Blanket of Silence: Ruby McCollum

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Southern fried True Crime covers cases that
are not suitable for young listeners, and

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there may also be some explicit language
used as an additional trigger warning. This

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episode is about racism, misogyny,
and rape in the nineteen forties and fifties,

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and some archaic and defensive language will
be quoted. Listener discretion is strongly

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advised. Before the Civil War and
the end of slavery, many Southern states

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had an unwritten law known as paramore
rites. Paramour rites referred to the god

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given right of a white man to
rape a black woman, force her to

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have his children, and not take
any responsibility as either the rapist or the

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father. When slavery ended in the
Southern United States, paramour rites did not.

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Although paramour rites were never officially legalized, they were accepted by the general

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public and enabled by Jim Crow laws
which allowed racism and messagenation, especially in

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Florida. For almost a hundred years
after slavery ended, there was an unspoken

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understanding among Florida law enforcement, court
officials, and politicians white men could rape

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black women and face no consequences.
This made black women a target. If

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a white man wanted to commit violence, he need to only choose a black

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woman to get away with it,
and if the result of that violence was

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a child, well it certainly wasn't
the white men's problem. This may seem

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far off to you, ancient history, slavery, Jim Crow, laws,

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racism, but it wasn't. It
was barely a lifetime ago. There are

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people alive today who remember the United
States before the Civil Rights Act of nineteen

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sixty four. These people are in
their sixties, seventies, and eighties,

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but they remember. Lauretta McCullum certainly
remembered. She passed away just a few

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years ago, but before that,
she was born in nineteen forty five to

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Ruby McCullum, a black woman.
Ruby was raped by a white politician named

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doctor Clifford Leroy Adams Junior. She
never reported Adams for rape. She couldn't.

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He was protected by paramour rights,
white supremacy, and a corrupt court

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system. When Ruby took matters into
her own hands, it was hard to

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blame her for it. Welcome to
Episode one seventy nine, The Silencing of

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Ruby McCullum. Ruby Myrtle Jackson was
born on August thirty first, nineteen o

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nine and Zuber, Florida, to
her father William and mother Gertrude. She

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grew up one mile south of Zuber
in an unincorporated community known as Kendrick.

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Ruby was the second oldest child out
of six. She had two brothers and

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three sisters. Ruby, her five
siblings, and her parents lived in a

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modest country home. It had four
bedrooms, which was small for their large

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family, but the Jackson family may
do. Ruby's parents were farmers, and

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the family spent a lot of time
working on the farm. They mostly raised

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cattle. At one point they had
as many as sixty heads of cattle until

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a Florida no fence law forced the
Jacksons to drastically reduce their herd. In

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addition to cattle, the Jacksons grew
other crops for themselves and their neighbors,

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things like peanuts, corn, and
rice. When they weren't helping with a

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farm, Ruby and her siblings climbed
the big oat tree in their yard.

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They played old English games like London
Bridge is falling down and Heavy Heavy Hangs

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overhead. But the Jackson kids couldn't
play some games they saw other children playing.

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They weren't allowed. Because Ruby's family
was deeply religious. Her father was

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a steward in the African Methodist Church. Her mother was the Sunday school superintendent.

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The Jackson family's religious beliefs prohibited them
from dancing, gambling, and any

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other activity that could hinder their spiritual
growth, and that meant no dominoes,

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no checkers, and no playing cards. The Jacksons were strict about their religion.

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In addition to banning certain games,
William and Gertrude made sure their children

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memorized the Sunday school lessons well before
Sunday, and Ruby's stern parents would not

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let their kids play with other children. If Ruby's mother, Gertrude, caught

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one of the kids hanging out with
another classmate or friend, she would beat

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them with a firm hand. But
on occasion, the Jackson children decided the

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reward of playing with their friends was
worth the wrath of Gertrude, and and

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that happened. Ruby was known for
taking her beatings with fewer tears and wells

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than any of her brothers and sisters. She would endure in silence. Strangely

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enough, enduring in silence would become
a lifelong theme for Ruby all her life.

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Ruby was a quiet person. Some
referred to her as self contained.

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If she was feeling a strong emotion, happy, sad, or otherwise,

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you wouldn't know it just by looking
at her. For a person whose religion

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stopped her from playing poker, she
had a great poker face. But despite

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her reserved demeanor, Ruby was known
to have fun. As a child,

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she was a tomboy. She often
rough housed with her siblings, played marbles,

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and won it sports like yardball.
But Ruby's tomboy tendencies lessened as she

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entered her adolescence. Then she became
an avid reader. She devoured romance novel

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after romance novel. Over time,
Ruby began to realize her femininity, and

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she decided she liked it. She
noticed that both boys and men looked at

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her small frame differently. The principle
of Ruby's high school said she was a

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very pretty girl, but seemed unaware
of it, but Ruby said she was

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very much aware of the attention men
gave her for her looks. She liked

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it, but Ruby was quick to
say she wasn't ruled by it. Her

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main goal was to be a good
student and a devout Christian, and young

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Ruby was successful at both. As
a teenager, she was extremely active in

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her church. She was a delegate
for Sunday school conventions and district conferences,

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and as a student, Ruby also
excelled. She attended a high school called

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fastened In Academy. It was a
private school for black youths. Ruby's family

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couldn't afford Fessenden's expensive tuition, so
instead of Ruby's parents gave the academy beef

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in exchange for their six children's tuition. While going to Fessendon Academy, Ruby

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was approached by her first male suitor. Those who knew Ruby weren't surprised that

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she had caught a man's attention.
She was an attractive seventeen year old young

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woman known for being soft spoken,
sweet, and surprisingly funny. The man

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requested Ruby's hand in marriage, but
she said no. She thought he didn't

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have enough ambition or intelligence to be
her husband. Ruby later said, I

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could not see myself loving a man
who could see ten things and not even

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understand one. I wanted a man
who could see one thing and understand ten.

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Ruby graduated from Fessenden in nineteen twenty
nine, when she was eighteen years

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old. While there, she developed
an interest in both nursing and teaching.

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She tried her hand at teaching for
one year after the academy, but it

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didn't work out. Ruby never had
the opportunity to become a nurse, but

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she thought she would have liked it. By her own description, she was

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always the responsible, motherly type,
perfect for a caretaker role like nursing.

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In nineteen thirty one, twenty two
year old Ruby married a local man she

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had known most of her life,
thirty four year old Samuel McCullum. He

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went by Sam. Sam was not
the same man who proposed a Ruby when

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she was seventeen. Ruby liked Sam
much more than the first guy, and

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for good reason. She wanted someone
ambitious and intelligent, and Sam was both

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of those things. Plus he was
a good provider and a strong man.

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He was a carpenter by trade,
so he knew how to work with his

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hands, and Sam always had a
new money making idea. On March tenth,

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nineteen thirty one, Ruby and Sam
had a small wedding. This was

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the Great Depression, after all,
only their families were invited. That night,

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the couple left for New York City, but they weren't going on a

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honeymoon like you might think. They
were moving to the Big Apple to try

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to find good jobs, and they
weren't alone. From nineteen ten to nineteen

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seventy, millions of black people moved
from the Southern United States to the northern,

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Midwestern and Western States. Today,
historians referred to this mass exodus as

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the Great Migration. Black people wanted
better employment opportunities and less racism. Cities

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like Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit,
and New York City were portrayed as racism

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free utopias for Southern black Americans.
Remember this was still decades before the Civil

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rights movement of the nineteen sixties.
At this time, the Southern United States

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had a rocky relationship with black people, and Rocky is putting it kindly.

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We're talking out and proud racism,
violence against people of color, and shameless

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white supremacy. Florida, where Ruby
lived, was a hotbed for racism.

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Jim Crow laws were in their heyday, meaning, among other things, there

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were well funded white schools and then
there were the poorly funded black schools.

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And the segregation didn't stop there.
Street cars, railroads, waiting rooms,

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restaurants, and more were divided into
white and black sections. Interracial marriage was

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illegal. Even interracial roommates were illegal. Voter suppression tactics like poll taxes and

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literacy tests made it nearly impossible for
black people to vote. And that's just

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the tip of the iceberg. It
made sense that Ruby and Sam wanted to

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escape Florida for a better future.
I'm going to pause now for a short

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commercial break. Unfortunately, Ruby and
Sam found that the North was not much

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better than the South. Many other
black people who made this great migration came

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to the same conclusion. Although individual
racism was improved in the North, as

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in fewer white people were just spouting
off the inn ward, there were still

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widespread issues racially charged housing discrimination,
wealth disparity, and redlining, just to

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name a few. After several years
of living in New York, Ruby and

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Sam called it quits. They made
the long track back to Florida, this

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time with a new member of their
family in tow, their son, little

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Sam Junior. After living in Fort
Myers first spell, Ruby, Sam and

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Sam Junior moved to a farming town
in North Florida called Live Oak, located

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in Swannee County. Live Oak was
home to about four thousand people. It

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was your typical small town. Everyone
knew everyone in Lave Ruby's husband, Sam

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began two new business ventures. Both
were very lucrative but also very illegal.

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First, there was his moonshine business
in the nineteen forties. Lave Oak was

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in a dry county, so residents
jumped at the opportunity to buy Sam's under

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the table liquor. The second business
was running a gambling operation. He specialized

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in a Cuban game called bollida.
I hadn't heard of bollida before, so

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in case you're like me and don't
know what it is, I'll explain.

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Bollida is a low stakes lottery game. In the early to mid nineteen hundreds,

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it was really popular in Florida,
especially among working class minority groups.

