This Day…

1856 – Industrialist Samuel Colt (41) weds philanthropist Elizabeth Hart Jarvis (29).

1932  – The Broadway musical “The Band Wagon” opened in New York City. The comedic musical film about an aging star that tries to revive his career in a Broadway production. The film ranked #17 in the American Film Institutes list of best musicals in 2006.

1889 – Architect Frank Lloyd Wright (21) weds socialite Catherine Tobin.

1881 – In Galeyville, Arizona, Jim Wallace got tired of Curly Bill Brocious giving him sass all day and shot him in the neck.  The bullet exited through Curly Bill’s cheek and knocked out several teeth.  It was a serious wound, but Curly Bill survived and left the territory after he recovered.

1898  – US Congress passes the Private Mailing Card Act, allowing private publishers and printers to produce postcards, had to be labelled “Private Mailing Cards” until 1901, known as “souvenir cards”.

1929  – Al Capone is today in prison following his plea of guilty to the minor charge of carrying a concealed weapon, it is believed he pled guilty to these offences to help him stay safe in prison, he is best known for his domination of the Chicago Beer Runners and is believed to have been behind the St Valentines Day massacre.

1846 – The United States declares war on Mexico after fighting has already begun.

1887 – The Swan Land and Cattle Company of Wyoming, only four years old, declares bankruptcy, following the devastating winter of 1886-87.  The demise of the huge livestock corporation is symbolic of the Depression that will grip the cattle industry on the Great Plains during the next ten years.

1915 – American motion-picture actor and director Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

1893 – Cowboy Bill Pickett invents bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground.