Skip to content

TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Captain Abraham Lincoln, President Lincoln’s grandfather, born in 1774.

On May 13, 1871, to calm down a city in turmoil, the mayor and railway officials met over Robert Fox’s lawsuit in Louisville.  Robert Fox and other African Americans refused to accept their offer of segregated street cars and faced with economic and political issues, the rail company agreed to integrate.

Wednesday, May 13, 1891, Kingman won the 17th Kentucky Derby for owner Jacobin Stables and trainer Dudley Allen and earned $4,550.  Isaac Burns Murphy won his last of three Derbies.  The Tennessee bred covered the 1 1/2 miles in 2:52 ¼, for the slowest Derby.

On May 13, 1911, Meridian won the 37th Kentucky Derby against six others.  The winning connections earned $4,850.  The race went in 2:05, equaling the track record and setting the Derby record for 1 1/4 miles.  They went to post at 5:02 p.m.

Kentucky Trivia:  Matt Winn changed racing forever by introducing the $2.00 minimum bet at the 1911 Derby.  In the past, the minimum bet was $5.00, beyond the reach of most working people.

On May 13, 1916, Harrodsburg bred George Smith won the 42nd Kentucky Derby.  Owner John Sanford, an ex-member of the U.S. House and prominent horse breeder, along with U.S. Hall of Fame trainer Hollie Hughes, secured their only Derby.  Hall of Fame jockey Johnny Loftus won his 1st of two Derbies.  The winning connections won $9,750.

On May 13, 1922, the 48th Kentucky Derby and 47th Preakness Stakes ran on the same day.  California bred Morvich won the Derby and $53,000 for owner Ben Block and trainer Fred Burlew.  Jockey Albert Johnson won his 1st of two.  Greentree Stable’s Pillory won the Preakness Stakes and $51,000.  Pillory also won the Belmont over three others in June.

May 13, 1923, Patrolman David B. Rogers, Covington Police Department, died when a speeding car struck his police motorcycle on the Madison Pike.

May 13, 1926, Chief of Police George S. Smiddy, Jellico Police Department, died from a gunshot while arresting a man shooting guns involved in a domestic dispute.

On May 13, 1931, State Senator A.B. Chandler from Woodford County won the nomination for Lt. Gov. at the State Democratic Convention held in Lexington’s Woodlawn Auditorium.  The delegates also chose Madisonville Judge Ruby Laffoon to run for governor.  Fred M. Vinson backed Jack Howard over Happy unsuccessfully.

May 13, 1953, Dr. N.S. Noland, Superintendent of Eastern State Hospital in Lexington, claimed the elderly that clogged Kentucky’s mental hospitals should not be there.  He stated ”these displaced persons have been falsely labeled insane and placed in hospitals to spend their waning years waiting to die because they have nowhere else to go.”

May 13, 1965, Buckpasser ran his 1st race; the only time he did not place.

May 13, 1969, Army SP4 Ira J. Sturgeon from Freeburn in Pike County died in the Vietnam War.

May 13, 1969, Investigator William Lee Jones, Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, died after two suspects in Bardstown beat him while investigating the theft of several cases of beer and whiskey from a local event.

May 13, 1970, Army SSG Rhea M. Kidd from Munfordville in Hart County died in the Vietnam War.

May 13, 1975, Air Force SGT Tommy R. Nealis from Mt. Sterling died in the Vietnam War.

On May 13, 1975, the U.S. military was placed on high alert in the Western Pacific after some Cambodians hijacked a U.S. merchant ship.  Some 800 Marines landed in Bangkok when the Thai government told the U.S they could not use their bases to attack Cambodia.  President Ford said he would seek approval from Congress before he acted to take back the ship.

May 13, 1979, Dr. Donald Zacharian, a 43 year-old Texas University executive, became Western Kentucky University’s President.

May 13, 1982, about 4,000 workers at General Electric’s Appliance Park in Louisville walked off the job to show support for 200 striking maintenance workers.  

May 13, 1988, the spotlight shined in Hazard on the life-changing stories provided by the Kentucky River Regions Learn to Read Program.  Meanwhile, in Lexington, the FBI began an investigation into one of their own.  The bureau implicated Agent Long, head of the Lexington office, for car parts theft.

On May 13, 1992, Kentucky Senator David LaMaster announced his resignation during a Special Session.  Federal authorities indicted him on corruption charges the day before.  Meanwhile, Governor B. Jones called a special session to work on Healthcare in the Commonwealth.

May 13, 1996, a child killed another child with a handgun in Louisville for the 2nd time in a week.  The 1st death was intentional, the 2nd accidental.

On May 13, 2002, victims filed eleven more lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Louisville for sexual abuse, bringing the total to 49.

On May 13, 2007, Habitat for Humanity began building a home in Louisville dedicated to Pat Smith.  Mr. Smith devoted many volunteer hours and was a member of the group’s international board of directors.  Pat died in Lexington on Comair flight 5191.

May 13, 2007, Kentucky governor candidates; Steve Beshear, Gatewood Galbraith, Stephen Henry, Bullman Hensley, William Lunsford, Jody Richards, Ernie Fletcher, Billy Harper, and Ann Northrup stated their intentions to the locals.

Kentucky Trivia:  Gatewood Galbraith appeared onstage with many notable figures, including environmentalist Julia “Butterfly” Hill, filmmaker Christopher Largen, author Jack Herer, Willie Nelson, and Woody Harrelson.  He appeared in the 2003 movie Hempsters: Plant the Seed with Ralph Nader and in 2011 the documentary A NORML Life.

