July 28: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

July 28, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Four more sharks, all of them more than six feet long, were caught in Long Island waters yesterday by fishermen who had given up the milder forms of angling for shark fishing. Three of them were taken in Jamaica Bay and the other in Manhasset Bay. Dr. W.E. Halsey of 203 Jefferson street, Brooklyn, and Charles Sumpken of 289 Railroad avenue, Brooklyn, went out after shark yesterday afternoon and had been in the bay but a short time when a six-footer swallowed the physician’s bait. After a half-hour’s fight, the fish was dragged near enough to their boat to be a good target and Dr. Halsey shot him three times in the head. A blow from the fish’s tail nearly capsized the boat. Within an hour, Alexander Schmidt, a policeman, was fishing for weakfish with his son when a shark took the hook. Smith was so close to the fish that he killed it with several shots from his automatic pistol before it had any chance to run. Later in the evening Dr. Halsey hooked another shark, a big eight-footer this time. It required ten bullets and an hour’s hard fighting to land this one, which weighed 245 pounds. The Manhasset Bay shark was caught by George Allen and Howard Smith near where Mrs. Howard Kingsbury was frightened by one while bathing last week. The fish was lying near the surface in the sun and Captain Allen was able to get quite near before he threw his harpoon clear through its body.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “Teachers can be of great assistance in preventing the rise of juvenile delinquency because of the ‘key position they hold in the life of the child and the control they have over him every day throughout the school year,’ Harry Wood, president of the Brooklyn Junior Chamber of Commerce told a board of directors dinner meeting held last night … In contrast to the trend which seems to be for overall planning on a world-wide scale, Wood revealed that the Chamber’s postwar planning discussions will be ‘primarily concerned with the welfare of the young man; his needs, his desires and his opportunities, generally in the United States and specifically in Brooklyn.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “HAMILTON, N.Y. (U.P.) — Governor [Thomas] Dewey accused the Truman administration today of throwing the key to world peace ‘into the bottom of the Pacific’ because of its ‘no-policy-at-all’ toward China. In a speech prepared for the Colgate University foreign policy conference, he said all is not lost with the Nationalist forces if the United States offers immediate and continuing aid. Mr. Dewey said the U.S. has won ‘an uneasy stalemate’ in Europe through Marshall Plan aid. ‘What is to be done about China?’ he asked. ‘I know and you know that there is no simple answer, but you and I know equally well that there can be neither excuse nor reason for timidity and muddle-headedness on the part of our government in attempting a solution. Surely we must have a policy and the will to carry it out and surely our present habit of no-policy-at-all must go.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “Dr. Marcus D. Kogel, city hospitals commissioner, today sent out an emergency call for at least 200 nurses for full-time work in handling the increasing number of poliomyelitis cases in the city. He said there are at least 135 patients in isolation in five of the city’s hospitals. At the same time, the Health Department reported 19 new cases in a 24-hour period, and one more death, in Brooklyn. The department said nine of the 14 infantile paralysis deaths in the city since July 1 have been in Brooklyn. Health Commissioner Harry S. Mustard, terming the city’s outbreak a ‘mild epidemic,’ pointed out the total number of cases reported so far this year was 247, compared with under 75 for the same periods in the past three years. However, he said the problem was nothing like that in 1916 or 1931, when the totals were 3,457 and 620 respectively.”

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John David Washington
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Elizabeth Berkley
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Garfield” cartoonist Jim Davis, who was born in 1945; “Lou Grant” star Linda Kelsey, who was born in 1946; “All in the Family” star Sally Struthers, who was born in 1947; Devo co-founder Jerry Casale, who was born in 1948; 1971 American League Cy Young winner Vida Blue, who was born in 1949; Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, who was born in 1954; “Full House” star Lori Loughlin, who was born in 1964; “Saved by the Bell” star Elizabeth Berkley, who was born in 1972; political aide Huma Abedin, who was born in 1976; four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili, who was born in 1977; N.Y. Islanders left winger Zach Parise, who was born in 1984; and “Ballers” star John David Washington, who was born in 1984.

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THE BUNNY TRAIL: Beatrix Potter was born in London on this day in 1866. The author, illustrator, naturalist and conservationist created beloved and bestselling children’s books starting with “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” in 1901. She died in 1943.

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FIRST CLASS: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was born on this day in 1929. The native of Southampton, N.Y., married Sen. John F. Kennedy in 1953 and was the first lady of the U.S. from 1961 until her husband’s assassination in 1963. She later married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. After his death in 1975, she moved to New York City and became a prominent book editor. She died in 1994.

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

Quotable:

“There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.”

— Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who was born on this day in 1929