TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia

December 4, 1810, Henry Skaggs died in Green County.  Skaggs was an American longhunter, men who undertook lengthy hunting expeditions into the Trans-Allegheny wilderness.  Skaggs led a pursuit and failed attempt to apprehend America’s first known serial killers, the Harpe Brothers in 1799.

December 4, 1861, the U.S. Senate, voting 36 to 0, expelled Kentucky Senator John C. Breckinridge for joining the Confederate Army, “Therefore—Resolved, that said John C. Breckinridge, the traitor, be, and he hereby is, expelled from the Senate.”

December 4, 1862, Asa Lewis got word that his father had died and he left for his Kentucky home in Barren County.  His mother and sisters were without any male support on their farm that had already suffered the effects of several Union raids.  Upon hearing the news of his father’s death, Lewis requested permission to visit his family, but the Army refused.  General Braxton Bragg of the Confederate Army executed him the day after Christmas for desertion.

December 4, 1868, two passenger steamers, the America and the United States, collided on the Ohio River near Warsaw in Gallatin County.  The United States carried a cargo of barrels of kerosene, which caught fire.  The flames soon spread to the America, and many passengers perished by burning or drowning.  The combined death toll was 162, making it one of the most deadly steamboat accidents in American history.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Corbin native Roy Kidd, born in 1931.  All told, Kidd led the Colonels to 16 Ohio Valley Conference titles and a national record 17 NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances.  He won the OVC coach of the year honor 10 times and was twice honored as the NCAA Division I-AA national coach of the year.  Over the course of his career, Kidd had a record of 314–124–8, a .713 winning percentage.

December 4, 1932, Deputy Sheriff James Bowlin, Whitley County Sheriff’s Office, was shot and killed while attempting to serve an assault warrant on a 23-year-old man for kicking a man in a pool hall.  The subject who shot him was arrested and charged with murder, but here is no record of the case.

December 4, 1945, Lexington native Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan passed away.  Thomas was a student of the biological sciences and an author who won the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  His discoveries on chromosome’s role in heredity were groundbreaking.

December 4, 1950, Marine Corps CPL Allan B. Hoagland from Louisville died fighting in the Vietnam War.

December 4, 1952, Deputy Sheriff Leonard T. Davis, Rockcastle County Sheriff’s Office, suffered a fatal heart attack pursuing a bank robbery suspect while driving.  The suspect attempted to rob a bank in Mount Vernon as two tellers returned from their lunch.  As he attempted to force them to open the safe a third employee entered and interrupted the robbery.  After a short struggle with the employee the suspect ran from the bank and fled in his vehicle, with a citizen in pursuit.   Deputy Davis and a highway patrol officer were notified and immediately attempted to locate the vehicle.  Minutes later they came across an accident which occurred when the suspect’s vehicle struck another vehicle head-on.  The suspect and driver of the second vehicle were killed in the accident.  Deputy Davis collapsed as he and the patrol officer began to offer aid.

December 4, 1956, Louisville native Paul Hornung won the Heisman Trophy.

December 4, 1961, Williamstown native Stanley Atwood “Daddy” Boles died.  Daddy was UK’s athletic director from 1917 through 1933.  He also served as head coach of the football and men’s basketball teams for one season each.  He was responsible for hiring Coach Adolph Rupp.

December 4, 1966, Army SP4 Curtis J. Williams from Evarts in Harlan County died fighting in the Vietnam War.

December 4, 1967, Army SGT Donald W. Miller from Alexandria in Campbell County died fighting in the Vietnam War.

December 4, 1971, was Election Day to fill the vacant 6th Congressional seat.  William P. Curlin, Jr., a Donkey, won.  Second place belonged to the elephants.  Third went to Dr. W.S. Kroghahi, a UK physics professor and fourth place belonged to Edgar A. Wallace, a black insurance agent running as an Independent.

December 4, 1979, Paducah native Robert A. Karnes died.  Robert was a prolific actor whose credits included: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950), and From Here to Eternity (1953), The Lawless Years, The Untouchables and the Alfred Hitchcock Program.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Danville native Dennis Alan Johnson, born in 1979.

December 4, 1980, the U.S. House passed a bill that would provide $1.5 billion over four years for improving roads carrying coal traffic.  Kentucky would receive the maximum allowed, $180 million.

December 4, 1989, Howard Schnellenberger’s Louisville Cardinals travelled to Tokyo for the Coca-Cola Classic Bowl and lost to Syracuse 13-24.

December 4, 1991, Pine Mountain Settlement School became a National Historic Landmark.  Established in 1913 and located in Harlan County; Pine Mountain served as a boarding school for mountain children in elementary and middle school to 1930.  In 1930, the school evolved into a boarding school for high school students and back to an elementary school in 1949.  In 1972 Pine Mountain began to focus its educational mission on environmental education.  For more than 30 years, Pine Mountain Settlement School has provided instruction in environmental education and traditional arts and culture to thousands of students.  More than 3,000 students visit the campus each year to participate in events on the school’s 800 acres.

December 4, 1992, President G.H.W. Bush released his long-awaited healthcare plan that called for $100 billion in vouchers and tax breaks for $95 million for poor and middle-class citizens to buy health insurance.

December 4, 1999, St. Xavier beats Bryan Station 34-31, in overtime, for the 4A Kentucky State High School Football Championship.

On December 4, 2001, Muhammad Ali lighted the Olympic torch from a massive cauldron and passed it to Peggy Fleming in Atlanta.  The ceremony began a 46 state, two-month journey to the opening ceremony of the Salt Lake City Winter Games.

December 4, 2004, St. Xavier beats Scott County 49-9 in the 4A Kentucky State High School Football Championship.

December 4, 2006, Marine Lance CPL Thomas P. Echols, 20, of Shepherdsville, died in Iraq fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

December 4, 2010, Trinity shutouts Male 38-0, in the Gridiron Bowl, for the 6A Kentucky State High School Football Championship. North Carolina also edged Kentucky 75-73 in a matchup of two of college basketball’s winningest programs.

December 4, 2011, the congregation and pastor at a Pike County Church said it welcomed all believers.  This change of heart came after a firestorm of criticism from locals when they voted to ban mix-raced couples.  The ban stayed in effect for seven days.

December 4, 2012, an Elizabethtown cardiologist and his former wife plead guilty to harboring their maid, a Bolivian undocumented worker, for 12 years as a virtual prisoner and using her for their financial gain.

December 4, 2013, according to the Guinness World Records, Lexington Catholic High School and area middle schools in Lexington achieved the largest game of Secret Santa, consisting of 1,463 participants.

December 4, 2016, Trinity beats Lafayette 56-21, in the Gridiron Bowl, for the 6A Kentucky State Football Championship.

December 4, 2019, a Kentucky state panel claimed a Kentucky judge engaged in sexual activities with staff members in the courthouse, coerced attorneys to back her election and retaliated against a lawyer for not giving her the maximum campaign donation.