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   Viewed 132 times - Published on Dec 11, 2009

Christmas Wish List For Top 10 Inventors

People always ask me, "What's the best invention of all time?" They're looking for that one perfect answer that's going to settle the debate once and for all.

When I tell them that there's no one single best invention, they usually walk away disappointed. It reminds me of the guy who climbs to the top of the mountain to ask the wise old man for the meaning of life.

But I can tell you who my top ten inventors are, and what I think they would want for Christmas. Foreign-born inventors, many of whom immigrated to America, are denoted with an asterisk * below.

Which of these inventors are still alive today? The answer is at the end of the column.

- For Ben Franklin: A new pair of bifocals, which he invented, as well as a new kite since his old one was destroyed in a thunderstorm. Also, a Franklin stove, a key to the city and a $100 bill.

- For Thomas Jefferson: A modern version of each of his major inventions: A macaroni machine that he invented in 1787, the swivel chair, the spherical sundial, the moldboard plow and the cipher wheel, which was used by the military to send coded messages back and forth. Plus a bowl of macaroni and a dish of ice cream, since Jefferson introduced these two foods to America.

- For Philo Farnsworth, who was only 15 years old when he figured out how to invent the television: A remote control and a DVD player. Now go to your room, Philo. And no watching TV when you get there, young man.

- For Alexander Graham Bell: A cell phone powered by a cord that plugs into a wall (think about it). Bell was born in Scotland.

- For Henry Ford, father of the assembly line which produced the Model T cars: A brand new car, in any color he wants. As long as it's black.

- For Nikola Tesla: A trophy case and a radio. Why a trophy case? Why a radio? And who is Nikola Tesla? Tesla is the main inventor of radio, although Marconi is the one who usually receives credit for it. OK, then why give him a trophy case? To hold the prestigious Edison Medal which he won in 1917. The irony is that Tesla and Edison fought a nasty battle to see whose brand of electrical current was superior. Tesla's AC won out over Edison's DC. On a lesser note, Tesla is the only inventor to have a rock band named after him. Tesla, by the way, was born in Croatia.

- For Thomas Edison: A day off, since he's the only inventor in the United States to receive a patent every year for 65 straight years. Also, a high school diploma, since he never graduated from high school, and a Tesla album to listen to on the phonograph that he invented in 1877. Also, in an ironic twist, I would give him the Nikola Tesla Award, which is given annually by the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

- For Leonardo da Vinci: A time-travel machine, so he could actually use some of his best inventions. Da Vinci designed the following items hundreds of years ahead of their time: The submarine, the bicycle, modern scissors, a flying machine, a helicopter and a parachute. Leonardo was born in Vinci, Italy. He and Ben Franklin are the only left-handed inventors on this list.

- For George Washington Carver: A listing in the Guinness Book of World Records, for inventing more than 300 uses for peanuts and hundreds of additional uses for other plants.

- For Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web: A lifetime supply of anti-spam software and his own patent lawyer. Berners-Lee was so unselfish that he chose to not patent the Web, passing up a huge fortune in the process. Berners-Lee was born in London.

Of these ten inventors, which ones are still alive today?

Only the inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, who was born in 1955. Television inventor Philo Farnsworth died in 1971 and his wife died a few years ago at the age of 98. She holds the distinction of being the first woman to appear on television, which she did in 1927.

Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com

c Paul Niemann 2009






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In the summer of 1987, I worked in sales in northern Alabama, and part of my territory included the small rural town of Moulton. Residents there told me that a famous man was born in the next town over in the early part of the 20th century. <br><br>His name was James Cleveland, but his family called him J.C for short. Born in 1913 during the height of segregation, J.C. was the seventh and youngest child of Henry and Emma Owens. Henry was a sharecropper whose father was a former slave, making J.C. the grandson of a slave. <br><br>At age nine, J.C.'s family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, which is a coincidence since his middle name was Cleveland. One of his teachers misunderstood the "J.C." initials as something else due to his southern accent, and she began calling him by that name. The new name stayed with him for the rest of his life.<br><br>In junior high school, he set two world records in track, in the high jump and in the broad jump. In high school, he won the state championship three years in a row. He also set the world record in both the 100-yard dash and the 220-yard dash. It is not his accomplishments in high school track for which he is remembered, though. <br><br>He went on to attend The Ohio State University, where he became an All-American in track. In his junior year, he won all 42 events in which he competed. It is not his accomplishments at The Ohio State University for which he is remembered, though.<br><br>Later in life, J.C. would become Cleveland's playground director, a job which was very rewarding for him but it is not the accomplishment for which he is remembered. He would later go on to spend the rest of his life working with underprivileged youth. <br><br>His impact has been felt all over the world. As far away as Germany, there is a street leading to the Olympic stadium that is named in his honor, and in the Ivory Coast, the street on which the United States embassy is located is named after him. <br><br>He personally met Presidents Eisenhour, Ford and Carter before he died in 1980. In fact, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest award that a civilian can receive, from President Ford in 1976, but that is not the accomplishment for which he is remembered. <br><br>Between growing up in Cleveland and work with underprivileged kids, J.C. did something else, and it is this accomplishment for which he is remembered. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, J.C. won four gold medals: The 100-meter dash (10.3 seconds), the long jump (26.5 feet), the 200-meter dash (20.7 seconds) and the 400-meter relay (39.8 seconds). <br><br>By doing so, he proved to Adolph Hitler that the German "Aryan" people were not superior to any other races. <br><br>You say you still haven't heard of him? <br><br>His full name was James Cleveland Owens.<br><br>Earlier I mentioned that one of his teachers misunderstood his nickname of "J.C." and began calling him by a different name. She thought that J.C.'s parents were calling him Jesse, so that is what she began calling him (try saying "J.C." with a southern accent and you'll know what I mean). Ever since that moment, J.C. Owens was known as Jesse Owens. <br><br>And that is the story of perhaps the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. If he's not the greatest, then he certainly is the most well-remembered, even though his records have since been broken. <br><br># # #<br><br>For more stories, become a fan of Paul on Facebook. Paul can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>© Paul Niemann 2010<br><br>::::third:::: Life of James Cleveland
   from Sep 6, 2010



Henry Wells was born in Thetford, Vermont, in 1805. He soon moved with his family to central New York, and attended school in the town of Fayette. He struggled with a speech impediment all the way from childhood into his adult years. <br><br>After serving as an apprentice for a tanning and shoemaking business, Henry teamed up with a business partner to form a delivery service in New York in 1850, during the height of the California gold rush. The company's purpose was to deliver goods between New York City and Buffalo, competing with the United States post office by carrying mail at a rate much lower than the postal service's rate. <br><br>When Henry and his partner wanted to expand out West in order to capitalize on the gold rush, they were overruled by the company's board of directors, which believed that the gold rush would not last.<br><br>So Henry and his partner left in 1852 to start another company. This new company's purpose was to provide delivery services, as their previous company did, except that this one would make deliveries between the Northeast and California, as well as to other parts of the West. Henry and his partner soon found that the prospectors needed, in addition to a reliable postal service, a safe place to store and later redeem their gold.<br><br>Ever wonder how some of those small, private colleges got started? Ever wonder what the super wealthy people do with their money? <br><br>So do I. In 1868, Henry Wells provided the funding for a women's college that bears his name in Aurora, New York. The school he founded was Wells Seminary; it is now known as Wells College. After 137 years as an all-women's school, it finally went co-ed in 2005. One of its more notable alumni is First Lady Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, but she has nothing to do with this story other than serving as the answer to a trivia question. <br><br>U.S. News & World Report, which lists its rankings of top colleges and universities each year, ranked Wells College in the Top 25 on its list of the nation's best value schools in 2006. One of the school's annual traditions involves having the graduating seniors ride with their families to the commencement ceremony in a stagecoach. In fact, it is the original Wells Fargo stagecoach! <br><br>That shouldn't surprise you once you learn the identity of Henry Wells' partner. <br><br>His name was William Fargo. As in Wells Fargo, the delivery company that Henry Wells and William Fargo formed in 1852. The Wells Fargo company also ran the Pony Express route from California to Salt Lake City during its last few months, until the Pony Express folded in 1861.<br><br>And what ever happened to the first delivery service company that Henry Wells and William Fargo founded in 1850? That company was American Express. <br><br>They should teach this stuff in history class. <br><br># # #<br><br>For more stories, become a fan of Paul on Facebook. Paul can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>© Paul Niemann 2010<br><br>::::second:::: Life of Henry Wells
   from Sep 5, 2010



