June 2: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 2, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1895, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “‘Gowning week’ is the extra vacation allowed the senior girls in many schools in which to prepare graduating dresses. All white is as much a matter of course for these costumes as for bridal gowns, and it is safe to say that the occasion is as important to the young girl as her marriage ceremony later. If something of a coquette, she may peep in the glass and imagine how she will look as a bride, when her simple white dimity shall be exchanged for heavy white satin.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1910, the Eagle reported, “And now comes a Brooklyn man who says that it snowed! The Weather Bureau has admitted to it being the coldest June 1 on record, but Chief Observer Scarr had heard nothing about snow. However, a Brooklyn man of undoubted veracity not only saw it, but felt it. William H. Cunningham, the mail clerk who presides over the window of the superintendent of mails in the Post Office building, is the man who tells the story: ‘I was walking along Bainbridge street at 11:45 o’clock last night,’ he said, ‘when I distinctively felt a snowflake brush against my face. I looked up, and it was snowing. Little particles of snow landed on my face and melted, so I am positive that I was not mistaken. This continued while I covered a distance of two blocks.’ Since it also hailed and rained yesterday, the poet may well sing: ‘What is so rare as a day in June?’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, the Eagle reported, “A shark which appeared to be 40 feet long was sighted by Heber Ridgeway approximately 480 miles from New York when the S.S. Halizones, on which Ridgeway is third mate, was on the return trip from India via Gibraltar recently. Since sharks seldom attain a length of more than 25 or 30 feet, this report is arousing considerable interest among seamen of the Brooklyn waterfront. ‘It was an enormous blighter,’ said Ridgeway, who is British. ‘We slid by within a hundred feet of it and I had plenty of time to look it over and make an estimate of its length. Its dorsal fin was as tall as I am. Soon it dove and did not reappear. Its size was more that of a whale than a shark.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “Troubled world affairs have lent added significance to one of Brooklyn’s finest old traditions, the 111th Anniversary Day Parade of the Brooklyn Sunday School Union to be held on Thursday, when 100,000 children will rally for ‘Christ, The Way, The Truth, The Life.’ The anniversary committee adopted this theme in view of world conditions and many pastors will preach their sermons on its significance today. Since the early days in the history of Brooklyn, children of the Protestant Sunday Schools have marched on the first Thursday of June to reaffirm their faith. The occasion celebrates the anniversary of the founding of the Brooklyn Sunday School Union.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “Under a dull, gray sky, Assault came roaring down the Belmont stretch and into the hall of racing fame. While a suddenly chilled crowd of 43,599 cheered, the game little Texas-bred son of Bold Venture won the $100,000 Belmont Stakes by three lengths to complete the conquest of the three-year-old triple crown … He became the seventh winner of the triple crown. The others are famed racing names — Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), and Count Fleet (1943).”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Senator Edwin C. Johnson (D., Colorado) charged today that a Security Board recommendation to deny atom secrets to Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer was ‘nothing but doubletalk.’ The special three-man panel declared unanimously in findings published last night that the famed builder of the atom bomb is a ‘loyal citizen’ with an ‘unusual ability’ to keep vital secrets to himself. But the board also voted 2 to 1 against reinstating Oppenheimer’s suspended clearance for atom secrets because of his ‘serious disregard’ for security measures, ‘susceptibility to influence,’ ‘disturbing’ conduct in the H-Bomb program and lack of ‘candor’ in testimony before the board.”

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Morena Baccarin
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Mike Hammer” star Stacy Keach, who was born in 1941; “Leave It to Beaver” star Jerry Mathers, who was born in 1948; political commentator Jeanine Pirro, who was born in 1951; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who was born in 1952; “24” star Dennis Haysbert, who was born in 1954; “Saturday Night Live” star Dana Carvey, who was born in 1955; former N.Y. Yankees and Mets pitcher Mike Stanton, who was born in 1967; “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” star Wayne Brady, who was born in 1972; former N.Y. Yankees outfielder Raul Ibanez, who was born in 1972; “Prison Break” star Wentworth Miller, who was born in 1972; “Star Trek” star Zachary Quinto, who was born in 1977; “Unhappily Ever After” star Nikki Cox, who was born in 1978; “Homeland” star Morena Baccarin, who was born in 1979; National Soccer Hall of Famer Abby Wambach, who was born in 1980; and “The Farewell” star Awkwafina, who was born in 1988.

Wentworth Miller
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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SPELLBOUND: The Salem witch trials began on this day in 1692. As the village of Salem was gripped by terror of witches, Massachusetts Bay Colony Gov. Sir William Phips ordered a special court to expedite judgment of the more than 150 people accused of witchcraft.

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HEY JUDE: Thomas Hardy was born on this day in 1840. The English novelist, dramatist and poet is renowned for the novels “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” and “Jude the Obscure.” His oeuvre mirrors both his personal and broader societal changes, including the decline in Christianity, the movement from reticence to openness about sexuality, the shift from an agricultural to a modern economy and the contrast between the universe and the individual. He died in 1928.

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

Quotable:

“Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.”

— writer Thomas Hardy, who was born on this day in 1840