Today in History

[jacobtowne]

Any time, any place.

I'll start with one from yesterday, Korean War.

September 22, 1950
Eighth Army completed its breakout from the Pusan Perimeter. Outflanked by the Inchon invasion in the north and under relentless pressure of the U.N. Forces' attack from the south, the In Mun Gun began a wholesale withdrawal to the north.

JT

[jacobtowne]

Sept. 23rd, for aficionados of the Wild West.


1875 : Billy the Kid is arrested for the first time

On this day in 1875, 15-year-old Billy the Kid is arrested for the first time.

An older acquaintance of Billy's had stolen a bag of clothes from a Chinese laundryman as a joke and convinced the always affable Billy to hide it for him. When Billy was literally caught holding the bag, a Silver City policeman threw him in the local jail to teach him a lesson. Languishing in a cramped cell for this petty offense, Billy discovered a deep-seated terror of confinement. After enduring his imprisonment for two days, he took advantage of his diminutive frame to worm his way up a chimney and escape. From that day forward Billy would be on the wrong side of the law, though he would soon be guilty of crimes far more serious than hiding a stolen bag of laundry.

Born in New York City in either 1859 or 1860, the boy who would later achieve an almost inexplicable level of worldwide fame as Billy the Kid, was at various times known as Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, and William Bonney, reflecting the uncertain identity of his real father. The young Billy's home life was equally uncertain and perhaps even abusive, and he had a rootless childhood that took him to Indiana, Kansas, and finally Silver City, Mexico, where his mother settled down and ran a boarding house. Although she was plagued by tuberculosis, Billy's mother, Catherine, was reportedly "a jolly Irish lady, full of life and mischief." She died when Billy was just 14, leaving the boy to eke out a meager existence on his own.

Unquestionably, Billy's childhood was a hard and difficult one, but no more so than that of thousands of other young orphans. For a time the boy even seemed to be headed for an unremarkable life as a hard-working, honest, and unusually friendly young man. The owner of a hotel where Billy worked for his room and board later even praised his young employee as "the only kid who ever worked here who never stole anything." Only after his unjust arrest and imprisonment for hiding a bag of dirty laundry did the good-natured and hardworking William Bonney start down the road to becoming the ruthless murdering outlaw Billy the Kid.

JT

[Peter Clare]

Is this now a cowboy site?

[Cpl Rootes]

1997
In Saudi Arabia, British nurse Lucille McLauchlan is sentenced to 500 lashes and eight years in jail for accessory to murder.
1986
England and Yorkshire batsman Geoff Boycott is controversially sacked from Yorkshire Cricket Club after playing for the county side for 24 years.
1974
In Britain, the BBC launches the world's first Ceefax teletext service.
1973
Juan Peron is re-elected President of Argentina after being ousted from the position almost 18 years earlier.
1940
During World War II, Britain intoduces two civilian awards for bravery and gallentry - the George Cross and the George Medal.
1926
American boxer Gene Tunney outpoints Jack Dempsey to win the world heavyweight title in Philadelphia.
1912
The first silent comedy film starring the Keystone Cops is released in America by Mack Sennett - called 'Cohen Collects A Debt'.
1848
First commercial production of chewing gum by John Curtis on a stove at his home in Bangor, Maine in the United States and marketed as 'The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum'.
1846
German Astronomer Johann Galle discovers another planet - Neptune.
480BC
Greeks defeat the Persians at the Battle of Salamis to halt the Persian advance into Europe.

[jacobtowne]

Originally Posted by Peter Clare

Is this now a cowboy site?

Dear Mr. Peter Clare:

The description at the top of the forum reads:

"Barracks Off topic area for all non ww2 related subjects"

If the post to which you refer has broken a rule, the moderators have the authority to inform me of my transgression, or to delete the post, or to take whatever other action they deem appropriate.

JT

[von Poop]

If we're going by number of responses to a thread then this forum's mostly about a sodding '4 word story'... hohum.
Barracks indeed. Silliness tolerated, least this threads got some historical context.

Today in 1936, Jim Henson was born.
Top bloke.

Cheers,
Adam.

[jacobtowne]

Hi Adam.

Are you going to keep us in suspense, or tell us who Jim Henson is (or was). Pardon my ignorance.

JT

[von Poop]

Have you never heard of the Muppets sir!

On this day In 1645 the Battle of Rowton Heath was fought, one of the last gasps of the Royalist effort in the English Civil war.

[jacobtowne]

What are Muppets?

Here's an important event for the day:

1890 : The Mormon Church (U.S.) officially renounces polygamy

On this day in 1890, faced with the imminent destruction of their church and way of life, Mormon leaders reluctantly issue the "Mormon Manifesto" in which they command all Latter-day Saints to uphold the anti-polygamy laws of the nation. The Mormon leaders had been given little choice: If they did not abandon polygamy they faced federal confiscation of their sacred temples and the revocation of basic civil rights for all Mormons.

JT

[Peter Clare]

Originally Posted by jacobtowne

Dear Mr. Peter Clare:

The description at the top of the forum reads:

"Barracks Off topic area for all non ww2 related subjects"

If the post to which you refer has broken a rule, the moderators have the authority to inform me of my transgression, or to delete the post, or to take whatever other action they deem appropriate.

JT

JT.

Point taken. I'll add my two cents worth.



1867 : Cattle pioneer Oliver Loving dies of gangrene

On this day in 1867, the pioneering cattleman Oliver Loving dies from gangrene poisoning in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. A few weeks before, Loving had been trapped by 500 Commanche braves along the Pecos River. Shot in the arm and side, Loving managed to escape and reach Fort Sumner. Though the wounds alone were not fatal, Loving soon developed gangrene in his arm, a common infection in the days before antibiotics. Even then he might still have been saved had his arm been removed, but unfortunately the fort doctor "had never amputated any limbs and did not want to undertake such work."

Sometimes referred to as the "Dean of the Trail Drivers," Loving had been braving the Commanche territory along the Pecos in order to make his second pioneering drive of cattle from Texas to Denver. In the 1860s, the Texas cattle herds were booming, but as long as the cattle were in Texas they were essentially worthless. To make money, they had to be moved over thousands of miles to the big cities where Americans were becoming increasingly fond of good fresh western beef. To overcome this challenge, a number of Texans pioneered the technique known as the "long drive," hiring cowboys to take massive cattle herds overland to the first cattle towns like Wichita and Dodge City where they could be loaded on trains for the East.

Along with his partner Charles Goodnight, Oliver Loving tried a brilliant alternative approach. Goodnight and Loving proposed to drive a herd of cattle directly to the growing population centers in New Mexico and Colorado where they could avoid middlemen and earn higher prices per head. The result was the Goodnight-Loving Trail, a 700-mile route through west Texas and New Mexico that eventually brought the cattle right into the booming mining regions of Colorado.

During the course of their first long and often treacherous drive in 1866, Loving and Goodnight lost more than 400 head, mainly to dehydration and drowning. But the 1,600 cattle that survived the trip brought good prices, and when Goodnight headed back to Texas his mule carried $12,000 in gold. Encouraged, the two men were preparing to follow the same route the next year when Loving's fatal encounter with the Commanche abruptly ended the partnership. However, Goodnight and others continued to use the Goodnight-Loving Trail, and it soon became one of the most successful cattle trails of the day.

ADVERTISEMENT