TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Thank You For Visiting

In June 1778, a party of Native Americans came to North Elkhorn Creek, killed a man and took an African American girl prisoner.

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

June 17, 1883, Town Marshal George Freeman, Versailles Police Department, was shot and killed 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, was stabbed to death while attempting to arrest several drunk subjects who were causing 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 Race Track 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, was shot and killed in Louisville, while speaking with a man who had threatened another railroad detective the previous day.

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

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Annville native David Akeman, born in 1915 in Jackson County.  He is better known as Stringbean.  

June 17, 1927, Deputy Sheriff Philip Mark Daniels, Bell County Sheriff’s Department, was shot and killed while investigating a disturbance at the Southern Mining Company camp in Insull.

June 17, 1932, Deputy Sheriff William Hamilton, Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, was shot and killed 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, was shot and killed 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, 1953, Army PFC, Harold F. Patterson from Henderson died in the Korean War.

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, 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, 2017, Venus Ramey Murphy passed away.

June 17, 2019, part of an O.Z. Tyler Distillery brickhouse collapsed.  No one was hurt, but about 4,000 barrels were affected.