Day Tripping: April 3
The Good, The Bad, and The Suffragettes
Good Guys
As the precursor to the overnight courier and rapid mail service, the Pony Express went into operation between St Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California in 1860. The route that stretched 1,900 miles had horseback riders galloping to and from 186 stations placed ten miles apart. Mail was delivered across the full stretch in what many thought to be an impossible ten days.
Unfortunately, the Pony Express was heavily subsidized and never profitable, but it managed to connect the new state of California with the rest of the country for eighteen months. The new and faster telegraph system eventually rendered the service obsolete.
Bad Guys
Jesse James was a notorious bank robber and renegade, but his end came in the form of murder in 1882. James was betrayed by his own gang member Robert Ford, who accepted reward money for killing the infamous outlaw. Ford was watching the gang leader inside his home, waiting to be served breakfast by his mother. When Jesse turned to adjust a wall hanging, Ford crept in and fired several shots into the back of Jesse James.
The wall hanging James was fixing read, God Bless Our Home in needlepoint. Part of Jesse James’ tombstone reads, “Murdered by a traitor and a coward whose name is not worthy to appear here”.
Bad Ass Lady
Emmeline Pankhurst was the founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union, an organization of suffragettes in the United Kingdom. Under her leadership, the ladies of this society would stop at little to get their point across. Pankhurst was quoted…
“Women are very slow to rouse, but once they are aroused, once they are determined, nothing on earth and nothing in heaven will make women give way; it is impossible.”
Emmeline was sentenced to three years in prison on this day for inciting violence against the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George. Using another tactic favoured by the WSPU, Pankhurst began a hunger strike.
Musical Milestones
A suffragette of a different kind, Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders are on their first American tour in 1980 when she gets into a bar fight and is arrested. She’s taken to jail for the night after kicking out the window of the police cruiser. The group plays the next night’s performance in Memphis.
Narratives
At the West Coast Computer Faire 1981 in San Francisco, The Osborne 1 is introduced. It is the first successful portable computer. It weighed twenty-four pounds with a massive 5-inch display screen, and cost a mere $1,795 to buy then. The extra software bundle ran you another $1,500.
Remembrance
One of the great espionage writers, Graham Greene was best known for his screenplay, The Third Man. He died of leukaemia at age 86 in 1991.
Notable Births
1924 — Marlon Brando used to tape his lines to his acting partner’s forehead. Still, his works on screen will endure forever.
1926 — Gus Grissom was the second American in space, and then died tragically in a launchpad fire with two fellow astronauts.
1934 — Jane Goodall is synonymous with the animal kingdom, especially Chimpanzees, and her work to protect endangered species.
1958 — Alec Baldwin portrayed the only Trump I can look at, and still laugh.
1961 — Thank goodness he’s back. Eddie Murphy is one of the most successful Saturday Night Live alumni. Happy 60th Gumby!
K. Barrett Katie Wallace Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, PhD. Terry Trueman Dr Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich
The Story Of Day Tripping Through History What’s Past Is Often Present
