August 12: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 12, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — Loss of the American naval collier Cyclops remains the mystery of the war, Secretary Daniels told newspaper correspondents today when asked regarding reports that a message saying the Cyclops had been captured by a German submarine had been found in a bottle floating at sea. Mr. Daniels said the Navy Department had no information regarding such a message. Mr. Daniels’ personal opinion is that when coming up the coast from the West Indies under one engine the Cyclops encountered rough weather, which caused the shifting of her cargo of manganese, turning her over.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1920, the Eagle reported, “BOSTON — Charles Ponzi, whose spectacular career as an investment banker was cut short by the authorities, today surrendered to the United States Marshal and was placed under arrest. He was charged with having used the mails in a plan to defraud. With state action against him expected, the young Italian financier turned a trick by putting himself in the custody of the federal authorities at the moment that the state police were petitioning a municipal court judge to issue a warrant for his arrest. Ponzi apparently was alive to what was imminent and, leaving his Lexington Ave. home early this afternoon, hurried to the office of the marshal and asked to be taken into custody.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1932, the Eagle reported, “Jamaica police seek the persons who broke a $450 plate glass window in the Montgomery Ward store at 150-18 Jamaica Ave., Jamaica, and then stole a trayful of fifty George Washington quarters that had been part of a display. A watchman in the store heard the shattering of the window and ran to the street to investigate, shortly after 4 o’clock yesterday morning. No person was in sight when the watchman found that the window was broken and the money stolen.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — By cable and radio the Allied powers informed beaten Japan tonight that she may keep her emperor for the time being but he and the government and people will be subject alike to a supreme Allied commander who will accept and enforce unconditional surrender. Meanwhile White House Press Secretary Charles G. Ross announced at 6 p.m. that the White House would have no further Japanese surrender news tonight … V-J Day was imminent — perhaps no more than 72 hours away — because Japan has no alternative to abject acceptance. And, it was confidently expected here, the supreme commander who will accept Japanese surrender will be General of the Army Douglas MacArthur … Few doubted it would be the man who promised when he left the Philippines under orders to Australia in 1942: ‘I shall return.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — The Navy said last night that World War III — if and when — will be a push button, Buck Rogers type of war with pilotless rockets carrying atomic warheads whizzing through the air thousands of miles an hour to ‘sniff out’ targets. Capt. Steadman Teller, chief of the Navy’s guided missile section, reported the Navy now has weapons ‘that would have seemed fantastic even to a highly imaginative comic-strip artist a few years ago.’ An intensive program to develop guided missiles was undertaken on the realization that the giant U.S. Fleet that swept Japan from the Pacific would be inadequate in a few years’ time to defend the United States.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Arrests and detention of persons involved in threats on the life of President Truman doubled in the first year of the Korean War, Secret Service Chief U. E. Baughman said today. The increase from 44 in fiscal 1950 to 85 last year is a natural one, he said, in a time of world unrest. More people write more letters to the President, and the number of threats rises accordingly. Seven of the arrests were the result of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Truman Nov. 1, 1950. Oscar Collazo, one of the two would-be assassins at Blair House, has been sentenced to death for killing a White House guard. Baughman said the increase was ‘due to tense times with world-wide unrest resulting from sharply differing opinions and ideologies.”

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Cara Delevingne
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Love at First Bite” star George Hamilton, who was born in 1939; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), who was born in 1949; “Supernatural” star Jim Beaver, who was born in 1950; jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, who was born in 1954; “Thirteen Days” star Bruce Greenwood, who was born in 1956; rapper and producer Sir Mix-a-Lot, who was born in 1963; “Parenthood” star Peter Krause, who was born in 1965; International Tennis Hall of Famer Pete Sampras, who was born in 1971; N.Y. Giants Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress, who was born in 1977; “Psych” star Maggie Lawson, who was born in 1980; “Face/Off” star Dominique Swain, who was born in 1980; and “Paper Towns” star Cara Delevingne, who was born in 1992.

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AMERICAN EPIC: Cecil B. DeMille was born on this day in 1881. A film showman extraordinaire known for lavish screen spectacles, he produced more than 70 major films, including “Cleopatra,” “The Plainsman,” “Reap the Wild Wind” and “The Ten Commandments.” He won an Oscar for “The Greatest Show on Earth” in 1953. He died in 1959.

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P.C. CULTURE: IBM released its personal computer on this day in 1981. It cost the equivalent of $3,000 in today’s currency. Although IBM was one of the pioneers in making mainframe and other large computers, this was the company’s first foray into the desktop computer market. Eventually, more IBM-compatible computers were manufactured by the company’s competitors than by IBM itself.

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

Quotable:

“When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”

— author and educator Edith Hamilton, who was born on this day in 1867