July 24
- Florida Keys History Center
- 16 hours ago
- 2 min read
1865 – Dr. Samuel Mudd, Edward Spangler, Michael O'Laughlen, and Samuel Arnold – all convicted as conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln – arrived at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas to serve their prison terms. They joined 552 other prisoners being held there.
1898 – Private William Eckstrad, Company C, 22nd Infantry, died of typhoid in the Army Hospital at the Convent of Mary Immaculate in Key West.
1910 – The wireless radio station at Key West received messages from the American steam liner Momus stating the vessel was on fire off the Florida coast near Cape Canaveral. Assistance was offered but the Momus crew indicated they could handle the situation and continue the voyage.
1936 – A white marble plaque was placed at the Fleming Street Methodist Church in memory of Mrs. Reca Peacon of Key West, who was killed at Matecumbe Key in the 1935 hurricane.
1966 – Burglars broke into the county commissioners’ lounge in the back of the courthouse in Key West but they stole nothing and only took photographs of the space, as evidenced by several used flashbulbs they left behind. Sheriff’s deputies said they recovered good fingerprints from the bulbs.
1967 – More than 100 volunteers and friends of the Key West Red Cross gathered at La Concha Hotel in honor of the chapter’s 50th anniversary and to recognize Mrs. Florence Spottswood, who had organized the unit in 1917.
1969 – Baseball great Bob Feller was in town for a one-day visit with the Key West Padres baseball team of the Florida State League.
1976 – Glynn Archer Sr. died in Key West. He was terminal manager of the Overseas Transportation Company for 30 years. He served on the Monroe County School Board for 12 years and the Glynn Archer School was named for him.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The inside of Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, ca. 1865. From the U.S. National Archives. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.