December 14, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland After Emmett won the primary, the summer of 1912 was a cakewalk. All Emmett had to do, pretty much, was keep up the image cultivated by Frank Mayes and the rest of the Florida Democratic Party leadership: Be positive, stay out of trouble, say nothing […]
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
October 10, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland On Friday, May 11, 1912, both candidates for the second primary, Emmett Wilson and Dannite Mays, were in Apalachicola for the Florida Democratic Executive Committee meeting. The purpose of the meeting: To confirm the final votes across the district, and to name the two candidates […]
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
May 4, 1912Pensacola, Florida More than two-thirds of the vote for the congressional race has been counted, but here we are, several days after the election, and still, the final vote count was unknown. What adds to the delay is the fact that a huge storm has come through the […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
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 […]
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
May 13, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland On February 4, 1912, Emmett announced to the public his official candidacy in several West Florida newspapers, but his actual platform was not published until March 17, 1912. It’s a big piece, and was expensive to run in several of the state’s newspapers, therefore, Emmett […]
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
April 17, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Now, this was interesting. Just one day after Judge Charles B. Parkhill announced in the same newspaper that he was running for U.S. Congress, he changed his mind? According to the information in The Pensacola Journal, Parkhill issued a written statement to the same paper, […]
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
April 9, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Emmett’s command performance for Whit Kelly in Columbus, Georgia on October 24, 1911 wasn’t solely to placate Kelly. Someone else was watching this play out for a good reason, and it wasn’t Byrd Kelly. It was Frank Mayes. Mayes and the Florida Democratic Executive Committee […]
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
September 29, 20151:25 pmPensacola, Florida After spending several productive hours with the awesome Santa Rosa Court archivists, Nancy and I went to Denny’s for brunch to review where we were so far with Emmett’s discovery. There’s nothing like a plate load pancakes and pots of coffee to refuel and relax. […]
Estimated reading time: 18 minutes
March 15, 1908, Plaza Ferdinand VIIPensacola, FL Frank Mayes enjoyed visiting the Plaza Ferdinand VII park, especially on this pleasant Spring day. A soft breeze rustled the new leaves in nearby trees; the sun was warm, birds twittered here and there on nearby benches. An occasional passerby nodded greetings as […]
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Just having fun with the Star Wars crawl creator app today, while seriously hopped up on pralines, peppermint bark, and other holiday goodies in my kitchen. Thank God I don’t drink anymore, eh? Seriously, though, 100 years ago today, Emmett was on a train, headed back to Pensacola from Washington, […]
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes