Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"The most important thing to learn in life is how to give out love, but more importantly is how to let it in."

                                        Morrie Schwartz

A message from a subscriber touched a nerve in me. She suggested a "vacation" from bad news and tell more about my personal experiences so here goes, you asked for it, Dotty:

The earliest event I can recall was when I was about four years old. My parents and I were living on a "mill village" in a "mill house". The house was essentially a duplex with three rooms each known affectionately as a "shotgun" house. This meant the house was three rooms in a straight line. It was called a "shotgun" house was because you could fire a shotgun through the front door and kill or wound everyone there. Anyway, on this particular day my mother had me dressed in white jumper shorts with white knee length socks and black shoes. Behind our house was a black community as was a large coal pile. I had a black kid as a playmate and we decided that the coal pile would be a great place to play "King and his Castle". We were having a great time climbing and tumbling on the pile of coal when all of a sudden we hear a siren real close by. It wasn't a fire engine or an ambulance, it was my mother standing in the back door screaming for me to get off the coal pile. The black kid broke and ran away and as we all have experienced, my mother dragged me into the house by one arm. It is strange that we remember things like that.

Saturday night two of my friends and I decided to go listen to two different bands at different venues. We met at a fancy steakhouse where one of the bands would be playing later on, got into one car and drove to our first stop. While I was waiting for the other two to arrive, I was standing outside and one of the people coming in called me by a name that I am have not been known as since high school. I did not recognize her at first but eventually did. I don't think I had seen her in 50 years but she knew me right away. Sorry Shirley. We arrived at the first stop and the band was playing smooth jazz with great skill but there was a problem. The owners in their greed had chosen to put a vending machine that dispensed wine in front of the bandstand. In fact the machine was on the bandstand meaning the band looked like they were in a closet. It was disgusting. Then I heard a thump and there on the floor beside me was a middle aged woman obviously drunker than Cooter Brown that had fallen. It took several men using various handholds to get that girl on her very unsteady feet. They eventually navigated her out the door. Her husband/date had a very tight-lipped look on his face. I was embarrassed for her.

We went back to the starting point at the fancy steakhouse and went to bar where the band was just starting. The band was a drummer, trumpeter and a guitarist. They were dynamite by themselves but later on they were joined from the crowd by a kick-ass bassist and a well known local trumpeter. From there on they tore the house down with the dueling trumpets and the crisp harmony of the guitar and the bassist thumping us in the chest until my congestion went away. It was a great evening.

This date in history January 11

1775    On this date the first Jew elected in the Americas takes his seat on the South Carolina Provincial Congress. Francis Salvador came from a family deeply involved in the English East India Company. His father was the director of operations in the Portugal division. The Salvador family was also very high up in the Jewish Sephardi community in London. A severe earthquake virtually destroyed all the East India Company warehoused goods in Portugal which bankrupted the Salvador family. Francis decided that he would come to the colonies and try to recoup his family’s fortunes and sailed to Savannah, Georgia in spite of the fact that Jews were not permitted in the state of Georgia. I am going to repeat that, Jews were not permitted in the state of Georgia. He quickly headed into South Carolina to take control of 7,000 acres that had been given to him by his uncle. Salvador turned out to be a firebrand Patriot and was deeply involved in the movement of independence of the colonies from Great Britain. He was known as the “Southern Paul Revere” when he rode 30 miles on horseback to warn the people of Charleston, South Carolina that there was a British fleet approaching that he had spotted from his plantation. The city of Charleston was able to pre-arm Sullivan’s Island in the mouth of Charleston Harbor and when the British fleet under the command of Admiral Peter Parker arrived, the artillerists on Sullivan’s Island opened up and handed Admiral Parker his ass and sent the British fleet askew. On another occasion he was scouting in the South Carolina foothills with a squad under command of Colonel John Wilkinson. Recent raids by the Cherokees on villages in the upstate sent Colonel Wilkinson looking for the renegade Cherokees. The renegades found them first and unleashed a wicked ambush near present day Seneca, South Carolina. Francis Salvador was knifed and scalped but he did not die right away. Colonel Wilkinson found him and assured Salvador that the victory was theirs, and then Salvador died. He was the first Jewish soldier killed in behalf of the colonies in their search for peace and independence. We needed more like him.

1937    Eleven days into a sit-down strike by the United Auto Workers at the General Motors Plant #2 in Flint, Michigan, on this date the General Motors “Security Forces” and the Flint Police showed up to evict the strikers inside the plant. It eventually became a pitched battle with the strikers holding their own with fire hoses and jury rigged slingshots while the Flint PD and the GM Security responded with gunfire and tear gas. The people on the picket line did what they could by blocking the entrances so heavy equipment could not be brought in and they threw rocks and bottles to break the windows to allow the tear gas to escape. Eventually Governor Frank Murphy got fed up and sent in the National Guard to put a stop to the violence. After 44 days the strike ended with General Motors conceding to the demands of the UAW. This is the first time that any of the “big three” auto manufacturers had ever set down and negotiated with a union. I previously mentioned the GW “Security Forces”. This outfit was nothing short of a militia to use force if necessary to apply the will of management. On more than one occasion these guys would see a group of GM workers standing around a recruiter for the union and would rush out and beat the hell out of everybody present with nightsticks whether on plant property or not. This contract put a stop to that bullshit everywhere.

1908    Earlier in the year 1540 one of the troops exploring with Coronado named Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas wandered upon a huge canyon in what is now southern Arizona. As far as history tells us this man was the first European to lay eyes on what is now known as the Grand Canyon. For three hundred years afterward this wonder of nature was virtually unknown to all but the Native Americans who had been living in the canyon for many centuries. Anyone that took one look at the twisting pathway leading down into the mile deep canyon thought that it appeared to be too foreboding, not to mention the torrential Colorado River in the bottom. Finally in 1869 a brave soul named John Wesley Powell and eight others drifted down the Green River in Wyoming to where it joined the Colorado. Then he decided to drift the mighty Colorado and off they went. Somehow he was able to take his flimsy wooden boats most of the length of the Grand Canyon through some of the wildest rapids in North America. In fact three of his crew abandoned him and crawled out of the canyon saying it was too dangerous. A week later these three were captured, tortured and killed by a group that was probably Apache. I suppose they guessed wrong as to what was dangerous and what was not. As you might suspect, different money seekers built some flimsy hotels on the south edge to take advantage of the spectacular view. It became worse when the Santa Fe Railroad built a rail line close by. Soon the visitors reached 100,000 and the trashing of the terrain became rampant. On this date In1906 one of the greatest environmentalists ever, Theodore Roosevelt, declared the Grand Canyon a National Monument and eventually a National Park saving forever the splendor of this great wonder.

Born today:

1755    US Patriot Alexander Hamilton. He said “I cannot expect perfect work from imperfect men.” Hey Alex, what about women, Hillary in particular?

1842    US writer Will James. He said “How pleasant is the day when we stop trying to be young....or slender.” I can identify with both situations.

1873    US statesman Dwight Morrow. He said “When one party takes claim for the rain, they must also take blame for a drought.” Come on Dwight, that ain’t fair.

1934    Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. He said “A proof is a proof. What is a proof? It’s a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have proof, it is because it is proven.” Jean, you’re an idiot.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow