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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY
Kentucky Trivia

July 5, 1863, Morgan’s Raiders battled Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hanson’s small Union force for nearly six hours in Lebanon.  During the fight, the Confederates pushed the federals through the town.  The Union troops used the L & N Railroad Depot as a defensive position, and Morgan tried to burn them out by setting fire to nearby buildings.  The strategy worked, and the Union troops surrendered.  The Raiders burned Lebanon’s clerk’s office along with treason indictments against some of his men.  Roadside History: A Guide to Kentucky Highway Markers edited by Melba Porter Hay, Dianne Wells, Thomas H. Appleton, Jr., Thomas H. Appleton; pg:30

On July 5, 1863, although Morgan won the Battle of Lebanon, tragedy struck his family.  During the fight’s late stages, General Morgan’s younger brother, Thomas, from Lexington, died attacking the railroad depot.  Shot in the heart, Thomas died in the arms of his brother Calvin.  Initially buried in Lebanon, Thomas’s remains are now in the Lexington Cemetery as of 1868.

July 5, 1881, Hal Price McGrath passed away, six years after winning the 1st Kentucky Derby with Aristides.  Born in the tiny hamlet of Keene, near Lexington, he grew up poor in nearby Versailles.  As legend goes, he ran with crooked dice artists, abstracted protection fees from touring gamblers and by his 20s, McGrath rode the riverboats as a gambler.  Next, he took off in the California Gold Rush of 1849, working the mining camps as a gambler and sharpie.  He came back east and opened a gambling house in New Orleans; even widows of Confederate soldiers fell for his swindles.  McGrath moved on to New York and made a fortune running a gambling house, cashed in and moved back home in style.  McGrath started McGrathiana Farm and bred Aristides.  He gave extravagant dinner parties, inviting politicians, horsemen, and anyone in high Kentucky society.  Later known as Maine Chance Farm; today the land is called Coldstream Farm.

July 5, 1919, Man o’ War, 2, who had just finished his vacation in Aqueduct for 12 days, won his 5th race of the year by defeating two others in the 30th edition of Tremont Stakes going 6 furlongs.  He won $4,800 of the $6,000 purse going 1:13.00, while carrying 130 lbs.  In 1919, Man o’ War won 9 of 10 starts.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Depoy native Warren Mercer Oates, born in 1928.  He is best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including The Wild Bunch (1969) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974).  Another of his most acclaimed performances was as officer Sam Wood In the Heat of the Night (1967).

July 5, 1936, the Courier-Journal front page ran a story about 10,000 people preparing to witness the “unprecedented spectacle of a woman sheriff springing the trap at the execution in Owensboro on July 31 of Rainey Bethea, 22, a Negro.”

July 5, 1948, Nannette “Nettie” McDowell Bullock, Henry Clay’s great-granddaughter, passed away at Ashland, where she grew up.  She returned as a married woman in 1903 to run the estate.  As cars became prevalent more visitors came for a peek at the famous estate.  Nettie deeded her home to the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation, chartered in 1926.  The foundation preserved it and dedicated it in 1950 as a historic shrine honoring Clay.

Kentucky Trivia:  In 1866, Kentucky University purchased the Ashland Estate and used it as part of its campus.  University founder and regent John Bryan Bowman occupied the mansion.  Kentucky University split into Transylvania University and the University of Kentucky and the school sold Ashland back to the Clay family in 1882.

July 5, 1950, Army PFC Jimmie Allen from Floyd County, Army PVT Norman G. Cawthorn from Jefferson County, Army PFC Boyd E. Cox from Whitely County, Army CPL William C. Denson from Franklin in Simpson County, and Army PFC Ransome Wolford, Jr from Pike County, died in the Korean War.

On July 5, 1950, the Old State House permanently displayed Kentucky’s replica of the Liberty Bell in the lobby.  The U.S. Treasury Department distributed full-scale replicas of the Liberty Bell to all 48 states to promote the sale of Independence Savings Bonds.

July 5, 1950, Harlan County native Kenneth R. Shadrick passed.  He was widely but incorrectly reported as the 1st American soldier killed in the Korean War.

July 5, 1950, the “William Behringer Memorial Museum” opened.  The museum shows off the collections of William’s global travels.  Visitors see a mounted stuffed life-sized black bear, birds, small game, the emblematic two-headed calf, American Indian artifacts and other unforgettable “curiosities.”

July 5, 1951, Army PFC Ralph Middleton from Harlan County died in the Korean War.

July 5, 1952, Army MSG Oscar P. Peveler from Daviess County died in the Korean War.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Scottsville native Hillbilly Jim, born in 1952.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Virgie native and 1982 Mr. Basketball Todd May, born in 1964 in Pike County.

July 5, 1966, Army 1st Lt. Jerry A. Roberts from Cerulean in Trigg County died in the Vietnam War.

July 5, 1968, the Commonwealth added Cassius M. Clay’s White Hall, located in Madison County, to the Kentucky State Parks System.

By Jim Bowen

July 5, 1971, Tick Ridge (Carter County) native Tom T. Hall released The Year That Clayton Delaney Died.

On July 5, 1972, eight UK students pleaded guilty to drug charges ranging from amphetamines, LSD, heroin, and marijuana.  There was no word if they attended the fireworks at Stoll Field later that evening.

July 5, 1981, Barbara Zaleski reached for her whip during the barrel-racing event at the three-day Hall of Champions Rodeo at the Kentucky Horse Park.  The Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association sanctioned the event the Rotary Club supported it.

