June 16: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 16, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1860, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “A recent census in Canada shows that there are 45,000 runaway slaves in Canada West at the present time, and that they are coming in at the rate of 10,000 a year. These slaves are assisted by associations, and many of them settle on lands purchased for them.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1865, the Eagle reported, “The remaining members of the gallant 14th regiment of this city, being now at home, the regiment is being reorganized. New uniforms of the color and stripe worn by the regiment when their gallant conduct on the field gained for them the name of the ‘red-legged devils’ have been ordered, and last evening Alderman Newman presented a petition asking the city to become security for 600 stand of arms which they are to receive from the State.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1906, the Eagle reported, “The Sunday baseball question cropped up again at local police headquarters today when a committee of the Interstate Baseball Association, headed by the president, William A. Rafter, called on Deputy Commissioner O’Keeffe and had a long talk with him … The men were early at the Deputy Commissioner’s office and they wanted to know, if they held games tomorrow, whether there would be any interference on the part of the police. With a friendliness that was marked and a ‘sportiness’ that was quite congenial to the visitors, Mr. O’Keeffe said: ‘It’s your move on this checker board. The police have sent out the orders and of course if they are not obeyed there will be interference. If you want to play ball on Sunday go ahead and take the consequences. It is my duty to see that the law is not interfered with and we have said that the collection of money in any way for the privilege of seeing a game of baseball on Sunday is not legal. Fight us if you want to. Get a lawyer if you feel that way and have the matter thrashed out in court.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “For the first time in many years Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, the brewers of Budweiser, are using Ford motors. The first units of a fleet of Ford V-8 trucks and commercial cars were delivered to the world’s largest brewery. Others will be added. The bodies are to be painted to correspond to the bright red color scheme peculiar to all Budweiser delivery units. The decision to buy Fords was made after an exacting test of the new 1935 models.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “WHITE PLAINS (A.P.) — Having proved to his own and everyone else’s satisfaction that he can keep pace with the pros in medal play, chunky little Frank Strafaci, 1935 U.S. public links champion from Brooklyn, today went after his first amateur title of the Summer circuit. Frankie, best of five golfing brothers, low amateur in the metropolitan open last month and ninth-place winner in the U.S. Open at Birmingham, Mich., last weekend, was one of 87 who teed off at the Metropolis Country Club in the 36-hole qualifying round of the metropolitan amateur championship.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “An FBI documents expert testified today that 64 of the typed sheets in evidence in the Alger Hiss perjury trial in Manhattan were written with the same typewriter used by Mrs. Hiss to type letters and reports in the 1930s. These sheets, including the famed ‘pumpkin papers’ which had been in microfilm, comprise documents which the Government charges were turned over by Hiss in the first three months of 1938 to Whittaker Chambers, self-confessed Soviet spy courier. The expert, Ramos S. Feehan, stood, pointer in hand, before a movable blackboard on which were attached photostats, magnified five times. Federal Judge Samuel H. Kaufman had moved to the jury box in order to see Feehan’s demonstration. Feehan, 30th Government witness, testified that there were defects in ten letters, five vowels and five consonants, which consistently turned up in both the Government documents and the personal writings of Mrs. Hiss. The only exception, he said, was a paper identified only as Government Exhibit 10.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include National Book Award recipient Joyce Carol Oates, who was born in 1938; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Eddie Levert (The O’Jays), who was born in 1942; former Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell, who was born in 1946; “Roseanne” star Laurie Metcalf, who was born in 1955; 1981 NBA Rookie of the Year Darrell Griffith, who was born in 1958; World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson, who was born in 1970; “Star Trek” star John Cho, who was born in 1972; “Third Watch” star Eddie Cibrian, who was born in 1973; Olympic gold medalist and former N.Y. Ranger left-winger Rick Nash, who was born in 1984; former “Saturday Night Live” star Abby Elliott, who was born in 1987; and “Best Friends Whenever” star Lauren Taylor, who was born in 1998.

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WORDS OF WISDOM: Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech on this day in 1858. Beginning his campaign for an Illinois U.S. Senate seat, he addressed the Republican State Convention at Springfield, saying, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.”

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A NEW PERSPECTIVE: John Howard Griffin was born on this day in 1920. The American author and photographer was deeply concerned about racial problems in the U.S. To better understand black life in the South, he darkened his skin with chemicals and ultraviolet light and kept a journal during his travels. The result was his best-known book, “Black Like Me” (1961). He died in 1980.

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

Quotable:

“Fear dims even the sunlight.”

— author John Howard Griffin, who was born on this day in 1920