Ben Kubelsky associated with some of the biggest names in show business during his 57-year career - people like George Burns and Gracie Allen, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, Bing Crosby and Mary Livingstone (who was married to Jack Benny). Later in life, he became close friends with Bob Hope and Johnny Carson. <br><br>Ben was born in 1894 in Chicago, the oldest child of Meyer and Emma Kubelsky. Ben's parents gave him a violin for his sixth birthday and would later push him toward a career as a violinist. He hated it, yet he became one of the biggest stars of his era and is still known all over the United States - but not because of his music. <br><br>During the peak of his comedy career, he performed at the famous Palace Theatre in New York as well as the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Later in his career, he played violin with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and also at Carnegie Hall. <br><br>You say you've never heard of Ben Kubelsky?<br><br>"WELL!" I bet you have. <br><br>His first paying job was as a violinist in a local vaudeville house when he was in the ninth grade. He went on to flunk every class in school that year, and he dropped out the following year. It was at this job where he met a new group known as the Marx Brothers, who were so impressed with Ben that they offered him a chance to tour with their comedy act. Ben's parents wouldn't allow it, though. <br><br>So he continued to perform comedy and, like many show biz performers, Ben Kubelsky adopted a stage name. He did so in 1912 because another violinist, Jan Kubelik, thought that a comedian would damage his reputation by having such a similar name as his. <br><br>It wasn't the only time that he adopted a stage name, because during his vaudeville days from 1919 to 1931, there was yet another performer who claimed that Ben's stage name was too similar to his name. So Ben took a different name, one which he would use for the rest of his life. <br><br>Ben had become friendly with Sadye Marks, who was believed to be a distant cousin to the Marx Brothers (somewhere along the way the name was changed from Marks to Marx). In 1926, Ben learned that 20-year-old Sadye was about to be married to a man from Vancouver. Ben got on the phone and convinced her that she was too young to get married, and that she should come to Chicago with him instead. Ben and Sadye got married soon after that, and she asked him about his comment about being "too young to get married." <br><br>He responded that she was too young to get married "to him maybe, but not to me." <br><br>Ben worked in radio from 1932 - 1948, and his show was one of the highest-rated radio shows during that time period before television came along. He rated higher than Bing Crosby, Amos & Andy, George Burns & Gracie Allen, and the Marx Brothers. <br><br>Still think that you've never heard of Ben Kubelsky?<br><br>"WELL!" Maybe you've heard of his television career, which lasted from 1949 to 1964. <br><br>He won an Emmy for Best Comedy Series in 1958, and the following year he had his first special on TV. Ben's friend, former President Harry Truman, was a guest on one of his shows, and his TV career lasted until 1965, when he was 71 years old. His CBS show ran opposite a new show on NBC called Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.<br><br>"WELL, G-O-L-L-Y!"<br><br>After 33 years in radio and TV, Ben Kubelsky left his regular show but continued in showbiz with his one-hour specials. Earlier I mentioned that he associated with Mary Livingstone, who was the wife of Jack Benny.<br><br>That's because he was married to her. <br><br>You see, Ben Kubelsky's stage name was Jack Benny. And just as Ben Kubelsky took a stage name, so did Mary Livingstone. Her real name was Sadye Marks. <br><br>"WELL!"<br> Life of Ben Kubelsky
   from Sep 5, 2010



Back in the 1800's, there was a major war here in America. Which war was it? Could it have been the Civil War? No; because the Civil War was about slavery, states' rights and succession, among other issues. This war, depending on which story you believe, was either about land rights or politics. Or a stolen pig. Personally, I'd like to believe it was about a stolen pig because it makes for a better story. <br><br>The press at the time made it a much bigger story than it really was, as they glamorized and promoted this war even though other wars were much worse. In reality, though, the real reason for the war remains unclear to this day. <br><br>Could this have been the War of 1812? <br><br>No, because that war was between the United States and Great Britain. <br><br>Then how about the 100 years war?<br><br>Again, the answer is no, because that war was from 1337 to 1453 which, if you're keeping score at home, actually lasted 116 years. <br><br>This war began in 1878 on the border of Kentucky and West Virginia, along the Tug Fork River. It wasn't technically a war, because it was between two families instead of two countries. It lasted 12 years and cost at least 12 men and children their lives. <br><br>So what was the name of this war? <br><br>This war began when Randolph McCoy accused Floyd Hatfield of stealing one of his pigs. We're talking about the war, or feud, between the Hatfields and the McCoys! The judge, by the way, ruled that Hatfield was innocent. <br><br>Was the infamous Hatfield and McCoy feud really over a pig? <br><br>Nobody knows for sure, but pigs were a valuable commodity back then in the Kentucky - West Virginia region. There was already bad blood between the two families as a result of some relatives fighting on different sides of the Civil War. Plus, there was a dispute over which family owned the rights to the valuable timberland in the area. <br><br>One possible explanation for this long-running feud, although it is just speculation, could be the fact that dozens of McCoy family members going back at least four generations have had a rare, inherited disease which causes high blood pressure, tumors and sometimes leads to violent behavior. Known as the von Hippel - Lindau disease, it also causes severe headaches, an abnormal amount of adrenaline and hormones which may have contributed to the feud. <br><br>It even caused some of the McCoy family members to be rejected for health insurance if they revealed their true identity as McCoys, and the disease was often fatal. <br><br>They should teach this kind of stuff in History class. <br><br><br><i>Want to see the video version of these stories? Visit www.PaulNiemann.com to watch.<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br> Could This War Have Started Over A Stolen Pig?
   from Jul 23, 2010



I always find it amusing when I hear that someone who achieved a lot of success in his life was once denigrated by a teacher, parent, boss, etc. Melvin Jerome Blank fits into this category because he had a high school teacher who told him that he would amount to nothing - that he would be like his last name, a blank. <br><br>So he changed his last name when he was 16. <br><br>He spent most of his adult life with animals: A duck, a rabbit, a cat, a rooster, a pig, a bird, a coyote and so on. You get the picture. But there was nothing wrong with him. In fact, the rabbit probably saved his life after he was in a near-fatal car accident. <br><br>Mel began his career as an actor on radio programs at a time before TV was common. One of his first roles was on Jack Benny's radio program in the late 1930's. It was Jack Benny who said that nobody else on his show could make him laugh the way Mel did, which is impressive considering that it can be pretty hard to make comedians laugh.<br><br>His success on Jack Benny's radio show led to Mel getting his own show in 1946. He also appeared on The Abbott and Costello Show on radio and received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. <br><br>While you might not recognize his name, you've heard his voice. Or should we say "voices." Mel was the voice of Barney Rubble of The Flintstones as well as Mr. Spacely of The Jetsons.<br><br>When Mel was involved in a near-fatal car accident in 1961, he spent two weeks in a coma. One of the doctors tried communicating with Mel by talking to him in the voice of cartoon character Bugs Bunny. Mel would eventually come out of the coma; it's unknown what impact Bugs Bunny's voice had. Then, still in the hospital, Mel recorded some of The Flintstones episodes from his hospital bed - in a full body cast. <br><br>While this might sound a bit odd at first, the doctor's attempts to bring Mel out of a coma make perfect sense when you realize that Mel was a big fan of Bugs Bunny. In fact, he was a big fan of all the animals mentioned above: The duck was Daffy Duck, the cat was Sylvester, the pig was Porky Pig, etc. <br><br>Why was he such a big fan of the cartoons?<br><br>Because Melvin Blank, then known as Mel Blanc, was the one who supplied their voices! <br><br>You'll see his name in the credits at the end of each cartoon. Mel also provided the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Woody Woodpecker, as well as Foghorn Leghorn and Sylvester the Cat. That explains why some of the characters' voices sound so similar. For example, Daffy Duck sounds the same as Sylvester the Cat without all the slobbering, and Porky Pig sounds like Bugs Bunny before his voice gets sped up. <br><br>Mel Blanc did them all, and when he passed away in 1989, his son took over for him. <br><br>Film critic Leonard Maltin said it best when he noticed that the mild-mannered Tweety Bird is voiced by the same man as the obnoxious Yosemite Sam. Mel Blanc was known as "the man of 1,000 voices" although, by his count, he did "only" 850 voices.<br><br>Is there more to this story?<br><br>No, because as Mel Blanc would say, "That's all, folks!" <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br><br>::::second::::<br><br> We Recognize Mel's Voice But Not His Name
   from Jul 10, 2010



Everybody remembers who wins, but nobody remembers who finishes second.<br><br>You know that Bobby Thompson's home run won the pennant for the Giants, but do you know who they beat? <br><br>Likewise, when the gravelly-voiced announcer told us that "Havlicek stole the ball, Havlicek stole the ball," you know that the Celtics won the game, but do you know who they beat? <br><br>That's the point: Nobody ever remembers who finishes second. <br><br>Now back to our story. His name was Sham, and he ran the kind of race that no other three-year-old had ever run before. Yes, he was just three years old at the time. <br><br>Sham was born in 1970 on a horse farm just outside of Lexington, Kentucky. His father was named Pretense and his mother was named Sequoia. If these names sound unusual to you, it's because Sham was a racehorse, and racehorses are sometimes given unusual names. That explains why they had no last names. It also explains why he was born on a horse farm.<br><br>As the 2010 racing season is now behind us, this is a good time to take a look at one of the fastest racehorses of all time. In fact, Sham was the fastest racehorse that you never heard of. He was owned by a man named Sigmund Sommer, another name that you probably never heard of. <br><br>Sham ran the 1973 Kentucky Derby faster than any racehorse had run it in the previous 99 years. He was so fast that he was able to run the 1 ª mile race in one minute and 59 and 4/5 seconds. By comparison, no other horse in the previous 99 Kentucky Derby races had run the race in less than two minutes. Except one. <br><br>So Sham won the Kentucky Derby and went on to win the Triple Crown, right? <br><br>No, not exactly. <br><br>You see, Sham lost that historic 1973 Kentucky Derby race, and he lost his next two races as well. He came in second that day, finishing 2 ® lengths behind perhaps the greatest racehorse in history - the only other horse to run the race in less than two minutes: Secretariat. <br><br>Even though he owns the second-fastest time in Kentucky Derby history, Sham's name remains virtually anonymous, even in the racing community. He was in the right place at the wrong time. The Triple Crown races are open only to three-year-old horses, and Sham was born the same year as the legendary Secretariat. <br><br>Like I said, nobody ever remembers who finishes second.<br><br>In case you're wondering, it was the Brooklyn Dodgers who the New York Giants beat to win the 1951 pennant. The on-deck batter was a struggling rookie named Willie Mays. Meanwhile, it was the Philadelphia 76ers who the Boston Celtics beat in that 1965 playoff game. <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br><br>::::third:::: <br><br><br> Nobody Remembers The Second Place Finish
   from Jul 10, 2010



Ray C. Robinson (1930 - 2004) was born in Albany, Georgia during the Great Depression. You probably think you've heard of him, but like most of the men and women profiled in this column, you're not sure. Until now. <br><br>Ray had what most of us would consider to be a rough life, but you would never know it by his positive outlook on life. He was born into poverty and his mother had only a fourth grade education. He overcame two tragedies early in his life; first, his younger brother died when Ray was just five, and his mother died when he was fifteen. Despite all this, he went on to have a successful career as a gospel, jazz and blues musician who even did some country and pop songs. Some people credit Ray C. Robinson for inventing soul music. <br><br>Ray was sent away to a special school in St. Augustine, Florida, when he was a child. It was time to hit the road, Jack. But this was for his own good, and he seemed to benefit from the experience, as he learned to play the piano, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and organ while he was there. But he always had Georgia on his mind. <br><br>While he was away at school, his mother died. His father died two years later. The thing that Ray feared most, though, was the thought of losing his hearing. You'll know why in a minute.<br><br>As an adult, Ray had more challenges to overcome in his personal life. He abused heroin for 17 years, which resulted in three arrests. He was married twice and fathered twelve children - by nine different women. <br><br>But he continued to create great music. In 1946, he began his professional career playing with local bands in Jacksonville, Florida. Two years later he moved to Seattle and formed a jazz and blues group known as The Maxim Trio. He also adopted the stage name of R.C. Robinson. He always claimed that he trusted people, yet he insisted on being paid in single dollar bills every time. You'll know why in a minute. <br><br>The following year, in 1949, he changed his professional name once again and released his first single. Throughout his career, Ray earned a number of important awards and honors, including:<br><br>* The Horatio Alger Award (1995)<br>* Winner of 12 Grammy Awards<br>* Induction into the Roll Hall of Fame's original class (1986)<br>* One of his songs was proclaimed as the state song of Georgia (1979)<br>* Hollywood made a movie about his career, in which Jamie Foxx won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Ray (2005)<br>* Winner of the Helen Keller Personal Achievement Award (1994).<br><br>Why would Ray be eligible for the Helen Keller Award?<br><br>The school that he went to as a child was a school for the blind. At age five, he began to lose his sight, and by age seven, he was completely blind. By this time, though, he had already begun to learn how to play music, so his blindness didn't hurt his ability to perform. <br><br>When you see all those celebrities on TV wearing sunglasses indoors, they are merely following the example that Ray Robinson set more than 50 years ago, because Ray always wore sunglasses indoors. And he always had a smile on his face. <br><br>So his name still doesn't ring a bell, yet you've heard of him. His name could get confused with that of Sugar Ray Robinson, one of the greatest boxers of all time. In fact, Ray C. Robinson shortened his name when he entered show business in order to avoid having his name confused with that of Sugar Ray Robinson. <br><br>Because Ray Charles Robinson, the musician who cranked out such hits as "Georgia on My Mind" and "Hit the Road, Jack," was none other than . Ray Charles. <br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br><br> Ray Robinson: From Adversity To Stardom
   from Jun 13, 2010



When young Harry Longabaugh stole a horse, saddle and gun from a Wyoming ranch in 1887, he launched a career of crime from which he never returned. He was caught robbing a train in 1892, and was caught robbing a bank in 1897. <br><br>When young Robert LeRoy Parker, who went by the name of Roy, stole a pair of blue jeans from the local general store sometime in the 1880's, he, too, launched a career of crime. He actually left a note saying that he would return later to pay for the jeans, but that didn't matter. <br><br>Roy soon worked at a ranch with a cattle rustler known as Mike, who became Roy's mentor. For you youngsters reading this at home, there's a lesson to be learned here: Don't choose cattle rustlers as your mentors. <br><br>A few years later, when Roy was rustling cattle himself, he changed his last name to Mike's last name. Nearly every American knows Roy's nickname, yet very few of us know his real name. Until now. <br><br>After Harry Longabaugh met Roy Parker, the two outlaws soon become famous, and the results were never pretty for anyone on the business end of their robberies. The duo would become two of the West's most notorious outlaws, hunted by the law and the Pinkerton Detective Agency on two continents. <br><br>In June of 1889, Roy committed his first major crime when he robbed the San Miguel Bank in Telluride, Colorado. He and his partners stole $20,000.<br><br>He continued robbing banks and also once worked as a butcher. After spending a few years in a Wyoming prison, he put together a gang known as the Wild Bunch, which included Harry Longabaugh. <br><br>By the time Roy and Harry's Wild Bunch gang robbed $70,000 from a train in New Mexico, the law was closing in on them. Realizing that their days in the West were numbered, Roy, Harry and Harry's girlfriend moved to South America. <br><br>When a former Wyoming deputy went looking for them in South America, the end was near for this famous duo. Or was it? <br><br>On November 4, 1908, two men robbed a mining company's payroll in San Vicente, Bolivia, which led to a shootout. After the robbery, they took one of the company's mules with them; the mule was branded with the company's insignia. It's hard to believe that experienced outlaws such as Harry and Roy would do something that careless. <br><br>Earlier I mentioned that Harry Longabaugh had stolen a horse from a Wyoming ranch in 1887. Where in Wyoming? <br><br>It was a little town called Sundance, which is where he got his nickname. And Roy Parker, who once worked as a butcher, had taken the last name of his cattle-rustling mentor, Mike Cassidy. The pair became known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. <br><br>But there's more to this story. <br><br>The famous shootout which supposedly claimed the lives of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid may have involved two different outlaws. <br><br>Butch's younger sister, Lula Parker Betenson, claimed that the two men did not die in the San Vicente shootout as was widely claimed, and that Butch had come back to visit her. This could be true because, as Ms. Betenson claimed, it was Butch's friend Percy Seibert who identified the bodies from the shootout in San Vicente, and he may have intentionally misidentified them as Butch Cassidy and Sundance. <br><br>As the story goes, Butch later worked as a trapper and prospector under the name of William Phillips until he died somewhere in the northwest in 1937. To add more confusion to the mystery, there was a man living in Spokane, Washington, named William T. Phillips during that same time period.<br><br>As for Harry "the Sundance Kid" Longabaugh, there were stories that he may have gone by the alias of Henry Long and lived until 1936. <br><br>There has been no evidence to prove or disprove that it was Butch and Sundance who were killed in the South American shootout. One thing's for sure, though: They're both dead by now. <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br><br> Butch And Sundance - Did They Secretly Survive?
   from May 29, 2010



Tom Blankenship grew up about 20 miles from my hometown of Quincy in Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal is the hometown of Molly Brown and Bill Lear, co-inventor of the car radio and inventor of the Lear Jet and the 8-track tape player. <br><br>And, of course, the town that bills itself as "America's Hometown" is also the town that Samuel Clemens made famous as Mark Twain. In fact, Mark Twain not only knew Tom Blankenship as a child, but the two were very close friends. In Twain's autobiography, he said this about Tom Blankenship: <br><br>"He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had. His liberties were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person - boy or man - in the community, and by consequence he was tranquilly and continuously happy and envied by the rest of us. And as his society was forbidden us by our parents . we got more of his society than any other boy's."<br><br>Tom was born in 1828 and grew up with seven siblings, including a twin sister. His father was a drunk, and the family was so poor they couldn't even afford to buy shoes. The parents didn't send Tom or any of his siblings to school. His brother Ben once met an escaped slave on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River and helped him avoid being caught - even though it meant passing up a $50 reward for turning him in. That was a lot of money for a poor kid in the mid-1900's. <br><br>Tom was with Sam Clemens and a couple other friends one day when he sold a coonskin to a local store owner for ten cents. They noticed that the owner kept the animal pelts in a back room, with the window open since it was summertime. A little while later, Tom sneaked in the back room, took the coonskin that he had sold to the store owner, then went in the front door to sell it to him again. He repeated this scheme several more times that day, until the clerk finally figured out that he was selling him the same coonskin over and over. <br><br>Tom also once brought Sam Clemens and John Briggs along on a treasure hunting trip north of Hannibal, after he claimed that he had a dream in which he learned where some treasure was buried. Sam and John dug all day, while Tom sat in the shade under a tree and watched. Since it was Tom's dream, he didn't have to do any of the digging. <br><br>The three boys never found any treasure, but it makes for a good story. Or it could serve as the basis for a good fictional story.<br><br>If Tom Blankenship sounds like someone you know, there's a good reason for that. You see, Tom Blankenship was the real-life boy who served as the inspiration for . the fictional Huckleberry Finn. <br><br>Since Tom Blankenship was the model for Huck Finn, he has something in common with several of Clemens' other childhood friends: Will Bowen, John Briggs and Laura Hawkins. <br><br>You see, the fictional character Tom Sawyer was based on a composite of three boys: Clemens, Bowen and Briggs - especially Clemens. Laura Hawkins, meanwhile, was the model for Becky Thatcher. <br><br>Now it all makes sense, doesn't it?<br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br><br>::::third:::: Childhood Friends Of Author Become Beloved Characters
   from May 29, 2010



