The Amazing Nellie Bligh Arrives Home

Today in History, January 25, 1890:

Courageous, Crusading journalist Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochran-Seaman) arrives home after traveling around the world in 72 days by ship, horse, rickshaw…any means necessary.

Nellie Bly (pen name) worked for the New York World, and had set out to prove that Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg could have traveled “Around the World in 80 Days.”

Her adventures were covered by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World through her dispatches on her journey, articles upon her return, and in the novel she would write.

Before her around the world odyssey, Ms. Bly had already made a name for herself by going undercover to expose the practices at a Women’s Insane Asylum.  She would complete numerous other exposes into other realms as well during her career.

A Consequential Life

Today in History, January 24: 1956:

“Milam: “You still as good as I am?”

Bobo: “Yeah.”

Milam: “You still ‘had’ white women?”

Bobo: “Yeah.”

That big .45 jumped in Big Milam’s hand. The youth turned to catch that big, expanding bullet at his right ear. He dropped.”

Look magazine prints an article documenting the confession of two Mississippi men who had murdered a black youth, 14-year-old Emmett Till of Chicago, and then been acquitted by a Mississippi jury.

Emmett had flirted with one of the men’s wives at their small country store, so the men had kidnapped him, pistol whipped him, and finally murdered him.

He wasn’t familiar with Mississippi “rules”, and he couldn’t know that his death would help kick off the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.

I chose not to post the gruesome photos that were published in ’56….look them up if you’d like. If you have a few minutes, the “Look” article is enlightening and worth the time.

Those that lived those times can testify…while we still have progress to make, we have come a very long way.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/till/confession.html

24th Amendment

Today in History, January 23: 1963 –

The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting the use of poll taxes during voting.

In the 1890’s Southern Democrats, seeing their power slipping with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment (power of citizens to vote shall not be abridged based on race, color or previous status of servitude), had instituted poll taxes to make it more difficult for poor black and white southerners to vote. The 24th Amendment took a two decade long fight to pass.

To Key West, By Rail…20th Century Engineering Wonders

Today in History, January 22: 1912 –

The Florida East Coast Railway opens service to Key West, 128 miles from the southern coast of the mainland and the southern most city in the United States.

Built mostly over water between the islands of the Keys, the railroad took seven years to build and was an engineering marvel. It was destroyed by a hurricane in 1935, an interesting story in and of itself. In 1938 it was replaced by the Overseas Highway, which was built on it’s foundations.

USS Nautilus Launched

Today in History, January 21: 1954 – The USS Nautilus (not the first), in this incarnation the first nuclear powered submarine, SSN 571, is launched at Groton, Connecticut, christened by First Lady Mamie Eisenhower.

She would also be the first submarine to sail beneath the Arctic. Her WWII ancestor had a storied career also, conducting numerous war patrols in the Pacific. Jules Verne had used the name for his stories; but the results of Admiral Hyman Rickover’s hard work made the name.

Aerial Bombing Begins in Britain

Today in History, January 19, 1915:

Germany begins aerial bombing of Britain using dirigibles, mostly Zeppelins during WWI.

The attacks would cause many deaths, but would be mostly ineffective and inaccurate.

The Zeppelins would eventually be replaced with aircraft. The bombings would lead to an early warning system and tactics by the Royal Air Force which would carry into the Battle of Britain during WWII.

Many civilians would die in the Zeppelin raids, leading to them being labeled “baby killers”, raising anger rather than the intended demoralization.

Paradise Found

Today in History, January 18: 1778 – As the American Revolutionary War waged, English Captain James Cook discovers what he called the Sandwich Islands during an exploring expedition to the Pacific; it was not his first. The Hawaiians thought the Europeans were Gods, and the sailors were only too happy to encourage the misconception. The islanders were fascinated with the iron metal used on the ships; the sailors used it to barter for goods and “comfort” from the Polynesian women. Cook continued his voyage, looking for the Northwest Passage. After returning to the Islands a year later, Cook and his sailors continued the ruse. When one of his crew died, they were discovered to be mere mortals. The natives took one of the ship’s cutters. When Cook and crew attempted to retrieve it, killing some of the residents in the process, they were attacked, and Cook was killed.

El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha

Today in History, January 16, 1605:

El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, or Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes is first published in Madrid, Spain.

The “ingenious nobleman” would become legend, referenced by some of our favorite authors through the years.

Our hero would also gain his own word, Quixotic.

1

: foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially : marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action

2

: capricious, unpredictable

The Democrat Jack-Ass is Born Amidst Hatred

Today in History, January 15: 1870 –

“A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion” “And Such a Lion! and Such a Jackass!”

Harper’s Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast publishes a cartoon which popularizes the Jackass as the symbol for the Democrat party.

A German immigrant, Nast is considered by many to be the father of the modern political cartoon. In addition to the Democrat Jackass, he popularized the Republican Elephant and our conception of Santa Claus. I use the term popularize because he wasn’t the first to use any of these symbols, but he made them known to everyone.

The Jack-ass originally became known as a Democrat symbol when someone called President Andrew Jackson a jack-ass, and he decided to “own it.”

Among other things Nast was an abolitionist and a patriot. Which is why Northern Copperheads angered him so. Copperheads were Northern Democrats that were sympathetic to the Confederate (Southern Democrats) cause. Nast considered them racists and traitors.

Edwin M. Stanton had been part of President Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals”, the Secretary of War who prosecuted the Civil War from Washington and had become respectful and loyal to Lincoln. When Stanton died suddenly on Christmas Eve 1869, the Copperhead Papers in the North continued their criticism of him, speaking ill of the dead.

This was the inspiration for Nast’s cartoon.

This isn’t to say Stanton was a lovable character.  He angered many in D.C. and in the Army.  General William T. Sherman refused to shake his hand at a military review at the close of the war due to Stanton’s treatment of him.  Stanton was an opportunist, but he worked hard at his job.

Aloha from Hawaii

Today in History, January 14, 1973:

Elvis Presley performs at a concert in Honolulu, Hawaii which was carried live via satellite in 40 countries in Asia and Europe.  The concert would reach 1 to 1.5 Billion viewers.  It would not be aired in the US until April 4 because it conflicted with that years’ Super Bowl.

My mom and countless others were big fans.  In 1977 when the news of his unexpected death at age 42 came across the radio, she had to pull the car over because she was crying.