The Flip Side of History. Steve Silverman
Dr. Sykes, and several lesser witnesses all testified against Coston. Perhaps the most damaging evidence was a series of thirty-three notes that Coston penned while in the Orange County jail and had smuggled through an intermediary to Long. The notes told of Coston’s nervousness while he sat in jail, and placed intense pressure on Long to get Buck Moseley out of town so he wouldn’t squeal. Coston instructed Long to flush the notes as soon as he read them, but for some reason Long opted to hold onto them.
It took a jury of twelve men two and a half hours to deliberate the case. On May 3, 1938, the foreman of the jury, C. J. Chryst, read the verdict. They found Coston guilty of murder in the first degree. This decision came with a mandatory sentence of death. Coston stated, “The only thing I have to say is that I am innocent of the charge, and had nothing to do with it. I was convicted on the perjured testimony of two men and I am innocent.”
An appeal was immediately filed with the Florida Supreme Court. They granted him a new trial that resulted in a mistrial being declared on November 18, 1939.
On February 29, 1940, at his third trial, Coston was found guilty of third degree murder and sentenced to twenty years in the state penitentiary at Raiford. In a way, this was a life sentence for Coston because he died there on September 8, 1942, at the age of fifty-three from a lung abscess.
As for Long and Sykes, they were never brought to trial. The cases against both were dropped in March of 1940.
Arrested for Eating Soup Loudly
1923
Thirty-four-year-old Isaac Hirschorn was arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct in Essex Market Court on December 15, 1923. The reason? He was loud and boisterous while eating a bowl of soup at a restaurant located at 25 St. Mark’s Place.
Hirschorn claimed that he wasn’t being disorderly—that was the way he always ate his soup. Although he did apologize, he felt that he was unable to avoid making noise while eating his soup.
Magistrate McAndrews dismissed the charges, but told Hirschorn, “Eat your soup at home in the future and the other courses of your meal in a restaurant. You are discharged.”
Kidnapper Rides on Car Hood in Nightgown
1964
A woman in a nightgown was seen clinging to the front of an automobile as it was being driven down the road. If your first thought was that the woman’s life was in great danger and that the car should have been stopped, well, you would be wrong.
Imagine this: A car is driving through Spartanburg, South Carolina, with a young woman clad only in a white nightgown on its hood. An estimated twenty-car caravan is trailing behind, trying to stop the driver. While this may seem like fiction, it really did happen on Monday, August 17, 1964.
It all started around 11:30 p.m. the Sunday night prior in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Twenty-six-year-old Grady Lee Steen was at a drive-in restaurant with his girlfriend, Patsy Queen, when a car drove up beside them. Twenty-three-year-old Joyce Kaye LaFevers exited the car, walked up to Steen, and asked to speak with him alone. When Miss Queen refused to get out of the car, Steen told LaFevers that she should get in, too.
Miss LaFevers got into the back seat, pulled a gun out from under her skirt, and ordered Miss Queen to exit the vehicle. She then ordered Steen to follow the car that LaFevers had arrived in, which was now being driven by twenty-five-year-old Stacey LaVern Bigham. They drove to a nearby service station where Steen was ordered to get into Bigham’s car.
The three then drove to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Steen was forced to call Kannapolis police and let them know that he had not been kidnapped and that everything was fine. A stop was then made at a nearby motel where LaFevers and Bigham picked up their clothing. From there, they drove to Douglas Municipal Airport in Charlotte and rented a car, leaving their vehicle behind.
They then started driving toward Atlanta. Upon reaching Spartanburg, they rented a room at the Howard Johnson Motel.
The two robbed Steen of a $130 check, plus $4 that he had in cash. Bigham, who wished to purchase an airplane, threatened to kill Steen if he did not come up with an additional $5,000 ($41,000 today). LaFevers’s request was straightforward: either Steen married her or she would kill him. “If I can’t have you, then nobody else will,” Steen later quoted her as saying.
At 3:00 a.m., Bigham fell sleep. Steen continued to talk to LaFevers until she went to bed at around 5:00 a.m. While the two kidnappers slept, Steen grabbed the car keys and pistol and quietly exited the room around 6:00 a.m.
Steen jumped in the car and quickly locked the doors, but the slamming of the car door awoke LaFevers. Unable to get into the car, she threw her body across its hood. Steen proceeded to slowly drive away, fearing that excessive speed would cause her to fall off the hood.
LaFevers begged to be let into the car. When Steen refused, she ripped off the side view mirror and smashed the windshield with it.
The sight of this scantily clad woman riding on the hood of a car caught motorists by surprise, and many began to follow Steen’s vehicle. One motorist pulled up beside Steen and pointed at the young woman on his hood, but Steen kept on going. He traveled slowly as an ever-growing line of cars trailed behind him. This caught the attention of officers and when Steen stopped at another traffic light on Magnolia Street, they jumped out and surrounded the car.
LaFevers slid down off the hood of the car and charged right at Steen. Arresting officer J. G. Tate stated, “She was down and clawing at him in a hurry. We pulled her off and put her in the patrol car but she wouldn’t tell us a thing.”
The three bewildered policemen were unsure of what had really happened. While Steen claimed that he had been kidnapped, his story seemed unbelievable. As a result, both Steen and LaFevers were arrested. Eventually, Steen was able to convince police that his story was true. Officers then went to the Howard Johnson Motel and arrested Bigham.
Soon after Bigham was taken into custody, other inmates began to request that the jailer allow them to pay off their fines. It was soon determined that Bigham had cashed Steen’s $130 check and distributed the money to the inmates.
Bigham and LaFevers were both sentenced to four-year terms in federal prison for the kidnapping.
1941
Two women stood before Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Orfa Jean Shontz on November 6, 1941, in what initially seemed to be an ordinary case. Mrs. Sophie Koshelnik had been bitten by a dog owned by Ms. Rose Wolf. Koshelnik was seeking $50 ($860 today) in damages.
As Mrs. Koshelnik explained what had happened, she shocked Judge Shontz when she stated, “Just because I bit the dog, the cur turned around and sunk his teeth in my lip.”
“What did you say?” Judge Shontz questioned. “It sounded like you said you bit the dog.”
“That’s right, your honor,” Mrs. Koshelnik replied. “But it was all a mistake.” She explained that she had been playing with the dog. When it began to growl, bark, and snap its teeth at her, Mrs. Koshelnik decided to do the same in return. She growled. She barked. She snapped her teeth. “Imagine my surprise when I found I had bit the dog on his nose.” The dog was equally surprised and bit her on the lip.
The judge awarded Mrs. Koshelnik $10 ($172 today) and advised that she avoid biting dogs in the future.
1957
The unusual story of two high-flying aviators who attempted to pull off the perfect crime.