The
Barber-Mizell Feud
The
fall session of 1868 promised to be a tense face-off between the Barbers and
the Mizells in the Orange County Court.
Naturally, the Mizells had the upper hand given their official
positions. But, the face-off was
delayed—some say purposely.
Mary
Mizell Speir, daughter of Sheriff David Mizell, had a nightmare and woke up in
the middle of the night a few days before the county court was scheduled to
convene. Looking through her bedroom
window, she saw glinting lights dancing on the windowpanes. She jumped out of bed and saw that the
courthouse was on fire. She sounded an
alarm to awaken the sleeping citizens of Orlando.
The
men of the town, some still in their nightshirts, battled the fire for some
time but were unable to save the building.
In fact, it appeared the fire would spread and destroy the entire
downtown area. Sallie Mizell, another
daughter of the sheriff, and her niece Anne Roberts risked their lives by
running into the store belonging to her brother-in-law Edward W. Speir. They saved his ledgers as well as the post
office receipts that he supervised.
Investigators
later found empty bottles of turpentine and inflammable resin near the charred
remains of the courthouse. All of the
old county records were destroyed except one deed book that the county clerk
had taken home to work on that night.
It was an obvious case of arson but, while rumors abounded as to the identity
of the arsonist, no witness to the crime came forward.
Three
weeks after the fire, while spending a leisurely evening on their front porch,
Mary and Ed Speir observed a stray dog wandering down the road. Mrs. Speir commented to her husband that, if
he wanted to apprehend an arsonist, he should follow that dog for a while. A few hours later, Orlando’s jail burst into
flames and the owner of the dog in question was widely suspected as the
culprit. History does not record who this
individual was, but he must have feared discovery from the scrutiny he received
following Mrs. Speir’s prophecy. At any
rate, there were no more fires in Orlando for quite some time.
More:
8.
Aftermath