Did you know?

Did you know?

March 4, 1789 - The United States Constitution takes effect. March 4, 1918 - The first case of the Spanish Flu is reported at Fort Riley, Kansas. The Spanish Flu would eventually kill 675,000 Americans and somewhere between 20 and 70 million people around the world. The Fall and Winter of 1918/1919 were particularly bad. I knew a woman who was a young girl on a farm in Clinton, Illinois, during that time. She told me five members of their household died but they were all so sick and the weather was so cold that they could not bury them so they wrapped the bodies in blankets and froze them on the back porch until Spring. The Spanish Flu is a misnomer. It apparently started in Kansas and spread around the world from there. Remember WWI was going on and American troops were going to Europe. They took the Spanish Flu with them. It was a terrible time. March 5, 1770 - The Boston Massacre erupts leaving five Americans dead. They were Crispus Attucks, James Caldwell, Patrick Carr, Samuel Gray and Samuel Maverick. British soldiers were being pummeled by snowballs, panicked and fired into the crowd. These were the first deaths of the Revolutionary War. Crispus Attucks was an African American. A park is named in his honor in Carbondale, Illinois. March 6, 1836 - The Alamo is overwhelmed by General Santa Anna and his troops. March 6, 1899 - The German Company, Bayer, patents acetylsalicylic acid more commonly known as aspirin. For centuries the bark of willow trees was used to relieve pain and fever. Bayer employees Felix Hoffmann and Arthur Eichengrun found a way to stabilize the chemical and make it more pleasant to take. Before that, people actually ate willow tree bark which was really hard on the digestive tract. March 6, 1932 - John Philip Sousa dies. Sousa was in charge of the United States Marine Band that played for the President of the United States. He was also a founding member of the Amateur Trapshooting Association. He was the “March King” and wrote most of the military marches still in use today. March 7, 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone. The American people have been pestered ever since. March 9, 1916 – Mexico leader Poncho Villa and 1500 guerrillas attack Columbus, New Mexico, killing 19 Americans and burning the town. In January of 1916, Poncho Villa kidnapped and slaughtered 18 Americans who were on a train in Mexico. This infuriated President Woodrow Wilson and he ordered General John J. Pershing and 6000 troops to cross into Mexico and find Poncho Villa. Pershing was never able to catch him but Villa was assassinated in 1923. One of those who pursued Villa was a young Army Lieutenant by the name of George Patton. Patton obtained a couple of Dodge Touring Cars to aid in the chase making this the Army’s first mechanized unit. My father was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and knew some of those soldiers who chased Poncho Villa. It must have been quite an adventure. March 9, 1959 - The Barbie Doll makes her debut at the American Toy Show in New York.