This Day In History: The Gun

[Johnny Dollar]

Thank you very much,Selena. I appreciate your kind remarks.

And enjoy Casablanca. No Hollywood movie has such fine dialogue.

Here's looking at you,kid!

[Johnny Dollar]

April 14,1881.The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight takes place in El Paso,Texas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_De...conds_Gunfight

The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight was a famous gun fight that occurred on April 14, 1881 on El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas. Witnesses generally agreed that the incident lasted no more than five seconds after the first gunshot, though a few would insist it was at least ten seconds. Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire accounted for three of the four fatalities with his twin .44 caliber Colt revolvers.

Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire

[pmeisel]

Brief biographical sketch of Dallas Stoudenmire:

• Born 1845 in Aberfoil, Macon County, Alabama
• Enlisted in 17th Alabama Regiment, 1862 -- wounded several times during service.
• Went to Texas following war. A few years largely undocumented until 1874, suspected that he was in Mexico as a mercenary soldier for Emperor Maximilian.
• Joined Texas Rangers briefly in January 1874, leaving the Rangers in December 1874. Became a wheelwright in Colorado County, Texas.
• Was involved in several of the range wars in Colorado County and gained a reputation as a shooter, as well as a drinker, brawler, and ladies man.
• Arrived in El Paso in early 1881 to apply for vacant Marshal's position.
• Resigned as town Marshal in May 1882. Stoudenmire had considerably increased his alcohol intake and his quarrelsomeness after the death of his brother-in-law, Doc Cummings, in Feb. 1882 while Stoudenmire was out of town.
• Became Deputy US Marshal for the Western District of Texas in July 1882.
• Shot in a gunfight with his enemies the Manning brothers in September 1882.

[Johnny Dollar]

April 15,1920. The Sacco & Vanzetti Saga begins in Braintree ,Massachusetts.It culminates in one of the sensational, "Trials of the Twentieth Century". The .32 ACP caliber is prominent once again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacco_and_Vanzetti

Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted of the murders of Frederick Parmenter, a paymaster, and Alessandro Berardelli, a security guard, at the Slater-Morrill Shoe Company factory, on Pearl Street in Braintree, Massachusetts, during the afternoon of April 15, 1920. Robbers had approached the two men as they were transporting the company payroll into two large steel boxes to the main factory.

Berardelli, who was armed with a .38-caliber, five-shot, nickel-plated Harrington & Richardson revolver, was cut down as he reached for his gun on his hip; Parmenter, who was unarmed, was shot twice: once in the chest and a second time — fatally — in the back as he attempted to flee.[4] The robbers seized the payroll boxes and escaped by climbing into a waiting getaway car, a stolen dark blue Buick, which raced off with the robbers firing wildly at company workers nearby.[4]

A coroner's report and subsequent ballistic investigation revealed that six bullets removed from the murdered men's bodies were of .32 automatic (ACP) caliber. Five of these .32-caliber bullets were all fired from a single automatic pistol, a .32-caliber Savage Model 1907, which used a particularly narrow-grooved barrel rifling with a right-hand twist.[4][5] Two of the bullets had struck and mortally wounded Parmenter (the second shot being the fatal one), while the other four .32 bullets had struck Berardelli. One bullet removed from Berardelli's body, which was determined by the coroner to be the fatal bullet that had killed the guard, was also of .32 automatic caliber, but this .32 bullet exhibited rifling marks with wide rifling grooves and a left-hand rifling twist consistent with having been fired from a .32 Colt Model 1903 automatic pistol.[6][7][8]

Four .32 automatic brass shell casings were found at the murder scene, each manufactured by one of three firms: Peters, Winchester, and Remington. The Winchester cartridge case was of a relatively obsolescent cartridge loading that had been discontinued from production some years earlier.[4] Two days after the robbery, police located the robbers' getaway car, a stolen dark blue Buick; several 12-gauge shotgun shells were found on the ground nearby.[4]

[Johnny Dollar]

At 2:20 AM,April 15,1912,the worlds most famous ship went down, after hitting an iceberg 3 hours earlier.

