History of Flogging in Tampa

Flogging holds a prominent place in Tampa history; in fact, from the turn of the 20th century into the 1930s, "professional flogger" was an acceptable, if not entirely respectable occupation. If you didn't like someone and didn't want to get your own hands dirty, you could hire a flogger to deliver a public whipping. There are reported cases of men, women, and children who died from injuries received in a flogging. It is a sad fact that flogging in Tampa and Hillsborough County was widespread and accepted deep into the 20th century. 

As with most other punishments, flogging took the worst toll on people of color. Instead of the leather strap, a whip or chain might be used. Other targets of the lash were Jews, Catholics, women of ill repute, and criminals. Prisoners were systematically abused. The use of the lash in law enforcement was a daily practice. It continued for decades and no prisoner was immune to the threat of flogging on the whim of city and county officials. Judges even beat children in the courtrooms of the city. 

Judge Whitaker of the Tampa municipal court is said to have set the legal precedent, "by personally applying the lash to two boy offenders convicted in his court." The judge believed a good whipping would be better for their character than jail time. Perhaps he was right, but by the time of Ybor City Blues, Hillsboro County had instituted a policy of flogging four prisoners a day even if there had been no infractions of the rules. 

Hillsborough County Chain Gang 1925

Imagine for a moment what it would be like to serve time in the county jail. First of all, jail usually meant the county work camp. Prisoners worked twelve-hour days building roads, cleaning ditches, and cutting brush using hand tools. They were shackled together to form a "chain gang." Then, every afternoon a flogger would walk down the row and pick out four random men to flog. If you were disliked, unlucky, or a shade or two darker than the next man in line, you could end up with daily floggings through your entire sentence.

The Magic Kingdom of Henry Plant

This past weekend, Sarah and I were in Tampa for the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime meeting, which was held in the media room of the Oxford Exchange. This was the first time since the pandemic began that we have been able to meet in person. As the members are spread out along the West Coast of Florida, we appreciate having the option of doing an in-person meeting while others join us via Zoom. 

Since we were right across the street from the University of Tampa, we took advantage of our location to take a little trip into Tampa's first Magic Kingdom, the Kingdom of Henry Plant. Plant's Kingdom was made up of railroads, steamships, lavish resorts, and tropical islands. It even had its own flag.

Plant Flag

There is no place the flag more proudly waved than over his castle, AKA The Tampa Hotel. As you can see from the picture below, the hotel was as close to a castle as Plant could make it. It was built at the center of a lavishly landscaped 100-acre park. It had an 18-hole golf course, its own stables for horseback riding, tennis courts, croquet and badminton courts, horseshoes, fishing, boating on Tampa Bay, and even hunting was available. There were shows and concerts by some of the world's best performers, a rail station, and a casino with a floor that opened to the swimming pool. 

He spared no expense on constructing and furnishing the castle. Moorish spires rose above the roofline, each adorned with a crescent moon. 

One wing of the Tampa Bay Hotel

Lobby

There were life-sized statues decorating the lobby, art, and furnishings imported from Europe and the Orient. Phone service was available in every guest room (which was unheard of at the time). Every guest had access to a bath with hot and cold running water.

Typical Hotel Bathroom

The hotel was finished in February of 1891, at a cost of over three million dollars. When the Spanish-American War loomed on the horizon, Plant lobbied hard to make Tampa the main port of embarkation of the troops. His prized hotel was filled with officers, plus Clara Barton and her Red Cross nurses as they waited for orders to leave for Cuba. Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders camped on the banks of the river and held drills on Plant's carefully landscaped lawns. 

After his death in 1899, the family lost interest in the hotel, which was sold to the city of Tampa in 1905 for 125 thousand dollars. It closed in 1932, and in 1933 part of the building reopened as a museum; the rest is used as offices for the University of Tampa.

Signs of the Time

The Gandy Bridge

One of the most difficult problems I struggle with when writing historical mysteries is how to accurately portray the times without having our troubled history take over the story. This week the Three Snowbirds had to cross the Gandy Bridge to question a suspect in St. Petersburg. To understand how a simple drive across a bridge can be a problem, you have to be aware of an ugly historic fact. When the Gandy Bridge was completed in 1924, a car crossing toward St. Petersburg side would see a sign that read “No Jews Wanted Here.” Pow! History just delivered a punch to the gut. 

Okay, history, what do you have to say for yourself?

As it turns out, the anti-Semitic history of St. Petersburg is well documented. Signs at resorts and restaurants that read “Restricted Clientele” or “Gentiles Only” reflected the exclusionary policies of many local institutions. Throughout much of the early and mid-century, the city was considered one of the most anti-Semitic in all of the United States. 

When Sarah and I approached writing Murder at the Million Dollar Pier, we had to take that part of the history of the city into account. The difference in this particular sign is the all-encompassing nature of where it was posted. This was not an individual business or a single institution. The city of St. Petersburg rolled out an unwelcome mat in big black letters. 

Despite the bigotry, the Jewish citizens of St. Petersburg didn't leave or start forming Jews only groups. It wasn't easy. Keeping their Jewish identity in the Sunshine City required a strong will and dogged determination. As a result, the Jewish community in St. Petersburg is still thriving, and the unwelcome sign has rotted away.

Tampa Bay Travel in the 1920s

I spend a lot of time doing historical research for my novels. Sometimes the research includes visiting a location or finding an old photograph. At other times the details of a particular day are important. For instance, the current chapter of my WIP is a trip from Tampa to St. Petersburg. Florida was a little different in the 1920s than it is in the 2020s. The Gandy Bridge was new and charged a quarter to each car that crossed the bay. At that time the six-mile-long Gandy was the longest bridge in the world. To put it simply, travel across Tampa Bay was much more time-consuming than it is today. The new bridge cut the driving time between the two cities in half and added an amazing view of Tampa Bay.

The Gandy Bridge was the first, but the Davis Causeway (now the Cortney Campbell Causeway) was in the planning stages.  Davis Construction Company, wouldn't start construction until 1927. David (DP) Davis, was behind the project. His current building efforts included dredging the bay to turn two small islands into three, which could support a planned community complete with golf courses, hotels, apartments, a business district, and private houses. Environmental impact wasn't a consideration during the Florida Land Boom. Builders at the time only worried about how much money they could make.

The Howard Frankland Bridge was a dream that many thought could not be built.  It would be several decades before technological improvements in construction equipment allowed the dream to become reality. Perhaps they should have kept dreaming a while longer.  The bridge opened in 1960 and was soon nicknamed the "Howard Frankenstein Bridge" by the locals because of the many accidents that backed up traffic for hours. 

The Great Paradox of Herbert Hoover

 

This is Herbert Hoover, in full Herbert Clark Hoover, (born August 10, 1874, West Branch, Iowa, U.S and died October 20, 1964, New York, New York), 31st president of the United States (1929–33). Most Americans think of President Herbert Hoover in relation to the Great Depression. His administration failed in its attempts to alleviate widespread joblessness, homelessness, and hunger in America during the early years of the Great Depression. Which is sad, because Hoover’s rise to the presidency was a direct result of his humanitarian work during and after World War I as he rescued millions of Europeans from starvation. 

I was thinking about this paradox in relation to our Three Snowbirds series. In France, the ladies would have seen firsthand and also had great pride in the incredible effort ordinary Americans put into alleviating hunger in occupied Belgium and France. Herbert Hoover created the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) to help the victims of famine. At the time of the CRB's foundation, the United States had not yet entered the war, and Hoover was viewed as a neutral negotiator. As a result, he was personally able to deal with the English, French, and German governments, so that the CRB could bring aid to the famished citizens.

Food relief was essential, because 10 million Belgians and French were dependent on it during the four years of German occupation. The first ship to deliver goods to the Belgians carried 1,018 tons of wheat, rice, beans, and peas. Close to 2,500 other ships took 5 million tons of food to the innocent civilians. By working together, Hoover and prominent Belgian officials ensured that the acquired food was given directly to the citizens of the starving areas.

Even after the United States entered the war in 1917, Hoover still helped combat hunger. As the appointed head of the United States Food Administration (USFA), he encouraged Americans to conserve food. Through these efforts, there would be enough to send to Europeans in need. Once the war ended, he continued to help arrange relief as head of the American Relief Administration for all of the European countries, as well as defeated Germany and the other Central Powers. In this capacity, Hoover enabled 6 million tons of food to be sent to just about every European country.

Herbert Hoover is credited with saving close to 10 million lives in this region —about 2 million in northern France, and approximately 7 million Belgians. Belgians continue to honor him. On December 4, 1922, Belgian Senator Lejeune presented a statue of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of Life, to Hoover at the Stanford Art Gallery. In 1939, it was relocated to his hometown of West Branch, Iowa. Today, a Belgian museum is hosting an exhibit called “Remembering Herbert Hoover," portraying him as the "Great Humanitarian" and showing how he and the CRB helped them at such a critical time.

The Great Depression hasn't hit our Snowbirds yet. To Cornelia and Teddy, Hoover is one of America's greatest humanitarians. This is the reputation that led to his election as America's 31st president. Unfortunately, he was sworn in just a few short months before the bottom fell out of the New York Stock Exchange, plunging us into economic crisis. The organizational and logistical skills that made him a hero to millions failed to help him at home. He was strongly opposed to government "handouts" and called on business people to keep Americans employed, and he asked the American people to tighten their belts and make do in the spirit of “rugged individualism.” While Hoover’s philosophy and his appeal to the country were very much in keeping with his character, it was not enough to keep the economy from plummeting further into economic chaos. As Congress and the people urged him to do more he responded that “The spread of government destroys initiative and thus destroys character.”

Hoover's political career was wrecked by the Depression and his inability to realize that, in times of crisis, the need for direct government action is essential. The organized effort that fed millions in Europe was not applied to feeding millions at home. Even though he personally took no salary as President and donated thousands to charity relief efforts every year, he was unable or unwilling to do what had to be done to bring America out of the Depression. 

I can't help wondering how this will impact our books. Do you think Cornelia will continue to believe in Hoover the humanitarian, or will she turn on him as so many others did?

