POLICE, LAWS, & CRIME

MISCELLANEOUS INFO

• INFO ABOUT HISTORY OF JAX POLICE DEPARTMENT -- Info about the Jacksonville's police department can be found in the book History of Jacksonville Florida and Vicinity 1513 to 1924 (by T. Frederick Davis, 1925).  Go to pages 306-310.  The entire book is online at the website for the Florida Heritage Collection.  STEP #1 -- When you get to the website, use a keyword search for the following words: "Jacksonville" "vicinity". This will retrieve the book.  STEP #2 -- Click on the link "Electronic resource (JPEG)."  This will retrieve the screen that allows you to choose a page number. STEP #3 -- Go to the bottom of the screen & select a page number.  This will open the book at that page.

• JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF'S OFFICE HISTORY -- Florida Times-Union article from July 2001, entitled "Ex-Cop Writes Police History: Book Recalls the 'Wild, Wild East'," by Dan Scanlan.  Tells about an Bob Morgan's upcoming book on the history of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.  Historical info is included in the Times-Union article. 

• HISTORY OF FLORIDA SHERIFFS -- Listen to an audio report entitled  "The Sheriffs." Tells about Florida sheriffs through the years.  Provided by the Florida Humanities Council.  NOTE: When you get to the webpage, click on the heading "Last Month's Programs."  Keep clicking this heading until you get to the page that contains the audio report you want. 

• DUVAL'S FIRST COURT -- Florida Historical Markers Program web page.  Gives historical info about Duval County's first court.

• OLD-FASHIONED LAWS -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Florida Statutes from Yesteryear Show Times Were Strange Indeed," by Randolph Pendleton.  Tells about old Florida laws that seem strange today.  The laws are from the 1800s & early 1900s, and some focused on African Americans.  

• NOTORIOUS CHARACTERS -- Florida Times-Union article called " Infamous Characters," by  Steve Patterson.  Describes several notorious people who were associated with Northeast Florida: Andrew Ranson, Louis Aury, Lewis Powell, Charles Ponzi, W.H. "Ham" Dowling, Joseph Helmich, James Harvey, and the Nazi saboteurs of WWII. 

• GAMBLING -- Florida Times-Union article entitled, "Dog track poker flap just latest in gambling's long area history," by Bill Foley. 

• FLORIDA HERITAGE COLLECTION -- Info about the subjects on this webpage may be available at the the marvelous "Florida Heritage Collection." This website gives full-text, online copies of hundreds of Florida books.  NOTE: When you get to the website, you can search in different ways.  These searches include by "Florida Themes" or by "Florida History Timeline."  You can also search by "Florida County" and by "Keywords."  With keyword searching, just type in "Jacksonville," "Duval County," or other keywords, such as words from a title.  ALSO NOTE:  Many of the individual Jacksonville items in the Florida Heritage Collection are listed in JacksonvilleStory.com, the site you're now in. However, Jacksonville info can often be found in books about Florida in general. Many of theses books are at the Florida Heritage Collection website.

INFO BY YEAR & TIME PERIOD

• 1800s - EARLY LAWS -- Info about old city laws can be found in the book History of Jacksonville Florida and Vicinity 1513 to 1924 (by T. Frederick Davis, 1925).  Go to pages 107 - 110.  The entire book is online at the website for the Florida Heritage Collection.  STEP #1 -- When you get to the website, use a keyword search for the following words: "Jacksonville" "vicinity". This will retrieve the book.  STEP #2 -- Click on the link "Electronic resource (JPEG)."  This will retrieve the screen that allows you to choose a page number. STEP #3 -- Go to the bottom of the screen & select a page number.  This will open the book at that page.

• LATE 1800s -- NAPOLEON BONAPARTE BROWARD -- Info about Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, a Duval County native who became Duval's sheriff & Florida's governor.  From the website for the Florida Sheriffs Association.

• 1897 -- MURDER CASE -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Murder Story Still Intrigues," by Sandy Strickland.  Tells about a notorious murder case in 1897.  BACKGROUND INFO: The victim was a 19-year-old Jacksonville resident, Marie Louise Gato, who is buried in Old City Cemetery in the neighborhood of Springfield.

• 1897 -- MURDER CASE -- Info about the infamous murder of Louise Gato in 1897   can be found in the book History of Jacksonville Florida and Vicinity 1513 to 1924 (by T. Frederick Davis, 1925).  Go to page 203.  The entire book is online at the website for the Florida Heritage Collection.  STEP #1 -- When you get to the website, use a keyword search for the following words: "Jacksonville" "vicinity". This will retrieve the book.  STEP #2 -- Click on the link "Electronic resource (JPEG)."  This will retrieve the screen that allows you to choose a page number. STEP #3 -- Go to the bottom of the screen & select a page number.  This will open the book at that page.

• EARLY 1900s -- CHARLES PONZI -- Brief article called ""Psst: Let's Make a Deal," by Bill Foley, from Jacksonville.com.  Tells how one of history's most infamous swindlers, Charles Ponzi, once lived in Jacksonville.

• 1913 -- SAFECRACKER -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Prisoner likely fled to see the woman in blue," by Bill Foley.

• 1921 -- POSTAL THEFT -- Florida Times-Union article entitled, "Marines took no chances when it came to mail," by Bill Foley.  Marines ordered to protect postal property in Jax against theft.

• 1920s -- LAW ENFORCEMENT -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Millennium Moment: Nov. 19, 1926," by Bill Foley.  Tells how some Jacksonville residents were upset with the quality of law enforcement in the mid 1920s.  

• 1924 -- ELECTRIC CHAIR -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Sparky's Still in Business," by Bill Foley.  Tells about Frank Johnson of Duval County.  Johnson was the first person executed in Florida's electric chair in 1924.  

• 1920s -- ELECTRIC CHAIR -- Florida Times-Union article entitled, "Electric chair debate started before Jones," by Bill Foley. Tells about early use of electric chair in Florida.

• 1929 -- SHERIFF CAHOON -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Millennium Moment: Jan. 8, 1929."  Tells about the positive changes that W.B. Cahoon tried to make when taking office in 1929.  Foley calls Cahoon the toughest lawman that Duval County ever had.

• 1929 RAID -- Florida Times-Union article called "Millennium Moments: February 24, 1929," by Bill Foley.  Tells how a gang of criminals tried to raid a "hotel boat" in the St. Johns River.

• 1932 -- JAIL -- Florida Times-Union article entitled, "Jail in '32 a Haven; Meant 3 Hots, a Cot," by Bill Foley. Incarceration in Jacksonville during the 1930s.

• 1932 -- CHAIN GANGS -- Panama City News Herald article about a notorious death of an chain gang inmate, Arthur Maillefert, in Duval County.

• 1932 -- CHAIN GANGS -- Florida Times-Union article entitled, "Prisoners Never Had It so Bad after '32," by Bill Foley. Tells about chains gangs in Jacksonville.

• 1930s -- WAR ON PROSTITUTION -- Florida Times-Union article called "Millennium Moment: June 24, 1913," by Bill Foley.  Tells how Jacksonville Mayor Van C. Swearingen tried to stamp out "houses of ill repute" in LaVilla in 1913.

• 1930s -- MACHINE GUN KELLY -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Mystery Couple Slipped Away, Leaving Questions Unanswered," by Bill Foley.  Tells about an Ortega home that may have been secretly occupied by Machine Gun Kelly & his wife in the 1930s.

• 1941 -- SINCLAIR LEWIS -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Millennium Moment: Feb. 2, 1941," by Bill Foley.  Tells how the famous author Sinclair Lewis chased a con artist into Jacksonville.

• 1950s -- LAW ENFORCEMENT -- Florida Times-Union article called "Millennium Moment: Nov. 19, 1926," by Bill Foley.  Tells how some Jacksonville residents were upset with the quality of law enforcement in the late 1950s.

• 1950s ONWARD -- INCARCERATION -- Florida Times-Union article entitled, "No Reprieve for Jail with Checkered Past," by Bill Foley. Tells about incarceration in Jacksonville from about the 1950s onward.

• 20th CENTURY -- MOST INFAMOUS LOCAL CRIMES -- Florida Times-Union article called "City's High-Profile Crimes of the Century Recalled."  Describes some of the most infamous Jacksonville crimes during the 1900s.

Contact the Website Manager

           -- Suggestions?  Comments?  Broken links?  Need assistance?

   THANK YOU...  

       FOR VISITING THE JACKSONVILLE STORY,

        YOUR TIME MACHINE TO THE PAST