William Howard Taft |
Sept. 15, 1254 – Italian merchant and explorer Marco Polo
was born in Venice, Republic of Venice. Polo’s travels were recorded in “The Travels
of Marco Polo,” a book that introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China.
Polo was not the first European to reach China, but he was the first to leave a
detailed chronicle of his experience, and his book inspired Christopher
Columbus and many other travelers.
Sept. 15, 1440 – Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known
serial killers, was taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him
by the Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes.
Sept. 15, 1492 – While within the western part of the
Sargasso Sea, Columbus and his increasingly nervous crew observed a huge,
unexplained “bolt of fire” shoot across the sky and fall or disappear into the
ocean.
Sept. 15, 1613 – Famous author François VI, duke de La Rochefoucauld
was born in Paris. His entire literary reputation is based on a single slim
book that he published in 1665 called “Maxims,”
a collection of humorous and ironic maxims about human life and behavior.
Sept. 15, 1775 – During the American Revolution, an early
and unofficial American flag was raised by Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Mott after
the seizing of Fort Johnson from the British. The flag was dark blue with the
white word "Liberty" spelled on it.
Sept. 15, 1776 – During the American Revolution, British
troops captured and occupied New York City. The city stayed under British
control until the end of the war.
Sept. 15, 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War,
4,000 British troops under General Howe landed at Kip's Bay during the New York
Campaign and took control of the island.
Sept. 15, 1779 - French Commander Charles Count d'Estaing
captured two British frigates and two British supply ships in the Savannah
River.
Sept. 15, 1784 - The first successful balloon ascent in
England was demonstrated for a crowd. "Daredevil Aeronaut" Vincenzo
Lunardi took off in a brightly decorated balloon, along with a cat, dog, and
pigeon. His friend George Biggin was left behind however, because the balloon
embarked on its 24-mile journey, without being fully inflated.
Sept. 15, 1789 – James Fenimore Cooper, considered to be the
first true American novelist, was born in Burlington, N.J.
Sept. 15, 1789 – The United States "Department of
Foreign Affairs", established by law in July, was renamed the Department
of State and given a variety of domestic duties.
Sept. 15, 1814 - British attack on Fort Bowyer on Mobile
Point fails, prompting the British to abandon plans to capture Mobile (in
present-day Alabama) and turn towards New Orleans.
Sept. 15, 1834 – Stephen S. Andress was commissioned as
Monroe County, Alabama’s Sheriff.
Sept. 15, 1835 – The HMS Beagle, with Charles
Darwin aboard, reached the Galápagos Islands. The ship landed at Chatham or San
Cristobal, the easternmost of the archipelago.
Sept. 15, 1857 - Timothy Alder earned a patent for the
typesetting machine.
Sept. 15, 1857 - William H. Taft, the 27th President of the
United States, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Sept. 15, 1861 – During the Civil War, Federal General Charles Fremont, commander of Union forces in St. Louis, Missouri, was under pressure on two fronts. He was supposed to be organizing a march of 38,000 troops to Lexington, Missouri, where a Federal force was holding out against a siege of Sterling Price. Fremont was also under pressure from President Lincoln, who was furious about Fremont’s orders freeing all the slaves in Missouri, and Lincoln’s friend, the politician-colonel Frank Blair Jr. who was furious about a recent audit of Fremont’s books. Fremont’s response was to place Blair under arrest and cancel the march to Lexington.
Sept. 15, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Darnestown, Va.
Sept. 15, 1862 - Confederate General Thomas
"Stonewall" Jackson captured Harpers Ferry, Virginia (present-day
West Virginia) and some 12,000 Union soldiers as General Robert E. Lee’s army
moved north into Maryland. Union General Dixon Miles surrendered after offering
little resistance.
Sept. 15, 1864 – John Hanning Speke was found lying near a
stone wall on the estate of a relative, felled by a fatal gunshot wound from a
hunting rifle. His death was ruled accidental, and an obituary surmised that
Speke, while climbing over the wall, had carelessly pulled the gun after
himself with the muzzle pointing at his chest and shot himself.
Sept. 15, 1875 – Jesse James robbed the Huntingdon Bank in
Huntingdon, Tenn. At about noon, James, accompanied by Cole Younger and two
members of his gang, leisurely entered the bank and took $10,252 from the
cashier at gunpoint.
Sept. 15, 1889 – Humorist, essayist, actor and drama critic
Robert Benchley was born in Worcester, Mass.
