LIVING HISTORY
STEVEN CARR/ELLIOTT MUSEUM
37
The gang struck again on Sept. 12, 1924, at Pompano Bank.
Its heist amounted to $4,000 in cash and $5,000 in bonds. A
couple of days later, gang members successfully stole five
city-owned automobiles housed near the West Palm Beach
police headquarters.
Meanwhile, Laura had to appear in court on the murder
charge from the raid on the Ashley camp. She asked for a
court-appointed attorney and Sidney J. Catts Jr. was named.
Her trial was set for Oct. 6, but the state attorney requested a
delay until February.
Then on Nov. 1, sheriff’s deputies and chiefs of police
captured four gang members, including Ashley, as they drove
north at night along A1A. They were stopped at the Sebastian
Bridge by the seven lawmen sent by Sheriff Baker. Laura was
not in the car; the plan may have been for her to join them
once they were in Jacksonville.
The officers were not taking any chances after stopping
them, feeling “it was them or us.” When one of the handcuffed
outlaws reached for his hat, the lawmen fired their
rifles repeatedly, killing them.
UNKNOWN INFORMANT
A great deal of speculation has surrounded the circumstances
of how Baker learned that the Ashley Gang was headed
for Jacksonville. It has been noted by many sources that an
informant spilled the gang’s plans that day. Some even say it
might have been Laura. It wasn’t until 1976 when one of the
key officers present at the killing, Stuart Police Chief Oren B.
Padgett, wrote his recollections of that day, 52 years earlier.
Chief Padgett:
I was walking down the sideway about mid-morning this Sat- >>
After Laura joined the gang, she would scout banks looking for potential
robbery sites and often drove the getaway car.
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