This Date In History, The Southern Version: November 2020

Monday, November 30, 2020

Monday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:
“Men are superior to women. For one thing, men can urinate from a speeding car.”
Will Durst

Trivia question of the day:
In the movie “Apocalypse Now” what actor uttered the immortal words “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Answer at the end of the blog.

A while back 140 law enforcement personnel descended on the small South Carolina town of Walterboro. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster was in attendance and read 20 indictments to those that were arrested. The year before there was a drive-by shooting at a barbecue in Walterboro where 3 people were killed and 6 wounded including a toddler 20 months old. The ages of the people that were arrested ranged from 16 to 45. Henry McMasters said that Walterboro had been taken over by a street gang. Also in attendance were representatives of the FBI, US Marshals, ATF, SCHP, SLED, and the Walterboro police. How such a sleepy little town near the coast became an attraction for street gangs is beyond me. By the way, South Carolina has the death penalty.

I read about a man that called the cops because he saw someone pull up in his yard, jump out and grab one of his prize Albany Blood Cock roosters. He claimed that the rooster was worth $1,000. The thief jumped back in his car and sped away. The owner chased for a while but the thief escaped. I could not help but research what a Albany Blood Cock was. It is a fighting chicken, a Gamecock, if you will. It seems that this particular breed along with the MacAnally breed are the fiercest fighters out there. They are known affectionately in the cockfighting arena as “roundheads”. It is obvious that the owner of this rooster is not in the cockfighting business or he would have not called the cops, but that does not stop him from raising these athletes and selling them to those who do. When you think about how much this rooster is worth and what care is involved, it sounds like a lucrative business to me. Nah, If I did that my daughters would never speak to me again even though their inheritance would increase dramatically…or would they?

This Date in History November 30

1776 On this date one of the greatest screw-ups in history occurs. British Admiral Richard Howe and his bother British General William Howe offer amnesty to any colonist that would swear an oath to cease and desist from “Treasonable acting and doings” within 60 days. Earlier in September Admiral Howe had brought his fleet into Long Island Sound and disembarked his brother General William Howe and his well trained and polished infantry. After landing Howe engaged in two battles with Patriot General George Washington and his rag tag army and on one occasion Howe had the entire Patriot army flanked and could have cut off Washington’s retreat and captured and hanged him and his entire staff for treason and the rebellion would have ended. But the Howe brothers saw themselves as peace makers and allowed Washington and company to escape by boat over to Manhattan. A little while later the Patriots sent over a committee headed by Ben Franklin to negotiate with the Howe brothers. After two days of talks the negotiations broke down when the Howe brothers would not even consider American Independence as being necessary for peace. After this both sides ramped up for the all out war they knew was coming. Seven years later after an ocean of tears and blood was shed by our ancestors, victory was ours.

1835 On this date Samuel Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed out to a printer but then went to work for an older brother who was an editor with the Hannibal Journal in Hannibal, Missouri. He was commissioned to write a humorous travel column for the Keokuk Daily Post in Keokuk, Iowa. But Samuel saw himself as a riverboat captain on the mighty Mississippi and became an apprentice. At the age of 23 he received his license as a riverboat captain. He piloted until the outbreak of the Civil War and then nearly all riverboat traffic was discontinued. It was during his time as a captain that he received the nickname of “Mark Twain” which was a call out signifying the depth of two fathoms which was the minimum safe depth on the river. He moved out west and began writing for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, in Virginia City, Nevada. He eventually moved to San Francisco and began writing in earnest and delivered one of his best renderings in “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. In addition to this he gave us “Huckleberry Finn”, “Tom Sawyer”, “Roughin’ it” and many other gems. It is unlikely that the world will ever be graced with such a talented wit as he.

