TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

It’s not bragging if you can back it up.  Muhammad Ali

On September 13, 1781, the Long Run massacre occurred at the intersection of Floyd’s Fork Creek and Long Run Creek along the Falls Trace, a trail in eastern Jefferson County.  A day earlier, settlers at Painted Stone Station, established by Squire Boone, had learned of an impending raid.  Most fled to Beargrass Creek, and some settlers stayed for two days before moving toward Linn’s Station.  The Natives ambushed this group at the thirteen-mile tree, eight miles from Linn’s Station.  At least seven settlers died; Natives’ losses are unknown.  The survivors fled and reached Linn’s Station by nightfall.

September 13, 1841, Springfield native Charles Anderson Wickliffe became the 11^th U.S. Postmaster General.

On September 13, 1845, 1,000 visitors watched the reinternment of Daniel Boone and his wife’s remains, the 1^st graves in Frankfort’s State Cemetery.  The following year, the cemetery allowed a 2^nd grave for Lucien Wingate.

September 13, 1891, Sheriff John McCargue, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, died when two brothers assassinated him as he put his horse in his stable.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to William Smith (“Bill”) Monroe, known as “the father of Bluegrass music, born in 1911, near Rosine.

September 13, 1911, Owensboro native Mack Allison made his MLB debut with the St. Louis Browns.

On September 13, 1919, Man o’ War won the 30^th Futurity Stakes for two-year-olds at 6 furlongs in 1:11.60, beating a young and talented John P Grier.  Big Red came from the Spa and ran his last race of 1919, his 10^th race of 21 career starts.  Man o’ War was a growing beast; a skinny kid of 970 lbs. at the Spa, he grew to 1,020 lbs. at Belmont.  By the time he made his three-year-old debut at the Preakness, he had tipped the scale at 1,150 lbs.

September 13, 1922, Cannel City native Rabbit Benton made his MLB debut with the Philadelphia Phillies.

On September 13, 1947, Robert Alsip, who celebrated his 100^th birthday six months ago, died at his birthplace in Woodbine outside of Corbin.  He was one of Kentucky’s five remaining Civil War veterans who served in the Kentucky Volunteer Infantry and Calvary and took part in campaigns in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.

On September 13, 1950, the vice squad busted a big-time bookie in Louisville.  The police and telephone company then cut eight miles of “wildcat” lines to stop their communications.

September 13, 1951, Marine Corps PFC Howard McCormick from Garrison in Lewis County died in the Korean War.

September 13, 1952, Army PVT James D. York from Daviess County died in the Korean War.

September 13, 1966, Army CPT Charles S. Abel from Hopkinsville in Christian County died in the Vietnam War.

September 13, 1968, Marine Corps CPL Vernon D. Jones from Owensboro and Army CPL Everett A. Planck from Winchester in Clark County died in the Vietnam War.

September 13, 1969, Lee Corso coached his 1^st game as the head coach for the Louisville Cardinals.

September 13, 1969, Air Force MAJ Mannifred Yates from Pikeville died in the Vietnam War.

September 13, 1970, Army SGT Harold R. Spillman from Eminence in Henry County died in the Vietnam War.

On September 13, 1973, Bill Monroe unveiled a monument to honor Uncle Pen at the Rosine Cemetery.  James Pendleton Vandiver (1869–1932), known as Uncle Pen, was a Kentucky fiddler.  Bill also celebrated his uncle by playing “Uncle Pen” in Ricky Skaggs’s Country Boy music video.

September 13, 1975, Vince Gibson coached his 1^st game as head coach for the Louisville Football team.

September 13, 1989, Pat Day had his most prolific single day when he set a North American record by winning eight races from nine mounts at Arlington Park.

At about 9:13 a.m., September 13, 1989, an explosion occurred at the Pyro No. 9 Slope, William Station Mine, at Sullivan in Union County.  Fourteen miners endured the explosion; ten died, and four escaped despite exposure to high carbon monoxide and smoke concentrations.

September 13, 1990, the law-enforcement series Law & Order debuted on NBC; the show became one of the longest-running prime-time TV dramas in the U.S.

September 13, 1998, Dueling Grounds re-opens as Kentucky Downs after a brief hiatus.

September 13, 2005, hip number 384, a Storm Cat Colt sold for $9,700,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling sale.

September 13, 2012, U.S. Fish and Wildlife inspectors confiscated a crocodile handbag valued at $30,000 at the Louisville Airport.

Kentucky Trivia:  From monkey skin coats to ivory pool cues to endangered snake wine, Louisville’s International Airport is a primary battleground in America’s fight to halt wildlife smuggling.  The UPS Worldport, the world’s 7^th largest cargo hub, made the airport the 5^th largest wildlife port in America.

September 13, 2014, the Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes is a Keeneland graduate superfecta and was won by a nose.  Kentucky Downs’s premier stakes race attracted a field of 11 three-year-olds and upward.

September 13, 2016, a year after it began, Lexington’s needle exchange program collected 20,199 used needles and gave out more than 21,693 clean ones.  The 2^nd of its kind in Kentucky, behind Louisville, the program saw a steady increase in the number of drug users looking for safer ways to shoot up.

On September 13, 2019, Governor M. Bevin told Kentuckians it was none of their business why he used the state plane because the taxpayers didn’t pay for it.  He had flown the plane to 10 different states without revealing the purpose.  He lost his reelection due to similar statements.

September 13, 2021, Churchill Down employees had to be fully vaccinated.