Free For Sale —American Paradise by Willie Drye Page B

target of war. Bryan didn’t dispute the German assertion.
    Relations between Bryan and President Wilson became tense. Bryan submitted his resignation on June 8, 1915. He was a private citizen again, free to pursue other interests.

    After the mistrial a few months earlier, John Ashley had spent the summer and much of the fall of 1914 behind bars in West Palm Beach, awaiting a new trial. No judge in his right mind was going to allow bail for a prisoner who had eluded cops for two years before turning himself in. Ashley kept his bargain about behaving, however, so he was never handcuffed, and he was allowed to receive home-cooked suppers from his mother while he was in jail.
    Ashley’s second trial started on November 11, 1914. The courtroom was packed with spectators and men called to serve as potential jurors. Judge Pierre Branning called the courtroom to order, then told the 150 potential jurors that any of them who were sick or deaf or had urgent business would be excused from duty.
    â€œIn an instant there was a rush to the front of the courtroom and about every ailment known to doctors was given out,” reported the Stuart Times . “In fact, Judge Branning was surprised to hear of so much sickness.”
    About seventy-five jurors—half the pool—were excused. When all of those who remained had been questioned by prosecution and defense attorneys, only two had been chosen. It was abundantly clear that there were not a dozen men in Palm Beach County who were willing to sit in judgment of an Ashley.
    The Ashleys didn’t need an attorney to tell them that if a jury couldn’t be selected in Palm Beach County, the judge would grant the prosecution’s relentless requests to move the trial to another county. And a trial in another county in front of a jury they couldn’t control either through friendship or intimidation could mean an unhappy outcome for John Ashley.
    The Ashleys didn’t like the odds. So on Saturday, November 15, Joe Ashley and his clan executed what could be called the “pork chop plan” to free John Ashley from jail.
    Court was in session that day, but once again, no jurors were chosen. After the session ended but before John Ashley left the courthouse, Joe Ashley asked his son what he wanted for supper.
    â€œJohn, do you want some good beefsteak for supper?” Joe Ashley asked.
    â€œYes,” John answered.
    â€œWouldn’t you rather have pork chops?” Joe suggested in a way that Sheriff Baker thought was a bit odd.
    â€œSure,” John answered.
    John Ashley then left with Robert Baker, a deputy sheriff who was the jailer, and also the son of Sheriff George Baker.
    As usual, Ashley was not in handcuffs when he got into an automobile with Baker for the short ride from the courthouse to the jail. It was a dark and rainy night as Baker drove through the streets of West Palm Beach with his prisoner. Still, it wasn’t dark enough to prevent Baker from recognizing Joe Ashley and one of his sons standing across the street from the jail.
    As Ashley and Baker were walking from the car into the jail compound, Baker’s wife called to him from the cottage next to the jail that she shared with her husband. She handed Baker a plate of pork chops that Joe Ashley had left for his son.
    Baker and John Ashley walked to the entrance of the jail, and Baker handed his prisoner the plate so he could have both hands free to unlock the gate. He turned and put the key into the lock.
    The next thing he heard was the sound of breaking glass, and when he turned around, he saw John Ashley disappearing around the corner. Still, there was a ten-foot fence surrounding the compound. No one could scale that without help.
    Baker drew his gun and raced after his prisoner. In the darkness he heard Ashley blindly run into the fence. He fired a shot in the direction of the sound, and then ran to the fence.
    Ashley was gone. The fence was intact. It was as though