1674-4 Richard Carney li 9 8 C:arriey
':, t Was First To Build House On Miam• i Beach
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I' • . chilies then,so several mules,
t ffi. * !''house and supplies were
t 1I ped into the sea to be floated
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e, < ��' :¢Four years later they were joined
s y ¢,;.fat''We44 , < ' by Charles Lunt,who built the sec-
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41 � :;i•. f;` ra .,a' ,., ;.,d ,,, and house in aliami Beach, a re's..
tively luxurious two-story struts
¢ 1 s ure. Meantime,thousands of coca-
.
oca
• lam. Ai_ e '41; � uta.;were planted. They sprout.'
ed,began to grow luxuriantly.Then
` ;, �, /something happened none of the
s ,
adventurers had foreseen. Rats
� :. * !ate'the coconuts. The rat papula-
N.
lion, well-fed and lacking enemies
1E,,v.,:.t
t 11,' multiplied enolmousiy. They de-:Death came Saturday to Capt. Richard Carney(inset), one-time owner of Miami Beach 'Itroy'ed the venture.
and the county's first sheriff,who once perpetrated a baby-changing trick that set the world f" Couldn't Stay Away
^•to laughing. This scene shows the first house (right) on Miami Beach, brought there by (;.Disheartened, the New Jersey,
E i ; en returned home. But Carney
Carney and coconut-planting associates in 1882. The two-story house was built four years f uldn't stay away from Miami. He I
I later by Charles Lum. The other structure was a palmetto hut. returned soon with another man i
q ------- -.-. ;who became famous in the area,
i:3. t. v.,:.- w r..._.• •�.r _ •_ ry tCommodore Ralph Middleton Mull.'
• Vagabondia,left Kew York by air- Inn, on the bluff overlooking inn- . ;. They lived aboard Munroe's 1
Capt ,Carney plane. ner Key in Coconut Grove, only a ,small boat and at Peacock Inn.
• 9 Known to many a landlubber and stone's throw from Captain Car• Coconut Grove was more impor.
• i • every yachtsman as Cap'n Dick, ney's home. tint then than Miami. A rocky,
Carney's life was so picturesque, There was a dance at the inn. ,jungle-strewn trail joined the two
rion e•r�, Dies / that its recounting resembles chap Couples came from miles around In 'communities. Miami was the site
I • 10'� —a c - aY g r , ters lifted from pages of imaginative their horse-drawn vehicles.Mothers fof. ,a Spanish American war army
�By E.V.W.JONES fiction. He loved life with a zest put their babies together in a room lamp, which added to its Impor-
• Herald start Willie that few men know,and his most to sleep while they danced. And as nee. Captain Carney bought a
Jovial, fun-loving Capt. Richard active years were lived with pioneer they danced, young Dick Carney"mall"steamboat, the Lake Worth,
Carney. 79, whose life's story was Miami as the backdrop. slipped upstairs. In the dim,lamp- dd.soon after,.tha,war ended op-
the history of the Miami area with He was Dade county's first sher- lit room, he switched the babies fad it betW ed"Coconut Grove
' embellishments that made him one iff, appointed by the governor in around and changed their clothing. tad Miami,carrying passengers and
of Florida's most beloved charac• 1886 and elected the following year, t -
l tern, is dead of a heart attack. in an election in which only 19; ! \\'hen mothers claimed them after „;With Munroe and others.Carney
1 He was master of W.L.Mellon's votes were cast. This was 11 years; 'the nights festivities ended, they founded the Biscayne Yacht Club.
1 i Iwo yachts,both named Vagabondia, before the city was incorporated.j failed to realize they had some Hardly a "first" occurred that did
! for 26 years. Once he owned all It was before the railroad came,, child other than their own. At pot include him. He helped or.
of Miami Beach and planted more when the area was little more than: 'home, mothers of girls piscovered ganize the first Christmas celebra-
' :than 300,000 coconuts there, years an army post known as Fort Dallas.l •the}• had hoc children on their qon,the first Fourth of July event.
before Carl G. Fisher entered the I hands; boys' mothers found they the .first Washington's Birthday
Carried Mali Along Beach had girls. Where there should have party in Dade county. He even
scene. Once his prank-loving na- For a time he carried the mails I been fair-haired youngsters, par- tried his hand at salvaging during
ture led him to perpetrate a baby- between Juno,now in Palm Beach ents found they had dark-haired the old days of many shipwrecks
changing trick on mothers of toe county and then the Dade county strangers. There were no tele-
' area that sent a laugh around the seat, and Miami, To do this he. phones, no highways. There was • Salvaged Wine Cargo
.world. walked along the beach, used row- pandemonium. Once,as a salvager,he came upon
Death came Saturday morning in boats to cross inlets, defied alli Carney lett town for a•three.day a wreck laden with wine. There
a hospital where he underwent an• gators,my-riad stinging insects and sailing trip. When he returned the were not many people in the area I
operation. The surgery was erels•nds storms, baby mixups had been straight-, then, but he invited them all and,
k. tive.ly minor,and family and friends A house he built was the .`first '.coed out, fire was gone from par• the story goes, the entire county
i" expected him tp return to his home, Ion what is now MiamiultBeach. The cots'eyes,laughs began to supplant' went: on a spree, Indians included.
2935'within afore drive,Coconut Grove, structure was built in his hbirth• threats of dire vengeance. The Captain Carney became master
izab few rney. His hastilywe, bins. place, Middletown,load e o J., at ppodwith ;story swept the country, was told, of the first Vagabondia in 1904.The
T Elizabeth the hospitalos sta sunk a New York,loaded on anda bout with ;and retold overseas. It became the craft cc-as built in Jacksonville.
cloned by the staff, was a cargo of mules supplies, ',in
of the babvchanging incident' :When the new Vagabondia was,
at his side as-he died. thrown overboard off Miami Bergh •in the novel,"The Virginian." built In Kiel.Germany, he spent a•
Son Will Return and floated ashore. Later die il!'s Grney and two companions. E.: watching its construction.
mantled it, floated It to Hillsboro1feat.,
brow ht her to the tinned
•
I f Y i�His son, Landon, of Homestead, i T. Field and Ezra Osborne, all of • gI ; , a produce buyer,was in GeorglitesatingstationforanothercDilddletoNJ., bough[ atracttates and teas her skipper until
`- a buying trip. He started at once nut-planting venture; floated It Of land on Miami Beach from the !retired in November, 1930.
for Miami when informed of•his again to Miami Beach, finally dls government for 73 cents to 81.23 an Since then Cha fun-loving mariner
father's death.The captain's daugn- mantled it and floated it to Coco-,_ etre, and came here in 1882 to has been an assistant in the office
ter,Mrs.Edwin W.Hambley,whose nu[Grove. it stands today behind start a coconur plantation. They of George Schollenberger, yacht
1 ;V,. husband is first officer of Mellon's his home,used as a tool shed.. l chartered a schooner at New York, 0 5tdt' al sen ices were not tom•
T.___ ..:. His babychanging trick occurred- loaded It with supplies and sailed•
during the,heyday of_old Peacoclt) uthward. There were no.-dock pleted Saturday. The body is at
,•IPhlilbrick Funeral Home.