June 7, 1928: Tampa elections workers shot in failed ballot box heist
Florida was rife with election fraud in the early 20th century.
The shooting of two elections workers during an effort to steal a ballot box at a Hyde Park polling place was a particularly brazen effort to fix the results of a Hillsborough County sheriff's race.
Three masked men armed with a shotgun and two pistols burst into a Tampa polling place and commanded two ballot counters to "stick 'em up," the Associated Press reported.
As a deputy sheriff started to rise from his chair, the men opened fire, shooting one worker three times as he was tabulating ballots. Another was shot as he slept, exhausted from counting ballots for 48 hours.
The armed men were never identified or caught, but a 2013 Tampa Bay Tribune story by Paul Guzzo on corruption in law enforcement in the 1920s suggested the heist was attempted by crime bosses concerned about one of the candidates on the ballot in that election.
The candidate, Luther Hatton, ran for Hillsborough sheriff by promising to rid the city of corruption and gangsters. The Hyde Park precinct targeted by the gunmen was one of Hatton's strongholds, the 2013 story said.
Turns out that Tampa's crime bosses needn't have worried about Hatton. In October 1929 after serving just nine months as sheriff, Hatton was removed from office by the governor for protecting gangsters from prosecution.
Ballot fraud was a way of life during this era in Hillsborough as ballot boxes were regularly stuffed with fake votes, or actual vote totals were ignored and results fabricated to favor candidates friendly to the gangsters, Guzzo wrote.
The shooting of two elections workers during an effort to steal a ballot box at a Hyde Park polling place was a particularly brazen effort to fix the results of a Hillsborough County sheriff's race.
Three masked men armed with a shotgun and two pistols burst into a Tampa polling place and commanded two ballot counters to "stick 'em up," the Associated Press reported.
As a deputy sheriff started to rise from his chair, the men opened fire, shooting one worker three times as he was tabulating ballots. Another was shot as he slept, exhausted from counting ballots for 48 hours.
The armed men were never identified or caught, but a 2013 Tampa Bay Tribune story by Paul Guzzo on corruption in law enforcement in the 1920s suggested the heist was attempted by crime bosses concerned about one of the candidates on the ballot in that election.
The candidate, Luther Hatton, ran for Hillsborough sheriff by promising to rid the city of corruption and gangsters. The Hyde Park precinct targeted by the gunmen was one of Hatton's strongholds, the 2013 story said.
Turns out that Tampa's crime bosses needn't have worried about Hatton. In October 1929 after serving just nine months as sheriff, Hatton was removed from office by the governor for protecting gangsters from prosecution.
Ballot fraud was a way of life during this era in Hillsborough as ballot boxes were regularly stuffed with fake votes, or actual vote totals were ignored and results fabricated to favor candidates friendly to the gangsters, Guzzo wrote.
Read more:
• Miami News story: 2 Tampans Shot By Masked Men in Ballot Raid
• Tampa Bay Times story: Hillsborough sheriff lost battle with Gov. Carlton in 1929
• Miami News story: 2 Tampans Shot By Masked Men in Ballot Raid
• Tampa Bay Times story: Hillsborough sheriff lost battle with Gov. Carlton in 1929