Ellen and I live in a historic, almost century house, in Ybor City which is a historic district on the east side of downtown Tampa.

First a little history lesson, then we will get to the reason for “Reefer Madness.

Martinez Ybor was a Cuban  who brought the cigar industry from Key West to Tampa in the late 1890s.

Thus the area w live in is a historic district. It is a mix or retail, lots of bars and a lot of old historic homes and new condos.  Lots of young people live here.

My wife, Ellen Marshall, bought the house we live in back in the early 1990s.  She was only the third owner of this house.

Originally, It was built in the 1920s for a Mr. Licata who had two successful barbershops in downtown Tampa.

Mr. Licata wanted to build a new house for his family in the Hyde Park area of Tampa, which is in the heart of downtown Tampa. But the powers that be said, “We ain’t letting no Italians live in Hyde Park.”

Mr. Licata said, “I will build a prestigious home in Ybor City.

The house is four bedrooms with a central hallway then the usual living room to bathroom layout on the other side.  It has 12 foot high ceilings, beaded woodwork, hardwood floors, also a big front porch and a driveway (we have the only driveway for two blocks around, it is a big plus). There is a great back yard with a great enclosed fence.Six feral cats live here in utter luxury.

Ellen bought this house for under $25000 at the time.  She was the only white women living there at that time. We just sold it for mucho dinero more.

OK back to Mr. Licata and Reefer Madness.

Mr. Licata had a big family with two sons and a daughter. One of his sons was not right.  He should have been institutionalized but the family would not do that.

So, one day in the mid 1930s, the said son, high on copious amounts of Jack Daniels, beers and little Reefer, bludgeoned to death his whole family in our house.

Newspapers at the time described neighbors saying they knew something was wrong when the family did not show up for Sunday church.  They also noticed blood seeping under the front door.

The federal government seized upon this incident, citing marijuana, as the main reason for his murderous intent.  The Senate then passed a law making marijuana illegal all because of this incident.

Anybody who has ever toked knows this is total BS, because when you are high you are not in a murderous state.  You are usually looking for chocolate.

Anyways, our house is the reason for Reefer Madness.

Time to Time, we have people show up on our porch and inquire about the incident.I can say there are no bad vibes here, just mellow feral cats.

Just thought you might like hearing an interesting story.

Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!

Join Art Fair Insiders

Comments

  • Wow, cool story, Barry. Has anyone read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States? It is rife with stories like that. Seems the wealthy screw each other also.

    Nels, I wish I had visited. This house sounds amazing (and I love your story.) My pre Civil war home in Michigan was once in the family of Harry Crippen who supposedly murdered his wife in London, jumped on an ocean bound liner with his mistress. When he arrived in New York th police were waiting for him. The invention of the telegraph, first overseas message to catch a criminal.

    Mostly though, why are you moving to New Smyrna? Your life in Ybor seemed perfect. Will the new owners take care of the cats? Will you be able to have a sale in your new front yard and make mucho moola there?

  • Nels, while that makes for a great story, it only has a slight connection to the passing of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. In truth, Andrew Mellon, who was at the time, the richest American, had invested heavily in nylon which was invented by Dupont. Mellon and Dupont plotted with Hearst to destroy the hemp industry which was a very cheap alternative as a fiber. Hearst, who invented "yellow journalism" or in today's vernacular "fake news," created and ran many stories about the evils of marijuana. Hearst owned 28 newspapers in the '30's and was read by 25% of all Americans. We all know fake news works and marijuana became illegal mostly because of his efforts.

  • Everyone I know that smokes pot are professionals and are responsible people. Change the word alcohol for marijuana and I would believe you.

  • Interesting story.  We love touring historic homes and sites. We toured a couple in San Antonio and loved both tours and homes.

  • Sounds like Oregon today. Marijuana has opened a floodgate of tragedy behavior: car crashes that are hit and run because they don't want a drug test; child and domestic abuse; explosion of multiple drug use; crazy people attacking others almost daily here. It's horrible. I voted to legalize it, and regret that it has ruined the place. My town has a marijuana store on nearly every block. It's a magnet for mentally ill people who are seeking marijuana to self-medicate.

  • WOW!!!! That is quite a story!  I always said, no one gets high and beats up their wife.  

This reply was deleted.