Manatee County Kangaroo Grand Jury Finds No True Bill for Rube Allyn 'Man Out Of Book' in Murder of Sarasota's Harry Higel FBI Needed to Investigate

True-Crime Tale: Unsolved Murder Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel by Rube Allyn and Rigged Kangaroo Manatee County Grand Jury Finding No True Bill After only 10 minutes of deliberation. Rigged Kangaroo Manatee County Grand Jury should have been investigated by FBI in March of 1921. Murder suspect Rube Allyn had many influential friends on the Kangaroo Manatee County Grand Jury that found no reason to indict him for the murder of former Sarasota mayor Harry Higel after viewing 6 1/2 hours of testimony and physical evidences. Rube Allyn also had a very rich BFF in St Pete Mayor Noel Mitchell who would do anything necessary to make sure Rube Allyn did not go to trial for the murder of his lucrative beach real estate competitor Harry Higel on Siesta Key. 

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. Leonardo Dicaprio and Martin Scorsese new block buster movie 'Killers of the Flower Moon' takes place in the same time period as the unsolved murder of Sarasota mayor Harry Higel, "the 1920's". Martin Scorsese reunites with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro for a 1920s true-crime tale of murder and the FBI. Between 1921 and 1923 at least 24 'oil rich' Osage Nation members were murdered with a single shot to the back of the head.

PRIOR BAD ACT: Rube Allyn Sr admitted in sworn testimony on the Congressional Record for the 65th Congress Hearings Before the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate Committee Wednesday February 20th, 1918 that he had been arrested for 'Attempted Murder' during a Hate Crime at the Hogs Island PA shipyard where he was working during WWI see link HERE. Rube Allyn had thrown two German speaking Jews off the trolley to the Hog Island shipyard, Rube hated German speaking people, Rube hated Germans, Rube hated Harry Higel who was of direct German ancestry.

In Sarasota Fl during the early 1900's you had dirty politics with newsman Rube Allyn doxing Sarasota mayor Harry Higel during 3 different elections, anti-German sentiment in America & Sarasota from 1912 to 1918, Lusitania passenger ship sunk by German U Boat in Atlantic in 1915 carrying Rube Allyn's mentor, German themed Higel-Hurst Hotel on Siesta Key burned to the ground March 1917 (Rube Allyn suspect), America enters WWI against German AXIS in 1918, Rube Allyn admits Attempted Murder arrest before Congressional Hearing Feb 2018, the 1918–1920 Spanish flu Pandemic, Prohibition in 1920 bad news for hard drinking Rube Allyn and Noel Mitchell, unsavory Noel Mitchell's Private Investigators in St Pete and Sarasota Fl in 1920 linked to Allyn, Rube's best pal Noel Mitchell elected St Pete mayor in 1920 kicked out of office by Nov 1921 after drunken party, unsolved Harry Higel pistol whipping murder on Siesta Key in Jan 1921 Rube Allyn arrested, rigged kangaroo Manatee County Grand Jury frees Rube Allyn 61 days later in March 1921, and finally a loaded .32 caliber Colt revolver with a broken grip found buried 100 years later on Siesta Key that links to Harry Higel's pistol whipping murder. 

FBI should have investigated the rigged Kangaroo Manatee County Grand Jury that freed Rube Allyn for murder of Harry Higel on Siesta Key Fl. You can't make this stuff up, it all really happened from 1912 to 1921 and Rube Allyn was involved in all of it. The Bureau of Investigation (BOI) was created on July 26, 1908. Attorney General Bonaparte, using Department of Justice expense funds, hired thirty-four people, including some veterans of the Secret Service, to work for a new investigative agency. Its first "chief" (the title is now "director") was Stanley Finch during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. The Jan 1921 murder on Siesta Key of former Sarasota mayor Harry Higel and the rigged Kangaroo Manatee Fl Grand Jury freeing murderer Rube Allyn in March 1921 after only 10 minutes deliberation should have been investigated by the FBI, maybe it still could be.

PISTOL WHIPPING: Which in my opinion indicates Harry Higel was held up by one hand of the assailant, (grabbing a shirt collar), while multiple blows were reigned down to Mr Higel's face and head from all sides with the assailants free hand holding a hard object, up close and personal, a pistol whipping. Rube Allyn was 6' 2' tall with long arms, Harry Higel much smaller man at most 5' 6" tall, lots of deadly wounds on top of Harry Higels' head. Rube Allyn Sr did the dastardly deed, he murdered Harry Higel in my opinion during a pistol whipping. Rube Allyn Sr. had motive (default on loan to Mr Higel and he hated Germans), opportunity (lives near Mr Higel and was there Thursday night) and the physical ability (big strong man) to beat Harry Higel to death most likely with the loaded Colt revolver with the broken grip found 98 years later in November 2019 buried on the north end of Siesta Key. 

I have traced the manufacturing date of the Colt .32 caliber revolver with black hard rubber grips to between 1907 to 1922. Colt .32 caliber Police Positive Pocket revolvers Grips were hard black rubber from 1907 to 1922, then checkered walnut wood with silver medallions after that. The Sarasota County Sheriff Dept has verified the age, make and model of the Colt (loaded) revolver found buried on Siesta Key in the muck and water of the Grand Canal under the Givens St Bridge (that connects out to Roberts Bay and the Intercostal Waterway) in November 2019 with the broken grip. Dredging of Siesta Key canals per se began in 1907 as the Siesta Land Company dug out a 35- foot wide canal that eventually segregated Bay Island and was named Hansen Bayou for the family of Ocean Deep Hansen Roberts. 

RIGGED MANATEE COUNTY GRAND JURY TANKS ON RUBE ALLYN MURDER CASE: Rube Allyn was arrested for murder of Harry Higel after Coroners Jury examines the evidence and Mr Higel's body on Jan 7th, 1921. At least 4 witnesses corroborated on the fact that Rube Allyn was near the murder scene on foot before 8:00 am. Rube Allyn was sent to County jail in Bradenton and spent 61 days there awaiting the Manatee County Grand Jury to Convene on Wednesday March 9, no bail was allowed. Grand juries have more of an advisory role to the prosecutor. They help to determine if there is enough probable cause in a case for an indictment for criminal charges. Grand juries do not determine guilt. They only ascertain if there enough evidence for a trial and a conviction. If you’ve ever sat on a grand jury, this may not be a surprise. The grand jury’s job according to prosecutors is simply to decide whether there is reason enough to bring an indictment, this includes any circumstantial evidence and witness statements. Jurors generally agree there is enough to indict. As the saying goes, "most grand juries will indict a ham sandwich". Yet in the case of Rube Allyn the rigged kangaroo Manatee County Grand Jury deliberated for only 10 minutes after 6 1/2 hours of evidence put before them including witness statements and failed to indict with NO TRUE BILL.

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. Rube Allyn's alibi was that he was back at home the morning of the Higel murder by 8:00 am on Friday Jan 7 as confirmed by his wife Rose and could not have done it as Higel was killed sometime between 8:10 am and 8:30 am. Interestingly Rose Allyn did not show up Wednesday morn March 9th to be questioned by the Grand Jury, she sent a statement instead. Appears that Rose Allyn was too busy getting Rube's 'Florida Fisherman Magazine' ready for press over in Tampa, what the hell? In 1921 a felony conviction for Murder in Florida meant the death penalty and the execution method was hanging. In 1923 a bill was passed in Florida and placed all executions under State control instead of County and changed the method from hanging to electrocution. 

It appears to me that this Manatee County Grand Jury was nothing more than a "Kangaroo Court", a court held by a legitimate judicial authority which intentionally disregards the court's legal or ethical obligations and evidence. According to the Tampa Tribune on March 9th, 1921 the Manatee County Grand Jury was made up of 19 men; M. C. Davis, George N. Brown, J. A. Howse, J. A. Henry, T. B. Gallup, C. A. Rowlett, C. F. Edwards, Carl Hendrix, Guy Jones, C. L. Davis, W. O. Edwards, H. T. Glazier, Iron Ross, E. P. Lloyd, H. D. Horney, E. J. Bright, James G. Foster and Frank Kennedy. J. A. Howse was chosen Foreman. The murder case of Harry Higel by supposed suspect Rube Allyn was not carried forth to trial due to a tainted Manatee County Grand Jury as claimed by (Harry Higel's brother) George Higel who said: "One of the members of the Manatee Grand Jury investigating the murder of Harry Higel and the suspect Rube Allyn was a fellow newspaper man and personal friend of Rube Allyn".

For a fictional quasi historical book telling the story about the murder of Harry Higel based on a 100 year old .32 caliber Colt Police Positive Pocket revolver just like the one I described in all my articles and actually found on Siesta Key, see Tony Dunbar's The Story of the Sarasota Celery Fields & Other Mysteries, Blind Pass Publications" https://blindpasspublications.com/Books/index#celery The FBI or “Bureau of Investigation” should have been contacted by the remaining Higel brothers in Sarasota to investigate the very obvious rigged Manatee County Grand Jury that allowed newsman Rube Allyn to get away with murder on Siesta Key Fl in Jan 1921.

