March 13: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March 13, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1894, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The Irish flag will not be displayed on the city buildings on St. Patrick’s day, despite the action of the board of aldermen yesterday. The resolution directing the keepers of the city hall and municipal buildings to hoist the green flag was offered by Alderman Dunne, simply with the view of putting the members on record. Mr. Dunne and his Democratic colleagues knew very well that it would amount to nothing. Mayor Schieren expressed surprise this morning that the board should take up a question which he thought had been settled. ‘I was placed in such a position,’ added his honor, ‘that it would have been very inconsistent for me to take any other stand than the one I did take. I shall allow no foreign flags to be displayed on any of the city buildings unless it be an occasion of foreign courtesies to be exchanged.’ A committee of Irish Republicans of the Ninth ward waited upon the mayor this morning and requested him not to veto the resolution. He told them he should have to be consistent. He had taken a certain stand with reference not only to the Irish flag, but with reference to all flags, and therefore, he could do nothing but veto the resolution.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1900, the Eagle reported, “LONDON — The first drawing room of the season was held at Buckingham Palace today by the Princess of Wales, in behalf of the Queen, this being the first court function at which the Princess has appeared for nearly two years. The weather was bright and chilly. Immense crowds of people lined the approaches to the palace. The diplomatic corps attended in force, Henry White, the United States charge d’affaires; Lieutenant Commander J.C. Colwell, the naval attache, and Colonel Samuel S. Sumner, the military attache, representing the United States embassy.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1906, the Eagle reported, “ROCHESTER — The long and eventful life of Susan B. Anthony closed at 12:40 o’clock this morning. The end came peacefully. Miss Anthony had been unconscious practically all of the time for more than twenty-four hours, and her death had been almost momentarily expected since last night. Only her wonderful constitution kept her alive … Miss Anthony was taken ill while on her way home from the National Suffrage convention in Baltimore. She stopped in New York, where a banquet was to be given February 20 in honor of her eighty-sixth birthday, but she had an attack of neuralgia on February 18 and hastened home … Miss Anthony herself had believed that she would recover. Early in her illness, she told her friends that she expected to live to be as old as her father, who was over 90 when he died. But on Wednesday, she said to her sister: ‘Write to Anna Shaw immediately, and tell her I desire that every cent I leave when I pass out of this life shall be given to the fund which Miss Thomas and Miss Garrett are raising for the cause. I have given my life and all I am to it, and now I want my last act to be to give it all I have, to the last cent.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1913, an Eagle editorial said, “Harriet Ross Tubman, the most notable and noteworthy negro woman in the United States, has just died at the Home for Aged Negroes founded by her and named for her, in Auburn, N.Y. Her exact age was unknown, even to herself. It was nearly 95. One of the organizers and the most energetic of the operators of the Underground Railroad, she is credited with guiding more than 300 of her race over the border line to freedom. In the Civil War she did faithful and clever service as a Union spy. Born a slave in Dorchester, Md., she had had her skull broken by a brutal overseer at the age of 13 years. She had escaped to Philadelphia in 1849. Her first trip to Baltimore a year later was successful in bringing off to the North her sister, a slave, and two children. Another trip within a few months liberated her brother and two other men. From this time her work was kept up.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1930, the Eagle reported, “CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (AP) — Professor Harlow Shapley, director of the Harvard Observatory, today announced receipt of word from the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Ariz., of the discovery there of the ninth major planet of the solar system. The planet, as yet unnamed, is beyond Neptune and is probably larger than the Earth but smaller than Uranus. Dr. Shapley hailed the discovery as one of the most important in astronomy since that of Neptune in 1846.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “The curtain dropped for the last time this season on the professional basketball games at Brooklyn Paramount Theater. The New York Whirlwinds in a last-minute goal by Bill Nash, former Columbia University ace, nosed out the Albany Senators by a score of 29 to 28 last night. Willie Rubenstein, high scorer of the New Yorkers with ten points, and former New York University captain, shot a fine goal from under the basket to tie the score, 27-all, in the last few minutes of play.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Top Government military and diplomatic officials met in closed session today with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which began consideration of President Truman’s plan to halt communism in the Near East. Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson, Secretary of Navy James Forrestal and Acting Secretary of State Dean Acheson appeared before the group to discuss the proposal for $400,000,000 in aid to Greece and Turkey. They were accompanied by Undersecretary of War Kenneth Royall, Vice Admiral F.P. Sherman, deputy chief of naval operations, and Brig. Gen. Miles Reber, the army legislative liaison officer. Chairman Arthur H. Vandenberg (R., Mich.) said the Foreign Relations group would ‘canvass the entire situation.’ Meanwhile Senator Robert A. Taft (R., Ohio) called a luncheon-meeting of his Republican Policy Committee which may draft recommendations to be presented to a G.O.P. conference meeting tomorrow. The President’s recommendations for emergency action were off to a good start toward Congressional approval despite warnings that they could lead to war with the Soviet Union.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “PARIS (UPI) — The Mona Lisa was restored to its place on a wall of the Louvre museum’s River Gallery Tuesday, after a triumphant three months in the U.S. Contrary to expectations, Louvre officials unpacked the 400-year-old Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece immediately on arrival from LeHavre. The painting was hung on the same wall where it has been admired for decades by millions of visitors … The Mona Lisa’s triumphant goodwill trip to America raised its fame here to a new peak. It was expected that thousands of Parisians who have never bothered to visit the Mona Lisa all the years she has been in the Louvre will flock to see her now.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Songwriters Hall of Famer Neil Sedaka, who was born in Brooklyn in 1939; “Shameless” star William H. Macy, who was born in 1950; entertainer Charo, who was born in 1951; former “Saturday Night Live” star Robin Duke, who was born in 1954; “China Beach” star Dana Delany, who was born in 1956; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Adam Clayton (U2), who was born in 1960; former San Francisco Giants first baseman Will Clark, who was born in 1964; “Barbershop” director Tim Story, who was born in 1970; rapper and actor Common, who was born in 1972; former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, who was born in 1972; swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Kaitlin Sandeno, who was born in 1983; skier and Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, who was born in 1995; and tennis player Coco Gauff, who was born in 2004.