1907 – Monroe County Sheriff F.W. Knight received a telegram from Tampa stating former Key West City Clerk Joseph Curry had been captured there. Curry had been convicted of forgery and sentenced to three years in prison, but he escaped custody. Knight went to Tampa to retrieve Curry but on arrival learned he had again escaped.
1913 – F.W. Johnson retired as Deputy U.S. Marshal at Key West. Johnson’s 15-year record was exceptional: He had never called for assistance, never handcuffed a prisoner, and his paperwork was never returned for correction.
1924 – Wm. L. Stephens of the Fox Film Corporation arrived in Key West to document the coming grand opening celebrations for the new San Carlos Institute building.
1974 – Key West Police discovered a marijuana-growing operation behind a house at 522 Elizabeth St. The nearly 10-foot-tall plants, grown in rows, were removed to the police station where they were destroyed.
1985 – The Monroe County Commission adopted a resolution to name the Islamorada Branch of the Monroe County Public Library for librarian Helen Wadley.
2004 – On its first day of business, “American Ghost Tours,” proposing to offer tours of haunted Key West, was served with an emergency injunction brought by the existing “Original Ghost Tour” company, which complained the new enterprise was too similar in name and practice.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Monroe County Public Library, Islamorada, Upper Matecumbe. PB 1-41, Pt Gov Lot 1-2, Sec 32, Pt Gov Lot 2, Sec 33, G4-189p, G6-86. Photo taken by the Property Appraisers office ca. 1965. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.