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	Record Group Number:	900000
	Series/Collection Number:	N2017- 51
	Creator:	McCoy, Samuel Duff, 1882-1964
	Title, Dates:	Samuel Duff McCoy papers, 1922-1924, 1955.
	Amount:	.25 cubic ft.
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	Organization/Arrangement:	Chronological.
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	Biographical/Historical:	Samuel Duff McCoy (1882-1964) was a journalist and author known for investigating controversial subjects. He attended Princeton University from 1901 to 1903, leaving school to work for various newspapers and magazines. In February 1923, McCoy was a sub-editor for the New York World. He came to Florida to investigate the death of Martin Tabert, a 22 year-old man from North Dakota. Walter Higginbotham, the whipping boss in a lumber camp under Florida's convict leasing system, flogged Tabert to death. McCoy's investigative journalism exposed the abuses of the Florida penal system. His work resulted in public outcry across the nation, and Florida legislators revised several laws regarding the penal system. In 1923, the same year as Tabert's death, the legislature abolished convict leasing and the use of whipping straps. Because of McCoy's work, the New York World won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal in public service. McCoy left the New York World in 1924 to work as a special contributor to the New York Times. In the 1930s, McCoy served as assistant director of the Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration. In 1934, he wrote a series of articles about Nazi propaganda in the United States. He also wrote several novels over the course of his career. He passed away in the A. Holly Patterson Home in Uniondale, Long Island, on April 10, 1964.
	Summary:	This collection consists of materials relating to Samuel Duff McCoy's activities as a journalist for the New York World during his investigation of the death of Martin Tabert. These materials include letters, telegrams, newspaper clippings, and notes regarding Tabert and the operation of Florida's penal system. The collection also includes a ballad written by Marjory Stoneman Douglas regarding Martin Tabert's death and the public outcry that followed.
	Finding Aids:	Folder listing available. 0
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	General Note:	Previously State Library of Florida Manuscripts Collection MS54.
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	Subject Access Fields:	Douglas, Marjory Stoneman. McCoy, Samuel Duff, 1882-1964 Tabert, Martin. -1923 Convict labor Florida Corrections Florida Journalism Florida. Poems Letters. aat Leon County (Fla.)
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