Coxie's Army: Letters From the Front

There's something about this story that has stuck with me. The city of Miami where I've resided most of my life is relatively young, compared to some of the other cities in our nation. Incorporated in 1896, it is just barely over a hundred years old.  And the suburb city of North Miami is even younger than that. And while they both have their fair share of stories and folk tales, most of them are lost to us.

The residents in this city have changed so often. Due to the Cubans coming here in the 80's and the exodus from the Caribbean in the 90's, not to mention the retirees from the north. Descendants of the original settlers have moved further north in Florida. The city is full of immigrants, who have their own cultures and beliefs.  while the Cubans tend to embrace the American cultures, because the young adults have very little or few memories of their homeland. The Caribbeans however have brought over some of their fears and superstitions. Halloween tends to be just another day in North Miami for most of the Haitian kids.   And when the majority of the residents in your town, don't celebrate Halloween, well that puts a damper on festivities. South Miami, and West Palm Beach where the Cubans and white folks live, tend to go all out celebrating Halloween. North Miami just wants the kids off the street.

So to hear of a different time in the city of North Miami, when Halloween was embraced as the youth holiday it is supposed to be. A time for mischief and misadventure, well it just warms the cockles of my heart, and leaves me feeling nostalgic for an America that just doesn't exist anymore. At least not in South Florida.

I found a PDF file of the letters Coxie's Army would leave the library, and the the letters from the library to the Army.

Click here to check it out.

Long Live Coxie's Army

In 1969 a group of teenage boys too old for trick or treat, too young to party, gathered together on Halloween. They wanted to pull a prank that would satisfy the rotten kid in all of them. Something big enough to garner attention but not mean-spirited or destructive. They decided to spike a pumpkin through the steeple of the North Miami Public library. The act itself might not seem so impressive, despite its 43 foot climb to the steeple. What was really  impressive is what was foretold in the accompanying poem to the prank:

"The Great Pumpkin shall watch over your library forever. "

And so it has for 37 years. Undeterred by construction, lifestyles changes and weather.  The boys now in their 50's still gather together to fulfill their promise every year.

A group of 6 or 7 boyscouts, they referred to themselves as Coxie's Army.  A moniker given to them by their scout leader who told them they were a mess looking as bad as Coxey's Army, a group of unemployed worker who led a march on Washington in 1894.

They gave themselves codenames such as  Lt. Youthful Yak, Lt. Col. Major Minor, Lt. Col. Yeti .P. Sasquatch, Staff Sergeant Skeeter and Colonel Coxie that they would sign onto every poem attached to the pumpkin.

The army now have all moved away except for one. The former boyscouts have grown up to become a Broward minister and electrician, a boat mechanic in Maryland, a carpenter in Tallahassee and an Orlando restaurant owner.

The library has tried to discover the identity of the army, but to this date they remain anonymous. The library has sort of embraced the yearly prank, or blessing as they call it. They've set up an exhibit showcasing the many poems left by the army and pictures of the prank. They've also left their own poems. In 1984 on the 16th anniversary of the prank, the library installed a new cupola and a larger steeple that now placed  them 47 feet into the air. The work was scheduled to be completed by December but the library pushed to have it done in time for Halloween. In effect daring the army to complete their task that year.

"The steeple is now close to 50 feet high, "If you fall off, I hope you can fly." 

They've considered it a blessing for so many years.  Since The end of October marks the end of peak Hurricane season, the pumpkin signifies another year that the library and the town have been spared. Even through major hurricanes like Andrew and and pesky ones like Wilma.

Wilma in 2005 fact created such slippery condition that kept the pumpkin from making it all the way to the steeple. A smashed pumpkin was found on the roof, denoting that years failure.

They were back again in full form for 2006. But last year the pumpkin only made it so far as the front door. You can blame last years heavy rain, or perhaps old age. The oldest member of the group is 55.

The poem they leave every year always noted the changes in the army's lives, as well as changes in the city, our country and the world. Previous poems have talked about weddings, and children being born, during Hurricanes they gave encouragement to the community, on 9-11 they left us inspiring words, and reminded us all why silly Halloween rituals like these are important. This year comes a huge change, the Army had a casualty, Staff Sergeant Skeeter. The youngest of group passed away on July 20th. Succumbing to cancer at the age of 49. He was the only one left residing in Miami.

It leaves us all wondering if the Great Pumpkin will ever rise again.

La Casa De Los Trucos

I spent my pre-teen years moving from place to place. From Miramar to Coral Gables, I must have lived everywhere in South Florida, south of Hollywood. 