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There are many variations of balida,
but here's the simplest version. One hundred

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numbered balls are placed in a bag
and mixed up. Then bets are placed

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as to which numbered ball will be
drawn from the bag. Usually the bets

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are smaller. You'd put a nickel
on number four or a diamon number eighty

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two, that kind of thing.
The balls themselves remind me of bingo or

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ping pong balls. They're small and
white. The word bollida translates to little

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ball. In Spanish. Florida crime
organizations loved to run bollida games for one

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reason. It was easily rigged.
The person running the game could fill some

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balls with leads so they would sink
to the bottom. They could put more

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balls on a specific number in the
bag. They could even freeze certain balls

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so they were cold to the touch
when they reached in to draw one out.

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The profit margin for bollida games was
already big, and it was made

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bigger by these corrupt game organizers,
but the general public didn't seem to care.

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Boliita was fun, and it was
cheap and easy to play, and

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despite being outlawed, it was easy
to find. Although Sam's liquor business was

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profitable, he was more widely known
for his gambling operation. Locals dubbed him

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Bolita Sam, and every one played
his bolita games, from poor black folks

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to well off white people. Everyone's
name was somewhere in Sam's ledger. Ruby,

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who was still very much a godly
woman, didn't seem to mind that

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Sam had several illegal businesses. If
I had to guess, Ruby probably gave

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Sam a pass for three reasons.
Number one, the law wasn't known for

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doing black people and especially not black
women any favors. Number two, the

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nineteen forties wasn't a time where women
could speak against their husbands. And number

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three, Sam was making a lot
of money. The depression was over,

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America had been in two wars,
and folks had money burning holes in their

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pockets After so many lean years,
what was wrong with wanting to have some

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fun. After a decade of consistent
business, Sam was the Bolita king of

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Swannee County and this made Sam the
richest man in the area, and not

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just the richest black man. He
was richer than everyone black or wise for

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seven hundred square miles, which made
Ruby the richest woman. So yeah,

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Ruby probably didn't mind that Sam broke
a few loss And after Sam had so

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much success with his illegal businesses,
he was able to participate in a few

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legal ones. He would eventually purchase
a nine hundred acre tobacco farm. He

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invested in several rental properties. Andy
was a primary stakeholder in a black owned

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life insurance company. Journalists reported that
Sam was the leading black businessman, farmer,

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and citizen in Lave Oak. They
estimated that he and Ruby were worth

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about five hundred thousand dollars over six
million in today's money. As you might

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imagine, Ruby and Sam lived a
fairly lavish lifestyle. After all, they

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could afford it. The Pittsburgh Courier
wrote that the mccullumbs lived in the finest

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house in lave Oak. Their yellow
stucco house had nine bedrooms, palm trees

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in the front yard, and trendy
Venetian blinds. Sam and Ruby owned a

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TV, which was a pricy piece
of equipment at this time. It probably

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ran them about one hundred dollars fifteen
hundred in today's money. For Ruby and

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Sam, that was pocket change.
Ruby was known for having several hundred dollars

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on her purse at all Tom's and
Sam always bought her the newest, nicest

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cars. The mccollumbs never had to
worry about their bills. They paid them

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on tom and without question. They
were known for it. Needless to say,

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Ruby and Sam were doing really well
financially, they had no worries,

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and emotionally they also seemed to be
thriving. Sam's sister said the mccullumbs were

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happy and in love. By October
of nineteen forty five, thirty six year

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old Ruby was a housewife. She
and Sam had two children, twelve year

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old Sam Junior and three year old
k Murna, and Ruby was about to

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give birth to their next child,
a little girl, all named Sonya Selene.

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In preparation for Sonya, Ruby did
what most expecting mothers do. She

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saw a doctor, and that doctor
was Clifford Leroy Adams Junior. Doctor Adams

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was the most prominent white man in
Swannee County. Besides being a medical doctor,

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he was also a business associate of
Ruby's husband Sam. While it was

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never proven in any official way,
Live Oak residents knew that doctor Adams helped

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Sam bribe local authorities to look the
other way during Sam's bollita games, as

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in Sam would pay doctor Adams,
who would then pay the police. This

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was supported by Adams. As employees
at the doctor's office, they saw Adams

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except large deliveries of cash in his
examination room. It's not clear why Sam

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00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:52.160
couldn't pay the police himself, skipping
doctor Adams as the middleman, but probably

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00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:57.440
because he was black and the police
were almost certainly white. And doctor Adams

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00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:02.680
had a reputation for being ying to
black people, so it's not a surprise

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00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.319
that he was working with Sam in
fact, doctor Adams was the only doctor

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00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:11.960
in the entirety of Swannee County who
would even treat black patients, which brings

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00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:17.400
us full circle. Ruby, a
black woman, was pregnant. She needed

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00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:22.000
a doctor, and doctor Adams,
a well liked white man and her husband's

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00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:26.799
business associate, was her best available
option. So Adams helped Ruby give birth

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00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:32.799
to her third child, Sonja.
Three months later, Ruby called the doctor.

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00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:36.680
She explained to him that she wasn't
feeling well and she was concerned.

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00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:41.000
She hadn't felt this poorly after the
birth of her first two children. Was

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00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:45.839
something wrong. Ruby was scared that
she was dying and that her children would

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00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:52.640
grow up motherless. But fortunately doctor
Adams was willing to help for a price.

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00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:56.720
Obviously, he didn't want money,
because money wasn't a problem for Ruby.

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00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:03.039
McCullum. Cliff Leroy Adams Junior was
born into a rich and influential family

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00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:08.240
in nineteen oh eight in Jasper,
Florida. His grandfather, Frank Adams,

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00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:14.680
was the founder of Florida's Barnet Banks
and president of the Florida State Senate.

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00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:21.920
But besides that, not much information
is available about Adams's childhood. Adams grew

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00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:27.680
into a tall man. A Pittsburgh
Courier journalist wrote with flowery admiration that Adams

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00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:33.799
was a broad shouldered six footer with
magnificence of body and an irresistible smile.

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00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:40.279
Adams was handsome and had no problem
charming women, and in nineteen twenty eight,

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00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:45.039
twenty year old Clifford Adams Junior charmed
and married a nineteen year old teacher

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00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:49.480
named Florie Jernigan. Together, they
had two children, a daughter named Laverne

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00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:55.640
and their son, Clifford the third. Adams and his family set up shop

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00:19:55.640 --> 00:20:00.640
in La v Oak. There his
medical practice flourished. After years of service,

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00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.599
Doctor Adams was beloved by the community, and not just the white community.

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00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:10.039
Black people liked him too. In
addition to being the only doctor who

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00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:15.200
would treat black patients, Adams was
known for being friendly to everyone, regardless

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00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:18.279
of the color of their skin,
and he was generous. He would often

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00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:23.039
give people medical care for free.
There were rumors that doctor Adams didn't really

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00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:27.799
need the money from his medical practice. He was independently wealthy from his pure

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00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:33.880
bred Swan farms. Plus, Adams
had whatever income he was making from helping

236
00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:38.240
Sam with his Boliita operation, so
he was quick to wave off the occasional

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00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:44.680
medical bill, and he was beginning
a new line of work politics. He

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00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:48.880
ran for the Florida States Senate.
His campaign supported no new taxes, free

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00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:56.000
medical care for the elderly, reduced
land taxes, better public education, opening

240
00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:00.359
a new medical school, and increased
racetrack taxes. That's a pretty damn good

241
00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:06.440
platform in any race. And in
August of nineteen fifty two, Doctor Adams.

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00:21:06.440 --> 00:21:11.000
One those close to Adams explained that
he wouldn't settle for senator for long.

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00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:17.440
Some day, Doctor Adams wanted to
be Florida's governor. Right after he

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00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:22.240
was an elected senator, Ruby stopped
by his office. It was about ten

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00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:26.519
a m. On Sunday, August
third. By this point, baby Sonya,

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00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:30.319
who Adams helped deliver, wasn't a
baby anymore. She was almost seven

247
00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:34.920
years old and Ruby had a new
baby daughter, one year old Loretta,

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00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:41.039
who was Ruby's fourth child. Even
though Ruby needed to go to the doctor,

249
00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:45.000
she didn't have a babysitter to watch
Sonya and Loretta and her husband Sam

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00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:51.319
was at church that Sunday morning.
Ruby was known to skip church, preferring

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00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:56.240
to worship on her own terms.
So Ruby took the two little girls with

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00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:00.680
her to doctor Adams's office. They
waited in the back seat of Ruby's brand

253
00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:07.319
new nineteen fifty one two tone blue
Chrysler while Ruby went inside. Ruby thought

254
00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:11.559
this would be a quick visit with
doctor Adams, and technically I guess it

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00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:15.839
was. She was going to see
him because her shoulder had been hurting her.

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00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:21.400
After sitting in the segregated waiting room, Ruby went back into the examination

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00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:26.240
room with doctor Adams. He gave
her three shots of penicillin. Afterward,

258
00:22:26.279 --> 00:22:32.000
he charged her nine dollars and Ruby
paid him in cash. But then doctor

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00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:37.359
Adams brought up a concern there was
an additional unpaid medical bill that Ruby owed

260
00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:41.839
a much more expensive bill for one
hundred and sixteen dollars. That's just over

261
00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:48.039
a thousand in today's money. Not
enough to bankrupt some people, but definitely

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00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:52.920
a shock to hear about if you
weren't expecting it. Doctor Adams explained that

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00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:56.079
the bill was mailed to Sam,
but Adams hadn't received payment yet. He

264
00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:02.319
was adamant that Ruby needed to pay
him right there, right then. She

265
00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:07.039
was outraged. She wasn't expecting this
bill, and she certainly didn't think she

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00:23:07.079 --> 00:23:11.839
had to pay it right that second, but doctor Adams was insistent Ruby needed

267
00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:18.519
to reimburse him for his services.
Still, Ruby argued. Frustrated, doctor

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00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:22.319
Adams turned away from her. He
said, woman, I'm tired of fool

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00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:26.079
him with you. And as soon
as doctor Adams turned his back to Ruby,

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00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:30.400
she saw her chance. She pulled
out a nickel plated smith and wesson

271
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:34.039
and shot him several times in the
back. He immediately fell to the floor

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00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:40.240
dead. Okay, let's pause for
a moment. Does that sound right to

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00:23:40.279 --> 00:23:45.160
you that a doctor who was known
for excusing expensive medical bills would insist that

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his patient had to pay him right
then and there. Or that Ruby McCollum,

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00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:55.680
a rich woman who was known for
paying her bills on tom wouldn't be

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00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:59.799
able to pay her bill, that
she would be so infuriated by this bill

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00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:04.279
that she would kill a man.
Ruby was a reserved woman. Locals referred

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00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:08.240
to her as the quietest woman in
town. But we're supposed to believe she

279
00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:14.359
was so rage filled that she shot
a man. No, this doesn't sound

280
00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:18.920
right, and the reason why it
doesn't sound right is pretty simple. That's

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00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:23.960
not what happened, but it's what
three quote eyewitnesses said happened, and it's

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00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.759
the story the police, the District
Attorney's office, and doctor Adams's family would

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00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:36.839
maintain for a very long time.
I'm going to pause now to her a

284
00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:45.160
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There is a kernel of truth to
the story. I just told you.

