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August 18: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 18, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History
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ON THIS DAY IN 1907, Brooklyn Daily Eagle guest columnist Capt. Alexander Ross Piper wrote, “The subject of cleaning our houses, our stores and our streets is not entirely a pleasant one. It is, however, one of the necessary evils, and the means by which we can get rid of what we no longer want, and what is a nuisance to us is one of the questions which is today being presented to every city more forcibly than ever before. The cities of the Old World have not made the advances in this line that have been made in certain instances in the United States. The oldest cities of the world today dispose of their refuse by throwing it into the streets, and simply rely upon the heavy rainstorms to carry it off. Much, of course, must remain, and of necessity prove a detriment to the health and pleasure of the community … The Street Cleaning Department of New York City, in connection with our sewerage system, takes away the refuse of the city. The cities of the Western World are notably more wasteful than those of Europe. Whole communities in Europe can live upon the waste of such a city as New York is at present.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Eagle reported, “CHICAGO, AUG. 17 (A.P.) — One hundred leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World were found ‘guilty as charged in the indictment’ by the jury after one hour’s deliberation at their trial for conspiracy to disrupt the nation’s war program late today. Arguments for a new trial will be heard next week. The defendants, including William D. (‘Big Bill’) Haywood, general secretary-treasurer of the I.W.W., the highest position in the organization, face a maximum penalty of twenty-seven years in prison and a $10,000 fine each. Federal Judge K.M. Landis, in his charge to the jury, withdrew the fifth and last count of the indictment which charged conspiracy to violate the Postal Laws and particularly that section excluding from the mails enterprises in the nature of schemes to defraud. The remaining four counts of the indictment specifically charge violation of the Espionage Act, the section of the Criminal Code prohibiting interference with the civil rights of citizens, the Selective Service Act and the Conspiracy statute.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1939, the Eagle reported, “The city’s milk supply today was less than two-thirds of normal and diminishing rapidly as striking upstate farmers withheld 1,000,000 quarts in a desperate effort to raise the price they receive from distributors. With the situation becoming more serious hourly, Health Commissioner John R. Rice was reported considering extension of the city’s authorized milk shed to permit shipments from Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago and as far west as Iowa. He was to report to Mayor LaGuardia on the emergency facing New York and propose a course of action to avoid complete drying up of the city’s supply. Highways upstate were patrolled by state troopers ordered on duty to preserve order despite a charge by Archie Wright, chairman of the embattled Dairy Farmers Union, that the state government thereby was becoming ‘a strike-breaking agency.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “TAIPEH (U.P.) — Admiral Felix B. Stump, U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, arrived today reportedly to confer with the commanders of the U.S. 1st and 7th Fleets and Chinese Nationalist military leaders regarding joint defense of Formosa [Taiwan]. Admiral Stump arrived after a 36-hour cruise with the Chinese navy in the Formosa straits aboard a destroyer recently turned over to the Nationalists by the United States. It was not known how long he would stay on the island, but it was reported he would confer with Vice Admiral William Phillips and Vice Admiral Alfred Pride, commanders of the 1st and 7th Fleets, respectively. They are expected here this week to map joint plans for the defense of the island. But the conference here indicated that the United States is taking no chances on Communist intentions. Usually reliable sources said secret conferences were planned on Red China’s threats to ‘liberate’ Formosa … The conferences would closely follow President Eisenhower’s announcement that the Communists would have to run over the 7th Fleet if they actually attempted an invasion of Formosa.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who was born in 1927; Oscar-winner Robert Redford, who was born in 1936; “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” star Martin Mull, who was born in 1943; comedian Elayne Boosler, who was born in Brooklyn in 1952; “Rescue Me” star Denis Leary, who was born in 1957; “Revenge” star Madeleine Stowe, who was born in 1958; TV journalist Bob Woodruff, who was born in 1961; “Fight Club” star Edward Norton, who was born in 1969; “Heathers” star Christian Slater, who was born in 1969; “Malcolm & Eddie” star Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who was born in 1970; “Man Walks Into a Room” author and Brooklyn resident Nicole Krauss, who was born in 1974; former “Saturday Night Live” star Andy Samberg, who was born in 1978; former N.Y. Jets linebacker Bart Scott, who was born in 1980; and former N.Y. Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey, who was born in 1980.

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GONE GIRL: Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island, N.C., on this day in 1587. She was the first child of English parents to be born in the New World. When a ship arrived in 1590 to replenish the colony’s supplies, the settlers, including Virginia Dare, had vanished without a trace.

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MADE TO ORDER: Montgomery Ward published the first mail-order catalog on this day in 1872. It was only a single sheet of paper. By 1904 the catalog weighed four pounds. The company stopped its catalog operation in 1985 and closed its retail stores in 2000.

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

 

Quotable:

“People ask me what race I am, but there is no such thing as race. I just answer: ‘I’m a member of the human race.’”

— civil rights activist Amelia Boynton Robinson, who was born on this day in 1911

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