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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

On April 10, 1783, John Floyd died at Bullitt’s Lick, two days after riding into an ambush on his way to the salt works from Floyd’s Station on Beargrass Creek.  John’s brother carried him to safety.  His family returned him to the family’s station for burial.  One of Louisville’s 1st families, the Floyds, arrived in 1774, bought 2,000 acres, and built Floyd’s Station, a mile from present-day St. Matthews.

April 10, 1823, Danville established the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf and Dumb, later called the Kentucky School for the Deaf (KSD).  The state’s 1st supported school of its kind in the nation was also the 1st school for the deaf west of the Alleghenies.  Gen. Elias Barbee, a Kentucky state senator, whose daughter, Lucy, could not hear, pushed the legislation to law.

April 10, 1901, Officer John T. Crum, Danville Police Department, died while investigating illegal alcohol sales at a local establishment.  Kentucky executed him in a public hanging in December.

April 10, 1906, Newport native Nathaniel Southgate Shaler passed over at 65.  Born into a slave holding family, he became a paleontologist and geologist who wrote extensively on the theological and scientific implications of the theory of evolution.  A Harvard fixture for over 20 years, they now considered his work scientific racism.  Early in his professional career, Shaler leaned toward broad creationism and anti-Darwinism.

On April 10, 1911, Georgetown (Scott County) native Tom Loftin Johnson died at 56.  The American industrialist, Georgist politician, and important figure of the Progressive Era guided pioneer work in urban political and social reform.  He served as a U.S. Representative from 1891 to 1895 and Mayor of Cleveland for four terms from 1901 to 1909.  In 1993, a panel of scholars ranked him second among the ten best mayors in American history.

April 10, 1918, Sergeant Thomas J. Fitzgibbons, Louisville Police Department, succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained the previous day while attempting to arrest a robbery suspect at his home.

April 10, 1920, following a three-hour session of Kentucky Wesleyan College’s Executive Board, Professor Ralph Demaree agreed he would not discuss evolution again.  But, to keep his job till June 1, he wrote an apology statement, which The Courier-Journal printed.

On April 10, 1925, publishers released F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, The Great Gatsby.  Louisville inspired some of the foundational scenes.  A few years before writing the novel, 2nd Lt. Fitzgerald, training at Camp Taylor, frequented the Seelbach Hotel.  He enjoyed bourbon, expensive cigars, and the ladies. During those visits, he encountered gangster George Remus, who became a model for Jay Gatsby.

April 10, 1948, Officer Oscar Roberts, Fayette County Police Department, died from a gunshot while making a misdemeanor arrest at the Keeneland track.  Locals acquitted the 26-year-old twice.

On April 10, 1950, the yearlong “War of the Barrels” ended.  The fact is that whiskey must age in new charred-oak kegs, not used ones.  From 1944 to 1946, some Northern U.S. distilleries filled used barrels with their whiskey because new ones were not available.  Used barrel forces successfully lobbied U.S. regulators to change the definition of whisky in April of 1949.   After a year-long battle, tradition won.

On April 10, 1961, Governor B. Combs appropriated $50,000 to construct a floral clock on the state Capitol’s lawn.  Combs saw a similar clock in Scotland and believed it would make a colorful addition to the grounds.

Kentucky Trivia:  Happy Chandler mocked the clock declaring, “Well, they don’t say it’s half past two in Frankfort anymore.  They say its two petunias past the Jimson weed.”  However, according to John Ed Pearce, the clock became one of the most talked-about and visited state tourist attractions and the most visited place in Frankfort.

April 10, 1968, Army SP4 Clyde C. Collins from Jackson in Breathitt County died in the Vietnam War.

April 10, 1970, Lynn (Greenup County) native and Cincinnati Red Don Gullett debuted on the road against the San Francisco Giants.  He had an outstanding rookie season, appearing in 44 games (42 in relief), posting a 5-2 record and a 2.43 earned run average.

On April 10, 1980, the U.S. National Register of Historic Places added Octagon Hall in Simpson County, near Franklin.  The haunted Octagon Hall is well known among ghost hunters and others.

By Kenton Dickerson

April 10, 1984, allegedly Jerome Jernigan kidnapped Wallace Wilkinson after a business dispute.  Mr. Jernigan would say otherwise.  Mr. Jernigan died suspiciously three months later, and three years later, Wallace became governor.

April 10, 1986, government experts claimed that unless Congress made substantial changes, the children of today’s working-age Americans will be financially overwhelmed in the early 21st century due to a human tidal wave of retirees.  Meanwhile, Frankfort relaxed gun controls, and Scott County approved the Toyota plant site location.

April 10, 1987, gubernatorial candidate W. Wilkinson brought his campaign against the Toyota incentive package to Georgetown, and he did not receive a warm welcome besides having great support from the judge-executive.  The mayor could have been happier.  The future governor claimed Tennessee laughed at Governor Collins’s $125 million package.  Meanwhile, Steve Beshear, also running for governor, held a town meeting across town.

