Vaughn Brown
File photo
June 26
In 1875, about 150 masked men stormed the jail in downtown Greenfield in the middle of the night, pulling the keys from the sheriff and removing prisoner William Keemer, a man described as of “mixed race” who was accused of raping a Blue River Township woman. They drove Keemer a few miles away in a wagon and hanged him. His remains were later buried at the Hancock County farm “unwept, unhonored and unsung,” according to John H. Binford’s 1882 “History of Hancock County, Indiana.” In 2021, Indiana State Historical Bureau approved a future historical marker in memory of Keemer.
In 1966, the first Mass was celebrated in the new building for St. Michael Catholic Church.
June 27
In 1938, a two-hour parking limit took effect on Main and State streets in downtown Greenfield.
June 28
In 1927, residents were assured that 13-year-old twin girls who left their mother’s home in Mattoon, Illinois, had arrived safely to their father and stepmother in St. Joe. After the girls got off track and wound up in Greenfield, Sheriff Harry Comstock had received contributions from some local residents to send the girls on to their destination. The police chief in St. Joe sent him a letter notifying him that Henrietta and Lucile Walters had arrived safely.
June 29
In 2013, Greenfield’s Kyle Gibson made his debut pitching for Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins.
June 30
In 1892, Col. Harvey Weir Cook was born in Wilkinson. Cook was a World War I flying ace who died in the South Pacific during World War II. From 1944 to 1976, the Indianapolis airport bore his name. When Indianapolis International Airport opened a new terminal in November 2008, it was named the Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal.
July 1
In 1967, an iron bridge over Big Sugar Creek collapsed under the weight of a truck carrying 14 ½ tons of crushed stone. The 80-foot bridge on County Road 775E near the Madison-Hancock county line was about 75 years old. County commissioners said they had the funds to build a new concrete bridge but that another bridge project elsewhere would be delayed as a result.
In 1968, Hancock County’s Vaughn Brown died in Vietnam.
In 2006, New Palestine High School graduate Angela Ahrendts became CEO of Burberry. She later was senior vice president of retail for Apple from 2014-2019.
July 2
In 1956, Greenfield physician Donn R. Hunter was part of a helicopter search rescue crew working to remove the 128 bodies of airline crash victims from the Grand Canyon. A Trans World Airlines Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 luxury flight apparently crashed in stormy weather. The collision was referred to as the worst commercial air disaster in history. Hunter, serving with the U.S. Air Force in Arizona, said the scene was “a sight I don’t want to have to see again.”
