Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

307th day of the year

Quote

"Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness — a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and athletic proportion." — William Cullen Bryant

Birthdays

1604 — Osman II, sultan of Turkey (1618-22)

1718 — John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich, inventor (sandwich)

1793 — Stephen Fuller Austin, colonized Texas

1794 — William Cullen Bryant, poet ("Thanatopsis")

1918 — Bob Feller, pitcher (Cleveland Indians, three no-hitters);  Russell B. Long, senator, D-La. (1948-86)

1920 — Charles Bronson [Buchinsky], Pennsylvania, actor ("Death Wish," "The Dirty Dozen")

1924 — Shirley Chisholm, representative, D-N.Y., first black congresswoman, first black presidential candidate

1933 — Michael S. Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts (D), presidential candidate (1988)

1952 — Roseanne [Barr Arnold], Salt Lake City, comedienne and TV star ("Roseanne")

1953 — Dennis Miller, Pittsburgh, Pa., comedian and TV host ("Saturday Night Live," "Dennis Miller Show")

1954 — Godzilla, Japanese monster ("Godzilla")

Events

1507 — Leonardo DaVinci is commissioned by the husband of Lisa Gherardini to paint her. The work is known as the "Mona Lisa." 

1534 — English Parliament accepts Act of Supremacy; Henry VIII church leader

1862 — Dr. Richard Gatling patents machine gun (Indianapolis)

1863 — Battle of Grand Coteau, Georgia

1868 — First black elected to Congress (John W. Menard, Louisiana)

1871 — Henry M. Stanley in Tanganyka says, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

1934 — The first racetrack in California opens under a new pari-mutuel betting law

1941 — Japanese Ambassador John Grew warns that the Japanese might be planning a sudden attack on the United States

1948 — Chicago Tribune reports, "Dewey beats Truman"

1952 — Clarence Birdseye markets frozen peas

1992 — Carol Moseley-Braun becomes the first African-American woman U.S. senator

1994 — Susan Smith of Union, S.C., is arrested for drowning her two sons. Nine days earlier Smith claimed that the children had been abducted by a black carjacker

[to top of second column in this article]

Sunday, Nov. 4

308th day of the year

Quotes

"You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time." — Abe Lincoln

"Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock." — Will Rogers

1879 — Will Rogers, Oologah Indian Territory (Oklahoma), humorist

1912 — Pauline Trigere, fashion designer (bell bottoms)

1916 — Walter Cronkite, St. Joseph, Mo., news anchor ("CBS Evening News," 1962-81)

1918 — Art Carney, Mount Vernon, N.Y., actor (Ed Norton in "The Honeymooners")

1937 — Loretta Swit, Passaic, N.J., actress (Hotlips Houlihan in "M*A*S*H")

1841 — First wagon train arrives in California

1842 — Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd in Springfield, Ill. 

1846 — Patent for the artificial leg granted to Benjamin Palmer

1880 — James and John Ritty patent the first cash register

1922 — In Egypt, archaeologist Howard Carter discovers the entrance to King Tutankhamen’s tomb. The Egyptian child-king became pharaoh at age 9 and died when he was 19. 

1924 — Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming is elected America’s first woman governor so she can serve out the remaining term of her late husband, William B. Ross

1939 — First air-conditioned automobile (Packard) exhibited, Chicago

1979 — Five hundred Iranian "students" seize U.S. embassy, take 90 hostages (444 days)

1995 — Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, assassinated at 73

[NOV. 2, 2001]  Standing Supreme Court Judge Rita Garman took a walking tour of downtown Lincoln Thursday. Garman is a Republican appointee to the state court, filling the seat of Judge Ben Miller, who retired in January of this year.

A justice with the court since February, Garman was in town to meet potential voters and to drum up support for her candidacy for re-election to the state’s highest court in next year’s March primary and November’s general election. Garman, one of only two Republican justices currently on the Supreme Court, is the only judge who has experience as an associate, circuit and appellate judge. Her career as a judge, which has spanned 27 years, is one of the key points in her bid to be elected to the court for the next decade.

