Abraham Lincoln Was But An Afterthought to the Organizers of the Gettysburg Battlefield Dedication November 19, 2010

Not Many Photos Exist From Gettysburg

Close up of above photo with only known image of Lincoln at Gettysburg

On This Date in History: I have a few words concerning the events of November 19. 1863 but anything that I could say would pale in comparison to the speech reprinted below. It is the the Gettysburg Address and it was delivered 146 years ago today. The president was not invited until about two weeks prior to the ceremony. He was not the main speaker. Edward Everett, a noted statesman from Boston and Harvard President, was given two months notice to work on his speech, which took about two hours to deliver. Mr. Lincoln’s speech was but 270 words. It has been accepted that Lincoln wrote the address on a scrap of paper while on the train to Pennsylvania because it was reported that way in a novel. However, historian Stephen B. Oates points out in his biography, With Malice Toward None, A Life of Abraham Lincoln that the train was too crowded and noisy for him to work on it. Instead, Oates says that he wrote part of it on White House stationery before he left and finished the rest on the morning of the event in Gettysburg.

Verbiage in Invitation to Lincoln Very Interesting

It has been reported that the president was sick. While I find nothing to confirm that he was ill during the proceedings, I suspect that people have made the assumption, perhaps accurate, because after he returned to the White House, he was diagnosed with varioloid, which has been described as a mild for of smallpox. I’m not sure about that one because it seems to me that a “mild form of smallpox” is akin to being “a little pregnant.” Also, it is widely reported that his speech was panned in newspapers across the land. The Chicago Times and paper from Harrisburg, PA certainly show that there were some. However, not all papers were non-plussed by his remarks. In fact, the Chicago Tribune was sharply in contrast to its rival and even Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune recognized the greatness of the speech. I believe I recall a quote from Edward Everett who remarked afterward, “Mr President, you were able to say in a few minutes what I could not in two hours.” This is probably not a direct quote but something reasonably close.

Words of Nov 19, 1863 Long Remembered

Harrisburg Patriot and Union: “We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the Nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.”

Chicago Times: “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances.”

Chicago Tribune: “The dedicatory remarks by President Lincoln will live among the annals of man.”

Horace Greeley: “I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration, November 19, 1863… after the close of Mr. Everett’s classic but frigid oration.”

Leaving Gettysburg For the Cemetery

I think what may be lost regarding the speech is what it shows. It is an early indication of where Mr. Lincoln was heading in terms of after the war. Even on a battlefield well north of Washington, Lincoln was confident of victory. What often gets overlooked is that on the same day, US Grant had forced the capitulation of Vicksburg which essentially gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River and effective cut the Confederacy in two. The victory at Vicksburg arguably sealed the deal for the outcome of the war. Mr. Lincoln was aware of that that and if you read carefully, you can see the hints of what his notions were regarding his intentions. He does not give a rah-rah victory speech with talk of retribution. He does not discriminate between the allegiances of the soldiers and speaks of the “unfinished business” and a “new birth of freedom.” Clearly he is talking about concluding the war but he is also referencing a nation of freedom for all. This speech is not just one of honor but also one of reconciliation. It has always eluded me of how differently our nation’s history might have been had the 16th president been allowed to conclude the “unfinished business.” How would he have handled Reconstruction and the reconciliation of the former enemies. John Wilkes Booth lives in infamy as the man who deprived the nation of “what might have been.” There are 5 known drafts of the Gettysburg Address. Each seems to have some variance. Here is a version of the Gettysburg Address:

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Unfortunately, it seems that the youth of America seems to be as uninspired by Mr. Lincoln as did the organizers of the dedication at Gettysburg or some scribes who critiqued the President’s message.  Recently, I was at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC and I spotted several student groups.  It appeared as if the students thought that they were at some social gathering. Most were not paying attention to the tour guides, instead generally talking and cutting up while playing what my old football coaches used to call “grabass.”  There was no sense of reflection or respect for the memorial or the man to whom it was built.  It was only older visitors who took the time to read the words of the Gettysburg Address and the text of the President’s second inaugural speech which are etched forever in the marble.  Maybe I’m getting old, but that ain’t right.

Weather Bottom Line:  After a rather dreary and damp day, look for early fog to give way to loads of sunshine that will persist through the weekend..save for periods of darkness.  Conditions will be quite pleasant so get out and enjoy the great weekend weather.

Gettysburg Address Example of How Less is More and Lasts Longer November 19, 2009

Not Many Photos Exist From Gettysburg

Close up of above photo with only known image of Lincoln at Gettysburg

On This Date in History: I have a few words concerning the events of November 19. 1863 but anything that I could say would pale in comparison to the speech reprinted below. It is the the Gettysburg Address and it was delivered 145 years ago today. The president was not invited until about two weeks prior to the ceremony. He was not the main speaker. Edward Everett, a noted statesman from Boston and Harvard President, was given two months notice to work on his speech, which took about two hours to deliver. Mr. Lincoln’s speech was but 270 words. It has been accepted that Lincoln wrote the address on a scrap of paper while on the train to Pennsylvania because it was reported that way in a novel. However, historian Stephen B. Oates points out in his biography, With Malice Toward None, A Life of Abraham Lincoln that the train was too crowded and noisy for him to work on it. Instead, Oates says that he wrote part of it on White House stationery before he left and finished the rest on the morning of the event in Gettysburg.

Verbiage in Invitation to Lincoln Very Interesting

It has been reported that the president was sick. While I find nothing to confirm that he was ill during the proceedings, I suspect that people have made the assumption, perhaps accurate, because after he returned to the White House, he was diagnosed with varioloid, which has been described as a mild for of smallpox. I’m not sure about that one because it seems to me that a “mild form of smallpox” is akin to being “a little pregnant.” Also, it is widely reported that his speech was panned in newspapers across the land. The Chicago Times and paper from Harrisburg, PA certainly show that there were some. However, not all papers were non-plussed by his remarks. In fact, the Chicago Tribune was sharply in contrast to its rival and even Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune recognized the greatness of the speech. I believe I recall a quote from Edward Everett who remarked afterward, “Mr President, you were able to say in a few minutes what I could not in two hours.” This is probably not a direct quote but something reasonably close.

Words of Nov 19, 1863 Long Remembered

Harrisburg Patriot and Union: “We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the Nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.”

Chicago Times: “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances.”

Chicago Tribune: “The dedicatory remarks by President Lincoln will live among the annals of man.”

Horace Greeley: “I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration, November 19, 1863… after the close of Mr. Everett’s classic but frigid oration.”

Leaving Gettysburg For the Cemetery

I think what may be lost regarding the speech is what it shows. It is an early indication of where Mr. Lincoln was heading in terms of after the war. Even on a battlefield well north of Washington, Lincoln was confident of victory. What often gets overlooked is that on the same day, US Grant had forced the capitulation of Vicksburg which essentially gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River and effective cut the Confederacy in two. The victory at Vicksburg arguably sealed the deal for the outcome of the war. Mr. Lincoln was aware of that that and if you read carefully, you can see the hints of what his notions were regarding his intentions. He does not give a rah-rah victory speech with talk of retribution. He does not discriminate between the allegiances of the soldiers and speaks of the “unfinished business” and a “new birth of freedom.”  Clearly he is talking about concluding the war but he is also referencing a nation of freedom for all. This speech is not just one of honor but also one of reconciliation.  It has always eluded me of how differently our nation’s history might have been had the 16th president been allowed to conclude the “unfinished business.”  How would he have handled Reconstruction and the reconciliation of the former enemies.  John Wilkes Booth lives in infamy as the man who deprived the nation of “what might have been.”  There are 5 known drafts of the Gettysburg Address. Each seems to have some variance.  Here is a version of the Gettysburg Address:

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Weather Bottom Line:  The bottom line is that the crappy weather is coming to an end.  That dry slot I had mentioned for Wednesday ended up being pretty decent because we ended up with some nice afternoon sunshine but the gloom returns all day today. Friday through Sunday though, as the pesky cut off low finally gets booted, look for a lot of sunshine seasonally cool conditions with lows in the upper 30′s and low 40′s and highs in the 50′s.

