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Show "Whipping Boss" Goes Free Cross City, Fla. Thomas Walter Higginbotham, Dixie county lumber camp "whipping boss," was acquitted by a circuit court jury on a second degree murder charge in connection with the alleged slaying of Martin Tabert, North Dakota youth. A year ago Higginbotham was found guilty of the charge, but a new trial was granted by a supreme court decision. Acquittal of Higginbotham ended one of the most sensational cases in the history of Florida courts, the ramifications of which resulted in the Florida legislature in 1923, abolishing the lash as a means of disciplining state and county convicts. |