Kevin Barry

Kevin Barry

(1902 – 1920)

Kevin Barry was the First Irish Republican to be executed by the British since the Easter uprising of 1916 in Ireland. His execution caused outrage in Irish opinion and brought the tension to a fever pitch. His execution also precipitated a dramatic increase in violence as the Irish War for Independence entered its most bloody phase. His refusal to talk(despite torture) made him one of the most celebrated Irish Republicans. He is also known as one of the “Forgotten Ten”, a group of Irish republicans executed by the British in 1920-21.

He was only 18 years old.

He was originally buried in a plot at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, but all ten are now in Glasnevin Prison. They were given a state funeral in 2001.

Trivia:

There is a bar called “Kevin Barry’s” named after him in Savannah GA.

Gloria Stuart

Gloria Stuart

(1910 -2010)

Gloria Stewart( she changed it to Stuart) was an American actress and artist. Most people remember her now as the iconic “Old Rose” in  the movie  “Titanic”, but she had been acting since about 1932. Kate Winslet is a stunner of course, but I think Gloria could have held her own with any beauty in her heyday. She was in about 79 movies and television shows, and was a star in her own right, not too long after the real Titanic sank(about 20 years or so!)

Read about her life and you will see someone who lived a rich, rewarding existence. She was cremated, so no grave to visit, but Obscurely Famous none the less!

Trivia:

At 87, she was the oldest person ever nominated for an Academy Award(for “Titanic” of course)

“Shoeless“ Joe Jackson

“Shoeless“ Joe Jackson

(1888 – 1951)

Joseph Jefferson “Shoeless Joe” Jackson was a Major League Baseball player, know today as one of the eight Chicago White Sox players banned forever from MLB for his role in the 1919 “Black Sox” Scandal. Here is where it gets sticky: In the fixed World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, all eight players were acquitted, but still banned for life by baseball’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Shoeless Joe’s stats for the series:

12 hits (a series record, Lead both teams)

.375 average (Lead both teams)

Fielded 30 balls with NO ERRORS

Hmmmmmmmm………….doesn’t sound like a guy throwing some games…….. Like everything else, the rumors fly…..Some contemporary news accounts say he admitted his participation in the fix….. But no direct quote to this effect appears in the actual stenographic record of his grand jury appearance, casting doubt on how much truth there was to these accounts.

The debate continues………

He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Greenville, South Carolina.

Trivia:

The “Say it ain’t so, Joe” story never happened……..