Sept. 15, 1890 – Mystery writer Agatha Christie was born
Mary Clarissa Agatha Miller in Torquay, Devon, England.
Sept. 15, 1897 – The Citronelle Call newspaper in
Citronelle, Ala. was established.
Sept. 15, 1911 – Dr. Luther Terry was born in Red Level,
Ala. He would go on to become a doctor and public health official. He was
appointed the ninth Surgeon General of the United States from 1961 to 1965, and
is best known for his warnings against the dangers and the impact of tobacco
use on health.
Sept. 15, 1912 - Joe Wood of the Boston Red Sox won his 16th
consecutive major league game.
Sept. 15, 1915 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the
“new school building” at Lenox, Ala. was nearing completion.
Sept. 15, 1915 – A mass meeting of 250 to 500 citizens was
held at the Monroe County Courthouse in Monroeville, Ala. for the purpose of
recommending persons for appointment by the governor to the county’s new board
of revenue, which had recently been created by the state legislature and
combined the Commissioners Court and County Highway Commission. The following
were recommended to the governor - first district, W.S. Bowden; second
district, T.E. Dennis Sr.; third district, G.A. Fountain; and fourth district,
W.L. Shannon.
Sept. 15, 1922 – J. Taylor Ball, about 33 years old, passed
away at his home near Mt. Zion in Conecuh County, Ala. from influenza and
double pneumonia. He was the son of the late Albert M. Ball and was buried at
the Owassa cemetery with Masonic honors.
Sept. 15, 1923 - Oklahoma was placed under martial law by
Gov. John Calloway Walton due to terrorist activity by the Ku Klux Klan.
Sept. 15-16, 1927 – The annual institute for Conecuh County
teachers was scheduled to be held in Evergreen, Ala. M.A. Hanks was Conecuh
County’s Superintendent of Education.
Sept. 15, 1928 – In Lovecraftian fiction, Miskatonic
University librarian Henry Armitage and Profesors Rice and Morgan performed an
exorcism on Sentinel Hill, bringing the “Dunwich Horror”, a son of Yog-Sothoth,
to an end.
Sept. 15, 1931 - The Philadelphia Athletics beat the
Cleveland Indians to clinch their third consecutive American League pennant.
The win was the ninth and final American League championship of legendary
manager Connie Mack’s storied career.
Sept.
15, 1931 - Alabama author Zora Neale Hurston's play “Fast and Furious” opened on Broadway.
Sept.
15, 1935 - The Nuremberg Laws were enacted by Nazi Germany. The act stripped
all German Jews of their civil rights and the swastika was made the official
symbol of Nazi Germany.
Sept. 15, 1938 - Lloyd and Paul Waner became the first
brothers to hit back-to-back home runs in a Major League Baseball game. It was
Lloyd's last home run.
Sept. 15, 1938 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher
Gaylord Perry was born in Williamston, N.C. He went on to play for the San
Francisco Giants, the Cleveland Indians, the Texas Rangers, the San Diego
Padres, the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Seattle Mariners and the
Kansas City Royals. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.
Sept. 15, 1946 - A Brooklyn Dodgers-Chicago Cubs game was
called when players, umpires and fans were attacked by gnats.
Sept. 15, 1952 – J.N. Andrews, a barber, beat incumbent
mayor H.L. Dees Jr., a grocery merchant, 30-28, in a municipal election in the
Town of Repton, Ala. Dees contested the election, alleging that illegal votes
were cast and five absentee ballots were improperly thrown out. Council members
elected were G.H. Dees, Dr. W.R. Carter, J.L. Dees, John E. Davison and Lee Stallworth.
Sept. 15, 1961 – Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino was
born in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Sept. 15, 1963 - All three Alou brothers - Felipe, Matty and
Jesus - played in the outfield at the same time for the San Francisco Giants in
a 13-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Sept. 15, 1963 - Four black girls were killed and 21 others
are injured when a bomb exploded at Birmingham, Alabama's 16th Street
Baptist Church, a center for nearby civil rights demonstrations the previous
spring. The girls, ranging between the ages of 11 and 14, were preparing for
Youth Day activities when the Sunday morning explosion occurred. Three Klansmen
accused of the bombing were convicted: one each in 1977, 2001, and 2002. A
fourth suspect who died in 1994 was never put on trial.
Sept. 15, 1964 - The Rev. K. L. Buford and Dr. Stanley Hugh
Smith become the first black elected officials in Alabama since Reconstruction
when they won seats on the Tuskegee City Council. Buford, a civil rights
leader, and Smith, a sociology professor at Tuskegee Institute, defeated white
incumbents in a run-off election.
Sept. 15, 1965 - Twenty-five workers employed by the Monroe
County, Ala. road department walked off their jobs on this Wednesday morning in
an attempt to get higher wages. The workers, meeting with four members of the
Monroe County Commission, didn’t state how much raise they wanted. The
commissioners said they gave the men the opportunity to return to their jobs
following the meeting but the men refused.
Sept. 15, 1966 – Thomas Lloyd Kendrick, 49, of Lyeffion was
killed instantly when his car was struck by a train at the railroad crossing at
Binion’s Pool, about six miles south of Evergreen, Ala.
Sept. 15, 1967 – In a football game attended by over 2,000
paid spectators, Evergreen High School dropped to 0-2 on the season after a
14-13 loss to Monroe County High School in Evergreen, Ala.
Sept. 15, 1967 – In their home opener, Repton High School
improved to 2-1 on the season with an 18-0 win over Lyeffion in Repton, Ala.
Sept. 15, 1967 – John B. Privette Jr., 37, of Andalusia,
Ala. was killed when the car he was driving ran off the road and hit a light
pole at 1:40 a.m. on State Highway 41, seven miles south of Repton, Ala.
Sept. 15, 1969 - Steve Carlton of the St. Louis Cardinals
struck out 19 Mets for a nine-inning game record.
Sept. 15, 1972 - The Watergate indictments began against
seven perpetrators.
Sept. 15, 1974 - Fred Lynn of the Boston Red Sox hit a home
run on his very first Major League Baseball at-bat.
Sept. 15, 1978 - The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first
Major League Baseball team to pass the three-million mark in home attendance.
Sept. 15, 1979 - Bob Watson of the Boston Red Sox became the
first player to hit for the cycle in both leagues. He hit for the cycle with
the Houston Astros on June 23, 1977.
Sept. 15, 1981 – Evergreen, Ala. weather reporter Earl
Windham reported 1.82 inches of rain.
Sept. 15, 1981 – Some time this night, four men broke into
the Conecuh County High School in Castleberry, Ala. and vandalized the
building’s interior. The crime was reported the next morning, and Conecuh
County Sheriff’s deputies arrested the four men later that day around 8 p.m.
Sept. 15, 1982 - The first issue of "USA Today"
was published.
Sept. 15, 1983 – The Evergreen Courant reported that work
was underway on renovations to the second floor of the Conecuh County Courthouse
and those renovations would result in a second, smaller courtroom, a jury room,
witness rooms and restrooms for jurors and witnesses.
Sept. 15, 1990 - Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox
became the first relief pitcher with 50 saves in a season.
Sept. 15, 1990 - France announced that it would send an
additional 4,000 soldiers to the Persian Gulf. They also expelled Iraqi
military attaches in Paris.
Sept. 15, 1996 - The Baltimore Orioles broke the Major
League Baseball record for most home runs in one season. They finished with a
total of 243. The New York Yankees had set the record at 240 in 1961.
Sept. 15, 1997 - Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners hit
his 51st and 52nd home runs to become the sixth player to hit 100 or more home
runs over two consecutive seasons. He had hit 49 home runs the previous season.
Sept. 15, 1998 - Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit
his 63rd home run of the season.
Sept. 15, 1998 - Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners
became the fourth-youngest player to reach 1,000 RBIs when he hit his 52nd home
run of the season.
Sept. 15, 1998 – The Evergreen (Ala.) City Council appointed
Pete Wolff III, David Taylor and James East to another term on the Evergreen
Industrial Development Board. The council also approved the payment of
$37,102.22 to Duncan Builders for work done on the depot.
Sept. 15, 2002 - Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks
struck out eight to reach 300 for the season. Schilling and Randy Johnson
became the first teammates in baseball history to each strike out 300 in the
same season.
Sept. 15, 2011 – Rufus David Blair, 77, of Appleton, Ala.,
who’d been missing since Sept. 13, was found by searchers at 10:37 a.m. in a
wooded area off East Railroad Street in Castleberry.
Sept. 15, 2013 – Joey and Ava Brewton of Lyeffion, Ala.
picked a gigantic watermelon that weighed 206.4 pounds, just four pounds shy of
the state record, on this Sunday. The melon was transported to the Evergreen
Nursing Home the following day, where it was consumed by the residents.
No comments:
Post a Comment