Today in History for Aug. 3, 2017

Leroy Mooney

Aug. 3, 881 – At the Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu, Louis III of France defeated the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.

Aug. 3, 1492 - Columbus set sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa María, the Pinta and the Niña. The voyage led him to what is now known as the Americas. He reached the Bahamas on October 12.

Aug. 3, 1777 - During the Siege of Fort Stanwix the first U.S. flag was officially flown during battle.

Aug. 3, 1797 - Jeffrey Amherst, who twice refused the position of commander of British forces against the rebelling American patriots, died at his estate, called Montreal, in England.

Aug. 3, 1807 – After his arrest in present day Washington County, Ala., Aaron Burr was officially charged with treason in the U.S. Circuit Court in Richmond, Va.

Aug. 3, 1811 – The first ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer, was achieved.

Aug. 3, 1823 - Thomas Francis Meagher, an Irish revolutionary who later served as a general in the Union army during the U.S. Civil War, was born in Waterford, Ireland.

Aug. 3, 1841 – Prolific children’s author Juliana Horatia Ewing was born in the village of Ecclesfield in Yorkshire, England.

Aug. 3, 1861 – During the Civil War, scouting for Indians occupied Federal troops from Fort Crook to Round Valley, Calif.

Aug. 3, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at McCulla’s Store, Mo.

Aug. 3, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Mesilla in the New Mexico Territory.

Aug. 3, 1862 - The Confederate ironclad Arkansas was ordered south to Baton Rouge to support operations there. The ship suffered engine problems and ran aground. The crew blew up the ship before the Union ship Essex could capture it. The Arkansas was only in action for 23 days.

Aug. 3, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at L’Anguille Ferry, Jackson and Scatterville in Arkansas; near Morganfield, Ky.; at Chariton Bridge, Mo.; on Nonconah Creek, near Sparta, Tenn.; at Sycamore Creek, near Petersburg, Va.; and on the Greenbrier River in West Virginia.

Aug. 3, 1863 – During the Civil War, the following were appointed Confederate major generals on the same day: Wade Hampton, Fitzhugh Lee, Stephen Dill Lee and Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox.

Aug. 3, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Jackson, La.; at Ripley, Miss.; and near Denmark, Tenn. during a Federal operation between Fort Pillow and Union City in Tennessee.

Aug. 3, 1864 – During the Civil War, after an amphibious landing on Dauphin Island (in the vicinity of the present-day Dauphin Island Elementary School) by Federal forces, under the command of Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, progress was made toward the landward investment of Fort Gaines. Fort Gaines was on the western side of the mouth of Mobile Bay, Ala., and Fort Morgan was on the eastern side of the mouth of Mobile Bay.

Aug. 3, 1864 – During the Civil War, Federal troops increased their pressure on Atlanta by crossing Utoy Creek. After failing to envelop Hood’s left flank at Ezra Church, Sherman still wanted to extend his right flank to hit the railroad between East Point and Atlanta. He transferred John M. Schofield’s Army of the Ohio from his left to his right flank and sent him to the north bank of Utoy Creek. Skirmishes were also fought at Sunshine Church, Frogtown, Jug Tavern and Mulberry Creek in Georgia.

Aug. 3, 1864 – During the Civil War, four days of skirmishing began in the Woodville, Miss. area. There was also skirmishing during this period at Bayou Sara, Laurel Hill, Saint Francisville and Fort Adams. Skirmishes were also fought near Fayette, Mo.; and near Wilcox’s Landing, Va. Two days of skirmishing also began in and around Triune, Tenn.

Aug. 3, 1864 – During the Civil War, a Federal operation took place from the Cumberland Gap, Tennessee area into Lee County, Va.

Aug. 3, 1894 – National Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder and first baseman Harry Heilmann was born in San Francisco, Calif. During his career, he played for the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1952.

Aug. 3, 1896 - Ice cream and lemonade were to be served by the ladies of Monroeville, Ala. at the City Hotel during the day and later at night on this Monday with the proceeds to go to the academy.

Aug. 3, 1900 – Journalist and war correspondent Ernest Taylor “Ernie” Pyle was born near Dana, Indiana. Pyle was killed by machine-gun fire on an island just north of Okinawa on April 18, 1945.

Aug. 3, 1905 – The Monroe Journal reported that Dr. Russell A. Smith had been appointed Tax Commissioner for Monroe County, Ala., filling the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Yarbrough.

Aug. 3, 1905 – The Monroe Journal reported that the following sentences were handed down during the ongoing term of Circuit Court in Monroeville: State vs. Wes Raines, charged with murder, sentenced to five years in penitentiary; State vs. Sam Mixon, arson, 10 years in the penitentiary; State vs. Ben George, murder, five years in penitentiary; State vs. W.B. Kemp, murder, jury verdict of not guilty; State vs. Nick Stallworth, disturbing religious worship, fined $25; State vs. George Rigby, murder, 30 years in penitentiary; State vs. Garland Randalson, murder, one year at hard labor and $500 fine; Brooks King, murder, 35 years in penitentiary; Sam Smith and Ben Smith, murder, verdict of not guilty; and Edmund English, murder, verdict of not guilty.

Aug. 3, 1913 – In Lovecraftian fiction, ethnologist and poet Arthur Jermyn died after setting himself on fire after receiving a mummy worshiped by a group of natives. Jermyn first appeared in 1921’s “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” by H.P. Lovecraft.

Aug. 3, 1914 – During World War I, Germany declared war against France, while Romania declared its neutrality.

Aug. 3, 1914 - On the afternoon of this day, two days after declaring war on Russia, Germany declared war on France, moving ahead with a long-held strategy, conceived by the former chief of staff of the German army, Alfred von Schlieffen, for a two-front war against France and Russia.

Aug. 3, 1916 – In this day’s edition of The Conecuh Record, editor J. C. Whitcomb apologized to readers by saying that The Record “is late going to press this week owing to sickness and death in the family.” Elsewhere in that edition of paper, it was reported that, “after a lingering illness, Mrs. Hettie Whitcomb, wife of Mr. Richard M. Whitcomb, breathed her last Fri., Aug. 4, at 2 p.m. Her death, while not unexpected, was a great shock to the community. Interment was made Saturday morning at 10:30 in Evergreen cemetery.” Hetty (as it was spelled on her tombstone) Ann Whitcomb was born on Aug. 9, 1884. Her tombstone also indicates that she died on Aug. 4, 1915.

Aug. 3, 1916 – The Conecuh Record reported that the “Baseball Minstrel show was largely attended and very much enjoyed.”

Aug. 3, 1916 – The Conecuh Record reported that R.R. Martin and J.W. Bailey would open their store on East Front Street on Sat., Aug. 5, with a “full line of dry goods, notions, shoes and gents’ furnishings.”

Aug. 3, 1916 – The Conecuh Record reported, in news from the Brooklyn community, that Brooklyn was to have “an artesian well in the near future, we have struck water at 175 feet.”

Aug. 3, 1916 - Four trainloads of Alabama National Guardsmen passed through Evergreen on this Thursday en route to the Texas border.

Aug. 3, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that the final payment had been made on the “new” Monroe County Courthouse, a debt that was taken out about 14 years before.

Aug. 3, 1916 – The Monroe County reported, under the headline “COUNTY FAIR CALLED OFF,” that “after consultation among officers and promoters of the Monroe County Fair association,” it had been decided to call off the fair for that fall, the tentative dates for which had been fixed for Oct. 19-21. “The great and unforeseen damage sustained from storm and flood has so depressed our people generally that it was feared the cooperation necessary to carry the plans into effect could not be secured, hence the decision.”

Aug. 3, 1919 – During World War I, Army Cpl. Frank Rutherford of Greenville, Ala. “died from disease.”

Aug. 3, 1920 – British crime novelist P.D. James was born Phyllis Dorothy James in Oxford.

Aug. 3, 1921 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis confirmed the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.

Aug. 3, 1921 – National Book Award-winning poet Hayden Carruth was born in Waterbury, Conn.

Aug. 3, 1922 - WGY radio in Schenectady, N.Y., presented the first full-length melodrama on radio. The work was "The Wolf,” written by Eugene Walter.

Aug. 3, 1923 - Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th president of the United States, hours after the death of President Warren G. Harding, who was the great-grandson of Henchie Warren of Conecuh County.

Aug. 3, 1928 – In Lovecraftian fiction, Wilbur Whateley of Dunwich, Mass., noted by his neighbors for his magical delvings and unnatural size, died at the age of 15 in an attempt to steal a copy of the “Necronomicon” from the Miskatonic University library. His body vanished under shocking circumstances and rumors as to his “twin brother” still abound. He first appeared in “The Dunwich Horror” by H.P. Lovecraft.

Aug. 3, 1929 - Completion of the new depot of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad was celebrated at Frisco City on this Saturday with appropriate exercises in which several hundred, local people joined with a large number from Pensacola. The Frisco Railroad ran a special train from Pensacola, bearing some 400 people from that city. A doubleheader baseball game was played in the afternoon, the first game between Stockton and Frisco City, won the by the latter, 3-2. The second game between the Pensacola and Frisco City teams, resulting in a 7-7 tie. At 7:30 p.m., a plate dinner was served to several hundred people from the Masonic Hall by the ladies of Frisco City, after which the party repaired to the railway where the new depot was formally delivered to the people of Frisco City in a happy speech by Vice President (J.E.) Hutchison. Short talks were delivered by Mayor Springer, L.J. Bugg, Prof. G.H. Greer and O.O. McGinty, Esq. These exercises were followed by a dance and the special train departed for Pensacola at 10:30 p.m.

Aug. 3, 1929 - Miss Jennie Faulk left on this Saturday for St. Louis where she was to spend several days selecting her Fall stock of millinery, notions, dry goods, coats and dresses, according to The Monroe Journal.

Aug. 3, 1934 – James Uriah Blacksher passed away at the age of 58 and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, Ala.

Aug. 3, 1936 - Lawrence County, Ala. native Jesse Owens won his first gold medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. He won the 100-meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe. Owens went on to win four gold medals in Berlin, but German leader Adolf Hitler snubbed the star athlete because he was black. Today visitors can learn more about Owens at the Jesse Owens Memorial Park and Museum in Oakville, Ala.

Aug. 3, 1937 – Poet Marvin Bell was born in Center Moriches, a farming community on the south shore of Long Island, N.Y.

Aug. 3, 1940 – Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Lance Alworth was born in Houston, Texas. He went on to play for Arkansas, the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978.

Aug. 3, 1944 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Cpl. Leroy Mooney, who was inducted into the Army in November 1940, had taken part in the invasion on D-Day. He began his training at Ft. Benning, Ga. and received further training at Ft. Bragg, N.C. before sailing from New York, N.Y. for overseas duty. He landed overseas Nov. 8, 1942. Mooney had served with the 41^st Armed Infantry in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, England and was somewhere in France in August 1944. Mooney was born on Jan. 17, 1913 and passed away at the age of 79 on Nov. 23, 1992. He was buried in the New Haven Cemetery in Conecuh County, Ala.

Aug. 3, 1944 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the Lyeffion community had been selected as one of the 20 communities in the state for locating a community canning plant, according to H.D. Weathers, county superintendent of education. This plant was to be of cement block construction, 30x62 feet, cement floor and composition roof. The materials for the building were to be furnished by the board of education and the equipment was to be furnished by the OYSA war production training program.

Aug. 3, 1944 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Pvt. W.G. Johnson Jr., an A.P.I. student until his enlistment, was with the Marines in Hawaii. He wrote that he liked that branch of service fine and was suntanned “brown as a pancake.” His sister, 1^st Lt. Juanita Johnston was assigned with Recreational Personnel of Troop Carrier Command, Alliance, Nebraska.

Aug. 3, 1944 - W.C. Holcomb died at his home near Evergreen on this Thursday night following a short illness. For about 18 years he had owned and operated the Monroeville Shoe Shop and while in Monroeville he “made many friends in every part of the county who will learn of his passing with regret,” according to The Monroe Journal.

Aug. 3, 1948 - Baseball pitcher and Mobile native Satchel Paige made his first start in the Major Leagues. Less than a month earlier, on July 7 (his 42nd birthday), Paige had signed with the Cleveland Indians. Two days later, he made a relief appearance against the St. Louis Browns, making him the first African American to pitch in the American League. He pitched two scoreless innings. Paige's first start was against the Washington Senators, and he pitched a 5-3 victory. Cleveland went on to win its first pennant in 28 years. Paige finished the season with a 6-1 record and two shutouts. His 2.47 earned run average (ERA) was second best in the league, and he became the first African American to pitch in the World Series, in game five against the Braves.

Aug. 3, 1950 - Author Linda Howard was born in Gadsden, Ala.

Aug. 3, 1953 - The Monroeville Little Leaguers were nudged out of the Third District tourney in Greenville on this Monday night by the Demopolis Little League nine, 10-2, after five innings of closely matched play for both teams. The Monroeville nine rapped six hits with Billy Pugh, catcher, heading the list with two for three. Others players on Monroeville’s team included Jackie Weatherford, Jack Griffin, Preston Griffin and Rennie Byrd.

Aug. 3, 1954 – The Kiwanis team beat the American Legion, 15-13, in Evergreen, Ala. Also that day, the Garment Co. beat the Evergreen Equipment Co., 6-5.

Aug. 3, 1955 – “Waiting for Godot” by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett premiered at the Arts Theatre in London. Beckett went on to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1969.

Aug. 3, 1958 - The U.S. nuclear submarine Nautilus accomplished the first undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole. The world's first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus dived at Point Barrow, Alaska, and traveled nearly 1,000 miles under the Arctic ice cap to reach the top of the world. It then steamed on to Iceland, pioneering a new and shorter route from the Pacific to the Atlantic and Europe.

Aug. 3, 1959 – In Evergreen Junior Baseball League action, the Pelicans edged the Orioles, 6-5, on this Monday. Eddie Messer and Harold Wright, Oriole pitchers, gave up no hits but walked many. Knud Nielsen pitched for the Pels. Wayne Caylor and Tommy Hartley were the top hitters for the Orioles.

Aug. 3, 1959 – In Evergreen Junior Baseball League action, the Yankees beat the Giants, 14-3, on this Monday night. Terry Salter and Rusty Price, an Oriole, were the victors’ pitchers. Steve Baggett went all the way on the hill for the Giants. Robert Rigsby was three-for-four and Claude Aaron and Mike Moorer were one-for-two for the Yanks. Jimmy Ellis and Eddie Moseley each had a double for the losers.

Aug. 3, 1959 - Circuit Solicitor Robert E.L. Key represented Alabama in an extradition hearing before the governor of Ohio on this Monday. Key was appointed by Attorney General McDonald Gallion’s chief assistant, Bernard Sykes, to appear for the state. He was prosecutor in the case of the convicted man, Burns Monroe Bradley. Gov. Michael DiSalle, Federal OPA administrator in World War II, conducted the hearing in Columbus, Ohio. Alabama sought to have Bradley returned to the state to serve a prison sentence. Bradley was convicted in Escambia County in 1956 on a manslaughter-first degree charge. He was driving a car involved in an accident in which a woman was fatally injured. Bradley took an appeal which was dismissed in 1957. After the dismissal of the appeal, (Bradley) jumped his appeal bond and fled to Ohio where he was re-arrested.

Aug. 3, 1962 – Former Auburn center Wayne Frazier, a native of Evergreen, Ala., was among the 50-man College All-Star Team scheduled to play the Green Bay Packers on this Friday night at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Frazier was the 225-pound son of Mr. and Mrs. Ellis Frazier of Evergreen and he had signed to play with the AFL’s San Diego Chargers.

Aug. 3, 1964 – College football coach Kevin Sumlin born in Brewton, Ala. He went on to play linebacker at Perdue and serve as head coach at Houston and Texas A&M.

Aug. 3, 1965 – The State Health Department and the U.S. Department of Health notified Monroe County Hospital board chairman Karl J. Lazenby of Monroeville that their application for an 18-bed addition to the hospital had been approved. With the addition, the hospital had 53 beds.

Aug. 3, 1965 – The Alabama Aeronautics Commission authorized a $8,500 grant for the paving of the runway and apron at the Monroeville, Ala. airport and for the construction of a connecting taxiway.

Aug. 3, 1965 - CBS-TV news showed pictures of men from the First Battalion, Ninth Marines setting fire to huts in the village of Cam Na, six miles west of Da Nang, despite reports that the Viet Cong had already fled the area.

Aug. 3, 1966 - U.S. Marine units commenced Operation Prairie, a sequel to an earlier operation in the area (Operation Hastings), which involved a sweep just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) against three battalions of the North Vietnamese 324B Division.

Aug. 3, 1967 - James Law and some high school buddies rode the entire New York City subway system in a total of 22 hours and 11 minutes.

Aug. 3, 1969 – In Conecuh County, Ala., Mr. and Mrs. J.N. Gorum celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary

Aug. 3, 1976 – Major League Baseball third baseman Troy Glaus was born in Tarzana, Calif. He went on to play for the Anaheim Angels, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Toronto Blue Jays, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves.

Aug. 3, 1977 – The United States Senate begins its hearing on the covert CIA mind-control program, Project MKUltra.

Aug. 3, 1980 - Author Julian Lee Rayford died in Mobile, Ala.

Aug. 3, 1988 – University of Alabama placekicker Leigh Tiffin was born in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

Aug. 3, 1989 - A meeting of the Lyeffion Quarterback Club was scheduled to be held at 7 p.m. at Mabry Covin Field.

Aug. 3, 1989 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the Conecuh County Commission had named Percy C. Nixon its new County Engineer.

Aug. 3, 1990 - Thousands of Iraqi troops pushed within a few miles of the border of Saudi Arabia. This heightened world concerns that the invasion of Kuwait could spread.

Aug. 3, 1990 - Verba Oliver, 82, of Evergreen died instantly when she was struck by a Ford pickup driven by Carl Raines, 36, of Evergreen around noon on this Friday in front of the A&P Supermarket on Belleville Street. Earlier that same week, pedestrian Syntha Wagnor Norris of Castleberry was struck and killed by a vehicle in Evergreen.

Aug. 3, 1995 – Local weather observer Harry Ellis reported 6.10 inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.

Aug. 3, 1995 - The home of Donna and Dwight Bennett on Conecuh County Road 17 was one of several area homes damaged by the high winds brought in by Hurricane Erin on this Thursday. The home received only minor damages luckily and no one in the house was injured, according to The Evergreen Courant.

Aug. 3, 1995 - Heavy front end loaders from several Alabama National Guard Units stood by at Fort Dave Lewis National Guard Armory on this Thursday waiting for Hurricane Erin to hit the Gulf Coast. The units went down for clean-up efforts when the storm cleared out late this evening. The units standing by in Evergreen included members of the 167^th Engineering Co. out of Demopolis, 168^th Engineering Co. out of Eutaw and the 1135^th Services and Supply unit out of Selma.

Aug. 3, 1998 – High school football practice began in Monroe County, and a break in the heat helped make the first day of high school football practice a little more enjoyable for the players and coaches on this Monday. Monroe Academy head coach Charlie Jones’ inaugural day was a good one. Jones said he’d be able to tell more about his 32 players the following day when they put on the pads and start contact drills.

Aug. 3, 1999 – Evergreen, Ala. Mayor Lomax Cassady announced to the Evergreen City Council that he had received a letter from J.B. Nix Jr., announced that he was resigning as city judge, effective Aug. 19.

Aug. 3, 2005 – For the fifth time in less than two weeks, an Evergreen business was robbed at gunpoint when on this day at around 3:34 p.m. the Evergreen Police Department was notified by the Cash Express in the Village Plaza that they had been robbed by a lone gunman.

Aug. 3, 2011 – The FBI announced that no fingerprints had been found on a guitar strap made by L.D. Cooper, a suspect in the D.B. Cooper hijacking case. One week later they added that his DNA did not match the partial DNA profile obtained from the hijacker's tie, but acknowledged, once again, that there is no certainty that the hijacker was the source of the organic material obtained from the tie.

Aug. 3, 2012 – The Bradford Cemetery in Clarke County was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.