6-Shot Sequel the Florida Triangle
And the Mystery Climax of One
Handsome Slayer Who Stoically
si Faces Life Behind the Bars
1 ha Insat Show*
(hris Staph#n»on,
Who Killed th«
Jailbreaking Husband.
M'
IX: a dark-eyed, brunette girl
conducting n roadhouse m
Florida’s balmy lake country;
a husband “doing time" in jail, and
escaping; a dapper deputy sheriff,
fond of the lonesome rciadhou-e
proprietress; six shots fiom the
deputy’* gun that killed the fleeing
husband-convict, and finally the young
officer’s insistence on a guilty pica and
life imprisonment when he
might have gone free.
Mix these ingredients and
you have—not fiction, but
the most baffling and com
plex death triangle on the
police records of Florida in
many a moon.
Human motives are often
buried deep, befogged by a
mad storm of impulses
noble and base. One thun
dery Summer night not long
sgo Chris Stephenson stayed
at the Blue Chip roadhouse,
own'-d by Mrs. Homer Jen
kins, whom he admired lav
i.-hly. Tne next morning
Hoffior Jenkins, escaping
from jail, summoned his
wife to aid him in his
flight, She took Stephen
son and a woman friend
along. By noon Stephen
-oo had quarreled wdh the
fugitive and kilted him.
convict curb, Homer Jenkins and two
fellow-prisoners who had broken jatl
with him. The convicts entered
Stephenson's automobile and the
narty drove toward Tavares. Honda,
orei sandy roads, ^'.barreling as the\
went. Jenkins wanted hi* wife t >
aecompany him in his dash into
(leorgia. She refused, and Stephen
son took her side.
Finally the party pause l near the
shore of Lake Lust is. Mrs. Holland,
Mrs. Jenkins and the two convict
walked up the load, leaving Jenkins
and Stephenson to "talk thing
over.”
Presently six allots sounded A
the last report rang out the terrified
Mrs. Jenkins hurried hack. She
saw her convict husband UirrH
and fall, riddled with lead.
Stephenson held a smoking re
voh er.
Leaving the lifeless body of
Jenkins where it. fell, the part)
again resumed it? journey. At
Mount Dora Stephenson told the
remaining two convicts they'd
have to shift for themselves.
He let them out of the car.
He then returned to the scene
of the shooting. There he
found Sheriff J A < assidy
with his deputies. The body
had been found by T.ryhermen
“I killed him tn self defense,”
Mu. Hom«*
Jenkins,
Photo
graphed
a* Ska Sa*
Tailing
Palica
What Ska
Remem
bered af
the Strang*
Skeating
Naar a
Lonely
Florida
Laka.
young deputy believed
hi* change of front may
have been caused by hi»
desire to protect some
one. He is married and
the father of two chil
dren. He may hav*
derided that a trial
would expose his family
to long-drawn-out and
unpleasant publicity. 0»
perhaps some odd quix
otic strain xin his naturi
made him want to pm
tect the pretty brunetu
_ihe ni.ta
A,
THE SLAVING
As the last report rang otjt the terrified Mrs. Jenkins hurried hark. She mh
her convicted husband lurch and fall, riddled with lead. Stephenson held a
omoking revolver." The Drawing of the Florida Tragedy Is Superimposed on a
Photograph Made Near the Spot.
,J*ger
J. H. BARRINGER
I ice-President and General ilanager.
The Rational Cash Register Company.
rHE rise to success of J. It. Bar
ringer, pice-president and general
j manager of The National tar.li
1 Register Company, was one of the most
rapid in the annals of business history.
He advanced from file clerk to vire
j president and general manager in ten
I ! years. With a faculty for doing un
' ! usual things, he has come to be one <•/
i the most widely known of American
husingis executives. Let him tell, in
his own words, how this has come about.
By J
' HIS is
the best age in the world's
T]
history for a young men who
wants to make good.
Of course, every age has supplied
successful men and women; but none
has contributed so many useful people
or provided so many opportunities for
youth as has this one.
The young man starting out, say in
nr
his la,t year in high school or college,
needs to know many things that neith»t
i ho school teacher nor the college pro
f-“t or can tell him.
Every man’* job i* hi* own nnd hi*
future i* hi* own to decide. 1 he great
industrial executive* in America today
are the men who knew their job* from
the start, and being ambitiout, knew
th» job* of the men who were ahead of
them. 1 have often remarked that there
wiil he no standardized wages until
there can be standardized brains.
