August 10: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 10, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1911, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, the prominent suffragist, and president of the Women’s Political Union, has announced that she is going to have a big mass meeting in Brooklyn on the night of October 17, for the purpose of ‘waking Brooklyn up.’ It will be at the Academy of Music, and Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, of England, the most militant of all suffragists and suffragettes, will be on hand to do the ‘waking up.’ But Brooklyn suffragists, both the rank and file and the leaders, are anything but pleased by the implication that Brooklyn needs waking up. Mrs. Blatch made the announcement that she was going to invade the field of their efforts without consulting any of them. She did not even invite them to cooperate with her. She gave out her opinion of Brooklyn, and her criticism of Brooklyn, to the public, and her announcement of the meeting which was to ‘wake Brooklyn up’ just as if the Woman Suffrage party in Brooklyn were not in existence … When Miss Ida Craft, of 294 Stuyvesant avenue, a Woman Suffrage party leader from the Fifth Assembly District, was informed of Mrs. Blatch’s plans to ‘wake Brooklyn up,’ she said: ‘I don’t feel that we need waking up. She needn’t trouble herself about that. We are very much alive now.’”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1913, the Eagle reported, “ALBANY, AUG. 9 — In what is regarded as an inspired article, with the source of its inspiration so close to the governor as to make it almost his own utterance, the Knickerbocker Press tomorrow will come to the defense of Governor William Sulzer, in the present threatening talk of impeachment, with an editorial branding the mention of impeachment as a ‘silly statement.’ At the same time, it is made plain that the governor has no intention of resigning. There is no direct statement to this effect in the editorial, but by an inference that cannot be avoided, the governor’s intention to ‘fight it out’ is made clear.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1929, the Eagle reported, “When some folks see a ‘shooting star,’ they remain silent until they make a wish. If such folks have a lot of things they want to wish for, and really think the wishing will do them any good, they will have ample opportunity to call on their good fairies this weekend. A shower of shooting stars is due tonight and tomorrow night. It will be necessary to sit up rather late to see them — from about 11 o’clock on … The maximum count made of the ‘tears of St. Lawrence,’ as this shower is popularly called, averages about one every 20 seconds. Figure on seeing fewer than this number.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Council President Abe Stark said today that more youth centers, not more cops, is the city’s greatest need in the fight against crime. While expressing his admiration for Police Commissioner [Francis W.H.] Adams, Stark, who is acting mayor, disagreed with Adams’ recent assertion that New York is ‘on the verge of becoming a city of crime and violence.’ ‘Undue alarm over crime statistics may create public panic, which could do irreparable harm to the greatest city in the world and the capital of the United Nations,’ he said. While Stark had his doubts over the seriousness of the crime situation, Magistrate Albert D. Schanzer, presiding this week in Brooklyn Felony Court, made clear he had none. Brooklyn, said the judge, is in the grip of an ‘unparalleled’ crime wave and he intended to do his part in beating it down by holding thugs hauled before him in the highest possible bail … ‘I am completely astounded by the terrific succession of physical assaults, many of them attacks by defendants on police,’ the jurist said. ‘I am determined to do what I can to stop the current crime wave in Brooklyn. While sitting here in Felony Court, I am going to hold every thug and cop-beater in top limit of bail. I have never experienced the equal of the current crime wave. As one of the judges of the criminal court, I will do what I can to stop it.’”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “Ed McCarrick, scout of the Pittsburgh Pirates, has signed Mario Cuomo, an outfielder, to a 1952 Salisbury contract in the North Carolina League, a Smoky City affiliate. Cuomo graduated from St. John’s Prep, in June of 1948, for whom he hit .350 in his senior year and earned All-Brooklyn C.H.S.A.A. recognition. He also excelled on the basketball court with the Little Redmen. Mario will enter his junior year at St. John’s University come September. He is a brilliant student, ranking third in his class academically. He reports to Salisbury after the spring semester exams next June. With the Redmen freshman nine in 1950 he hit .360. However, he did not play with the varsity the past spring. The boy is currently playing a bang-up game in the outfield for the Joe Austin Celtics of the Queens Alliance. Cuomo, who is 20, stands 6 feet in height, weighs 185 pounds and lives in Hollis. The Pirates have high hopes for the youngster eventually making the grade in the majors.

***

Angie Harmon
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Antonio Banderas arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include nine-time MLB All-Star Rocky Colavito, who was born in 1933; fashion designer Betsey Johnson, who was born in 1942; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Ronnie Spector (The Ronettes), who was born in 1943; Jethro Tull singer Ian Anderson, who was born in 1947; “Baby, Come to Me” singer Patti Austin, who was born in 1950; “Hardcastle and McCormick” star Daniel Hugh Kelly, who was born in 1952; “Desperately Seeking Susan” star Rosanna Arquette, who was born in 1959; “Spy Kids” star Antonio Banderas, who was born in 1960; “Babylon 5” star Claudia Christian, who was born in 1965; former Knicks shooting guard John Starks, who was born in 1965; former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe, who was born in Brooklyn in 1967; “Rizzoli & Isles” star Angie Harmon, who was born in 1972; and media personality Kylie Jenner, who was born in 1997.

***

NATIONAL TREASURE: The Smithsonian Institution was founded on this day in 1846. The collection of museums and research centers is named for British scientist James Smithson (1765-1829), who left most of his wealth to his nephew. After his nephew died childless, the estate passed to the U.S. “to found, at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.”

***

HOLDING COURT: Red Holzman was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1920. In 1957, he was hired as a scout by the New York Knicks. He served as head coach from 1967 to 1982, leading the team to its only two championships in 1970 and 1973. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986 and died in 1998.

***

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

Quotable:

“On a good team there are no superstars.”

— Basketball Hall of Famer Red Holzman, who was born on this day in 1920