by Willie Drye
10. Tales of a fountain in a land somewhere to the north: Delumeau, Jean, History of Paradise: The Garden of Eden in Myth and Tradition (Urbana and Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 2000) p. 76
11. So to honor the season, Ponce de León named: Delumeau, Jean, History of Paradise: The Garden of Eden in Myth and Tradition (Urbana and Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 2000) p. 136
11. In the summer of 1559, Spain sent another expedition to Florida: Hudson, Charles; Smith, Marvin T.; DePratter, Chester B.; and Kelley, Emilia, “The Tristan De Luna Expedition, 1559–1561,” Southeastern Archaeology, vol. 8, no. 1, Summer 1989, p. 34
12. A hurricane would deposit more visitors on a Florida beach in 1696: Dickinson, Jonathan (edited by Evangeline Walker Andrews and Charles McLean Andrews), Jonathan Dickinson’s Journal, or God’s Protecting Providence (Port Salerno, Florida, Florida Classics Library, 1985) p. 5
13. Florida, Motte wrote, “is certainly the poorest country”: Motte: Jacob R., Journey into Wilderness (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1953) p. 199
13. . . . Motte saw “picturesque clumps of cypress trees”: Motte: Jacob R., Journey into Wilderness (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1953) pp. 191–192
14. Colonel William Chase, a West Point–educated army engineer: Bearss, Edwin C., “Civil War Operations In and Around Pensacola Part II,” Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. XXXVI, 1957–58, p. 128
14. . . . President Grant “ushered in that hustling period”: Carlson, Oliver, Brisbane: A Candid Biography (New York, Stackpole Sons, 1937) pp. 80–81
15. “No dreamland on earth: Stowe, Harriet Beecher (edited by Abbie H. Fairfield), Flowers and Fruit from the Writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe (Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1888) p. 18
15. But she also was aware of Florida’s faults: Stowe, Harriet Beecher, Palmetto-Leaves (Boston, James R. Osgood and Company, 1873) pp. 29–39
15. “Undoubtedly the finest winter climate”: Brinton, Daniel G., A Guide-Book of Florida and the South for Tourists, Invalids and Emigrants (Philadelphia, George MacLean, 1869), pp. 127–128
16. “In the winter months, soft breezes”: King, Edward, The Great South: A Record of Journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian Territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland (Hartford, Connecticut, American Publishing Company, 1875) p. 379
16. King noted that Florida’s Silver Spring: King, Edward, The Great South: A Record of Journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian Territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland (Hartford, Connecticut, American Publishing Company, 1875) p. 401
16. Colby claimed to have been led there: Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp website, “A Brief History,” available at http://www.cassadaga.org/history.htm
17. “I am very much pleased with Florida”: Jones, James P. (editor), “Grant Forecasts the Future of Florida,” Ulysses S. Grant and Florida, Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 1, July 1960, p. 53
17. Florida’s leaders thought they could pull the state out of the postwar wreckage and political chaos: Garrison, Webb, A Treasury of Florida Tales (Nashville, Tennessee, Rutledge Hill Press, 1989) pp. 96–98; Gannon, Michael, Florida: A Short History (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1993) p. 53
18. After Flagler was gone: “Humanity At Palm Beach,” by W.L. George, Harper’s, January 1925, p. 214
18. Flagler, the son of a poor Presbyterian minister: Norwalk (Ohio) Reflector, January 8, 1907
19. Remembering the charms of St. Augustine: Tindall, George B., “The Bubble In The Sun,” American Heritage, vol. 1, no. 5, August 1965
19. That same year, young Thomas Edison: New York Times, June 24, 1990; Garrison, Webb, A Treasury of Florida Tales (Nashville, Tennessee, Rutledge Hill Press, 1989) pp. 102–103
19. Teed said that the angel: McIver, Stuart B., Dreamers, Schemers and Scalawags: The Florida Chronicles, Vol. 1 (Sarasota, Florida, The Pineapple Press, 1995) pp. 219–22; The Daily News of Perth, Western Australia, March 20, 1909; The Maitland (New South Wales, Australia) Weekly Mercury, February 20, 1897
20. On Christmas Day, the temperature climbed into the 80s in Orlando: Orlando Sentinel, December 25, 1994
20. A few days after Christmas, citrus growers gathered in Orlando’s San Juan Hotel: Orlando Sentinel, December 25, 1994; Monthly Weather Review, February 1895; The Daily News of Portsmouth, Ohio, February 9, 1895; The New York Times, February 9, 1895
