June 8: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 8, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1902, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The annual movement of the gold hunters toward Alaska and the British Northwest is fairly on. The first steamers of the year, filled to their utmost capacity with passengers and freight, are due at Nome today. The ice in the headwaters and lake sources of the mighty Yukon River has broken up and presently the stream of traffic from Seattle and Tacoma will be flowing in full force through the southwestern gateway at Skagway, by rail across the once formidable barrier of mountains, to a connection, at Bennett, and with the myriad steamers plying the great water highway of the North. In character this year’s movement to the North is unprecedented. It is no mad rush of reckless adventurers seeking the chance of wealth in an unknown and inhospitable wilderness, such as took place when the first discoveries in the Klondike, and again at Nome, were announced to the world. It is a movement of substantial interests, some in preparation for and others about to consummate plans for extensive and consistent work. The pressure of freight for shipment to Nome, to Dawson and to many of the points on the American Yukon is tremendous, and a very considerable proportion of those who have taken early passage for Bering Sea coast points, or awaited in Puget Sound cities the opening of the Yukon, are men of means and experience, ready, by the large development of properties of proven value, to make of the next two years an era of the greatest prosperity the Golden North has known.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Eagle reported, “BOSTON, MASS. — ‘Dope fiends’ in Boston have hit upon a new scheme to get drugs while they are in jail. The idea is to have terribly hard coughing spells, to demand medicine and get it. There is so much chloroform in the medicine that the men have found it is an acceptable substitute for cocaine, and there you are. One prisoner got three bottles in a day recently, because he developed a cold that could not be stopped. He coughed incessantly, until the jailers ‘got wise’ and investigated.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “James S. Doyle, assistant general manager of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, left an estate of $156,214 gross and $144,729 net, according to a State transfer tax appraisal. Mr. Doyle, who invented the automatic turnstile, died last June 28.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “Smoke-control engineers from other cities in the United States and Canada breathed polluted New York air during the second day of their convention here today after hearing Health Commissioner Harry S. Mustard say that local industry planned to spend $30,000,000 in the next four years to get rid of smoke and soot. Dr. Mustard yesterday addressed the 41st annual convention of the Smoke Prevention Association of America at the Commodore Hotel, Manhattan. He stated that Mayor [William] O’Dwyer, whose office at City Hall is in the city’s most highly polluted area, ‘is especially interested in the problem of smoke control.’ New York consumes 7,500,000 tons of anthracite, 11,000,000 tons of bituminous coal and more than 1,000,000,000 gallons of oil in one year, Dr. Mustard said. The Health Department has 11 inspectors to check the use of this fuel. Dr. Mustard said the department would spend $61,000 next year on smoke correction work, which includes adding five men to the inspection staff, a civil engineer and a mechanical engineer. Smoke experts in his department have declared that much more than this amount would be needed to make a dent in the worsening smoke menace hanging over the city.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “Calumet Trainer Jimmy Jones stepped forward today with the assurance that Citation will have no trouble at all with the Belmont Stakes mile and a half distance Saturday, but that Coaltown probably will not run. ‘I know this will be the first time Citation has gone a mile and a half,’ Jones said, ‘but I don’t see where people get any doubt that he can go that far. He seems to like distance. He’s only really getting started at the end of the mile and a quarter races.’ … Meanwhile, it appeared that five or six horses would go to the post Saturday in the $100,000-added classic which will give Citation his chance to sweep the triple crown.”

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Keenen Ivory Wayans
Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “The Time Tunnel” star James Darren, who was born in 1936; “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” singer Nancy Sinatra, who was born in 1940; “Lido Shuffle” singer Boz Scaggs, who was born in 1944; “Picket Fences” star Kathy Baker, who was born in 1950; “Moon over Parador” star Sonia Braga, who was born in 1950; “Total Eclipse of the Heart” singer Bonnie Tyler, who was born in 1951; “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams, who was born in 1957; “In Living Color” creator Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was born in 1958; “ER” star Julianna Margulies, who was born in 1966; gun control advocate Gabby Giffords, who was born in 1970; composer and music producer Kanye West, who was born in 1977; TV personality Maria Menounos, who was born in 1978; and “Chicago Med” star Torrey DeVitto, who was born in Brooklyn in 1984.

Julianna Margulies
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

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AMERICA’S TOP 10: The Bill of Rights, which led to the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, was first proposed by founding father James Madison on this day in 1789. It was ratified on Dec. 15, 1791. An original copy is on permanent display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

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LEAVE ’EM LAUGHING: Jerry Stiller was born on this day in 1927. The Brooklyn native married actress-comedienne Anne Meara in 1954. As a comedy duo in the 1960s, Stiller and Meara became a phenomenon. In the 1990s, Stiller reached a new generation of fans when he was cast as Frank Costanza on “Seinfeld.” He then played Arthur Spooner on “The King of Queens.” Stiller and Meara were married for more than 60 years and had two children, Ben and Amy, who also went into show business. Meara died in 2015 and Stiller died in 2020.

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

Quotable:

“Never go for the punch line. There might be something funnier on the way.”

— comedian Jerry Stiller, who was born on this day in 1927