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May 22, ‘Brooklyn man pretending to be doctor, fraudulently treating patients’

May 22, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Good morning. Today is the 142nd day of the year.

 

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Luna Park in Coney Island is kicking off the summer season today with its annual celebration of the opening of the beaches starting at 11 a.m. In celebration of the holiday weekend, the new jaw-dropping Luna 360, which swings rider 360 degrees, will be open. … Brooklyn Bridge Park is also holding an opening ceremony, for Pier 2 and Pier 4 beach, at 3:30 p.m. today. Pier 2 features five acres of active recreation, including basketball, bocce and shuffleboard courts, and the Pier 4 beach is accessible as a launch for non-motorized boating.  Local pols will be turning out for the big opening event. … The third Celebrate Brooklyn!-sponsored dance party, featuring inspiring band Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars and DJs Chief Boima and Underdog, is today at 7 p.m. on Pier 2. There will also be a dance lesson at the opening of the party.

 

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Notable people born on this day include singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour, born in 1924; “Goodbye Columbus” actor Richard Benjamin, born in 1938; model Naomi Campbell, born in 1970; ”Big Love” actress Ginnifer Goodwin, born in 1978; Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, born 1957; and “Sunday in the Park” composer and conductor Peter Nero, who was born in Brooklyn in 1934.

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It is Canadian Immigrants’ Day, a holiday in Canada that celebrates and recognizes the contributions made by immigrants to Canada and functions as an opportunity to discuss Canadian immigration law and policy.

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Mary Cassatt was born on this day in 1844. A leading American artist of the Impressionist school, Cassatt was born in Pittsburgh and settled in Paris in 1874 where she was influenced by Degas and the Impressionists. She was later instrumental in their works and became well known in the U.S. The majority of her paintings and pastels were based on the theme of mother and child. After 1900 her eyesight began to fail, and by 1914 she was no longer able to paint.

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Today is the fifth annual Harvey Milk Day, a time to celebrate the life story, message and legacy of civil rights leader Harvey Milk.

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“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” premiered on this day in 1967. Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers hosted this long-running PBS children’s program, where puppets and human characters interacted in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Rogers voiced many of the puppets and educated young viewers on a variety of important subjects. The last episodes of the program were made in 2001. Almost 1,000 episodes were produced over the show’s history. Rogers died in 2003.

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The Grand Prix de Monaco starts today and lasts until May 25. The thrilling Formula 1 race is one of the premier sporting events in the world.

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It is National Maritime Day, first established by presidential proclamation in 1933.

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It is World Goth Day, a day on which the goth scene gets to celebrate and make its presence known to the rest of the world. This day was first observed in the UK in 2009.

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It is a public holiday today in Yemen, to commemorate the reunification of Yemen in 1990.

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On this day in 1900 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article about a Brooklyn man who was pretending to be a doctor and fraudulently treating patients. “‘Dr.’ Walter C. Falk of 635 Herkimer [S]treet [in Bedford-Stuyvesant] was arraigned in the Gates [A]venue police court this morning charged with [practicing] medicine without being a duly registered physician,” the Eagle reported. “The complaint was made by Joseph Brandes of 1742 Atlantic [A]venue, who said he had been treated by Falk. Detective Stack, who made the arrest, had a list of a half dozen or more persons who said that Falk had represented himself to them as being a physician.

“Falk said that he came to Brooklyn from Auburn last September and admitted that he had been warned to leave that town by physicians there, who discovered that he had been practicing without a license. He asserted that he was graduated from a medical college in Paris, but said that his diploma was in Havre, France. Detective Stack found in Falk’s room a chest full of bottles, containing compounds supposed to be drugs. Falk pleaded that he did not know that he was violating the law; he said that what practicing he had done had been done in a friendly way. Judge Brenner thought that the ‘doctor’ was guilty and held him for the Special Sessions.”

 

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