September 16: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 16, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1898, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “[Tammany Hall boss] Richard Croker feels confident this afternoon that Colonel Theodore Roosevelt will be the Republican candidate for Governor. A reporter for the Eagle saw him at his office, 111 Broadway, shortly after noon. ‘Are you satisfied, Mr. Croker,’ asked the reporter, ‘that Roosevelt will be the Republican candidate for Governor?’ ‘Yes. I am pretty well satisfied today that Roosevelt will get that nomination,’ was Mr. Croker’s reply. ‘Will you be able to defeat him?’ asked the reporter. ‘Well,’ answered Mr. Croker, after some deliberation, ‘it is a foregone conclusion that he wouldn’t be nominated if all of these Republican misdoings were not staring the party in the face. I regard his nomination as a confession of weakness, and I am confident that the people of the state will view it in the same light. You cannot deceive the people.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1911, the Eagle reported, “Through the action of the International Association of Machinists, there is now little probability of a great Western railroad strike, as seemed imminent a few days ago. The demand of the railroad men on the Harriman lines and the Illinois Central was for recognition of the Federation — an amalgamation of all the crafts of mechanics. This is a species of the so-called ‘industrial unionism’ so dear to the hearts of the Socialist unionists and which in this particular is recognized by the American Federation of Labor through its Railroad Department, but notwithstanding the machinists have recently elected a Socialist international president (the old officers, by the way, were handling this strike proposition), they absolutely refused to line up with the pro-strikers. It is thought, however, that the lack of funds necessary to carry on a strike of such magnitude largely influenced the machinists’ decision.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1921, the Eagle reported, “Franklin D. Roosevelt, former assistant secretary of the Navy, who was taken to the Presbyterian Hospital, Manhattan, yesterday, suffering from a mild attack of infantile paralysis, was said at the hospital this morning already to be improving. His condition is not regarded as serious. Mr. Roosevelt was brought to New York on a special car from his summer home on Campobello Island, Bay of Fundy, and met at Grand Central by an ambulance from the hospital. He has been suffering for the past month from the ailment and lost the use of both legs below the knees. Dr. George Draper, of 116 E. 63rd St., Manhattan, Mr. Roosevelt’s physician, said the patient shows signs of improvement and that his stay in the hospital will probably be brief. ‘You can say definitely that he will not be a cripple,’ he said. Mr. Roosevelt sent word to reporters this morning that he spent a comfortable night.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “Mayor [Vincent] Impellitteri today promised more cops — and more of them ‘back on the beat’ — in an effort to cope with the rising tide of crime in the city. Heeding the pleas of Brooklynites for additional foot patrolmen throughout the borough, the mayor reported that ‘wherever possible,’ only one cop will ride a prowl car instead of the usual two. The other will be released for foot patrol duty, he indicated. Impellitteri promised that 400 policemen will be added to the force Oct. 1. He said a greater number were needed but that he is doing ‘all he could’ under budget limitations. ‘The more cops we have, the safer the streets will be,’ the mayor asserted. He has been gravely concerned with the crime problems in the city, he said, and has held several conferences with department heads and other city aides on the question. In these conferences, he declared, particular attention has been paid to the problem of protecting women against assaults. Even while the mayor was discussing the crime situation, a brazen bandit team staged a daylight bank robbery in the busy Hub section of the Bronx, fleeing with $15,000 from a Manufacturers Trust Company branch.”

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Alexis Bledel
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include actress and singer Janis Paige, who was born in 1922; Oscar-winning actor George Chakiris, who was born in 1932; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Betty Kelly (Martha and the Vandellas), who was born in 1944; “St. Elsewhere” star Ed Begley Jr., who was born in 1949; “The Wrestler” star Mickey Rourke, who was born in 1952; Baseball Hall of Famer Robin Yount, who was born in 1955; magician and actor David Copperfield, who was born in 1956; Baseball Hall of Famer and former N.Y. Yankees outfielder Tim Raines, who was born in 1959; former “Saturday Night Live” star Molly Shannon, who was born in 1964; singer-songwriter Marc Anthony, who was born in 1968; “Parks and Recreation” star Amy Poehler, who was born in 1971; “Gilmore Girls” star Alexis Bledel, who was born in 1981; and singer-songwriter Nick Jonas, who was born in 1992.

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ANARCHY IN THE U.S.A.: New York City’s financial district was attacked on this day in 1920. The J.P. Morgan Bank at Wall and Broad streets was bombed by unknown assailants who used a horse-drawn cart filled with dynamite and 500 pounds of iron sash weights. Thirty-eight people were killed, more than 140 were seriously injured and hundreds more were slightly injured. The perpetrators were never caught, but Italian anarchists were suspected.

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WE LOVED THEM: The Beatles released “She Loves You” in the U.S. on this day in 1963. The song reached No. 1 for two weeks in March 1964 and was one of five Beatles songs that held the top five spots on the American charts simultaneously.

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

Quotable:

“The wealth of the country, its capital, its credit, must be saved from the predatory poor as well as the predatory rich, but above all from the predatory politician.”

— railroad executive James J. Hill, who was born on this day in 1838