Orlando Sentinel, May 31, 1960.
Ledford later stated: FDLE.
The results were not surprising: Interview, Tom Ledford.
“Let me say it this way”: Interview, Kiser Hardaway.
Bowen’s wasn’t the only case: Interview, Tom Ledford.
The drop in Jesse’s weight: FSH-SAF.
Mabel, meanwhile, wrote again: LCP. Also FSH-SAF.
In a letter to a psychiatrist: Walker Kennedy to Dr. Charles H. Cronick, Dec. 3, 1960, FSH-SAF.
Kenneth Donaldson was forty-eight . . . Sure enough, lacking legal representation: Kenneth Donaldson, Insanity Inside Out (New York: Crown, 1976).
“We lived in aimless pacing”: Ibid.
Donaldson saw Jesse: Ibid.
In the fall of 1959: Tampa Tribune, Oct. 15, 1959.
The conditions described: Chicago Defender, Oct. 24, 1959.
The negative publicity: “Conditions at Florida State Hospital and the Alleged Mistreatment of Patients,” Committee on State Institutions Report, 1961.
The study cited testimony: Ibid.
John Epright: Ibid.
Mail got lost: Sally J. Ling, Out of Mind, Out of Sight: A Revealing History of the Florida State Hospital at Chattahoochee and Mental Health Care in Florida (CreateSpace, 2013).
Doctors described him as “disoriented”: FSH-SAF.
“the guards would take towels”: Interview, Jesse Daniels.
The report corroborated: “Conditions at Florida State Hospital.”
The most he could capture: Interview, Jesse Daniels. Also Donaldson.
A decade before, at twenty: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
Around midnight on March 10: Ibid.
When they arrived at the scene: FDLE. Also NARA-FBI.
The bloodhounds, Griffin said: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
He would not state: FDLE.
Later, when Griffin ran into McCall: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
He’d already had three suspects: Ocala Star-Banner, Mar. 13, 1960.
The press described Wass: FDLE.
Wass recounted: This scene is drawn from John McCormick’s interview with Charlotte Wass, FDLE.
The state attorney emerged: Ibid.
At a meeting of the Mount Dora Dunkers Club: Interview, Tom Ledford.
Huett himself would gain notoriety: Transcript, House Un-American Activities Committee, 89th Congress, Activities of the Ku Klux Klan in the U.S., 3739.
“Okay,” McCall told Huett: Interview, Tom Ledford.
The state attorney’s office: FDLE.
Also introduced into evidence: FDLE. Also interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
Outside the courtroom: FDLE. Also interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
“McCall eventually did get to me”: Chesley interview, FHWP.
“He never said quit”: Ibid.
“I feel the newspaper”: Daytona Beach News-Journal, Sept. 14, 1958.
“Bud wouldn’t let me”: Interview, Tom Ledford.
Gordon Oldham was also dealing: Agent Al Albright interview with Jack Hooten, FDLE. Details of the account are also based on an author interview with a Dillard family member who preferred to remain anonymous.
The confrontation in Oldham’s office: FDLE.
Only then Charles Dillard: Ibid.
Tom Ledford, however, claimed to have seen: Interview, Tom Ledford.
Dillard family members: FDLE.
“I know Charles took his life”: Interview, anonymous Dillard family member.
Pearl Daniels was worried: Pearl Daniels to Mabel Norris Chesley, undated, MNC.
In June, Oldham filed: LCC.
At a March 1961 hearing: Ibid.
Waiting in the reception room: It should be noted that despite Saunders’s detailed account of this meeting, Griffin denies that he ever set foot into an NAACP office. He claims he only wrote letters to government officials before alerting the Tampa Tribune about manufactured evidence in the Fruitland Park case.
CHAPTER TWELVE. IF IT TAKES ALL SUMMER
Tom Ledford had known his days: Interview, Tom Ledford.
He was riding with McCall: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
When Griffin’s wife answered: Ibid.
Judge Hall ordered: FDLE. Also Tampa Tribune, Sept. 6, 1962.
The footprints: Daily Commercial (Leesburg), Dec. 21, 1962.
The Orange County grand jury: Ibid.
News of the indictments: Pittsburgh Courier, Feb. 23, 1963.
“After Willis fired me”: Interview, Tom Ledford.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Department: FDLE.
“That’s the only man”: Interview, Tom Ledford.
“Willis was a lucky man”: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
In his ruling against Shuler and Chatman: FDLE.
Neither did a letter: Ibid.
Charlotte Wass herself wrote a letter: Gary Corsair, The Groveland Four: The Sad Saga of a Legal Lynching (Bloomington, IN: 1st Books, 2004).
President John F. Kennedy announced: “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs,” speech before joint session of Congress, May 25, 1961, https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/jfk_speech_text.html.
In Brevard County: Orlando Sentinel, Jul. 2, 1964.
“There was one flaw”: Dan R. Warren, If It Takes All Summer: Martin Luther King, the KKK, and States’ Rights in St. Augustine, 1964 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2008).
The sixteen young protesters: Pittsburgh Courier, Sept. 21, 1963.
“Passive resistance is no good”: Warren.
The militant threat: Ibid.
Its 1963 report: Ibid.
The reason they were driving: Ibid.
Fond of misquoting the Bible: David R. Colburn, Racial Change and Community Crisis: St. Augustine, Florida, 1877–1980, quoted ibid.
The NAACP stood by: Ibid.
When Mabel went to interview Peabody: Daytona Beach News-Journal, Feb. 3, 1991.
She also expressed to Mabel: Warren.
The Orlando Sentinel, angered: Orlando Sentinel, Apr. 2, 1964.
For, indeed, Peabody’s arrest: Warren.
In early June: Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963–65 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998).
Undeterred, King returned: Orlando Sentinel, Jun. 9, 1964.
On the evening of June 4: Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Jun. 5, 1964.
“We want desegregation”: Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Jun. 7, 1964.
Mabel’s story and interview: Ibid.
When he and a small group: Warren.
“We’re preparing for a long, hot summer”: Los Angeles Times, Jan. 16, 2011.
Stoner’s incendiary diatribe: Branch.
At mass meetings: Plainfield Courier-News (N.J.), Jun. 29, 1964.
In an effort to calm: Daytona Beach Morning Jo
urnal, Jun. 15, 1964.
Tobias Simon, representing: Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Jun. 23, 1964.
Among the first witnesses: During the riots, Florida beefed up the state police force by assigning state beverage agents to active duty in St. Augustine. Jerry Harris was a beverage agent from Tampa.
As state attorney Warren pointed out: Warren.
Still, Warren noted: Ibid.
He claimed that he had sent it: Ibid.
But she restrained: Ibid. Also Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Jun. 27, 1964.
“The Ku Klux Klan is not going”: “Racial and Civil Disorders in St. Augustine,” Report of the Legislative Investigation Committee, Feb. 1965, University of Florida Libraries.
King called for a truce: Warren.
On July 16, in an interview: Daytona Beach News-Journal, Jul. 18, 1964.
“the Ku Klux Klan—or call it”: Warren.
“If you know of any other”: Daytona Beach News-Journal, Jul. 18, 1964.
Mabel spoke highly: Warren.
even as he continued to baldly assert: Larry Goodwyn, “Anarchy in St. Augustine,” Harper’s Magazine, Jan. 1965.
In August, King held: Warren.
Generally, Manucy did not suffer: Halstead “Hoss” Manucy, interview with Edward Kallal Jr., St. Augustine, Florida, Feb. 21, 1976, Civil Rights Library of St. Augustine, http://cdm16000.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15415coll1/id/1042/rec/7.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. TROUBLED BY IT
The woman on the beach: Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal, Jun. 28, 1970.
“My dearest Momie”: FSH-SAF.
“Mabel Chesley recommended”: This scene is drawn from an interview with Richard Graham.
Mabel found Graham: Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Jun. 28, 1970.
The petition argued: Daniels v. O’Connor, Supreme Court of Florida, July Term, 1970, LEG-SAF.
But as soon as Graham: Interview, Richard Graham.
“Sorry to tell you this”: Ibid.
Even the majority opinion: Daniels v. O’Connor, Supreme Court of Florida, July Term, 1970, LEG-SAF.
“Ted became a mentor”: The following scenes are derived from interviews with Richard Graham.
Two days before the hearing: Daytona Beach News-Journal, undated [Feb. 1971].
He and Graham’s father: Interview, Richard Graham.
Husfeld began by calling: The hearing scenes are drawn largely from the transcript of proceedings before Judge Mills. LEG-SAF.