April 2: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

April 2, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1874, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Mr. Henry Chadwick’s base ball guide, containing the new rules of the game, as revised at the professional convention of 1874, with explanatory appendix for umpires and special instructions for scoring, and articles on base hits, and records of the best batting and pitching averages, is just published by Robert M. De Witt. This little work is a standard among professional and amateur clubs, and Mr. Chadwick is an authority on all questions relating to the National game. The controverted points are discussed with an intelligence and simplicity that makes the book valuable as well as readable.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — A dog’s life at the White House isn’t bad. That was the consensus of those who saw a preview of a movie about the world’s most famous pooch, ‘Fala, the President’s Dog.’ Much of the movie was taken in Fala’s home — commonly known as the White House.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “New York’s five boroughs continued virtually cab-less today as the strike of taxi drivers went into its second day, apparently as effective as at its start. Cabs were about as scarce as horses in this motorized city, and the walkout was still at least 90 percent effective. The striking union, Local 35 of the United Construction Workers, a unit of John L. Lewis’ catch-all District 50 of the United Mine Workers, insisted 97 percent of the city’s 11,000 cabs were off the streets. There were 25 arrests chalked up by this morning, but the wide-scale violence that had been predicted by both sides — each saying the other was going to start a minor war — had failed to materialize. It was generally agreed that the presence of the biggest police concentration in many years had a lot to do with the comparatively peaceful situation.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Speaker Joseph W. Martin Jr. said today he sees little chance of House approval of the Senate-passed Alaska-Hawaii statehood bill. The House previously has approved statehood for Hawaii, but it has not acted on statehood for Alaska. ‘I don’t see much hope for the bill to pass the House,’ Speaker Martin declared. ‘Because of Alaska?’ he was asked. ‘Yes,’ the Speaker replied. ‘We think the two should be considered separately.’ Asked whether he thought President Eisenhower would be willing to support statehood for Alaska, Mr. Martin said he doesn’t believe the President has changed his mind. The Senate rejected the President’s recommendation that statehood for Hawaii and Alaska be divided into separate measures. Hawaii is normally considered Republican, while Alaska is regarded as Democratic. House Republican leader Charles A. Halleck (Ind.) charged that the Senate ‘played fast and loose’ in tying Alaska statehood to the House-approved Hawaii bill. Halleck, personally opposed to the combined bill, said Hawaiian partisans who voted to include Alaska ‘may bear the blame for sabotaging’ Hawaii’s chances.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — Representative Francis E. Dorn said he had learned today that the newly authorized Air Force Academy would be located on an existing air base and that the first class would be enrolled in July, 1955. The base has not yet been designated, he said, but the number of cadets to be admitted in the first group has been set at 300. The quota for New York State in this class, according to Mr. Dorn, is 21. Each member of Congress, he reported, may nominate 10 youths from his own State to take competitive examinations for admission. Cadets will be chosen on the basis of these exams and in proportion to the number of Congressmen from the candidates’ States.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (UPI) – President Kennedy yesterday accepted an invitation to attend a fundraising party in New York City Saturday, May 25, in honor of his 46th birthday anniversary. The party will be sponsored by members of the President’s Club of New York. The location has not yet been selected but will be announced shortly. The invitation was extended to Kennedy at the White House by John I. Snyder, a New York industrialist who is president and chairman of the board of U.S. Industries, Inc.; Howard J. Samuels, president of the Kordite Co., Rochester, N.Y., and Arthur Krim, president of United Artists Corp., who is Chairman of the President’s Club. A statement issued after the meeting with Kennedy said all three men have long been active in Democratic party affairs. The President’s Club is affiliated with the Democratic national committee. It was set up to help strengthen the committee and the New York State committee for the 1964 presidential and congressional campaigns in New York and throughout the nation. Honorary chairmen of the party will be: Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Undersecretary of State Averell Harriman, former Postmaster General James A. Farley, former Sen. Herbert H. Lehman and William McKeon, chairman of the New York Democratic state committee.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (UPI) — New York State led the nation in the number of drug addicts last year, according to Harry L. Giordano, chief of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics. The State had 46.4 per cent of 47,489 addicts in the United States, he said, in testimony before a House Appropriations Subcommittee. The Bureau reported 218 more cases in 1962 compared with 1961 bringing the total to 22,031 addicts. California, he said, showed a decline in the number of persons addicted from 7,592 in 1961 to 7,412 in 1962. Giordano credited tough new drug laws in that state for the drop to 15.6 per cent of the national total. Subcommittee Chairman J. Vaughan Gary, D-Va., said the drug statistics ‘should serve as sufficient warning’ to New York to toughen its law. Recently passed legislation in New York provides for compulsory treatment of addicts, Giordano said, but ‘unfortunately, they have not seen fit to compel the addict to take treatment but have been accepting them only on a voluntary basis.’ ‘From past experience in the bureau,’ Giordano said, ‘this is not successful.’”

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Roselyn Sanchez
Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include N.Y. Mets World Series hero Al Weis, who was born in 1938; radio personality Dr. Demento, who was born in 1941; Oscar-winning actress Linda Hunt, who was born in 1945; former L.A. Dodgers outfielder Reggie Smith, who was born in 1945; Country Music Hall of Famer Emmylou Harris, who was born in 1947; social critic Camille Paglia, who was born in 1947; “Kindergarten Cop” star Pamela Reed, who was born in 1949; “Law & Order: Organized Crime” star Christopher Meloni, who was born in 1961; Smash Mouth founder Greg Camp, who was born in 1967; “Devious Maids” star Roselyn Sanchez, who was born in 1973; “X-Men” star Michael Fassbender, who was born in 1977; and “Friday Night Lights” star Jesse Plemons, who was born in 1988.