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Charles Henry Bliss

1,154 bytes added, 23:56, 10 February 2009
campaign
In December [[1895]],<ref>"Mayor is Dead", ''Pensacola Journal'', July 24, 1907.</reF> Bliss and his second wife moved to Pensacola. Bliss worked as a reporter and newspaper editor, also publishing the [[Bliss magazines]]. He later was engaged in the concrete business, as well as in the design and manufacture of metallic [[Wikipedia:Launch (boat)|launches]].<ref>[http://brokert10.fcla.edu/DLData/WF/WF00000029/file30.pdf ''Bliss' Magazine'', January 1899, p.90]</ref>
===Mayoral tenure===
Bliss was elected [[Mayor of Pensacola]] in [[1905]], and was re-elected to a second term shortly before his death in [[1907]].
:*He has made “grafting” impossible in all departments under his control.
:*He has given his personal attention to all public works and has insisted upon all work being performed honestly and faithfully.
 
====Scuffle with W. C. Jones====
In [[1905]], during Bliss' tenure as Mayor of Pensacola, a former city clerk named [[W. C. Jones]] accused Bliss of being corrupt and physically accosted him.
 
A Georgia newspaper published an account of the altercation:
{{cquote|Another municipal sensation was sprung in Pensacola, Fla., late Monday afternoon when
Secretary W. C. Jones of the Chamber of Commerce, who was formerly city clerk, openly charged Mayor Charles H. Bliss with grafting, for the reason he had not signed the new ordinance, just passed, separating the white and negro races on the street cars. This occured on [[Palafox Street]] in the presence of quite a number of people and when the mayor called the secretary a liar, the latter struck at him with his clenched fist. Secretary Jones, then continued to talk to the mayor, saying that he was an accident in office, and always held his hand behind him to receive anything that might be placed in it.
 
Shortly afterwards, Jones went to the police station to surrender himself when he again met Mayor Bliss and the war of words continued. Jones stated that the mayor was crooked and he knew it from the manner in which he had acted. Receiving some reply, the secretary dealt the mayor a blow on the jaw, which felled him. The police interfered and arrested Jones.|20px|20px|''Schley County (Georgia) News'', [[September 6]], [[1905]].}}
 
====1907 reelection campaign====
In his campaign for reelection in [[1907]], Bliss was opposed in the Democratic primary by [[Walker Ingraham]]. At this time, the Democratic Party was by far the predominant political party in Pensacola, and accordingly, elections were quite often decided in the general election.
 
Mr. Ingraham, Bliss' opponent, was supported by many wealthy and powerful citizens of Pensacola, including [[William Alexander Blount, Sr.]], [[Evelyn Croom Maxwell]], [[Pensacola City Council|City Council]] member and future mayor [[Frank Reilly]], and [[John B. Jones]], the [[Pensacola City Attorney|City Attorney]]. Bliss claimed that "although a poor man, [he] had done more work and spent more money to advertise Pensacola than all the entire gang of rich men who are now trying to defeat him."<ref>Political ads, ''Pensacola Journal'', May 1, 1907.</ref> Bliss claimed that rather than running against Ingraham, he was running against the [[First National Bank of Pensacola|First National Bank]], and that if elected Ingraham would be merely a puppet.
 
The ''[[Pensacola Journal]]'' endorsed Mr. Ingraham.
==Death==
Bliss was interred in [[St. John's Cemetery]].
 
==Scuffle with W. C. Jones==
In [[1905]], during Bliss' tenure as Mayor of Pensacola, a former city clerk named [[W. C. Jones]] accused Bliss of being corrupt and physically accosted him.
 
A Georgia newspaper published an account of the altercation:
{{cquote|Another municipal sensation was sprung in Pensacola, Fla., late Monday afternoon when
Secretary W. C. Jones of the Chamber of Commerce, who was formerly city clerk, openly charged Mayor Charles H. Bliss with grafting, for the reason he had not signed the new ordinance, just passed, separating the white and negro races on the street cars. This occured on [[Palafox Street]] in the presence of quite a number of people and when the mayor called the secretary a liar, the latter struck at him with his clenched fist. Secretary Jones, then continued to talk to the mayor, saying that he was an accident in office, and always held his hand behind him to receive anything that might be placed in it.
 
Shortly afterwards, Jones went to the police station to surrender himself when he again met Mayor Bliss and the war of words continued. Jones stated that the mayor was crooked and he knew it from the manner in which he had acted. Receiving some reply, the secretary dealt the mayor a blow on the jaw, which felled him. The police interfered and arrested Jones.|20px|20px|''Schley County (Georgia) News'', [[September 6]], [[1905]].}}
==Other images==

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