Today in History for Aug. 2, 2017

Confederate veteran Martin Findley.

Aug. 2, 1610 – Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.

Aug. 2, 1776 – Fifty-six delegates of the Second Continental Congress began adding their signatures to an enlarged copy of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pa., although it is popularly believed to have been signed a month earlier on the Fourth of July.

Aug. 2, 1790 – The first United States Census was conducted.

Aug. 2, 1819 - The first Alabama constitution was adopted on this day, paving the way to statehood in December. Known today as the Constitution of 1819, to distinguish it from five subsequent constitutions, it was considered a model of democracy at the time. It granted, for example, suffrage to all adult white males without regard to property ownership or other qualifications.

Aug. 2, 1858 - In Boston and New York City, the first mailboxes were installed along streets.

Aug. 2, 1861 - The United States Congress passed the first income tax, calling for three percent on incomes over $800. The bill also provided for new and stiffer tariffs, and the revenues were intended for the war effort against the South. The tax was never enacted.

Aug. 2, 1861 – During the Civil War, Federal forces conducted a reconnaissance mission from Ironton to Centreville, Mo. A skirmish was also fought at Dug Springs, Mo.

Aug. 2, 1861 - Fort Stanton in New Mexico Territory was abandoned by Federal forces.

Aug. 2, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Jonesborough, Ark.; on Totten’s Plantation, in Coahoma County, Miss.; at the extinct town of Austin in Tunica County, Miss.; along Clear Creek, in the vicinity of Taberville, Mo.; and at Orange Courthouse, W.Va.

Aug. 2, 1862 – During the Civil War, Federal reconnaissance was conducted from Harrison’s Landing, and Union troops reoccupied Malvern Hill, Va.

Aug. 2, 1862 – During the Civil War, seven days of Federal operations began in the vicinity of Wyoming Courthouse, W.Va., and four days of Federal operations began between Meadow Bluff and the Greenbrier River in West Virginia.

Aug. 2, 1863 – During the Civil War, Confederates scouted from Pocahontas, Ark. to Patterson, Mo.

Aug. 2, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Stumptown, Mo.; at Cummings’ Point, S.C.; and at Newtown, Va.

Aug. 2, 1864 – During the Civil War, a Federal naval expedition was conducted to McIntosh County, Ga.; and Federal reconnaissance was conducted from Berwick to Pattersonville in Louisiana.

Aug. 2, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at New Haven, Ky.; at Hancock and Old Town in Maryland; along Norris Creek, in the vicinity of Holden, Mo.; at Murphy, N.C.; and at Green Springs Run, W.Va.

Aug. 2, 1864 – During the Civil War, there was a build-up of Federal Naval strength off the mouth of Mobile Bay, Ala.

Aug. 2, 1865 - The captain and crew of the C.S.S. Shenandoah, still prowling the waters of the Pacific in search of Yankee whaling ships, was finally informed by a British vessel that the South had lost the Civil War. Captain James I. Waddell then sailed the ship from the northern Pacific to Liverpool, England, without stopping at any ports. The ship was surrendered to British officials upon arrival at Liverpool on Nov. 6.

Aug. 2, 1869 – Japan's samurai class system (Shinōkōshō) was abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.

Aug. 2, 1876 - "Wild Bill" Hickok was killed (shot from behind) while playing poker in Deadwood, South Dakota. Jack McCall was later hanged for the shooting.

Aug. 2, 1886 - The general election of state and county officers was held on this Monday, according to The Monroe Journal. Monroeville polled 223 votes on this day – the largest vote of any box in Monroe County.

Aug. 2, 1886 - A “difficulty” occurred in Monroeville on this Monday between Eligah Broughton and A.J. Curlee about a misunderstanding regarding some private affair, in which Broughton received several slight wounds from a pocket knife in the hands of Curlee. The knife was dull and Broughton “suffered no serious inconvenience from its too close proximity,” according to The Monroe Journal.

Aug. 2, 1895 – The Monroeville mail was robbed two miles east of Belleville, Ala. The horse, vehicle and riffled mail pouch were found concealed in the bushes on the roadside, and the driver was missing, so it is presumed that he either robbed the mail himself or was “foully dealt with” by the real robber. The mail pouch contained eight registered packages, all of which were broken open and their contents extracted. Rumors circulated that “Railroad Bill” committed the robbery.

Aug. 2, 1896 - Arthur Sowell, the clerk at the Bear Creek Co.’s store at Manistee, was “anticipating a trip” to his home in Monroeville on this Sunday on his bicycle.

Aug. 2, 1897 – German SS officer Karl-Otto Koch was born in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse.

Aug. 2, 1903 - Ardis Vardaman Culpepper was born at Rossers Ridge in Sumter County, Ala. Ironically nicknamed “Shorty” because he was nearly six and a half feet tall, Culpepper moved to Monroe County, Ala. in 1928 and served as the county’s Farm Service Extension Agent. For a number of years, Culpepper wrote a humorous weekly column for The Monroe Journal newspaper called “Taxes and Termites,” and his book by the same name is a collection of some of his funniest columns.

Aug. 2, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Poplar Springs community, that Prof. Barnes was teaching the community school that summer. Miss Clara Mims from Wilcox was also teaching a flourishing school at Nero at that time.

Aug. 2, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Buena Vista community, that Mr. Davis from the neighborhood of Fatama was superintending the blacksmith shop of J.J. Finklea & Sons.

Aug. 2, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Pineville community, that Mr. and Mrs. John Sanders went to Selma the previous week. Mrs. Sanders underwent an operation at Dr. King’s sanitarium on Saturday morning, July 28.

Aug. 2, 1914 – The German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I began.

Aug. 2, 1915 – Charles Chaplin, the “funniest comedian on the screen,” was to be shown at the Arcade Theatre in Evergreen on this Monday night.

Aug. 2, 1916 – During World War I, Austrian sabotage caused the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.

Aug. 2, 1917 - Wm. Washington Adams, who was born on Dec. 5, 1838, died on this day at the age of 78. He was a member of Camp Capt. Wm. Lee No. 338 and belonged to the 58^th Reg. of Alabama volunteers. He was buried in the Pleasant Grove Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery at Paul in Conecuh County. (Some sources say that he died on Aug. 5)

Aug. 2, 1917 - Martin Findley, who was born on Sept. 27, 1824 in Brooklyn, died at his home at Johnsonville on this day, aged 92 years, 10 months and five days. During the Civil War, he served in Co. I of the 6^th Alabama Cavalry, and he was a member of Camp Capt. Lee (338) of United Confederate Veterans. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church for nearly 65 years, and a member of the mystic band of Free & Accepted Masons for a little over 55 years. He was buried on the following day with Masonic honors, a goodly number of the brethren attending. He was buried in the Findley Cemetery in Conecuh County.

Aug. 2, 1917 - With British forces settling into new positions captured from the Germans in the much-contested Ypres Salient on the Western Front of World War I, Germany faced more trouble closer to home, as a mutiny broke out aboard the German battleship Prinzregent Luitpold, anchored at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven.

Aug. 2, 1920 - Alabama author Lonnie Coleman was born in Bartow, Ga.

Aug. 2, 1921 - Eight White Sox players were acquitted of throwing the 1919 World Series.

Aug. 2, 1923 - Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th President of the United States, passed away while in office from a stroke at a hotel in San Francisco, Calif. at the age of 57. Harding was returning from a presidential tour of Alaska and the West Coast, a journey some believed he had embarked on to escape the rumors circulating in Washington of corruption in his administration. He was buried in Harding Memorial Park in Mario, Ohio. Harding was the great-grandson of Conecuh County’s Henchie Warren, who is buried at Old Sparta.

Aug. 2, 1923 – Vice President Calvin Coolidge became U.S. President upon the death of President Warren G. Harding. Coolidge was sworn in as president by his father, a notary public, in his family home in Plymouth, Vermont.

Aug. 2, 1924 – Novelist, essayist and activist James Baldwin, the author of “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” was born in Harlem, N.Y.

Aug. 2, 1925 – H.P. Lovecraft completed “The Horror at Red Hook,” which was originally published in the January 1927 issue of Weird Tales.

Aug. 2, 1932 – American physicist Carl Anderson discovered the first physical evidence of the existence of antimatter.

Aug. 2, 1934 – Adolf Hitler became Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.

Aug. 2, 1934 – Evergreen Boy Scout Troop 80 was scheduled to play a baseball team from Repton in Evergreen on this Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Later, at 5 p.m., the troop was scheduled to meet at the City School, then to travel to Steven’s Pond for swimming and outdoor tests.

July 29, 1934 – Evergreen’s baseball team was scheduled to play Greenville in Greenville on this Thursday. Woody Mott was expected to pitch for Evergreen.

Aug. 2, 1936 - Alabama author Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews, a native of Mobile, died in Syracuse, N.Y. at the age of 76.

Aug. 2, 1938 - Bright yellow baseballs were used in a Major League Baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals. It was hoped that the balls would be easier to see.

Aug. 2, 1939 – Horror film director Wes Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

Aug. 2, 1943 – Jewish prisoners staged a revolt at Treblinka, one of the deadliest of Nazi death camps where approximately 900,000 persons were murdered in less than 18 months.

Aug. 2, 1953 – The Evergreen Greenies, managed by Zell Murphy, beat the Florala State Liners, 8-7, in Brooks Stadium in Evergreen, Ala. John Greel Ralls hit two home runs, and J.W. Windham got the pitching win.

Aug. 2, 1953 - Final rites for James O. Crosby, 34, a former resident of Huxford and Auburn, were held from the Mt. Pisgah Church on this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. with the Rev. C.C. Pruette of Frisco City officiating. Crosby died on Thurs., July 30, at the Veterans Hospital in Montgomery. He was a native of Covington County, a World War II veteran and a member of the Huxford Masonic Lodge. During WWII, he served in the 616^th Field Artillery Battalion. Born on Oct. 11, 1918, he was buried in Mount Pisgah Cemetery in Frisco City.

Aug. 2, 1958 – Conecuh County’s 1958 Maid of Cotton Contest was scheduled to be held in conjunction with the County Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting. Peggy Harper won the Conecuh County Maid of Cotton title in 1957.

Aug. 2, 1959 - The Evergreen Greenies baseball team clinched the Conecuh County Amateur League pennant by walloping Pine Orchard, 16-4, in Evergreen on this Sunday. It was the Greenies 13^th victory in 14 starts. A suspended game earlier that year with Pine Orchard was yet to be played. Leon Stinson, making his first appearance on the mound, pitched a neat seven-hitter for the win. His teammates banged out a total of 18 hits, including a home run by Jeff Moorer.

Aug. 2, 1964 – During the Vietnam War’s Gulf of Tonkin incident, North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fired on the U.S. destroyer USS Maddox.

Aug. 2, 1965 - John Byron Carter of Monroeville, Ala. was approved as a new deputy sheriff at a salary of $325 per month by the Monroe County Commission during a special meeting on this Monday. The sheriff’s department had been authorized another deputy through a bill which was passed by the legislature during July 1965. With the hiring of Carter, the department had a chief deputy and two deputies.

Aug. 2, 1965 – George E. Scott Jr. of Monroeville, Ala. was fatally injured near Uriah when he collided with the rear end of a parked truck loaded with lumber. Scott was traveling north on Highway 21, about 2-1/2 miles south of Uriah when he ran into the rear of a truck that had run out of gas. The accident happened about 8:45 p.m.

Aug. 2, 1971 - The Nixon administration officially acknowledged that the CIA was maintaining a force of 30,000 ‘irregulars’ fighting the Communist Pathet Lao in Laos.

Aug. 2, 1974 - Workmen had to repair damage from tornadic winds which peeled a 14,000-square-foot section of asbestos roofing felt off the southwest corner of Vanity Fair Mills’ central cutting plant in Monroeville on this Friday afternoon. The same winds also apparently knocked out Monroe Motor Court South’s main sign and uprooted several trees across the Frisco City highway from the plant.

Aug. 2, 1974 - John Dean was sentenced to one to four years in prison for his involvement in the Watergate cover-up.

Aug. 2, 1982 – NFL free safety Kerry Rhodes was born in Birmingham, Ala. He went on to play for Jess Lanier High School in Bessemer, Ala., the University of Louisville, the New York Jets and the Arizona Cardinals.

Aug. 2, 1984 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the Conecuh County Board of Education had officially closed Nichburg School. All students previously attending Nichburg School were to attend Repton High School during the 1984-1985 school year.

Aug. 2, 1984 – The Evergreen Courant reported, under the headline “Race king Allison leads State March of Dimes,” that the Alabama March of Dimes was proud to announce as Honorary Chairman for the 1984-85 campaign, Bobby Allison of Hueytown, Ala. One of Alabama’s favorite sons, Bobby was NASCAR’s 1983 Champion of the Year. Bobby, who was one third of the famous “Alabama Gang,” along with brother Donny Allison and Neil Bonnett, pledged his support for this year’s campaign. Along with Alabama State Poster Child, Scott Cunningham, Bobby had already filmed a Public Service Announcement for that year’s National Telethon and later on, during the campaign, would be on a poster with Scott, which was to be distributed statewide.

Aug. 2, 1990 – At 2 a.m. local time, Iraqi ground forces entered Kuwait, and President Bush immediately proclaimed that the invasion "would not stand" and vowed to help Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in their efforts to force the Iraqis from Kuwaiti land. Iraq claimed that Kuwait had driven down oil prices by exceeding production quotas set by OPEC.

Aug. 2, 1999 – After interviews with three final applicants, the Conecuh County Board of Education selected Nancy Deabler as principal of Repton Junior High School.

Aug. 2, 2012 – A powerful storm with high straight-line winds swept through Castleberry, Ala. around 12:30 p.m., damaging trees, utility lines and the town’s baseball field. The storm knocked over 15 trees, which resulted in a power outage throughout town. The trees blocked a number of major thoroughfares in the town, including U.S. Highway 31, Cleveland Avenue and the CSX railroad. The resulting power outage lasted between three and four hours.

Aug. 2, 2012 - Longtime Conecuh County businessman Frank James Chavers passed away at his home at the age of 78. Born on Oct. 17, 1933, he was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Evergreen.

Aug. 2, 2012 – The Crosby Family Cemetery and the New Home Church of Christ Cemetery in Conecuh County were added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.