Back In The Saddle

June 21st, 2007

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The Announcement

Alternate Historian's Note: Sorry about my disappearance. Computer crashes and recovery from them took more time than I thought. My hearty thanks to Steve for putting up posts while I was unable! Now, I'm simply going to go forward with the two timelines I'm wrapping up, rather than triple-post to catch up.

in 1893, Lt. Colonel Mark Wainwright, US Army, retired, returns to Topeka, Kansas at the invitation of Governor Thaddeus Elridge. Elridge wanted Wainwright to participate in the ceremony marking the placement of a memorial to the Kansas Rebellion and all those who fought in the war, and the colonel had agreed to break his vow of never coming farther west than New York for the occasion. Several of the men and women who had held him captive during his more trying days in Kansas were there, and many of them came up to him privately and asked him to forgive them for their deeds in those days. “It was a trying time for everyone,” he told them. “The only individual I have a grudge against is long since dead.” In fact, 'Sockless' Jerry Simpson's assassin, George Nelson, is one of the people who comes up to speak with Wainwright, and the colonel shakes his hand and thanks him for his actions. “A lot of men on my side would have been happy to trade places with you, Mr. Nelson. I know I'm one of them.” Nelson demurs Wainwright's thanks, and tells him, “What I did, I did because he wasn't good for my home. I regret the killing I did then every day of my life.” Colonel Wainwright nodded, looking over at the memorial – a great stone circle with the names of all the Kansans and Union soldiers who died in the conflict engraved into it – and says, “Keep that regret, Mr. Nelson. Maybe then, fewer of these things will need to be built.”

in 1999, Sir Lance du Lac visits King Arthur II in the London hospital where the monarch lies in a coma. The knight has been charged by Queen Gwen with a terrible task, told that it is the only way for the kingdom, and his ruler, to know peace. “Arthur wouldn't want to just be a body lying in state – he's a man of action. Release him, my brave knight, that his spirit may guide us all from beyond.” Sir Lance had sent away all the nurses and the security outside the room belonged to his Round Table Corps, so he was confident he would not be disturbed. He steeled himself and reached for Arthur, whispering, “Watch over us from the other world, my king.” Arthur's hand suddenly shot up and grabbed du Lac's, and the eyes of the king fluttered open. “I'm not done with this world, yet, my friend,” he said to his loyal knight. Sir Lance fell to his knees as Arthur rose from the bed and commanded, “Get me my clothes. I wish to see my beloved wife.”

In 2009, in Oregon, Gordon Krantz attempted to gain admittance to the post-Doomwar village of Oakridge on Highway 58. An impostor, Krantz claimed to be a Postman on the official business of the Restored United States of America.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Roger Daltrey	"Well, people try to put us down. Just because we get around. The things they do look awful cold. I hope I die before I get old. My generation. Why dont you all just fade away? " ~ Fellow Who band member Pete Townshend.
Musician

Townshend wrote the song on a train inspired by the Queen Mother who had Townshend's 1935 Packard hearse towed off a street in Belgravia because she was offended by the sight of it during her daily drive through the neighbourhood. Before Daltrey suffered life-threatening health problems, dying on-stage during the 20th anniversary tour of the rock opera Tommy in 1989. Steve Winwood, Patti LaBelle, Phil Collins and Elton John were guest stars on the tour, urging that the funeral include the original uncensored version of My g-g-g-g-generation. Instead the suggestive, but not outrageous version Why don't you all just f-f-f-f-fade away? was used. Wikipedia

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1986, students of computer science puzzled over the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network model. At the base, atoms buzzed around; further up the stack, protocols and packets reined. The whole must function or the network would cease to operate. Thirty years later the supernatural event known as the Change would render electricity and pressurized gases unusable. Those few that remained alive from the class of '86 grasped that the physical laws of the Universe had been fundamentally altered at many levels. The world of men had ceased to operate.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Arab Dhow	In 1761, the seven European stowaways enjoyed fellowship aboard the Arab Dhow. In desperation, the two stowaways aboard the Chinese Junk had sneaked aboard the Dhow as the Chinese Junk drew aside. The woman had fallen and they knew this was their last chance, their bid for freedom. They took it and the destiny of Europe changed forever.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

1734, on this day in Montreal, New France, a black slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique, having been convicted of the arson that destroyed much of the city, was tortured and hanged by the French authorities in a that involved her disgrace and the amputation of a hand. According to Cooper's book, she was ..	Seal of New Fra..
.. brutally beaten and her legs crushed, after which she confessed to the crime. Her death sentence was altered, and instead of being burned alive she was hanged in a public ceremony that involved her being driven through town tied in the back of a cart wearing a sign reading "arsonist" which included a stop at the church where she was made to kneel and beg for forgiveness from God, the King of France, and her fellow subjects. Before the execution, she was made to suffer the amputation of the hand with which she set the fire. Once dead, her body was burned and her ashes scattered. "MARIE-JOSEPH ANGELIQUE, negress, slave woman of Thérèse de Couagne, widow of the late François Poulin de Francheville, you are condemned to die, to make honourable amends, to have your hand cut off, be burned alive, and your ashes cast to the winds." — Judge Pierre Raimbault, June 4, 1734. At the time of writing the government of New France is yet to issue a public apology for this act of unspeakable barbarism. This defiance is despite raised public awareness from the 1995 movie “the hanging of Angelique”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Douglas MacArth..	In 2999, the mind cast for the fourth instalment of “Personality of the Triple Millennia” was run across the networks. POT3M drew an even larger audience than the first three instalments. Douglas MacArthur was the candidate, the context was the decision to ..
.. escalate the war on the Korean Peninsula in 1953 as the incoming US Commander in Chief. MacArthur had deployed biological weapons and also hydrogen bombs in Manchuria as he restored Chiang Kai-shek's government to power, also re-uniting the Peninsula. MC Millennia asked the thirty-fourth US President how he could take such a decision. “There is no substitute for victory. Or, to paraphrase the great American poet Walt Whitman, 'I sound my barbaric yawp across the roof-tops of the world''” was his response. Mind cast subscribers of POT3M were disgusted at this naked aggression. These historic figures they were.. well, murderers and brigands of the worst sort imaginable. These historic figures were all proponents of “might makes right”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, the shattered spirit formerly Nazi Deputy Rudolph Hess was parachuted back into Berlin by the RAF. Hess has been imbued with the entity named Aiwass with whom “the Beast” Aleister Crowley has held congress since 1904 when he authored The Book of the Law. The plan was for Aiwass ..	Rudolph Hess
.. to drive the Nazi Leadership into insanity, cancelling the D-Day Landings on the South-coast of England. Well, that was the plan anyway.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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