Clinton: Four Dead in Mississippi

Clinton, Mississippi police were called to Foxhill Drive around 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning, February 16, 2019, following reports of a domestic disturbance at the residence. The situation soon escalated as officers received gunfire from the suspect when they arrived.

Law enforcement officers, over 50 in number, surrounded the house, as a hostage situation developed. At 11 a.m., children were released. At 12:30 p.m., gunfire was heard inside the home. About 90 minutes later, police discovered four people were dead. And they soon arrested the gunman. 

No identifying information has been released yet. (Watch for updates.)

This incident happened a day after the mass shooting in Aurora, Illinois, which left five employees of Henry Pratt Co. dead and six police officers injured. (See Aurora Effect Again.)

Clinton Name Game

The name Clinton is an English name, with a meaning that is: "Settlement on a hill," or "from the headland estate."

In the United States, historically, most place names given the name "Clinton" are due to DeWitt Clinton. His role in the construction of the Erie Canal created accessible Eastern seaboard markets for Midwestern agriculture and he was widely admired by settlers, especially those hailing from New York. Some of these places may have been named for both DeWitt Clinton and his uncle George Clinton, the fourth vice president in the USA, an important figure in the founding of the United States.

Several counties, cities, and towns are named after DeWitt Clinton:

Clinton County, Illinois
Clinton County, Indiana
Clinton County, Iowa
Clinton County, Kentucky
Clinton County, Michigan
Clinton County, Missouri
Clinton County, Pennsylvania
DeWitt County, Illinois
Clinton Charter Township, Michigan
Clinton Township, Lenawee County, Michigan
City of Clinton, Arkansas
City of Clinton, Indiana
City of Clinton, Illinois
City of Clinton, Iowa
City of Clinton, Missouri
City of Clinton, Mississippi
Community of Clinton, Pennsylvania
City of DeWitt, Arkansas
City of DeWitt, Iowa
Town of Clinton, Louisiana
Town of Clinton, Massachusetts
City of DeWitt, Michigan
Town of Clinton, New Jersey
Town of Clinton, Rock County, Wisconsin
Village of Clinton, Lenawee County, Michigan
Village of DeWitt, Illinois
Village of Clinton, Wisconsin
Village of Clintonville, KY
Town of Clinton, Connecticut
Town of Port Clinton, Ohio

Freemason and Society of the Cincinnati Member

DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769 – February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist who served as a United States Senator, Mayor of New York City and sixth Governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal. Clinton was a major candidate for the American presidency in the election of 1812, challenging incumbent James Madison.

Clinton was a York Rite Freemason. He founded the New York Free School Society, forerunner of the public school system of education established in 1842 and also offered a $1000 reward for information on William Morgan during the (anti-Masonic) Morgan Affair (d. 1826).

He was initiated in the "Holland" Lodge No. 16 (now No 8), NY on September 3, 1790, and in 1806 he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York Clinton was essential in establishing the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar in the United States, serving as its first, second, and third Grand Master from 1816-1828.. He retained this title until his death in 1828.

In 1813, Clinton became a hereditary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati in succession to his brother, Lieutenant Alexander Clinton, who was an original member of the society. Each officer may be represented by only one descendant at any given time, following the rules of primogeniture.

The concept of the Society of the Cincinnati was that of Major General Henry Knox. The first meeting of the Society was held in May 1783 at a dinner at Mount Gulian (Verplanck House) in Fishkill, New York, before the British evacuation from New York City. The meeting was chaired by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, and the participants agreed to stay in contact with each other after the war. Membership was generally limited to officers who had served at least three years in the Continental Army or Navy; it included officers of the French Army and Navy above certain ranks.

George Washington was elected the first President General of the Society. He served from December 1783 until his death in 1799. The second President General was Alexander Hamilton.

The Society of the Cincinnati continues to the present, and some call it "George Washington's secret society."

A specially commissioned [Society of the Cincinnati] "Eagle" worn by President General George Washington was presented to Marquis de Lafayette in 1824 during his grand tour of the United States. This badge remained in possession of the Lafayette family until sold at auction on December 11, 2007, for 5.3 million USD by Lafayette's great-great granddaughter. Together with what are believed to be the original ribbon and red leather box, the badge was purchased by the Josée and René de Chambrun Foundation for display in Lafayette's bedroom at Chateau La Grange, his former home, thirty miles east of Paris; it may also be displayed at Mount Vernon, Washington's former home in Virginia. This was one of three eagles known to have been owned by Washington, who most often wore the "diamond eagle," a diamond-encrusted badge given him by the French matelots (sailors). That diamond eagle continues to be passed down to each President General of the Society of the Cincinnati as part of his induction into office.

