August 18: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 18, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1906, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “HONOLULU, AUG. 17, 10 P.M. — Wireless reports from the islands of Hawaii, Maui and Hilo report a tidal wave, the general height of which was 5 feet. In the enclosed bay of Maalaea, on the island of Maui, its height was estimated to be 12 feet, where it carried away a wharf and its superstructure. The phenomenon was manifested by an unprecedentedly heavy surf. The tidal wave is attributed to the earthquake at Valparaiso. Thirty years ago an earthquake in South America produced similar effects here.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1931, the Eagle reported, “Condition of the roadway leading to Floyd Bennett Field was criticized today by Walter W. Hubbard, manager of the aviation department of the New York Automobile Club. ‘The approach to Floyd Bennett Field, New York City’s only municipally owned airport, along Flatbush Ave. Extension, is the poorest I have yet seen in the United States or Canada,’ said Mr. Hubbard. ‘I hope that some means may be found for the speeding up of the work towards repaving it.’ He pointed out that the New York National Guard and Naval Reserve Aviation units are now housed there and in time of national emergency the highway would be of great importance.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Eagle reported, “INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Melvin Blanton, 23, an army prisoner who escaped from Governors Island, N.Y., July 20, was in custody here today. He was arrested for a minor traffic violation. Another man, Charles C. Hamilton, Middleton, Ohio, was arrested with Blanton and held as a deserter from the army. He is believed to be the civilian who rowed to Governors Island from Brooklyn where he held up a guard supervising Blanton at work. He then rowed back to Brooklyn with the prisoner and the pair escaped.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “ALBANY — Mayor LaGuardia’s New York City administration scored a victory in its efforts to effectuate unification of the privately operated rapid transit lines in the State Constitutional Convention today when the Fertig $315,000,000 unification amendment received final approval of the delegates. The proposed constitutional amendment was adopted by a vote of 124 to 24 after the convention, by a rising vote, beat down a proposal to freeze a 5-cent fare provision into the proposal sponsored by Transit Commissioner M. Maldwin Fertig (D., Bronx). The amendment, which authorizes an extension of $315,000,000 in the city’s borrowing capacity to permit the municipality to acquire the privately-operated Brooklyn-Manhattan and Interborough Rapid Transit lines, now goes to the people for final action at the polls in November. Eighteen Democrats joined with Republicans in voting against the amendment on the final roll call. The unsuccessful fight to write the 5-cent fare provision into the amendment was made on the convention floor by State Senator John T. McCall, Tammany Democrat, and was opposed by Commissioner Fertig, Harold Riegelman, chairman of the cities commission in the convention, and Assemblyman Abbot Low Moffat. McCall told the convention that while Fertig had gone on record as favoring retention of the 5-cent fare, there was no assurance how long the Transit Commission, of which he is a member, would be allowed to remain in office.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “A beauty parade of ‘show girls’ and ‘models’ got under way today before the Manhattan grand jury investigating charges of high-priced prostitution in New York’s swank café circles. While the panel began its quizzing of the stream of stunning girls, who are reported to have received as much as $500 a night for their entertainment, Minot (Mickey) Jelke, heir to an oleo fortune, awaited arraignment in Manhattan Felony Court on charges of procuring and for violating the Sullivan law. The dapper, pint-sized blueblood held a brief press conference before his arraignment and told newsmen he was ‘the victim of circumstances who was being made the goat’ in the sweeping vice investigation. His attorney, Martin Benjamin, added that the case ‘is rapidly becoming a witch hunt. If you call procuring entertaining women or inviting them to a party for dinner, then I imagine every business man entertaining buyers would be guilty. In my grandfather’s time, no one thought anything of it. Statutes were aimed at commercialized vice — not introduction of women.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, Eagle sports columnist Jimmy Murphy said, “Likened to Nap Rucker in his heyday with the Dodgers when they played at Washington Park before moving to Ebbets Field in 1913, Fred Wilpon, cunning southpaw of the Blue Jays, leader of the National Division of the Senior group in the Brooklyn Kiwanis League, is the talk of the town. It is all because he hurled two no-hitters in the loop this season. Fred is a popular youngster who has blended the styles of Warren Spahn, Tommy Byrne and Bobby Shantz into a code of his own that is paying off. He is such a close student of the game that he takes in as many big league frays as possible to see what he can learn to improve his own game.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “TAIPEH (U.P.) — Admiral Felix B. Stump, U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, arrived today reportedly to confer with the commanders of the U.S. 1st and 7th Fleets and Chinese Nationalist military leaders regarding joint defense of Formosa [Taiwan]. Admiral Stump arrived after a 36-hour cruise with the Chinese navy in the Formosa straits aboard a destroyer recently turned over to the Nationalists by the United States. It was not known how long he would stay on the island, but it was reported he would confer with Vice Admiral William Phillips and Vice Admiral Alfred Pride, commanders of the 1st and 7th Fleets, respectively. They are expected here this week to map joint plans for the defense of the island. But the conference here indicated that the United States is taking no chances on Communist intentions. Usually reliable sources said secret conferences were planned on Red China’s threats to ‘liberate’ Formosa … The conferences would closely follow President Eisenhower’s announcement that the Communists would have to run over the 7th Fleet if they actually attempted an invasion of Formosa.”

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Madeleine Stowe
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who was born in 1927; Oscar-winning director Robert Redford, who was born in 1936; “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” star Martin Mull, who was born in 1943; comedian Elayne Boosler, who was born in Brooklyn in 1952; “Rescue Me” star Denis Leary, who was born in 1957; “Revenge” star Madeleine Stowe, who was born in 1958; TV journalist Bob Woodruff, who was born in 1961; “Fight Club” star Edward Norton, who was born in 1969; “Heathers” star Christian Slater, who was born in 1969; “Malcolm & Eddie” star Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who was born in 1970; “Man Walks Into a Room” author and Brooklyn resident Nicole Krauss, who was born in 1974; former “Saturday Night Live” star Andy Samberg, who was born in 1978; former N.Y. Jets linebacker Bart Scott, who was born in 1980; former N.Y. Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey, who was born in 1980; and “Riverdale” star Madelaine Petsch, who was born in 1994.