296
00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:52.039
While seeing doctor Adams for shoulder pain, Ruby did shoot him and he

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00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:56.519
did die. Afterward, she left
the doctor's office, got in her car

298
00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:02.039
with her two daughters, and drove
home. Once there, Ruby changed her

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00:26:02.119 --> 00:26:06.880
dress, She mixed some baby formula
for Loretta. She threw the murder weapon,

300
00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:11.759
a thirty eight calower pistol, into
her bamboo hedge, and then every

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00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:18.160
police and Florida Highway Patrol officer in
Swannee County surrounded Ruby's home. She was

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00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:23.039
arrested less than an hour after doctor
Adams's death. Florida Governor Fuller Warren ordered

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00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:27.279
that Ruby not be taken to the
local Swannee County jail. Instead, he

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00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:33.759
wanted her transported to the Florida State
Prison, which was an odd request.

305
00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:37.599
Why take Ruby to a facility over
fifty miles away, to a town called

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00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:44.119
Rayford. You don't typically go to
prison before you are convicted. The police

307
00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:48.519
said that this was for Ruby's own
safety. After she killed doctor Adams,

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00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:52.400
a mob formed in Live Oak,
And while it's true that a mob did

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00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:57.160
form, it's also suspected that political
higher ups wanted Ruby at the Florida State

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00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:03.680
Prison to send a message black women
who kill important white men will pay.

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00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:11.200
Because located at the Florida State Prison
was the state's only electorate chair. Ruby

312
00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:15.759
stated at this prison until her court
date the next month in September, and

313
00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:21.720
during that time she told investigating officers
and her defense attorneys what actually happened in

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00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:27.519
doctor Adams's office on that fateful Sunday
morning, and perhaps more importantly, Ruby

315
00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:33.559
explained why it happened. As I
mentioned before, doctor Adams delivered Ruby's daughter,

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00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:38.200
Sonya. A few months later,
she fell ill. She called doctor

317
00:27:38.200 --> 00:27:41.920
Adams, who came to her home. He said he would fix Ruby's medical

318
00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:47.519
ailments, but only if she had
sex with him. According to Ruby,

319
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:51.880
Adams's words were, I will get
you well provide you do as I say.

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00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:56.799
At first, Ruby pretended not to
understand what Adams was suggesting, but

321
00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:03.440
doctor Adams was persistent, and ultimately
Ruby was sick. She needed the doctor's

322
00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:07.759
medicine, so she agreed, and
thus began a seven year long affair between

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00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:12.839
Ruby and doctor Adams. If you
heard the word affair just now uncringed,

324
00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:19.200
I understand a fair implause consent,
and the incident I have just described is

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00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:25.920
rape non consensual in every aspect of
the word. Over the next seven years,

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00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:30.200
doctor Adams raped Ruby countless times.
She reported that Adams would beat her

327
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:36.640
regularly and in front of other people. He would also allegedly manipulate her with

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00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:41.000
medication, injecting her with mysterious medicines
to get her to do what he wanted.

329
00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:45.720
Ruby wrote in a letter to her
attorney that she was always afraid of

330
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:52.240
doctor Adams and that he was the
boss of their arrangement. Sometimes Ruby tried

331
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:56.039
to avoid doctor Adams so that he
couldn't rape her, but Adams always tracked

332
00:28:56.079 --> 00:29:00.240
her down and chastised her for trying
to run. And Ruby's own words,

333
00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:06.519
she explained, I couldn't tell him
no. There is no question that Ruby

334
00:29:06.599 --> 00:29:11.359
was a victim of sexual assault,
but Ruby has also said that she loved

335
00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:15.640
doctor Adams, that he wasn't her
enemy. That doesn't make Ruby and doctor

336
00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:22.920
Adams's relationship less abusive. We know
what coercive control is, and it's important

337
00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:26.960
to listen to Ruby's words, especially
since so much of this case is centered

338
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:32.400
on people trying to silence her.
I don't want to diminish her feelings,

339
00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:37.240
but please bear with me on the
word choices for their situation. Doctor Clifford

340
00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:41.960
Adams was an abuser and Ruby was
a survivor. But it is a cold

341
00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:47.960
hard fact that Ruby had an emotional
attachment to him, which is not at

342
00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:53.240
all unusual ask any domestic violence counselor
or social worker. And there was the

343
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:59.039
racial element in some ways. Ruby
felt a certain amount of pride that she

344
00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:03.319
was with doctor Adams. She said, I picked from the very top.

345
00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:07.960
I was married to the top negro
of Swannee County and doctor Adams was the

346
00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:11.599
top white man. When I tie
up with a man, I have influence

347
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:15.200
with him. Men love me when
they get to know me. Ruby believed

348
00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:19.079
that she was able to fall in
love with doctor Adams because her marriage with

349
00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:22.920
Sam was struggling. She and Sam
had been on the rocks for a while

350
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:29.200
when doctor Adams appeared in her life. When Ruby was pregnant with Sonja,

351
00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:33.880
Sam had invited several guests to their
home without her approval, and these guests

352
00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:40.000
were awful, rude, loud,
and disrespectful. When Ruby approached Sam about

353
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:45.039
the guest's behavior, he became enraged. He beat Ruby and forced her to

354
00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:49.279
clean up after the guests. She
never forgave Sam for this, not just

355
00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:53.799
because he physically abused her, but
because Sam had no regard for the unborn

356
00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:59.880
child, Ruby carried. Ruby said, though his blows hurt me outward,

357
00:31:00.440 --> 00:31:04.000
luckily I was not injured internally and
I had no miscarriage. He might have

358
00:31:04.039 --> 00:31:10.079
injured me and my unborn child,
but he seemed not to care spiritually.

359
00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:14.920
The incident gave me a terrible fright. Always after that, I felt insecure

360
00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:18.160
with Sam. I no longer felt
myself to be the woman of his heart,

361
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.680
a useful tool as a wife and
mother, but no longer the mistress

362
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:29.119
of his inner heart. I few
knew of Ruby and Sam's relationship troubles.

363
00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:33.680
The two didn't talk about them,
but their friends did notice a few signs

364
00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:38.000
that the couple wasn't okay. Ruby
stopped leaving the houses often. When she

365
00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:41.839
did go out, she wasn't as
concerned about her appearance as she had been

366
00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:48.680
before. She stopped wearing fashionable clothes
and put on a little weight. So

367
00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:55.079
when doctor Adams first sexually assaulted Ruby
after Sonya's birth, she was especially vulnerable,

368
00:31:55.720 --> 00:32:00.279
and that allowed doctor Adams to prey
on her emotionally as well as physically.

369
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:06.119
A reporter wrote the following about Ruby
and Adams's relationship for the Pittsburgh Courier

370
00:32:06.920 --> 00:32:10.440
and now this big, handsome,
aggressive man as restoring her again. She

371
00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:15.759
did not consider whether she wanted doctor
Adams or not. He was handing back

372
00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:20.880
to her a precious treasure that she
had considered lost forever, her femininity.

373
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.920
She felt warm and grateful toward him, and this man was no trash out

374
00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:30.000
of the streets of Live Oak.
This was an important, outstanding man,

375
00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:36.039
and in addition, physically equipped to
be desirable to many women. With two

376
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:42.160
twenty three eyes. We can realize
that this is an inappropriately romanticized view of

377
00:32:42.200 --> 00:32:47.400
an abusive relationship, but we can
also realize that Ruby was in an impossible

378
00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:52.720
situation. She had no choice but
to be with doctor Adams. Perhaps telling

379
00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:58.839
herself and others that she loved him
felt like the one thing she could control.

380
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:04.359
From nineteen forty six onward, Ruby
and doctor Adams met often. They

381
00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:07.880
set up a system so they could
communicate in secret. Doctor Adams would call

382
00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:13.000
Ruby at home. When Ruby picked
up the phone, if others were around,

383
00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:15.519
she would say it was a wrong
number and hang up. If her

384
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:21.640
husband, Sam, answered doctor Adams's
call, he would hang up. But

385
00:33:21.720 --> 00:33:24.640
if Ruby was available and no one
was near. She was to say the

386
00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:30.319
code words yes, I need you, somebody is sick, and then doctor

387
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:36.759
Adams would come to the McCollum house. After several sexual encounters, Ruby told

388
00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:40.720
doctor Adams she was worried they weren't
using any birth control, but Adams said

389
00:33:40.759 --> 00:33:45.319
he never bothered with those things.
So when Ruby became pregnant with his child,

390
00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:52.119
neither she nor Adams was shocked,
and neither was Ruby's husband Sam.

391
00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:55.920
According to Sam's friends, he knew
about the affair early on. No special

392
00:33:55.920 --> 00:34:00.400
phone call system was fooling him,
not to mention that. Sam once came

393
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:06.200
home and walked in his bedroom only
to find doctor Adams asleep in his bed.

