NCJ Number
122014
Journal
Southern Exposure Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1980) Pages: 16-20
Date Published
1980
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The Ku Klux Klan in Tampa, Fla., in 1935 was instrumental in the murder of Joseph Shoemaker, a supporter of socialist causes and labor unions.
Abstract
Shoemaker and five of his cohorts were seized by Tampa police after the police entered their meeting place without a warrant. After a brief interrogation, the men were released. Three of them, including Shoemaker, were abducted and subsequently beaten by a gang waiting in cars outside the police station. Shoemaker died from his beating. Shortly before the beating, Shoemaker's brother had received a phone call with this message: "This is the Ku Klux Klan. We object to your brother's activities. They are communistic. Tell him to leave town. We will take care of the other radicals, too." Tampa had long been a center of Klan activity which opposed attempts to organize labor in the city. After an investigation fueled by a strong public outcry against Shoemaker's murder and the other beatings, seven police officers were arrested and tried. Two defendants were given a directed verdict of acquittal by the judge, and the judge reduced the charges against the remaining five. After a jury found them guilty, the Florida Supreme Court overturned the verdicts and ordered a retrial. After severely limiting the admissible evidence, the same trial judge issued directed verdicts of acquittal in the murder of Shoemaker. The apparent success of vigilantism encouraged its further use in Tampa.