July 26: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

July 26, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1854, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Strange Occurrence — We understand, says the Troy Times, that a man died in West Troy last Thursday evening, with a disease strongly resembling cholera, and his body was deposited in a coffin and fully prepared for burial. The remains were kept until Saturday evening, and then, while the friends of the deceased were engaged in holding a wake for him, the supposed dead man slowly recovered from the state in which he had so long lain, and actually rose from the coffin, walked across the floor, and requested a drink of water, saying that he was very thirsty. This comes to us from one of the parties present, and we see no reason to doubt her statement. We further understand that the man is convalescent and will recover.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1903, the Eagle reported, “‘And they pitched their tents at the city’s gate!’ It was a few thousand years ago that they did that, and those of whom the record was written were not out on any midsummer holiday expedition, either. But that is precisely what any number of the denizens of Greater New York are doing this season by way of a summer outing. Perhaps it is one manifestation of the growing acceptance of the latest medical theory that out-of-door life is a panacea for most of the ills that flesh is heir to. Perhaps it is merely an economic phenomenon, a revolt against the exorbitant price set by summer resort proprietors upon fresh air, the sands of the sea and the life giving qualities of salt water in the vicinity of New York. At any rate, certain it is that there are large and growing colonies of tent dwellers springing up by the sounding sea all around the outskirts of the greater city.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “YAKIMA, WASH. (U.P.) — Civil Aeronautics officials said today the ‘moon-sized flying blob,’ which residents claimed they saw blazing across northwest skies yesterday, must have been ‘another flying saucer.’ The strange object was reported a little more than 24 hours after two Eastern Airline pilots told of seeing a flying monster in the skies over Alabama. Residents of two states said they saw the Yakima ‘saucer.’ William B. Applke, Portland, Ore., said he saw a ‘big, round, bright object going west.’ ‘It suddenly veered southwest in an awful hurry,’ Applke said. ‘It didn’t look like an airplane, but was roundish like a disk.’ In Yakima, airport traffic controller Don Hunt and aircraft communicator George Robinson said they saw a silvery ‘moon-sized’ object wheeling west of the city about 2 p.m. yesterday and again at 4:20 p.m. ‘At first I thought it was the planet Venus,’ Hunt said. ‘But after checking I knew that Venus couldn’t be seen here at this time of the year.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, Eagle columnist Jack Lait Jr. said, “Richard Carlson and Lee Bowman, representing the Screen Actors Guild, recently returned from Washington where they went to talk to Treasury officials about a proposed plan to ease the income tax bite on the irregular salaries of movie stars. They report the tax poobahs look favorably on the scheme, which is designed to level off the up-and-down wages of the actors over a four-year period. Roughly, it would average a star’s earnings over the period and the tax would be paid on that average for each year. Suppose, for the sake of illustration, an actor makes $100,000 in one year, and nothing the next three years. Instead of kicking in most of that $100,000 in taxes for the first year, and trying to eat on the remainder for the other three years, he would merely pay the lower-bracket tax on $25,000 for each of the four years. Sounds nice, but I can’t convince myself the Treasury people will really go for it. If movie stars are given this privilege, then it will have to be extended to everyone else whose earnings vary from year to year — writers, professional people, small businessmen, etc. All of these would welcome such an arrangement, since it would constitute a gift rebate from the tax people. But they have also learned the simple truth that the Bureau of Internal Revenue never giveth, it only taketh away.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “Debbie Reynolds, young Burbank High School student and a beauty contest winner who was signed to a long-term contract by Warner Bros. last Summer, will make her screen debut in the important role of June Haver’s 16-year-old sister in Warner’s forthcoming musical, ‘The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady.’ Blonde and petite, Debbie is the daughter of a railroad carpenter and hopes to establish herself as a film comedienne.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “Millions of dollars worth of narcotics are being smuggled into the U.S. under the white flag of diplomatic immunity — and this country is helpless to do anything about it, the Brooklyn Eagle was informed today. Many pounds of crystals of heroin, cocaine and other drug forms are carried off ships and planes in diplomatic pouches accredited to ambassadorial staffs and the smugglers are reaping a harvest, secure in the knowledge that no search will be made of their belongings when they cross the borders of the U.S. … Government officials stand by and gnaw their fingernails in frustration as drug addiction graphs lurch skyward in this country. To search a diplomatic pouch sealed with the coat of arms of a foreign country might create an international incident. Customs officials and other law enforcement agencies are not willing to risk this yet.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “COOPERSTOWN, N.Y., JULY 25 (U.P.) — Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons will be formally installed in baseball’s hall of fame on Monday in this picturesque little community where the game was born. After the brief luncheon ceremony, the Redlegs will play the White Sox in an exhibition game at Abner Doubleday Field. A crowd of nearly 10,000 townsfolk and tourists is expected to overflow the ballpark for the contest.”

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Dorothy Hamill
Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob Lilly, who was born in 1939; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love, who was born in 1941; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones), who was born in 1943; Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren, who was born in 1945; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Roger Taylor (Queen), who was born in 1949; figure skater and Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill, who was born in 1956; “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” star Nana Visitor, who was born in 1957; Extreme singer Gary Cherone, who was born in 1961; Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock, who was born in 1964; “Fast & Furious” star Jason Statham, who was born in 1967; “The Sixth Sense” star Olivia Williams, who was born in 1968; “Underworld” star Kate Beckinsale, who was born in 1973; snowboarder and Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark, who was born in 1983; and “Gossip Girl” star Taylor Momsen, who was born in 1993.