This Month in St. Louis History

Statehood and two births, one death

The births of two legendary Missourians and the death of the only Lewis and Clark team member were among August highlights in the history of St. Louis and Missouri.

Also, of course, in August, Missouri became the 24th state of the United States of America. The date was Aug. 10, 1821.

These are some of the highlights of rich St. Louis history that have been provided by the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. For all sorts of interesting historical information about St. Louis and Missouri, visit the museum's website regularly at www.mohistory.org.

The death of Sgt. Floyd in 1804

Sgt. Charles Floyd was the only member of the Lewis and Clark Journey of Discovery to die during the two-year exploration.

Floyd died on Aug. 20, 1804, at a point along the Missouri River that is now northwest Iowa. Floyd's death was attributed to infection following a burst appendix.

His first burial site was high on a bluff in what is now Sioux City, Ia. But, natural and human forces caused Floyd's gravesite to be shifted several times.

The first grave was marked by a cedar post driven into the ground. But, on the return from the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark wrote the site had been disturbed by Indians.

Later, speculation was animals had caused the damage.

In those days, the Missouri River was a wild river. By 1857, the "Floyd Bluff" burial site had been undermined by the river and part of his bones were lost. But, the remaining bones were rescued some 600 feet from the original grave.

They were reburied in 1895 and, in 1901, the spot was marked by a 100-foot obelisk. In 1960, the gravesite was named a National Historic Landmark.

In an ironic touch, the obelisk is the largest grave marker of any Lewis and Clark participant. And it is for the man who was on the Journey of Discovery the shortest time.

For a detailed rundown of Lewis and Clark burial sites, go to:
www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/CorpsOfDiscovery/
TheOthers/BurialSites.htm

James Milton Turner was born in 1839

James Milton Turner was born a slave in St. Louis County on Aug. 22, 1839. He went on to become a free man and was the second African-American ever to become a foreign diplomat.

In 1871, he was named by President Grant to be U.S. minister to Liberia. It had been Turner's longtime goal to serve this country in that African nation, founded by black emigrants from the U.S.

But, he also made his mark in Missouri, primarily for his advocacy of education for blacks. He also was an advocate for blacks with land and oil claims in the Oklahoma Indian Territory.

His burial site is in the Father Dickson Cemetery in Crestwood. This was one of the first public cemetery's available to blacks. For more, see:
www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/africanamerican
/timeline/timeline2.asp

Funnyman Joe Besser born here in 1907

St. Louis has had its share of theatrical people. One who isn't too much known now but might be one of the funniest St. Louisans is Joe Besser.

Besser was born here on Aug. 12, 1907, to parents who had come to the U.S. from Poland in 1895.

He was so enthralled by the theater that he spent a lot of time at vaudeville theaters rather than in school. His excuse: "I learned more in the theater than I did at school."

At 13, he decided he to become a professional magician. In 1920, he stowed away in props of magician Howard Thurston when his act went by train from St. Louis to Detroit.

He went into full-time comedy in 1923 and played successfully in both solo and group acts from then on.

He got much of his notoriety when he replaced Shemp Howard as the third of the Three Stooges. He was with them from 1956 to 1958.

But, he did many other gigs with Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor and Milton Berle. He appeared on the Vaughan Monroe Show as well as with Abbott and Costello and Spike Jones.

(If these are unfamiliar names, ask your parents or your grandparents. These were very popular radio and TV shows in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s.)

For more about the Three Stooges, see www.3-stooges.com/test/besser.html.

 

From "St. Louis World's Fair 365"

President Roosevelt's kids have fun in St. Louis

The three young sons of then U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt got in all sorts of trouble while joining their father at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair in August, 1904.

Also among the August fair incidents were a win by an Olympic gymnast with a wooden leg and a fatal car crash by noted auto racer Barney Oldfield.

(St. Louis author Joe Sonderman has compiled a book of trivia about the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. He has granted permission to Young Saint Louis.com to quote some of the monthly tidbits. If you would like a copy of the book, check local book stores or the www.booksonstlouis.com website.)