394
00:34:07.559 --> 00:34:12.000
Ruby was in bed too. Doctor
Adams tried to save face. He

395
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:15.280
explained to Sam that he was there
on a professional visit but was so tired

396
00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:21.079
he needed to take a nap.
Obviously, that was bullshit and Sam knew

397
00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:23.920
it. After this, Sam went
to a friend's house for a while to

398
00:34:23.960 --> 00:34:30.280
cool off, which is how this
encounter became known. But still Ruby and

399
00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:35.480
doctor Adams continued seeing each other.
There were a lot of power dynamics at

400
00:34:35.559 --> 00:34:39.000
play. Even though Sam was rich, he was still black, it would

401
00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:44.000
have been challenging for him to stop
a white man from doing anything that a

402
00:34:44.039 --> 00:34:49.360
white man wanted to do. And
as we discussed before, doctor Adams was

403
00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:53.880
integral to Sam's Bolita gambling operation.
Adams helped Sam pay off the cops.

404
00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:59.559
Without doctor Adams, Sam's life would
be much much harder. He could go

405
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:04.119
to jail ill and Ruby couldn't stop
the affair either. Doctor Adams was in

406
00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:08.239
control. In nineteen fifty one,
when Ruby gave birth to her fourth child,

407
00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:14.480
Loretta, Sam knew this was doctor
Adams's kid, not his. According

408
00:35:14.519 --> 00:35:20.079
to Ruby's interview with Jet Magazine,
doctor Adams delivered Loretta. As Adams held

409
00:35:20.119 --> 00:35:22.880
the newborn girl in his arms,
he told Sam, this is my baby.

410
00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:27.159
I want you to treat it right
and see that it gets proper care,

411
00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:31.000
and I don't want you bothering Ruby. Do you understand. At that

412
00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:36.320
point, Sam moved into a separate
bedroom from Ruby, and whenever he saw

413
00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:40.559
doctor Adams or his vehicle at the
house, he left. Although Sam never

414
00:35:40.599 --> 00:35:45.639
spoke ill of his wife, word
got out pretty quickly why he wasn't spending

415
00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:49.960
as much time at home. Before
long, all of Live Oak knew that

416
00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:54.119
doctor Adams and Ruby were involved,
and it was pretty clear to the townsfolk

417
00:35:54.280 --> 00:36:00.039
that Loretta Ruby's light skin daughter was
not Sam's child. We know better about

418
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:06.519
genetics now, but this was nineteen
fifty one. Ruby asked doctor Adams for

419
00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:10.400
a birth certificate listing him as the
real father. He agreed, saying he

420
00:36:10.519 --> 00:36:15.039
had this birth certificate, but he
withheld it from Ruby, using it as

421
00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:21.159
yet another way to control her and
force her to have sex with him.

422
00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:24.960
If you're wondering about doctor Adams's wife, flor she was still in the picture.

423
00:36:25.719 --> 00:36:30.239
She and doctor Adams never divorced,
but the two were separated for a

424
00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:35.280
long period of time. That is
until doctor Adams ran for the Florida State

425
00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:39.280
Senate and the summer of nineteen fifty
two. Then they started showing up to

426
00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:45.480
events as a couple again. I
imagine it was for show. People prefer

427
00:36:45.599 --> 00:36:52.000
to elect married men. I'm going
to pause now to hear a word from

428
00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:58.800
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month. That's better Help help dot
com slash Southern. Around this time,

458
00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:24.599
doctor Adams became determined to control every
aspect of Ruby's life. When Ruby didn't

459
00:39:24.599 --> 00:39:29.480
behave how he wanted her to,
she said he would give her shots of

460
00:39:29.559 --> 00:39:34.800
unknown medication. He threatened to kill
her with them. He tortured her by

461
00:39:34.840 --> 00:39:38.800
asking what kind of casket he should
get her when she was dead. While

462
00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:44.159
the shots and other meds doctor Adams
gave Ruby didn't kill her, they did

463
00:39:44.239 --> 00:39:49.280
make her feel very sick. Even
Sam noticed that Ruby was acting differently because

464
00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:52.079
of these shots. Sam told his
friends that he was worried about her.

465
00:39:53.480 --> 00:39:58.840
So now we're back to that Sunday
morning on August third of nineteen fifty two,

466
00:39:59.719 --> 00:40:02.079
Ruby, you went to see doctor
Adams for some shoulder pain. She

467
00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:07.920
paid her nine dollar bill. Can
you imagine your supposed lover billing you for

468
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:13.440
this visit? But he did,
and then she and doctor Adams began discussing

469
00:40:13.559 --> 00:40:16.519
a medical bill, but they weren't
actually talking about a bill at all.

470
00:40:17.280 --> 00:40:22.719
There were several people in doctor Adams's
waiting room who could hear their conversation,

471
00:40:22.320 --> 00:40:30.079
so they were using coded language.
Ruby and Adams were actually discussing his desire

472
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:35.440
for Ruby to leave her husband and
come live on his farm. Ruby was

473
00:40:35.519 --> 00:40:38.679
now two months pregnant with her second
child with Clifford Adams, and he wanted

474
00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:43.400
to keep a closer eye on her. He said, I'm going to get

475
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:46.559
mine. You can see how that
would be about a medical bill, But

476
00:40:46.679 --> 00:40:52.760
it wasn't Adams was referring to Ruby
and her unborn child, but she refused

477
00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:57.199
him. She did not want to
move in with him, so he tried

478
00:40:57.239 --> 00:41:01.320
a different tactic, intimidation by force. He led Ruby to an operating table

479
00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:06.360
hidden behind a screen in the exam
room. He wanted Ruby to get on

480
00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:09.920
the table for sex, but Ruby's
shoulder still hurts, so she suggested they

481
00:41:09.960 --> 00:41:15.320
have sex another time. At this, Adams became furious. He yelled at

482
00:41:15.400 --> 00:41:21.679
Ruby and slapped her. When Ruby
continued to say no, Adams told her

483
00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:25.559
to do as he said. He
slapped her again. At this Ruby relented

484
00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:30.639
she would have sex with him,
but Adams was too far gone in his

485
00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:37.079
anger. He continued hitting her.
At this point Ruby snapped, She said

486
00:41:37.159 --> 00:41:43.719
never again and started fighting Adams in
earnest. Then Clifford Adams grabbed a pistol

487
00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:46.840
and pointed it at Ruby. Scared
for her life, she went after the

488
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:53.119
gun and a struggle ensued. She
wrestled the gun away from him. Official

489
00:41:53.199 --> 00:41:58.960
reports say she shot him four to
five times, the number varies slightly.

490
00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:04.719
Later, Ruby reported her memory of
this actual shooting was hazy, and later

491
00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:10.239
still she would forget this entire visit
to his office altogether due to trauma.

492
00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:15.360
The same day that Ruby killed doctor
Adams, she was arrested for first degree

493
00:42:15.440 --> 00:42:20.199
murder and rushed to the Florida State
Prison. Her handbag, which had eighteen

494
00:42:20.280 --> 00:42:24.840
hundred dollars in cash inside, was
gone stolen by an unknown police officer or

495
00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:30.880
officers. Ruby's two little girls,
seven year old Sonya and one year old

496
00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:37.880
Loretta, were left to fend for
themselves alone at the McCullum house. Meanwhile,

497
00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:42.119
a mob of angry people gathered in
Live Oak. They were furious that

498
00:42:42.159 --> 00:42:46.119
a black woman had dared to kill
a white doctor and politician. When the

499
00:42:46.119 --> 00:42:52.800
mob realized Ruby had already been apprehended, they targeted her husband, Sam.

500
00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:55.840
Sam rushed home, put the kids
in the car, and drove ninety miles

501
00:42:55.840 --> 00:43:00.639
south to Zuber, Florida, to
Ruby's sixty six year old mother's house.

502
00:43:01.119 --> 00:43:06.760
As Sam fled town, he grabbed
eighty five thousand dollars in cash, about

503
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:10.480
a million in today's money and only
a fraction of what he actually had.

504
00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:15.119
The next day, on Monday,
August fourth, fifty one year old Sam

505
00:43:15.199 --> 00:43:21.000
McCullum died of a heart attack.
Sam knew that he had a bad heart

506
00:43:21.079 --> 00:43:24.239
for years. He was on medication
for it. But some of Sam's friends

507
00:43:24.360 --> 00:43:30.199
wondered if Ruby's arrest was too much
for him. They wondered if Sam had

508
00:43:30.239 --> 00:43:36.280
purposely overdosed on his heartbeds. Sam's
friends were not the only one suspicious of

509
00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:39.400
his death. On the day he
died, Sam was supposed to have returned

510
00:43:39.400 --> 00:43:45.320
a live oak. The local authorities
wanted to question him when he didn't come

511
00:43:45.320 --> 00:43:50.000
back. The district attorney, Keith
black scoffed. He told the police to

512
00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:53.599
quote, take a look at whatever
dead inward is supposed to be Sam,

513
00:43:53.960 --> 00:44:00.440
then find Sam and bring him in
here. But the corpse was indeed Sam

514
00:44:00.519 --> 00:44:07.639
McCullum. In the Florida State Prison, Ruby became increasingly terrified. She was

515
00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:12.000
anxious about what this drama was going
to put her family through. She prayed

516
00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:15.800
often. At one point, she
wrote a letter to her lawyer. It

517
00:44:15.960 --> 00:44:20.760
explained that doctor Adams did not have
sex with her, but later Ruby would

518
00:44:20.800 --> 00:44:24.760
say that wasn't true, that she
had lied out of fear. One day,

519
00:44:24.880 --> 00:44:29.480
an unknown man came to her cell
with a nurse. The nurse gave

