Today in History for Sept. 26, 2017

Indian Springs Baptist Church

Sept. 26, 1580 – Sir Francis Drake finished his circumnavigation of the Earth.

Sept. 26, 1776 - The Continental Congress elected Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee as agents to be sent to secure a formal treaty between France and the United States. Franklin, Deane and Lee were given formal instructions by the members of the Continental Congress as to what concessions they would be authorized to make in negotiating the treaty. First and foremost, they were instructed to tell the king of France, that if a treaty were signed, the United States would never form an allegiance with Great Britain and, if war between France and Great Britain were ever declared, the United States would defend France.

Sept. 26, 1777 – During the American Revolution, British troops captured and occupied Philadelphia. They held the city until June 18, 1778.

Sept. 26, 1789 – Thomas Jefferson was appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay was appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood was appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph was appointed the first United States Attorney General.

Sept. 26, 1792 – Irish-New Zealand explorer and politician William Hobson was born in Waterford, Ireland. He became the first Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Sept. 26, 1820 – American hunter and explorer Daniel Boone died at the age of 85 at Nathan Boone's house, Femme Osage Creek, Missouri. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky, which was then part of Virginia but on the other side of the mountains from the settled areas. His frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States.

Sept. 26, 1834 – Indian Springs Baptist Church’s petitionary letter was presented to the Baptist Association meeting in Monroe County, Ala.

Sept. 26, 1861 – The Perry Walker Rangers, a Confederate cavalry unit, departed Monroeville, Ala. under the command of T.H. Malden of Monroeville.

Sept. 26, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Fort Thorn, New Mexico.

Sept. 26, 1861 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Hunter's Farm, near Belmont, Missouri.

Sept. 26, 1863 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at Hunt's Mill, near Larkinsville in Jackson County, Ala.

Sept. 26, 1864 - Confederate General Sterling Price invaded Missouri and attacked the Union garrison near Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob. Price’s troops captured the fort within two days and scattered the Union defenders, but also suffered heavy losses. Some 1,000 of Price’s troops were killed or wounded, and the Confederates gained little in the way of strategic value or political impact.

Sept. 26, 1864 - A guerilla band of 200 gathered under William "Bloody Bill" Anderson near the town of Centralia, Missouri. The next morning Anderson led 30 guerillas into the town and looted the community and terrorized residents.

Sept. 26, 1867 – Lewis Lavon Peacock married Safronia Caroline Martin at Burnt Corn, Ala.

Sept. 26, 1872 – The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) was established in New York City.

Sept. 26, 1877 - According to the West Alabamian, which was Carrollton, Alabama's only newspaper at the time of the events, Nathaniel Pierce was being held for murder when, on this date, an armed mob forced their way into the jail where Pierce was being held, took him outside the city, and killed him.

Sept. 26, 1888 – Nobel Prize-winning poet Thomas Stearns “T.S.” Eliot was born in St. Louis, Mo., where he spent the first 18 years of his life.

Sept. 26, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported on the brutal murder of Conecuh County, Ala. mail carrier Silas Hobley, whose decayed corpse was found on Sept. 16 near Belleville.

Sept. 26, 1898 – Composer George Gershwin was born Jacob Gershvin in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sept. 26, 1905 – Holdings of the Bear Creek Mill Co. in Monroe County, Ala. were sold to V.J. Herlong and the United Lumber Co.

Sept. 26, 1906 - Author Ellen Tarry was born in Birmingham, Ala.

Sept. 26-27, 1906 – Fort McRee on Perdido Key across Pensacola Pass from Fort Pickens was struck by a hurricane that destroyed most of the newer structures erected at Fort McRee since 1898.

Sept. 26-27, 1906 - A “terrific wind and rainstorm” passed Goodway and surrounding neighborhoods on this night, “causing much destruction and damaging cotton and corn to a large extent.” The roads in places were completely blocked with fallen timber. It was said to be the “worst cyclone witnessed in this section in years.”

Sept. 26, 1908 - Ed Eulbach of the Chicago Cubs became the first Major League Baseball player to pitch both games of a doubleheader and win both with shutouts.

Sept. 26, 1914 – The George W. Foster Camp No. 407, United Confederate Veterans, met in Monroeville, Ala. to elect delegates for the upcoming state reunion in Mobile.

Sept. 26, 1919 - The St. Louis Browns defeated the New York Yankees 6-2 in a game that lasted 55 minutes. The game was the second game of a doubleheader.

Sept. 26, 1930 – H.P. Lovecraft completed “The Whisperer in Darkness,” which was originally published in the August 1931 issue of Weird Tales.

Sept. 26, 1934 - The RMS Queen Mary was launched. After the ocean liner was permanently docked in Long Beach, Calif., reports of ghosts and paranormal activity emerged. The most haunted section of the ship is said to be the engine room where a young sailor was crushed to death.

Sept. 26, 1935 – The Monroe Journal reported that, with the cooperation of Alabama Power Co. and from contributions from local fans, the Blacksher High School Athletic Association had been able to install lighting equipment for night football. Sixteen powerful lamps in large reflectors were to light the field. All equipment was on hand and was to be installed by Mon., Sept. 23. Uriah was the first rural school in South Alabama to light its field.

Sept. 26, 1935 – Woodrow Eddins of Peterman left on this day for Chicago where he was a junior in the school of medicine at the University of Chicago.

Sept. 26, 1935 – The Monroe Journal reported that Virgil Pipkins of Uriah thought he had reestablished a cotton picking record as he recently turned in 1,080 pounds of the staple in three days. Virgil, who was 14 years of age, was the son of J.W. Pipkins.

Sept. 26, 1942 – During the Holocaust, August Frank, a higher official of the SS concentration camp administration department, issued a memorandum containing a great deal of operational detail in how Jews should be "evacuated".

Sept. 26, 1945 - Lt. Col. Peter Dewey, a U.S. Army officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Vietnam, was shot and killed in Saigon. Dewey was the head of a seven-man team sent to Vietnam to search for missing American pilots and to gather information on the situation in the country after the surrender of the Japanese. He would prove to be the first of nearly 59,000 Americans killed in Vietnam

Sept. 26, 1948 – Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley was born in Los Angeles, Calif.

Sept. 26, 1957 – Future Major League first baseman and Leroy native Kelvin Orlando Moore was born. He would go on to play three seasons for the Oakland A’s.

Sept. 26, 1957 – Lyeffion High School was scheduled to open their 1957 football season against Beatrice High School at Lyeffion, but that game was not played because the flu “laid low about half of the Eagle squad.”

Sept. 26, 1957 – Twenty years after George Gershwin died, Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.

Sept. 26, 1958 – Alabama baseball great Virgil Trucks, then a pitcher for the New York Yankees, appeared in his final Major League Baseball game.

Sept. 26, 1962 - Maury Wills of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first player to steal 100 bases in a season. He ended the season with 104.

Sept. 26, 1965 - Opening day for the newly constructed Frisco City Methodist Church was scheduled for this Sunday, with special services at 11 a.m. and the laying of the cornerstone in the afternoon. Rev. McKinley Spivey, pastor, was to conduct the 11 a.m. services and Rev. Harris C. Jones III, a former pastor, of Pensacola, was to deliver the afternoon sermon.

Sept. 26, 1969 – Air Force A1C Michael David Gunnels of Andalusia, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

Sept. 26, 1969 – “Abbey Road,” the last recorded album by The Beatles, was released.

  

Sept. 26, 1971 – Marine Sgt. Charles Wayne Turberville, 21, of Finchburg, Ala. was killed while on duty at the American Embassy in Phnom Penhm, Cambodia during a Khmer Rouge terrorist attack. Born on July 17, 1950, he graduated from Monroe County High School, joined the Marines and became a member of the prestigious Marine Security Guard Battalion. He was buried at Bryant Cemetery at Finchburg.

Sept. 26, 1971 - Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer won his 20th game of the year, becoming the fourth Orioles pitcher to win 20 games in the 1971 season. This made the 1971 Orioles pitching staff the first since that of the 1920 Chicago White Sox to field four 20-game winners. The other 20-game winners were Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson.

Sept. 26, 1972 – Conecuh County, Ala. Superitendent of Education Harvey G. Pate resigned and was replaed by Wayne Pope, who was appointed to fill Pate’s unexpired term by the Conecuh County Board of Education.

Sept. 26, 1974 – The Evergreen Courant reported that two large snakes were killed in former Evergreen (Ala.) Mayor Coy Harper’s yard in the same day. Policeman Robert Taylor killed a 4-1/2 foot long rattlesnake (with 14 rattles) during the afternoon. Later that day, Orbie Mosley killed another rattlesnake that was five-feet long (with 10 rattles and a button) in the same yard.

Sept. 26, 1974 – Monroe Academy beat Sparta Academy, 20-6, in Monroeville. Richard Brown was Sparta’s head coach.

Sept. 26, 1980 – The undefeated Lyeffion High School Yellow Jackets, under head coach Roger Pritchard, kept their record perfect by beating Excel, 26-6, in Lyeffion, Ala. This was Lyeffion’s first win over Excel in 18 years, and Ricky Gill was the leading rusher for Lyeffion with 71 yards. Donald Lee completed four of 11 pass attempts for 88 yards and two scores. Roosevelt Mixon played an inspired game as he had nine solo tackles and 11 assists. Other standout Lyeffion players in that game included Jeff Baggett, Bobby Blount, Mack Dailey, Floyd McNeil, Leoudis Mims, Jess Mixon, Howard Johnson, Tim Searcy, Ardell Taylor and Freddie Taylor. Tim Bowen was Excel’s quarterback.

Sept. 26, 1981 - Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first player to pitch five no-hitters with a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Sept. 26, 1986 – Sparta Academy, under head coach Mike Bledsoe, beat South Montgomery County Academy, 30-12, at Stuart-McGehee Field in Evergreen.

Sept. 26, 1987 – Conecuh County native Thomas Watson Spence, 79, of Montgomery passed away in a Montgomery, Ala. hospital. He was a former Macon County Superintendent of Education and former sales representative for Scott-Forman Book Co.

Sept. 26, 1991 – Fonde Melton, 43, took the oath of office for his second term as Monroe County, Ala. tax assessor. Probate Judge Otha Lee Biggs administered the oath. Melton’s official six-year term in office began on Oct. 1, 1991 when state and county offices opened their new fiscal year.

Sept. 26, 1997 – Andalusia beat Hillcrest, 12-6, in Andalusia. Dennis Anderson was Hillcrest’s head coach.

Sept. 26, 1998 - Mark McGwire hit home runs 67 and 68 for the season.

Sept. 26, 1998 - Dennis Eckersly of the Boston Red Sox appeared in his 1,071st game.

Sept. 26, 2002 – Weather reporter Harry Ellis reported 1.18 inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.

Sept. 26, 2003 – Hillcrest High School, under head coach Arlton Hudson, beat Geneva High School, 14-8, at Brooks Memorial Stadium in Evergreen.

Sept. 26, 2006 - Facebook was openened to everyone at least 13 years or older with a valid email address.

Sept. 26, 2012 - The National Football League and the NFL Referees Association reached an agreement to end an ongoing referee lockout. On June 4, 2012, the NFL had announced it would be hiring replacement officials after a failed attempts to resolve a labor dispute.