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Jack Whalen (1918-1959)
Mobster, actor
He was an Irish hood from St. Louis who moved to California where he was called "The Enforcer" because he made a living beating the crap out of Italian and Jewish gangsters with his fists. Unfortunately for him, gangsters prefer fighting with guns instead of fists and he took a bullet between the eyes.
The chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated is in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. It was purchased at auction in 1929 for $2,400. It has a few bloodstains on it but they're not sure if they are from Abraham Lincoln or Henry Rathbone who had been stabbed by Booth.
Girl Scout cookies were first sold by the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in December 1917 at their local high school.
He owned a small store in St. Louis and read extensively about the exploits of Billy the Kid and Jesse James. Realizing that his own existence was dull, he sold his store in 1886 and decided to become a famous outlaw. He bought himself a revolver and several black outfits and was ready to launch the outlaw career of " Terrible " Fred Wittrock.
He held up the St. Louis & San Francisco Express just outside St. Louis, netting $10,000 from the Adams Express Company safe. He had gained entrance to the express car by using forged credentials that indicated he was the railroad's new night superintendent. He was pleased with all the loot he got but became depressed when the story about the robbery faded from the headlines.
In an effort to rekindle the story, Terrible Fred wrote a letter to the St. Louis Globe Democrat revealing information of the robbery and informing the newspaper that the bandit's tools could be found in a St. Louis baggage room.
The police and reporters went to the baggage room and found a revolver, mask, blackjack, express company envelopes, and an old song sheet that had Wittrock's name and address at a local boardinghouse on one side.
When he was taken into custody he begged them all to refer to him as Terrible Fred, since that's what all his outlaw confederates called him. While in prison he confessed to a number of other robberies, some were real, but most were imaginary capers. Prison officials stopped paying attention to his confessions. When he was released, he tried to interest publishers in his memoirs, not even the Police Gazette took him seriously. He spent his remaining years spinning yarns to anyone who would listen.
I'll check out the cemeteries around here and see if I can find his grave. Curious if he has " Terrible Fred " on his headstone.
The oldest surviving stained glass windows are thought to be the Prophet Windows in Augsburg Cathedral c.1065 in Bavaria, Germany.
Pop-Tart History (Wikipedia)
In the 1960s, Post Cereal adapted its process for enclosing food in foil to keep it fresh, without spoiling, (first used for dog food) to its new toaster-prepared breakfast food. Intended to compliment its cold cereals, Post announced its new product to the press in 1963 before they went to market. Post called them "Country Squares". Because Post had revealed Country Squares before they were ready to be marketed, their biggest competitor, Kellogg, was able to develop its own version in six months.
The product, advertised by an animated toaster named Milton, became so popular that Kellogg could not keep up with demand.
Originally not frosted when first introduced in 1964, it was later determined that frosting could withstand the toaster, and the first frosted Pop-Tarts were officially released in 1967. The original four flavors were strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar cinnamon, and apple currant.
In 1992, Thomas Nangle sued Kellogg after his Pop-Tart got stuck and caught fire in his toaster. After several other lawsuits, Pop-Tarts put a warning on their boxes, " Due to possible risk of fire, never leave your toasting appliance or microwave unattended."
I used to eat them all the time but ever since I spoiled myself with Toaster Strudels, Pop-Tarts seem to be somewhat uncivilized.
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