When in Tallahassee…Go to the State Archives

When a search at the county level turned up no records, a trip to the Florida Supreme Court was the next step.

One of my second great-grandfathers is a man named Howell Romulus “H R” Montgomery.  He was born in Georgia in 1880 and later moved to Florida with his wife, Ella Lane.

H R Montgomery and wife Ella Lane Montgomery with their children circa late 1911. Pictured from left to right: Gordon Hinton Montgomery, Charley Hance Montgomery, H R Montgomery, Lollie Montgomery, Ella Montgomery, Howell Montgomery (sitting in Ella’s lap), Minnie Lee Montgomery, and Johnnie Ralph Montgomery. As of the date that this article was posted, there are are two physical copies of this photograph that I know of. One physical photograph is in the possession of Jackie Montgomery Terry of Calhoun County, Florida. Jackie is the granddaughter of H R and Ella Montgomery. The second physical photograph is in the possession of David Gordon Montgomery of Sorrento, Florida. David is the grandson of H R and Ella Montgomery.

While researching H R, I found newspaper articles stating that he had been murdered by a man named A L “Bunk” Hall.

Article published on August 17, 1921 in the Tallahassee Democrat regarding the murder of H R Montgomery and the man accused of the crime, A L Hall. Tallahassee Democrat (Tallahassee, Florida) · Wed, Aug 17, 1921 · Page 8 https://www.newspapers.com/image/247534481 Article accessed Feb 19, 2020.

Article published on August 18, 1921 in the Miami Herald regarding the murder of H R Montgomery and the man accused of the crime, A L Hall. The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) · Thu, Aug 18, 1921 · Page 5 https://www.newspapers.com/image/616190605 Article accessed on Feb 19, 2020.

The (2nd) murder trial for A L “Bunk” Hall, accused of killing H R Montgomery, began in 1923. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida) · Sun, Apr 29, 1923 · Page 7 https://www.newspapers.com/image/353014508 Article accessed on Feb 19, 2020.

I also contacted my great-uncle David who is a grandson of H R Montgomery and he and his wife, my Aunt Betty, asked me if I knew that Great-Great Granddaddy Montgomery had been murdered.  I told them that, yes, I had seen newspaper articles to this effect and that I planned to research it more.  Online searches weren’t netting me much information, so I was going to have to make a physical trip to the courthouse to find the original records.

In July of 2020 (yes, right after the 6-week COVID lockdown, while things were still very inaccessible), I took a “family history” road trip.  One of my stops was Calhoun County, Florida where my Great-Great Grandfather Montgomery was murdered.    Masked and ready to dig, I went to the county courthouse early in the morning.

Photo credit: By Michael Rivera - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86952129

 Every county courthouse that I have visited does things a bit differently when it comes to their archived records.  Some clerks usher you into musty smelling rooms and tell you to have fun.  Some clerks hover over you and follow you around and point out how delicate every book is.  In Calhoun County, I wasn’t allowed to touch or view the trial records.  There was a small room off to the side of the main office that housed some old record books for various things – and I DID go through them all – but my main objective was to find the trial transcript for the trial of A L Hall v The State of Florida for the murder of H R Montgomery.

 The Clerk of the Court was not in the office that day, so I was advised to fill out a request log and I would be contacted after the clerk had a chance to search for the records.  Y’all.  I was beyond disappointed.  Here I had made this trip to some random county in the Panhandle of Florida for the express purpose of finally obtaining the record of this trial, and I could have achieved the same result with a phone call or an email.

Granted, in retrospect, I’m super glad that I went and got to see the county of Calhoun and the towns of Altha and Blountstown.  Those were important historical sites for my direct paternal line.  I got to visit the gravestones of my great-great grandparents.  That’s how I realized that there was a whole family plot with many relevant people buried in the same small area — a fact that was not evident when simply viewing their memorials on Find-A-Grave.

The Montgomery Family plot in the Chipola Cemetery in Altha, Calhoun County, Florida.

Plus, I got to stay in a ramshackle motel on the outskirts of town. 

If ever visiting Calhoun County, Florida, just know that this place is the only option for accomodations. The owners could not have been nicer. And the price was very inexpensive, but I only stayed there out of necessity. I would never pick a place like this if I had other options!

