BOOK MURDER ON THE KEY: New Book & Screenplay Will Prove Newsman Rube Allyn Killed Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel During Pistol Whipping

MURDER ON THE KEY RUBE DID IT: Background and extensive research for my new book and screenplay implicates newsman Rube Allyn in pistol whipping murder of Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel on Friday morn Jan 7th, 1921, Rube did it! Pistol whipping Harry Higel with a Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket Revolver with a broken grip that I just happened to have found buried on Siesta Key in November 2019. 

According to a Tampa Times news article of Jan 11, 1921, a chart with information on the murder of Harry Higel was published on Page 1. The Tampa Times reported that it appeared that witnesses saw Rube Allyn walking through some woods in the direction to where Harry Higel's body was found (4). It appears that at the site of Harry Higel's murder tracks were discovered in the sand (size 13 shoe) leading in the direction of Rube Allyn's home (2). The tracks ended at a point in Bayou Louise some 200 yards south of Rube Allyn's home (2). Rube Allyn wore a size 13 shoe, no other homes were at the end of Strand (Gulfmead Dr) than Rube Allyn's in 1921. Manatee Grand Jury did not post a TRUE BILL and Rube Allyn was released form jail in March 1921.

Remains of 1900's era Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket Revolver seen above. No one knew about the Colt revolver until I wrote about it! Prior to and during 1920's in Sarasota Fl there were dirty politics running rampant with the good old boy system. Anti-German Sentiment in Sarasota that targeted Harry Higel. Lusitania passenger ship sunk by German U-Boat in Atlantic killing Rube Allyn's best pal. Harry Higel's German themed HigelHurst Hotel arson on Siesta Key and Rube did that too. 

Apparently Tony Dunbar has a book out on the same subject (murder of Harry Higel) called 'The Story of the Sarasota Celery Fields and Other Mysteries' which continues the story of a town speeding towards its future as a tourist and agricultural paradise, as told by Deputy Sheriff Gawain MacFarlane. "I ordered the book today and will compare notes". The explosion of wealth brought by Bertha Palmer and other visionaries not only spurred a vast real estate boom but also an irresistible market for bootleggers, marauders such as the John Ashley Gang, and an unexplained tragedy - the murder of Harry Higel, the town's three-time mayor and most prominent booster in 1921. 

The gruesome bludgeoning that left Higel almost unrecognizable occurred near his home on Siesta Key, the beach he was developing, and historians have long puzzled over who committed this heinous crime. MacFarlane's relentless investigation produces a disturbing outcome and a final resolution to the mystery...... We'll see? I did buy the book and have read it, and the book contains very specific information from my articles! Well Mr Dunbar, you took some of my information and extensive research, almost word for word, especially the information about the murder weapon the Colt revolver! The one that I have in my office! Tony Dunbar is full of crap!

Englewood Fl Author Tony Dunbar Uses My Proprietary Work From My Published Articles For "Story of Sarasota Celery Fields & Other Mysteries" re Harry Higel Murder, WTF! On Jan 7th, 2021 the Sarasota Herald Tribune published an article, "100 years later, the murder of popular Sarasota mayor Harry Higel remains unsolved", information for the Higel article came from my proprietary work and published articles, which I gave to reporter Billy Cox to use in the article and he in turn credited me for the information, READ HERE. Paperback writer Tony Dunbar's Higel murder book is a 1,000 pages, give or take 800 hundred, he'll be writing more in a week or two, he could make it longer if you like the style, he just needs to take more details from PI Bill Warner's work. The Dunbar book, "Published in July 2022", contains very specific copyrighted information and proprietary work from my articles that have been published since December of 2020! Well Mr Dunbar, you took some of my information and extensive research, almost word for word, especially the information about the Higel murder weapon, the Colt revolver, and published as your own! This tale of the unsolved murder of Harry Higel took place on Siesta Key Fl known for Siesta Beach the top 5 beach in U.S. and ranked among top 15 beaches in the world by Tripadvisor. 

Mr Dunbar on page 150 of your tale, "The Story of the Sarasota Celery Fields and Other Mysteries" published in July 2022, you make known that the Harry Higel murder weapon was a Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket Revolver with a broken hard rubber grip, exactly like the one I found on Siesta Key Fl in November 2019, small world, eh? This was also the same Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket Revolver with a broken hard rubber grip that I provided to the Sarasota County Sheriff Dept for examination in Nov 2019 and I then published numerous article about the weapon since Dec 2020. Oh by the way, the Colt Police Positive Pocket Revolver does not have a safety, you dope, Colt pistols do. You do know the difference between a revolver and a pistol, don't you?

