Lake County & North Bay #8 (Parallel's)

THE CREATION OF LAKE COUNTY AND NORTH BAY PARALLELS


THE COURTHOUSE STRUGGLE (click on picture to enlarge)
A midnight boat ride on Lake Harris helped Tavares politicians steal the Courthouse from Leesburg after Lake County was carved from parts of Sumter and Orange. January 27, 1888, election to choose a county seat, the founder of Tavares, political boss Alexander St. Clair-Abrams, blatantly stole the Courthouse from Leesburg. The way Abrams did this was to bring in three hundred temporary Negro railroad workers from Sanford, give them a barbecue, ply them with liquor, and escort them to the polls to cast already marked votes for Tavares.
In 1888, W. D. Mendenhall, merchant and postmaster, was determined to keep the county seat in his town of Bloomfield, the temporary seat of government. He made up his mind to go to court. While he was in Deland getting a writ, he was outsmarted by Abrams, who sent his crony H. H. Duncan to Bloomfield by rowboat to take possession of the records and bring them to Tavares. So when Mendenhall returned with the writ preventing the records removal, he found they were already in possession of St. Clair-Abrams, having had a midnight boat ride across Lake Harris.

Parrallel --- Many North Bay residents will recall a former Mayor of North Bay, Merle Dickerson had somewhat the same devious behaviour. Merle on Election Day would collect all the “rummies” or “winos” from their favorite hangouts and bring them to the polls to vote, providing the necessary documentation. Against election laws? Yes.
DICKERSONS JULY 7 CONVICTION RENDERED HIS 1978 ELECTION VOID UNDER THE ONTARIO MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS ACT. MERLE WAS PROHIBITED FROM RUNNING IN ANY ELECTION FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS.
BUT DICKERSON WHO HAD BEEN MAYOR ON AND OFF FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS, SAID HE WOULD APPEAL THE COURT JUDGMENT. MERLE WAS CONVICTED BY DISTRICT COURT JUDGE H. W. ALLEN OF INDUCING INELIGIBLE PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR HIM. HE WAS NEVER ELECTED AGAIN.