History Brooklyn Boro

July 31, birthdays for J.K. Rowling, Lil Uzi Vert, Evgeni Malkin

July 31, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
J.K. Rowling. Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
J.K. Rowling. Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
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Greetings, Brooklyn.  Today is the 211th day of the year.

 

On this day in 1857, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Two young sharks, one measuring 8 1-2 and other 7 1-2 feet long, were captured in the East River, near Fulton ferry slip, about 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. They were soon dragged ashore and dressed, and today they will probably be sold as specimens of the delicate fish of the season. Boys who bathe near the city should keep a sharp look out for these big-mouthed monsters. This morning two more sharks were caught near the same place, one of which measured 10 feet long.”

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On this day in 1871, the Eagle reported, “Yesterday at 1:35 p.m., as the steamboat Westfield, of the Staten Island Ferry, was leaving the dock at Whitehall slip, the boiler of the steamer exploded, killing 23 persons and scalding and wounding some 150 others. Many of the wounded have since died … The passengers were crowded on the promenade deck, just over the boiler, to get the fresh air. Some few had gone to the rear to look for friends, when a low, rumbling sound, like distant thunder, broke on the air and instantly a dense volume of steam rushed through the boat.”

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On this day in 1875, the Eagle reported, “The telegraph announces that, at 2 a.m. today, [former President] Andrew Johnson exchanged worlds. He went down under the stroke of paralysis in the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Brown, in Carter County, Tennessee … His last words were characteristic of the life he had lived: ‘Let my winding sheet be the flag of my country.’ The demise of this man will stir to personal sorrow every American citizen.”

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On this day in 1909, the Eagle reported, “Washington, July 31 — Orville Wright traveled 47.431 miles an hour in his flight yesterday in returning from the Alexandria end of the course to Fort Myer … His speed to Alexandria from the Fort Myer end of the course was 37.735 miles an hour, making his average 42.583. The Wright brothers will receive $30,000 for the aeroplane, $5,000 of which is the bonus for excess in speed over the contract requirement … Orville Wright’s great flight last evening, in which he took Lieutenant Benjamin D. Foulois over the 10-mile course from Fort Myer to Alexandria and return at a speed of more than 42 miles an hour, has amazed the Army and Navy officials. They contend that the accomplishments of the cross-country flight demonstrated thoroughly the availability of the aeroplane for use in warfare.”

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On this day in 1914, the Eagle reported, “A general European war seems inevitable. The Kaiser today issued a proclamation declaring Germany under martial law. The Hamburg-American and Lloyd lines have suspended the sailings of all their transatlantic steamers. The Imperator, due to sail from Germany tomorrow, will be kept in port. The Vaterland, due to sail from New York tomorrow, will be kept here. Germany fears their seizure by England. There is a run on the Bank of England, due to the failure of English banks to make payments in full in gold. The Kaiser has sent Prince Henry of Prussia on a confidential mission to the Czar, in a last hope of averting war. The New York Stock Exchange was closed today, the second time this has occurred in its history. All exchanges in the world are closed today.”

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On this day in 1953, the Eagle reported, “Sen. Robert A. Taft, ‘Mr. Republican,’ whose party never gave him a chance to run for the presidency his father had held, died today of cancer in New York Hospital. The 63-year-old senior senator from Ohio was the victim of a lingering illness … His death removed from the political scene the key figure supporting President [Dwight] Eisenhower in the Senate and a tower of strength in the first Republican administration since the early 1930s. His wife, Martha, his counselor and companion through a third of a century of politics, was forced by her own illness to remain in Washington. She visited him Tuesday but stayed only the one day. Mrs. Taft has been confined to a wheelchair since suffering a stroke three years ago. The team of ‘Bob and Martha’ — the quiet, brilliant husband and the vivacious, witty wife who took the platform with him in campaign years — was separated at the end.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor DEAN CAIN, who was born in 1966; actress GERALDINE CHAPLIN, who was born in 1944; actress SUSAN FLANNERY, who was born in 1943; Hall of Fame tennis player EVONNE GOOLAGONG, who was born in 1951; singer GARY LEWIS, who was born in 1946; hockey player EVGENI MALKIN, who was born in 1986; actor DON MURRAY, who was born in 1929; actress FRANCE NUYEN, who was born in 1939; former football player JONATHAN OGDEN, who was born in 1974; actor RICO RODRIGUEZ, who was born in 1998; author J.K. ROWLING, who was born in 1965; and actor WESLEY SNIPES, who was born in 1962.

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FRANCIS SALVADOR WAS BORN ON THIS DAY 1776. He was the first Jewish person to die in the American Revolution and the first elected to office in Colonial America. Salvador was voted a member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress in January 1775. He died a year later in North Carolina.

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MILTON FRIEDMAN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1912. The Brooklyn-born Nobel Prize-winning economist, teacher and author, Friedman became a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, where he did some of his best-known work. The Chicago School, of which he was a member with like-minded scholars, promulgated influential free-market theories. Friedman died in California in 2006.

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THE U.S. PATENT OFFICE OPENED ON THIS DAY IN 1790. The first patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a new method of making pearlash and potash. The patent was signed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY will host “Book Talk: ‘Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World’” tonight at 6:30 p.m. From the smog-belching smokestacks of Europe’s Industrial Revolution to the outsourced manufacturing cities of today, the factory has come to define the modern world. Distinguished professor of history at Queens College Joshua B. Freeman will assemble the wide-ranging effects heavy industry has had on society, including labor relations, consumption patterns, environmental issues, post-industrial landscapes and more in this discussion of his latest book. This event will be presented in connection with the exhibition “The Business of Brooklyn.” For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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

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“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” — J.K. Rowling, who was born on this day in 1965

 


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