Here's a sample of the 101 items mentioned in the August chapter of Sonderman's book:

Aug. 1, 1904: Four masked bandits robbed the Illinois Central "Diamond Special" World's Fair train near Harvey, Ill. The robbers made off with about $10,000. They held up the 30 passengers and hit one man over the head when he resisted. No one was seriously hurt.

Aug. 2, 1904: High wire performer "Monsieur Leon," whose real name was W.H. Green, was fatally injured when he fell 50 feet at Old St. Louis on The Pike. He was paid $15 each week to wrap his long hair around a wire attached to the 50-foot pole and slide down. He did it three times each day until the wire snapped. Also, James and Alfretta Ballhoo were part of the show in the 2,000-seat arena at Old St. Louis. James rode a bike across a cable 122 feet in the air while his wife performed on a trapeze suspended beneath the bike. They earned $13 per month. Green's accident brought an end to the show.

Aug. 3, 1904: President Roosevelt's three sons dined with Fair President Francis at the Director's Club. Once again, they eluded the hapless assistant manager of the Inside Inn who was supposed to be supervising them. The boys had an exciting time at the Boer War exhibit and took a gondola ride. (Two days earlier, the Roosevelt boys escaped 1/2 hour before they were to attend a reception. Archie, Theodore Jr. and Kermit eluded the Inn manager and made straight for the Philippine Village. The reception was rescheduled for the next day and the boys promised to make an appearance. Then, on August 4, the boys announced they had enjoyed the fair very much and were boarding a train back to Washington, D.C., a day early. They actually spent the day holed up in the New York Building before boarding a train as originally scheduled.)

Aug. 5, 1904: The "Talking Arc Lamp" was demonstrated for the first time. The device transmitted orchestral music through light rays without the use of phonetic receivers. The lamp became a regular feature of the moving picture exhibits developed by Dr. H.T. Simon of Frankfort, Ky.

Aug. 14, 1904: There was a near-riot at the Cummins Wild West Show on The Pike. Officials with the Humane Society tried to arrest the cowboys for inhumane treatment of the steers. The cowboys and Indians attacked the officers, and the crowd piled onto the field to protest the cancellation of the show. Colonel Cummins was arrested.

Aug. 15, 1904: Operators of the ice water concession used 165,000 pennies to pay their tax cut to the Exposition Company. The workers had been taking the pennies to a downtown bank, which would send a check. But, it was costing $10 per trip. The Exposition Company began accepting the pennies without counting them.

Aug. 17, 1904: The Olympic gymnastics competitions were underway. George Eyser would win the gold in the parallel bars and the rope climb, and tied for first in the vault. He also won the silver in the Pommel horse and the all-around, and took the bronze in the horizontal bar. This is even more remarkable because Eyser's left leg was made of wood!

Aug. 19, 1904: Mr. C.F. Froliche, of New York, completed a sculpture of President Roosevelt mounted on a horse and wearing his Rough Rider outfit. The statue was made out of butter. It was placed in the great glass-front refrigerator along with butter busts of President Francis and other fair officials.

Aug. 28, 1904: Blinded by dust while competing for the Louisiana Purchase trophy, world famous race car driver Barney Oldfield lost control of his "Green Dragon". The car slammed into a fence on the lower turn at Fairgrounds Race Track at 60 miles per hour. The vehicle cut one spectator in half and killed another. Oldfield vowed never to race again, but he was back on the track in a few weeks.

Aug. 29, 1904: The track and field events began before a crowd of 10,000 at the Olympic stadium. The U.S. took home 23 of the 25 gold medals. Ray Ewry, Archie Hahn, Jim Lightbody and Harry Hillman won three medals each. But, Irishman Thomas Kiely won the event now known as the decathlon, which made its debut at the St. Louis games. George Coleman Poage of Milwaukee because the first black man to compete in the Olympic games when he lost in a heat race. Poage would go on to win a bronze in the 220 and 440-yard hurdles. He stayed in St. Louis after the fair and went on to coach and teach at Sumner High School. Another African-American, Joseph Stadler, also would win two medals.