TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

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On September 13, 1781, the Long Run massacre occurred at the intersection of Floyd’s Fork Creek with Long Run Creek, along the Falls Trace, a trail in eastern Jefferson County.  A day earlier, settlers at Painted Stone Station, established by Squire Boone, had learned that the fort was about to be raided.  Most chose to flee to Beargrass Creek and some settlers hesitated for two days before moving toward Linn’s Station.  This party was ambushed at the thirteen-mile tree, eight miles from Linn’s Station.  At least seven settlers were killed; Indian losses are unknown.  The survivors fled and reached Linn’s Station by nightfall.

September 13, 1841, Springfield native Charles Anderson Wickliffe became the 11th U.S. Postmaster General.

September 13, 1891, Sheriff John McCargue, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, was assassinated by two brothers as he was putting his horse in his stable.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to William Smith (“Bill”) Monroe, known as “the father of Bluegrass music, born in 1911, near Rosine.

September 13, 1911, Owensboro native Mack Allison made his MLB debut with the St. Louis Browns.

September 13, 1919, Man o’ War leaves Saratoga for Belmont to enter his last race of 1919, his 10th race of 21 career starts.  The 30th Futurity Stakes for two-year-olds went 6 furlongs in 1:11.60 beating a young and talented John P Grier.  Man o’ War was a growing beast.  He was a scrawny kid of 970 lbs. while in the Spa.  In Belmont, he was up to 1,020 lbs.  By the time he made his three-year-old debut at the Preakness, he tipped the scale at 1,150 lbs.

September 13, 1922, Cannel City native Rabbit Benton made his MLB debut with the Philadelphia Phillies.

September 13, 1947, Robert Alsip, who celebrated his 100th birthday six months ago died at his home in Woodbine outside of Corbin, where he was born.  He was one of Kentucky’s five remaining Civil War veterans.  He served in the Kentucky Volunteer Infantry and Calvary and took part in campaigns in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

September 13, 1950, a big time bookie gets busted in Louisville by the vice squad and eight miles of “wildcat” lines were chopped down by police and telephone crews to stop their communications.

September 13, 1951, Marine Corps PFC Howard McCormick from Garrison in Lewis County died in the Korean War.

September 13, 1952, Army PVT James D. York from Daviess County died in the Korean War.

September 13, 1966, Army CPT Charles S. Abel from Hopkinsville in Christian County died in the Vietnam War.

September 13, 1968, Marine Corps CPL Vernon D. Jones from Owensboro and Army CPL Everett A. Planck from Winchester in Clark County died in the Vietnam War.

September 13, 1969, Lee Corso coached his first game as the head coach for the Louisville Cardinals.

September 13, 1969, Air Force MAJ Mannifred Yates from Pikeville died in the Vietnam War.

September 13, 1970, Army SGT Harold R. Spillman from Eminence in Henry County died in the Vietnam War.

On September 13, 1973, Bill Monroe unveiled a monument to honor Uncle Pen at the Rosine Cemetery.  James Pendleton Vandiver (1869–1932), known as Uncle Pen, was a Kentucky fiddler.  Bill also celebrated his uncle by playing “Uncle Pen” in Ricky Skaggs’s Country Boy music video.

September 13, 1975, Vince Gibson coached his first game as head coach for the Louisville Football team.

September 13, 1989, Pat Day had his most prolific single day when he set a North American record by winning eight races from nine mounts at Arlington Park.

At about 9:13 a.m., September 13, 1989, an explosion occurred at the Pyro Mining Company’s Pyro No. 9 Slope, William Station Mine, located at Sullivan in Union County.  Fourteen miners were present at the time of the explosion.  Ten died as a result of the explosion; four escaped despite being exposed to high concentrations of carbon monoxide and smoke.

September 13, 1998, Dueling Grounds re-opens as Kentucky Downs after a brief hiatus.

September 13, 2005, hip number 384, a Storm Cat Colt sold for $9,700,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling sale.

September 13, 2012, U.S. Fish and Wildlife inspectors confiscated a crocodile handbag valued at $30,000 at the Louisville Airport.

Kentucky Trivia:  From monkey skin coats to ivory pool cues to endangered snake wine, Louisville’s International Airport is a main battleground in America’s fight to halt wildlife smuggling.  The UPS Worldport, the world’s 7th largest cargo hub, made the airport the 5th largest wildlife port in America.

September 13, 2014, the Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes is a Keeneland graduate superfecta and was won by a nose. Kentucky Downs’s premier stakes race attracted a field of 11 three-year-olds and upward.

September 13, 2016, a year after it began, Lexington’s needle exchange program collected 20,199 used needles and gave out more than 21,693 clean ones.  The second of its kind in Kentucky, behind Louisville, the program has seen a steady increase in the number of drug users looking for safer ways to shoot up.