1989 On this date the so called “America’s first female serial killer” struck. A trucker named Richard Mallory was last seen in the company of Aileen Wournos. They had left a truck stop near Palm Bay, Florida and Richard was never seen alive again. They found his truck three days later near Ormond Beach with his wallet, a few condoms and pocket change on the front seat, but no Richard. Finally Richard’s body turned up in a Daytona Beach junkyard with three bullet holes in his chest. Over a period of two years seven men were found dead killed in a similar manner. The Florida Bureau of Investigation finally tracked Wournous down to a seedy biker bar near Tampa. She went on trial and was convicted of murder on seven counts. After the jury rendered their verdict, Aileen screamed “I am innocent. It was self defense. I was raped. I hope all of you scum sucking maggots get raped.” This was not a smooth move for Aileen because it would be the same jury that would convene two weeks later and determine her punishment. They gave her the death penalty. After Aileen figured out that the state of Florida was not kidding ,she became a born again Christian. Sure enough, the state of Florida did indeed mean business and in October of 2002 she went meet her maker electrified and her corpse was cremated. The ashes sent to her birthplace in Michigan where a former friend spread her ashes under a tree where they used to play. It seems sad, but think of the families of her victims first, and then think of Aileen.

Born today:

1874 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He said “Life is fraught with opportunities to keep your mouth shut.” Churchill is one of my favorite personalities.

Answer to the trivia question:
That famous line was uttered by Robert Duval playing Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore.

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Thursday, November 26, 2020

Friday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:
“All of us have had a crush on a teacher. For me it is my wife's aerobics instructor.”
Brian Kelly

Trivia question of the day
On the long running TV show “Gunsmoke” what was the name of Matt Dillon's horse? Answer at the end of the blog.

This Date in History November 27

1746 Robert R. (R.R.) Livingston is born on this date at his father’s estate, Clermont, on the banks of the Hudson River in upstate New York. R.R. was born into a family of the wealthy and privileged. In 1766 R.R.’s uncle Lord Livingston had been treating his tenant farmers severely and they revolted. They attacked the Livingston Manor in force and would have prevailed had not the English Army had not intervened and the attack was stopped. However, in 1777 the British army burned the Livingston estates of Clermont and Belvedere in retaliation for the Livingston’s siding with the Patriots in their search for independence and freedom. R.R. graduated from King’s College or present day Columbia. He was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the time of the Articles of Federation. He was a contributor in the phrasing of the Declaration of Independence but was not there for the signing. As he was the Chief Judge of New York, it was he that issued the oath if Office to George Washington at his first inauguration. He was selected as Chancellor of the state of New York and from that time on he was known as “The Chancellor” for the rest of his days. It was Livingston that was present in France trying to negotiate the sale of the port of New Orleans to the fledgling United States during the Jefferson administration. At the time, France was governed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon had dreamed of coming ashore in New Orleans and conquering all of North America but he knew that war with England was on the near horizon and he could not fight a war of two fronts that far apart. After an offer to buy New Orleans was issued to Talleyrand, Napoleon’s chief of staff, Talleyrand responded with “How much will you give me for it all? He was talking about all of the French lands in North America except for Canada. Well, R.R. and John Jay about peed their pants and asked for some time to come up with an amount. This was the beginnings of the Louisiana Purchase which all but doubled the lands of the United States. R.R.’s soul departed this earth on February 26, 1813.

1863 On this date Confederate Raider John Hunt Morgan and most of his staff, having previously been captured, tunneled out of the US Prison Camp in Columbus, Ohio and escaped back to Tennessee. Morgan was a native Kentuckian but when Kentucky did not secede, he moved to Alabama and offered his services to the Confederate Army. He was assigned the task of making raids on US installations in Kentucky since he was familiar with the area. Later he felt his Wheaties and went into Ohio and raided several US facilities. The down side was that when he came back to his place of crossing the Ohio River back into Kentucky, there was an overwhelming US cavalry unit waiting for him. After an extended chase, Morgan and most of his staff were captured. After returning to Tennessee, Morgan assembled another cavalry unit and began his raids again. Ironically, a year later Morgan’s cavalry unit was the victim of a surprise US cavalry attack near Greeneville, Tennessee. Morgan was killed trying to organize a defense. His attacks in Kentucky and Ohio did little logistic damage but did enormous good for the morale of the Confederacy.

