Road leading to the site of the "non-graves" excavated last week on the former Dozier School for Boys property in Marianna, Florida.

University of South Florida (USF) professor Erin Kimmerle confirms that the "anomalies" at the former Dozier School site are NOT graves after all. We first reported this news last week, but the professor announced this morning that the initial dig is over.

NO bodies or human remains were found in excavations at a site pointed out by New South Associates. The ground-penetrating radar firm thought it had found "clandestine graves" on the campus of the former school for juvenile offenders.

The site was originally called the Florida Reform School and later the Florida Industrial School for Boys or the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. It is now called Endeavor.

The possible "clandestine graves" proved to be places where pine tree stumps had been removed.

USF will now move on to studying Lidar imagery to see if it can find any other signs of graves on the campus. The whole new study is costing taxpayers $850,000 thanks to an appropriation from the Florida Legislature.

Meanwhile, residents throughout the region continue their struggle to recover from the damage or destruction inflicted on their homes by Hurricane Michael.

An RV, tent, tables, vehicles, and equipment set up on the former Dozier School for Boys property in Marianna today.

UPDATE (7/19/2019) - No human remains were found this week by researchers investigating "anomalies" at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida.

Spots that New South Associates, a ground-penetrating radar firm believed might be "clandestine" graves, proved to be nothing of the sort. Professors and students from the University of South Florida (USF) found only roots and other similar debris.

USF will continue its work at the site in the future, using another $850,000 appropriated by the Florida Legislature following the New South claims.

Read our story posted on Tuesday (7/16/2019) here:

Marianna- The University of South Florida (USF) is digging again at the former Dozier School for Boys, funded by $850,000 from the Florida Legislature.

Researchers from New South Associates found "anomalies" that they suggest might or might not be "clandestine" graves in an area near an old fuel depot and livestock barns. The site is on the north side of the now-closed school, which has been renamed Endeavor by the local government.

The "anomalies" are in a small area that was heavily wooded until recently. The area was searched with ground-penetrating radar because of "oral tradition," according to researchers, "that there was either another burial ground or individuals had been are unmarked graves on the school's campus." [I]

Researchers from USF - including professor Erin Kimmerle - originally came to Marianna one decade ago with similar beliefs, but never found any graves outside the fence that once the school's known cemetery.

Despite false reporting by local, state, national, and international media outlets, the university's team looked at dozens of areas on campus during its previous investigation. None of those spots turned out to be hidden cemeteries or clandestine burial sites.

Kimmerle has cautioned the media this time that the "anomalies" might be trash pits, root balls, or even livestock burial sites.

New South Associates, the firm that conducted the ground-penetrating radar survey admitted as much in its report. "It is possible that some or all of these possible grave anomalies represent false positives," the researchers briefly stated, before proceeding with language referencing an"oral history of graves beyond the cemetery." [II]

The $850,000 given to USF will soon determine whether these "anomalies" are graves.

If "clandestine graves" of murder victims are found, may justice be done if anyone connected to them is still alive so long after the fact. If the "anomalies" turn out to be stump holes or garbage pits, then hopefully there will be enough money left over to refill them.

I do have one suggestion. Perhaps the professors, students, and state officials will take a small amount of their time while here to visit and help those who are living beneath the blue tarps of Hurricane Michael. They are suffering in tents, irreparable homes, FEMA trailers, or are being forced from the only houses they have ever known.

There is a shortage of money to help hundreds of hurricane victims, and maybe you can do a little for them while you are here. No matter what you do or do not believe about Dozier School, these elderly people and children of the storm were not the cause of it.




REFERENCES:

[I] Maeve Herrick and Sarah Lowery, Final Report, "Ground-Penetrating Radar Survey for Possible Unmarked Graves at the A.G. Dozier School for Boys North Campus," New South Associates Technical Report No. 2898, January 28, 2019: 1.

[II] Ibid.: 29.

A group of Jackson County's Citizens of the Year warn the media in 2014 that it was being one-sided in its coverage and that no evidence of murders of students by staff would be found at the Dozier School for Boys "Boot Hill" cemetery. Photo courtesy of the Jackson County Times.

In a meeting that began late and was filled with jokes, the Florida Cabinet today heard the University of South Florida's project at Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.

Please click here to read a summary of that report or to read the entire document.

Cabinet members and Governor Rick Scott apologized to former Dozier students for the "unspeakable horrors" inflicted on them by the Jackson County residents who worked at Dozier School for Boys. The Cabinet members also praised Dr. Erin Kimmerle of the University of South Florida (USF) and the former students of the school.

Kimmerle presented her final report to the Cabinet. She called it a "historic project" and said the results achieved were "remarkable."

She said that the objective was to locate the burials and to identify the individuals buried in the graves so their remains could be returned to their families. She also said a main objective was to study the 1,400 acre campus to find other graves that might be located there.

Kimmerle told the Cabinet members that her team pursued all leads on the history of the Campus, a deliberately incorrect statement as she and her team refused to examine thousands of pages of documents offered to them by this writer.

She said that prior to the beginning of the exhumations, she and her team did ground truthing to determine which features were graves and which were fence posts, etc.  At the time, however, USF denied that it had dug into any of the graves and said it was only doing "stratigraphic" analysis.

Kimmerle also mentioned that her team found and removed thousands of artifacts. She did not mention that other artifacts were left behind in the tracks of her team's vehicles.

