On an August evening in 1924, a young Florida school teacher was brought into Gainesville with a gunshot wound so serious that doctors held out little hope for her recovery.
Her name was Miss Viola Nash, a Hawthorne teacher described in the newspaper as young and pretty. She had been riding or standing near the Lake City Highway, about a half mile north of Gainesville, with Robert J. Whiddon, a University of Florida vocational student and a close friend of more than a year.
Whiddon told officers that a stranger in a passing car had leaned out, fired a revolver, and sped away toward Lake City.
But the story quickly began to unravel.
According to officers, Miss Nash’s mother said her daughter murmured the words, “Whiddon shot me,” during one of her conscious moments. Doctors also believed the bullet had entered Miss Nash from behind, passing through her back and out through the center of her chest.
Meanwhile, Whiddon’s behavior in the Alachua County Jail only deepened the mystery. Officials said he refused to speak, refused clothing, and refused food. When questioned, the only statement he made was, “I did not do it.”
Later, doctors who entered his cell to examine him said he attacked them, and they had to hold him down by force.
By that night, the motive and details of the shooting remained unknown. Was Whiddon telling the truth about a passing gunman? Was he insane, pretending to be insane, or hiding something far darker?
The newspaper had no answer, only a wounded young woman near death, a violent companion in jail, and a mystery on the road north of Gainesville.
Wounded Girl’s Friend Is Violent
GAINESVILLE, Florida. — The motive and details of the shooting of Miss Viola Nash, pretty young Hawthorne school teacher, near here last night were still a mystery tonight.
Robert J. Whiddon, a University of Florida vocational student, her companion at the time of the shooting, held in the Alachua County Jail, is apparently insane or feigning insanity, according to local officials.
Whiddon, officers said, has refused to talk to any one today, or to wear clothing or eat food brought to him in jail. The only statement he made to officers, who attempted to question him, was:
“I did not do it.”
Shortly after the shooting late yesterday afternoon, which occurred on the Lake City Highway about a half mile north of Gainesville, Whiddon, according to officers, told them that Miss Nash was shot down by a man who drove by as he and Miss Nash were standing near his car.
The man, Whiddon said, leaned from his car, fired a shot from his revolver and speeded on toward Lake City.
Whiddon brought Miss Nash to Gainesville.
While Whiddon denies the shooting, the girl’s mother, officers say, asserted that her daughter murmured, “Whiddon shot me,” during one of her conscious moments.
Girl’s Chances Slim
Physicians attending Miss Nash hold out little hope for her recovery. Examination indicated, they say, that Miss Nash had been shot from behind, the bullet entering the back and coming out in the center of the chest.
Doctors who entered Whiddon’s cell late today said that they were attacked and that it was necessary to hold Whiddon down by force to make an examination.
Whiddon and Miss Nash, according to the girl’s parents, had been close friends for more than a year. Whiddon’s family lives in Sycamore, Georgia.
Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. August 17, 1924.
