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< The Crime ~ Florida Times Union News Archives |
| mike |
 Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:26 pm |
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Editor
Joined: 23 Sep 2006
Posts: 467
Location: St. Johns County, Florida
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January 24, 1974
January 25, 1974
January 26, 1974
January 27, 1974
January 31, 1974
February 1, 1974
February 2, 1974
February 6, 1974
February 7, 1974
February 15, 1974
February 23, 1974 (A)
February 23, 1974 (B)
Scans were contributed by Darkmuse. Anyone who would like to do any transcribing of these articles can do so through the "reply to topic" below. |
Last edited by mike on Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:39 am; edited 3 times in total |
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| jotter |
| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:59 am |
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Frequent Participant
Joined: 29 Jan 2007
Posts: 15
Location: St. Augustine FL
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24 January 1974
Ex Mayor's Wife Slain in Old City
The Times-Union Bureau
ST. AUGUSTINE-
Screams reported by neighbors led St. Augustine police to a bloody scene Wednesday evening -- the apparent murder of Mrs. Athalia Ponsell Lindsley, wife of former mayor James S. Lindsley.
Police found the body of the woman, apparently slashed by an unknown weapon, in her yard at 124 Marine St. They reported no signs of struggle in the house. Police put the time of death at about 6 p.m.
St. Johns County Sheriff Dudley Garrett said the body was decapitated.
Police reached Lindsley at his home at 955 Lew Blvd. about 8 p.m. He said he had been waiting for a call from his wife to arrange a meeting for supper.
The two, married only last Sept. 10, occupied separate homes in St. Augustine.
A long-time Jacksonville resident, Mrs. Lindsley moved to St. Augustine in 1972 with her mother, Mrs. Charles Fetter, now deceased.
Police Chief Virgil Stewart said a search was under way for the murder weapon and any clues leading to the assailant.
A 1970 Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives, the former Athalia Ponsell was born in Toledo, Ohio, and lived in the West Indies until the family moved to Jacksonville when she was 9 years old.
She was graduated from Robert E. Lee High School, attended the University of Mexico in Mexico City, and studied under the University of Florida Extension Service. She had worked as a fashion model and appeared in two Broadway shows.
A published writer, she held a patent on a household gadget and was a member of several political organizations.
Her husband served as mayor of St. Augustine for two terms 1961-63 and 1970-72 and in the City Commission for 12 years. |
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| darkmuse |
| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:58 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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25 January 1974
Officers Hunt for Man Seen Leaving Slaying
by Nancy Powell
Times Union Staff Writer
St. Augustine – Police and sheriff’s deputies late Thursday were searching for a middle-aged man in a white shirt and black pants seen walking away from the scene of what they described as the most brutal slaying here in years.
The victim, Mrs. Athalia Ponsell Lindsley, 56, was found nearly decapitated on the doorstep of her Marine Street home Wednesday evening while her husband, former mayor James Lindsley, was reportedly waiting at his Lew Boulevard home for her to call him for supper.
A description of the man was supplied to police by a 19-year-old neighbor, Locke McCormick, and is practically the only clue we have to the “senseless” killing, Police Chief Virgil Stuart said Thursday morning after the long night of questioning neighbors who heard Mrs. Lindsley screaming and rushed to the scene.
Mrs. Alan Stanford, wife of the St. Johns County manager, who lives in the house to the south of Mrs. Lindsley, pretty well summed up the general feeling when she said “I was never so horrified in my life. I wish I hadn’t looked. I never saw so much blood.”
Mrs. Stanford said she and her daughters were alone in the house when they heard the screams but didn’t run out until they saw police cars pulling up minutes later.
Young McCormick, who lives on the other side of the victim, was the only neighbor who went out in time to see a white male walking around the south side of the house.
McCormick told police the man did not appear to be in a hurry.
He said he failed to spot Mrs. Lindsley’s body until he walked to the edge of the hedge separating their property.
