Charles Henry Bliss

Charles Henry Bliss
Born	1860 or 1861 Shelbyville, Indiana
Died	July 24, 1907 Pensacola
Occupation	Politician, publisher
Spouse	Matilda Willcox Bliss Gertrude Herman Bliss
Parents	Christian Henry and Caroline Fowler Bliss
Children	Five children

Charles Henry Bliss was Mayor of Pensacola from 1905 to 1907. He was also a publisher of a quarterly magazine called at various times Bliss' Magazine, The Bliss Magazine, and Bliss' Quarterly.

Early life

Bliss married Matilda Sophia Wilcox on April 17, 1879 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Bliss, a member of the Mormon Church, was called to a mission in the southern states. Upon returning to Utah, he attended the University of Utah, and there became disillusioned with Mormonism. Bliss and his wife, who remained a devout follower, later divorced, and Bliss returned to his home state of Indiana.

Bliss settled in Kokomo, Indiana, where he taught school and edited a local newspaper. He remarried, to Gertrude Herman.

In Pensacola

In 1895, 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 launches.

Bliss was elected Mayor of Pensacola in 1905, and was re-elected to a second term shortly before his death in 1907.

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:

	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.
—Schley County (Georgia) News, September 6, 1905.

References

Preceded by: Thomas Everett Welles

Mayor of Pensacola 1905-1907

Succeeded by: Calvin C. Goodman