Today in History for April 27, 2018

Rev. Charles Andrew Rush

April 27, 1521 – During the Battle of Mactan, explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu. He was 40 (or 41) years old.

April 27, 1667 – Blind and impoverished poet John Milton sold the copyright for his masterpiece, “Paradise Lost,” for 10 pounds.

April 27, 1759 – Writer, philosopher and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft was born in London.

April 27, 1773 - The British Parliament passed the Tea Act, which eventually led to the so-called Boston Tea Party on Dec. 16, 1773.

April 27, 1777 – During the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Ridgefield, a British invasion force engaged and defeated Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Conn.

April 27, 1813 – American general and explorer Zebulon Pike, age 34, was killed in action during the Battle of York at York, Ontario, Upper Canada.

April 27, 1813 – During the War of 1812, American troops captured York, the capital of Upper Canada, in the Battle of York.

April 27, 1822 - Ulysses S. Grant, who served as the 18th U.S. President and as the Lt. General in command of all Union armies during the U.S. Civil War, was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio.

April 27, 1825 – The Henderson, a 123-ton steamboat, sank in the Alabama River, about one mile from Claiborne, Ala. after colliding with another boat, the Balize. The Henderson went down with a load of ‘barrels of fine whiskey, brandy and wines.’

April 27, 1835 – William Crosby became postmaster at Burnt Corn, Ala. (Some sources say April 17, 1835)

April 27, 1840 - Climber, explorer and illustrator Edward Whymper was born in London, England.

April 27, 1840 – Union General Samuel Thomas was born at South Point, Lawrence County, Ohio. After the war, he became a railroad financier, and Thomasville, Ala. was named in his honor. He also donated $500 toward the construction of Thomasville’s first school.

April 27, 1861 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus between Washington and Philadelphia to give the military the necessary power to silence dissenters and rebels.

April 27, 1861 - West Virginia seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union during the American Civil War.

April 27, 1861 – During the Civil War, Lincoln extended the blockade to include Virginia and North Carolina, and Virginia offered Richmond to be the Confederate capital.

April 27, 1862 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Bridgeport, Ala.

April 27, 1862 – Co. D of the 5th Alabama Infantry was reorganized as Co. C with Capt. Thomas Mercer Riley as commander, in Rhodes Division, Army of Northern Virginia.

April 27, 1862 – During the Civil War, Fort Livingston, Fort Pike and Fort Wood surrendered to Federal forces, near New Orleans, La. Skirmishes were fought in the vicinity of Haughton’s Mill, N.C.; near Pea Ridge, Tenn.; and close to McGaheysville, Va.

April 27, 1863 – During the Civil War, the Union Army of the Potomac began marching on Chancellorsville from Falmouth, Va.

April 27, 1863 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Town Creek, Ala.

April 27, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought in the vicinity of Barboursville and another near Woodburn, Ky.; near Jackson and another near the White Water Bridge, Mo.; at Wise’s Crossroad, N.C.; at Murray’s Inlet, S.C.; on Carter Creek Pike in Tennessee; and at Independence and Morgantown, West Virginia. A Federal operation between Yorktown and Hickory Flats, Va. began. A five-day Federal operation between New Berne and Kinston, N.C. began.

April 27, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Decatur, Ala.

April 27, 1864 – During the Civil War, Northern armies officially broke winter camp in preparation for the Spring campaigns.

April 27, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Ringgold Gap, Ga.; in Breathitt County, Ky., along Troublesome Creek; in the vicinity of Dayton, Mo.; at Masonborough Inlet, N.C.; and at Twelve Mile Ordinary, Va.

April 27, 1864 – 59^TH ALABAMA: The 59^th Alabama left Abingdon, Va. in boxcars bound for Richmond.

April 27, 1865 – The steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, exploded and sank in the Mississippi River near Memphis, killing 1,800, most of whom are Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons. The Sultana accident is still the largest maritime disaster in U.S. history.

April 27, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Mount Vernon, Mo.

April 27, 1886 - A.M. Leslie went to Montgomery on this Tuesday to witness the laying of the cornerstone of the Confederate Soldiers Monument, according to The Monroe Journal.

April 27, 1886 - Mrs. T.S. Sowell, who had been visiting relatives and friends in Monroeville, Ala., returned to her home at Wallace in Escambia County on this Tuesday.

