The cover story for the summer issue of Indian River Magazine is all about the Ashley Gang, which terrorized the east coast of Florida back in the 1910s and 1920s. This gang spent a lot of time around Stuart and the rest of Martin County, Florida. It all started when John Ashley killed a Seminole Indian named DeSoto Tiger after robbing him of 84 otter pelts, and recruiting family members and others to join him, began holding up banks, trains, and other targets, ending in a shootout at the Sebastian River Bridge, with Ashley and 3 gang members shot dead. Since this is the 100th anniversary of that bloody ending, Indian River Magazine is featuring a three-part series about the gang, and the Elliot Museum in Stuart has added a permanent exhibit about them. I have to say, the first part of that three-part series was very detailed, with far more information that I ever cared to know. I think I will skip the next two segments. I think I will also skip the museum exhibit, too.
The reason so many people are interested in this gang around here is because they robbed the Bank of Stuart twice, once in 1915 and once in 1922. Between 1990 and 1999 there was a restaurant in downtown Stuart called The Ashley, located in the building that housed that bank. The Ashley featured photographs and newspaper clippings about the gang, and was actually a very nice place to dine, right around the corner from the downtown plaza along the St. Lucie River. And yes, that is indeed my mother Mary and sister Susan standing in front of that very restaurant in the photograph on the right. I don't think we actually ever ate there - it was a bit on the pricey side, and my mother was every bit as thrifty as I am today. Go figure. That location now houses Spritz City Bistro. And by the way, I perused their menu online recently, and I don't intend to dine there any time soon, either. Once a cheapskate, always a cheapskate.
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