RUBE ALLYN MURDERER AND BIGAMIST: William James Rube Allen (Rube Allyn stage name) was born in January 1867, in Ontario Canada he grew up in Mount Forest Canada. Rube learned the rudiments of typesetting and printing as an apprentice in the office of the 'Mount Forest Representative' news Ontario Canada. He married Rose Evelyn Knestrick, he also married a woman in Newark NJ and another one in Ohio, he did not divorce any of them. Rube and Rose were the parents of at least 3 sons and 3 daughters. Rube was born and lived in Ontario Canada till he was 18, he then lived in New York City, Philadelphia in the late 1800's and then in Saunders, Nebraska, United States in 1900 were he developed a stage act. "The first time Rube grew weary of the stage he took over a newspaper, the Daily Times, of Crookston, North Dakota, in the eastern part of the state near Grand Forks, an area rich in Canadian immigrants. That venture lasted into the early years of the 20th century. Over that time Rube Allyn built on what he had learned at the Mount Forest Representative news regarding the editing and publishing of a paper. His one weakness was his inability to avoid satire and pointed comments in his news stories, which sometimes were not appreciated by readers. Tired of the routine of the newspaper and its meager profits, Rube took to the road again as a performer about 1901, mostly in the south. His act by then had become old fashioned, but his performances still drew audiences in the southern states. Occasionally Rube would join a cast for a Shakespeare play, filling his roll with exaggerated mannerisms and flowery oratory. Over the years Rube Allyn became increasingly eccentric. He wore his hair long, and bore a resemblance to his fellow Irishman, Oscar Wilde, in appearance, mannerisms, and wit.

IRISHMAN Rube Allyn had frequent bad moods and Rube Allyn had a fierce temper (enough to kill) when anyone disagreed with him and he was a very heavy drinker. Rube Allyn exhibited all the signs of a person with intermittent explosive disorder. Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) involves frequent episodes of impulsive anger that’s out of proportion to the event that triggered it. These outbursts can result in physical harm to other people, heavy use of alcohol fuels these episodes. Rube seldom bathed, and never wore socks. In 1906, a tour landed him in Florida, then in the midst of a boom. Everything about the place appealed to him, and he decided to stay. Rube settled in Sarasota, on the west coast of the state to the south of Tampa. From that base he continued to ply his trade as an itinerant printer, while occasionally offering his stage show to the paying public. In 1912, he decided to return permanently to his former vocation when he started a newspaper, the Sarasota Sun. By then he was long married, and he and his wife reconciled again: they had separated several times over the previous 15 years. Allyn’s new paper appeared in January 1913, competing with an existing paper. The printing office was a shack he built on the end of a dock. His Sun carried the banner, “Every Saturday, the best we know how.” His son, Rupert, took on the duties of typesetter and linotype operator – he had probably picked up his skills as a boy when his father published the Grand Forks Daily Times. Rube Allyn put out a lively paper, but could not resist employing satire in many stories and poking fun at political figures. He was particularly fond of gossip and social items. He was pointedly harsh on European leaders and their conduct during World War I. The paper had more success in attracting readers than advertisers. In fact, revenue declined when advertisers became annoyed at some of the material Allyn published. One night in 1916, with the bailiff closing in, Allyn sawed off the end of the dock supporting the office, dropped it onto a raft, and towed it across the bay. Part way there the top-heavy load shifted and dropped into the water. He was able to salvage some of the equipment, but most was lost or badly damaged. 

A few days later in 1918 Allyn hopped onto a northbound train, and found work in Hog Island shipyard in Philadelphia. When the shipyard laid off many of its workers at the end of WWI, Allyn returned to Florida, settling in Siesta Key, across the bay from Sarasota. There he got his hands on some second-hand printing equipment, and he began publishing the Florida Fisherman in 1920, appealing to the hordes of tourists visiting the state. On Friday January 7, 1921, Rube Allyn was arrested for the brutal bludgeoning murder of Harry Higel, a respected community leader and three-term mayor of Sarasota. The case created a sensation. An unruly lynch mob formed outside the jail, intent on breaking Rube Allyn loose and hanging him. Authorities managed to move their prisoner to an out-of-town hoosegow. Allyn maintained his innocence, and evidence was circumstantial. Allyn and the victim had a long history of antagonism, and a footprint near the body of Harry Higel matched those of a pair of size 13 shoes owned by Rube Allyn. The prisoner, held without bail, cooled is heels in his cell for four months before the case came before a grand jury. After a short deliberation, the jury ruled that there was insufficient evidence to bring the case to trial. On his release Allyn moved to a small agricultural town called Ruskin, to the north of Sarasota". William James Rube Allen (Rube Allyn stage name) died October 23, 1947, in Bradenton,Manatee, Florida, United States, at the age of 80.

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