A Long Day for the Secret Service

I am such a history junkie that I can’t resist bit of history with an odd twist or two. Today is one of those historical days that I find interesting and a little odd. One hundred years ago the Secret Service and the Washington DC police department were called upon to block off the streets around the White House for the christening of President Wilson’s first grandchild, Ellen Wilson McAdoo.

The President was godfather and little Ellen’s aunt Mrs. Francis Sayre and her cousin Miss Helen Woodrow Bones were chosen as godmothers. The baby was named after her maternal grandmother, the late First Lady Ellen Axton Wilson in a private ceremony in the Blue Room with members of the Wilson family and Secretary McAdoo’s family in attendance.

Being born the daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury and granddaughter/goddaughter of the President means that security was very tight for the Christening. Secret Service members had to extend protection to the guests and inspect christening gifts from hundreds of well-wishers.

After this, you might think the Secret Service could breathe a sigh of relief, but the day was just getting started. The president attended to personal business at his bank, then returned to the White House for dinner with the family members who remained in town for his wedding. Yes, the President was married the same day his first grandchild was christened.

After dinner, streets were blocked off and the motorcade proceeded in the home of Mrs. Edith Bolling Galt where she and the President were married. The bride was 43 and he was 56.

This was a second marriage for both parties and they tried to keep the fanfare to a minimum. No matter how low key the President wants to keep his marriage to a direct descendent of Pocahontas, though, it isn’t going to be ignored. Wedding gifts filled an entire room of Mrs. Galt’s home and it took valiant efforts of the Capitol Police and the Secret Service to prevent crowds breaking through the barricades to get a glimpse of the couple.

For the twist to what makes this date in history a little odd as Wilson’s choice of wedding days has to do with little Ellen’s grandmother, Ellen Axton: the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, who married a young professor at Bryn Mawr College on December 18, 1885. That’s right, on the thirtieth anniversary of his first marriage, Wilson married his second wife.

Interview: D. Alan Dunn

D. Alan Dunn, a native south Texan, retired from the building and plumbing trades after a bout with cancer. A longtime fan of crime mystery and horror fiction, Dunn’s hidden talent for writing exploded into reality in 2007 when he wrote his memoirs for his grandchildren. Since then, his repertoire of author published works consist of “The Moods of My Heart” – a collection of poems, sonnets and quatrains and “5 After Midnight” – a collection of short stories in the psychological and horror genres.

Q: When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
A: I’ve always had stories rolling around in my head since childhood, but it wasn’t until I was recovering from cancer surgery and wrote my memoirs for my grandchildren that I realized that writing came natural to me.

Q: How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?
A: I think it picked me. Horror is my first love, but I also enjoy writing westerns and crime mysteries. I usually try to combine the three genres to create a unique and fresh storyline. For example, a novel I am writing now, Dead Bone Posse, entangles a group of 1930s bank robbers with a posse of long since dead lawmen.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for your story in History and Horror, Oh My?
A: I was researching serial killers online and stumbled upon a story about a real life serial killer in the Old West. I was therefore prompted to write my own rendering.

Q: Did you encounter any obstacles in researching the setting?
A: Researching for historical fiction is always a difficulty. To be believable, a setting has to be a real place rather than a fictional one, and sometimes the setting you choose is not easily researchable online.

Q: Do you have a favorite historical period you enjoy reading or writing about?
A: Any historical period is enjoyable for me. When you think about all of the untold stories of those time periods, an author’s imagination is infinite.

Q: Who is your favorite author, and what really strikes you about their work?
A: Edgar Allen Poe. Poe’s physiological and dark romanticism styles define me as a writer.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m currently writing stories for a collection of short stories entitled Tales from the Netherworld. A series of stories that acquaints the reader to the horrors and hopelessness of hell.

Read D. Alan Dunn's story for yourself!
History and Horror, Oh My! is now available in ebook formats on Smashwords and in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

History and Horror, Oh My: Chantal Boudreau

Chantal Boudreau is an accountant by day and an author/illustrator during evenings and weekends, who lives by the ocean in beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada with her husband and two children. In addition to being a CMA-MBA, she has a BA with a major in English from Dalhousie University. An affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association, she writes and illustrates horror, dark fantasy and fantasy and has had several of her stories published in a variety of horror anthologies, online journals and magazines. She has also published ten novels to date.

When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
I've been wanting to be a writer since I was six and wrote a handful of bad short stories as a child. I wrote my first novel (my trunk novel) when I was fourteen, and got incredibly helpful feedback from the rare person who took the time to read it. I entered a few writing contests and won a couple of prizes in my teens and young adult years but I never really aspired to being a published writer until I met my dear friend Barb MacQueen, who wouldn't stop pushing until I got my work out there. She had faith in me and my writing talent in a way no one else has had.

How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?
I feel more like it picked me. I was drawn to fairy tales and mythology as soon as I started reading, and I always was inclined to tales with a fantasy element, but I found myself most intrigued by the darkest of these stories. It makes sense to write what you like to read, so that's what I do. Whenever I'm inspired it usually carries me back to familiar places.

How did you come up with the idea for your story in History and Horror, Oh My?
I've played around with a variety of mythologies in several of my short stories and novels, and while I had written a short story set in Egypt, "Dry Heat," I had never dabbled in Egyptian mythology before. I figured it was time I tried my hand there.

