writer. The son of the secretary to the Confederate President Jefferson
Davis, Harrison studied law at Yale University and Columbia University
before becoming a lawyer for the Southern Railway Company in 1896. By
1906 he was Southern's vice-president of finance, and in 1907 helped
secure funding to keep the company solvent. In 1913 he was elected
president of Southern, where he instituted a number of reforms in
company operations. By 1916, under Harrison's leadership, the Southern
had expanded to an 8,000-mile (13,000 km) network across 13 states,
its greatest extent until the 1950s. Following America's entry into
World War I the federal government took control of the railroads in
December 1917, running them through the United States Railroad
Administration, on which Harrison served. Harrison struggled to keep the
railroad afloat during the Great Depression, but by 1936 Southern was
once again showing a profit. Harrison retired in 1937, intending to
focus on his hobby of writing about historical subjects including the
roots of the American Thoroughbred horse, but he died three months later
in February 1938.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfax_Harrison>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1535:
The appearance of sun dogs over Stockholm, Sweden, inspired the
painting Vädersolstavlan, the oldest colour depiction of the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4dersolstavlan>
1657:
Anglo-Spanish War: An English fleet under Admiral Robert Blake
attacked a Spanish treasure fleet at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the
Spanish Canary Islands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Santa_Cruz_de_Tenerife_(1657)>
1939:
Billie Holiday recorded her version of "Strange Fruit", which
gained fame as an emblem of the Civil Rights Movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit>
1968:
British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell made his
controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech in opposition to immigration and
anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the
Shadow Cabinet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech>
1978:
Soviet fighters shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 902 after it
violated Soviet airspace.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_902>
2010:
An explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil rig in the
Gulf of Mexico, caused the largest accidental marine oil spill in the
history of the petroleum industry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
capias:
(law) An arrest warrant; a writ commanding officers to take a specified
person or persons into custody.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capias>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain And
the last lion roars at the last dusty fountain In the shadow of the
forest though she may be old and worn They will stare unbelieving at the
last unicorn. for The Last Unicorn by
--Peter S. Beagle
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_S._Beagle>
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