April 14: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

April 14, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1912, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “EAST NORTHFIELD, MASS., APRIL 12 — Among the passengers on the Titanic is the Rev. J. Stuart Holden, who is coming to America to hold brief missions under the Northfield Extension Movement in several cities. He will conduct services at Princeton on April 19 and 20, and on April 21 he will begin a mission in St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, Brooklyn. Mr. Holden is to be in Chicago from the 26th to the 28th of April, in Toronto from April 30 to May 4, and in Philadelphia from May 5 to 10, concluding his visit to this country with a brief visit to Northfield May 11 to 13, where he has been a speaker for the past five years.” Due to his wife’s sudden illness, Rev. Holden canceled his trip on the Titanic. After the ship sank, he framed his first-class ticket and added words from Psalm 103:4 — “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction” — to thank God for sparing him. He died in 1934.

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “SOUTHAMPTON, APRIL 13 (A.P.) — The graceful Olympic, greyhound of the Atlantic and sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic, was reported today to be due to follow the Mauretania to the scrapheap. The Cunard-White Star Lines did not deny a report that the veteran liner, one of the most famous on the high seas, will go to the ship-breakers for conversion into scrap metal. Tentative plans call for keeping the Olympic here in drydock for three months before a final trip to her last resting place. Scheduled cruises in American waters were canceled recently.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Brooklyn stores and theaters were closed today, most of them all day, as the borough joined in the general mourning on the day of President Roosevelt’s funeral. War plants remained open in the interest of increased production. All major department stores in the downtown area shut their doors, following a recommendation of the Retail Dry Goods Association of New York City, and local merchants’ associations halted business. Brooklyn motion picture theaters will be closed until 6 p.m. in accordance with a request of the war activities committee of the motion picture industry. Leadership among the local merchants’ associations was taken by the Flatbush Chamber of Commerce. A similar decision to close was made by the merchants’ associations of Pitkin Ave., Sutter Ave., Utica-Parkway and Grand Ave., the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce and the 86th St. Board of Trade … Drug stores, because of the essential nature of their business, remained open. Most food stores will close at 4 p.m. or shut down for an afternoon period. At 4 p.m., starting time of the President’s funeral, all subway and elevated trains will come to a stop.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “The weirdest of possible spring training seasons for our Brooklyn Dodgers winds up in a burst of immoderate confusion. At this time it is the annual custom to write that all decks are cleared for the opening of the major league championship season. But try and do that today. One, for instance, would like to ask if Lefty Joe Hatten, who a week ago was being pointed for Opening Day, is still the choice to pitch against the Boston Braves in tomorrow’s inaugural at Ebbets Field. One also would like to know whether Jackie Roosevelt Robinson, the pioneer Negro in the major leagues, will be Brooklyn’s first baseman in the first game. But the man to answer those questions is the Dodger manager, and at the moment the secret of who will lead our heroes into action tomorrow is safe with me. Perhaps progress has been made toward the choice of a man to replace the suspended Leo Durocher. Boss Branch Rickey was not at the ballpark yesterday as the Dodgers closed out their exhibition schedule. That is the reverse of the unusual since it is Brother Rickey’s invariable custom to stay away from ballparks on the Sabbath. But other directors of the Brooklyn ball club were absent also and they are Sunday regulars. In all probability, the whole kit and caboodle of them were huddled somewhere in deep and serious conclave. The announcement of the new manager may come today.”

***

Sarah Michelle Gellar
Christopher Smith/Invision/AP

David Justice
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Country Music Hall of Famer Loretta Lynn, who was born in 1932; Oscar-winning actress Julie Christie, who was born in 1940; Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader Pete Rose, who was born in 1941; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), who was born in 1945; Human Genome Project leader Francis Collins, who was born in 1950; “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Brad Garrett, who was born in 1960; former Yankee and 2000 ALCS MVP David Justice, who was born in 1966; Baseball Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, who was born in 1966; “The Breakfast Club” star Anthony Michael Hall, who was born in 1968; “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was born in 1977; and “Scream Queens” star Abigail Breslin, who was born in 1996.

***

“NOW HE BELONGS TO THE AGES:” President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on this day in 1865. Less than a week after the end of the Civil War, the president was enjoying a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington when John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Southern sympathizer, fired a pistol into the back of his head. Lincoln died the next day. The Great Emancipator was 56.

***

TROUBLED WATERS: The Titanic hit an iceberg on this day in 1912. The “unsinkable” luxury liner, on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, sank early the next morning. More than 1,500 of the 2,224 people aboard died. About 700 were rescued by the liner Carpathia, which reached the scene two hours after the Titanic went down.

***

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

Quotable:

“The manager of a team is like a stagecoach. He can’t move unless he has the horses.”

— baseball player Pete Rose, who was born on this day in 1941