In a poignant column published today,national columnist Leonard Pitts puts the event into perspective. A reminder of how small we are:

http://www.etruth.com/article/201204...990/-1/opinion

There is a single shot, just seconds long, in James Cameron's newly re-released movie, “Titanic,” that says it all with poignant eloquence.

Up to this point in the narrative, the director has emphasized the great ship's size and grandeur. She sweeps over the waves like a building that has somehow learned to fly and you cannot help but gape at the mammoth scale of her, the largest moving object on Earth at more than 100 feet tall and four city blocks long.

Then comes her collision with that iceberg she saw too late. Her bow is slipping beneath the water and she is shooting off distress flares. Cameron stations his camera back, way back, placing the stricken ship amid a vastness of black water and an infinity of inky sky, the futile flare breaking pitifully above her. She is a tiny outpost of human anguish stranded in the ocean and you marvel that you ever thought her big.

This post is not gun related (the scenes in the movie regardless!), but a moment and a night to remember forever. 100 years is a long time. But her memory remains fresh.

From Wiki.

[Johnny Dollar]

Jack Roosevelt Robinson, former U.S.Army Lt. and UCLA football All America did more than change baseball that cool April day at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. He changed all sports and he changed America.

It has now been 65 years since that day and almost 40 years since his premature death. But #42 will always live on as one of the great social pioneers in American history.

Tens of thousands of Major League baseball games have been played since the National League opened in 1876. Except for a few token black players in the early 1880's, no black player had taken the field since 1884.

That day, April 15,1947, is the most important day in Major League Baseball history. Jackie's #42 has been retired by every team. And when Mariano Rivera of the Yankees,the last player to wear the number, steps off the mound for the last time,it will be honorably retired for all time.

Here is a poignant tribute to Jackie and his 89 year old surviving wife Rachel by Sports Illustrated's gifted Kostya Kennedy. He died at 52 in 1972 of diabetic related ailments. His memory will live on through the years.

I can still see him stealing home on Yogi Berra in the first game of the 1955 World Series in a cloud of dust. He is truly missed.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XY-XshGhMU

From Wiki.

[Johnny Dollar]

April 16,1746. The Battle o Culloden is fought at Culloden,Scotland.
It is still vividly remembered in the British Isles today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden

The Battle of Culloden (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government.

The Jacobite cause of overthrowing the reigning House of Hanover and restoring the House of Stuart to the British throne was dealt a decisive defeat at Culloden; Charles Stuart never mounted any further attempts to challenge Hanoverian power in Britain. The conflict was the last pitched battle fought on British soil,[4] occurring near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

[laserlight]

The theme that we know more about the gun knowledge of history.

[Johnny Dollar]

The theme that we know more about the gun knowledge of history.

Welcome to GRM,laserlight! We are glad you are here. Could you expound a bit on your comment?

[pmeisel]

JD, as I recall the last major league team to integrate was the Red Sox, 12 years later with Pumpsie Green, and he was a part timer. I believe the first regulars were Earl Wilson as a starting pitcher, and Felix Mantilla in the infield. Earl started to see a lot of regular time in 1962, for Felix it was more like 1964 or 65.

Earl was a minor league teammate of one of my former pastors, now retired. He likes to tell the story of how he and a bunch of other southern boys went hungry when the Birmingham Barons were on a road trip, and the restaurant wouldn't serve Earl.

[Johnny Dollar]

Paul,you are correct. The Red Sox,who could have signed Willie Mays in 1950 and did not,to their everlasting shame,were the last Major League team to integrate in 1959.

We can only imagine the course of baseball history the next 20 years from 1951 to 1971, with Willie in their lineup instead of the Giants.

[Johnny Dollar]

April 17,1961. The ill fated Bay of Pigs invasion,begins in Cuba. Not one of America's shining moments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the invading combatants within three days.

The main invasion landing took place at a beach named Playa Girón, located at the mouth of the bay. The invasion is named after the Bay of Pigs, although that is only a modern translation of the Spanish Bahía de Cochinos. In Latin America, the conflict is often known as La Batalla de Girón, or just Playa Girón.

