December 4: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 4, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1910, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The cost of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Manhattan, is estimated at $2,500,000. It was begun in 1858 and completed in 1889. St. John the Divine Cathedral has been under construction for over a dozen years and it is not known when it will be finished. It will be both larger and more magnificent than St. Patrick’s.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “Boro President John A. Lynch of Richmond came out strongly today in favor of the proposed bridge over the Narrows to connect Staten Island with Brooklyn. He stated that he is preparing a resolution to present to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for the appropriation of $100,000 for surveys and other preliminary work. Gaining permission from the War Department for a span of the Narrows is the only step necessary to carry out the project, he stated. While the boro president is strongly in favor of the bridge, he still believes in the project for digging a tube under the Narrows, and would like to see both a tube and a bridge completed, he said. State Senator Thomas F. Walsh said today that he will introduce a bill in the Senate at the coming legislative session to provide for a bridge. Anton L. Schwab, president of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, also backed the bridge project, saying that it was better than the subway project in every respect. The chamber will take it up at its next meeting and in all probability endorse it, he said. He expressed the hope that the bridge would make possible a direct connection with Manhattan via the B.M.T. without change of cars for both passengers and freight. He added that, if the tube project should go through, he believed this direct connection would be necessary for its success. Francis E. Leman, president of the powerful Staten Island Civic League, said that the bridge project is the best idea for connecting Staten Island with Brooklyn that has ever been advanced.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “Mystery today veiled the resignations of four men of national prominence from the National Sesquicentennial Committee, an organization promoted and headed by Dr. Charles T. Baylis, former Brooklyn pastor, with headquarters in Washington and having for its chief aim the nation-wide celebration next year of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The men who handed in their resignations yesterday are John Hays Hammond, honorary chairman; Wade H. Ellis, former Assistant Attorney General and listed as general counsel of the organization; Leslie M. Shaw, who was Secretary of the Treasury under Roosevelt and who was treasurer of the committee; and Brig. Gen. Amos A. Fries, chief of the Chemical Warfare Service, who served as chairman of the membership committee. Dissatisfaction with the conduct of the committee’s affairs is the only reason so far advanced for the withdrawals, but further information was said to be forthcoming today. The committee, it is understood, had planned to raise a fund of $2,500,000 to promote pageants all over the country for celebrations next Fourth of July. An appeal had been made to all racial groups to unite in a common patriotism.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “JERUSALEM (UP) — Bloody Arab rioting broke out in Egypt and Iraq again today, and another death was reported in Palestine, where the British began a determined campaign to maintain order. A flurry of gunfire sent bullets whizzing across the rooftops of the crowded Jewish quarter of the old city of Jerusalem. Two Jews and one Arab were reported wounded. British troops raced through alleys and winding paths to the scene of the shooting, but the combatants had scattered. Large crowds of students ran amok in Cairo, scattering only when steel-helmeted police charged in with blazing guns. Other Moslems demonstrating against the partition of Palestine wrecked the United States Information Service office in Baghdad and smashed a British kindergarten. Eleven persons were injured in Cairo. The body of a murdered Jew was found in Tel Aviv, raising to 24 the number killed in Palestine alone since the United Nations voted last Saturday to split the Holy Land into Arab and Jewish states.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “(UPI) — Chipper Casey Stengel, 71 years young, ‘can’t wait’ for the new season to start even though most of the experts already are consigning his Mets to another 10th-place finish in 1963. Stengel, about to embark on his 23rd season as a major league manager, talks and acts as if he intends to remain in the game at least 23 more. ‘No one likes to lose,’ he added, referring to the Mets’ modern record total of 120 defeats this year, ‘and that includes me. Everybody tells me I look wonderful. Maybe I do — on the outside. But I don’t look so good on the inside. Those losses do something to you. Our organization hasn’t been sleeping this winter, however. I guarantee we’ll be better next year. We are starting to see some daylight.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include game show host Wink Martindale, who was born in 1933; musician Southside Johnny, who was born in 1948; Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges, who was born in 1949; “Thirtysomething” star Patricia Wettig, who was born in 1951; singer-songwriter Cassandra Wilson, who was born in 1955; Basketball Hall of Famer Bernard King, who was born in Brooklyn in 1956; Baseball Hall of Famer Lee Smith, who was born in 1957; Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei, who was born in Brooklyn in 1964; former “Saturday Night Live” star Fred Armisen, who was born in 1966; rapper Jay-Z, who was born in Brooklyn in 1969; TV personality Tyra Banks, who was born in 1973; and singer-songwriter Kate Rusby, who was born in 1973.