Brooklyn Boro

May 8: ON THIS DAY in 1937, Navy starts secret quiz in Zeppelin blast

May 8, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle
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ON THIS DAY IN 1908, the Eagle reported, “Thirty-four bids for the construction of the six sections into which the Fourth Avenue subway is divided were made by sixteen different contracting firms when the Public Service Commission opened bids at noon today. The bids in each instance are very near the cost estimated by the engineers of the commission. A tabulation of the six lowest bids for the construction of the subway proper and the pipe galleries shows an aggregate cost of $15,233,522.90. The estimated cost of the subway as figured out by Chief Engineer Seaman was $15,000,000. Only one contractor, William Bradley, bid on the construction of the entire route. Chairman Wilcox announced after all the bids had been read and received that the engineering department of the commission would investigate each and make a report upon which the awards of the contracts will be made within the time prescribed by the rapid transit act.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1930, the Eagle reported, “Sholapur, Bombay, India, May 8 (AP) — Twenty-seven or more police and natives were killed in desperate rioting which, starting last night, was resumed at dawn today and had resulted at noon in seizure of this city of 120,000 inhabitants by the adherents of Mahatma Gandhi. Resisting the local authorities, who had forbidden their assemblage, the angry natives maintained attacks which threw the city into chaos. The local police were powerless. Citizen reserves who joined them soon were thrown back by the rioters. Troops rushed into this textile community likewise proved unable to cope with the situation.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “Lakehurst, May 8 (AP) — ‘Happy Landings’ gifts for travelers aboard the ill-fated Hindenburg lay unclaimed today in the office of the American Zeppelin Transport Company. Gloom hung like a pall over the Naval air base despite bright sunshine that filtered through the blackened skeleton of the once luxurious silver-gleaming dirigible. Armed sentries kept the curious public at a distance from the U.S. Naval Air Station, and only officials and the press were permitted to approach close enough to see the fallen queen of the skies. In the Zeppelin office, the walls were still bright with colored posters of the Hindenburg sailing majestically through pastel skies over the towers of Manhattan. ‘Two days to Germany,’ they proclaimed.”

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ALSO ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “French Lick, Ind., May 8 (AP) – The vivacious, flaming-haired girl who once held a place symbolizing the flapper era on the motion picture screen will likely never meet the public eye from the films again. The girl, Clara Bow, one-time ‘it’ girl of the movies, but now a contented wife of a cowboy-actor-rancherman, and the mother of a 28 months’ old son, gave up her last chance to emerge from retirement by turning down a test for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in the film version of ‘Gone With the Wind.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Washington, May 8 (U.P.) – This is President Truman’s 61st birthday. The president planned nothing elaborate. Just ending the war with Germany, a worldwide radio broadcast and a dozen or so conferences with government leaders. In the late afternoon he will go over to his residential quarters in the White House and have a birthday dinner with his wife, daughter and some close friends. Maybe after dinner he will play a few favorite tunes on the piano. This was actually the president’s first full day in the White House. The Trumans moved into the redecorated White House late yesterday. He made one of the most historic broadcasts ever given by a president at 9 a.m., announcing the official end of the war with Germany.”

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