20. But on February 7, 1895, an even colder icy blast: Bangs, Outram, “The Present Standing of the Florida Manatee, Trichechus Latirostris (Harlan) in the Indian River Waters”; The American Naturalist, vol. XXIX, September 1895, pp. 783–784
21. Before the freezes, eight banks operated in Orlando: Orlando Sentinel, December 25, 1994
21. While orange and grapefruit trees in Florida were being killed by icy weather: The Daily News, Portsmouth, Ohio, February 9, 1895; New York Times, February 9, 1895
21. But while the rest of the nation was shivering and cursing the cold: Allman, T.D., Miami: City of the Future (New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987) pp. 119–120
21. His young son George: “Miami on the Eve of the Boom: 1923,” by Frank B. Sessa, Tequesta, vol. XI, (1951), p. 21
21. By April 1896, Flagler had extended: Standiford, Les, Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean (New York, Crown Publishers, 2002) p. 66
21–22. And in January 1897, the sumptuous hotel: Buchanan, James E., Miami: A Chronological & Documentary History 1513–1977 (Dobbs Ferry, New York, 1978) p. 6
22. Flagler bought land from Julia Tuttle and the Brickell family: George, Paul, “Bootleggers, Prohibitionists and Police: The Temperance Movement in Miami, 1896–1920,” Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida, vol. 39, 1979, p. 34
22. In Chicago, Democrats were divided about their nominee: Baker, Kevin, “Political Speech,” American Heritage, vol. 51, Issue 3, May/June 2000; Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate, July 11, 1896
23. Bryan paid his first visit to Florida in 1898, when unrest in Cuba: Koenig, Louis W., Bryan: A Political Biography of William Jennings Bryan (New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1971) p. 278
23. In January 1898, rioting erupted in Havana: O’Toole, G.J.A: The Spanish War: An American Epic—1898 (New York and London, W.W. Norton & Company, 1984) p. 12
23. On the evening of February 15, about half an hour after a US Marine bugler: O’Toole, G.J.A: The Spanish War: An American Epic—1898 (New York and London, W.W. Norton & Company, 1984) pp. 28–29
23. Goaded on by sensationalistic newspaper stories about the explosion of the Maine and Spanish atrocities in Cuba: New York Journal and Advertiser, February 17, 1898; O’Toole, G.J.A: The Spanish War: An American Epic—1898 (New York and London, W.W. Norton & Company, 1984) p. 81
24. And because of Florida’s proximity to Cuba, it was a logical place for the army: O’Toole, G.J.A: The Spanish War: An American Epic—1898 (New York and London, W.W. Norton & Company, 1984) p. 197
24. An army inspector filed two reports saying that Miami was not a good place: Buchanan, James E., Miami: A Chronological & Documentary History 1513–1977 (Dobbs Ferry, New York, 1978) p. 7
24. . . . a Louisiana soldier described Miami as “a waste wilderness as can be conceived only in rare nightmares.”: Standiford, Les, Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed an Ocean (New York, Crown Publishers, 2002) p. 68
24. American military leaders thought Tampa would be the perfect site to assemble: O’Toole, G.J.A: The Spanish War: An American Epic—1898 (New York and London, W.W. Norton & Company, 1984) p. 209
24. Commanding General of the Army Nelson Miles was dismayed by the conditions: O’Toole, G.J.A: Th
e Spanish War: An American Epic—1898 (New York and London, W.W. Norton & Company, 1984) p. 229
24. William Jennings Bryan volunteered his services to the US Army: Koenig, Louis W., Bryan: A Political Biography of William Jennings Bryan (New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1971) p. 277
24. The executor of her will, Harry Tuttle: George, Paul, “Bootleggers, Prohibitionists and Police: The Temperance Movement in Miami, 1896–1920,” Tequesta, vol. 39, 1979, p. 35
24. The railroads continued to bring wealthy visitors to Florida: Sessa, Frank, “Miami on the Eve of the Boom: 1923,” Tequesta, vol. 11, 1951
24. In those long-ago days before labor unions, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, he was extending his railroad: Standiford, Less, Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed an Ocean (New York, Crown Publishers, 2002) pp. 150–151
25. “I carried a lunch in my pocket”: Norwalk Reflector, January 8, 1907, reprinted in History Talk from the Upper Florida Keys, edited by Jerry Wilkinson, Spring 2004
