For Sale —American Paradise (59 page)

93. “Get the big snobs”: Vickers, Raymond B., “Addison Mizner: Promoter in Paradise,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 75, no. 4, p. 384

93. . . . that included
Palm Beach Post
publisher Donald H. Conkling: Vickers, Raymond B., “Addison Mizner: Promoter in Paradise,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 75, no. 4, p. 387

93. Mizner's backers also included US Senator T. Coleman du Pont: Vickers, Raymond B., “Addison Mizner: Promoter in Paradise,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 75, no. 4, p. 384

93. . . . she overheard two men talking about Livermore and his family:
New York Times
, March 9 and March 16, 1925;
The Evening Independent
of St. Petersburg, November 29, 1940;
Milwaukee Journal
, January 6, 1939

93. . . . one of those who departed was Reverend R. S. Wightman:
New York Times
, March 9, 1925

93. Brothels operated openly with little interference: Reno, Jane Wood, and Hurchalla, George (editor),
The Hell with Politics: The Life and Writings of Jane Wood Reno
(Atlanta, Peachtree Publishers, Ltd., 1994) pp. 34–35

93. . . . the masses coming to the state were being drawn:
New York Times
, March 22, 1925

94. “Since houses were being rushed to sell”: Roberts, Kenneth, “In the Wake of the Hurricane,”
Saturday Evening Post
, November 27, 1926

94. “Southern nights are cool and starlit”:
New York Times Magazine
, December 6, 1925

94. Imperial Wizard Hiram Wesley Evans told a gathering:
Miami Daily News
, September 24, 1924

95. . . . had helped to defeat a motion to include a sentence denouncing the Klan: Kazin, Michael,
A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan
(New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006) p. 284;
Miami Daily News,
September 24, 1924

95. “The fight today is not to defend the Christian religion”:
Miami Herald
, March 28, 1926

95. “Science gives us great things”:
Miami Herald
, June 12, 1925

95. Earlier in the year, Bryan had made a quick trip to Nashville: Author's visit to Scopes Trial Museum, Dayton, Tennessee, February 4, 2013

95–96. . . . illegal to “drink liquors as a beverage” in Florida:
Palm Beach Post
, June 7, 1925

96. “. . . “one traverses the bank of the Indian River”: Roberts, Kenneth L.,
Florida
(New York and London, Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1926) p. 129

96. “Millions will be made”:
South Florida Developer
, January 27, 1925

96. Federal engineers had started a feasibility study:
South Florida Developer
, January 20, 1925

96. “the finest south of Savannah”:
South Florida Developer
, January 27, 1925

96. During the second week of January 1925:
South Florida Developer
, January 20, 1925

97. Brisbane's brief visit to Stuart:
South Florida Developer
, February 13, 1925

97. A week later, a bylined story written by Brisbane:
South Florida Developer
, February 20, 1925

97. When R. C. Ogilvie, a physician in Superior, Wisconsin:
South Florida Developer
, April 21, 1925

98. Warfield's Seaboard Air Line Railroad had sold the timber rights:
South Florida Developer
, March 27, 1925

98. Northern Palm Beach County voters helped pass a $6 million proposal:
Stuart News
, January 9, 1964

98. On April 9, they met with Representative M. S. McCracken:
South Florida Developer
, April 14, 1925

98. Offer to name the new county after Governor John Martin:
South Florida Developer
, September 13, 1929

98. On May 28, the state legislature passed the bill:
South Florida Developer
, May 28, 1925

99. Around the same time, Arthur Brisbane made yet another visit:
South Florida Developer
, May 1, 1925

99. . . . the lawmakers approved issuing $250,000 worth of bonds:
South Florida Developer
, May 1, 1925

99. Crowds continued to pour into the city: Tindall, George B., “The Bubble In The Sun,”
American Heritage
, vol. 1, no. 5, August 1965

99. During the spring and summer, ambitious young men: George, Paul, “Brokers, Binders, And Builders,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 65, no. 1, July 1986, pp. 35–37

100. “The binder boys worked right on the street”: Burnell, Elvira S., “A.J. Manning's Reminiscences: Boom of the 20s,” Library of Congress, American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1940, available online at
http://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh000381/

100. Historians have blamed the binder boys: George, Paul, “Brokers, Binders and Builders: Greater Miami's Boom of the mid-1920s”;
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 65, no. 1, July 1986, p. 1, July 1986, p. 35

100. The development was sold out in three hours: George, Paul, “Brokers, Binders and Builders,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 65, no. 1, July 1986, p. 41

100. On June 25, Edwin Menninger traveled up the coast to Vero Beach:
Vero Beach Press
, July 2, 1925;
South Florida Developer
, August 4, 1925

101. “Florida is the sanitarium for the rich”:
Vero Beach Press
, July 2, 1925

101. On the shores of Lake Okeechobee in western Martin County:
South Florida Developer
, July 7, 1925

101. “the Fifth Avenue of Florida.”: “History of Olympia-Picture City,” Collection M74-13, State Archives of Florida, Tallahassee, Florida