April 10, 1987, Hillerich & Bradsby Company executives walked through its Southern IN plant, and a reporter asked if they were voting for Lt. Gov. S. Beshear for governor.  Weeks earlier, the company sued Steve Beshear over his campaign ad that claimed the bat company abandoned Kentucky 13 years earlier.  As governor, he wanted to stop companies from moving out of the state.  Mr. John A. Hillerich III claimed otherwise, with the Louisville headquarters and the Leitchfield golf club factory to prove it.  In addition, the suit claimed the ads hurt the company financially.

April 10, 1990, Keeneland bugler George “Bucky” Sallee played Boots and Saddles at Leslie Combs II’s funeral at the Lexington Cemetery.  Combs, 89, who founded Spendthrift Farm, died of cancer.

April 10, 1997, Louisville native Michael Anthony Dorris passed over.  The novelist, scholar, and 1st Chair of the Native American Studies program at Dartmouth College; wrote A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (1987) and the memoir The Broken Cord (1989).

By April 10, 1998, Dean Atkins, 89, Dean of Keeneland’s winner’s circle, ranked as the track’s steadiest employee.  He was present on October 16, 1936, and hasn’t missed a race day.  “He’s been a wonderful employee, faithful.  He knows where all the bodies are buried.”  President B. Greeley

April 10, 2000, Randy Kimbrough, former finance chief for the State Department of Education, pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $500,000 in state and federal education money.  Her husband faced a mail fraud charge concerning the case.

On April 10, 2000, Joel Pett won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoon as seen in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

April 10, 2006, Army SPC James W. Gardner, 22, of Glasgow, died from a non-combat related issue during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

April 10, 2009, Army Staff SGT Gary L. Woods Jr., 24, of Lebanon Junction, died fighting in Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

April 10, 2009, Louisville native Shawn Kelley made his MLB debut with the Seattle Mariners.

April 10, 2010, a Kentucky bred won the GI $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes.  The winner placed 8th in the Derby.

April 10, 2010, Oaklawn Park ran the GI $1,000,000 Arkansas Derby.  The winner placed 18 out of 20 in the Kentucky Derby, however 2nd place won the Roses in May.

April 10, 2011, Army PFC Brandon T. Pickering, 21, of Fort Thomas, died in Germany of wounds sustained in Afghanistan fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.

April 10, 2015, the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame inducted Lexington natives and cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell.

April 10, 2017, Governor M. Bevin and Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Kentucky (TMMK) President Will James announced a $43.5 million incentive package to modernize the Georgetown plant.

On April 10, 2018, former House Speaker Jeff Hoover reached another settlement in his sexual harassment case, this time with the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission.  Five months prior, his secret deal with his victim came to light.  He admitted he violated ethics laws and received a $1,000 fine; however, he kept his House seat with the secrets that brought him down as the Leader.

On April 10, 2020, Governor A. Beshear claimed the only way to open up the economy was to get people tested; however, he also explained that the U.S. government could not deliver logistically.  So, the shutdowns continued, opening a lane for robots, automation, paying fewer hours, and cutting benefits.  Meanwhile, legacy media painted a different picture, claiming the working class would be acknowledged as America’s foundation and the pandemic would fix “what’s broken In America.”  Corporate America became stronger and wealthier.

On April 10, 2020, Kentucky reported a total of 1,693 + cases and 90 deaths in 25 days.  As more people got tested, daily records continued to fall.  The governor tried to keep the numbers down, and he ordered anyone attending an in-person church or other church gathering this Easter weekend to self-quarantine for two weeks or violate his April 2 executive order.  The pandemic hit another level as the family holiday approached.  Texas native Rand Paul acknowledged the directive. Radom Car parades continued to pop-up to lighten the load.

April 10, 2021, vaccination mandates became routine as people ventured out.  Colleges, businesses, airports, restaurants, and others asked visitors for proof of vaccination.  Many employees world-wide were told to get vaccinated or lose their jobs.  Also, on this day, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a state could not prevent people from gathering in homes for bible study.

April 10, 2021, a six-year-old Great Britain bred won Keeneland’s GII $300,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes for fillies and mares four-year-olds and upward on the turf.

April 10, 2022, from the category of the more things, change, the more things stay the same:  While the governor and legislative branch battled for power, the federal government, backed by corporate media, pushed the endless wars, this time in Ukraine.

On April 10, 2023, five employees at Old National Bank in Louisville died in a mass shooting: Josh Barrick, 40; Deana Eckert, 57; Tommy Elliott, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; and Jim Tutt, 64.  Eight people received injuries, including two responding police officers.  The police fatally killed the 25-year-old former employee. 

On April 10, 2024, the Kentucky Lantern brought up a crucial subject to Kentucky.