SEPTEMBER 12 — 1972 Hopalong Cassidy dies; 2011 Jack Condon wins prize for biggest Charlie’s Angels collection; 1861 1st Battle of Lexington
SEPTEMBER 12
1972 – The epitome and gallantry and fair play passes away. William Boyd, aka Hopalong Cassidy, Hoppy to his friends, was one of the most popular cowboys for sixty years. He entertained millions of children on his TV show. T started with 28 fiction novels about Hoppy written by Clarence E. Mulford some of which are still in print to this day. In the 1940’s Hollywood turned their noses up at Westerns. They may have ben popular in movie theaters, but shows like the Honeymooners and I Love Lucy were the standard for middle and upper class America. Until Boyd sold his idea to NBC.
Soon, the show Hopalong Cassidy was an international success. Boyd received 15,000 fan letters every week. Boy did this until his 60s and had to retire. He was making world tours and filing at the same time, and it took its toll on him. Like his website says, he put his horse Topper out to pasture, hung up his guns, took off his boots and said adios. Bill Boyd’s television success has never been rivaled. During public appearances, as many as a million fans turned out to see him. These fans, believe it or not, included presidents, senators, congressmen, governors, mayors, admirals, generals, ambassadors, prime ministers and of course John Q. Public.Boyd didn’t sing, dance, play football, baseball or basketball, nor did he box or play tennis or race cars. Boyd was merely HOPALONG CASSIDY. He smiled, waved, and shook hands. He was simply…Mr. Good guy…everybody’s favorite cowboy…everybody’s FRIEND, BUDDY, PAL and IMMORTAL HERO……He finally rode off to his last sunset when he passed away September 12, 1972.
1812 – We lose another American great, Richard Hoe from New York. Wiki says 1843, Richard invented a rotary printing press that placed the type on a revolving cylinder, a design much faster than the old flatbed printing press. 1818 – Richard Jordon Gating invented the hand cranked machine gun, yeah the Gatling Gun on September 12, 1812.
2011 – Disaster news: Winner of the biggest Charlie’s Angels collection belongs to Jack Condon at 5,569.
I’m sure he has more than that. TV Show Charlie’s Angels, a feminist’s worst nightmare, of course debuted in 1976, when Jack from New Jersey was an 11 year old boy. That’s when he began collecting dolls in the images of 70s babes Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, and two other girls I can’t remember. I remember being 11 years old and yes I have a Farrah Fawcett poster. Or Cheryl Ladd. One of the two. She was blonde. I only remember wishing the poster was autographed as a young lad getting too big for my britches. But I digress, much like this story. Congratulations on your doll collection, Jack, and remember what the judge said about staying away from preschools.
1861 – 1st Battle of Lexington. Missouri State Guard Maj. Gen Sterling Price V Union Col James A. Mulligan. The result: MSG/Confederate victory. The reason why Lexington was important was because of its money, which had been seized by the U.S. Government, and pro-secession governor Claiborne Fox Jackson cried foul and wanted the money back. On August 10, 1861, at Wilson’s Creek, just outside Springfield, Price and the MSG defeated the Yankees. Now, he marched his 7,000 pro-Southern troops to Lexington at the Missouri River. Mulligan commanded a Northern garrison, mostly containing the 23rd Illinois Irish Brigade, and had built fortifications just before Price’s advance. On September 12, the battle begun. By nightfall the result was inconclusive, and Price decided to rest his men and wait for reinforcements.
The Union army wanted to abandon the area, but Mulligan overrode them and decided to stay and fight. Meanwhile, Price and his men and already encircled Mulligan’s garrison, and cut off the water supply to the town. On the 18th, they went on the attack. Some of the harshest fighting occurred in the Anderson House. Oliver Anderson was a prominent manufacturer in Lexington. In 1861, Anderson and his family was evicted out of his beautiful 3-story Victorian style brick house, and it was used as a Union hospital. The MSG quickly took over the Anderson House, and Mulligan was outraged, accusing Price of violating the terms of war by attacking a hospital, and sent in Company B of the Irish Brigade to take it back.
A buglar for Company G, 1st Illinois Cavalry named George Henry Palmer led the raid and won the Medal of Honor. You can see it if you visit the Anderson House at the Lexington Historic Site. But then, three MSG soldiers were executed, and Price accused the Yankees of committing an act of savage barbarity, and easily repulsed the Union troops and evicting them from the House. Now, with no water supply, the Union was completely surrounded by Price’s men. On September 19, the Southerners kept the Union under heavy artillery fire. On the 20th, the Rebels got their hands on some bales of hemp from a local warehouse and created breastworks by rolling them into water so the hemp would not catch fire. By pushing the hemp bales in front of them, they were able to continue their advance and launch a final assault on the Union works. Mulligan was too low on water to continue fighting, and requested terms of surrender. By 2 p.m. his men had marched out and laid down their arms. Price lost 30 men killed and about 120 wounded, while the Yankees lost around 36 killed, about 120 wounded, and 3,000 captured.