July 27, 1884, Newport native Kid Baldwin made his MLB debut for the Kansas City Unions.
July 27, 1901, Patrolman James H. Purdon Louisville Police Department, died in a fire as he attempted to rescue residents who lived in apartments above the supply company.
July 27, 1914, Special Patrolman Sylvester M. Turpin, Paris Police Department, died from a gunshot arresting an intoxicated man creating a disturbance in his neighborhood.
July 27, 1920, twenty Latonia guards left for Frankfort where they received instructions for duty in Pike County as trouble began to brew in the coal fields.
July 27, 1932, Special Deputy Ambrous Murphy Johnson, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, died from a gunshot while assisting other deputies in arresting a subject who had disturbed a church in Quinton. Special Deputy Johnson served for only one day.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Augusta native Donald Poe Galloway, born in 1937. The Bracken County High School graduate starred alongside Raymond Burr in a T.V. movie entitled Ironside. The movie spawned a successful T.V. series of the same name, and Galloway stayed alongside Burr for its entire eight-season run.
On July 27, 1940, armed men shooting into the ground stopped two trucks, carrying A & P Grocery Store food, in Mershon 12 miles west of London. Two grocery trucks highjacked by thugs near London read the headlines the next day. Union men took the two scab drivers by gunpoint and told them to run. Then, they ran the trucks off nearby cliffs.
July 27, 1950, Army PFC Oliver Branham from Pike County, Army PVT John A. Dunning from Caldwell County, Army PFC Billy R. Hamlin from McCreary County, Army PVT Frankie B. Hughes from Floyd County, Army PVT Alvis Justice from Pike County, Army SGT Louis Rowlette from Madison County, Army PVT Howard Shepard from Harlan County, Army PVT Cloid Speakman from Madison County, died in the Korean War. The Defense Department also reported five missing Kentuckians.
July 27, 1953, the Korean War ended. The exact number of Kentuckians who died varies by sources. The Kentucky National Guard claims 1,027. The Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s original source says 866.
July 27, 1963, Claysville, in Harrison County, native Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. died.
July 27, 1966, Army PFC Carlos D. Moore from Harlan died in the Vietnam War.
July 27, 1967, Army SSG Martin Fleischmann from Utica from Daviess County died in the Vietnam War.
July 27, 1972, Kentucky Senator John S. Cooper addressed a nearly empty Senate chamber proposing an amendment to unconditionally end funding for all U.S. military operations in Indochina in four months. The measure, which had no co-sponsors, stunned Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and provoked heated debate in the Senate. At Nixon’s insistence; the Senate defeated the amended bill 48-42.” Disappointed, Cooper nevertheless proclaimed, “I feel purged inside. I’ve felt strongly about this for a long time. Now it’s in the hands of the President. He’s the only person who can do anything about ending the war now.
July 27, 1974, Ruffian’s 4th race was the 6F Sorority (GI) at Monmouth, with Jacinto Vasquez back in the reins. It was her most challenging race to date. Hot n Nasty had broken her maiden by 13 lengths and had scored two stakes wins. Hot n Nasty made her move after the 1st quarter and became the first horse to head Ruffian, even sticking with her for a furlong before Ruffian dug in and pulled away. However, Vasquez felt something not quite right with his mount, even as she pulled away to set a new stake record of 1:09. Back at the barn, he discovered his filly had won the race on a freshly popped splint; although not a severe injury, Ruffian proved she had heart.
Sunday, July 27, 1980, at 2:52 p.m., a 5.1 magnitude earthquake occurred, one of the largest to ever hit Kentucky. East of the epicenter, at Owingsville, ground cracks appeared to be 6 to 10 centimeters deep and 30 meters long. Property damage reached $1 million at Maysville, about 50 kilometers north of the epicenter. In Mason County, 37 commercial structures and 269 private residences received damages.
July 27, 1985, watch the Haskell Stakes.
July 27, 1992, a federal grand jury indicted Bruce Wilkinson, nephew of former Governor W. Wilkinson, and an aide in the Wilkinson administration for allegedly taking a $20,000 bribe to help a Henderson Harness Track in a dispute with their cross-town rival.
On July 27, 1993, surgeons at UK’s Medical Center separated two sisters joined at the spine. Going into the operation, they knew only one twin would survive with one kidney. Her sister died days later. An update past the first week is so far unavailable.
July 27, 2003, the number of babies born addicted to prescription drugs like oxycontin and methadone rose sharply over the past year in Eastern Kentucky. In the newest twist to the prescription drug epidemic, hospitals doubled as detox centers for babies.
July 27, 2004, calling it an opportunity to improve Kentucky’s image, Governor E. Fletcher appeared on the Jay Leno Show. Earlier in the month Jay suggested the state motto be: “Kentucky: Got Teeth?” Actress and UK graduate Ashley Judd also appeared as a guest.
July 27, 2005, Kentucky’s Department of Military Affairs requested $24.3 million from the federal government for a new $8 million airplane and a $6 million helicopter. In 2004, Governor E. Fletcher’s plane malfunctioned in restricted airspace over the nation’s capital.
July 27, 2006, interviewed from L.A., Phyllis George Brown cried, “It’s home to me; Cave Hill is where I spent 20 years and raised my children.” A week earlier, the house sold, and PGB and her children boxed up their memories. John bought his bride her dream home right after they married in 1979. The house, part of which dates to 1821, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
July 27, 2009, Cave Hill, the stately white mansion that served as Governor John Y. Brown’s home office, sold for $800,000 in a foreclose auction. The 17-acre estate decayed for three years as Bruce and Mattie Fein divorced in court. The defunct couple only paid six months of their $16,800 mortgage.
On July 27, 2012, Muhammad Ali helped open the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as a titular bearer of the Olympic flag during the opening ceremonies. His wife Lonnie helped him stand before the flag due to his Parkinson’s rendering him unable to carry it into the stadium. The same year, he received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal in recognition of his lifelong efforts in activism, philanthropy, and humanitarianism.
July 27, 2014, Harlan native Wallace Clayton “Wah Wah” Jones died in Lexington.
July 27, 2019, six went to post in Saratoga’s GII $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes for three-year-olds.
July 27, 2021, the CDC reversed course on mask guidelines and told vaccinated people to wear masks due to the Delta variant. Lexington’s health commissioner followed suit and recommended masks for all students and staff in grades K through 12. Meanwhile, Kentucky announced a spike in positive cases and one new death from coronavirus.
July 27, 2022, a federal judge threw out multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuits against five media companies brought by a Kentucky student involved in a 2019 widely viewed encounter with a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Nicholas Sandmann reached undisclosed settlements with CNN and The Washington Post in 2020 and NBC News in 2021 over their coverage.