January 26: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1876, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Sitting Bull’s band of Sioux attacked a party near Fort Pease, killing one man and wounding five. Eight horses were also killed.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1877, the Eagle reported, “In view of the fact that Mr. [Frederic Auguste] Bartholdi, sculptor of the monument, ‘Liberty Enlightening the World,’ sails for Europe tomorrow, the committee having in charge the collection of funds for the erection of the base on Bedloe’s Island, held a meeting Wednesday night. The committee, of which Mr. William M. Evarts is chairman, have met with only partial success in securing the funds needed for the purpose.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1885, the Eagle reported, “Signor Mancini, Minister of Foreign Affairs, has handed to M. Decrais, the French Ambassador, a note accepting the principal French proposals regarding Egypt, and expressing satisfaction at the proposal to hasten an international agreement respecting free navigation of the Suez Canal.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1936, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, JAN. 25 — Avoiding the mention of President Roosevelt by name, former Governor [Al] Smith tore into the Administration here tonight in a characteristic speech that brought cheers from 2,000 men and women at the banquet of the American Liberty League. Bringing into use his most forceful language and broadcasting over a nation-wide hook-up, Roosevelt’s bitter personal and political enemy declared the President had abandoned his party platform of 1932. The present Administration, he declared, while the audience indulged in frequent cheering, is operating under affirmative policies today which leave the nation no better off than did the negative policies of Herbert Hoover. Citing that portion of Roosevelt’s message in which he said ‘Power is wholesome and proper’ when in the right hands, Smith declared: ‘Now, I interpret it to mean, if you are going to have an autocrat take me, be very careful about the other fellow.’ The crowd roared its applause and Smith went on: ‘There is a complete answer to that, and it rises in the minds of the great and rank and file, and that answer is just this: We will never in this country tolerate any laws that provide shackles for our people.’ When the applause died down, the ex-Governor cried: ‘We don’t want any autocrats, either in or out of office. We wouldn’t even take a good one.’”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “BOSTON (U.P.) — A ‘magic brain’ with split-second reactions is being installed at the customs house. The ‘brain’ will control four 16-passenger elevators at a speed of 600 feet a minute throughout the 25-story building and automatically dispatch cars to floors where demand is heavy.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1955, the Eagle reported, “TAIPEI, FORMOSA (U.P.) — Jet fighters and fighter-bombers from the powerful U.S. 7th Fleet patrolled the skies north of Formosa [Taiwan] today in a warning to Red China against interfering with American defense strategy in this tense Far Eastern area. The American war planes — some 300 strong — are on hand to cover and assure the success of the planned withdrawal of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s 10,000 Nationalist troops and 20,000 Chinese civilians from the invasion-threatened Tachen Islands. A formal decision by the Chinese Nationalist government to proceed with the Tachens evacuation, tightening Formosa’s lines of defense, was expected momentarily. Authoritative sources here said the Nationalist government has agreed with the Americans that the Tachens must be evacuated, but the formal decision is awaiting Chiang’s approval. Waves of Nationalist heavy bombers smashed at Red Chinese invasion fleets north of the main Tachen island. Nationalist pilots reported sinking one 1,500-ton Communist warship and said a fourth, unsuccessful Communist attempt to invade Matsu Island — 10 miles off the China mainland coast — had been beaten back.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) — Vaughn Meader, who sold 4 million copies of a record satirizing the Kennedy family, was restrained by a U.S. District judge Thursday from going on a nationwide tour. Judge Stanley Weigel issued a temporary restraining order requested by a San Francisco night club which said Meader is refusing to fulfill a $750-a-week contract requiring a month’s appearances beginning Monday. The contract between Meader and ‘the hungry i’ was signed Sept. 20. Since then, Meader has become famous with his ‘First Family’ album. The order would keep Meader from making any appearances except on television or at ‘the hungry i’ until a hearing on Feb. 4.”
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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer, who was born in 1929; baseball broadcaster Bob Uecker, who was born in 1934; comic book artist Sal Buscema, who was born in Brooklyn in 1936; “Eight Men Out” star David Strathairn, who was born in 1949; singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, who was born in 1953; “Sweet Love” singer Anita Baker, who was born in 1958; talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who was born in 1958; Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, who was born in 1961; Cinderella singer Tom Keifer, who was born in 1961; former N.J. Nets shooting guard Vince Carter, who was born in 1977; former N.J./Brooklyn Nets shooting guard MarShon Brooks, who was born in 1989; and figure skater Emily Hughes, who was born in 1989.
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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.
Quotable:
“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.”
— Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, who was born on this day in 1961
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