Among the coffins found, according to Dr. Kimmerle, were seven infant coffins that contained the remains of students and employees who died in the 1914 fire at one of the school's dormitory.

She mentioned that "a number of the boys" had burial shrouds, a standard mortuary practice of the early 20th century.

The professor, however, left out key information when she told Cabinet members that a lead pellet consistent with a lead shot was found in one of the graves. She mentioned the pellet, but did not tell the Cabinet that FDLE has examined the artifact and determined it was likely from a muzzle-loading black powder weapon. Guns of that type were antiques by the time the Florida Reform School (later Dozier School) was even built.

She said her team used "fire hoses" to push water through screens while digging at the site of the burned dormitory. Kimmerle indicated that small fragments of bone were found at the burned dormitory site, all believed to be associated with the individuals who died in that fire more than 110 years ago.

Kimmerle also said that USF has positively identified only 7 of the individuals that her team exhumed from the cemetery. Four have been reburied. The other 47 individuals exhumed remain in boxes at the University of South Florida.

Although the university earlier claimed to identify the remains of one of the employees who died in the 1914 fire, Kimmerle today said that they cannot positively identify his remains and that he will likely be buried with the "unknowns."

She made no references to murders in her discussion. Later in answer to a question from the Cabinet members, the professor said that, "We feel like our field work is done. "We feel like we have exhausted everything we can do in looking for additional burials."

Kimmerle was followed by Dr. Christian Wells, a professor of archaeology at USF. He indicated that the university investigated a number of other locations pointed out by former students as "burial" sites. "We surveyed 35 different regions," he said. None of those areas, he reported, revealed any evidence of human remains. In other words, claims that "hundreds" of graves and a "second cemetery" would be found on the campus were completely false.

Wells also indicated that contamination was found on areas of the campus. He encouraged the Governor and Cabinet to follow up on the issue.

Antoinette Jackson, another USF professor, then spoke about "the living." She said that "segregation" resonates today at the campus, which is now abandoned. She noted that some communities disagreed with the project and that the university needed to incorporate them into their narratives, something they have yet to do.

Jackson mentioned the need for additional "financial support." She focused on education, although many of the university's public forums and discussions about Dozier have focused on "restorative justice."

She mentioned that the team will be traveling to Japan - presumably at taxpayer expense - to tell the Dozier story.

Jackson concluded by encouraging those with "stories" to come forward. While the project was underway, however, USF absolutely refused to view thousands of pages of documentation in the possession of this writer.

None of the professors ever mentioned the word "murder" in relation to the graves. Kimmerle also finally admitted that all of the burials were found in a 50 by 150 foot area on Boot Hill. A few pieces of bone were also found in the ruins of the burned dormitory but did not contain enough material for DNA analysis.

NO other graves were found on campus. There was no second cemetery nor were any hidden graves found.

Jerry Cooper, a former student, addressed the Cabinet and urged that the bodies "not be returned to that area" saying the reasons why were "apparent." He said, "I don't know what happened at Marianna."

Charles Fudge, another former student, then spoke and said he was "Troy Tidwell's office boy" and swore there is a second cemetery with at least 30 graves on campus. He asked that the White House Boys be allowed to go look for it. The area he claimed contains the cemetery was among those investigated by USF and nothing was found.

Other former students said they wanted the dead interred "somewhere other than Jackson County." "Please don't leave those children there," the widow of a student begged, claiming that there are more graves still to be located at the campus.

Robert Straley, a former student, said that he has suffered an unfortunate accident recently that left him with his sixth concussion. He pointed out that many in Marianna are being forced to live with the blame for something they did not do. He called for a monument to be built and spoke of forgiveness and reconciliation.  He said the "whip has no place in our society." Corporal punishment at Dozier School ended more than 40 years ago.

Andrew Puel said he had heard "very credible testimony" that boys had been murdered at the school. USF, however, found no evidence of murders. Puel said he had "sworn statements" from former juveniles that they had seen killings, including a shooting, at the school.

Puel went on to say he wasn't telling the stories to be "sensational." He requested access for researchers to the ledgers that remain sealed due to juvenile privacy laws. FDLE, however, does have access to these ledgers as part of its current investigation.

Jerry Cooper then reappeared before the Cabinet and said that many former students had cancelled plans to attend "at the last minute." Others were present and he introduced them.

Dale Landry from the NAACP then appeared before the Cabinet. He called for a place that they can "sanctify" to hold the remains until they can be identified. He called for turning the old chapel on campus into a mausoleum until the remains can be identified, even if it takes decades. He also called for turning the "White House" into a permanent memorial to the "horrors" that took place at the school. Landry also asked for the state to fund reburial of identified remains.

Jim Dean, City Manager of Marianna, then spoke. He said he appeared with a group of civic and business leaders including County Commissioner Chuck Lockey and others. He offered the community's support to bring closure to the process.

Elmore Bryant, former Mayor of Marianna, spoke and asked for the land to be given back to Marianna. He said the leaders of Marianna were "men of character." He said that "We will make you proud of what we do with that land. We've been banged, but there are some good things that people don't talk about." He noted that the people of Marianna "respected me as the first black mayor of Marianna."

"When you come to Marianna, there are many good sides," Bryant continued. He invited the governor to come and talk.

Attorney General Pam Bondi then said to the White House Boys, "We know that you have suffered terrible, unspeakable atrocities." Bondi apparently didn't know the name of Jackson County, which she called "Marianna County, a beautiful county." She called Bondi a "Hero."

