This Day…

1912 – General William Hull, commander of American troops in the western territories, leads a force of 2200 men across the Detroit River in order to occupy Sandwich, Canada.

1857 – George A. Custer, 21, enters West Point.

1899 – Buckskin Frank Leslie came home to his ranch bad drunk from a week long toot in Tombstone.  He got into an argument with his girlfriend, Mollie Williams, and in a jealous rage shot her dead.  He also shot Jim Neal, a hired hand, who witnessed the shooting.  Neal recovered and testified against Leslie, who was found guilty of murder and sent off to Yuma Prison.  Many years later Neal hired Leslie as a swamper in a Bay area saloon.

1836 – A Congressional resolution calls for recognition of Texas, but President Jackson declines.

1900 – Warren Earp, always a surly drunk, had been looking for a fight for several days with cowhand, Johnny Boyet.  Johnny finally gave it to him and when the smoke cleared Warren lay riddled with bullets on the floor of a saloon in Wilcox, Arizona.

1902-On hundred and fifty armed men stop fifteen herds of sheep that cross a ‘deadline’ in New Fork country of the Green River Valley, Wyoming.  The cattlemen shoot a herdsman, kill 2000 sheep, and scatter others.

1863 – George A. Custer prepares to meet his end at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

1882 – Annie Oakley and Frank Butler are issued a marriage certificate in Ontario, Canada.  Although they were married in 1876, it is believed Frank Butler was not divorced from his first wife.

1849 – Cholera spreads to Texas, ravaging tribes, including the Comanche, Cheyenne, Apache, Kiowa, and Kiowa-Apache.

1850 – In San Francisco, a fire destroys some 300 buildings and 18 blocks of frame houses in 10 hours.  The damage is estimated to be over $5 million.