June 4: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 4, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1908, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “PARIS — The canonization today of Emile Zola at the Pantheon was marred by a dastardly, though unsuccessful, attempt upon the life of Major Alfred Dreyfus. Paris was thrown into a state of panic, for it was at first thought that the president of the republic had been shot down. The major was wounded in the hand, and his assailant is a prisoner. Emile Zola, who died in September, 1902, was ten years ago twice condemned to a year’s imprisonment for addressing to Felix Faure, then president of France, the famous letter ‘J’accuse,’ in which he laid bare the conspiracy in the general army staff against Major Dreyfus. Today he was canonized with national honors in the Pantheon, the French temple of fame, with impressive ceremonies.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1921, the Eagle reported, “Resolutions calling upon the United States Senate for a speedy and thorough investigation of the recent race riots in Tulsa, Okla., were adopted by the Admiral Philip Camp, No. 18, United Spanish War Veterans, colored, at a meeting last evening in Room 13, Boro Hall. Members of the camp condemned the slaying of members of their race and urged not only the punishment of the guilty parties but the enactment of laws to prevent a reoccurrence of the ghastly spectacle. Arthur J. Olmstead, past commander of Capron Camp, U.S.W.V., told of the great need for a campaign of Americanization to combat the spirit of Bolshevism. Com. Clarence J. Holland presided.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1939, the Eagle reported, “CLEVELAND (A.P.) — Manager Joe McCarthy and first baseman Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees said today they were undecided when Gehrig would go to the Mayo Clinic for a physical checkup. They added, however, the Yanks’ visit to Chicago for a series starting June 7 probably would offer a good opportunity. Gehrig’s plans to go to the Rochester, Minn., hospital became known here Thursday but at first were denied by the ‘Iron Man,’ who recently dropped out of the Yankee lineup after playing 2,130 consecutive games.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “DOORN, HOLLAND (U.P.) — Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, 82, last of Germany’s Hohenzollern emperors, died at 11:30 a.m. today at Doorn House. Once the mightiest ruler of the Eastern Hemisphere, warlord of the last war and a figure of world power for 30 years, he had suffered an embolism of the lung during the night. His end was sudden but peaceful. He had suffered a cold and an internal ailment which sapped his strength and kept him indoors at his estate, where he had spent most of the more than 20 years since, on Nov. 20, 1918, he fled across the Netherlands frontier from Germany, with a few faithful officers, and surrendered his sword to a Dutch general … Wilhelm, once the symbol of Prussian militarism, had remained in exile, embittered for years because of charges that it was he and his little group of confidantes who had precipitated the last war.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — The government today summoned a congressman and a gallery spectator to testify how they wrested guns from Puerto Rican fanatics who raked the House of Representatives with a fusillade of bullets last March. The trial of the four Puerto Rican terrorists went into its second day as U.S. prosecutor Leo A. Rover lined up new witnesses to give eyewitness accounts of the wild shooting. On the witness list was doorkeeper W. Swen Elgin, who on March 1 was on duty at House gallery 11 and unwittingly admitted the assailants with their loaded pistols. Federal Judge Alexander Holtzoff called for a short morning trial session because of other business before his court. Representative James E. Van Zandt (R.-Pa.) and Frank B. Wise, a visitor in the gallery, were called on to give their stories of how they overpowered two of the defendants as the gunfire ended. The defendants — Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero and Irving Flores Rodriguez — for the most part sat impassively through yesterday’s proceedings.”

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ON JUNE 5, 1943, the Eagle reported, “A new industry, with bicycle owners of high school age and even younger as executives and operators, is coming to the rescue of Belmont Park racetrack goers who have to leave the Long Island trains at Queens Village, and get somehow or other to the track, at least half a mile away. The boys let the racing fans ride on the handlebars, some of which are fitted with baskets, while others are softened with blankets and cushions. The usual fare is 50 cents a trip, one way. Before race time the boys and their bikes line up on 224th St. When the races are over, the starting place is outside the track gates. Some of the boys say that in the three or four days they have worked in the new industry, they averaged $7.50 a day. They mentally kicked themselves for not having discovered the idea at the beginning of Belmont Park’s season. Today is get-away day. The industry was discovered Tuesday when one foot-sore racing fan offered a boy 50 cents to give him a handlebar ride from the railroad station to the track.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who was born in 1928; “Coming Home” star Bruce Dern, who was born in 1936; former Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, who was born in 1937; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Michelle Phillips (The Mamas and the Papas), who was born in 1944; former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, who was born in 1953; “Greenleaf” star Keith David, who was born in 1956; “Nite and Day” singer Al B. Sure!, who was born in 1968; “Party of Five” star Scott Wolf, who was born in 1968; “Saturday Night Live” star Horatio Sanz, who was born in 1969; “ER” star Noah Wyle, who was born in 1971; Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, who was born in 1975; “Gotham” star Robin Lord Taylor, who was born in 1978; model and actress Bar Refaeli, who was born in 1985; and Paramore drummer Zac Farro, who was born in 1990.

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DIRECT HIT: The Battle of Midway began on this day in 1942. A Japanese task force attempted to capture Midway Island in the Central Pacific, but American bombers from the island and from two nearby aircraft carriers sent the Japanese into retreat. The Japanese lost four carriers, two large cruisers, and three destroyers. Midway was one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Japan never regained its margin in carrier strength, and the Central Pacific was made safe for American troops.

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ROME FREE: Rome was liberated on this day in 1944. The U.S. 9th Army, commanded by General Mark Clark, entered the southern suburbs of Rome as the last of the German rearguard retreated from Mussolini’s former capital. Fearful of a last-ditch effort by the Germans to hold the city, the populace remained behind closed doors as Clark’s forces entered the Eternal City.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“A lesson taught with humor is a lesson retained.”
— Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who was born on this day in 1928