6. Around 10 pm on Friday, January 30, 1931, Henry Moore and his date Gretchen Gregory arrived on Magnolia Bluff, a popular Pensacola lover’s lane. Down the old clay road that branched off the new Scenic Highway, Magnolia Bluff offered lovebirds total seclusion. According to Gretchen, she and Henry sat talking maybe 45 minutes when suddenly both doors (there were only two on the roadster coupe) were flung open. There stood two men with flashlights. The lights were blinding.

One of the assailants shouted “hands up!” Rather than throw her hands up, Gretchen pulled her coat over her face, as any respectable girl would when caught parking with a married man on a secluded bluff. Gretchen remembers Henry saying something like, “What’s this about?” Then a single shot pierced the night, and Henry exclaimed, “Oh Gretchen!”

Then all went silent.  After a couple of minutes, Gretchen gathered the nerve to peek out from behind her coat. The attackers were gone. Her date was slumped against her - not good - but he was still breathing. She pulled Henry over to thepassenger’s seat the best she could, took the wheel and began the harrowing drive to get him help.

Credits and Sources:

UWF Mistory Project