Captain Rice's Cottage

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
In the last days of July, 1902, the body of Ada Wells who lived in a house she rented from Captain Rice, situated just south of the Grand View Hotel building in Titusville, was found lifeless on her cot.

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Harvard Club, Titusville, FL c.1946

Originally established as Sand Point in 1859, the small settlement boasted a post office however the onset of the Civil War closed it down. In 1867, Confederate Colonel Henry Theodore Titus, came to build a town since his wife Mary owned land in the vicinity. He chose a spot on the banks of the Indian River. They donated lands for the first courthouse, four churches and the streets which aided in connecting the town to the St. John and Indian Rivers. The railroad arrived in the 1880s and the 1890s, increasing trade for citrus and fishes.

​Titusville in those years had a small population, so when families living near to Captain Rice's cottage heard screams during the previous night, it was inevitable the neighbors went to investigate once the dawn broke.

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TItusville c.1907

The first hint that something was amiss, was when no one appeared to be moving about the house as usual. A search was made and Ada Wells was found in the front room. Finger marks on her throat proved she had been choked to death. There was also a bruise behind the right ear, one upper front tooth was broken loose and pressed forward indicating she bit her assailant and when the person pulled away, it pulled the tooth outward. It was evident there had been a struggle on the ground outside the door, which would account why the victim had wood ashes clinging to her head and her right eye. Someone had picked up the body and carried it into the house, placing it on the cot. The left arm had blood on it, and her mouth was full of blood.

Ada was last seen alive on Saturday around 11 p.m. when she had bought a half-pint flask of gin, and headed home. Police verified she was seen talking with a man not far from her house, probably after she bought the gin.

​The murder was a mystery as there appeared to be no motive for killing her. "She was a harmless sort of person, had no money that is known of, and at times was given to be demented." It was estimated she had become involved in a drunken row with her assailant, and he killed her without meaning to. 

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Abandoned turpentine still c.1900s

Coroner B. R. Wilson and Sheriff Brown were called, and jurymen were empaneled to investigate the crime. The jurymen viewed the body, the surroundings and returned a verdict that Ada Wells came to her death at the hands of parties to the jury unknown.

A little over a month later Sheriff Brown arrested Luly Smith, Albert Willis and Ben Watson based on evidence at least two of them were involved in the Wells case.

Kept apart, they told conflicting stories. The preliminary hearing started in October, 1902 and now the accusations shifted to Belle Skinner and Albert Willis. Two months later Belle Skinner was convicted of murder in the first degree with recommendation for mercy. The mercy translated to life imprisonment instead of being executed. Albert Willis, convicted of manslaughter, received a sentence of twenty years.

The evidence in the case was described as circumstantial, but proved the murder was committed through jealousy. The two women were prostitutes and Belle Skinner was the "arch conspirator in the killing." Willis’ confession was used extensively in the trial. The newspapers cited the details of the dispute between the women as not fit to print in a family newspaper, so the exact nature of the trouble between the women was not widely known.

Surprisingly Belle was married when she killed Ada. She emigrated from Canada and had been married for 10 years to William Skinner. Albert on his part had married Mamie Davis in May of 1902, only two months before the murder.

Six months after her conviction, Belle Skinner was removed from the Monroe Turpentine Farm south of Titusville, and taken to Ocala due to her failing health. Turpentine farms of those years used convict labor, and the work was known to be brutal.

In 1910, she was still at the State Convict Hospital in Ocala, Florida. Belle was then 48 years old. What became of Albert is unknown. His wife Mamie died in 1918 and was buried at the Florida State Hospital cemetery in Chattahoochee, which served as the state's insane asylum. Captain Elish Rice who rented the house to Ada Wells died in 1904.

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