February 7: ON THIS DAY in 1934, riots force out Paris cabinet

February 7, 2019 Meaghan McGoldrick

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ON THIS DAY IN 1905, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Thomas Adams, the inventor of the chewing gum made of chicle, extracted from zapote, a Mexican tree, died at his home, 314 Washington Ave., this morning at 12:40, of pneumonia, superinduced by old age … Mr. Adams was born in New York City on May 4, 1818 and during the Civil War was a photographer, by appointment, in the Army of the Potomac. He took many of the photographs which are now famous … After the close of the war Mr. Adams experimented in chicle, with such success that he was able to introduce it on the market, in competition with the spruce chewing gum so popular a generation ago … With the aid of improved machinery and advanced methods, he was able to control almost the entire chewing gum market in this country … Mr. Adams came to Brooklyn in 1877 and retired from business in 1898, the business being afterward conducted by a corporation of which he was a director.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported from East Patchogue, L.I., “The end of the world has not come yet, but it is coming. It is coming fast. Robert Reidt, ‘Prophet of Doom,’ has not yet been vouchsafed a sight of the heavenly signal to start for the rallying place for the ‘Brides of the Lamb,’ but others of the 144,000 elect already have. These even now have seen the blinding beam of light in the sky and the black cloud bringing Christ a second time to earth and bringing destruction to the earth and the inhabitants thereof. So the prophet believed last night, despite a skeptical crowd outside his shack — a crowd which laughed and jeered when midnight arrived and the world wagged on as usual.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1934, Eagle reporter O.R. Pilat wrote, “Paris, Feb. 7 — The swelling growl of mob fury is an awful thing. I heard its roar redouble unexpectedly early this afternoon despite the resignation of the Daladier ministry. The latest street battles were fought this afternoon in the Place de la Concorde and the Boulevard Madeleine shortly before 5 p.m., or noon, New York time. I was walking in front of the American Embassy, which faces the Place de la Concorde, and, with hundreds of other spectators, was caught in the first clash. I saw Communists stab the horses of guards with broken steel and glass, saw home-made bombs exploded in front of the horsemen and heard women shriek: ‘Kill them! Hang them! Assassins! Thieves!’ I saw blood streaming from face cuts inflicted by the sabers of the mounted guards. I was watching the mob set fire to buses and pull up trees and wreck benches to build barricades when the foot police charged. The group with me, including many curious pedestrians, was cut off in a mad rush down the Rue Rivoli.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “London, Feb. 7 (UP) — Queen Elizabeth II, dressed in black but showing no other sign of her sorrow, came home today to assume the British throne. The arrival of the girl who went away a week ago a Princess and returned a Queen climaxed a grueling 22-hour flight from Nairobi, Kenya, where yesterday she received the news of the death of King George VI. Her face calm and her bearing regal, the 25-year-old sovereign spent less than five minutes receiving Prime Minister Winston Churchill, her uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and a dozen other of Britain’s ‘greats’ who were waiting for her at London airport. Each addressed her as ‘Your Majesty.’ The queen spoke a few words to the captain and stewardess of the plane which rushed her home from East Africa and stepped into a gleaming limousine to be sped to London. There, Britain’s first queen since Victoria faced among her first duties the arranging of the funeral of her father.”