February 13: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

February 13, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1844, a Brooklyn Daily Eagle editorial said, “St. Valentine. — Tomorrow is the festival of this distinguished saint — who, as all the world knows, extends his patronage to ladies fair and bachelors crusty. Myriads of heads are at this moment aching with poetical thoughts, and some of them would doubtless explode, in consequence of being ‘unused to the (rhyming and the) melting mood,’ were they not encircled by strings or bands, under pretense of keeping the hair in its place. The booksellers’ windows are ornamented with Valentines of the most approved stamp; and our friend Wilder, we perceive, displays a gigantic moss-rose, with a bachelor just emerging from its petals, as an indication of what may be found within. Ladies on the sunny side of thirty, and some, if that be possible, on the shady side, are tripping hither and thither in search of crow-quills, red ink and love-wax; and the anniversary, in all human and inhuman probability, will be fully celebrated.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1924, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — The flow of immigrants into Brooklyn will be cut almost 50 percent if the new Johnson Immigration Bill, now pending before the House of Representatives, is passed by this Congress. Its passage would undoubtedly have a marked political, if not economic, effect upon the boro with its foreign-born population of 700,000. The Johnson Bill was framed by the House Immigration Committee with the intent of restricting alien immigration even more than now under the 3 percent quota law. This new law would cause a sharp geographical shift in the sources from which this country now draws its alien population. By computing the quota upon the United States census of 1890 instead of 1910 as of present, the American immigration bars would be raised higher against such countries as Italy, Poland, Russia, Austria, Greece and Turkey, whereas the immigrants from such countries as Great Britain, Germany, France and Scandinavia would find the new act working comparatively in their favor. The enemies of the bill declare it represents racial and religious discrimination; that it shows a preference for Nordic races and is aimed at the people of Eastern and Southern Europe.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “ALBANY — Mayor [William] O’Dwyer carried New York City’s bid for increased State aid to the floor of the Legislature here today in the face of a Republican counter-barrage in which G.O.P. legislative spokesmen told him the city was now getting greater benefits in State aid than ever before. A statement by Senator Arthur H. Wicks, chairman of the Republican-controlled Senate Finance Committee, and D. Mallory Stephens, Republican chairman of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, inferentially accused his administration of having injected ‘misrepresentation and considerable confusion’ into the fiscal relationship between the State and city. The two chairmen struck the first blow as the Mayor, standing pat on his radio announcement which barred a higher subway fare as a solution to the city’s transit problem, launched his own offensive here to pry more State aid loose for his city administration from Governor [Thomas] Dewey and the G.O.P.-controlled Legislature. A coalition with 60 up-State cities was proposed by the Mayor in a surprise move to force the Dewey administration’s hand.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “CAPE CANAVERAL (UPI) — Stormy weather yesterday forced a delay in plans to launch America’s most unusual communications satellite into orbit around earth. The launching of the 150-pound Syncom satellite was rescheduled for Thursday morning. The goal of the shot will be to put Syncom into an orbit so high — 22,300 miles above earth — that it will seem to hang in the sky in more or less one spot. The launching plans were fouled by a wave of thunderstorms that swept across the Florida peninsula and brought high winds and two inches of rain in six hours. The Syncom shot ranks as one of the most complicated ever attempted. The plan is to put it into a nearly circular orbit 22,300 miles above earth, where the satellite’s forward speed will match the rotational speed of the globe beneath it. If this is accomplished, Syncom will seem to move little, if at all, either east or west. Instead, it will appear to swing back and forth across the Equator in a roughly ‘figure-8’ pattern.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Pal Joey” star Kim Novak, who was born in 1933; “Grease” star Stockard Channing, who was born in 1944; Basketball Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski, who was born in 1947; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Peter Gabriel, who was born in 1950; Black Flag singer Henry Rollins, who was born in 1961; Space Shuttle astronaut Stephen Bowen, who was born in 1964; “Boomtown” star Neal McDonough, who was born in 1966; C+C Music Factory singer Freedom Williams, who was born in Brooklyn in 1966; “The Scorpion King” star Kelly Hu, who was born in 1968; Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss, who was born in 1977; “American Beauty” star Mena Suvari, who was born in 1979.

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BORN TO LEAD: Eddie Robinson was born on this day in 1919. For 56 years, Robinson coached football at historically black Grambling State University in his native Louisiana. He retired with a record of 408-165-15 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. He died in 2007.

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CAUSE FOR ALARM: A fire broke out at the World Trade Center on this day in 1975. The three-alarm blaze began on the 11th floor of the 110-story North Tower and spread to other floors. Of the 125 firefighters at the scene, 28 suffered heat- and smoke-related injuries. The cause of the fire remains unknown.

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

Quotable:

“Win without bragging. Lose without acting like a fool.”

— Eddie Robinson, who was born on this day in 1919.