Did you encounter any obstacles in researching the setting?
Not at all. Research is one of my favourite parts of writing and there is plenty of information available on Egyptian mythology. I had much more difficulty digging up information on obscure mythologies like Sami, Siberian and Thracian mythologies, for other projects.

Do you have a favorite historical period you enjoy reading or writing about?
The older the better. I love any stories centered on ancient civilizations, especially the ones with tribal mythologies involving shamans and having a strong connection with nature. I love the primitive aspect.

Who is your favorite author, and what really strikes you about their work?
That's difficult to answer because I have different favourites in different genres. My favourite in dark fantasy, for example, is Tanith Lee, and my favourite in sci-fi is Robert J. Sawyer. And I'm more of a "well-loved book" kind of reader rather than a "favourite author" type - I don't necessarily love everything written by my preferred authors. For me, the appeal comes from well-developed, flawed, multi-dimensional characters. To earn my favour, the characters in a story have to feel like real people.

What are you working on now?
I'm in the middle of a dystopian novel and I just finished one steampunk and three Lovecraftian horror short stories. Steampunk is a new endeavour for me so I'm going to have to test it out and probably rework it based on feedback. I like to experiment with new things from time to time.

Learn more about Chantal Boudreau's stories!
Check out Chantal's blog at http://chantellyb.wordpress.com. You can also learn about her other writings on her Amazon Author page. To see some of her illustrations, visit her Facebook page.

History and Horror, Oh My! is now available in ebook formats on Smashwords and in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

History and Horror, Oh My: Kevin Wetmore

Kevin Wetmore is the author of over a dozen short stories and several books, including Post-9/11 Horror in American Cinema and Back from the Dead: Reading Remakes of George Romero's Zombie Films as Markers of Their Times. He lives in Los Angeles where he also acts, directs, teaches and does stunts.

Kevin contributed "Report on an Incident after the Battle of Malvern Hill" to History and Horror, Oh My! The "Report" tells the story of a soldier's grisly discovery during the American Civil War, but we found his description of the 'normal' events in the war equally gruesome. We decided to learn more about what inspired him to write the story and how he researched it.

How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?
I write horror because I like horror and spend a good deal of time reading and watching that genre, so it is also the one I know best. I wrote this short story about the Civil War era because it is a period that really interests me. It really was the first modern war - the first machine gun, the Gatling Gun, was in use by 1962 by the Union army. It was a very violent and horrific conflict that was well documented through photographs and soldiers' journals and letters. (The description of a the aftermath of a battlefield looking like a single entity came from a soldier's letter home, for example). So there was a lot of material with horrific potential even before adding the monster element. I also wanted to explore a story written as a letter, so the Civil War setting also lent itself to that task.
It don't usually write in this period. Most of my fiction is either set in the present or in the immediate future. It is fun, though, to write about the past. I usually end up doing a lot of research to be accurate. I wrote a story set at Halloween 1955 that was really a tribute to my father's childhood and the first thing he did after reading it was tell me all the things I got wrong - the night that particular TV shows were on, how families ate dinner - just details that someone alive then would know but are not necessarily found in books or websites. So I think I like writing about the Civil War or the Renaissance - nobody tells you that you got the details wrong.

How did you come up with the idea for your story in History and Horror, Oh My?
I recently read James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom and found myself horrified by the battle descriptions. I also started thinking about the terrible starvation and famine that followed in the South and how deserters would follow the armies looking for food. I also look at the descriptions of the military hospitals and the conditions under which hundreds of limbs would be amputated in a single day after battle and began wondering what would happen if the desperation drove the deserters to feast on those limbs. I think I was also playing with the metaphor of feeding off of others found in slavery. The whole story was intended to convey increasing unease and disgust after the fact as a wounded soldier reports on the horrific battlefield experience, the even more horrific hospital experience, and then finally the realization that someone had eaten your flesh and now had a taste for it. While there are lots of horrible ways to die, I think knowing that you are being consumed by something else is particularly disturbing.

Did you encounter any obstacles in researching the setting?
No, actually. The Civil War is frighteningly well documented. It was just making sure you get the details right. Knowing that a certain unit disbanded on this date and was absorbed into another unit, or that men from a particular unit only came from one town are things you need to get right, because there is always that reader that knows and gets pulled out of the story when the read something they know isn't right, and I want the reader in the story while he or she is reading it. Plus most of my writing has been non-fiction, so I actually really enjoy the research. I keep a notebook on my desk as I am researching things for my non-fiction work, as I come across something that will make an interesting story I make a note of it and then start working on a story later. That's actually how this one began life.

Who is your favorite author, and what really strikes you about their work?
I am a huge Ray Bradbury fan. Love his stuff. He has a gift for language and for detail that just makes him a pleasure to read. I've read Something Wicked This Way Comes so many times I have whole sections memorized. My fiction is mostly short stories, and he is certainly a master of the form, so he has proven an excellent model. I also really like Joe R. Landale's short stories. His novels are fine and fun, but his short stories bite and don't let go. I think "The Night They Missed The Horror Show" is still the most horrific thing I have ever read. It's like reading an accident - everything slows down and you see the bad things coming and are powerless to change the outcome. That story left a mark.

