The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-03-06
Interesting Old Fort Jefferson
Draws Scores OF Yachts Yearly
DR.. Mudd's Prison; Good
Fishing Grounds; Brick
Work Beautiful; Con-
struction Began 1916

Old Fort Jefferson. situated on
a sandy strip called Garden Key.
and once built to protect the two
passes into the Gulf of Mexico
famed also as the prison of DR..
Samuel Mudd. who set the brok-
en- leg of John Wilkes Booth.
murderer of President Lincoln
is visited annually by scores Of
yachts that make the trip via
Key West each year.
Nearby is one of the best fish
ing grounds in the world and
hardly touched by fishermen.
About thirty miles to the east is
mo Mans Land, a dangerous
place of quicksands and rough
water, where Key West CONNER
cial fishermen fish huge schools
of kingfish.
Interesting Sights
When one approaches the Fort
through the channel nearby he is
struck by the sight of twisted
masses of blackened steel, once
a coaling dock, destroyed around
1902 by a hurricane. A large
building inside the Fort protects
above the outer walls of fortifi-
cations and were an easy target
for old men of war through some
pre-CivilWar engineers lack of
tactical knowledge.
The Fort itself was started in
1916 but never finished. Govern
ment speeded construction in
1861 with the Civil War ahead.
In 1871 it was finally abandoned
and is at present under super
vision of the National Park
Service, which is attempting to
make it a tourist mecca.
The Fort is hexagonally shap-
ed. Four of the sides are 476
feet long and two are 32E feet
Around the moat it is a half-mile
and there is a seven-acre parade
ground in the center of which
grow oleanderS, gumbo limbo,
guava, date palm, coconut palm,
tamarind, and other tropical
trees and shrubs.
Crossing Moat
Walking on the bridge entrance
across the moat one can see on
the right a cell ventilator, the
edges of which were worn down
by prisoner who escaped
through it and swan to Logger
head Key. To the left past the
entrance is a museum with many
rare and beautiful marine shells
and specimens. Beyond this is
one of the cells where DR.. Mudd
was imprisoned. Above the main
entrance on the second terrace is
another cell in which DR.. Mudd
was kept. He wrote that here he
was tortured, given old vege-
tables and little drinking water
The ingenious dotcor dug into the
floor with a sharp instrument
and made a little canal at one
end of which he dug wide
basin. In this way he collected
the rain drippings from the roof
Not a foot away from Mudd'S
canal is another and the Doctor
probably advised another prison.
er to do the same as there are
marks of cell partition between
the canals.
Original Nails Still There
On the inside of the outer walls
are iron ratings. If the garrison
was stormed the soldiers could
run planks on the ratings and
fire on the troops within the
walls. Power magazines inside
the Fort are of long-leaf yellow
pine and excellently preserved
Original square-cut nails have
been left as they were. Wood
inlay work is marvellous, circular
roof being of hexagonal lines
beautifully fitted. Everything
was done to protect the powder
with the wood keeping out damp
ness, ventilators and a 12-fooi
solid brick wall.
Within Classmates
On the firing platform of each
casemate, as the gun sections are
called, are granite blocks from
Massachusetts,. Floor of six-inck
shale, with iron gun tracks sci
on granite basis. Below the
classmates are ciSternS. Pipe:
from the terreplein upper ROOF
of ForD run into them. Cisterr
openings are revealed into which,
buckets could be dropped to Sc
cure water to douse the hot guns
Behind the classmates are com