[pmeisel]

We can only imagine the course of baseball history the next 20 years from 1951 to 1971, with Willie in their lineup instead of the Giants.

And with Ted Williams hitting either right ahead or right behind him for about 8 years of that.

[pmeisel]

The true story of the Bay of Pigs is not fully written yet, and may not be. I am still looking for more history on this. Unfortunately more and more of the people who know are passing on and many of the files are still classified.

[Johnny Dollar]

And with Ted Williams hitting either right ahead or right behind him for about 8 years of that.

Quite interesting that comment,Paul.Willie missed almost of 1952 and all 1953 in the U.S.Army. Ted missed almost all of 52 ,all of '53 and the start of '54 to U.S.Marine Corps where he shot down some MIG's in Korea and went into the drink himself and survived.

Still,without the racist Sox ownership ,we would have had Willie and Ted together totally for 8 glorious seasons 1951 and 1954 through 1960 and perhaps have displaced the Yankees (curse) as the dominant team during that time period.

We will never know.With Say Hey batting right handed, with that wonderful green wall to shoot at like Jimmy Foxx did so well in the '30's and early '40's, and Teddy Ballgame having so much more protection at the plate.Willie catching everything in that weird outfield!

Ted,the greatest hitter ever to stride to the plate.Can you imagine the numbers without 5 full seasons lost to WWII and Korea and one due to injury? 6 years and still 521 homers,almost 2000 RBI,2000 walks,634 Slugging,(second only to Ruth).344 lifetime BA, the highest lifetime since 1935.

And most of all batting batting left handed in a park so friendly for righties, Fenway. Only the Lord knows the numbers he would have put up in Yankee Stadium! The doctors at Pensacola Naval Air Station had never tested a pair of eyes like his. 20/10. A physical freak if ever there was one.

The thought of what should have been makes my Red Sox mind whirl. After Ted retired,Yaz came along the very next year in '61 and he and Willie would have been good for 10 MORE years!

But it was not to be and so we have to, as always ,Let It Be.



Willie and Ted,1957.

[Johnny Dollar]

April 18,1775. Paul Revere rides. And the world changes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere

Between 9 and 10 p.m. on the night of April 18, 1775, Joseph Warren told Revere and William Dawes that the king's troops were about to embark in boats from Boston bound for Cambridge and the road to Lexington and Concord. Warren's intelligence suggested that the most likely objectives of the regulars' movements later that night would be the capture of Adams and Hancock.

They did not worry about the possibility of regulars marching to Concord, since the supplies at Concord were safe, but they did think their leaders in Lexington were unaware of the potential danger that night. Revere and Dawes were sent out to warn them and to alert colonial militias in nearby towns.[39][40]

In the days before April 18, Revere had instructed Robert Newman, the sexton of the North Church, to send a signal by lantern to alert colonists in Charlestown as to the movements of the troops when the information became known. In what is well known today by the phrase "one if by land, two if by sea", one lantern in the steeple would signal the army's choice of the land route while two lanterns would signal the route "by water" across the Charles River.[41]

Revere first gave instructions to send the signal to Charlestown. He then crossed the Charles River by rowboat, slipping past the British warship HMS Somerset at anchor. Crossings were banned at that hour, but Revere safely landed in Charlestown and rode to Lexington, avoiding a British patrol and later warning almost every house along the route. The Charlestown colonists dispatched additional riders to the north.[40][42]

[Johnny Dollar]

April 18,1942. The "Doolittle Raid" begins on Japan, and the world changes again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid

The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands (specifically Honshu) during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAAF. Doolittle would later recount in his autobiography that the raid was intended to bolster American morale and to cause the Japanese to begin doubting their leadership:

The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost.[1]

[Selena]

The "Doolittle Raid" begins on Japan, and the world changes again.

Perhaps, but my Grandfather used to say the name Doolittle with the same respect and reverence that a priest does Mother Mary or a Democrat does the word 'taxes.'