In 1819 a red-haired boy named Allan was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was the son of a police sergeant and homemaker. He was a barrel maker in his first career, but it was his next career that made him famous. Judging by his logo, one would think that he was an insomniac, but that has never been proven. <br><br>He made a pretty good living as a barrel maker in his native Scotland. He fell into his new career as a detective and spy by accident. <br><br>Fast forward to 1842, when he had joined a political group that demanded more of a voice in government. On the day he was married, he was run out of town by a group of soldiers, and he left on a ship for America the following day with his new bride in tow. <br><br>As the ship approached the Canadian coast, it was hit by bad weather, causing it to crash on the beaches outside of Nova Scotia. They arrived with nothing more than a little money, her wedding ring and the clothes on their backs. After they were met by hostile Indians when they arrived on land, they still had the clothes on their backs. And that was about it. <br><br>They eventually settled in Chicago, and then moved to the small town of Dundee about 40 miles away, where Allan set up shop as a barrel maker. He would travel often to a nearby island to get the materials to make his barrels, and these trips to the island played a pivotal role that would change his life - and the United States - forever. <br><br>Everyone believed the island was deserted, but when Allan arrived he saw signs that there were people there. He had also heard that there were counterfeiters around Dundee, and he correctly figured that the island might be where the counterfeiters were hiding out. <br><br>Allan worked with the local sheriff to stake out the area and capture them. He was then asked to capture the ringleader, which he did. His ability to catch criminals led him right to his new career. <br><br>He went to work with local law enforcement, then in 1850 he founded his own detective company. Allan's company made him a household name; no, it wasn't the Allan Company that bore his name. <br><br>Allan went on to achieve some pretty amazing feats that you probably didn't know about. For example, he foiled an assassination attempt on President Lincoln in Baltimore on the way to his inauguration. He also searched for members of the Jesse James gang as well as Butch Cassidy.<br><br>He was also America's first private eye. He introduced the new surveillance technique known as shadowing, and he created the technique of assuming the role of a suspect, which Allan did when he worked undercover. <br><br>He also wrote 18 detective books, although it is possible that he may have employed a ghostwriter for some of his books. <br><br>He probably wasn't really an insomniac, but the detective agency that Allan Pinkerton founded was the Pinkerton Detective Agency. You know it as the one whose logo contains an eye with the caption, "We never sleep." <br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i><br><br><br>::::second:::: Barrel Maker Turned Spy Gave Sense Of Security
   from May 29, 2010



Martha Jane Cannary (1852 - 1903) was born in Princeton, Missouri, as the oldest of six children to Robert and Charlotte Cannary. <br><br>For better or worse, her life was full of adventure; she fought battles against Indians, became friends with Wild Bill Hickok, and also performed in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show as a trick shooter while riding a horse. <br><br>As one of the more famous women of the Old West, she was a good shot with the gun. So was Phoebe Moses, who was profiled in this column a couple years ago. Phoebe's stage name, by the way, was Annie Oakley, but this story isn't about her. <br><br>When Martha Jane Cannary was just 12 or 13, her parents moved the family from Missouri to Montana by wagon train. I can only imagine how many times she and her five younger siblings must have asked their parents, "Are we there yet?" <br><br>During the trip, her mother died of pneumonia. After the family arrived in Montana, Martha Jane's father moved them to Salt Lake City, began farming, and died the following year. As a result, Martha Jane took every job she could find in order to support her family. <br><br>She moved her siblings to the Wyoming Territory in 1868, as it was not yet a state. She worked several jobs in restaurants, worked as a dance-hall girl, drove an ox team, and even worked as a scout for the Army.<br><br>She also worked at a social center for soldiers known as the Fort Laramie Three-Mile Hog Ranch - as a prostitute! Call me old-fashioned if you want to, but there's something about a brothel that contains the words "hog ranch" that just doesn't sound right. <br><br>She also had a hard time telling the truth about her exploits. For example, she claimed to have had a child with Wild Bill Hickok, a claim that his family totally denied. She also claimed that she received her famous nickname from a Captain Egan when she saved from falling off his horse after he was shot during one of the skirmishes with the Indians in what is now Sheridan, Wyoming. She claimed that Captain Egan even proclaimed her a hero. The nickname which he gave her, though, could also indicate that she was somewhat of a disaster to those who offended her. <br><br>Her life seemed to be a series of contradictions, as she did plenty of good deeds as well. Once, in 1875, Martha Jane Cannary swam across a river and traveled on horseback 90 miles to warn troops of impending danger. <br><br>After moving to Deadwood, South Dakota, the following year, there was an incident in which she saved several stagecoach passengers by diverting the Indians. When the Indians killed the stagecoach driver, Martha Jane took over and drove the passengers to safety back to Deadwood. Later that same year, she helped nurse smallpox victims. <br><br>You could say that her life was a mixture of good and bad. You could also say that her life was something of a calamity, because that was part of her nickname. <br><br>But most important of all is the fact that you remember Martha Jane Cannary as . Calamity Jane. <br><br>But you knew that all along, didn't you?<br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br><br> The Good - The Bad - Martha Jane Cannary
   from Apr 16, 2010



"Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or never inventors." -- Voltaire<br><br>What do windshield wipers, COBOL and Scotchgard have in common? <br><br>All were invented by women. <br><br>We continue our series of articles on women who helped shape American culture. In addition, here are a few other well-known products that were created by female inventors:<br><br>- Bulletproof vests<br>- Fire Escapes <br>- Laser Printers<br>- Flat-bottom grocery bags <br>- Certain drugs that fight diseases such as childhood leukemia, herpes, gout, and a drug called AZT, which was the first drug to fight AIDS.<br><br>By the way, how many of the inventors of the above products can you name? <br><br><b>Windshield Wipers:</b><br>Some inventions are created as the result of a person simply trying to solve a problem. That's what Mary Anderson of Alabama did in 1903 when she invented windshield wipers. On a trip to New York City, while touring the city on a streetcar, she noticed that the motorman had to continually get out to wipe the snow and ice from the windshield. The man had tried a variety of solutions to this problem but nothing had worked.<br><br>After making a quick drawing in her sketchbook, Mary came up with a solution to the problem. Her solution, which would be patented a year later, allowed the motorman to sweep the snow and ice away with a device that was operated from inside the car. This became the forerunner to the modern windshield wiper. Even though wipers had become standard equipment on American cars by 1913, Mary never profited from them.<br><br><b>The U.S.S. Hopper:</b><br>Grace Murray Hopper developed COBOL (which stands for COmmon Business Oriented Language) in 1959 while she was in the Navy, and she was also the Navy's first female admiral. COBOL was more like natural English than any previous computer language. It was the first programming language mandated by the Department of Defense for its applications and, in recognition of her contributions, the Navy named one of their destroyers in her honor, the U.S.S. Hopper. <br><br>COBOL served as a foundation for later computer languages and it's likely that we wouldn't have the World Wide Web today if it weren't for COBOL. Another contribution that Grace Hopper made was the term "computer bug." No, she didn't invent it, but she is the one who coined the term. She did this when a computer processor had stopped working due to a moth that was stuck in it.<br><br><b>Scotchgard:</b><br>Some new products are the result of an accident. Penicillin, Post-It Notes, Silly Putty and Ivory Soap are all examples of accidental discoveries. You can put Scotchgard in this category, too. <br><br>Patsy Sherman created Scotchgard in 1952 while working as a chemist for 3M in Minneapolis. Sherman's team had been trying to develop a new kind of rubber for use in aircraft fuel lines when an assistant in her chemistry lab accidentally dropped a beaker full of a liquid rubber mixture onto the floor, splashing onto Sherman's white canvas sneakers.<br><br>When they tried to wash it off, the water and solvents beaded up and ran off the sneakers. Sherman and fellow chemist Sam Smith realized that the mixture could be used to protect fabrics from water and other fluids. After three years of work, the mixture was patented and released as Scotchgard Protector T in 1956. <br><br>In a 1997 speech to students, Sherman explained that being an inventor does not require a lot of money or education, nor is it a matter of age or gender. She once remarked, "How many great discoveries would never have occurred were it not for accidents?" <br><br>So, are women and men equal as inventors?<br><br>The answer to that question is as tough to figure out as removing red wine from a couch - unless it was protected by Patsy Sherman's invention of Scotchgard. <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i><br><br>::::second:::: <br><br> Necessity Isn't The Mother Of Invention - These Women Are
   from Apr 14, 2010



