March 1: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March 1, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1843, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “What’s in a name? — Married in Burlington, Iowa Territory, on the evening of the 1st of February, Mr. David Augustus Getty, formerly of Baltimore, Md., to Miss Mary Donna Maria Hight Refugi Antonio Mucia Isadora Bernardar, De Jesu Solareo, of the city of Mexico.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1875, the Eagle reported, “The reports that an expedition of gold hunters was in the Black Hills appear to be confirmed by the arrival at Yankton, Da., of Eph. Witcher, a member of the party, who says he left his companions, 27 in number, beside one woman and her son, near Harney’s Peak on Boxelder Creek, on the 3rd of February. They were well supplied with arms, provisions and mining tools. They left, October 6, and struck Niobrara River, about 120 miles above its mouth, and crossed to a point east of the Black Hills. On Cheyenne River they met and held a peaceable parley with 200 Indians. After reaching the point spoken of in the Hills, they sank 25 prospect holes and struck gold every time.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1889, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, D.C. — At a conference here last night in Senator Frank Hiscock’s private parlor at the Arlington House, Senator J. Sloat Fassett, on behalf of Mr. Thomas A. Platt, suggested the name of General Benjamin F. Tracy, of Brooklyn, for Secretary of the Navy. Senator Hiscock received the suggestion with favor and President Elect [Benjamin] Harrison was immediately communicated with.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1913, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — Representative William C. Redfield of Brooklyn will be a member of Woodrow Wilson’s cabinet. He has been offered the portfolio of Secretary of Commerce by the President-elect and has accepted it. When questioned this afternoon concerning the matter, Representative Redfield refused absolutely to give any information concerning his selection for a cabinet post and would not discuss the question. The news of Mr. Redfield’s appointment by Governor Wilson came from another source and is authentic. Mr. Redfield’s appointment to the Secretaryship of Commerce is the result of at least one important change made in the cabinet late within the past twenty-four hours. It means that Louis D. Brandeis of Boston will not get the post to which he was assigned by those who have been trying to figure out the cabinet slate, and it may also mean that Mr. Brandeis will not be in the cabinet at all. Mr. Redfield’s term in Congress will expire at noon on March 4 and he will step directly from the House into the new President’s official family. Mr. Redfield will be the first Brooklyn member of a President’s cabinet since Benjamin F. Tracy was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Harrison in 1889. General Tracy served four years in the cabinet, retiring in 1893, and just twenty years afterward Brooklyn will get another cabinet place … The present Department of Commerce and Labor has just been divided by an act of Congress creating the additional post of Secretary of Labor in the new cabinet. It is expected that President Taft will sign the bill and that Mr. Wilson will have the appointment of ten cabinet officers instead of nine.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1913, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — Four million glistening new nickels with an Indian head on the face and the figure of a buffalo on the reverse, to supplant the time-honored 5-cent piece with the Goddess of Liberty as its characteristic, are piled in the vaults of the United States Treasury and Sub-Treasuries to be turned into public circulation today. Only once in twenty-five years can the Secretary of the Treasury, without the sanction of Congress, change the design of any coin. President Wilson’s Secretary of the Treasury will have the opportunity to change the dime, quarter and half-dollar because in 1915 the present designs will have been in circulation for a quarter century. Some of the Treasury officials now in office are in favor of changing them on the ground that they are inartistic.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1924, the Eagle reported, “CONSTANTINOPLE (AP) — The decision of the National Assembly at Angora regarding abolition of the Caliphate is expected tomorrow or during the following few days. Already many members of the Caliph’s family either have left Constantinople or have packed their trunks in readiness to depart for Europe or Egypt. The present Caliph, Abdul Medjid, succeeded his cousin, Sultan Mohammed VI, who fled on a British warship in January, 1923, after receiving word that the Angora government intended to try him and his Ministers for treason. Mohammed has been quoted as expressing the hope of returning some day to Constantinople as the head of the Moslem World.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “BOISE, IDAHO (U.P.) — Two Idaho legislators were planning their wedding today after a romance that culminated in a proposal on the floor of the State House of Representatives yesterday. The proposal came from Representative Edwin Snow and was addressed to pretty, red-haired Representative Edith Miller during yesterday’s session. Miss Miller left the house, blushing furiously, as the legislators burst into howls of laughter. Returning later, still blushing, she announced that ‘on a point of privilege, I accept Mr. Snow’s proposal.’ The unprecedented proposal, which was written in the record, took place after Representative Walter Averill took the floor and announced he had been married during the weekend. Then Snow rose slowly to his feet and said: ‘In view of the announcement made by Mr. Averill, I wonder if the lady from Ada would yield to a question.’ The coy Miss Miller replied: ‘I’ll yield, but only to the question, and I won’t guarantee an answer.’ To this Snow asked: ‘Since Mr. Averill has accepted the bonds of happy matrimony, I was wondering if the lady from Ada would consent to marry me.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “WESTMINSTER, MASS. (U.P.) — Imagine looking forward to your 100th birthday, still the ‘kid sister’ of your family? That’s the case of pink-cheeked Mrs. Nelia Lloyd of nearby Gardner, who will become a centenarian next Jan. 10. ‘Big sister’ is Mrs. Lutia Shumway of Westminster, still bright as a button at 101. These attractive white-haired widows believe they are the only two sisters in the United States whose ages total 200 years. The other day they realized suddenly they never had their picture taken together during the century that has elapsed since they were born in Willsboro, N.Y., on Lake Champlain, in the decade preceding the Civil War. ‘We figured it was time we did something about that,’ said spry Mrs. Lloyd. So she came by automobile to Westminster and the sisters, wearing blue dresses and corsages, posed together for photographs … After their pictures were taken, Mrs. Lloyd turned to her sister and said: ‘Now that we’re all dressed up, Lutia, we’d better go out and pick up a man.’”

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Lupita Nyong’o
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Roger Daltrey (The Who), who was born in 1944; “The A-Team” star Dirk Benedict, who was born in 1945; “The Dukes of Hazzard” star Catherine Bach, who was born in 1954; Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, who was born in 1954; “Wings” star Tim Daly, who was born in 1956; Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem, who was born in 1969; “NYPD Blue” star Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who was born in 1974; “Supernatural” star Jensen Ackles, who was born in 1978; Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, who was born in 1983; “Tik Tok” singer Kesha, who was born in 1987; former N.Y. Mets outfielder Michael Conforto, who was born in 1993; “Love Yourself” singer Justin Bieber, who was born in 1994; and “A Quiet Place” star Millicent Simmonds, who was born in 2003.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“I feel that I’m on the ground floor of something that human beings will be concentrating on for the next 1,000 years — if we don’t destroy ourselves in the meantime.”

— Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton, who was born on this day in 1924