[pmeisel]

Doolittle's raid was inspirational. Somewhat lost in the history is that Doolittle was just an inspirational personality -- lots of people who met him thought him unforgettable and admired him endlessly (including both my parents).

His raid was the magic of the right leader meeting the right idea, plus a lot of really dedicated folks working together on a tough and dangerous task. (There were folks who doubted any would make it alive.)

Folks who would like to know more about the man and not just the raid -- his autobiography was aptly named "I Could Never Be So Lucky Again" and it's a very good read.

[swgunner]

My school's teams are the Raider's in honor of the training at Eglin and Hurlbert for the raid.

[Johnny Dollar]

Thank you all for those fine comments. James Doolittle was an outstanding all around man, as we see here.

James "Jimmie" Doolittle is today most famous for his audacious B-25 bombing raid on Tokyo in the opening months of America's entry into World War II, an attack featured in the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor. But Doolittle's aviation legacy is much greater than this military attack. Doolittle was a true renaissance man of aviation, a daredevil aviator and racing pilot, an aviation executive, a military commander, a scientist, and a presidential advisor. He was also an inspirational figure to many young people in the early days of aviation.

James Harold Doolittle was born in Alameda, California, on December 14, 1896. His father was a carpenter and set off to Alaska in search of gold. Doolittle's mother brought Jimmie with her to join his father in Nome, Alaska, when he was three-and-a-half years old. When he was 11, he moved with his mother to Los Angeles, California, where he developed an interest in flying.

He became a professional boxer and entered the University of California's School of Mines in 1915. In 1917 he enlisted in the Army Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps to train as a pilot and was soon promoted to lieutenant. Doolittle served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1917 until 1930, when he became a major in the Army Air Corps Reserve, where he served for the next ten years.

1985. With President Reagan and Senator Goldwater.

[Johnny Dollar]

April 19,1903. Crime fighter Eliot Ness, (The Untouchables) is born in Chicago,Illinois.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Ness

Eliot Ness was born April 19, 1903 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the youngest of five siblings born to Norwegian immigrants, Peter and Emma Ness. Ness attended Christian Fenger High School in Chicago. He was educated at the University of Chicago, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, graduating in 1925 with a degree in economics.

He began his career as an investigator for the Retail Credit Company of Atlanta. He was assigned to the Chicago territory, where he conducted background investigations for the purpose of credit information. He returned to the University to take a course in criminology, eventually earning a Master's Degree in the field

[Zipperhead]

"Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."—Capt. John Parker, commander, Lexington Militia, April 19, 1775

...............


Zip

[Johnny Dollar]

April 20,1861. General Robert E. Lee resigns his United States Army commission. A pivotal,momentous decision that changed our history to this very day.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...s-from-us-army

Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns from the United States army two days after he was offered command of the Union army and three days after his native state, Virginia, seceded from the Union.

Lee opposed secession, but he was a loyal son of Virginia. His official resignation was only one sentence, but he wrote a longer explanation to his friend and mentor, General Winfield Scott, later that day. Lee had fought under Scott during the Mexican War (1846-48), and he revealed to his former commander the depth of his struggle. Lee spoke with Scott on April 18, and explained that he would have resigned then "but for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a service to which I have devoted the best years of my life and all the ability I possess."

Lee expressed gratitude for the kindness shown him by all in the army during his 25-year service, but Lee was most grateful to Scott. "To no one, general, have I been as much indebted as to yourself for uniform kindness and consideration..." He concluded with this poignant sentiment: "Save in the defense of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword."

[Johnny Dollar]

April 20,1999. The Columbine Colorado High School Massacre occurs ,shocking the nation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbi...chool_massacre

The Columbine High School massacre (often known simply as Columbine) occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and 1 teacher. They also injured 21 other students directly, and three people were injured while attempting to escape.

The pair then committed suicide. It is the fourth-deadliest school massacre in United States history, after the 1927 Bath School disaster, 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, and the 1966 University of Texas massacre, and the deadliest for an American high school.

The massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures, and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in American society.

The shooting resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, social outcasts, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use,[1] and violent video games.[2][3]