As Women's History Month continues, we turn our attention to an 11-year-old girl from Westfield, New York, named Grace Bedell. <br><br>Grace was born in 1848, and had four brothers and one sister. She became famous, and then forgotten, for a letter that she wrote which some people think may have changed history. <br><br>One day Grace Bedell's father brought home a campaign poster of a Republican presidential candidate and gave it to Grace. The little girl looked at the man running for president and decided that he could improve his appearance if he had a beard. <br><br>So she wrote him a letter asking him to let his whiskers grow because she thought women would prefer a candidate with a beard. This was in October of 1860, and the candidate was Abraham Lincoln. <br><br>A few months after the election, in February of 1861, President Lincoln stopped in Grace's hometown to meet her. He gave her a kiss and told her that he grew his whiskers because of her letter. <br><br>You may have heard this story before; in fact, I heard a similar version (the incorrect version) in grade school which stated that the beard helped President Lincoln get elected. Since she did write the letter, and since he did decide to grow his beard based on her letter, did this 11-year-old girl really change the course of history?<br><br>No, at least not in determining the outcome of the election. Even though Lincoln did go on to win the election after trailing during his pre-beard days, he grew his famous beard after he was elected in 1860. <br><br>Abraham Lincoln was the first United States president to wear a beard in office, though. At age 51, he was also the youngest U.S. president at the time, too. <br><br>Grace Bedell's letter to Lincoln may have changed the course of history in another way, though. You see, there was a businessman named Mr. Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, who had a lithography business. Mr. Bradley had printed up thousands of pictures of Abraham Lincoln in his pre-beard days that he intended to sell. Since the new president had changed his appearance, Mr. Bradley destroyed the pictures because he believed they were now worthless. <br><br>All was not lost for Mr. Bradley, though. He went on to begin manufacturing board games. He also invented the paper cutter. You've probably heard of him. His full name? <br><br>Milton Bradley. <br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010<?i> <br><br> How Grace Bedell's Letter Changed History
   from Apr 14, 2010



Since March is Women's History Month, all of the stories in this column this month will be about . anyone want to take a guess? Anyone? That's right - women. This week's column is about several women who used pen names as writers. A pen name, by the way, is a fictitious name that a writer uses, such as when Samuel Clemens used the pen name of Mark Twain. <br><br>Speaking of pen names, here are a few others that were used by famous writers: Richard Saunders, Victor and Ms. Silence Dogood. Was it possible that Richard Saunders was related to Ms. Silence Dogood? The real identity of each writer will surprise you; you will discover who they were at the end of the story. <br><br>Flora Fairfield was born in 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Most of her education came from her father. Among her friends was the writer Henry David Thoreau. She served as a nurse in Washington, DC, during the Civil War. She began publishing poems, short stories and juvenile stories in 1851. <br><br>A.M. Barnard was also born in 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Like Flora Fairfield, most of her education came from her father. Among her friends was the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1863 she wrote a book titled Hospital Sketches that was based on her experiences as a nurse, and it was this little-known book that kick-started her career as a serious writer. <br><br>Sometimes a writer has a pen name which does not become well-known, and she might change her pen name to a different name and become more successful with the new pen name. The pen name is not usually what determines success, but changing a pen name allows a writer to start over and re-brand herself when she changes the literary genre in which she writes. <br><br>That's what the writer formerly known as Flora Fairfield did. So did A.M. Barnard. You see, both of these names were pen names of . Louisa May Alcott. <br><br>And in a case of art imitating life, Louisa May Alcott's character Jo is based on her own life in Little Women. Her three real-life sisters represented Jo's three sisters in the story: Meg, Beth and Amy. And like Ms. Alcott, Jo's character also wrote stories anonymously. <br><br>So, which writers were known by the pen names of Richard Saunders, Victor and Ms. Silence Dogood? <br><br>Richard Saunders was the pen name of Ben Franklin when he wrote Poor Richard's Almanack. <br><br>Victor was the pen name used by poet Percy Shelley, whose wife, Mary Shelley, created the story of Frankenstein's Monster. Percy had performed experiments with electricity, similar to what scientist Victor Frankenstein did on his monster (many people incorrectly assume that the monster was named Frankenstein, but in reality, the fictional monster had no name). <br><br>And, finally, Ms. Silence Dogood was the pen name of a middle-aged widow who wrote an advice column for James Franklin's newspaper in Boston in 1722. The writer used a pen name to hide "her" identity because she knew that her brother would not allow her to work at the paper. <br><br>It turns out that Silence Dogood wasn't middle-aged after all. In fact, she wasn't even a woman; she was a 16-year-old boy by the name of . Ben Franklin! <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010<?i> <br><br> Fairfield And Barnard Related To Famous Writer?
   from Mar 6, 2010



Ed was one of the great writers in American history. Born in Boston in 1809, he was raised by a wealthy couple named John and Frances Allan. John was a merchant who dealt in tobacco, cloth, wheat and even slaves, while Frances was a housewife. <br><br>Ed's parents did not give him a middle name; in fact, many Americans did not have middle names back then. A quick check shows that 21 of the first 31 United States presidents did not have middle names either. <br><br>Just to place his time in historical perspective, he attended the University of Virginia in 1826, which was just one year after it opened. After ringing up some gambling debts in his one year in college, he dropped out and joined the Army. <br><br>After nearly two years in the Army, he managed to get a discharge and then enlisted in West Point. By this point, he had already written two books by age 20. <br><br>Ed then got himself kicked out of West Point. He deliberately got court-martialed so he could leave. He battled alcohol throughout much of his adult life, with the alcohol winning many of those battles. <br><br>He married his first cousin, Virginia Clemm, when she was just 13. Kind of reminds me of a horse I used to own whose father was also her uncle; the horse's father was "Uncle Dad" to her. <br><br>He became one of the main writers of his era, a pioneer of detective stories and science fiction. He was one of the first writers to try to make a living entirely from his writings.<br><br>But his best-known work, which he named after a bird, earned him only $9, yet it brought him fame and popularity as a writer. Despite being an elite writer who made a huge impact on America's literary history, Ed never made the kind of money that today's top writers make. <br><br>Ed Allan, or Edgar as he was called, despite not being given a middle name by his parents, really did have a middle name. Both of his biological parents died when he was just three years old, and John and Frances Allan were Edgar's foster parents. They gave him their last name to use as his middle name, and he kept his biological parents' last name. You know him as Edgar Allan Poe. <br><br>And what well-known poem about a bird earned him only $9? <br><br>The Raven. <br><br>Then when are we going to see another story about Edgar Allan Poe in this column?<br><br>Nevermore. <br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i><br><br><br><br> Famed Writer Booted By West Point Marries Cousin
   from Feb 26, 2010