Probably the best neighborhood I ever lived in was in Coral Way. Near the Planetarium, I had family on the next block. But they also did Halloween up right there. All the houses gave candy. All the kids dressed up. And all the older kids caused serious mischief. In Miami, in the Cuban neighborhoods, traditional Halloween shenanigans are still a right of passage. The egg throwing battlefields are especially hazardous to your health. These mofo's bury the eggs for a month for EXTRA STENCH. Or worse yet, they freeze them for extra hard-hitting stopping power.

I remember one Halloween, my neighbor, a rowdy, yet friendless, teenage boy named Mike, drafted me into his egg throwing crusade. We weren't too bright. We tossed eggs from the side of the road.  In front of our houses.  Most of the cars in Coral Way and Coral gables, were fancy current year models, BMW's and whatever was NEW back then.  After being egged they'd just keep on driving, it's all in good fun after all, right? And to find the culprits in pitch black might prove difficult. On that night Mike got sight of a Porsche and unleashed hell on it. The Porsche screeched to a complete halt and went into reverse. At this point we took off running from the backyard to the front yard at full speed. My Dracula cape flapping in the wind.

<-----That's not me. But you can only imagine how retarded I must have looked at age 8. Running into the cover of darkness, With a black and red cape flapping in the wind.  While I had my reservations on Mike's planning. I had no choice now. I would have to follow Mike into Hell if he so desired. But instead he headed for safety. He ran all the way home. Past both our mothers in the patio And Hid under his bed. And I hit there with him, cowering like Shaggy and Scooby Doo.

The Porsche owner was young and he was fast. he kept up with us most of the way. And I'm pretty sure he saw us duck into Mike's House. But when he reached the patio where our mother's sat, Mike's mother assured us, they had no children. I still remember the Porsche driver's booming voice as it echoed throughout the house.

"I'm Gonna Call the police on your Bastard Children. They Egged my Porsche, My Porsche!"

But I digress, my point was Halloween was exciting there. it was good to be a kid in those days and not be dragged to some stupid mall to ask for candy.  And the starting palace for Halloween shenanigans, was La Casa De Los Trucos.  It was the mythical Shangri-lah every kid talked about. it's where you just HAD to get your costume. Sure you could just go to KMART and buy a ten dollar flammable piece of plastic to drape over your body. Or you can go to La Casa De Los Trucos and get some authentic shit.

Of course as time went by, I forgot about the place, and they seemed to have closed.  But truthfully they just changed locations. This year thanks to some local TV commercials, I realized they were still in business and sought them out.

They are now on Calle Ocho and have been there for years. The first thing that struck me odd was that Calle Ocho has a Walk Of Fame. I must not have noticed or cared about it before.  Here is one such star.

This is their original building at this location. I vaguely remember it. Which they closed and now use strictly as a warehouse.

This is some of the neat artwork on the shutters of the warehouse.

  

This is the front of the actual building and the signage surrounding it.

   

Inside there was tons of teenage cuban jailbait trying on the Sexy ____ costume. the sexy robin Hood, the Sexy Nurse, the sexy witch, the sexy Flintstone.

There's mom's encouraging them like only cuban moms do.

"yes mijita, these assless fishnet leggings would look so Cute on You!"

There were rows and rows of masks.

They also had these awesome Lucha Libre masks.

 

They even had NACHOOOO LIBRE!

Were I a more daring man, I'd embarrass myself and my child trick or treating as Nacho.

Ally had loads of fun trying on hats and costumes.

I think, she's campaigning for McCain!

But really she just wanted to be an elephant. Dumb democrats lost another one. Who really wants to dress up like a Jackass?

I moved on to the Adult Costume area! Where I found these gems.

A priest with a boner! I'm already going to hell. Let's not anger the pope.

Place Breasts here! I think I found my costume.  Who wants a FREE Mammogram!???

I could go on with the costumes. But the place is renown for its trucos. It's tricks. I spent a half hour watching Ally fall for numerous has been old jokes, joy buzzers, fake insects, things that sprung out, and exploded. The man behind the counter was gracious enough to demonstrate over a dozen tricks. And Ally was such a willing foil.

We left there with an Exploding cigarette box trick to pull on Grandma. I'll let you know if she disowns us later.

 

And this innocent jar of jelly beans.

 

Open the lid and.....

Bwhahahahaah!

We've already pulled that one on a half dozen people.

She's such an awesome prankster, she sets them up like this..

"You want some jelly beans? Here you go, Don't eat them all okay!?"