Brooklyn Boro

November 18: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 18, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History
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ON THIS DAY IN 1863, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The National Cemetery at Gettysburg, where the honored dead in the great battle sleep their last sleep, will be solemnly dedicated on Thursday, the 19th instant. The Governors of all the Northern States have been invited and many of them have already reached Harrisburg, among them Governor [Horatio] Seymour of this State. The North-western States will also be represented but not so fully, while there will be present, should circumstances on the Rapidan admit, General [George] Meade and many of the officers and delegations of men from all the corps who participated in the fight. The soldiers of the War of 1812 and the war with Mexico are also urgently invited to be present in a body. The ceremonies promise to be of a most imposing character.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Eagle reported, “PANAMA (A.P.) — Mayor-elect Fiorello LaGuardia of New York City blossomed out in tropical clothing today but only after some argument on the part of a newspaper correspondent. LaGuardia, with his wife and Frank Tichenor, magazine publisher, is here on a vacation after the ardors of the municipal campaign. ‘They can’t fit me in New York, so they certainly can’t here,’ LaGuardia said as he viewed the new tropical clothing adorning newspaper correspondents who accompanied him. He was persuaded, however, to try at a local clothing manufacturing plant, where tailors succeeded not only in fitting the short, stocky mayor-elect, but also the gigantic Tichenor. Both expressed their pleasure. LaGuardia’s plans for Saturday and Sunday were not announced, although it is expected the party will fly north about Sunday or Monday. One of the first things Major LaGuardia will do as mayor will be to ask for the formation of a transit authority to unify and operate New York City’s subway system, according to dispatches from Panama City. He said yesterday that he would ask legislative power from the Board of Estimate to deal directly with the unification problem.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “Sugar and coffee plants in Brooklyn were faced with imminent shutdowns as a result of the longshoremen’s strike today and many shipping firms instituted layoffs and reduced work-weeks. As a meeting between shippers and representatives of the A.F.L. International Longshoremen’s Union was set for tomorrow under guidance of the U.S. Conciliation and Mediation Service, it was estimated that the walkout had tied up 230 ships in the harbor and idled 15,000 longshoremen and some 25,000 other workers here. The American Sugar Refining Company, which operates one of the largest refining plants in the East at Grand and S. 5th Sts., Williamsburg, reported that it would have to close down in about 10 days if the stoppage continued to block imports of raw sugar. The National Sugar Refining Company, Long Island City, announced that practically the same situation applied to its plant. Albert Ehlers, Inc., one of the largest coffee wholesalers in Brooklyn, also reported that it would be out of supplies in 10 days.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “The New York Yankees made their first major trade to regain their lost world championship today by acquiring pitchers Bob Turley and Don Larsen and shortstop Billy Hunter from the Baltimore Orioles in the biggest deal in baseball history. The Yankees gave up outfielder Gene Woodling, pitchers Harry Byrd and Jim McDonald, infielder Willie Miranda and rookie catchers Gus Triandos and Hal Smith in the million dollar deal. In addition, the Yankees will deliver three more players, presumably from their farm system, to be named later. General manager George Weiss of the Yankees, who closed the deal, said it would wind up as the largest in the history of the game. The value of the players involved was considered upwards of $1,000,000. Additional Baltimore players also will be involved. Weiss said that no cash was involved in the deal. ‘When we got Turley and Larsen, we plugged the major weakness of the Yankee club,’ Weiss said. ‘They are two of the finest young right-handers in the game. Both of them figure to get better, and they are young. Turley is only 24 and Larsen is 25.’”

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Megyn Kelly
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Gary Sheffield
Gene J. Puskar/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret Atwood, who was born in 1939; “Once Is Not Enough” star Brenda Vaccaro, who was born in Brooklyn in 1939; “Dynasty” star Linda Evans, who was born in 1942; “Falcon Crest” star Susan Sullivan, who was born in 1942; “Crooklyn” star Delroy Lindo, who was born in 1952; former “Saturday Night Live” star Kevin Nealon, who was born in 1953; “Big” star Elizabeth Perkins, who was born in 1960; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Kirk Hammett (Metallica), who was born in 1962; news anchor and author Rita Cosby, who was born in 1964; former N.Y. Yankees and Mets outfielder Gary Sheffield, who was born in 1968; “Wedding Crashers” star Owen Wilson, who was born in 1968; former N.J. Nets point guard Sam Cassell, who was born in 1969; news anchor Megyn Kelly, who was born in 1970; “Boys Don’t Cry” star Chloe Sevigny, who was born in 1974; former Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, who was born in 1975; and former “Saturday Night Live” star Nasim Pedrad, who was born in 1981.

Kirk Hammett
Paul A. Hebert/Invision/AP

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POLLS APART: Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting on this day in 1872. Seeking to test for women the citizenship and voting rights extended to black males under the 14th and 15th amendments, Anthony led a group of women who registered and then voted at a Rochester, N.Y., polling place. In the ensuing federal criminal trial, held in June 1873, she was found guilty and sentenced to pay a $100 fine She refused to do so and never did.

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STAT’S LIFE: George Gallup was born on this day in 1901. The Iowa native and journalism professor pioneered a statistical method to measure public opinion. He received national recognition for correctly predicting that Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt would defeat Republican challenger Alf Landon in 1936, but also gained notoriety for incorrectly predicting that Republican Gov. Thomas Dewey would defeat incumbent Democratic President Harry Truman in 1948. He died in 1984.

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

 

Quotable:

“I could prove God statistically. Take the human body alone — the chances that all the functions of an individual would just happen is a statistical monstrosity.”

— statistician George Gallup, who was born on this day in 1901

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