807. Pensacola Loses Police Officer John H. Carter 1909

Updated: May 20, 2022

Around 1906, a young Georgia man left his home in Jacksonville, Florida and came to Pensacola to make his fortune. Whether he had family or friends here is unknown but regardless he joined the Pensacola Police Department on December 3, 1908. Three months later Officer Carter was on horseback patrol on the night of March 9, 1909 when he observed a black male savagely beating two horses attached to his wagon. The suspect was Will Harris who came to town from his home in Olive (near Olive Road and Ninth Avenue today). He never unhitched his horses and left them tethered all day. He began drinking and did not depart for home until after midnight. On the way home his horses were not going fast enough due to their fatigue so he began beating them when Carter approached. When the officer attempted to arrest him, a fight ensued along an isolated stretch of Davis Street. In the process Carter hit him in the head with his club as Harris pushed him backwards into the wagon. Upon reaching the wagon, Harris attempted to grab an ax located in the back. Carter pushed him back as the struggle continued just before Harris tried to get the officer's gun. Carter was able to get off one shot into the suspect's abdomen before Harris wrested the weapon from Carter's grasp. The suspect took off running with the weapon but then turned and fired two shots at the officer. Neither struck him. When back up arrived a search began and Harris was located under a house and rushed to a doctor. He died from his wound around 6:00 that morning. Per department procedure Carter was taken into custody by the county sheriff and held at the jail until the coroner's jury could convene.

The coroner's jury convened and took statements from Carter and three black bystanders who witnessed the affray. All witnesses confirmed the officer's story. Other officers testified that Harris was known to resist arrest whenever he was taken into custody. At the conclusion of the hearing the jury ruled that the officer involved shooting was justifiable.

Then on April 4, 1909, with barely four months on the job and only three weeks from the fatal shooting of Will Harris, Officer John H. Carter (1883-1909) was found stabbed to death at Aragon Street and Luke's Alley. The incident occurred around one o’clock in the morning when 24-year-old Carter, mounted on his police horse, came across a Negro by the name of David Alexander to either serve a warrant or to question him for some criminal infraction. But for whatever reason, the 40-year-old suspect decided he did not want to go with the officer. He waited until he had been escorted to a patrol box at the intersection of Aragon Street and Luke’s Alley before ambushing the officer and stabbing him in the chest. The dying officer defended himself the best he could by firing two shots at the fleeing suspect before he collapsed. Citizens found his horse as well as Carter lying on the ground near the patrol box in the isolated part of the city. A police force, including Sheriff James Cornelius Van Pelt, Chief of Police Frank Dent Sanders, and city police Captain George A. Hall arrived with a full contingent of law enforcement officers to identify and apprehend Carter’s assailant whoever he was.

Ironically Alexander’s friends had observed his apprehension and had sent immediate word to his wife. With that news in hand, she had innocently proceeded to the police station to see about posting a bond for his release. Knowing that they had no record of any such arrest they quickly put their facts together and ascertained that Alexander must have been the man that attacked Officer Carter. Armed with the new information the officers proceeded to Luke’s Alley and quickly apprehended Alexander. (Luke's Alley was an alley way located in the "Hawkshaw" neighborhood that ran two blocks west of 9th Avenue from Aragon north to Chase Street.) they stated that his behavior and appearance were indicative to them of someone who had recently been in a physical altercation. A police wagon was summoned, and their suspect was taken to the city jail and booked for murder. But the citizens of Pensacola had no intentions of Mr. Alexander escaping what they believed to be swift and certain justice even if they had to take the law into their own hands.

While a mob was gathering out of sight of the police station, Alexander was being questioned by Captain George A. Hall. Background information revealed that he was born around 1877 in Santa Rosa County to James and Sarah Alexander. By 1880, his father was a laborer and five years later they were still there but with his father now a preacher. During further interrogation Captain Hall testified that the suspect had confessed to the murder in the presence of Turnkey Charles Simpson. Further questioning was postponed till the next day however, in the predawn hours a mob of about thirty men appeared at the jail wearing masks over their faces. They quickly subdued Desk Sergeant Michael J. Murphy then stormed inside and forced Simpson to open Alexander's cell. The struggling man was dragged to Ferdinand Square where they threw a rope over a pole just north of Chipley's statue and tied a noose into the other end. It was allegedly placed around his neck by William Thompson, known as Russian Bill just before they pulled him off the ground as he kicked helplessly. Ironically, this was the same pole used to lynch Leander Shaw the year before on July 29, 1908 for the alleged murder of Lillian Brewton Davis.

As Alexander's body was twitching, the mob fired a fusillade of shots into him with about fifteen striking home. Afterwards, the mob quickly melted into the night and disappeared. The body was eventually cut down and taken before the coroner Rube L. Nickelson where he was officially pronounced dead. His body was then transported to Wade H. Harvey’s Funeral Home for burial in an unmarked grave in Magnolia Cemetery, a black graveyard on “A” Street just north of Cervantes.

Not far away lay the mortal remains of Officer John H. Carter in Frank R. Pou's Funeral Home at 15 West Intendencia Street. There he was prepared for burial and his coffin was loaded onto an L&N car at the railroad freight depot. The next day he was shipped out on the noon train on Monday April 5th for Baxley, Georgia. There, he was interred in Nichols, Georgia located in Coffee County about thirty miles northwest of Waycross.

By April 18, 1909, a grand jury had convened to hear the evidence on the lynching as presented by the state attorney. The jury returned a true bill recommending indictments be returned against several men for the murder of David Alexander. They refused to release the names of any however except for William Thompson (1882-), a Russian immigrant also known as "Russian Bill." As soon as the warrant was issued for his arrest, Sheriff James Cornelius Van Pelt (1864-1927) took Thompson into custody and brought him to the jail. The defendant appeared before Judge J. Emmett Wolfe on April 24th with his two court appointed attorneys Jeremiah J. Sullivan Jr. (1879-1959) and Halcott Anderson (1877-1940).

During the all-day trial, several witnesses testified who had not spoken at the time of the coroners hearing. One was Georgia Spencer who stated that she had no direct discussion with Thompson but had been told he admitted to putting the rope around Alexander's neck. Another was Fred Abbott, a former police officer who stated that Thompson had told him that had he put the rope over the pole and if Abbott wanted to meet him later, he would tell him the names of the others in the mob. Thompson denied any such discussion. The defense countered with Thompson's wife who stated that he came home at 11:00 PM and stayed home all night. This story was confirmed by one of Thompson's boarders George Mames. When the defense was finished the jury took just ten minutes to return a verdict of not guilty and Russian Bill left the courthouse a free man.

The participants in this macabre story all went about their daily lives after the incident with only a few knowing exactly what happened that night. Police Captain George Alexander Hall (1885-1945) was the son of John Alexander Hall (1857-1926) and Mary Bryant Harper (1860-1908). He would retire from the City of Pensacola after 30 years with the Police and Fire Departments. Afterwards, he became the grounds keeper at Pensacola's Legion Field especially during spring training when the Boston Red Sox and New York Giants came to town. He died at his home at 115 North "I" Street and was buried in the Whitmire Cemetery. Officer Charles Simpson (1879-1923) would vanish into obscurity before passing away in 1923 and his subsequent burial in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery. Another member of the force that night was Sergeant Michael Joseph Murphy (1874-1925) who was born in Ireland and immigrated to Pensacola in 1887. He remained in law enforcement for 18 years with the last four years of his life as a constable from District #2. He was also a veteran of the Spanish American War having enlisted on May 11, 1898 and discharged on March 10, 1899. Following his death in 1925 he was buried in St. John's Cemetery.

The state's witness Georgia Spencer was the wife of German immigrant and bayman Charles Spencer who likely knew and worked around William Thompson. Thompson was charged with the lynching but exonerated after Georgia's testimony proved to be hearsay. Charles would pass away on December 15, 1915 and was buried in St. Michael's Cemetery. Georgia would pass away on April 2, 1917 and was buried in Potter's Field. The Thompson's boarder George Mames (or Mims) vanished after testifying although his testimony was in full support of his landlord Thompson. Witness and former police officer Frederick D. Abbott (1868-1918) was the son of the Reverend James Arza Abbott (1839-1913) and Laura Lenonora Richmond (1839-1908) who had married in 1860. Fred had served in numerous capacities throughout his life as a meat cutter for G. H. Langley grocers, a policeman, conductor, carpenter, mailman, deputy sheriff, and car mechanic. He was married to Lulu Lee Morgan (1873-1957) and had served in the Spanish American War. He had enlisted on 4-28-1998 with Company "G" of the 1st Montana Infantry Regiment and was discharged on March 15, 1899. He would pass away on December 21, 1918 and was buried in the Morgan Cemetery on Highway 29.

And finally, we come to the man that was charged with throwing the rope over the pole and placing the noose around David Alexander's neck. William F. "Russian Bill" Thompson born in 1882 in Russia and immigrated to America in 1900. At the time of the lynching, he and his wife Annie Nobles (1887-1957) were living at 319 West Intendencia Street while he supported his family as a bayman (fisherman). There is some "speculation" that he would later become as a steward with the Merchant Marine. He may also have enlisted in the US Navy on October 3, 1917 as a 1st Class Ship's Cook and was stationed at Pensacola Naval Hospital from December 20, 1917 to November 11, 1918. Regardless of the speculation, he and Annie would split up in 1927 and she would marry WWI veteran Charles Hanson (1888-1949) in 1928. Annie would pass away on August 15, 1957 and was buried in Roberts Cemetery. Afterwards, Russian Bill would disappear from the record books.

Retired police sergeant Mike Simmons wrote about Officer Carter's death in his book "Pensacola's Finest: the story of the Pensacola Police Department" published in 2020. He speaks of possible inconsistencies in the state's case that might have much more shed light on what really happened that brought about the tragic death of two men that night. There has also been speculation that Alexander certainly would have known that Carter had shot and killed Will Harris three weeks before. Were they acquaintances and could this have had an impact on Alexander's actions? But regardless of what the state could prove or not prove, Alexander never had a chance to defend himself in an open court of law before a jury of his peers. Because of this, we will never know the full truth of what happened. All of those that really knew have long passed on into the pale nations! But if you've got the time, pick up a copy of Mike's book and read his analysis of the circumstances in much more detail.