October 19: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

October 19, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1902, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Belated storms, bringing, within the last fortnight, a considerable downpour of rain, have ended for this season the terrible fires which annually scourge the forests of the far Northwest, and which this year have raged with a fury and devastated a greater area than ever before. But before the rains came, the fires had practically consumed everything in their pathway until stopped by the larger water courses and at the edges of the great mountain forests, where the melting snows of summer maintain perpetual dampness. Summer after summer since the forests of the Northwest were first invaded by the white hunter, prospector and timber cruiser, the fires have been started and have spread to alarming proportions, causing much damage and heavy property loss. The work of the flames this year, however, is the most appalling. Forty lives are known to have been lost, and no one can tell how many have perished in the farther recesses of the woods; hundreds have had their homes swept away by the flames, and the owners of timber lands and logging camps and sawmills have scarcely begun to approximate in dollars and cents the extent of their heavy losses.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — The first year’s operation of the 1924 Immigration Act, with its stringent quota provisions, has slashed the number of aliens coming to live in America in half. Immigration has been reduced during the last fiscal year from 706,896 newcomers to 294,314, a study of the official figures prepared by the Department of Labor reveals. Except for the war period, there are fewer aliens entering the United States today than at any period since 1848. The new immigration law, in the opinion of Labor Department officials, has done all that its sponsors predicted in the way of shutting down on the inward flow of foreigners to America.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1929, the Eagle reported, “Heavy selling of stocks again drove prices down to record low levels today. Declines extended from fractions to more than 20 points in higher priced issues. Utilities were hardest hit, but all sorts of stocks were lower in the plunge. Forced liquidation by thousands of distressed speculators and heavy attacks by bearish professionals coincided and overwhelmed, in many instances, the support buying of banking interests and others. The market started lower with large sales and leading stocks. It rallied for a short time, but heavy selling again appeared in the latter part of the first hour and midmorning saw further losses. There was nothing in the news to account for the hysterical selling. All sorts of wild rumors, however, were afloat. One of them was that one of the largest bull operators in the country was in distress. Stocks which he is identified with were heavily sold by the floor traders. However, it was quite definitely stated that the operator was not in difficulties and in fact was at the seashore, far away from the turmoil of the ticker.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “Democratic leaders went into the semi-final week of the state campaign today convinced that the biggest hurdle they must combat in their gubernatorial campaign for John J. Bennett Jr. is a gradually crystallizing anti-New Deal trend in the ranks of the voters. While State Chairman James A. Farley indicated no weakening in his belief that Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican candidate, will not receive an upstate plurality of more than 250,000 in contrast to his 1938 upstate majority of more than 600,000, lieutenants in Democratic ranks asserted for the first time that the party faces a long uphill fight as the campaign goes into the homestretch.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, Eagle columnist Ray Tucker wrote, “WASHINGTON — The Kennedy Administration’s underlying but unexpressed fear over Russia’s takeover of Cuba concerns the economic and political effect throughout unstable Latin American countries if the Communist reinforcement should transform the Castro revolution from a failure into a relatively successful operation. That not impossible prospect weighs more heavily at Washington than any military threat. Washington’s constant surveillance of Communist commerce with Cuba reveals that the military equipment supplied so far is merely defensive in character. It does not constitute a threat to the United States or to any Latin American nation. Under these circumstances, President Kennedy has said, there is no reason for the invasion or naval blockade demanded by some members of Congress.”

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Evander Holyfield
Andy Kropa/Invision/AP

Rebecca Ferguson
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include The Earls singer Larry Chance, who was born in 1940; “Harry Potter” star Michael Gambon, who was born in 1940; “Rock Your Baby” singer George McCrae, who was born in 1944; “3rd Rock from the Sun” star John Lithgow, who was born in 1945; political activist Grover Norquist, who was born in 1956; Grammy and Tony winner Jennifer Holliday, who was born in 1960; International Boxing Hall of Famer Evander Holyfield, who was born in 1962; “The Mandalorian” creator Jon Favreau, who was born in 1966; “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker, who was born in 1969; former “Saturday Night Live” star Chris Kattan, who was born in 1970; “Community” star Gillian Jacobs, who was born in 1982; and “Doctor Sleep” star Rebecca Ferguson, who was born in 1983.

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THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN: On this day in 1781, more than 7,000 English and Hessian troops, led by Gen. Charles Cornwallis, surrendered to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va., effectively ending the war between Britain and its American colonies. There were no other major battles, but the provisional treaty of peace was not signed until Nov. 30, 1782. The final Treaty of Paris was signed Sept. 3, 1783.

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BENCHMARK: John Jay was sworn in as the first chief justice of the U.S. on this day in 1789. He resigned in 1795 to become the second governor of New York and served until 1801. He also signed the Treaty of Paris (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787) and co-wrote The Federalist Papers (1787-88). He died in 1829.

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

Quotable:

“A setback only paves the way for a comeback.”

— former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield, who was born on this day in 1962