22nd March 1957, Friday

[Graeme]

Day number 8110Site Date Map

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[Private Presley]

March 22, 1957, Elvis cruised Memphis in his 1956 Continental Mark II. In a parking lot across the street from the Hotel Chisca, fans gathered around the car to talk to him. An 18 year-old Marine private originally from St. Louis, Hershel Nixon, went up to Presley and apparently said, "You bumped into my wife as she walked out of a restaurant about two months ago. She told me all about it." Assuming the guy was trying to start a fight, Presley pulled the gun you see in the photo, actually just a Hollywood prop pistol that only shoots blanks. He asked "You don't want to start any trouble with me, do you?" Elvis later claimed he thought the marine knew it wasn't a real gun. But made a stir in the papers, and so on Monday 3-25-1957 Elvis sent Hershel a long telegram apologizing for the incident.

[ColinB]

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