This Date In History, The Southern Version

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Tuesday

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 left 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 tinhese 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 indiscriminately. 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.

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Monday, January 4, 2021

Monday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:
“The metric system never caught on in the United States except for the popularity of the 9 millimeter bullet.”
Dave Barry

Trivia question of the day:
Who played Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. in the movie “The Longest Day”? Answer at the end of the blog.

A good friend of mine said that she will not continue to attend the “Four O’clock” club meetings at our new venue. I asked why and she said that the owners of the bar have not bought her favorite type of whiskey yet. I asked her if I understood her correctly; she wanted the bar owner to buy her favorite type whiskey (blended Canadian) and sell it to her at happy hour prices? She said that was correct. I am going to expect the same. I want Maker’s Mark at happy hour prices or I am going to stop going there in spite of some of the best Italian food north of the 30^th parallel. After all, I have my pride. Just joking Annie.

I saw an obviously ignorant but well known news analyst on a program a few days ago. The moderator pointed out that some of the changes that he suggests are clearly a violation of several Bill of Rights Amendments and promotes the change from a democratic republic form of government that we now have as described in the US Constitution. The US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the two most important documents in the history of western man. This jackass said that the Constitution was out of date and hard to understand and should be abolished and another form of government examined. I cannot tell you how outraged I was. I had to go take another high blood pressure pill and another Lexapro. I thought I had control of my temper a lot better lately, I was wrong. A group of very intelligent men and women got together and hammered out a way to live in freedom and guaranteed it with the Bill of Rights and this jackass want to change it because it is adverse to what he wants. I will tell y’all something in metaphor. This great ship of State known as The United States was carved out of the bones of our ancestors and is afloat on a sea of their blood from the deep past and present day military heroes that die every day in YOUR behalf to preserve YOUR freedom. All of this is glued together with a love and faith of our founding fathers and the faith and love we have for each other. We all sail along on this ship designed by Thomas Jefferson and friends. Then some arrogant jackass says that the Constitution should be trashed. He should go read any Medal of Honor citation and find out what being an American is all about because he certainly is not. The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the most treasured documents ever written and will stay that way as long as this old, grey-haired Patriot is alive. It makes me teary eyed to think on it. To all that are interested, I am armed to the teeth and I am not bashful.

I was watching TV about how dangerous moose can be, especially during the rut and right after giving birth. I got to thinking about one the scariest situations I have ever been in. All of them involve either hunting or fishing. Here they are: (1) I was wading across a bunch of muskeg (swamp) up in Alaska headed toward a creek that was full of trout. I was wearing hip waders and carrying an 8 foot fly rod and a fly box. I DID NOT have a weapon (.357 Mag. or better) on me like the laws of the state dictate. I got about half way to the creek when a cow moose stormed out of the woods to my left and headed right toward me. She could have killed me with one stroke of her hooves. But I was not going down without a fight so I waved my fly rod at her and called her bad names. I could not stomp around too much because the water in the muskeg was only about two inched below the tops of my boots. It I had started running, my boots would have filled up and I would have probably drowned or fell and the moose would have stomped me into Tapioca. So I did the best that I could, I stood my ground and yelled at the top of my lungs and finally I hooked my rod together to its full eight feet and waved it with a fly known as a Royal Coachman tied at the end of leader. She finally stopped about 20 yards away and retreated to the woods. I am sure she had a calf hidden somewhere close. I don’t know why she stopped. She had me, but on second thought she might have been afraid of the Royal Coachman. I will tell some more adventures later.

This Date in History January 4

1999 On this date for the first time since Charlemagne in the 10^th century most of Europe adopted a common currency and named it the “Euro”. The only nations that refused to go along were Great Britain and Denmark. At first it was only used in internal banking and stock and bonds then they came out with paper and coin currency. When I was in Europe in ’04 the Euro was worth about $1.20. The value of the Euro varies a lot but right now it is about the same as it was in ’04.

