September 4: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 4, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1894, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Though usually a very busy day with metropolitan cricketers, labor day this year did not witness as many matches as heretofore. This was mainly owing to the fact that there was not a solitary game in progress at the Prospect park parade grounds, which ordinarily presents such a lively appearance on Saturdays and holidays. It had been given out early in the week that the militia would require the sole use of the grounds for a grand parade, and in consequence the cricketers were scared away. In such cases as it was possible, the Brooklyn clubs changed their fixtures to other grounds and canceled those dates that could not be so filled. As matters actually turned out, this course was quite unnecessary, since yesterday afternoon found but a solitary battery, consisting of four gatling guns and about twenty-five mounted soldiers exercising their horses and executing maneuvers at the extreme end of the extensive field. The cricket grounds, with the base ball diamonds on either side, presented a solitary appearance, very unlike the customary state of affairs.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1904, the Eagle reported, “A nine-foot shark, said to be the biggest ever kept alive in captivity, is now in the Aquarium at the Battery, Manhattan. He was captured off Rockaway Beach, L.I., yesterday by J.W. Brown, a seine fisherman. Brown hauled in his seine to find the monster shark struggling to release himself. The shark had almost exhausted himself by his efforts to break through the strong seine and Brown and some comrades easily held him. They put him in a skiff or scow, and, determining to take him to the city, put the scow on a launch and landed him at the Battery in charge of a fisherman named Schmoor. The Aquarium people gave him $50 for the big fish. The authorities put the big fellow in the shark tank with some smaller brethren of the finny tribe and a huge turtle weighing 500 pounds.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “The first major peacetime holiday since 1941 took a toll of 252 accident deaths, 139 of them a result of traffic mishaps. California led with 31 deaths. New York State followed with 23 fatalities, 12 of them traffic deaths. Millions of city residents today are home again after a three-day Labor Day holiday, returning by train, bus, airplane and, mainly, the old jalopy, which made a triumphal comeback after a four-year absence. Unlike recent years, no upstate traveler was stranded. The vacationists were favored by weather described as ‘excellent’ by the Weather Bureau. Today, too, will be sunny, it was reported. Highest temperature will be 80 degrees. The cars were numerous enough to develop long traffic lines at tunnels and bridges operated by the Port Authority. Between 4 and 8 p.m. yesterday, the George Washington Bridge accommodated 16,104 automobiles and the Holland Tunnel 12,028. State police at Valley Stream estimated traffic over the Southern State Parkway at 8 last night at 2,000 cars an hour.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “MANILA (U.P.) — Secretary of State John Foster Dulles assured the Philippines today that the United States would fight should this country ever be attacked by Communists. Dulles gave this assurance as a series of military talks between the United States and the Philippines opened this morning, two days before the start of the Southeast Asia Defense Conference on Monday. ‘I wish to state in the most emphatic terms that the U.S. will honor fully its commitment under the mutual defense treaty,’ Dulles said. ‘If the Philippines were attacked, the United States would act immediately. The President of the United States has ordered the fleet to protect Formosa [Taiwan] from invasion by Communist aggressors. In the case of the Philippines, no specific orders are required. Our forces would automatically react.’”

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Damon Wayans
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “South Pacific” star Mitzi Gaynor, who was born in 1931; World Golf Hall of Famer Raymond Floyd, who was born in 1942; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Merald “Bubba” Knight (Gladys Knight & The Pips), who was born in 1942; World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson, who was born in 1949; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Martin Chambers (The Pretenders), who was born in 1951; “Brighton Beach Memoirs” star Judith Ivey, who was born in 1951; W.A.S.P. co-founder Blackie Lawless, who was born in 1956; “NewsRadio” star Khandi Alexander, who was born in 1957; “In Living Color” star Damon Wayans, who was born in 1960; Baseball Hall of Famer and former N.Y. Mets catcher Mike Piazza, who was born in 1968; musician and producer Mark Ronson, who was born in 1975; and “Single Ladies” singer Beyonce, who was born in 1981.

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THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE: On this day in 1882, four hundred lights came on in offices on Spruce, Wall, Nassau and Pearl streets in lower Manhattan as Thomas Edison hooked up lightbulbs to an underground cable carrying direct current electrical power. Edison demonstrated his first incandescent lightbulb in 1879.

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THE HAND OF FATE: Jim Abbott pitched a no-hitter on this day in 1993. In his first year as a N.Y. Yankee — and with the resurgent Yanks in a pennant race for the first time in years — the 25-year-old lefthander blanked the Cleveland Indians at the Stadium, 4-0. Abbott was no stranger to the big stage, having won a gold medal with Team USA at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. And he was no stranger to adversity, being born without a right hand.

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

Quotable:

“It’s not the disability that defines you; it’s how you deal with the challenges the disability presents you with.”

— former N.Y. Yankee Jim Abbott, who pitched a no-hitter on this day in 1993