There is a note on front of the columns the front entrance. Tell your fellow officers no harm will come to them if they do not penetrate the confines of the edifice.” It was signed “Smoking Raven in the Eye of the Great Storm.” Marshall made his way to the main lobby and got on an elevator. The first note read: “It would be advisable to leave the building and contact your superiors. He left one note for police near the entrance and another down the hall. Marshall made his way inside and took a look around. The first note Marshall Ledbetter left for police during his occupation of the capitol building on June 14, 1991. Even though Ledbetter had struck a major blow to its defenses, the capitol’s computerized alarm system still registered the building as secure. Incredibly, despite the new capitol building’s technological wizardry, no sensors had been embedded in the building’s glass doors. No black helicopters swept down on Ledbetter from over the rooftops. No lights were tripped, no alarms sounded, no automated phone calls were dialed to the police. Strangely, no security alert was triggered when Marshall smashed the window. He hit the glass six or seven more times. This time, Marshall tapped on the glass gently, gradually at first with light taps and increasing the force with each swing. Marshall hit the towel-wrapped bottle hard against the glass. He took a roll of masking tape from his pocket and affixed the tape in strips on the door to muffle the noise of glass breaking. He was on the south side (Adams Street) of the plaza level. He waited for the right time to act.Ībout an hour later, Ledbetter wrapped a towel around the empty bottle of whisky he had been carrying and approached a doorway. He noticed a Capitol Police officer on patrol but evaded her view. He surveyed the scene and weighed the advantages and disadvantages of various entry points into the building. He was wearing acid-washed shorts, flip-flops, and a faded purple tie-dyed Jimi Hendrix T-shirt. Ledbetter arrived at the capitol building a little after 3:00 a.m. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!” -Mario Savio, “Sproul Hall Steps, December 2, 1964.” “There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. William Spence, “Court-Ordered Psychological Evaluation,” July 2, 1991. I was doing my best to invite a world revolution.” -Marshall Ledbetter in Dr. Intrigued? Here’s an excerpt from the book that we think you’ll enjoy. You’ll get an inside view of the comic crime that has since become tragic legend.Įxcerpt from Chapter 7, “Capitol Showdown.” “This was a declaration of war on the present day power structure of this planet. The book explores the ways society deals with unstable people in real-life situations and whether our law enforcement and justice systems are equipped to handle mental illness. In Making Sense of Marshall Ledbetter: The Dark Side of Political Protest, Daniel Harrison tells the story of a young man whose silent struggle with mental illness first manifested in this peculiar public protest, followed by ten years in and out of institutions and his eventual suicide. He was making a statement no one was hurt he didn’t even have a gun. Occupying the Sergeant at Arms suite, he demanded an extra-large Gumby’s pizza and 666 donuts for the cops waiting outside (Jello Biafra later wrote about this incident in his song “The Ballad of Marshall Ledbetter”). We are excited to present the true story of a bizarre act of creative crime: the biggest security breach in the history of the Florida State Capitol.Įarly one morning in June 1991, after a long night of heavy drinking, Florida State University dropout Marshall Ledbetter used an empty whiskey bottle wrapped in a towel to break through the glass doors of the Florida State Capitol. “A compelling look at a significant but little-known incident in Florida history, one that turned out to be a precursor to the Occupy movement.”-Craig Pittman, author of The Scent of Scandal “I could not put down this book.”-George Singleton, author of Between Wrecks The case of Marshall Ledbetter is humorous, chilling, and an important story to tell.”-Gary Alan Fine, coauthor of Whispers on the Color Line “Was this a courageous act of protest or a sad act of madness? This fascinating book explores the line between inspiration and insanity.
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