Information
that I am providing in the investigation of the unsolved murder of
former Sarasota Mayor Harry L Higel that took place on the north end of
Siesta Key Fl on Friday January 7th, 1921 sometime between the hours of
8:10 am and 8:30 am when Mr Higel was found bleeding profusely from his
head at the corner of Siesta Dr and Higel Ave is true and factual
without embellishment. REPORTS have been obtained from written
interviews of Mr Higel's brothers George Higel and Frank Jr Higel taken
by crime beat reporters who were on the ground in Siesta Key on the day
he was murdered and in the days following. The crime beat reporters were
from well known and established newspapers like The St Pete Times, The
Tampa Daily Times, the Tampa Tribune and the Miami Herald. All of the
newspapers were published daily with morning and evening editions and
provided updated information on the Higel murder case and the process of
arrest, incarceration and Manatee Grand Jury investigation of the only
true suspect in Mr Higel's murder, newspaperman Rube Allyn. 
FAKE News ABC7 Sarasota Co-Host Stephanie Roberts Gives Nancy Drew PI's Andrea Knies & Mimi Cirbusova Air Time Distorting 1921 Murder of Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel by Rube Allyn. Newsflash for Nancy Drew PI's Andrea Knies & Mimi Cirbusova Rube Allyn was not new to the Sarasota - Siesta Key area in 1921 as you claim in the Fake news video, far from it. In the Fake news video that ABC7 Suncoast Co-Host Stephanie Roberts put out on Thursday October 29, 2020 at 3:19 PM, Nancy Drew PI's Andrea Knies and Mimi Cirbusova went into great detail on how poor Rube Allyn was targeted for the brutal murder of former Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel on Friday Jan 7th 1921 on Siesta Key just because he was the new guy in town, what the hell? Newsflash for for Nancy Drew PI's Andrea Knies & Mimi Cirbusova, Rube Allyn first came to the the Sarasota - Siesta Key area in 1911, he set up his Sarasota Sun newspaper in 1913, it folded in 1916 due to Allyn's excessive drinking and violent temper. According to the 1916 Manatee County Fl City of Sarasota Directory: Rube Allyn Sr (wife Evelyn), editor office the Sarasota Sun at 120 N Gulf Stream Blvd, had a phone 73-M at his home on Siesta Key, (Rube Allyn Sr had a phone in 1916). Rube Allyn ran against Harry Higel for mayor of Sarasota Fl three times between 1913 and 1917, he lost all three times, he hated Harry Higel. Harry Higel was Mayor of Sarasota Fl from 1911-1914 and then again in 1917. Rube Allyn was not new to the Sarasota - Siesta Key area in 1921 when Higel was murdered, far freakin far from it.
UPDATE...Dec 19, 2020, Low
rated ABC 7 WWSB-TV Sarasota Fl dropped by Frontier Communications and
replaced by ABC Action News Tampa, good fit. Far left liberal news
machine shut down in Sarasota Fl, see more at LINK CLICK HERE
Large
newspapers in Tampa and St Pete had daily editions and often had
morning and evening editions. The Sarasota Times was a weekly newspaper
published only on Thursdays. When a big story broke over the
AP newswires in New York City, like Harry Higel's murder on January 7th,
1921 (see above), an extra edition was printed
that day Friday Jan 7th 1921 by the Tampa Daily Times and delivered to
your house and to the corner
newsstands. Sarasota Herald Tribune historian Jeff LaHurd in a
Trib article dated Sept 27th this year verified that Harry Higel was
killed on Friday January 7th, 1921, "Higel did not live long enough to see the transformation of Siesta Key.
On January 7, 1921, his body was discovered in the middle of the road,
his head and face too badly battered that he was
unrecognizable—identified through his signet ring".