520
00:44:29.559 --> 00:44:36.320
Ruby an unknown drug against her will. Then Ruby had a miscarriage. The

521
00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:39.719
two events were never officially connected,
and Ruby was not allowed to bring this

522
00:44:39.880 --> 00:44:45.119
up at trial, but it's hard
not to connect the dots. After Sam's

523
00:44:45.199 --> 00:44:51.639
death, Ruby was truly alone in
prison awaiting trial, but her family did

524
00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:54.559
the best they could to help on
the outside. Her nineteen year old son,

525
00:44:54.880 --> 00:45:00.480
Sam Junior, was attending UCLA in
California. He returned to Florida to

526
00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:06.119
help maintain the McCollum house, and
Ruby's mother, Gertrude, took care of

527
00:45:06.119 --> 00:45:10.599
her three daughters, Ka, Sonya, and Loretta. Sam's brother Buck became

528
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:15.719
in charge of Ruby's money. He
paid Ruby's lawyers and then gave the rest

529
00:45:15.719 --> 00:45:20.360
of their savings to Sam Junior.
At the same time, Live Oak was

530
00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:25.039
a buzz with rumors about Ruby's trial. Residents recalled that Ruby's case was both

531
00:45:25.400 --> 00:45:31.719
all anyone could talk about and shrouded
in secrecy. After all, it didn't

532
00:45:31.800 --> 00:45:36.800
take a genius to realize that doctor
Adams, who worked for free all the

533
00:45:36.880 --> 00:45:40.639
time, wasn't hassling Ruby, a
rich woman, about an overdue bill.

534
00:45:42.559 --> 00:45:47.079
Their affair was widely recognized, even
if it wasn't openly discussed. And then

535
00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:52.599
there was Loretta, a light skinned
girl born of two dark skinned black parents,

536
00:45:52.199 --> 00:45:55.760
not that it can't happen. It
happens all the time, but people

537
00:45:55.800 --> 00:46:00.760
will talk regardless, even in modern
times when children don't look like their parents.

538
00:46:02.199 --> 00:46:07.760
But this Ruby killed Adams over a
bill story was what the police and

539
00:46:07.840 --> 00:46:15.599
the Swannee County newspapers promoted. Headlines
read doctor Adams murdered by negroes. Journalists

540
00:46:15.639 --> 00:46:21.159
described the doctor as noble and beloved. Ruby was depicted as an angry black

541
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:27.559
woman, but Lavot knew better.
Doctor Clifford Adams's funeral had the largest attendants

542
00:46:27.639 --> 00:46:32.760
ever recorded in Swannee County. As
a newly elected senator, Adams was already

543
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:39.360
a public figure. His unexpected death
shot his celebrity into the stratosphere. But

544
00:46:39.480 --> 00:46:45.360
at first, no Florida newspaper would
cover Ruby's trial, which was strange.

545
00:46:45.760 --> 00:46:50.639
A politician murdered and no one was
reporting on it. That's not how newspapers

546
00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:55.920
usually do business. But Lavoak authorities
were doing their damnedest to downplay Ruby's trial.

547
00:46:57.440 --> 00:47:00.800
They continually asserted that there was no
need for extra news coverage. The

548
00:47:00.880 --> 00:47:06.800
case was open and shut, totally
routine, no need to look closer,

549
00:47:07.039 --> 00:47:14.760
we promise, But somehow the racist
overtones of Ruby's case permeated Florida's state boarders

550
00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:21.360
in A Pennsylvania newspaper called The Pittsburgh
Courier sent a journalist almost one thousand miles

551
00:47:21.400 --> 00:47:27.039
to cover Ruby's trial, and that
journalist was novelist, anthropologist, and collegiate

552
00:47:27.119 --> 00:47:32.840
lecturer Zora Neil Hurston. You may
recognize Hurston from her renowned works such as

553
00:47:32.880 --> 00:47:37.760
her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God
and her essay how it Feels to Be

554
00:47:37.840 --> 00:47:44.039
Colored Me. Here's the cliff notes
on Hurston's life. She was a black

555
00:47:44.079 --> 00:47:47.519
woman from Florida who moved to New
York and her teens. She was extremely

556
00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:53.159
educated, an outstanding writer, a
compelling teacher, and a genius. In

557
00:47:53.199 --> 00:48:00.159
short, Zora Neil Hurston was a
badass. Hurston said that she and other

558
00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:05.880
journalists were discouraged from reporting on Ruby's
trial. They were told they shouldn't confuse

559
00:48:06.239 --> 00:48:09.840
the minds of the state and the
nation by poking around Live Oak and coming

560
00:48:09.920 --> 00:48:15.599
up with some other loose and foolish
notion besides that Ruby had killed Adams over

561
00:48:15.639 --> 00:48:22.400
an unpaid bill. But the Pittsburgh
Courier and Hurston knew something was off about

562
00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:28.079
this situation. When Hurston spoke to
Live Oak's black residence. They condemned Ruby

563
00:48:28.599 --> 00:48:32.920
loudly, saying she deserved to die
for harming doctor Adams. He was quote

564
00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:37.280
the best friend the negroes in this
town ever had. But Hurston saw through

565
00:48:37.320 --> 00:48:42.960
this play acting. After all,
these were Ruby's former friends and neighbors.

566
00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:47.679
They liked Ruby. Hurston suspected that
the black people of Live Oak feared white

567
00:48:47.760 --> 00:48:53.559
retribution if they supported Ruby. After
all, the white supremacist culture and Live

568
00:48:53.599 --> 00:49:00.000
Oak was incredibly strong. Here's one
example. In nineteen forty four, about

569
00:49:00.079 --> 00:49:04.920
eight years prior, there was a
fifteen year old black boy named Willie James

570
00:49:04.920 --> 00:49:08.400
Howard. Willie worked in a Live
Oak dam store. One of his co

571
00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:13.159
workers was a white girl. She
was around the same age as Willie.

572
00:49:13.840 --> 00:49:16.599
He had a crush on her,
so he wrote her a sweet Christmas card.

573
00:49:16.679 --> 00:49:21.000
It read, I love your name, I love your voice. For

574
00:49:21.079 --> 00:49:25.039
a sweetheart, you are my choice. The white girl showed her father Willie's

575
00:49:25.039 --> 00:49:30.039
card. In response to the card, several Live Oak white men lynched Willie.

576
00:49:30.440 --> 00:49:34.880
They dragged him down the street at
gunpoint, bound his hands and feet,

577
00:49:35.239 --> 00:49:37.880
and threw him in the river to
drown. They forced Willie's father to

578
00:49:37.920 --> 00:49:43.639
watch his son die. The white
men who killed Willie were never charged,

579
00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:49.400
but Willie's parents continued to push for
justice. So in nineteen fifty one,

580
00:49:49.639 --> 00:49:53.880
a year before Ruby's trial, Willie's
parents's home was bombed by the KKK.

581
00:49:54.679 --> 00:50:00.440
It was Christmas. Both Willie's mother
and father died. So yeah, no

582
00:50:00.480 --> 00:50:05.639
one in Live Oak, black or
white was going to speak up on Ruby.

583
00:50:05.719 --> 00:50:12.239
McCollum's behalf. I'm going to pause
now for a short commercial break.

584
00:50:15.360 --> 00:50:20.280
Because of this, Ruby's defense team
had a terrible time finding people who would

585
00:50:20.280 --> 00:50:23.639
testify for Ruby, which was exactly
what the powers that be in Live Oak

586
00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:30.679
wanted. These authority figures made sure
that Ruby received the most prejudiced trial possible.

587
00:50:30.880 --> 00:50:37.079
That included the district attorney, Keith
Black and Goes. Especially for Ruby's

588
00:50:37.119 --> 00:50:42.639
trial, Judge how W. Adams
of Florida's Third Circuit Court no relation to

589
00:50:42.760 --> 00:50:46.840
doctor Adams. We'll call him Judge
Howe to keep things clear. Judge Howe

590
00:50:46.920 --> 00:50:51.840
had been on the bench for twenty
seven years. Hurston described him as a

591
00:50:51.880 --> 00:50:54.679
Southern good old boy. He was
from the back country, chewed tobacco,

592
00:50:55.079 --> 00:51:00.880
and was pompous as hell. Before
Ruby's trial began, he assured the press

593
00:51:00.960 --> 00:51:05.039
that this would be quote a fair
and square trial. But it wasn't.

594
00:51:05.440 --> 00:51:09.519
It really really wasn't. If being
fair is a square, then Ruby's trial

595
00:51:09.599 --> 00:51:15.239
was a damned circle. Ruby's attorney
requested a change of venue for her trial,

596
00:51:15.480 --> 00:51:20.039
which made sense. The lave Oak
community was known for its rampant racism

597
00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:23.320
and Ruby was black. Plus there
weren't that many people in lave Oak.

