16 March 1899
On this date in 1899…
A series of gunfights broke out over political differences and gambling profits between city police and the county sheriff’s officers in Hot Springs, Arkansas. When the smoke cleared four lawmen and a bartender lay dead, several officers and bystanders were wounded. At the time, the gunfight garnered more publicity than the better known (today) and less bloody Gunfight at the OK Corral.
Other Years:
- 1830 – After a shady election and a rump council, Greenwood le Flore is elected as Chief of the Choctaw Nation. Le Flore favors selling Choctaw lands and moving to Indian Territory.
- 1836 – The Republic of Texas approved its first constitution.
- 1861 – Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was impeached for refusing to support the Confederate States.
- 1861 – Arizona Territory voted to cease relations with the U.S. and become a Confederate Territory.
- 1918 – Tallulah Bankhead of Huntsille, Alabama made her New York acting debut with a role in “The Squab Farm.”
- 1995 – The Mississippi House of Representatives formally abolished slavery and ratified the 13th Amendment.
- 1995 – NASA astronaut Norman Thagard of Florida became the first American to visit the Russian space station Mir.
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