What are you working on now?
As always, many short stories and several non-fiction projects. I've been interviewing the participants of Zombie Walks, Zombie Runs, Zombie Crawls, etc., really anything where people dress up and pretend to be zombies for a book about why we play dead - not just watch zombie movies, but why folks want to pretend to be a reanimated corpse. I have several stories coming out over the next several months and several I am currently revising. Like all writers, I think about a novel, but the short story form is what really interests and occupies me right now.

Okay, so you're an author. What do you enjoy reading?
As an author, anything and everything. Ideas are everywhere, information too. I start the day with the newspaper, then read novels, history, science books, plays, magazines - everything.

Read Kevin Wetmore's story for Yourself!
History and Horror, Oh My! is now available in ebook formats on Smashwords and in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

Speaking at FHNS Meeting April 6

The photograph above is one I took of the Coastal Region Library, in Crystal River, Florida.  Our Florida Chapter of the Historical Novel Society will be held there on Saturday, April 6. The group has invited me to speak about, "Bringing the Past into Your Fiction."

Friends who have ever got me started talking about the history of Kentucky are probably groaning about now. I can spend hours talking about the history behind my Nessa Donnelly stories. Just so you know, I will only use one example from my own work. This talk is about the wide range of historical fiction and how different authors approach bringing the history they love into the their work. I'm going to get to talk about books by some of my favorite historical authors: Beverle Graves Myers, Catriona McPherson, Suzanne Adair, and many others.

If you like historical fiction, which I am sure this audience does, this should be a great opportunity to discover new favorite authors and revisit with some old friends. Members of the group who write their own historical novels should also enjoy seeing how a number of other writers make the past come alive on the printed page.

I'm looking forward to Saturday. If you are in the area, drop in and say hi. Meetings are free and open to the public.

Lexington's Phoenix Hotel

In 1806 Colonel Aaron Burr visited Lexington, Kentucky and stayed at a little place named Wilson's Tavern. This is one of the earliest famous national figures to rent accommodations at the address that would become the Phoenix Hotel.  In the late eighteenth century, Lexington was building a reputation among travelers as the "Athens of the West." Postlethwaite's Tavern opened in 1800 to provide comfortable lodging for visitors to the city. Over the next twenty years the tavern changed names many times. The Wilson's Tavern Aaron Burr visited was just one of the names for Lexington's finest lodgings before it burned in 1820. One of the Lexington newspapers printed a story about the mythical Phoenix being reborn from the ashes. The popularity of the story inspired the property owners to build a grander hotel on the site.

Out of the ashes, the Phoenix Hotel rose. Perhaps the owners should have considered the relationship between the myth and the hotel. The Phoenix lived up to the name. In 1833 the three story hotel burned to the ground. There are no known likenesses of the original Phoenix Hotel, but the hotel that replaced it was photographed in 1860.

One of the interesting things about this picture is that both the rooftop of General Leslie Combs' house and the steeple of the old Main Street Christian Church are visible beyond the hotel.  The church hosted the  1843 Campbell-Rice debate presided over by Henry Clay. General Combs home was considered one of the architectural jewels of the city. It was lost on May 14, 1879, when the Phoenix was again consumed by fire.

The history of the Phoenix doesn't end here, but this is the incarnation of the Phoenix Hotel that is part of my fictional world. Several scenes in Circle of Dishonor were set in or around the hotel. Concealed in Ash opens on the evening of May 14, 1879, and takes us into the grand ballroom on the fateful night the flames took her.

Guest Blog: Donna Fletcher Crow

A Story to Tell

Thank you inviting me to be a guest today on your blog, Gwen and Sarah. This visit is part of the tour many of us are doing for the brand new e-book 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror, 52 Authors Look Back. If you enjoy magazine columns and Chicken Soup for the Soul books, then you're sure to enjoy our collection of essays, designed to warm your heart, raise your spirits and compel you to examine your own life. Read about school days, quirky jobs, romance, raising a family, hard times, the writing journey, and find out what makes your favorite characters tick. Get a full listing of authors, essay titles and retailers here: http://ning.it/OknwVR

Follow the 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror Blog and Radio Tour schedule here: http://ning.it/NZpHrP

Since Gwen and I share a love for historical fiction I want to share some of the historical background in A Darkly Hidden Truth, book 2 in my Monastery Murders series.

A particularly perceptive reader once asked me, “What drives you?”

Ah, good question! Writing is hard work. One must be self-motivated and determined to get up every morning and go to the computer (or typewriter was it was in those days). The answer obviously wasn't money. I did make a modest income, but less than I could have been making teaching school as I did before becoming a full-time writer.

“The story,” I replied. “I want to tell my characters’ stories.” This is especially true when working with historical characters, as I almost always do in my books. Whether the historical characters are my hero and heroine or background characters, I’m driven— I’ll use the word— to tell their story.

We can learn so much from people from the past. They have fought, suffered, endured to pass their knowledge and wisdom on to us. We need to know and appreciate what they have done.

