by Gilbert King
The Indian Removal Act of 1830: Larry O. Rivers, “‘Leaning on the Everlasting Arms’: Virgil Darnell Hawkins’s Early Life and Entry into the Civil Rights Struggle,” The Florida Historical Quarterly 86, no. 3 (Winter 2008).
Though they maintained: James M. Denham, Florida Founder William P. DuVal: Frontier Bon Vivant (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2015).
In what was essentially still “pioneer country”: Rivers.
What most notably identified them: Martha Nelson, “Nativism and Cracker Revival at the Florida Folk Festival,” in The Florida Folklife Reader, ed. Tina Bucuvalas (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012).
A day laborer: Rivers. Also Sarasota Herald Tribune, Mar. 15, 2004.
Between 1882 and 1930, Florida had: Stewart Emory Tolnay and E. M. Beck, A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882–1930 (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995).
Like many Southern political leaders of the time: Paul Ortiz, Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence in Florida from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election of 1920 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).
“At that tender age”: Quoted in Harley Scott Herman, “A Tribute to an Invincible Civil Rights Pioneer,” The Crisis, Jul. 1994.
He promised God he would: Rivers.
When he let slip his ambitions: Ibid.
There he met and married: Orlando Sentinel, Mar. 8, 1987.
Predictably, the State of Florida: Rivers.
The Florida Board of Control: Rivers. Also Herman.
“We’re older than you”: Rivers. Also interview, Gloria Hawkins Barton.
Thurgood Marshall lambasted Florida’s contempt: Herman.
Virgil Hawkins had no choice: Ibid.
On the drive down to Tallahassee: Constance Baker Motley, Equal Justice Under Law: An Autobiography of Constance Baker Motley (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998).
“It is doubtful that any institution”: Martin Dyckman, “After Brown, the Law Was on His Side, but the Florida Supreme Court Wasn’t,” St. Petersburg Times, May 16, 2004.
Baker Motley was nonetheless astounded: Herman.
Once again Hawkins was denied: Rivers.
The Court determined that Hawkins: St. Petersburg Times, Mar. 13, 1956.
The Supreme Court’s: Seth A. Weitz, “Bourbon, Pork Chops, and Red Peppers: Political Immortality in Florida, 1945–1968,” Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, 2007.
“Every legal recourse”: St. Petersburg Times, Mar. 13, 1956.
In a hastily assembled: Ocala Star-Banner, Mar. 14, 1956.
The conference produced a message: Helen L. Jacobstein, The Segregation Factor in the Florida Democratic Gubernatorial Primary of 1956 (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1972).
Sumter Lowry’s campaign: Ibid.
As if to prove it: Ibid. Also Daytona Beach News-Journal, Oct. 20, 1991.
The beatings, Warren contended: Chicago Defender, Mar. 24, 1956.
“It is regrettable”: Orlando Sentinel, Mar. 16, 1956.
“A Negro is now sitting”: Florida Flambeau (Florida State University), Apr. 24, 1956.
On December 19, 1957: Ocala Star-Banner, Dec. 19, 1957.
Oldham first disclosed that the victim: Burlington Times-News (N.C.), Dec. 20, 1957.
He then announced: Ibid.
The next day’s local newspapers: Ibid. Also St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 20, 1957.
All Virgil Hawkins could learn: NARA-FBI.
Mabel, unaware that Hawkins: Mount Dora Topic, Dec. 25, 1957.
The Hawkins family was terrified: Interview, Gloria Hawkins Barton.
Melvin Sr. told Saunders: Robert W. Saunders Sr., Bridging the Gap: Continuing the Florida NAACP Legacy of Harry T. Moore (Tampa: University of Tampa Press, 2000).
Moore’s killing had left the NAACP: Ibid.
“We needed to move fast”: Ibid.
On December 23, true to his word: St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 24, 1957.
“We’re still in the middle”: St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 23, 1957.
Evvie Griffin had been on the job: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
On the ride up to the Scrub: This scene at the cabin of Sheriff Willis McCall in the Big Scrub of Ocala National Forest is drawn largely from FBI file 44-HQ-11050 and FDLE file 531-25-5001, as well as from interviews with Noel Griffin Jr. and newspaper and magazine coverage where indicated. NARA-FBI, FDLE.
The accompanying article accused: Tampa Tribune, Nov. 3, 1956.
Mabel Norris Reese joined: Mount Dora Topic, Nov. 8, 1956.
When McCall learned that Apache: Jet, Nov. 22, 1956. Also interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
Evvie Griffin knew: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
It was time for the sheriff . . . He told Marlene: NARA-FBI.
As his next-door neighbor: LCP.
CHAPTER FIVE. SENSATIONAL LIES
In rural Lake County: Interview, Joseph Branham III.
“They were very interested”: Ibid.
In short order, Morhart’s shoes: Ibid.
As it happened, Jesse: MNC. Nearly all issues of the Mount Dora Topic from 1958 are missing from known bound and microfilm collections of the newspaper in Lake County and at the George A. Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida. Undated drafts of dozens of stories that Mabel wrote in 1958 were discovered in a box by her granddaughter Cindy Chesley in the attic of her mother, Patricia Reese Chesley, after Patricia passed away in 2015. These stories were likely published in the Topic in 1958, as Mabel referred to them in later columns and stories she wrote for the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
“Sure, I’ll go”: MNC.
When state attorney Gordon Oldham arrived: Ibid.
On December 24, Melvin Hawkins Sr.: Interview, Gloria Hawkins Barton.
He related how, despite the efforts of McCall: FDLE.
But with the story: Interview, Gloria Hawkins Barton.
She accused the governor: Daily Commercial (Leesburg), Jan. 3, 1958.
Alice refused to discuss: MNC.
She said the clerk first hesitated: Ibid.
When he discovered: Ibid.
Jesse Daniels had confessed: Saratoga Herald Tribune, Dec. 29, 1957.
“We haven’t left many stones unturned”: Ibid.
“What of the diamond-shaped heel print?”: Tampa Tribune, Dec. 29, 1957. Also Daytona Beach Evening News, Dec. 22, 1958.
McCall was dismissive: Tampa Tribune, Dec. 29, 1957. Also MNC.
McCall merely shrugged: MNC.
She’d learned of the conditions: This scene is drawn from Mabel’s story “Lad in the Dungeon” and her same-day editorial, both published in the Mount Dora Topic on May 30, 1957.
The former friends: Pete Gallagher, “The End of an Era,” Florida Today, Dec. 31, 1972.
“The judge brought you here”: Mount Dora Topic, May 30, 1957.
Mabel’s exposé of the failings: Ibid.
“You can see him”: MNC. Also Daytona Beach Evening News, Oct. 22, 1958.
“Son, I hate to see you here so bad”: Pete Gallagher, “His Sentence: 14 Years of Darkness,” Florida Today, Oct. 2, 1974.
“Kiss me, Jesse”: Daytona Beach Evening News, Oct. 22, 1958.
As he hustled the Danielses: Ibid.
A news story in the Daily Commercial: Daily Commercial (Leesburg), Dec. 28, 1957.
“A white laborer has been arrested”: Norfolk Journal and Guide, Jan. 4, 1958.
Black newspapers ran headlines: Ibid.
To bolster the case for Jesse’s defense: MNC.
Then he told Pearl: Ibid.
“Governor Collins,” Pearl wrote: Ibid.
Pearl’s letter mentioned as well: Ibid.
Mabel incorporated quotations: NARA-FBI.
She was standing on the sidewalk: MNC.
A few days later: Ibid.
Called to the witness stand: Ibid.
“The powerful sheriff”: Ibid.
Then the session commenced: Ibid. Also Daytona Beach Evening News, Oct. 23, 1958.
“What did she say?”: Daytona Beach Evening News, Oct. 24, 1958.
If Jesse had given: Ibid.
In a second letter: Ibid.
Pearl wrote, too, of her visit: MNC.
CHAPTER SIX. YOU WILL NOT TURN US DOWN
On January 9, the grand jury: LCC.
In a letter to the governor: MNC.
“Is this to further trap”: Ibid.
Judge Futch quickly issued: LCC.
When the Danielses: MNC.
“You may rest assured”: Daily Commercial (Leesburg), Jan. 19, 1958.
“Dear Judge Futch”: MNC.
When the letter was made public: Gary Corsair, The Groveland Four: The Sad Saga of a Legal Lynching (Bloomington, IN: 1st Books, 2004).
when the story reached: Thurgood Marshall to Daniel E. Byrd, Nov. 29, 1951, LDF.