The Nancy Drew PI's Andrea Knies & Mimi Cirbusova claim they were unable to find any stories about Rube Allyn in the Herald Tribune that indicated he was a bad guy. Newsflash for Nancy Drew PI's Andrea Knies & Mimi Cirbusova the Herald Tribune did not start publishing in Sarasota until 1925, four years after Harry Higel was murdered on Jan 7th, 1921 by Rube Allyn. The Nancy Drew PI's Andrea Knies & Mimi Cirbusova appear to have poor research skills. The Tampa Daily Times aka Tampa Tribune was a big deal in 1921 and had been in publication for over 26 years at the time of Harry Higel's murder using its Associated Press affiliation for international and national news. The Tampa Daily Times extensively covered the Harry Higel murder in 1921 with reporters on the ground in Sarasota and Siesta Key, appears the Nancy Drew gals were looking in the wrong place. Daily publication of the Tampa Tribune started in 1895 when Wallace Stovall upgraded printing from once a week. In 1927, newspaper mogul John Stewart Bryan, of Virginia, and his business partner Samuel Emory Thomason, previously a vice-president with the Chicago Tribune, purchased The Tampa Tribune for $900,000. The Sarasota Herald published its first edition on October 4, 1925, four years after the murder of Harry Higel. In a front-page article introducing the morning paper to its readers, a journalist praised the publishing facility's efficient layout: "From the executive offices in the rear, the paper is produced in one continuous motion." The Herald's first editorial October 4, 1925 announced the paper's three-fold policy of service to the community.
The
Nancy Drew PI's Andrea Knies & Mimi
Cirbusova site the Sarasota Times as their source for information on the
brutal murder of Harry Higel on Friday Jan 7th, 1921, unfortunately for
their research it was published only once a week on Thursdays. The first edition of the small readership 'Sarasota Times' was published on Thursday June 1, 1899, it was not a daily newspaper, it was published only once a week on Thursday. 'Sarasota Times' newspaper moved
from being a weekly on Thursdays to a daily in 1925. Rose Wilson could
hardly have expected a large readership. An
estimated 600 people lived in the future Sarasota County area, which was
part of Manatee County until June 1921. In 1920 there were only 2,149
people living in Sarasota and Siesta Key. Despite poor initial earnings,
Rose
Wilson continually published the weekly 'Sarasota Times' until
Rose Wilson sold it in
1923. Harry Higel was murdered on Friday Jan 7th 1921 it appears the
Sarasota Times published a week old article about his murder on Thursday
Jan 13th, 1921 a week later! For most of the time, the newspaper's home
was a two-story frame
building on the north side of Main Street, half-way between Palm and
Pineapple. When a
referendum approved the creation of Sarasota County in June 1921,
publisher Rose Wilson changed the name of the paper to the Sarasota County Times.
In her last editorial, Wilson explained that she had sold the paper
because the community needed a more frequent publication and she could
not fund such an expansion. Virtually none of the earliest Sarasota Times newspapers survive.
NEWSFLASH: The
Nancy Drew PI's in Sarasota Andrea Knies & Mimi
Cirbusova claim they can not find any other article published in any
newspaper that indicates murder suspect Rube Allyn was violent of had a
criminal history of any kind. Oh yeah? The Tampa Daily Times article on Tues May 21st 1929 seen above reports on the front page that Rube Allyn shot a teenager in Ruskin with a shotgun, Attempted Murder charges were filed, OMG, READ ON.
The
footprints, tracks in the sand near the body of Harry Higel at the cor
of Mangrove and Higel Ave on Friday morn Jan 7th 1921 leading in the
direction of Rube Allyn's house are very significant as Rube Allyn wore a
size 13 shoe. Rube Allyn was a big man at 6' 2" tall with long arms and
wore a size 13 shoe, he was much larger that Harry Higel who stood
about 5' 7" tall and would have worn a size 9 shoe. Very few people
lived on Siesta Key in 1921, at most 40 people lived there full time,
there were only 2,100 people in the 1920 census in the City of Sarasota
Fl. So how many of the 40 people who lived full time on Siesta Key wore a
very big size 13 shoe when at least half of the 40 people were women.
