Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

I am reading a novel about the early settlers in Texas. This book has received rave reviews and I am about 1/3rd of the way finished (Thanks to Dottie). The concept of this book to me is a combination of “Killer Angels” by Michael Shaara and “Texas” by James Michener. Shaara did the correct amount of research about the battle of Gettysburg and added the correct characters in the correct time sequence and simply added dialogue. Michener did detailed research in to the evolution of what is now Texas and wrote it as if it was a novel. I have been engrossed with both of their books. It was James that said “I am constantly amazed at my success since I do not write about violence and sex.” James is no longer with us.

My home town has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to BMW, Michelin, Lockheed-Martin, etc, etc. The downtown area has evolved into a eight to ten block long entertainment center...lots of trendy restaurants and bars. Of course the price to be paid for this is a proportional increase in crime. I would feel a bit uncomfortable walking alone downtown late at night simply because of the increase in muggings and the “Knockout Game” that is popular with some of our youth. This is where a young person attacks an elderly person and tries to knock them out with one blow. It is supposed to be fun. Here is a warning. If you see an elderly man with a white goatee, 6'-1” and about 220 lbs walking downtown Greenville at night, do not...I repeat do not try that Knockout crap. He will be looking for that and is probably armed and will counter-attack unmercifully. Try it at your own peril.

Some of you may know the history of Alexander the Great. This Greek military genius conquered the known world between about 360 and 340 BC. Due to his success he was considered a God and he allowed that illusion to exist. He became ill and was facing death on a return trip from what is now India. He became bedridden near the banks of the immortal Euphrates river which is in what was then Persia. The legend is that Alexander knew he was dying and dragged himself to the river with the intentions of dying in the river where his corpse would never be found. This would convince everyone that he was indeed a God and his body was taken away by other immortals. Some of his soldiers and relatives allegedly found him and took him back to his bed where he died. His corpse was taken to Alexandria, Egypt where he was eventually buried in a secret place after being lying in repose for a number of days. Secret indeed, because his tomb has never been found. By the way, those that have examined the life of Alexander the Great say that in addition to being an epileptic he had to be a manic-depressive in spite of being the greatest military leader in history.

This Date in History August 22

1485 On this date the final battle of the War of the Roses occurs at the Battle of Bosworth Field. This battle was between English king Richard III and Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond. The battle was won by the forces of Henry and Richard III was killed in the process. Richard's skeleton was discovered a few weeks ago near the site of the battle. The crown worn by Richard III in the battle was retrieved and placed on the head of Henry Tudor and he was named as King Henry VII. The Tudor dynasty in England prevailed until the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. This war began because of the failure of England to win the Hundreds Years war against France in the 1450’s added to the fits of insanity by King Henry VI. No one knows what caused the insanity in Henry VI but experts believe it was probably caused by him eating and drinking out of pewter plates and cups. Pewter, of course has a substantial amount of lead in its makeup. Anyway, all of this caused a power struggle between the two most prominent royal houses or families and they being Lancaster and York. The symbol for the House of Lancaster was the red rose and the symbol for the House of York was the white rose. The battle between these two houses meant little to the average englishman but it trimmed the hell out of English royalty. But soon after taking the throne king Henry VII married Elizabeth the daughter of Edward IV uniting the two houses and peace prevailed...for a while.

1776 On this date a fleet of British ships commanded by Admiral Richard Howe hove to and dropped anchor between Gravesend and New Utrecht on Long Island, New York. Admiral Howe’s brother General William Howe was in command of approximately 24,000 infantry that were disembarked and deployed. The inexperienced, undermanned and under armed Continental army commanded by George Washington was no match for the highly trained and armed British army. The British trapped and outflanked the entire Continental Army at Brooklyn Heights, New York. Washington ordered the army to cross over to Manhattan Island by boat to avoid complete annihilation. Washington was successful in this transition. What was strange was the General William Howe could have prevented this escape and captured nearly all of Washington’s army including Washington himself but did not. Howe still believed he could persuade the military commanders of the fledgling Continental Army to stop fighting and re-align themselves with the British crown and proclaim loyalty to King George III. General Howe believed that if he did not initiate a blood bath and showed a modicum of mercy and understanding he could succeed. It did not work. Howe’s failure to crush the Revolution on this day at Brooklyn Heights resulted in England allowing the birth of the mightiest nation this planet has ever seen.

