March 22: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March 22, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1858, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said, “Cricket and Base Ball, the Season of 1858. — A continuance of such fine weather as we had last week will soon draw from their retirement the ardent admirers of these healthful and manly pastimes, and from all appearances the approaching season promises to be a very successful one for the increasing popularity of these respective games. We are among those who are anxious that these outdoor sports should be encouraged among our too-little-exercised citizens. We pay far too much attention to our desks, counters and offices than the laws of Dame Nature will admit of without the accompanying penalty of ill health. Especially should the youth of our city be encouraged to devote more time and attention to these excellent games than they have hitherto done. They are advantageous in every respect, morally and physically, and we think it would be an addition to every school, that would lead to great advantages to mental and bodily health, if each had a cricket or ball club attached to it, as in England.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1905, the Eagle reported, “There are stormy days ahead for the poolroom ship that is to sail the high seas off Coney Island as a floating Monte Carlo. The managers of the enterprise expect smooth sailing, but the Harbor Police plan to stir up a tempest down the Narrows. The Harbor Police will not go beyond the three mile limit, but they will make it interesting for the floating poolroom when it comes home in the evening, after a hard afternoon’s gambling on the races.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1931, the Eagle reported, “RENO, MARCH 21 — Roulette wheels, faro banks and other gambling paraphernalia made their appearance here again today, free from any restrictions, for the new wide-open gambling law has gone into effect. There is a changed condition here today, for instead of secret gambling and open divorce, they have open gambling and an attempt at secret divorce. Open, licensed gambling closed in Nevada in October, 1910, but poker games were permitted. Under the guise of poker, gambling has been going on ever since in many forms, and in the last few years faro, chuck-a-luck dice and twenty-one, of black jack, have been played more or less openly, but roulette has been taboo except in districts outside the city limits and on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, where Clara Bow played and lost some $13,000 and then stopped her checks. The first roulette wheel to be operated within the city limits in many years opened for business this morning and has been doing a thriving business. With divorce obtainable in six weeks for those who have no contest and generally bring with them the answer of the spouses they are divorcing, it is the belief that the play at the gaming tables will be big, but old-time gamblers are not particularly sanguine about it. They realize that the business can be thrown in the discard in another two years and they do not want to make too heavy expenditures. The secret divorce idea is only a teaser, it was admitted here today. Only property settlement agreements will be sealed. The complaint will not be sealed.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “A crowd, conservatively estimated at 250,000, took advantage of the first day of Spring yesterday and unofficially opened the seashore resorts of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, though the maximum temperature was 46 degrees. Despite the strong chill wind which swept along the Atlantic seacoast the Palm Sunday crowds were noticeably larger than the average boardwalk throng on any Sunday afternoon during early Spring. Joyous proprietors of hotels, restaurants and amusement establishments in Coney Island reported that their business flourished yesterday in comparison to that of Palm Sunday last year, with receipts 22 percent higher than in 1936. More than 150,000 persons were estimated to have visited Coney Island yesterday.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Brooklyn Spectator reported, “There’ll be bunnies for Easter, but no chocolate ones. The war regulation against making novelty candy has been removed, but lack of sugar and lack of chocolate will keep candy bunnies from the market. In fact, there have been no chocolate rabbits since two years before the war, according to information given by a prominent manufacturer of candy Easter novelties.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. (UPI) — A mighty Titan-2 rocket, carrying the largest nose cone ever built for a United States military missile, soared more than 6,700 miles across the Atlantic Ocean yesterday. The 103-foot Titan-2, America’s most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, blasted from its launching pad at 10:23 a.m. Within 30 minutes, the giant nose cone — twice as heavy as any other in the country’s ballistic arsenal — dived back through the earth’s atmosphere into a target area in the Atlantic off the west coast of South Africa. The success was the eighth in 12 firings for the Titan-2, slated to become the ‘workhorse’ of America’s future manned space flights. The two-stage rocket will loft two-man teams of Gemini astronauts into earth orbits starting next year.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) — The last inmates of Alcatraz Federal Prison left the crumbling ‘Rock’ in San Francisco Bay yesterday and headed for other prisons. The government is abandoning the maximum security prison because it would cost $5 million to repair the deteriorating buildings. The condition has contributed to recent escape attempts. The last inmate to leave the 29-year-old island prison was Frank C. Weatherman, 29, a gun smuggler who was transferred here last Dec. 14 for attempting twice to break out of the Anchorage Jail. Asked by a reporter how it felt to be the last man off ‘The Rock,’ the blond, boyish-looking convict smiled thinly and said: ‘Good. Good for me. Good for everyone. Alcatraz never was no good.’ Weatherman was the last of 27 inmates, handcuffed and wearing leg and waist chains, who filed board the Alcatraz prison boat ‘Warden Blackwell’ for the 10-minute trip on San Francisco Bay to Fort Mason army dock. There a chartered bus transported them to an undisclosed airport where a U.S. Immigration Service plane took them to their new institutions at Leavenworth, Kan., McNeil Island, Wash., Lewisburg, Pa., or Atlanta, Ga. A few moments after the 60-foot diesel boat left Alcatraz, prison officer Gordon Gronzo formally closed the 100-foot tower No. 1 on the east side of the island as he came down the steps carrying a rifle and wearing another slung over his shoulder along with a cartridge belt. The government began transporting the 260 inmates of Alcatraz to new prisons last Fall. The prison is scheduled to be officially turned over to the General Services Administration at the end of June and declared surplus.”

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Reese Witherspoon
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Andrew Lloyd Webber
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Star Trek” star William Shatner, who was born in 1931; singer-songwriter George Benson, who was born in 1943; former N.Y. Knicks coach Don Chaney, who was born in 1946; “Kiss the Girls” author James Patterson, who was born in 1947; Oscar-winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was born in 1948; sportscaster Bob Costas, who was born in 1952; “Alias” star Lena Olin, who was born in 1955; actress and singer Stephanie Mills, who was born in Brooklyn in 1957; “Mad TV” star Keegan-Michael Key, who was born in 1971; former N.Y. Knicks center Marcus Camby, who was born in 1974; Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon, who was born in 1976; former NFL linebacker Joey Porter, who was born in 1977; former N.Y. Mets first baseman Ike Davis, who was born in 1987; and N.Y. Mets pitcher Edwin Diaz, who was born in 1994.