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Okeechobee |
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Picture Gallery |
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Page Twenty Nine |
(Click Picture to Enlarge)
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A Sketch on Laura Upthegrove
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Laura
Upthegrove
gained
notoriety
as
a
member
of
John
Ashley’s
gang,
and
his
girlfriend. Following
the
deaths
of
the
rest
of
the
gang,
Laura
was
asked
to
leave
several
communities
and
she
eventually
settled
in
the
city
of
Okeechobee. While
a
resident,
she
was
arrested
several
times
for
her
excessive
drinking,
by
none
other
than
Sheriff
Pogy
Bill
Collins.
On
one
of
those
occasions,
she
tried
to
commit
suicide.
She
cut
herself
and
asked
for
some
iodine.
When
she
got
it,
she
drank
it.
According
to
her
sister,
Lola
Upthegrove
Williams,
you
could
see
the
color
of
the
iodine
on
the
outside
of
her
neck
from
where
it
penetrated
when
she
drank
it. While she lived in Okeechobee, she became a regular participant in the Monday morning sessions of the municipal court. She was ostracized by society and was finally told to leave town. In
1927,
she
was
living
with
her
mother
at
Upthegrove
Beach, and
was
assisting
at
the
gas
station
her
mother
ran
there.
A
customer
said
she
had
cheated
him
on
his
change
from
the
bottle
of
bootleg
liquor
he
had
purchased.
He
returned
with
friends
and
in
the
thick
of
the
fight,
Laura
grabbed
for
her
gun.
He
mother
snatched
it
away
and
then
Laura
grabbed
a
bottle
of
Lysol
and
drank
its
contents.
The
"Queen
of
the
Everglades"
who
had
gained
notoriety
in
John
Ashley's
Gang
,
died
at
the
age
of
30.
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