April 17: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1917, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Washington, April 17 — A German submarine today fired on the destroyer Smith about 100 miles south of New York, somewhere off the Jersey coast. The presence of enemy submarines in American waters indicates that the threatened German submarine blockade of American Atlantic ports has begun. This announcement was made at the Navy Department: ‘Reported from Fire Island Lightship to the naval stations at Boston and New York at 8:30 a.m. on the 17th, an enemy submarine was sighted by the U.S.S. Smith, running apparently submerged. The submarine fired a torpedo at the U.S.S. Smith, which missed her by thirty yards. The wake of the torpedo was plainly seen crossing the bow. Submarine disappeared.’ … The attack by the U-boat is Germany’s first recognition of the state of war declared by the United States.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “They smiled politely back in 1908 when Sarah Stephenson was proposed for membership in the Brooklyn Bar Association. Sara Stephenson shrugged and smiled with them. In fact, she was known through the years to laugh when the subject came up and she even drew a chuckle now and then from some of the staid male lawyers around town who couldn’t help joining in the fun she made even though they thought woman’s place was not in the Brooklyn Bar Association. Well, today it’s all over. Sarah Stephenson, after 32 years, has become a member of the Brooklyn Bar Association … She was the first woman in Brooklyn to open her own law office. She spent 18 years at 16 Court St. until the building was torn down to make way for a skyscraper. Then she moved to 44 Court St., where she spent 11 months before moving on to her present office at 50 Court St. The American Bar Association saw fit to admit her as a member in 1919. The New York State Bar Association had taken her in a few years earlier … At last, on March 14, the Brooklyn Bar Association let down its barriers and voted to admit women to membership.”
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