September 23: ON THIS DAY in 1949, Russians set off A-bomb blast

September 23, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1904, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Butte, Mont. — The death of Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perces, closes the career of one of the greatest figures in the early days of Indian campaigning in Montana. Chief Joseph sprang into prominence as a result of a raid made by the Nez Perces under him in 1877 when, with about 300 of his followers, Chief Joseph, making desperate efforts to resist the encroachments of the whites upon his lands in Willowa Valley, Idaho, went upon the warpath massacring the settlers in Willowa Valley. Chief Joseph’s last battle was in the Bear Paw Mountains, where he was trapped by General Nelson A. Miles. It was this battle that brought General Miles prominently before the public.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Eagle reported, “Charles H. Ebbets today received notice from ‘100 Royal Rooters’ from Fulton Market that unless he revises downward his scale of prices for the World Series games in Brooklyn he ‘can rest assured that not another ‘red copper’ will flow into Ebbets’ coffers from the renowned Royal Rooters.’ Declarations to the same effect were received today by the Eagle from a number of other Brooklyn fans … The Royal Rooters construe the high scale of prices as ‘taking advantage of a town that has gone baseball mad,’ and asked the Eagle to publish their letter so that ‘thousands of other loyal baseball fans will be inspired to protest vigorously.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Eagle reported, “Police late yesterday announced they had traced some of the Lindbergh ransom notes to a payment made last December for a steamship ticket by Bruno Hauptmann’s furrier friend, Isadore Fische, who then sailed for Europe and subsequently died in Leipzig. The investigators were inclined to the view that either Fische was an accomplice of the German carpenter jailbird, Hauptmann, in the kidnapping, or that the notes represented money which Fische borrowed from his friend. Hauptmann’s story is that the $13,750 in ransom notes found in his Bronx garage had been ‘left’ him by Fische in packages, and that he did not know until three weeks ago that they contained money.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “Chicago (UP) — Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, presided last night over the official celebration of the canonization of the first American saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Approximately 100,000 persons gathered in Soldier Field during the sixth annual Holy Hour to commemorate the elevation of Mother Frances Cabrini, Italian-American nun who worked among the poor in the Chicago slums until her death in 1917. She was canonized last July … Before the holy hour, a historic pageant depicting the career of Mother Cabrini was presented before the altar, over which was erected a 75-foot portrait of the new saint.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “Washington (UP) — President [Harry] Truman today shattered the illusion of an American A-bomb monopoly with announcement that the Russians recently set off an atomic explosion. His brief, calmly phrased disclosure also exploded the widely held notion that the United States still had several years of grace before the Soviet giant could produce the most destructive weapon ever made by man. The announcement was made simultaneously in London by Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Most U.S. defense officials had put the deadline year, when America’s cold war enemy finally would be poised for an all-out atomic armaments race, at 1951 at the earliest. Not before 1952, they said, could Russia begin to manufacture nuclear weapons in quantity. The president gave no indication as to whether Russia has got to the place where she can manufacture A-bombs. He did not indicate whether U.S. intelligence knows the extent of Russia’s atomic developments. But he told the people: ‘We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the U.S.S.R.’”