The Cincinnati Eagle is displayed in various places of public importance, including in Fountain Square in Cincinnati (named for the Society), Ohio, alongside the American and municipal flags. The flag of the Society displays blue and white stripes and a dark blue canton (containing a circle of 14 stars around the Cincinnati Eagle, representing the fourteen subsidiary societies, one each in the thirteen original States and France) in the upper corner next to the hoist. 

Mounds, Murders, and Mayhem

The mass shooting in Cincinnati's Fountain Square on September 6, 2018, caused some re-examination of the links between mass violence and mounds. Others have noted a connection between mounts and the Society of the Cincinnati.

Examples of Clinton in the news

The media-driven violence often pinpoints suicides and shootings in Clinton locations, just as they do with Fayette sites.

Almost exactly a year ago, on February 19, 2018, a "Clinton" location was the site of a dramatic suicide. A 26-year-old woman jumped from the 28th floor of a 39-story Hell’s Kitchen building at 6:50 a.m.. The woman, whose name was not released, plummeted from Clinton Towers on W. 54th St. at 11th Ave. and died at the scene.

Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas mass murderer, was born in Clinton, Iowa. On October 1, 2017, the death toll was 58 people being killed, over 500 injured. Police report the gunman, Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada, who was holded up on the 32th floor in the Mandalay Hotel, died by suicide.

Mass Transit Mass Deaths: April 7-9

On April 7, 2017, in Stockholm, Sweden, a ramming attack occurred when a hijacked truck was deliberately driven into a crowd at Drottninggatan (Queen St). Five were killed and 14 were seriously injured. The attack was similar to the Berlin attack of December 19, 2016, in which a truck was deliberately driven into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others. Not to mention Nice, France.

It was a busy weekend for mass deaths synced to mass transit of people, especially students.

(A)

On April 6, 2018, the Humboldt Broncos bus crash occurred. The bus collided with a truck near Armley, Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 15 people and injuring 14. It was headed for Nipawin, carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos, an ice hockey team that plays in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, as well as coaches and others associated with the team. The accident occurred when the passenger bus carrying the team collided with a tandem semi-trailer truck at the intersection of Highways 35 and 335 near Armley in the Rural Municipality of Connaught, Saskatchewan at approximately 5:00 p.m. CST.

(B)

On Saturday, on the first anniversary of the Stockholm attack, April 7, 2018, a man, 48-year-old German national named Jens R., drove a van into people seated outside restaurants in a pedestrian square in the old part of the German city of Münster. He killed two people and injured about 20 others, six seriously.

(C)

A shooter, identified as Raheem D. King, on a chartered coach bus shot and killed three fellow passengers with a rifle while the bus was traveling in Rockford, Illinois, early Saturday morning, April 7, 2018. King was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting, police said in a press release. About 3:30 a.m., officers were called to the 400 block of North Springfield Avenue for a report that several people had been shot. Officers from the Rockford Police Department found three people on the private limousine-style bus who had been shot to death.

(D)

On Sunday night, April 8, 2018, a charter bus carrying teenagers returning from a spring break trip struck a bridge overpass on Long Island, killing one, seriously injuring six passengers and mangling the entire length of the top of the bus. The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. on the Southern State Parkway in Lakeview, according to New York State Police. One of the six injured passengers had very serious injuries, said State Police Maj. David Candelaria. Thirty-seven other passengers suffered minor injuries.

(E)

On Monday, April 9, 2018, a Himalayan bus plunged 200 feet into a gorge after slipping off the road – killing at least 27 school children and three others. The 42-seater coach was owned by the private school Wazir Ram Singh Pathania and fell into a deep gorge in the Himalayan foothills in India. Children were heading home when the yellow bus crashed off the mountain road. Shocking pictures show a large crowd gathered around the stricken vehicle at the bottom of a steep slope. At least 27 students – all aged under 10 – have died along with two teachers and the bus drivers.