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| Deputy Dave Ham Killed in the Line of Duty, 1934 |
One of the least mentioned incidents associated with the October 1934 outbreak of violence in Jackson County was the fatal shooting of Deputy Dave Ham.
He and Sheriff W.F. "Flake" Chambliss were escorting two convicted bank robbers to the Washington County Jail in Chipley when a shootout erupted inside the car.
Buford Mears and Harrison McKinney had been convicted that day of robbing the Bank of Malone earlier in the year and then taking off for Chicago with the loot. For their security, they were being moved to the jail in Chipley.
The following is from Chapter Seven of the new book:
...[C]ourt activity
ended for the day and Sheriff Chambliss and Deputy Dave Ham moved Mears and McKinney from the holding cell into a Model A Ford to
begin the trip back to the Washington County Jail in Chipley, where they were being held
for their own safety. The third bank robber, M.F. Dudley, was younger than the other
two and was released to go home pending his sentencing.
The black car
carrying the four men made its way out of Marianna and west on U.S. Highway 90. The 1939 Works
Progress Administration guide to Florida, published just five years
later, described the route as “a fertile hilly area producing Satsuma oranges, pecans, sugar cane, and peanuts.”
Cottondale, through which the lawmen
passed with their prisoners, was described by the guide in colorful terms:
COTTONDALE…is a farming, fishing and hunting
center. The fish in neighboring streams and lakes are so voracious, it is said,
that fisherman have to stand out of sight behind trees while baiting their
hooks. Unlike visitors, old residents refuse to fish on Sundays, for, as one
explained, ‘I ain’t got nothing’ else to do on weekdays.’[i]
The four men
may even have talked about the things they had in common, hunting, fishing and
farming, as they made their way along the winding highway. Chambliss and Ham may have discussed the Claude Neal case. Whatever their topic of conversation,
they did not reach Chipley.
As the Model A
passed through the pine woods and fields between Cottondale and Chipley, Buford
Mears suddenly pulled a pistol and opened fire.
Deputy Ham drew his own pistol and returned fire as the
car careened off the road. By the time Sheriff Chambliss could knock the gun
from Mears’ hand and subdue him, both Ham and the other bank robber, Harrison
McKinney, had been seriously wounded. [ii]
In a motion
filed in circuit court the next morning, State Attorney John Carter provided more information
on the wounding of the deputy:
…Dave Ham, while transporting certain
prisoners from Marianna to the County Jail at Chipley, Florida., at about 8:00
P.M. last night, was seriously wounded by being shot with a pistol by one of
said prisoners. Said pistol was a 32 caliber, and the bullet entered said Dave
Ham in the left arm, passing through his left arm and into the left side of his
body just below the shoulder, and passed through his body just below the right
shoulder. That he is now confined in the hospital of Dr. Watson, in Chipley,
Florida, and is in a serious condition as a result of said wound….[iii]
The wounded prisoner, McKinney, was brought back to Marianna to the Baltzell Hospital while Ham, as noted above, was taken to Chipley for care.
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I will post a second excerpt about the shooting of Deputy Ham in coming days, so be sure to check back. If you are interested in reading the entire book, it can be purchased for $19.95 from Chipola Book and Tea or ordered online from Amazon.com by clicking here:
The Claude Neal Lynching: The 1934 Murders of Claude Neal and Lola Cannady
The Claude Neal Lynching: The 1934 Murders of Claude Neal and Lola Cannady
[i]
Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Projects Administration for the State of
Florida, Florida: A Guide to the
Southernmost State, Oxford University Press, 1939, p. 444.
[ii]
Chambliss, Lynching Report; St.
Petersburg Times, October 28, 1934, p. 3.
[iii]
Motion for Mistrial in State of Florida vs. Rudolph Godwin, alias Love Godwin,
submitted by State Attorney John Carter, Jr., October 26, 1934.
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