April 27, 1886 - Capt. John DeLoach and Capt. W.S. Wiggins went to Mobile, Ala. on this Tuesday, according to The Monroe Journal.

April 27, 1892 – Jesse Hildreth, one of the men who helped capture outlaw train robber Rube Burrow in 1890, was shot and killed by Jack Singleton when one of Singleton’s “women” sought refuge at the Hildreth cabin when Singleton’s cabin was flooded.

April 27, 1896 – National Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman and manager Rogers Hornsby was born in Winters, Texas. He went on to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Giants, the Boston Braves, the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Browns. He also managed the Cardinals, the Giants, the Braves, the Cubs, the Browns and the Reds. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1942.

April 27, 1896 - Jas. K. Kyser, the “genial postmaster and merchant of Burnt Corn,” was in Monroeville on this Monday. Jno. A. Savage, secretary and general manager of the Monroe Mill Co., was also in Monroeville on this Monday on business. H.A. Lockwood of Manistee, the “genial bookkeeper for the Bear Creek Mill Co.,” also visited The Monroe Journal’s office on this Monday. Dr. J.W. Shomo of Mt. Pleasant also visited Monroeville on this Monday. G.W. Kyser, “one of Repton’s enterprising merchants,” was in Monroeville on this Monday, attending court.

April 27, 1897 - Grant's Tomb was dedicated in New York City.

April 27, 1898 – Children’s author Ludwig Bemelmans was born in Meran, Tyrol, Austria.

April 27, 1905 – The Monroe Journal reported that Castleberry, Ala. was “one of the busiest places in this section” due to the opening of the strawberry harvest season. The population of the town was usually around 250, but at that time, it was nearer to 3,000 with 2,000 berry pickers being there as well as commission men, spectators and prospectors. In and around Castleberry, around 600 acres were planted in strawberries with “new farms are being opened up all the time.”

April 27-28, 1912 – A special excursion train ran from Montgomery, Ala. to New Orleans on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, so that fans could go watch the “baseball game between Montgomery and New Orleans teams.” The train left Montgomery at 7 p.m. on April 27 and stops along the route included McGehees, Tyson, Letohatchie, Calhoun, Fort Deposit, Greenville, Chapman, Garland, Owassa, Evergreen, Castleberry, Kirkland, Brewton, Pollard, Flomaton and arrived in New Orleans at 6:39 a.m. on April 28. Fairs ranged between $5 and $3.50. The train was to leave New Orleans at 9:30 p.m. on April 28.

April 27, 1915 – Shortly after noon, the residence of Postmaster S.M. Roberts in Monroeville, Ala. caught fire, but was extinguished before much damage was done.

April 27, 1916 – National Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Enos Slaughter was born in Roxboro, N.C. He went on to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Yankees, the Kansas City Athletics and the Milwaukee Braves. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985.

April 27, 1916 - The churches and Sunday schools of the Pine Barren Association were scheduled to hold their second annual basket picnic on R.E. Lambert’s farm on this Thursday.

April 27, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that Mrs. J.C. Finch had returned to her home at Finchburg after spending a few days with her daughter, Mrs. A.C. Lee.

April 27, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that Mrs. Hebblewhite and children of Chicago were in Monroeville to attend the Locklin-Moore wedding.

April 27, 1916 – The Monroe Journal reported that the Rev. C.A. Rush, D.D., President of the Southern University at Greensboro, was “an honored visitor to Monroeville this week in the interest of that splendid institution, which is flourishing under his administration.”

April 27, 1916 – The Conecuh Record reported that “quite a large number” of Confederate veterans were in Evergreen, Ala. on April 26 “to be present at the Memorial Exercises. The banks, post office and all business houses were closed during the services and the graves of all deceased veterans were appropriately decorated with beautiful flowers. Hon. G.W.L. Smith of Brewton was the orator of the day, and his tribute of love and remembrance to the dead patriots was eloquent and impressive.”

April 27, 1916 – The Conecuh Record reported that “the Act creating the Board of Revenue for Conecuh County has been declared unconstitutional by the supreme court, making it necessary that the candidates heretofore running for the board of revenue now announce for members of the Court of County Commissioners, which all those properly qualified have done.”

April 27, 1916 - David “Dave” Price, 66, was found dead in his home at Castleberry on this Thursday around 3 p.m. by Mr. J.G. Rainer. Price had been missing several days and the last time he was seen on Friday afternoon, April 21. He had been living alone and being missed, Rainer went to his home to investigate, found the windows barred and after making his way into the house found that Price had been dead several days and his body already partly decayed so that it was necessary to have the house fumigated before entering.” Born on Feb. 4, 1850, he is buried in the Price Cemetery in Castleberry.

April 27, 1916 - Three British officers, including the famous Captain Thomas Edward “T.E.” Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia), attempted to engineer the escape of thousands of British troops under siege at the city of Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia through a secret negotiation with the Turkish command.

April 27, 1927 – Construction of rest rooms and an office began at the Lone Star Service Station in Evergreen, Ala.

April 27, 1927 – Activist and civil rights leader Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was born in Heiberger, in Perry County, Ala.

April 27, 1938 - A colored baseball was used for the first time in any baseball game. The ball was yellow and was used between Columbia and Fordham Universities in New York City.

April 27, 1941 – NFL linebacker and center Lee Roy Jordan was born in Excel, Ala. He would go on to play for Alabama and the Dallas Cowboys.

April 27, 1945 – Playwright August Wilson was born in Pittsburgh, Penn.

April 27, 1947 - "Babe Ruth Day" was celebrated at Yankee Stadium.

April 27, 1950 – The Monroe Journal reported, under the headline “This Issue Of Journal Is Of Record Size,” that this day’s edition of The Journal, at 28 pages, was of record size for a regular issue. Previous issues had run as high as 24 pages. Because of the record size, many news stories, ordinarily printed on the front page, were to be found scattered throughout the paper.

April 27, 1950 - Final plans for a new school building at Uriah to replace the one which burned March 2 were to be selected at a special meeting in the office of county Superintendent of Education H.G. Greer on this Thursday afternoon. A three-man Uriah citizens committee was to meet with architects who were drawing up plans for the new building. Members of the committee included Rep. W.W. Garrett, R.E. Rabon Sr. and Millie L. Pearce.

April 27, 1950 – The Evergreen Courant reported that C.W. Presley of McKenzie, Ala., Route 1, was interested in securing a copy of a song which was written years before about “Railroad Bill,” the “desperado of Escambia County.” Presley had one stanza of the song which runs something like this: “Railroad Bill” cut a mighty dash, shot McMillan, by a lightning flash. Mis’ McMillan, she whooped and she bawled, she said, “That’s my husband for I heard him fall.”

April 27, 1951 – Army Sgt. Wilmer T. Wyatt, 24, of Opp, Ala. was killed in action in South Korea. Wyatt served with the 77th Field Artillery Battalion, First Cavalry Division. Born on Feb. 11, 1927, he is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Coffee County.

April 27, 1955 – The Evergreen (Ala.) Pilot Club was established with Mrs. J.R. Taylor as the club’s first president.

April 27, 1968 – Paul Kardow, who pitched for the Cleveland Indians and managed the Evergreen (Ala.) Greenies in the 1930s, passed away at the age of 52 in San Antonio, Texas.

April 27, 1968 - Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

April 27, 1970 - The 25^th Annual Conecuh County 4-H and FFA Calf Show was scheduled to be staged at the show arena at Conecuh Stockyards on this Monday. Fed calves were to be shown by 55 young men and women starting at 8 a.m. The show was sponsored by the Conecuh County Fat Calf Show Committee, an agency of the United Fund, and the State Dept. of Agriculture & Industries in cooperation with the Auburn University Extension Service and State Dept. of Vocational Agriculture.

April 27, 1972 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Ellis Wayne Golson of Lyeffion, Ala. had been notified by Major General Verne L. Bower, U.S. Army Adjutant General, that he had received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. He was to report to the school on July 3.

April 27, 1972 - North Vietnamese troops shattered defenses north of Quang Tri and moved to within 2.5 miles of the city.

April 27, 1976 – English actress Sally Hawkins was born in Dulwich, London, England.

April 27, 1977 – The Conecuh County High School track and field team beat Repton High School, 48-41, to win the Repton Invitational Track Meet in Repton.

April 27, 1983 – Houston Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan passed Walter Johnson for career strikeouts with 3,509. Johnson held the game’s career strikeout record for 62 years – almost twice as long as Babe Ruth was the home run king. Ryan finally knocked him off the perch with his 3,509th strikeout on April 27, 1983. By the time he was done, Ryan would own 5,714.

April 27, 1985 - Evergreen Little League’s 1985 Baseball Jamboree was scheduled to begin with opening ceremonies on this Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Evergreen Municipal Park. An introduction of teams, players and special guests was to be followed by exhibition games by the Little League, Minor League and T-Ball teams. The official season was scheduled to begin on Mon., April 29, at 6 p.m. with games every Monday, Thursday and Friday.

April 27, 1986 - "Good evening HBO from Captain Midnight," began the bizarre text message which hijacked the HBO airwaves, for almost five minutes on this date. The message went on to protest HBO's pricing change for satellite subscribers. "Captain Midnight" turned out to be John R. MacDougall, who ended up getting caught by the FCC, charged a $10,000 fine and put on one year of probation.

April 27, 1991 – In the opening games of the 1991 Babe Ruth Baseball season in Evergreen, Ala., Wolff Motors beat Evergreen Auto Parts, 7-4, and Presley-Fluker beat McKenzie Merchants, 8-3. Bryant Robinson and Britt Ward keyed the offensive attack for Wolff Motors with two hits each. Ward also was given credit for the victory on the mound after relieving Robinson in the third inning with one out. Greg Shehan led Evergreen Auto Parts at the plate with three hits, including a solo homerun. Rhett Wilson went the distance on the mound for Presley-Fluker, while Jason McMillian, Michael Bradley and Marlo McDaniel led the Presley-Fluker team in hitting. Shannon Shofford, Deric Womack and Willie Womack, who had a two-run homer in the sixth inning, led the McKenzie attack.

April 27, 1994 – The groundbreaking ceremony was held at the future site of the Conecuh County Department of Human Resources building.

April 27, 2000 – This day’s edition of The Evergreen Courant newspaper included a picture of Evergreen Mayor Lomax Cassady holding a squirrel that caused a major power outage in Evergreen. The small critter found itself in a world of trouble when it entered the substation in the industrial park and subsequently blew all three fuses.

April 27, 2000 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Fairview Baptist Church had recently welcomed as their new pastor Bro. Darrell Black, his wife Debra, daughter Carey and son Nick. Bro. Black and his family were from Cantonment, Fla. and they accepted the call to pastor Fairview Baptist Church in February of 2000.

April 27, 2000 – The Monroe Journal reported that The Mockingbird Players gave their first performances of the year during the previous week for more than 1,000 students, who were studying “To Kill a Mockingbird” in school. Sitting in the courtroom of the Old Monroe County Courthouse Museum, the audiences witnessed the 1935 trial of Tom Robinson, set in the small southern town of Maycomb. The museums, whose offices were housed in the then newly renovated Old Courthouse Museum, had presented the Young Audience Performances every year as part of an ongoing educational outreach program for schools in Monroe County and surrounding areas. Members of the cast that year included Everette Price as Atticus Finch, Dennis Owens as Judge Taylor and Leslie Coats as Mayella Ewell.

April 27, 2000 – The Monroe Journal reported that Monroe County High School senior Justin Hawarah became the first area baseball player to sign a scholarship with the University of South Alabama in Mobile during the previous week. Hawarah, at 5-11, 180-pounds, had played shortstop for the Tigers since his freshman season. During the 2000 season, he hit .519, slapped five home runs and drove in 31 runs. In the previous two seasons, he had 13 home runs.

April 27, 2000 – The Monroe Journal reported that the Town of Beatrice had recently placed new welcome signs in two locations. The architectural precast signs were provided by Gate Precast Co. in Monroeville. John Lee, an equipment operator for Gate, helped position the sign located at the north edge of town. The Beatrice Garden Club planned to landscape the area around the signs with seasonal bedding plants.

April 27, 2007 – In connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway of Mountain Brook, Ala., a new search involving some 20 investigators was launched at the Van der Sloot family residence in Aruba. Dutch authorities searched the yard and surrounding area, using shovels and thin metal rods to penetrate the dirt.

  

April 27, 2011 – The April 25–28 tornado outbreak devastated parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee. Two hundred five tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.