Earlier in the session, Bondi yelled out "Yayyyyyyyy!!" when told that USF students were in the room and praised Kimmerle for her "ground-breaking" work.

The university spent more than $600,000 in state and federal taxpayer funding on its Dozier project, even after FDLE had determined that there was no evidence of criminal activity by employees involving the cemetery. Meanwhile, USF President Dr. Judy Genshaft told Cabinet members that her institution has eliminated more than 50 other educational programs, including industrial training.

Please click here to read a summary of the key points in the USF report or to read the full report itself.

To learn the true history of the Dozier School cemetery, please consider my book Death at Dozier School: The Attempted Assassination of an American City (available in both paperback and Kindle formats).

Jeff Atwater, Florida's Chief Financial Officer, fondly remembered his grandmother's switch during today's Cabinet meeting.

Jeff Atwater, who serves as Florida's Chief Financial Officer, fondly remembered his grandmother's switch during today's meeting of the State Cabinet.

It was an odd moment in a meeting that will soon include a presentation from the University of South Florida (USF) on its project at Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. Among the allegations made against the school are charges by former students that they were "beaten" in a structure called the White House.

In a different discussion, Atwater mentioned that his grandmother kept a "Kentucky" switch on her front porch to assure good behavior and good grades.

The Cabinet meeting is still underway at this time (11:47 a.m. Central) and is several agenda items away from USF's presention.

-- Earlier posts on today's Cabinet meeting--

Attorney General Pamela Jo "Pam" Bondi yelled out "Yayyyy!" for students of the University of South Florida (USF) as the Florida Cabinet convened in Tallahassee this morning.

Representatives from the university are expected to present their final report on archaeological/anthropological work at the Dozier School for Boys cemetery later this morning.

Please click here to read a summary of that report or to read the full 168-page document.

Former County Judge Woodrow "Woody" Hatcher is in Tallahassee to respond to USF's presentation, but has already been told that he will only be allowed to speak for 2 minutes. That is less time than Bondi was given to show off a 40-pound dog available for adoption. It is also less time than the number of minutes late that the meeting was called to order.

USF President Judy Genshaft and Florida's other university presidents have been address the Cabinet about Governor Rick Scott's "Ready, Set, Work" challenge. When she mentioned that some USF students were present, the attorney general broke into a loud cheer of "Yayyyy!" and then mentioned Dr. Erin Kimmerle and what Bondi called her "ground-breaking" work. Kimmerle has directed the USF project at Dozier School for Boys.

Genshaft answered a direct question from Governor Scott about what study programs her university might have closed. Apparently, even as USF has spent more than $600,000 in state and federal taxpayer funds on the Dozier project, it has closed more than 50 of its study programs. Among these was a program that prepared students for jobs in industry.

The discussion with the various university presidents is still underway after more than 2 hours.

I'll post another update at 11:00 a.m. Central/12 Noon Eastern or shortly after unless something significant takes place before then.

Until then, please click here to read yesterday's story on USF's final report or to read the report itself.

Dozier School Cemetery prior to its destruction by the University of South Florida.

I am pleased to announce the release at Amazon.com of my new book, Death at Dozier School: The Attempted Assassination of an American City.

Skyline of Tampa, Florida Photo by Lauren Pitone

by Dale Cox

This is a story that the Tampa Bay Times would not not tell.

There is a place in Florida where beatings of jail inmates was commonplace. It is a place where those in custody were stretched out face down in public view and lashed with a leather whip for minor offenses. It is a place where the officials called upon to investigate the practice voted instead to legally authorize it. And it happened during the 20th century.

Marianna and Dozier School?  Some other sleepy small town nestled in the pines and steeped in Old South tradition?  No, that place is Tampa and Hillsborough County, home to the University of South Florida and the Tampa Bay Times.

The use of the lash by authorities in Tampa and Hillsborough County was widespread and accepted deep into the 20th century. It continued for decades and no prisoner was immune to the threat of flogging on the whim of city and county officials. Judges even beat children in the courtrooms of the city.

The Tampa Tribune reported in 1909 that the practice of flogging prisoners had been initiated there ten years earlier by Judge Whitaker of the municipal court.  He "set a precedent," the historical account noted, "by personally applying the lash to two boy offenders convicted in his court."

The word "precedent" according to Merriam-Webster means "something done or said that can be used as an example or rule to be followed in the future."  When Judge Whitaker beat two children in Tampa's municipal court, he set an "example or rule to be followed in the future." Hillsborough County was not shy in following that example.

Road Gang Members in the 1920s

On April 10, 1921, for example, the Tampa Tribune reported that it had received a letter from a "well-known woman resident of Clearwater" who alleged that she had witnessed the "brutal flogging of a convict."

The unidentified eyewitness said that she and several others were traveling by car between Oldsmar and Tampa on the afternoon of Thursday, April 7, when she witnessed "the most brutal act I have ever seen." In a letter to the editor of the Tribune, she described seeing a county road camp prisoner face-down on the ground beside the road as a guard beat him "with all his might with a leather strap." The sound of the beating was so loud that the witnesses could hear each of the blows as they struck the man.

The woman was unable to say how long the beating went on, but she said that it continued for the entire time she and others in the car were within sight of the road crew. She also said that it caused her to wonder what else happened in the county prison camp "where there was no public to look on."

