Friday

                         Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Your idea of romance is popping the tab on a beer can away from my face.”

                                           Roseanne Barr

Trivia question of the day:

Who played Admiral Chester Nimitz in the movie “Midway”?

I read about a strange accident that happened down in south Georgia. Three of GHP officers were trying to arrest a suspected drug dealer that was traveling north on I-95 when an altercation occurred. The suspect lashed out with a haymaker and caught one of the officers in the chin and knocked him out. He then decided to run across an open field but accidentally fell and was pinned and arrested by the other two officers. They had to take the suspect to the hospital first because of the injuries suffered in the fall. The hospital report stated that he had two broken arms, a fractured cheekbone, a cracked rib and severe bruises on both shins. It was a hell of a fall, y’all.

               This Date in History   January 5

1781 The day before former Patriot General, now British General Benedict Arnold and 1,500 troops sail up the James River to Westover, Virginia and on this date, they march on the almost defenseless Richmond, Virginia. The Governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson called for the Virginia Militia to come to the defense of Richmond and for all the arms and weapons to be moved out of Richmond and sent to Westham, Virginia to keep them out of Arnold’s hands. Unfortunately, nearly all of the militia were veterans of many previous battles with the redcoats and felt they had done their duty and only 200 militiamen showed up defend Richmond. Jefferson also sent Prussian Baron Von Steuben to defend the arms that had been taken to Westham. Arnold and his troops entered Richmond and brushed aside the 200 militia and headed toward Westham to capture the arms but when he saw that he was facing Baron von Steuben, Arnold turned around and went back to Richmond. On his second trip through Richmond, he burned it to the ground. After the war, Benedict Arnold tried to open businesses in Canada and London all of which were failures. Arnold died penniless on June 14, 1801 and was buried in his British uniform in the graveyard at St. Mary’s church in Middlesex, London. What a tragic end to a brilliant military leader.

1861 On this date the civilian cargo vessel Star of the West leaves New York with supplies and 250 troops to relieve Major Robert Anderson and his 80 troops in Fort Sumter, an island in Charleston, South Carolina harbor. The president of the United States, James Buchanan, did not want to further inflame the already hostile South Carolinians by sending a military ship. South Carolina had seceded in December of 1860. The ship arrived on the 9^th of January and was met by a shore battery barrage and the ship was hit. After this, the ship turned around and did not enter the harbor. What caused South Carolina and the others to secede was the election of a Republican president, Abe Lincoln, among other real or imagined offenses. This time period was between the election of Abe and his inauguration.

1825 On this date Alexander Dumas pere engaged in one of his many duels and emerges with only minor injuries. There were two Alexander Dumas, a father and his son. The word “pere” means father and the word “fils” means son. We are talking about the father or pere. Alexander’s father was a General in Napoleon’s army. His great grandmother was a black slave to his great-grandfather making Alexander a quadroon. His father died when he was four and his mother struggled to keep her family fed. But in spite of this little Alexander was an insatiable reader and heard many adventurous tales of his father fighting for Napoleon. At the age 21 he obtained a job on Paris working for the powerful Duke D’Orleans who eventually became King Louis-Philippe. In1844 Alexander delivered to the world the king of adventure novels in The Three Musketeers. Needless to say, the novel was an immediate success and remains so until this day. It is a story full of battles and individual duels and feats of courage. I imagine that Alexander was reliving in his imagination what he thought his father life was like. Alexander had many, many love affairs resulting in many illegitimate children and led a rambunctious life. The result of one of his liaisons was his illegitimate son also named Alexander who also became an author. In 1845 Alexander delivered yet another blockbuster adventure novel in “The Count of Monte Christo”, the king of all jail break novels and still to this day one of the most engrossing books ever written. He also gave us “The Man in the Iron Mask”, a superb mystery novel. These three book were not the only contributions this man made to literature, he also gave us many essays and short stories. All of these successful writings made Alexander very wealthy. But Alexander was not a prudent man lived his life to the fullest and was frequently broke. His eloquent residence, Chateau-de Monte Christo that he built, was almost constantly the location of days long parties with complete strangers wandering in and out indiscrimately. The soul of Alexander Dumas departed this earth on December 5, 1870. This very talented author was 63 at time of death. There has been more than one movie made about each of his three major works. His son Alexander Dumas fils wrote several successful novels also but his books smacked of the resentment he apparently felt about his father wasting his life on songs and ale and ignoring him. I am not sure the Pere’s life was wasted, but ignoring his son sucked.

1643 It has been only 23 years since the settlers stepped ashore off the Mayflower in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the first divorce is granted. A woman named Anne Clark appealed to the Quarter Court of Massachusetts for relief after her husband, Denis Clark, abandoned her and their two children for another woman by which he had two children also. Denis was approached to return to Anne and his children but refused. On this date the Court handed down decision signed by John Winthrop, Jr stating in old English “Anne Clark, beeing deserted by Denis Clark, hir husband, and hee refusing to accompany with hir, is graunted to bee divorced.” You notice that there was no mention of a pre-nuptial agreement, irreconcilable differences, alimony, child support or monthly maintenance allowances to keep her living in the lifestyle to which she had become accustomed.

Born today:

1932 US football coach Chuck Noll. He said “Some coaches pray for wisdom, I pray for 300 pound tackles, they give me wisdom.”

1864 US agronomists George Washington Carver. He said “When I was young I prayed “Lord, show me the mysteries of the Universe.” And the lord said “No George, that is just for me.” Then I said, “Lord, show me the mysteries of the peanut”, and the Lord said, George that would be just about right for you.”

Answer to the trivia question:

In the movie “Midway” Admiral Chester Nimitz was played by Henry Fonda.

              Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow