January 8th in 1864, Texas native David Owen Dodd was hanged at the young age of seventeen for espionage during the Civil War. Dodd was captured while attempting to cross Federal lines near Little Rock with notes in Morse code hidden in his shoe. After confessing to being sent to gather information about Union troops, he was found guilty and hanged. Dodd may have been the youngest person hanged as a spy during the Civil War.
The following year, in 1865, a battle took place between about 160 Confederates and 325 state militiamen against the Kickapoo Indians, resulting in a loss for the Confederates and state militiamen.
In 1884, the Texas state legislature made fence cutting a felony punishable by one to five years in prison, marking an important development in the state’s laws.
On this day in 1910, Jacob Brodbeck, considered by some to be the first person to fly in an airplane, passed away. He had created an airship and attempted flight in Texas almost 40 years before the Wright brothers’ famous flight.
Finally, in 1919, ballerina Nana Gollner was born in El Paso. She began ballet training at a young age as treatment for infantile paralysis, and went on to have a successful career in dance.