The Greatest Fire in Fort Myers

It Was Called The Greatest Fire In Fort Myers

The year was 1903, and the town of Fort Myers had just established a volunteer fire department only two years prior, when on Friday morning of October 16, flames were seen coming out of a building owned by Carl F. Roberts. In addition to battling the fire, the volunteers were up against strong winds and faulty equipment. As the firemen were armed with chemical extinguishers and fighting the blaze at ground level, other citizens were on rooftops beating burning shingles with brooms. Some men battled the inferno so closely that “their flesh was blistered.”

Fighting The Fire
A bucket brigade was formed by women and children, but did little to calm the raging fire that was spreading quickly. The local paper reported how “the entire town was alarmed and the people at once turned themselves into fire fighters – men, boys, women and children, all realized the gravity of the situation and worked heroically to save the town.”

The intensity of the fire and brisk winds was a major difficulty; as was the hook and ladder engine. A faulty valve hampered the efforts of the firemen to get a steady stream of water onto the blaze. Before losing all hope of saving the town, the firefighters succeeded in getting a hand pumper, known as an “Old Andrew Jackson,” working and got the fire under control. As the men grew tired, the women who had gathered in the streets took over. One report was how “Mrs. Alice Tooke saw the Hopson livery stable on fire, pulled off her shoes, climbed to the roof and put out the fire.” Luckily, the wind had also died down.

The Roberts Building, which included an undertaking establishment, a cabinet shop, a Chinese laundry facility, and housed the newly organized Fort Myers Volunteer Fire Department was a total loss. Upstairs was the home of Frank Kellow and his family, and they also lost everything. It was never known what exactly caused the fire, but Roberts stated it was “caused by rats carrying matches into their nests, and lighting one.” Others reasoned it was ignited by a defective flue in the Roberts Building.

Losses to the town and its citizens were: Carl Roberts lost his building, stock, and house; Mrs. M. N. Verner, a building; Col. J. S. Williams, stock; Harvie Heitman, livery stable and two small buildings; Edward Evans, building and stock; Sam Kee, Chinese laundry store; Charles Braman, fruit; C. A. McDougald, wagons and buggies; Captain Robert Lilly, trees and fruit; Frank Carson, fruit; Jas. Hendry, trees; and the town lost telegraph, telephone, and electric service. The total loss was estimated at $7,000 ($165,000 today). Added to the estimate was the value of stock looted during the disastrous event.

The fire department also lost much of their equipment, including hooks, axes, ladders, buckets, and even their truck. Fortunately, the residences of Taff Langford and Charles Braman; the Gilliam Store and Hopson’s Livery Stable only suffered minor damaged from the fire.

From The Bad Comes The Good 
A month later the volunteers held a meeting and elected C. F. Cates as Fire Chief. He easily convinced the city council to purchase a four-cylinder No. 6 Waterous gasoline fire engine and one-thousand feet of 2.5 inch hose. A few years later the department would also earn $10 for each fire extinguished and any member injured in the line of duty would receive $1 to $2 a day, not exceeding ten days.

In less than two weeks after the devastating fire, Roberts built a new barn, carriage house, temporary office, and a laundry building for Sam Kee. He also began construction on a two-story building, in which the bottom half would be used for a new fire station. Heitman and other business owners also rebuilt, and First Street began to thrive once again.

Unfortunately for Roberts, he suffered property loss two more times from fire, April 1907 and April 1910.

Rum Runners Caught Off The Coast of Sanibel

Rum Runners Caught Off The Coast of Sanibel

Prohibition was in effect for over a year and a half when on the evening of August 2, 1921, Sheriff Frank Tippins observed a boat plying between Sanibel and Punta Rassa. On a hunch, he approached the vessel and boarded. Spotting demijohns of liquor, Tippins bargained with the captain and purchased some Cuban rum for $25, then placed him under arrest. “Captain and Crew of Cuban Smack Caught in Big Liquor Raid” was the headline in the morning paper.

Sensational Raid

In what the paper deemed “a sensational raid,” Sheriff Tippins and his son, Deputy Sheriff Frank Tippins, Jr., “arrested the captain and the four members of the crew of a Cuban smack, confiscated three demijohns of liquor and the smack itself, and landed the five men in jail.”

The Tippins had been en route to Sanibel to make an arrest when their suspicions were aroused seeing a Spanish fishing smack. As the elder Tippins began to apprehend the captain, “he became crazed and attacked the sheriff, fighting like a mad man,” reported the paper. “It required a physical argument, in which Sheriff Tippins came out victorious, to convince the captain that he was up against the real thing.”

During the scuffle, Tippins hollered for his son to shoot, but the younger Tippins refrained for fear of injuring his father.

None of the crew spoke English, and the reporter noted their outward show. He wrote he was “struck with the pirate appearance of the crew, barefoot, two of the crew having heads bandaged up and one with a badly discolored eye. They are of the same mold and cast as the pirates in days of old, and human life is as nothing to them.”

The following morning, armed with a search warrant, the sheriff returned to the boat and discovered two more demijohns of liquor and a fourth crew member. He immediately arrested the deckhand and confiscated the remaining liquor.

Legal Matters & Years of Trying

After going through legal procedures in the circuit court, the vessel was to be sold and the money invested in the Fines and Forfeiture Fund used for the prosecution of criminal matters.

The captain of the smack, Antonio Lopez, was found guilty and fined $500 ($6,500 in 2014) for “attempting to bring liquor into the county.” Crew members were fined the same amount.

Three weeks later, Judge George W. Whitehurst released the smack back to the company that owned it. The president of the company convinced the judge that “the captain had only four demijohns of rum aboard and this without the knowledge or consent of the owners.”

Boarding smacks and trying to break up rum runners was not new to Tippins. For several years he attempted to collect evidence and arrest runners, including one time posing as a fisherman offering to trade mullet for Cuban rum, which was met with no success.

Inspections Causing Troubles

An article that appeared on the front page of the paper alongside the news of the Cuban smack being released was, “’Booze Ships’ Stories Cause Many Troubles For Tarry Old Salts.” It reported how the “fisher folk [are] disturbed by ceaseless activity of the rum sleuths,” and all the “official and unofficial” inspections taking place.

Other fishermen said as soon as you drop a hook in the water they whisper, “You’re a rum runner.”

By the time prohibition ended in 1933, Tippins had become a U. S. Marshall and fishermen were again enjoying their trade without any hassle from law enforcement.