November 3: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “A feature of the inquiry into the responsibility for the Brighton Line disaster will be to determine to what extent Mayor [John] Hylan was informed of the intention of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to call the strike which so crippled the line that the green motorman, Edward Anthony Lewis, 25 years of age, was sent out with a train in the rush hour period. The news of the strike came as a great surprise to the officials of the B.R.T., as well as the members of the Public Service Commission. The mandate of the Federal Labor Board that the company should reinstate the 29 men who had been dismissed for joining the union was issued on Tuesday. The Public Service Commissioners supposed, of course, that President [Timothy S.] Williams would obey the order. Williams made no move to do so. His excuse was that the men did not apply for reinstatement. In the meantime, the Brotherhood made no complaint to the Public Service Commission that Williams was not carrying out the orders of the Taft-Walsh finding. Instead, L.G. Griffing, assistant grand chief of the order, was reported to be conferring regularly with Mayor Hylan, who is a member of this order. On Thursday the order to strike came. Now it is charged that Hylan knew of the intention of the Brotherhood to precipitate a strike. It is asserted at the Public Service Commission that Hylan made no move to prevent this procedure.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Eagle reported, “The Fusion leaders began winding up their campaign today supremely confident that nothing can stop Fiorello LaGuardia’s march to City Hall after the citizens’ march on Madison Square Garden last night. That rally was not only the climax of the Fusion campaign but, to LaGuardia’s advisers, it was the big final test of the campaign. Fully 25,000 persons had jammed their way into the huge arena an hour before the rally got under way and, according to Police Commissioner [James S.] Bolan, another 50,000 were lined up outside the Garden all the way down to 6th Ave. It was a one-man crowd. The Fusion leaders and minor candidates were all given rousing receptions when they stepped up before the battery of microphones during the early stages of the rally to take their fling at the [Joseph] McKee and Tammany forces, but the crowd wanted LaGuardia. When he finally entered the arena at 10:25 and marched down the center aisle to the platform at the north end of the building, the crowd went mad. Everybody was on their feet waving banners, placards, posters, handkerchiefs, newspapers and anything else they could grab hold of. Hundreds hopped up and down shouting at the top of their lungs. From the balcony, confetti, slips of paper and torn newspapers poured down into the arena in a steady stream.”
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’.