On June 25, 1920. a Pensacola man named Hosea Poole, appeared before the circuit court and heard the foreman of the jury read aloud his verdict. It was announced to the whole court that he had been found guilty of the murder of his own brother Albert Poole on March 2, 1920 in conjunction with his co-defendant Frank Thomas.
His story began earlier in the year when he was sentenced to the county jail at Jefferson and Main Street for the theft of a bicycle and several articles of clothing. During the proceeding his brother Albert testified against him, which in turn had caused bad blood between the two. About this same time, friction also began between Albert and a man by the name of Frank Thomas over the affections of a young lady, and apparently Frank came out on the losing end of the romantic contest. The story then picks up when Hosea became a trustee in the jail and with this position came the responsibility for keeping the fires going in the boilers down on the lower level. To do this he had to constantly shovel coal into the mouth of the furnace from the massive coal bins. On the night of March 2, 1920, he built up the fires with a good bank of coal and then climbed out the coal chute and onto the street. He went to his house and cleaned himself up and then went out on the town with Albert and Frank. Whether their going out together was by premeditated design or not will never be known.
But in any case, an argument began between Albert and Frank, so Hosea ran back home and got an axe. His mother asked what he was doing, and he replied that the heel of Albert’s shoe had come off and he was going to use it to hammer it back on. He returned to the scene of the altercation and gave the axe to Frank who used it to strike Albert in the head. As the victim fell Frank struck another blow to his head killing him instantly. He and Hosea then took his lifeless body to the Muscogee Wharf and dumped him into Pensacola Bay.
Hosea then slipped back into the jail by way of the coal chute hoping that no one had noticed him gone. However, the subsequent investigation led to Hosea’s involvement and he was charged with an open count of murder. After his sentencing on June 25, 1920 there was nothing for Hosea to do but wait for his execution to be carried out. Finally, on July 13, 1920 he was handcuffed and shackled by his jailers and led to the gallows by Sheriff Hurdis Whitaker. There the black hood was placed over his head and the rope tightened around his neck. When the signal was given, Sheriff Whitaker pulled the lever and Hosea joined his brother Albert among the multitude in the pale nations. Hosea Poole appears to be the last man in Escambia County to be hung because four years later the electric chair began its infamous history when state executions were transferred from the individual counties to the state prison.
On October 7, 1924 an inmate named Frank Johnson from Duval County was electrocuted under the new mandate and became the first in a long line of condemned men to die at the hands of the State of Florida. It is not known what became of Frank Thomas and there are no records of his execution for his part in the crime. He may have received a prison sentence or may not have been charged at all.
Sheriff Hurdis Whitaker, Escambia County, FLorida
Florida's Electric Chair, Florida State Prison, 1920's