Today in History for March 30, 2017

 Sgt. Elmer Jack Taylor

March 30, 240 BC - Chinese astronomers first recorded the passage of Halley's Comet.

March 30, 1775 - Britain's King George III formally endorsed the New England Restraining Act, which required New England colonies to trade exclusively with Great Britain as of July 1.

March 30, 1817 – Richard Thomas Baggett, who was said to have been the first child born to white settlers in Conecuh County, Ala., was born on the Baggett family farm, NE 1/4 Section 4, Township 4 North, Range 10 East.

March 30, 1820 – Author Anna Sewell was born in Yarmouth, England. She wrote “Black Beauty” in 1877.

March 30, 1822 - Florida became a U.S. territory.

March 30, 1825 - Confederate General Samuel Maxey was born in Tompkinsville, Kentucky. During the Civil War, Maxey served in the West and led Native Americans troops in Indian Territory.

March 30, 1853 – Painter Vincent Van Gogh was born in Zundert, Holland.

March 30, 1855 – About 5,000 "Border Ruffians" from western Missouri invaded the territory of Kansas and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature. It was the first election in Kansas.

March 30, 1858 – Hymen Lipman of Philadelphia patented the first pencil to have an attached eraser.

March 30, 1861 – Jephtha Vining Perryman passed away at the age of 63. He served as a legislator, judge and education superintendent in Conecuh County, Ala. Born on Feb. 9, 1798, he is buried in the Old Evergreen Cemetery.

March 30, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought on Wilmington Island and Whitemarsh Island, Ga.; and in the vicinity of Clinton, Mo. The Federal occupation of Union City, Tenn. began.

March 30, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Cross Hollow, Ark.; in the Indian Territory at Tahlequah; in the vicinity of Somerset, Ky., at Dutton’s Hill; in Vernon County, Mo., at a place knows as “The Island”; at Washington, Deep Gully and Rodman’s Point, N.C.; at Zoar Church, Va.; and in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

March 30, 1864 – During the Civil War, a Federal reconnaissance began from Woodville, Ala. in Jackson County.

March 30, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Mount Elba, Ark.; at Snyder’s Bluff, Miss.; at Cherry Grove, N.C.; and at Greenton, Mo. A Federal reconnaissance operation inclusive of Columbus, Clinton and Moscow, Ky. began. A three-day Federal reconnaissance from Lookout Valley, Tenn. to McLemore’s Cove, Ga. also began. Other reconnaissance missions were conducted around Woodville and Athens, Ala.

March 30, 1865 - General James H. Wilson detached Gen. John T. Croxton's brigade to destroy all Confederate property at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Wilson's forces captured a Confederate courier, found to be carrying dispatches from Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest describing the strengths and dispositions of his scattered forces. Wilson sent a brigade to destroy the bridge across the Cahaba River at Centreville, which cut off most of Forrest's reinforcements from reaching the area. He began a running fight with Forrest's forces that did not end until after the fall of Selma.

March 30, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Montevallo, Ala.

March 30, 1865 – During the Civil War, a four-day Federal operation starting from Baton Rouge and including Clinton and Comite River, La. began, and a skirmish was fought at Patterson’s Creek, West Virginia.

March 30, 1865 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought in the vicinity of Five Forks and along the line of Hatcher’s Run and Gravelly Run, Va. Just as the final campaign was declared underway, heavy rains began around Petersburg, Va. Phil Sheridan was working to get the right flank offensive organized. Gen. Humphreys got his Second Corps into a dustup at Hatcher’s Run, near Five Forks. Warren’s Fifth Corps, on the other hand, got into a similar skirmish in an area known as Gravelly Run. The Union men were encountering less resistance as Lee pulled men back to reinforce the southwest side as a possible escape route.

March 30, 1867 – Alaska was purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents per acre, by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.

March 30, 1870 - The 15th amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, was passed by the U.S. Congress.

March 30, 1870 – Texas was readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.

March 30, 1880 – Playwright Sean O’Casey was born in Dublin, Ireland.

March 30, 1905 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was chosen to mediate in the Russo-Japanese peace talks.

March 30, 1905 – The Monroe Journal reported that the law firm of Wiggins, Hybart & Bayles had been dissolved, and the firm of Bayles, Hybart & Burns had taken its place. Jno. M. Burns, the new member, was from Selma, Ala., where he had practiced law for eight years, including two years as Selma’s City Attorney.

March 30, 1911 – An unidentified man, about 24 years old, was killed by a freight train near the depot in Evergreen at about 9 p.m. He is supposed to have been stealing a ride and fell from the train. The wheels passed over his body, severing it in the middle. On his arm was tattooed the name John Hartley South Wales.

March 30, 1911 – The Conecuh Record reported that the City Grocery had installed a large, up-to-date refrigerator, the first of its kind in Evergreen, Ala. It held up to 500 pounds of ice and was used for perishable goods like butter, cheese and berries.

March 30, 1914 - Capt. R.F. Kolb delivered addresses at Jones Mill and Monroeville on this Monday afternoon and night on behalf of his candidacy for Alabama governor. Kolb spoke to “fair audiences at both points and expressed strong confidence in his prospect for being in the run-off primary. He paid his respects to all three of his competitors and declared himself ‘the people’s candidate’ without alliance with any other interest whatever,” The Journal reported.