598
00:51:23.760 --> 00:51:30.280
Most of them were patients of doctor
Adams or family and friends. That should

599
00:51:30.280 --> 00:51:34.679
not have been shocking to Judge How
he himself was actually a friend of doctor

600
00:51:34.719 --> 00:51:39.000
Adams. He was a pall bearer
at his funeral. That alone should have

601
00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:44.599
required him to recuse himself for a
conflict of interest, But no, they

602
00:51:44.679 --> 00:51:49.400
carried on with this sham. It
gets worse. Keith Black, the prosecuting

603
00:51:49.400 --> 00:51:53.920
attorney, was doctor Adams's best friend. Keith Black undoubtedly knew of Ruby in

604
00:51:53.960 --> 00:51:59.559
doctor Adams's relationship, but Judge how
said no, the trial would stay in

605
00:51:59.639 --> 00:52:04.639
Lava. When the time for jury
selection came, it was really difficult to

606
00:52:04.679 --> 00:52:08.679
find jurors who hadn't worked with doctor
Adams in some capacity. Just like Ruby's

607
00:52:08.679 --> 00:52:15.360
defense team predicted, it would be
several potential black jurors were sent away because

608
00:52:15.360 --> 00:52:19.679
they were friends or patients of doctor
Adams. By the end of jury selection,

609
00:52:20.159 --> 00:52:24.280
Ruby's jury would consist of twelve white
men, some of whom were patients

610
00:52:24.400 --> 00:52:30.280
of or had immediate family who were
patients of doctor Adams. It's unknown why

611
00:52:30.320 --> 00:52:35.840
these white jurors weren't sent home while
the potential black jurors who knew doctor Adams

612
00:52:35.840 --> 00:52:42.000
were And by unknown, I mean
it was obviously blatant racism. If Ruby

613
00:52:42.039 --> 00:52:45.719
had black people on her jury,
she might not be convicted for first degree

614
00:52:45.800 --> 00:52:51.400
murder. Judge Howe also made sure
that black journalists had a difficult time covering

615
00:52:51.480 --> 00:52:55.760
Ruby's trial. He refused to designate
any courtroom seating for reporters. It was

616
00:52:55.840 --> 00:53:00.320
first come, first serve, and
since the courtroom was segregated, there were

617
00:53:00.360 --> 00:53:06.159
only fifty seats available for black people
versus the two hundred seats for white people,

618
00:53:06.960 --> 00:53:10.199
and as a high profile case,
Ruby's trial was jam packed, so

619
00:53:10.280 --> 00:53:14.880
black reporters had to fight tooth and
nail to get a seat, which was

620
00:53:14.920 --> 00:53:19.239
exactly what Zorah Nil Hurston did each
and every day of Ruby's trial. And

621
00:53:19.360 --> 00:53:22.920
once Hurston was able to sit,
she noticed who was sitting in the white

622
00:53:22.920 --> 00:53:28.800
section. In front of her numerous
KKK members. During the trial itself,

623
00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:34.440
Judge Howe continued to do his best
to disenfranchise Ruby. He disbarred one of

624
00:53:34.440 --> 00:53:39.519
her first defense lawyers on a technicality. Apparently the lawyer hadn't quote performed on

625
00:53:39.559 --> 00:53:45.199
a divorce case some twenty years earlier. Then, Judge Howe restricted the evidence

626
00:53:45.280 --> 00:53:51.559
and testimony that could be allowed into
Ruby's trial. Specifically, he didn't want

627
00:53:51.599 --> 00:53:57.599
to hear anything about Ruby and doctor
Adams's relationship or anything surrounding it. Nothing

628
00:53:57.639 --> 00:54:01.800
about doctor Adams's rape, abuse,
or how he forced Ruby to give birth

629
00:54:01.880 --> 00:54:07.079
to and raise his child, Loretta. Ruby's lawyer, Frank Cannon, tried

630
00:54:07.079 --> 00:54:12.960
to get around these restrictions. He
attempted to enter Loretta's birth certificate into trial

631
00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:16.599
as evidence. If it could be
produced, doctor Clifford Adams's name would be

632
00:54:16.679 --> 00:54:22.039
on it. Cannon even tried to
submit the now two year old Loretta herself

633
00:54:22.199 --> 00:54:25.760
as evidence into the trial. Basically, Canon wanted to say, do you

634
00:54:25.800 --> 00:54:31.159
see the resemblance between doctor Adams and
this little girl? But Judge Howell denied

635
00:54:31.159 --> 00:54:37.360
all these motions. During the trial, Cannon tried to establish doctor Adams's pattern

636
00:54:37.400 --> 00:54:42.440
of abuse against Ruby, but each
and every time the prosecuting attorney, Keith

637
00:54:42.480 --> 00:54:47.360
Black would object and Judge Howe would
sustain. Here's what Hurston wrote in The

638
00:54:47.360 --> 00:54:53.599
Pittsburgh Courier about Cannon's attempt to bring
up Adams's abuse. Ruby was allowed to

639
00:54:53.599 --> 00:54:58.960
describe how, during an extended absence
of her husband, she had in her

640
00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:02.199
home submitted to the doctor. She
was allowed to state that her youngest child

641
00:55:02.320 --> 00:55:07.840
was his. Yet thirty eight times
Frank Cannon attempted to proceed from this point.

642
00:55:08.360 --> 00:55:13.440
Thirty eight times he attempted to create
the opportunity for Ruby to tell her

643
00:55:13.480 --> 00:55:17.239
whole story and thus explain what her
motives were. Thirty eight times the state

644
00:55:17.280 --> 00:55:24.480
objected, and thirty eight times Judge
Adams sustained these objections. Following this exchange,

645
00:55:24.679 --> 00:55:29.360
Ruby's lawyer, Frank Cannon said,
may God forgive you, Judge,

646
00:55:29.639 --> 00:55:35.639
for robbing a human being of life
in such a fashion. As Hurston alluded

647
00:55:35.639 --> 00:55:38.679
to just now, Ruby's testimony about
the day of the murder was the only

648
00:55:38.719 --> 00:55:44.599
time when any part of her relationship
with doctor Adams was allowed in the courtroom,

649
00:55:44.639 --> 00:55:49.320
and even Ruby's advantage in this regard
was taken from her. Cannon argued

650
00:55:49.320 --> 00:55:52.519
that Ruby should be allowed to talk
about why and how she killed doctor Adams

651
00:55:52.760 --> 00:55:58.280
as a narrative, but the state
objected. They wanted Ruby to tell the

652
00:55:58.320 --> 00:56:04.440
story through a cross examination process,
as in Prosecutor Keith Black would ask a

653
00:56:04.519 --> 00:56:09.000
question and Ruby would give an answer. Judge Howe agreed with the prosecution.

654
00:56:10.239 --> 00:56:15.079
Still, Ruby was able to share
her version of events that day. She

655
00:56:15.199 --> 00:56:20.000
testified to the events I told you
earlier. She explained that doctor Adams raped

656
00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:22.239
her, beat her, and forced
her to have his child. While she

657
00:56:22.320 --> 00:56:27.119
did talk with Adams about one hundred
and sixteen dollars medical bill on the day

658
00:56:27.159 --> 00:56:30.159
in question, the medical bill had
nothing to do with while she shot him.

659
00:56:30.239 --> 00:56:34.599
She killed him because he wanted to
rape her and when she said no,

660
00:56:34.880 --> 00:56:39.599
he attacked her. The state prosecutor
did not enter the alleged one hundred

661
00:56:39.639 --> 00:56:45.599
and sixteen dollars medical bill into evidence. In fact, doctor Adams's secretary,

662
00:56:45.800 --> 00:56:50.159
Thelma Curry, had never even heard
of the bill for the mccollumns, which

663
00:56:50.199 --> 00:56:53.960
was odd since Thelma was the person
who usually sent the bills. This implies

664
00:56:54.039 --> 00:56:59.159
that there was no bill, or
that Adams sent the bill himself, which

665
00:56:59.199 --> 00:57:05.880
brings us to an intriguing theory.
Some research indicated that perhaps doctor Adams mailed

666
00:57:05.880 --> 00:57:08.639
a bill to Sam McCullum, but
it wasn't just a bill. There was

667
00:57:08.679 --> 00:57:14.679
additional information inside the envelope, information
that would force Sam to leave Ruby.

668
00:57:15.639 --> 00:57:19.760
Then Ruby would have to move in
with doctor Adams, just like he wanted

669
00:57:19.760 --> 00:57:23.000
her to. If this was true, then the night before the murder,

670
00:57:23.119 --> 00:57:28.599
Ruby would have opened this bill before
Sam. She would have seen whatever incriminating

671
00:57:28.639 --> 00:57:32.480
information Adams had included, and then
visited him the next day to discuss it.

672
00:57:34.840 --> 00:57:38.039
You may wonder why Sam would be
motivated to leave Ruby. He had

673
00:57:38.039 --> 00:57:43.360
put up with her in doctor Adams's
affair for years, but some believe that

674
00:57:43.400 --> 00:57:47.159
Sam was furious about Ruby's second pregnancy. He was at the end of his

675
00:57:47.239 --> 00:57:52.639
rope. So even though Sam had
accepted the affair for years, maybe whatever

676
00:57:52.719 --> 00:57:58.000
Doctor Adams included in the bill could
have been Sam's breaking point. To support

677
00:57:58.039 --> 00:58:01.199
this idea, at one point during
Ruby's court proceedings, she said, I

678
00:58:01.400 --> 00:58:06.000
was between two guns that morning,
the gun of my husband and the gun

679
00:58:06.039 --> 00:58:10.119
of doctor Adams. But Ruby didn't
explain further, and this theory was never

680
00:58:10.199 --> 00:58:15.880
proven in court or otherwise. Perhaps
the most damning part of Ruby's trial were

681
00:58:15.880 --> 00:58:22.320
the three eyewitnesses who saw her kill
doctor Adams over a medical bill. But

682
00:58:22.440 --> 00:58:27.920
these eyewitnesses weren't that dammy. There
was Carrie Day, a partially deaf woman,

683
00:58:28.400 --> 00:58:31.880
Della Arnold, a blind woman,
and the secretary Thelma. All three

684
00:58:31.920 --> 00:58:36.360
women were in the waiting room on
the day Ruby shot doctor Adams. In

685
00:58:36.400 --> 00:58:42.239
the examination room, Ruby's attorney,
Frank Cannon, showed that both Carrie and

686
00:58:42.320 --> 00:58:46.679
Della's testimony was largely incorrect. He
said, a deaf woman testified to what

687
00:58:46.800 --> 00:58:52.079
she heard and a blind woman swore
to what she saw. Thelma's testimony was

688
00:58:52.119 --> 00:58:55.960
the most reliable for the state.
She's the one who heard pieces of Ruby

689
00:58:57.000 --> 00:59:01.559
and doctor Adams's conversation. Then the
jurors left the courtroom to inspect the murder

