John H. Bowman circa 1902 - 03

It was like a scene from a western movie. An angry crowd of 2000 gathered outside the Arcadia jail to witness the hanging. Inside, the man accused of murdering the marshal cowered in the shadow of the newly-built gallows. Earlier that year, Punta Gorda city marshal John H. Bowman had been shot to death at his home around 7 p.m. on the night of January 29, 1903. While holding two of his four children on his lap and smoking a cigar as he played with them, a 12 gauge shotgun blast ended the life of the 45 year old marshal.
 
 
 

Clarence Bowman

Lizzie Bowman

Miraculously, no one else was injured. First to arrive on the scene of the brutal murder was Albert Gilchrist, who would later serve as Florida's governor. Countless others soon arrived to trample evidence and speculate about who might have done this.

Bloodhounds were transported from Arcadia county seat of what then encompassed Charlotte, as well as three other counties. Discovering a handful of undisturbed footprints near Bowman's barn, they followed this lead until it ended in failure around 3 a.m.

Citizens were outraged eager to avenge the murder of this man who had just recently been re-elected into office. Their anger found an outlet when someone claimed to have seen a Fort Ogden man named Isaiah Cooper running with a shotgun from the area.
 
 
 

Isaiah Cooper

The slain lawman was buried the following day at Indian Springs Cemetery, located south of Punta Gorda. It took nearly two weeks for Cooper to be found and arrested. No less than 14 witnesses marched before County Judge A. E. Pooser to indict the accused. They alleged that Cooper had previously threatened Bowman after being arrested for selling whiskey. At the time, liquor had been outlawed by city ordinance.
 

Cooper protested, attempting to pass the blame to a gang of ruffians called the Whitecaps. A common fact was that there was no love loss between Bowman and the Whitecaps.

The "witnesses" placed Cooper at the scene of the murder. Some said it was he who had been seen earlier, calming a team of skittish horses. Others began to have doubts, recalling that it had been a dark night when Bowman was killed.

The trail took place in Tampa from March 6 until March 11 of that same year. Circuit Judge W. B. Wall allowed no one from Punta Gorda to serve as juror and permitted few witnesses. Still the verdict of murder in the first degree was reached, without a recommendation of mercy. The weeks flew by until it was time for the execution. The murmuring crowd gathered at the Arcadia jail, swelling to nearly 2000. Some even caught the morning train to witness the hanging.

Patience wore thin under the summer swelter. Calloused hands fished into overalls to retrieve railroad watches as the moments dragged by. Fancy gold timepieces were also pulled from fine dress pants by well manicured fingers, as the various walks of life were represented at the event.

Isaiah Cooper was two hours away from his date with death when the sheriff quieted the crowd long enough to announce that Governor W. S. Jennings had wired a stay of execution. The telegram claimed that fresh evidence surfaced. The anxious crowd demanded that justice be served, but were denied. Years passed, and Cooper was allowed to live.

By 1909 Gilchrist had begun his reign as governor. Almost immediately he changed Cooper's sentence to life imprisonment. Fate had smiled on the Fort Ogden bootlegger, as four times he was given gubernatorial reprieves. After spending five years in the Arcadia jail, Cooper was transferred to Deland's state prison. He escaped September 12, 1913.

A blanket of mystery has shrouded the death of Marshal Bowman. Gilchrist never offered a public explanation as to why he and former governor Jennings were so lenient towards Cooper. Many thought that strange, since Gilchrist had vowed earlier to see him pay for this crime with his life.

Gilchrist died of cancer in New York May 15, 1926. His body was transported by train back to south Florida, where he was buried a stone's throw away from Bowman at Indian Springs Cemetery.

The new gallows built for Isaiah Cooper were used once after a young black man named Albert Simmons was convicted of killing his aunt and her three children. Simmons sang a long, mournful tune about his crime until the hangman's lever sprang the trap door.

Desoto County was divided into five parts on April 23, 1921, creating Charlotte, Hardee, Glades, and Highlands.

Cooper seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth after his escape. The "witnesses" maintained that it was he who was seen with the horses that evening, and later running with a shotgun. The Whitecaps claimed innocence as did Cooper.

The only true "justice" settling at the site of the evil deed came after Punta Gorda was named Charlotte county's seat. It's courthouse stands today on the same spot where on a moonless January night in 1903, someone murdered City Marshal John H. Bowman.