He then dashed to the phone to call the police.
When they arrived, Stuart said they traced a trail of blood which led from the body to a driveway on the south side of the home.
Stuart said the trail ended in the grass about halfway around the house.
Lindsley, who said Thursday morning, “I still can’t believe this has happened,” related that his first knowledge that anything was wrong came through a phone call from a Mrs. Charles Stuckey who lives on St. George Street.
He said she told him something terrible had happened on Marine Street and he should get down there. Lindsley said he was getting into his car about 8 p.m. to go when the phone rang again and another fried informed him of the murder.
As far as he could tell, Lindsley said there was nothing stolen or missing from his wife’s home except a crippled baby bluejay she had been mothering. Lindsley said the cage appeared to have been smashed.
Police also reported no evidence of robbery or a possible motive.
Mrs. Lindsley’s purse was on a chair in the kitchen near a bag of Chinese vegetables Lindsley said they had purchased earlier in the day in Jacksonville and planned to enjoy in a Chinese New Year’s feast.
Stuart said in his opinion, there could be no other motive other than pure hate on the part of somebody.
Mrs. Lindsley, who was a former Broadway actress and Powers model, lived for many years in Jacksonville before moving here in 1971 with her mother, Mrs. Charles Fetter, now deceased.
Since her marriage to the former mayor last Sept. 10, she repeatedly had expressed a desire to run for the St. Johns County Commission.
She made numerous visits to the board, constantly charging that the $20,000 the county pays her neighbor, Alan Stanford as county manager, was too much money for a man who is not a certified engineer in the State of Florida.
She had more or less conducted a one-woman campaign to have Stanford replaced by a certified engineer.
On one occasion, Mrs. Lindsley charged that County Commission Chairman Herbert Wiles was responsible for Stanford’s employment and it was just a friendship deal.
If she had qualified to run in the next county election, she planned to oppose Wiles who along with Don Hurd is up for re-election.
She had planned to sell her home and rent a house in Wiles’ district rather than run against Hurd, who lives in the district of her Marine Street home.
Since Marrying Lindsley, the victim had been working parttime in real estate sales at her husband’s office on St. George Street, which is housed in a vintage structure listed on the National Register and believed to be one of the oldest houses in St. Augustine.
She reportedly had been licensed in real estate for 10 years and the business was not new to her.
Mr.s Lindsley was an active member of the Jacksonville branch of the League of American Penwomen, and frequently entertained authors in her home.
When she ran on a Republican ticket for a District 23 seat in the Florida House of Representatives in 1970, her platform included strong opposition to gun control laws and cruelty or neglect of animals. In her platforms, she also called for repeal of the so-called bloodless bullfight laws.
While police surrounded her home Thursday afternoon, members of the St. Augustine Humane Society came to remove three dogs that were locked in a garage at the back of her home at the time she was hacked to death.
She had reportedly placed two other dogs in kennels after neighbors filed complaints about the noise the animals created.
In addition to her visits to the County Commission, she kept a sharp eye on city affairs and was one of the strongest opponents of a proposal by the city to fluoridate city water.
She retained a membership in a number of Jacksonville organizations, including the Jacksonville Gun Club and was a former regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Some years ago, she served as publicity chairman for the Duval County Republican Executive Committee.
Prior to moving to Jacksonville with her parents at age 9, Mrs. Lindsley lived on the Isle of Pines where her mother was a journalist.
She was born in Toledo, Ohio.
No funeral arrangements have been made but Lindsley said his wife’s only surviving sister, Mrs. Geraldine Horton, is due to arrive here Friday from Honolulu, Hawaii, to assist him.
Following an autopsy, her body will be brought to Craig Funeral Home here.
Mrs. Lindsley maintained a separate home from her husband in the interest of protecting valuable antique furnishings and paintings which she planned to store later if the house was sold. |
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| mike |
| Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:41 am |
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Joined: 23 Sep 2006
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Location: St. Johns County, Florida
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