March 30, 1915 – Shortly after noon, 31-year-old Lydia Belle “Liddie” Deason Peacock, who was pregnant, was “instantly killed” by a bolt of lightning at her home near Wilcox Station, Ala. She had been on the back porch and when returning to the kitchen, lightning struck the house, killing her. The bolt also shattered a column and pillar under the porch and killed a dog nearby in the yard. Born on April 28, 1883, she was buried in the Flat Rock Cemetery at Flat Rock.

March 30, 1915 – Around 10 p.m., the “worst rain and hail storm that (Conecuh) County has ever known” passed through the Johnstonville community. The storm lasted almost 10 minutes, and the hailstones were about the size of small eggs. Nearly all the leaves were stripped from the trees, gardens were practically ruined and all windows not protected by blinds were broken.

March 30, 1916 – The Conecuh Record report that 4,954 bales of cotton were ginned in Conecuh County, Ala. in 1915, which was 12,302 bales short of the 1914 crop.

March 30, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that Judge Thomas W. Davis of Thomasville, Ala., a candidate for circuit judge, was a visitor to Monroeville during the previous week.

March 30, 1918 - British, Australian and Canadian troops mounted a successful counter-attack against the German offensive at Moreuil Wood, recapturing most of the area and forcing a turn in the tide of the battle in favor of the Allies.

March 30, 1923 – The baseball team at the State Secondary Agricultural School was scheduled to play Brewton at 3:15 p.m. at Gantt’s Field in Evergreen, Ala.

March 30, 1939 – “Detective Comics” No. 27 was released, introducing Batman.

March 30, 1944 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Aviation Cadet Harry L. Johnston, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin L. Johnston of Owassa, Ala., had completed approximately one-third of his pilot training and would soon report to an Air Corps Basic Flying School in Newport, Ark. for the intermediate phase of his flying training. Before entering the Air Corps, Johnston attended Evergreen High School; Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn; and the 55^th College Training Detachment in Gettysburg, Pa. Johnston was accepted as aviation cadet at Montgomery, Ala. in March 1943.

March 30, 1945 – During World War II, Staff Sgt. James E. Freeman, a 29-year-old graduate of Evergreen (Ala.) High School, was killed in action in Germany. Freeman, who’d been in the Army for about 10 years, was a paratrooper and had only been overseas for about a month when he was killed. He was a member of the 513^th Parachute Division, 17^th Airborne Division. Born on Jan. 26, 1916, he was buried in the Old Town Cemetery in Conecuh County, Ala.

March 30, 1946 – About 400 people attended Conecuh County, Alabama’s first fat calf show at the Conecuh Cooperative Stockyard in Evergreen. Dan Brown was Grand Champion, and Johnnie Nielson was the Reserve Grand Champion.

March 30, 1946 – “St. Louis Woman,” a musical version of Alabama author Arna Bontemps's book “God Sends Sunday,” opened on Broadway.

March 30, 1959 - Baseball practice at Monroe County High School got underway on this Monday afternoon when around 25 candidates reported for action. Lettermen included in the group were Jim Lazenby and Jimmy Andress, pitchers; Branchard Tucker, outfielder; Mickey Ryland, catcher; Charles Pridgeon, first base; Preston Griffin, infielder; Kenneth Gall, second base. MCHS, which was led by head coach James Allen, was scheduled to begin its season on April 10.

March 30, 1965 - A bomb exploded in a car parked in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, virtually destroying the building and killing 19 Vietnamese, two Americans, and one Filipino; 183 others were injured.

March 30, 1966 – Army Sgt. Elmer Jack Taylor, 26, of Atmore, Ala. was killed in action in the Quang Tri province of South Vietnam. Born on Feb. 11, 1940, he was an infantryman in the 1^st Infantry Division, 1^st Battalion, 28^th Infantry, C Co. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Purple Heart, the Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal. He was buried in Mount Pleasant Methodist Church Cemetery at Eliska.

March 30, 1967 - The cover of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was staged and photographed.

March 30, 1971 – An organizational meeting for a proposed Civitan Club in Evergreen, Ala. was held at 6:30 a.m. at Jimmie’s Restaurant. The Andalusia Civitan Club was sponsoring the proposed club in Evergreen.

March 30, 1972 – A major coordinated communist offensive opened with the heaviest military action since the sieges of Allied bases at Con Thien and Khe Sanh in 1968.

March 30, 1976 – Actress Jessica Cauffiel was born in Detroit, Mich.

March 30, 1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr.

March 30, 1984 – County music’s Hank Locklin was scheduled to perform at the Eighth Annual Sparta Academy Talent Show and Contest in Evergreen, Ala.

March 30, 1988 - The movie “Beetlejuice,” story by and screenplay cowritten by Alabama author Robert McDowell, was released.

March 30, 1989 – The Gee’s Bend Farms Community School in Gee’s Bend in Wilcox County, Ala. was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

March 30, 1989 – The Rawls House in Enterprise, Ala. was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

March 30, 1993 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown hit his first home run.

March 30, 2004 - NFL owners approved a modified version of the instant replay system for five years. They added a third coaches' challenge if the first two were successful.

March 30, 2008 - U.S. President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch at the Washington National's new stadium, Nationals Park.

March 30, 2010 – German SS officer Martin Sandberger died at the age of 98 in Stuttgart, Germany.

March 30, 2013 – Former University of Alabama quarterback, assistant coach and athletics director Mal Moore, a native of Dozier, Ala., died at the age of 73 in Durham, N.C.