The eyewitness raised a good question. If a guard was so bold as to force an inmate to stretch out face down by a public road for a beating that continued for an untold length of time, what else could have been taking place in Hillsborough County away from the eyes of the public?  Could inmates of the county's prison camp have been maimed or even killed by the floggings they received?

The incident took place in the County Commission district of John T. Gunn, who told the Tribune that he had no reports of "extreme conduct on the part of the guards." He promised to make a "thorough investigation" of the allegations.

Hillsborough County Courthouse in 1921 Burgert Brothers photos, Courtesy Florida Memory Collection

True to his word, Gunn did investigate. In fact, he was so impressed with the details of the beating that he recommended the implementation of flogging as a standard punishment in Hillsborough County.  In fact, the Hillsborough County Commission called the county's sheriff on the carpet before a meeting of the board to demand he explain why 15 federal prisoners housed at the county jail were not turned over to the county to be used as forced laborers on its roads.  The sheriff had previously told Commissioner Gunn that he was willing to allow the county to use the prisoners, but that they could not be flogged. Before the commissioners on that day in 1921, however, he changed his mind and "withdrew his restrictions."

On April 14, 1921, the Tampa Tribune ran letters from readers both supporting and opposing the beating of county inmates with whips. On the same day the newspaper reported that Superintendent McIntosh, who managed the work camp, had given assurances that "no color discrimination" was being made in selecting inmates for flogging. McIntosh proudly described the whipping of three men in one day, two of them white and one black. The road camp "boss" told the newspaper that floggings also took place in the state convict camp in Hillsborough County as well.

The county's investigation of the beatings at its road camp ended with a commission vote giving full sanction to flogging as a suitable punishment for inmates.

St. Petersburg, Florida Photo by Lauren Pitone

Flogging, in fact, became so popular in the Tampa Bay area that it soon spread to St. Petersburg. In 1931, ten years after Hillsborough County officially adopted flogging, a civilian group in neighboring Pinellas County started a "flogging for hire" organization.  For the right amount of money, they would arrange the flogging of anyone you wanted flogged.

The commercial floggers, however, went afoul of the law when they flogged... the law. On March 8, 1931, the group kidnapped and flogged Constable F.A. Howard of Ballast Point. Arrests followed.

Despite such evidence that flogging was reaching out of control proportions around Tampa Bay, the practice continued. On November 30, 1935, officers of the Tampa Police Department seized three Union labor organizers without a warrant and carried them to police headquarters. The men were illegally questioned about their political and organizing activities as a "mob" gathered outside. When the three Socialist Party members - Joseph Shoemaker, E.F. Pulnot and S.D. Rogers - were released, they were seized on the grounds of the Tampa Police Department by the "ruffian band" that lay in wait. Carried to a remote area, they were flogged and then scalding hot tar and feathers were poured on their bodies.

Pulnot and Rogers survived the barbarous treatment, but Shoemaker did not.  He died one week later from hideous injuries. Rev. G.F. Snyder of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Tampa boldly spoke out against the atrocity, aiming his finger at "the very citadel of justice and law administration." A mass meeting was held, but public officials did not attend.

The focus of the nation fixed itself on Tampa. Florida Governor Dave Sholtz demanded a thorough investigation and labor leader Norman Thomas accused law enforcement of mishandling the investigation to "save the face of Tampa police and higher-ups." The president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) threatened to cancel his group's planned national convention, set for Tampa in 1936.

Tampa Police officers in 1935 Courtesy Florida Memory Collection, Florida State Archives

Then came the bombshell. Six Tampa policemen were arrested on the night of December 18, 1935, on charges that they were members of the so-called "ruffian band." Shoemaker's death, it was alleged, did not result from an attack by a mob, but instead was an execution carried out with a lash and hot tar by Tampa police. A member of the city's fire department also was arrested.

A second bombshell came on January 23, 1936, when Tampa Police Chief R.G. Tittsworth was indicted by a special grand jury as an accessory to the crime. In the end, a total of 10 arrests were made in connection with the incident and Governor Sholtz appointed a special prosecutor to handle the case, saying in the process that he meant no disrespect to the Hillsborough County Solicitor, C.Jay Hardee.

The police officers were acquitted. The family of Joseph Shoemaker never received justice. There was no closure.

Nine hate groups are active around Tampa Bay Photo by Lauren Pitone

A national civil rights publication called it a "Whitewash" and alleged that the police officers were members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Whether they were or not is impossible to prove, but the Tampa Bay area is still infested with hate groups. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, Alabama, there are 9 hate groups active in the Tampa Bay area. These include the New Black Panther Party, Neo-Nazis, Christian Identity and the racist Skinhead group Confederate Hammerskins. By comparison, Miami and North Miami are home to three hate groups, only one-third as many as Tampa Bay.  Marianna and Jackson County, home to the former Dozier School, have none.

The Tampa Bay Times has run story after story on the allegations of murders at Dozier School, even though 52 of the 55 people exhumed from the Dozier Cemetery are believed to have been buried there more than 75 years ago. How many stories has it published in the last two years about the officially-sanctioned beatings and death in Hillsborough County from the same era?  None.

I told Ben Montgomery, a reporter with the Tampa Bay Times, about the Tampa floggings in April 2013 and he told me he had never heard of them. I encouraged him to look into them. As of today, his paper continues to publicly ignore the horrors that took place in Tampa even while "seeking the truth" about Marianna. Montgomery has not responded to an email asking why he elected not to report on events that took place in his own community.

