Creating Fiction from History: 9/28/2022

Carlene Switzer, possibly pictured here, might have grown up to become one of the most infamous rum-runners in the South. Now, you might be thinking that should be 'moonshiner', but no, Carlene, better known as Tipsey, dealt in rum.

Born on August 27th, in the year 1907, Tipsey grew up in the land of her nativity, deep in the Everglades region of Florida. Her parents were second-generation German immigrants who were instrumental in bringing back into commercialization sugarcane production in the early 20th century. Growers had figured out sugarcane freezes easily and so moved operations further south, draining swamps, and even leveling some of the old forests in the area.

Growing up in these old forests, in the backwoods of South Florida, Carlene took to the waterways of the Everglades like a porpoise to the sea. She wasn't allowed to pilot that new contraption that had been invented, interestingly enough, just a few years before her own birth, the airboat, or the fan boat, until she was early into her teens.

It followed naturally then, that a decade or so later, Carlene became known as the Queen of the Everglades, running her product wherever the boats would take her. Tipsey's Gang eluded 'them damn revenuers' for many years until the embargo against Cuban sugarcane forced them further above ground.

As Carlene was getting along in years anyway, she decided to retire from that life and moved further North to enjoy her Golden Years. It was in New York City where she later met and married Glenn Curtiss, who had, strangely enough, introduced Alexander Graham Bell's new invention to the Everglades.

This photograph, which may have been taken on or around Carlene's 1st birthday, gives us just a glimpse of the 'little rascal' who became one of Florida's most infamous rum-runners, though you may never have heard of her!

If you would like to create fiction from history with one of the museum's photos, please contact the Ledger at (406) 287-5301 or email whledger@gmail.com.