April 29, 1905Marianna, Florida6:10 p.m. The footsteps pounded the hallway; my office door swung wide open; reflexively, I stood. “Emmett!” Walter Kehoe, who’d broken away from Cephas and the other gentleman, leaving them to talk in the hallway. He comes around to my side of the desk, and clasps my […]
January 9, 1901 Tallahassee, Florida The Leon Hotel I woke alone in the hotel room — panicked, I sat up and looked at Cephas’ pocket watch on the table — almost 8:30 in the morning. I felt like hell. I didn’t sleep well last night; Cephas came in around 3 […]
October 23, 2018 The University of Maryland, McKeldin Library College Park, MD [Reposted from here.] We all have that one friend who we know we can turn to, no matter what, no matter the time of day. The friend who knows us better than our spouses (sometimes). The friend who […]
January 7, 1901 The Leon Hotel Tallahassee, Florida Cephas and I met his friend and former law partner, Walter Kehoe, in the lobby of The Leon Hotel right before supper. Walter had come to Tallahassee ahead of us by a day or so. “Legal business with the Governor-elect,” he said […]
September 10, 2016University of Maryland Research CarrelCollege Park, Maryland Before I move on with Emmett’s story post-WFS, one thing that popped out at me when I was looking through Emmett’s old college yearbook was this: The Jennings inauguration ceremonies ran from January 6-9, 1901 — and by this account, Emmett […]
Christmas Day, 1900 The Wilson Home,Chipley, Florida Have you ever seen pictures of seated royalty on their thrones? The ones featuring a king, with princes and other members of the royal family seated around a central authority figure in descending order of power? If you stood Father’s front yard that […]
December 22, 1900Dr. Francis C. Wilson’s Office, Downtown Chipley Continued from here. === I climbed the stairs and paused at the top; my heart was pounding. I closed my eyes, and counted to ten; rubbed the center of my chest. Touched the liquor flask hidden in my coat pocket. After […]
Before I contacted the Pensacola Historical Society to find out more about Emmett Wilson, I made copious pots of coffee and immediately dissected the three articles sent to me from Peg Vignolo of the West Florida Genealogical Society. Newspaper articles are rich with information — it’s not only the details IN […]
We all have that one friend who we know we can turn to, no matter what, no matter the time of day. The friend who knows us better than our spouses (sometimes). The friend who loves us for who we are, who accepts us, unconditionally. There aren’t many people in […]
The front page of The Pensacola Journal, 100 years ago today. If you click on the link here, you’ll see the entire front page as it was on May 29, 1918. Here’s a better look at Emmett’s death notice: Emmett’s death notice was obviously unexpected and thrown together with few […]
Tell my story. 