Today in History for April 13, 2018

April 13, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, Ann Putnam Jr. accused Giles Corey of witchcraft and alleged that a man who died at Corey's house also haunts her.

April 13, 1721 – Merchant and Maryland political official John Hanson, who signed the Articles of Confederation, was born near Port Tobacco, Province of Maryland.

April 13, 1742 - George Frideric Handel's oratorio “Messiah” made its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland.

April 13, 1743 - Thomas Jefferson, who became the third President of the United States in 1801, was born in Albemarle County, Va.

April 13, 1771 – English engineer and explorer Richard Trevithick was born in Tregajorran, Cornwall, United Kingdom.

April 13, 1775 - Lord North extended the New England Restraining Act to South, Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The act prohibited trade with any country other than Britain and Ireland.

April 13, 1777 – During the American Revolutionary War, American forces were ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.

April 13, 1782 - Washington, North Carolina was incorporated as the first town to be named for George Washington.

April 13, 1813 – Amid the War of 1812, an American expedition launched from Fort Stoddert forced the Spanish to surrender Fort Conde in Mobile. Surrounded, with little hope of support from his government, Captain Cayetano Perez, commander of the Spanish forces at Ft. Charlotte (Conde) in Mobile, met with General James Wilkinson of the United States. Two days later, U.S. forces took possession of Ft. Charlotte (Conde) and Spanish Mobile as the Spanish evacuated the fort.

April 13, 1860 - The first mail was delivered via Pony Express when a westbound rider arrived in Sacramento, Calif. from St. Joseph, Mo.

April 13, 1861 - After 34 hours of bombardment, the Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor surrendered to Confederates as the first engagement of the Civil War ended in a Rebel victory. The fort was commanded by Union Major Robert Anderson and manned by 76 of his men. The Confederates were commanded by General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.

April 13, 1861 – During the Civil War, Fort Davis, Texas was abandoned by Federal forces.

April 13, 1862 – During the Civil War, Decatur, Ala. was occupied by Federal forces.

April 13, 1862 – Third Sgt. Joseph G. Sanders, aka “The Turncoat of Dale County,” re-enlisted in the 31st Georgia Infantry for “two years, or the war” and was paid a $50 bonus for signing on again.

April 13, 1862 - In the early months of the Civil War, there was an attempt to set up a Confederate state in what is now New Mexico. This had reached its “high-water mark” at the Battle of Glorieta Pass a month before -- which the South had lost. On this day, the pursuit continued as Federal cavalry chased the remains of the Confederate forces into the area of El Paso, Texas.

April 13, 1862 - A Federal operation began on this date in Southern California, making its way through Arizona, New Mexico, and eventually ending up in Northwestern Texas six months later. This operation forced the Confederates to evacuate the New Mexico Territory.

April 13, 1862 – A Federal reconnaissance mission toward Corinth, Miss. and Purdy, Tenn. began. A skirmish was also fought along Pebbly Run, at Gillett’s Farm, N.C.

April 13, 1862 - Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles was high in the confidence of President Lincoln, and it was good ideas like one he came up with on this day that kept it that way. Welles announced on this day an absolute embargo on the export of anthracite coal. Confederate and other blockade-runners were buying exported American anthracite in Caribbean ports. The alternative, bituminous coal, burned with heavy black smoke which could be seen at great distance at sea. Anthracite coal, on the other hand, not only contained much more heat per given volume, but burned very cleanly with just a little white smoke.

April 13, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Indian Bend, La.; in the vicinity of Chapel Hill, Tenn.; and at Elk Run and Snicker‘s Ferry, Va. An eight-day Federal operation between New Berne and Swift Creek Village, N.C. began.

April 13, 1863 - General Ambrose Burnside was another former commander of the Army of the Potomac. After getting huge numbers of his men killed in futile charges at Fredericksburg and then bogging them down in what became known as the Mud March, the Peter Principle came into play. The result was Burnside found himself shifted to command the Department of the Ohio, a strictly non-combat job. On this day, he announced the death penalty for anyone aiding the Confederacy. Added to this was the deportation of anyone displaying Confederate sympathy.

April 13, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Decatur, Ala.

April 13, 1864 – During the Civil war, skirmishes were fought at Indian Bay, Moscow, Richland Creek, and in the vicinity of Smithville, Ark.; at Columbus and Paintsville, Ky.; near Cleveland, Tenn.; and at Nokesville, Va. A three-day Federal operation between Norfolk to the Isle of Wright County, Va. began. A three-day Federal reconnaissance between Portsmouth to Blackwater, Va. began.

