Daily history

Good morning,




Quote of the day:

“The tragedy of life is not that a man loses, but that he almost wins.”

                                Haywood Broun

Over in Austin, Texas two teen aged boys wanted to join a gang but to be eligible they had to commit a crime. The 19 year old and 14 year old boys decided that a purse-snatching would be the easiest. In late afternoon they spotted a 75 year old woman coming out of a Taco Bell and decided that she was their victim. The 19 year old grabbed the purse and tried to take it away but the feisty lady was not having any of it and fought back. The boy fought harder and eventually knocked the lady down and she hit the concrete face first and died from her injuries These two boys lives are ruined trying to join a stupid gang but it was their choice and they must be ready to accept the rewards as well as the punishments.

Speaking of gangs, a few years ago there was a street gang in Chicago led by a young black kid with the nickname of “Yummy”. Yummy liked Oreo cookies and had them close by all the time and that is where the nickname came from. Yummy was a ruthless leader and had no problem with ordering the beating or worse of a rival gang member. Eventually Yummy was captured by a rival gang and was horribly tortured for two days before being slowly strangled to death. Yummy was 12 years old.

Here is a little more about my adventure coming back to South Carolina from Tacoma, Washington in a ’53 Chevy. My exact memory of the route we took is a little foggy but I remember different instances that tell us the general route. After we left Pendleton, Oregon we were trying to figure out the best route over the Rockies which were looming ahead of us. We stopped for the night in a small town north of Salt Lake City. I do not remember much about this town except the people were not very friendly, clannish I would say. We decided to cross the Rockies on Highway 40 and would intercept this road somewhere near Provo, Utah. There were no Interstate highways then. We went through Salt Lake City and headed south, found Highway 40 and turned east. The Rockies looked like they were right on top of us but we did not start climbing in earnest until sunset. We went through several small towns but the one I remember the most was Steamboat Springs, Colorado. They had huge signs up advertising land for sale and very cheap at that. If I had known what I know now I would have put a down payment on an acre or two but y’all know how that is, hindsight is 20/20. The next event I recall was when we peaked out on Rabbit Ears Pass and started downhill. I do not remember the elevation but the Chevy was gasping in the thin air. It was late April and the snow on the side of the road was at least 8 feet high. About midnight we saw what we thought was a bar/restaurant and pulled in because both of us were famished and needed a drink badly. We walked in and there was a bar with a bartender in a tuxedo and there was a buffet table full of goodies so we loaded up a plate, got a beer and sat down to eat. Another man came over and introduced himself and asked if we were friends of the bride or the groom. We had crashed a wedding reception. We both apologized profusely and explained that we had just got discharged from the Air Force after returning from Alaska and were heading for the East coast. The man was the groom and he was very gracious and invited us to keep eating and drinking as long as we wished. He also owned an Inn right down the road and offered a room for the night which we readily accepted. When we walked out headed for the Inn and looked down the road we could see the glow of the lights of Denver on the horizon. It was a good day.

This date in history March 7

1777    On this date Abigail Adams received three letters from her husband John and he received two letters from her. These exchanges of letters showed time and time again how dedicated they were to each other. John was complaining how much he disliked being in Baltimore taking care of Government business because The United States Congress had to leave Philadelphia because of the British army’s presence there. He complained that the residents in Baltimore were not as sophisticated as those in Philadelphia because Baltimore was full of those boring Quakers. Abigail was in Braintree, Massachusetts taking care of the farm and told John how adverse the weather was for the last few weeks. Ya’ll keep in mind that his was 140 years before women were allowed to vote. Albeit I have been accused of being a male chauvinist more than once, if it had not been for the support of the “women taking care of the farm” for our ancestors more than likely things would have turned out much differently.

