This Day…

1883-During an attempted train robbery the engineer and fireman were killed by masked gunmen in Coolidge, Kansas.  Lon Chambers and three others were arrested for it by Mysterious Dave Mather.  But were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

1897-Big Nose George Currie, the Sundance Kid, and Harvey Logan were wanted in the robbery of a bank in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.  After a brief gunfight with six-shooter Bill Smith and a bounty hunter they were taken into custody near Lavina, MT.  All three outlaws escaped from the jail in Deadwood on Halloween.

1887-Jim Roberts and Jim Tewsbury were ambushed at their cap on Cherry Creek in Pleasant Valley, Arizona.  Firing from their blankets they hit Joe Underwood in both legs and killed Harry Middleton.  The other Bushwhackers lost their nerve.

1811-The steamboat New Orleans, built in Pittsburgh by Nicholas Roosevelt, is launched on the Ohio River: this is the first steamboat to appear on western waters; its maiden voyage will be memorable.

2013-A viewer in Flower Mound, Texas struggles to find out the ISBN number for The Plea.

1633-Massachusetts Bay Colony settler John Oldham leads a group inland to the Connecticut Valley; they spend the winter at Wethersfield, Connecticut.  Meanwhile, William Holmes of Plymouth Colony has been commissioned to erect a trading post on the river, above the Dutch post at Hartford.  The movement west underway.

1877-Crazy Horse, chief of the Oglala Sioux, is bayoneted by a soldier at Fort Robinson in Nebraska after pulling a knife upon learning he was to be imprisoned.  Crazy Horse dies of his wounds a few hours later.  He is about 35 years old.

1873-Tiburcio Vasquez and 6 others were robbing a store in Tre Pinos, CA. when violence erupted.  Three townspeople were killed and a child beaten unconscious.

1879-John Beckwith was killed by the rustler John Jones, in a dispute over the ownership of a herd of cows.

1892 – An early attempt at rain-making is successful in bringing rain to Midland, Texas, dry since 1888.