April 13, 1865 – During the Civil War, the USS Ida sank in Mobile Bay, Ala. after striking a Confederate torpedo. A skirmish was also fought at Wetumpka and at Whistler (or Eight Mile Creek Bridge) in Alabama.

April 13, 1865 – During the Civil War, Raleigh, North Carolina was occupied by Union Forces.

April 13, 1865 – During the Civil War, a three-day Federal reconnaissance in the vicinity of Lexington, Ky. began, and a skirmish was fought at Morrisville, N.C.

April 13, 1866 - Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Parker) was born in Beaver, Utah. He is best known for being a train robber, bank robber and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang.

April 13, 1874 – The Alabama Scottish Rite Lodge of Perfection was officially chartered. It was renamed the Montgomery Lodge of Perfection on Oct. 20, 1955.

April 13, 1885 - Author Marie Stanley was born in Mobile, Ala.

April 13, 1886 - Capt. W.B. Kemp of Kempville was in Monroeville, Ala. on this Tuesday.

April 13, 1892 – Labor lawyer Clara Beyer was born in Middletown, Calif.

April 13, 1896 - Mr. K.E. Rothchild, one of Claiborne’s “progressive merchants,” was in Monroeville on this Monday and favored The Monroe Journal with a pleasant call.

April 13, 1896 - W.C. Neville “had a little scrape” with a man on this Monday at Mexia. The man was apparently “running from small pox and had jumped the quarantine.” He resisted arrest, Neville struck him, he surrendered then and was taken back where he came from, according to The Monroe Journal.

April 13, 1900 - Author Elizabeth Bellamy died in Mobile, Ala.

April 13, 1905 – The Monroe Journal reported that the Bear Creek Mill Co. at Manistee, Ala. had repaired its dam, and J.M. Lambert was repairing George Harris’s grist mill dam, which “was torn out by the big freshet some weeks ago.”

April 13, 1906 – Noble Prize-winning novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett was born in Foxrock, Ireland, a Dublin suburb.

April 13, 1906 - The spring term of the Monroe County Circuit Court adjourned on this Friday, “the criminal docket having been practically cleared, with the exception of a few misdemeanor cases.” The following cases were tried and convicted: Lewis Brown, murder, penitentiary for life; John Sanders, manslaughter second degree, fine $400; Nick Stallworth, manslaughter second degree, fine $200; Lillie Ann Page, disturbing religious worship, fine $25; Lillie Ann Page, assault with weapon, $20.

April 13, 1909 – Novelist and short story writer Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Miss.

April 13, 1919 – Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Ga. for speaking out against the draft during World War I.

April 13, 1915 – In Conecuh County, Ala. Circuit Court, the cases against Blackwell, Baggett and Bradley, who were indicted for murder, were continued to the next court term. The crime they allegedly committed happened more than 2-1/2 years before.

April 13, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that Miss Alma Kearley was in Birmingham, Ala. taking a course in stenography at a “leading business college.”

April 13, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that Prof. J.B. Little was spending a few weeks of his vacation in Monroeville, Ala., having recently closed his school at Old Texas.

April 13, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that John Gordon Brassell had returned to his home at Sunny South after spending a week with his friend and school mate, Luke Crapps, at Mexia.

April 13, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that Mrs. J.B. Barnett and children were visiting relatives at Dothan and points in Pike County.

April 13, 1916 – The Conecuh Record reported that Prof. I.H. Lewis, president of the Second District Agricultural School, was in Birmingham during the previous week.

April 13, 1916 – According to The Conecuh Record, “what was doubtless the best musical entertainment ever given in Evergreen” took place at the Conecuh County Courthouse on this Thursday evening when the Zoellner Quartet played to a “large and appreciative audience.” This quartet was composed of a family – father, two sons and a daughter, all of whom were “real artists,” the newspaper reported. The Orpheus Club sold tickets advance and “netted a nice little sum on the concert.”

April 13, 1918 – During World War I, Army Pvt. Sterling Cunningham of Monroeville, Ala. “died from disease.” He was buried in Keokuk National Cemetery in Lee County, Iowa. Cunningham was a member of Co. I of the 366^th U.S. Infantry.

April 13, 1918 - As part of Germany’s support of Finland and its newly declared parliamentary government, German troops wrested control of Helsingfors (Helsinki) from the Red Guard, an army of Finnish supporters of the Russian Bolsheviks.

