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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Music of Coal

http://www.musicofcoal.com/

Mom was born near London KY and her Uncle, Ernst " Big Boy" Arnold was a lifetime miner in Harlan County, KY. I've heard a lot of stories about it and this site brings back some of those memories with the 48 songs.

Murder in St Anne

St. Anne Police Chief Rudy Dandurand was murdered while making an arrest in 1974. Dandurand’s murder was as sensational an event in St. Anne history as the Chiniquy murders had been three quarters of a century earlier.
Chief Dandurand was on patrol on the morning of Aug. 30, 1974. His wife Jewel was with him in the squad car. Carl Tiberia and Earl Stalnecker were fighting in front... of the Village Inn tavern at Station and Chicago streets. Dandurand broke up the fight. He put Stalnecker in the squad car and drove him to Earl’s Body Shop at 137 W. Guertin Street.
Tiberia and Lawrence Selvey got into a pickup truck and followed. Dandurand noticed Selvey’s hand was inside a garment. The chief pulled it away and saw Selvey was holding a pistol. Dandurand took the gun and handed it to his wife, while he tried to calm the three quarreling men. Either Tiberia or Selvey went to the squad car, grabbed the pistol, and shot Chief Dandurand.
As Dandurand fell, he tossed his service revolver to his wife and said, “Here, Babe, I’m shot.”
Dandurand managed to radio for backup. “May day! May day! I need an ambulance,” were the last words he said.
Then, the three men indicated they were going to kill the chief and his wife.
Jewel Dandurand aimed her husband’s .357 magnum service pistol and fired at the criminals as they approached. Both Tiberia and Selvey were shot dead.
Stalnecker ran away, but later gave himself up.
Chief Dandurand was 38 years old. He reportedly had planned to retire the following week.
Earl Stalnecker went on trial, but was found not guilty on April 30, 1975. Stalnecker was killed on Aug. 18, 1977 when his car went off Route 1, north of St. Anne, hit a culvert and burst into flames.
Before Chief Dandurand, the last murder in St. Anne was 19 years earlier, in 1955 -- and the victim was Rudy Abrassart, a saloonkeeper who was Rudy Dandurand’s grandfather.

 Mom knew Rudy and knew of the others mentioned here from the nearby small town of St Anne. Her parents lived in or near there for years. Her uncle Ernst "Big Boy" Arnold lived in Harlan County, KY and his daughter Etta Owens still lives there. Jewel Dandurand was from there and I will talk to Etta about that soon and add the info here. April 13:  Etta told me that Larry Selvey was a nephew to Mom's uncle Mort Owens. Mort lived in St Anne. His wife Sarah was Grandpa Arnold's sister.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Talked to Mom Today

Her mind is soooo much better than it was for the last year or two. I called at a few minutes after noon and caught her just coming into her room from lunch.  We had a nice, long discussion. When I told her our old car was still going with almost 265,000 miles on it she came right back with "Well, if you take good care of your car it will take good care of you!" She has always believed in it and practiced it. Hope you have a good day too!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Vet from Civil War

Mom worked for Charles Livingston when she was 14/15. He was a vet from the Civil War and took part in 20 battles to include the capture of Fort Mountrie and Fort Sumpter and was wounded in action. In 1868 he became the third owner/publisher of the Kankakee Gazette/Times. He passed away Nov 21 1938 at the age of 96. This is a note she wrote for me about it years ago.