October 10: American War Hero Forced To Dress As A Woman Against His Will Is Rescued By Town

On October 10th, 1915, Civil War veteran Albert Cashier of the 95th Illinois Infantry died at the age of 72 and was laid to rest at Sunny Slope Cemetery in Saunemin, Illinois.

     Although the shortest soldier in his regiment, Private Cashier was a capable fighter and admired by his peers, serving a full 3 year enlistment and fighting in over 40 battles. Cashier at one point became a prisoner of war but escaped by overpowering a prison guard. Surviving the war, Cashier settled in Saunemin, living a quiet life on his military pension supplemented by working as a handyman. At the age of 66, while working for Illinois State Senator I.M. Lish, Cashier suffered a broken leg while doing yard work (hit accidentally by a car Lish was driving) and was taken to the local hospital where it was discovered that Cashier was in fact a woman. Hospital employees did not divulge Cashier's secret and sent him to the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Quincy, Illinois to recover.      
Cashier remained a resident of the Home until 1913, when he was sent to a state hospital for the insane due to the onset of dementia. Attendants there discovered Cashier was a woman and forced him to give his birth name and information (Jennie Hodgers born December 25, 1843 in Louth, Ireland) as well as forcing him to wear a dress,  which was upsetting and confusing to the aging Soldier who had lived as Cashier for 50 years. When word got out about the cruel treatment of the Civil War veteran many of his friends and former regiment soldiers protested his treatment at the state hospital, surprised but not deterred by his secret identity, and demanded the veteran be acknowledged and treated with respect.
When Cashier died on October 10th, 1915, he was buried in his Military uniform with his name and military rank on the tombstone.

Union soldier Albert Chashier. 

Editor's Note: There are 400 documented cases of women assuming males identities in order to fight in the Civil War. Historians believe as many as 1,000 Women (or more) bravely fought on the front lines, many successfully keeping their male identities in tact after the war. Research looking into the hundreds of these soldiers shows different motivations for assuming male identities and joining the fight. Many were discovered after being killed in battle so little else is known about them.  Others wrote books and did interviews after the war  explaining motivations such as the patriotic call to duty; others joined so they could fight along side of their lovers, husbands, and brothers (two women were cousins and joined together) and resumed their previous identities after the war. One woman joined and fought along side her husband, and after the war they became marauders terrorizing small towns in the Appalachian region. 
Others, like Cashier, identified as men and remained so for the rest of their lives (Cashier identified as a man long before he enlisted). The part of story I left out in the article is that more than 50 years after Cashier's death a second tombstone was added next to the first inscribed with his birth name (of Jennie Hodgers). Given that the town and his fellow soldiers fought to preserve his name and legacy, adding the second tombstone could be seen as disrespectful, but because I do not know what the motivation was for doing so I personally reserve judgement. 

September 13: An Elephant Is Executed, Tupac Dies, And The Man Who Made A Liar Out Of Hitler Is Born

Public Domain image of Mary's execution  

On September 13, 1916, in Erwin Tennessee, a circus elephant named Mary was publicly executed in front of a crowd of 2,500 by hanging after killing her handler, Walter 'Red' Eldridge, the day before. Accounts recall that Eldridge prodded her cheek that sent her into a rage and trampling him to death. The execution took 2 attempts, the first ended when the chain noose broke causing Mary to fall and break her hip. The second attempt took 30 minutes of hanging by the neck before she died.
An autopsy by a veterinarian concluded that Mary had a severely infected tooth in the spot that Eldridge was prodding.
in 2016 the town of Erwin celebrated the centennial of Mary's hanging with 2 weeks of events including a nightfall parade of the town's school children dressed as elephants pulling 'ghost elephant' sculptures. Money raised during the festivities was donated to an Elephant Refuge in Tennessee.

Centennial Celebration of Mary's Legacy in Erwin Tennessee on August 27th 2016
Public Domain Photo by John King

Born on this day:
1913  Jesse Owens the four-time Olympic gold medalist for the U.S. Track & Field team. Owens, who was black, is credited for single handedly disproving Hitler's Aryan Racial Superiority Theory at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Hitler's response to Owens victory was to say the physiques of black athletes were stronger than those of whites and hence should be excluded from future games.

Died on this day Tupac Shakur:

1996 Rap artist Tupac Shakur died after being shot six days earlier on September 7th in a BMW in Las Vegas. Conspiracies abound over the reason for his murder including East Coast/West Coast rivalries, retribution for sex crimes committed by Shakur, as well as a hit placed by Death Row Records CEO Marion "Suge" Knight.

September 4: Kelly Clarkson= Toping Charts And Making Greeting Cards

On September 4  in 2002 Kelly Clarkson (b. 1982) became the first ever winner of the hit show American Idol (beating out over 120 contestants and 10,000 initial hopefuls). Over 22 million viewers watched as Clarkson  beat runner up Justin Guarini for the win singing  "Before Your Love" and "A Moment Like This".
Thirteen days later on September 17, 2002, her debut double-A-side single of the two previously mentioned songs was released debuting at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, before reaching to No. 1. It broke a 38-year-old record set by the British band The Beatles for the biggest leap to No. 1 and was the best-selling single of 2002 in the United States.

Clarkson now has her own line of greeting cards sold exclusively at Walmart.

Public Domain Photo by Kathy Reesey

September 2: Great Fire of London And The Timeless Fears Of Foreigners

On September 2 in 1666 the Great Fire of London began in a bakery on Pudding Lane, burning for 4 days, consuming 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St Paul's Cathedral, and is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants. Panic raced through the streets as rumors of the fire being started by foreigners caused riots and lynchings before the fire was finally contained on September 5th.
    A 12 meter long scale model of 1666 London, created by American artist David Best, was set ablaze on the River Thames on the 350th anniversary of the fire.

17th Century painting of the Great Fire of London