Drunk Forklift Driver Video, Naked Voters and Black Bart November 3, 2009

Where YOUR Forklift Driver?

This has been shown before, but the video of the drunk forklift driver in Russia is worth another look.  The guy is working in a vodka warehouse.  So, when he backs into the shelves in the warehouse that subsequently fall over and then causes the shelving on the other side of the aisle to collapse, the guy is literally buried in not just random stuff, but boxes full of bottles of vodka and cognac.  Since he was all liquored up like an NFL kicker, he didn’t feel a thing.  And you don’t have to feel bad chuckling…the guy was not hurt seriously.  The owners of the booze were hurt…to the tune of about $150,000.

On This Date in History:

Paper Got it Wrong

On this date in 1964, residents of Washington DC got the right to vote in a presidential

Harry Delighted

election. See, the election of the president is really done by the electors of each state and the District of Columbia is not a state so residents could not Constitutionally vote for president. The passage of the 23rd Amendment in 1961 gave DC residents the vote and they exercised it for the first time in 1964, much to the delight of President Johnson who received their three electors. Also, on this date in 1948, the Chicago Tribune famously proclaimed the demise of President Harry Truman. You can read about how they came to make their infamous goof right here.

These are but a couple of the notations of history regarding presidential polling….and last year presented a new one. It seems that there is a nudist colony in Florida. Well, its a “clothing optional” community. And they have had the inconvenience of having to go to a nearby neighborhood to vote. I suspect that the neighbors wouldn’t take too kindly to naked folks running around their streets looking for a place to put their votes, so the nudists have to put on those menacing garments. But, they didn’t want to do that…they wanted their own polling place so they can vote naked! Here’s was the story of Voting in the Buff!

On This Date in Criminal History: Do you remember the movie A Christmas Story in which Ralphie wants a BB gun and has visions of shooting Black Bart? It leads one to believe that Bart was some desperado. Well, in the 1870′s there was a dime novel that was loosely based on a true story. The writer called his main character Bartholomew Graham who took the name of “Black Bart” because he wore black close, had black long curly hair and a dense black beard. In real life, there was a man named Charles Bowles was born in England in 1829 and immigrated to New York in the United States a few years later with his family.

Dapper Black Bart

As a young man, he changed his name to Boles and in 1849, he and his cousin went to California to seek their fortune in gold. They failed and a few years later, came back. Charley Boles tried again with his cousin and his brother. Not only did they fail again, but the brother and cousin both died from an illness. Charley eventually returned and got married. After spending time in the Union Army and serving with distinction, Charley again went out west, this time to Montana where he set up a mining site that depended on water. Some men from Wells Fargo offered to buy his claim and he refused. The men reacted by cutting off his water and Charley had to abandon his mine but said in a letter to his wife,”I am going to take steps.” No one knew what he meant. The last letter his wife received from him was in 1871.

On July 23, 1878 a Wells Fargo stagecoach was robbed of $400. It wasn’t the first time that a stagecoach from Wells Fargo had been robbed. It is believed that the culprit first began robbing stagecoaches in 1875 because, each time, a poem that intimated the perpetrator was going to strike again. It was signed “Black Bart”. Bart robbed Wells Fargo stage coaches numerous times throughout the late 1870′s and early 1880′s. He wore a flour sack on his head and never fired a shot, though on a few occasions, shots were fired at him. There was never any mayhem or extreme violence. On This Date in 1883, Bart made a mistake when he left behind a handkerchief as he made his escape following what would be his last stagecoach robbery. The Pinkerton detectives were able to track the hanky from a laundry mark to an elderly man in San Francisco named Charles Bolton. Bolton admitted that he indeed was Black Bart, but he disputed his reputation as being an outlaw by telling the Pinkertons. “I am a gentleman.” It was also learned that Bolton was really Charles Boles, who years before vowed to “take steps” against the company who forced him to abandon his mining claim. His wife, who had thought he was long since dead, found out that Boles was alive when she learned of his arrest. But, I guess his absence must have been the show stopper because Boles went to prison for a short time and spent the rest of his days quietly in Nevada.

Wednesday Morning (LMK NWS)

Weather Bottom Line:  We have a couple of fronts moving quickly across the country.   One came through on Tuesday (notice the wind on Monday night?) and so look for temperatures on Wednesday morning in the low to mid 30′s.  The depth of the chill overnight will be determined by how many clouds move in toward daybreak ahead of the next front that comes through late Wednesday.  I don’t think that there is enough moisture to produce much in the way of rain and its not cold enough for flurries.  So, the clouds in the middle of the week is really the only difference in days as we see highs in the 50′s and lows in the 30′s until we get to the weekend.  High pressure moves off to the east with the backside flow helping to elevate the temperatures for the weekend.  Weekend looks good.

The Gettysburg Address; Cold to Hang On All Week November 19, 2008

Words of Nov 19, 1863 Long Remembered

As expected, Tuesday morning was cold and Wednesday morning will prove to be equally as cold if not colder. We’re not done with the cold weather. We warm to the upper 40′s Wednesday before another push of cold air spills in. Freezing conditions again Friday and Saturday morning, maybe even colder than Wednesday morning. Saturday doesn’t look like its really going to warm up much but Sunday looks like the day we finally get to 50, which is still several degrees below seasonal averages. Mid 50′s on Monday prior to another front. In general, the longer term forecast looks like some moderating, but not warm, conditions.

Not Many Photos Exist From Gettysburg

Close up of above photo with only known image of Lincoln at Gettysburg

On This Date in History: I have a few words concerning the events of November 19. 1863 but anything that I could say would pale in comparison to the speech reprinted below. It is the the Gettysburg Address and it was delivered 145 years ago today. The president was not invited until about two weeks prior to the ceremony. He was not the main speaker. Edward Everett, a noted statesman from Boston, was given two months notice to work on his speech, which took about two hours to deliver. Mr. Lincoln’s speech was but 270 words. It has been accepted that Lincoln wrote the address on a scrap of paper while on the train to Pennsylvania because it was reported that way in a novel. However, historian Stephen B. Oates points out in his biography, With Malice Toward None, A Life of Abraham Lincoln that the train was too crowded and noisy for him to work on it. Instead, Oates says that he wrote part of it on White House stationery before he left and finished the rest on the morning of the event in Gettysburg.

It has been reported that the president was sick. While I find nothing to confirm that he was ill during the proceedings, I suspect that people have made the assumption, perhaps accurate, because after he returned to the White House, he was diagnosed with varioloid, which has been described as a mild for of smallpox. I’m not sure about that one because it seems to me that a “mild form of smallpox” is akin to being “a little pregnant.” Also, it is widely reported that his speech was panned in newspapers across the land. The Chicago Times and paper from Harrisburg, PA certainly show that there were some. However, not all papers were non-plussed by his remarks. In fact, the Chicago Tribune was sharply in contrast to its rival and even Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune recognized the greatness of the speech. I believe I recall a quote from Edward Everett who remarked afterward, “Mr President, you were able to say in a few minutes what I could not in two hours.” This is probably not a direct quote but something reasonably close.

Harrisburg Patriot and Union: “We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the Nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.”

Chicago Times: “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances.”

Chicago Tribune: “The dedicatory remarks by President Lincoln will live among the annals of man.”

Horace Greeley: “I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration, November 19, 1863… after the close of Mr. Everett’s classic but frigid oration.”

Leaving Gettysburg For the Cemetery

I think what may be lost regarding the speech is what it shows. It is an early indication of where Mr. Lincoln was heading in terms of after the war. Even on a battlefield well north of Washington, Lincoln was confident of victory. What often gets overlooked is that on the same day, US Grant had forced the capitulation of Vicksburg which essentially gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River and effective cut the Confederacy in two. The victory at Vicksburg arguably sealed the deal for the outcome of the war. Mr. Lincoln was aware of that that and if you read carefully, you can see the hints of what his notions were regarding his intentions. He does not give a rah-rah victory speech with talk of retribution. He does not discriminate between the allegiances of the soldiers and speaks of the “unfinished business” and a “new birth of freedom.” Clearly he is talking about concluding the war but he is also referencing a nation of freedom for all. This speech is not just one of honor but also one of reconciliation. It has always eluded me of how differently our nation’s history might have been had the 16th president been allowed to conclude the “unfinished business.” How would he have handled Reconstruction and the reconciliation of the former enemies. John Wilkes Booth lives in infamy as the man who deprived the nation of “what might have been” There are 5 known drafts of the Gettysburg Address. Each seems to have some variance. Here is a version of the Gettysburg Address:

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Vote Naked, First Time Voters and the end of Black Bart;LG&E Gas “Rate Hike” November 3, 2008

Expect This Through Midweek

I did a check this week of our temperatures…since last Monday, we’ve had highs of 48, 50, 59, 65, 71,74 and 74. The average of the past 7 days has been 63 degrees. While may neighbor Jainie said she was scared of the warm temperatures (global warming fear), I assured her it was nothing out of the ordinary…and this week supports my assurances. For the past 7 days, the seasonal average is about 62.5 degrees. So, we’re climatologically right on target. This time of year it’s not unusual to have big temperature swings and we’re going to see it again, only this week, we stay in the mid 70′s through Thursday. Then a cold front brings rain and t’storms Thursday night into early Friday morning. We get chillier on Friday in the low to mid 50′s with the clouds breaking somewhat in the afternoon before they return with the core of the cold air Saturday. Cloudy skies with a few light showers probably will keep us from getting out of the 40′s and Sunday its back to the low 50′s. Don’t be alarmed.

LG&E “RATE HIKE”

The Professor is In

Now you may have been alarmed by the Courier Journal Article about the the LG&E “rate hike” for this winter. The story is headlined, “LG&E to raise natural gas rates by 24%” Now, when I read this, I was shocked because I knew that natural gas, like most other commodities, have fallen rapidly in price over the past 6 weeks and because I know that LG&E set its last quarterly rate in August at a little more than $16.30 per 1000 cubic feet. So a 24% increase sounded like a scam when the open market rate is I think now below the $7 range. Why, the first line of the article trumpets: “LG&E customers will pay 24 percent more for natural gas to heat their homes starting Saturday.”

In my view this is, to be kind, misleading. You go on to find that the new

Natural Gas Prices (and rates) Have Gone Up and Come Down

quarterly rate going into effect on November 1 is $11.09. That is more about a 32% DECREASE in the cost to heat your home. Given that the $16.30 rate in July was a 65% increase over the previous quarter, the latest price cut still leave us some 24% higher than a year ago. But that’s not what the headline said nor the first sentence. So, while it is true that our bills will be 24% higher than last year, it is not an increase of the rate…LG&E actually dropped the rates heading into the fall and winter months. And guess what, they re-establish rates on February 1. If the trend continues or even if prices stabalize where they are, then we’d get another cut in natural gas prices for the cold month of February and into March and April. In other words, its not as bad as it sounds. Now, the question would be why the headline was not, “LG&E cuts natural gas rates 32% heading into winter” with the first line of the story reading, “LG&E has cut its natural gas rates from this summer by 32%, but consumers will begin the season paying 24% more than last winter.” In my view, that is more accurate. You decide for yourself by clicking here for the article.

How did I know all of this? I read my bill and I watch the commodity markets. I think it helps to get basic facts for yourself on any subject instead of relying on someone else’s interpretation of that given subject. Compare your bills from the past year and see for yourself. I’m not defending LG&E here, because right after they set the rate for August, natural gas prices started falling quickly. So, they did pretty well. And now, the price is under $7 but they are charging over $11. I suppose they get some cushion in case the price goes up. I’m also not picking on our local paper because, I know folks there and they do good work and work hard. Nevertheless, what I am all about is honesty, fairness and accuracy. Its not that difficult.

Election tidbits:

Paper Got it Wrong

On this date in 1964, residents of Washington DC got the right to vote in a presidential

Harry Delighted

election. See, the election of the president is really done by the electors of each state and the District of Columbia is not a state so residents could not Constitutionally vote for president. The passage of the 23rd Amendment in 1961 gave DC residents the vote and they exercised it for the first time in 1964, much to the delight of President Johnson who received their three electors. Also, on this date in 1948, the Chicago Tribune famously proclaimed the demise of President Harry Truman. You can read about how they came to make their infamous goof right here.

These are but a couple of the notations of history regarding presidential polling….and this year may add a new one. It seems that there is a nudist colony in Florida. Well, its a “clothing optional” community. And they have had the inconvenience of having to go to a nearby neighborhood to vote. I suspect that the neighbors wouldn’t take too kindly to naked folks running around their streets looking for a place to put their votes, so the nudists have to put on those menacing garments. But, they don’t want to do that…they want their own polling place so they can vote naked! Here’s the story of Voting in the Buff!

On This Date in History: Do you remember the movie A Christmas Story in which Ralphie wants a BB gun and has visions of shooting Black Bart? It leads one to believe that Bart was some desperado. Well, in the 1870′s there was a dime novel that was loosely based on a true story. The writer called his main character Bartholomew Graham who took the name of “Black Bart” because he wore black close, had black long curly hair and a dense black beard. In real life, there was a man named Charles Bowles was born in England in 1829 and immigrated to New York in the United States a few years later with his family.

Dapper Black Bart

As a young man, he changed his name to Boles and in 1849, he and his cousin went to California to seek their fortune in gold. They failed and a few years later, came back. Charley Boles tried again with his cousin and his brother. Not only did they fail again, but the brother and cousin both died from an illness. Charley eventually returned and got married. After spending time in the Union Army and serving with distinction, Charley again went out west, this time to Montana where he set up a mining site that depended on water. Some men from Wells Fargo offered to buy his claim and he refused. The men reacted by cutting off his water and Charley had to abandon his mine but said in a letter to his wife,”I am going to take steps.” No one knew what he meant. The last letter his wife received from him was in 1871.

On July 23, 1878 a Wells Fargo stagecoach was robbed of $400. It wasn’t the first time that a stagecoach from Wells Fargo had been robbed. It is believed that the culprit first began robbing stagecoaches in 1875 because, each time, a poem that intimated the perpetrator was going to strike again. It was signed “Black Bart”. Bart robbed Wells Fargo stage coaches numerous times throughout the late 1870′s and early 1880′s. He wore a flour sack on his head and never fired a shot, though on a few occasions, shots were fired at him. There was never any mayhem or extreme violence. On This Date in 1883, Bart made a mistake when he left behind a handkerchief as he made his escape following what would be his last stagecoach robbery. The Pinkerton detectives were able to track the hanky from a laundry mark to an elderly man in San Francisco named Charles Bolton. Bolton admitted that he indeed was Black Bart, but he disputed his reputation as being an outlaw by telling the Pinkertons. “I am a gentleman.” It was also learned that Bolton was really Charles Boles, who years before vowed to “take steps” against the company who forced him to abandon his mining claim. His wife, who had thought he was long since dead, found out that Boles was alive when she learned of his arrest. But, I guess his absence must have been the show stopper because Boles went to prison for a short time and spent the rest of his days quietly in Nevada.

Beware of Presidential Polls; A House for a Dollar; A Deer Goes To School; A Wizard Has A Birthday; Who Cares About Halloween? October 31, 2008

140 year Old 5000ft home for a dollar...a good deal?

Nice Stretch: Thursday had temperatures, as expected, generally in the upper 20′s and low 30′s. More low 30′s than upper 20′s. I don’t think I had a freeze here the past two nights because my Hydrangia still is hanging in there. We warmed, again as expected, to the low 60′s. Look for upper 60′s and low 70′s with lots of sunshine from Friday through Voting Day…no excuse not to vote.

Wanna Buy a House for a Dollar? In these days of falling prices on homes, we’ve seen stories about homes on the market for far less than they had previously sold. But, a home for a dollar? A church is selling a big house for a dollar…but there are strings attached. (CLICK HERE)

Halloween? Fiddlesticks!

Who Cares About Halloween? Not me. I don’t get all of the hubbub with Halloween. When I was a kid,

Pets Often Suffer on Halloween

Halloween was for kids. You dressed up and got candy. Sometime over the past 20 years adults have gotten into the act. I think that the baby-boomers wanted to recapture their youth. I think I read the other day that even in this time of economic woe, Americans have ponied up $6 Billion in spending for Halloween. All of the complaining about the economy, yet we have billions to spend on a kids day. Then there are those who take it so seriously. People who go and worship some sort of devilment and those who think that its a day of devilment and then there are those who claim it is really a Christian day that has been usurped. I know its not as it always has been the same in my lifetime and probably before because I saw Meet Me In St. Louis where Tootie goes around throwing flower in people’s faces and making a bonfire. But again, it was kids. Anyway, I’m not going into the detail about Halloween except that the weather will be great for Trick-or-Treaters. Mid to Upper 60′s for the kids. If you want to look at a history of Halloween, below are two different versions:

The History Channel’s (History.com) Version of Halloween History

ExploreFaith.org version of Christian Roots of Halloween

Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient John R Wooden

Wizard of Westwood:

I love John Wooden. Everyone who ever played for him seem to hold him close to their heart, even Bill Walton who was a UCLA student who tried to be involved in the fading counter-culture movement in the early 1970′s while working with the conservative Wooden. Wooden recently had his 98th birthday. Read the article from Rick Reilly about this humble man who achieved greatness on and off the court.

John Wooden as told by Rick Reilly

Buck Goes To School:

Good Thing For Kids at Manual HS That it wasn

Louisville is blessed with its heavily wooded environment. I suspect that

3rd Ave 1897

what we see in Louisville regarding the number of trees is not natural. Photos from the early 20th century reveal that Louisville did not have nearly the number of trees that we enjoy today. Many of the large trees were planted around that time and they have a natural lifespan of 100 years and now they are falling down. We hear reporters after a large storm talk about how vicious the winds were because they

3rd Ave Today

“brought down this tree that stood for 100 years” when, if you look at the tree, its diseased or has rotted wood. It

4th Ave 1906

wasn’t the storm as much as the fact that the tree was near the end of its lifecycle. Anyway, I’ve wondered if our area is considered an urban wooded area. I can’t find that information and don’t feel like looking any more than I have. Nevertheless, as part of our “forest” we get creatures of the forest. Snow White and I love to go out at night and walk. She can actually talk to Owls. She hoots and they hoot back. We even had one follow us one night. I think it thought that I was a big

4th Ave Today

rat. We often see deer. I’ve had a deer running in front of me down the street when I was leaving the TV station. But, I can’t figure out how a deer managed to get to near downtown to Manual High School…but it did. Pretty good lookin’ buck. Read what happened and see the the story as it aired HERE
or see the Raw Video of Deer Roaming HS campus not far from downtown Louisville

Lech Walesa: Famous Presidential Pole?

This Date in History: The presidential polls are all over the place. Today I’ve seen polls with Senator

Truman Thankful Not All Polls as Forthright As Lech

Obama up by 11 points and another that claims 3 points. Apparently, the polling business is quite lucrative. There are about 3 times as many polls out for this presidential go-around than 4 years ago. They claim to be scientific but they can’t all be right. I think you have to know the methodology to know which ones to believe and we aren’t privy to that. It’s kinda like weather computer forecast models. There are at least a dozen and often, they say completely different things. What you have to do is understand what is going on, analyze the models to see if what they say make sense and understand the biases of the mathematics involved with each model. Anyway, polls have been wrong quite often. Everyone remembers the famous headline from the Chicago Tribune, “Dewey Defeats Truman.” (Story as told by Chicago Tribune) But, before that there were other miscalculations. In 1916, the New York Herald proclaimed Charles Evans Hughes as President, which was a surprise to President Wilson. On this Date in 1936, The Literary Digest went out and asked its 10 million readers “to settle November’s election in October.” Their poll resulted in Alf Landon winning by a pretty sizable margin. Too bad for Alf that the Literary Digest wasn’t in charge of the election. President Franklin Roosevelt won all but two states in a very lopsided electoral landslide.

