July 8: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1865, a Brooklyn Daily Eagle editorial said, “We find the following paragraph in an exchange paper: ‘An intelligent gentleman, a college graduate, has informed the Utica Herald that he had on Tuesday for the first time heard read consecutively — for he had never himself read — the Declaration of Independence. Fragments and extracts were familiar to him; the immortal document, as a whole, was a novelty to him.’ The gentleman referred to is not an exceptionable example of the American citizen. If the truth were known, four-fifths of the people would be found to have had similar experience. There is no document of so much historical importance which is so little circulated among the community. Hardly one person in fifty could tell where to lay their hands on a printed copy of the Declaration of Independence, or could tell what work it was published in. The ordinary school histories of the United States do not contain the document. It is heard of and quoted continually, but except when read at Fourth of July celebrations, few people have ever seen or heard it entire. And it is not unusual to hear some very erroneous ideas expressed concerning the Declaration, and the principles it proclaims. This document which enunciates the creed and faith of the founders of the government, and which is the chart to guide us now, ought to be as familiar as household words to every American citizen.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “MEXICO CITY (A.P.) — Riotous disorders which accompanied Mexico’s presidential elections yesterday were estimated today to have taken between 50 and 100 lives and reports of widespread irregularities threatened to complicate the task of determining the outcome of the voting. An unofficial count showed at least 30 persons dead in Mexico City alone, while scores — perhaps hundreds — were reported wounded during pitched battles which surged through the streets of the capital. Some reports from the provinces indicated that the total injured might be in the thousands. Among the casualties in the capital were two American students — Edward J. Mallen Jr. of Frannie, Wyo., who was reported near death with a pistol wound in the stomach, and Leonard Durso, 18, of Union City, N.J., who was gravely wounded by a rifle bullet. Both Gen. Manuel Avila Camacho, administration candidate, and his independent rival, Gen. Juan Andreau Almazan, issued statements claiming overwhelming victory.”
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’.