That was many years ago when I was first asked the question, but my answer holds just as true in my 41st novel which I am now working on, as it did in that very first series my reader asked about.

A Darkly Hidden Truth has two remarkable women in the background whose stories I have long wanted to tell. Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe were both mystical medieval women writers and their life spans crossed— they actually met in an event Margery records— but they lived far different lives, had far different personalities and wrote in vastly different styles.

Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) became the first woman to write a book in English when she wrote an account of the 16 mystical “showings” she experienced of the love of God. After her amazing showings Julian lived a life of quiet contemplation as an anchoress in a single room attached to a church in Norwich, going nowhere and seeing only her servant and those who came to her worldside window for counseling— Margery being one of those seekers. Margery travelled the world, going on pilgrimages as far afield as the Holy Land and Santiago de Compostelo.

Julian wrote her Revelations of Divine Love, speaking only of her visions and of the love of God for his creatures. She divulges no details of her personal life— we don’t even know her name. We call her Julian because that was the dedication of her church. We know how she would have lived because she lived by The Ancrene Rule which set out rules for anchoresses. That left me free as a novelist to imagine a life for her prior to her visions which she experienced at the age of 30. Had she been married? Had she taken vows as a nun? No one knows, but I had great fun entering into “what might have been.”

Margery Kempe (1373-1440) “wrote” the first autobiography in English, although she was illiterate, by dictating it. Unlike Julian, Margery tells all. Even of the joyous sex life she shared with her husband. (They had 14 children.) She tells of her period of madness after the birth of her first child. She tells of her spiritual struggles with earthly vanity. She tells of her shrieking and bouts of uncontrollable weeping that made one group of pilgrims abandon her so that she had to cross the Alps in a blizzard with only an aged priest as companion.

And yet both women tell of the love of God, of the goodness of life. They speak of joy and beauty in the midst of unbelievable suffering. They tell stories I could never invent in my wildest fantasy. And it’s all true. And it’s all ours because two women centuries ago put their unique experiences on paper. And now I have the privilege of telling their stories alongside the adventures of my fictional Felicity and Antony in A Darkly Hidden Truth:

Antony needs Felicity’s help to find a valuable stolen icon. But Felicity is determined to become a nun. Then her impossible mother turns up unannounced. And a dear friend turns up murdered. Felicity and Antony are off on another adventure that takes them from remote Yorkshire to London to the soggy marshes of the Norfolk Broads. Felicity learns the wisdom of holy women from today and ages past and Antony explores the arcane rites of the Knights Hospitaller. But what good will any of that do them if Felicity can’t save Antony’s life?

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 40 books, mostly novels dealing with British history.  The award-winning Glastonbury, A Novel of the Holy Grail, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work.  She is also the author of The Monastery Murders: A Very Private Grave  and A Darkly Hidden Truth, as well as the Lord Danvers series of Victorian true-crime novels and the romantic suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho.  They have 4 adult children and 11 grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener.

To read more about Donna’s books and see pictures from her garden and research trips, go to: http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/

You can follow her on Facebook at: http://ning.it/OHi0MY

Book Review: Civil War Lexington, Kentucky

The History Press has just released a new book by Joshua and Karen Leet, titled Civil War Lexington, Kentucky: Bluegrass Breeding Ground of Power. In the interest of full disclosure, I was introduced to the Leets by fellow author Stephen Zimmer who invited me to their launch at The Morris Book Shop, here in Lexington, where I am sure you can still get autographed copies.

At first glance, you might think that Lexington is an odd choice for a Civil War book. There were no great battles fought in the city, nor was Lexington a key strategic location. Instead, Lexington contributed her greatest minds, bravest hearts, and most loyal citizens to the war. Civil War Lexington, Kentucky reflects the people, North and South, who loved their home state and fought for what they believed was in her best interests.

Joshua and Karen Leet take a history lovers' look at Lexington's leading families and Lexington's role in shaping United States history, and how Lexingtonian lives were changed by the war that divided the country. There is no deeply footnoted scholarly text to wade through; this is a book that is friendly to the lay reader. It's also the sort of book for history lovers, Civil War buffs, and anyone who loves Kentucky history. Certainly, there is enough meat to the text to be worthy of the researcher's shelf, but it also belongs in the gift shops of state parks and Kentucky historical sites, particularly those in the Bluegrass.

I am very happy to have this slim volume as a new addition to my Kentucky history bookshelf, and will be referring to it often to enrich the background of my novels.

Secret Societies: The Pinkerton National Detective Agency

The Pinkertons! It is not your usual thought when secret societies come to mind but, when talking about secret societies it is important to realize that some societies are so secret that their very existence is brought to question, others rely on keeping membership rolls secret, but most were organizations that simply kept some of their activities or inner workings secret. The Pinkerton National Detective Agency qualifies on several fronts as a secret society.

Allen Pinkerton didn’t create an ordinary detective agency. His agents were spies for the Union Army. The Pinkertons were the first Secret Service, charged with protecting the president. After the war, many employees of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency were hired to protect businesses. It is easy to see why the identities of Pinkerton’s operatives required secrecy and why they kept so many of their activities secret. If an agent’s identity were known it could very well cost his or her life.

Yes, I said her life. In my Nessa Donnelly mysteries I draw on the real life history of the women Pinkertons who risked everything to preserve the Union. The intrepid lady detectives of the Pinkerton National Security Agency worked under dangerous, difficult circumstances. The job they did was critical to the agency and to the security of the nation. Throughout his life Allen Pinkerton defended his decision to hire women, and argued the necessity of lady detectives in collecting information inaccessible to men. It was a battle he was unable to win.

Once his sons took over the agency, they got rid of the women agents. They also took the company in a different and more controversial direction. Pinkertons were primarily used as the muscle behind big business. Pinkertons were charged with infiltrating and bringing down the labor unions, protecting non-union laborers, and stopping labor violence (by force if necessary).

Branching out into pseudo-military and police work also raised the level of secrecy and the number of agents needed. At one time there were more Pinkerton agents in the United States than there were soldiers in the United States Army. These agents were responsible for the massacre of union strikers and the assassinations of labor leaders. Behind the scenes, the Pinkerton agents were hired for their brains, but in the coal camps and factories, the face of Pinkerton was often a thug.

The secret, military, brutish nature of the Pinkerton agency was worrisome to government officials. Pinkerton's private police force in Pennsylvania created a labor incident that cost the lives of 16 men and required the state militia to be called out to restore order.

Ohio banned them from working in the state for many years because they feared the company might move to take over state government.

Other states placed restrictions on how many agents could work in the state and began to require that all private detectives apply for a state license. States also began to pass laws restricting the activities of agents and protecting the rights of laborers.

When your PI gets into trouble with the law or has his license suspended, just remember if it hadn’t been for the secret activities of the Pinkerton agents, today’s PI’s might not need a license.

Review: Beloved Pilgrim, by Nan Hawthorne

My Review of Beloved Pilgrim is reposted from Bosom Friends with permission of the blog owner.

Beloved Pilgrim is an engaging historical coming of age story set during the disastrous Crusade of 1101. Elisabeth, the hero/heroine of the story, is a young noblewoman, more inclined to wield a sword than an embroidery needle. She chafes against the constraints of social expectations of her position and longs for the freedom her twin brother enjoys. Sixteen-year-old Elisabeth is forced into a marriage to a much older knight. She barely knows the husband her father has chosen for her. The brute has no regard for her feelings or well-being, and makes it clear on their wedding night that his desire is for her dowry and a noble wife to produce his progeny.

Shortly after her marriage, her mother passes away. Elisabeth’s grief stricken father departs for the Holy Land, leaving the estate in her brother Elias’ hands. Elias longs to join his father on crusade, but falls ill and dies before he can depart. Elisabeth is left to suffer the abuse of a husband she loathes. Desperation drives her to assume her brother’s identity and run away.

Elisabeth/Elias is aided in her disguise by her brother’s squire and lover. Together, they face the challenges and trials of traveling as knight and squire on holy crusade. Beloved Pilgrim is a complex story of love and loss, honor and duty, and more importantly, of the differences in individuals that show us the commonalities of the human condition.

Hawthorne weaves the tale of Elisabeth’s adventures with historical accuracy, excellent detail, and respect for all the factions involved. We laugh and cry with characters that come alive on the page. Her work confronts the deprivations, hardships, and violence of an army on the march. She ably handles the difficulty of posing as a woman traveling in the world of men and wonder and excitement of a young knight seeing the exotic Byzantine Empire for the first time.

Nan Hawthorne is a historical novelist and blogger and an editor for Wilde Oats Magazine. Her novels include An Involuntary King: Tale of Anglo Saxon England and Beloved Pilgrim, and her one nonfiction book is Loving the Goddess Within: Sex Magick for Women, a book about body image and sexuality. You can find out more about her work at www.nanhawthorne.com .

President Rutherford B. Hayes Announces Plans for a Midwestern Tour, April 26, 1879

Before George W. Bush and Al Gore battled over the presidency, Rutherford B. Hayes was thought to have "stolen" the office of president. The election of 1876 was plagued by corruption, back room deals, and bitterly contested election results. When it was over, Samuel Tilden of New York had 51% of the vote and 184 electoral votes. Hayes had 185 electoral votes but only 47% of the popular vote. Elections were contested and electoral votes up for grabs in Florida (have we heard this before, Louisiana, and South Carolina. One of the electoral votes of Oregon was declared illegal and not counted. Hayes, the Republican candidate, was awarded the contested states giving him the victory and forever marking his presidency as the "stolen election."

When the spring of 1879 rolled around, the Republicans were starting to panic about the upcoming 1880 election. The suddenly remembered that Samuel Tilden had carried the entire Midwest and all of the South except those three contested states. It also occurred to them that the deal that gave President Hayes Florida, Lousiana, and South Carolina wasn't very popular in those states. They were pretty certain that they were going to lose the whole south. To win in 1880 they needed the Midwest and West to vote decisively republican. The President was persuaded to take his message on the road.

