November 24: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 24, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Influenza is now the world’s greatest foe. It is more deadly than war itself. The United States Government has found this to be the case. The Bureau of Census, investigating the recent epidemic that swept not only over all of this country, but over most of the entire civilized world, found that deaths in America, properly chargeable to influenza, were far greater in number than deaths from all causes among American troops in the great conflict. Official figures, available from 46 large cities in the country, show that 78,000 persons died as a direct result of the epidemic of influenza. The figures cover the period from September 8 to November 9. The bureau, on the basis of reports received, believes that from 40,000 to 45,000 American boys gave up their lives abroad — this number including those who died from disease or accident as well as those killed or fatally wounded on the battlefields.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1920, the Eagle reported, “Fire partially destroyed the Sunday school and lecture room of historic Plymouth Church early today, causing a loss of at least $100,000. Many stained glass windows of great value were destroyed together with manuscripts left by the late Henry Ward Beecher. Most of the Beecher relics appear to have been saved, however, although a full inventory of the articles salvaged has not yet been made. The auditorium of the church was so badly damaged that it cannot be completely repaired before September, 1921. The fire did not reach the church proper because of a strong wall separating it from the lecture room. This wall, however, was so weakened as to render use of the auditorium unsafe. How the fire started is a mystery. It is supposed to have been due to defective insulation among wires in the basement but the origin is still a matter of investigation.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Harassed police, battling to stem the rising tide of crime in the city, today clamped an ‘unofficial’ 2 a.m. curfew on loiterers and subway sleepers. Seventy-one arrests were made shortly after the curfew was put into effect. Policemen and detectives questioned all suspicious looking persons on street corners and in subways. If loiterers failed to answer satisfactorily, they were taken to precinct houses for further questioning. Of the 71 arrests, 54 were made in Manhattan, 15 in Brooklyn, one in Queens and one in the Bronx. Most of those seized were booked on charges of vagrancy, but burglary and grand larceny charges also were pressed. Knives and other weapons were found on many. Police paid special attention to subway sleepers. It was pointed out that muggers often feign sleep and then attack subway riders.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “The long weeks of waiting and guessing are over except for a few hours — the Dodgers are going to announce the name of their new manager today. It was a decision that came suddenly yesterday afternoon to put at rest all the wild rumors. Nearly everybody in baseball who happened to be idle has been a candidate ever since Charley Dressen was let out a week after the conclusion of the World Series. But it is presumed that Walter Alston, who has come up through the organization, until he won the Little World Series from the Yankees’ Kansas City farm last Fall, climaxing a brilliant minor league career, is the logical man. He’s an expert handler of men, has had wide experience and would work at a reasonable wage. But baseball isn’t a game in which the owners can be depended upon to do the logical thing. Walter F. O’Malley, Fresco Thompson and Buzzy Bavasi, the president of the Dodgers and his two veeps, are going around with expressions of inscrutability on their faces. Any attempt to pump the truth out of them, to beat the gun, leaves them smiling blandly and saying nothing.”

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Sarah Hyland
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, who was born in 1938; former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who was born in 1940; former Beatles drummer Pete Best, who was born in 1941; “Head of the Class” star Billy Connolly, who was born in 1942; former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, who was born in 1942; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bev Bevan (Electric Light Orchestra), who was born in 1944; “The A-Team” star Dwight Schultz, who was born in 1947; “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star Denise Crosby, who was born in 1957; “Orange County” star Colin Hanks, who was born in 1977; “Grey’s Anatomy” star Katherine Heigl, who was born in 1978; former N.Y. Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was born in 1982; and “Modern Family” star Sarah Hyland, who was born in 1990.

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ANARCHY IN THE U.S.A.: The Milwaukee Police Department bombing took place on this day in 1917. A bomb found by a social worker next to an evangelical church was taken to the central police station, where it exploded, killing 10 people, including nine members of local law enforcement. The perpetrators were never caught but an anarchist terror cell was suspected. It was the single most deadly event in U.S. law enforcement history until the 9/11 attacks.

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THE RIGHT STUFF: William F. Buckley Jr. was born on this day in 1925. The entertaining and influential conservative author, editor and talk show host founded the National Review in 1955. He also mounted a third-party campaign for mayor of New York City in 1965, winning 13 percent of the vote. He died in 2008.

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

Quotable:

“I’d rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston telephone directory than by the 2,000 faculty members of Harvard.”

— National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr., who was born on this day in 1925