1933 On this date the notorious Barker gang robbed an armored car in Chicago killing one of the guards. They got a bag full of useless canceled checks for their efforts. The leader of the Barker gang was Ma Barker, the mother of two of the gang members present. Ma Barker decided that they should go back to doing what they do best and that was kidnapping. Ma Barker had four children, all boys, and all of them were wild and undisciplined meaning they went to the slammer at an early age. Ma’s kids were named Herman, Lloyd, Arthur and Freddie. The first one to go down was Lloyd who robbed a post office and was sent to prison for 25 years. That same year Arthur was caught after killing a night watchman during a robbery and was sent to prison for life but later on it was found out that he was innocent. The next was Freddie who was caught robbing a bank in Kansas and was sent to prison for quite a stretch. Then Herman essentially committed suicide when he decided to fight it out with lawmen that had him surrounded after he had robbed a bank in Missouri. After this Ma had no sons alive or on the outside so she pled with law enforcement to release her sons that were in the slammer. Incredibly, Arthur and Freddie were released. Ma decided that robbery was too risky, so they went into the kidnapping business, Freddie and Arthur in attendance. Ma made a good choice because they netted over $100,000 on their first try. Arthur and Freddie tried plastic surgery but it was a poor try and all they ended up with was a scarred and disfigured face. Anyway they tried another kidnapping and retrieved $200,000 this time. But they took their victims across state lines and that brought out the FBI on their ass. Arthur was caught and refused to talk but the FBI found some documents in his belongings that disclosed that Ma and Freddie were in a house in Lake Weir, Florida. The police and FBI surrounded the house and ordered a surrender but Ma and Freddie decided to fight it out. A ferocious gunfight lasting 45 minutes ensued. It finally ended when the cops unleashed everything they had and killed Ma and Freddie inside the house. That left the only survivors as Ma’s husband George, who was not a part of the gang, and Arthur. Arthur went to Alcatraz and in 1938 was killed trying to escape. What a rotten bunch.

1898 Incredible as it sounds; on this date the Texas Rangers hired a well known assassin named Jim Miller as a Special Agent to help them capture another criminal. This procedure was not unheard of in those days. Sometimes a man’s checkered past was overlooked if his help was needed. Jim Miller charged between $50 and $2,000 for an assassination depending on the notoriety of the victim and how wealthy the client was. Miller himself admitted to 50 assassinations but was hard to convict because the clients would hire the best legal defense to defend Miller. Miller was hired by two Ada, Oklahoma ranchers to kill a man named August Bobbitt for $2,000 and promised an additional $3,000 for his defense if he was caught. He killed Bobbitt with his trusty shotgun which was his weapon of choice and he was indeed caught, but he did not get a chance at a defense. Bobbitt was a well thought of man around Ada and he had a wife and four children. As you might suspect, the people were outraged and chose to drag poor Jim Miller from the Ada jail and suspend him by his neck from a beam in a nearby barn. What is that saying: What goes around...........BTW..I have been to Ada, OK.

Born today:

1919 US screenwriter Julius Epstein. When speaking of Ronald Reagan being considered for the lead in the legendary movie Casablanca instead of Humphrey Bogart he said “I still have nightmares.” Me too, Julius, me too.

1893 US writer Dorothy Parker. She said “All I need to be happy is a place to lay my hat and a few friends.” Dorothy is one of my all time favorite writers, a brilliant mind.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow