April 12: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

April 12, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1909, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “New York today paid its tribute to its martyred detective, Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino. From early dawn great crowds gathered in front of and about the block bordered by Prince, Spring and Lafayette street, Manhattan. Fully 10,000 persons were jammed about in the streets leading from Lieutenant Petrosino’s home at 233 Lafayette street to the Pro-Cathedral in Mott street, near Prince street. Great police precautions had been taken, and interspersed in the crowd were 438 detectives from the detective bureau. The detectives were in different garbs and could not be distinguished. Some were disguised as truckmen, others as bootblacks, some in plain business suits and others in silk hats. More than twenty-seven hundred of the uniformed police were lined up in details guarding the house, clearing traffic and following in the procession of honor of their dead comrade. At 10:30 o’clock the coffin was brought down to the sidewalk by the six big patrolmen pallbearers, and as they reached the sidewalk the police band played ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee.’ Beside each of the six patrolmen walked a detective lieutenant in dress uniform, and behind them walked six citizens. The guard of honor came next, followed by the twelve patrolmen who have attended the body since its arrival. Following the hearse came a carriage in which rode the widow; Lieutenant Petrosino’s sister, Mrs. Josephine Mazzi; his brother, Antonio Petrosino, and Mrs. Petrosino’s brother, Louis Saulino. As the body was carried from the house, Deputy Commissioner Burgher, his secretary, Mr. Wellbourn, and Daniel Slattery, the commissioner’s secretary, bared their heads. When the band commenced to play, every man and boy in the immense throng took off his hat. The windows of the nearby houses were filled with neighbors of the dead lieutenant.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1912, an Eagle editorial said, “The latest development of the continuous rivalry among the great steamship lines for large broad-beam passenger liners is the announcement that the North German Lloyd Company has contracted with German builders for a 54,000-ton vessel to cost $10,000,000. This ship, still unnamed, will be three times as big as the battleship Connecticut, and will excel the Imperator now being built for the Hamburg-American line by 4,000 tons. The Titanic (White Star) has a tonnage of about 46,000. Her sister ship, the Olympic, has a little less. The Cunard Line’s Mauretania and Lusitania have only 32,000. Next to these is the George Washington, 27,000 tons, owned by the North German Lloyd, and now the largest vessel on the seas that is the product of German shipyards. The Cunards, we believe, have not yet let contracts for the Aquitania which they have had planned. She will have over 50,000 tons. It is certain that neither the unnamed North German Lloyd ship, nor the Aquitania, nor the Imperator could pass through the locks of the Panama Canal. It is equally certain that the North German Lloyd can find no piers at Hoboken for its leviathan, and it is unlikely that any pier can be got on the New York side of the North River. So Bay Ridge may have to be considered.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1923, the Eagle reported, “SAN JOSE, CAL. — Dr. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity has been so satisfactorily proven by experiments made by the Lick Observatory expedition, which photographed the eclipse of the sun in Australia last year, that no further experiments will be made, Dr. W.W. Campbell, director of the observatory, has announced. Photographs of stars made at night on the Island of Tahiti three months before the eclipse, and pictures of the same stars taken in conjunction with the photographing of the eclipse at Wallal, on the northwest coast of Australia, on Sept. 21, 1922, show a bending of the stars’ rays, Dr. Campbell said, so close to the amount prescribed by the Einstein formula as ‘the most ardent proponents of Einstein’s theory could hope for.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1923, the Eagle reported, “PARIS — France has her earthquake prophet, Abbe Moreux, director of the observatory at Bourges. This year he foresees violent tremors in Japan, the Antilles, Mexico, and perhaps Turkestan, and also slight quakes in southern France. The Abbe bases his prediction on calculations of solar activity which he claims augments or diminishes the electrical charges in the atmosphere. This variation, he theorizes, provokes dilation or contraction of the earth’s surface.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “PARIS (UP) — Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower announced today he would not actively campaign for the U.S. Presidency until and unless nominated by the Republican National Convention July 7. He told a ten-minute press conference that he had resigned as North Atlantic Supreme Commander, effective June 1, because the pressure of politics at home was preventing him from carrying out his military job here fully. He emphasized that he still had not resigned his United States Army Commission as a five-star general and therefore he did not feel free to discuss political issues at this time. But if nominated by the Republican convention, he said, ‘I would then immediately submit my resignation … I should then be free to speak and act without any limitation customarily imposed by the Defense Department.’ Eisenhower said he had made ‘no plans whatsoever’ for the period immediately following his return to the United States, presumably around June 1, and for the Republican convention in July. However, he said he hoped that he would be able to attend the dedication of an Eisenhower museum in his home town of Abilene, Kan., June 4. He expressed hope that clarification of his intentions by his resignation of his European command would permit him to finish out his assignment relatively undisturbed. ‘I must prevent politics from interfering in this vital job in the weeks remaining before I return to the United States,’ he said.”

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David Letterman
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include composer and actor Herbie Hancock, who was born in 1940; “Modern Family” star Ed O’Neill, who was born in 1946; N.Y. Jets co-owner Woody Johnson, who was born in 1947; “The Wonder Years” star Dan Lauria, who was born in Brooklyn in 1947; talk show host David Letterman, who was born in 1947; “Presumed Innocent” author Scott Turow, who was born in 1949; “Manhunter” star Tom Noonan, who was born in 1951; “Internal Affairs” star Andy Garcia, who was born in 1956; “Jericho” star Alicia Coppola, who was born in 1968; former N.Y. Rangers left winger Adam Graves, who was born in 1968; “Beverly Hills 90210” star Shannen Doherty, who was born in 1971; “Romeo + Juliet” star Claire Danes, who was born in 1979; model and actress Brooklyn Decker, who was born in 1987; and “Brooklyn” star Saoirse Ronan, who was born in 1994.

Shannen Doherty
John Salangsang/Invision/AP

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

Quotable:

“People say New Yorkers can’t get along. Not true. I saw two New Yorkers — complete strangers — sharing a cab. One guy took the tires and the radio; the other guy took the engine.”

— talk show host David Letterman, who was born on this day in 1947