1978 On this date former San Francisco city supervisor Dan White walked into city hall and killed Mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk. He shot them both several times with a 9mm automatic pistol. It seems that earlier Dan White has not happy with the way things were going in city hall and had resigned. Soon thereafter, Mayor Moscone hires Harvey Milk to replace White. Milk was the very first acknowledged homosexual to hold public office. White was arrested in short order and charged with premeditated murder. White was upset because Moscone had not conferred with him before hiring Milk, and he expected Moscone to try and get him to come back to his supervisor job but Moscone did not do it and hired Milk. The funny thing about all of this was that White’s defense was that he was hyped up from eating too much junk food. It was the first of the so called “Twinkie” defenses. The astounding part about this is that the jury bought it and White got ten years for manslaughter. After White was paroled he had a hard time adjusting and eventually blew his own brains out. I guess he got back on the Twinkies.

1868 A year before, US Calvary officer Colonel George A. Custer had been disciplined for the mistreatment of his troops and was demoted and removed from active service for a year. While he was out of service, US General Phillip Sheridan’s troopers had been getting their asses handed to them by the Cheyenne in Kansas and Oklahoma. Sheridan relented and after 10 months he brings Custer back to active duty to see if he can contain the fierce Cheyenne.

On this date, Custer launched a surprise attack on a peaceful Cheyenne village led by Chief Black Kettle near the present day town of Cheyenne, Oklahoma. As was common with Custer, he did no scouting or reconnoitering before attacking. If he had, he would have determined that this village was peaceful and was indeed on a reservation. It did not seem to bother Custer that the village was essentially unarmed and they killed 105 men, women and children in cold blood. Custer was not interested in punishing the Indians as much as he was in making a name for himself and getting back into a good light with his superiors no matter how many lives it took. It was his recklessness and lack of scouting that cost him 227 of his troopers being slaughtered and cut to pieces at Little Big Horn. In my personal opinion he may have been the worst officer the United States ever had. He was a good fighter but his ego came first before anything else, a very dangerous combination.

Births and deaths:

8BC Roman writer Horace is born. He said “Whatever your advice, make it brief.” The only advice I remember receiving was “Go slower”, and it was brief.

1874 US historian Charles Beard is born. He said “Whom the Gods choose to destroy, make mad with power.”

1909 US writer/critic James Agee is born. After reviewing the play “You Were Meant for Me” he wrote “That’s what you think”.

1937 US writer Gail Sheehy is born. She said “Creativity consists of letting go of certainties.”

1940 Legendary martial arts master Bruce Lee is born. He said “I am not in this world to fulfill your expectations of me and you are not here to fulfill mine.” Here, Here.

Answer to the trivia question:
Matt Dillon's horse's name was “Buck”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

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Thursday

Musing and History

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all

Quote of the day:
“Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
Mark Twain

Trivia question of the day:
What was the bloodiest single day in American history? Answer at the end of the blog.

This Date in History November 26

1922 Earlier archaeologist Howard Carter had discovered an unopened tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh name Tutankhamen but waited to enter the tomb until his financier English Lord Caernarvon arrived to be there for the opening. Carter knew then name of the pharaoh because of the hieroglyphs on the portal. On this date Carter and Caernarvon standing shoulder to shoulder cut a small hole in the doorway to take a look. Carter stuck his arm through the hole while holding a candle and peeked inside. Lord Caernarvon asked Carter what he saw and Carter answered “Things, wonderful things.” After the opened a hole large enough to crawl inside they uncovered one of the most dazzling and important archeological discoveries ever found. Carter was a veteran explorer and in the past had found the tombs of Queen Hatshepsut and King Thutmose IV. Both were important discoveries but nowhere the equal of King Tut. What a thrill it had have been to have been the first human being to lay eyes on that tomb in 2,500 years. I am sure that we all have seen the gold funeral mask of King Tut. What a beautiful work of art it is as with many other pieces found there.

