The Flip Side of History. Steve Silverman
On Thursday, October 24, 1957, two drunk men landed a small airplane on a field just outside of Fort Meade, Florida. They proceeded to walk down Broadway before entering the local drug store. After purchasing a couple of pairs of sunglasses, the two then used the payphone located at the front of the store.
The taller of the two men called the local police department, which was located directly across the street. He asked to speak to the police chief but was informed that he had gone home for lunch. When he questioned to whom he was speaking, the person on the other end replied, “This is Constable Harry Godwin.”
“Well, Constable Godwin, you better get down here on East Broadway. Couple men acting drunk and mighty disorderly.”
The two men, dressed in coveralls, then walked into the street as Godwin drove up alongside them and got out of his patrol car. Observing that the men were clearly intoxicated, Godwin stated, “You’re under arrest,” to which one of the men replied, “We don’t think so—you’re the one under arrest.”
One of the men shoved the muzzle of a gun into Godwin’s left side as the other pressed a gun into his right. They then took Godwin’s gun and watch before forcing him to drive a short distance to a wooded area. One of the men stated, “You don’t think we mean business, do you?” To emphasize his point, the man brought the gun near Godwin’s face, shot a round into the air, and then asked again whether or not Godwin thought they meant business. Godwin replied, “Yes, sir, I do.”
Next, they forced the constable to drive back into town. Their destination was the First State Bank of Fort Meade, located on the corner of Broadway and French Avenue. The plan was to enter the bank at 12:58, two minutes prior to the bank’s 1:00 p.m. closing.
1910 image of the First State Bank of Fort Meade.
While en route to the bank, Godwin tried his best to attract attention to the potential robbery. Upon spotting a city truck, he swung his police car into its path, but the driver pulled aside and allowed him to pass. Next, he attempted to pull into the path of an approaching car at an intersection, but once again the other driver gave way.
Once they reached the bank, the two men placed stockings over their heads, put on gloves, slipped on their newly purchased sunglasses, and forced Godwin to enter with them. Godwin attempted to draw attention by placing his hands high in the air. In response, one of the bandits blurted out an expletive and said, “You tryin’ to give us away? Put your hands down.”
Two customers about to enter the bank were herded inside by the bandits as one of them held onto Godwin by his belt and firmly pressed the barrel of the gun against the back of his head.
Twenty-two-year-old assistant cashier Morris R. Lunn was the first to spot the bandits. “I saw them come in the door. They were pushing the constable around some.” He continued, “I heard one of them say something. I asked him what he said. I didn’t have to ask him what he wanted. I could see that.”
Regarding the taller of the two men, Lunn stated, “He threw a sack at me and told me to fill it up.” He added, “He was roughing up the constable then. I told all the tellers to get their money out of the drawers and put it into the sack.” One of the gunmen then screamed at the female clerks, “You all start shoveling money into the bag or I’ll blow his goddamn brains out.”
Lunn was then handed a second sack and instructed not to “put [in] anything less than tens.” As Lunn turned around, one of the bandits hit him on the back of the head and he fell to the floor. “After I came to, I rolled away from the door as soon as I thought it was safe enough to move. I thought he might come by and see me and think he might as well finish me off.”
At around the six-minute mark, the shorter of the bandit pair began to exit from the bank and told his companion, “Come on. What are you trying to do, put on a show for them?” As his partner backed out, he fired a warning shot into a window sash to keep everyone at bay. Leaving Constable Godwin behind inside the bank, the two jumped into his car and sped away.
J. H. White, the bank’s vice president and general manager, was returning from an errand when he learned from workmen outside that the bank was being robbed. He shouted the news of the heist down the street to a hardware store employee who, in turn, contacted the police department dispatcher.
By the time Police Chief Glenn Baggett arrived at the bank, the robbery had ended. “I got the call. When I drove up there I didn’t know just what to do at first. I didn’t see anything going on. Then I heard a car squall down the way. I saw it was Harry’s car. I thought ‘Harry’s on them. There will be one heck of a race now.’”
Baggett continued, “They overshot Bowling Green Road. That’s the first indication I had that Harry wasn’t in the car. Then I saw two men who had something on their face. They got out of the car and went over the fence. They had a bag.” He raced down the road and saw that the two men were attempting to board a small yellow plane.
Fort Meade wholesale fruit dealer Perry Johnson joined in on the chase and arrived on the scene a few seconds later. Baggett stated, “I got out the pump gun, but the shell wouldn’t pump into it. I gave it to Perry Johnson and used my pistol.” He continued, “I emptied my gun at them. I don’t know, but I think Johnson fired three times. They started shooting back.”
As one of the bandits climbed aboard the aircraft, the other pulled on the propeller to start the engine. He then climbed aboard as the plane made a quick turn before leaving the ground.
A search both in the air and on the ground commenced within minutes. It was soon learned that a yellow Aeronca airplane had been stolen earlier that morning from the Gilbert Airfield in Winter Haven, some 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Fort Meade. Around 2:00 p.m., a military plane spotted the Aeronca on the ground at the airport in Plant City, about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of the crime scene.
Bullet holes in the Aeronca confirmed to investigators that it was the plane used in the robbery, but they were puzzled as to why the footprints left behind went just a short distance before coming to a sudden stop. After interviewing witnesses, it was established that the two men had abandoned the Aeronca and continued their escape in a smaller, silver Cessna with yellow trim.
A review of aeronautical records indicated that there were only two airplanes registered within the entire state of Florida that matched the description of that silver Cessna. One of them was quickly ruled out. When the owner of the second plane heard that the police were looking for his Cessna, he immediately made contact with authorities. He told them that earlier in the day, he had lent the airplane to an employee named Donald J. Thompson who needed it to attend to some urgent business in Venice, Florida.
Thompson was an immediate suspect, but nothing about him suggested that he would take part in a bank robbery. “Bugs” Thompson was a skilled ex-military pilot who had flown in many Florida airshows. Shortly after World War II he married his wife Barbara, and they were the proud parents of a seven-year-old daughter named Donna.
At 5:06 p.m., Thompson landed the Cessna at Tampa International and was immediately arrested. He admitted that he had been drinking, but emphatically denied any involvement in the Fort Meade robbery.
Coincidentally, a few minutes prior to Thompson’s arrest, there was a collision between two automobiles at the corner of Cypress Street and Howard Avenue in Tampa. Police became suspicious of one of the drivers—twenty-six-year-old Irving U. Suits—after learning that he was both an airplane broker and in possession of $305 in cash ($2,750 today). While he was being escorted off to the city jail, a further search of his vehicle uncovered two sets of coveralls similar to those used in the holdup.
Both Suits and Thompson were placed in police lineups. Two employees of the Fort Meade drugstore positively identified both men as the two that had bought sunglasses earlier in the day, establishing that the suspects had been in Fort Meade prior to the robbery. Yet Constable Godwin was only