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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 22, 1921
Bay County, Florida – Union Organizer Seized by Thugs, Left for Dead
From the Duluth Labor World of November 19, 1921:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17.-Officials of the A. F. of L. have called the attention of the department of justice to the flogging of John E. Winstanley by a Florida mob, who took the unionists from a train and after beating him, threatened his life and left him for dead.
Winstanley is a representative of the International Union of Timber Workers. While on a train near Sherman, Florida, he was seized by a mob, thrown into an automobile, followed by an another auto, filled with thugs. After a journey of several miles Winstanley was taken from the auto and placed across a railroad tie, when he was flogged. The leader of the mob said:
“—— —— you, we’ll show you we don’t want no union organizers in Bay county.” After the mob left him, Winstanley crawled to a house where he was cared for and later driven 14 miles to a small hamlet where a deputy United States, marshal placed him in a hotel.
It is believed the mob can be punished by federal authorities for violating the United States law against the forceful removal of a passenger from an interstate train.
Note: According to the Palatka Daily News of November 4, 1921, Winstanley was hospitalized at Marianna, Florida.
