quezhanjie1962

@@@@@I felt for Dave Davis, long dead though he must be "How much of his own debts could he cover? Any?" "He managed at firstThose were boom years in other parts of the country "You know a lot about this "Suncoast art is my passion, EdgarSuncoast history is my hobbySo Davis survived the Land BustI imagine he sold his stocks on the bull market to cover his first round of lossesAnd friends helped him "Eastlake?" "John Eastlake was a major angel, and that's aside from any of Dave's bootleg hooch he may have stored out on the Key from time to time "Did he do that?" I askedThat was another time and another FloridaYou hear all sorts of colorful Prohibition-era booze-running stories if you live down here awhileBooze or no booze, Davis would have been flat broke by Easter of '26 without John EastlakeJohn was no playboy, didn't go nightclubbing and cathousing like Davis and some 612 of Davis's other friends, but he'd been a widower since 1923, and I'm guessing that old Dave might have helped a pal with a gal from time to time when his pal was feeling lonelyBut by the summer of '26, Dave's debts were just too highNot even his old pals could save him "So he disappeared one dark night "He disappeared, but not by the dark of the moon That was not the Davis styleIn October of 1926, less than a month after Hurricane Esther knocked the living hell out of his life's work, he sailed for Europe with a bodyguard and his new gal-pal, who happened to be a Mack Sennett bathing beauty The gal-pal and the bodyguard got to Gay Paree, but Dave Davis never didHe disappeared at sea, without a trace "This is a true story you're telling me?" She raised her right hand in the Boy Scout salute - the image slightly marred by the cigarette smoldering between her first two fingersIn November of '26, there was a memorial service right over th