April 25, 2023Chevy Chase, Maryland Emmett and Paul Carter had a long, close friendship. They were best friends for most of their lives. Their friendship began in childhood, when Emmett and his family moved to Chipley, after his mother’s death in June, 1891, and his father remarried a wealthy widow […]
March 25, 2023Chevy Chase, Maryland Emmett’s summer of 1912, on the surface, seemed low-key, and predictable. According to contemporary media coverage, he went about his business as usual: Prosecuting cases for the State of Florida, visiting or entertaining relatives who stopped over from Marianna, Chipley, or Sneads, contributing to political […]
March 15, 2023Chevy Chase, Maryland In 2014, when I began organizing all the information I had about Emmett into a table, the idea was so that I could have a chronological view of him and his life, so that it would (theoretically) make the writing task flow more smoothly. I […]
July 5, 1912The Raleigh HotelWashington, D.C. Walter KehoeKehoe and Wilson700-702 American National Bank BuildingPensacola, Florida Walter: Our visit to Washington is almost over; we’ll leave on the evening train out of Union Station later this afternoon. Griggs, Crawford, and myself have most of the day to go about town and […]
6:15 am.July 3, 1912The Raleigh HotelWashington, D.C. Walter KehoeKehoe and Wilson700-702 American National Bank BuildingPensacola, Florida Dear Walter: Mayes, Tommie Crawford, and myself are sharing a suite of two bedrooms and a parlor; while everyone is still asleep, I thought to write you a quick letter on our goings-on for […]
June 20, 1912Aboard the L&R trainEn route to Petersburg, Virginia This is the first time since the primary that I have extended time to myself, and I’m savoring it. It has been nonstop since the election — not a day has gone by that I could sit for an hour […]
May 9, 1912Pensacola, Florida And so, the race begins again. Three weeks of nonstop activity. Live speeches in fourteen counties. It will be the most compressed, pressured project ever undertaken, and I cannot let on how damned tired I am, nor how my stomach turns over in knots whenever I […]
August 9, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland At this time in Florida politics, it was customary to hold two primaries for the top two Democratic contestants, even if the races weren’t all that close, which would be decided in late June of the election year. The winner would face the Republican nominee […]
June 2, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Here’s the thing that has puzzled me ever since I started research on Emmett Wilson’s life story: What was the main reason Frank Mayes (and The Pensacola Journal) endorsed Emmett for U.S. Congress? Frank was no dummy; he was a prescient newsman who kept close […]
May 31, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Every year, on the anniversary of Emmett Wilson’s death, I like to go back to the old notes, check in on research sources and database updates, in case there’s fresh information I didn’t have at the start of Emmett’s story. And every year, I’m always […]
Tell my story. 