July 27: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

July 27, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1899, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “SAN FRANCISCO — On board the transport Ohio, which, with the Newport sailed at midnight last night for the Philippines, was Benjamin Givens, private, of Company H, Fourth United States Infantry, manacled and guarded, to be returned to Manila for trial upon the charge of ‘desertion in the face of the enemy,’ the penalty for which is death. The young soldier has been confined in the Presidio guard house since last Friday. He was taken there from the transport Indiana. When taken before Colonel Freeman, at the Presidio, yesterday, Givens stated that he did not realize for a week after he deserted his post the enormity of his offense. He had been drinking heavily and in his half crazed condition went aboard the Indiana. Givens deserted from his company when it was stationed at Block House No. 7, a mile and a half north of Manila. The command was under fire constantly from marauding bands. He will be court martialed.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “RAPID CITY, S.D. (U.P.) — The company of America’s great on Mount Rushmore, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, will remain exclusive for all time. There just isn’t enough stone for another of the heroic figures. The late sculptor Gutzon Borglum even found it difficult to fit the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt on the granite cliff. And so any ideas that the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt should be honored by including him in the Shrine of Democracy can never be accomplished. Such a suggestion has been made by Jack Bailey, Mitchell, S.D., newspaper columnist, and by a group of Texas schoolchildren, who also proposed, shortly after Roosevelt’s death, a fund be raised for that purpose. But the late President could be honored by dedicating the Mount Rushmore Hall of Records in his honor, Representative Francis Case has suggested.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “Mysterious ‘flying things’ along the New Jersey coast today turned out to be merely a big bunch of balloons in clusters, on a scientific mission. After the ‘things’ had scared residents around Asbury Park and Red Bank, and had caused two army fliers stationed at Red Bank to try to intercept them yesterday, the Princeton physics faculty announced it had sent the balloons up. Small wonder the planes, which reached only 11,000 feet, could not get to them for, by then, the balloons were up 63,000 feet. Meanwhile, a possible clue to the new ‘flying saucer’ scare of the West came in the Washington announcement today that the Navy has been zipping around, at a speed of 2,830 miles an hour, out of White Sands, N.M., a ‘telemetering instrument’ called the ‘Aerobee.’ This measures changes in pressure, speed, light and heat and transmits it all into radio sounds.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “U.N. ADVANCE BASE BELOW KAESONG, KOREA (U.P.) — Two specific developments which may speed the hour when the troops along the 135-mile Korean war front will be told to stop shooting emerged from a meeting of United Nations and Communist cease-fire negotiators in Kaesong today. Agreement was reached in principle on ‘administrative and procedural matters designed to expedite final achievement of a military armistice and cease-fire,’ it was announced. A committee of officers and staff assistants of both sides was appointed at once to work out details. Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy, chief U.N. negotiator, presented chief Communist negotiator Gen. Nam Il with two detailed maps setting forth his ideas of a proper line to be drawn between the two armies, with a demilitarized zone separating them. Nam Il asked a recess so his delegation could study the maps and reply, and it was agreed to meet again at 10 a.m. Saturday.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “PANMUNJOM (U.P.) — The first full-scale war between the free world and Communism ended today in a straw mat house in the middle of the Korean no-man’s land. The signing of the Korean armistice by United Nations and Communist representatives ended more than two years of frustrating negotiations … The next chapter will be written at the forthcoming post-truce conference. Where or who will write the third chapter, no one knows. Whether the Allies won or lost the peace is still to be learned. But in the past 24 months they carved out an armistice from a rock-hard block of Red delay, inconsistency, stubbornness and falsehood. The main obstacles included prisoner repatriation and cease-fire line, selection of neutral nation commissions to umpire the cease-fire, the question of foreign troop withdrawals from Korea and arrangements for the high-level political meeting aimed at establishing a permanent peace in Korea.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Roy Mack revealed yesterday he was trying to secure majority control of the Philadelphia Athletics by buying the stock owned by his brother, Earle. Roy said his brother once agreed to give him a written option on his share of the stock but later declined to do so. Asked about Roy’s offer, Earle said, ‘Go ask Roy where he is going to get the money.’ Earle said he definitely was ‘interested in leaving baseball if they will meet the price.’ And Roy admitted that among the offers he has received for the Athletics was one ‘from Kansas City.’ He refused to give details. … The Kansas City Star said in an editorial yesterday that if the city votes bonds Aug. 3 to buy Blues Stadium it was possible there would be a major league baseball story in Kansas City ‘within the next two weeks or less.’ Blues Stadium formerly was owned by the Yankees but now belongs to a Chicago group which has indicated it would sell.”

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Julian McMahon
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “All in the Family” creator Norman Lear, who was born in 1922; “Ode to Billie Joe” singer Bobbie Gentry, who was born in 1942; “Knots Landing” star John Pleshette, who was born in 1942; “Hill Street Blues” star Betty Thomas, who was born in 1947; figure skater and Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming, who was born in 1948; “The Morning After” singer Maureen McGovern, who was born in 1949; “Chicago Hope” star Roxanne Hart, who was born in 1952; comedian and writer Carol Leifer, who was born in 1956; “Charmed” star Julian McMahon, who was born in 1968; former “Saturday Night Live” star Maya Rudolph, who was born in 1972; former N.Y. Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who was born in 1975; N.Y. Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, who was born in 1984; “Orange Is the New Black” star Taylor Schilling, who was born in 1984; and golf champion Jordan Spieth, who was born in 1993.

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

Quotable:

“It was Brooklyn against the world. They were not only complete fanatics, but they knew baseball like the fans of no other city. It was exciting to play there.”

— Baseball Hall of Famer Leo Durocher, who was born on this day in 1905