October 1957 – Tampa, Florida funeral of Ruth Dewitt
Florence Bender had made all the funeral arrangements. The woman had literally saved her life and she was most grateful to her. She made sure Ruth was well taken care of in her older years. Her secrets only known to Ruth died with her. If it hadn't been for Ruth, she would have either been dead or taken her own life which she was tempted to do as she had no way out of a terrible situation. Both she and Ruth had to do what they did to survive. She had dodged a terrible bullet and no doubt many others were saved because of it.
It rained very heavy during the funeral and then the sun came out.
The same day as the funeral of Ruth, Rose and Jack Dawson had moved into a retirement community in St. Petersburg from their home in Wisconsin. It didn't rain one drop when they moved in.
October 1983 – St. Petersburg, Florida
Obituary Jack Dawson, age 91 died peacefully at home four days after celebrating his 75th wedding anniversary earlier in the year. He is survived by his wife Rose, four children, daughter Rosemary and husband Doug, daughter Clara and husband Bill, son Jack Jr and wife LouAnn, and daughter Shirley and husband Mark. Also is survived by 16 grandchildren, 4 great-grand children and one great-grand daughter.
The Dawsons came to St. Petersburg in 1957 from Wisconsin. Mr. Dawson served in World War I and World War II in the airforce. He retired in 1956 and shortly thereafter worked at the McDill Air Force Base as an instructor before retiring again in 1967.
In his spare time, Mr. Dawson painted artwork was in several local and regional art shows. He also did volunteer work at the Grace Lutheran church where he served as a usher and mentor. Funeral services will be held at the church...
Rose Dawson had been lucky as she had had a very happy life with Jack. For the first couple of years both of them were concerned about Cal Hockley finding them. As the years went by, she occasionally would worry about him finding them.
Thankfully for Jack, Cal Hockley mistakenly thought that he had been born in Chicago and had been searching there. About 10 years after Cal had disappeared she had read about it in the Wall Street Journal. She felt a sense of relief as her gut feeling told her that he was probably dead.
Unsolved Mysteries – January 1986
The Disappearance of Cal Hockley - The year was 1912. Cal Hockley, along with Rose Dewitt Butaker and her mother Ruth boarded the Titanic. Rose was engaged to be married to Cal Hockley. She didn't want to marry him but fell in love with a passenger named Jack Dawson. The next day the Titanic sank and both Ruth and Jack died or did they. Cal Hockley never totally believed this and spent time and money trying to track them down. A year and a half later he boarded a train to Jacksonville where he believed the couple to be living. The address was an old farm house which had been abandoned several years earlier and was up for sale.. At that time, it was a very rural area.
The owners were listed as Rose and Jack Dawson on the for sale sign.. An address was listed as a contact but the address was a local Baptist Church. Mr. Hockley was last seen walking towards the property right before a bad thunderstorm but was never seen or heard from again. Police and federal officials spent days interviewing people and trying to find him but they never did. Officials believed that someone lured him to the property with the intent to kill him.
A search of the local records revealed that there was no one in Duval County or in Jacksonville who had the names Rose and Jack Dawson at the time.
Another strange detail about this was about 3 weeks before Mr. Hockley disappeared, Ruth Butaker who was Rose's mother disappeared from the boarding house she was living in after Mr. Hockley kicked her out of the house. She went out to take a walk and never returned. Like Mr. Hockley, Ruth was never seen or heard from again. Was their some connection to her disappearance and Mr. Hockley's disappearance? Because there was bad blood, was Ruth Butaker involved in his disappearance? Or was it someone else?. If you have any information, please telephone our Unsolved Mysteries hot line at …...or mail us at...
Several family members would like closure on this case.
Rose Dawson was sitting on the couch with her granddaughter watching. Soon, she would be off to start college. She had never reconnected with her mother and she wondered if Cal had something to do with her mother's disappearance. It didn't surprise her that her mother got kicked out of the Hockley home. As she thought about it, it wouldn't be far fetched of him having something to do with her disappearance. He wouldn't be caught dead in that filthy neighborhood as he would call it but he would get someone else to do his dirty work. She hoped that this didn't happened but there was a possibility he did hire someone to get rid of her mother.. Her mother had some skills and had hidden some money, so maybe she did escape. It would be something if her mother was the one that killed Cal or had something to do with his disappearance but she couldn't see her mother doing this.
When her granddaughter went to sleep, she got out the old newspaper clipping that she's saved all these years. She was surprised that on the TV, they didn't mention that he was engaged to be married and had disappeared about two months before the wedding.
"The woman dodged a bullet." Rose Dawson said aloud.
Florence Bender also saw the program. She was in bed and knew that her time on earth was short and would be getting shorter by the day. Florence typed a letter to Rose Dawson to be mailed to her two weeks after she died.
Thankfully when Rose got the mail, she was at home alone.
Dear Rose Dawson:
My name is Florence Bender and I instructed a friend to mail you this letter a couple of weeks after my death. You don't know me personally although I'm sure living in the Tampa. St Pete area, you have probably heard of me. Anyway, your mother Ruth saved my life and if she had not been there, I would have either committed suicide or been murdered by Cal Hockley.
