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   Viewed 41 times - Published on Jul 23, 2010

Could This War Have Started Over A Stolen Pig?

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.

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.

Could this have been the War of 1812?

No, because that war was between the United States and Great Britain.

Then how about the 100 years war?

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.

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.

So what was the name of this war?

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.

Was the infamous Hatfield and McCoy feud really over a pig?

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.

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.

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.

They should teach this kind of stuff in History class.


Want to see the video version of these stories? Visit www.PaulNiemann.com to watch.

c Paul Niemann 2010




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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



His name was Marion, and he was born in Winterset, Iowa, exactly one hundred years ago. I wasn't sure where that was, so I looked it up. Turns out that it is between Missouri and Minnesota. (As for Winterset, it is roughly 30 miles southwest of Des Moines.) <br><br>His father, Clyde, was the son of a Civil War veteran. Clyde and Mary had one other son, named Robert, and they were of Irish descent. The family moved to Glendale, California, which is Not too far from the Rio Grande, when he was 11 years old. <br><br>His great-nephew, Tommy Morrison, is a professional boxer, who starred in one of the Rocky movies. I think it was Rocky 16, but I could be mistaken. <br><br>Marion's voice was as distinctive as Paul Harvey's, but he wasn't a radio star. No, Marion Morrison was an actor. In fact, his father ran a drugstore that was housed in the same building as a movie theatre, and young Marion was allowed to see several movies a week as a boy, for free. This no doubt instilled in him a love of movies. <br><br>He became one of the most popular actors of all time, and there probably isn't a person in this country who hasn't heard of him. He made more than 175 movies in his 50-year career which began in the 1920's with silent movies, and some of his movies are still being shown on TV, more than 30 years after he made his last movie in 1976. <br><br>He won an athletic scholarship to play football at USC. I don't know what his team's record was when he played, but I do know that his team wasn't one of The Undefeated. An injury cut short his college football career. Marion was too scared to tell his coach how he injured himself - it was a bodysurfing accident - and he lost his scholarship and had to get a job in order to pay for school. <br><br>While he was in school in the late 1920's, he worked at a few of the local film studios. He then went to work as a prop man, earning $75 per week. <br><br>In 1930 he got his first starring role in a western movie, The Big Trail. He went on to become nearly synonymous with western movies, and he still went by the name of Marion at that point. This first film was a box office failure, but something good came out of it. The director and the studio head gave him his stage name that is now known all over the world - and Marion wasn't even at the meeting when they gave him his new name! <br><br>Marion's movies required him to occasionally ride in a Stagecoach; since he stood about 6'4" and loved riding horses, you could say that he always stood Tall in the Saddle. Speaking of horses, his friend James Arness also rode one in the TV show, Gunsmoke. It was Marion Morrison who recommended James Arness for the role of Matt Dillon. <br><br>Marion became such a star that he even had an airport named after him (in Orange County, California), as well as an elementary school (in Brooklyn, New York) and a trail (in a state park in Washington). <br><br>Marion was married three times, all to Hispanic women. He was divorced three times, too. He had four daughters and three sons, and these seven kids produced 18 grandchildren. <br><br>There are many things for which Marion Morrison is known, but you know him by both his nickname and his stage name: The Duke, John Wayne. <br><br>He starred with legendary actresses such as Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn and Maureen O'Hara. It was O'Hara who once said, "No other description for John Wayne is necessary than this: American." <br><br>There's one other thing that you should know about the Duke: His drawl and the way he walked were not natural. The man born as Marion Morrison made them a part of his character when he became an actor. <br><br>And how did he get the nickname of Duke? That was the name of the dog he had as a child. The dog was known as "Big Duke" while Wayne was known as "Little Duke!" <br>As for all the italicized words in this story, those were the titles of some of his most popular movies. <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><br><br> Footballer Marion Morrison Becomes National Icon
   from Jan 14, 2010



