Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

July 17, 1778, one of the men taken prisoner at Salt Camp, William Hancock, returned to Fort Boonesborough.  He had news that Boone’s escapee did delay the intended attack on the fort.
A History of the Daniel Boone National Forest, 1770-1970 by Robert F. Collins; pg: 102

July 17, 1789, Native Americans attacked Jefferson County’s Chenoweth’s station, and many entered the Chenoweth house while the family ate supper.  Three of the Chenoweth family died, and seven were wounded.  Three wounded died later, and the others suffered in serious condition.  The Natives plundered the house of everything they could carry away.  Also, at this station, before this attack, one man died, and one was wounded.  The county has also seen more than 20 horses stolen.

July 17, 1804, William Lowery of Lexington vs. Thomas Hurd of Georgia dueled at Kaskaskia in Illinois.  Cause of the duel was a political debate at a tavern where “Hurd bestowed on Lowery several indecent expressions.”  Lowery received a mortal wound in the side of which he died the next day.  Hurd received a flesh wound.
Famous Kentucky Duels by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 136

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lickskillet native Robert S. James, born in Logan County, in 1818.  He is the father of Jesse.

July 17, 1862, Confederate Colonel John Hunt Morgan defeats Union Lt. Colonel John J. Landrum at the Battle of Cynthiana, the largest action of Morgan’s summer raid.

July 17, 1882, Owensboro native Thomas Cruse earned the Medal of Honor fighting in the Battle of Big Dry Wash in Arizona.   The U.S. Army’s 3^rd Cavalry Regiment and 6^th Cavalry Regiment fought members of the White Mountain Apache tribe.

July 17, 1887, Madison County lynched John Thomas, a black male, for rape.

July 17, 1891, Bell County lynched Frank Rossimus, a white male, for murder.

July 17, 1894, Boone County lynched Louis Laferdetta, a white male, for murder.

July 17, 1900, James R. Keene’s Voter set a new World Record of 1:38.00 for a mile on the dirt, at the Brighton Beach Race Course.

July 17, 1902, Daviess County lynched Joshua Anderson, a white male, for murder.

July 17, 1953, Army SFC Clofus O. Farris from Kenton County, Army PFC James P. Hayes from Adair County, and Marine Corps CPL James D. Welch from Middlesboro in Bell County, died in the Korean War.

July 17, 1961, the Jerry’s Restaurant in Paris opened according to Maxine Pulliam, the widow of the original owner and operator.  This Jerry’s is the last of the Mohicans, from a once popular southern restaurant chain.

July 17, 1967, Army SP4 Wesley E. Bellamy from Catlettsburg in Boyd County and Army SGT Michaelle Hoggie from Load in Greenup County, died in the Vietnam War.

July 17, 1971, Ack Ack claims the Hollywood Gold Cup.

July 17, 1975, jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. notched his 3,000^th career victory, aboard Lexington Lark at Hollywood Park.

July 17, 1976 the Kentucky Colonels ceased to exist as John Y. Brown, Jr. agreed to fold the Colonels in exchange for $3 million.  Brown used the money to purchase the Buffalo Braves of the NBA.  The Braves are now known as the Los Angeles Clippers.

On July 17, 1980, more than 750 people died in a heat wave spread across 17 states.  Nine individuals from Louisville died.  Since 1974 only one death in Jefferson County was attributed to heat.

July 17, 1989, Gerald Gallagher from Louisville caught a state record Grass Pickerel that weighed .63 lbs. in the Wilson Creek in Bullitt County.

July 17, 1991, Wendover (Frontier Nursing Service Headquarters) in Leslie County, the First American attempt to professionalize midwifery, became a National Historic Landmark.

July 17, 1994, Shane Ragland shot Trent DiGiuro, 21, while the University of Kentucky football player sat on his front porch.  The murderer exited the bushes across the street, got on his bike, and pedaled home.

July 17, 1994, thieves cut telephone lines and the silent alarm system and took 50 to 60 pieces from the Headley-Whitney Museum making it Kentucky’s largest jewel heist.  George Headley created the opulent jewelry early throughout his career designing for leading Hollywood actresses Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Mae West, and Fanny Brice.  He’d had a boutique in the Bel Air Hotel, Los Angeles, and frequently used dogs to model his creations around the hotel’s pool for wealthy patrons, according to Lisa Blackadar, the museum’s curator.  “It’s all irreplaceable,” said Jim Frazier.

July 17, 1996, the Louisville Slugger Museum opens and receives its first visitors.

Kentucky Trivia: According to company legend, 17-year-old Bud Hillerich created the first pro bat for Pete Browning in 1884, the megastar for Louisville’s major league team, the Eclipse.  Bud skipped out of work one spring afternoon to watch the Eclipse play.  He saw Browning break his bat and offered to make a new one at the woodworking shop.  According to the story, in the next game, Browning got three hits with the bat Bud made.

July 17, 2005, Army SPC Ronnie D. Williams, 26, of Erlanger, died in Baghdad of injuries fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

July 17, 2005, Paris native Bill Arnsparger died.  Bill is best known for serving as a defensive coordinator in the NFL for Miami Dolphins teams that won consecutive Super Bowls (1972 and 1973) and reached another (1982).

July 17, 2008, Governor S. Beasher took three planeloads of officials with him to Pikeville at a cost of more than $7,000 for his first stop in a six-week statewide tour.  Days before the governor gave tips to state workers on how to commute to work to save fuel.

July 17, 2015, the government revealed Rep. Andy Barr spent more than $190,000 in taxpayer money to talk to his constituents in the first 15 months of office.  That was ten times more than the 2^nd highest Kentucky representative and 26^th among House members for taxpayer-funded communications.

July 17, 2019, Coach Mark Stoops and John Daley shared a cart during the Barbasol Pro-Am in Nicholasville.

July 17, 2020, Governor A. Beshear announced the 3^rd highest number of positive cases, 531, and five new deaths, 653 total, from coronavirus.  Meanwhile, the Kentucky Supreme Court stopped the governor’s emergency orders relating to the coronavirus.

As of July 17, 2021, Kentucky had not mandated the coronavirus vaccine; however, Berea College, Simmons College of Kentucky, UofL Health, and Atria Senior Living had.