1862    Earlier CSA General Sterling Price had to withdraw from Missouri and was being chased by US General Samuel Curtis. General Price and his army of 8,000 met up with CSA General Ben McCullough and another small army led by CSA General Earl Van Dorn and they combined into an army of 14,000 and turned to face General Curtis and his army of 10,000. General Earl Van Dorn was selected to be the battlefield commander. On this date the two armies met at Pea Ridge, Arkansas near the Elkhorn Tavern. Van Dorn sent Ben McCullough and his troops on a flanking maneuver early on but McCullough was killed and his troops were soon in disarray. After seeing this, US General Curtis launched a counter-attack and after prolonged bitter fighting the Confederates withdrew. This battle was a serious loss for the Confederates because they never again were a viable power in the state of Arkansas. By the way, CSA General Earl Van Dorn was literally caught in the saddle by a jealous husband and killed ending a brilliant military career.

1981    On this date 23 year old Karen Barnes is found dead in her San Francisco apartment with her skull crushed and stabbed 27 times in the face and neck. Earlier Karen had allowed Susan and James Carson to live in her apartment. Susan and James were children of privileged parent but decided to live a life on the dark side. Karen, James and Susan went for weeks walking around naked and all were arrested for indecent exposure and a variety of drug charges more than once. As you might suspect, James and Susan were no where to be found after the police found Karen. They had moved to small town in Arizona and into a mobile home with a man name Gary Ferguson. One night Gary said something that Susan considered an insult and James whips out a pistol and caps Gary. In 1983 James and Susan end up out on the highway hitchhiking and were picked up by John Hillyer. Poor old John said something that Susan thought was offensive and James came to the rescue with his trusty sidearm and dispatches John with three shots to the head. The police finally catch up with these two jackasses and they are tried for the murder of Karen Barnes, Gary Ferguson and John Hillyer. Their defense was that all three of them were witches and the Bible and the Koran allows the killing of witches. Although a novel defense, the jury didn’t by it and sent them to prison for life without parole. It is too bad that they were tried in California. If it had been Texas or South Carolina they would have met their maker fried to golden brown, or maybe meet their mentor in a place a lot warmer.

1885    On this date the state of Kansas restricts cattle from Texas entering the state from March to December meaning that there would only be two months that the cattle would be allowed. The dairy farmers had been complaining that Texas cattle had been bringing tick fever and hoof and mouth disease into Kansas infecting their herds. The lowest time in the year for these diseases is January and February. The trouble was that the railhead cow towns like Abilene, Hays, Newton among others relied on the Texas cowboys for a great deal of their income from their cattle drives up from San Antonio, Texas by the Chisholm Trail. But Kansas had to make a decision. It was either cattle or agriculture and the powers that be knew it would be agriculture so they had to start weaning those cow towns from Texas money. It was a moot point a few years later when the railroads reached the center of Texas and Kansas became famous not for wild shootouts and Wild Bill Hickok but for horizon to horizon fields of grain.

Born today:

1934    TV personality Willard Scott. He said “Bryant Gumbel’s ego has applied for statehood. If it allowed it will be the fifth largest.” I agree totally. Bye the way, Bryant and his brother were born in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

1965    US opera star Denyce Graves. She said “Real poverty is the loss of imagination.” In that case I will never be poverty stricken.

Died today:

332BC    Greek philosopher Aristotle. He said “Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.” Aristotle was the personal tutor to Alexander the Great.

1971    English writer Florence Smith. She said “If I had been the Virgin Mary, I would have said no”. I would venture to say this broad is a feminist.

1981    English writer Bosley Crowder. When speaking of Loretta Young he said “Whatever it was this actress never had, she still hasn’t got it.” I did not like her either.

1999    English filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. He said “I keep seeing lousy films and I say to myself, “I don’t know anything about making movies but I can do better than that.”

Quotable quotes:

A French military commander reported to King Charles the Bald that 20 to 30 Viking ships were headed up the Seine River from the English Channel. Charles responds with “We do not have to worry about a few Viking ships”. The commander said “Sire, when the leader of this group of Vikings is named Ragnar the Skull Splitter, we should at least be concerned.”

“It is not the length of life, but the depth of it.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow