SEPTEMBER 5 — 1847 Jesse James birthday; 1836 Sam Houston elected president of Texas; 1986 Whitney Houston wins big at MTV awards; 11992 Batman Animated Series debuts; 1975 Assassinatkion attempt on Gerald Ford
SEPTEMBER 5
1847—It’s Jesse James’ birthday.
…I’ve talked about him several times in the past, so I’lll just go over some interesting facts about him. Jesse was the son of a preacher man. He was actually a Baptist minister who helped to establish William Jewell College in Missouri. His father moved to California, leaving his family behind, and died there. Jesse and big brother Frank became bushwhackers during the Civil war, and joined a gang who was responsible for slaughtering hundreds of men, boys and union soldiers in Kansas.
There’s a myth that he was a type of Robin Hood, one who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, but the myth completely ignores the fact that the only poor he gave to was himself, and killed anyone who got in his way, and mutilated their corpses. For years, he eluded the Pinker tons, an early version of the FBI. Jesse James made it all the way past his 34th birthday, amazingly enough, until Bob Ford shot Jesse in the back of the head.
1836 – Sam Houston is elected
…as president of Texas. In addition, Houston was a US Senator and war hero. He was born in Lexington, VA on March 2 1793 and moved to Tennessee with his family when he was young. His father died when he was young, and Houston ran away from home, moving in with the Cherokee tribe. He later fought in the war of 1812 and served under Andrew Jackson in the Creek Wars. Houston studied law and was elected governor of Tennessee in 1827. He had a very brief marriage, then later became a Cherokee citizen.
In 1835, with the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Houston became commanding general of the revolutionary army, and defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. He was elected president of Texas on September 5, 1836, and served two terms. After Texas was annexed by the US, he served on the Senate from 1846-1859. He didn’t fit in after that, being a unionist and friend of the Indians. He hopelessly watched as Texas ceded from the US with the other southern countries, leading up to the civil war. He refused to pledge allegiance to the Confederate States of America and was ousted. He died of pneumonia in 1863.
1986 – Whitney Houston wins big at the 3rd MTV video music awards
1992 – Batman’s Animated Series debuts.
Ranker named it the top superhero TV show of all time. Rounding out the top five of that list includes the Flash, Daredevil, X-Men 2011, and Justice League Unlimited. For those of you old schooler geezer nerds like me, I can tell you that the original Batman from 1966 came in at #13, Buffy the Vampire Slayer #14, 1979’s Supergirl #15, Lynda Carter’s Wonder Women #17, Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno’s The Incredible Hulk #18, Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman at #31 and 33 respectively, Greatest American Hero #35, Power Rangers #45, He-Man #51, 1966 Green Hornet #57.
1997 – Happy anniversary Larry King and Shawn Southwick. Or was that 1897? 1797?
1975 – Junie survives his first assassination attempt. Two women were sent to carry out a hit on President Gerald Junie Ford, the first one being on September 5 1975 in Sacramento California by Lynette From. Lynette was a member of The Family, the name of Charles Manson’s group of angels who carried out his dirty work. He was taken down by secret service. The second won, seventeen days later, was attempted by Sarah Hane Moore in San Francisco, a mentally ill accountant, not sure what her agenda was. As Sarah raised her gun, a Vietnam veteran named Oliver Sipple was standing by and wrestled the gun away from her. Both women would be sentenced to life in prison.