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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia

November 28, 1785, the 1st official treaty between the U.S. and Cherokee Nation took place at Hopewell, South Carolina.  The Hopewell Treaty included the cession of all land in Kentucky north of the Cumberland River and west of the Little South Fork.  Although Cherokee Chief Corn Tassel, brother of Doublehead, signed the treaty, other clan chiefs did not.  The Hopewell Treaty began a war between the European settlers and the Cherokee living in the Cumberland valley.

On November 28, 1863, John Hunt Morgan and six of his men escaped an Ohio prison in the early morning hours.  They tunneled to an air shaft beneath their cells into the prison yard, made a rope from their uniforms, and scaled the wall in classic prison escape fashion.  The Yankees recaptured two of Morgan’s men, but the General and the rest of his men returned to the South via a train to Cincinnati.  Morgan purchased the ticket with money that his sister had smuggled into the prison inside a Bible.  Coincidentally, the same day Morgan escaped, his wife gave birth to a daughter, who died before he returned home.  Union soldiers in Tennessee shot Morgan in September of 1864.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Somerset native Edwin Porch Morrow, Kentucky’s 40th governor, born in 1877.  He and his twin brother, Charles, were the youngest of eight children.  His father helped found the Kentucky Republican Party and was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1883.  His mother was a sister to William O’Connell Bradley, the 1st Republican governor in 1895.  Governor Morrow signed the bill ratifying the 19th Amendment, making Kentucky the 23rd state to do so.

November 28, 1922, Chief of Police James C. Pope, Harlan Police Department, died from a gunshot as he and an officer attempted to arrest two men creating a disturbance at a home on Cumberland Avenue.

November 28, 1935, Coach Wynne’s Kentucky Wildcats shutout the Tennessee Volunteers 27-0 to close out the season 5-4.

November 28, 1939, Deputy Constable Floyd Hyatt, Rowan County Constable’s Office, succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained 13 days earlier when moonshiners shot him near the head of Dry Creek.  He and two other officers were searching for poachers when they stumbled on a still in operation.

November 28, 1950, the following individuals died fighting in the Korean War: Army SFC Troulius Adams from Letcher County, Army PVT Murrel Garvin from Jefferson County, Army PVT Charles R. Hawes from Boyle County, Navy HN Edward Jones Jr. from Mt. Vernon, Army PVT Johnnie Joseph Jr. from Leslie County, Army 2LT Elster R. King from Anderson County, Marine Corps SGT Louis C. Kraus from Louisville, Army PFC Anthony Massey Jr. from Graves County, Army PFC Homer M. McDaniel from Daviess County, Army PVT Donald M. Smith from Kenton County, Army CPL Raymond G. Stephens from Whitley County, Marine Corps PFC Charles A. Taylor from Louisville, Army MSG Martin W. Warren from Bell County, Army CPL Richard T. West from Christian County, and Army PFC Carlton H. Young from Hardin County all died fighting in the Korean War.

On November 28, 1960, buyers paid an average of $66.29 a hundred pounds, the highest opening day average, on the 1st day of the 1960 Kentucky burley-tobacco crop.

November 28, 1967, Stanford native Sophia Kindrick Alcorn passed away.  Sophia was an educator best known for inventing the Tadoma Method of communication with deaf and blind people.  She advocated for the rights of people with disabilities and upon retiring from her long career in teaching, she worked with the American Foundation for the Blind.

On November 28, 1968, the 1st female to play in a professional basketball game did so on the floor of Freedom Hall during a Kentucky Colonels game.  Penny Ann Early, an aspiring jockey, briefly entered the game for the Kentucky Colonels against the Los Angeles Stars.

November 28, 1971, Army PFC Willie J. Oaks from Beattyville in Lee County and Army SP4 Oscar Paulley Jr. from Louisville both died fighting in the Vietnam War.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native to Robert Thomas Conway Jr., born in 1974.

November 28, 1980, Campbellsville native Clem “The Gem” Haskins, once the school’s basketball team’s hero, made his coaching debut at Western Kentucky when they hosted South Carolina in Bowling Green.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lexington native Ben Sollee, born in 1983.  Ben is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, and composer recognized for his innovative style.

November 28, 1987, Boone County beat Shelby County for the High School Football State Championship 17-14 in Louisville Fairgrounds with 6,800 spectators.

November 28, 1989, the long-awaited debut of Coach Rick Pitino occurred when the Wildcats, led by Reggie Hanson’s 24 points, held off the Cincinnati Bobcats.

November 28, 1994, Secretary of State Bob Babbage told Kentuckians that their participation in the 1994 election was the lowest in the nation.  Only 29% of Kentucky eligible voters did so.  The national rate was 39%, and the highest rate was 60%, in South Dakota.  The elections have been described as the “Republican Revolution” because the Republican Party captured unified control of Congress for the 1st time since 1952.  Republicans also picked up a net of ten governorships and took control of many state legislative chambers.

November 28, 1996, Kentucky issued murder warrants for three teenagers from a self-described “Vampire Clan” after a murder in Florida.  Two Murray teenagers and one from Mayfield claimed they enjoyed sucking blood from each other and small animals.

November 28, 2001, Captain Charles Brown “Chuck” Morgan, Jr. and Deputy Billy Walls of the Jessamine County Sheriff’s Department, died serving a warrant on an elderly man for making a terroristic threat.  As the deputies entered the man’s 150-square-foot houseboat, the man opened fire with a .30 caliber M-1 rifle.

Monday, November 28, 2005, Louisville accepted an invitation to the Gator Bowl after defeating Syracuse two days earlier, their 1st New Year’s Bowl since the historic 1991 Fiesta Bowl victory.  The good news came with bad as QB and Louisville native Brian Brohm tore his ACL and would not go bowling.

November 28, 2011, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission fired Chief Steward John Veitch without cause, meaning he could not appeal the decision by the state’s Personnel Board.  Veitch’s dismissal came from a report based on hearings into the Life At Ten incident at the 2010 Breeders’ Cup.  The firing started a four-year mission to clear his name.

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November 28, 2013, Henry Earl, 64, the world’s most arrested man with more than 1,500, spent another Thanksgiving in the Fayette County Detention Center after another public intoxication charge.

November 28, 2015, Louisville players enthusiastically hoisted the Governor’s Cup in the steady drizzle after beating Kentucky 38-24 in Lexington.  Lamar Jackson accounted for 316 yards and three touchdowns to secure their 5th straight win over the Cats.  Kentucky would also win five in a row ending in 2023.

November 28, 2018, Campbellsville native Joe Hubb’s TV show Kentucky Ayahuasca debuted on the Viceland Network.  The 10-episode series follows Joe, a former serial bank robber, who befriended a Peruvian Shaman in prison.

November 28, 2022, Kentucky announced that 12 counties would have their 2022 general election results audited.  Legislatures passed a new law that increased the number of randomly selected audits from six to 12.  Meanwhile, Lexington wanted to increase population surveillance by expanding license plate cameras.