Week 21: May
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Bold items are in Players
5/21 of…1832
LaSalle County, IL: The Indian Creek Massacre; Potawatomis Indians kill 15 settlers over a sawmill dam and a beating. The dead were gruesomely mutilated and two women were taken hostage. The incident caused widespread panic among the white settlers and a retreat to the protection of local forts; a side effect of The Blackhawk War. {001}
1856
Under a red flag proclaiming “Southern-rights” a pro-slavery “posse” of 800 southerners led by Douglas County Sheriff Samuel Jones sacks Lawrence, KS, destroying the offices and presses of two antislavery newspapers and burning down the Free State Hotel. Only one death (among the attackers) but the town was looted and many structures damaged or destroyed. One of a variety of events that would earn the title of ” Bleeding Kansas” for the state and stoke the animosity building towards civil war. (see: below, 05/24/1856; Wk. 48, 12/02/1859 & Photo Gallery – People & Places Photos ["Immortal Ten"]) {001}
1864
Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph “Emperor of Mexico” arrives in Veracruz. {001}
1878
A Kansas & Pacific RR train crashes in a washout at Kiowa Crossing [Bennett, CO] three dead. {001}
1996
“Lash La Rue”, Alfred La Rue, age 78, died in Burbank, CA: Western Actor, Master of the Bullwhip. Movie sample: Law of the Lash (1947),King of the Bullwhip (1950), The Frontier Phantom (1952). TV in Judge Roy Bean (1956), as Sheriff Johnny Behan in The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp (1959-60) and numerous other TV appearances. Lash La Rue Comics (1949-61) 100+ issues. One imitator, Whip Wilson and a few tries at the whip by other western stars. {001}
5/22 of…1857
The Sixth Hand Cart Company [Evans], the first to try the route after the double disaster of the 1856 crossings, sets out with 126 to try their luck at reaching Salt Lake City, UT. (see also: PLAYERS H – Hand Carts & Photo Gallery – Transportation Photos – Mormon Hand Carts) {001}
1867
James-Younger Gang robs the Bank at Warrensburg, MO. Tom Little, lynched at Warrensburg shortly after. {001}
1868
The Reno Gang robs a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad Train pulling out of the depot in Marshfield, ID. They throw Express Agent Thomas Harkins from the train to his death and take an estimated $96,000. {001}