July 5, 1985, Patrolman William R. Burns from the Radcliff Police Department died after overcome by gas fumes rescuing a sewer department employee trapped in an underground lift station.

On July 5, 1987, Larry Flynt, a day before his 44th birthday, returned home to bury his wife, Althea Leasure Flynt, in the family cemetery at Lakeville (Magoffin County) on a grassy hilltop overlooking the Licking River.  Over 100 family friends attended eight days after she drowned in her Los Angeles estate bathtub after a long illness that made her weak in her last days.  Her remains were disinterred in 2021 and moved to Ohio.

July 5, 1990, the U.S. Labor Department levied the largest fine in U.S. mining history.  The $507,996 against Pyro Mining Company stemmed from an investigation of the 1989 mine disaster in Sullivan, Union County, where ten miners died.

July 5, 1992, John Shell of Leslie County, billed as the oldest man in the world, passed over.  His exact age is a mystery.

July 5, 1995, the federal government reached a $60 million settlement to clean up Maxey Flats, a nuclear waste dump, in Fleming County.  Engineers estimated $100,000,000 in clean up cost.  Over 600 private and governmental organizations dumped between 1963 and 1977.  

July 5, 2000, the 1st inmate released from a Kentucky prison due to DNA testing walked out a free man after serving seven years.  Someone robbed and raped two women in the same apartment complex within a month; William Gregory lived there in 1992.  They convicted him in 1993 to 140 years.

On July 5, 2002, Kentucky’s 57th governor, Wallace Wilkinson, passed away.  The people and their families he conned millions from had an opinion.

On July 5, 2010, while five UK professors traveled to Iraq to help rebuild and revamp their education system after the U.S. bombed one of the oldest cradles of civilization based on a lie, hundreds attended the 74th Lexington Junior League Horseshow at The Red Mile.

On July 5, 2012, state Senator Perry Clark from Louisville wrote a bill to legalize medical marijuana and named it for Lexington attorney Gatewood Galbraith, a pioneer in the movement.  Perry acknowledged the bill had little chance of passing.  Legislators finally passed it in 2023 and failed to acknowledge Gatewood.

On July 5, 2014, a Kentucky bred won the GI $1,250,000 Belmont Stakes by a neck.  The red cap and black silks belonging to the Phipps family are one of the oldest colors in the game.  Lexington native Shug McGaughey III conditioned the winner who paid $49.00.

On July 5, 2017, a horse named Millie helped refugee children living in Central Kentucky learn about their new community.  Animal lovers rescued Millie from a wild herd living in Knott County and moved her to the Kentucky Equine Humane Center, a rescue farm in Jessamine County.

On July 5, 2018, President D. Trump tweeted that Scott Pruitt, a Lexington native, had resigned as the EPA’s leader.  He lasted 1 year, 4 months, and 22 days.  A Trump wannabe, he created one faux pas after another.  His bulletproof desk may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

On July 5, 2019, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet warned river-goers that they would see dead fish and smell alcohol.  They also declared the drinking water safe, but people may “detect a sweet or bourbon odor in the water.”  Jim Beam warehouses caught fire four days earlier, destroying 45,000 barrels and affecting a 62-mile stretch of Glenns Creek and the Kentucky River, resulting in a significant loss of aquatic life.

By July 5, 2020, 48,370 Kentucky businesses received $5.2 billion from the $484 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Trump’s 4th coronavirus relief package signed in April after he shut down the economy.  Critics pointed out a majority of the money funneled upward to a small minority.  In Kentucky, 41,932 businesses received $150,000 or less, and 6,438 firms received more than $150,000, including 53 companies that got between $5 and $10 million.  The government gave away trillions in the name of a virus that “wasn’t that deadly” according to Bill Gates.

On July 5, 2021, the nation fell just short of giving at least one experimental vaccine shot to 75% of Americans. Therefore, the Biden administration moved away from mass vaccination sites and marketed the drug directly to the people.  Local concerts, parades, fairs, and back-to-school events, throughout the nation, hosted mobile vaccination sites.

On July 5, 2022, Rosemary Clooney made her final journey to Maysville for her funeral, attended by family, friends, and hundreds of fans.  The mellow-voiced singer and actress, who co-starred with Bing Crosby in White Christmas and staged a dramatic comeback after drugs and alcohol nearly destroyed her career, died June 29 at 74 after a long battle with lung cancer.

On July 5, 2022, Thomas Massie reminded his followers of the reason why inflation had taken hold in America.  In 2020, President Trump shut down the economy and printed nearly $4 trillion from March to December through five separate coronavirus relief packages.  President Biden signed one coronavirus package and then printed $2 trillion in March of 2021. 

On July 5, 2023, a Federal judge blocked the Biden administration from communicating with social media companies to take down COVID-19 information that did not meet the White House narrative.  The judge ordered a slew of federal agencies and over a dozen top officials not to communicate with social media companies about taking down “content containing protected free speech” posted on the platforms.  The government could communicate in efforts to curb illegal activity and address national security threats.

On July 5, 2024, Andy Barr went to bat for the big banks again.  It is what he lives for: making big banks larger, stronger, and wealthier.

On July 5, 2024, eight days after the presidential debate, Joe sat down for an interview.  He dropped out of the race 16 days after the interview.  The obvious deception is one reason Trump won all the swing states.

Kentucky Headlines

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