1964 On this date a young lady named Mary Sullivan is found dead in her Boston apartment raped and strangled. There was a business card leaning against her foot with the words “Happy New Year” written on it. This girl was the last victim of the serial killer Albert DeSalvo also known as “The Boston Strangler”. Mary was his 13^th victim. Albert started a life of crime at an early age and there was a reason for it. His father would bring prostitutes home and have sex with her in front of the entire family and then he would finish off the evening by beating the hell out of each and every one of them. His father sold little Albert and two of his sisters to become farm laborers. Albert acquired several nicknames. When very young he would knock on doors and proclaim himself as representative of a modeling agency and that he needed to take some “measurements” and then crudely fondle them. The cops labeled him “Measuring Man” and sent him to the slammer for a year. When he got out he kicked it up a notch and began to break into apartments, tie up and rape any women he ran across. He was always in a green handyman’s coveralls so the cops named him “Green Man”. In 1962 he began killing women after raping them. He always left a “signature”. He tied whatever he used to strangle his victims into a bow. In 1964 for reasons known only to Albert, he raped a woman but did not kill her and the cops were on his ass like a swarm of locusts and threw him in jail. Albert told his cellmate about his killings and his cellmate told the cops. The famous lawyer (and Marine Captain) F. Lee Bailey took Albert’s case and through a series of brilliant negotiations with the Boston District Attorney he got Albert’s case condensed to just the rapes he committed while in his “Green Man” phase. These charges would put Albert away for life without parole instead of death. It didn’t help though, Albert had a shank (homemade knife) driven into his liver and killed by another inmate in the Walpole Prison in 1973. What goes around......

1847 On this date, when within a hairs breadth of bankruptcy, Samuel Colt gets a contract to sell 1,000 of his .44 caliber revolvers to the US army. During this time handguns were not very popular in America because they were expensive and inaccurate. There was one exception and that was dueling pistols. In this formalized ceremony very well made and ornate pistols were used but again very expensive and inaccurate due to them being smoothbores. Most people preferred knives for personal protection especially the deadly Bowie knife. Mr. Colt’s .44’s had rifled barrels making them much more accurate but cost was still a problem. The .44 also was a revolver meaning it could be pre-loaded with 5 or 6 shots and be fired in rapid succession whereas guns like the dueling pistols had to be reloaded after every shot as did many of the rifles of the day. Anyway, Mr. Colt’s .44 proved to be very popular with the US troops and they made several more orders which allowed Colt to gather the advice of other industrialists like Eli Whitney and other inventors who helped him get a production line going and helped him design interchangeable parts which vastly lowered the price of his weapons. Although never really cheap, by 1850 the cost had reached a point that it could be afforded by many Americans that were headed west to settle new lands. Between 1860 and 1880 he sold nearly 270,000 pistols to the pioneers.

Answer to the trivia question:
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was played by Henry Fonda. General Teddy Roosevelt, Jr. directed his troops on Utah beach on D-Day and was awarded the Medal of Honor.

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Friday, January 1, 2021

Friday

Musings and History

Happy New Year, y'all

Quote of the day:
“I have never killed anyone, but I have read many obituaries with much pleasure.”
Clarence Darrow

Trivia question of the day:
Who played Sonny Corleone in The Godfather? Answer at the end of the blog.

This Date in History January 1

1781 On this date 1,500 infantrymen known as the “Pennsylvania Line” serving under Patriot General Anthony “Mad Anthony” Wayne gather up their gear near Morristown, N.J. and headed home because their enlistments had expired. I forgot to mention that more than half of them were drunker than Cooter Brown. Soon after they left Wayne they were approached by emissaries from British General Sir Henry Clinton offering them a complete pardon and all the back pay the US owed them if they would join the British army. Instead they turned south and attacked and captured Princeton, N.J. They then headed toward Philadelphia and the US Congress. But before that they sent some emissaries back to see General Wayne who had been following them. They had not given up on the Patriotic cause but felt they had grievances. When they met with Wayne they handed over the emissaries sent by British General Clinton and Wayne promptly hanged them. At the meeting with Wayne, it was agreed that those with expired enlistments could go home but Wayne offered a 30 day furlough and a handsome bonus for those that re-enlisted. Nearly half of them accepted the offer to re-enlist and were sent to fight with the Southern Army. A week or so later a group of about 200 Patriot troops from New Jersey heard about this deal and decided to mutiny themselves and barter for the deal that Wayne issued. Only this time the troops were under George Washington and George rounded up the two ring leaders and stood them up in front of a firing squad. That kept the Continental army together for the present. But even at that, there were more colonists fighting with the British than with George Washington. What enormous character this man must have had to have continued and prevailed. I must believe he was not there by accident.

