On September 18, 1812, Richard M. Johnson’s men reached Fort Wayne in time to save it and turned back an Indian ambush in the War of 1812. They returned to Kentucky and disbanded, going out of their way to burn Potawatomi villages along the Elkhart River. Twenty-four years later, the Beargrass (present Louisville) native became the 9th V.P. elected, and the only one by the U.S. Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment.
September 18, 1861, Frankfort formally declared the end of Kentucky’s neutrality in the Civil War and called for the removal of Confederate troops from Kentucky soil. The 4th Commonwealth now entered the war on the Union side.
September 18, 1869, Sheriff Thomas Napier, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office , died as he and the Stanford Town Marshal attempted arrested a man who had fired his pistol into the ground during a night of drinking. As the officers approached him on Main Street, the man turned and shot Sheriff Napier dead and wounding the Town Marshal.
September 18, 1882, Chief Jerry Lee, Frankfort Police Department , succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained ten days earlier when he responded to a disturbance at a Frankfort Hotel between two locals. A jury acquitted the shooter. Less than a month later, the same man shot and killed Deputy Tes Deakins of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.
September 18, 1908, Policeman Henry Williams, Paris Police Department , died from stab wounds while attempting to stop a man from beating his wife.
September 18, 1914, Policeman Robert Thurman, Glasgow Police Department , died after arresting two drunken men in North Glasgow. As he walked the two men along Main Street to the city jail, one of shot him in the chest.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Corbin native Marion Cluggish , born in 1917. Marion played UK basketball from 1937-1940 after Coach A. Rupp recruited him heavily. The 6’10” versatile athlete went on to play for the New York Knicks in the ABA, being one of the first “big men” in the league. He also played football for Kentucky.
On September 18, 1920, Man o’ War traveled south to the Havre de Grace Racetrack in Maryland to run in the Potomac Stakes . He carried 138 pounds, conceding 24 to 34 pounds to his rivals, including Kentucky Derby winner Paul Jones. He beat Wildair by 1 1⁄2 lengths while breaking the track record by 1⁄5 seconds. Although Man o’ War was not seriously challenged, the high weight and a poorly maintained racing surface took a toll; he came out of the race with a swollen tendon on his right foreleg. The Potomac was his first race in 1920, his 11th race overall, and marked the halfway point of his racing career.
Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Governor W. Ford and Jean Neel , who wed in 1943, at the home of the bride’s parents. The couple had two children, daughter Shirley (Ford) Dexter (1950), and son Steven Ford (1954). Wendell became governor in 1971.
September 18, 1946, Governor Simeon Willis, spoke at the dedication of Mammoth Cave National Park . When locals obtained the minimum acreage in 1941, the government declared the lands a National Park but there was an imperfection in the plan and Kentucky had to wait another five years and for WWII to end, to make it official. Mammoth Cave became America’s 26th National Park.
September 18, 1965, Army PFC Jerry Dwayne Underwood from Louisville , died fighting in the Vietnam War.
September 18, 1966, Marine Corps LCPL Jimmie Henry Rowlett from Middlesboro in Bell County , died fighting in the Vietnam War.
September 18, 1967, Newport native Brent Spence passed away in Fort Thomas . The Brent Spence Bridge carries more than 150,000 vehicles daily and will move 200,000 each day by 2030.
September 18, 1968, Army PFC Robert Edward Gray from Corbin died fighting in the Vietnam War.
On September 18, 1982, Latonia Race Track (Turfway) became the 1st facility in Kentucky to offer simulcast wagering. Lemhi Gold won the big race, the Marlboro Cup, at Belmont Park.
September 18, 1996, Horse Cave native Clarence H. “Cave″ Wilson, 70, died in Louisville . He played for the Harlem Globetrotters as captain and coach.
On September 18, 1998, Murray State University suffered a fatal dorm fire at Hester Hall , where one student died and another had severe injuries. Just weeks after the deadly blaze, police arrested seven people, including four rugby team players, and charged them in connection to the fire, but they dropped the charges. They never proved who the arsonist was.
September 18, 2010, 1LT Eric D. Yates, 26, from Rineyville in Hardin County died in Afghanistan fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.
September 18, 2012, the nonprofit organization, Trust for America’s Health, reported that nearly 2/3 of Kentuckians will be obese by 2030 if rates continue to climb like 2011.
September 18, 2018, on the eve of his visit to the Carolinas to survey damage from Hurricane Florence , President D. Trump tweeted from the White House. “This is a tough hurricane — one of the wettest we’ve ever seen. From the standpoint of water, rarely have we had an experience like it.”
On September 18, 2020, UK announced they would conduct random COVID-19 tests on students for the remainder of the semester. They had already drawn 400 names. Meanwhile, Governor A. Beshear announced 777 new cases (60,128 total), eight new deaths (1,101), and 500 people in Kentucky hospitals. Governor Beshear, “The choices we make will determine how many people we lose going forward. There is still so much work to do, and Kentucky lives are on the line.”
September 18, 2021, many Kentuckians learned that while COVID-19 patients continued to burden Kentucky’s short-staffed healthcare system, hospitals across the state fired workers for refusing the vaccine. St. Claire Regional Medical Center fired 23 workers, and Morehead also fired the same amount. Baptist Health informed employees they would be terminated for refusing to comply with the new policy as well as UK and UofL Healthcare.
September 18, 2022, Thomas Massie continued to vent about the government forcing people to take an experimental vaccine for the coronavirus, a flu strain that according to Bill Gates, was not that deadly.
September 18, 2023, Rand Paul went to social media to address America’s addiction to spending and war.
