Daily History

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"What is success? I will tell you; To laugh often and much; to gain the respect of intelligent peoples and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics, to appreciate beauty, to give of one's self; to know even one life has breathed easier that you have lived; that is to have succeeded."

Harry Fosdick

Yesterday was football top to bottom. I am in the area of the country where the Saints are prevalent so that is what we watch. I would rather watch the Panthers but the Saints are the class team in the NFL this year. Sorry Bo, it ain't the Broncos.

I cannot find anything worthy of commenting about so far.

Good news:

A couple of days ago two high schools from the Philadelphia area were competing in a female cross country race. As Monique Lincoln was running up a hill she suddenly collapse and lost conciousness. Helena Page was from the opposing team and even though many runners ran past Monique, Helena stopped to offer assistance. She wrapped Monique up in her jacket to keep her from the, made her a make-shift pillow and tended to her as best she could summon help and it arrived. Monique had collapsed because of dehydration and made a full recovery. Monique said that she is very grateful because she could have just been left there. Most cross-country runner don't stop for anything. Helena's coach started giving her hell when she finally arrived at the finish line but hugged her when she told him what she had done.

This date in history October 26

1948    Earlier Betty and Jerry Ferreri had been married for some time with Betty getting the worst of the deal. Jerry was the spoiled son of a New York family and gave Jerry enough income that he never worked and after moving to Los Angeles, bought him a five bedroom house in upscale Hancock Park. Jerry was a notorious and unapologetic womanizer and was a wife beater. He hit Betty so hard on the side of her face that it ruptured an eardrum and when he got the doctor bill he became infuriated and hit her on the other side of her face an ruptured that eardrum also. He said “Maybe the doctor will give a two-for-one now.” On this day the final straw came when Jerry brought a young model home while Betty was there. Betty produced a large wrench and ran them both off. Betty knew that when Jerry came back home it would be hell to pay so she conspired with her housekeeper, Alan Adron, to kill Jerry upon his arrival. Sure enough, Jerry came home and began dragging Betty around the house by her hair. As directed, Alan shot Jerry twice in the stomach and then the gun jammed and Jerry was still alive and kicking. It was then that Betty found a large meat cleaver and struck the staggering Jerry 22 times in the head and shoulders that resulted in his demise. Both Betty and Alan went to trial for first degree murder. It was touch and go until the defense attorney quoted the things that Jerry had done to Betty. Both Betty and Alan were acquitted. This just proves that some times justice prevails.

1881    Earlier on October 25 Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury had come into Tombstone, Arizona for supplies. The Clanton-McLaury gang lived out of town on ranches and felt that the range was theirs to rob and rustle and the town of Tombstone was the Wyatt Earp’s domain. All throughout the day Ike Clanton and Wyatt Earp had been verbally sniping at each other and the atmosphere was very tense. The next day, October 26, Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne rode into town to help Ike and Tom. Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury went into the closest bar and the first person they met was Doc Holliday. Doc told them that Wyatt was about fed up with Ike’s mouth and there would probably be a fight. Billy and Frank immediately left and went to find Ike and Tom. In the mean time Wyatt Earp had assembled his brothers Morgan and Virgil knowing that a fight might be on the horizon. Wyatt’s close friend Doc Holliday also offered his expertise. At about 3:30p Wyatt had seen the Clanton/Mclaury bunch at the end of Fremont Street near the OK Corral and the four of them headed that way. When the men were about 20 feet apart Wyatt said “You sons-of-bitches have been looking for a fight and now you’ve got one”. No one knows who really fired the first shot but it is believed that it was Virgil that pulled his revolver and shot Billy Clanton point blank in the chest. Almost simultaneously Doc Holliday unloaded both barrels of his double barreled shotgun into Tom McLaury’s chest. Wyatt got off a couple of rounds into Frank McLaury’s stomach, Frank did not go down right away and got off a couple of rounds at Wyatt before collapsing as did Billy Clanton. There were about 30 shots fired and it was all over in about 30 seconds. Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were dead. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran like hell and got their young asses back to the ranch. Sheriff John Behan, a supporter of the Clantons, had witnessed the fight and arrested the Earps and Doc Holliday for murder. They were all acquitted when the judge ruled that they “were fully justified in committing these homicides”. To paraphrase the judge, “they needed killin’.” Morgan, Wyatt and Doc were all wounded but survived.

1998    Earlier a tropical storm named Mitch had ambled in to the Caribbean Sea apparently without much punch and seemed to be headed toward the Nicaragua/Guatemala border. Soon thereafter it blossomed into a category 4 hurricane and stormed ashore as such. Belize had already evacuated 70,000 people but the poor and indigent in Nicaragua and Guatemala did not get the word and even if they had, they had no transportation to escape. Mitch stalled out over Nicaragua and eventually dumped over 50 inches of rain. The flooding was the worst in 200 years as you might expect. Entire villages disappeared in gigantic mudslides. There was 10 feet of water in the Nicaraguan capitol of Tegucigalpa. No one knows for sure but it is estimated that between 11,000 and 18,000 people perished. In several villages that were buried in mudslides, the Presidents of Guatemala and Nicaragua did not even attempt to dig them out and just declared the whole area as a cemetery. In addition to this misery, the crops of both nations were destroyed by 60% making the agricultural workers in even more in a bind. Sometimes we think we have had it bad, but just think of these people.

1942    On this date during the battle of Guadalcanal the US aircraft carrier USS Hornet is struck by an avalanche of Japanese aerial bombs and torpedoes. The Japanese were desperate to hold onto control of Guadalcanal as a fighter/bomber base to protect their advance onto Indo-China and sent swarms of fighter and bombers to attack the US Navy and Marines that were attacking that island. The Japanese had put underway several shiploads of troops to counter the Marine landing. The ultimate battle was called the Battle of Santa Cruz where the US Navy and Marines knew that if those reinforcements reached Guadalcanal the Marines already there would be in deep doodoo. The explosions from the Hornet were so severe that a couple of Japanese bombers that dropped the bombs were damaged and crashed. By the way, it was the Hornet that US Colonel James Doolittle launched his famous B-25 air attack on Tokyo. Anyway, after a series of gigantic explosions the Hornet was abandoned and it now rests on the ocean bottom near Santa Cruz Island but the Japanese reinforcements never reached Guadalcanal in force and the Marines secured control. There was a second aircraft carrier built and launched during the war in 1943 that was also named the USS Hornet. It did not suffer even a scratch during the remainder of the war.

Births and deaths:

1466    Dutch writer Erasmus is born. He said “In the land of the blind, the man with one eye is king.” When I was in Amsterdam in 2004, I saw houses that were built in 1466. It makes you realize how young of a country we really are.

1911    Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson is born. She said “Someday the sun will shine on me in a land far away.” Mahalia was a very intense Christian and her music showed it. If any of you can listen to her sing “Silent Night” and a tear not come to your eye, you are not alive.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow