Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Today in History for May 26, 2015

Robert William Chambers
May 26, 1647 – Alse Young, hanged in Hartford, Connecticut, became the first person executed as a witch in the British American colonies.

May 26, 1736 – The Battle of Ackia was fought near the present site of Tupelo, Mississippi. British and Chickasaw soldiers repelled a French and Choctaw attack on the then-Chickasaw village of Ackia.

May 26, 1782 - Colonel William Crawford began marching toward the Ohio River. He had been ordered to attack local Indians that had sided with the British. On June 6, the Wyandots killed Crawford and at least 250 members of his party.

May 26, 1783 – A Great Jubilee Day held at North Stratford, Connecticut celebrated the end of fighting in the American Revolution.

May 26, 1828 – Feral child Kaspar Hauser was discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg.

May 26, 1830 – The Indian Removal Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.

May 26, 1835 - A resolution was passed in the U.S. Congress stating that Congress had no authority over state slavery laws.

May 26, 1845 - Author John Allan Wyeth was born in Missionary Station, Ala.

May 26, 1853 – Outlaw gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, who lived for about 1-1/2 years in Pollard, Ala., was born in the central Texas town of Bonham. He claimed to have killed 42 men before he was shot to death by John Selman Sr. in the Acme Saloon in El Paso, Texas on Aug. 19, 1895.

May 26, 1857 – Dred Scott was emancipated by the Blow family, his original owners.

May 26, 1864 – Montana was organized as a United States territory.

May 26, 1865 - Arrangements were made in New Orleans for the surrender of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi.

May 26, 1865 – At the end of the Civil War, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, was the last full general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.

May 26, 1865 – Horror writer Robert William Chambers was born in Brooklyn.

May 26, 1874 – On his 21st birthday, outlaw John Wesley Hardin, who lived in Pollard, Ala. from late 1875 until the summer of 1877, shot and killed Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb in Brown County, Texas.

May 26, 1889 – Nancy Peacock (Lewis Lavon Peacock’s stepmother) sold the family farm in Covington County on this date to A.G. Atkinson for only $46, barely a dollar an acre.

May 26, 1895 – Documentary photographer Dorothea Lange was born in Hoboken, N.J.

May 26, 1897 – Bram Stoker’s novel, “Dracula,” was first published and went on sale in London.

May 26, 1907 – John Wayne was born Marion Morrison in Winterset, Iowa.

May 26, 1908 - In Persia, the first oil strike was made in the Middle East.

May 26, 1917 - Walt Cruise hit the first home run out of Braves Field.


May 26, 1920 – The Evergreen Courant reported that B.M. Johnston attended the Confederate reunion in Montgomery, Ala. during the past week.

May 26, 1925 - Ty Cobb became the first Major League Baseball player to collect 1,000 extra-base hits.

May 26, 1926 – Jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer Miles Davis was born in Alton, Ill.

May 26, 1935 – Evergreen’s baseball team was scheduled to play Chapman on this Sunday in Evergreen, Ala.

May 26, 1936 – Dr. J.R. Brooks elected Mayor of Evergreen, Ala. over J.R. Kelley.

May 26, 1942 – Search parties found a missing military plane that crashed in the Sepulga swamp, 18 to 20 miles north of Evergreen, Ala. Plane was demolished and body of a British pilot named Lowe recovered. Plane was one of eight that crashed in Conecuh and Escambia counties on May 20 enroute from Crestview, Fla. to Maxwell Field in Montgomery, resulting in five deaths. All of the planes were piloted by British cadets who were assigned to Maxwell Field for training.

May 26, 1944 – Evergreen High School’s graduation ceremony was scheduled to be held on this night with Prof. M.A. Hanks delivering diplomas to 39 seniors, including 32 girls and seven boys.

May 26, 1948 – The U.S. Congress passed Public Law 80-557, which permanently established the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.

May 26, 1949 – Song-writer and singer Hank Williams Jr. was born in Shreveport, La.

May 26, 1950 – Evergreen High School was scheduled to hold graduation exercises on this Friday night at 8 p.m. in Memorial Gymnasium in Evergreen, Ala. T.Y. Henderson Jr. was the valedictorian, and Betty Stallworth was the salutatorian. Fifty-five seniors were expected to receive diplomas.

May 26, 1950 – Lyeffion High School was scheduled to hold graduation exercises on this Friday night at 8 p.m. in the school auditorium in Lyeffion, Ala. Francis Powell as the valedictorian, and Billy Wayne Cook was the salutatorian. Seventeen seniors were expected to receive diplomas.

May 26, 1950 – Repton High School was scheduled to hold graduation exercises on this Friday night at 8 p.m. in the school auditorium in Repton, Ala. Principal H.D. Weathers expected to present diplomas to 28 seniors. Don Ivey was the valedictorian, and Paul Watson was the salutatorian.

May 26, 1951 – American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth passed away in New York City at the age of 71. He was a polar explorer from the United States and a major benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History.

May 26, 1956 – National Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Al Simmons passed away at the age of 54 in Milwaukee, Wisc. During his career, he played for the Philadelphia Athletics, the Chicago White Sox, the Detroit Tigers, the Washington Senators, the Boston Braves, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1953.

May 26, 1959 - Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves, only to lose the game on a two-run double by Braves’ first baseman Joe Adcock in the 13th inning. It was the first time a pitcher threw more than nine perfect innings in Major League history.

May 26, 1965 – The Evergreen Pony League’s player auction was held on this Wednesday night in preparation for the upcoming season, which was scheduled to begin on June 7. Teams included the Pirates, the Braves, the Indians and the Tigers.

May 26, 1977 - George Willig climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center in NYC. Known as "the human fly," Willig was subsequently fined by New York's Mayor Beame for $1.10-- one cent for each of the skyscraper's 110 stories.

May 26, 1980 - Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies became the first National League player to record six one-hitters.

May 26, 1984 - Don Cain of Philadelphia set the record for keeping a frisbee aloft-- for an astonishing 16.72 seconds.

May 26, 1988 – The Mount Vernon Arsenal-Searcy Hospital Complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

May 26, 1990 - The Philadelphia Phillies retired Mike Schmidt's No. 20 jersey.

May 26, 2004 – United States Army veteran Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.

May 26, 2005 – Natalee Holloway and 124 fellow graduates of Mountain Brook High School, located in a wealthy suburb of Birmingham, Ala., arrived in Aruba for a five-day, unofficial graduation trip. She would disappear four days later and would be declared dead in January 2012.

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