1860 – An out-of-town man stole the slave ship William, which had been seized by the government, from its berth in Key West. A customs inspector on board was taken, too. A pilot boat and a schooner commanded by Army personnel gave chase and caught the William. The thief and his crew were arrested for piracy and jailed.
1904 – Robert Gabriel was elected president of the Roosevelt and Fairbanks Republican Club.
1908 – Florida Keys railroad camp managers were frustrated by “booze boats” that sold cheap whiskey to the workers, the effects of which set back construction, sometimes by two or three days.
1933 – Emergency Relief Council workers’ pay was increased from 18 cents an hour to a new rate of 30 cents per hour.
1999 – High levels of fecal coliform bacteria had plagued Key West beaches for two months. Officials saw little remedy for the problem and hoped that it would improve in November, at the end of the rainy season.
2003 – The Historical Military Memorial was dedicated at Key West’s Mallory Square to honor the Florida Keys’ military involvement from the 1820s to the present. The monument consists of 10 stone pedestals with bronze plaques, and a gun sighting turret from the battleship USS Maine.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West Military Memorial at Mallory Square. Photo by Tom Hambright. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.