Thank You For Visiting

April 11, 1775, James McAfee returned to their claims near Harrodsburg.  Alarmed, however, by threats, they again left for Virginia forever.
The story of Kentucky by Cherry and Stickles pg: 44

Localtonians wishes a Happy Anniversary to Henry Clay (22), who wed Lucretia Hart (18) in Lexington at 193 North Mill Street in 1799, in Lucretia’s father’s house.  They had 11 children, five sons, and six daughters, seven of who reached adulthood.  Lucretia tolerated her husband’s periodic gambling and drinking bouts.  An acquaintance once asked if she minded her husband’s chronic gambling.  “Doesn’t it distress you,” sniffed a Boston matron, “to have Mr. Clay gamble?”  Lucretia looked surprised at the question. “Oh! Dear, no,” she replied very innocently, “he most always wins.”
Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union By Robert Vincent Remini; pg: 30 

April 11, 1873, Kentucky’s General Assembly prohibited the circulation of “any threatening notice or letter” signed or unsigned.  It prohibited two or more persons from banding together “for intimidating, alarming, or disturbing any person or persons.”  The KKK, although not mentioned, was the focus.

April 11, 1885, a truce was agreed upon to lay down the guns, obey the laws, and not attack each other in the Rowan County War.  The truce did not last long.

April 11, 1890, a native of Lamb in Barren County, Cynthia May Carver died, she was better known as Cousin Emmy.

April 11, 1891, Todd County native Caroline Ferguson Gordon died in Mexico.  She was born on her plantation “Woodstock,” and by 30 she was the recipient of two prestigious literary awards, a 1932 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 1934 O. Henry Award.  Her circle of friends included: Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, O’Connor, Eliot and Warren.

April 11, 1901, Deputy Sheriff William Wright, Letcher County Sheriff’s Office, was shot and killed when he and his partner were ambushed by two murder suspects they were about to arrest.

April 11, 1902, Deputy Sheriff Richard W. Slusher, Bell County Sheriff’s Department, succumbed to an accidental gunshot wound when his pistol fell from its holster, striking him in the head.

April 11, 1909, Patrolman Gustave Rosenberg, Louisville Police Department, succumbed to complications of a head injury sustained, while arrestting a man for shooting a firearm in the streets.

April 11, 1922, Night Policeman William Owens Barkley, Georgetown Police Department, was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a burglary suspect robbing the drugstore.

April 11, 1935, Deputy Sheriff Adam Smith, Knott County Sheriff’s Office, was shot and killed while investigating illegal liquor sales and related violations on Jones Fork.  Five men and one woman were arrested for the murder.

April 11, 1938, Deputy Sheriff William Jefferson Perry, Wolfe County Sheriff’s Office, was killed and another deputy critically wounded when they attempted to arrest a man who had drawn his gun on another man in a restaurant.

April 11, 1938, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hale vs. Kentucky that McCracken County violated Joe Hail’s civil rights when they systemically denied him the right to have African-Americans on his jury in his murder trial.  The decision received national attention.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Citation born in 1945 at Calumet Farm.  Citation is regarded one of the greatest thoroughbreds, an American Triple Crown-winner with 16 consecutive wins.  He was the first horse in history to win one million dollars.

April 11, 1950, Picadome Golf Club hosted a match with Lafayette High School golf team and the UK freshmen team.  Gay Brewer Jr. shot a 2-under par 70 for the Generals.

April 11, 1966, Army PFC Andrew J. Campbell from Lanfley in Floyd County, Army PFC Philyaw Fee from Roark in Leslie County and Air Force MAJ Charles H. Penn from Louisville, died in the Vietnam War.

April 11, 1969, Marine Corps PVT Richard D. Ausbrooks from Bowling Green died in the Vietnam War.

April 11, 1969, Time Magazine edition states, “The cement pourers have been thwarted on dam projects before, but rarely — if ever — on such ecological and aesthetic grounds.  What rescued the Red River Gorge was frenzied activity by the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society, an outpouring of statements by Kentucky biologists, and, most important, intervention by some high-level Republicans, including Governor Louie Nunn, Senator John Sherman Cooper and President Richard Nixon.”

April 11, 1970, Army SP4 Gerald M. Hellman, Jr. from Shively in Jefferson County died in the Vietnam War.

April 11, 1983, Deputy Jailer Charles D. Wentworth, Shelby County Detention Center was shot and killed during an escape attempting at the Shelby County Jail.  An inmate’s girlfriend had smuggled a handgun into the jail.

April 11, 1992, The Kentucky Theatre reopened with an invitation-only screening of the 1955 musical Guys and Dolls and a reception for 1,500 with movie star Debbie Reynolds.  City leaders mistakenly selected the film thinking she was in it; she was not, but they didn’t know that until the night of the grand reopening.

April 11, 2015 Keeneland’s GIII $250,000 Lexington Stakes is won by a Kentucky bred.

Kentucky Trivia:  Keeneland was built before the airport and started with 147 acres in 1935, today it is over 1,000 acres.  The facility has 46 barns with 1,600 stalls, and the Rice Road barn can hold an additional 400 horses.  Trainers have three tracks to train on.

April 11, 2020, Governor A. Beshear announced 185 new positive coronavirus cases for a total of 1,840, with four more deaths totaling 94.  It also claimed that 280 Kentucky nursing homes did not have enough personal protective equipment, coronavirus tests, beds, or staff to fight off the virus.