690
00:59:01.639 --> 00:59:07.480
site. It just so happened that
doctor Adams's doctor's office was right across the

691
00:59:07.480 --> 00:59:13.159
street from the courthouse. Ruby and
Judge Howe remained in the courtroom. This

692
00:59:13.199 --> 00:59:15.960
will be important later, but all
you need to know is this, Ruby

693
00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:19.639
should have been offered the chance to
go with the jurors to the scene of

694
00:59:19.639 --> 00:59:23.440
the crime, and Judge Howe should
have definitely gone with the jurors legally he

695
00:59:23.480 --> 00:59:30.360
was required to. Someone actually realized
the mistake mid trial and took the jurors

696
00:59:30.360 --> 00:59:34.719
back to the murder site, this
time with Ruby, but Judge Howe still

697
00:59:34.760 --> 00:59:39.559
did not go. During closing statements, Ruby's lawyers asked the jury to do

698
00:59:39.760 --> 00:59:45.800
unto her as you would have done
unto you under similar circumstances. They requested

699
00:59:45.840 --> 00:59:50.679
a second degree murder charge. They
acknowledged that, yes, Ruby killed Adams,

700
00:59:51.000 --> 00:59:53.800
but she hadn't planned it. It
was self defense, and she certainly

701
00:59:53.800 --> 01:00:00.000
didn't deserve the mandatory death penalty that
came along with a first degree murder charge

702
01:00:00.039 --> 01:00:05.599
nineteen fifty two, Florida. The
prosecution, of course, disagreed. They

703
01:00:05.639 --> 01:00:10.039
painted Ruby as a lying, calculating
woman. She had concocted this wild love

704
01:00:10.119 --> 01:00:15.320
story as part of her scheme to
full jurors. Ruby wasn't Adams's mistress.

705
01:00:15.320 --> 01:00:21.280
She just wanted to avoid paying thee
hundred and sixteen dollar bill. Never mind

706
01:00:21.320 --> 01:00:24.639
that she had eighteen hundred dollars of
cash in her purse. That's the equivalent

707
01:00:24.679 --> 01:00:30.199
of over twenty thousand dollars in today's
money. But nope, Prosecuting attorney Keith

708
01:00:30.199 --> 01:00:34.519
Black said, you all know that
a good way to get them mad is

709
01:00:34.559 --> 01:00:39.800
try to collect them, meaning black
folks. On December twentieth of nineteen fifty

710
01:00:39.840 --> 01:00:45.480
two, after deliberating for three hours, the jury found Ruby McCullum guilty of

711
01:00:45.559 --> 01:00:50.840
first degree murder. She was sentenced
to death by the electric chair. After

712
01:00:50.880 --> 01:00:54.360
her sentencing, Ruby was asked if
she had anything to say. She responded,

713
01:00:54.880 --> 01:00:59.280
I do not know whether I did
write or not when I killed doctor

714
01:00:59.320 --> 01:01:10.400
Adams. I'm going to pause now
for a short commercial break. On the

715
01:01:10.440 --> 01:01:15.639
whole Hurston reported that Ruby's trial had
little to do with her guilt or innocence.

716
01:01:15.960 --> 01:01:20.800
Instead, this was a battle of
what evidence would be allowed into court.

717
01:01:20.800 --> 01:01:24.559
By Judge Howe. Hurston wrote,
my comprehensive impression of the trial of

718
01:01:24.599 --> 01:01:30.159
Missus Ruby McCollum for the murder of
doctor c Leroy Adams was one of a

719
01:01:30.199 --> 01:01:36.000
smothering blanket of silence. The court
was going to prove that Ruby killed Adams

720
01:01:36.000 --> 01:01:39.639
over a medical bill, however bizarre
and unlikely it might appear to the outside

721
01:01:39.679 --> 01:01:45.719
public. Anything which might tend to
destroy this illusion may be done away with

722
01:01:45.199 --> 01:01:51.840
presto. It just did not exist. Citizens of Live Oak did not like

723
01:01:51.960 --> 01:01:55.519
how Hurston reported on Ruby's trial.
Eventually, they ran her out of town

724
01:01:55.639 --> 01:02:02.159
and the Pittsburgh Courier finished covering Ruby's
case the different journalist, but Hurston wasn't

725
01:02:02.199 --> 01:02:08.000
going to be stopped that easily.
She contacted a white journalist named William Bradford

726
01:02:08.079 --> 01:02:14.920
Huey to investigate Ruby's case. Huie
was known for covering white corruption that harmed

727
01:02:14.920 --> 01:02:19.800
black people. Huee tried to interview
Ruby while she was incarcerated, but his

728
01:02:19.960 --> 01:02:24.960
requests were blocked by Judge Howe,
so he continued without Ruby. Judge Howe

729
01:02:25.039 --> 01:02:30.400
imprisoned Huey for contempt of court,
but hue was quickly released and he published

730
01:02:30.440 --> 01:02:37.199
his book called Ruby McCullum, Woman
in the Swanny Jail. It was published

731
01:02:37.199 --> 01:02:42.719
in nineteen fifty six and brought nationwide
attention to Ruby's plight. Some Live Oak

732
01:02:42.840 --> 01:02:47.400
locals hated Huey's book. The local
newspaper editor for Swannee County wrote that it

733
01:02:47.519 --> 01:02:54.079
was false and history would forget it. But thankfully history didn't. After Ruby

734
01:02:54.159 --> 01:02:59.400
was sentenced to death in December of
nineteen fifty two, she submitted an appeal

735
01:02:59.480 --> 01:03:04.039
for a new trial. While awaiting
her a pill, Ruby spent two years

736
01:03:04.480 --> 01:03:08.840
in solitary confinement at Swannee County Jail. She was not allowed to mix with

737
01:03:08.880 --> 01:03:14.480
other prisoners. Her mills were served
in seclusion, and she could not speak

738
01:03:14.519 --> 01:03:19.320
to the press because Judge Howe had
yet to lift her gag order. Ruby

739
01:03:19.360 --> 01:03:22.920
spent two years alone. She spent
her time prey, and her mental health

740
01:03:22.960 --> 01:03:30.719
deteriorated rapidly. Many studies have shown
that solitary confinement, particularly as long as

741
01:03:30.760 --> 01:03:37.559
Ruby was alone, as a form
of torture. Every single day, Ruby's

742
01:03:37.599 --> 01:03:40.760
brother, Matthew brought her breakfast,
lunch, and dinner. He could see

743
01:03:40.840 --> 01:03:46.039
Ruby's decline. She was irritable,
paranoid. She thought that Matthew was trying

744
01:03:46.039 --> 01:03:50.880
to poison her with the mills he
brought. She made him taste test all

745
01:03:50.880 --> 01:03:54.199
the food before she would take a
bite, and she yelled at him constantly.

746
01:03:55.079 --> 01:04:00.119
Matthew was worried for Ruby. She
was not well. Meanwhile, Ruby's

747
01:04:00.159 --> 01:04:05.880
appeal went through the court system.
Her lawyers presented several valid grounds. The

748
01:04:06.000 --> 01:04:11.159
jury had been rigged against her.
They were all white men who knew doctor

749
01:04:11.199 --> 01:04:15.840
Adams. The trial should have been
moved to a different, less racist city,

750
01:04:15.719 --> 01:04:21.000
and Judge Howe restricted too much testimony
and relevant evidence. He even banned

751
01:04:21.079 --> 01:04:27.519
key witnesses from testifying on Ruby's behalf, but none of those claims are what

752
01:04:27.599 --> 01:04:31.679
overturned Ruby's case. On July twentieth, nineteen fifty four, the Florida Supreme

753
01:04:31.719 --> 01:04:36.840
Court agreed to overturn Ruby's trial based
on a technicality. Judge Howe should have

754
01:04:36.840 --> 01:04:42.199
been present at the jury's visitation of
the murder site, so Ruby was granted

755
01:04:42.239 --> 01:04:45.679
a new trial, but her gag
order was still in place. She still

756
01:04:45.679 --> 01:04:50.800
could not speak to the press.
Before her second trial, Ruby's attorney had

757
01:04:50.840 --> 01:04:55.719
her examined for mental health issues.
He could see that she was struggling.

758
01:04:56.440 --> 01:05:00.280
Cannon submitted a plea of insanity to
the courts. This wasn't Ruby's first plea

759
01:05:00.320 --> 01:05:04.239
of insanity. She entered one before
her first trial, but it was denied.

760
01:05:05.320 --> 01:05:12.280
But this time the state prosecutors accepted
it and Ruby was declared mentally incompetent

761
01:05:12.360 --> 01:05:15.960
to stand trial, and in nineteen
fifty four, forty five year old Ruby

762
01:05:16.000 --> 01:05:23.119
was admitted to the Criminally Insane ward
at the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee.

763
01:05:23.599 --> 01:05:28.519
It was known as an infamous chamber
of horrors. Doctors were known to relie

764
01:05:28.639 --> 01:05:34.239
heavily on dangerous prescription drugs and shock
therapy, and Ruby McCullum stayed there for

765
01:05:34.400 --> 01:05:41.920
twenty years. During that time,
her fortune dwindled to nothing. Florrie Adams,

766
01:05:42.159 --> 01:05:46.320
the doctor's widow, barraged Ruby with
wrongful death lawsuits, picking away at

767
01:05:46.360 --> 01:05:51.679
her money until nothing was left.
In an interview with Jet Magazine, Ruby

768
01:05:51.760 --> 01:05:57.480
explained that she had no privacy in
the mental institution. She spent her time

769
01:05:57.519 --> 01:06:01.840
praying and crocheting. Her family had
mostly stopped writing to her or visiting.