1973 On this night a 28 year old school teacher named Kathy Cleary decided to bring in the New Year at Tweed’s Bar of the upper west side of Manhattan, while there she meets a man named Joe Willie Simpson. Simpson was dangerously disturbed but appeared to be a pleasant and affable young man to young Miss Cleary. Kathy and Joe Willie agree to go to Joe Willie’s place for the rest of the evening; it was there the other Joe Willie emerges. It seems that Joe Willie is a suppressed homosexual at heart which makes him a hater of women. Joe Willie ends up strangling Kathy and stabbing her numerous times and sexually mutilates her. This event was the theme of the book and movie titled “Looking for Mister Goodbar”. The book was written by Judith Rossner as a warning about what could happen during the so-called “sexual revolution”. By the way, before Joe Willie Simpson came to trial he hanged himself in his cell.

1863 On this date the Emancipation Proclamation proclamation went into effect. This document supposedly freed the slaves in “those states in rebellion” and no where else. How could they hope to enforce it? What happens to the slaves in those slave-holding states NOT in rebellion like Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delaware? For the life of me I cannot figure out what Abe was thinking. It could have been just to let the CSA know that he did not recognize its legitimacy. But the downside was that it put the four slave-holding states not in rebellion one step closer to seceding and joining the Confederacy. I don’t know who talked Abe into the Emancipation Proclamation but he should have been fired for lack of vision. Slavery was outlawed in the United States and its possessions with the adoption of the 13^th Amendment in December of 1865.

1966 On this date the Transportation Workers of America and the New York subway workers in particular caused one of the worst nightmares imaginable for New Yorkers. The subway workers went on strike at the direction New York TWA leader Michael Quill. On the January 3, the Governor ordered the strike stopped or Quill would go to jail. All that did was inflame the situation and the striker dug in their heels and Quill was indeed jailed. The strike crippled the transportation in New York and the situation became intolerable. On the 13^th the subway workers went back to work with a 13% pay raise.

1915 During WWI a British battle group containing the battle ship Formidable had been assembling in the English Channel for a couple of days. What they did not know was that German submarine U-24 commanded by Captain Rudolph Schneider had been watching the whole scenario undetected waiting for a chance at the battleship. On this day his chance came. He slipped in close and put a torpedo into the starboard side just even with the front stack. The bad part was that he maneuvered around, again undetected, and put another fish into the port side just even with the second stack. The ships pumps could not handle the influx of the water and she went to the bottom taking all but 223 of her crew of 770 to Davy Jones Locker.

Births and deaths:

1839 English writer Ouida is born. She said “Could we see when and where we would meet again, we would be tenderer when we bid our friends goodbye.” Pretty heavy, y'all.

1919 US writer J.D. Salinger is born. He said “I am a paranoid in reverse. I believe that there are people out there plotting to make me happy.” Me too.

Quotable quotes:

“Walter Mondale has as much charisma as a speed bump”
William Durst.

When speaking of Adlai Stevenson he said “He is no better than the average sissy.”
Harry Truman

Answer to the trivia question:
Sonny Corleone was played by James Caan.

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Thursday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:
“The price of Prozac went up 50% last year. When Prozac users were asked about it, they said, “Whatever…"
Jay Leno

A while back the cops down in Mobile, Alabama a man named Luke Cole was arrested for burglarizing 5 different businesses in West Mobile one of which was a Christian book store. Also arrested was Luke’s father who was fencing whatever his son brought home. By the way Luke is 17 years old.

Over in Fayetteville, NC an elderly cattleman had raised a black angus bull from a calf to a 2,000 pound behemoth. The bull never relented from his hostile behavior. The cattleman wanted to keep the bull at stud to replenish his herd but he had very little control of his its behavior. One day the bull got out of his personal pasture and was a couple of pastures over chasing the cows around. The cattleman attempted to coax the bull back into his personal field but tripped and fell. The bull immediately charged and pinned the old gentleman to the ground by pressing his forehead into the man’s chest. The old gentleman died. A few days before the cattleman had sold the bull to a slaughterhouse because of his behavior. The bull will soon be distributed around the southeast in smaller pieces.