photo credit Tampa Times News from Florida Historical
RUBE ALLYN 1929 ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE: According to the Tampa Times on May 21, 1929 Rube Allyn shot a young man, Brooks Brewer, 19, who was walking on the road near Rube Allyn's secluded cottage in Ruskin Fl, Hillsborough County. This Attempted Murder Charge for Rube Allyn is 8 years after he was arrested and acquitted of the murder of Harry Higel on Siesta Key Fl. Rube Allyn apparently felt it was no big deal to fire a shotgun at Brooks Brewer, he claimed he had problems with the 'young bloods' in Ruskin and you never know what they could be up to. Rube Allyn admitted to the Tampa Times that he fired his shotgun into the night to scare away the Ruskin boys. Brooks Brewer claimed that after Rube Allyn shot him in the back with the shotgun, from distance, Allyn came up to him as he was lying in the road, told him to get up with his hands held high and then Rube marched him off down the road. Brooks Brewer's 'bird shot' wounds in his back from Rube's shotgun were supposedly minor. Brooks Brewer dropped the charges 2 1/2 days later upon pressure from his father J.F. Brewer. The father, J.f. Brewer, said "Ruskin is a small place and we want to be neighbors there. Brooks was only peppered with a few bird shot in the back and not hurt much, we ask the court to drop the charges", what the hell? Rube was released from jail, Rube got away with it again.
photo credit Tampa Tribune News from Florida Historical.
In April 1930 Rube Allyn was arrested again, this time in St Petersburg were he had been living at his mother-in-law's house. Rube plotted with ex-Mayor Noel Mitchell of St Pete to shoot and kill newspaper columnist James Ravenscroft with a shotgun blast. James Ravenscroft was a columnist for the Tampa Tribune. Rube Allyn also cussed out Mrs. Effie Ravenscroft, Rube was arrested on Disorderly Conduct charges he plead not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. Apparently Rube and Noel took offense to several articles written by newspaper columnist James Ravenscroft. Rube Allyn was displaying some severe mental problems over the years, most likely he had Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). Someone with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) could destroy property, react way out of proportion to things that happen and could attack or kill another person for really no reason.
photo credit Miami Herald from Florida Historical
True to form most local newspapers downplayed Rube Allyn's arrest for threatening to kill newspaper columnist James Ravenscroft in St Pete, but the Miami Herald laid it all out, see above. Apparently Rube Allyn and former Mayor Noel Mitchell had plotted to kill columnist James Ravenscroft. Mrs. Effie Ravenscroft had overheard Rube and Noel Mitchell planing to kill columnist James Ravenscroft who worked for the Tampa Tribune on the pretext of Rube Allyn shooting rabbits in his yard, which was directly across the street from the Ravenscroft house and "accidentally" kill James Ravenscroft with a shotgun blast. Rube was eventually released from jail and driven out of town via the Gandy Bridge by Noel Mitchell to Ruskin followed by a police escort of two City detectives. And Rube Allyn didn't plot to and beat Harry Higel to death on Jan 7th, 1921 on Siesta Key, sure he didn't.
photo credit Tampa Bay times News from Florida Historical
Apparently Rube Allyn was re-arrested on a Failure to Appear on the Disorderly Conduct charge in St Pete where he had plotted to kill columnist James Ravenscroft. Rube Allyn was arrested for Failure to Appear by City detectives Bob Black and J. B. King. Mrs Effie Ravenscroft testified in court that she heard Noel Mitchell and Rube Allyn "plotting to get James Ravenscroft on 35th Ave South St Pete". Rube Allyn was living at 743 35th Ave South St Pete directly across the street from the Ravenscroft home. The address 743 35th Ave South St Pete was owned by the mother of Rube's wife, Rose Evelyn Knestrick. Rube Allyn was escorted out of town by City detectives on April 25th, 1930, don't come back Rube, Rube got away with it again. Rube Allyn was a loaded gun just waiting to go off, he was a very dangerous man. Another neighbor dispute gone bad just like Rube Allyn's dispute with Harry Higel in Siesta Key that led to Higel's murder, and Rube didn't do it, BULL CRAP.
photo credit screenshot ABC7 Suncoast news Sarasota. Rube Allyn started in the newspaper business working as a apprentice type setter in Ontario Canada in the office of the Mount Forest Representative in the 1880's, later as editor at the 'Daily Times' Crookston, Minnesota in 1898, the 'Reporter' in Rapid City Canada in 1902 as editor, Sarasota Florida the 'Sarasota Sun' in 1913 as publisher-editor and the 'Florida Fisherman' in 1920's St Petersburg Fl as editor. First issue of Rube Allyn's weekly Sarasota Sun appeared on Saturday, February 6, 1913. Rose Wilson, editor and publisher of the established Sarasota Times 221 Main, Sarasota, announced the advent of her competition on the bottom page of page 4 and opined that Allyn "is a good writer and has a newsy paper." Some time after Feb 1913, Rube Allyn Sr his wife and 6 children moved to Siesta Key from Palmetto and made a home in the old Sarasota Yacht Club building on the north end of Siesta Key on what is now Gulfmead Dr across Bayou Louise from Harry Higel's home on Higel Ave. Rube Allyn Sr had purchased his printing press from the White Springs Messenger (on credit) and moved it into the building at the end of a dock off North Gulf Stream Blvd Sarasota and later he moved the newspaper operation right next to Harry Higel's Higelhurst Hotel on Sarasota Key in 1915. See the nonsensical pair pandering to murder suspect Rube Allyn on the ABC7 Suncoast View
photo credit Sarasota County Historical Resources
Rube Allyn shows up in Sarasota in late 1911 with his traveling Chautauqua circuit vaudeville show modeled after activities at the Chautauqua Institution of western New York where Rube Allyn hung out with Elbert Hubbard in East Aurora NY (East Aurora is in Western NY near Buffalo). Rube was kind of minor celebrity whose act became tired and he was on his way down in show business. Sarasota High school officially opened in early 1913, one of the first entertainers at the school hall was Rube Allyn the murder suspect in former Mayor Harry Higel's death on Jan 7th, 1921. In June 1911 Rube Allyn and his wife purchased property in Palmetto Fl. In October 1911, the Sarasota Times ran a notice that Rube Allyn, the "famous" humorist and impersonator, would be entertaining at the school hall. Tickets were 25 cents, 15 cents for children. On Nov 16th 1911 the "famous" Rube Allyn was in Lakeland at the school auditorium. On December 15th 1911 the Rube Allyn show was in St Pete at the auditorium. In the following year, 1912, Rube Allyn made known his plans to publish a second newspaper for the Sarasota community. During 1912 Rube Allyn published a semi-monthly called "The Bay of Sarasota". The Sarasota Sun finally debuts in Feb 1913, it bombed and shut down in early 1916. Rube Allyn was a bad guy, a drunk, he had multiple violent arrests after the Harry Higel murder incident in 1921.
Harry Higel served on the town council in 1902 and served as Mayor of the city of Sarasota when it was incorporated. In a 1912 memo as mayor of Sarasota, H. L. Higel encouraged more funding for Sarasota schools. It was in the elections of 1916 and 1917 that Harry Higel had a bitter battle for the office of Mayor against well-known editor Rube Allyn, who published the Sarasota Sun. Rube lost the Mayor race, Higel won. Rube Allyn's Sarasota Sun newspaper was short-lived 1913-1916. The Sarasota Sun Newspaper shuttered its door due apparently to a shortage of funds, a decline in ad sales and Rube Allyn's persistent battle with the whiskey bottle. Rube Allyn stopped publication of the Sarasota Sun newspaper in early 1916.
photo credit Tampa Tribune News from Florida Historical
According to the 1920 US Census 2,149 people were living in Sarasota Fl and Siesta Key was reported to have about 3 dozen people (36) living full time on the Island including the Higel Family and the Allyn Family who were all there on Friday Jan 7th, 1921 when Harry Higel was attacked and murdered, small world eh? During 1920 and 1921 there was a lot of pressure on Rube Allyn Sr to come up with the money he owed Harry Higel for the Allyn house loan on Siesta Key and back rent of the office for the Sarasota Sun newspaper office. Rube Allyn was responsible for his wife and it appears 6 children ranging in age from 11 to 21 living at the Allyn cottage on the north end of Siesta Key in 1921. Where would they all go if Harry Higel evicted them for Rube's non-payment of the house loan on Siesta Key? RUBE ALLYN MURDERED HARRY HIGEL.
