General Sheridan now changed tactics and began a winter campaign. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, who had risen to major general during the Civil War, emerged from a year's suspension to command 11 companies of the 7th Cavalry. At the crack of dawn on November 29, 1868, on the banks of the Washita River in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), Custer surprised the village of Black Kettle, killing the Cheyenne chief and at least 100 others. More than 50 Indian women and children were taken captive. During the Battle of the Washita, the Indians apparently killed two white captives -- Clara Blinn and her 2-year-old son, Willie, who had been taken two months earlier in southeastern Colorado Territory.
Reinforced by the 19th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Custer continued the campaign. On March 13, 1869, he came upon Stone Forehead's village on Sweetwater Creek (in the Texas Panhandle) and soon learned of two white captives, Sarah White and Anna Morgan. That kept Custer from attacking. What he did do was arrest several chiefs and threaten to hang them, thus securing the release of the two white women.
Custer returned the captive chiefs to Fort Hays, promising to release them when all Indians of the village agreed to return to their reservation. Many settlers believed that Custer had succeeded in finally bringing peace to the Kansas frontier. Custer himself wrote in a report, "This I consider as the termination of the Indian war." It was far from the truth.
Col. Eugene Carr
In May 1869, Major Eugene Carr and several companies of the 5th Cavalry from Fort Lyon in Colorado were traveling to Fort McPherson in Nebraska when they surprised Tall Bull's Dog Soldiers. A sharp fight on the 13th near Elephant Rock, along Beaver Creek in northwest Kansas, resulted in at least 25 dead warriors and four dead cavalrymen. The soldiers destroyed 25 lodges. Three days later, a fight occurred a few miles away near Spring Creek, resulting in at least 20 Indian casualties (how many dead is unknown). No soldiers were killed in the second fight, but several were wounded. Carr then proceeded to Fort McPherson, having exhausted his rations.
Once Carr had departed, Tall Bull was free to exact revenge for the deaths of his people. His Dog Soldiers struck in a series of raids in Kansas, beginning on May 21. The worst came in Jewell County on May 25 when six hunters were killed. A seventh, John McChesney, hid in nearby tall grass during the attack and was the sole survivor.
On May 28, Tall Bull's warriors struck a railroad crew working near Fossil Creek (where Russell, Kan., now sits), killing two men and wounding four. The next day, the Dog Soldiers surprised a hunting party of four Americans and wounded Solomon Humbarger in the hip with an arrow. The hunters, neighbors of Tom and Susanna Alderdice, hid in various creek banks while slowly making their way back to the Saline River valley. As the men came into Lincoln County, they realized they were following the tracks of the Indian raiding party.
On Sunday, May 30, about 60 Indians descended upon a new Danish settlement nestled along the banks of Spillman Creek, about 10 miles above where it joins with the Saline River (three miles west of present-day Lincoln). Susanna's brother Eli Zeigler and a brother-in-law, John Alverson, happened to be driving a wagon near the settlement when they saw the raiders divide into attack groups. Some of the Indians also saw them, and 15 warriors gave chase. The two white men drove their wagon hard to a creek, where they found some protection. The Indians shot at them many times but were unwilling to charge the creek bed. After taking the horses and disabling the wagon, the raiders departed, leaving Zeigler and Alverson unscathed.
People in the Danish settlement were not so lucky. Erskild and Stine Lauritzen were on their way to fetch their 12-year-old son from a neighbor's house when they were both shot, scalped and stripped naked. Not far from where the Lauritzens were killed, the Indians also surprised Maria and George Weichel and family friend Fred Meigerhoff. The men were armed, though, and they put up a running fight for four miles. The Indians would not quit, and they moved in for the kill once the white men's ammunition ran out. To obtain a ring, the Indians cut off one of George Weichel's fingers. His 20-year-old wife, Maria, was taken captive. Also killed that afternoon was a man who had been living with the Lauritzens, Otto Pearson. His scalped and mutilated body would be found two days later on the west side of Spillman Creek.
