May 7: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

May 7, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1910, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “LONDON — King George V was proclaimed this afternoon. The proclamation was approved by the Privy Council at 4 o’clock. The Council met in the throne room at St. James Palace under the presidency of the Earl of Crewe, who officiated in the absence of Viscount Wolverhampton, the Lord President of the Council. The new monarch was given the title of King George V. The King, who had driven over from Marlborough House, waited in a room adjoining the Council Chamber while the long formalities leading up to the actual proclamation were proceeding. With today’s ceremony and in his forty-fifth year, the second son born to King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra becomes the ruler of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British dominions beyond the seas, King, Defender of the Faith, and Emperor of India.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Eagle reported, “BERLIN, MAY 6 — An uprising against the British in the Sudan is reported in dispatches from Constantinople to the Overseas News Agency today. Ali Dinar, the Imam of Darfur, with a force of troops and 8,000 camels, is said to be marching against the British forces in Northern Sudan. The British, according to the advices, are retiring hastily toward the Nile. The Constantinople reports state that Ali Dinar has proclaimed a Holy War against the British, and that he intends to cooperate with the Senussi tribesmen in their operations against the British forces. Darfur has an area of about 160,000 square miles and is the westernmost state of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “LAKEHURST, N.J. — As the burnt, twisted hunk of metal that was the proud Hindenburg lay on the ground here today, and the Navy searched for bodies, sabotage was darkly hinted as the cause of the explosions and fire which wrecked the dirigible. Tearfully, in Berlin, Dr. Hugo Eckener, her designer, prepared to sail for America on the Europa today, declaring that sabotage must be considered when the explosions are investigated. In Washington, Senator Royal S. Copeland, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, announced that Harold E. Hartney, committee investigator, had been instructed specifically to determine whether sabotage was responsible for the destruction. The explosions and fire on the giant dirigible, ‘the perfect airship,’ late last evening, just as she was putting into port on her first transatlantic flight of 1937, left this unofficial toll: Known dead or missing — 32. Injured — 50. Delay in release of the complete list of dead and missing, it was explained by press representatives of the Zeppelin Company, was caused by the lack of an official passenger list. That was destroyed by the flames.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “LOUISVILLE, KY. (U.P.) — War Admiral, the tiny, temperamental son of Man O’ War, tonight was ready to go to the post tomorrow in the 63rd annual running of the Kentucky Derby with one of the shortest prices ever carried by a favorite. Odds on the fleet son of ‘Big Red’ may drop close to even money when the 19 or 20 starters line up at the barrier. The last of the speed trials was under the belts of Mrs. H.C. Phipps’ Melodist and I.J. Collins’ Bernard F, who worked out yesterday on a soggy strip of rain-washed track.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “Almost ten years to the day, and only after an entire winter of hard work by its members and legion of friends, the long-range aim of the South Highway Little League became a thrilling reality last Saturday when it officially opened its new twin-fields to some 360 youngsters who comprise the 18 teams in the loop. The South Highway group added another big league feature to the occasion by naming the diamonds ‘Gil Hodges Field,’ in honor of Brooklyn’s all-time favorite, who has himself adopted our borough as his ‘home town.’ … Complete with concrete stands, drainage and sprinkler systems, and a modern lighting plant for night baseball, Gil Hodges Field is big league in every respect, and is already acclaimed as the most complete little league diamond in the State of New York.”

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Sydney Leroux
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “One Life to Live” star Robin Strasser, who was born in 1945; “Don’t Leave Me This Way” singer Thelma Houston, who was born in 1946; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead), who was born in 1946; boxer and actor Randall “Tex” Cobb, who was born in 1950; “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” director Amy Heckerling, who was born in 1954; former SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson, who was born in 1957; “All My Children” star Michael E. Knight, who was born in 1959; Trans-Siberian Orchestra bassist Johnny Lee Middleton, who was born in 1963; four-time NBA All-Star Shawn Marion, who was born in 1978; former Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith, who was born in 1984; former “Saturday Night Live” star Aidy Bryant, who was born in 1987; and soccer player and World Cup champion Sydney Leroux, who was born in 1990.

Michael E. Knight
Debra/Wikimedia Commons

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EASING THE PAIN: Mary Eliza Mahoney was born on this day in 1845. She was the second African-American to work as a professionally trained nurse in the U.S., graduating from nursing school in 1879. In 1908 she co-founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, an organization that played a large part in fighting racial discrimination in the profession. She was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 1976 and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993. She died in 1926.

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MOTHER COUNTRY: On this day in 1914, Rep. James T. Heflin of Alabama and Sen. Morris Sheppard of Texas introduced a resolution providing that the second Sunday in May be designated as Mother’s Day. It passed both Houses. Two days later, President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day a national holiday.

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

Quotable:

“Work more and better the coming year than the previous year.”

— nursing pioneer Mary Eliza Mahoney, who was born on this day in 1845