TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

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December 26, 1891, City Marshal Taylor Vice, Sharpsburg Marshal’s Office, was stabbed to death while attempting to arrest a suspect.  As he struggled with the suspect a second suspect ran up and stabbed him several times with a pocket knife.  The suspect was convicted of Marshal Vice’s murder and executed by hanging on November 4, 1892.

December 26, 1896, Alfred Holt, a black male, was lynched in Daviess County.  The frenzied crowd pulled him from jail in the early hours of the morning and hanged him from a tree in the courthouse yard for allegedly murdering a white police officer.

December 26, 1942, Deputy Jailer Elisha Hoskins, Harlan County Detention Center, was shot and killed while attempting to arrest two women for being drunk in public on Main Street in Harlan.  The husband of one of the women interfered with the arrest and assaulted Deputy Hoskins after claiming that he was not legally allowed to make an arrest.  The man then fled up into an alley and then shot Deputy Hoskins as he pursued him.  The man was convicted of murdering Deputy Hoskins and sentenced to 12 years in prison.  The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the conviction and ruled that Deputy Jailer Hoskins was considered a peace officer and permitted to make arrests.

December 26, 1951, Air Force PFC John A. Robertson from Owensboro died in the Korean War.

December 26, 1952, Army PFC Billy H. Gibbs from Breathitt County died in the Korean War.

December 26, 1956, the first IBM electric typewriter rolled off the line in Lexington.

Dec 26 IBM

December 26, 1970, Army SSG Richard W. Dotson from Dorton in Pike County and Army PFC Marshall Miller from Vest in Knott County both died fighting in the Vietnam War.

December 26, 1975, President Ford announced a major new attack on the flow of heroin and other drugs flowing into the United States, calling it a “national tragic problem.”

December 26, 1985, a coin toss decided the Richmond City Commissioner race because each candidate received 1,420 votes.  Marshall McAninch, who won, went out to dinner with Merle Winburn, who lost, after the deciding flip, along with their wives.

December 26, 1985, a Clear Creek man from Bell County stated he would fight the Left Beaver Coal Company in court since the Cabinet for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection upheld the company’s coal washing permit.  He said he knew the fight was a losing battle, and they already destroyed everything he and his wife built.  Experts stated the groundwater would not be able to clean up in his lifetime.

December 26, 1988, Sociologist, educator and author John Cuber died at his home.  In 1947, Cuber wrote Sociology: A Synopsis of Principals, a pioneering textbook that was among the most widely used sociology text in American colleges.  The next year he published Marriage Counseling Practices, one of the first text on the subjects.

Kentucky Trivia:  The United States Playing Card Company in Erlanger established in 1867, produces and distributes the nation’s favorite brands such as Bicycle, Bee, Tally-Ho, Congress, Hoyle, Aviator, Aristocrat and KEM. 

December 26, 1990, Dr. Chandra Varia and her husband donated $100,000 to help battered women in Eastern Kentucky through a grant administered by Prestonsburg Community College.  The college stated the gift was a godsend.

December 26, 1990, Kentucky lost a congressional seat due to a declining population.  The census bureau reported there were 3,698,969 people in Kentucky barley 1% more than ten years before.

Dec 26 Census

December 26, 1991, the Lexington Ball announced the last dance would be in 1992.  The Ball was Lexington’s oldest and largest charitable function, which had raised $3 million since it started in 1970.

December 26, 1994, Eastern Kentucky doctors joined forces and created their own HMO-like groups to prepare against the large corporate managed healthcare companies trying to take their patients away.

December 26, 1996, ex-Lee County Sherriff Johnny Mann wed in prison.  Mann was sentenced for taking bribes from drug smugglers.  He caught got on tape telling the FBI he was going “to make every dime he can for the next four years.”

On December 26, 1996, the federal government formally adopted and approved High Definition Television (HDTV) technical standards after nine years of testing and debate.

The First HDTV Broadcast of a MLB Baseball Game-1998

December 26, 1998, #3 Kentucky meets an unranked Louisville team in Freedom Hall and gets beat 83-74. The Wildcats lost their 2nd consecutive game to the Cardinals; UK had not lost two consecutive games since 1994 against Arkansas and Syracuse.

Dec 26 UK
Louisville guard Cameron Murray Jamaal Magloire

December 26, 2001, a court-appointed trustee took over Wallace Wilkinson’s financial transactions.  Earlier in the year, the former Governor filed for bankruptcy with debts over $430 million and assets of only $21 million.

December 26, 2001, Kentucky basketball’s leading scorer, Dan Issel, ended his long career with the Denver Nuggets.  Since 1975 he had been synonymous with the professional team first as a player, then general manager, president, and twice as head coach.  Dan accepted a buyout after a controversy with a fan in the stands leaving after a losing effort.

December 26, 2013, America Health released a report claiming Kentucky’s drug overdose death rates quadrupled since 1999, with the overwhelming majority from prescription drugs.  Kentucky’s overdose mortality rate per 100,000 residents was 23.6, which was third-highest among U.S. states.

December 26, 2015, Kentucky defeated Louisville 75-73 in Rupp Arena.  Pitino was caught on camera leaving the court after the game making an obscene gesture to the home crowd.  The rivalry was not kind to Pitino after Calipari came to Lexington.  Coach Cal won 8 of the 10 meetings from 2009-1016, including two NCAA Tournament meetings and one Final Four matchup.

December 26, 2019, the first charter school application filed in Kentucky was unanimously denied, leaving the state to likely go another year without charter schools since being approved by the General Assembly in 2017.