January 15: ON THIS DAY in 1944, Hull warns of Nazi power to cross sea if British lose

January 15, 2019 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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ON THIS DAY IN 1857, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “There is more ice in the East River at the present time than there has been for years previous; not because the weather has been unusually cold, but because there have been no strong winds. A stiff north wind would blow most of the ice out to sea so far that the tide would not float it back, but now all the ice that accumulates remains inside the Narrows.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1900, the Eagle reported, “’Dracula’ by Bram Stoker is the name of a book from the pen of the accomplished manager of the Lyceum Theater, London, and of the dramatic companies headed by Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. The publishers are the Doubleday & McClure Company, New York, and the chaste and attractive work of the printer and binder is a worthy setting of the clear thought, the weird imagination and the reverential spirit of a volume of originality, interest and power. The story has been issued both in Great Britain and America for several weeks, but more than acknowledgement of its appearance has not yet been made in many quarters, for it requires, while it rewards, very careful reading, since its point of view or of treatment is novel, profound and startling.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Eagle reported, “About twenty sailors were reported to have been killed when a submarine exploded in the Brooklyn Navy Yard early this afternoon. The submarine was tied up at her pier when gases exploded in the forward tanks. Marines and sailors from other ships in the yard formed rescue parties, but most of those in the submarine were killed without a chance for their lives. There have been three submarines in the yard being repaired and it is reported that it is one of the later models which has exploded. Ambulances from the Navy Hospital and also from the city hospitals were hurried to the yard as soon as the authorities had been told of the accident. The name of the submarine is said to be the E-2.”

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ALSO ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Eagle reported, “The celebration of the opening of the Fourth Avenue Subway Extension to Eighty-sixth Street was formally inaugurated this afternoon when the first train left the Municipal Building with a party of 600 on board, including the officials and prominent businessmen of Bay Ridge. The official train left Manhattan at 2 o’clock and arrived at the Eighty-sixth Street station ten minutes after. The party proceeded to the Bay Ridge High School to witness the greatest pageant ever held in Bay Ridge. ‘Bay Ridge, Past, Present and Future’ is the theme of the pageant which has been arranged by the celebration committee. The participants have been drilled by Miss Maude Skill and Dr. W.D. Davis. Three hundred school children have parts.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “Washington, Jan. 15 (AP) — Summoning the nation to ‘invoke the law of self-defense before it is too late,’ Secretary of State [Cordell] Hull urged upon Congress today the enactment of legislation for unlimited supplies of war materials to Britain and other nations battling a ‘world movement of conquest.’ Hull testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in support of President [Franklin] Roosevelt’s lend-lease bill. He was the first witness on this historic legislation and he express the belief it was ‘absolutely necessary’ to the nation’s defense. In a statement of 3,500 words, he also said that if the Atlantic Ocean fell ‘into German control,’ it would ‘offer little or no assurance of security. Were Britain defeated and were she to lose command of the seas, Germany could easily cross the Atlantic, especially the South Atlantic, unless we were ready and able to do what Britain is doing now.’”