770
01:06:02.519 --> 01:06:09.199
She missed them dearly. In nineteen
seventy four, Ruby's defense attorney, Frank

771
01:06:09.280 --> 01:06:13.480
Cannon, visited her. Soon after, he followed for Ruby to be released

772
01:06:13.559 --> 01:06:18.079
under the Baker Act of nineteen seventy
two. This act allowed mental patients who

773
01:06:18.079 --> 01:06:24.119
aren't a danger to be released from
there. Ruby went to a foster home

774
01:06:24.400 --> 01:06:30.039
in Silver Springs, Florida, and
then a nursing home after author William Bradford

775
01:06:30.079 --> 01:06:33.960
Huey paid for everything. He also
set up a trust phone for Ruby and

776
01:06:34.159 --> 01:06:40.599
incredibly paid her lump sums in exchange
for the rights to her story. That

777
01:06:40.719 --> 01:06:44.679
was unheard of for black subjects,
and most white people for that matter.

778
01:06:45.800 --> 01:06:50.599
In nineteen eighty, journalist Alie interviewed
Ruby for the Ocala State Banner. Ruby

779
01:06:50.639 --> 01:06:56.960
told Lee that she had developed Gasner
syndrome. It causes amnesia and was probably

780
01:06:56.960 --> 01:07:01.119
triggered by trauma, drugs, and
shock therapy. As a result, Ruby

781
01:07:01.239 --> 01:07:06.280
remembered almost nothing about killing doctor Adams. She did remember the courtroom and trial,

782
01:07:06.480 --> 01:07:11.679
but not many details. Ruby said, I don't remember what I was

783
01:07:11.719 --> 01:07:15.519
there for. They asked a lot
of questions, and there were objections and

784
01:07:15.559 --> 01:07:20.199
sustainings. I forgot all that.
Before the trial, Ruby remembered little.

785
01:07:20.440 --> 01:07:25.039
She said, I had to work
all the time keeping house. I do

786
01:07:25.159 --> 01:07:28.480
remember we had a lot of money, but I don't know what happened to

787
01:07:28.519 --> 01:07:32.079
it. Ruby expressed that her deepest
desire was to go back to live oak

788
01:07:32.440 --> 01:07:39.440
and clean her old home. Ruby's
case is often considered cursed. Her family

789
01:07:39.440 --> 01:07:45.239
members often died young or had other
problems. Sam Junior followed in the footsteps

790
01:07:45.239 --> 01:07:49.280
of Sam Senior. He went into
illegal gambling. In nineteen seventy five,

791
01:07:49.880 --> 01:07:55.840
forty five year old Sam Junior was
convicted in federal court. Ruby's older daughters,

792
01:07:55.960 --> 01:07:59.840
Kay and Sonia lived in Oakalla,
Florida. They both married and were

793
01:07:59.840 --> 01:08:03.800
trying to become teachers. But in
nineteen seventy eight, thirty seven year old

794
01:08:03.880 --> 01:08:09.320
k died in a car accident.
She was picking up Sam Junior from prison.

795
01:08:10.039 --> 01:08:14.519
He had just been released. The
next year, in nineteen seventy nine,

796
01:08:14.559 --> 01:08:18.760
thirty four year old Sonya died of
a heart attack. Lauretta passed away

797
01:08:18.800 --> 01:08:23.880
some time within the last few years. She was my mother's age, so

798
01:08:23.920 --> 01:08:28.840
in her late sixties, still fairly
young. But Ruby herself lived to the

799
01:08:28.880 --> 01:08:31.359
age of eighty two. She died
of a stroke on May twenty third,

800
01:08:31.479 --> 01:08:38.439
nineteen ninety two. It felt strange
putting Ruby's episode out on Mother's Day when

801
01:08:38.479 --> 01:08:43.319
it feels just so damned bleak.
But Ruby was a mother, a good

802
01:08:43.359 --> 01:08:47.199
mother, a loving mother who fiercely
loved and protected all of her children,

803
01:08:47.520 --> 01:08:51.680
including the child of her rapist,
and she would have bore his second child.

804
01:08:54.000 --> 01:08:58.560
She was forced to have an abortion
or miscarriage while in prison awaiting trial,

805
01:08:59.319 --> 01:09:02.199
because not even twelve white men would
send a pregnant woman to the electric

806
01:09:02.279 --> 01:09:06.560
chair. Black or not, that's
not the reason she went to his office

807
01:09:06.640 --> 01:09:12.760
that day. Officially it was to
get help for her hurt shoulder, but

808
01:09:12.880 --> 01:09:15.880
it could have been to plead with
him about his plans to move her to

809
01:09:15.960 --> 01:09:19.800
his farm. But doctor Adams saw
her as chattel, as his property,

810
01:09:20.039 --> 01:09:25.800
and he would use her as he
pleased. He had for years. For

811
01:09:25.840 --> 01:09:30.239
whatever reason, on that day,
Ruby McCollum had had enough. Maybe it

812
01:09:30.319 --> 01:09:34.439
was because she was already in too
much pain. Maybe she was angry because

813
01:09:34.479 --> 01:09:40.720
she was pregnant again. Maybe it
was because she wasn't moving in with him.

814
01:09:40.760 --> 01:09:45.079
Even if she had to kill him, it doesn't matter. She couldn't

815
01:09:45.119 --> 01:09:48.119
say no, but this time she
did, and when he tried to force

816
01:09:48.199 --> 01:09:54.359
himself on her, she shot him
in self defense. I understand that today's

817
01:09:54.359 --> 01:09:59.199
episode may be controversial for some.
You may believe she was willingly in a

818
01:09:59.239 --> 01:10:04.720
relationship with Adams, But how many
times have I discussed coercive control. It's

819
01:10:04.760 --> 01:10:11.119
important to remember that doctor Adams also
controlled Ruby's husband by being the middleman and

820
01:10:11.279 --> 01:10:15.840
his illegal bonita business. Ruby was
between the proverbial rock and hard place,

821
01:10:16.439 --> 01:10:21.319
intimidated by the most powerful white men
in the area, fearful for her husband's

822
01:10:21.359 --> 01:10:27.760
business and living in a time when
the law would not protect her, she

823
01:10:28.000 --> 01:10:33.000
endured countless beatings and rapes from doctor
Adams. Her life became diminished the once

824
01:10:33.079 --> 01:10:39.520
bright and proud Ruby McCollum was always
quiet, but then she shrank into herself,

825
01:10:39.680 --> 01:10:44.640
weighted down by the hellish life Doctor
Adams forced her to live a life

826
01:10:44.840 --> 01:10:47.279
that should have been so much better
for her as a black woman with money.

827
01:10:47.960 --> 01:10:53.239
She had a rich and successful husband, beautiful home, and adored her

828
01:10:53.319 --> 01:10:57.960
children. She had a life most
black women at that time would envy,

829
01:10:58.479 --> 01:11:03.279
but not if they knew the truth. Ruby McCullum was silenced literally and figuratively.

830
01:11:04.479 --> 01:11:08.920
Others would write about her and speak
out, but by the time she

831
01:11:09.039 --> 01:11:14.479
was freed, her mind and memory
were gone. She had lost everything and

832
01:11:14.560 --> 01:11:21.560
could not speak for herself. Southern
Frid True Crime is hosted and produced by

833
01:11:21.600 --> 01:11:27.319
me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was
researched and written by Andrea Marshbank and me,

834
01:11:27.800 --> 01:11:31.199
and of course all editorial opinions are
my own. Southern Frid's original music

835
01:11:31.279 --> 01:11:35.000
is by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
and the original graphic art is by Colly

836
01:11:35.079 --> 01:11:41.039
Horner. Today's episode was edited and
mixed by Brandon shuck Snyder of Southern Gothic

837
01:11:41.119 --> 01:11:45.239
and Erica Kelly. Thank you to
Rachel Tracy and Danita for suggesting Ruby's case

838
01:11:45.760 --> 01:11:49.439
If you have any case suggestions,
please go to my website and click on

839
01:11:49.479 --> 01:11:57.279
the listeners suggestion tab or emails FTC
Research at gmail dot com. You'll get

840
01:11:57.319 --> 01:11:59.880
lost in a sea of emails if
you try to send it to my main

841
01:12:00.159 --> 01:12:02.560
address, so this is the best
way for me to get those little known

842
01:12:02.600 --> 01:12:08.800
cases you'll always send me. Please
remember that I do not accept suggestions on

843
01:12:08.840 --> 01:12:13.920
social media private messages. With three
platforms to manage, that is very overwhelming

844
01:12:13.960 --> 01:12:17.279
for me. I hope you understand, but please come join our Facebook group,

845
01:12:17.600 --> 01:12:21.760
Southern Fried True Crime Fans Discussion group, where we swap recipes, worship

846
01:12:21.800 --> 01:12:26.960
Dolly Parton, and share means.
I much prefer spending my social media time

847
01:12:27.239 --> 01:12:30.560
and our lovely group. We do, of course discuss true crime, not

848
01:12:30.640 --> 01:12:32.880
just Southern Fried, but all kinds, but it is still very much a

849
01:12:32.920 --> 01:12:36.560
Southern lifestyle group. Our group is
a safe and fun corner of Facebook,

850
01:12:36.600 --> 01:12:40.760
and by God, we mean it
when we say no shout ass is allowed.

851
01:12:41.039 --> 01:12:44.079
It's not just a motto, it's
how we run the group. If

852
01:12:44.079 --> 01:12:46.840
you enjoy today's show, don't forget
to subscribe and please tell a friend or

853
01:12:46.920 --> 01:12:51.000
rate and review on iTunes. I'm
also on all large platforms like a heart,

854
01:12:51.079 --> 01:12:56.520
Stitcher, Spotify, Spreaker, and
now Amazon and Audible. You can

855
01:12:56.560 --> 01:13:01.520
also find me on YouTube as well
as through my website than Fredchruecrime dot com.

856
01:13:01.600 --> 01:13:05.560
Until next time, thanks so much
for listening, y'all. Take care,