Good Day to all! What a stressful three weeks! Hope everyone is doing OK. I’ve lived here almost 73 years and have never experienced anything like it. Sorry I was unable to get a column out two weeks ago.
Did you know Punta Gorda has not always been the peaceful town folks see today? Around 1900, just 13 years after its incorporation, the city we all love was a small, rough-and-tumble frontier town averaging two or three murders annually.
One of the most notorious occurred around 7 p.m. on the evening of Jan. 29, 1903.
John H. Bowman, 45 years old, had recently been reelected to his fourth term as Punta Gorda’s City Marshal. The pay was $50 a month — not a bad salary in those days.
He was an imposing figure with a large handlebar mustache and obviously popular with the citizens. However, that popularity, due to his success arresting “undesirables” and shutting down establishments selling illegal alcohol, undoubtedly created enemies.
Once arrested, detainees were held in the “calaboose,” a shed containing a strap iron cage that was tucked into an alley behind Marshal Bowman’s home. That was on Taylor Street, where the county’s historic courthouse now stands.