VERO AT 100
LIVING HISTORY
11
was cleared of his death.
A year later, the sheriff and his men set up an ambush at
the Sebastian bridge to catch the John Ashley Gang, wellknown
for its many run-ins with the law, including the illegal
sale of liquor. All four members were shot dead at the scene
and carried to Fort Pierce to be put on display.
Local people in Sebastian and Roseland had their suspicions
regarding the causes of the deaths. Years later, researchers
agreed that it was likely Merritt and his deputies murdered
the gang while they were in handcuffs. Court records
reveal Theodore Roosevelt Miller and Shadrack O’Dell Davis
of Sebastian testified during the sheriff’s hearing that they
were at the bridge when the Ashley Gang pulled up behind
them. They were told by authorities to go home, and before
they left, they saw the gang in handcuffs. Later Miller and
Davis saw the news reports that every member of the gang
had been shot dead, with the shots audible throughout the
town of Roseland. The sheriff and his deputies denied they
ever put handcuffs on the gang members, and a jury exonerated
them.
Miller and Davis repeated their story to people in Sebastian,
and Robert G. McCain, who already had a run-in with the
sheriff the previous year, began to speak out against the sheriff.
On April 16, 1925, McCain was kidnapped and dragged
20 miles into the woods of Vero and beaten severely. McCain
said the men told him he was being punished for signing a
petition seeking an investigation into the questionable shooting
of the Ashley Gang by Merritt and his men. McCain recognized
one of the men who beat him as the deputy sheriff.
When Gov. John Martin was personally shown the wounds
of McCain in the governor’s office on April 22, a movement
toward county division began to advance quickly. “Quivering
with pain as he disrobed in the governor’s office, the man
displayed bruises, cuts, and abrasions almost from head to
foot, with large portions of his body blue from having been
beaten,” the Tampa Morning Tribune reported. A committee
from St. Lucie County asked the governor for an investigation
of law enforcement conditions. Investigators declared
that “a ring” was in control and that “… made it impossible
for the administration of justice.” These allegations of
lawlessness would play a part in views on county division by
state legislators just a month later.
SUNDAY BLUE LAWS
Blue laws were usually designed to enforce moral standards,
often restricting certain activities on Sundays. Such
restrictions were included in an article under a 1905 act by
state legislators that forbade “… any game or sport, such as
baseball, football or bowling, as played in bowling alleys, or
horse racing …” on Sundays.
Cities and counties often had ordinances that contained
similar restrictions, sometimes ignored by citizens and law
officers. Many of these laws were repealed over the years.
Some are still on the books. In the 1920s, they were often used
by authorities taking a strong “law-and-order” stance.
Gus Ruffner was appointed sheriff of St. Lucie County in
1921 after the death of the previous sheriff. The following
year, Ruffner lost the primary election to Merritt, who was set
to take office in January 1923. However, within weeks of his
loss, Ruffner decided to become a strict enforcer of the law in
his last few months in office after a year of very little activity
by him. >>
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