October 6
1914 – Nelson Francis de Sales English died in Key West at the age of 66. He had worked for the post office for more than 20 years and served as postmaster of Key West from 1882 to 1886, the only Black man to hold that office. He was also a talented musician and with his friend Frank Welters founded the famous Welters Cornet Band.
1926 – Coast Guard vessel 298 left Key West to carry donated supplies and money to the Lost Man’s River settlement on mainland Monroe County. The residents had been badly affected by a September 20 hurricane, and it was hoped the aid would allow them to rebuild their homes.
1936 – A WPA work crew found a black widow spider while cleaning a coconut tree in Key West. Though such spiders are native to the Florida Keys, they had rarely been seen.
1940 – Carl 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.
1987 – A majority of Monroe County voters said no to a referendum that proposed a one-cent sales tax for capital improvements.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Karl Tanzler (aka Von Cosel) (L) being interviewed by attorney Louis Harris and Dr. Julio DePoo after his arrest. From the DeWolfe and Wood Collection in the Otto Hirzel Scrapbook. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
