4-16-12: Today in History

[Rockntractor]

American Revolution
General Sir Henry Clinton is born, 1738

Automotive
Arthur Chevrolet commits suicide, 1946

Civil War
Union ships pass Vicksburg, 1863

Cold War
Bernard Baruch coins the term "Cold War", 1947

Crime
Massacre at Virginia Tech leaves 32 dead, 2007
Disaster

Fertilizer explosion kills 581 in Texas, 1947


General Interest
Lenin returns, 1917


Texas City explodes, 1947


Apollo 16 departs for moon, 1972

Hollywood
Charlie Chaplin born, 1889

Literary
Kingsley Amis is born, 1922

Music
David Soul, of Starsky & Hutch, has the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts, 1977

Old West
Bat Masterson's last shootout, 1881

Presidential
Washington leaves Mt. Vernon for his inauguration, 1789

Sports
Bob Feller throws no-hitter, 1940


Vietnam War
Johnson arrives in Honolulu, 1968

United States resumes bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong, 1972

World War I
Lenin returns to Russia from exile, 1917

World War II
Frederick William Winterbotham, one of Britain's top code breakers, is born, 1897
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

[linda22003]

To the Finland Station: Lenin arrives in St. Petersburg returning from exile, 1917.

Happy birthday to:
painter Louise Elisabeth Vigee le Brun, Anatole France, Charlie Chaplin, Merce Cunningham, Peter Ustinov, Benedict XVI.

Au revoir to:
Mme. Tussaud, Alexis de Tocqueville, Senator Nelson Aldrich, David Lean.

[Retread]

1968 - Major league baseball's longest night game began. The Houston Astros defeated the New York Mets 1-0 on April 16. The 24 innings took six hours, six minutes to play.

1947 - In Texas City, TX, the French ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer, caught fire and blew up. The explosions and resulting fires killed 576 people.

1954 - Roy Orbison attended an Elvis Presley show in Dallas, TX.

1955 - Elvis Presley made his first appearance on the "Big D Jamboree" on KRLD in Dallas.

1968 - Major league baseball's longest night game ended when the Houston Astros defeated the New York Mets 1-0. The 24 innings took six hours, six minutes to play. The game had started on April 15.

1971 - Selena Quintanilla Perez, famous Tejana singer, was born in Lake Jackson, TX. She was killed by the founder of her first fan club on March 31, 1995 in Corpus Christi.

1972 - The Texas Rangers won their first game.

[Rockntractor]

This one was interesting, I didn't realize Bat was a real person. We still watch the shows.

Apr 16, 1881:
Bat Masterson's last shootout


On the streets of Dodge City, famous western lawman and gunfighter Bat Masterson fights the last gun battle of his life.

Bartholomew "Bat" Masterson had made a living with his gun from a young age. In his early 20s, Masterson worked as a buffalo hunter, operating out of the wild Kansas cattle town of Dodge City. For several years, he also found employment as an army scout in the Plains Indian Wars. Masterson had his first shootout in 1876 in the town of Sweetwater (later Mobeetie), Texas. When an argument with a soldier over the affections of a dance hall girl named Molly Brennan heated up, Masterson and his opponent resorted to their pistols. When the shooting stopped, both Brennan and the soldier were dead, and Masterson was badly wounded.

Found to have been acting in self-defense, Masterson avoided prison. Once he had recovered from his wounds, he apparently decided to abandon his rough ways and become an officer of the law. For the next five years, Masterson alternated between work as Dodge City sheriff and running saloons and gambling houses, gaining a reputation as a tough and reliable lawman. However, Masterson's critics claimed that he spent too much as sheriff, and he lost a bid for reelection in 1879.

For several years, Masterson drifted around the West. Early in 1881, news that his younger brother, Jim, was in trouble back in Dodge City reached Masterson in Tombstone, Arizona. Jim's dispute with a business partner and an employee, A.J. Peacock and Al Updegraff respectively, had led to an exchange of gunfire. Though no one had yet been hurt, Jim feared for his life. Masterson immediately took a train to Dodge City.

When his train pulled into Dodge City on this morning in 1881, Masterson wasted no time. He quickly spotted Peacock and Updegraff and aggressively shouldered his way through the crowded street to confront them. "I have come over a thousand miles to settle this," Masterson reportedly shouted. "I know you are heeled [armed]-now fight!" All three men immediately drew their guns. Masterson took cover behind the railway bed, while Peacock and Updegraff darted around the corner of the city jail. Several other men joined in the gunplay. One bullet meant for Masterson ricocheted and wounded a bystander. Updegraff took a bullet in his right lung.

The mayor and sheriff arrived with shotguns to stop the battle when a brief lull settled over the scene. Updegraff and the wounded bystander were taken to the doctor and both eventually recovered. In fact, no one was mortally injured in the melee, and since the shootout had been fought fairly by the Dodge City standards of the day, no serious charges were imposed against Masterson. He paid an $8 fine and took the train out of Dodge City that evening.

Masterson never again fought a gun battle in his life, but the story of the Dodge City shootout and his other exploits ensured Masterson's lasting fame as an icon of the Old West. He spent the next four decades of his life working as sheriff, operating saloons, and eventually trying his hand as a newspaperman in New York City. The old gunfighter finally died of a heart attack in October 1921 at his desk in New York City.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bat-mastersons-last-shootout