MILESTONES: April 13, birthdays for Baron Davis, Ty Dolla $ign, Hunter Pence

Brooklyn Today

April 13, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Baron Davis. Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 103rd day of the year.

On April 15, 1940, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “As the clock climbed up for 3 Sunday morning in Toronto’s Royal York Hotel, a noisy roomful of the Ranger family was passing around the historic Stanley Cup. Brimming with champagne, it was like an olden wassail bowl. Off to one side, a satisfied smile at last wiping off the lines of worry that had scarred his face all week, sat [general manager] Lester Patrick … As they scatter to various corners this week, they go with the knowledge that they are Grandpa Patrick’s royal family of hockey and that they will stay that way. There are no malcontents, no weak links, no men marked for departure.”

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On this day in 1861, the Eagle reported, “The contest, which in all probability is to carry desolation throughout the land, has commenced. The news from Fort Sumter has inflicted a painful shock on every lover of his country and every friend of popular government. Unless the people shake off the lethargy that seems to paralyze their faculties, and arrest the uplifted hand of fratricidal slaughter, we are destined to rush upon a future of anarchy and ruin, to be succeeded by the creation of an indefinite number of warring and discordant communities.”

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On this day in 1865, the Eagle reported, “Now that the pecuniary responsibilities of the war are ended — so far as localities are concerned — a brief statement of the cost of the war to this county, from its commencement to the present time, will not be out of place … a grand total of $5,271,185.83 … The number of men furnished by this county from the commencement of the war to the present day is variously estimated. The lowest estimates put it at 30,000, and highest estimates at 35,000.”

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On this day in 1878, the Eagle reported, “Nothing if not sensational, William Marcy Tweed was dramatic even in dying. He on whose cell door was inscribed ‘Statesman — No Religion’ whispered as last words to his physician — whom in his days of power he had made health officer of the Port of New York — ‘I have tried to do some good, if I have not had good luck. I am not afraid to die. I believe the guardian angels will protect me.’”

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On this day in 1943, the Eagle reported, “President Roosevelt rededicated the nation to the democratic ideals of Thomas Jefferson today … Speaking at the new, gleaming Jefferson Memorial on the 200th anniversary of the third president’s birth, Mr. Roosevelt drew parallels between the issues of Jefferson’s day and those now at stake in World War II. ‘He faced the fact that men who will not fight for liberty can lose it,’ the president said. ‘We too have faced that fact … He loved peace and he loved liberty — yet on more than one occasion he was forced to choose between them. We, too, have been compelled to make that choice.”

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On this day in 1945, the Eagle reported from Warm Springs, Georgia, “Franklin D. Roosevelt leaves at 11 a.m. today on his last journey to the White House. His body rests in a copper-lined, mahogany casket … Mrs. Roosevelt, bearing her sorrow bravely, flew here to make the journey back to Washington … Those who arranged for the departure here made certain that the patients at Warm Springs — like him victims of infantile paralysis — would have a chance to say goodbye to the man who was their champion and inspiration. They arranged it so the procession to the train would drive slowly past Georgia Hall, the main building of the foundation and the first place the president always went when he came here. The patients will be lined up in their wheelchairs.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include singer PEABO BRYSON, who was born in 1951; musician JACK CASADY, who was born in 1944; U.S. Sen. ROBERT CASEY, who was born in 1960; Oscar Award-winning composer BILL CONTI, who was born in 1942; basketball player BARON DAVIS, who was born in 1979; actor TONY DOW, who was born in 1945; hockey player SERGEI GONCHAR, who was born in 1974; singer AL GREEN, who was born in 1946; chess player GARY KASPAROV, who was born in 1963; golfer DAVIS LOVE III, who was born in 1964; actor RON PERLMAN, who was born in 1950; actress SAUNDRA SANTIAGO, who was born in 1957; actor RICK SCHRODER, who was born in 1970; actor PAUL SORVINO, who was born in Brooklyn in 1939; actor LYLE WAGGONER, who was born in 1935; and musician MAX M. WEINBERG, who was born in 1951.

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TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF GEORGE HANDEL’S “MESSIAH.” In a charity performance at the New Musick Hall in Ireland in 1742, the composer sat at the harpsichord and conducted the first concert of his masterpiece “Messiah.” This sacred oratorio became Handel’s most popular work and has been performed every year since 1742. Newspapers of the day anticipated the popularity of the first performance and asked women not to wear hoops under their skirts and men not to wear swords so that 700 people could fit into a hall designed for 600.

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THOMAS JEFFERSON WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1743. The third president of the U.S. and the second vice president was born in Virginia. Jefferson, who died in Virginia in 1826, wrote his own epitaph: “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom and father of the University of Virginia.”

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“SILENT SPRING” WAS PUBLISHED ON THIS DAY IN 1962. Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” warned humankind that for the first time in history, every person is subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals from conception until death. Carson painted a vivid picture of how chemicals — used in many ways, but particularly in pesticides — have upset the balance of nature, undermining the survival of countless species. This popular and influential book was a soft-spoken battle cry to protect our natural surroundings. Its publication signaled the beginning of the environmental movement.

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BUTCH CASSIDY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1866. The notorious outlaw robbed banks and trains throughout the American West during the late 1800s with “the Wild Bunch” — a gang that teamed him with Harry Longabaugh (“the Sundance Kid”). Under pressure from Pinkerton agents, Cassidy and Sundance fled to South America in the early 1900s. Details of Cassidy’s death are uncertain, but many believe he was killed in Bolivia in 1908 while attempting to rob a mine station.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” — Thomas Jefferson, who was born on this day in 1743