A law enforcement officer's life can change in a split second and can range from getting a little girl's cat out of a tree to a deadly gunfight at a moment's notice. Sadly, this vocation has not changed a bit over in the last 150 years! Mental health issues have always been the most dangerous situations for police whether its 1905 or 2021. That being said, on the morning of July 15, 1905, Deputy Frank Dent Sanders was at the Escambia County Courthouse when he received a telephone message from the city police station that a man with mental health issues was causing a problem on West Government Street. Sanders jumped into his personal horse & buggy and headed that way. A block from the house, he saw Gallan Marchetta run up to an elderly woman and snatch something from her arms and threw it to the ground. He then began to beat her with the butt end of a cow whip. When Marchetta saw Sanders, he ran into the house with the deputy close behind. He tried to calm the irate man but Marchetta pulled a knife and lunged at Sanders, forcing him to draw his pistol. Undeterred, he struck the deputy in the head with the heavy whip handle and began beating him to the ground.
Attempting to escape, Marchetta then ran from the house and jumped into the deputy's buggy with Sanders in hot pursuit. As Marchetta beat the horse with the whip, it bolted down the street at such a speed that the assailant was thrown from the buggy. In the meantime, Sanders jumped on the prone Marchetta as the crazed horse dashed the buggy to pieces in an attempt to escape. With the help of bystanders, the deputy was then able to handcuff his attacker and have him carried to the city jail by the arriving police officers. Sanders received stitches to his head from the beating plus multiple bruises and lacerations.
The follow-up investigation revealed the elderly woman to be a Mrs. Ross who lived on the bayou and was listed later as critical with wounds to her head and a broken wrist. She told the deputy she had bought two loaves of bread and was heading back home when Marchetta walked up and grabbed the bread. He then began beating her for no reason. They found Marchetta's house totally demolished inside and his wife and children gone. Sadly, he had been jailed months before but released on good behavior. Again, in custody, he was ruled insane and sent to the State Hospital in Chattahoochee for treatment.
The fate of Mrs. Ross is unknown however Deputy Sanders was elected as the City Marshal in 1909. Born in Barbour Co., AL in 1867, he arrived in Pensacola in 1893 and married Ida Anastasia Duval Christie six years later. He became a deputy prior to 1900 under his brother-in-law Sheriff George E. Smith. He served at different times as Mayor, Commissioner of Finance and Revenue, Commissioner of Streets and Public Works, and Police and Fire Commissioner He was serving in the latter when he suffered a stroke and died in 1925. In his honor, Sanders Beach is named after him.
As to Marchetta, little is known as to his fate in this story. However, the newspaper spells his name as Gallan Marchetta and living most likely at 804 West Government Street. He was born in Genoa, Italy and immigrated to the US in 1881 where he married a local woman. He supported his family as a fisherman and would pass away in 1941.
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