Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
“Professionals
built the Titanic;
amateurs
built the ark.”
Anonymous
Here
is a true story:
A
friend of mine was born near Manning, SC. Manning is in the low
country where cotton and tobacco farms prevail. My friend was the
son of a tobacco farmer. They lived a hand to mouth existence while
working a backbreaking routine day in and day out. My friend decided
that he did not want to live this way and knew he would need an
education to escape. Shortly after high school he and a friend of
his left home with very little money and hitchhiked to Anderson, SC.
There was a junior college there (it is now a four year university).
He went in and asked to speak with the president of the college. He
and his friend were escorted into his office where they told him that
they had no money but wanted an education. The president reached for
his phone, asked them to leave the office and wait outside. He
called them back in and said that their tuition and books were being
paid for. The college would give them jobs in the cafeteria to get
pocket money. The only stipulation was that they had to keep their
nose clean and not make less than a B on any subject. He and his
friend accomplished this in the two years and just after graduation
the president called them in once again. He said that if they wanted
to continue their education to a bachelor's degree they would get the
same deal at Furman University in Greenville, SC. My friend jumped
at that offer but his friend opted to go to a seminary. My friend
graduated with a degree in business. He is very successful and lives
a comfortable life with his wife and family. He went on a search to
try and find who his benefactor was so he could thank him but was
unsuccessful, his benefactor wanted to remain anonymous. A few years
ago a wealthy banker in Greenville died and my friend learned that it
was he that was his benefactor.
This
Date in History May 23
1934 A few years
earlier a small time crook named Clyde Barrow met up with a girl
named Bonnie Parker in a small Texas town coffee shop. Bonnie was 19
years old and her husband of three years was in prison. Right from
the git-go Bonnie and Clyde had a thing going. Clyde went to prison
soon after their meeting; Bonnie visited him everyday and even
smuggled a pistol to him which Clyde used to escape from prison. But
he was caught soon after and sent back to the slammer. He did three
years and after he got out this time he hunted up Bonnie, his brother
Buck and his wife and they set out on a crime spree seldom equaled.
Clyde had a penchant for two things. The 30.06 caliber Browning
Automatic Rifle better known as the BAR and the V-8 Ford sedan, the
fastest car of the time. The gang went on a bank robbing spree
across four states with the police hot on their ass most of the time.
Clyde took on several different members as part of his gang to give
him even more places to hideout. They also would not hesitate to
kill anyone they thought was a threat including the police. Bonnie
had killed several people herself. The Barrow gang made a raid on a
Texas prison to break out one of their gang killing two prison guards
in the process. The Texas prison officials hired retired Texas
Ranger Frank Hamer to hunt down Bonnie and Clyde and put a stop to
them by whatever means he saw fit. Hamer proved to be a relentless
pursuer and finally tracked Bonnie and Clyde to Louisiana. One of
Clyde’s gang had kin people that lived near the small town of
Sailes, Louisiana. Hamer went to Sailes and located the gang
member’s father and promised him that there would be easy treatment
for his son if he helped them catch Bonnie and Clyde. The father
helped Hamer prepare an ambush and on this date Hamer and five other
heavily armed police were hiding in the bushes waiting for Bonnie and
Clyde. The gang member’s father was on the side of the road, his
truck apparently broke down. Eventually, Bonnie and Clyde did indeed
come by driving their stolen V-8 Ford and stopped beside the broken
down truck. At this time the father dove for cover and Hamer and the
others opened up with everything they had, including their own BAR.
Bonnie and Clyde were literally chopped to pieces and were killed
almost instantly. In the car the police found an arsenal of pistols,
shotguns, rifles and yes, a BAR. It was the end of Bonnie and Clyde.
1960 In 1906 Adolph
Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany. In 1932 he joined the German
elite SS intelligence service and rose in rank and esteem and after
Adolph Hitler rose to power, in 1938 he assigned Eichmann to plan the
execution of Jews in the newly annexed city of Vienna, Austria.
Eichmann did not stop there, he did the best he could in eliminating
Jews from several towns by execution squad, or sending them to
concentration camps. After it became apparent that Germany had lost
the war, Eichmann disappeared. Soon thereafter the establishment of
the state of Israel came into being; they began a search for all the
German war criminals that were never found including Eichmann.
Eichmann wandered the Middle East and ended up in Argentina in 1950.
There was a lot of ex-German military living in Argentina so it was
easy for him to find residence there. Keep in mind that Israeli
intelligence was scouring the world looking for these monsters.
Finally the Israelis located Eichmann at his address in the little
town of San Fernando, Argentina. They knew the Argentine government
would never extradite Eichmann so they decided to kidnap him. The
Israeli secret police set up an ambush and on this date, they
captured Eichmann by injecting him with enough tranquilizer to knock
down a mule and hid him out several days drugged to the gills. They
then flew him to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity.
Argentina raised almighty hell because Eichmann had become an
Argentine citizen but Israel said “no deal” and put Eichmann on
trial. He was convicted of murder and crimes against humanity. His
defense was that he was just obeying orders. The Israelis said “That
dog won’t hunt, Adolph” and they hanged him, cremated the corpse
and threw the ashes into the Mediterranean to eliminate any scrap of
that rotten animal from existence. Good riddance.
1923 About 1859 a
Crow Indian that was eventually called Curley was born in the Rosebud
Valley of Montana. At a young age Curley participated in wars
against the Crow enemies, the Sioux and the Cheyenne. When the US
cavalry began warring against the Sioux and Cheyenne he considered
the US cavalry as allies so Curley became a scout. Curley was with
Custer and the 7th
Cavalry in his excursion into The Little Bighorn River Basin in 1876.
The scouts without exception told Custer that there was much sign
that there was a huge gathering of hostile Indians not far away.
Custer blew it off so the scouts wanted time to sing their death
songs. At this, Custer released all of his scouts and they rode away
to the east, all except Curley. Curley decided that with so many
Sioux and Cheyenne out there he would be safer with the troopers.
After the battle heated up, Curley changed his mind and rode out
toward the east and hid in various coulees and creeks. Finally he
went to the top of a hill about 1 ½ miles from where Custer made his
last stand and watched action with field glasses. Curley was the
only non-hostile person to witness the massacre. Very little is
known about what happened to Curley after he rode off to warn the
other cavalry commanders headed that way and gave them a description
of what happened to the 7th
Cavalry. What we do know is that he died of pneumonia in a Crow
agency in Montana in 1923. Two days later he was taken to the
National Cemetery at Little Bighorn and buried.
1960 On the day
before an earthquake that registered 8.5 on the Richter scale occurs
off the coast of Chile causing gigantic tsunamis headed north and
west. The Pacific Tsunami warning System had been in effect for
several years so the word was flashed to Hawaii that a tsunami was on
the way six hours in advance. The wave was coming at 400 miles and
hour. As you might suspect, some people blew it off and others went
to the beach to watch the Tsunami arrive. Sometimes people are just
lacking in good sense. I almost said they act like dumb asses but
some people don’t like those words. Anyway, the tsunami arrived in
Hilo Bay one minute late and piled up to a height of 35 feet before
crashing ashore. As you might suspect, the water ran inland for
quite a long way and drowned 65 people. Pay attention next time,
y'all.
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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