Today in Keys History – November 13, 2024
1908 – There was a scarcity of gasoline in Key West after the schooner Wave burned in Tampa 10 days earlier. While Capt. George Wish and cook Sandy Knowles both returned home to the island after being injured in the blaze, 350 drums of kerosene and gasoline were destroyed.
1934 – Begley F. Filer, one of the first sports fishing guides in Key West, died at age 70.
1946 – In U.S. District Court a jury found David J. Watson guilty of the murder of Benjamin L. Hobbs aboard the destroyer USS Stribling moored in Key West on July 25, 1946. The verdict of murder in the first degree carried a mandatory death penalty.
1948 – President Truman, joined by his wife and daughter, took the yacht Williamsburg for a trip to Fort Jefferson at the Tortugas.
1954 – A total of 19.8 inches of rain fell in Key West, flooding streets, cars, and homes. Damage was estimated at more than $100,000.
1974 – Filming for “92 in the Shade” began at the Cow Key Marina on Stock Island, with actors Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, and Margot Kidder. The film, based on author Thomas McGuane’s novel of the same name, told a tale of rival Keys charter fishermen.
1996 – Former President George H.W. Bush and Desert Storm General Norman Schwarzkopf were fishing in the Keys.
2009 – Of 242 Key West residents tested for dengue fever, 99 had antibodies for the disease in their blood. Though only eight people on the island were thought to have contracted dengue over the previous three months, the tests indicated a broader, 41% infection rate.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Filming “92 In The Shade” at Cow Key Marina on Stock Island, 1974. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Library Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.