SHERIFF DON MCLEOD

Donald McLeod was appointed by Governor Fuller Warren to fill the remainder of Sheriff Porter’s term. He was sworn into office on April 20th, 1951. Sheriff McLeod then ran for the office and was elected. He was elected to a second term in 1955. 

Sheriff McLeod was born in Atlanta, Georgia on June 26, 1902. He grew up in South Carolina. No information exists as to when or why he moved to Ocala, but he served as Justice of the Peace from 1937 until 1941. In 1941 he entered the United States Army and served the entire war. In 1945 he was discharged as a Warrant Officer.

Sheriff McLeod had been hired as a deputy by Sheriff Porter in 1945. From 1946 until he was appointed sheriff, he was Chief Deputy for Sheriff Porter.

On May 28, 1955, Deputies Curtis Youngblood and Robert Wooten responded to the residence of Edward and Bertha Lindley after a neighbor complained about the Lindleys’ stealing kerosene. 

Lindley was a retired schoolteacher, he and his wife moved to Florida from Indiana and nothing in their past gave any indication of the incident to come. As Wooten and Youngblood walked up to the house, Bertha met them in the front yard. After a short conversation they decided to arrest both Bertha and Edward. As Deputy Youngblood grabbed a hold of Bertha’s arm, one shot was fired. Youngblood dropped to the ground, dead from a direct rifle shot to the head. Edward had been watching from a window, he had the Deputies in his sight and fired. Wooten was in shock, he immediately reached for his holstered gun. Edward squeezed off another round killing Wooten before he had a chance to take cover and return fire. Several neighbors heard the shots and witnessed the horrific sight of two dead Deputies. 

Panicked calls were answered at both the Sheriff’s Office and the Ocala Police Department. Every available law enforcement officer in the community both on duty and off duty started racing to the Lindley’s residence. The first to arrive was M. O. Tuck, the Assistant Police Chief from Ocala. He had been on routine patrol in the city and was not too far from the location. He walked towards the house then attempted to take cover behind a small tree. More shots were exchanged, and Edward picked off Tuck. 

W. G. Ergle (Father of future Sheriff Ken Ergle) responded and was wounded in the shoulder and face while trying to rescue Deputies Youngblood and Wooten, who lay dying or already dead in the yard. The shooting ended shortly after tear gas was lobbed into the house, and the couple inside surrendered.

The investigation revealed that Bertha Lindley never fired a shot. She was taken back to Indiana by family and died of natural causes in the 1980’s.   Edward Lindley never stood trial for the murders of the three officers. He was found mentally incompetent and died at the State Mental hospital.