Have you ever wondered why some hotels don't have a 13th floor? They go straight from the 12th floor to the 14th floor. There's a one-word answer for it: Superstition.<br><br>A few years ago in this column, I explained the origins of several well-known superstitions, such as the fear of the number 13 and the belief that bad luck will come your way if you break a mirror or walk under a ladder. By the way, in case you're keeping score at home, the fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, and even though Friday the 13th is considered unlucky, it is considered lucky to be born on that day. <br><br>Even the Code of Hammurabi does not have a 13th law, because it was considered unlucky, and that was back in 1790 B.C. Enough with the number 13 already; today we reveal the superstitions of a few people whose names you're sure to recognize. <br><br>For example, Cornelius Vanderbilt placed the four legs of his bed in dishes of salt, as he believed it would ward off attacks from evil spirits. And speaking of marrying your cousin, Vanderbilt was not superstitious about that because he did it not once but twice. After his first wife and cousin, Sophia, died in 1868, he married his first cousin twice removed the following year. Her name was Frank Armstrong Crawford. Apparently, he was not superstitious about marrying a woman who had a man's name, either. <br><br>Napoleon Bonaparte had a fear of cats - and not just black cats. There is actually a phobia named after a fear of cats, and it's called ailurophobia. He was also afraid of the number 13, so I'm pretty sure he didn't have 13 cats (unless they were all black, which would cross out the ailurophobia problem under the double negative rule). <br><br>Other famous people who have been reported to have ailurophobia (that's pronounced "ailurophobia") include Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan. <br><br>Not every superstitious person fears bad things happening to them. Winston Churchill would sometimes pet black cats because he thought it would bring him good luck. It didn't help him get re-elected after World War II, though, as he lost to Clement Attlee. <br><br>Booker T. Washington carried a rabbit's foot in his coat. Did it bring him any luck? I don't know, but it wasn't so lucky for the rabbit! <br><br>Michael Jordan always wore the Carolina blue shorts from his college days under his Chicago Bulls shorts. I don't think that's what made him a great player, though. <br><br>Some stories about celebrities tend to have a mixture of truth blended in with some legend; for example, Mary Queen of Scots allegedly had her fortune told by a deck of cards before her death. As the story goes, she was dealt a hand full of spades. <br><br>Your humble scribe has a horseshoe hung over the office door, not because I think that it will bring me good luck, but because I like the way it looks. Plus, it came from my own horse. President Harry S Truman also hung a horseshoe over his office door in the White House. <br><br>Personally, I wonder if it's good luck or bad luck - or neither - to have nothing more than an initial as a middle name, as Harry S Truman did. And he didn't always put a period after the S. <br><br>Trust me when I say that nothing bad will happen to you if you stay on the 13th floor of a hotel. If you don't pass this story on to at least 100 of your friends within the next five minutes, nothing bad will happen to you either.<br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i><br><br><br> Does Being Superstitious Bring Bad Luck?
   from Feb 19, 2010



He was a general, born hundreds of years ago. His first name was so unique that he probably didn't even need to tell people his last name. Or his middle name, for that matter, as it is known throughout the whole world. Yet he was as American as baseball and your mom's apple pie. <br><br>He led his troops in a well-known war that you learned about in History class. <br><br>His name? <br><br>Napoleon Bonaparte. And he wasn't really exiled to the island of Elba. He wasn't married to a woman named Josephine, either. <br><br>He had something in common with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but it had nothing to do with being the leader of his country. <br><br>You probably didn't know that George Washington was an agricultural chemist long before he was so well known. In fact, he created many new products from plants. He is responsible for axle grease, meat tenderizer and talcum powder, among many other products. He also was the director of Ag Research at Tuskegee University at age 36. <br><br>Like Napoleon and Washington, there are several things that you might not have known about Thomas Jefferson. <br><br>He had a daughter who went on to become a first lady, married to a United States president. You didn't learn that in any of your History classes, did you? <br><br>Before you think that I'm trying to rewrite history, let me clear things up a bit. <br><br>The George Washington who created new products from plants and led the ag research department at Tuskegee University in Alabama was George Washington Carver, the well-known "plant doctor." <br><br>The Thomas Jefferson whose daughter went on to become a first lady was Thomas Jefferson Taylor. The descendent was actually his daughter, Claudia "Lady Bird" Taylor, who married Lyndon Baines Johnson.<br><br>And it wasn't that Napoleon Bonaparte who was mentioned at the beginning of this story, but rather Napoleon Bonaparte Buford. He was born in 1801 in Kentucky, and the well-known war that you learned about in History class was the Civil War. Buford was a general in the Union army, yet he remains unknown throughout history. <br><br>Until now. <br><br>So what exactly did Napoleon Bonaparte Buford do to earn a spot in this column? <br><br>It was his first and middle name that did it for me. <br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br> Known For Wrong Reasons: Bonaparte, Washington & Jefferson
   from Feb 13, 2010



This column has shared stories of Americans whose contributions include our nation's symbols (Francis Scott Key, wrote our national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner," and Francis Hopkinson, who designed the American flag that Betsy Ross had sewn); Americans whose images have appeared on our currency (President Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, as well as Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, although Hamilton was born in the West Indies); and Americans who have had great institutions named after them (James Smithson's Smithsonian Institution, although he was a Brit who never stepped foot in America). <br><br>We've also discussed Americans who have helped form new political parties (Presidents Jefferson and Lincoln). <br><br>This week's story discusses all of the above topics. So who was the American who contributed one of our nation's symbols in this story?<br><br>His name was Salmon Chase. He was born in 1808 in Cornish, New Hampshire. He was Secretary of the Treasury in 1861 when he received a letter from a man telling him that God should be recognized on American coins. Chase agreed, and as a result, the phrase "In God We Trust" first appeared on the one-cent penny and on the two-cent coin in 1864 (yes, there was such a thing as the two-cent coin in 1864). In 1955, Congress mandated that "In God We Trust" appear on all U.S. currency, and President Eisenhower approved the phrase as our nation's motto a year later. <br><br>So who was the American whose images have appeared on our currency in this story? For that matter, who was the first person to appear on a $1 bill? <br><br>Think it was our first president, George Washington?<br><br>Nope. Once again, it was Salmon Chase. How could that be? And why Salmon Chase?<br><br>Until 1860, the nation's currency was printed by more than 1,600 local banks, which resulted in thousands of different localized versions of currency. As a result, it was pretty easy to produce counterfeit money. Chase was the main person behind standardizing the currency and establishing our nation's banking system. When President Lincoln appointed him as Secretary of the Treasury, he was responsible for designing the new currency. <br><br>Since Chase had plans to pursue the presidency himself, he felt that inserting his own image on the $1 bill would enable him to impress the largest number of voters. In 1862, Chase's image was shown in the left-hand corner of every $1 bill, while George Washington didn't make his debut on the $1 bill until 1869. <br><br>Later, in 1928, the Treasury honored Chase by putting his image on the $10,000 bill. These bills were used in bank transfers until 1946. <br><br>The next part of this story is about an American who had a great institution named after him. Who would that be?<br><br>You guessed it . Salmon Chase, as in Chase National Bank, which became Chase Manhattan Bank and is now known as J.P. Morgan Chase. The bank was named in his honor even though Salmon Chase had nothing to do with the bank. <br><br>So what did he do for an encore? <br><br>He was a staunch abolitionist who represented slaves prior to his political career when he was a lawyer. He was even more anti-slavery than Lincoln was, as he even pressed for slaves' rights to equality and to vote. Before he was Treasury Secretary, he was a U.S. senator from Ohio. Then he was governor of Ohio. He sought the presidential nomination of the Republican party in 1860, which he lost to Lincoln.<br><br>Speaking of the Republican party, Salmon Chase was one of the men who helped form the party, but he didn't stop there. In 1846 he helped form the Free Soil Party by combining the Liberty Party with the Van Buren Democrats of New York.<br><br>When President Lincoln nominated him as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1864, he served in that role until his death in 1873. Despite all his accomplishments and the legacy that he left behind, his daughter died in poverty in 1899. She is buried alongside her father.<br><br>So there you have it . Salmon Chase is probably the most accomplished American you've never heard of. <br><br>Until now. <br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i><br><br> Who Was The First American On The $1 Bill?
   from Feb 6, 2010



