1849 – To escape harassment by the Seminoles, Col. Wm. F. English arrived at Key West from his Miami River settlement, with people he enslaved. Other mainland settlers were expected to follow.
1907 – George Patterson of the United States Weather Bureau arrived to take charge of the local station from H.G. Cornthwaite who went to Northfield, VT.
1920 – A train of 38 tank cars filled with Cuban molasses left Key West for Memphis. Each tank car held 7,200 gallons, making it the largest shipment of molasses ever to leave the island city.
1924 – H.W. Evans, imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, accompanied by other leaders of the organization, arrived at Key West from Havana on the Mallory steamer Concho. They were entertained during an overnight stay on the island by members of the local chapter, before taking the train to Miami.
1927 – One man was killed, and four others injured when the railroad “speeder” car they were traveling in went off the rails at Sugarloaf Key.
1940 – As part of the planning for a Navy aqueduct to run though the Keys, Lt. Commander T.J. Brady, public works officer at Key West naval station, left for Miami to examine the prospect of an adequate mainland water supply.
1964 – Bernie C. Papy, Monroe County political leader, died at 62. He had served 14 consecutive terms in the state legislature before he was defeated in 1962 by Charlie Ramos. Papy was very powerful and influential and at the height of his career was known as “The King of the Keys.”
1980 – An Air Florida flight from Miami to Key West was hijacked and taken to Cuba. The plane and passenger later returned to Miami unharmed.
1985 – Johnny Carson, star of NBC Television’s Tonight Show, was in Key West to visit the wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha as guest of treasure hunter Mel Fisher.
1994 – The Columbus Iselin, a 176-foot University of Miami research vessel, ran aground on Looe Key leaking about 200 gallons of diesel fuel.
1994 – Three dolphins – Bogie, Bacall, and Molly – were removed from the Ocean Reef Club to the Sugarloaf dolphin sanctuary. The move was in response to a law that made it illegal to keep dolphins in captivity if the public was not allowed to see them.
2003 – Five pilot whales were released after being rehabilitated at Big Pine Key. They were among 28 whales that had stranded in the Keys four months earlier.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: From left standing Burland “Bow Red” Johnson, Ivan Saunders, Bernie C. Papy, unknown and Benny Felton in wheelchair. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.