Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

July 22, 1793, Isaac Hynes hosted the 1^st Hardin County Court session in his home.

July 22, 1799, a constitutional convention convened in Frankfort to draft Kentucky’s 2^nd constitution.

July 22, 1800, Governor Garrard won a second term to be the first two-term governor.  No other Governor achieved this feat until the term-limit restriction was eased by a 1992 amendment, allowing Paul E. Patton’s re-election in 1999.

July 22, 1850, John J. Crittenden, started his 2^nd term as the United States’ 22^nd Attorney General (AG).  His 1^st term as the 15^th U.S. AG ended in 1841.

July 22, 1867, Littleton Wells, 22, deputy postmaster dueled Saford P. Roberts, 24, clerk, both courted the same girl.  Littleton had proposed to the girl but Roberts is who she wanted to marry.  A fight had ensued at a picnic.  The duel was fought with Colt revolvers at the Welby Post Office. (Historians assume it was the Shelby County)  After 10 paces, Wells died with a ball through his brain; Roberts was mortally wounded with a bullet in his heart.
Famous Kentucky Duels by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 146

Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr. who wed Maria F. Cox, a fellow teacher in 1891.  He was known as “Kentucky’s first black poet with real creative ability.”

July 22, 1901, Deputy Sheriff Richard Read of Hardin County’s Sheriff Department, died by a man disturbing the peace at a public picnic.  When ordered to be quiet, the suspect drew a revolver and shot him twice.  On the day he was convicted in court, an angry mob seized the suspect from the Hardin County Jail and hanged him from the nearest tree.

July 22, 1902, Town Marshal James Cockrill, Jackson Police Department, died in an ambush from a 2^nd floor window of the court house as he stood in front of a store.  His murder resulted from trouble caused by the “Hargis Cockrill Feud,” is murderer was Curt Jett, “Wild Dog of the Mountains.”

July 22, 1937, the Lexington Junior League held their first horse show.

On July 22, 1944, Middlesboro native Leonard F. Mason served as an Automatic Rifleman against Japanese forces on the Asan-Adelup Beachhead on Guam.  Held-up and fired upon in a narrow gully, he bravely climbed out alone to the enemy’s rear position.  Critically wounded while pressing forward with his attack, he bravely cleared out the hostile position.  Evacuated to a hospital ship, he later succumbed to his wounds.  For his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” on this occasion, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

July 22, 1950, Army PVT James C. Mullins from Letcher County, Army SFC Eugene H. Herkless from Johnson County, Army PVT James C. Mullins from Letcher County, Army PFC William H. Smith from Morgan County, and Air Force A2C Charles O. Spain from Mayfield in Graves County, died in the Vietnam War.

Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Governor J. Carroll and Charlann Harting, who wed in 1951.

July 22, 1961, Muhammad Ali (8-0) fought Alonzo Johnson (18-7) at Freedom Hall State Fairgrounds in Louisville.  Johnson was the first nationally ranked fighter to get in the ring with Clay.  He was a seasoned veteran but had no real punching power.  Johnson gave Clay a tough fight on a sweltering summer night.  The bout went the distance, with Clay winning a unanimous decision.  One judge, however, scored it 48-47 for Clay, who was booed by the hometown fans for the first time for his less-than-inspired performance.

July 22, 1966, Marine Corps LCPL Mitchell E. Cox from Louisville died in the Vietnam War.

July 22, 1967, Army SP4 Charles R. Leonard from Owensboro in Daviess County died in the Vietnam War.

July 22, 1969, Army PFC John S. Bailey, Jr. from Glasgow in Barren County died in the Vietnam War.

July 22, 1983, Governor John Y. Brown, Jr.’s condition changed from fair to good three days after his open-heart surgery.  Also, on this day, his three-year-old son Lincoln visited him for the first time since the operation.

July 22, 2000, Mack Metcalf (42) of Kentucky and his wife Virginia Metcalf Merida (46) won $34.1 million in the Powerball Lottery.  They split their winnings 60/40.  Mack, a former forklift driver for Johnson Controls, bought a Mount Vernon-like estate in southern Kentucky, stocking it with horses and vintage cars. He died in 2003 at age 45.  Virginia, who had worked as a corrugator for Indy Honeycomb, bought a Mercedes-Benz and a modern mansion overlooking the Ohio River.  She surrounded herself with stray cats and was found dead in 2005.  May they rest in peace.

July 22, 2004, Army SGT Tatjana Reed, 34, of Fort Campbell, died in Iraq fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

July 22, 2016, Wynonna came back to the Bluegrass and played Renfro Valley with her new husband drummer, Cactus Moser and her new band The Big Noise.

July 22, 2018, a Kentucky bred and Keeneland graduate takes Saratoga’s GI $300,000 Coaching Club Oaks for three-year-old fillies.

July 22, 2019, a Kentucky doctor Dr. Raeford, who led a panel of experts on pain medicine, tried to help the federal government answer the question, “Is the new version of the painkiller OxyContin helping fight the opioid epidemic?”  It became an issue when the FDA and the company that makes the drug would not release any data to the panel.  You know what they say, “you can never trust a drug dealer.”

On July 22, 2020, the governor announced 518 new coronavirus cases for a 24,540 total.  In addition, he reported three more deaths of 49, 69, and 81-year-olds for a 677 total.  March 16, 2020 was the 1^st reported death.

July 22, 2021, Toyota announced they produced their 10,000,000^th Camry in Kentucky, a white SE.  The 1,300-acre Georgetown plant is 35 years old and has made 13,000,000 vehicles overall since March 2021.  In addition, the RAV4 hybrid rolled off the line in early March.  The plant opened in Kentucky in 1988, has invested about $1.5 billion in the Kentucky plant since 2017, and employs more than 10,000 people.