The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-03

grounds were sown in Burmuda grass, and
planted with bananas. cocoanut palms and
a variety Of Towering plants and shrubs.
both northern and tropical
A modern lighthouse had replaced the
picturesque old Swiss-lilSe structures,
with broad verandas and tall cocoanut
trees. that antedated the fort. tall
lighthouse on a neighboring key Is one of
the mosts graceful structures in the
world. The fort and the lighthouses are
on that islet of the Dry Tortugas group
called Garden or Bush key, a bit of coral
formation, thirteen acres. in area. and
rising about five feet above the surface
OF the sea. 1t was from observations
made in these parts that Agassiz came
10 believe that coral formations grew
at the rate Of about six inches in cen
fury.
When Fort Jefferson was still important
as a military prison Garden Key was
visited occasionally by others than the
soldiers stationed there, and the group
had population Of between 200 and SOD
persons. The night blooming cereus
climbed almost to the roof of the officers
quarters and bloomed in the tropic night.
while other night-bloOming plants were
scattered about the grounds and north
ern flowers bloOmed in the open air all
winter long. The fort had long been
used as a place of imprisonment for
soldiers convicted Of offense against the
tary prisoners of distinction. A some
what notable prisoner of the war period
was Col. st. Ledger Gerefel, an English
man, who entered the confederate SER
vice and after participating in several
battles came north, obtained the ear OF
Mr.. Seward. and deceived him as to the
strength of the confederacy in some par
tculars. The colonel was afterward ac-
cused of completely in the Sons of Liberty
conspiracy of 1854 to stir rebellion in
Ohio. Indiana, and Illinois, and after con-
viction was sent for life TO the Dry Tor
tugas. He managed to corrupt one of
the soldiers and the two escaped to a
neighboring island, whence, after lying
hidden for a little time, they made their
way TO Cuba. Fort Jefferson, despite the
terror inspired by the name Dry Tortu-
gas, was not the worst possible place
for a life prisoner to begin his sentence,
for the fort seems TO have been peculiarly
leaky Another prisoner slipped out of
a window got over the mOat, sixty feet
wide, scrambled down the low sea wall,
and escaped on a plank to the nearest
inhabited key. There he took one of the
lighthouse boats and sailed away 10 Cuba
Several other prisoners escaped, either
by GLIDING or corrupting their guards,
and the only notable prisoner to die
there was O'Laughlin, one of the four
sent to the Dry Tortugas for completely
in the Lincoln assassination plot. He
was carried off by yellow fever, three
or four years after his conviction, while
his three companions We're pardoned.
One of them, DR.. Mudd, was for time
the only physician present during an
epidemic of yellow fever, and his faith
fulness in that crisis won him high praise
from the garrison.
Barring a hot summer and the POSSIBLE
ity of yellow fever the Dry Tortugas group,
of terrible reputation, is far from being
region of horrors The winter climate is
delightful. The temperature rarely falls
below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and is us
ually nearer rs degrees. At times there
comes a sudden stiffness upon the sea, ac-
companied by haze and rise of ten, fif
teen, or twenty degrees in temperature.
That is the sign Of the norther, which fol-
lows soon with terrific force of wind and
fall Of from twenty-five to thirty-hVe de-
grees in temperature. Ordinarily, how
/ ever, the winter sea and sky are delight
fully mild, and there are peculiarly beautl-
full effects of color at sunset. The birds
and, even more, the fish of the region are
marvels of beauty, and the bottom of the
sea Is paved with richly colored and Won
derfuly varied mass of vegetation that is
| plainly visible through the clear shallow
water. Enormous sharks are numerous in
the shadows, and at one time monster
was kept in the meat and called the senu-
mel. The beautiful but strangely poison
Gus Portuguese man-o'-war swims these
waters and the turtles are stin there,
though not so plentiful as they once were.
These keys, and others in the Immediate
region, are about the only part of Florida
that has been colonized by tropical birds
and insects peculiar to the West Indies.
The Dry Tortugas are part of Monroe
county Florida, of which Key West is the
principal city. Indeed, out of less than 49,
900 inhabitants in the county the city of
Key West has more than 1900. The sol
ders were stationed at Fort Jefferson
complained of the climate and of their iso-
lation, but they managed to keep in COM
munication with the outside world to
maintain an amateur dramatic company,
and to receive from time to time books,
newspapers, and periodicals, whereas the
early lighthouse keeper lived on Garden
Key with only his family and with no set
Element nearer than sixty miles. Fort
jefferson had a garrison of less than 100
five years after the close of the civil war,
and the dread fortress is now marked in
the reports of the secretary of war with
the asterisk, which means mot garrison
ed" Doubtless, as in a good many other
such fortresses of the United States, a
corporal without his traditional guard
constitutes the sole representative of the
government.