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The Municipality – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:19:57 +0000

CHAPTER: THE MUNICIPALITY, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

The first act incorporating the City of Key West was passed January 8, 1828. On November 8, 1828, this act was repealed and a new one incorporating the Town of Key West was passed. it incorporated all the free white inhabitants of that part of the island of Key West comprehended within the limits prescribed by the plan of the town then on file in the clerk’s office in the county; being all that portion of the island beginning at the junction of White street with the waters of the harbor, and extending along White street to Angela, thence southwesterly along Angela to Fort Taylor reservation, thence northwesterly to the waters of the harbor, and thence along the shore line back to White street.

The government was vested in a board of seven town councilmen, to be elected by the free white male persons over the age of twenty-one years, who bad resided three whole months within the proposed limits. The president of the body, in addition to his duties as such, acted as mayor and exercised the powers, and received the fees and emoluments of a justice of the peace for the territory. The council had usual municipal powers, and the unusual ones of “appointing pilots, regulating pilotage and enforcing all laws of the territory as well as those of their own enactment.”

The first charter authorized levying license taxes, but gave no authority for a tax upon realty. This was a source of much controversy, the large landed proprietors being opposed to taxing their realty, as the major part of it was unproductive, and they were freely donating lots to induce settlers to come to Key West.

The incorporated town gave place in 1832 to the incorporated city by virtue of a charter granted by. the territorial council in that year. It provided for the selection of a mayor and six councilmen. Twelve months residence was required for voters. The first mayor elected under this charter was Colonel Oliver O’Hara.

It provided for a tax on real estate of not more than one half of one per cent on its value. It also authorized a per capita tax on “free negroes, mulattoes and slaves.”

Under it members of the council were fined for being absent from meetings, and on April 4, 1835, at the suggestion of Mr. Adam Gordon, mayor, the amount assessed and paid for fines 50 was donated to the Sunday school library at Key West and its receipt duly acknowledged by Mr. William A. Whitehead, superintendent. Note the difference in the public spirit of the old and the new Key West! Our forefathers considered that those who offered their services as members of the city council should attend to those duties or be fined for non-attendance. Under the present charter councilmen are paid four dollars a meeting for working for the city, for whose development and welfare, should be given voluntarily the best services of every citizen.

The members of the town council elected under this act were Mr. David Coffin Pinkham, president; Mr. Pardon C. Greene, Mr. Benjamin B. Strobel, Mr. William A. Whitehead, Mr. Joseph Cottrell, Mr. Fielding A. Browne and Mr. George E. Weaver. The town council being empowered to elect the other city officials, elected Mr. William H. Wall, clerk; Mr. P. B. Prior, marshal, and Dr. Henry S. Waterhouse, treasurer. Dr. Waterhouse afterwards moved to Indian Key, and on January 179 1834, he and his young son were drowned by the upsetting of a small boat in which they had embarked for Matecumbie.

Mr. Prior did not qualify as marshal and Mr. Stephen R. Mallory, who afterwards became United States senator, and secretary of the navy of the Southern Confederacy, was elected and served in his place.

This charter was the first that authorized the assessment of real estate for purposes of taxation, and the assessment roll showed the value of realty to be $65,923.75. The improved portion was assessed at $61,005.00, and the unimproved which included all the rest of the island, was assessed at the rate of twenty-five dollars an acre, a total of $3,918.75. The taxes collected on this assessment amounted to $329.61; the expense of the government being borne largely by the revenue raised from license taxes. The charter gave no authority to levy taxes on personal property.

The number of buildings within the city limits in 1832 was eighty-one, including sheds for the storage of wrecked cotton and other articles, blacksmith shops, etc. The two principal buildings were the warehouses of Pardon C. Greene and Fielding A. Browne; the assessed value of each was $6,000.00, including the land and wharfs.

In 1835 the city charter was abolished by the territorial council through the influence of certain parties whose intended action was unknown to the citizens generally. The repealing act provided that all ordinances should remain in force.

As soon as this action became known a petition was sent to congress protesting against it. The congressional Committee on Territories to whom the matter was referred, having reported against the action of the territorial council, that body in 1836 reenacted the charter.

Prior to 1828 a survey of the island was made, but when the proprietors sought to appropriate their several portions in accordance with the division previously agreed upon between Messrs. Simonton, Greene, Fleeming and Whitehead, it was found that the surveyor had left the island without furnishing them with any courses, distances or other data, whereby their prospective properties could be defined.

Mr. William Adee Whitehead, a young civil engineer, who had come to Key West to go into business with his brother, was engaged to survey the island and lay out the town, which he completed in February, 1829.

The streets, other than those bearing the surnames of the original proprietors, were named by them to perpetuate the memories of their relatives, friends and distinguished citizens. “Eaton” was named after Hon. John A. Eaton, secretary of war in President Jackson’s cabinet; “White” after Hon. Jos. M. White, territorial delegate in Congress for Florida; “Duval” after the governor of Florida; “Grinnell” after the merchants of that name in New York; “Southard” for a senator and secretary of the navy; “Caroline,” “Margaret … .. William,” “Thomas” and “Emma” after brothers and sisters of Mr. John Whitehead. “Frances” after a daughter of Mr. Fleeming; “Ann” after Mr. Simonton’s wife; “Elizabeth” after a relative of Mr. Greene; “Fitzpatrick” after Mr. Richard Fitzpatrick, a then resident and for several years a delegate from Monroe county to the territorial council. “Clinton Place” after DeWitt Clinton of New York, and “Jackson Square” after Andrew Jackson. The little mangrove island just across the harbor was named Fleeming’s Key after one of the original proprietors.

In April, 1836, the first election under the new charter was held, and Mr. Fielding A. Browne was elected mayor and Mr. William R. Hackley, Mr. Alden A. M. Jackson, Mr. Pierce P. Fellows and Dr. D. Platts elected councilmen. The total vote cast at this election was thirty-nine, the population being something less than three hundred. The total vote cast in the city election of November 14, 1911, was two thousand, four hundred and forty-seven.

In 1838 a novel question of taxation arose. The charter of 1836 authorized the levying of occupational taxes which were promptly paid by the leading business men of the city without protest. In the early part of 1838 an ordinance was passed levying an occupational tax to raise revenue for the year 1838 and Mr. John P. Baldwin, Mr. George E. Weaver, Mr. John H. Sawyer and Mr. P. J. Fontaine addressed a communication to the mayor, Mr. W. A. Whitehead, protesting against the enforcement of the ordinance, contending that occupational licenses once granted were for an indefinite time, and that the city had no right to require those who had been granted licenses in 1837 to take them out again. That if they could be required to do so annually, the city could also “compel them to take out licenses daily or hourly, at the pleasure of the council.”

Mayor Whitehead replied to this protest in a document* remarkable for close analysis and cogent reasoning and completely and thoroughly disposed of their contention.

Judge Marvin, who was at first inclined to agree with the contention of the merchants, upon reading Mr. Whitehead’s reply, said to him: “You may be perfectly right, for I am not at all tenacious of my opinion.”

Mr. George E. Weaver said, “I am perfectly satisfied as to the power of the corporation since reading your communication.”

A number of the merchants, however, persisted in their refusal to pay licenses, and Mr. Whitehead requested that a meeting of citizens be called by the city council “to determine whether the laws should be enforced or the charter dissolved.” The council not complying with his request, he called an election for mayor, and announced his intention to resign his office in favor of whoever was elected.

Feeling ran high, and those who were opposed to Mr. Whitehead’s construction of the charter, picked up a low, illiterate character, the keeper of a sailor grog shop, named Tomaso Sachetti, who could hardly make himself understood in English, and ran him for mayor, for the double purpose of placing an indignity on Mr. Whitehead, and nullifying the objectionable ordinance. The low element, elated at the prospect of one of their ilk being mayor of the city, rallied to Sachetti’s standard, and as he also had the moral support of a few of the prominent citizens, no self-respecting man could be induced to run against him. He was chosen without opposition, and on the fourteenth of March was notified of his election by Mayor Whitehead, who at once resigned as mayor, and turned the office over to Sachetti. Sachetti’s reply on the same date was written by Mr. Charles Walker of whom Mr. Whitehead says: “He was a lawyer from New York, a loco-foco, an agrarian, a disorganizer, etc.”

Mayor Whitehead left Key West shortly after this and never returned; and although he retained his interest in the place until his death in the early eighties, he never got over his treatment by the people of the city he had helped to found, and to which he had given his best abilities to develop and improve. Key West thus lost one of its foremost citizens, a victim to a spirit-still too prevalent-which seeks to belittle and injure the man who dares oppose public opinion, or who bravely maintains his position against popular clamor.

In 1846 after the admission of Florida into the Union, another charter was adopted, which regulated the affairs of the city until 1869, when it was superseded by the General Act of Incorporation for Cities.

About this time Key West started on its career of industrial development, coincident with the Cuban migration. The population rapidly increased from three thousand in 1860, to upwards of twelve thousand in 1870; hundreds of buildings were erected far beyond the old city limits. Under the general laws of the State, the city limits could not be extended without the concurrent vote of a majority of those living within the city, and those living within the territory to be annexed. Several attempts were made to extend the city limits, but the population outside were unable to see what benefits were to be derived which would compensate them for the increase in taxation, and voted against the extension.

Those outside the city limits were as orderly and law-abiding as those within, and were happy and prosperous without the so-called privileges of a city, and in addition were free from molestation by city policemen. There were no greater number of offences committed outside than within the limits.

In 1876 a commodious city hall was built, and its dedication on July 4th was attended with much pomp. Colonel W. C. Maloney, Sr., delivered an address which was published as an historical sketch of Key West. It was the first attempt at compiling for the use of posterity the events that had shaped the destinies of this island. The hall was destroyed by fire in 1886, and a larger one of brick built on the site of the old. The ground floor was designed for a market, and for several years was so used, but at this time there is only one stall in use. Since the fire engine house was destroyed by the hurricane of 1909, the ground floor of the hall is set apart for an engine room, and for other uses of the fire department.

When the pond, which covered most of that part of the city bounded by Simonton, Caroline, Whitehead and Greene streets, was ordered filled, several of the owners failed to comply with the ordinance, and the work was done by the city, and the lots sold to pay the expense. The lot on which the city hall stands was acquired in this way, and such was the city’s precarious title, until Colonel Maloney, acting for the city, and Mr. Moreno, the agent of, and Mr. Mallory, the attorney for the heirs of Mr. John W. Simonton, to whom the lots belonged, affected a settlement; or rather Miss Florida Simonton, the sole surviving heir of Mr. Simonton, through her trustee, Miss Mary B. Jones, gave the property to the city on June 21, 1871.

In 1889 the legislature granted a special charter to the city of Key West, and included the entire island within the corporate limits. The government was to be by nine commissioners appointed by the governor, and they were to appoint all the other officials. The president of the commissioners performed the functions of mayor in addition to his duties as commissioner. The first mayor under this system was Hon. Walter C. Maloney, Jr.

This charter authorized a bond issue for paving and street improvement, and a contract for grading, paving and curbing certain streets was let to Mr. G. J. Baer. The work was progressing smoothly when a policy of obstruction was adopted by the engineer. The legal representatives of the contractors appeared before the commissioners on several occasions, protesting against this policy, and made every effort to have the work proceed according to contract. Failing to obtain relief from the commissioners, he gave up all effort to proceed with the work, and brought suit in the United States court, where he obtained a judgment for one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars. In 1899 a bond issue of one hundred and forty-eight thousand dollars was floated to pay this judgment with accrued interest and costs.

In 1891 the charter was amended, and provided for the appointment by the commissioners of a mayor who should not be one of their body, and for the election by the people of a clerk, marshal, tax collector, assessor, treasurer, etc.

In 1907 a new charter was granted to which amendments have been made from time to time, according to the fancies of the members of the legislature, the caprice of ward politicians, or the demand of agitators. It has been demonstrated, however, that change is not necessarily progress, and those who are least qualified by ability and experience to suggest amendments to the organic law are the most eager to propose them.

