October 8: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

October 8, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1894, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “And now we have come to the end. The New England school of letters and philosophy is extinct. Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Fields, Whittier, Curtis, Channing, Parker and Alcott, Bryant, Lowell, Longfellow and a score of minor thinkers, preachers, wits and poets that made Boston the intellectual center of the Western world for so many years are gone and the literary period that they made and represented passes into history with the death of Oliver Wendell Holmes. This event has just been reported from Boston, and it carries such regret to the world as the demise of few public men do … Whether Dr. Holmes shall live as some of his contemporaries shall live — Emerson, for example — only time will tell. Perhaps the same years that have obliterated so much that is excellent in the past will throw ‘The Chambered Nautilus’ out of print and make ‘Old Ironsides’ forgotten. But it seems now as if those poems and many kindred ones would live in the hearts of Americans so long as they shall speak the English tongue.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1909, the Eagle reported, “Although the Federal departments in the various states do not, as a rule, observe holidays created by the respective state legislatures, the post offices in the State of New York will observe Columbus Day, the new state holiday, next Tuesday. The United States courts in this district will be in session as usual on Tuesday, there being no provision or order under which they can suspend business to help this state celebrate. The post office here will observe Columbus Day in the same manner it celebrates Lincoln’s birthday, by having two deliveries in the morning instead of one, as is the case on holidays more generally recognized, such as Independence Day and Memorial Day.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “MOSCOW (U.P.) — Russian troops were reported converging swiftly on Kiev, ancient Ukrainian capital, from both flanks and the rear today after three crossings of the Dnieper had breached the German Winter defense line Adolf Hitler had wanted held at any cost. The outflanking of Kiev and consolidation of firm Soviet bridgeheads on either side, together with a powerful uprising by Soviet patriots behind the cracked German line, appeared to make the fall of the keystone city on the middle Dnieper a matter of time. The Red Army insurge against Kiev highlighted an intense burst of action on a 1,000-mile front from Leningrad to the Caucasus which saw the Russians win a springboard to Latvia, crumple Nazi defenses on the Leningrad front and carry the liquidation of the Kuban bridgehead in the Caucasus into its last phase. Front dispatches amplifying the first announcements of Russian crossings of the middle Dnieper said three bridgeheads above and below Kiev were being expanded swiftly.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “New York City’s parents have joined the fight to cleanse the public schools of the narcotics menace by volunteering to serve as receptionists and door guards in school areas where dope arrests have been made, it was announced today. An exchange of letters between Acting Mayor Joseph T. Sharkey and Maximilian Moss, president of the Board of Education, was made public today by the Acting Mayor’s office. In response to Sharkey’s request for a report on safeguards being instituted to cope with the problem, Moss declared that he was ‘happy to report’ that ‘a number of steps have been taken.’ ‘Our major difficulty,’ Moss said, ‘is to separate the wrongdoers from the law-abiding citizens who are constantly making use of the school buildings. For that reason we are using parent association volunteers as door receptionists in buildings in areas of the city where there have been arrests.’ Moss added that these parents will supplement the work of 200 Welfare Department members who have been doing this job since last spring. In addition, the school board head pointed out that school personnel have been alerted by circulars, sent out by Superintendent of Schools William Jansen, to maintain a continued vigilance for symptoms of addiction among the children.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include gossip columnist Rona Barrett, who was born in 1936; International Tennis Hall of Famer Fred Stolle, who was born in 1938; “Crocodile Dundee” star Paul Hogan, who was born in 1939; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Fred Cash (The Impressions), who was born in 1940; civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who was born in 1941; original “Saturday Night Live” star Chevy Chase, who was born in 1943; “Goosebumps” author R.L. Stine, who was born in 1943; “Alien” star Sigourney Weaver, who was born in 1949; Kool and the Gang co-founder Robert “Kool” Bell, who was born in 1950; former “Saturday Night Live” star Darrell Hammond, who was born in 1955; “In Living Color” star Kim Wayans, who was born in 1961; gospel singer CeCe Winans, who was born in 1964; “Lost” star Jeremy Davies, who was born in 1969; Oscar-winner Matt Damon, who was born in 1970; “Just the Way You Are” singer Bruno Mars, who was born in 1985; and “Infamous” star Bella Thorne, who was born in 1997.