May 22: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1904, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “It is one of the anomalies of civilization that the progressive methods of the West, having been the real cause of the decline of the Ottoman Empire, should now be called into action to rehabilitate and protect it from annihilation by the great powers of Europe. Yet this is exactly what has happened in Turkey. Abdul Hamid is making the fight of his life to bolster up his tottering empire by the use of modern machinery. He is pushing forward, with the greatest haste — turning his soldiers into workmen — the completion of the Damascus-Mecca railroad, which will run through the heart of the Holy Land for a distance of 1,000 miles. One-half the road has been built and the work on the remainder is progressing rapidly, under the direct supervision of the Sultan, who follows every foot of construction from plans that are submitted to him in the imperial palace, and chafes with feverish anxiety at any delay.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1904, the Eagle reported, “Past Commander Noah Tebbetts, chairman of the Memorial and Executive Committee of Grant Post No. 327, announces that services will be held at the tomb of General U.S. Grant at Riverside Park, on Memorial Day, Monday May 30 … Abraham Lincoln War Veterans Association held a meeting at headquarters, Templars Hall, Tompkins and Park avenues, last night, when arrangements were perfected for Memorial Day. The association will assemble at headquarters, with white gloves and the ribbon badge, on Memorial Sunday, May 29, and proceed to decorate the Lincoln Monument in the Flower Garden, Prospect Park.”