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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

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

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 facing 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.

May 13, 1911, Meridian won the 37th Kentucky Derby.  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.  Post-time was 5:02 p.m.

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

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 first of two Derbies.  The winning connections won $9,750.

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 first 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 attempting to arrest a man who had fired several shots earlier in the evening while involved in a domestic dispute.

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 first race; the only time he did not place.

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

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.

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.

May 13, 1992, Kentucky Senator David LaMaster announced his resignation during a Special Session.  Federal authorities indicted him on corruption charges the day before.  Governor 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 second time in a week.  The first death was intentional, the second accidental.

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

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 state their platform to the public.

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

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, 2008, the average price of gasoline in Louisville was $3.90.  Twenty days earlier – $3.61, thirty-six days earlier $3.41, fifty days earlier $2.94.  As gas prices rose, the Federal Reserve bought more toxic bank debt to stop the global financial crisis.  By September, the Fed bought AIG for $85 billion.  President Bush bailed out his corporate donors in October, and no white collars went to jail.

May 13, 2008, Melbourne Mills, Shirley Cunningham, Jr., and William Gallion went on trial for fraud and “unbridled greed.”  Mr. Mills’s lawyer said his client was too drunk to be guilty.

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.

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

May 13, 2020, exactly two months after 26-year-old Breonna Taylor’s death in Louisville, after the 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, the governor announced that fully vaccinated Kentuckians may take off their masks in most indoor and outdoor settings on the same day the CDC gave the same advice.  Meanwhile, a Lexington girl was among the first adolescents to receive the vaccine.  She stated, “Getting the vaccine will let me get out of the house, go to camp, school next year, and see my friends.”