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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner as he gazed at Old Glory with 15 stars and stripes flying over Fort Henry.  If he had seen the British Union Jack, he would have written another story.  The 15th star represented the great state of Kentucky.

September 14, 1862, the Battle and Siege of Munfordville, or Battle for the Bridge, began in Hart County when Confederate Gen.  Braxton Bragg’s Army of the Mississippi met Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s Union Army of the Ohio.

On September 14, 1875, three months pregnant, Belle Brezing married James Kenney but never lived with him.  After the wedding ceremony, she returned to her mother’s house with possible questions about paternity.  After nine days of marriage, Belle wrote to Johnny Cook and asked him for a gun.  Shortly after, locals found Johnny’s body in the alleyway outside the gate to Belle’s home.  There were three on the shortlist of possible fathers and two possible suspects for murder.

September 14, 1887, Woodford County native Luke Pryor Blackburn, Kentucky’s 1st physician governor (1879-83), died.  Blackburn retired from public life at the expiration of his term.  He returned to his Louisville Galt House apartment, resumed medical practice, and opened a sanatorium near Cave Hill Cemetery.  His failing health impeded the success of the endeavor.  However, he returned to Frankfort—a city he regarded as his home—knowing that death was near.  After a prolonged illness, he became comatose and died.  He rests in the Frankfort Cemetery.  Many say he tried to kill Abe Lincoln in 1865 with Yellow Fever.

September 14, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., often referred to as Teddy, became the 26th president of the United States.  President William McKinley died from complications of an anarchist bullet on the same day.

September 14, 1908, the Kentucky State Fair opened for the 7th year.  This would be the 1st time the exhibitions had a permanent home; Louisville’s West End at the newly created Kentucky State Fairgrounds.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native Allen Allensworth, born in 1919.  Born into slavery, he escaped during the American Civil War and became a Union soldier.  Later, he became a Baptist minister, educator, and U.S. Army chaplain.  He was the 1st African American to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel.  In 1908 he helped found Allensworth, the only California city established, financed and governed by African Americans.

On September 14, 1925, pearl hunters around Glasgow took advantage of the shallow Cumberland River.  Locals claimed the river had never been so low.  The Upper Cumberland furnished some of the best pearls in the nation, and during this week, the hunters didn’t have to get wet.  The real hunt, however, was for Old Joe, known as the “King of the Upper Cumberland.”  The 12-foot catfish had gained national notoriety.

September 14, 1931, the 1st-night baseball game in Kentucky, took place at Parkway Field in Louisville.  The traveling “House of David” team from Michigan brought their portable lighting system to town against the Louisville All-Stars.  Fleming County native “King” Benjamin Purnell formed the visiting team.  Seven thousand paid patrons came for the triple attraction night: the star-studded players, the incandescent lights, and the presence of Grover Cleveland Alexander, one of baseball’s immortals.

September 14, 1939, Cecilia native Roy Bruner made his MLB debut with the Philadelphia Phillies.

September 14, 1946, Bess, “the horse with the human mind,” led by trainer Joe Atkinson, mounted the steps of the Fayette County courthouse as several thousand people watched.  The crowd filled the courthouse lawn and completely blocked Main Street. Click to see picture.

September 14, 1950, Army PVT Henry E. May from Franklin County died in the Korean War.

Finally, on September 14, 1955, bureaucrats from Kentucky, VA, and TN presented title deeds to the Secretary of the Interior, establishing the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.  They provided 20,185.04 acres.  The 15-year battle had ended.

September 14, 1973, Army SP4 William D. Harris from Madisonville in Hopkins County died in the Vietnam War.

September 14, 1976, Fort Knox native Len Barker made his MLB debut with the Texas Rangers.

February 14, 1989, the Standard Gravure shooting occurred in Louisville when a 47-year-old pressman killed eight people and injured twelve at his former workplace before committing suicide.  The weapons used were an AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle, two MAC-11 semiautomatic pistols, a .38 caliber handgun, a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol and a bayonet.  The shooting is the deadliest mass shooting in Kentucky and one of the most deadly mass shootings in U.S. history.  The murders resulted in a high-profile lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Company, manufacturers of the antidepressant drug Prozac, which the shooter had begun using during the month before his shooting rampage.  The victims included: Richard O. Barger, 54, Kenneth Fentress, 45, William Ganote, 46, James G. Husband, 47, Sharon L. Needy, 49, Paul Sallee, 59, Lloyd White, 42, James F. Wible Sr., 56.

September 14, 1995, someone robbed and murdered Curtis S. Harper at his business, Harper Hams, in Clinton.  All leads are exhausted at this time, and this case is cold.  Click to see other cold Kentucky cases.

On September 14, 2004, the Lee Adjustment Center, a private prison in Lee County, experienced a riot.  Some say the importation of 400 prisoners from Vermont and a drastic cutback in privileges caused the unrest.

September 14, 2013, a touchdown pass helped Teddy Bridgewater overcome one of his slowest starts, but soon everything fell into place, and #7 Louisville beat Kentucky 27-13 in Lexington.  The series record stood at 14-12 in Kentucky’s favor.

On September 14, 2018, Derby City Gaming officially opened.  The $65 million-dollar facility includes 1,000 historical racing machines on a 45,000-square-foot gaming and entertainment floor.

On September 14, 2019, V.P. Mike Pence told an audience that American Pharoah bit him hard enough on the arm during a 2018 visit that he nearly collapsed.  Coolmore’s Ashford Stud Farm Manager eloquently disputed the tale.

On September 14, 2021, Fayette County school teachers, students, and visitors had to wear masks even though the new state law, passed days earlier, banned the mask mandate.  Meanwhile, a Lexington elementary school closed due to a spike in positive coronavirus cases.

On September 14, 2022, Rand Paul clashed with Dr. A. Fauci about whether previously infected children with the coronavirus needed vaccination, the latest in his long-running feud with the corporate captured doctor.  Paul then pivoted to vaccine royalties and whether Fauci or anyone on the agency committees that vote on authorizing vaccines get any payments from pharmaceutical companies.  “We’ve been asking you, and you refuse to answer, whether anyone on the vaccine committees gets royalties from the pharmaceutical companies.  I asked you last time, and what was your response?  We don’t have to tell you,” Paul said.

On September 14, 2023, Rand Paul posted to his account.