Garman, accompanied by Circuit Judge John Turner, who replaced Garman when she was appointed to the state’s highest court, visited stores in the downtown area in a rare campaign visit to this city by a Supreme Court candidate.

When asked what important issues will be before the November docket of the court, Garman stated that the court will be asked to look at the new districting proposals which have caused seven different lawsuits to be filed on behalf of current legislators who feel the new districts were based on political decisions and not what is best for the legal concept of "one man, one vote."

Garman, a resident of Danville, was unanimously appointed by the court to fill the vacancy created by Miller’s retirement.  

[Mike Fak]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Friday, Nov. 2

306th day of the year

"I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days." — Daniel Boone’s response to being asked if he had ever been lost in the woods

"Because that’s where the money is!" — Willie Sutton, on being asked why he robbed banks

1734 — Daniel Boone, U.S. frontiersman

1755 — Marie-Antoinette, queen of France

1795 — James Knox Polk, North Carolina, 11th president (D) (1845-1849)

1865 — Warren Gamaliel Harding, Ohio, (R) 29th president (1921-23)

1913 — Burt Lancaster, actor

1938 — Patrick Buchanan, conservative political columnist

1958 — Willie McGee, San Francisco, Calif., outfielder (St. Louis Cardinals, NL MVP 1985)

1961 — k.d. lang [Kathy Dawn], Consort, Alberta, country singer

1971 — Ricky Martin, Puerto Rico, rocker (Menudo) and actor ("General Hospital") [or Dec 24]

1776 — William Demont deserts, becoming the first traitor of the American Revolution

1783 — Gen. Washington bids farewell to his army

1811 — Battle of Tippecanoe: Gen. Jackson vs. Indians

1841 — Akbar Khan successfully revolts against Shah Shuja in Afghanistan

1889 — North Dakota and South Dakota admitted into the Union as the 39th and 40th states

1920 — The first radio station in the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh, Pa., begins regular broadcasting

1947 — Howard Hughes flies his "Spruce Goose," a huge wooden airplane, for eight minutes in California

1948 — Harry S. Truman defeats Thomas E. Dewey for the U.S. presidency. The Chicago Tribune publishes an early edition that has the headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." The Truman victory surprises many polls and newspapers. 

1950 — George Bernard Shaw, Irish author ("Pygmalion"), dies at 94

1974 — Braves trade Hank Aaron to Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Dave May

1980 — Edith Bunker, character on "All in the Family," dies; Willie Sutton, U.S. bank robber, dies at 79

1982 — Fire in Salung tunnel, Afghanistan; 1,000-plus Russians die

1983 — U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill establishing a federal holiday on the third Monday of January in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

1984 — Velma Barfield becomes the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1962. She had been convicted of the poisoning death of her boyfriend. 

1993 — Dow Jones hits record 3697.64.

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Thursday, Nov. 1

305th day of the year

"For when the One Great Scorer comes

To write against your name, 

He marks — not that you won or lost —  

But how you played the game." — Grantland Rice

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy." — John Adams

Louis II, the Stutterer, King of France (877-79)

1815 — Douglas Hancock Cooper, brigadier general (Confederate Army); died in 1879

1825 — Joseph Benjamin Palmer, brigadier general (Confederate Army); died in 1890

1871 — Stephen Crane, novelist and poet ("The Red Badge of Courage")

1880 — Grantland Rice, sportswriter (New York Herald Tribune 1914-30, Colliers 1925-37)

1935 — Gary Player, golfer

1942 — Larry Flynt, Hustler magazine

1957 — Lyle Lovett singer

1972 — Jenny McCarthy, hottie

Pompei buried by eruption of Mount Vesuvius

1512 — Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel first exhibited to the public

1604 — "Othello," the tragedy by William Shakespeare, first presented at Whitehall Palace in London

1765 — Stamp Act goes into effect in the American colonies

1800 — U.S. President John Adams moves into the White House and becomes the first president to live there

1834 — First published reference to poker (as Mississippi riverboat game)

1879 — Thomas Edison executes his first patent application for a high-resistance carbon filament (U.S. Pat. 223,898)

1894 — Russian Emperor Alexander III dies

1917 — In World War I, the first US soldiers are killed in combat

1947 — The famous racehorse Man o’ War dies

1950 — Charles Cooper becomes the first black man to play in the National Basketball Association

1952 — The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb, at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands

1959 — Jacques Plante, of the Montreal Canadiens, becomes the first goalie in the NHL to wear a mask

1962 — "The Lucy Show" premieres

1999 — Walter Payton, U.S. football player (No. 34, Chicago Bears), dies at 45

[OCT. 31, 2001]  It’s on the radio, TV, in all the media. You hear it in the office, on the street and maybe at home — threats of terrorism. America is on high alert. Here in central Illinois, away from any supposed practical target areas, perhaps we feel a little less threatened, but we are still concerned. So how concerned should we be, and how prepared are we for the types of situations that could occur?

Whether the threat is domestic or foreign, violent, biological or chemical, our public health and rescue agencies have been preparing to respond to the situations. Lincoln Daily News has been at meetings where all the agencies gather together as the Logan County Emergency Planning Committee to strategize for just such a time. Our reports have not even provided every detail that every agency has reported; i.e., a number of representatives from differing agencies such as the health and fire departments, CILCO and ESDA went to a bioterrorism and hazmat (hazardous materials) seminar this past August.

Here are some of the articles that LDN has posted pre- and post-Tuesday, Sept. 11. Hopefully you will see in them that WE ARE WELL PREPARED. At least as much as any area can be. Every agency has been planning, training, submitting for grants to buy equipment long before Sept. 11. We can be thankful for all of the dedicated, insightful leaders we have in this community.

[to top of second column in this section]

• LEPC hears plans for annual exercise

• U.S. under terrorist attack
  How is Logan County affected?

• The day after ‘Attack on America’
  Area leaders respond to national tragedy

• ESDA and LEPC conduct successful hazardous materials exercise at water treatment plant 

• Logan County ready for action if terrorist event occurs - Part 1

• Logan County ready for action if terrorist event occurs – Part 2

• Clinton nuclear power plant safety measures in place

• Logan County agencies meet to discuss protocol for suspicious mail

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Wednesday, Oct. 31

303rd day of the year

"Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen!" — Martin Luther

"Don’t be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success." — John Keats

1795 — John Keats, London, England, romantic poet ("Ode to a Grecian Urn")

1835 — J.F.W Adolf Ritter von Baeyer, German chemist (Nobel, 1905)

1887 — Chiang Kai-shek, Chekiang Province, China, president of Nationalist China

1912 — Dale Evans, Uvalde, Texas, cowgirl ("The Roy Rogers Show")

1920 — Dick Francis, Wales, jockey and novelist ("Whip Hand," "High Stakes")

1922 — Barbara Bel Geddes, New York City, actress ("Vertigo," Miss Ellie in "Dallas," "Caught")

1931 — Dan Rather, Wharton, Texas, news anchor ("CBS Evening News," "60 Minutes")

834 — First All Hallows Eve (Halloween) observed to honor the saints

1517 — Luther posts 95 theses on Wittenberg church door; beginning of Protestant Reformation

1541 — Michelangelo Buonarroti paints "Last Judgment" in Sistine Chapel

1846 — Donner party, unable to cross the Donner Pass, constructs a winter camp

1926 — Erich Weiss, better known as magician Harry Houdini, dies in Detroit

1941 — Mount Rushmore sculpture is completed

1983 — George Halas, NFLer, dies at 88

1984 — Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India, assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

302nd day of the year

"Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!" — Dostoevsky

"It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall do." — Mussolini

1821 — Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoevski, Russian novelist and writer of short stories

1882 — William "Bull" F. Halsey, U.S. vice admiral (World War II, Pacific)

1893 — Charles Atlas, body builder

1918 — Ted Williams, Red Sox hitter (AL MVP 1946, ’49; Triple Crown ’42, ’47)

1921 — Charles Bronson, actor ("The Magnificent Seven," "The Dirty Dozen," "Death Wish")

1933 — Michael S. Dukakis, Massachusetts governor, presidential candidate (Democrat, 1988)

1949 — Larry Holmes, boxer, heavyweight champ (1978-85)

1866 — Jesse James gang robs bank in Lexington, Mo. ($2,000)

1888 — In London, Jack the Ripper murders his last victim

1888 — First ballpoint pen patented

1905 — "October Manifesto"; Russian Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties

1922 — Mussolini forms government in Italy

1938 — Orson Welles panics a nation with broadcast of "The War of the Worlds"

1944 — Anne Frank (of diary fame) is deported from Auschwitz to Belsen

1945 — U.S. government announces end of shoe rationing

[OCT. 29, 2001]  It was same date, Oct. 26; same place, Logan County Courthouse lawn; same names; same clubs; and probably the same attitude, accomplished; as it was 95 years ago for the unveiling of the Indian maiden fountain. Perhaps the only difference was that the weather may have been a little warmer that day on Friday, Oct., 26, 1906, when Lincoln Woman’s Club, Judge McCormick and Lincoln High School Glee Club spoke and sang before a large crowd. This time the 40-degree temps with the brisk wind were a sure reminder that winter is just around the corner.

[Click here to see more pictures]

Wendy Bell, director of Main Street Lincoln, announced that the dedication was going to follow much of the same format as it was for the sculpture’s first unveiling.

Bell introduced Burnetta "Bernie" DePuy from the Lincoln Woman’s Club, who pioneered much of the fund-raising for the statue restoration. The efforts began in 1995 to raise the needed funds to restore and refurbish the beloved statue. It was the Lincoln Woman’s Club that initialized the original statue. DePuy recalled the original requirements of a public property sculpture: "Any sculpture was not only to be a piece of art, but it had to be functional and useful, as well as educational." The Indian maiden filled all requirements. It was functional and useful as a fountain to provide refreshment for people and additionally so with a lower trough for pets. It was educational, as the Indian maiden was intended to remind us we are a nation of many people, including the Indians who were here first.

DePuy, who is credited with bringing this project to fruition, thanked the many who have contributed to the restoration, including sculptor David Seagram, former Sen. Robert Madigan, Dick Logan from Logan County Board, the former and present members of the Main Street board, including Kate Orr and the many citizens who have contributed to cover the costs of restoration. DePuy included in her remarks that this has "truly been a community affair."

To the delight of the audience, DePuy was recognized with a gift for her tireless efforts on the project — a custom-made, artist-signed clay cast of the formerly missing hand from the statue. With some chuckles she accepted her gift charmingly, saying, "Thank you!"

Same words, song and attitude

Present at the first dedication was Judge McCormick. To read his very same words in his stead on this day was his great-great-nephew Tim McCormick. McCormick read the following from an original newspaper account:

[to top of second column in this article]

Judge McCormick made a very appropriate speech of acceptance. He said in part:

"It is all together fitting that this useful and ornamental piece of statuary should be built, donated and dedicated to the public service as a companion piece to this handsome and magnificent building we here behold outlined against the sky. In accepting this most generous gift on behalf of Logan County let me express to its generous givers the thanks and appreciation of all our people. May no vandal dare with wantoned hand ever marr its sacred beauty or polute its crystal base. May the virtues, lives and motives of its givers and of those whose pleasure it is to receive and care heretofore be ever as pure as the limpid waters that issue forth from its fount to quench the thirst of the weary pilgrim within our gates."

The original sculptor was Charles Mulligan. His great-nephew John and wife Sharon Mulligan were also present for the ceremony. They videotaped the event to send to the sculptor’s great-niece who was the model for the papoose. She now lives in Florida.

The Indian maiden now sits facing the Arcade on Pulaski Street rather than on the Kickapoo Street side. As the refurbished statue was unveiled, the Lincoln Community High School chorale sang "America" just as the Glee Club did 95 years ago.

If you go inside the Logan County Courthouse, you will find an abundance of assorted marble lining the walls of the corridors. Some of the trim has a pinkish marbled appearance. It is this same stone the Indian maiden is carved from. The marble comes from Tennessee. The original statue cost $800.

[Jan Youngquist]

[OCT. 29, 2001]  Lincoln College student groups will help the Lincoln/Logan County food bank by donating items they receive from their second annual Trick or Canning event.

Lincoln College students will go "trick or canning" on Wednesday, Oct. 31, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in and around the Mayfair subdivision in Lincoln. They are not in search of candy, but canned goods and non-perishable items. All items will be donated to the Lincoln/Logan County food bank.

Student groups helping with the event include Student Activities, Operation Big Help Workers (LC’s student volunteer program) and Student Admissions Ambassadors.

Angie Whiteman, director of student activities, is helping organize the event and says she expects to collect over 100 pounds of food. "Last year we canvassed the area around campus and collected about 50 pounds of food. This year we’ve set our goal at 100, and hopefully with the help of the people of Lincoln we can meet that goal," she said.

[News release]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Monday, Oct. 29

301st day of the year

"We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in the arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons.... If democracy is so stupid as to give us free tickets and salaries for this bear’s work, that is its affair.... We do not come as friends, nor even as neutrals. We come as enemies. As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come." — Joseph Goebbels

"But it is hard to know them from friends, they are so obsequious and full of protestations; for a wolf resembles a dog, so doth a flatterer a friend." — Sir Walter Raleigh

1656 — Edmund Halley, astronomer (Halley’s comet)

1884 — Bela Lugosi, horror actor ("Dracula," "Body Snatcher")

1897 — Paul Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propagandist

1940 — John Gotti, Mafia head

1947 — Richard Dreyfuss, Brooklyn, N.Y., actor ("Jaws," "Nuts")

1948 — Kate Jackson, Birmingham, Ala., actress ("Rookies," "Charlie’s Angels")

B.C. — Babylon falls to Cyrus the Great of Persia

1618 — Walter Raleigh, English scholar, poet and historian, beheaded for treason

1911 — Joseph Pulitzer, American newspaperman, dies in Charleston, S.C.

1929 — "Black Tuesday" stock market crash  triggers Great Depression

1942 — Alaska Highway completed

1966 — National Organization of Women founded

As promised, the United States led an attack on Afghanistan. The attack began Sunday, Oct. 7. American and British military forces made 30 hits on air defenses, military airfields and terrorist training camps, destroying aircraft and radar systems. The strike was made targeting only terrorists.

More than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East have pledged their cooperation and support the U.S. initiative.

Online news links

Other countries

Afghanistan

http://www.afghandaily.com/ 

http://www.myafghan.com/  

http://www.afghan-web.com/aop/ 

China

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/

Germany

http://www.faz.com/

India

http://www.dailypioneer.com/ 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/ 

http://www.timesofindia.com/ 

Israel

http://www.jpost.com/ 

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/ 

England

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/

Pakistan

http://www.dawn.com/

http://frontierpost.com.pk/ 

Russia

http://english.pravda.ru/

http://www.sptimesrussia.com/ 

Saudi Arabia

http://www.arabnews.com/ 

[to top of second column in this section]

United States

Illinois

http://www.suntimes.com/index/ 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ 

http://www.pantagraph.com/ 

http://www.qconline.com/ 

http://www.pjstar.com/

http://www.sj-r.com/ 

http://www.herald-review.com/

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/ 

New York

http://www.nypost.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/

Stars and Stripes
(serving the U.S. military community)

http://www.estripes.com/ 

Washington, D.C.

Announcements

[OCT. 29, 2001]  The schedule for railroad crossing closings in downtown Lincoln to allow Union Pacific to install new crossings has been set, according to Donnie Osborne, street superintendent. In order for five crossings to be repaired yet this year, two will be closed at one time, but they will not be adjacent, he said. Each closing will be for one week only, unless weather conditions delay the work.

• Pekin and Clinton streets — Closed week of Oct. 29

• Decatur and Pulaski streets — Closed week of Nov. 5

• Broadway Street — Closed week of Nov. 12

[Joan Crabb]

[OCT. 12, 2001]  The city landfill on Broadwell Drive will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for leaf and brush disposal, beginning on Oct. 15, according to Donnie Osborne, street superintendent. Plans are to keep the new schedule in place until Dec. 15, he said. 

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