This Date in History December 31

1600 On this date Queen Elizabeth I signed a charter authorizing a group of London merchants to form an organization known as the East India Company to act at the behest of the crown to capture the spice trade in the East Indies from the hands of the Dutch. This endeavor was unsuccessful but the market they found in India and China more than made up for their failure against the Dutch. Soon the flow of spices from India and the tea from China was almost unending on their way to England. This almost untapped gold mine of consumables did not go unnoticed by the French and Dutch and they attempted to move in and get part of this cornucopia. This prompted the East India Company to form their own army and navy to protect their investment. Eventually England felt it was necessary to declare India as a British possession and sent in a governor and staff to rule this most recent colony to protect the trade from interlopers by use of the mighty British army and navy. After this decision the East India Company became nothing but an administrative arm of the British Governor. In 1857 the Indian soldiers in the British army revolted against the British control of their country. This “Indian Revolt” was crushed the next year and Great Britain tightened its grip on India even more by dissolving the East India Company. They even had the gall to pass a law stating that the Indians could not go to the seaside and dig out settling ponds to allow the water to evaporate leaving the salt. Salt was imperative to the Indians not only for seasoning but for food preservation. This meant that they could only get their salt from the British. It was a monopoly of a necessary item. In the early 1930’s an Indian holy man named Mahatma Gandhi began a peaceful revolt that eventually caused the demise of English rule and the beginning of an Independent India. By the way, the beginning of the end of British rule began when Gandhi left home headed for the coast to evaporate out some salt stating that salt was a gift from God and should not be controlled by man. Along the way he had gathered more and more followers and he arrived at the coast with over 60,000 people following. The British army did not know what to do with that many people and they let them alone to get some salt.

1972 Baseball superstar Roberto Clemente is in the San Juan International Airport, Puerto Rico. Clemente was an all-star outfielder for the Pittsburg Pirates and spent the majority of the off-season doing charity work in his native Puerto Rico or other places in Central America. Earlier Clemente had sent a huge amount of relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua after that city was ravaged by an earthquake. He found out later that only a small amount of the supplies had reached those that needed it; the majority of it had been stockpiled by corrupt officials and sold to the needy. Clemente was a fiery individual anyway and when he found out about this travesty, he gathered more supplies in Puerto Rico and was going to take them to Managua himself and distribute them to the needy. He soon found that he had more supplies that the plane that he had chartered could handle. Observing all of this was an unscrupulous man named Arthur Rivera. Rivera owned a ram shackled propeller driven DC-7 that could barely fly. He offered to rent this plane to Clemente for $4,000. Clemente agreed and they began loading the DC-7. Rivera was not a pilot and he began frantically searching for a pilot and found one in a man named Jerry Hill. Rivera, Clemente and the pilot finally got aboard and the plane began its takeoff roll. Observers knew the plane was in trouble from the start because of the sound of the engines. The plane reached about 200 feet over the Caribbean and exploded and fell into the sea. It was found that the pilot had over-boosted the engines. The bodies of Clemente, Rivera and Hill were never found. Clemente was admitted to the baseball Hall of Fame posthumously and in 2002 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Born today:

1830 Scottish writer Alexander Smith. He said “To be occasionally quoted is all the fame I desire.” Tack on to that, “occasionally paid”.

1894 Movie star Pola Negri. She said “Love is disgusting when you no longer own yourself.”

1943 US songwriter John Denver. He said “Music paints pictures and often tells stories. All of it magic and all of it true.” John had a pure and clear voice; I have not heard a voice close to his since his demise except maybe Josh Groban

1952 US Guitarist/singer George Thorogood. He said “There are two types of music, the “blues” and that bullshit they play on MTV.” I second that.

1958 US actress Bebe Neuwirth. She said “If you have to ask how to be sexy after the age of 40, you probably can’t do it.” I am still trying, Bebe.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow