In the Sunshine State on this day in:

1854 George Lindley Taber, pioneer Florida horticulturalist and founded of the Glen Saint Mary Nursery Company (1882) in Glen Saint Mary, was born in Vassalboro, ME.

1906 A hurricane hit the Florida Keys and 130 men were killed when 120 miles-per-hour wind struck construction sites of Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad.  Long Key was particularly hard hit.  Captain Steve Bravo, a legendary Indian River steam boat captain who had taken a position with Flagler’s company, was one of the individuals caught in the storm.  He was the captain of theSt. Lucie, which hauled men and supplies to work camps and was lost in the storm.

  

Although some individuals insist that Captain Bravo knew about the hurricane and  recklessly proceeded into the storm, an investigation by federal maritime authorities cleared him of any wrongdoing.  With  no telegraph or telephone communications between Miami and Key West, there simply was no way for any skipper to know about the hurricane in advance.