What do these two things have in common, you ask? Absolutely nothing! But they are both a part of Louisville history, and they were close enough together to make a multi out of them. At the first stage, you'll learn a little dark history. At the second, you'll get to see an unofficial Louisville landmark.
First Stage:
The listed coords will bring you to a Kentucky Historical Society marker that tells the story of Sue Mundy. Born Marcellus Jerome Clarke in Simpson County, KY on August 25, 1844, both of Clarke's parents died before he was ten, and he was reared by relatives and received a common school education.
He enlisted in the Confederate army on July 4, 1861 and was placed into Company B, Fourth Regiment Kentucky Confederate Orphan Brigade at Camp Burnett near Clarksville, TN. Less than 6 months later, in February 1862, he was taken prisoner at Fort Donelson. He was sent to Camp Morton near Indianapolis, where he and several others escaped.
Clarke later joined John Hunt Morgan's raiders and fought during many of Morgan's campaigns, first as a scout and later as an artillerist. After Morgan's death in September of 1864, Clarke returned to KY where he joined others in a guerrilla band that terrorized the state from mid-1864 until the end of the Civil War.
The origin of the name Sue Mundy is uncertain, although Clarke's shoulder-length hair and almost feminine beauty gave rise to the tale that he was in fact a woman. His exploits were written about by George Prentice, editor of the Louisville Daily Journal. It was Prentice that first called him Sue Mundy, a name supposedly borrowed from Suzanna Monday, a free black woman in Nelson County known for her cruel nature.
Though the band was guilty of shootings, train robberies, the burning of bridges, and at least one courthouse burning, many of the crimes attributed to the outlaws were greatly exaggerated.
Shortly after a raid in central KY, troops found the band hiding out in a tobacco barn in Meade County. Clarke surrendered and was taken by riverboat to Louisville where a military court found him guilty of guerrilla activities. Days later he was hanged at the old fairgrounds on Broadway between 17th and 18th streets before a crowd of thousands. Immediately following his execution, a crowd gathered around the body, some trying to cut off parts of his clothing as a memento. The morning following the execution, the Louisville Daily Journal printed an interview with the prisoner Clarke and an extensive description of the execution. Clarke declared that he was not guilty of one-tenth of the crimes of which he was charged, and stated that his death was a great injustice.
Answer these questions to get the coords to the second stage and the cache!
Final:
38 14.AB4
085 46.CD4
- The number of letters in the city name where Jerome Clarke was born = "A"
- The month in numbers (i.e.: January=1, February=2, March=3, etc) in which he was captured, tried, convicted and executed = "B"
- Take Jerome Clarke's age when he was hanged and subtract 11 for "C"
- Take the day on which he was hung and subtract 8 for "D"
You can check your answers for this puzzle here at Geochecker.com.
Second Stage:
From the cache hide spot you should have a great view of an unofficial Louisville landmark: the world's largest bottle of booze! Atop the Brown-Forman Corporation building stands what used to be an old water tower, but is now fashioned to look like a bottle of their flagship bourbon Old Forester.
First introduced in 1870, Old Forester is America's first distillery-sealed bottled bourbon. Before this, bourbon was sold in wooden barrels to wholesalers, brokers and retailers who would then bottle it themselves. Unscrupulous rectifiers, jobbers and retailers would often tamper with the quality and integrity of the whisky in the barrel. Old Forrester was packaged exclusively in distillery-sealed bottles. Thus ensuring against any tampering with the product's integrity. If the seal was intact, and the label said "Old Forrester", the customer knew it was as pure as when it left the distillery.
Despite any preconceived notions you might have about this area of town, this really isn't a bad spot in which this cache is located. It's an industrial area very near the Brown-Forman headquarters. Although I still wouldn't recommend this one at night. You're looking for a small plastic tube with a black screw top. No need to cross the fence to find it.
Special thanks to the NYCRG (New York Capital Region Geocachers) crew: Eltee1, Can't Find Diddly, Monahmat, and Mark.B for replacing this missing cache while in the area for GeoWoodstock 10!