June 2: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1860, a Brooklyn Daily Eagle editorial said, “A couple of rails said to have been split by ‘Honest Old Abe,’ thirty years ago, have been sent into market, not for firewood but to be cut up in splinters for crazy Republicans to go in extacies over, like a devotee over a genuine piece of wood from Noah’s ark. The Atlantic cable charms will have to make way for Lincoln rails, made into tooth-picks. Fortunately, rails are a plentiful commodity, and the demand can be supplied at moderate rates. If the sacred touch of Abe is needed to sanctify them for all true believers in the irrepressible conflict, Lincoln might realize his expenses by wood chopping between this and November; it would be more profitable, as well as a much safer and easier course than making speeches or writing letters.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1921, the Eagle reported, “TULSA, OKLA. (A.P.) — Outwardly, Tulsa resumed its normal atmosphere today except for the presence, under a martial law proclamation, of approximately 500 Oklahoma National Guardsmen sent here yesterday after many hours of rioting between Negroes and white men, including a night of incendiarism in which virtually the entire Negro quarter was destroyed with a loss of $1,500,000. Shortly before 10 o’clock, Adjt. Gen. C.F. Barrett announced that the number of state troops here would be reduced today to 250, with the lifting of martial law, depending on the apparent ability of city and county authorities to cope with conditions. As the situation rapidly quieted down today, the estimates of killed and wounded dwindled. Nine white men had been identified today and 15 Negroes were accounted for. Basis for estimates that still ranged as high as 40 Negroes dead was the possibility of an unknown number of bodies having been destroyed when the torch was applied to the Negro residence district. Casual search of the quarter failed to disclose additional bodies or bones today, but a thorough search by the guardsmen was planned for later in the day.”
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.