The Modern Democrats were a political organization in
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
, Florida. In 1935, members were arrested at a meeting and interrogated by police. Members of the group were then kidnapped outside the police station, beaten,
tarred and feathered
Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture and punishment used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. It was used in feudal Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a t ...
. Joseph Shoemaker died as a result of his wounds.
The attack and death made national news.
[ Six Tampa policemen were indicted and accused of being ]klansmen
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
and taking part in the murder. The police chief was charged as an accessory for blocking the investigation. Five policemen were convicted in a trial held in Polk County. Patrick Crisp Whitacker, a former Senator and the brother-in-law of Tampa's mayor R.E.L. Chancey, served as the leading defense attorney.[Lynching and Establishment Violence in Tampa, 1858-1935]
pages 636-638 Journal of Southern History
At the trial, the group denied it was Communist.
Shoemaker was from Vermont and organized the party after widespread corruption problems during Tampa's 1935 municipal election.
See also
*Red Squad
In the United States, Red Squads were police intelligence units that specialized in infiltrating, conducting counter-measures and gathering intelligence on political and social groups during the 20th century. Dating as far back as the Haymarket R ...
References
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Political parties in Florida