Today in History for Oct. 14, 2017

Grave of Carl B. Smith at Belleville, Ala.

Oct. 14, 1066 – During the Norman Conquest, at the Battle of Hastings, in England on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, the Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeated the English army and killed King Harold II of England.

Oct. 14, 1322 – Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeated King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence.

Oct. 14, 1773 – Just before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, several of the British East India Company's tea ships were set ablaze at the old seaport of Annapolis, Maryland.

Oct.  14, 1780 – In the early morning hours, a contingent of approximately 350 Patriot troops from the North Carolina and Virginia militias under Major Joseph Cloyd engaged a group of British Loyalists, numbering between 400 and 900, at the Shallow Ford crossing of the Yadkin River in North Carolina. The Battle of Shallow Ford, which lasted just under 90 minutes, is considered one of the most important battles for the Patriot cause to take place in North Carolina during the Revolutionary War.

Oct. 14, 1824 – John M. Henderson was born at Brooklyn, Ala. He was a prominent businessman, deputy sheriff, county treasurer and probate judge. He also established the train depot in Castleberry, Ala. and served in 38th Alabama Regiment in the Civil War as a first lieutenant.

Oct. 14, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Bird’s Point and Linn Creek, Mo.

Oct. 14, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Trenton, Ark.; at Lancaster, Mountain Gap, Stanford and on the Crab Orchard Road in Kentucky; and at Hazel Bottom, Mo.

Oct. 14, 1863 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of Bristoe Station, Confederate troops under the command of General Robert E. Lee failed to drive the outnumbered Union Army completely out of Virginia. In a very short engagement, the Confederates suffered 1,400 men killed, wounded, or captured, while the Union lost only 546. The Union army was driven back 40 miles from its original positions, and the Confederates destroyed a large section of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, a key Union supply line.

Oct. 14, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at the Creek Agency in the Indian Territory; at Carrion Crow Bayou, La.; near Man’s Creek and Scott’s Ford in Shannon County, Mo.; at Blountsville and Loudoun in Tennessee; at Grove Church, Gainesville, Catlett's Station, Saint Stephen's Church, and near Brentsville and Centerville, all in Virginia; and at Salt Lick Bridge, W.Va.

Oct. 14, 1863 – During the Civil War, a seven-day Federal expedition from Messinger’s Ferry, on the Big Black River, toward Canton, Miss began.

Oct. 14, 1863 – During the Civil War, a six-day Federal expedition from Natchez and Fort Adams in Mississippi to Red River, La. began with a skirmish at Red River.

Oct. 14, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Fort Smith, Ark.; at Adamstown, Md.; at Danville and Glasgow in Missouri; at Roca Chica Pass, Texas; at Strasburg (or Hupp’s Hill) in Virginia; and at Duffield’s Station, W.Va. A second day of skirmishing also occurred at Buzzard Roost Gap, Ga.

Oct. 14, 1884 – American inventor George Eastman received a U.S. Government patent on his new paper-strip photographic film.

Oct. 14, 1888 – Short story writer Katherine Mansfield was born in Wellington, New Zealand.

Oct. 14, 1890 - Dwight David 'Ike' Eisenhower, the 34th U.S. President, was born in Denison, Texas.

Oct. 14, 1894 – Poet Edward Estlin “E.E.” Cummings was born in Cambridge, Mass.

Oct. 14, 1895 - Prof. Powers’ school opened up in the new Monroeville Academy building on this Monday.

Oct. 14, 1895 – R.W. Wiggins, who lived about seven miles north of Monroeville, lost his house in a fire on this Monday night. The fire was caused at a kitchen stove, and the fire grew out of control before help could arrive. Most of the household furniture was saved, but the kitchen’s contents were entirely destroyed.

Oct. 14, 1908 – The Chicago Cubs defeated the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, clinching the World Series. It would be their last one until 2016.

Oct. 14, 1912 - Theodore Roosevelt, the former President of the United States, was shot and mildly wounded while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisc. by mentally-disturbed saloon keeper John Schrank. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Roosevelt still carried out his scheduled public speech.

Oct. 14, 1912 - Circuit Court convened at 11 o’clock on this Monday morning in Evergreen when the criminal docket was taken up. Business was being dispatched rapidly, many cases having been disposed of on pleas of guilty. There were several capital cases to be disposed of and the entire week was likely be consumed. All the important murder cases were continued to the next term of court.

Oct. 14, 1914 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Col. J.F. Tate, a former principal of the Evergreen Academy, had passed away at Hurtsboro in Russell County, Ala.

Oct. 14, 1915 – During World War I, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers.

Oct. 14, 1918 – During World War I, Army Pvt. Carl B. Smith, 21, of Belleville, Ala. was killed in action in France. Born on Jan. 19, 1897 in Belleville, he was the son of John A. and Tennie G. Smith. He was buried in the Belleville Baptist Church Cemetery in Conecuh County, Ala.

Oct. 14, 1918 – During World War I, Army Pvt. William T. Broughton, 28, of Monroeville, Ala. was killed in action while serving in Co. M of the 165th Infantry. Born on Jan. 23, 1890, he was the son of Charles Edward Broughton and Alice Ross. He is buried in the Baptist Cemetery in Monroeville, Ala. beneath a Woodmen of the World headstone.

Oct. 14, 1918 – During World War I, Army PFC Harry E. Parkman of Jackson, Ala. was killed in action while serving in the 1 CL, 167^th Infantry, 42^nd Division. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy in Pike County, Ala.

Oct. 14, 1918 – During World War I, Army Cpl. Carey J. Parker of Brewton, Ala. “died from disease.”

Oct. 14, 1918 - Among the German wounded in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on this day was Corporal Adolf Hitler, temporarily blinded by a British gas shell and evacuated to a German military hospital at Pasewalk, in Pomerania.

Oct. 14, 1926 - The preliminary trial for Dan W. Presley, Curt Coleman and Henry Presley, who were charged with killing Newman Wiggins, was scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. in Evergreen, Ala. before Judge S.P. Dunn. The trial was originally scheduled for Oct. 12, but was postponed “on account of unavoidable absence of some of the defense attorneys.” The hearing was expected to attract a large crowd.

Oct. 14, 1926 – The children's book “Winnie-the-Pooh” by A. A. Milne was first published.

Oct. 14, 1927 - Atmore defeated Excel in football, 13-0, on the Excel field on this Friday afternoon. According to The Monroe Journal, this was Excel’s first loss in two years.

Oct. 14, 1927 - The football team at Brewton succeeded in defeating Evergreen on this Friday afternoon in one of the fiercest struggles of the season, when they ran up a 20 to 0 score. The first half was close indeed as the score at the close of the period was 2 to 0. The only tally in this part of the game came when the Aggies were held for a safety. In the second half, three touchdowns were made, each time however, Brewton failed to add the extra point. It appeared that the lines of the two teams were very nearly matched, Brewton’s victory coming from their superiority in the backfield. In this department, especial mention might be of Moore, who played an exceptionally good game for Brewton. The locals showed considerable fight at several stages of the game but failed to possess the offensive necessary to gain yardage. The game was well attended by Evergreen people.

Oct. 14, 1933 – Nazi Germany withdrew from the League of Nations and World Disarmament Conference.

Oct. 14, 1937 – The Monroe Journal reported that Neil Kilpatrick of Frisco City would play in the N.N.A.S. band from Newport News, Va. for the Harvard-Navy football game to be played on Oct. 15. Neil received his early training in band under Mr. Williams at Monroe County High School.

Oct. 14, 1937 – The Monroe Journal reported that 65 young men from Monroe County were enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Brewton during the previous week and would be sent to various camps.

Oct. 14, 1940 – Major League Baseball outfielder and third baseman Tommy Harper was born in Oak Grove, La. He would go on to play for the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Pilots, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, California Angels, Oakland Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles.

Oct. 14, 1940 – During the Balham underground station disaster in London, England, 66 people in the station were killed during the Nazi Luftwaffe air raids on Great Britain.

Oct. 14, 1941 - The Department of the Army's recently constructed ammunition storage facility in Calhoun County, Ala. was officially named the Anniston Ordnance Depot.

Oct. 14, 1943 – Prisoners at the Nazi German Sobibór extermination camp in Poland revolted against the Germans, killing 11 SS guards, and wounding many more. About 300 of the Sobibor Camp's 600 prisoners escaped, and about 50 of these survived the end of the war.

Oct. 14, 1943 - German SS officer Rudolf Beckman, age 33, was stabbed to death during the uprising in Sobibór by inmates.

Oct. 14, 1943 – During World War II, the American Eighth Air Force lost 60 of 291 B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers in aerial combat during the second mass-daylight air raid on the Schweinfurt ball bearing factories in western Nazi Germany.

Oct. 14, 1944 – Linked to a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, nicknamed the “Desert Fox,” was forced to commit suicide.

Oct. 14, 1945 - The Chicago Cardinals ended the longest losing streak in NFL history. The team had lost 29 consecutive games.

Oct. 14, 1946 – Major League Baseball outfielder and first baseman Al “Scoop” Oliver was born in Portsmouth, Ohio. He went on to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

Oct. 14, 1947 – Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Charlie Joiner was born in Many, La. He would go on to play for the Houston Oilers, Cincinnati Bengals and San Diego Chargers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996.

Oct. 14, 1947 – Around 2 p.m., masked bandit W.C. Ethredge, age about 30, of Atmore, Ala. held up the Farmers Exchange Bank in McCullough and robbed it of $800. Ethredge fled in a 1941 Chevrolet Coupe, but was chased and got into a shoot out with his pursuers. Ethredge eventually abandoned his car at Goodway and fled into the woods, only to commit suicide a short while later. Pursing officers heard two shots and then found Ethredge dead with one shot in his left breast and one shot above his right ear. He was clutching a .38 caliber Smith-Wesson revolver in his right hand and money from the bank in his left.

Oct. 14, 1947 – Captain Chuck Yeager of the United States Air Force flew a Bell X-1 rocket-powered experimental aircraft, the “Glamorous Glennis,” faster than the speed of sound at Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour) over the high desert of Southern California and became the first pilot and the first airplane to do so in level flight.

Oct. 14, 1951 - Jack Christiansen of the Detroit Lions ran back two punts for touchdowns.

Oct. 14, 1954 – Coffeeville beat Lyeffion, 39-7, in Lyeffion, Ala. Wayne Thames scored Lyeffion’s only touchdown on a 53-yard run.

Oct. 14, 1958 – Australian geologist, academic, and explorer Douglas Mawson died at home at the age of 76 of a cerebral hemorrhage in Brighton, South Australia. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Oct. 14, 1962 - George Blanda of the Houston Oilers threw six touchdown passes against the New York Titans.

Oct. 14, 1963 – NFL running back Keith Byars was born in Dayton, Ohio. He would go on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets.

Oct. 14, 1964 – Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.

Oct. 14, 1964 - Nikita Khrushchev was ousted as both premier of the Soviet Union and chief of the Communist Party after 10 years in power, and he was succeeded as head of the Communist Party by his former protégé Leonid Brezhnev, who would eventually become the chief of state as well.

Oct. 14, 1964 - U.S. aircraft were permitted to fly with Laotian planes on operations against Communist movements along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.

Oct. 14, 1967 – During the Vietnam War, folk singer Joan Baez was arrested concerning a physical blockade of the U.S. Army's induction center in Oakland, California.

Oct. 14, 1968 – During the Vietnam War, 27 soldiers were arrested at the Presidio of San Francisco in California for their peaceful protest of stockade conditions and the Vietnam War.

Oct. 14, 1968 – During the Vietnam War, the United States Department of Defense announced that the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps would send about 24,000 soldiers and Marines back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours of duty in the combat zone there.

Oct. 14, 1972 - In Iraq, oil was struck for the first time just north of Kirkuk.

Oct. 14, 1972 – Scoring in all four quarters, Excel High School’s football team, led by head coach Lee Holladay, improved to 7-0 on the season and held onto the No. 3 spot in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Class 1A football poll with a 37-6 win over J.U. Blacksher in Excel. An estimated crowd of 2,500 attended the game, and this was said to be the largest crowd to ever attend a football game at Excel. Outstanding Excel players in that game included Rhett Barnes, Jack Booth, Butch Grissette, Larry Hixon, Joe Dale Ikner and Paul Wiggins. Standout Blacksher players in the game included Jimmy Hadley and Hilburn.

Oct. 14, 1975 – Ronald DeFeo Jr. went on trial for the killings of his parents and four siblings in their Amityville, New York home. The family’s house was later said to be haunted and served as the inspiration for the “Amityville Horror” book and movies.

Oct. 14, 1976 - The New York Yankees won their first American League pennant since 1964.

Oct. 14, 1976 – Major League Baseball third baseman and left fielder Henry Mateo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He went on to play for the Montreal Expos and the Washington Nationals.

Oct. 14, 1977 – Sparta Academy beat South Montgomery County Academy, 14-11, in Grady, Ala. Sparta trailed, 11-8, with less than a minute to go when quarterback Terry Peacock hooked up with Tony Raines on a pass-and-run play good for 56 yards and the winning touchdown. Other standout Sparta players in that game included Greg Anthony, Tony Baggett, Bill Cope, Greg Crabtree, Harry Crabtree, Steve Dubose, Tommy Hutcheson, Ronny McKenzie, Cook Morrison, Bobby Padgett, Johnny Ralls, David Sabino and Gray Stevens. Mike Bledsoe was Sparta’s head coach, and Bo Owens was assistant coach.

Oct. 14, 1977 – Frisco City High School beat Conecuh County High School, 25-0, in Castleberry, Ala. Standout Castleberry players in that game included Darryl Crane, Anglo Dees, Wendall Kast, Johnny McIntyre, Ricky Reeves, Joe Richardson, Curtis Scott, Robert Taylor, Richard Terry, Ronald Terry and Anthony Tripp.

Oct. 14, 1977 – The Pilot Club of Evergreen, a service club for business and professional women, was founded in Evergreen, Ala. Mayor O.B. “Bert” Tuggle declared this day as “Pilot Founders Day,” and Jo Ann Jones, Mamie Lambert and Correan Salter, directors of the Pilot Club, signed the incorporation papers of the club in attorney William D. Melton’s law office.

Oct. 14, 1982 – The Monroe Journal reported that, if General Dynamics gets the federal contract to build a new-fangled military jeep, it planned to assemble the vehicle in Monroeville’s former Arvin Industries building, gradually providing as many as 500 new jobs. This announcement was made on Wednesday morning, Oct. 13, by 1^st District Congressman Jack Edwards, accompanied by Monroe County Probate Judge Otha Lee Biggs and others, to about 200 spectators in the large courtroom of the Monroe County Courthouse. General Dynamics, a Michigan firm, was competing with two other companies for the contract to build the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, dubbed the HMMWV and pronounced “hum-vee.”

Oct. 14, 1984 – George ‘Sparky’ Anderson became the first baseball manager to win 100 games and a World Series in both leagues.

Oct. 14, 1987 - Retired three-term Circuit Solicitor Ralph Lee Jones was buried on this Wednesday following a 10 a.m. tribute in the Monroe County Courthouse with several lawyers and officials speaking and an 11 a.m. graveside service at Hillcrest Cemetery with the Rev. Vince Whittington officiating. Jones served several counties while holding the position of solicitor, now known as district attorney, and he had also practiced law in Monroeville and was elected to the state legislature.

Oct. 14, 1990 - Joe Montana of the San Francisco 49ers passed for 476 yards and six touchdowns. Five of the touchdowns were thrown to Jerry Rice.

Oct. 14, 1993 – The Alabama Historical Commission completed an historical survey and study of sites and structures in Conecuh County.

Oct. 14, 1998 - The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-0, to advance to their first World Series in 14 years.

Oct. 14, 2000 - Neil Parry had his right leg severely broken while playing on kickoff coverage during a game at UTEP. Nine days later his lower leg was amputated. Three years later he returned to football on one play with a prosthetic leg.

Oct. 14, 2002 - U.S. President George Bush warned that Iraq's Saddam Hussein wanted to use al-Quaida as his "forward army" against the West. Bush also noted that the U.S. could fight both Iraq and al-Qaida simultaneously.

Oct. 14, 2003 – Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman became infamously known as the scapegoat for the Cubs losing Game Six of the 2003 National League Championship Series to the Florida Marlins. In the eighth inning, with the Cubs just five outs away from their first World Series since 1945, Bartman plucked a fly ball hit to left field by Luis Castillo out of the air before outfielder Moises Alou could catch it—a catch that would have been a crucial out—in the sixth game of the league championship series against the Florida Marlins. As a result of Bartman’s interference, the Cubs lost their momentum and the game.

Oct. 14, 2006 – The college football brawl between University of Miami and Florida International University led to suspensions of 31 players of both teams.

Oct. 14, 2012 – Felix Baumgartner successfully jumped to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere in the Red Bull Stratos project.