Public Figure Tony Dunbar: Charter Review Board District 5 election for Nov 2020: Englewood architect Elaine E. Miller DEFEATED retired Englewood attorney Anthony “Tony” Dunbar 58% to 42%. The elected 10-member Charter Review Board deals with the document that sets the rules for how the county should operate. Two members are chosen to represent each of the five County Commission districts. Members serve with no compensation. Tony Dunbar ran for political office in Sarasota Fl during the 2020 election cycle. He was soundly defeated for a seat on the Charter Review Board District #5. Tony Dunbar is a board member of the THE ENGLEWOOD DEMOCRATIC CLUB.

See my 1st article about the unsolved murder of Sarasota mayor Harry Higel and my explicit proprietary information about the murder weapon, a Colt revolver. Friday, December 11, 2020. 100 Years Ago on Jan 7th 1921 Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel Was Murdered on Siesta Key Fl Case Remains Unsolved, article at link http://www.billwarnerpi.com/2020/12/100-years-ago-on-jan-7th-1921-sarasota.html

UPDATE FEB 24, 2023 The Story of the Sarasota Celery Fields & Other Mysteries (Florida Fables Book 2) published in July 2022 uses all of my research to tell the story of Harry Higel's murder. Well how about all of this mystery and mayhem on Siesta Key with former Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel being pistol whipped to death with a Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket Revolver with a broken grip that I just happened to have found buried on Siesta Key in November 2019. 

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: For those of you who thought that a much heavier object, other than a handgun, must have caused the extensive damage to the face and head of Harry Higel on Siesta Key, (like Sarasota historian Jeff Lahurd claims), take a look at the outtake of a segment from HOMELAND where a bad guy is beat to death with a handgun by Quinn and his face is made unrecognizable just like what happened to Harry Higel back on Friday Jan 7th, 1921.

I had written several copyrighted articles along with photos of the Colt revolver since late 2019, over 3 years prior to Mr Dunbar's novel. But in Mr Dunbar's version of the murder of Harry Higel the son of Rube Allyn found the Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket Revolver in Jan 1921 and gave it to Dunbar's detective in the book, the gun was just laying in the road with blood and fingerprints on it. LOL, never happened. I have the remains of the Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket Revolve that was found on Siesta Key in Nov 2019 in my possession. I also knew about and wrote several articles about Noel Mitchell and his unsavory Mitchell's Detective Agency goons and that he and Rube Allyn were great friends and drinking buddies.

Photo above 1919 Colt .32 caliber police positive revolver, serial number 151803, I purchased for $600.00 in July 2020 to confirm grips matched Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket Revolver found buried on Siesta Key in Nov 2019. “You’d never throw away a revolver like that with six live bullets in it unless you’d committed a crime, like a murder,” PI Bill Warner says. “It had a busted grip, it had finger prints all over it, it probably had blood all over it, and the first thing you’d want to do is throw it away immediately afterwards, like off the Givens St bridge.” Englewood author Tony Dunbar had none of this information prior to my publishing my articles!

In early 1918 to fall of 1919 Newsman Rube Allyn goes to the Hog Island shipyard outside Philadelphia to help build docks and ships for the WWI war effort, his 16 year old son goes with him. Feb 20, 1918, Rube Allyn Sr was chosen to speak for the 30,000 workers at Hog Island in front of a United States Senate Committee investigating the work stoppage at Hog Island shipyard. Rube came across as a white nationalist who hated the German speaking Jews working at Hog Island shipyard, or anyone speaking German. Rube Allyn Sr testified that he was arrested for Attempted Murder in Philadelphia after he threw two German speaking Jews off the trolley and onto the cobblestone street on his way to work at Hog Island PA because they got in his way, it was a 'Hate Crime'. Charges dropped as victims disappeared and no show in court.

Rube Allyn's best pal and drinking buddy in 1920 was St Pete Mayor Noel Mitchell. Often drunk Rube and Noel had a lot in common including a blinding hatred of Harry Higel. Noel A. Mitchell was a licensed private detective and owned the  "Noel A. Mitchell National Detective Agency" in St Pete Fl. Noel Mitchell had a concealed carry permit issued by the Pinellas County Sheriff. Noel Mitchell carried a Colt .32 caliber pocket positive revolver. If Noel carried a Colt revolver so did his best pal Rube Allyn. In May 1924 Noel A. Mitchell's right to carry a concealed weapon was denied by St Pete Chief of Police George M. Coslick.

A whole lot happened between 1914 and Harry Higel's murder on Jan 7th 1921 in the United States and in the tiny town of Sarasota Fl. In the 1880's, future three time Mayor of Sarasota Harry Higel and his wife moved from Philadelphia to Venice and later Sarasota, both of their parents were German immigrants. Harry Higel platted Siesta Key Fl in 1907 (re-platted in 1912) following a massive dredge and fill of the island. WWI or the Great War began on June 28, 1914, with the assassinations of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. A German U-boat torpedoed the British-owned steamship Lusitania, killing 1,195 people including 123 Americans, on May 7, 1915. Newsman Rube Allyn became more of a 'War Hawk' after his friend and mentor Elbert Hubbard was killed by the Germans on May 7th. 

