July 17: ON THIS DAY in 1918, Germans gain south of Marne

July 17, 2020 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1849, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The death of the venerable Mrs. [Dolley] Madison has awakened a sentiment of profound regret, especially in Virginia, where she had always been held in high esteem. Nothing was more natural or more likely to happen; but still the departure of one, who for half a century, had been the center of social attraction, and the subject of so much admiration, could not but be seriously felt. Mrs. Madison was about eighty-four years of age and had enjoyed almost uninterrupted health, the fruit of a good constitution and a cheerful temper. She gave grace and dignity to society in Washington, for some sixteen years, while her distinguished husband was secretary of state and president.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Eagle reported, “PARIS — Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt, youngest son of the former president, has been killed in an air fight, the semi-official Havas News Agency announces. His machine fell into the enemy lines. It was not in flames when it fell. Philip Roosevelt, Quentin’s cousin, witnessed the air battle in the vicinity of Chateau-Thierry, in which Quentin was engaged, and saw the machine fall, but did not know until later that the airplane was that of his cousin, Le Journal says today. Roosevelt was last seen in combat on Sunday morning with two enemy airplanes about ten miles inside the German lines in the Chateau-Thierry sector. He started out with a patrol of thirteen American machines. They encountered seven Germans and were chasing them back when two of them turned on Lieutenant Roosevelt.” It was also reported, from Oyster Bay, L.I., “Colonel [Theodore] Roosevelt learned that his son Quentin was missing through press dispatches this morning. He had nothing to say at this time, but would make a statement later.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “One of the largest crowds of the season will sit in tonight to see if Southpaw Al Smith can stop the great Joe DiMaggio, whose continuous hitting streak reached the 56-game mark yesterday.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “CHICAGO (U.P.) — Chicago Times correspondent Vincent De Pascal has reported from Montevideo that he is ‘virtually certain’ Adolf Hitler and his sweetheart, Eva Braun, are in hiding in a German-owned estate in Southern Argentina. His dispatch was carried in yesterday’s final edition of the Times. ‘From information just received from Buenos Aires,’ De Pascal wrote, ‘I am virtually certain Adolf Hitler and his ‘wife,’ Eva Braun, the latter dressed in masculine clothes, landed in Argentina and are on an immense, German-owned estate in Patagonia.’ De Pascal’s information, which he said was received through ‘reliable channels,’ was that the onetime master of Germany was living on one of a number of estates in the desolate Patagonia area ‘purchased to provide sanctuaries for the Nazi overlords if, and when, their schemes for world conquest went awry.’ De Pascal said that the pair reportedly landed on a lonely shore from a German submarine which later surrendered to the Allies. De Pascal wrote that there ‘certainly are enough Nazi sympathizers in Argentina who would jump at the chance to give a haven to the living symbol of Nazi socialism.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “BREUKELEN, NETHERLANDS — Benjamin H. Namm, president of Namm Loeser’s department store in Brooklyn, N.Y., today presented to the people of this town on behalf of the Society of Old Brooklynites a bronze eagle, ‘a token of Brooklyn’s good will for Breukelen.’ The presentation commemorates the 308th anniversary of the founding of Brooklyn by Dutch settlers from this town and the 300th anniversary of the establishment of organized religious worship in Brooklyn. The gift bears the inscription, ‘To the people of Breukelen, Netherlands, from the Society of Old Brooklynites, U.S.A.’ Mr. Namm, a member of the society, told a group of townspeople who witnessed the presentation that the society felt sure the gift ‘will serve to cement the bonds of kinship that already link our two communities, Breukelen and Brooklyn.’ He pointed out that the eagle was an ‘emblem of our national spirit of liberty that we inherited from our Dutch forbears.’”