On May 13, 2008, locals in Louisville paid an average of $3.90 a gallon for gasoline.  Twenty days earlier – $3.61; thirty-six days earlier, $3.41; fifty days earlier, $2.94.

May 13, 2008, the great sire Storm Cat retired from stud duty at age 25.  During his last breeding season, he covered 32 mares but only impregnated three.  He stood for $500,000 from 2002-07.

By May 13, 2008, the Federal Reserve had bought more toxic bank debt to stop the global financial crisis that started six months earlier.  By September, the Fed bought AIG for $85 billion.  Before President Bush left office, he spearheaded TARP to bail out his Wall Street allies.  President Obama doubled down in his version, he signed days into his 1st term.  Both parties bailed out the gamblers and failed business people to the tune of $443.5 billion.  No white collars went to jail; there were no consequences.

May 13, 2011, Kentucky AG Jack Conway accused Marathon Petroleum Company of gasoline gauging while Kentuckians faced massive flooding.  Conway claimed Speedway’s gas prices jumped $.30 cents overnight after Governor S. Beshear declared an emergency.

On May 13, 2014, AG J. Conway and the FTC ordered Fortune HiTech Marketing and its owner, Paul Orberson, a Danville native, to return $7.7 million to their customers after the company was declared a Ponzi scheme.  The company was also banned from future multi-level marketing ventures.

Kentucky Trivia:  P. Orberson gave $100,000 for Coach Calipari’s Hoops for Haiti.  He also has an office named for him at the Nutter Field House on UK’s campus after donating $1.6 million for the expansion.  The high school standout athlete died in 2013 of cancer at age 56.

On May 13, 2015, the federal government released an education report.  From 2000 to 2009, Kentucky ranked 1st in the nation for the pace of growth in four-year graduation rates.  After six years and cuts of $178 million, Kentucky ranked 41st.  In 2014, Under Governor S. Beshear, Kentucky had the largest per-student funding cut in the nation.

May 13, 2016, President B. Obama instructed U.S. public Schools to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity.  Hours later Governor M. Bevin issued his statement.  It is difficult to imagine a more absurd federal overreach into a local issue.

On May 13, 2020, the security firm CrowdStrike, which the DNC called in to investigate the alleged Russian hack of DNC servers in 2016, admitted they had no proof the Russians, or anyone else, hacked DNC servers.  Two years later, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) fined the DNC $105,000 and the Clinton campaign $8,000 for creating the Steel Dossier, which accelerated Russiagate.

May 13, 2020, exactly two months after 26-year-old Breonna Taylor died in Louisville, when police entered her apartment with a no-knock search warrant, Louisville’s top prosecutor rescued himself from reviewing the officers’ conduct after national outrage swelled.

On May 13, 2021, while trying to open society back up, Andy and the CDC announced that fully vaccinated Kentuckians may take off their masks and ignore physical distancing protocols in most indoor and outdoor settings.  It really happened.

By May 13, 2021, a Lexington girl was among the first adolescents to receive the rMNA experimental vaccine.  “Getting the vaccine will let me get out of the house, go to camp and school next year, and see my friends.”  No Kentucky child died from the virus, and a minute percentage got sick.  The engineered virus stayed focused on the elderly and the weak.

By May 13, 2021, nearly 1.9 million Kentuckians, 43% of the population, had received their “initial dose” of a COVID-19 vaccine.  In 2023, Kentucky was the sixth-worst state in the country for vaccinating children against COVID-19 and the flu.

May 13, 2022, a day after the White House made an inaccurate tweet about the experimental mRNA vaccine, Jake Tapper put Dr. Fauci on the defensive and wanted to know why the tweet was still up,  “You know, Jake, I’m sorry, I can’t explain every tweet that comes out,” he said.  “So you’re talking to the wrong person.  I wasn’t involved in the tweet.  I just can’t explain it. Sorry.”

On May 13, 2022, the Newport Aquarium welcomed three of Venezuela’s fading Orinoco crocodiles.  Once, millions of these creatures filled the banks of the mighty Orinoco River in South America, now only around 1,500 remain after humans hunted them to near-extinction for their prized, scaly hides.

On May 13, 2023, while J. Comer worked his investigation into the Biden family; Congressmen debated the administration’s proxy war on Russia’s border without the body’s consent.  U.S. operatives had already exploded the Nord Stream pipelines seven months earlier.  The president’s powers regarding military action have expanded dramatically over the decades.

By May 13, 2024, Tyson Foods, Inc. was the largest meat company in America and the 2nd largest worldwide, behind JBS.  In fiscal 2024, they reported global sales of $53.3 billion.  Tyson is one of four companies controlling 85% of the U.S. beef market, alongside JBS, Cargill, and National Beef, reflecting significant consolidation.  They opened a $365 million bacon factory in Bowling Green in January 2025.

Kentucky Trivia:  The Commonwealth has the largest beef cattle inventory east of the Mississippi River, ranking #8 nationally.  As of January 1, 2025, the total cattle inventory was 1.85 million head, the lowest number since 1955.  The top beef cattle counties are Barren, Madison, Pulaski, Bourbon, and Lincoln.  Gross receipts for 2024 totaled over $1 billion, ranking it #5 in Kentucky industries.