Tuesday

                          Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I am not a fascist. I am a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what do, whereas priests drink a lot more.”

Father Ted Crilly

                      This Date in History July 25

1955 On this date the impossible happens. Two ocean liners collide off shore from Nantucket. The Andrea Doria was outbound and the Stockholm was inbound to New York. As y'all may or may not know there are definite “rules of the road” in the marine world. What ships do when approaching at 90 degree angles, when overtaking, when approaching head-on, etc. are set so each ship's captain knows what to expect from the other ships. The trouble here was that the navigator on the outbound ship was navigating by radar and misinterpreted what he saw on the screen. He thought the other ship was crossing his path when it was going to pass to his right with plenty of clearance. The navigator ordered a turn to the right into the path of the Stockholm. The bow of the Stockholm plowed into the side of the Andrea Doria inflicting a fatal wound. The Stockholm was damaged but was still able to sail. The Stockholm stayed with the Andrea Doria and was responsible for the rescue of many of the passengers. Not only that, the luxury French cruise ship the Ile de France that had left New York earlier, turned around and rescued many of the passengers. The Andrea Doria finally rolled on her side and slipped to the bottom. The Andrea Doria is in waters that can be reached by amateur divers and is considered the “Mount Everest” of sport diving. But the divers are faced with very cold water, heavy current and hundreds of Great White sharks. Not this horse.

1963 On this date Bob Dylan performed at the Newport Jazz Festival and a new type of music was born. Bob was able to blend jazz, folk and rock and roll into one genre. He was born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941 but he changed his name because he was an admirer of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. While in high school he formed a band but eventually dropped out of school to pursue his musical career as a performer/songwriter. His life changed when he went to New York and met folk music legend Woody Guthrie several times. It was Woody’s semi-protest song writings that influenced Bob the most. It was Dylan that gave us “Blowin’ in the Wind” which was a monster hit for “Peter, Paul and Mary”. The next hit was “Times they are A-changing” which was the keystone hit of a very successful album. Bob Dylan has been a world recognized songwriter for over 40 years now. He remains very secretive and reclusive when it comes to his personal life. When was the last time y'all have read anything scandalous about Bob Dylan? In fact, when is the last time you read anything at all about Bob Dylan?

1853 Earlier a Mexican immigrant named Joachim Murrieta had moved to northern California during the gold rush of 1849 and staked a claim on the Stanislaus River. According to unsubstantiated stories written by a San Francisco newspaper reporter, Murrieta and his family were treated severely by the other prejudicial gold miners. It was said that he was beaten and whipped, his wife repeatedly raped and his children killed. Because of this, Murrieta organized a gang of thieves and began a reign of terror throughout the gold fields of the area. Finally the state of California got fed up and put out a reward of $6,000 on the head of Joachim Murrieta. They also hired professional gunman Harry Love to hunt down and bring Joachim in, dead or alive. Harry hired 20 men to accompany him on his search. Love finally located Joachim and his gang camped out on Cantua Creek in Calaveras County. At sunrise Harry Love and his posse attack Joachim and his gang of seven others and kill them all including Joachim and his right hand man “Three fingers Jack”. As you might suspect, Jack was missing a finger on his right hand. In order for Harry and his men to collect the $6,000 reward they had to prove that they had killed Joachim. Rather than bring Joachim’s body in they decided to bring his head in instead. So they behead poor Joachim, put the head in a large glass jar and fill it up with whiskey. On this date the head of Joachim Murrieta was put on display in Stockton, California and Harry and the boys collected the $6,000. As a show of class, Harry had cut off the right hand of “Three Fingers Jack” and had it dangling by a string for all to see.

1861 On this date the US Congress passed the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution. This document stated that the purpose of United States fighting the Civil War was to keep unity and was not for the abolition of slavery. John Crittenden felt that this resolution was necessary to keep the slave-holding states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware from seceding. Even though these were “slave” states they had not joined the Confederacy. At the beginning of the war most northerners felt that the war was necessary for unity but did not give a damn one way or the other when it came to the issue of slavery. Even this attitude changed after the Union armies had suffered one ass-kicking after another including a rout at the Battle of Manassas. Then the northern attitude was “To hell with it. Stop the slaughter and let the Confederacy become their own country.” Even though the resolution had good intentions, the whole meaning was compromised two weeks later when Lincoln signed the Confiscation Act which allowed for the seizure of the property (including slaves) from any rebellious person. This really upset the slave owners in the afore mentioned states and it took a lot of dancing around to stop them from seceding.

Born today:

1902 US philosopher Eric Hoffer. He said “Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.” I guess that is the reason that I see so many agitated people.

1905 Bulgarian writer Elias Canetti. He said “Whenever you observe an animal closely, you feel as if a human being is inside making fun of you.” I think my brother’s dog “Katie”, a golden retriever who is no longer with us, did exactly that.

1973 Brazilian soccer star Ze Maria. He said “The pain is very painful.” Ze, shut up.

Died today:

1834 English writer Samuel Coleridge. When speaking about a fellow writer he said “Gibbon’s writing style is detestable, but that is not the worst thing about him.” Sam, I like your style.

            Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow