September 27

Sign from a Key West motel price war advertising "Free Rooms Today," September 27, 1955.

1863 – The USS Clyde intercepted the schooner Amaranth 30 miles from the Dry Tortugas, sailing from Boston and bound for a southern port with a cargo of sugar, cigars, and assorted merchandise. The Amaranth was towed to the Tortugas and then sent to Key West for adjudication.

1899 – There were 47 new cases of yellow fever at Key West, with two new deaths. Twenty-two Key Westers fled to the Dry Tortugas to find refuge from the disease.

1930 – The Cuban gunboat Cuba arrived at Key West and took aboard $20 million that had arrived by train from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank. The money was intended to forestall runs on U.S. banks in Havana.

1951 – Allen B. Cleare, a native of Harbour Island in the Bahamas, died in Key West at age 77. He had served on the Key West City Commission and Monroe County School Board and was Mayor of Key West from 1917 to 1919.

1955 – A “price war” erupted amongst Key West motel owners after Max Cohen, who owned three motels, began advertising $2 rooms. In response, the owners of eight other businesses posted signs advertising free rooms to stop Cohen from continuing his drastic price cuts.

1963 – Roger A. Foster, who was accused of murdering Key West captain Douglas Trevor and his son Edward on the charter boat Dream Girl, was found to be insane and committed to the state mental institution. He would later be judged competent and then tried and convicted for the murders.

Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.

Image: Sign from a Key West motel price war advertising "Free Rooms Today," September 27, 1955. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.