On October 27, 1956: Lumberton Robesonian (N.C.), Dec. 11, 1956.
Many feared the incident would meet: St. Petersburg Times, Nov. 1, 1956.
“I believe they done killed him up”: Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 30, 1956.
Robert Saunders from the NAACP: Robert W. Saunders Sr., Bridging the Gap: Continuing the Florida NAACP Legacy of Harry T. Moore (Tampa: University of Tampa Press, 2000).
By the time Saunders arrived: Ibid. Also Lansing State Journal (Michigan), Dec. 11, 1956.
All nine pleaded not guilty: St. Petersburg Times, Nov. 1, 1956.
Instead, Futch placed the blame: York Gazette and Daily (Pa.), Dec. 17, 1956. Also Leesburg Daily Commercial, Dec. 12, 1956.
The first words he spoke: Daytona Beach Evening News, Oct. 21, 1958.
He spoke confidently: MNC.
Three days later, Futch ordered McCall: LCC.
In a letter to the two doctors at Chattahoochee: FSH-SAF.
In closing, Buie commended: Ibid.
On her return home, Pearl wrote: Ibid.
a reply not from Dr. Eaton but from Dr. Benbow: Ibid.
Buie assured O’Connor: Ibid.
In late February, Dr. O’Connor submitted: Ibid.
O’Connor reported, too, that he had read a copy: Ibid.
Regarding Mrs. Knowles, Jesse admitted: Ibid.
Dr. O’Connor and another psychiatrist on staff had concluded: Ibid.
Mabel of course was there: MNC.
McCall then proceeded: Sarasota Herald Tribune, Mar. 13, 1958. Also MNC.
Upon returning to the bench . . . When the hearing formally began: MNC.
“This court,” he declared: LCC.
In disbelief, Mabel wrote: MNC.
Furthermore, Mabel pointed out . . . In tears, she watched: Ibid.
Pained by his mother’s anguish: Interview, Jesse Daniels.
Jesse liked Griffin: Ibid.
One time, he and the deputy: Pearl Daniels to Mabel Norris Reese, undated, MNC.
On the way from Chattahoochee: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
And he had seen Jesse’s confession: Ibid.
“Rape case of Mrs. Joe Knowles”: FSH-SAF.
“Then I got in bed”: Ibid.
“The only thing that boy”: Interview, Noel Griffin Jr.
CHAPTER SEVEN. NO SUITABLE PLACE
“You’re a crazy son of a bitch”: Interview, Jesse Daniels.
A Florida newspaper editorial: Sarasota Journal, May 14, 1956.
Eluding capture: Brent Richards Weisman, Unconquered People (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1999).
In 1861, when Florida: Sally J. Ling, Out of Mind, Out of Sight: A Revealing History of the Florida State Hospital at Chattahoochee and Mental Health Care in Florida (CreateSpace, 2013).
Notoriously cruel and corrupt: J. C. Powell, The American Siberia; or, Fourteen Years’ Experience in a Southern Convict Camp (1891; Andesite Press, 2015).
With prison labor he not only built: Joe O’Shea, Murder, Mutiny and Mayhem: The Blackest-Hearted Villains from Irish History (Dublin: The O’Brien Press, 2012).
In a letter to Major General George B. Carse: Powell.
prompted Martin to advise . . . In support of the warden’s plea: Ling.
In 1877, with the passage: Ibid.
Institutionalized mental health care in America: Howard Sudak, M.D., “A Remarkable Legacy: Pennsylvania Hospital’s Influence on the Field of Psychiatry,” Penn Medicine, http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/paharc/features/psych.html.
Many of them were also restrained: Ling.
The treatments for mentally ill patients: Sudak. Also Ling.
As America became a more populous, industrialized nation: Ling.
Because the determination of a person’s insanity . . . When, in 1896: Ibid.
A subsequent investigation uncovered: Marynia [Farnham], M.D., “Report of Inspection and Survey of Florida State Hospital, Chattahoochee,” date unknown, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~chattahoochee/Farnhan.htm.
More hopefully, the 1930s also brought: Ling.
In 1951–1952 alone: Ibid.
After performing another sixty-four procedures together: Ibid.
Watts’s diagnosis of “agitated depression”: Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff, The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women (Baltimore: Bancroft Press, 2015). Also Daily Mail, Sept. 25, 2015.
Dr. James Lyerly Sr., the only neurosurgeon: Ling.
