Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

April 18, 1750, Dr. Walker wrote in his journal, “Indians have lived about this ford some years ago.” He may have been alluding to the burial mound 400 yards from the Ford of the Cumberland River, present day Pineville.  The mound was probably made by the Woodlands people.
Gateway – Dr. Thomas Walker & the Opening of KY by David M. Burns Pg: 19

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Harrodsburg native Beriah Magoffin, born in 1815.  A graduate of Centre College and Transylvania University, Beriah became the 21^st governor (1859-62).  He was pushed out of office due to Civil War politics after he rejected both Union and Confederate request for troops after the Commonwealth officially voted for neutrality.

April 18, 1818, John Boswell of Lexington and Charles Durand dueled “in the vicinity of this Lexington town.”  Cause of the duel was not known.  At the first fire Boswell was seriously wounded and died the same day.  Durand was slightly injured.
Famous Kentucky Duels by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 139

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lexington native Charles Henry Parrish, born a slave in 1859.  His wife, Mary Virginia Cook Parrish and son, Charles H. Parrish Jr., were also noted educators.

Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Antoine Bidermann du Pont, who married Ellen Coleman of Louisville in 1861.  They had eight children.  On the last child, Ellen died giving birth, as did the child.  Mr. du Pont rests in Cave Hill Cemetery.

April 18, 1865, one of the very last Kentucky Civil War skirmishes took place in Taylorsville.

April 18, 1866, Mike Lipman’s Circus Menagerie opened in Louisville for four days.  In one tent, they featured Grizzly Adam’s troupe of acting bears, the celebrated Bedouin Arab Troupe and Squence Q Stroke’s Stud of trained horses and ponies.  One of the main forms of entertainment for communities in the post-civil war South was the circus.

April 18, 1869, the last rail was laid, completing the short-line railroad from Louisville to Covington.  The 106 miles cost $3,933,401.

April 18, 1882, Hawesville native John W. Cannon passed away in Frankfort and was buried in the Frankfort Cemetery.  In 1870 Cannon captained the steamboat, Robert E. Lee, in the most famous American steamboat race that ever took place.  Newspapers called it the race of the century.  Cannon guided his boat to a win over the steamboat Natchez in a race that went from New Orleans to St. Louis, a distance of 1,154 miles, in a winning time of in three days, 18 hours and 14 minutes.  Citizens on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean placed bets on the race at unprecedented levels.

April 18, 1920, gasoline rose to $.29 a gallon.

April 18, 1922, a Louisville library proved an old wife’s tail that indeed a legal Kentucky lottery of chance did fund Louisville’s first public library in 1871.  

On April 18, 1931, Deputy Sheriff Jess Pace was killed (and a miner wounded) in a gunfight at Evarts in Harlan County.  Deputy Pace was trying to arrest some men accused of beating a man who crossed the picket line to work.

April 18, 1944, the U.S. Public Health Service hospital found Paul Surratt, 35-years-old.  The drug-farm patient had a key to open all doors inside.  He stayed hidden for two days but they eventually found the fugitive in a tunnel.

April 18, 1953, Army PVT Charles H. Howard from Trigg County, Army PFC Donald V. Maus from Kenton County, Army SGT Clent E. Parsons from Elliott County and Army PFC Lowell M. Ward from Johnson County, all died in the Korean War.

April 18, 1960, Muhammad Ali registered for the draft.

April 18, 1968, Army PFC William F. Eldridge from Covington in Kenton County and Army SP5 Thomas J. Lawson from Beverly in Bell County, both died in the Vietnam War.

April 18, 1969, Army PFC Victor L. Mills from Harlan in Harlan County died in the Vietnam War.

April 18, 1970, Glasgow native Denny Doyle hit a lead-off single in the first inning against Nolan Ryan of the New York Mets.  Doyle has the distinction of having the only hit in three one-hitters in his career.  The other two came against Red’s pitcher Gary Nolan and Padre’s pitcher Steve Arlin.

April 18, 1982, Kenneth Israel Synagogue in Louisville held an art auction that included works by Norman Rockwell, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and Joan Miro.

April 18, 1998, Thunder Over Louisville kickoffs the Kentucky Derby Festival.  The show is larger than the opening and closing ceremonies of the Atlanta and Barcelona Olympics combined with 46 tons of fireworks.

April 18, 2000, the Courier-Journal reported not a single stream in Jefferson County’s 11 watersheds is suitable for human contact or even wading.  They claim incidental ingestion of a drop of bacterial-laden water can lead to stomach cramps, intestinal-tract disease, and even worse.

April 18, 2010, Army SGT Randolph A. Sigley, 28, of Richmond, died in Afghanistan.  He was found dead in his quarters of unknown circumstances during Operation Enduring Freedom.

April 18, 2012, Franklin native Brad Kelley bought Calumet Farm from Henryk de Kwiatkowski’s heirs for $36 million.  The family had owned the historic farm for 20 years.

Kentucky Trivia:  Calumet Farm won the 1990 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder.  The next year they filed for bankruptcy after losing $1 million a month thanks to J.T. Lundy.

April 18, 2016, Keeneland’s GII $250,000 30^th running of the Dixiana Elkhorn at 1.5 miles is a Keeneland graduate exacta, separated by a neck.

April 18, 2016, Kentucky was ordered to pay the state’s two largest newspapers $700,000 to settle a seven-year dispute over access to records of child abuse deaths and serious injuries.  The lawsuit started under S. Beshear’s administration and ended under Bevin’s.  Most of the money covered lawyer fees.

April 18, 2017, KentuckyOne Health cut 250 jobs to cut costs and improve efficiency while navigating a “difficult” environment.  They did not explain what “difficult” meant.  Still, KentuckyOne Health’s owner, Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), the largest non-profit health care provider in the country, paid their 24 executives over $49 million in 2019.  The for profit health care company recovered quickly. 

April 18, 2019, Spalding University conducted their 47^th annual Running of the Rodents to help kick-start the Kentucky Derby festival.

April 18, 2020, Governor A. Beshear announced 2,707 Kentuckians tested positive for the coronavirus, and 144 died from it.  America’s meat industry is impacted by the covid restrictions and trickles down to Kentucky.  Local meats processors can’t find employees and the price for the cattle farmers dropped 15% to 20%.  Maryville Church fought back in courts over Kentucky covid restrictions, while many citizens across the states held lockdown protests.

April 18, 2021, Dr. Fauci said he would be very surprised if the J&J vaccine was not provided to the public by the end of the week.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paused the experimental drug after blood clots appeared in several patients.  President Biden’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Fauci, stated the J&J shot would be back with restrictions on age and gender.