In 1910 the city voted a bond issue of one hundred and ninety-two thousand dollars for paving or sewerage purposes, and a contract was awarded to the Southern Asphalt and Construction Company to pave all that portion of the city lying southwest of Caroline street; Division street from Duval to White street, thence along White street northwest to the water; Fleming from Whitehead to White street, and Simonton as far as Fleming street, with brick; and Duval street from Caroline to Division street, with asphalt block. The first brick in the new pavement was laid by Mr. Charles R. Pierce of the board of public works on December 11, 1911.

The total bonded indebtedness of the city is something over six hundred thousand dollars; the assessed value of all property in 1900 was two million six hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred dollars, and in 1910 was four million two hundred and thirty thousand nine hundred dollars. During that decade over two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of real estate was condemned and taken over by the United States government.

From 1832, the date of the first charter of the city, the following citizens have successively been elected to the office of mayor: Mr. Oliver O’Hara, Mr. Fielding A. Browne, r. William A. Whitehead, Tomaso Sachetti, Mr. Pardon C. Greene, Mr. Philip J. Fontaine, Mr. Alexander Patterson, Mr. Benjamin Sawyer, Mr. Walter C. Maloney, Mr. Fernando J. Moreno, Mr. John P. Baldwin, Mr. John W. Porter, Mr. William Curry, Mr. Philip J. Fontaine, Mr. Alexander Patterson, Mr. Benjamin Sawyer, Mr. John P. Baldwin, Mr. William Marvin, Alexander Patterson, Mr. E. 0. Gwynn, Mr. William S. Allen, Dr. D. W. Whitehurst Mr. Henry Mulrennan, Mr. Joseph B. Browne, Mr. William D. Cash, Mr. Winer Bethel, Mr. E. 0. Gwynn, Mr. Carlos M. de Cespedes, Mr. Livingston W. Bethel, Mr. Robert Jasper Perry, Mr. E. 0. Gwynn, Mr. William McClintock, Mr. R. Alfred Monsalvatge, Mr. James G. Jones, Mr. J. W. V. R. Plummer, Mr. James A. Waddell, Mr. Walter C. Maloney, Jr., Mr. Robert J. Perry, Mr. James A. Waddell, Mr. John B. Maloney, Mr. George L. Bartlum, Mr. Benjamin Trevor, Mr. George L. Babcock and Mr. Joseph N. Fogarty.

The surviving mayors are Mr. William D. Cash, Mr. Livingston W. Bethel, Mr. John B. Maloney, Mr. George L. Bartlum, Mr. George L. Babcock, Mr. Benjamin D. Trevor and Dr. Joseph N. Fogarty, the present incumbent.

When Dr. Fogarty finishes the term for which he was elected November 14, 1911, he will have the honor of having .held the office of mayor for a longer period-six years-than any of his predecessors.

Mr. Cornelius J. Kemp, Mr. William B. Curry, Mr. Frank H. Ladd, Mr. Edward E. Ingraham, Mr. William M. Pinder, Mr. Charles W. Lowe and Mr. J. R. Valdez compose the present city council.

On the board of public works are Messrs. William R. Porter, Jefferson B. Browne, Joshua Curry, Charles R. Pierce and Shirley C. Bott.

In 1895 the city undertook to secure a supply of fresh water, and an artesian well was sunk in Jackson Square to a depth of two thousand feet. Samples of the borings were taken every twenty-five feet from the surface to the bottom. A set of these Samples was furnished by Mr. Alexander Agassiz to Mr. Edmond Otis Hovey, who prepared a very full and exhaustive report for the zoological society of Harvard College. Mr. Hovey says that the samples indicate a shallow water origin for much of the material. The most solid rock passed through came from a depth of from one hundred and fifty, to one hundred and seventyfive feet from the surface inclusive. No traces of fresh water were found.

Spanish-American War – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:17:59 +0000

CHAPTER: SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

For some time before the opening of actual hostilities between the United States and Spain, Key West bore the appearance of a war port.

To conciliate the Spanish authorities, who were constantly protesting against the use of Key West as a base for fitting out and embarking filibustering expeditions, one or more warships were stationed here, as evidence of our government’s intention to prevent violations of neutrality laws. The Maine was here for about six months in 1896, and again in 1897; and it was from this port that she sailed on her last voyage. The Cincinnati, Raleigh, Amphitrite, Marblehead and Wilmington, each did its term of duty, assisted by two or more revenue cutters. The officers of these vessels added no little to the social life of the city, and many warm ties of friendship were then formed.

A number of fast tugs, reasonably supposed to be engaged in filibustering, came and went, but no proof could be obtained against them.

In 1896 Mr. Richard Harding Davis and Mr. Frederic Remington, the artist, came to Key West, representing the New York Journal.

Mr. W. R. Hearst’s power boat, the “Vamoose,” then the fleetest in the world, was under their orders to take them to Cuba, where they planned to visit the camps of the revolutionists, and interview the leaders. Mr. Davis was to write the story of their venture, and Mr. Remington to illustrate it with his wonderful sketches.

They fully appreciated the risk they would run, but were keen for the enterprise, and made two attempts to reach Cuba, but the “Vamoose,” not able to stand the heavy seas encountered in the gulf, was forced to put back to Key West. Each day the skies were scanned, weather reports studied, and prognostications weighed, in hope of a favorable opportunity to make the run across the gulf, but the fates were against them, and the high winds and heavy seas abated not. The “Vamoose” was a long narrow shell, built solely for speed, and was unfit for a voyage to Cuba except in an unusually smooth sea. After several weeks spent in the vain hope for good weather, the trip was abandoned, and Mr. Davis and Mr. Remington went to Havana by the regular steamship line, hoping to make their way thence to the Cuban camps. In this they were thwarted by the travel regulations, and vigilance of the Spanish authorities, and they returned to Key West, and thence home.

They spent three weeks in Key West – “three yeras” – as Mr. Remington afterwards facetiously referred to it-and were guests at dinner parties, luncheons and informal receptions ashore and on the war vessels then in port, and their genius and camaraderie made them great social favorites.

An incident, which shows Mr. Davis in a light not generally known, transpired when he made his first attempt to reach Cuba. He told a friend that it was probable that after he arrived he would not be heard from for some time, and reports of his death might appear in the papers. In order to spare his parents unnecessary pain, he wrote a telegram to his father, saying: “Reports of your son’s death not credited here. He is known to be in another part of the island.” This message he asked his friend to sign and transmit, if any bad news was received, adding “if the report proves true, it will be no harder for them to bear later, and if false, it will spare them much unnecessary pain.”

The friend has kept the telegram as a memento of a very pleasant epoch. He was also the recipient of several books by these distinguished authors, with autograph inscriptions. In his book, “Pony Tracks,” Mr. Remington, wrote “In memory of the nice lunches, the fine dinners, the good times, and other alleviations of my three years in Key West, from the grateful, Frederic Remington.”

The explosion of the Maine shocked the people of Key West probably more than any other community, for here the officers and the men had been stationed off and on for over a year, and had many friends.

An accident similar to that on the Maine came very near occurring in Key West harbor, on the Cincinnati in 1895. Spontaneous combustion in her coal bunkers was undiscovered until the fire had been communicated to the magazine, and boxes containing ammunition badly burned. Smoke was seen coming from the magazine, which in a few moments would have exploded. Had it been at night as in the case of the Maine, the smoke would not have been seen, and the tragedy of the Maine in Havana harbor would have had a forerunner on the Cincinnati in the harbor of Key West.

Not very long before the Maine went to Cuba, she took on soft coal at Key West, which was lightened to her in barges; during the day heavy showers of rain fell, and at least one barge load was thoroughly wet. If any of this was in her bunkers when she again coaled, her disaster is no more of a mystery than the cause of the fire in the magazine of the Cincinnati.

Most of the events of the Spanish-American War, such as the mobilizing at Key West of almost all the ships of our navy, the flotilla of newspaper boats, and war correspondents that gathered here, the military and naval operations carried on from this point, are matters for the general, rather than the local historian.

Several incidents, however, occurred which have some local flavor. The newspaper correspondents were wont to put on a bulletin board the war news they received, for the benefit of the public; these, the local newspaper, “The Herald,” would publish under the heading “Special to the Herald.” One day the correspondents put on the board “The American schooner Virginia, loaded with silver bullion and cocoanuts, sunk by a Spanish war ship, off the -coast of Spain.” In an hour an “Extra” Herald was out, with a long “Special to the Herald,” telling all about the Virginia and her valuable cargo. The editor was from the mainland, and not familiar with shipping, so did not see the hoax that was apparent, from the incongruity of a cocoanut droger, having silver bullion as part of her cargo; neither did he look in the register of American vessels to ascertain if there was a schooner “Virginia,” but swallowed the bait, hook and line, at one gulp.

One wit among the correspondents, who grew weary waiting for orders to go to the coast of Cuba, described his feelings, in a Shakesperian paraphrase, “Cube, or not Cube; that is the Key Westion.”

Among the distinguished newspaper correspondents who were here were Mr. Stephen M. Bonsal, Mr. Ralph Payne and Mr. Harry Brown.

Judge Ramon Alvarez, Special Deputy Collector of Customs, was the local correspondent of the New York Herald, and his reports were far more accurate than any sent by the world-famed war correspondents.

Salt Manufacturing – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:16:09 +0000

CHAPTER: SALT MANUFACTURING, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

The original proprietors and the first settlers of Key West considered the manufacture of salt as the most probable means of making the place known to the commercial world. Small quantities had been gathered from the natural salt ponds in the interior, without any special facilities, and that portion of the island was regarded as destined to be the source of future wealth to any enterprising individuals who might undertake to turn its advantages to account. The resident proprietors, however, were not themselves possessed of sufficient capital beyond the requirements of their commercial undertakings to engage in the business, and the first regular attempt at salt manufacturing was not made until 1830. Mr. Richard Fitzpatrick, of South Carolina, then a resident on the island, leased that year the Whitehead interest in the southeastern end of the island, and constructed the “Salt Ponds.”

About one hundred acres of this property were subject to overflow at any ordinary high tide, a large portion being always under water. This was divided into compartments or “pans” one hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, separated by walls two feet high made of coral rock. Small wooden floodgates connected all the pans, and sea water was turned into them from a large canal, in which was a floodgate for regulating the water supply; thus the water could be let into or cut off from all or any of the pans. The pans were then filled with salt water and the floodgate in the canal closed, and as the water was lowered by solar evaporation more salt water was let in. This process was repeated until the approach of the rainy season, when the water was allowed to evaporate, and the salt precipitated into crystals, from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in size.

About the time that Mr. Fitzpatrick began his operations in 1830, a bill was introduced in the territorial council to establish the North American Salt Company here, and the local newspaper estimated that this new company would require five hundred vessels to transport the salt that would be made annually. Air. Fitzpatrick was a member of the council and opposed the bill and prevented its passage. This gave rise to, an attack on him, which became very bitter before the election

An intelligent negro man named Hart was brought from the Bahamas and placed in charge of the works. Several dry seasons promised favorable results, but they were not realized.

In the summer of 1832 the prospect was thought good for sixty thousand bushels, but rains set in early, and the crop was lost. Mr. Fitzpatrick abandoned his works in 1834. The reduction of the duty on salt after he commenced operations had some effect probably in producing this result. At one time he bad over thirty hands employed.