Sometimes the answer is right in front of you. His name was Bill Harrison, and he could give a killer speech. Literally speaking, it was his last speech that resulted in his death. <br><br>Bill lived from 1773 until 1841. He grew up with four sisters and two brothers in Berkeley, Virginia. He had a cow and a goat as pets. Nothing unusual there, I guess. <br><br>He wanted to marry Anna Symmes of Cincinnati, and when her father disapproved of their union, they eloped. Bill and Anna had nine children - five sons and four daughters. Bill and his new father-in-law would eventually get along just fine. <br><br>Bill served as an Army officer who often fought Indians. He fought in the Northwest, which in those days consisted of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. <br><br>On two occasions, Bill Harrison and his men fought Tecumseh's Indians. Bill won the first battle in November of 1811 at Indiana's Tippecanoe River, in what became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. That battle would play an important role in Bill's future. He also defeated Tecumseh in the Battle of the Thames in 1813. <br><br>But how did he catch pneumonia?<br><br>At the age of 68, Bill died exactly one month after catching pneumonia as he was about to settle into his new job. He stood out in the cold and gave a speech. It wasn't a typical speech, though; it lasted two hours.<br><br>There's a street in my hometown of Quincy, Illinois, that is named after Bill Harrison. That street runs parallel to the streets of Van Buren, Adams, Monroe, Madison, Jefferson and Washington. <br><br>You see, the 2-hour speech that Bill Harrison, better known as William Henry Harrison, gave was for his inauguration . as the 9th president of the United States!<br><br>As I said at the beginning of this story, sometimes the answer is right in front of you. But there's more to this story.<br><br>President Harrison served only one month as president. His grandson, Ben Harrison, followed him into the family business when he became our 23rd president in 1889. <br><br>As for the battle of Tippecanoe, this is where the campaign slogan of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too" came from. John Tyler was Harrison's vice president. <br><br>And who was it that wrote his two-hour speech - the one that literally cost him his life?<br><br>None other than Daniel Webster, who tried - and failed - three times to win the presidency himself. He did become a United States senator and the Secretary of State, though.<br><br>Ironically, Webster would have become president on two separate occasions if he had been willing to accept the vice presidency position that he had been offered - twice. Harrison offered him the position as his running mate in 1840 and so did our 12th president, Zachary Taylor, in 1848. <br><br>He turned down both future presidents. Since both presidents would later die in office, Webster would have become president if he had accepted the position of vice president. <br><br>But you knew that all along, didn't you? <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 2009</i><br><br><br> Harrison Survived Indians But Not Last Speech
   from Jan 14, 2010



Fred Noonan is a good example of both being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and of being only a footnote in history. You only hear his name when he is mentioned in the same story as his more famous counterpart. <br><br>Most people, however, have never heard of Fred Noonan. He was born near Chicago in 1893 to Joseph and Catherine Noonan. His father died when Fred was just four, and at age 17 he began working on boats. <br><br>He worked on merchant ships during the Great War - as it was known before World War II came along. He worked on three separate boats that were sunk from underneath him by U-boats, but it was not his career as a merchant mariner that was Fred Noonan's claim to fame. <br><br>It was in aviation where Fred Noonan made his mark. In 1930, he earned his pilot's license, and over the next seven years, he earned a reputation as an expert navigator as he mapped flights for Pan Am Airlines throughout the Pacific Ocean. It is believed to be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean where he lost his life in an around-the-world flight attempt, although there were only two people who know for sure what happened on that flight, including Fred. <br><br><br>One of his colleagues flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932, and then wrote a best-selling book about the experience. That same colleague chose Fred to be the navigator on an around-the-world flight in 1937. Fred was the pilot's second choice; the first choice was Captain Harry Manning. <br><br>Fred's marine experience, combined with his experience in flying over the Pacific, made him the ideal choice as navigator. He and his pilot first attempted their worldwide trip on St. Patrick's Day in 1937, heading west out of Oakland. That flight ended in failure when they had a problem with one of the tires. The flight also included Harry Manning and a stunt pilot named Paul Mantz<br><br>Neither Manning nor Mantz were on the second attempt, and this time Noonan and his pilot flew eastward. They flew over South America and Africa, then India and southeast Asia. They made it as far as New Guinea and attempted to land at Howland Island. The had already covered 22,000 miles, and had just 7,000 more miles to go to become the first people to circumnavigate the globe in an airplane. <br><br>On their way to Howland Island, something went wrong, and their plane went down somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. There are several conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Fred and his pilot, although the real reason why their plane went down will probably never be known. <br><br>Were they captured by the Japanese? Did their plane run out of fuel somewhere over the Pacific? Did it crash on an island? <br><br>There is only one person besides Fred Noonan who knew what happened to cause his plane to go down on that fateful day on July 2, 1937, and that would be his pilot. And just who was his pilot?<br><br>Amelia Earhart. Because she was flying the plane that Fred was navigating. <br><br>And you always thought that she was alone on that trip, didn't you? <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 2009</i> <br><br> Sometimes History Isn't The Way You Remember It
   from Jan 8, 2010


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