Clarence Nash was born in 1896 in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage and vaudeville actor, and when he took a stage name, he became known as Ted Healy. Moses Horwitz was born in Brooklyn in 1897, the fourth of five brothers to Sol and Jenny Horwitz. Moses worked with his older brother Sam and his younger brother Jerome. Moses would later marry Harry Houdini's cousin, Helen Schonberger. <br><br>Over in Philadelphia, Louis Feinberg was one of three boys born to Joseph and Fanny Lieberman. As a boy, Louis burned his left arm in an accident with the acid that was used in his father's jewelry business. After his doctors recommended that he take violin lessons to strengthen his arm muscles, he became so proficient at playing it that he began to play professionally. <br><br>Ted Healy hired the Horwitz brothers one at a time, with Moses being the first one being when he answered Healy's ad for an acrobat for his showbusiness act. Healy later added Louis Feinberg to the group, but they never performed as acrobats. Louis had created an act in which he did a Russian dance while playing the violin that got him noticed by Healy.<br><br>The trio went from stage to film, and their film careers began in 1930 with their first film titled Soup to Nuts. It was written by Rube Goldberg. Rube was the popular cartoonist whose claim to fame came from drawing cartoons that showed ten to fifteen elaborate steps to achieve a simple task. <br><br>One of the actors originally went by the name of Harry Howard, as Harry was his middle name. Like many performers, each of the group's members took stage names, so you'll never see the names of Moses, Sam, Louis or Jerome in any of their reruns.<br><br>That 1930 film was a success, and it began a string of 190 films that the trio created for 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. Many of the shows that aired on television were what they called "shorts," since they were only 10 or 12 minutes long. Today, 90 years after making their first film, they remain as popular as ever in reruns, and the group's likeness has appeared in TV commercials for companies such as MasterCard, Verizon and Sony. They have also enjoyed merchandising success, with their image plastered on lunchboxes, T-shirts and hats. Their image has even appeared on NASCAR cars. <br><br>The trio left Ted Healy when he tried to reduce their salaries in 1934. Three years later, Ted was celebrating the birth of his son at a Los Angeles nightclub one night. He had too much to drink that night, and he started a fight with three men at the nightclub. When he asked them to step outside, they ganged up on him, kicking him in the stomach, ribs and head. He died the next day as a result of his head injuries. <br><br>His main legacy, however, is the comedy team which he created. Moses Horwitz, Louis Feinberg and Jerome Horwitz. Say it real fast three times and what do you get? <br><br>Moe, Larry and Curly, a.k.a. The Three Stooges! <br><br>As for the three men who killed Ted Healy, their names were Pat DiCicco, Albert Broccoli and Wallace Beery. Who were they?<br><br>Pat DiCicco was a mobster who married Gloria Vanderbilt. She divorced him because he was violent to her. Albert Broccoli, who was Pat DiCicco's cousin, was a young assistant producer at the time. Wallace Beery was a film actor for MGM. <br><br>While the names of Pat DiCicco and Wallace Beery probably don't sound familiar to you, Albert Broccoli's name might ring a bell.<br><br>He went on to become a well-known Hollywood producer. In fact, like The Three Stooges shows, some of his films are as popular today as they were when he first began producing them. His first big hit was the Ian Fleming film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. <br><br>It was his other work in which he made his mark, though, and that was as the producer of the James Bond series. You can see Broccoli's name listed in the opening credits of the Bond films.<br><br>Really?<br><br>"Soitenly!"<br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i> <br><br><br><br> Philly Violinist Joins Brooklyn Bros In Show BIz
   from Jan 29, 2010



In San Francisco during the 1870's, there was a well-respected little gentleman in his fifties named Charles Boles. He was a spiffy dresser who wore diamonds and had gray hair and walked with a cane. Not many people have heard of Charles Boles, but you've heard of his nickname. <br><br>Born in 1829 in England, Charles was the seventh of nine children of John and Maria Bowles; he would drop the "w" in his name before he got married, and became Charles Boles. He and his wife Mary had four children of their own. <br><br>Charles was a Civil War veteran on the Union side. After the war he moved out west to become a gold miner, first to Montana and then on to California. No one would have ever suspected that Charles Boles would live a life of crime. <br><br>Charles stayed at the finest hotels and ate at the best restaurants. He wore expensive jewelry and lived well. That's where his problems began, as he was unable to keep up his expensive lifestyle on his meager earnings. <br><br>He needed another source of income, and he wasn't afraid to break the law to get it. Back in 1871 when he was running a mine in Montana, he was approached by several men connected with Wells Fargo who offered to buy him out. When he refused, the men had his water supply cut off, effectively ending his mining operation. Charles Boles vowed to get even with Wells Fargo. <br><br>He got even with them in a big way by robbing their stagecoaches. Imagine a little old man in his fifties who walked with a cane becoming a robber! He would leave San Francisco for weeks, sometimes even months, at a time. <br><br>Every one of his, uh, "customers" would throw down the money when Charles came a calling, because Charles took his nickname from a book's fictional character named Bartholomew Graham. The character's reputation struck fear in the minds of readers, and Charles Boles was able to tap into that fear. <br><br>He would wear a mask and a hat, and a couple of his victims received a poem that Charles had written about his robberies. He signed the notes as "P o 8" (pronounced as "poet").<br><br>So who was this masked man - the well-respected gray-haired gentlemanly poet who dressed so well and walked with a cane? <br><br>None other than Black Bart! <br><br>During an eight-year span from 1875 to 1883, he committed 28 robberies. Black Bart's days as a robber came to an end at a mountain pass near Copperolis, California, when he approached a stagecoach driver who had allowed a friend to ride along. The friend came along because he thought it would be a good day to do some hunting along the route. <br><br>It was this final robbery which provided the evidence that led to his arrest. While you would think that a robber would meet his end by getting shot, it was instead a piece of laundry that did him in. The stagecoach driver's friend did shoot at Black Bart but he missed him; Black Bart spent at least a half hour opening the Wells Fargo strong box with an ax. <br><br>When his hand started bleeding, he wrapped it in a handkerchief. It was this handkerchief - with a laundry mark that read "F.X.O.7" - that turned out to be the piece of evidence which ended his career. He ended up walking and running more than 100 miles through the mountains to get to Sacramento. He arrived in San Francisco soon after that. <br><br>Investigator Harry Morse, who was hired by Wells Fargo for the sole purpose of catching Black Bart, began calling on San Francisco's 91 laundries, showing the F.X.O.7 handkerchief to each one. About a week later, they had their man. <br><br>In the end, Charles Boles, a.k.a. Black Bart, served four and a half years of a six-year sentence in San Quentin prison.<br><br>There's one other thing that you might not have known about Black Bart . the robber poet who became a notorious outlaw in the Old West. He never once fired a shot at any of his victims. It would have been impossible for him to do so, because he never loaded his gun! <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i><br><br><br> Old West Poet Robber Was Feared By All
   from Jan 23, 2010


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