The next attempt was made under the auspices of the La Fayette Salt Company, organized through the exertions of Mr. Simonton, the principal stockholders being residents of Mobile and New Orleans. Operations were commenced early in 1835, but success was not achieved, and the work passed in a few years into the hands of another company, Messrs. Adam Gordon, F. A. Browne and William H. Wall being among the stockholders. Subsequently, about 1843, Charles Howe obtained the controlling interest, and after the hurricane of 1846 became the sole proprietor. In 1850 the crop amounted to thirty-five thousand bushels, and Mr. Howe was encouraged to enlarge his works by the purchase of the Whitehead portion of the pond, which bad been abandoned by Mr. Fitzpatrick. In 1851 he sold half of his interest to Mr. W. C. Dennis, to whom the management of the works was entrusted. The amount of salt produced annually varied materially, ranging from fifteen or twenty thousand bushels to seventy-five thousand, the largest crop raked in any one year. Mr. Dennis continued the manufacture until his death, which occurred in 1864.

During the Civil War the manufacture of salt on the island was suspended, in consequence of one of the principal sources of demand for salt, the Charlotte Harbor fisheries, having been cut off, the military authorities being apprehensive that the salt furnished to them would find its way into the Confederacy.

In 1865 Lieutenant W. R. Livermore of the United States army engineer corps, purchased the works and commenced the manufacture of salt. He spent a small fortune in the prosecution of the business, but abandoned it in 1868, after becoming convinced that it could not be profitably produced with inefficient and irresponsible free negro labor.

In 1847 forty thousand bushels were produced, and until 1855 the quantity varied from thirty-five to forty-eight thousand bushels. The banner year was 1855 with seventy-five thousand bushels, and the output until 1861 ranged from sixty to seventy thousand bushels. In 1861 it fell to thirty thousand bushels. Between 1862 and 1865, and 1868 and 1871, no attempt was made to operate the salt ponds. From 1871 to 1875 the output ran from fifteen to twenty-five thousand bushels. In 1876 the hurricane of October 19th washed away about fifteen thousand bushels which was ungathered in the pans, and did considerable injury to the works, which ended all attempts at salt making by solar evaporation in Key West.

In 1871 part of the salt works passed into the hands of Messrs. C. and E. Howe, and was subsequently purchased by Mr. W. D. Cash. In 1906 the entire interest of Mr. Livermore and Mr. Cash was purchased by the Key West Realty Company, who laid it off into town lots.

Remains of the Salt Ponds or “Pans,” are still to be seen, but in a dilapidated condition.

Politics – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:12:04 +0000

CHAPTER: POLITICS, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

The tendency of the America people to divide along political lines was manifest in Key West in the early days of its settlement, notwithstanding the fact that news of the result of a presidential election did not reach the city until six weeks thereafter.

The predominating influence was strongly Southern, and naturally democratic. The islanders’ however, were more interested in municipal than national or State politics, and local political battles were waged with as much feeling as if the fate of the nation depended upon the result.

In 1831 Mr. Richard Fitzpatrick and Colonel Lackland M. Stone, then United States marshal, were opposing candidates for representative from Monroe county to the territorial council. Mr. Fitzpatrick was a candidate for re-election; communications signed “Voter,” “Honestus,” “One of the People,” etc., appeared in the Enquirer in which the good and bad qualities of the respective candidates were set forth. As both gentlemen were men of culture and high standing, the charges against them were no doubt as false as those promulgated in the primaries of the present day. Among other things, Mr. Fitzpatrick was charged with having traduced and slandered the people of Key West, calling them a “set of dishonest and unprincipled men and that the people of this county were unworthy of trust.” He came in for the greater share of the abuse, but was triumphantly elected.

In 1838 the city divided on the matter of paying occupational taxes. Mr. Whitehead resigned the office of mayor and a bitter contest resulted, as is elsewhere set forth.

Hon. Joseph B. Browne and Judge William Marvin were delegates from Monroe county to the 0 St. Joseph’s convention in 1838, which framed the constitution under which Florida was admitted into the Union in 1845. It is rather a remarkable circumstance that they were the last two survivors of that historic body.

It was not until 1860 that contests over national politics worked any serious division among the people, but in that year the first rumblings of the cataclysm that was to destroy constitutional guarantees, reached Key West and stirred our people to the depths.

They knew that the great Democratic party which had shaped the destinies of the nation for half a century was menaced with defeat, on account of internal dissensions, and the conservative, Constitutional Democrats were anxious that their policies should prevail.

On the 23rd of May, 1830, a mass meeting of Democrats was held in the city hall with Hon. John P. Baldwin as chairman and J. L. Tatum, Esq., secretary. The object of the meeting was explained by Hon. Joseph Beverly Browne, who, after making a forcible address, introduced a resolution on the subject of electing delegates to the State Democratic convention to meet in Quincy, Fla., on the 4th day of June.

The resolution “tendered the thanks of the Democrats of Monroe county to Hon. A. B. Noyes for the manner in which he had represented the Democracy of Monroe and Dade counties, in the convention lately held in Tallahassee.”

Hons. Jos. B. Browne, James Filor, Geo. L. Bowne, Asa F. Tift and Wm. H. Ward were appointed delegates to attend the convention at Quincy, and instructed to try and have Monroe county represented in the national Democratic convention to be held at Richmond or Baltimore, or both, on the second day of June. Owing to the difficulties that Key West people had to encounter to reach the mainland, the precaution was taken to name as alternates Hon. A. B. Noyes and Judge R. B. Hilton Of Leon county, in case the regular delegates were unable to attend.

The holding of the national Democratic convention at Baltimore in June, its balloting fifty-two times without any result, its adjournment without a nomination, the subsequent Domination of three Democrats for the presidency, with Breckenridge, the candidate of the advocates of the doctrine of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case; Douglas, the candidate of the advocates of Kansas-Nebraska legislation, and Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional-Union party, and the consequent election of Abraham Lincoln-who failed by nearly a million votes of being the choice of the people came with staring celerity, and the Civil War was upon us before we realized it. The political events of that period are set forth in the chapter on Civil War.

The earliest contest after reconstruction, in which the newly enfranchised negroes voted, was the mayoralty election of 1869, when Hon. Joseph Beverly Browne, the Democratic candidate defeated Mr. E. L. Ware, the candidate of the black Republican Party, as it was then called.

In 1866 the Democrats, after a hotly contested county election, with Mr. Browne as their candidate for representative in the legislature, carried the county for the first time since 1860.

In 1870 a spirited contest with Col. Walter C. Maloney, Jr., as the Democratic candidate, and James W. Locke, the Republican candidate for the State senate, the Republicans carried the county.

The two parties were very evenly divided in Monroe county until 1888, since which time the Republican party has been practically without any local organization.

As a result of a split in the Democratic party in 1888 the Republicans elected a negro sheriff and county judge; the latter was removed by the governor for malfeasance in office, but the former served his term. At the same election another Republican, Mr. George Hudson, was elected county clerk.

In 1878 Hon. Geo. W. Allen, a Republican, defeated Col. W. C. Maloney, Jr., Democrat, for the senate by twelve votes.

The most bitter election ever held in Monroe county was that of the senatorial election in 1882. The wing of the Republican party hostile to Mr. Allen, known as the custom house faction, controlled the convention, but even with that advantage they could not have prevented Mr. Allen’s nomination, had they not persuaded Mr. John Jay Philbrick to become their standard bearer. Mr. Philbrick was a Republican, but had never taken any active part in politics. He was one of the foremost business men in the city, a college graduate, a man of great versatility of talent, and his liberality and public spirit made him one of the most popular men in the city. Mr. C. B. Pendleton was the Democratic nominee, but certain disclosures in his private life coming shortly after his nomination, caused the Democratic Executive Committee to request him to withdraw from the ticket. The wing of the party that had supported him for the nomination opposed this, and Mr. Pendleton declined to withdraw. Several prominent members of the Democratic Executive Committee. who felt that he was not a proper candidate for their party, resigned their positions and announced that they would oppose his election.

The court house faction, led by Mr. E. 0. Locke, clerk of the United States District Court, and Hon. G. Bowne Patterson, United States district attorney, were dissatisfied with the treatment that Mr. Allen had received, and when the split occurred in the Democratic party, they conferred with the Democrats who were opposed to Mr. Pendleton, and induced Mr. Allen to run as an independent candidate.

A campaign committee was organized on w which were some of the leading Democrats, including those who had withdrawn from the Democratic Executive Committee, and several of the leading white Republicans, and a systematic campaign for Mr. Allen inaugurated. The Cubans rallied to his support to a man. Political meetings were held once or twice a week, and the county was stirred up to a political frenzy, never witnessed before or since. Families were separated, life-time friends quit speaking to each other, and personal encounters were frequent. Mr. Allen was triumphantly elected, having a clear majority over both the regular Democratic and Republican nominees.

Immediately after the election, the Democratic Executive Committee, which was composed entirely of Pendleton’s supporters, submitted to a primary election the question whether the governor should be requested to remove Mr. Peter T. Knight from the office of clerk of the circuit court, and Mr. George W. Demerritt from the office of sheriff, for having supported Mr. Allen. The friends of these gentlemen took no part in the primary and treated the matter as a joke. Several hundred people voted, and the ballot box was stuffed to the extent of several hundred more, and the returns made such a strong showing that Governor Bloxham felt it his duty to accede to the request of the Democrats of the county, and sent their names in to the senate for removal. It was known that Governor Bloxham did not want the senate to confirm his action, and the senate, by a good majority refused to do so, and these officials served out their terms. Mr. Pendleton contested the senatorial election, and notwithstanding the fact that the senate was almost solidly Democratic. Mr. Allen retained his seat, only two votes being cast for Mr. Pendleton. Mr. Allen served through the session of 1883, but shortly afterwards resigned his seat to accept the position of cashier in the newly established Bank of Key West.

In 1884 a special election was called to fill Mr. Allen’s unexpired term. Mr. George B. Phillips was the Republican candidate, Mr. Andrew J. Kemp and Dr. J. V. Harris, the candidates of the two wings of the Democratic party, and Mr. Philips was elected. He had accepted the nomination, however, merely for the influence it would give him in the councils of his party, in the event of the election of a Republican president, a contingency that seemed almost certain of fulfillment. The election of Grover Cleveland destroyed Mr. Phillips’ hopes, and rather than give up the important position of head bookkeeper in the E. H. Gato cigar factory, he declined the seat in the senate. Mr. Pendleton, thereupon, went to Tallahassee and had the old contest reopened, and the senate by a majority of one gave him the seat. No one from Key West opposed Mr. Pendleton’s claims at this time, and several senators who voted for him did so under the impression that it was the wish of the Democracy of Monroe county that the twenty-fourth senatorial district should have a representative in the senate.

One of the most spirited mayoralty elections was in 1877 when Hon. L. W. Bethel defeated Dr. J. W. V. R. Plummer. There was speech making and torch light processions, and as much if not more interest manifested than in a general election.

In the presidential election of 1876 Monroe county was one of the determining factors. The morning after the election the Republicans realized that Mr. Samuel J. Tilden had defeated the Republican candidate, Mr. Hayes by thirty-three electoral votes, but that by fraudulently changing the result in South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana, they could elect Hayes by one majority. Instructions were sent to the Republican governors of these States to change the Democratic majorities into a majority for the Republican party, and men of great ability, although unscrupulous partisans, were sent to each of them to formulate a plan to carry out the proposed fraud. Monroe county, which had given a large Democratic majority, was one of those selected to be contested. The third ward at that time was almost solidly Democratic, Mr. John T. Barker’s family being the only Republicans living therein. The vote of the third ward was four hundred and fifty-seven for the Democratic electors and three for the Republican.

Affidavits were procured to the effect that intimidation had been practiced in this ward, which prevented the negroes from voting. The election was quiet, orderly and practically without fraud on either side. The machinery of the election being in the hands of the Republicans, they alone could have perpetrated any fraud. The third ward was thrown out by the Republican returning board at Tallahassee, and the State was given to the Republican party by a majority less than the Democratic majority in this ward.

The third ward has always been the banner Democratic ward of the county, and its vote, on the side of decency, morality and good government. Until the change in the ward lines of the city, it occupied the same enviable position in city affairs.

In 1887 the county of Lee was created out of part of Monroe county, and the two comprise the twenty-fourth senatorial district. In 1888 Hon. Geo. M. Hendry, of Fort Myers, was elected senator of the new district. Since then Monroe county has furnished the senator, and Lee county has petitioned in vain for the privilege of occasionally being similarly honored.

In 1894 when Hon. J. M. Phipps of Monroe county was nominated, a district convention was held, and Lee county sent her quota of delegates.

In 1898 there was no district convention, and the Monroe county convention nominated Hon. W. Hunt Harris, and the Lee county Democratic convention nominated Mr. Menendez Johnson. Mr. Harris was duly elected.

Since Mr. Hendry’s incumbency, Fernando J. Moreno, Hon. Jefferson B. Browne, Hon. J. M. Phipps, Hon. W. Hunt Harris and Hon. W. H. Malone, Jr., the present incumbent, have been successively elected.

Isolated as Monroe county is from the rest of the State, it has been difficult for her to receive the recognition at the hands of the State Democratic party that she is entitled to, although several of her distinguished sons have held State positions.

The first was Hon. Richard Fitzpatrick, who was president of the territorial council in 1836. lion. Stephen R. Mallory was elected to the United States senate while a resident of Key West. Other citizens of Monroe county to be honored were Hon. Livingston W. Bethel, lieutenant-governor from 1880 to 1884, Jefferson B. Browne, president of the senate, from 1891 to 1893 and chairman of the Florida Railroad Commission from 1903 to 1907, Hon. W. Hunt Harris, president of the senate from 1907 to 1909.

Since the organization the State Board of Health in 1889, Monroe county’s distinguished citizen, who is one of the foremost experts on sanitation and hygiene in the United States, Dr. Joseph Y. Porter, Sr., has held the position of State health officer. Key West has had three delegates to Democratic national conventions; Hon. Joseph Beverly Browne in 1868, Hon. Jephtha V. Harris in 1876, and Hon. Jefferson B. Browne in 1888. From 1904 to 1908 Hon. Jefferson B. Browne was a member of the Democratic National Executive Committee for Florida.

The Republican party has on several occasions nominated distinguished citizens of Monroe county for high offices. Bons. E. 0. Locke, Geo. Bowne Patterson and Geo. W. Allen were respectively the nominees for congress in 1884, 1900 and 1908. In 1896 Mr. Allen was nominated for governor but declined the nomination.

In 1900 Captain John F. Horr was the Republican nominee for secretary of state and Hon. Geo. W. Allen in 1904. In 1904 and 1908 Mr. Geo. W. Allen was delegate to the national Republican convention, and Captain John F. Horr in 1892 and 1900. Mr. Ramon Alvarez was alternate to the Republican national convention in 1892.

In 1886 C. B. Pendleton ran as an independent candidate for congress against Col. Robert H. M. Davidson, but did not carry a county in the State, and in the county of Wakulla he failed to receive a vote.

The politics of Key West has not been without its share of excitement. On several occasions during reconstruction, we were on the verge of race riots.

On one election day when the negroes were driving around the city in a wagon with a brass band, shouting and jeering, making themselves generally offensive to the white citizens, they passed the corner of Front and Duval streets, where Captain Phillip Fontaine was standing. Captain Fontaine was a man of quick temper, and unable to submit to their impertinence, drew his pistol and opened fire on them. The rapid report of his pistol and the rattle of the bullets on the brass horns, so frightened the negroes that they jumped out of the wagon and sought refuge in and underneath adjacent buildings. When they discovered that their assailant was attacking them single handed, they emerged from their biding places, and made a rush for him. He had emptied his pistol, but fearlessly stood his ground, when he was struck down by a stone and would have been killed had not one of the negroes, who was greatly attached to him, dragged him to a place of safety, and concealed him until the authorities got the riotous negroes under control.

Captain Fontaine was a native of Key West and a man of undaunted courage and distinguished. bearing. He was an officer in the United States marine corps when the war broke out, and resigned his commission to enter the Confederate service. His daughter married Colonel Samuel J. Wolf of the Florida State Troops, a citizen of Key West.

In 1872 a number of the Republicans who disapproved of the reconstruction policy of their party, and its affiliation with carpet-baggers, negroes and scalawags, sought to purify it by organizing the liberal Republican party, and a meeting was held in the court house for that purpose. The negroes led by the carpetbaggers assembled in force, and attempted to break up the meeting. They became threatening, and a riot was imminent. Several old time Whigs, and some young men, who had never been in politics, attended the meeting in the hope that there might be organized a respectable white Republican party. They soon saw that the hope was futile, and were about to leave the hall when Dr. J. W. V. R. Plummer, the leader of the movement, called upon his friends to stand together and resist the threatened violence of the negroes. There was one young man among them who was just beginning his political career. He had been approached by a distinguished Democrat, who expressed surprise at seeing him in such company, and his allegiance to the movement was already weakened, when Dr. Plummer made his call to his followers to stand their ground. This young man was Mr. Peter T. Knight, who concluding that a riot among negroes and sore head Republicans was no place for him, jumped out of a window of the court house and landed in the Democratic party, where he has ever since been, a distinguished and active worker.

In the year 1872 the Democrats made their first organized effort to wrest the State from the Republican party, and Colonel John A. Henderson and Hon. W. D. Bloxham made a speaking tour through the State. When they reached Key West a meeting was held at the corner of Front and Duval streets, about where the First National Bank now stands. It was the first big political gathering since 1860, and there was great excitement on both sides.

The speaking had not progressed far when someone (said to have been Mr. John H. Gregory, a whole-souled, genial, big-hearted, generous fellow) discharged a pistol in the air. The wildest confusion followed, each side thought they were being attacked; shouts of “Murder!” “0 Hell!” “I’m cut!” “Somebody shot me!” were heard on all sides and a stampede began. The women screamed, the white people scurried to the third ward, and the negroes lit out for their homes in the first ward. Whatever slight injuries were sustained were caused by persons running into each other, in their desire to escape the supposed riot. Highly imaginative persons on both sides, for many years, believed that they had witnessed a serious race riot, but it was the source of infinite jest to the distinguished orators whose meeting had been so summarily broken up.

An exciting incident in the Allen-Pendleton campaign Occurred at a meeting on the corner of William and Fleming streets opposite Sparks Chapel. It was one of the last meetings of the campaign and -statements had been made from the platform, which one of the supporters of Mr. Allen, who was present, felt should be refuted, and be went on the platform intending to address the voters when The Pendleton people got through. On the platform were Col. W. C. Maloney, Jr., Judge Allen E. Curry and Mr. C. B. Pendleton. As soon as the gentleman arrived on the platform, he was courteously offered a seat, and asked his purpose, which he explained. He was told that he would not be allowed to speak. Judge Curry presided, and after a short talk, stated that the meeting was over and the folks could all go home. The crowd, however, saw the prospect of some fun and remained. When the gentleman arose to speak his friends cheered, and his opponents shouted, intending to drown his voice. He made himself heard sufficiently, however, to tell them that he did not intend to attempt to speak while they were holloaing, but would stand there until their voices gave out, and he would then speak. The Pendleton people on the platform, urged their friends to go home, but none moved. Finally someone suggested to tear down the platform. The speaker attempted to draw his pistol to prevent this, but before be got it out, strong bands had grasped the supports and pulled them out. Colonel Maloney, who was sitting with his chair tipped back, his feet on the table, relied over backwards into the store behind him. The others, who were also sitting down, met with the same catastrophe, but the speaker who was standing, preserved his equilibrium and landed on his feet. A rush was made for him, but having gotten his pistol out by this time, he managed to keep the crowd at a safe distance. The women screamed and rushed for their homes, and wild reports of rioting were scattered throughout the city. The incident, however, amounted to nothing, and the friends of the speaker seeing that lie had no opportunity to be heard, abandoned the attempt, and all hands quietly returned home to discuss the incident in a jocular, or angry manner, according to their respective moods.

Presidential elections may be pregnant with hopes of lucrative positions; State elections with matters of polity; city elections with personalities; but it remains for a “wet and dry election” to reach the acme of excitement and interest.

As the women are the greatest sufferers from the open saloon, they take the lead in such movements, and many men rally to their support from a spirit of chivalry.

In 1907 Key West had thirty-eight licensed saloons. One third of the population belonged to the Latin races who drink mild wines and beer, but rarely to excess. Here the liquor traffic Seemed safe from molestation. Suddenly an agitation was begun for a test of strength between the two forces. Rev. E. A. Harrison of the First Methodist church took the lead, heartily supported by Rev. Charles T. Stout, the Episcopal clergyman, Rev. M. A. Clonts of the Baptist church, and all the other Protestant ministers on the island.

Petitions were circulated asking the county commissioners to call an election to determine if the saloon should continue in Key West, and before the whiskey people realized the strength of the movement, the requisite twenty-five per cent of the registered voters had signed the petitions, and the election called for November 4, 1907.

The. campaign was a bitter one. Besides the ministers of the gospel, Hons. Jefferson B. Browne, William H. Malone, Jr., Allen E. Curry, and George L. Babcock, took the stump for the anti-saloon side, and Hon. J. N. Fogarty, mayor, George G. Brooks and E. M. Semple, for the wets. Rev. W. J. Carpenter of the Methodist Conference of Florida, and Rev. John A. Wray of the Baptist church, came to Key West and made powerful anti-saloon speeches. A joint debate between Rev. Mr. Carpenter and Hon. Robert McNamee of Tampa, in Jackson Square, was, attended by the largest audience ever assembled in Key West.

The “wets” carried the county by forty-eight majority.

Mr. Albert F. Shultz was campaign manager of the antisaloon campaign, and much credit is due him for his work in that capacity.

The whiskey people did not take out licenses when due on October first, and all saloons were closed during that month and for six days in November. During the period the saloons were closed, there were fifteen cases in the police court; in the month of September there were sixty-two, and for the twenty-four days in November, there were seventy-three.

Newspapers – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:09:07 +0000

CHAPTER: NEWSPAPERS, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

The first newspaper published in Key West was the Register in January, 1829, under the management of Mr. Thomas Eastin, who was subsequently United States marshal. It was published for a very short time, and no copy of it is known to be in existence.

Then came the Key West Gazette on March 21, 1831, and lasted until the latter part of 1832.

On October 15, 1834, the Enquirer appeared, with Mr. Jesse Atkinson as editor and publisher. The editorials were written chiefly by Mr. William A. Whitehead, assisted by Lieutenant Francis B. Newcomb, Mr. Mallory and others. In December, 1835, the name was changed to Inquirer, and it was published until the latter part of 1836.

These papers were well edited and would do credit to the Key West of today. Their ideals were high, their diction pure, their typography excellent, and the literary selections classics. Mr. William A. Whitehead preserved files of these two papers, and in 1869 sent bound volumes here for “preservation in the office of the Clerk of Monroe county,” where they are now kept. Since 1838, when Mr. Whitehead left here, there has been no citizen sufficiently interested in the preservation of the records of Key West to keep the files of various newspapers for the benefit of posterity.

The Light of the Reef was started by Messrs. Ware and Scraborough in 1845, but lasted only a few months.

The Key of the Gulf was published for a short period during 1845, and was revived in 1857, and edited by the brilliant Mr. William H. Ward. It was probably the ablest and one of the most fearless papers ever published in Key West. It was suppressed by Major W. H. French, United States army, early in May’ 1 86 1, who wrote: “I directed the mayor to inform the editor (a Mr. Ward) that he was under military surveillance, and that the fact of his not being in the cells of this fort for treason was simply a matter as to expediency and proper point of time.” Notwithstanding the fact that Key West was under the control of the Northern forces, Mr. Ward continued to advocate in the columns of his paper the constitutional right of secession. After his paper was suppressed he left Key West and cast his fortune with his native Southland. “Laying aside the weapon of the sage for that of the soldier, to try the issues of law and ethics on the field of battle, whence he never returned.”

