The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-03-24
TAMPA'SL LASH
MURDER CASE
IS UNDER WAY
Suit With Background Of
Violence May Become
Cause Celebre

TAMPA, Fla, March "a. (UP)
Against background of violence
murder and suicide, the first
three defendants in the Tampa
Lash murder case GO on trial in
criminal court today. ri sS
Another cause celebre Of the
deep south-perhaps the equal of
the long-drawn Scottsboro cases
appeared in the making as 1OS
Veniremen were called in, the first
step for impaneing a six-man
criminal court jury to hear the
Charges. - q ST.
Eleven men are charged in the
case which originated in the sha-
dow of Tampa's police station.
Nine of these are charged with
the kidnapping, flogging and muir
der of Joseph Shoemaker, labor
organizer. -"
Two OtherS-former Chief of
Police Richard G. Ellsworth and
former police stenographer, Man
uel Menendez are charged as ac-
cessories. 49, -
: Through testimony of 90 wit
nesses, the state expects to show
that C. A. Brown, then a police
sergeant, led a police raid. on a
home last November 80, arrested
Shoemaker, Sam b. Rogers and
Eugene +. Poulnot. 49,,
They were taken to the police
station, questioned on alleged
communistic activities. released
one by one. AS they stepped from
the police station, they were ia
ken by a masked mob, spirited to
4 nearby woods. There they were
flogged brutally with leather and
wire and boiling tar poured over
them. Shoemaker died later in a
hospital after 4 leg was amputat-
ed. Rogers and Poulnot survived
and will be key state witnesses.
First TO answer to the state
will be former Policeman Brown,
C. w. Carlisle and John P.
Bridges. First charge to be heard
will accuse them specifically of
kidnapping Poulnot. -,
Aside from Ellsworth and Me-
nendez, other defendants whose
cases will come up later are Sam
E. Crosby, Robert Chappell, F.
w. Switzer, all former Tampa po-
.heemen, and James Dean, Arlie
Gillian. and Edward Spivey, the
latter three of Orlando, Fla. All
are expected to be brought to
trial .later-although it has been
limited Menendez may become a
witness for the state. -. -
In >the quarter of. a year since
Shoemaker's tar-burned body was
found near the scene, of the fog
cling, the Lash case has been stud
ded with sensations. First was the
indictment of Chief Tittsworth as
an accessory after he: officially
had "exonerated" members of his
department in a personal nvesti-
CATION. -
Next was the suicide Of Robert
P. FarisS, a Ku KfGx Khan leader
and a neighbor of the former
chief of police. Expected to be a
state witness, Fariss killed him:
self by inhaling the. exhaust OF
his automobile the day following
Tittsworth's Indictment. ~.
Police Sergeant Carl Tompkins,
who docketed. the flog victims the
night they were brought to- the
police station, was the next sui
eide. Counted on as an important
witness for the state, he, leaped
to his death from hospital win
dow shortly before arrangement
of the defendants. = =,
With the defendants integral
sections of the Tampa civic stluc'
ture, the case probably will be-
come the most sensational iii
Florida's history, Judge Robert +
Dewell of Polk county, was nam
ed to preside over the trials b!
Governor Dave Sholtz. Judge W
Raleigh Petteway, who presidec
over the arraighments, dlsquallti
ed himself at insistence OF the de-
tense, who claimed his candidacy
for governor this year. might
prejudice his rulings.
In the background is the Amer
lean Federation of Labor the
American Civil Liberties. league
and Norman Thomas, sociahs
leader. The Civil Liberties teagu.
first became active when it OF
fered a $1,000 reward at the out