At 5:00 PM of July 18, 1905, passersby in downtown Pensacola were finishing up their business and heading home for the day. Then suddenly, there was two loud, rapid gunshots followed by three more. Those closest said they came from John White's Clothier Store at 205 South Palafox Street. Three men responded quickly and ran for the store to investigate. As Cuyler McMillan, Charles Bobe, and a local printer Robert McLellan ran in, they saw James Anicetta White (1882-1943) covered with blood and fighting with William Fletcher Williams who had a smoking gun in his hand. They immediately subdued Fletcher while another clerk, Edward Cosby Dansby (1880-1905) was laying grievously wounded on the floor. Close by, the owner Marco John White (1846-1905) lay dead, shot twice through the newspaper he was reading at the time.
Earlier, as it turns out, John White had asked Fletcher about some missing stock that had been sold elsewhere. The allegation deeply disturbed Fletcher and he began drinking heavily and brooding about it on the day of the shooting. He was a handsome young man with a wife and two young children and was the son of a sawyer at Brent's Mill. Four days after he was hustled off to jail, word was received on July 22nd that his second victim Edward Dansby had died from his injuries. On August 11, 1905, a grand jury returned two true bills for the indictment of two counts of murder. Requests were quickly made for a change of venue and/or a continuance by counsel and both were as quickly denied. By days end of August 15th a eleven man jury had been selected all of which were hailed from "the country." The trial began on Monday, August 14th with the selected jury given mattresses and bedding for the floor of the courtroom where they were expected to sleep that night after they were taken out for supper. The impressive defense team was made up of William L. Zachary (1869-1948), former Judge Lucius Jernigan Reeves (1861-1937), and former Judge Evelyn Croom Maxwell (1863-1954). The likewise impressive prosecution was led by James Walter Kehoe (1870-1938) with Celestino Moreno Jones (1865-1938), and Alexander Clement Blount Jr. (1860-1923) all of which were presided over by Judge Francis "Frank" Bearnegard Carter (1861-1937).
By August 18, the state rested its case feeling confident of a obligatory conviction of a the murder of Marco John White. In fact, the jury convened for only one hour before returning with a verdict of guilty for the 1st Degree Murder of John White. However, they also returned with a recommendation for leniency. The state was shocked, as was the entire enraged citizenry of Pensacola. But sentencing was dutifully suspended until after the trial for the second murder, that of Edwin Cosby Dansby. Again, the defense requested a change of venue, which was granted this time. The second trial convened in Marianna, Jackson County on November 16th but again the jury returned a verdict of guilty but with leniency recommended. And again, the public was shocked to its core! But the verdict was the verdict and Fletcher received his two mandatory life sentences for his cold-blooded misdeeds.
Now normally, this is where the story would have ended, but not so for Fletcher! In July 1911, he began writing to accomplices back home asking for money, which was somehow conveyed to him. At the time, he was working as a trustee in a convict camp where he was hired out to work for Thomas Walter Shands, president of the Crate Mill Company near Belmore in Clay County, Florida. It was common practice in those days to "rent" convict labor out to businesses, who in turn were responsible for their security and upkeep. On the night of August 11th, Fletcher along with several others, took off and made it to Green Cove Springs where he walked up to a darkened house to rob them. Sleepily, Mrs. Laura V. Lane Weeks (1856-1911) thought he was her husband Jesse (postmaster of Waller), returning home. She opened the door and was immediately shot and killed by Fletcher. As her 17-year-old Amos ran in, he was shot in the leg. However, the young man grabbed his shotgun and fired a buckshot round at point blank range, hitting Fletch in the leg. As Fletcher turned to crawl out the door the young man shot him in the back knocking him outside. There, they left him on the roadway all night to eventually perish where he lay. The only comment he made before death was as to his horse, which was apparently the inmate's mode of transportation at the time. After a coroner's examination, his remains were brought home in the dead of night and immediately buried the next day on August 13th in the Lower Pine Barren Cemetery on Highway 29.
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