Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.  Caroline Gordon

On October 6, 1780, Native Americans shot Edward “Neddie” Boone, Daniel’s brother, and scalped him near Flat Rock in Bourbon County.  They buried him beneath an old Buckeye Tree, where he died.  The address of the grave is 870 See Road, ½ mile north of the junction of KY 537.  Locals named the nearby creek Boone Creek in honor of Edward’s death.  He left his widow, Martha Bryan Boone, and six children: Charity, Jane, Mary, George, Joseph, and Sarah.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Kentucky’s 19^th governor, Lazarus Whitehead Powell, born in Henderson County in 1812.  The reforms enacted during Powell’s term gave Kentucky one of the top educational systems in the antebellum South.  He also improved Kentucky’s transportation system and vetoed legislation that he felt would have created an overabundance of banks.  Powell’s election as governor marked the end of Whig dominance in Kentucky.  Powell’s predecessor, John J. Crittenden, was the last governor elected from the party of the Commonwealth’s favorite son, Henry Clay.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native and artist Enid Yandell, born in 1869.  Yandell specialized in portrait busts and monuments.  She created numerous portraits, garden pieces and small works as well as public monuments.  Enid also contributed to the Woman’s Building at the Chicago World’s Fair.

October 6, 1873, Deputy Marshal William A. Burton, Paris Police Department, died while attempting to arrest two brothers who were causing a disturbance in a local saloon.  The saloon’s owner had called for Deputy Burton after the two men became boisterous and refused to leave.  Deputy Burton had placed one of the brothers under arrest when the other interfered and shot him twice, killing him.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Todd County native Caroline Ferguson Gordon, born in 1895.  A novelist and literary critic, she received two prestigious literary awards, a 1932 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 1934 O. Henry Award.  She won 2^nd place in the O. Henry award for her 1934 short story Old Red.  Seventeen writers placed third including William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Thomas Wolfe.

October 6, 1900, Kentucky State College got their 1^st win of the season against the YMCA, 12-6.

October 6, 1917, the Kentucky football team beat the Maryville, TN team 19-0.  Kentucky would then go on to be shutout the next six games.  In the nine-game season, Kentucky outscored their opponents 104-56.

October 6, 1928, the Cardinals beat the Eastern Kentucky Colonels 72-0 in Louisville’s Parkway Field.  The interstate rivalry stood at 2-0.

On October 6, 1949, Matt Winn passed away in his hometown of Louisville.  In 1902, with Churchill Downs in danger of closing, Winn formed a syndicate of local investors to take over the operation.  His renovations to the clubhouse and many promotions saw the business make its first-ever annual profit.  Winn changed the wagering from bookmaker betting to a Pari-mutuel betting system and, in 1911, increased business substantially when he reduced the wager ticket from $5 to $2.  In 1915, he convinced Harry Payne Whitney to ship his highly-rated filly Regret from New Jersey to Louisville to compete in the Derby.  Whitney agreed, and Winn’s effort paid off with nationwide publicity surrounding the first filly ever to win the Derby.  In 1943, the U.S. Government asked Winn to suspend the Derby because of WWII and he declined.  That year Count Fleet won the Roses and the Triple Crown.  Arthur Daley, columnist of The New York Times, said in 1949, “the Kentucky Derby is a monument to Winn, it is his baby and his alone.”

October 6, 1951, Army CPL James C. Oliver from Lincoln County died fighting in the Korean War.

October 6, 1952, Army PFC Joseph E. Clark from Daviess County, Marine Corps Kenneth D. Hartley from Versailles, Navy PO3 Thomas L. Horton from Daviess County, Army PFC Thomas M. Jordan from Kenton County and Marine Corps PFC Jasper L. Wright from Morgan County, all died fighting in the Korean War.

October 6, 1952, Army PFC Joseph E. Clark from Daviess County, Marine Corps Kenneth D. Hartley from Versailles, Navy PO3 Thomas L. Horton from Daviess County, Army PFC Thomas M. Jordan from Kenton County and Marine Corps PFC Jasper L. Wright from Morgan County, all died fighting in the Korean War.

October 6, 1962, Keeneland opened up their Fall meet with Blue Croon scoring an upset victory in the $15,000 Fayette Handicap.  He paid $23.60 to win.

October 6, 1967, Army SP4 Danny D. Burkhead from Taylorsville, Spencer County died fighting in the Vietnam War.

October 6, 1979, the last passenger train left the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Station.

October 6, 1979, Affirmed and Spectacular Bid went head to head in the GI $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

October 6, 1983, the San Diego Chicken with wrestler Jerry “The King” Lawler before the A.W.A Southern Heavyweight Championship match at Rupp Arena.  Tickets were $7 for ringside seats and$6 for general admission to see the famous mascot as Lawler’s manager.

October 6, 1989, Louisville native and Hollywood director, Gus Van Sant’s Drug Store debuted in the U.S.

October 6, 1996, Eddyville native Forrest Carlisle Pogue Jr. passed away in Murray.  An official U.S. Army historian during WW II, he promoted oral history techniques and collected many oral histories from the war under the direction of Chief Army historian S. L. A. Marshall.  Mr. Pogue later became the Executive Director of the George C. Marshall Foundation and Director of the Marshall Library at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA.

October 6, 2001, Tracy Cerise made Kentucky hunting history when he downed a 700-pound, 6-by-6 (12-point) bull on a reclaimed mine site, near where Breathitt, Perry, and Knott counties converge.  He shot the 1^st elk in Kentucky in 150 years.

October 6, 2011, city officials announced that the Louisville Clock would move to its 6^th site.  The ornamental clock returned close to its original location in downtown Louisville, after decades away.  The 45-foot clock, features colorful characters racing on its face, is located at Theatre Square, near the Brown Hotel.

October 6, 2014, a Kentucky economic study claimed the number of Kentucky distilleries had tripled in two years, the same time it takes straight bourbon to age.  The report predicted more than $1 billion in industry capital projects would occur from 2008 to 2019.  Around 95% of the nation’s bourbon is made in Kentucky.

October 6, 2019, while Mitch tells the press he will stop the impeachment of President Trump, Somerset held their 1^st LGBTQ+ parade.

On October 6, 2021, the status of the 19 Kentucky state workers who participated in a scheme to collect state and federal unemployment benefits during coronavirus; none were prosecuted, one got fired, and eight were briefly suspended and then returned to their jobs.  Meanwhile, a Judge told Jerry Lundergan, who remained free to appeal, that he must report to prison on November 30.