Friday

                           Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Go for it today. The future is promised to no one.”

                           William Dyer

I had an amateur genealogist look into my ancestry and found some interesting things. My Great-Great grandparents Andrew Justus was born in Newberry, SC in 1805 and Hanna Gilreath as born in Greenvile County, SC in 1809. They were married in 1829 and moved to Hendersonville, NC. They had 9 children one of which was Walker Sevier Justus my Great Grandfather and the father of Laura Christine Justus Blair, my maternal grandmother. Of their 9 children 4 of their sons died in the Civil War fighting for the CSA. Two died at Petersburg, Va, one at Fredericksburg, Va. and one at Valley Mountain, Va. Two died of disease and the cause of death of the other two is unknown but the dates of their deaths corresponds to well known battles. Death by disease was common in those days because of the lack of sanitation and very septic treatment of wounds resulting in gangrene. This is my mother's side of my family my father's side will come later. I want to thank Mr. Ralph McGlasson for his research and this report.

A while back the ex-mayor of North Charleston, South Carolina Bobby Kinard had convinced himself that his estranged wife had a boyfriend. He retrieved his handgun and went to her apartment. The man that Bobby thought was his wife’s paramour was there and Bobby shot him. The man was just wounded but when a police car pulled up outside Bobby took his own life. Bobby’s wife said that he had been suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome from his days as a helicopter door gunner in Vietnam. His depression was so severe lately that he was seeing a psychiatrist and taking powerful anti-depressants. He talked frequently about being in combat but to make matters worse, his son is in a combat unit in Afghanistan. His wife claims that the man Bobby wounded was just a friend. At one point in my life I was accused by a very jealous husband of being the lover of his wife. They were going through a very bitter divorce at the time. I was not even a friend of this woman much less a lover but I could have ended up very dead. I just kept a lot of space between me and that man and woman until everything calmed down. No, I did not pursue her even then; I was not going to take a chance.

           This Date in History   June 23

1996 On this date John Gotti, better known as the “The Teflon Don”, is sentenced to life without parole on a RICO charge. A RICO charge is about racketeering but Gotti was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and extortion. He had been arrested and put on trial and had been acquitted many times thus the nickname “Teflon Don”. Gotti was raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York and became a member on organized crime at an early age. He was an enforcer or one who collected money due the organization by what ever means it took, including murder. He worked his way up to a “capo” or a captain which was third in line to the “Don” or the head of the organization. Gotti was an ambitious devil and decided that the wanted to be the head of his organization which was a branch of the Gambino crime family. The leader of Gotti’s group was Paul “Big Pauli” Castellano. Castellano was a tall man with salt and pepper wavy hair. After a while Gotti decided that he had reached a point where he needed to take over the leadership so he did the honorable thing. He sent three assassins to Sparks Steak House in Brooklyn and awaited the arrival of Big Pauli who was known to be coming there for supper. Sure enough Big Pauli and the driver of his limo Anthony “Fat Tony” Bilotti arrived and the assassins open up with a hailstorm of automatic gunfire and Big Pauli and Fat Tony are dead before they hit the sidewalk. The next day began the reign of John Gotti. Gotti died a horrible death in prison from cancer of the throat. God works in mysterious ways.

1959 Back in 1930 a brilliant but young scientist in Germany name Klaus Fuchs joins the German Communist Party. In 1934 Klaus decides that he had better get the hell out of Germany because of the rise of the Nazi Party which was the dead set enemy of Communists. So he moved to London and is soon recognized for the brilliant scientist that he was. A few years later England and the United States began testing the waters for a nuclear weapon. England hired Fuchs in spite of his Communist background and used him as a research scientist for a nuclear project. Fuchs did not disappoint and proved to be very knowledgeable. The English sent Fuchs to the United States and was absorbed into the Manhattan Project and in fact he joined the other scientists at Los Alamos, New Mexico where the first actual nuclear device was invented and detonated. Little did anyone know that Fuchs had already contacted a Soviet spy and began feeding his information on the progress of America’s attempt at a nuclear weapon. In fact he sent this spy the actual blueprint of “Fat Man” or the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. It was after the capture of Fuchs and the understanding of how much damaging information had been passed to the Russians that Harry Truman authorized the research into a H-bomb, or a bomb that was a thousand times more powerful that the Hiroshima bomb. The first one of these was detonated in 1952. Anyway, Fuch was found out and convicted and went to prison. He was released on this date for good behavior after just 12 years. They could not try him for treason because neither England nor the United States was at war with Russia at the time of the acts of espionage. Fuch immediately went to Communist East Germany where he lived out his days. He died in 1988, the chicken-shit bastard that he was.

1776 Earlier England had called sea Captain Peter Parker out of a ten year retirement and tasked him with capturing Charleston, South Carolina and providing support to the Loyalists. On this date Captain Parker and his armada approached Charleston and opened fire on Sullivan’s Island embrasures. The fortifications were made with Palmetto logs that are so soft that the naval artillery shells just buried into the logs and did not explode doing little or no damage. Then the commander of the forces on Sullivan’s Island, Colonel William Moultrie, directed a very accurate and efficient return barrage that did tremendous damage to Parker’s ships especially his flagship the HMS Bristol. Parker himself was injured in both legs and ended up with his pants removed so his wounds could be treated. To add insult to injury the Royal Governor William Campbell who was also on the Bristol, was killed along with 261 more English sailors. The HMS Sphinx had its bowsprit shot away and the HMS Actaeon ran aground right in front of Moultrie’s deadly guns and was shot into kindling. Captain Parker decided to get out of range of Moultrie’s death dealing ordinance and the battle was ended. The Patriots suffered six with minor injuries.

1878 In 1822 Martin Sweeney was born somewhere in New Jersey. At the age of 23 he got gold fever and headed west and ended up being a blacksmith on an Apache Indian reservation. Sweeney became absorbed into the Apache lifestyle and gained a great respect for the Apache abilities to survive in the desert when honkies could not. He was asked to be a US Government liaison officer since he had learned the language. Sweeney refused because he found something that held his attention better and that being mining speculation. Along the way Sweeney gained a reputation as a man with a quick temper and an even quicker set of fists. He and a partner named Oliver Boyer bought controlling interest in silver mines near Tombstone, Arizona. On this date, Martin and his partner Oliver, enter into a heated argument. Even though Sweeney was good with his fists he did not pack a gun but Oliver did. The argument reached a fever pitch and eventually Oliver pulled a gun and shot Martin in the chest killing him instantly. Oliver was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

          Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow