A Brief History On November 25, 1864, a group of Confederate special forces operatives attempted to burn down New York City by starting fires in a plot orchestrated by Jacob Thompson, Inspector General of the Confederate States Army. The eight Confederates ambitiously started fires in 19 hotels across the city, as well as PT Barnum’s American Museum and a theater. The diabolical plan was to cause so many fires the firefighting men and apparatus would be overwhelmed, resulting in mass destruction. Digging Deeper Obviously, the plan failed or you would be reading about the Great New York Fire of 1864!…
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A Brief History On November 20-21, 2016, four American police officers were shot in ambush style attacks in San Antonio, Texas, St. Louis, Missouri, Gladstone, Missouri, and Sanibel, Florida. The officer in the San Antonio shooting died of his head wounds, the other officers have survived their wounds so far. Digging Deeper Shootings of police officers are dramatically up, especially the ambush/assassination style killing where the officer is sitting in his patrol car and a suspect walks up and shoots the unsuspecting officer, or as in the case of Dallas, a sniping type incident. More police have been shot to…
A Brief History On November 23, 1948, one of major league baseball’s greatest hitters and onetime highest paid player in the National League died penniless, and no one, not even his own son, would claim the body. Wilson played for the Giants, Cubs, Dodgers and Phillies, but his heyday was with the Cubs. Digging Deeper Lewis Robert “Hack” Wilson was born in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania in 1900, and went on to a short but remarkable baseball career where in 12 years he hit 244 home runs, 1063 RBI’s, and batted .307 for his career. In 1930 Wilson hit 56 home…
A Brief History On November 22, 1896, George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., the inventor of the Ferris Wheel, died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania of Typhoid Fever. Ferris was only 37 years old. Digging Deeper Ferris had been born in 1859 in a town called Galesburg, Illinois, a town founded by George Washington Gale. The Ferris family cleverly named their newborn son after the town’s founder. The Ferris clan moved to Nevada, and Ferris attended the California Military Academy (Oakland) where he graduated in 1876. Ferris was no slouch in the academic department, and graduated from the prestigious Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Connecticut)…
A Brief History On November 21, 164 BC, Judas Maccabeus dedicated the Second Temple in Jerusalem, a restoration of the Temple first built by Solomon on Temple Mount in 957 BC. Temple Mount is the holiest location for people of the Jewish faith, although at this time an Islamic mosque called The Dome of the Rock stands on that location. The dedication of the restored Temple is celebrated by Jews worldwide each year as Hanukkah, The Celebration of Lights. Digging Deeper The first Temple had a trying existence, sacked only a few decades after being built and then restored in…