In 1862 and 1863 a paper called the New Era was published by Mr. R. B. Locke, an officer of the 90th Regiment, New York Volunteers.

In 1867 the Key West Dispatch, published by W. C. Maloney, Jr., and edited by his brilliant father, appeared, and continued to be conducted by him until 1872, when it passed in to the hands of Mr. H. A. Crain as editor and publisher. In 1874 it passed under the editorial guidance of Mr. E. L. Ware, and suspended publication in 1877.

In 1870 The Key West Guardian, owned and edited by Mr. R. C. Neeld “arose with porcupine armor to correct the evils of the day.” It was a bold, aggressive paper and had a brief existence of about a year.

In 1874 The Key of the Gulf made its third entrance into the journalistic field under the editorial charge of Mr. H. A. Crain, who published it until feeble health in 1887 forced him to lay down his pen. On the death of Mr. Crain, Mr. George Eugene Bryson began the publication of a paper, the New Era, using the outfit of The Key of the Gulf.

In 1880 Mr. William Curry, Mr. Asa Tift and other citizens of means, organized a stock company and founded a paper called The Democrat, under the editorial management of Mr. Charles B. Pendleton. Mr. Pendleton was fearless but erratic, and his tendency to attack through the columns of his paper any person or institution that interfered with him, or whom he thought stood in his way politically or otherwise, was most unfortunate. His erratic nature led him to believe that as a Democrat, he should attack the Republicans whether justly or unjustly, and he began a series of articles defamatory of Judge W. James Locke of the United States district court, which led to a libel suit in which Mr. Curry, Mr. Tift, Mr. Moreno and other stockholders were made defendants. The case was amicably adjusted, but resulted in these gentlemen disposing of their stock, and severing their connection with the paper. Mr. Pendleton continued his policy of attack on everyone, and soon included Mr. William Curry, Dr. Porter and others, which brought another suit for libel. He was sued for libel also by Mr. C. T. Merrill, owner of the Russell House. This was the only case that went to trial, and resulted in a verdict against Mr. Pendleton.

Had he been less erratic he might have occupied an influential place in the community for good, but he could see no good in anyone’s opinions but his own, and to differ with him in any matter would bring upon the offender the most unreasonable vituperation.

In 1885 he sold the paper to Mr. Philip E. Thompson, who conducted it for a short time, and sold it to Messrs. Peter T. Knight and Mason S. Moreno. It was said that one of these gentlemen wrote the salutatory and the other the valedictory, and that its editorials were written and its policy shaped by Dr. J. V. Harris, then collector of customs.

In May, 1887, Mr. Pendleton again entered the journalistic field with The Equator-El Equador, an English and Spanish daily. In 1888 he bought back the Democrat and consolidated it with the Equator, under the name of the Equator-Democrat. In 1894 the paper passed by purchase into the hands of Mr. J. M. Caldwell, who published it for a few months only, when it went back into Mr. Pendleton’s control. In 1897, when it was in its death throes, he turned it over to his foreman and printers to run on their own account. They suspended publication after a few issues, and the Equator-Democrat went the way of its predecessors.

In 1892 Messrs. William R. Porter and W. H. Hutchinson began the publication of a paper called the Gulf Pennant, a name suggested by that distinguished citizen of Florida, Hon. W. D. Chipley. It was edited by Mr. Cassius E. Merrill of Kentucky, who prior to coming to Key West had been editor of the Jacksonville Times-Union and The Standard. He was one of the most brilliant writers ever connected with Florida journalism, and the Gulf Pennant under his leadership was the ablest edited paper ever published in Key West. It suspended publication July 4, 1893.

In 1894 a number of citizens of Key West raised three thousand dollars and bought a newspaper outfit and turned it over to Mr. John Denham of Monticello, Fla., who founded the Herald. In 1899 he sold it to Mr. T. J. Appleyard of Lake City, Fla. About this time The Key of the Gulf made its fourth appearance. under the management of Mr. Walter W. Thompson, and in 1899 it was bought by Mr. T. J. Appleyard, who suspended publication of the Herald and The Key of the Gulf, and founded The Inter-Ocean. In the latter part of 1900 Mr. Walter W. Thompson bought The Inter-Ocean and for four years he edited and published a high class, fearless daily. In 1904 a small weekly paper, The Citizen, made its appearance, and after a few months’ existence was bought by Mr. Marcy B. Darnall and Mr. Thomas Treason Thompson, and a consolidation effected between The Citizen and The Inter-Ocean, under the name of the Key West Citizen, which is now being issued as an afternoon daily.

In 1908 Mr. Frederick H. Mathews founded a morning daily called The Journal, of which he is editor and publisher.

In 1890 Mr. James T. Ball started the publication of a small weekly sheet, The Advertiser, which contained a few local advertisements and a little reading matter. It was gradually enlarged and during the last few years of Mr. Ball’s life it became quite a good weekly newspaper. Since his death, in 1906, it has been conducted by his son, Mr. Egbert P. Ball.

For several years a discharged Union soldier by the name of Morgan ran a small paper called The Guardian. He had no policy except that of abuse and vituperation. He was editor, publisher, printer, and eked out a miserable existence. When he died there was no one to follow him to his grave, and bystanders were called in to assist the undertaker to put his coffin into the hearse. The scene was a pitiful one and made an impression on the writer, who witnessed it.

Naval Base – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:07:25 +0000

CHAPTER: EDUCATION, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

In February, 1822, Capt. L. T. Patterson and Lieut. Tuttle of the United States navy arrived with orders from the government to survey the coast and harbor, and they were soon followed by various government vessels that brought stores and materials, and by the end of the year the island was a regularly constituted naval depot and station, under the command of Commodore Porter. A resolution was adopted in the house of representatives in Washington requesting the President of the United States to inform the house:

“What appropriation will be required to enable him to fortify Thompson’s Island, usually called Key West, and whether a naval depot, established at that island, protected by fortifications, will not afford facilities in defending the commerce of the United States, and in clearing the Gulf of Mexico and the adjacent seas from pirates.”

To this Hon. Smith Thompson, secretary of the navy, for whom Captain Perry had named Key West, replied:

“That the geographical situation of the island referred to in the resolution has for some time past attracted attention, and been considered peculiarly important both as a military position and in reference to the commerce of the United States.

“The commander of one of our vessels, cruising in that quarter was accordingly directed last winter to touch at this island and take possession of it as a part of the territory ceded by Spain to the United States, and to make such general examination as might be useful in forming an opinion of the advantages of the place, and the propriety of a further and more particular survey. From the report of Lieutenant Commander Perry, who was charged with this duty, it has been satisfactorily ascertained that this position affords a safe, convenient and extensive harbor for vessels of war and merchant vessels. His instructions, however, did not require him to make so minute a survey as was necessary, in order to judge of the extent to which this place might be safely and advantageously occupied and improved as a naval depot.

“These are some of the obvious benefits in time of peace; but its advantages in time of war with any European power having West Indian possessions, are still more important, both as it respects the protection of our own commerce and the annoyance of our enemy. An enemy with a superior naval force occupying this position, could completely intercept the whole trade between those parts of our country lying ‘north and cast of it, and those to the west, and seal up all our ports within the Gulf of Mexico. It may, therefore, be safely answered, to one branch of the inquiry made by the resolution, that if this island is susceptible of defence, a naval depot established there would afford a great facility in protecting our commerce. It is believed, however, that it is susceptible of defense, at an expense that would be justified by the importance of the place; but to form any tolerably satisfactory estimate of the amount, an accurate survey and calculation, by competent engineers, is indispensably necessary.

“This island is considered so advantageous and convenient a place of rendezvous for our public vessels on the West Indian station, that it is intended to make it a depot for provisions and supplies for the expedition against the pirates, lately authorized by congress, to be secured in temporary buildings, under the protection of a guard of marines.”

Commodore Porter’s communications to the department abound in expressions, which show his high appreciation of the advantages likely to result from the occupation of the island by the United States as a naval station. Under date of May 11, 1823, when asking for an increased number of vessels and men, he said:*

“From the importance of the trade of Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico, the whole of which is protected from this place, with a force not equal to one frigate, I presume my requests will not be considered extravagant. The arrivals and departures of the American vessels from the port of Havana alone average about thirty a week, and those from Matanzas about twenty. Not a day elapses but that great numbers of American vessels are to be met passing through the gulf, and since our establishment here, they daily in numbers pass in sight of us. I mention these facts to give you an idea of the importance of this station, and to show the propriety of augmenting the force by the additions which I have asked.”

Under date of November 19, 1823, be said: “The fixing an establishment at Thompson’s Island for rendezvous and supplies has had a most happy effect in attaining the object had in view. Its vicinity to Havana, placed as it were, in the thoroughfare of vessels sailing through the gulf, making it, in many points of view, an object of great importance to the United States.”

Commodore Rodgers thus mentions the island under date of November 24, 1823: “Nature had made it the advance post from which to watch and guard our commerce passing to and from the Mississippi, while at the same time, its peculiar situation, and the excellence of its harbor, point it out as the most certain key to the commerce of Havana, to that of the whole Gulf of Mexico, and to the returning trade of Jamaica; and I venture to predict, that the first important naval contest in which this country shall be engaged will be in the neighborhood of this very island.”

Seventy-five years afterwards this prophecy was fulfilled, and with Key West as a base. our fleet engaged in the most important naval contest ever fought in the gulf, destroyed the Spanish fleet, and drove Spain from the Western Hemisphere.

Sickness prevailed during the summer of 1823 to a great extent, and the reports of naval officers to the department, and from the department to the president, are replete with explanations as to the cause, and apprehensions as to the eff ects upon the permanency of the establishment. “Had the necessary number of medical men been furnished this year 11 wrote Corn modore Porter, “the squadron would have been no doubt in a great measure saved from the deplorable consequences which have resulted, as the disease, in its commencement, was completely under the control of medicine; but I regret to say that several perished without receiving any medical aid whatever, and without even seeing a physician.”

He further reports that “with the exception of one case of yellow fever, only bilious fever prevailed until June 20th, and the cases yielded readily to the agency of medicine, at which time it assumed a highly malignant form.

“This disease now commenced on board the store ship Decoy, which was rendered unhealthful by the impurity of her hold. A quantity of ballast was put on board from this island, containing shell-fish and sea-weed, which by the heat of the tropical climate, was thrown into a state of putrefactive fermentation. Two of the cases, *however, which occurred on board this vessel were contracted by imprudent exposure to a noonday heat in the streets of Havana.”

The secretary of the navy, under date of September 21st, drew the attention of the president to the impropriety of abandoning the island. “It ought not”, said he, “readily be deserted. It is very desirable to save it.” And Commodore Rodgers wrote a letter to the Secretary on the sixteenth of November, containing these sensible passages:

“United States Schooner Shark, Hampton Roads, Nov. 16, 1823.-From the little experience I have had, my opinion is that the climate of Thompson’s Island is similar to that of the West India islands generally; that its air is perhaps less salubrious than some, but more so than others; and notwithstandina the objections which may be urged against it, on account of particular defects arising from its surface, and the many salt and fresh water ponds which it is said to contain, still, that it is, from the excellence of its harbor and its peculiar station on the map of the Western Hemisphere, too important an object, in a political and commercial point of view, to be suffered to remain unoccupied kid unregarded, for, admitting its climate, in its present unim- proved state, to be as unfriendly to health as even that of the colony of Surinam, it is, notwithstanding, susceptible of being SO improved, or at least, the dangers attending it so much dimin- ished by artificial means (such as I will hereafter describe), as to render the objections to it, if not harmless, at least comparatively small.”

These remonstrances bad the desired effect and prevented the abandonment of the island as a naval base.