1863 After the disastrous Confederate loss at Gettysburg, The Army of Northern Virginia, CSA General Robert E. Lee commanding, escapes back into the friendly confines of Virginia pursued by the Army of the Potomac commanded by US General George Meade. The were several encounters with no clear victor all the while US President A. Lincoln is on Meade’s ass to bring Lee to bear and finish off the Army of Northern Virginia. Even though Meade had the Confederates outnumbered nearly two to one, he was unable to corner the elusive Lee. After spending several weeks of Lee and Meade warily eyeing each other across the Rappahannock River with Lincoln raising hell with Meade to do something, Meade orders extensive reconnoitering and cannot find a weakness in Lee’s lines. But to placate Lincoln on this date he orders US General William French and three corps (about 33,000 men) to attempt an attack on Lee’s right flank. French and his troops set out and promptly get lost and make their position and intentions known to the Rebs. Lee sends CSA General Edward Johnson and his corps to cut French off. The two armies finally meet in a small valley named Mine Run and the battle is joined. After about four hours of little progress being made by either side, they both withdraw. French’s troops had suffered 940 casualties to 540 for the Confederates. Meade, in spite of the bitching of Lincoln, decides it is time to go into winter quarters and this battle is the last of 1863.

1933 Earlier 22 year old San Jose, California resident Brooke Hart shows up missing. Hart was the popular son of a San Jose store owner. The parents of young Brooke receive a ransom note for $40,000 a few days after his disappearance. The police retraced Hart’s steps to a ship near San Mateo and arrested two crewman named James Thurmond and John Holmes as the kidnappers. Eventually Hart’s corpse is found. He had been tortured before being beaten to death. Both Holmes and Thurmond blame each other for the slaying and are jailed in San Jose. On this day, the fine citizens of San Jose storm the jail and take Thurmond and Holmes outside and suspend them by the neck from the nearest light pole. They are not done yet. They cut the ropes used in the hanging and sell the pieces and give the money to charity. They also allow pictures of the fine citizenry of San Jose to have picture of themselves with the corpses…for a price. That money goes to charity also. The people of San Jose are praised by everyone in the state of California including the good Governor who stated “We need to turn over all the kidnappers in San Quentin to the good people of San Jose.” I believe in justice but I do not believe in vigilantism. That inevitably leads to anarchy.

1898 One of the worst blizzards to ever strike the northeastern United States begins on this date. Previously the winds had been blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean for two days then in a matter of minutes the wind began blowing form the northwest meaning a cold front called an Alberta Clipper had arrived and interacted with the moisture laden air already in place. It snowed for 36 hours at a ferocious pace to the tune that there were snow drifts even with the second story windows in places. As you might suspect, all communication were stopped. After all was said and done, there were over 450 dead but the real total may never be known because of the unsophisticated communications in those days.

1872 On this date one of the greatest hoaxes in the history of the United States begins. Two men named Phillip Arnold and John Slack walk into a San Francisco bank and try to deposit some raw diamonds. The bank president named William Ralston tried to get more information from the two but they behave very secretively and refuse Ralston’s questioning. Finally Ralston gets the two to admit that they found the diamonds in a mine. Ralston finally persuades the two to take him to the mine and they blindfold Ralston and take him to a mine where they had “salted” diamonds and rubies, meaning that they threw some diamonds and rubies about like they were extracted from the mine. Well Ralston about peed his pants and came back to San Francisco and organized a $20 million investment group. They offered Arnold and Slack $600,000 for the rights to the mine which they took. Soon afterward the San Francisco newspaper hires a geologist to inspect the mine and he returns and says that the mine is just a hole in the ground and is totally worthless. Ralston begins giving back the money to the investors but is unable to retrieve the money he gave to Arnold and Slack. The smoothies lived the rest of their lives in luxury thanks to the greed of man.

1941 On this date the combined Japanese fleet departs the Japanese Inland Sea heading east-southeast. They are headed for the United States military installations in the Hawaiian Islands. As we all know they arrive of December 7 and all but destroy America’s ability to wage war in the Pacific. For reasons known only to the Japanese, they did not occupy any part of the Hawaiian Islands nor sail on eastward to the United States unopposed. For whatever reason they did not do either and we were able to recover and prevail in the bloodiest war ever fought.

Birth and deaths:

1792 US Suffragist Sarah Grimke is born. She said “I ask nothing for my sex. All I ask is that my brethren get their feet off our necks.” That’s a real peculiar position for sex, Sarah.

Answer to the trivia question:
The bloodiest single day in American history was the Battle of Antietam in the Civil War. On the average there was a American killed or wounded every 2 seconds for 10 hours. War is hell.

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