Approximately 271,000 admissions: Ibid.
The pick (which was indeed taken from the doctor’s kitchen): Janell Johnson, “Thinking with the Thalamus: Lobotomy and the Rhetoric of Emotional Impairment,” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 5, no. 2 (2011), pp. 187–200. Also Ling.
The surgery took only minutes: Ling.
By the mid-1950s, Dr. Lyerly: Ibid.
Their procedures, which were designed to pacify: Johnson.
One year after the Child Molester Act: Ling.
While doctors at Chattahoochee: Ibid.
It induced “disinterest without loss of consciousness”: Thomas A. Ban, “Fifty Years Chlorpromazine: A Historical Perspective,” Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 3, no. 4 (2007), pp. 495–500.
Difficult patients became docile: Richard L. Lael, Barbara Brazos, and Margot Ford McMillen, Evolution of a Missouri Asylum: Fulton State Hospital, 1851–2006 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2007).
A patient in the white male department: Kenneth Donaldson, Insanity Inside Out (New York: Crown, 1976).
According to the patient: Somerset Daily American (Pa.), Sept. 30, 1975.
Nor was there any “segregation”: Ling.
Overtaxed attendants—who themselves: Daily American, Sept. 30, 1975.
The attendants favored choking and beating: Ibid.
“At Chattahoochee, each of us stood alone”: Donaldson.
Perhaps the most famous patient: Jet, Feb. 20, 1958.
Hurston’s coverage of the trial: C. Arthur Ellis Jr., “Paramour Rights and Reparations Issues,” The Black Commentator, issue 68, Dec. 11, 2003.
Since Jesse had undergone a psychological evaluation: FSH-SAF.
Dr. Eaton, in his evaluation of Jesse upon admission: Ibid.
Jesse also told Eaton: Ibid.
Jesse’s memory seemed to Eaton: Ibid.
Still, Dr. Eaton noted: Ibid.
Jesse also told Dr. Eaton: Ibid.
In exploring Jesse’s sexual history: Ibid.
When Eaton asked Jesse: Ibid.
In his summation of Je
sse’s admittance interview: Ibid.
An attendant escorted the new arrival: Donaldson.
More recent inmates, confused or in a haze: Ibid.
That night, nineteen-year-old Jesse Delbert Daniels: Interview, Jesse Daniels.
In late February, Gordon Oldham drove: FSH-SAF.
He informed O’Connor that “in order to clear up”: LEG-SAF.
According to the transcript: This scene is drawn largely from Gordon Oldham’s interview with Blanche Knowles sometime before March 3, 1958. The transcript, an eight-page typewritten document that Oldham sent to Dr. O’Connor at Chattahoochee, was not discovered until the early 1970s, during Special Master Thomas Woods’s legislative investigation into Jesse Daniels’s claims bill.
She strived to raise money: Pearl Daniels to Mabel Norris Reese, undated, MNC.
Understanding that Sam Buie: Ibid., MNC.
“And then,” she tapped: MNC.
CHAPTER EIGHT. WELL-LAID PLAN
First, on March 11, days after: Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Oct. 2, 1958. Also MNC.
The night before, Odom related: Orlando Sentinel, Apr. 2, 1958.
A woman poked her head: Daily Commercial (Leesburg), Apr. 1, 1958.
McCall shrugged; the woman had made a phone call: Ibid.
Several times he recalled: Ibid.
McCall had worse news: Ibid.
Leery of seeming to play politics: Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Oct. 2, 1958.
“It would not look good”: FDLE.
“Talking like an excited child”: MNC.
Jesse described how Sam Buie: Daytona Beach Evening News, Oct. 24, 1958.
The sheriff, Jesse said: Florida Today, Oct. 2, 1974. Also NARA-FBI, and MNC.
It wasn’t the first time: Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (New York: HarperCollins, 2012).
That day, Pearl recalled: Pearl Daniels to J. Edgar Hoover, undated, NARA-FBI.
Mabel wanted to know: Pearl Daniels to Mabel Norris Reese, undated, MNC.
They’d barely gotten to their rooms: Ibid.
In the room where Jesse slept: Ibid.
Pearl recalled a few more details: Ibid.
And there was also the matter: Daytona Beach Evening News, Oct. 23, 1958.
“I think it is most important”: Vera Rony to Mabel Norris Reese, undated, MNC.