June 23: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 23, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1901, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has, within a recent period, made certain purchases, acquired certain rights, entered upon certain projects and enterprises, all a part of and comprehended in a stupendous scheme of extension and improvement, the value of which to Brooklyn and Long Island can scarcely be estimated and which involves an outlay on the part of that great company of a sum of not less than $18,000,000. It has purchased the controlling shares of the Long Island Railroad Company for the sum of $6,700,000, and thus has acquired the lines, privileges and franchises of that corporation, with all its terminals, an extensive railroad system in itself. It has also purchased the franchise of the New York Connecting Railroad Company, with its rights to build a railroad from a point on the main line of the Long Island Road from Hunter’s Point, at St. James’ Park, through the Borough of Queens to termini within the Borough of the Bronx. … The Pennsylvania Railroad has purchased in various parts of Brooklyn large plots of land, notably in East New York, at Bay Ridge and other parts of Brooklyn, the outlay for which can only be guessed at.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — Secretary Baker today issued orders to all army departmental commanders to send to the Mexican border all militia available immediately upon their organization, without waiting for completion of the mobilization of the separate states. The commanders were requested to notify General Funston when each regiment, troop, battery or other unit completes muster. General Funston will indicate where he wishes the forces sent in each instance, and the departmental commander, without further instructions from Washington, will arrange transportation and send them forward. Secretary Baker made public today a report from General Pershing on the fight at Carrizal based on personal questioning of men from the two troops of the Tenth Cavalry engaged in the conflict. It indicated that the attack upon the Americans was unprovoked, but gave no estimate of casualties on either side.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1932, the Eagle reported, “Money was doubled, quadrupled, increased eightfold, sixteenfold, before the wondering gaze of the members of the Advertising Federation of America at their meeting in the Waldorf-Astoria yesterday afternoon. A $10 bill (real money borrowed from one of the members) was mounted on a disc, and without anyone touching it, or doing anything more than just looking at it, it became two, four, eight, sixteen $10 bills. The feat was performed scientifically and it was not done with the aid of mirrors. There was a real $10 bill every place the audience saw one, and they all came from the original $10 bill. There was no deception practiced on that score at all. This vast increase in money in circulation (or rather in circular transition) was due to the scientific ingenuity of Dr. Phillips Thomas, research engineer of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. Dr. Thomas pointed out that the principal disadvantage attached to this inflated money is that you must spend the whole inflated amount if you want to buy anything with the original bill from which it was created. The principle involved in this wealth creating machine, as explained by Dr. Thomas, was very simple. It requires the use of the stroboglow, a device which seems to make whirling objects stand still.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1939, the Eagle reported, “Young doctors entering the medical profession were urged to ‘eliminate the cloud which hangs over the profession in Brooklyn’ by Monsignor John L. Belford, pastor of the R.C. Church of the Nativity, last night at commencement exercises of interns at St. Mary’s Hospital, Buffalo and St. Marks Aves. His audience, which included some 50 members of the medical staff of the institution, interpreted the remark as a reference to the Amen investigation into the borough’s abortion racket. Monsignor Belford, who is vice president of the hospital’s board of trustees, advised the graduates ‘to carry with you into the practice of medicine your own religious ideals, regardless of what religion you profess.’”

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Jason Mraz
Troy David Johnston/Wikimedia Commons

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” author Richard Bach, who was born in 1936; “Knots Landing” star Ted Shackelford, who was born in 1946; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was born in 1948; Misfits founder Glenn Danzig, who was born in 1955; Journey bassist and “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson, who was born in 1956; Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand, who was born in 1957; “Cruel Intentions” star Selma Blair, who was born in 1972; “I’m Yours” singer Jason Mraz, who was born in 1977; former New York Giants center Shaun O’Hara, who was born in 1977; Pro Football Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson, who was born in 1979; “The Big Bang Theory” star Melissa Rauch, who was born in 1980; and Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, who was born in 1993.

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CASH AND PRIZES: June Carter Cash was born on this day in 1929. As a member of the Carter Family — a group that included her mother, sisters and cousins — she toured as a performer from childhood. She met Johnny Cash on the road in 1961 and cowrote his hit song “Ring of Fire.” They married in 1968 and won two Grammys for their duets. They both died in 2003.

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GOLD STANDARD: Wilma Rudolph was born on this day in 1940. The Tennessee native won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter relays at the 1960 Rome games, becoming the first woman to win three gold medals at the same Olympics. She overcame polio as a child and won the 1961 Sullivan Award as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the U.S. She died in 1994.

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

Quotable:

“The triumph can’t be had without the struggle.”

— Olympic champion Wilma Rudolph, who was born on this day in 1940