April 13, 1921 - Sheriff Kendall arrested Jesse Armstrong at Brooklyn, Ala. at the request of the Escambia County Sheriff. Armstrong was later taken to Brewton where he was held for the killing of a man named Franklin a day or two before in the lower edge of Escambia County. Armstrong claimed that Franklin came to his home and shot him with a shotgun, and Armstrong then killed Franklin with a pistol. When Kendall arrested Armstrong, one of his eyes was shot out and several small shot penetrated his face and forehead.

April 13, 1928 – In Lovecraftian fiction, antiquarian Charles Dexter Ward of Providence, R.I. vanished from his room at a mental institution and was never heard from again. He first appeared in 1941’s “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” by H.P. Lovecraft.

April 13, 1933 - The first flight over Mount Everest was completed by Lord Clydesdale.

April 13, 1936 - Mrs. John W. McCormick of Detroit, Mich. was killed almost instantly on this morning and her husband was seriously injured when their automobile crashed into another head-on near Castleberry, Ala. while passing a wagon on the highway.

April 13, 1939 – Irish poet Seamus Heaney was born in Castledawson, Northern England.

April 13, 1943 – The Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial.

April 13, 1945 – During World War II, PFC Harold Daw, 29, of Conecuh County, Ala. was killed in action in Germany and was buried in U.S. Military Cemetery in Eisenach, Germany. Born on Feb. 22, 1916 to Eliot and Bessie Daw, Harold was apparently exhumed and reburied in Mobile National Cemetery in Mobile, Ala. Daw was a member of the 25^th Armored Engineer Battalion, 6^th Armored Division.

April 13, 1947 - Alabama author R. T. Smith was born in Washington, D.C.

April 13, 1950 - Ron Perlman, who played the comic book character Hellboy in 2004’s “Hellboy” and 2008’s “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” was born in New York City.

April 13, 1950 - Approximately 96 of South Alabama’s better golfers teed off in Evergreen, Ala. on this Thursday morning in the fifth annual Evergreen Golf Tournament at the Evergreen golf course, four miles north on U.S. Highway 31. Favored in the championship flight were defending champ “Red” Coats of Montgomery, Abner Powell, winner of the Brewton crown last week and playing out of the Andalusia club, and Evergreen’s Bill McGehee. The golfers were scheduled to pause at noon for lunch and refreshments at the Evergreen Community House with play to be completed that afternoon. Nearly 30 local golfers were entered in the nine-hole match play affair.

April 13, 1950 – The Evergreen Courant reported that it was announced that week by H.G. Pate, Conecuh County Supt. of Education, that E.H. Penny, who was a coach at the Atmore High School, had been selected as principal of the Repton High School, effective July 1, 1950. His selection was approved at a meeting of the County Board of Education on Fri., April 7. Penny succeeded H.D. Weathers as principal at Repton. Weathers was retiring from school work after more than 40 years of service in the schools of Alabama. Penny was formerly coach of the Monroeville High School and had been coaching the Atmore athletic teams for the previous two years.

April 13, 1950 – The Monroe Journal reported that the list of qualified Monroe County voters, issued that week by Probate Judge E.T. Millsap, revealed that a record-breaking 5,000 persons would be eligible to participate in elections in 1950. In making the announcement, Millsap pointed out that this represented an increase of approximately 400 voters in the county since 1948, the last time the voting list was corrected in the county.

April 13, 1950 – The Monroe Journal reported that Monroe County Superintendent of Education H.G. Greer that week had announced that 131 seniors would receive diplomas from the five Monroe County high schools at the close of the 1949-1950 school term. J.U. Blacksher High at Uriah headed the county schools in the number of graduating students. Forty-five seniors were slated to receive diplomas from that school. Following Blacksher in the number of graduates were Monroe County High with 29, Excel and Beatrice with 20 each, and Frisco City with 17.

April 13, 1953 – CIA director Allen Dulles launched the covert mind-control program Project MKUltra. The project ran at least until the late 60's and notoriously tested drugs such as LSD on unwitting subjects.

April 13, 1954 – Wilcox County native Henry “Hank” Aaron became the last former Negro League player to make his debut in the major leagues, when he took the field for the first time for the Milwaukee Braves.

April 13, 1954 – Birmingham, Ala. native Alex Grammas made his Major League debut, taking the field for the St. Louis Cardinals.

April 13, 1955 - 20.33 inches of rainfall recorded in Axis, Ala., setting the state record. Axis is located in Mobile County

April 13-14, 1961 - Nell Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” received the Literary Award at a banquet meeting of the Alabama Library Association held in Tuscaloosa. The 57^th annual convention was held in the Hotel Stafford when the theme for that year’s convention was “The Rising South,” in connection with the Civil War Centennial Commemoration. At the annual banquet, John Hyatt, director of the Anniston Public Library and Chairman of the Literary Award Committee, presented the1960 award to Nell Harper Lee. Miss Lee, in turn, presented the award money to the Monroe County Library for the purchase of books.

April 13, 1963 - The New York Mets played their first home game at the Polo Grounds.

April 13, 1963 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds got his first hit in the major leagues.

April 13, 1965 - The defending Pine Belt Conference baseball champions, Monroe County High School, was scheduled to open their 12-game schedule on this Tuesday afternoon against non-conference foe Atmore in Monroeville, Ala. MCHS Coach Ronnie Dees had 10 returning lettermen from 1964’s 13-2 squad. Those players included starters Tommy McMillon, Roy Black, Gary Downs, Terry Salter and Johnny Brannon. Other players on the 1965 team included Mike Segers, Milton Coxwell, Bobby Colquett, Allen Dunning, Melvin Middleton, Butch Andress, Tommy Stacey and Jimmy Hill.

April 13, 1966 – During the Vietnam War, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) adopted a resolution urging that the United States “desist from aiding the military junta against the Buddhists, Catholics, and students, whose efforts to democratize their government are more in consonance with our traditions than the policy of the military oligarchy.”

April 13, 1971 – Butch Adams began working for The Evergreen Courant.

April 13, 1972 - The first strike in the history of Major League Baseball ended. Players had walked off the field 13 days earlier. Major League Baseball owners and players agreed to not make up the games lost to the players strike.

April 13, 1972 – During the Vietnam War, the Battle of An Lộc began when three North Vietnamese divisions attacked An Loc with infantry, tanks, heavy artillery and rockets, taking half the city after a day of close combat.

April 13, 1975 – A formal dedication of Evergreen, Alabama’s new “Avenue of Flags” was held downtown in downtown Evergreen, Ala. at 2 p.m.

April 13, 1976 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduced the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.

April 13, 1976 – Actor Jonathan Brandis was born in Danbury, Connecticut.

April 13, 1976 – Actor Glenn Howerton was born in Japan. A graduate of Jeff Davis High School in Montgomery, Ala., he would go on to star in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

April 13, 1979 - Local weather observer Earl Windham reported 1.13 inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.

April 13, 1979 - Kathy Beasley, a Monroe Journal associate editor, accepted the Alabama Medical Association’s 1979 Douglas L. Cannon Medical Reporter Award for small newspapers from Dr. Hillary H. Henderson, medical association president. The presentation was made in Monroeville, Ala. on this Friday. The award was for her coverage of problems the previous year at Monroe County Hospital that led to changes in personnel policies and several resignations, including those of the administrator and board chairman.

April 13, 1988 – Sparta Academy’s Lee Wild pitched a perfect game (and a no-hitter) against Crenshaw Academy at the Murphy Club in Evergreen, Ala. He faced only 15 batters in the five-inning game, which Sparta won, 11-0.

April 13, 1991 – Evergreen Courant publisher and editor Robert Gaston Bozeman Jr. passed away and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Evergreen, Ala. He was a former U.S. Marine, World War II veteran and a member of Alabama Press Association Hall of Honor (inducted 1999).

April 13, 1998 - A television version of Alabama author Thomas H. Cook's book “Evidence of Blood” was broadcast.

April 13, 1998 – Bill Ferguson was hired as the new Veterans Affairs Officer for counties including Conecuh and Monroe, replacing Francis McGowin, who transferred.

April 13, 2002 - The first Limestone Dust Poetry Festival was held in Huntsville, Ala.

April 13, 2002 - Barry Bonds hit his 574th career home run, and he moved past Harmon Killebrew and into sixth place.

April 13, 2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush warned Syria not to harbor any fleeing Iraqi leaders.

April 13, 2009 - The New York Mets opened the season at their new stadium, Citi Field.

April 13, 2009 - Former Major League Baseball all-star pitcher Mark “The Bird” Fidrych was found dead at the age of 54 following an accident at his Massachusetts farm involving a Mack truck he was working on. Fidrych, the 1976 American League Rookie of the Year, suffocated when his clothes got tangled in the truck’s power takeoff shaft.