1940 – Karl Tanzler, aka Von Cosel, was arrested when it was discovered that he had been living for years with the corpse of Elena Hoyos Mesa. She had been a tuberculosis patient at the Marine Hospital where Tanzler worked as an X-ray technician, and he became obsessed with her. Elena died in 1931 and was buried in the Key West cemetery; two years later Tanzler stole her body and took it home.

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1951 – Helicopter Scouting Squadron HS-1, led by Commander Joseph T. Watson, was commissioned in ceremonies held at the Seaplane Base in Key West. It was the first HS squadron in the Navy.

1966 – Bob Richman’s “The Country Gent” store in Key West’s Sears Town was destroyed in an overnight blaze. A faulty neon lighting fixture was thought to have been the cause. Richman had moved the store from Duval Street only nine months earlier.

1935 – The Works Progress Administration offered to help rebuild and repair the hurricane-damaged highway ferry slips at Lower Matecumbe Key if Monroe County would contribute $12,000 toward the effort. County officials responded that they had no money.

1956 – Monroe County public schools had 5,712 students enrolled for the year. This was a 6 percent increase over 1955, which had already grown 10 percent from 1954.

1956 – The Monroe County Health Department inspected all the 42 trailer parks in the Keys and found nearly all were following sanitary code. Those not in compliance had only minor violations that were being remedied. At least five new parks were also under construction.

1863 – Post returns from Fort Jefferson for September showed that 588 men were stationed at the Dry Tortugas, including 125 prisoners.

1986 – Two groups were vying for control of the historic San Carlos building on Duval Street in Key West. A year earlier, Florida Governor Bob Graham had given the Cuban American National Foundation charge of the empty and deteriorating structure, but another group, the San Carlos Institute, claimed prior rights.

1931 – Capt. Matthew Gates brought a 19-foot sawfish and six nurse sharks into the local Key West “shark camp.” Eddie Saunders topped Gates, though, with a catch of 31 sharks.

1954 – Key West Police Chief Bienvenido Perez continued a crackdown on vice in the city by personally conducting a raid of the Mardi Gras Club on Duval Street. Three women were arrested and charged with “participating in a performance of an indecent and immoral nature.” The club manager was arrested, too.

1958 – Capt. Johnny West, representing the Key West Charterboat Association, offered plans to Key West city commissioners for a new marina at Garrison Bight. A 55-foot-long concrete building, concession area and restaurant, restrooms, a fuel dock, and new concrete piers were proposed.

1998 – Hurricane Georges, a category three hurricane, swept across Key West and the lower Florida Keys causing considerable damage. Key West’s iconic Houseboat Row was devastated by the storm.

1957 – Key Colony Beach became the second city in Monroe County when, at a town hall meeting, the community’s 11 qualified voters approved incorporation.

1910 – A large angel made of Italian marble and set on a base of Vermont granite was erected in the Key West Cemetery to the memory of 17-year-old Gladys J. Bates, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. W.L. Bates.

1973 – Prominent Key Wester Willard M. Albury died at the age of 88. Albury had served on the School Board and City Commission before becoming mayor of Key West in 1937, a role he held until 1945 when he resigned to become superintendent of schools. In 1950, he became administrator of Monroe General Hospital, from which he retired in 1958.

1976 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established a protected “critical habitat” for the endangered American crocodile in the Everglades and northern Florida Keys. There were fewer than 10 breeding females known in the U.S., all of which lived in the designated area.

1941 – Five hundred local carpenters entered the third day of a strike at the Key West Naval Station as they demanded a 12½ cent increase in their hourly pay. Navy officials said they would not negotiate during a work stoppage and that the men risked losing their jobs.

1958 – The submarine USS Grenadier (SS-525) arrived at Key West, the last of five to reach the Naval Station in the past two months. The others were the Spikefish (SS-404), Bergall (SS-320), Atule (SS-403) and Tirante (SS-420). Over 400 men were attached to the five subs, roughly half of whom had families they planned to bring to the island.

1937 – A plan was approved to remove WPA highway workers from the Upper Keys and bring them to Key West in case of a hurricane. Coast Guard patrol boats were to be used to move the men to No Name Key where they would then be taken to Key West by automobile.