26. Joe Ashley brought his family from the state’s Gulf Coast: Stuart, Hix C., The Notorious Ashley Gang: A Saga of the King and Queen of the Everglades (Stuart, Florida, St. Lucie Printing Co., Inc., 1928) p. 8
26. In 1905, Flagler’s work crews began clearing the right-of-way to lay rails to the tip of the Florida peninsula: Standiford, Less, Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed an Ocean (New York, Crown Publishers, 2002) p. 18
26. “It is indeed a wonder that when cold weather comes”: Gifford, John, “The Florida Keys,” National Geographic magazine, January 1906, pp. 8–9
Chapter Three: Dreamers and Thieves
27. Ashley went to work on one of the crews: Stuart, Hix C., The Notorious Ashley Gang: A Saga of the King and Queen of the Everglades (Stuart, Florida, St. Lucie Printing Co., Inc., 1928) p. 8; Stuart News, January 9, 1964
27. . . . opponent had sworn revenge when he recovered: Hanna, Alfred Jackson and Hanna, Kathryn, Lake Okeechobee: Wellspring of the Everglades (Indianapolis and New York, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1948) pp. 204–205
27. It was said that John could lay a whiskey bottle on its side: Stuart News, January 9, 1964
28. On December 19, Ashley stopped at the encampment of Homer Tindall: Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 9, 1915
28. . . . Ashley wondered if the Indians had had better luck with their traps than he’d had with his: Daily Tropical Sun, June 4, 1915
28. The Seminoles had indeed had better luck, accumulating a pile of eighty-four pelts: The Daily Tropical Sun, June 4, 1915
28. He spoke perfect English and was married with two small children: Weekly Miami Metropolis, January 12, 1912
29. The crew of the Caloosahatchee shut down to take a Christmas holiday: Weekly Miami Metropolis, January 12, 1912
29. After an evening of boozing, Ashley showed up at the Seminoles’ camp: Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 9, 1915
29. Later that day, another Seminole took his tribesman who’d been injured: Weekly Miami Metropolis, January 12, 1912
30. One bullet had struck him between the eyes and exited the back of his head: Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 2, 1915
30. It was a .38-55 caliber slug: Weekly Miami Metropolis, January 12, 1912
30. Girtman made Ashley an offer: Miami Daily Metropolis, January 8, 1912
30. . . . gave $500 to Ashley: Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 2, 1915
30. Flush with cash, Ashley went into a whorehouse: Stuart, Hix C., The Notorious Ashley Gang: A Saga of the King and Queen of the Everglades (Stuart, Florida, St. Lucie Printing Co., Inc., 1928) p. 9
30. . . . where he hired on with a logging crew out of Seattle: Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 9, 1915
30. . . . a dignified and well-spoken Sioux Indian from Muskogee, Oklahoma: Weekly Miami Metropolis, January 12, 1912
31. . . . request Florida governor Park Trammell to offer a reward, and they were willing to do that: Weekly Miami Metropolis, January 12, 1912
31. . . . he met with a multimillionaire businessman who’d recently arrived in Miami: Miami Metropolis, January 18, 1912
31. In 1910 he bought a mansion on a stretch of Brickell Avenue: “Mr. Miami Beach: Meet Carl Fisher,” The American Experience episode, 1998, from PBS website, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/miami/filmmore/transcript/index.html
32. . . . he was going to build a city here—“a city like magic”: Fisher, Jane, Fabulous Hoosier: A Story of American Achievement (Chicago, Harry Coleman & Company, 1953) p. 82
32. So Fisher became a driving force behind two major arteries: Fisher, Jane, Fabulous Hoosier: A Story of American Achievement (Chicago, Harry Coleman & Company, 1953) p. 80
32. . . . forbade cemeteries on the island: Roberts, Kenneth L., Florida (New York and London, Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1926) pp. 75–89
32. . . . voters narrowly approved a referendum banning the sale of alcoholic beverages: Buchannan, James E. (editor), Miami: A Chronological and Documentary History 1513–1977 (Dobbs Ferry, New York, Ocean Publications, Inc., 1978) p. 12
33. He took a quick look at the Everglades: Miami Daily Metropolis, January 22, 1912
33. “As soon as I breathed the balmy air of Miami”: Miami Metropolis, December 24, 1909; US Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, William Jennings Bryan House, Miami, Florida, December 9, 2011; Miami Daily Metropolis, January 22, 1912; Kauffman, Kathleen S., and Uguccioni, Ellen J., “Designation Report: The William Jennings Bryan Residence,” City of Miami Preservation office, December 4, 2007