101. William Jennings Bryan arrived in Dayton, Tennessee: Author's visit to Scopes Trial Museum, Dayton, Tennessee, February 4, 2013

102. Darrow walked Bryan through the biblical story of Creation: Linder, Douglas O., “Famous Trials” webpage, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law; Bryan's testimony online at:
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/day7.htm

103. . . . recalling that he had met Bryan at Vero Beach:
South Florida Developer
, August 4, 1925

103. . . . Brisbane praised Seaboard Air Line Railroad:
South Florida Developer
, July 24, 1925

103. And Edwin Menninger continued his cheerleading:
South Florida Developer
, August 21, 1925

104. Withdrawals from member banks of the Massachusetts Savings Bank: Frazer, William, and Guthrie, John J., Jr.,
The Florida Land Boom: Speculation, Money and the Banks
(Westport, Connecticut, Quorum Books, 1995) p. 119

104. Similar warnings were issued by the Minnesota Department of Conservation: George, Paul, “Brokers, Binders and Builders,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 65, no. 1, July 1986, p. 48

104. “Land is not worth a certain figure”:
South Florida Developer
, September 8, 1925

105. “The fact of the matter is”:
South Florida Developer
, September 11, 1925

105. “If these attacks succeed in slowing down”:
South Florida Developer
, October 13, 1925

105. The shift started when the Florida East Coast Railway: George, Paul, “Brokers, Binders and Builders,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 65, no. 1, July 1986, p. 46

105. Out-
of-work carpenters added to the problem:
South Florida Developer
, October 9, 1925

105. The speculators—especially Miami's ubiquitous binder boys: George, Paul, “Brokers, Binders and Builders,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 65, no. 1, July 1986, p. 46

105. Enterprising residents were renting their porches: George, Paul, “Brokers, Binders and Builders,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. 65, no. 1, July 1986, p. 43

105. As the winter of 1925 approached:
New York Times
, December 5, 1925

105–6. Jokes circulated about returning tourists selling the Florida sand:
Syracuse Herald
, October 18, 1925

106. A service station operator in Stuart said he'd soon be selling his land for a dollar a spoonful:
South Florida Developer
, October 20, 1925

106. Humorist Will Rogers:
Fresno Bee
, October 11, 1925

106. Florida as a source of humor hit the bright lights of Broadway: Meredith, Scott,
George S. Kaufman and His Friends
(Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1974) p. 274;
New York Times
, December 9, 1925

Chapter Six: The Bootlegger's Curse

107. In November,
New York Times
readers learned that Charles Ponzi:
New York Times
, November 17, 1925

107. The US Post Office in Atlanta reported in August:
South Florida Developer
, October 9, 1925

107. “All our gold rushes, all our oil booms”:
Literary Digest
, October 24, 1924

107. Two days before Thanksgiving, US Senator T. Coleman du Pont:
New York Times
, November 25, 1925

108. Mizner tried to downplay du Pont's resignation: Vickers, Raymond B., “Addison Mizner: Promoter in Paradise,”
Florida Historical Quarterly
, vol. LXXV, 19XX, pp. 389–390;
New York Times
, November 25, 1925

108. Still, John McGraw moved ahead with plans to spend $3.75 million:
Palm Beach Post
, December 6, 1925;
St. Petersburg Times
, February 24, 1965;
Sunday Times-Signal
, December 6, 1925

108. While McGraw was asking potential investors to take his word:
St. Petersburg Times
, December 8, 1925

109. Northeast winds brought a gloomy drizzle that parked itself over Tampa Bay:
St. Petersburg Times
, December 29, 2011

109. But local cops picked that time to get serious about cracking down on bootlegging:
The Evening Independent
, December 10, 1925;
Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
, December 10, 1925;
Kingsport Times
, December 10, 1925;
Decatur Review
, December 10, 1925

109. That “certain information” may well have come from someone:
Evening Independent
, August 6, 1924

110. Shortly after the bankers departed St. Petersburg, an eyebrow-
raising warning:
New
York Times
, January 10, 1926

110. Tregoe's colleagues in Florida's banking industry:
New York Times
, January 24, 1926

110. In October, Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, sunburned and windblown:
South Florida Developer
, October 10, 1925

110. Soon, he told the
Developer
's readers, Stuart's harbor would be deepened:
South Florida Developer
, September 22, 1925

111. As the usual post-Thanksgiving migration to Florida started:
New York Times Magazine
, December 6, 1925

111. Author Theodore Dreiser was among the thousands who came to Florida: Riggio, Thomas P.; West III, James L.W.; Westlake, Neda M.; and Lohmann, Christoph K.,
Theodore Dreiser: American Diaries, 1902–1926
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982) p. 430

111. Babe Ruth was seen among other celebrities at a hotel opening in St. Petersburg: Hatton, Hap,
Tropical Splendor: An Architectural History of Florida
(New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1987) p. 75

111. . . . Stanford University football star Ernie Nevers would play in an all-
star football
game in Florida:
Davenport Democrat and Leader
, January 1, 1926;
Lincoln Sunday Star
, January 17, 1926