Sarasota Dr Haldon's medical report to the
Manatee County Coroners Jury on Friday evening Jan 7th, 1921, the day Harry Higel was
murdered, indicated multiple (5 TO 6) depressed fractures to the skull, multiple broken facial bones, and at least one compound skull fracture. There were no other wounds to the body of Harry Higel. Higel wasn't supposed to survive the vicious pistol whipping. The mark of the
weapon was clearly shown with a hole in the skull made by the pointed
end of the weapon. The
end of the grip on a 1920's era .32 caliber Colt revolver has a pointed
end. If Harry Higel had been hit once or twice on the head it would
have
looked like a robbery gone bad. But Harry Higel was hit 5 or 6 times or
more all over his head and face, the perp wanted Harry Higel to suffer
and disfigure him, it was personal! The Higel murder case was never
solved,
the murder weapon never found, until very likely now with the discovery
of the buried 1920's era .32 caliber Colt revolver found on Siesta Key near the Higel murder scene.
Harry Higel's Hotel HigelHurst on Siesta Key opened its doors on March 9, 1915, with more than 200 people attending the grand opening reception. Since the bridge to the key was not finished, ferry boats provided transportation to the hotel.
The Hotel was burned down on Friday morn March 30th 1917, Rube Allyn
was a person of interest in the arson. The caretaker Mrs Mueller left
the Hotel on Thursday afternoon March 29th 1917 for Sarasota where she
spent the evening with friends. The Hotel was empty and vacant, Rube
Allyn lived nearby and hated Harry Higel.
Map
of Siesta Key as of 1916 that shows the Higelhurst Hotel towards the
far north end of Gulmeade Dr Siesta Key Fl. Rube was there on Siesta Key
in the early morn of Friday March 30th 1917 when the hotel was torched.The
information that I have compiled concerning the murder of Harry Higel
and the actions, statements and arrest records of Rube Allyn spans a 60
year period from 1887 when 22 year old Rube Allyn was in New York City
to 1947 when 81 year old Rube Allyn died penniless and alone in Ruskin
Fl. I have chronicled multiple newspaper accounts of the time that show
Rube Allyn as exhibiting sociopath tendencies, an extremely violent
person, a pathological liar, a fraud, a racist, an imposter, a con man's
con man and a falling down drunk. Sarasota's Rube Allyn Sr appears to have been the poster boy for someone with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). Rube Allyn Sr was a hot tempered, erratic, hard drinking Irishman whose eccentrics were condemned in Sarasota where he was well known. Rube Allyn was known for fierce outbursts of temper. Rube was venomously bitter when confronted or disagreed with and frequently drunk in Sarasota. Rube had been in bitter disagreements with Harry Higel
for years, ever since 1911 when Rube shows up in Sarasota, everybody
knew Rube Allyn in Sarasota for at least 10 years before the Higel
murder.
Rube Allyn hated Germans so
much that he tried to join the Army in 1917 when the USA entered WWI.
Rube wanted to go to France and kill "Prussian Savages". Rube was too
old at age 48 for the Army so Rube Allyn left his large family on Siesta
Key in Nov 1917 and traveled to Philadelphia to work at the Hog Island shipyard building docks at .75 cents an hour to assemble Merchant Marine ships for the war. Rube's testimony before a US Senate Committee in Feb. 1918
revealed a racist, bigoted man who hated Jews and German speaking people.
READ IT HERE.
Rube Allyn acted violently and impulsively and was arrested for Attempted
Murder during the commission of a Hate Crime in Philadelphia in 1918. Someone
with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) could destroy property,
react way out of proportion to things that happen and could attack or
kill another person. Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) involves
repeated, sudden episodes of impulsive, aggressive, violent behavior or
angry verbal outbursts in which the affected person reacts grossly out
of proportion to the situation (Rube Allyn Sr.). It is my opinion
based on all the evidence that I have compiled and the discovery of the
1920's era Colt revolver with the broken grip found buried on Siesta
Key, that Rube Allyn killed Harry Higel on Friday Jan 7th, 1921 during a
pistol whipping near the edge of the shell pit at the corner of
Mangrove Ave (Siesta Dr) and Higel Ave on Siesta Key Fl. MUCH MORE AT LINK https://murderofharryhigelsiestakey.blogspot.com/2020/05/siesta-beach-cold-case-murder-of-mayor.html
Bill Warner Private Investigator Sarasota 941-926-1926 - Cheaters and Child Custody Cases at http://www.billwarnerpi.com/
