September 15: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 15, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1913, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “PATCHOGUE, L.I. — Cheers greeted the picture of William Sulzer, the impeached governor of the state of New York, when [it] was thrown on the screen of a motion picture show here on Saturday evening. The picture of Governor Sulzer appeared in connection with a series of views on current events. This inscription accompanied the photograph: ‘William Sulzer, the impeached Governor of the State of New York, the first Chief Executive of the Empire State ever impeached.’ When the governor appeared on the screen, holding his hat in his hand and smiling, a brisk applause which started in the gallery was taken up by the entire house, resulting in an ovation for the impeached official.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Eagle reported, “Rumors that Spanish influenza is prevalent in Brooklyn have been going the rounds for the last two days. The sudden change from hot to cold weather last week did cause many cases of influenza in the borough and elsewhere, but the truth of the matter, according to Dr. Royal S. Copeland, Commissioner of Health, is that the influenza is of the local variety. The Health Department has recorded 171 cases of Spanish influenza since the first of July, a small number of which were brought into Brooklyn from a steamer arriving at ‘an Atlantic port.’ No new cases of the Spanish variety have developed in the community, with the exception of twenty-eight cases which have developed in the last two weeks and all of which are being treated at the Willard Parker Hospital. The death rate from pneumonia has been on the decrease of late, and since pneumonia is almost invariably associated with the more serious cases of influenza, Dr. Copeland points out that there is no occasion for any fear of a widespread epidemic.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Eagle reported, “The members of the Board of Aldermen who rubber-stamped the Untermyer tax program were up in arms today at finding themselves the first targets of the Untermyer-Grimm economy program in a drive to cut their salaries from $5,000 to $2,000. The aldermen today were emphatically opposed to the Untermyer salary cut. It was apparent that only the sharp cracking of the Tammany whip could force them to slash their own wages. Charges of trickery flew from the indignant city fathers over the strategy of the de facto Untermyer regime in withholding the pay slash program until after they had docilely enacted their rubber-stamping performance. ‘If we had known of this,’ a group of the aldermen chorused, ‘the result on the tax bills might have been different.’”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Eagle reported, “Mayor [Fiorello] LaGuardia said today he would ‘beg, plead or fight,’ but that somehow he would get the funds for carrying on the city’s unemployment relief program, which was suddenly wrecked late yesterday when the Board of Aldermen refused to vote for a tax on business and the Welfare Department discontinued sending out relief checks. He would raise the necessary money by taxes, he added, but what the taxes would be he did not know. ‘I’ll have to meet the situation and beg, plead or flight … I’m pretty sure we are going to get the money. We’ve got to get it.’ Though 300,000 families — with a total of about 1,000,000 individuals — saw themselves cut off from the relief which had stood between them and utter destitution, the mayor repeated the assurance that ‘no one will starve in New York while I am mayor.’ In order to map out a new program, he summoned business and industrial leaders to meet him Monday morning. These men are to be chosen from among NRA [National Recovery Act] code heads and will include, among others, Grover A. Whalen, who led the fight on the rejected one-half of one percent business tax, and William A. Brady. Former Mayor John F. Hylan, now Children’s Court justice, in a telegram to Mayor LaGuardia, said the aldermen’s action in turning down relief taxation ‘makes one’s blood boil.’ He offered to help in any way he could ‘in your struggle to supply food and shelter for those in need.’”

***

Tom Hardy
Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons

Prince Harry
E.J. Hersom via Wikimedia Commons

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Baseball Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry, who was born in 1938; “Bull Durham” director Ron Shelton, who was born in 1945; Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones, who was born in 1946; Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, who was born in 1946; Night Ranger singer Kelly Keagy, who was born in 1952; Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino, who was born in 1961; “The Good Wife” star Josh Charles, who was born in 1971; “Venom” star Tom Hardy, who was born in 1977; former N.Y. Giant and two-time Super Bowl champion David Diehl, who was born in 1980; Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who was born in 1984; and singer and TV personality Heidi Montag, who was born in 1986.

Dan Marino
Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons

***

BEST OF THE WEST: “The Lone Ranger” premiered on TV on this day in 1949. The character was created for a radio serial in 1933 by George W. Trendle. The famous masked man was the alter ego of John Reid, a Texas Ranger who was the only survivor of an ambush. He was nursed back to health by his Native American friend, Tonto. Both men traveled around the west fighting injustice. The theme music was Rossini’s “William Tell Overture.” The last episode aired Sept. 12, 1957.

***

PRESSING ISSUES: USA Today was first published on this day in 1982. Media corporation Gannett introduced a new kind of daily — the “Nation’s Newspaper” — that featured general interest articles for a national audience.

***

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

Quotable:

“When you go into court, you are putting your fate into the hands of 12 people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.”

— comedian Norm Crosby, who was born on this day in 1927