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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Jefferson Davis (29) and Sarah Knox Taylor (21), who wed in 1835, in Louisville.  Sarah was President Z. Taylor’s daughter and part of the notable Lee Family.  She died three months later of malaria.

June 17, 1883, Town Marshal George Freeman, Versailles Police Department, died by a gunshot by two brothers who held a grudge against him.  They alleged that the marshal killed their brother a year earlier.  Both brothers were arrested.

June 17, 1899, Deputy Constable Luther Robinson, Daviess County Constable’s Office, died from stab wounds while attempting to arrest several drunk subjects when they caused a disturbance at Powers Station (modern-day Maceo).

June 17, 1899, Louisville native Burley Bayer made his MLB debut for the Louisville Colonels.

June 17, 1905, Missouri outlawed betting.  The law explicitly prohibited the recording or registering of bets.  However, in St. Louis, Delmar continued racing, declaring it would not be responsible for any betting.  The Delmar bookies circumvented the felony by a system where the number on the admission badge identified bettors.

June 17, 1906, Sysonby died in his stall at Sheepshead Bay Racetrack of septic poisoning.  Some 4,000 attended his funeral following a day of racing at the historic track.  He won 14-15 lifetime starts.

June 17, 1909, Chief of Detectives Frank B. Stiggers, Kentucky Railroad Police, died from  gunshot in Louisville, while speaking with a man who had threatened another railroad detective the previous day.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Blue Lick native and Hall of Famer, Clyde Julian “Red” Foley, born in 1910.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Annville native David Akeman aka Stringbean, born in 1915 in Jackson County.  

June 17, 1927, Deputy Sheriff Philip Mark Daniels, Bell County Sheriff’s Department, died froma gunshot while investigating a disturbance at the Southern Mining Company camp in Insull.

June 17, 1932, Deputy Sheriff William Hamilton, Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, died while investigating the sounds of gunfire coming from a home in Pikeville.  When he approached the homeowner and inquired about the gunshots the owner told him he was firing at a rat.

June 17, 1951, Officer Owen Lee Flack, Hopkinsville Police Department, died by a gunshot by one of two men when he tried to stop a fight between the two at a nightclub near the intersection of 2nd Street and Brown Street at approximately 2:00 am.

June 17, 1951, Gay Brewer Jr., left, received congratulations by Johnny Owens Jr., after Brewer defeated him in the Tournament of Champions final at Boiling Springs Country Club.  It was the second straight championship for Brewer, who won the inaugural tournament in 1950.

June 17, 1953, Army PFC, Harold F. Patterson from Henderson died in the Korean War.

June 17, 1957, Smiley Pete died.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Lexington native Dermontti Farra Dawson, born in 1965.

June 17, 1967, Army PFC William A. Dishman from Louisville died in the Vietnam War.

June 17, 1971, Army CPL Michael E. Ball from Newport died in the Vietnam War.

On June 17, 1988, at approximately 2 a.m., eight convicts, three murderers on death row, escaped from the Kentucky State Penitentiary, sneaking around the fires set by other inmates.  In 15 minutes, the escapees sawed through cell bars, walked through the cell-house doors, and climbed approximately thirty feet to a window using an electrical extension cord.  It was the largest prison escape in Kentucky.

Kentucky Trivia:  Kentucky has the highest Per Capita Incarceration Rate (PCIR) of all the states that surround it.  We are in the top ten states and rising.  If every U.S. state were a country, Kentucky would have the 9th highest incarceration rate in the world!

June 17, 1990, over 1,700 people filed through the Capitol Rotunda to pay their final respects to Happy Chandler.  Happy wore a grey suit and his customary Kentucky Wildcat tie.

June 17, 2004, Constable Steven Lloyd Hutchinson, Grayson County Constable’s Office, was struck and killed by a vehicle while attempting to apprehend a juvenile suspect at 2348 hours.

June 17, 2009, Robert Marsh from Erlanger caught a state record Grass Carp that weighed 58 lbs., 8 ozs.  The record came from Forest Lawn Lake in Kenton County.

June 17, 2017, Venus Ramey Murphy passed away.

June 17, 2019, part of an O.Z. Tyler Distillery brickhouse collapsed.  No one was hurt.

June 17, 2020, hundreds lined up to talk to a human in Frankfort about their unemployment benefits after the system crashed due to coronavirus shutdowns.

June 17, 2021, a group of lawyers received permission to continue their lawsuit against Keeneland and The Red Mile over their losses on historical racing machines.  They decided to sue after the Kentucky Supreme Court said the machines were illegal because it was not pari-mutuel.