COVER PHOTO Las Olas Beach, Fort Lauderdale, 1934. Courtesy of Fort Lauderdale His- torical Society, Inc. rte THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Volume LVIII, Number 3 January 1980 COPYRIGHT 1980 by the Florida Historical Society, Tampa, Florida. Second class postage paid at Tampa and DeLeon Springs, Florida. Printed by E. O. Painter Printing Co., DeLeon Springs, Florida. (ISSN 0015-4113) THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Samuel Proctor, Editor David Sowell, Editorial Assistant EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Herbert J. Doherty, Jr. University of Florida Michael V. Gannon University of Florida John K. Mahon University of Florida Jerrell H. Shofner University of Central Florida Charlton W. Tebeau University of Miami (Emeritus) J. Leitch Wright, Jr. Florida State University Correspondence concerning contributions, books for review, and all editorial matters should be addressed to the Editor, Florida Historical Quarterly, Box 14045, University Station, Gainesville, Florida 32604. The Quarterly is interested in articles and documents pertaining to the history of Florida. Sources, style, footnote form, original- ity of material and interpretation, clarity of thought, and interest of readers are considered. All copy, including footnotes, should be double-spaced. Footnotes are to be numbered consecutively in the text and assembled at the end of the article. Particular attention should be given to following the footnote style of the Quarterly. The author should submit an original and retain a carbon for security. The Florida Historical Society and the Editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly accept no responsibility for statements made or opinions held by authors. Table of Contents PARK TRAMMELL AND THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL PRIMARY OF 1916 Stephen Kerber 255 MARY GRACE QUACKENBOS, A VISITOR FLORIDA DID NOT WANT Jerrell H. Shofner 273 CHARLOTTE HARBOR DIVISION OF THE FLORIDA SOUTHERN RAILROAD Vernon E. Peeples 291 THE UNICAMERAL LEGISLATURE IN FLORIDA Allen Morris and Amelia Rea Maguire 303 NOTES AND DOCUMENTS: RUGGLES HUBBARD, CIVIL GOVERNOR OF FERNANDINA Marilyn Maple 315 FLORIDA HISTORY RESEARCH IN PROGRESS ................. 320 BOOK REVIEWS ..................................................................... 332 B OOK N OTES ................................ ....................... 362 HISTORY NEWS .............................................................. 367 iii BOOK REVIEWS PLACES IN THE SUN: THE HISTORY AND ROMANCE OF FLORIDA PLACE NAMES, by Bertha E. Bloodworth and Alton C. Morris reviewed by Margaret L. Chapman MALIGNED GENERAL: A BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS S. JESUP, by Chester L. Keiffer reviewed by Frank Laumer THE STORY OF A NUN: JEANIE GORDON BROWN, by Jane Quinn reviewed by Eileen F. Rice ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF STATE LEADERSHIP IN FLORIDA PUBLIC EDUCATION, by Arthur O. White reviewed by Harry A. Kersey, Jr. TIME OF THE TURTLE, by Jack Rudloe reviewed by Gloria Jahoda INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN THE COLONIAL SOUTH, 1585-1763, by Richard Beale Davis reviewed by Trevor Colbourn LETTERS OF DELEGATES TO CONGRESS, 1774-1789, VOLUME 3: JANUARY 1-MAY 15, 1776, edited by Paul H. Smith, Gerard W. Gawalt, Rosemary Fry Plakas, and Eugene R. Sheridan reviewed by Robert M. Calhoon PLEASURE AND PAIN: REMINISCENCES OF GEORGIA IN THE 1840’s, by Emily Burke reviewed by Gilbert C. Fite OUR FIERY TRIAL: ABRAHAM LINCOLN, JOHN BROWN, AND THE CIVIL WAR ERA, by Stephen B. Oates reviewed by Herbert Aptheker OUR MASTERS THE REBELS: A SPECULATION ON UNION MILITARY FAILURE IN THE EAST, 1861-1865, by Michael C. C. Adams reviewed by Robert Hartje REVOLT AGAINST CHIVALRY: JESSIE DANIEL AMES AND THE WOMEN’S CAMPAIGN AGAINST LYNCHING, by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall reviewed by Elliott Rudwick IN SEARCH OF CANAAN: BLACK MIGRATION TO KANSAS, 1879-80, by Robert G. Athearn reviewed by Joe M. Richardson PAT HARRISON: THE NEW DEAL YEARS, by Martha H. Swain reviewed by Wayne Flynt LET THEM BE JUDGED: THE JUDICIAL INTERGRATION OF THE DEEP SOUTH, by Frank T. Read and Lucy S. McGough reviewed by Augustus M. Burns, III PROTEST AT SELMA. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., AND THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, by David J. Garrow reviewed by David R. Colburn THE WHITE MAN’S INDIAN: IMAGES OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN FROM COLUMBUS TO THE PRESENT, by Robert F. Berkhofer, Jr. reviewed by Charles Hudson PARK TRAMMELL AND THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL PRIMARY OF 1916 by STEPHEN KERBER * F THE MANY hardfought and bitter campaigns waged in twentieth-century Florida politics, none has surpassed in excitement or intensity the 1916 gubernatorial fight between William V. Knott and Sidney J. Catts. In addition, the passions stirred by that contest spilled over into the United States Senate race and completely dominated it. Although historians have written a good deal about Knott and Catts, they have failed to describe or explain in depth the senatorial contest between in- cumbent Nathan P. Bryan and Florida Governor Park