Daily Dirt: Speeding tickets were costly back in days of Ulysses S. Grant, too

Daily Dirt for Friday June 30, 2023

Grant was also known to imbibe, so I wonder: Could he also have been charged with the first-ever DUI? Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 653 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Here at the world headquarters of The Daily Dirt, we take great pride uncovering unusual — and hopefully, interesting — facts that may not make the nightly news reports. Today we’re proud to reveal the following items (in our familiar medal-worthy format) about some past presidents of the United States:

Gold medal: Ulysses S. Grant was the first U.S. president ever ticketed for speeding. In 1908, nearly 25 years after the 18th president’s death, a peculiar story hit the pages of the Washington Evening Star. Retired police officer William H. West recounted how he had caught Grant speeding — in a carriage — and decided the only appropriate action was to proceed with an arrest.

West’s tale harkened back to 1872 when complaints of speeding carriages were on the rise. West had been out investigating a collision when he witnessed Grant — then the sitting president — careening his horse-drawn carriage down the road. The officer flagged down the carriage, issued a warning and sent Grant on his way. Grant, who had a reputation for high-tailing horse rides, couldn’t resist the need to speed. West caught him tearing through the city again the very next day. 

Feeling he had no other option, the officer placed Grant under arrest. At the police department, Grant was required to put $20 (about $490 in today’s money) toward his bond before being released. The situation blew over pretty quickly, and Grant owned up to his mistake, though he did choose to skip his court appearance scheduled for the following day — which meant he forfeited his $20. He didn’t face any further consequences, however. 

Silver medal: Mustachioed President William Howard Taft passed the presidential baton to clean-shaven Woodrow Wilson in 1913. What Taft couldn’t have known at the time was that his departure began a long streak of clean-shaven faces occupying the Oval Office. Of the 46 presidents in U.S. history so far, only 13 have had any facial hair whatsoever. 

Bronze medal: Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. president born in a hospital. Carter was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Ga. It was much more common for babies to be born at home in the early 20th century than it is now, but Carter’s mother was a nurse at what was then known as Wise Sanitarium. There happened to be a room available on that October night, and the hospital has since been renamed the Lillian G. Carter Nursing Center.

2. Time to step into the wayback machine … if you walked into a McDonald’s 50 years ago, these would be the prices you saw:

• Big Mac: 65 cents.
• Hamburger: 28 cents.
• Fries: 26 cents.
• Coke: 15 cents.
• Milkshakes: 35 cents.

3. Luis Arraez of the Miami Marlins has been flirting with a .400 average much of the season. He also is chasing another mahor MLB accomplishment. He has three 5-hit games this month. The record for most four-hit games in a season is four, achieved by Ty Cobb (1922), Stan Musial (1948), Tony Gwynn (1993) and Ichiro Suzuki (2004).

What they’re saying about Arraez’s magnificent season:

Bob Nightengale, USA Today: “He’s the greatest hitting show on Earth, and no one is paying attention. A throwback to Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs and Ichiro Suzuki. In a year where the league batting average is .242, the lowest since 1968, with an on-base percentage of .311, there’s a man in baseball defying all of the odds.” 

Zach Crizer, Yahoo Sports: “He’s almost halfway to a plateau that has been unreachable since World War II, since integration boosted the level of competition, since the sport took its full turn toward modernity.”

Skip Schumacher, Miami manager: “The kid literally wakes up and hits. No, he literally does. Then he gets to the field and hits. He’s just so different than the guys who slug and have high batting averages. He’s literally looking at the defense and picking a hole where he’s trying to hit it. I’ve never seen that.”

Steve Thought O’ The Day
A little more food for thought on the amazing Arraez: Nobody has hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941. In those same 82 years, 61-plus home runs have been achieved eight times by five players (Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and Aaron Judge).

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Does the “S” in Ulysses S. Grant stand for “Steve”?