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On September 30, 1861, Kentucky legislators began calling for the resignation of Governor Beriah Magoffin several months into the Civil War. Magoffin adhered to a states’ rights position, including the right of a state to secede from the Union sympathizing with the Confederate cause. Nevertheless, when the Kentucky General Assembly adopted a neutrality position in the war, Magoffin ardently held to it, refusing aid calls from the Union and Confederate governments. Finally, unable to provide effective leadership due to a hostile legislature, Magoffin agreed to resign in August, only after choosing his successor.
September 30, 1862, the Confederates lost a small skirmish in Russellville. Fighting in Louisville and Glasgow also occurred.
September 30, 1889, a great four-mile race in Louisville for $14,000 and Wagner beat Grey Eagle in the last heat by only 10 inches. The time recorded: 7:48, 7:44. Five days later Grey Eagle ran again and won for $1,500.
On September 30, 1920, Kentucky’s population, according to the 1920 census, reached 2,416,013.
September 30, 1922, the Louisville Football Cardinals played Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for the 1st time. Louisville hosted in Eclipse Park and got shutout 6-0.
September 30, 1933, Stoll Field on McLean Stadium in Lexington hosted the 1st Southeastern Conference (SEC) football game. The Wildcats defeated Sewanee 7–0.
On September 30, 1937, Deputy Sheriff Lawrence Johnson, Harlan County Sheriff’s Office, died from a gunshot while executing a search warrant for liquor at his home in Lynch.
On September 30, 1948, Marshal George Prentice Southwood, Burnside Police Department, died at the Burnside Bridge by a gunshot from a local constable when he attempted to arrest him for drunkenness. The constable opened fire with a pistol as Marshal Southwood approached his truck.
September 30, 1950, 20-year-old Army CPL Troy Cornett from Perry County died while fighting in the Korean War.
On September 30, 1957, a new independent television station WKXP went on air in Lexington. Less than a year later, Taft Broadcasting bought it and changed its call letters to WKYT, which have remained the same ever since.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Danville native Gerald Edward “Eddie” Montgomery, born in 1963. He was half the duo of Montgomery Gentry. When Montgomery was thirteen years old, he played drums in his parents’ band, Harold Montgomery and the Kentucky River Express.
September 30, 1967, 19-year-old Army PFC Jackie E. Trosper from Corbin died while fighting in the Vietnam War.
On September 30, 1967, Nate Northington, playing for the Kentucky Wildcats against Mississippi, became the 1st black football player to play in a Kentucky game, making him the 1st black football player to play in an SEC football game. Unfortunately, his friend and teammate, Greg Page, who also helped tear down racial walls, died the day before after he suffered a severe spinal injury in practice on August 22.
September 30, 1975, 50 out of 586 Jefferson County bus drivers failed to show to work due to their safety after being threatened or harassed by locals trying to stop segregation.
September 30, 1980, nearly 1,000 school buses reportedly had serious design problems that sometimes caused the engines to fail in hot water. Ford Motor Company disagreed with Kentucky school officials.
September 30, 1980, the U.S. Postal Service overruled the postal rate commission for the 1st time and raised the price of a 1st class letter from 18 cents to 20 cents.
September 30, 1994, 7:16:00 a.m. EDT, the STS-68 Endeavour launched from Edwards Air Force Base with Russellville native Terrence W. Wilcutt aboard as the Payload Commander.
On September 30, 1996, Moneta J. Sleet Jr. from Owensboro passed away. In 1969, Sleet earned international acclaim for his 1968 photograph of Coretta Scott King at Dr. King’s funeral. The photo, Deep Sorrow won the Pulitzer, making him the 1st African American to win the award for journalism.
Kentucky Trivia: Sleet began working for Ebony in 1955 and over the next 41 years, he captured photos of young Ali, Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder, Haile Selassie, Jomo Kenyatta, former ambassador Andrew Youngs, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Liberia’s William Tubman, and Billie Holiday. When Coretta Scott King found out that no African American photographers had been assigned to cover her husband’s funeral service, she demanded that Sleet be a part of the press pool. If he wasn’t, she threatened to bar all photographers from the service.
On September 30, 2000, highly radioactivity plutonium in and around Kevil and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant was hundreds of times higher than previously revealed.
September 30, 2010, Marine Lance CPL Timothy M. Jackson, 22, of Corbin, died in Afghanistan while fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.
September 30, 2017, Santa Anita held four stakes and Kentucky breds won three. Keeneland graduates failed to win but did come in second in each of the four. The GI $301,380 Rodeo Drive Stakes attracted a field of eight.
On September 30, 2020, the presidential debate was an embarrassment for American politics with a heavy dose of insults and very little substance. One candidate had dementia. The other was an egomaniac. The two are a result of voting for the lesser of two evils for decades. In Kentucky, AG Daniel Cameron continued delay tactics and asked for more days to release the grand jury audio for Breonna Taylor’s killing. The Commonwealth topped a 1,000 positive cases for the 2nd straight day.
Positives: 1,004 / 68,840
Deaths: 4 / 1,174 – 1st death 3/16/20
50&over: 1,143 / 49-30: 30 / 29&under: 1
September 30, 2021, Senator Paul asserted to Secretary Xavier Becerra in a Congressional hearing that natural immunity was as good as the vaccine.