April 1: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

April 1, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1842, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “APRIL FOOL. – The lawyers and insurers in a neighboring building were for a time smoked out this morning. Their fires were kindled, as usual, but the smoke puffed out and filled their office till they were almost strangled. They ran about from room to room with streaming eyes to ascertain the cause, and remedy the evil, but in vain, till one bethought him to go to the top of the house and examine the chimney, where he found a piece of board laid over the flue in such a manner as completely to shut it up. This may be a good April fool joke, but it is no fool of a joke to have one’s eyes put out.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1917, the Eagle reported, “Tomorrow the Sixty-fifth Congress will meet in extraordinary session to consider the gravest question that has confronted this country since the Civil War. The general belief in Washington is that President Wilson will ask the Congress to either declare war against Germany or declare that a state of war already exists between Germany and the United States. It is to be assumed from the reports of the Washington correspondents that this country in a few days — perhaps in a few hours — will be actually at war with Germany, no matter which form is used. Despite all the Imperial German Government has done to force the Government of the United States into war, the pacifists are still crying for peace — peace at any price. But could the United States have peace, even if every man, woman and child in the country were in favor of peace?”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “The Rangers, resuming their rousing ride in quest of the Stanley Cup, which they haven’t owned since 1933, hope to turn loose tomorrow night two expert cracksmen who’ve lost considerable caste lately. Neil Colville and Bryan Hextall are the two deft gents referred to. The Bruin net couldn’t have baffled this pair more during the six-game series just ended if it had been the U.S. Treasury vaults. They didn’t find the combination once. The Toronto cage, however, is an open book to Neil and Hex, who were the leading Ranger blasters against the Leafs in eight games this year, of which the Leafs won only one. Hextall had four goals, the elder Colville three. Hextall and Colville are looking ahead to brighter days. In fact, the Rangers regard the Leafs as a cream-puff dish after their bitter diet of Boston hardtack.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “BERLIN (U.P.) — Russia cut off all rail traffic from Berlin to the American, British and French zones of Germany today, but abandoned after two hours roadblocks set up on the boundaries of the Russian zone of the German capital city. Air routes to supply the approximately 25,000 men of the three Western Powers in Berlin still were open and vehicular traffic operated normally along the ‘autobahn’ through the 100 miles of Russia-occupied territory west of the city. But both American and British authorities rejected flatly the demand of the Russians that they be allowed to inspect trains of the Allied Powers to and from Berlin. The Russians halted all rail traffic as a result of that rejection.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Herbert R. O’Brien, director of New York City’s Civil Defense, today was trying to figure out how to evacuate 8,000,000 men, women and children in the event the city is threatened by an H-bomb attack. ‘We hardly know where to start,’ he said. ‘If this new bomb is what they say it is, our system of going to shelters is ancient history.’ The only answer, O’Brien said, is total evacuation, and he estimated at least three days would be needed to accomplish that. It is ‘unlikely,’ he pointed out, that the city would get much warning. But advance studies of evacuation problems have already been made, he revealed. They show mass evacuation must be directed northward through Westchester County, he said. Mass movements to the west would be impossible because of bridge and tunnel bottlenecks and the fact that New Jersey’s industrial areas would also be a prime target.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Love Story” star Ali McGraw, who was born in 1939; musician Jimmy Cliff, who was born in 1948; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who was born in 1950; “Smallville” star Annette O’Toole, who was born in 1952; aerospace engineer Aprille Ericsson-Jackson, who was born in Brooklyn in 1963; basketball coach and former N.Y. Knicks point guard Mark Jackson, who was born in Brooklyn in 1965; author Brad Meltzer, who was born in Brooklyn in 1970; commentator Rachel Maddow, who was born in 1973; former N.Y. Mets infielder and 2015 NLCS MVP Daniel Murphy, who was born in 1985; and former Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez, who was born in 1988.

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TO THE 10TH POWER: The Battle of Okinawa began on this day in 1945 when the U.S 10th Army invaded the Ryukyu Islands. With ground troops numbering more than 180,000 plus 368,000 men in support services, it was the biggest amphibious operation of the Pacific war.

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HIGHER EDUCATION: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill that created the U.S. Air Force Academy on this day in 1954. Construction on the Colorado Springs academy began in 1955 and ended in 1958. The academy was accredited in 1959. Women were admitted in 1976.

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

Quotable:

“A judge can’t have any preferred outcome in any particular case. The judge’s only obligation — and it’s a solemn obligation — is to the rule of law.”

— Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who was born on this day in 1950