"Nephew of Gang Leader John Ashley, Hanford Mobley assumed leadership when Ashley was in jail for
the third time. Mobley was killed on the Sebastian River Bridge on Nov. 1 1924."
[note cwm - He was a member of the notorious Ashley Gang that was so well known
that all they had to do was walk into a bank and they started handing them
the money without being told to do so. I have not been able to trace
past his father, West Mobley, in Palm Beach Co. My father had a
rifle that he said belonged to a distant cuzn and had been used in a bank
holdup in Miami - often wondered what happened to that gun after dad's
death and if this was the same cuzn.
Hansford and most of the Ashley gang were trapped at the Sebastian
bridge [on U.S. 1 south of Melbourne, FL]. Several police put a chain
across the bridge then hid over the embankment. When the car stopped and
some got out to remove the chain, the cops jumped up and started firing,
no questions asked - no survivors either.
Ashley Gang Members
Photo Provided by: Florida State Photographic Archives