A Day of Improbabilities November 3, 2007

It’s not improbable that the weekend will be great. Seasonally cool but generally sunny though there may be a few clouds Saturday night. We warm up Monday and then we get a big chill for the middle of next week. That’s not too improbable either given that its November.

 

On This Date In History: It is early November and that is Presidential election time every four years. On this date in 1948 one of the biggest improbabilities occurred with the re-election of President Harry S. Truman. I think most people know the story of how Truman had greatly trailed challenger Thomas Dewey in all of the polls leading up to election day. Truman embarked on a “whistle stop tour” of the nation in the final days to try and ramp up support by making stump speeches across the nation from the back of a rail car. On November 2, Truman voted in his home town of Independence Missouri and then headed to the Elms Hotel in Excelsior, Missouri to watch the returns. Early returns were not good for Truman and he went to bed thinking he had been defeated. Of course he won and the famous photo of him holding the Chicago Tribune with the headline of “Dewey Defeats Truman” over his head. The story behind that headline is little known.

There was a writers strike at the Tribune that night so many of the regulars on the staff were replaced by inexperienced people. The staff on hand got wind of the early returns and were aware of the polls. Deadline approached and they figured Truman would lose so they produced the headline. They wrote the front page and a few others using a typewriter. Instead of correcting errors, they simply put an “x” over the type-o’s or other errors. Five lines even appeared upside down. All copies of the newspaper went out to the public that way. Some think the nation’s political press has had it upside down ever since.

On this date a year earlier, Howard Hughes defied all probability. He had contracted with the U.S. Government to produce a flying boat that could ferry 750 combat troops or two 30 ton tanks across the Atlantic during World War II. Officially called the H-4 Hercules, the plane fell seemingly hopelessly behind construction schedule and well over budget. The war ended before delivery and the government cancelled the order.
But Hughes was convinced his vision could be transformed to civilian use and revolutionize the airline and air cargo industry. He completed the plane with his own money. Aluminum and other metals were short during the war so he made the plane out of wood. On this date in 1947, Hughes flew the flying boat near Long Beach in California, confounding critics who said such a huge machine could never fly. It never flew again as it was obsolete before it ever flew.

To this day, it still holds the record for aircraft with the broadest wingspan at 319 feet….more than a football field. It’s also the tallest plane ever built at over 79 feet, or about a 7 story building. It is the worlds largest flying boat and, of course, the record that will probably never be equaled; the largest plane ever built from wood. Many think of the thing as a lark but it is another in a long list of examples of Hughes genius for vision. Hughes exploits proved it was possible for enormous aircraft to fly and thus did indeed revolutionize flight design. Even though by weight and length other modern planes have been deemed the largest planes ever built, the “Spruce Goose,” as it was called by Hughes detractors, stands alone was one of the most daring an innovative steps in the history of flight.

Both of the events of this date in history show what can happen when determination, courage and self-confidence come together to render moot the opinions of the experts. Though Truman ended his second term with historically low poll numbers, his place in history is rising as analysts recognize the great strides that shaped the post war world begun during his term as President with such things as the creation of Israel and the beginnings of Civil Rights and desegregation. Hughes achievement was perhaps the crowning achievement in a remarkable life. We see him as the richest man in the world of his time but in reality, he was an innovator in aircraft and satellite technology. Many of our conveniences we take for granted are directly linked to Howard Hughes. Many of our missile defense systems had their genesis from Howard Hughes.

How Hughes died and how Truman left office have clouded their legacies. In both cases, their reach and vision far outdistanced their lifetime.