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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Mays Lick native Charles Young, born in 1964.  He was the 1st black U.S. national park superintendent, 1st black military attaché, 1st black man to achieve the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army, and highest-ranking black officer in the regular army until his death in 1922.

March 12, 1865, Jerome Clarke, a well-known Confederate guerrilla, claimed by some to have been Sue Munday, got captured near the Breckinridge–Meade County line.  They hung him three days later in Louisville.  Afterward, his trial drew heavy criticism.

March 12, 1869, Frankfort rejects the 15th Amendment one month after Washington D.C. approved it.  Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware refused to ratify due to opposition to expanding the black vote.  The Commonwealth approved the Amendment in 1976.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Gradyville native Edgar Allen Diddle, born in 1895.  Western Kentucky’s basketball coach became the first coach in history to coach 1,000 games at one school.  Diddle was known as one of the early pioneers of the fast break and waving a red towel around along the sidelines.

March 12, 1911, Deputy Sheriff H. M. Holloway and Deputy Sheriff J. T. Lovett Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department were shot and killed from ambush while guarding railroad coal chutes in Stearns.  The shooting may have been the result of a strike by railroad firefighters.  No suspects were ever identified.

March 12, 1912, McCreary County was created from parts of Wayne County, Pulaski County, and Whitley County and named in honor of James McCreary, 37th Kentucky governor.  The county seat is Whitley City.  Other localities include Pine Knot and Stearns.  It was the 120th county created and the last.  It covers 431 square miles.

1280px Map of Kentucky highlighting McCreary County.svg
By David Benbennick

March 12, 1917, Policeman Floyd Little, Weeksbury Police Department, was shot and killed while attempting to arrest several drunken miners who were firing guns in the town.  Two subjects were arrested following his murder.

March 12, 1938, the General Assembly passed a law that required all executions to be performed privately and by electrocution within the Kentucky State Penitentiary walls in Eddyville.  The new law was in response to the last public hanging of Rainey Bethea, which drew 10,000 spectators in 1936.

March 12, 1938, the Kentucky General Assembly “banned the possession or sale of the narcotic drug marihuana, sometimes called ‘loco weed’ or any derivative of the drug cannibus americanus.”  This did not apply to “duly licensed wholesale druggists, registered pharmacists, legally qualified physicians, dentists, and veterinary surgeons.”

March 12, 1940, Louis Lee Haggin II is elected Keeneland Race Course President, a position he holds until 1956.

March 12, 1951, Army SGT Wallace Alexander from Adair County and Marine Corps PFC James A. Gregory from Louisville, both died in the Korean War.

March 12, 1952, as a lingering indication of Kentucky’s post-Civil War sentiments, the General Assembly provided $50-a-month pensions for all Confederate veterans who had received an honorable discharge from the Confederate Army and who had resided in Kentucky as a “bona fide resident” since January 1, 1915.

March 12, 1967, Lexington native Isaac Scott Hathaway died.  Isaac was an artist and educator who created masks and busts of important African American leaders.  He is also the designer of the first two U.S. coins to feature black Americans.

March 12, 1968, Army SGT Charles W. Graham from Richardsville in Warren County and Army SSG George F. Hayes Busy in Perry County.

March 12, 1969, Army SP4 Gary L. Moore from Union in Boone County and Army SSG Kyle Waldrop from High Bridge in Jessamine County, both died in the Vietnam War.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Fort Knox native Monique Jones, born in 1979.  Monique has ranked in the top ten of the Pro Women’s Bodybuilding rankings.  Her accomplishments include first-place finishes at the North American Championships and the Wings of Strength Chicago Pro-Am Extravaganza.

March 12, 1985, Union County native Earle Chester Clements died in his hometown of Morganfield.  The U.S. Senator and 47th Governor was the leader of a faction of the state’s Democratic Party that stood in opposition to the faction led by the two-time Governor and Senator A. B. “Happy” Chandler.

March 12, 2004, Rafael Bejarano won seven races on a single race card at Turfway Park and not all were favorites.  The next day he came back and won five races.  Rafael ended the meet with a track-record of 196 wins.  Also, in 2004, Bejarano won the most races of any jockey with 455 wins.

March 12, 2010, Klint Thaxton caught a Kentucky state record Yellow Perch, in Cozy Cove Lodge, Kentucky Lake, weighing 1 lb. 7 ozs.

March 12 perch

Kentucky Trivia:  Kentucky maintains 10 State Forests located in 12 counties comprising over 48,000 acres.

March 12, 2011, Augustus Owsley Stanley III, the grandson of the 38th Kentucky governor, died.

March 12, 2016, the Tampa Bay Downs runs the GII $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby Stakes.  A Keeneland graduate takes home $210,000 and Kentucky Derby points. 

March 12, 2019, President Donald Trump signs the law to designate the Mill Springs Battlefield a National Monument.

March 12, 2020, Governor A. Beshear recommended that all school superintendents consider ceasing in-person classes for an unidentified time period beginning Monday, March 16, to help control coronavirus.  There were ten confirmed cases at the time of this announcement.

March 12, 2020, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association cancelled both girls’ and boys’ sweet 16 basketball tournaments and Keeneland stated they would run without spectators.

March 12, 2022, new covid-19 cases, deaths, and the positivity rate all continued to decline in the state.  Kentucky also announced that indoor visitation could resume nursing homes, however, facilities across the state were already allowing visitors.