33. He liked it so much he bought it: Naples Daily News, April 1, 2012
34. “. . . a trifle too loquacious”: Station Inspection Reports 1871–1930; Records Group 27, Records of the US Weather Bureau, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
34. Solomon Merrick, the minister who had left behind New England’s bitter winters: “A History of Coral Gables: A Look into the Past,” by Stacey Steig, produced by the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce, available at http://coralgableschamber.org/visit/a_history_of_coral_gables.aspx
34. On January 27, 1914, Floyd Chaffin, a civil engineer: Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 9, 1915
35. Tell Sheriff Baker not to send any more “chicken-hearted men”: Stuart, Hix C., The Notorious Ashley Gang: A Saga of the King and Queen of the Everglades (Stuart, Florida, St. Lucie Printing Co., Inc., 1928) pp. 10–11
35. Finally, the family made a cynical calculation: Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 9, 1915
35. But three had dared to vote to convict John Ashley of murder: Miami Daily Metropolis, July 1, 1914
36. “All this madness, all this rage, all this flaming death”: Russell, Bertrand, edited by Ray Perkins Jr., Yours Faithfully, Bertrand Russell: A Lifelong Fight for Peace, Justice and Truth in Letters to the Editor (Peru, Illinois, Open Court Publishing Company, a division of Carus Publishing Company, 2002) p. 35
36. . . . the newspaper’s editors misspelled “Serb” and “Serbian”: Miami Daily Metropolis, June 29, 1914
37. Bryan submitted his resignation: Kazin, Michael, A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006) pp. 232–242
37. . . . so he was never handcuffed, and he was allowed to receive home-cooked suppers: Stuart, Hix C., The Notorious Ashley Gang: A Saga of the King and Queen of the Everglades (Stuart, Florida, St. Lucie Printing Co., Inc., 1928) pp. 10–11; Daily Tropical Sun, November 16, 1914
37–38. . . . then told the 150 potential jurors that any of them who were sick: Stuart Times, November 11, 1914
38. As usual, Ashley was not in handcuffs when he got into an automobile: Daily Tropical Sun, November 16, 1914
39. . . . seagulls learned that when a passenger train crossed the bridge: Work Projects Administration, Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State (New York, Oxford University Press
, 1939) p. 312
40. “They were young fellows, and they looked like farmers”: The New York Times, February 8, 1915
40. But the men turned out to be drifters: New York Sun, February 9, 1915
40. It so happened that silent film director George Terwilliger: Evening Ledger of Philadelphia, February 26, 1915
41. . . . C. C. Myers and a boatload of tourist hunters: Miami Daily Metropolis, February 16, 1915
41. On Tuesday, February 23, the Ashleys committed the crime: Miami Daily Metropolis, February 23, 1915
42. Somehow, John Ashley was shot in the head: New York Times, February 24, 1915; Stuart, Hix C., The Notorious Ashley Gang: A Saga of the King and Queen of the Everglades (Stuart, Florida, St. Lucie Printing Co., Inc., 1928), pp. 13–15; Stuart News, January 9, 1964; Daily Tropical Sun, February 27, 1915
43. In 1915, Edwin Menninger was a senior at Washburn: Winslow, Walker, The Menninger Story (Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1956) pp. 158–161
43. On March 22, Ashley was in court in West Palm Beach: Daily Tropical Sun, March 10, 1915; Daily Tropical Sun, March 11, 1915
44. In 1909, L. D. Reagin, publisher of the Sarasota Times: Sarasota Herald, April 24, 1928
44. Still, a few dreamers were willing to try: Perry, Francis W., and Jaudon, James F., History of the Tamiami Trail (Miami, Florida, Tamiami Trail Commissioners and Dade County Board of Commissioners, 1928) pp. 4–7
45. Judge Pierre Branning issued some special instructions: Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 2, 1915; Weekly Miami Metropolis, April 9, 1915; Stuart News, January 9, 1964; Stuart, Hix C., The Notorious Ashley Gang: A Saga of the King and Queen of the Everglades (Stuart, Florida, St. Lucie Printing Co., Inc., 1928) pp. 18–19; Daily Tropical Sun of West Palm Beach, June 4, 1915; The De Soto County News, June 3, 1915
47. Some people who were acquainted with Joe Ashley: Stuart News, January 9, 1964
47. The Ashleys’ jailbreak attempt came in a sudden: Daily Tropical Sun, June 4, 1915; De Soto County News, June 3, 1915; Stuart, Hix C., The Notorious Ashley Gang: A Saga of the King and Queen of the Everglades (Stuart, Florida, St. Lucie Printing Co., Inc., 1928) pp. 18–19