The first use of Key West as an active base of naval operations was in 1822, when Commodore David Porter commanded the squadron organized to suppress the pirates of the West Indies, known as “Brethren of the Coast.” Prior to his assuming command, no satisfactory progress had been made the draught of the war vessels being too great to follow the buccaneers into the shallow bays, coves and rivers in which they sought refuge when pursued. Operations were conducted in this unsatisfactory Manner for two years when Commodore Porter in command of the West Indian Squadron, inaugurated a new plan of campaign. First, he selected the island of Key West as a base of operations, and erected a storehouse, workshop, hospital and quarters for the men. Ile then detached and sent north the big, useless frigates and supplied their places with eight small light draught schooners and five twenty-oared barges. These last were appropriately named Mosquito, Midge, Gallinipper, Gnat, and Sandfly. Of the old squadron he retained the Peacock, John Adams, Hornet, Spark, Grampus and Shark. Thus was gathered at Key West a fleet of twenty-one craft, eminently suited for the work of driving from the sea forever the dreaded “Brethren of the Coast.”

In order to make his barges available, it was necessary to tow them until he fell in with the buccaneers, and when they attempted to escape in shallow water, man the barges and go in pursuit. For this purpose he procured an old New York steam ferryboat, the Sea Gull, and her use for naval purposes is the first instance of a steam propelled vessel being used in the United States navy. In this way, Captain Porter captured and destroyed a number of the buccaneers’ vessels, who made their final rendezvous at the Isle of Pines. Here he attacked,, captured or destroyed most all of them. Some that escaped put into the Port of Fajardo, Porto Rico.

The buccaneers paid tribute to the Spanish government, and left the commerce of that nation unmolested, for which they received its moral support. Commodore Porter followed the buccaneers into Fajardo, and upon the military authorities refusing to give them up, sent a punitive expedition ashore, and taught the Spanish authorities a needed lesson. Thus was ended piracy in the Caribbean Sea.

Spain complained of his action at Fajardo, and he was court-martialed and sentenced to six months suspension, whereupon he resigned and entered the service of the Mexican navy, and later was connected with the Turkish navy, and while holding this position, the United States in atonement for the injustice which bad been done this gallant and efficient officer, appointed him consular agent of the United States in Turkey, where he died in 1843.

While engaged in the suppression of piracy in the Caribbean Sea he became impressed with the importance of Key West as a naval base and so reported to the secretary of the navy in 1829.

In 1856 a United States naval depot and storehouse was commenced at the corner of Whitehead and Front streets. In 1857 when the walls were ready to receive the roof, work on the building was suspended, and it remained so for several years for want of an appropriation by congress. At the outbreak of the Civil War it was in this unfinished condition.

In 1861 the U.S.S. Atlantic, having conveyed Federal troops for the relief of Fort Pickens, touched at this port for a supply of coal but finding none, was compelled to sail to Havana.

On three occasions has the importance of Key West as a naval base been demonstrated. During the Civil War more ships were stationed at Key West than at any other port in the United States, and but for its occupancy by the Northern forces as a naval base, the result of the war might have been different. In 1873 when the capture of the Virginius threatened war with Spain, nearly every available ship in the navy was hurried to Key West, which was made the base of all operations. In 1897, on the breaking out of the war with Spain, every available naval vessel was again sent to Key West, and the Oregon and Marietta made their record run from California to the all important Key West.

Its position on the Straights of Florida-through which four thousand vessels pass annually, and the commerce of all the gulf ports–commands the protection of American commerce in any war. In all past history this position has been of the greatest importance, and no matter where on the Western Hemisphere the war may be, the American commerce in the Straits of Florida will have to be protected from Key West as a naval base.

Whether the inexplicable zeal of certain naval authorities to develop Guantanamo (a port in a foreign country), at the expense of one of our own ports, will be sanctioned by congress, or continue after the personnel of the naval board is changed, is problematical.

Vague theories, personal preferences, individual hostilities, and opportunities for speculation, may give Guantanamo a temporary advantage over Key West, but actual war will again demonstrate that this place commands the route on the Key West-Porto Rican strategic line of force, and that it commands all approaches to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and Panama Canal, and as a distinguished naval historian says, the government will recognize “the capacity of the Florida Reef as an advantageous naval station-a sort of Downs or St. Helen’s Roads, in the West Indian seas.”

In 1881 the naval wharf was rebuilt; iron piles being substituted for the wooden ones and a steel pier constructed. This work was done by Lieut. Robert E. Peary, the discoverer of the North Pole, who spent a year in Key West. The pier was demolished in the hurricane of 1910, and a more substantial concrete one was completed in 1911.

In 1895 the Navy Department bought the property that was the home of the two Stephen R. Mallorys, father and son, both of whom represented Florida in the senate of the United States. The old house, which was a center of social and intellectual life, was torn down to give place to coal bins.

In 1890 a double house was built by the Navy Department for the use of the commandant and paymaster of the station. It proved too small for two families and is now used exclusively for the commandant, at the present time Admiral Lucian Young.

In 1902 the United States government condemned for naval purposes all that part of the island lying southwest of Whitehead street between Fleming and Fitzpatrick streets, except the Mallory property, and the old home place of Mr. Joseph Beverly Browne, on the corner of Caroline and Whitehead streets, which the government bought in 1858, and the strip of water front acquired in 1854, on which the machine shop, commandant’s quarters and coal bins had previously been erected. On the property condemned, the Navy Department now has buildings for the various departments of the service, and residences on Whitehead street for the paymaster and civil engineer. A distilling plant with a capacity of fifteen thousand gallons per day was constructed in 1898, and in 1910 a concrete reservoir of one million, five hundred thousand gallons capacity was erected on the Whitehead street side of the navy yard. In 1906 a wireless telegraph station was constructed, which is one of the most powerful in the world, and messages sent from here have been caught by the Mare Island station, a distance of twenty-six hundred miles.

Standing on the naval reservation at the corner of Whitehead and Caroline streets, is one of the oldest buildings in Key West, and for many years had the unique distinction of being the only one not built entirely of wood. It was known as “The Stone Building,” being built of cement from a cargo of that material wrecked at Key West. It is a quaint three-story structure with a high pitched roof, having a narrow balcony supported by consoles of solid cement , extending the entire side on Whitehead street. On the gable end was once a similar balcony, but it has been taken down, and only the consoles remain. Above the side balcony is a large plaster mask of the builder, Mr. John G. Ziriax, who kept the foremost bakery of his day. Before it acquired the cognomen of the “Stone Building” it was known as the “Ziriax Building”. It is now used as a marine guard-house.

Another building on the Naval Reservation which connects the old and the new Key West, stands about two hundred feet southwest of the Marine Guard-house. It is a type of the old style Key West architecture of which so little is left. When the grade of the reservation was raised it covered part of this house, and changed its appearance. The first floor was a foot below the level of the ground, built of stone to about eight feet in height, above which was the frame part of the building. The old officers’ quarters at the barracks are of the same style of architecture, and most of the better class of houses in the early days were so constructed, for the protection, then supposed to be necessary, against the high tides which prevail during the passage of a hurricane in this vicinity.

Militia – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:06:16 +0000

CHAPTER: MILITIA, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

Early in 1877 a volunteer military company with eighty members, called the Key West Rifles, was organized.

Harry W. Hill was the first captain. It was never a crack company on dress parade, but it answered two riot calls (that is, most of the company did). The most serious of these was when a mob of about fifteen hundred congregated at the factory of Mr. Francisco Marero, threatening his life. Mr. Marero was suspected of having shot and killed an agitator a few nights before. To appease the mob he was taken to jail, but later in the day the authorities decided to defy them, and take him from the jail and escort him to his apartments in his factory, then at the foot of Duval street. Threats were made that if this were done, he would be shot down in the street, or taken from his home at night and lynched. The military company was called out, and escorted Mr. Marero to his home, and did guard duty for twenty-four hours, until wiser heads calmed the mob, and the incident was closed. The members of the company had been notified to assemble upon the ringing of the fire bell, and about noon on Sunday the town was startled by the violent ringing, calling the company together. Most of the members responded promptly, but it was said that one of the company was met running in an opposite direction, and when asked where he was bound, replied he was going for his tobacco. He was last heard of at the Salt Ponds.

The fire of 1886 destroyed all the equipment, and the company was never reorganized.

On the ninth day of May, 1888, the Island City Guards, a local military company, was organized with thirty-two members. Mr. F. C. Brossier was captain, Mr. Charles S. Williams, first lieutenant, and Mr. George L. Babcock, second lieutenant. On the reorganization of the Florida militia this company be came Company 1, Second Regiment of Infantry, Florida State Troops, and is now part of the National Guard of Florida.

The captains who succeeded Captain Brossier were Mr. Henry L. Roberts, Mr. Samuel J. Wolfe, Mr. Louis Louis and Mr. Joseph R. Stirrup, who at present commands the company.

NAVAL MILITIA

In 1910 a battalion of naval militia was organized with Mr. N. B. Rhodes as lieutenant commander. It was the first battalion of naval militia organized in Florida. It holds regular drills and has reached a fair state of efficiency.

Military Base – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:03:21 +0000

CHAPTER: MILITARY BASE, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

The United States government since the first settlement of Key West has recognized the importance of strongly fortifying the island, but progress has teen by fits and starts. In 1824 a company of marines was stationed here and barracks erected for them fronting upon the harbor between Duval and Whitehead streets. They were not long occupied and were in a dilapidated condition in 1831, when they were sold and removed.

In February, 1831, Major James M. Glassel arrived with two companies of infantry and established a temporary camp at the present site of the army post on the North Beach.

The proprietors of the island set aside a tract of land for the use of the army embracing all of squares fifty-two, fiftythree and fifty-four, and parts of squares twenty-eight and twenty-nine, fronting on the waters of the bay, on the north side of the island, and in 1833, 1835 and 1837 this and some additional lots were deeded to the United States government, by the original proprietors, and has since been occupied as an army post. By the charter of 1836 all jurisdiction over this property was ceded to the United States government. On May 10, 1836, Lieutenant Benjamin Alvord, afterwards paymaster general of the United States army, came to Key West with Company B, 4th United States Infantry.

Temporary quarters were erected for the accommodation of the troops which were removed in 1844, when six buildings for officers’ quarters and two for soldiers’ barracks and a guard house were erected. The soldiers’ barracks, each one hundred and twenty-five feet long, and twenty feet wide, were about forty feet apart, on the southwest side of the parade ground. Three of the officers’ quarters were on the northeast, and three on the southwest side of the parade ground. One of them was destroyed by fire in 1847. The officers’ quarters and the soldiers’ barracks were of the same style of architecture and admirably suited to this climate. They were built of wood, on stone and brick foundations, seven feet high, with piaSt. Johns and Ocklawaha Riversas on all sides. In 1892 three additional sets of officers’ quarters were constructed.

In 1906 additional officers’ quarters, barracks for the soldiers, and a barracks for the bandsmen, were erected, and three companies of artillery, with a regimental band, under the command of a colonel, garrisoned the post.

In 1909 the old soldiers’ quarters, which were built in 1844, were so badly damaged by a hurricane that they were torn down, and two companies, and the band, detached from the post.

There is now only one company stationed at Key West, a force wholly inadequate for the care of the modern guns on the fortifications, and the maintenance of the government property. During the tourist season many representatives of foreign nations visit Key West, and the indifference shown by the War Department for so important a point is a subject of frequent criticism, and ofttimes ridicule.

The fortifications, and the army post are on opposite sides of the island, and squads of troops are marched every day a distance of a mile and a half to the fortifications.

At the time of the Civil War there were no roads or streets directly connecting the army post and Fort Taylor, which could only be reached by marching the troops through the town. In 1861 General John M. Brannan, the commanding officer, cut a road across the island from a point about a thousand feet northeast of the post, so that he could march his troops to the fort without going through the city. For several years this was known as the Brannan Road. As General Brannan only cut away the trees and brush, the road remained full of the coral rock which abounds on the island, and soon became known as the Rocky Road. Later the name was officially changed to Division street, it being the dividing line beyond which on the southeast side there were few, if any, inhabitants. The city has grown far beyond Division street, which is now one of the most populous and best business streets, but is still generally known by the cognomen “Rocky Road.” The term, Division street, having lost its significance, it would be historically accurate to change the name to Brannan street.

In 1845 Fort Taylor was commenced, and so much of the work as had been constructed up to October 11, 1846, was by the hurricane of that year destroyed. The work, however, was resumed at once and it was ready for occupancy in 1861. Fort Taylor was a double casemated brick fort of the Bauban plan. Its armament consisted of forty 10-inch Rodmans and ten 24-pounder howitzers on the first tier; thirty 8-inch Columbiads, six 30-pounder Parrott rifles; two 10-inch Rodmans, eighteen 24-pounder howitzers on the second tier, and twenty 10-inch Rodmans, two 15-inch Rodmans, three 300-pounder Parrott rifles, three 100-pounder Parrott rifles, three 30-pounder Parrott rifles, one 10-inch siege mortar, and four 8-inch siege mortars on the parapet.

It was built on a sand spit about a quarter of a mile from shore, and had four bastions and four curtains. Three of the curtains commanded all of the water entrance into Key West. At the breaking out of the Civil War two large sand covert faces were thrown up on the edge of the sand spit towards the town in anticipation of an attack by the Confederates from that direction. Commodious quarters were constructed within the walls of the fort, but only occupied during the Civil War. In 1899 the parapet and second tier of casemates were demolished, and the gun embrasures in the lower tier built up of solid masonry. Back of this is twenty feet of sand and debris, and back of this twenty feet of concrete. Behind this are two 12-inch guns on barbette carriages; and four 15-pounders for protecting the mine fields in the harbor.

In 1861 the government began the construction of two Martello towers on the water’s edge; one near the extreme northeastern end of the island, and the other about two miles nearer town. They consist of a citadel about forty feet high, surrounded by casemates, and a parapet reinforced with sand embankments. When they were built they were capable of withstanding any attack from the land or sea, but with the improvement of ordnance they soon became as useful as paper houses for defense, and have long been abandoned. Their only use now is to gratify the curiosity of tourists, and to adorn postal cards, where they are designated as ancient ruins.

In 1873 a small sand battery was erected on what was once known as Light-house Point, called the South Battery, about a quarter of a mile from Fort Taylor, and another about midway between it and the Marine Hospital, called North Battery, and a few modern guns were mounted upon them.

In 1897 a mortar battery, with two nests of four 12-inch mortars each, was constructed, and the sand battery at Lighthouse Point enlarged and made into the most modern type of fortification, on which are mounted four 10-inch, and two 8-inch rifles on disappearing carriages, with a small flanking battery on the one band, mounting two 15-pounder guns, and another mounting two 4.7 Armstrong-Whitworth guns. The old North Battery was replaced in 1904 by a battery of more modern construction, on which are mounted two 6-inch barbette guns. These are flanked, on the northeast side by a battery mounting two 15-pounders.

In 1908 the government condemned for military purposes that portion of the water front on the south side of the island lying between the southeast end of the large sand battery and South street, and part of five blocks between the southwest side of South street and the fort reservation. The amount paid for this property was about one hundred thousand dollars. A recommendation has been made by the War Department for the condemnation of the rest of the land in these blocks for the purpose of erecting officers’ and soldiers’ quarters.

Methodist Church – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:01:29 +0000

CHAPTER: METHODIST CHURCH, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

FIRST METHODIST CHURCH

The Methodist church was introduced into Key West by the Wesleyans from the Bahama Islands, and as late as 1845 the congregation was composed almost entirely of people from the British West Indies, there being but one American among them.

In 1837 among the very many worthy persons who came to Key West from the Bahamas, was Mr. Samuel Kemp, who though long dead, still lives in the sacred regard of our people. He was a Wesleyan Methodist and worshipped with those who resorted to the court house for that purpose for some time, but later erected at his own expense (assisted in the labor by some of his neighbors who were mechanics) a small building for public worship on land owned by himself on Eaton street near William. This was the first place of public worship in which the denomination known as the Wesleyan Methodists congregated in this city, and was the foundation of the Methodist church here.

“Father Kemp,” as he was usually called by reason of his advanced age and somewhat clerical demeanor, officiated as pastor of this small congregation, and was often assisted in the devotional exercises of his church or chapel, by Captain Ogden of the United States army stationed here at the time.

The congregation becoming too numerous to be accommodated in this small building, a larger one was erected on a lot on the southeast side of Caroline street, between Simonton and Elizabeth streets.

In 1844 a break in the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States occurred, which resulted in the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. It grew out of the contention of the abolitionists that the general conference had the power to depose from the Episcopacy one who had previously been elevated to that rank. The Rt. Rev. James Osgood Andrew had married a lady who inherited some slaves from her first husband, and it was demanded of him that he get rid of them or desist from the exercise of his office. In Georgia, where Bishop Andrew resided, the law prohibited the manumission of slaves. Notwithstanding this a resolution was introduced in the conference that “The Rev. James Osgood Andrew be and he is hereby affectionately requested to resign his office as one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church.” After several days discussion a substitute for this motion was offered by two members of the Ohio conference, to the effect “That it is the sense of this general conference that he desist from the exercise of his office so long as the impediment exists.”

On May 31st a motion was made to postpone any further action in the matter until the next general conference, and the southern members to a man supported it, as did a few of the conservative members for the Middle and Northern conferences, hoping thus to avoid the schism which the abolitionists were bent on effecting. It was defeated by a vote of ninety-five to eighty-four.

Finley’s substitute, deposing Bishop Andrew from the Episcopacy, was then adopted by a vote of one hundred and eleven to sixty-nine. This action accomplished what the abolitionisst had been working for – a separation of the Northern Church from that of the South-and a plan of separation was adopted June 8, 1844. By this plan all the property within the limits of the Southern organization when formed was to be free from any claim by the general conference. The Southern church was also to receive an equitable share of the common church property, etc.

A Southern conference was called to meet in Louisville, Ky., on May 1, 1845, and on May 15th the Methodist Episcopal Church South was duly organized. It may not be out of place here to show the bad faith of the Northern abolitionists. In 1848 the general conference of the Northern section of the Methodist church repudiated the plan of separation, and the Church South was forced to go into the courts to maintain its rights under the plan. Suits were brought in the United States circuit courts in New York and Cincinnati. In the New York suit a decision was rendered in favor of the Church South, but in Cincinnati the case went adversely to them. It was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, where on April 24, 1854, by a full bench-Mr. Justice McLean, a Methodist declining to sit in the case-the judgment of the circuit court in Ohio was reversed, and the plan of separation sustained in all its provisions.

The Methodist Episcopal Church South having begun its existence in 1845, it thus appears that Rev. Simon Peter Richardson, who was sent to Key West by the Florida conference in 1845, was the first minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South to officiate in Key West, although Rev. Andrew Graham was stationed here the year before.

Mr. Richardson thus describes the condition of the Methodist Church and its congregation at Key West in 1845:

“By the conference of 1845 1 was appointed to Key West station. Brother Graham of California memory, was stationed there the year before, and gave me a very unfavorable account of his ministry on the island. He told me there were thirty-two grog-shops there, and that he had encountered many difficulties. The whiskey men had threatened to wash him, which meant to tie a rope around his waist and shoulders and from the wharf to cast him into the water and then haul him in, and then cast him out again. It is a terrible ordeal to put a man through. He eluded their grasp by taking refuge on the boat that brought him over. He suffered many other indignities that were heaped upon him during the year. His church building was a small unceiled structure twenty by thirty feet. His flock was composed of Wesleyan Methodists from the West India Islands. There was but one American among them, and the more I thought over the treatment he had received, the more indignant I became. The devil made a flank movement on my piety and consecrated life, until I felt that if I ever heard of any attempt to ‘wash’ me they would smell fire and brimstone. I resolved that I would wipe up the earth with the first man that insulted me. The devil had got complete control of me.

“I was the only regular preacher on the island. Other preachers were occasionally there, but the Catholics came regularly to my church. When I reached the island I was met by several of the brethren, who kindly conducted me to my boarding place, with one of the best families I ever knew. They held family prayers three times a day. I looked around for trouble but found none. Everybody was polite and kind to me. I soon began to cool down and feel repentance for my sins.

“In a few days the judge, lawyers, doctors and prominent citizens called to see me, a reception I never had before nor have had since. I was invited to the Masonic lodge and chapter, and made chaplain of both. My little chapel was soon filled with the women, the men standing around outside. This brought prominently before the public mind that I must have a larger church. I collected about four thousand dollars, and from the rock of the island put up and paid for a large stone building; but it was not covered in when that ever-to-be-remembered storm came and prostrated all to the ground, a mass of ruins, and carried my little chapel entirely away, out to sea, and we never saw nor heard of it any more.

“This was the condition of affairs in October. I took the lumber and what I could bring from the wreck of the stone church and put up a small building to preach in, and large enough for my Sunday school.

“I was married in 1847. 1 had been married only a few weeks when the Catholic priest and the Episcopal and Baptist preachers came to the island, and all determined to go to the mainland and collect money to build churches, because of the storm. This was one of the trials of my life. I had the island largely under my control. Many of the best families had joined the church but had nothing left after the storm. They were utterly helpless to build, and if those preachers succeeded in building the people would have to go to their churches, having nowhere else to go. I had spent one of the hardest year’s work of my life to make it a Methodist town, and had succeeded far beyond My expectations; but I saw that all was lost, in that still formative state, unless I had a church large enough to hold my congregation together. I had had a hard experience in getting: money abroad to build my St. Augustine church. I could not see how I could well leave my young wife, for I knew I should be kept months away. But go I must, I did not consult feeling nor the relations of my young wife. I simply informed her that I would have to leave her with her good mother for a time until I could get money to build a new church. I left on the first vessel for New Orleans.”

Mr. Richardson canvassed all the principal cities of the South and succeeded in raising over three thousand dollars. He thus describes his return to Key West.

“I had the lumber sawed at the mills in the upper part of the city, and engaged a sloop to take it to Key West. I never believed in spirit-rappings or any other superstitions, but I had a distinct presentiment that that vessel was going to be wrecked. So strong was my impression that I left a duplicate of the bill at the mill. I went to the insurance office and proposed to insure. The agent dissuaded me, declaring there was no danger on the coast at that season of the year. The captain said he would be glad if he could get wind enough to carry his vessel to Key West. But with all this, I insured. I still felt a presentiment that the vessel would be wrecked. On July fifth I left Charleston, with thirty-two hundred dollars in gold, on a United States propeller for Key West. The thermometer stood at one hundred and five in Charleston. The brethren declared I would burn up at Key West, but when I reached the island the thermometer stood at eighty-seven. I immediately employed workmen to commence the building, but my vessel failed to put in her appearance. Finally I saw a large yawl coming into port with flag up. It was the captain of the sloop on which I had shipped the lumber, or a part of it, for the church. His vessel was wrecked on the Florida reef, and was a total loss. I soon had the bill duplicated and sent forward and collected my insurance. I had the church built storm-proof, and by October it was finished, paid for, and I was in it and preaching. The church I built remained for fifty years, and was removed only a few years ago and another erected. We now have four churches on the island. Mine was the third church we had built during the two years I was there.”

The church built by Mr. Richardson in 1847 was afterwards lengthened to sixty feet and could accommodate eight hundred persons.

In 1877 plans were adopted for a church to be built of native coral rock, and the corner stone laid in the latter part of the year. Work was to progress only as funds were in hand. At the end of three years the walls were up about twenty feet, a temporary covering put on, and the congregation began worshipping in it. This was during the pastorate of Rev. John C. Ley. In his work, “Fifty-two Years in Florida,” he says: “The plan after I left was finally changed, the congregation becoming discouraged in regard to carrying out the original design, and finished it up as a one-story building.”

Rev. C. A. Fulwood has to his credit the longest term of service as pastor of this church. He served from 1872 to 1876, both inclusive, and again in 1888. Rev. E. A. Harrison comes next with four years; Rev. J. C. Ley also served four years, from 1877 to 1880, and Brother Henry Hice three years, 1895 to 1897. Brother R., Martin with three years, from 1883 to 1885; Brother Barnett, 1886 to 1887; Brother J. P. DePass in 1898 and 1899, were distinguished ministers who left their impress on the comunity as well as their congregations. Rev. J. D. Sibert is the pastor in 1911.

SPARKS CHAPEL

In 1868 the Methodists having decided to introduce instrumental music in their church, about thirty members severed themselves from the congregation and formed a new organization. Those enrolled for the new church were: Mr. Joseph P. Roberts and Mrs. Emma Roberts, Mr. T. B. Russell and Mrs. Sarah Russell, Mr. Benjamin Russell and Mrs. Sarah Russell, Mr. Philip Albury and Mrs. Mary N. Albury, Mr. Randall Adams and Mrs. Catherine Adams, Mr. George Curry and Mrs. Mary Curry, Mr. Joseph Ingraham and Mrs. Elizabeth Ingraham, Mr. Samuel Kemp, Mr. John Demeritt, Mr. Jabez Pinder an Mrs. Druscilla Pinder, Mr. Joshua Pinder, Mr. William Saunders and Mrs. Elizabeth Saunders, Mr. Benjamin Roberts, Sarah Thompson, Sarah Curry, Mr. Thomas Adams, Mr. John Roberts and Mrs. Margaret Roberts.

It was called Sparks Chapel after Rev. J. 0. A. Sparks, its first pastor.

A lot on the corner of Fleming and William streets was procured and a frame building erected, which was used as a place of worship until 1887, when the new church was built, under the pastorate of Rev. W. H. F. Roberts. The deed of gift to the land contained a clause intended to prohibit the use of in, strumental music in any church erected thereon. Rev. Mr. Sparks drew the deed, but it was not properly worded and failed of its purpose, and in 1892 instrumental music was introduced in the chapel, over the objection of some of the older members. The first service in the new church was held September 5,1887, During Rev. S. Scott’s pastorate the church was remodeled and made very attractive both inside and out.

On October 11, 1909, it was totally destroyed by a hurricane, and for over two years the congregation worshipped in Harris high school auditorium. On the second anniversary of its destruction, work was begun on the foundation for a new church which will be completed in 1912.

Beginning in such a modest way, Sparks Chapel has maintained a healthy and normal growth, and been in the forefront of the most aggressive evangelical work in Key West.

MEMORIAL CHURCH

In 1886 a small band of earnest Christians, members of the First Methodist church and Sparks Chapel, who lived too far to attend services with much regularity, organized a congregation, and met for the worship of God in Russell Hall school. Their first pastor was Rev. John A. Giddens, who was then living in Key West on account of ill health.

In 1887 they bought a lot on the corner of Watson and Virginia streets, and the old Sparks Chapel building moved thereon, and Memorial Church, M. E. South, began its mission for good. In 1903 they bought an adjoining lot, and erected a pastor’s home.

Among the members of this church were Mr. T. J. Pinder and family, Mr. Blake Sawyer and family, Mr. William McClintock, Mr. Hubert Roberts and family, Mr. E. E. Archer and Mr. Benjamin Carey.

The membership is now one hundred and ninety-two, and two hundred and fifty scholars are enrolled in the Sunday school.

The Rev. T. H. Sistrunk, the pastor in charge, is a gifted orator, with the courage of his convictions, and aggressive in all movements toward civic uplift.

CUBAN METHODIST MISSION

The Methodists were among the first of the Protestant churches to make converts among the Cuban refugees, and the Rev. H. B. Someillan was ordained minister and placed in charge of the Cuban Mission. It was not until 1877 that they had a church of their own. In that year Rev. J. C. Ley, pastor in charge of the First Methodist Church, interested Bishop Pierce in the importance of providing a place of worship for this congregation, and through him a thousand dollars was furnished by the Missionary Society, and a lot purchased on the corner of Duval and Angela streets. The small house situated on the lot was remodeled and furnished, and has since been the place of worship of the Cuban Methodist congregation. Rev. H. B. Someillan was the pastor for many years. He was succeeded by Rev. A. Silviera. Miss Annis Pyfrom, a highly cultured, talented, Christian woman, devoted some of the best years of her life in work connected with this mission. She conducted a parish school which wielded a great influence on the Cuban population.

One of the first preachers to the Cuban Mission was the Rey. Van Duzer, who died of yellow fever in the epidemic of 1875.

Mail & Steamship Service – from Key West The Old and The New

David Dlugitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:58:22 +0000

CHAPTER: MAIL & STEAMSHIP SERVICE, by Jefferson B. Browne, 1912

The first post office was established in February, 1829, and the first contract for mail service was awarded to owners of a small sailing vessel called the ‘Post Boy’ of about ten tons, which was to make monthly trips between Charleston and this city. Captain David Cole, with all the advantages of good seamanship, knowledge of coast, and superior education, was in command of this vessel, but for some very good reason, the monthly trips generally consumed nearer fifty days than thirty. Cape Canaveral was to be doubled in the route, and never did the mariner scan the clouds in the effort to double Cape Horn with more solicitude than did this worthy skipper to effect the same result at Cape Canaveral, but from different motives-the one being proverbial for its storms, and the other for its calms. Fretting did not bring the vessel any sooner than the winds and the current would permit. The mails were brought with regular irregularity. When they did arrive everybody knew it. He who was not certain that his expected letter would be prepaid by his correspondent put a ‘quarter’ (25 cents) in his pocket to satisfy old Uncle Sam for the cost of transportation (for that was the rate per letter at the time I speak of), and if perchance you subscribed to a newspaper, five cents more would put you all right with the postmaster, for this then enviable means of information that other Nations existed besides Key West.” (Maloney).

This service proved so unsatisfactory that it was discontinued, and a route established between St. Marks and Key West. In August, 1832, a contract was awarded for the regular transportation of a mail between this place and Charleston, once a month. About 1835 Messrs. Lord and Stocker of Charleston obtained the contract for a semimonthly mail, and first class sailing vessels were put on the run.

About 1848 Messrs. Mordecai & Co., of Charleston, obtained the mail contract, and the Isabel, a remarkably fast and comfortable steamer of about eleven hundred tons, was put on between Charleston and Key West, which service continued until the commencement of the Civil War. The arrival of the Isabel in port was an important event. When she was sighted the fact was made known by the ringing of a bell on a tower at the agent’s wharf. She frequently arrived at night and when that occurred nearly everybody sat up to await her arrival and hear from distant relatives and friends, from whom they had been cut off for two weeks. No family waited alone; those who did not have friends to eat midnight supper with them, went out to the homes of others, and the occasions were ones of jollification and social gathering. Happy, happy days, when all lived together in unity! When the Isabel neared the wharf the entire adult population would congregate there to get the first news of the outside world, and greet returning relatives and friends.

For some time prior to the Civil War occasional mails were brought to Key West from New Orleans and St. Marks, by a line of steamers owned in New York by Messrs. Morgan & Co. It was from such a modest beginning that the well known Morgan Line developed, which has since passed into the hands of the Southern Pacific Steamship Company, with the largest and fastest coastwise steamships in the United States. Shortly after the Civil War two fine, fast modern steamships – Cuba and liberty-were put on between Baltimore and Havana, touching at Key West both ways, until 1873, when the line was discontinued.

In 1873 Messrs. Mallory & Company inaugurated their service between New York, Key West and Galveston. They began with a few small steamers, which they replaced from time to time with larger ones, and they now have a fleet of twelve fast, commodious, finely equipped and admirably officered ships. In 1907 they established a line between New York and Mobile, touching at Key West both ways. Four, and frequently six, ships of this line touch at Key West weekly. The Mallory line is now part of that excellent transportation company, the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines. Under the management of Mr. H. H. Raymond, vice-president, the line has been brought to a high state of efficiency, and is the leading coastwise steamship organization operating in the Atlantic and gulf.

At the close of the Civil War the regular mail to Key West came via Cedar Keys, the terminus of the Florida, Atlantic & Gulf Central Railroad. For a number of years Miller & Henderson of Tampa, had the contract, and combined bringing the mails, with supplying this and the Havana market with beef cattle. If a drove of cattle was late in reaching Cedar Keys, or an obstreperous steer obstructed the lading, the mails were delayed from twelve to twenty-four hours.

Key West suffered from such irregular and imperfect service until in 1887, when Mr. Henry B. Plant, the pioneer developer of Florida, ran a line of steamers from Port Tampa to Key West and Havana. In the construction of the Mascotte and the Olivette he spared no expense, and the ship builders were instructed to turn out the very best steamships that could be built. After eighteen years constant service, the Olivette retains her supremacy as the fastest coastwise steamship in the United States, and she and the Mascotte can be depended upon, with the certainty of a railroad train, to make their runs within schedule time.

In 1895 Mr. Archer Harmon interested the people of Key West in a project to put a steamer on between Key West and Miami, the then southern terminus of the Florida East Coast Railway. He chartered the fast and commodious river steamer, Shelter Island, but before reaching Key West for her initial trip, she struck on shoals in Hawks Channel, and was a total loss. He next chartered the City of Richmond, a large side-wheel steamer, and changed her name to the City of Key West. She made a few trips under the original management, but the venture proving a failure financially, the stock in the company was taken over by Mr. Henry M. Flagler, who continued to operate the line between Key West and Miami until 1900, when the Peninsular and Occidental Steamship Company was organized, and the Mascotte, Olivette, Miami and City of Key West taken over by it. The principal stockholders in the company are Mr. Morton F. Plant and Mr. Henry M. Flagler. The Mascotte and the Olivette ply between Port Tampa, Key West and Havana, and make three round trips weekly, during the months of January, February and March, and two during the other months of the year.

In 1902 the City of Key West was sold, and the Shinnecock put on the run between Miami and Key West during the winter and the Miami the rest of the year. On the completion of the Florida East Coast Railway to Knights Key, in 1908, the line between Miami and Key West was discontinued, and the Montauk chartered for the run between Miami and Key West, during the winter season. The Miami plys between Miami and Nassau during three months in the winter, and in the summer takes the Knights Key-Key West run.

The Florida East Coast Railway will be completed to Key West January twenty-second, 1912, when mail service by water will be a thing of the past.

The first post-office -if a room where the few letters that were received in Key West at that time, could be called a “post-office” was in a building that stood on the corner of Caroline and Front streets, and occupied by the family of the postmaster. It was afterwards the home of Mr. Charles Tift, and subsequently occupied by Judge Angel de Lono. Its last tenants were the Misses Higgs, sisters of the Rev. Gilbert Higgs.

When Mr. Hicks was postmaster the office was on the northwest side of Front street, between Duval and Simonton, in the store of Hicks & Dusenbury. Later it was in one end of the stone warehouse on the Tift property on Front street, at the end of Fitzpatrick. When Mr. George Philips was postmaster it was in a room in the Russell House, on Duval street.

Under the administrations of Mr. Eldridge L. Ware, Mr. Joseph B. Browne, and part of that of Nelson F. English, it was in a small building on the southeast side of Front street, about a hundred feet from the corner of Duval. When this building was destroyed by fire in 1886, the post-office was moved to a small shed-like building on the southwest side of Whitehead street, on the government lot, at the corner of Whitehead and Caroline streets, formerly used as a storeroom by the lampist of the light-house service.

When Mr. Jefferson B. Browne was appointed postmaster in 1886, He erected on the corner of this lot a one-story building with a main office sixteen by thirty-five feet, and a smaller room sixteen feet square. He equipped it at his own expense with two hundred and fifty Yale & Towne lock boxes, the first that were ever used in Key West. This building was used as the post-office during Mr. Browne’s term, and part of that of Mr. George Hudson, Mr. Browne’s successor. In 1891 it was transferred to the new government building at the foot of Greene street.