A Pensacola True Crime Story
A Pensacola Killing on Romana Street in 1922. Pensacola has always been a city of warm and humid nights, especially downtown. In May, the evenings begin to remind the folks that the long summer is knocking on the door. On evenings like that, the breeze drifts slowly off the bay, Spanish moss sways from the large, live oaks over the old streets, and people linger outside long after dark – because the weather is warmer, but still pleasant. It makes a body feel good to be out. But sometimes those quiet Southern nights turn dangerous.
On one such night in May of 1922, a fight erupted near the intersection of Romana Street and Eighth Avenue, ending with a knife wound that would soon bring death—and a courtroom debate about justice. And like many stories from the old Pensacola streets, it began with a domestic dispute that had been simmering long before the knife was ever drawn.
Trouble on a Saturday Night. Shortly after 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night, police were called to a disturbance near Romana Street. When officers arrived, they found Mose Brooks badly wounded from a knife attack. Brooks had suffered several cuts, but one deep gash in his abdomen was especially serious and may have severed his intestines. Officers rushed him to the police station and then to the hospital for treatment. The woman accused of inflicting the wounds, Gatsie Chambers, was arrested shortly afterward. She did not deny cutting Brooks, but she insisted she had done it to save herself. According to Chambers, Brooks had been beating her with a stick when she grabbed a knife and struck back. For police, it was another violent quarrel on the city’s east side. For Brooks, it was the beginning of the end.
Death at the Hospital. Doctors fought to save Brooks, but the injury proved too severe.
The following evening, Sunday night, he died at Pensacola Hospital, a victim of the deep abdominal wound. With his death, the case suddenly changed. What had begun as an assault investigation was now a murder case.
Chambers remained in custody at the city jail, awaiting transfer to county authorities. Meanwhile, the newspapers began reporting more details about the troubled relationship between the two. According to reports, Brooks had been known to beat Chambers frequently, and she claimed the attack that night was only the latest incident.
Whether the public believed her or not would soon be decided in a hearing.
The Coroner’s Jury. On May 9, 1922, a coroner’s jury was convened to examine the circumstances of Brooks’s death. Chambers had been transferred from the city jail to the county jail, where she faced a charge of murder. During the investigation, she again insisted that Brooks had been attacking her—this time reportedly with two soft drink bottles—when she used the knife. The question before the jury was simple but serious:
Was this murder? Or was it self-defense?
A Surprising Verdict. After hearing the testimony and reviewing the evidence, the coroner’s jury reached its conclusion. Their decision came quickly. The jury ruled that Gatsie Chambers had been justified in killing Mose Brooks. According to their finding, the stabbing occurred while she was defending herself from a beating that Brooks had been known to inflict before. With that verdict, Chambers was released.
The case was closed.
The Streets Remember. Today, few people passing along Romana Street and Eighth Avenue would have any idea that a deadly confrontation once took place there on a warm Pensacola night more than a century ago. But stories like this were part of everyday life in early Pensacola. Police officers walked those streets long before radios, patrol cars, or modern forensics. Most cases were settled quickly—with witness testimony, local juries, and the judgment of the community.
Sometimes justice was clear…sometimes it wasn’t.
But on that fateful May night in 1922, a knife flashed red in the darkness, a man died at the hospital, and a coroner’s jury decided that the woman who held the blade had acted to save her own life.
Sweet Tea Murders reminds us that behind the quiet streets of Pensacola lie stories long forgotten—stories of violence, survival, and justice in another time.
And every once in a while, if you listen closely on a warm Gulf Coast night, the past still whispers from the corners of those old streets.
Stay Close to the Story
If you enjoy uncovering the forgotten crimes of old Pensacola, make sure you join the Sweet Tea Murders email list here on the website. That way you’ll be the first to hear about new stories, podcasts, and discoveries from the streets and archives of West Florida.
And coming soon, you’ll also be able to purchase tickets for the Sweet Tea Murders Live Downtown Pensacola storytelling experience, where these true stories are told in person—just a short walk from where many of them actually happened.
Because here in the South, the tea is sweet…
but the stories are murder.
Michael Earl Simmons
