The Zaragossa Saga

By Joe’s Old Lure Bulletin Board

The story has been told many times. How a lure to Dexter, Michigan to marry Merrel Louise Tozer. They that’s been catching fish for over 100 years got its start. returned to Pensacola in July. Who was the first person to design and use the Zaragossa? What was its true origin? The complexity of one of the key player’s family, their repeated use of same or similar names, and the confusion of how to spell a street name make the journey even more difficult. Through solving those questions we’ll try to find the lure’s origin. Along the way there will be stories of famous fishermen and unknown anglers. It’s an American story and it’s worth hearing.

Roswell Bayard King

Roswell Bayard King was born near Marietta, Georgia in 1870. His father was also named Roswell and so was his grandfather who founded the town of Roswell, Georgia. In June 1899 Roswell Bayard King, partner of Roswell Bayard King and daughter Marjorie circa 1906-1909 Bruce & King Sporting Goods in Pensacola, Florida, went

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In the 1910 Pensacola, Florida census Roswell B. The ad further stated “We manufacture and King, 37, was listed with his wife Merrel 27, son Warren, control the famous reel brake and will teach anyone to 9, Marjorie 7 and Ruth 2. The Pensacola Directory also cast free in ten minutes”. included an early Florida lure maker Zaragossa A January 13, 1917 Pensacola News Journal collectors might recognize, Grover C. Cox. notice showed “Mr. Roswell B. King expects to leave, Another Pensacola sporting goods store, this coming Monday morning for Minnealo [sic], Wilson-Biggs, opened in 1913. The March 2, 1913 Florida, where he will visit at the beautiful winter edition of the Pensacola News Journal noted W. E. home of Mr. W.T. .” Wilson, formerly of Gulf Machine Works and Walter F. It further stated “King is the inventor of a Biggs, of the H. W. Gibbs Hardware Company bought patent reel brake which Mr. Hiddon [sic] will make the sporting goods stock of F. B. Bruce, former partner practical test of”. Heddon must have liked the idea of R. B. King. The notice said the purchase had occurred because several Heddon Auto-Thumbers have been several weeks before. found in the correct box. The November 1, 1914 edition of the Pensacola This event no doubt signified the start of a News noted R. B. King had invented a new ’s relationship between Heddon and Roswell Bayard King. reel known as King’s Balanced Reel. The reel was sunk into the rod handle making it perfectly balanced and more in line with the rod itself. No other reference of “King’s Balanced Reel” has been found and so far there is no known example of such a reel. On March 10, 1916 Roswell Bayard King of Pensacola filed for a patent for a “Reel Brake for Fishing Rods”. The device was a metal, spoon-shaped handle that could be attached to any . Two different versions were included in the patent drawings. (Patent 1,227,273 granted May 22, 1917)

John Savu Photo

A notice in the September 18, 1917 Pensacola News Journal shows Ben F. King sold his sporting goods stock to Walter F. Biggs, formerly of Wilson-Biggs, and Chas H. Kupfrian, formerly of the Watson Agency, a real estate and insurance business. They formed a company called The Sportsman’s Supply Store. On October 28, 1917 the Miami Herald states expert angler R. B. King, a representative of James Heddon’s Sons, is in Miami demonstrating casting at Burdine Sport Shop. This was the first time King was specifically mentioned as a Heddon representative. The next day the Miami News shows “B. R. King [sic], representing the James Reddon [sic] factory”, was in town three days of last week demonstrating a “new style of artificial minnow”. It also noted King would return in the winter. In August 1916 R. B. King’s invention of the reel The January 6, 1918 edition of the Tampa brake was highlighted in an advertisement for tailor B. Tribune noted New Port Richey had “the coldest F. King Co, Inc. 34 South Palafox Street. The ad noted R. weather in the history of Florida” according to their B. King had joined the firm after working for the Wilson- oldest inhabitants. Biggs Company. 2

The article went on to say: “fishing is excellent in the Cootee [Pithlachascotee] river here” and “Catches up to forty trout have been recorded by a single fisherman on one tide.” Also, “The new Zaragossa Dowagiac lure is much in favor of the fisherman, both for salt and fresh water fishing, superseding the porpoise hide minnow or the spinner or any form of gang inanimate bait.” This is the first known instance the lure was recorded as the Zaragossa Dowagiac. Another Tampa Tribune article, a week later on Janauary 13, 1918, notes “Fishing continues to be fine in First version, No-Chin, cup Heddon Zaragossa. Jimmy Pettis the Cootee river. Some mackerel and “snooks” are Photo running now. All the fishermen have the Zaragossa Dowaigac [sic] craze and are fishing with nothing else. This lure catches the fish when nothing else will entice them to hook.” The article went on to say “The word zaragossa means “movement” and this lure has a movement of its own.” It also noted the lure worked equally well in fresh water and said a party at Moon Lake had taken thirteen black bass with the Zaragossa, while the vaunted pork rind bait went fishless. Correct box type for the Heddon No-Chin Zaragossa Minnow. Box A couple weeks later Knight & Wall Co. of end would be marked Zaragossa. Joe Stagnitti Photo Tampa included the Zaragosa [sic] Minnow in their ad of January 26, 1918. If anglers were fishing the lure and sporting goods stores were selling the lure in early January 1918, it must have first been made sometime in 1917, most likely after R. B. King’s meeting with Will Heddon right after Monday, January 15, 1917 when he left on his trip and before October 29, 1917 when R. B. King was demonstrating a “new style of artificial minnow”. A newspaper note stated R. B. King arrived in Tampa from Dowagiac, Michigan in March 1918. In the April 28, 1918 edition of the Tampa Tribune a story about F. C. Calkins, insurance agent, and Gerben M. DeVries, postmaster of New Port Richey, talked about the very unusual catch DeVries made while Calkins repeatedly brought in 5 to 10 pounders using his reliable Zaragossa. DeVries’ catch was never identified but they told quite a story about their adventure with it that day. An October 2, 1919 article in the Tampa Tribune includes a Tavares, Florida report by W. B. Powell about a trip fishing with A. L. Cashwell and family for black bass. According to Powell the Cashwells were winners of the Field & Stream fishing contest for black bass several times. Powell asked Cashwell what bait he normally used for his fishing expeditions to which Cashwell That’s 3 different references to the Zaragossa replied, “Wooden minnows, altogether.” He further Minnow in the month of January 1918. 3 stated “Some times they take a red-head, sometimes a Stolley was often the highest ranking employee Zaragossa, others a Dowagiac, - some days they are at the Heddon plant because Charles and Will Heddon hungry for silversides, another time plain white, and on were frequently away in Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin other days multi-colored.” or California. An item in the October 21, 1920 Tampa As documented above Heddon made the first newspaper reported R. B. King of Dowagiac, Michigan Zaragossa in 1917 so why was it not included in a arrived Thursday in Tampa and expects to winter there. catalog until 1922? It was not unusual in those days, nor today, for people Don Lyons’ book The Heddons and Their Bait from the north to winter in the south and for people in gives us the answer. Lyons noted Heddon reprinted the the south to summer in the north. 1916 catalog with a few minor changes and called it the November 2, 1920 finds R. B. King, James 1917 catalog. Heddon Sons representative, in Eustis, Florida. It was He also notes there are no Heddon catalogs reported King caught enough fish at West Crooked Lake printed in 1918, 1919 or 1920 for several reasons, to provide a fish fry for a number of people at including World War I and the Spanish Flu. He also Interlachen, summer camp of H.R. Ferran. states the Zaragossa was not included in the 1921 A special to the Miami Herald from the St. Lucie catalog even though it was probably in production in County News in a report from Ft. Pierce on November 1921. That moves the first appearance of the Zaragossa 19, 1920 noted that Mr. King, representative of a in a Heddon catalog to 1922, reinforcing that year as Dowagiac house, caught 28 saltwater the introductory year along with the patent date. trout between 2 and 6.5 pounds each from the Indian By March 1922 King had become so closely River off the new Ft. Pierce hotel dock. associated with the Zaragossa Minnow that he was William A. Stolley, Heddon’s long-time plant even referred to as “Zarragossa” King in an Orlando manager, filed for a patent for an Artificial Bait on newspaper. January 17, 1921. The patent featured the rear hook The November 9, 1922 Charlotte Observer fastener. The patent drawing also included a noted O. C. Donehey caught an 18 pound 8 ounce representation of the Zaragossa Minnow. (Patent from Lake Serpentine near Eustis, 1,424,385 granted on August 1, 1922) Florida on June 26, 1922. The next day the November 10, 1922 Observer reported again on the Donehey catch and noted R. B. King, Heddon’s Sons representative, was in Charlotte, North Carolina. King stated “And the thing about it that makes me proud is the fact that that black bass was caught on one of my own minnows, the Zarragossa”[sic]. He further said “I am rather proud of that Zaragossa, especially as it is of my own personal design”. The article noted King was one of the best known men in the fishing tackle business and best known fishermen. The December 8, 1924 Fort Myers News-Press noted R.B. (Zarragossa)[sic] King, Heddon’s hired man, was in town. The February 11, 1926 edition of the News- Press noted Mr. J. Heddon (believed to have been Charles Heddon) “put into port on the boat Rusilla. He was accompanied by Mr. King, his head-salesman and other guests”. The item also noted Heddon and King “were on an extended fishing tour in southern waters “ and the

party had “great success in testing out the adaptability

4 of the Heddon fishing tackle and artificial lures for catching salt water as well as fresh water fish”. Roswell Bayard King died on June 27, 1937 in Lake City, Columbia County, Florida at 69 years of age.

Grover C. Cox

Grover C. Cox was born in 1884 in Sanford, North Carolina. Cox came to Pensacola from West Point, Mississippi in 1909. In 1911 Grover Cox started his first sporting goods store in Tampa at 907 Franklin Street. He later moved to Polk Street. On January 3, 1915 Cox married Emma Diffenbaugh in Tampa. They motored to Lakeland and then to points of interest on the East Coast. They anticipated arriving back in Tampa on January 10th. August 1915 found Cox in financial difficulty. The August 7, 1915 edition of the Tampa Tribune included the U.S. District Court notice of involuntary bankruptcy petition against Cox. He was declared bankrupt on July 31, 1915 with a creditors meeting held A later edition of the newspaper shows the on September 14, 1915 at the Tampa office of T. M. second version of the Tampa Minnow but the Shackleford, Jr. illustration used is believed to actually be a Shakespeare Cox’s luck continued to fail him when his wife’s Hydroplane. This advertisement was quickly replaced automobile struck motorcyclist Preston Fillman on by another ad showing a third version of the lure on September 25, 1915. September 11, 1917. It shows the Tampa Minnow with Cox ran an ad in the April 27, 1916 edition of a small metal diving lip. the Tampa Tribune for “Fluted Wablers, silver finish, artificial baits”. His address was listed as corner of Polk and Tampa Streets. This was the first mention of Cox specifically selling lures. He ran a second ad in the May 6, 1916 edition noting “Wabler Surface baits, green backs, white belly, red flutings”. Were these Cox’s early attempts at a lure he later called the Tampa Minnow? From newspaper items we know the timing of some of the Cox Tampa Minnows. The earliest mention found of Cox calling his lure the Tampa Minnow was in the May 19, 1916 edition of the Tampa Tribune. It stated the minnow was available in silver, greenback, red and white, regularly priced at 75 cents, for sale for 60 cents at Cox’s Polk and Tampa. The first version of the Cox Tampa Minnow is the lure with the flutes shown in the June 30, 1916

Tampa Tribune. This version of the Tampa Minnow is basically a version 1 lure with a small metal diving lip added. A fourth version of the Tampa Minnow was advertised in the September 1920 issue of The Florida

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Fisherman. Ron Gast has the only known copy of this There is a lure that looks like a Heddon No-Chin magazine. The ad shows a stringer of largemouth bass Zaragossa Minnow, the first version of Heddon’s and a rod and reel in the background. Zaragossa Minow.

Lure believed made by Cox. Doug Brace Photo. Used with permission.

Ron Gast Photo This lure is credited to Cox and believed to be either the Basdex or Fish Hawk lures found respectively The largest fish in the middle of the ad has a in the 1920 and 1921 The Florida Fisherman ads. lure in its mouth but the photo is not clear enough to Doug Brace of Florida closely examined the cup determine what kind of lure it is. used with the belly hook hanger. Brace noted it was Writing on the photo states “20 black bass made of non-magnetic metal and was 1 part of a 2-part caught near Tampa, Fla with a Cox’s Minnow “Basdex” grommet, commonly used in leather works. He also No. 109 (Frog color)”. noted the cup had a black japanned finish which is A fifth version of the Tampa Minnow is called found on tackle boxes of the same era. This cup rig was the Cox Fish Hawk. The only mention of this lure is in a also used on the earlier versions of the Cox Tampa 1921 issue of The Florida Fisherman owned by Ron Minnow. Gast. The ad that mentions the lure does not include a Grover C. Cox died on December 4, 1938 at 54 photo or drawing. years of age. He had been in business in Tampa for 27 years.

Ron Gast photo

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THE Photo

Photo courtesy of bernieschultzfishing.com

This photo was originally found by Florida tackle vertical hanging lure appears to be resting in this man’s collector Ron Gast. Ron passed it along to Bernie lap. Schultz who still has it. There also appear to be two other lures in the The photo includes several interesting things. photo. There is a two piece rod running from Cox’s The first thing noticed is the large group of snook or right knee towards the front of the photo. At the end of roballo as they were called during those days. that rod is what appears to be another white lure with a The next thing noticed is the two gentlemen hook hanging from the tail. each holding up a snook. White ink is used to show “A Then there appears to be a third lure to the left little salt-water catch to show that the Tampa Minnows of the handle butt of the rod leaning against the gets them in salt as well as freshwater” off to the right. building to the right of Cox. Also there is the word “King” on the leg of the The man marked “Cox” is in fact Grover C. Cox, fellow squatting down to the left and “Cox” on the shirt as confirmed by other photographs found in which he is of the gentleman to the right. identified. The man marked “King” is Roswell Bayard For lure collectors the most important part of King based on a comparison with the photo showing the photo is the lure hanging vertically just below the him and his daughter Marjorie. fish Cox is holding. A belly hook and a tail hook are And what about the man with most of his body visible and the bottom side of the lure is cut or scooped cut out of the picture? Who was he, the owner of the out and not rounded like the top side. Some collectors lure hanging vertically in the middle of the photo? Why believe this is the fourth version of the Cox Tampa was he cut out of the picture? Minnow. The 3 fishing rods may also indicate which one Another important aspect of the photo is the of the men in the photo belongs to which rod. The rod third person to the far left who is partially cut out. We to the right of Cox, leaning against the building, appears can only see his left leg and foot. The rod holding the to be Cox’s rod. The same outfit appears in the Cox Basdex ad of 1920. 7

The rod running horizontally across the photo the saying goes. His father was one of the partners in with the no-chin lure hanging down from the rod tip is the Biggs & Kupfrian Sporting Goods Store on Palafox held by the fellow to the left partially cut out of the Street in Pensacola. picture and presumed to belong to him Their business started when partners Walter F. That leaves the third rod, the one laying down Biggs and Chas. H. Kupfrian bought the sporting goods on top of the snook to belong to King. Cox and King stock from Ben F. King, tailor and former partner of R. B. were not using the lure hanging down. King as noted in the September 18, 1917 edition of the This photo has most often been referred to as a Pensacola News Journal. 1920 photo. If it was taken in 1920 then the Cox Basdex As mentioned Biggs was formerly with Wilson- or Fish Hawk would have been brand new based on the Biggs Co. and Kupfrain was with Watson Agency real ads in the two issues of The Florida Fisherman, the only estate and insurance. known mention of these two lures. AND the Heddon Walter Biggs, Jr. stated in his April 3, 2011 Zaragossa would have been at least 3 years old, having article for the Pensacola News Journal Viewpoint appeared in the early 1918 newspaper articles and first column titled “The ‘lure’ of Pensacola” that the original made in 1917. Biggs & Kupfrain store had a pot-bellied stove in the But what if the photo was taken in 1918 when back. the snook catches were going on early in that year as He wrote about how Pensacola in the early documented in the two Cootee River articles? 1900s shipped cut lumber that had been floated down A 1918 photo date would not change the date the Escambia River. He also talked about red snapper the Basdex and Fish Hawk were advertised. Also would fishermen using sail driven smacks to get to their fishing Cox sit on these 2 later lure designs, not advertising spot. them while continuing to advertise his fluted, metal lip Biggs noted the working girls area of town on Tampa Minnows? Zaragossa Street was closed down in World War II. He One thing all tackle companies and retailers are said local men would gather around the stove in the always looking for is a new product to drive sales. If Cox store in the late 1920s to discuss fishing and other had the “new” design No-Chin Tampa Minnow he would matters. have advertised them and included them in his ads from Biggs commented that many of the men were 1918 and 1919. That did not happen. immigrants of Greek or Spanish ancestry. He also said anglers fished for speckled trout with minnows and all The Stories lures were called minnows. He then said “One of the regulars, I believe it

was Angelo Capaduca, whittled out of wood a floating There have been several stories published that caught speckled trout very well and gave about the Zaragossa Minnow. One of the first, if not them to some of the regulars”. the first, is the story by Roswell Bayard King. A Greek man with heavy accent used the lure We know R. B. King met with W. T. Heddon in and reported back “That minnow, it do the ‘hoochie Minneola, Florida around January 17, 1917 to discuss coochie’ just like the girls on Zaragossa Street”. his patent reel brake. It is known Heddon produced Biggs further noted a Heddon salesman that some of the devices because they have been found called on Biggs & Kupfrain heard the men gathered in including one in the box marked Heddon. It’s also the store talking about the Zaragossa Minnow and took known that R. B. King demonstrated a “new style of one back to Heddon. artificial minnow” on October 29, 1917. Other early ads While Walter Biggs, Jr., born in 1930, could not and reports on the Zaragossa reinforce R. B. King’s have been present when this happened, he was association with Heddon. constantly around the Biggs & Kupfrian store from his R. B. King is the only person found that actually youth until the store closed in 1988. self proclaims to be the designer of the Zaragossa as Biggs’ story was repeated again in a November mentioned in the November 10, 1922 edition of the 27, 2016 Dallas Morning News article by outdoor writer Charlotte Observer. Ray Sasser. Sasser, Biggs, Biggs’ son Beau and their All of the other stories about the origin of the friend Alan Haynes of Tyler, Texas were on a dove hunt Zaragossa Minnow follow some of King’s account with in Concho County, Texas when Biggs told the story various changes in the characters. again. The most recent story of the Zaragossa’s origin was by Walter Biggs, Jr. Biggs had skins on the wall as 8

Biggs repeated the same story he told in 2011, once again giving Angelo Capaduca credit for whittling There’s been only one Zaragossa Street in the first Zaragossa Minnow. America found during this project and it’s on the Walter Biggs, Jr. was a 1951 graduate of The waterfront in Pensacola. The intersection of Zaragossa Citadel. He joined his father’s company in 1954 and and Palafox Streets saw innumerable fishermen walk up lived the rest of his life in Pensacola, dying on April 7, and down both streets. At one time it must have been 2019 at age 89. a fisherman’s paradise. And maybe it still is. So who was this fellow Biggs gave credit for So does the credit for the Zaragossa go to making the original Zaragossa? Roswell Bayard King or Angelo Dimitry Capaduca? They both know the truth about the lure’s origin and they Angelo Dimitry Capaduca aren’t telling. Perhaps the best way to end this story is with a

quote from Angelo D. Capaduca. In February 1956 he Angelo Dimitry Capaduca was born in Scopelos, said “Love, peace, and freedom are found only in Greece in 1887. He worked at J. H. Pelham’s grocery America. God bless America”. store in Andalusia, Alabama in August 1910.

The Pensacola post office had an uncalled for Contributors: letter for Capaduca on December 17, 1911. Nello Armstrong Searching the R. L. Polk Pensacola City Directory Alan Baracco the first listing found for Angelo Capaduca was in the Doug Brace 1916 edition where it noted he was a driver for The Ron Gast Texas Company (TEXACO). Pete Lellos He was listed as grocer, along with his wife Don and Joan Lyons Fannie, in the 1919 Directory with both his home and The late Steve Lumpkin grocery store listed at 601 North Reus, Pensacola. Jimmy Pettis In the 1921-1922 Directory he is listed as a John Savu salesman for the Escambia Provision Company and his Bernie Schultz home was shown as 1110 Guillemard, Pensacola. Bill Sonnett Angelo Capaduca opened his new store at 500 Colby Sorrells South Palafox, Pensacola on December 5, 1945. Joe Stagnitti The May 25, 1947 edition of the Pensacola Steve Vernon News Journal shows Dr. J. M. McLane and Angelo Joe Yates Capaduca with a catch of redfish totaling 130 pounds, caught near Fort Pickens, Pensacola Beach, Florida. For Further Reading : Capaduca ran for city council in 1961. Angelo The Heddons and Their Bait Donald D. Lyons Dimitry Capaduca died on October 16, 1965, at age 78, The Heddon Legacy Bill Roberts & Rob Pavey in Pensacola, his adopted town in American. Old Fishing Lures & Tackle Carl F. Luckey 7th Edition

Heddon’s Historical Footprints Clyde Harbin Antique Fishing Reels Steven K. Vernon

Angelo Dimitry Capaduca 1961 9