She was witness to one of the saddest
incidents in Boca Grande history, and was
fortunate to live to tell the story. In 1922 a
boatload of 15 young people from Pine
Island and Gasparilla, Bokeelia and Useppa
Islands set out for a journey between Cayo
Costa (back then it was called La Costa)
and Bokeelia
on a beautiful,
balmy, starry
night after
hours of
dancing at Mr.
and Mrs. Perry
McAdow’s
house. The
McAdow’s
lived in the
quarantine
station on the
north end of
Cayo Costa.
Mr. McAdow
was the
custodian for
the quarantine
doctor, and was also the immigration
offi cer and served as the deputy of
customs. He was also a dancer who had
been trained in Paris.
Among those with Rachel were Clem
Johnson, the Riley girls, Roy Pouncey and
others, and a girl from Bokeelia with the last
name of Foster. They were in a 30-foot boat
and were just passing the Jug Creek Light
when a 65-foot run boat named R.W. Powell
came out of nowhere, loaded with fi sh and
headed to Punta Gorda. By the time the
captain realized there was an unlit boat full
of people in front of him, it was too late.
The boats collided, and the passengers on
the party boat were fl ung into the water.
Everyone was accounted for with the
exception of the Foster girl, whose body
wasn’t found until the next morning.
On a lighter note, Rachel was also the
target of pranks – often on Halloween –
pulled off by none other than the original
“Bad Boys of Boca Grande,” Dumplin’
Wheeler and Jackie Sullivan, and several
others. Back then, Halloween was an
Park Avenue with the Boca Beacon offi ce in back.
70 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • March/April • 2021
opportunity to pull out all the stops on
mischief … and you better believe the
stops were pulled out as far as they could
go. Many of the pranks involved Miss
Rachel’s car, a little Crosley model with
a propeller on the front. Because these
were some of the fi rst subcompact cars
ever made,
it wasn’t too
diffi cult for a
large group
of kids to
pick one up
and move it
around. Miss
Rachel often
resorted to
chaining her
car to a tree to
try to thwart
the children’s
plans.
“I don’t
know why
we used to
torment that
poor little woman like we did, but we did
it a lot,” said Dumplin’. “One Halloween we
put it up on blocks, and when she went to
get in it and it didn’t move, she couldn’t
fi gure out why. When she fi nally realized it
was blocked up, she had somebody come
and take them out from under the car, but
when she went to drive it away she realized
it was still chained to a tree and she pulled
the whole bumper off. Another time we put
the car in the back of Bill Presley’s old Army
truck. He had a big canvas cover on the
back, so you couldn’t see the car. Back then
he had to go to Tampa to get groceries for
his mercantile, which was located where
the post offi ce is now. He drove all the way
to Tampa that one time, and when he went
to load the back with groceries, he found
that car sitting in there. One time we took
the car and hid it inside the walls of the
Crowninshield House … the yard was like
a jungle, and they didn’t fi nd that car for a
week.
“Then there was the time we took that car
all the way down to Miller’s Marina, all the