February 13: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

February 13, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1844, a Brooklyn Daily Eagle editorial said, “St. Valentine. — Tomorrow is the festival of this distinguished saint — who, as all the world knows, extends his patronage to ladies fair and bachelors crusty. Myriads of heads are at this moment aching with poetical thoughts, and some of them would doubtless explode, in consequence of being ‘unused to the (rhyming and the) melting mood,’ were they not encircled by strings or bands, under pretense of keeping the hair in its place. The booksellers’ windows are ornamented with Valentines of the most approved stamp; and our friend Wilder, we perceive, displays a gigantic moss-rose, with a bachelor just emerging from its petals, as an indication of what may be found within. Ladies on the sunny side of thirty, and some, if that be possible, on the shady side, are tripping hither and thither in search of crow-quills, red ink and love-wax; and the anniversary, in all human and inhuman probability, will be fully celebrated.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1898, the Eagle reported, “The Southern Railroad and the Sea Board Air Line have announced a one fare rate ($34) for the round trip to New Orleans on account of the Mardi Gras festivities.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1898, the Eagle reported, “Last Sunday night a party of thirty-five Brooklynites started on their journey to the Klondike via the Canadian Pacific, and another party left via the same route last Thursday in charge of G. Trask of 120 Willoughby street, who is said to be a mining expert. C.W. Edlington, ticket agent of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, says: ‘The rush to the gold fields surpasses the rush of ’49. There will be 200,000 people to leave the Eastern States, not to mention large numbers from the West.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “The 1942 campaign of the United Service Organizations will be directed by Prescott S. Bush, partner in the banking firm of Brown Brothers, Harriman & Co. of Manhattan, according to an announcement by Walter Hoving, chairman of the USO Board. Mr. Bush will succeed former Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey, who led the 1941 drive. The campaign will be conducted in 6,000 communities in the country from May 11 to July 4.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, FEB. 12 (U.P.) — Communist Hungary’s demand for the recall of U.S. Minister Selden Chapin on the heels of the Cardinal Mindszenty case tonight drove American relations with Eastern Europe to a new postwar low. The State Department rejected the demand but ordered Chapin home for ‘consultations.’ It refused to budge in condemning Hungary’s treatment of the Catholic primate and reserved all rights to act as it sees fit in the future. The situation was practically without peacetime precedent and impinged on all U.S. relations with the Soviet-dominated satellites. A possible U.S. move was the request that Hungary’s minister, Andrew Sik, get out of Washington. There appeared scant likelihood Chapin would go back to Budapest or that anyone of ministerial rank would be sent in his stead. The only worse step which could have been taken short of war would be a complete diplomatic break with Hungary. Diplomats could not recall a similar case where another country had demanded in peacetime that a United States Ambassador or Minister be recalled from its capital. Diplomatic observers expected similar troubles with Bulgaria, where the Communist regime charged 15 Protestant churchmen had carried on ‘anti-state’ work with the help of a U.S. attache. The demand for Chapin’s recall came after the State Department had ordered John Florian, first secretary of the Hungarian Embassy here, to leave the country. Presumably it was a retaliation for that move. The issue of church persecution behind the Iron Curtain was raised in Washington again today — this time over Poland. Former Polish Prime Minister Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, in a ceremony marking the anniversary of the birth of Thaddeus Koscuiszko, Polish-American patriot, said 400 priests have been arrested in Poland in three months. They face the same fate as Cardinal Mindszenty, he said.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “New York City Council President Paul R. Screvane took direct aim yesterday against what he termed vicious exploitation of racial prejudice known as ‘block-busting.’ Screvane told the Council that his legislative proposal would eliminate the creation of racial ghettos which can only benefit ‘panic-peddling’ profiteers who operate as real estate dealers. In introducing the bill in the Council yesterday, he said it fulfilled a promise he made Nov. 29 for such legislation. He said he would like to see ‘the profiteers in prejudice go to jail, so I have included in my bill a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.’ The Screvane measure would make ‘block-busting’ a crime, with penalties to fit the charge. ‘Under my bill, those accused of block-busting will be investigated by the District Attorney’s office and prosecuted if evidence warrants such action,’ Screvane said. Referring to his November talk, in which he said block-busting operators were at work in Crown Heights, Bushwick and Park Slope, as well as in the Bronx and Queens, he cited a case where a $12,650 private home was sold 15 days after purchase by a real estate man for $20,750, a profit of $8,100. A full report on his proposed legislation will be given by Screvane at a public hearing to be held by the General Welfare Committee of the Council, to which the bill was referred. The date for the hearing hasn’t as yet been set.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Pal Joey” star Kim Novak, who was born in 1933; “Grease” star Stockard Channing, who was born in 1944; Basketball Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski, who was born in 1947; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Peter Gabriel, who was born in 1950; Black Flag singer Henry Rollins, who was born in 1961; “L.A. Law” star Michele Greene, who was born in 1962; Space Shuttle astronaut Stephen Bowen, who was born in 1964; “Boomtown” star Neal McDonough, who was born in 1966; C+C Music Factory singer Freedom Williams, who was born in Brooklyn in 1966; “The Scorpion King” star Kelly Hu, who was born in 1968; Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss, who was born in 1977; and “American Beauty” star Mena Suvari, who was born in 1979.