Orlando's Police Marshals and Chiefs: The Colorful Characters Who Served
Orlando was incorporated in 1875 and the first large frame City Hall was built on Oak Street, which is now Wall Street. Before this time the Orange County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) had jurisdiction in the county. The Orlando Police Department (OPD) would take over jurisdiction within the city and would often fight with the OCSO over this. The OPD got its start connected to the first City Hall building. In 1885, the first jail in Orlando was added on to the back of the City Hall building. The whole building was converted to a red brick building in 1892 and housed the officers for the Mayor, the City Clerk, and the Police Marshal, who was in charge of the police department.
Originally, the Orlando Police Department was led by a Police Marshal who was elected to a one-year. J. W. Williams was the first Police Marshal in 1875 and remained in that positionuntil 1880. Williams was followed by E. A. Richards in 1881; A. C. Maddox from 1882 to 1883; George W. Wilkinson in 1884; Thomas W. Mathews in 1885; P. C. Hodges from 1886 to 1887; S. S. Puckett in 1888; B. B. Campbell in 1889; J. F. Bennet in 1890; Billy Preston from 1891- to 1895; B. L. Dean from 1896 to 1898; Charley Carter from 1899 1908; Charles Maltbie from 1909 to 1912; and Billy Smith from 1913 to 1916.
Charley Carter served the longest term as Police Marshal for the City of Orlando and was known for always being able to get his man, even if he had to shoot him. According to Mayor Mahlorn Gore, whenever Marshal Carter was criticized for being too strict in his enforcement of city ordinances, he would respond to the criticism by stating that "if you didn't like the ordinance, then get it repealed." AS long as the ordinance was on the city record book, he was going to enforce it.
Marshal Carter even arrested Mayor W. H. Jewell for breaking the hitching ordinance. Orange Avenue was lined with merchant shops and hitching posts—the awnings of the merchant shops were held up by an iron pipe which rested on the sidewalk. One day, someone hitched his horse to one of these iron pipes and when the horse reared back, it pulled down the awning. The Orlando City Council followed this with a hitching ordinance that prohibited the hitching of horses to these iron pipes. Later on, when a lady's buggy was driven into the city, Mayor Jewell offered politely to tie her horse, but he tied the horse to one of the awning pipes. Marshal Carter saw this and put arrested the mayor The Mayor acknowledged this and the next morning in police court, brought up his own case and fined himself one dollar.
When James L. Giles became Mayor in 1917, he changed the title of the head of the OPD to Chief of Police. This meant that the people would no longer elect the head of the Orlando Police Department and that the Mayor would now appoint the Police Chief. The first Chief of Police was John Pounds from 1917 to 1919, followed by Sam T. Salisbury from January to April of 1920; Ed Vestal from 1920 to 1923; E. P. Edgerton from 1923 to 1925; H. F. Baker from 1926 to 28; L. G. Pope from 1929 to 1930; Bill Purvis in 1931; Clark Robertson from 1932 to 1933; Billy Smith in 1934; Frank Karel from 1935 to 1936; W. F. Judd in 1937; Billy Smith from 1938 to 1940; Roy Larson from 1941 to 1942; J. C. Stone from 1943 to 1945; Roy Larson from 1946 to August of 1947; J. C. Stone from 1947 to May of 1949; and Frank Welch from May of 1949 to 1952.
Chief Smith had the distinction of serving as both a Police Marshal and Police Chief and served the City of Orlando three different times as the head of the police department. On July 1, 1924, a new City Hall was bought from the school board. The building was Orlando's old high school since 1906 and was the first brick school in Orange County. When City Hall moved in, the OPD moved with it and was housed in the basement of the old brick school house.
Bibliography
Gore, E. H. Florida Sand to "The City Beautiful": A Historical Record of Orlando. Orlando, FL: Academy Press, 1952.
Bacon, Eve. Orlando: A Centennial History. Chuluota, FL: The Mickler House, Publishers, 1975.