Hello fellow Texans and friends of Texas. Today is Monday, Nov. 24, 2014. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Oswald shot and killed by Ruby on national television< On Nov. 24, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed on national television by Jack Ruby, a Dallas lounge operator, in the basement of the city jail while being transferred to the county jail. On that Sunday morning, arrangements were being made for Oswalds transfer to the jail, about a mile away. The media had been informed on Saturday night that the transfer of Oswald would not take place until after 10 a.m. on Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, between 2:30 and 3 a.m., anonymous telephone calls threatening Oswalds life had been received by the Dallas office of the FBI and by the office of the county sheriff. That Sunday morning, television, radio and newspaper representatives crowded into the basement to record the transfer. As viewed through television cameras, Oswald would emerge from a door in front of the cameras and proceed to the transfer vehicle. To the right of the cameras was a down ramp from Main Street on the north. To the left was an up ramp leading to Commerce Street on the south. The armored truck in which Oswald was to be transferred arrived shortly after 11 a.m. Police decided that an unmarked police car would be preferable because, depending on the source, greater speed and maneuverability or that the truck was too high to be backed into the tunnel. At approximately 11:20 a.m., Oswald emerged from the basement jail office flanked by detectives on either side and at his rear. He took a few steps toward the car and was in the glaring light of the television cameras when a man suddenly darted out from an area on the right of the cameras where newsmen had been assembled. The man was carrying a Colt .38 revolver in his right hand and, while millions watched on television, he moved quickly to within a few feet of Oswald and fired one shot into Oswalds abdomen. Oswald groaned with pain as he fell to the ground and quickly lost consciousness. Within seven minutes Oswald was at Parkland Hospital where, without having regained consciousness, he was pronounced dead at 1:07 p.m. Ruby was instantly arrested and, minutes later, confined in a cell on the fifth floor of the Dallas police jail. Under interrogation, he denied that the killing of Oswald was in any way connected with a conspiracy involving the assassination of President Kennedy. He maintained that he had killed Oswald in a temporary fit of depression and rage over the Presidents death. Ruby was indicted on a murder charge on Nov. 26, 1963, and convicted on March 14, 1964. The conviction was appealed, and in November, 1966, a new trial with a change of venue was ordered. Ruby died on Jan. 3, 1967, before the second trial could begin. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Rangers organized by Republic as special force in 1835< On Nov. 24, 1835, Republic of Texas lawmakers instituted a special force known as the Texas Rangers. Stephen F. Austin had hired 10 experienced frontiersmen as rangers as early as 1823, but the 1835 legislation formalized the organization. The importance of the rangers has waxed and waned several times over the ensuing century and a half. They participated in many notable battles with various Indian tribes and fought in the Mexican War. They also were dispatched to restore order during various feuds, border disturbances and civic upheavals. When the Texas Department of Public Safety was founded in 1935, it assumed responsibility for a greatly reduced force. In subsequent decades, however, the rangers have once again come to be recognized as the elite of Texas law enforcement. Legendary rangers are honored in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Larry Hagman, aka J.R. Ewing, died in 2012< On Nov. 23, 2012, Larry Martin Hagman, best known for playing ruthless oil baron J.R. Ewing in the 1980s prime time television soap opera Dallas, died at a Dallas Hospital. Hagman was the son of actress Mary Martin. Hagman was born in Fort Worth. His parents divorced in 1936, when he was five years old. He lived with his maternal grandmother, Juanita Presley Martin, in Texas and California while his mother became a contract player with Paramount in 1938. In 1946, Hagman moved back to his hometown of Weatherford. He graduated from high school in 1949, and decided to pursue acting. In 1958, he joined Barbara Bain as a guest star in the short-lived adventure-drama series Harbormaster. In 1964, he made his film debut in Ensign Pulver, which featured a young Jack Nicholson. That same year, Hagman also appeared in Fail-Safe, with Henry Fonda. Before Dallas, Hagman had built an impressive resume. The television series, I Dream of Jeannie (1965-1970) was oustanding in its own right. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie. In 1977, Hagman was offered a role in Dallas as the conniving elder son and businessman J.R. Ewing. When Hagman read the Dallas script, he concluded it was perfect for him. Seen in more than 90 countries, the show became a worldwide success, inspiring several prime-time soaps. Hagman became one of the best known television stars of the era. Producers were keen to capitalize on that love/hate family relationship of J.R., building anticipation to a fever-pitch in Who shot J.R.?, the 1980 cliffhanger season finale in which J.R. is shot by an unknown assailant. Ultimately, the person who pulled the trigger was revealed to be Kristin Shepard (played by Mary Crosby) in the Who Done It? episode which aired on November 21, 1980. Kristin was J.R.s scheming sister-in-law and mistress, who shot him in a fit of anger. For his performance as J.R. Ewing, Hagman was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1980 and 1981, but did not win. He was also nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, between 1981 and 1985. Some years after Dallas ended, Hagman appeared in two subsequent Dallas television movies: J.R. Returns in 1996, and War of the Ewings in 1998. Hagman reprised his role as J.R. Ewing in TNTs short-lived continuation of Dallas in 2012. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Also on Nov. 24 in Texas: • In 1868, pianist and composer Scott Joplin, who later gained fame as the King of Ragtime, was born in Cass County. His best-known piece of sheet music, Maple Leaf Rag, sold more than a million copies. Joplin also incorporated ragtime into a number of other works, including a ballet and two operas. He settled in New York in 1911 and died there in 1917. • In 1878, Raymond Cyrus Hoiles newspaper publisher was born in Ohio. He moved to California in 1935 after purchasing the Santa Ana Register, which became the flagship of his newspaper chain. By fall 1951, he owned seven papers, including the Odessa American and the Pampa News in Texas. He bought the three leading papers in the Rio Grande Valley, the Brownsville Herald, the McAllen Monitor and the Harlingen Valley Morning Star. • In 1924, Boles Orphans Home, now called Boles Childrens Home, received its first 10 orphans. The institution is one of the largest childrens homes supported and maintained by the Church of Christ. Supporters William Foster and Mary Barnhart Boles donated 436 acres of land near Quinlan to the Church of Christ in 1923 and requested that the church make improvements to the site at a value of at least $10,000 before Jan. 1, 1925. • In 1931, Tommy Allsup was born in Oklahoma. In a less famous trade of airplane seats, Ritchie Valens ended up in the place reserved for him in the small aircraft Buddy Holly had chartered. Holly planned to have seats for Waylon Jennings and Allsup, main guitar picker for prominent Holly recordings. Jennings let the Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson, have his seat on the plane. The plane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, on Feb. 3, 1959, the day that became known as The Day the Music Died. • • • • • • Texas History Day-by-Day is compiled by retired newspaper journalist Bob Sonderegger (anglebob61@yahoo). A primary source of information is Handbook of Texas Online. Your comments or additions are welcome.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 11:39:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015