The Shooting of Deputy Dave Ham - Part Two

Deputy Dave Ham

Last week I posted an excerpt on the fatal shooting in 1934 from Deputy Dave Ham from my new book, The Claude Neal Lynching (Please click here to read The Shooting of Deputy Dave Ham - Part One).

A young father with a growing family, Ham was shot in an escape attempt by two convicted bankrobbers on the evening of the same night that murder suspect Claude Neal was taken from a jail in Brewton, Alabama. The deputy was rushed to a hospital in Chipley and by late night was in surgery. He would live only two more days.

The following is a second excerpt from The Claude Neal Lynching about the night that Deputy Ham was shot:

The shooting of a law enforcement officer always creates chaos and this incident was no different. Besides worrying about his wounded employee and a wounded prisoner as well, Sheriff Chambliss had to get Buford Mears to a secure location while also trying to find out how he had managed to get his hands on a pistol.

That information soon came out and deputies arrested Horace Johns on charges that he had slipped Mears the gun during the trial. The bank robber had managed to keep it concealed until he pulled it out and started shooting inside the sheriff’s car.[i]

While the sheriff and his deputies tried to deal with this situation, the caravan of cars driven by the lynch mob slowly made its way along the back roads along the line dividing Florida from Alabama. When Mears opened fire that evening, he created such chaos that Chambliss was unable to give due attention to the situation in the northeastern part of the county. In fact, the sheriff spent much of the night dealing with the chaos caused by the failed escape attempt and in worrying about his severely wounded deputy.

Events now began to take on a life of their own. With the sheriff in Chipley waiting to learn the results of the surgery on Ham and the people of Marianna electrified by news of the shooting, the lynch mob slowly closed in on Brewton, Alabama. They had picked their route well and avoided all contact with law enforcement as they moved west. When they reached their destination later that night, their arrival would come as a total surprise.

The gunfire between Cottondale and Chipley on the evening of October 25^th played a significant but often underestimated or even ignored role in the events of the next two days. The attention of the sheriff and his deputies was necessarily distracted at a critical moment.

 The calmness that he likely felt was finally settling on the county was shattered when Buford Mears pulled a .32 caliber pistol and shot Deputy Dave Ham. The evening of the 25^th turned chaotic and the chaos would continue for days to come. Literally before the sheriff had time to even consider what was happening, events began to overwhelm him.

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The new book is available at Chipola River Book & Tea in Downtown Marianna (same block as the Gazebo Restaurant) for $19.95. 

It can also be ordered online as either a book or a Kindle download at Amazon.com by following these links:

Book ($19.95)  The Claude Neal Lynching: The 1934 Murders of Claude Neal and Lola Cannady

Kindle ($6.96)  The Claude Neal Lynching

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[i] St. Petersburg Times, October 28, 1934.

The Shooting of Deputy Dave Ham - Part One

Deputy Dave Ham
Killed in the Line of Duty, 1934

The following is excerpted from my new book, The Claude Neal Lynching: The 1934 Murders of Claude Neal and Lola Cannady. It is available now at Chipola River Book and Tea in Downtown Marianna (same block as the Gazebo Restaurant) or can be ordered online in either book or Kindle formats at Amazon.com or www.exploresouthernhistory.com/dalecox.

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

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[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.