Your mother told me that at your funeral, Cal Hockley didn't cry or act like he was grieve stricken. He had no reaction and had this cold unemotional look about him. Within a couple of weeks he was looking for someone to marry. By the time I was 18 years old my parents were deceased. I lived in a house that was owned by my uncle. He wanted to marry me off and I went to the Philadelphia Ball where I met creep Cal Hockley. I knew nothing of his history. Shortly before we were engaged to be married, my uncle died. Cal talked me into handing over the property to him which was a huge mistake.
I was alone at my house when Cal came into my house in the middle of the night and raped me. He also beat me up and threatened to kill me if I told anyone. He had locked your mother in her room, so she couldn't do anything but she heard everything. She screamed for him to stop hurting me, but he delighting in this laughing about it. He then opened the door, grabbed her by the arm and shoved her out and told her to clean me up and then he left.
The next day someone came to pick Ruth up and I didn't see her again for several weeks. I knew that I couldn't go thru with this marriage and was looking for a way out. He had people watch me.
He came to the house again when I was having my period and accused me of sleeping with another man. I was slapped across the face so hard that I was fell and hit the side of a table. I was knocked out cold but this didn't stop him from beating and raping me.
When I came to, Ruth was there with a doctor. Cal Hockley told him an intruder had come into my home and assaulted me. The police were there as well. My face was black and blue, I had a shiner in both eyes and I had a terrible headache. I also had a broken arm. Ruth was allowed to stay with me that night. I told her I wanted to end my life because I didn't want to be married to a cruel abusive man who probably would end up killing me. It took me nearly a month for my physical wounds to heal. I can tell you that the emotional and psychological wounds never totally healed as I had nightmares about these two incidences decades after the fact.
The next day Ruth was fired and told to leave. This time I had a gun that she had given me and I pointed it at him before he ever got near me. I shot it above his head. He knew at this point that he wouldn't be able to abuse or harm me again. He call me every day name in the book and told me that he was going to ruin my reputation. I looked at him and said that I didn't give a damn which I didn't.
Unknown to him, I had some money hidden that he knew nothing about which was a good thing. I was given money to get out of town. People in his family knew what he had done and so did others. You would wonder why a man so wealthy like him wouldn't marry into another similar family. The fathers of many of these women knew what a creep he was. He was verbally abusive to people who worked for him and other people saw this as well. People notice things about others.
He was abusive to the prostitutes and was barred from most of the brothels in town. Other people had seen his fits of anger, not someone you would want your daughter to marry. These men could find decent men who would marry their daughters and not do these terrible things to them. Shady business deals on the side the letter read.
Tears came to Rose's eyes as she read this letter mentioning the ripped dress How did she know about this? . Cal Hockley probably would have raped her if her mother hadn't come into the bedroom. He had ripped her dress and this experience had left her very shaken. Her mother barely noticed her tears which turned into sobs. Her mother didn't really believe her. .
Before the creep left for the last time, he told me that he had found out that you and Jack were alive and living in Jacksonville. You were selling some property and he was going down there to kill you both. There was an ad in the Wall Street Journal. He went down there and someone probably lured him down there to kill him. He was never seen again. I prayed that he would not hurt you and he didn't as you were living in Green Bay Wisconsin at the time.
I was the one who placed the ad in the Wall Street Journal. Ruth was already down there waiting for him. I found out right before she died in 1957 that she saw him walking around the property near the lake. An alligator was in the back yard. He tried to kick the alligator and fell down. The alligator grabbed him by the neck and went under the water. She could hear him screaming for help. She saw two alligators attack him. Then everything was silent. She saw him come to the surface and she knew he was dead. She left very quickly. It was about 3;00 pm.
Nearby was a town which had a train station. She was barely noticed as she got on the train that was headed towards Jacksonville where I later met up with her. We ended up in Tampa. I introduced her as my elder aunt. She used the last name Dewitt which was her maiden name.
I married and had a couple of children. I married a wonderful man and counted my blessings. I tried to find you after I arrived in Tampa but was unable to do so. You arrived in St. Pete the same year your mother died. After she died, I stopped looking for you but did see pictures of your late husband Jack and you art festivals in the Tampa area. I wondered if he was related to Jack Dawson who died on the Titanic. I knew that he was from Wisconsin. When I saw the town he was from, I knew that it was probably him. When I saw you, I knew but didn't say anything.
I also saw you guys at a couple of charity events. We were introduced although I'm not sure you remember this as it was back in the early 1970's. I knew back then. I decided to let you just be. Wasn't really my business.
If you decide to rip this letter up or burn it, that is fine with me. I needed to tell someone about this before I died as I've never told anyone else except for Ruth.
Rose re-read the letter and then shredded it. When she died a couple of years later, no one knew that she was a Titanic survivor (she never told anyone nor did Jack). It was just better than way. She still feared the Hockley family and no doubt Jack did as well. Let sleeping dogs lie.