October 8: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “BOSTON, OCT. 7 — It quite often happens in this jolly little world that a knock is a boost. And by the same theory it often happens that a defeat gives confidence. That’s what happened this afternoon. The Superbas were defeated 6 to 5, but it gave them confidence and a desire to fight. They jitneyed and taxied back to their well-known Brunswick Hotel and every single one of them landed in the foyer with a smile on his face. It was, as Rube Marquard said: ‘The Red Sox know they were in a ball game, and they’ll know it more Monday and even more every day after that.’ The Brooklyn team’s game rally in that ninth inning, that caused a spectator to faint over near third base, was enough to give them the last grain of just what they needed. It was confidence with a big “C,” and they’ve got it now. They had a great deal of bad-tasting baseball to dispose of and that’s out of the way. To the Brooklyn team, there’s nothing left but ‘fight,’ and they’ve got plenty of that.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “New York City’s parents have joined the fight to cleanse the public schools of the narcotics menace by volunteering to serve as receptionists and door guards in school areas where dope arrests have been made, it was announced today. An exchange of letters between Acting Mayor Joseph T. Sharkey and Maximilian Moss, president of the Board of Education, was made public today by the Acting Mayor’s office. In response to Sharkey’s request for a report on safeguards being instituted to cope with the problem, Moss declared that he was ‘happy to report’ that ‘a number of steps have been taken.’ ‘Our major difficulty,’ Moss said, ‘is to separate the wrongdoers from the law-abiding citizens who are constantly making use of the school buildings. For that reason we are using parent association volunteers as door receptionists in buildings in areas of the city where there have been arrests.’ Moss added that these parents will supplement the work of 200 Welfare Department members who have been doing this job since last spring. In addition, the school board head pointed out that school personnel have been alerted by circulars, sent out by Superintendent of Schools William Jansen, to maintain a continued vigilance for symptoms of addiction among the children.”
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’.