As the newspapers hit the street on September 26, 1923 everyone saw the broad black headlines announcing that Escambia County Sheriff Andrew Cary Ellis had been shot and killed the previous day. The story read that he had gone out to the home of 50-year old Susie McLane (or McClain) at 2009 Petterson Street off Barrancas Avenue near Bayou Chico to arrest her on charges of contempt of court. Ms. McLane was no stranger to the court and had previously served time in the county jail for cutting a man with a knife in addition to other arrests for numerous offenses. The house where she was staying was owned by Mr. Hurley M. Cobb, of Bagdad, Florida. She did not have permission to stay at the house but for some reason she felt that the house belonged to her. Law officers and neighbors alike felt that she was mentally unbalanced, which may have explained her dysfunctional behavior. Once before, in 1920 Sheriff Ellis had had to evict her from the same house for the same reasons and she had also been resistant at the time.
When the house became vacant again, Ms. McLane moved back in without permission of the owner. She proclaimed to her neighbors that she would “die in this house” rather than leave it again. In response the owner obtained an injunction restraining her from returning to the premises. When deputies came out to the house to serve the papers on her for contempt of court she responded by tearing it to pieces in front of them and ordered them off the property. Later she sent word to one of the jailers that she knew from her previous incarcerations that she would kill whoever tried to arrest her. Hopefully, this information was passed on to the proper authorities.
On the afternoon of the shooting Ernest Harper, William O’Connell, W. Archie Bowman, and an officer by the name of Wasden drove by and saw her on the porch. They stopped and tried to talk her into coming with them peacefully to the jail. She refused and went inside and locked all the doors and pulled the shades down over her windows. The whole time this was taking place she was declaring she was not going to be arrested. They chose to leave and pass the information on to the sheriff who in turn decided to return with the men and try to bring her in without harm. His motives appeared to be forthright and gallant as Ellis declared that he wished to do it, “without hurting the poor old soul.” When they arrived, they found the doors were still locked and the window shades were pulled down. Ellis went to the door and asked Ms. McLane to come out, but she refused. When he tried to force the front door the suspect rose and came toward it. As O’Connell and Harper watched through a crack in the window shade they warned Ellis “that she carried some object in her hand,” which they believed to be a knife. However, the object was a small .32 pistol in which the suspect used to fire two shots through the closed door. Neither bullet did any harm so the sheriff then “commanded her to open the door and submit,” but again she refused. Ellis finally was able to force the door open and as he started to enter she fired a third shot striking him full in the chin and breaking his neck. He groaned once then fell to the porch mortally wounded. She then turned the pistol toward O’Connell and Harper who had immediately pulled their own weapons. Both officers opened fire killing McLane instantly. Her body was transferred to the undertakers and then with no apparent family in the community she was later buried in Potter’s Field.
Funeral services for Sheriff Ellis were conducted on September 27, 1923 by Northup & Wood Funeral Home and held at his home at 1125 North Baylen (right) Street by the Reverend A. J. Moncrief, pastor of the First Baptist Church. His graveside services at St. Johns Cemetery were attended by many of his brothers from the Elks Lodge in addition to several other prestigious organizations. Flags throughout Pensacola were flown at half-mast to honor the fallen law enforcement officer. Also in his honor they changed the name of Petterson Road to Cary’s Lane that still bears his name today. Members of his family still live in and around Bogia off Highway 29.