If I were asked to tell a young man
just starting out in life, full of health
and wholesome ambition, just what is
the most essential thing for him to
keep in mind, I think I would say hard
Industrial life, for everybody associ
ated with it, is better in very way to
day than it was ten years ago. This is
beeause men have worked hard in the
past, have used their brains, and have
not tried to avoid doing the job that
was up to them to do. We are doing
more work in our industrial plants than
we used to in less time. Brains again
you see! New types of machines,
clearer thinking along all lines. More
money for brain work! These are ac.me
of the things that come to mind in any
consideration of the present as com
pared with the past, and the present
as we contemplate the future.
What most people call luck isn't luck
at all. We use that word “luck" reck
lessly. One man succeeds where an
other man fails. The second man says
he didn't have any luck, when nine
times out of ten it was the lack of
working brains and ambition which
kept him at the bottom of the ladder.
Industry is looking for young men
who want to make good. All of them
could, if they made up their minds to.
A man to be successful must be master
of his job, whatever that job is. It
takes a lot of hard work and study to
get to the top. The high schools and
colleges ran prepare young men to be
successful, but they cannot guarantee
that success. That goal is reached only
by preparation and hard work. There
is no easy rose-covered route to be
followed.
I am convinced that the four cardi
nal elements which go to make up a
successful career for any young person
are these: aim straight for the job you
want; work hard to attain that goal;
study hard after you have reached it;
ami play fair with everyone with whom
you come into contact.
C:
>
CHAIN GANG
Jenkins and His Two Fellow-Prisoners Broke from the Fort Pierce, Florid*, Jail to Escape Labor of the Sort Shown in This
Photograph of Convicts Working on tha Roads Along the Georgia-Florida Line.
To that point you have a simple t
angle, ending in a shooting. But the
kick-back, the surprise, was yet to
come Stephenson told police he slew
in self-defense; the convict was de
perate and understandably jealous.
The deputy sheriff had a good ca'e—
would probably go free. Then, with
out explanation of any kind, he entered
a forthright plea of "guilty” to the
murder charge and took his "rap”—
life imprisonment.
Why?
Perhaps, you say. there's a clue in
the circumstance? leading up to the
killing. Here they are: Mrs. Jenkins
v.as afraid to meet her husband alone
when she got his message. So
Stephenson went with her—Stephen
son and Mrs. Bonnie Pearl Holland, a
friend. They drove to a remote spot
screened by swamp grass and tall
palms.
There they met three men clad in
Stephenson declared. "He was (joing
lo kill me. Surely the law will stand
behind me." His attorney looked-lor
ward to an acquittal—while the ac
cused deputy grew more and moie
desperate. Suddenly he switched to a
confession, claiming no mitigation.
His attorneys seemed not to know
what had motivated this remarkable
change of .front. Even as it was
Stephenson faced considerable diffi
culty explaining how he came to be
helping three convicts to escape. His
case was bad enough. Nobody rould
understand why he chose to make it
worse — make it, in fact, well-nigh
hopeless.
If the young deputy's counsel knew
why he chose to "take his medicine”
they protected him. Reporters at the
iail found him silent and morose,_
whereas he formerly had been quite
talkative, even optimistic. In another
cell of the same jail Mrs. Jenkins h!-o
had nothing to say. She maintained
she'd told her story.
There was nothing to be done now
The ABC's of General Knowledge
The Ten Leading “Whoopee” States
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From Broadway!
fxcopt pass sentence. Stephenson
stuck to his amazing plea. He was tohl
that a life sentence was virtually cer
tain. “I know it.” he nodded. "But
I've acted and it's final.”
Just why he did so may never he
known. Officials who observed the
r
Chip roadhouse—Mrs. Jenkins.
Whatever the cause. Chris Stepnen
son has taken his secret with him t«
prison. A strange shooting, with l
twisted emotional background, thut
heronie* an astonishing case of I
guilty man’s self-sacrifice.
By QAKEMURRIN-GirtPod-Artist
Dream-House
. 1 (On theRicerbank)
ct~Artist \
wJ
"While we (hape our home, brick upon brick."
/DO not say
Our lai'i nerds artificial stimu
lus
To gice. it life.
Our love is strong enough to thrive
On bread anil mil It lit poverty—
And me no doubt mill know
Some days of this.
But lore thrives better still.
On seasoned fare.
It wants variety,
The glamour and the mystery
Of things unknown
Beyond.
fto while me shape our home,
Brick upon brick.
With patient toil
Am- odd the ornaments slowly,
1 I T—
r i,
A S time. may prosper its—
We'll buihl our drcam-kousi
Differently.
'Ye'll have tf treasure-filled
And sumptuous,
With turrets of gleaming gold
And chambers with crimson hang
ings.
Nothing our hearts desire :
Will be denied.
For here at least our hands are free
To be lavish.
Some day, if we dream enough, ,
1 know we shall find A |
Our castle foundation ”Wl
Beneath our floor,
And see its turrets rising in glory |
Out of our roof.
£
ZZI