A few days later, I received a call from the Clerk of the Courts.  She was very kind and understanding.  Her aunt was the genealogist in her family, and she knew how much her aunt loved finding old records in courthouses.  The Clerk had found some records regrading H R Montgomery, and she sent them my way, but unfortunately, there was nothing for a trial of A L Hall in 1921 through 1925.  She was just not able to locate it in any of the places that it should be.

 It was frustrating to say the least.

Fast forward to February 2022.  My kids had secured spots to be a Page for the Florida State Senate and a Messenger for the Florida House of Representatives.  They would be busy all day, Monday through Friday, and I would be free to roam Tallahassee at my leisure. 

Some of the articles and documents that I had located about Great-Great Granddaddy Montgomery had indicated that the case against A L Hall had made it’s way to the Florida Supreme Court due to procedural issues.  Honestly, I couldn’t understand if A L Hall had won or lost the appeal(s) to the Supreme Court. The language was not clear to me.  Sometimes it seemed like he won and sometimes it seemed like he had lost.

Decision by the Florida Supreme Court affirms murder conviction of A L Hall. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida) · Tue, Jul 15, 1924 · Page 4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/352576142 Article accessed on Feb 27, 2021.

High court quashes the writ of mandamus against Judge Lewis. The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida) · Thu, Jul 17, 1924 · Page 16 https://www.newspapers.com/image/326073737 Article accessed on Mar 15, 2020.

By this time, I had been researching AL “Bunk” Hall’s life.  I knew that although he had been found guilty of the murder of H R Montgomery in 1923 and was given a life sentence (according to the newspaper articles), that he was out of prison and living with his wife again by the 1930 census. 

Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. 1930; Census Place: Chason, Calhoun, Florida; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0006; FHL microfilm: 2340043. District: 0006; Description: ELECTION PRECINCT 5, CHASON

Just two blocks behind the Capitol building in Tallahassee sits the Florida Supreme Court building.  I thought, “When in Tallahassee…visit the supreme court!”

Photo of the Florida Supreme Court by Bruin79 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30004039

The research library was open in the supreme court building and a helpful librarian asked if she could be of service to me as soon as I walked in the door.  Looking around at the vast shelves of thick books, I realized that I had no idea where to start my search.  Gratefully, I smiled at her and told her that yes, I could desperately use her help!  I explained to her what I was looking for and I showed her the newspaper articles explaining that the case had been appealed to the Florida Supreme Court as well as the dates of the articles. 

She ushered me to a bank of computers where she typed in some details, and she was able to locate that the case had been heard by the Florida Supreme Court.  She was able to find an exact date and a docket number.  She wrote these items on a slip of paper and told me that if the transcripts or other documents on the case still existed, I would have to retrieve them from the Florida State Archives.

Well, I’m not proud of this, but I literally wailed balefully, “And just HOW do I get in touch with the Florida State Archives???” Now y’all, I love researching.  I figure almost all of you reading this can relate to that.  Locating documents and fitting together pieces of circumstantial evidence is my jam.  Doing the hard work to locate a source document no one else has ever discovered is one of the more gratifying endeavors that I can think of. But I was having a pity-party.   I all but stomped my foot.

The precious librarian just smiled gently and said not to worry.  The Florida State Archive was located in the same building as the Florida Museum of History…and both were in the building directly one block behind the Florida Supreme Court building.  I could walk there in less than 3 minutes! I then amended by previous statement and said to myself, “When in Tallahassee…visit the state archives!”

Photo of the Florida Museum of History and the State Archives by Bruin79 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30004039

I thanked her profusely and started my walk over to the state archives.  This time, when I entered the research library, I confidently approached the desk and when the archivist asked if he could help me, I smiled and said that yes, he certainly could!  I quickly explained my journey thus far and then handed him the sheet of paper.  He typed away and then looked up and said, “This case is almost 100 years old.”  I confirmed that, yes, that was true.  He explained that cases that old were not able to be located on the computer and that he would have to physically search the files in the archive.  He told me that it might be there, but that honestly, he was not hopeful.  He told me to leave my phone number and email and he would reach back out within a few days.

This will sound crazy, but instead of being disappointed yet again, I was filled with a feeling of calm this time.  I am a woman of faith, and I could feel the Lord telling me, “I have you on this journey for a reason.” So, I just smiled at him and handed him my contact information and said that I just knew he was going to find the file.

 It took a couple of days, but when he emailed me, it was to say that he had located the file and he could scan it and email it to me for a small fee.  The file was aproximately 110 pages. 

The email that I received from an archivist at the Florida State Archives stating that the Supreme Court file that I was searching for had been located. All identifying information about the archivist has been privatized.

Let that sink in.  One hundred.  And ten.  Pages.  The price of $29.50 was a steal in my opinion. 

And y’all, let me just say that when it arrived, it was all that I had hoped it would be and more.  It ended up being 124 pages. And this was a full transcript of the trial(s). And just like any good primary source document, it answered so many questions but raised just as many new questions that needed to be answered once I had the additional information.

There were actually two trials for Mr. Hall. The first was held shortly after the murder and after 43 hours of deliberation, it ended in a mistrial.

State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Transcribed from Calhoun County, Florida; Circuit Court Minute Book 5; Page 227. “State v A. L. Hall”.

At the end of the second trial, Mr. Hall was found guilty of the murder of H R Montgomery of Calhoun County, Florida.

State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Transcribed from Calhoun County, Florida; Circuit Court Minute Book 5; Pages 299 and 300. “State v A. L. Hall”.

Here are a few of the passages from the trial testimony that I find most rivoting. As H R Montgomery’s great-great-granddaughter, these are important and special things to know. These items certainly venture into the “family historian” aspect of genealogy, more than the technical “who, what, when and where” questions that we need to answer when appropriatley documenting family relationships.

Description of the clothing worn by H R Montgomery on the last day of his life by witness Arden Williford during his Direct Examination by attorney J F Adams. State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Page 23 of the transcript and page 29 of 124 of the file.

Description of the final moments and last words of H R Montgomery by witness Arden Williford during his Direct Examination by attorney J F Adams. State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Page 25 of the transcript and page 31 of 124 of the file.

Description of the Riley Baggett placing coins over the eyes H R Montgomery after his death by witness Arden Williford during his Direct Examination by attorney J F Adams. State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Page 36 of the transcript and page 42 of 124 of the file.

This transcript reads like a soap opera. To be honest with you, after reading various pieces of the testimony put up by the defense, I can hardly say that H R Montgomery was innocent of blame in what transpired. He did not like Mr. Hall and it certianly seems that he had made some threats against him. Plus, there was some “incident” between a boy (presumed to be one of H R’s sons) at the church earlier that week. Both attorneys seem to turn the direction of the testimony every time this topic is brought up, but of course, it’s one of the things that I desperately want more clarification on!

First mention of “the boy” in the trial transcript. Testimony by the defendent in the case, A L Hall during his Cross Examination by attorney J F Adams. State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Page 63 of the transcript and page 69 of 124 of the file.

Second mention of “the boy” in the trial transcript. Testimony by the defendent in the case, A L Hall during his Cross Examination by attorney J F Adams. State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Pages 64 & 65 of the transcript and pages 70 & 71 of 124 of the file.

Third mention of “the boy” but also called “his boy” in the trial transcript. Testimony by the defendent in the case, A L Hall during his Cross Examination by attorney J F Adams. State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Page 66 of the transcript and page 72 of 124 of the file.

Fourth mention of “a boy” in the trial transcript. Testimony by witness John Wetherington during his Direct Examination by attorney Paul Carter. State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Page 71 of the transcript and page 77 of 124 of the file.

Another mention of a shooting at Church in the trial transcript. Testimony by witness H H Baggett during his Direct Examination by attorney Paul Carter. State Archives of Florida. Department of State. R A Gray Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. Series 49; Box 559; File Folder 1,283. Page 73 of the transcript and page 79 of 124 of the file.

I would love to find out more about this shooting at the church by Mr. Hall and about the boy he was shooting at. It is most certainly one of H R Montgomery’s sons. So maybe my great-grandfather? Or one of my great-great uncles? My great-grandfather, Hinton Montgomery, would have been 17 at this time. He is the oldest, so all of his brothers would have been even younger. Interestingly, my Great-Uncle David and Great-Aunt Betty had told me that it was after the killing of his father, that Great-Great-Grandmother Montgomery had sent Hinton down to central Florida because she was scared that he would want retribution for the killing of his father.

As of right now, I still don’t know anymore information of this shooting at the church referenced by the trial testimony. Attempts to find out what church Mr. Hall attended have not netted me any solid leads. And no church minutes from any of the local churches at that time in history have yet been located by me. But I can promise you that I am still looking!

In case you are interested in reading the entire file, I will link it here.

Searching for documents at the county and state level.