The raiders were not through. About 5 p.m. that same day, they approached the house where Susanna Alderdice was staying while her husband, Tom, was in Salina, 35 miles away, fetching supplies with some other settlers, including Timothy Kine and William Hendrickson. In the house with Susanna were her four children, John, Willis, Frank and baby Alice; Kine's wife, Bridget, and their 2-month-old daughter, Katherine; Thomas Noon and his wife; and Nicholas Whalen. The house belonged to Michael Haley, who had allowed them to stay there for their own protection. Haley, however, had taken his family near Fort Harker, where he figured it would be safer during this time of Indian raiding.
Tall Bull
Hearing a noise, Bridget Kine went to the front door of the Haley house and looked off toward her own home. She was startled to see Indians taking her husband's mare. The Noons and Whalen also saw what was happening and bolted from the Haley house, heading in the opposite direction. Bridget and Susanna were left behind without any weapons. The two women quickly gathered their children and ran for the high banks of the Saline River, about 100 yards behind the house.
Carrying only daughter Katherine, Bridget Kine reached the river first, waded to an overhanging tree branch and hid as best she could. With four children in her care, Susanna Alderdice couldn't move nearly as fast, especially since she must have been carrying the two youngest ones. Once it became obvious that they could not make it to the river, Susanna dropped to the ground. The Indians showed no mercy to her three boys, who were abused and struck down before her eyes. From her hiding place, Bridget Kine heard the screams of the boys and of Susanna, who, like Maria Weichel, was taken captive. Once the Indians had gone off with Susanna and 8-month-old Alice Alderdice, Bridget and her own daughter fled five miles to the fortified Schermerhorn ranch.
There was one more murderous incident along the Saline River on May 30. Two warriors -- one old, one still in his teens -- came upon John Strange and Arthur Schmutz, both 13. Speaking in halting English, the old warrior claimed to be a good Pawnee Indian. He touched both white boys on the shoulders, counting coup. The younger warrior suddenly raised his war club and struck John Strange in the head, killing him instantly. Arthur Schmutz ran for his life. The young warrior fired an arrow that struck him and penetrated his lung. Arthur yanked the shaft from his side, but the arrow point remained in his lung. Riley and Marion Strange, younger brothers of John, heard the commotion and boldly came forward to help -- one carrying a box of ammunition, and the other shooting at the young warrior. The two Indians departed, and Arthur was taken to the hospital at Fort Harker. The doctors there were unable to extract the arrow point from his lung, and the young patient died nearly 11 weeks later.
Pawnee Scouts
At the time of Susanna Alderdice's capture, G Company of Custer's 7th Cavalry was crossing the Saline River about a mile to the east. Lieutenant Edward Law and 2nd Lt. Thomas March, who had been slightly wounded at the Battle of the Washita, were in command. About half the soldiers had crossed the river when panicked settlers appeared from the west and told of the murderous raiding.
Earlier, March had heard gunshots but had assumed they came from settlers out hunting. The fleeing settlers quickly informed him of his error, and the second lieutenant took 30 soldiers and several of the settlers to go after the raiders. After riding some five miles, March's command came upon a small party of Indians grazing their horses. Settler Jacob Schafer recognized a mare and a colt that belonged to Timothy Kine and four horses belonging to Frank Schermerhorn. The soldiers fired at the Indians but didn't hit anyone, and the chase continued. After darkness fell, March still led his men another 15 miles before calling it quits. They didn't return to their camp until after midnight.
The next day, May 31, settlers and soldiers discovered raid victims scattered along Spillman Creek and the Saline River. Tom Alderdice, returning from Salina, stopped off at the Schermerhorn ranch, where he learned about his son and two stepsons, as well as the capture of his wife and baby daughter. From there, he rode to William Hendrickson's house, where the bodies of his son Frank, age 2, and his stepson John, not yet 6, had been taken. Tom's agonizing cries as he viewed the little bodies would never be forgotten by young C.C. Hendrickson, William's son. At least Tom's other stepson, the gravely wounded Willis, was hanging on to life.
Frederic Remington, "Battle of Washita"
Despite his tragic homecoming, Tom Alderdice set out on his own on June 1 in search of his wife and baby daughter. Several miles to the north, not far from the Solomon River, he finally picked up the raiders' trail. He followed that for several more miles before he spotted several warriors coming and going from a creek unknown to him. He hid in a ravine and watched for a while, soon realizing that the Indians were going off on hunting and raiding parties. "I supposed a large camp above," he later wrote. He needed help, so he returned to the Saline River valley and then traveled to Fort Leavenworth, hoping the soldiers would join in his rescue mission.
While at Fort Leavenworth, Tom Alderdice was interviewed by the Leavenworth Times and Conservative. The newspaper account mistakenly said that Tom discovered his sons' bodies near his house, instead of first seeing them at the Hendrickson place. According to the paper, one dead boy had four bullets in his body and another had five arrows in his body. As for the wounded Willis, age 4, the newspaper reported that he was found with "five arrows in his body, one entering his back to the depth of five inches."
Another news story said that Tom Alderdice met with George Custer, who was at Fort Leavenworth to serve as a judge at a horse fair. Tom also met Custer's wife, Libbie, and she later wrote about the encounter in Following the Guidon:
The man was almost wild with grief over the capture of his wife by Indians, and the murder of his children....The man was as nearly a madman as can be. His eyes wild, frenzied, and sunken with grief, his voice weak with suffering, his tear-stained, haggard face -- all told a terrible tale of what he had been and was enduring. He wildly waved his arms as he paced the floor like some caged thing, and implored General Custer to use his influence to organize an expedition to secure the release of his wife. He turned to me with trembling tones, describing the return to his desolate cabin....The silence in the cabin told its awful tale, and he knew, without entering, that the mother of the little ones had met with the horrible fate which every woman in those days considered worse than death.
One of the standard features of Buffalo Bills programs was the recreation of the Battle of Summit Springs, since he was personally involved. It took place in 1869, in retaliation for an attack by Cheyenne Indians on settlers along the Solomon River in Nebraska. Buffalo Bill led the Fifth U.S. Cavalry to the camp of Cheyenne leader Tall Bull, and allegedly dispatched the chief personally; it was the kind of exploit that lent itself to a colorful spectacle once he turned to show business.
Tom Alderdice told about his own scouting activities and also provided a written description of Susanna to the officers at Fort Leavenworth, and a copy was then forwarded to Major Carr in the field. Tom described his wife as medium height, light complexion, with light brown hair and blue eyes. He also noted that Susanna "had a female child eight months old, with her, when captured." Tom returned to the Saline River valley, but soon ventured out again to the creek where he had discovered the Indians earlier. This time, as Major Carr would later report, Tom came upon the Dog Soldiers' abandoned camp and discovered a most horrible sight -- the lifeless form of his baby, Alice, strangled with a bowstring. His captured wife, Susanna, had been allowed to carry Alice for three days before the baby's incessant crying had prompted the Indians to silence her forever. Now, there was nothing left for Tom Alderdice to do but pray that Carr and his troopers would find Susanna and bring her home safely.
During these tumultuous times on the frontier, female settlers dreaded being captured by Indians. At the hands of their captors, as Mrs. Custer observed, they were liable to face a fate "worse than death." If a woman was rescued, the reassimilation into white society was never easy. Published accounts about Indian captivity were often mere whitewashes of the truth. Consider the account left by Veronica Ulbrich Megnin, written only for the government, regarding her captivity when she was just 13. Veronica was seized in 1867, not too far north of where Susanna Alderdice was captured two years later.
The Cheyenne Indians featured in the painting above are from left to right; Wolf, Roman Nose, White Horse, Tall Bull and Little Robe Pawnee Killer a Sioux, is the sixth mounted warrior from the left.
I remember vividly the hot summer day of 1867 when a band of Cheyenne Indians swept down upon our farm, captured me and my brother Peter. They whipped us with their rawhides and we cried bitterly for help. More dead than alive they took us away from home and three miles later they shot my brother off the horse and left him, where I pointed out the location four months later to my father....They compelled me to travel with them, we were traveling from one place to another, some of the band were on the go all the time. I did not get enough to eat, suffered from thirst, had to wash and do other work; sometimes they whipped me, sometimes they wanted or threatened to kill me. Soon one Indian, soon another belonging to the band forcibly violated my body, causing me immense pain and anguish thereby. This was almost a daily and nightly occurrence which would have killed me, if I had not been liberated almost exhausted.
Every woman knew that if captured, repeated rapes were likely to occur, but rapes were not mentioned in popular captivity narratives written by women who were later rescued. Like Veronica, Susanna Alderdice and Maria Weichel undoubtedly suffered horribly during their captivity, receiving little food or water and too much sun. The rapes would go on, night and day. To the end of her days, Susanna would surely remember the screams of her children as they were being killed. Susanna and Maria traveled hundreds of miles in captivity.
Additional Sources: www.nps.gov
65.40.245.240/gallery
www.pfeife-tabak.de
www.ghosttowns.com
www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com
66.188.129.72:5980/History
memory.loc.gov
vintageart.com
kabel.netvisit.nl
www.historycooperative.org
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on August 01:
0010 BC Claudius 4th Roman emperor (41-54 AD)
0126 Publius Helvius Pertinax Roman emperor (193 AD)
1770 William Clark Charlottsville VA, 2nd lt of Lewis & Clark Expedition
1779 Francis Scott Key composer (Star-Spangled Banner)
1815 Richard Henry Dana spent 2 years before mast
1818 Maria Mitchell 1st American woman astronomer on Nantucket Island
1819 Herman Melville US, author (Moby Dick, Billy Budd)
1889 Dr John F Mahoney developed pencillin treatment of syphillis
1895 Benjamin E Mays 1st black president of Atlanta Board of Education
1898 Morris Stoloff Phila, violinist (Picnic, Pal Joey)
1912 Henry Jones Phila Pa, actor (Phyllis, Falcon Crest, Gun Shy)
1913 Jerome Moross Brooklyn NY, composer (Frankie & Johnny)
1920 Sammy Lee US, platform diver (Olympic-gold-1948, 52)
1921 Jack Kramer Las Vegas, tennis star (Wimbeldon 1947)
1930 Geoffrey Holder dancer/actor (Annie, The Wiz)
1933 Dom DeLuise Bkln NY, comedian, actor (End, Cannonball Run, Fatso)
1936 Yves Saint-Laurent fashion designer (Opium, Obsession)
1937 Alfonse D'Amato Brooklyn NY, (Sen-R-NY 80-98)
1941 Ron Brown actor (Charlie the Lonesome Cougar)
1942 Giancarlo Giannini Italy, actor (Seduction of Mimi)
1942 Jerry Garcia SF, rocker (Grateful Dead-Uncle John's Band)
1944 Yuri V Romanenko USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 26, Soyuz 38, Soyuz TM-2)
1946 Richard O Covey Fayetteville Ar, USAF/astronaut (STS 51I, 26, 38)
1952 Brian Patrick Clarke Gettysburg Pa, actor (Merle-Eight is Enough)
1953 Robert Cray Columbus Ga, blues singer/songwriter (1987 Grammy)
1957 Glen Gorbous Canada, longest throw of a regulation baseball (445'10")
1958 Taylor Negron LA Calif, actor (Silvio-Detective School)
1959 Joe Elliot rocker (Def Leppard-Hysteria, Rock of Ages)
1961 Bart Conner US, parallel bars gymnist (Olympic-gold-1984)
1964 Nick Christian Sayer rocker (Transvision Vamp-Velveteen)
1964 Rob Camilletti Cher's boyfriend
1973 Tempestt Bledsoe Chicago, actress (Vanessa-Cosby Show)
1978 Dhani Harrison George Harrison's 1st child
Deaths which occurred on August 01:
0527 Justinus I, Byzantine emperor (518-27), dies
1714 Queen Anne (1702-1714) of Britain died at age 48
1882 Henry Kendall Australian poet, dies of tuberculosis at 43
1957 Harvey Glatmin first bondage-photo victim
1975 Julian "Cannonball" Alderly sax player, dies of a stroke
1977 Francis Gary Powers, US U-2 pilot, dies at 47 in fiery helicopter crash
1981 Paddy Chayefsky (58), screenwriter (Network) dies of cancer.
1983 Peter Arne actor, bludgeon to death in London at 62
1985 Joseph Walker cameraman, dies at 92
1988 Florence Eldridge Broadway actress (The Swan), dies at 86
1988 John Cardinal Dearden US cardinal, dies at 80
1988 Trindad Silva of Hill St Blues, dies at 38 in an auto accident
2001 Korey Stringer Pro Bowl tackle Minnesota Vikings' dies of heat stroke
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
01-Aug-2003 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Justin W. Hebert Shumayt (south of) - Ninawa Hostile - hostile fire - RPG attack
01-Aug-2004 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Armando Hernandez Samarra (near) - Salah ad Din Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Specialist Anthony J. Dixon Samarra (near) - Salah ad Din Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Afghanistan
A Good Day
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
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Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://www.taps.org/ (subtle hint SEND MONEY)
On this day...
0902 The Aghlabid rulers of Ifriqiyah (modern day Tunisia) capture Taormina, Sicily.
1086 English barons submit to William the Conqueror
1291 Everlasting League forms, basis of Swiss Confederation (Nat'l Day)
1315 Battle of Morgarten Swiss ambush and defeat invading Austrians
1464 Piero de Medici succeeds his father, Cosimo "the great", as ruler of Florence
1619 1st black Americans (20) land at Jamestown, Virginia
1716 1st sculling race (London Bridge to Chelsea)
1740 Thomas Arne's song "Rule Britannia" is performed for the first time.
1785 Caroline Herschel becomes 1st woman discoverer of a comet
1789 US Customs begins enforcing Tariff Act
1790 1st US census (population of 3,939,214)
1791 Robert Carter III, a Virginia plantation owner, frees all 500 of his slaves in the largest private emancipation in U.S. history.
1794 Whiskey Rebellion begins
1798 Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats French fleet in the Battle of the Nile at Aboukir Bay, Egypt.
1801 The American schooner Enterprise captures the Barbary cruiser Tripoli.
1812 A rare tornado hits Westchester County, NY
1831 London Bridge opens
1834 Slavery abolished in British empire
1838 Emancipation of British slaves on Bahamas
1861 Brazil recognizes Confederacy
1863 Cavalry action near Brandy Station-End of Gettysburg Campaign
1864 general Philip H. Sheridan begins clearing the Shenandoah Valley of Confederate forces.
1867 Blacks vote for 1st time in a state election in South (Tenn)
1869 1st voyage down Colorado River
1873 SF's 1st cable car begins service
1876 Colorado becomes 38th state
1881 US Quarantine Station authorized for Angel Island, SF Bay
1896 George Samuelson completes rowing the Atlantic (NY to England)
1901 Burial within SF City limits prohibited
1906 Bkln Dodger Harry McIntire no-hits Pitts for 10 2/3 loses in 13th
1906 Bkln Harry McIntire pitches 10.2 no-hit innings but loses to Pitts
1907 Bank of Italy opens 1st branch at 3433 Mission Street, SF
1914 Germany declares war on Russia in WW I
1916 Hawaii National Park established
1917 Frank Little, IWW organizer, lynched in Butte, MT
1918 Pitts Pirates beat Boston Braves, 2-0, in 21 innings
1927 In Bristol, Tennessee, the Carter Family (A.P., wife Sara, and cousin Maybelle) come down from the mountains of Virginia and began recording their country style "hillbilly" music for Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Co. (The day the music changed)
1933 NRA (National Recovery Administration) established
1936 Adolph Hitler opens Berlin Olympic Games
1936 Benjamin E Mays named president of Morehouse College
1937 Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, becomes operational. (The hill on which it stood was called "Ettersberg," a place where Goethe often wrote and sketched, and that was the initial name for the camp, which the people of Weimar protested. The name was then changed to Buchenwald, Beech Forest.)
1941 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo plane makes its first flight
1942 Ensign Henry C. White, while flying a J4F Widgeon plane, sinks U-166 as it approaches the Mississippi River, the first U-boat sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard.
1943 Race riot in Harlem NYC
1943 Over 177 B-24 Liberator bombers attack the oil fields in Ploesti, Rumania, for a second time.
1944 Adam Clayton Powell elected 1st black congressman from East
1946 Pres Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
1950 1st Major League baseball player to fight in Korea (Curt Simmons)
1950 Lead elements of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division arrives in Korea from the United States
1950 American Bowling Congress ends all-white-males rule
1953 Calif introduces sales tax (for education)
1953 Northern Rhodesia becomes part of Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland
1955 1st microgravity research begins
1957 1st coml building heated by Sun (Albuquerque NM)
1957 Glen Gorbous throws a baseball a record 136 m (445'10")
1957 United States and Canada reached agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
1958 1st class postage up to $0.04 (had been $0.03 for 26 years)
1958 Jordan’s King Hussein dissolves the Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq.
1960 Benin (Dahomey) gains independence from France
1960 Chubby Checker releases "The Twist"
1960 Dahomey gains independence
1961 New SF Hall of Justice opens
1961 Whitney Young Jr named executive director of National Urban League
1962 Boston Red Sox Bill Monboquette no-hits Chic White Sox, 1-0
1963 The Beatles Book is sold out on its 1st day of sale
1964 Beatles' "Hard Day's Night, A," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks
1966 Charles Whitman climbs U of Texas tower & shoots 12 dead
1969 110,000 attend Atlantic City Pop Festival
1970 EAA Convention moves from Rockford Ill to Oshkosh, Wi
1970 Willie Stargell (Pirates) ties record of 5 extra base hits in a game
1971 CBS presents Masterpiece Theatre's 6 Wives of Henry VIII
1971 George Harrison's concert for Bangladesh takes place in NYC
1972 1st article exposing Wategate scandal (Bernstein-Woodward)
1972 Nate Colbert of SD Padres hits record tying 5 HRs in a double header
1973 Munson & Fisk get into a brawl at Fenway Park
1974 Virginia Squires trade Julius "Dr J" Erving to the NY Nets
1975 Billy Martin replaces Bill Virdon as manager of NY Yankees
1975 Helsinki Pact guaranteeing boundaries, rights signed by 35 nations
1976 Liz Taylor's 6th divorce (re-divorces Richard Burton)
1976 Seattle Seahawks play 1st (preseason) game (SF 27, Seattle 20)
1978 Pete Rose goes hitless, ends his 44 game hitting streak (ties NL)
1980 Gerd Wessig of East Germany set the high jump record
1981 MTV premiers at 12:01 AM
1982 Greg Louganis, US becomes 1st diver to score 700 (752.67) in 11 dives
1987 Bananarama's Siobhan Fahey marries Eurythmics Dave Stewart
1987 Crossbow flight record (2,005 yds 1'9") set by Harry Drake in Nevada
1987 Mike Tyson beats Tony Tucker to become undisputed boxing champ
1988 Deep Rover 1-man research submarine unveiled at Crater Lake, Oregon
1990 Iraq pulls out of talks with Kuwait
1991 Actress Hedy Lamarr, 77, arrested for shoplifting in Florida
1992 NBC's "Saturday Today" premieres
1996 In a political victory for President Clinton, a federal jury in Little Rock, Ark., acquitted two Arkansas bankers of misapplying bank funds and conspiracy to boost his political career. (The jury deadlocked on seven other counts.)
2000 A U.S. military court in Germany sentenced Army Staff Sgt. Frank Ronghi to life in prison without parole for sexually assaulting and killing Merita Shabiu, an 11-year-old ethnic Albanian girl, while on peacekeeping duty in Kosovo.
2000 Kashmir terrorists kill nearly 50 people in 2 attacks. 18 men at a village in the Anantnag area were killed as well as 30 Hindu pilgrims and Muslim porters on their way to the Amarmath cave shrine at Pahalgam
2001 Taufik Abdul Halim, a member of the Malaysian Mujahedeen Group, blew off his lower right leg at a Jakarta shopping mall when a bomb he carried exploded prematurely. Halim was linked to Dedi Setiono (Abbas), who was linked to Hambali (Riduan Isamuddin), operations leader of Jemaah Islamiah.
2002 Opponents of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein shot and wounded his younger son, Qusai (35), in an assassination attempt in Baghdad
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Botswana : August Holiday
China PR : Army Day
Dahomey/Benin : Independence Day (1960)
Ghana : Homowo
Guyana : Commonwealth Day
Iran : 12th Imam's Birthday
Switzerland : Confederation Day (1291)
Trinidad & Tobago, St Lucia : Emancipation Day/Caribbean Day
US : Sports Day-good sportsmanship
Zaire : Parents Day
Canada : Civic Holiday (1st Monday)
Colorado : Colorado Day (1876)
Jamaica : Independence Day (1962)
US : National Smile Week begins
National Raspberry Cream Pie Day
International : Clown Week Begins
Ancient Rome : Festival of Mars
Admit You're Happy Month
Religious Observances
Old RC : Feast of St Peter's Chains
RC : Memorial of St Alphonsus Mary de Liguori, bishop/doctor
Religious History
1521 German reformer Martin Luther wrote in a letter: 'Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for He is victorious over sin, death, and the world.'
1834 Death of Robert Morrison, 52, the first English Protestant missionary to reach China. Sent by the London Missionary Society in 1807, in 1823 he completed a Chinese translation of the Bible - it filled 23 volumes!
1890 Birth of Walther Eichrodt, German Reformed Old Testament scholar. He taught at Basel and Erlangen universities, and is highly regarded among Christian evangelicals today for his Theology of the Old Testament (1933-39).
1953 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.'
1979 Following her graduation from rabbinical college in Philadelphia, Linda Joy Holtzman was appointed spiritual leader of the Conservative Beth Israel congregation in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, making her the first female rabbi to head a Jewish congregation in America.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Man arrested after allegedly stashing pot near police department
(Stamford-AP)
Police say a Stamford man on his way to court this week stashed $1,500 worth of marijuana under a rock outside police headquarters.
When 21-year-old Daniel Garcia returned two hours later, all he found was a note that said, "You're under arrest. Look up at the police station."
He was then arrested by two police officers watching from inside.
Garcia's father, Armando, says Daniel claims police planted the drugs on him.
Daniel Garcia has been charged with possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to sell.
Police Lieutenant Jon Fontneau says people often take drugs or weapons out of their pockets before they're searched at the courthouse. But he says they don't usually dump the items 100 feet from the police station.
Garcia was released on $500 bond and is due back in court August Eleventh.
Thought for the day :
"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men."
Herman Melville