Think the official violence in Tampa and Hillsborough County ended long before the days of the "White House Boys" at Dozier School in Marianna?  Watch this video and think again: 2008 Abuse at Hillsborough County Jail.

The Tampa Bay Times at least covered that one.  And then there is this one, reported just today by the Tampa Tribune:  Woman dragged by Tampa police officer.

So far as is known no Tampa area media outlet has tried to find either the survivors of beatings or the families of individuals who were abused by authorities in Hillsborough County during the early 20th century. They continue, however, to run interviews and stories about alleged events that took place in Jackson County at exactly the same time in history.

The University of South Florida, meanwhile,  is spending more than $600,000 of taxpayer money in a "humanitarian effort" to identify 55 unknown graves at Dozier School.  How much money has USF spent to identify the 187 unknown graves at Woodlawn Cemetery within 15 minutes of the doors of its Anthropology Department?

Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General She has made no calls for justice in Hillsborough County atrocities.

How much money has the university spent to learn whether any beaten and abused inmates disappeared from the Hillsborough County Road Camp in the 1920s and 30s?

How much money has USF spent looking for a "lost" cemetery associated with the atrocities suffered by adults and children in Hillsborough County?

How many times has Attorney General Pam Bondi commented on the documented atrocities that took place in Tampa and Hillsborough County?  How often has she called for closure for the families of the victims?

Officers from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department spent time in Marianna assisting USF in its exhumation of the graves from the Dozier School Cemetery. How much time did they spend last year looking into the skeletons of their own past?

I think you already know the answers to these questions.

This is the first in a series of articles on this topic. Watch for part two in coming days.

Memorial area at Dozier School Cemetery

BREAKING NEWS:  Tampa and Hillsborough County authorities beat, tortured and killed prisoners during same era as Dozier School allegations. Click here to read about the Tampa Atrocities


In a press conference this morning in Tampa, employees of the University of South Florida (USF) confirmed that the number of graves found at the Dozier School Cemetery matched exactly the number provided by me and others in the community.

The media all day has been claiming that researchers found "24 more graves than should be there."  That is categorically false. They found exactly the number of graves that documentation indicates should be there.

The university, which has spent more than $600,000 in taxpayer funds to dig up the historic cemetery at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, FL, confirmed this morning that it had found 55 graves in the cemetery.

I tried to provide the university with evidence of 55 graves at the cemetery, but its employees refused to meet with me.

For more than 18 months, I have indicated that I believed there were "approximately 53 bodies there" (quote from the Tampa Bay Times, 4/13/2013). On September 22 of last year, I provided the university's legal office with documentation of 2 additional deaths at the school from the years prior to 1906, bringing the total to 55. University researchers never responded.

Artifact left behind in tracks of USF vehicle.

In October of last year, at the request of individuals from the local historic preservation trust, I loaded my documentation up and carried it to Marianna so the team from USF could go through it. It included clear evidence of 55 known graves in the cemetery. Even though USF had requested that the local group provide it access to any information available on the cemetery, its researchers refused to meet with me or examine the documentation I was making available to them.

It raised a question that remains unanswered today. What kind of scientist or professional researcher, being paid with taxpayer money to find the truth about the cemetery, would not examine a box containing thousands of pages of documentation?  You can answer that question for yourself.

Today's announcement by USF confirms an article I posted here on December 29, 2013: No Mass Grave at Dozier School Cemetery. There was no mass grave at the Dozier School Cemetery. In fact, claims by one former student that more than 150 graves would be found there, the university's announcement now confirms, have been proved to be completely false.

Memorial at Dozier before its destruction by project.

USF today did not comment on the causes of death for the individuals it dug up, more than 80% of them without the permission of their families and next of kin, but we already know that answer too: they died of sickness, in a tragic fire, in a couple of accidents - or were murdered by other students.

I said in early 2013 that if no bodies of students murdered by employees - as some have claimed - were found at the school, then employees of USF would owe the people of Marianna and Jackson County an apology. I predict, however, that no apology from them will ever come.

They say they will continue to search and dig in what is now becoming a clearly desperate effort to find more graves. Let them dig, but in my opinion no more public money should be provided to them once they have finished spending the more than $600,000 they have already been given.

I hope they can find the families of those known to be buried in the cemetery. It would be a shame if  80% of the bodies they dug up without first taking the time to do so are just thrown back in a hole with nothing but a number.  How is that an improvement?  Regardless, hopefully they can find the families that do not know they need closure so they can "give them closure" as they have promised.

1947 map showing original cemetery fence.

The media continues to try to spin the story, but to its credit USF timed the press conference well. By tomorrow, most likely, the news about Dozier will be lost in coverage of tonight's State of the Union speech and the big winter storm.

The media also continues to show its inability to understand that the little area at the school with metal crosses and a cable around them was a memorial, not the actual cemetery. The actual cemetery - once surrounded by a wire fence, portions of which were found in spoil piles left behind by USF - enclosed a somewhat larger area of around 50 by 100 feet. All of the graves found were inside the line of the original cemetery fence, not "outside the cemetery" as some media outlets have already claimed today.

Apparently they either can't understand that simple fact or they are lying to save their reputations.

 As far as Marianna and Jackson County are concerned, our community has been vindicated. The media will never say that and USF will never say that, but we know it and we can hold our heads a bit higher today.

I wish only peace and happiness to all involved in this fiasco.

The University of South Florida is hosting a press conference tomorrow on its exhumation of the graves of former students and employees from the known cemetery on the campus of the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.

The following list is the one I assembled about known and potential burials in the cemetery. USF refused my offer to share with them the information I assembled on these individuals, a curious decision for scientists and researchers.

I will comment further after tomorrow's press conference, but if you are the next of kin of someone on this list and you have not heard from the university, you should make contact with them as they likely have dug up the remains of your relative.

Even though the graves were located in Marianna, USF is holding its press conference in Tampa.

Unless the university can locate the family members of the bodies it has exhumed - something I feel they should have done before digging them up - then they will have no way of identifying the remains and they will just be put back in the ground. That would be a shame after all the statements that this project was being done to "bring closure to families" (80% of which did not give their permission for the project).

Note:  Names with an * may or may not be buried at Dozier.  Names without one are known to be buried there. My list, which has been available online since last year, includes 64 names. I believe that 55 are buried in the cemetery, the others elsewhere.  USF expected to find 50 graves, based on use of ground-penetrating radar.

1. Unknown, Student (died prior to 1906 of heart condition)*
2. Unknown, Student (died prior to 1906 of exposure following escape)*
3. Unknown, Student (died in 1911 of unknown causes).*
4. Bennett Evans, Employee (died in 1914 dormitory fire).
5. Charles Evans, Employee (died in 1914 dormitory fire).
6. Joe Wethersbee, Student (died in 1914 dormitory fire).
7. Walter Fisher, Student (died in 1914 dormitory fire).
8. Clarence Parrott, Student (died in 1914 dormitory fire).
9. Louis Fernandez, Student (died in 1914 dormitory fire).
10. Harry Wells, Student (died in 1914 dormitory fire).
11. Clifford Jefford, Student (died in 1914 dormitory fire).
12. Scott Martin, Student (died of unknown causes in 1915).
13. Granville Rogers, Student (died of unknown causes in 1915).
14. Willie Fisher, Student (died of unknown causes in 1915).
15. Sim Williams, Student (died of unknown causes in 1916).
16. Tillman Mohind, Student (died of unknown causes in 1916).
17. James Joshua, Student (died of unknown causes in 1916).
18. Thomas Aikins, Student (died of unknown causes in 1918).
19. Unknown, Female Employee (died of influenza in 1918).
20. Lee Gaalsby, Student (died of unknown causes in 1918).
21. George Grissam, Student (died of unknown causes in 1918).
22. Wilbur Smith, Student (died of influenza in 1918).
23. Willie Adkins, Student (died during influenza outbreak, 1918).
24. Lloyd Dutton, Student (died during influenza outbreak, 1918).
25. Ralph Whiddon, Student (died during influenza outbreak, 1918).
26. Hilton Finley, Student (died during influenza outbreak, 1918).
27. Puner Warner, Student (died during influenza outbreak, 1918).
28. Joe Anderson, Student (died of unknown causes in 1919).
29. Leonard Simmons, Student (died May 9, 1919 of unknown causes).
30. Nathaniel Sawyer, Student (died December 12, 1919 of unknown causes).
31. Sam Morgan, Student (died in 1921 of unknown causes).
32. John H. Williams, Student (died in 1911, accidental death).
33. Arthur Williams, Student (died February 26, 1921 of unknown causes).
34. Schley Hunter, Student (died April 15, 1922 of pneumonia).
35. Calvin Williams, Student (died December 31, 1922, of unknown causes).
36. George Chancey, Student (died in 1923 of malaria).
37. Clifford Miller, Student (died in 1924 of unknown causes).
38. Charlie Overstreet, Student (died August 19, 1924, during a tonsillectomy).
39. Edward Fonders, Student (died May 18, 1925, of an accidental drowning).
40. Walter Askew, Student (died December 18, 1925, of unknown causes).
41. Nollie Davis, Student (died February 8, 1926, of pneumonia).
42. Robert Rhoden, Student (died May 8, 1929, of pneumonia).
43. Samuel Bethel, Student (died October 15, 1929), of tuberculosis.
44. James Brinson, Student (died in 1932 of pneumonia/influenza).*
45. Willie Heading, Student (died in 1932 of pnuemonia/influenza).*
46. Sam Nipper, Student (died in 1932 of pneumonia/influenza).*
47. Jesse Denson, Student (died in 1932 of pneumonia/influenza).*
48. Lee Underwood, Student (died in 1932 of Influenza).*
49. Fred Sams, Student (died in 1932 of influenza).*
50. Dary Pender, Student (died in 1932 of influenza)*
51. Archie Shaw, Student (died in 1932 of influenza).*
52. Lee Smith, Student (died January 5, 1932 in accident with mule).
53. Joe Stephens, Student (died May 9, 1932 of influenza).
54. Thomas Varnadoe, Student (died October 26, 1934 of pneumonia).
55. Joshua Backey, Student (died 1935 of blood poisoning).*
56. Richard Nelson, Student (died February 23, 1935, of pneumonia).
57. Robert Cato, Student (died February 25, 1935, of pneumonia).
58. Grady Huff, Student (died March 4, 1935, of acute nephritis).
59. James (Joseph) Hammond, Student (died May 2, 1936 of tuberculosis).*
60. Robert Seinous (Stephens), Student (died in 1937 after being stabbed by another student).*
61. George Owen Smith, Student (Escapee, body found decomposed under house in Marianna on January 24, 1941).
62. Earl Wilson, Student (Murdered on August 31, 1944, in severe beating given by 4 students.*
63. Billey Jackson, Student (Died October 7, 1952 of pyelonphritis)
64. Alphonse Glover, Student (died August 13, 1966, drowned in swimming pool).*

A series of aerial and ground photographs and maps prove that the Dozier School Cemetery was never "hidden" or "clandestine," despite such claims by numerous media outlets and some - but not all - former students of the now closed reform school.

The most explosive word used by the media, particularly the Tampa Bay Times, to describe the cemetery has been "clandestine." Webster's Dictionary defines the word as meaning "conducted with secrecy; withdrawn from public notice, usually for an evil purpose." Related words, according to Webster's, include shifty, stealthy, sneaky, surreptitious, skulking, underhanded, etc.

The series of photographs and images presented on in this column, however, show that the cemetery was never "clandestine." In fact, they provide strong support for claims by former employees of Dozier and members of the community that the cemetery was maintained over the years it was actually used. The images also offer strong support for the conclusion of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) that there was "no evidence to suggest or support that the School's Cemetery was a 'well kept secret' hidden from the students."

Image One: 1940 Aerial Photo

This aerial photograph (Image One), for example, was taken in 1940. The red rectangle and arrows show the actual cemetery as it existed at that time. Close examination of the image reveals that a faint rectangle can be seen surrounding the cemetery. Those familiar with the use of aerial photographs indicate that such faint lines usually are indicative of fences, a strong indication that the cemetery was surrounded by a fence as early as 1940, seventy-four years ago.

Those with knowledge of interpreting aerial photographs also point out that the large trees seen growing within the rectangular area are consistent with the large oak and other trees growing at the site today and undoubtedly represent those trees as they appeared from above in 1940. The aerial photograph also clearly shows that the cemetery was in no way hidden, but in fact was surrounded by fields and pastures and would have been easily visible from nearby roads and the buildings of the school itself.

Image Two: 1947 Plat Map

The deduction that the rectangular area probably represented a fence around the cemetery is confirmed by this image (Image Two), part of a plan prepared of the school by the State of Florida in 1947.

Again, a red rectangle and arrows have been added to make the cemetery site clearly visible to the reader. Notice that the site is labeled "Cem." with a cross symbol to show that it was a cemetery. Based on the scale of the plat, the cemetery area was a little more than 100 feet long by 50 feet wide.

This seventy-three year old image proves that the cemetery was not "clandestine" or, to use one of the Webster's definitions, "withdrawn from the public, usually for an evil purpose." In fact, it was clearly labeled on the plat which was prepared for the Florida State Planning Board. If the State of Florida was including the cemetery in its planning documents seventy-three years ago, it clearly was not keeping it secret.

The 1947 plat also shows the cemetery as being surrounded by a rectangular fence. The fence was oriented roughly north and south and was about twice as long as it was wide.

Image Three: 1948 Aerial Photograph

The existence of this fence surrounding the cemetery - as well as the burial ground's open nature - is confirmed by this aerial photograph (Image Three).

Taken in 1948 just one year after the preparation of the state plat shown above, it shows the large oak and other trees growing in the cemetery that could still be seen until some of them were removed by the University of South Florida (USF) in 2013.

The photograph also shows dark "lines" surrounding the area. Again, those with experience in researching aerial photographs indicate these lines most likely indicate fence rows or fence lines. Close examination of the photograph reveals almost the complete outline of the fence that surrounded the cemetery.

The photograph also shows that in 1948, the southwest corner of the area still bordered open fields and pastures, although trees had begun to grow in other areas surrounding the cemetery.

By the time the aerial was taken in 1948 (sixty-six years ago), all but nine of the known deaths associated with school had already occurred. Of those remaining nine, two did not die at the school and five are known to be buried elsewhere. Only two additional graves are likely to have been prepared at the cemetery after the date of the photograph, indicating that it was at its largest known size when the image - an official document of the federal government - was taken.

The visibility of the cemetery from the campus and the fact that it was surrounded by a gated fence was confirmed by a former student who was sentenced to the school from 1951-1952. The student also confirmed attending a funeral in the cemetery and remembered that the body (that of Billey Jackson who died in 1952) was interred in a coffin.

Image Four: 1952 USGS Map

The next image (Image Four) is a section of the U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle map for East Cottondale, prepared in 1952. It clearly shows the Dozier School Cemetery as a rectangular area surrounded by open ground.

This was the same year that Billey Jackson, a student who died on October 7, 1952, was buried in the cemetery. School records verify his burial, as do the recollections of students who remember that he was buried in a coffin in the fenced area then known as "Boot Hill" Cemetery.

Jackson was the last individual recorded to have been buried in the cemetery, although it is possible that Alphonse (Alphonso) Glover, who drowned in the school swimming pool by accident while swimming with other students on August 13, 1966, may have been buried there. School records and the coroner's inquest report provide details on his death, but his burial location is not given.

Image Five: 1955 Aerial Photograph

The next image (Image Five), an aerial photograph taken in 1955 clearly shows the rectangular area or fence line of the cemetery.

Also a federal government aerial, the photograph shows that the trees had been maturing over the 15 years that had passed since the first aerial was taken in 1940, but that the fields and pastures surrounding the cemetery were even more open than they had been a few years earlier and that the burial ground would have been clearly visible from nearby roads, fields and the campus itself.

Again, as this photograph demonstrates, there is no indication of any effort to hide the cemetery or use it as a "clandestine" burial ground for evil purposes.  It was an open, visible cemetery surrounded by a fence.

Image Six: 1973 Aerial Photograph

The next aerial photograph (Image Six) was taken in 1973, a significant year because the school had been desegregated 5 years earlier.  Prior to that time the section of the school south of the cemetery had been used as a separate campus for African American students.

1973 was also the year of the last known death associated with Dozier School. Martin E. Williams, a student, died on April 28 of that year while on a canoe outing with other students and staff members. Williams drowned when he accidentally fell overboard after becoming scared of a snake seen in the Chipola River. His death was witnessed by students and employees and he was returned home to Hillsborough County for burial.

The 1973 photograph shows, as can be seen, that the cemetery area was still visible and still surrounded by open fields and pastures in almost every direction.

The series of images presented here show conclusively that the cemetery was never "clandestine" or hidden.  In fact, it was highly visible and throughout its years of use was surrounded by a gated fence.

The 1947 plat - confirmed by the 1948 aerial photograph - shows the fenced cemetery to have enclosed an area roughly 100 feet long and 50 feet wide.

This is consistent with the dimensions of the area from which USF exhumed the graves of former students and employees in 2013. Pieces of the old wire fence that surrounded the cemetery were visible in the spoil piles left behind after the university employees used heavy equipment to clear the cemetery site. (For more on the results of the exhumations, please see: No Mass Grave at Dozier School Cemetery: Media Falls Silent.

The historic cemetery fence and limits should not be confused - as many reporters have done - with the small memorial area that enclosed 31 crosses at the site.  The cemetery had been long abandoned by the time those crosses were placed.

The next post will focus on the actual history of the memorial crosses and will clear away many of the false statements made about them in the press.

Dozier School Cemetery Site

Employees from the University of South Florida (USF) appear to have completed the exhumation of the graves from the Dozier School Cemetery. No mass grave was found.

The cemetery proved to be exactly what former school employees and local residents said it would be, an old cemetery where most of the graves were interred more than 75 years ago.

The media, which covered the beginning of the dig with carnival-like excitement, has vanished.

The university is expected to continue its research at Dozier for another eight months, trying to find a "second cemetery" that some claim must exist at the school. Former employees and local residents say there has not been a second cemetery within the memory of anyone alive in the community. State and Federal maps and plats dating back to the 1930s show only one cemetery, the one that has now been dug up by USF.

Wire from the original cemetery fence.

All of the graves found were inside the old fence line of that cemetery, which the media has sometimes confused with the small memorial erected at the site during the 1960s. In fact, an old wire fence surrounded a somewhat larger area and all of the graves were inside that area. The remains of that fence were visible in the spoil piles left behind when USF used heavy equipment to clear the historic site earlier in the year.

USF has not commented on the results of the dig and all media coverage stopped after the work revealed the bodies interred at the cemetery had been buried in coffins according to standard religious and mortuary practices of the time, not "dumped in holes" as some had claimed. USF employees - before falling silent - said during the first days of the dig that some of the coffins were "quite decorative."

Former employees of the school and local citizens with knowledge of its history had long said that the graves were not hidden or clandestine. They pointed out that people - both students and employees - had died at the school over its more than 100-year history and were known to be buried in the cemetery. They indicated that the bodies were buried in coffins and that funerals were held. A long-time maintenance employee of the school even pointed out that the graves originally had wooden markers, but that time and the elements had rotted them away. They disputed claims that the cemetery was a "dumping ground" for human bodies.  Despite the ridicule they faced in the media and on the internet, they maintained their stand.  In the end, they were right.

Although the university isn't talking for now, one thing is very clear: there were not 150 or more bodies in the cemetery as claimed by some former students of the now closed reform school. One former student told the media on the day that the dig began that there were "at least 100 more bodies up there" than the 50 or so thought by USF employees before the dig began.

The claims of hundreds of bodies in the cemetery received widespread coverage in state, national and international media. There has been no coverage since the claims proved false.

In answer to questions about why he had stopped covering the dig once it became clear that most of the allegations surrounding the cemetery were false, one journalist indicated he was "waiting for the final report because I don't want to report anything that isn't correct." Oddly, such journalistic standards were not at issue before the dig began. Wild stories then included allegations of everything from hundreds of graves in the cemetery to claims that it was a dumping ground for people murdered by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Attorney General Pam Bondi and the NAACP pushed for the dig, claiming repeatedly that "atrocities" had occurred. A leader with the NAACP even compared Dozier School to the infamous Nazi death camp of Dachau. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson did as well, posturing for television cameras with statements such as, "where there's smoke, there's fire."

More than $600,000 in state and federal tax money funded the dig, but in the end no clandestine mass grave was found.  The USF employees and volunteers have gone back to Tampa to analyze the remains and try to identify bodies for the handful of next of kin they actually found. The media has gone silent.

The little memorial placed decades ago by school employees and students in memory of those buried in the cemetery was destroyed by the dig. The graves it commemorated are gone.

Dormitory destroyed by fire in 1914.

Note:  This is part two in a series on known deaths at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. The focus is on probable burials at the school's "Boot Hill" cemetery. Please click here to read Part One of this series.

Building identical to burned dormitory (at right, notice the tower) Florida State Archives, Florida Memory Collection

Closeup of building identical to burned dormitory. The superintendent and older boys escaped through the tower. Florida State Archives, Florida Memory Collection