Kentucky wasn't very receptive to the idea of hosting the president. Washington politics were not kind to Kentucky. In fact there was a great deal of fear that any stop in the state of Kentucky would be dangerous. Politically, touring the Midwest and skipping Kentucky was also filled with danger. The Republicans decided to limit the tour to one visit to hostile Kentucky. Louisville was the President's preferred stop, but the city was too connected to Northern businessmen to be considered. Frankfort, the State Capitol, had just assassinated Judge Elliott, and therefore ruled out as a possible stop. After much consideration, Lexington was deemed safe enough for the President to visit.

In April the tour was announced:

Presidential Midwestern Tour, Greenfield, Ohio, September 9, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, Cincinnati, Ohio, September 10, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Cincinnati, Ohio, September 11, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati, Ohio, September 11, 1879

Presidential Midwestern Tour, Lexington, Kentucky, September 12, 1879

Presidential Midwestern Tour, Youngstown, Ohio, September 17, 1879
Reunion of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Youngstown, Ohio,
September 17, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Merchants and Manufacturers Exchange, Detroit, Michigan, September 18, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Fremont, Ohio, September 20, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Aurora, Illinois, September 23, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Mendota, Illinois, September 23, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Galesburg, Illinois, September 23, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Fort Scott, Kansas, September 24, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Parsons, Kansas, September 24, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Appleton, Kansas, September 25, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Neosho Falls, Kansas, September 25, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Dodge City, Kansas. September 26, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Tootle's Opera House, St. Joseph, Missouri, September 29, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Springfield, Illinois, September 30, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Springfield, Illinois, September 30, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Cleveland, Ohio, October, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Indianapolis, Indiana, October 2, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Sandusky, Ohio, October 2/3, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Clyde, Ohio, October 9, 1879
Presidential Midwestern Tour, Delaware, Ohio, October 18, 1879

The President never left his train. He delivered a brief speech from the platform of his private rail car, gaining some approval from his audience when he shared memories of voting in his first presidential election for Lexington's Henry Clay. For the most part, Lexington's citizens were polite but not enthusiastic about the speech. Hayes spoke for less than five minutes before introducing one of the generals he was traveling with, there is dispute over whether it was General Sherman or General Sheridan who spoke. The public event ended. The train remained at the station for about an hour to fulfill the party's obligation of inviting some of Kentucky's top leaders to a private reception with the President).

Hayes didn't change many opinions in Kentucky. He didn't expect to accomplish much, and Kentucky wasn't expecting much from him. Not a lot has change since then. At least we haven't shot a judge lately.

Weekend Writer: Follow-up to Authorfest

Discussing Writing Historical Fiction at the Schaumburg Township Public Library

It isn't often that I have the chance to talk about two of my favorite topics, history and writing, at the same time. This past weekend I had a wonderful opportunity to do a presentation titled "The Devil is in the Details: Incorporating History into Your Novel." I couldn't resist.

On Thursday evening, armed with a PowerPoint presentation and a handful of novels from some of my favorite historical mystery writers, Sarah and I headed out to Illinois. It is good that we both write mysteries. Our deductive powers got their first workout when "Greta", our rented Garmin, quit working. It wasn't Greta's fault that the rental company neglected to recharge her and gave us a charger that was broken, but just when we had to detour from our planned route, she died. We had to rely on our powers of deductive reasoning to find our hotel. 

The next morning, we drove about twenty miles out of our way to the Indianapolis Airport to get a replacement charger for Greta (we named her for the great Greta Garbo). Confident that once we got out of the airport parking garage there would be no further complaints from the Garmin, Sarah and I set off again for Schaumburg. It didn't take long to realize that we were right about getting no complaints... Greta was still dead.

We got a map. For the next fifty miles, we discussed the fact that in another generation knowing how to read a map will be as foreign to children as understanding the difference between clockwise and counter clockwise.

Despite resorting to archaic navigational techniques, the rest of the trip went as smoothly as it could in eight to twelve lanes of traffic on unfamiliar roads. We arrived safely in Schaumburg and headed to the mall. Yes, the mall. Schaumburg once hosted the largest mall in the United States until the title was stolen by the Mall of America. It is still the largest shopping mall in a five state area. Besides, we had some time to kill before checking into our hotel.

On Saturday, we were up early. The car rental company opened at 7:30 AM and we were finally able to get the Garmin a working charger.

By 10 AM we were at the library. I was amazed to discover that there was a line of people waiting for the doors to open. It was awesome. For a moment, I thought everyone was there to attend Authorfest. Then the first people I spoke to didn't even know there was an author's event. The crowd waiting was there for the library. My ego might have been wounded if the nice couple hadn't wanted to hear all about my book. It is impossible to feel bad when a little old lady is really interested in what you write and thinks your wife is beautiful. I think I could live in Schaumburg, if it weren't for those Chicago winters.

The second surprise of the day was learning that the library has funding to run a lot of programs. Having a dozen authors come in and speak on a Saturday was just a normal business day for them. At the same time we were talking, there were photography classes, children's reading times, and a host of other events. When I think of the little libraries in Kentucky and the struggle they have just to keep the doors open, I can't help wondering what those librarians would think if they had funds for even one of the programs going on regularly in Schaumburg. Even here in Lexington, where we have some of the best libraries in the state, there are no lines outside waiting for the doors to open. 

This isn't a complaint. I love our libraries; I just got a look at how much more is possible.