Harry Higel's German themed Higelhurst Hotel burned to the ground (arson) on Friday morn March 30th, 1917 on Siesta Key Fl, Rube Allyn was there and living nearby. Rube Allyn hated Germans and Mr. Higel who was of German heritage. Rube Allyn was a hard drinking Irishman prone to uncontrollable rage. On April 4th 1917 U.S. enters WWI, the U.S. Senate voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany this was just 5 days after the German themed HigelHurst Hotel was torched. The U.S. House concurred two days later, war hawk Rube Allyn was ecstatic. Rube Allyn tried to join the Army at age 50 to go and kill Germans, the "Prussian Savages" his words in 1917. No booze for you Rube. January 19, 1919, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, banning the manufacture, sale and transport of alcoholic beverages, and Rube Allyn and his BFF St Pete Mayor Noel Mitchell tried to drink up every drop of booze they could find. Women can vote. 

Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. Newsman Rube Allyn strongly vied for the female vote in his run for Mayor of Sarasota Fl in the fall of 1919 and then again in 1920. His size 13 shoes and 6' 2" frame had all the ladies all a flutter. Harry Higel murdered on Friday morn January 7th, 1921, Rube Allyn arrested and held 62 days for the Manatee County Grand Jury, they returned No Bill. The fix was in, several members of the all male Manatee County Grand Jury were pals of Rube and drinking buddies.

News editor Rube Allyn uses his paper to troll Harry Higel in Sarasota Mayor race. America in WWI against Germans, newsman Rube Allyn ecstatic. Newsman Rube Allyn works as Hog Island shipyard dock builder in Philly after rejection from Army, too old. Rube Allyn's anti-Semitic rant in front of US Senate Committee, on Congressional record. Rube Allyn arrested for attempted murder in Philly, tried to kill two Russian Jews on trolley ride to Hog Island shipyard docks. See link click HERE

Prohibition and lack of it fuels drunken lifestyle of Rube Allyn and his pals. Neil Mitchell's unsavory armed private detectives in St Pete link to Rube Allyn. Rube Allyn's BFF hard drinking St Pete Mayor Neil Mitchell removed from office. Newsman Rube Allyn often drunk in Sarasota multiple arrests. Unsolved Harry Higel pistol whipping murder on Siesta Key. Newspapers rally across Florida for suspect Rube Allyn in Higel murder. Rigged Manatee County Grand Jury with several pals of Rube onboard, frees Rube Allyn, the fix was in. And finally a buried loaded gun with a broken grip found near Givens St bridge in the muck 100 years later on Siesta Key that links to Higel's Murder. You can't make this stuff up, it all really happened. If a Movie was ever cast for the Unsolved Murder of Harry Higel on Siesta Key Fl, Leonardo DiCaprio would be a shoe in for the tall, erratic, hard drinking Irish newsman Rube Allyn character.

On Friday morn Jan 7th 1921 at about 8:30 am former Sarasota mayor Harry L. Higel was found brutally beaten around the head lying in a pool of blood at the corner of Mangrove Ave and Higel Ave on Siesta Key Fl. Witness Manuel Davis a worker for Harry Higel spoke with him from 8:00 am to 8:10 am on Mangrove Ave near the Shell pit about a load of wood to be delivered to Higel's house around the corner on Higel Ave. Witness M. L. Reed and others saw Rube Allyn between 8:00 am and 8:30 am making his way along Siesta Key near where Harry Higel's body was found. Rube Allyn's size 13 canvass shoe prints were found in the sand next to where Sarasota mayor Harry Lee Higel was found bludgeoned on Friday Jan 7th 1921. The size 13 shoe prints led from the location of where Higel's body was found in the direction of Rube Allyn's house, Rube had been seen out and about earlier near the crime scene that morn. No one else wore size 13 shoes on Siesta Key. 

Colt Revolver found in Bayou near Givens St Bridge on Siesta Key Used in Pistol Whipping Murder of Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel by Rube Allyn. The remains of the rusted .32 caliber, 6 shot Colt Pocket Positive revolver seen above could have gone into the ground on January 7th, 1921 the day Harry Higel was murdered on the north end of Siesta Key Fl. Who throws away a fully functioning loaded Colt revolver, the killer. The rusted 1920's era Colt revolver that contained 6 live bullets was turned over to the Sarasota County Sheriff Dept on November 26th 2019, case number is 19-95201, a cold case detective was assigned to the case. Apparently the remains of the rusted Colt revolver found buried on Siesta Key were to be sent to the FDLE lab in an effort to raise the serial number to determine ownership. Englewood author Tony Dunbar had none of this information prior to my publishing my articles!

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