Don't Expect a Card on Father's Day

David Jasper Mimbs was the husband of my great aunt, Laura Matilda Wilson. He was born in 1868 and died on August 29, 1927.

He died of natural causes but folks had planned another end for him. Jasper was convicted of the 1916 murder of Allan Dallas Buey in Polk County, Florida. He almost went to the gallows in Bartow like his son but with a slick defense got a life sentence instead.

Allan Buey was going to marry Jasper's step daughter Lula Mae, Laura's daughter from her first marriage. The trial report showed that Jasper talked his son into shooting Buey because he had a crush on her himself and then he testified against his son. He also claimed his son signed a confession that he alone had been involved and his father was innocent. The only problem is the son couldn't read or write.

Somehow Jasper got a pardon after his son's hanging and was sent to the State Prison in Raiford. On the 1920 census he is listed there as a farmer. He died seven years later and was buried in the prison cemetery.

The newspaper articles tell the story.

The Lake Wales Highlander

April 5, 1917

Father And Son Are Convicted

Ed and Jasper Mimbs Found Guilty of Murder in First Degree After a Lengthy Trial

After a trial which lasted for five days, Ed. Mimbs, charged with the murder of A. D. Buey  on the 17th of December, and his father, Jasper, indicted as an accessory in the crime, were both found guilty of murder in the first degree, the jury bringing in a verdict  at about three o'clock Tuesday afternoon, after being out about three hours.

On account of the publicity which the murder had received and the large number of people  acquainted with the defendants in the east end of the county, considerable difficulty was  experienced in obtaining a jury, it taking nearly all of last Thursday to secure men satisfactory  to the attorneys. The evidence showed that while Ed. Mimbs had actually fired the shots from  ambush which had killed Mr. Buey, he was aided and abetted in the planning of the murder by his father.

The State prosecuting attorney Burton had a strong case of circumstantial evidence against the  accused and handled the proceedings in a masterly way. He was greatly assisted it the conduct  of the case by J. T. Parker, of Lake Wales. The courtroom was crowded with interested  spectators nearly the entire time the trial was in progress, and when the verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree was brought in by the jury, it was the  universal opinion that the verdict was a most just one. Sentence has not yet been passed.

Many Lake Wales people were in attendance  at the trial, as both the murdered man and the defendants were well known here.

The Lake Wales Highlander

April 25, 1918

Father And Son To Hang

Governor Catts on last Friday signed the death warrants of Ed and Jasper Mimbs who were  convicted last March for the murder of E. F. Boewe at Peace Valley, and they will be executed  at Bartow on May 17th. Boewe was waylaid and shot on Sunday morning, December 16, 1916.




Evening Post May 17, 1918



Augusta Chronicle Saturday, June 1, 1918




Tampa Tribune April 8, 1919