February 27: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

February 27, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1860, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The Republican Party have very adroitly taken advantage of the popularity of the lecture system to propagate their principles. Under the guise of literary entertainments, such men as G.W. Curtis, Wendell Phillips, and others have in our lecture rooms preached the doctrines of Seward and Helper. Many who habitually attend lectures are generally attracted more by the desire to see some celebrity than by the subject of his discourse; and many go to see Phillips, Garrison, and Cassius M. Clay out of mere curiosity to see the men, as they would as soon go to see Barnum’s mermaid. As a class, lecture-goers are a people who do not usually attend political meetings. Latterly, the disguise of literary discourses has been thrown off, and the Republicans have openly announced their political lectures. But clinging to the claptrap of the lecture system, they have brought out only great guns from abroad, whose fame and notoriety had excited a curiosity to see them. A course of Republican lectures is now in progress at the Cooper Institute. Phillips, Giddings, and Clay have delivered themselves; tonight, Abraham Lincoln, Douglas’s Republican competitor from Illinois, will hold forth.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1864, the Eagle reported, “CINCINNATI — The widow of Ex-President [William Henry] Harrison died at North Bend yesterday.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1894, the Eagle reported, “Ex-President [Benjamin] Harrison has started for California to deliver his law lectures at Leland Stanford university.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1910, the Eagle reported, “To climb Mount McKinley by motorboat — that is the striking proposition of this coming summer in the field of exploration. The phrase sounds strange and unreal, but it is the truth. The famous mountain of the northern Pacific coast, whose crest has eluded everyone thus far, is almost certain to be scaled before another winter sets in. The achievement will be through the use of a motorboat. The man, who is Brooklyn’s most famous mountain climber — Professor Herschel Parker of Columbia College — is the scientist and explorer who will make the attempt. Four of the most difficult peaks of the Canadian Rockies — Goodsir, Hungabee, Deltaform and Biddle — have already yielded up to this resolute man, who, in his early 40s, after years of climbing and Alpine experience, has made himself one of the world’s experts. Professor Parker has long looked upon Mount McKinley with longing eyes. Now, he believes, is the hour to conquer it … He has tried McKinley before, he has been well over the ground, he has almost scaled the great, masterful mountain already. This attempt has taught him the secret … That it is to be a motorboat expedition sounds mysterious, of course. In reality there is no mystery at all about it. The motorboat is the key to the problem, and in a most curious way. There is a water route, perfectly practicable, by which McKinley may be reached so that the question of ascent becomes simple in the extreme. The motorboat will take the place of the pack-horse train that several years ago spelled failure.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1919, the Eagle reported, “Daylight Saving, which, according to those who compiled statistics on its workings, saved more than 1,500,000 tons of coal, saved more than 25 percent on everyone’s gas bills and was responsible for the great showing made by war gardeners throughout the country, is in great danger unless those who are interested immediately wire their Congressmen and Senators, urging them to kill the rider to the Agricultural Appropriation Bill, by which the Daylight Saving Law would be repealed. The foregoing in effect was the nature of a telegram received yesterday from United States Senator William M. Calder, father of the Daylight Saving Bill, by Marcus M. Marks, president of the National Daylight Saving Association. In the telegram Senator Calder urged Mr. Marks to bring the matter as strongly as possible before all organizations and individuals who are interested. ‘Propaganda among farmers,’ Mr. Marks said last night, ‘resulted in the rider being tacked on to the Agricultural Appropriation Bill. The farmers are really indifferent in the matter, as they go by the sun anyway. But other workers, particularly in the towns and cities, are ruled by the clock, and they are enthusiastic for the economies and other blessings of Daylight Savings.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1922, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — The Woman’s Suffrage, or Nineteenth, Amendment, was today declared constitutional by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court dismissed for want of jurisdiction the suit brought by Charles S. Fairchild of New York, who sought to challenge the constitutionality of the amendment. The opinion of the court was delivered by Justice [Louis] Brandeis. The Woman Suffrage Amendment to the Constitution was challenged in the Supreme Court in proceedings instituted by Charles S. Fairchild of New York, for himself and in behalf of the American Constitutional League, to enjoin the secretary of state from issuing and the attorney general from enforcing a proclamation declaring the ratification of the amendment, and by Oscar Leser and other citizens of Maryland, constituting an organization known as the ‘Maryland League for State Defense.’ The former proceedings were based on the ground that the amendment had not been validly adopted, and the latter that the amendment was unconstitutional.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “PHOENIX, ARIZONA (U.P.) — Third baseman Billy Johnson signed his 1951 contract today, leaving catcher Larry Berra and pitcher Tommy Byrne as the only unsigned New York Yankees. Johnson came to terms for about $13,500 a few hours after Manager Casey Stengel announced that rookies Mickey Mantle and Gil McDougald would alternate at the hot corner in exhibition games this Spring. Johnson, who is almost a cinch to be the Yankees’ regular third baseman in the absence of Army-bound Bobby Brown, hit .260 in 108 games last year.”

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James Worthy
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward, who was born in 1930; political activist Ralph Nader, who was born in 1934; “Hill Street Blues” star Barbara Babcock, who was born in 1937; civil rights activist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who was born in 1942; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neal Schon (Journey), who was born in 1954; Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, who was born in 1957; Basketball Hall of Famer James Worthy, who was born in 1961; “Full Metal Jacket” star Adam Baldwin, who was born in 1962; Spanx founder Sara Blakely, who was born in 1971; TLC member Rozonda Thomas, who was born in 1971; singer-songwriter Josh Groban, who was born in 1981; and “Fantastic Four” star Kate Mara, who was born in 1983.