April 3: ON THIS DAY in 1953, 5,000 hail Korea vets

April 3, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

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ON THIS DAY IN 1845, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “’Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. – By Mrs. Mary W. Shelley, wife of Percival Bysshe Shelly, the Poet.’ This is the title of a book just published by H.G. Daggers, 30 Ann St., N.Y., as No. 1 of his ‘New Library Standard of Novels.’ It is highly praised by foreign reviewers.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1868, the Eagle reported, “The trial of the President, under the frivolous charges preferred against him, has ceased to attract attention at Washington even as a ‘show.’ The managers have nothing to present but the oft-told story, which is fading into nothing as it is exposed to judicial scrutiny … One of two things is certain: President Johnson will be acquitted or, if convicted, law, justice and decency will be disregarded.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1883, the Eagle reported, “Washington Irving’s Centennial. – One hundred years ago today, one of the purest and pleasantest of modern authors first saw the light in the City of New York. That metropolis was then a much smaller and less complex place than it is today. It had moreover more of the England of olden time in its manners and social atmosphere than it has today. Although the Revolutionary war had ended, and the states had won for themselves independence of Great Britain and a Federal Union, yet New York was the last city in America to lose the flavor of defunct loyalty and to throw off the semblance of monarchical institutions. Some of her best citizens, it may readily be acknowledged after this lapse of time, had suffered the loss of all things rather than give up their hereditary fealty to the Crown of England … It was in accordance with this condition of the social atmosphere that the genial spirit who was born on the 3rd of April, 1783, should be of all American writers the most English in his thoughts and feelings. “

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “Police and city crews today moved in on the second floor of the junk-filled mansion, last floor to be searched in the quest for Langley Collyer, 61, missing brother of Homer, 65, found dead in the house two weeks ago. The basement and parlor floors have already yielded an amazing total of junk, and the third floor had been searched by police before the Public Administrator took over the house under a court order. According to a police theory, if Langley is found at all it will be on the second floor, and if he is not found there the disappearance will remain an unsolved mystery. And the junk is truly amazing. Yesterday four more old pianos were discovered, bringing that total to 14. Also found were two violins, two organs and scores of ancient phonograph records, these highlighted by one called ‘Bugle Calls,’ by Chief Trumpeter Cassi of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. To date 51 tons of rubbish have been removed. Many searchers say that Langley may have been caught in one of the many booby traps which were placed at frequent intervals in the mansion.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “Five thousand waving and cheering civilians and a band playing ‘Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here’ greeted the troop transport General William Weigel as it docked today at the Brooklyn Army Base with 2,238 officers and enlisted men, the first to be returned direct to the East Coast from Korea and Japan. There were 61 Brooklynites aboard – among them a soldier who has never seen his baby. Under a brilliant spring sun, the gray 18,000-ton transport slowly moved into its slip at Pier 1, 58th St., and soldiers leaned over the rail and called down to relatives. Many of the welcomers carried home-made placards for identification purposes. Some read: ‘Welcome home, Chuck,’ ‘Here we are, Danny,’ and ‘Brooklyn’s own Willie Cohen.’ … The soldiers, many of them veterans of bloody battles in Korea, will be processed at Camp Kilmer and sent home on 30-day leaves. Some will be discharged and others reassigned.”