M. Tram- mell. Trammell was in the final year of his four-year term as gov- ernor in 1916. The son of John W. Trammell, long-time Demo- cratic stalwart and former superintendent of the state mental hospital at Chattahoochee, Park was raised in Lakeland. After graduating from Cumberland University Law School in 1899, he won three consecutive terms as mayor of his hometown. Trammell then served in the Florida house (1903) and senate (1905, 1907), gradually winning a reputation as a Broward progressive. In 1908, in his first statewide race, he defeated Attorney General William Ellis in the Democratic primary. His victorious 1912 primary campaign for governor against William H. Milton dealt with the issues of good roads and the labor of state convicts, neither of which were extremely controversial matters. Bypassing controversy and conflict-or using them to his advantage-became the hallmarks of Trammell’s political career. Since the Florida constitution, at the time, prohibited a gov- ernor from succeeding himself, Trammell began to look around for other available offices that he might secure. The two most likely spots which would be attainable by election in 1916 were the United States Senate seat held by Nathan P. Bryan and the first congressional district post occupied by Stephen Sparkman. * Mr. Kerber is library technical assistant, P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida, Gainesville. 256 FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Trammell indicated at the end of January 1915, about halfway through his term as governor, that he intended “at a later date to become a candidate for congress from the First Florida district.“ 1 Herbert Drane of Lakeland had already announced for the seat, and most observers expected Stephen Sparkman of Tampa to seek reelection. In addition, Trammell’s longtime friend, Allie J. Angle, the harbormaster at Tampa, had expressed an interest in the position. 2 By the spring of 1915, Trammell had begun to change his mind. On May 12, in response to a reporter’s question about his candidacy for Congress, he stated, “I have nothing to say in that connection just at present,” but, he admitted with a smile that he might soon have some other announcement. 3 Two factors un- doubtedly influenced Trammell’s reasoning. First, he realized that a seat in the United States Senate was certainly more prestigious, secure, and desirable than a House of Representatives position. Actually, he had had ambitions to go to the Senate as early as 1908, but had temporarily sidetracked them to stay in state pol- itics. Second, the always politically-aware Trammell must have perceived the danger that Sidney J. Catts’s gubernatorial cam- paign would pose to the reelection plans of Senator Bryan. Even before Trammell had indicated his intention to run for Congress, astute newspapermen like Jacksonville’s Charles E. Jones had warned that Catts’s speeches and sermons were striking a resonant note of nativism among Florida’s rural white masses. The Guard- ians of Liberty, “a secret political society,” wrote Jones, was offering “a candidate for governor in the person of one Catts, who came here [to Florida] a few years ago from Alabama.” The Guardians, Jones reported, would “oppose Nathan P. Bryan for re-election . because Senator Bryan decreed to select P. A. Dignan [Peter A. Dignan, a Catholic] for postmaster [of Jackson- ville].” The Guardians, continued, Jones, might “also oppose Governor Trammell.“ 4 The 1916 Florida Democratic primary races for governor and United States senator cannot be comprehended separately. The contest for the governorship directly influenced the Senate race. 1. Jacksonville Dixie, January 30, 1915. 2. Ibid., January 30, February 6, 1915. 3. Tallahassee Daily Democrat, May 12, 1915. 4. Jacksonville Dixie, January 23, 1915. DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL PRIMARY OF 1916 257 The key figure in the race for governor, Sidney J. Catts, defined the issues in both contests. Catts came to Florida in 1911 to become pastor of the First Baptist Church in DeFuniak Springs. He was a passionate speaker, although his pride and temper caused problems for him on more than one occasion. A hardworking and frugal man, Catts shared the views of his parishioners on such subjects as the need for prohibition and the inherent inferiority of blacks. He also dis- played an abiding hatred of Catholicism which was generally typical of white rural Protestants in the South at the time, al- though he seemed able to maintain that dislike on an abstract level, as he did with his racist feelings. Despite his prejudices, he kept up friendly relations with individual Catholics and blacks. Catts never really enjoyed his pastorate. After three years, the combination of low pay and the familiar pattern of a clash in personalities between preacher and congregation led to his resig- nation. His dream was to enter politics, and by 1914, Catts had made up his mind that he would run for governor of Florida two years hence. In 1911, the Guardians of Liberty, a nativist organization led by a number of prominent clergymen, military officers, and busi- nessmen, had been organized on the national scene. The hostility of this semi-secret organization was directed primarily against Catholics.