June 26: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 26, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1910, a Brooklyn Daily Eagle guest travel columnist said, “Belfast is a wide awake city. We had two rich experiences. Through the courtesy of the Right Hon. A.M. Carlisle, we visited the shipyard of Harland & Wolff and saw the Olympic and the Titanic, the two ships of the White Star Line which will be the largest ships ever built. The Olympic will be launched in October and will be ready for service next year. It is 850 feet long and has a tonnage of 46,000. There need be no fear of seasickness on a steamer of that size and speed. We also visited one of the large linen mills and followed the process from the flax to the manufactured article.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1921, Eagle columnist Frederick Boyd Stevenson said, “There is an epidemic of crime. Why? Some say it is due to the war — that the spirit of unrest and consequent disorder always follow wars. Perhaps in part that was the cause for the initiation of a crime wave spreading over the country. It is not the cause for the continuance and increase of crime. The chief cause for the continuance and increase of crime is imitation. A famous authority on crime and criminals — Gabriel Tarde, former magistrate and professor in the College of France — says: ‘Before anything else we ought summarily to define and analyze the powerful, generally unconscious, always partly mysterious action by means of which we account for all the phenomena of society, namely, imitation.’ That is the soundest solution of the problem of a crime wave. Now, then, if we stop those who set the example of committing crimes, we shall get at the very beginning of the cure.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1936, the Eagle reported, “As a result of a botany-minded patrolman’s curiosity, police of the Coney Island precinct today had in their possession several boxes of marijuana — also known as ‘muggles’ and ‘loco weed’ – which was found growing along W. 5th St. between Neptune Ave. and Sheepshead Bay Road. Marijuana is used extensively in narcotic cigarettes. The weed was growing on a patch of ground about 50 feet long and three feet wide between the sidewalk and the wall of a B.M.T. car barn. Police said they could not determine whether it was growing wild or had been planted. Patrolman David Bailey noticed the weed Wednesday.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “SAN FRANCISCO (U.P.) — A world still at war today placed its hope for a peaceful future in the charter of a new world organization unanimously adopted by the United Nations Conference. The representatives of the 50 nations approved the charter at 10:50 o’clock last night. They will sign the historic document today in a specially built, flag-draped, Hollywood-like setting in San Francisco’s stately Veterans Building. Tonight they will listen to President Truman give the charter his blessing and his promise to seek immediate United States ratification. The president’s address will conclude this nine-week conference. To China, which has been fighting aggression longer than any of the other United Nations, will go the honor of being first to sign the new charter. The United States, the host nation at the conference, will be last.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “BERLIN (U.P.) — American planes began flying milk and medical supplies into Berlin today to ease the plight of 2,500,000 Germans victimized by a Russian attempt to drive the western allies out of the city. Communist-controlled trade unions here threatened a general strike. A feature of the Soviet campaign was the stirring up of unrest among the Germans. The Berlin City Council was reported to be planning to appeal to the United Nations to intervene in the four-power dispute on the off chance that such a move might bring some relief for the Germans caught in the squeeze. The council previously had directed the distribution of food for all zones in Berlin. Yesterday the Russians ordered it to halt all movement of food from the Soviet zone into the western sectors. The decision to appeal to the U.N. was said to have been made at a closed meeting of City Councillors late yesterday. A final draft was expected to be drawn up Monday and submitted to American or British authorities with a request that it be forwarded. Two trainloads of potatoes which crossed the zonal border before surface transport was halted a week ago reached Berlin, and a third was reported on the way. But it was a mere drop in the bucket.”

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Ariana Grande
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include 5th Dimension co-founder Billy Davis, Jr., who was born in 1938; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mick Jones (The Clash), who was born in 1955; “Gung Ho” star Gedde Watanabe, who was born in 1955; “Wicked Game” singer Chris Isaak, who was born in 1956; Scandal singer Patty Smyth, who was born in 1957; “The Kids in the Hall” star Mark McKinney, who was born in 1959; U.S. Bicycling Hall of Famer Greg LeMond, who was born in 1961; “Boogie Nights” director Paul Thomas Anderson, who was born in 1970; “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes, who was born in 1970; “Here for the Party” singer Gretchen Wilson, who was born in 1973; N.Y. Yankees legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who was born in 1974; and “No Tears Left to Cry” singer Ariana Grande, who was born in 1993.

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RAISING THE BAR: The bar code was introduced on this day in 1974. A committee formed in 1970 by U.S. grocers and food manufacturers recommended in 1973 a Universal Product Code for supermarket items that would allow electronic scanning of prices. The first item to be scanned was a pack of Wrigley’s gum. Today bar codes are used to keep track of everything from freight cars to cattle.

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THIS IS US: On this day in 2000, biologists J. Craig Venter and Francis S. Collins announced that their research groups had mapped the human genome, a strand of DNA with three billion parts that spell out our genetic code.

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

Quotable:

“I love it when people doubt me. It makes me work harder to prove them wrong.”

— N.Y. Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who was born on this day in 1974