August 13: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 13, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1912, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “MANEUVERS HEADQUARTERS, STRATFORD, CONN. — The Red Army, which is invading southern New England, made another broad stride toward the watershed of New York today by throwing practically all its infantry and cavalry across the upper Housatonic River and clearing a passage over which it might take a northerly route into the Hudson River valley below Poughkeepsie. The check given the left wing of the Reds at Milford yesterday evidently convinced General Frederick A. Smith, the commander, that the Blues were too strong to be pushed aside on the direct route to New York, so this morning he used his right wing to secure a foothold on the west bank of the river at Bennett’s Bridge in Southbury and Zoar Bridge in Oxford, twenty-five miles north of here. Under cover of this move General Smith was able to send all his Red infantry and cavalry, which had been massed at Orange over the bridge at Derby and place it at Long Hill, in Huntington, where it can threaten Bridgeport, toward which Brigadier General Albert L. Mills, U.S.A., was withdrawing his Blue forces after a night spent at Naugatuck Junction. When General Mills found that the Red Army was again on the advance in force he ordered his left wing, which had been scattered in the hills about Newtown, to move quickly and stop the Reds. The Fifth United States Infantry, which is Colonel Cowles’ regiment, although he is now in command of the provisional Red Brigade, was ordered to come up in support of the First Vermont, which was nearest the two bridges.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1921, the Eagle reported, “The first stage in the ‘restoration’ of Stonehenge is now completed, and the lonely landmark on Salisbury Plain is now free from scaffolding and cranes. A report on the work has been published by the Society of Antiquaries, whose experts have been in charge of the excavations, and the report states that many relics at the base of the monoliths, including roughly-worked flint instruments, and fragments of pottery of the bronze age and the Roman British period were discovered. At the base of the slaughter stone they found a bottle of port, left there apparently by a previous investigator, Mr. Cunningham, who examined the stone in 1901. The latest discoveries appear to bear out the theory that Stonehenge was built in the latter part of the Stone Age, between 1600 and 1800 B.C. This theory of the date was advanced by Prof. Gowland, who was in charge of the restoration of Stonehenge in 1901. He based his assumption on the fact that a large number of crude flint tools were found at the base of the stones, as if left there by workmen. No bronze implements were discovered at the time. The absence of any tools other than those of flint is again noted by the later investigators.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Eagle reported, “MOUNT WILSON OBSERVATORY, CAL. (AP) — One of the greatest showers of meteors in modern times fell into the earth’s atmosphere last night and early today to brighten the skies and record itself on sensitive photographic plates of astronomers stationed on Southern California mountains. J. Wesley Simpson of the American Meteor Society, here from Illinois to watch the spectacle, said he and his assistants had counted 1,100 fire balls, some of them as bright as the planet Jupiter and one, the trail of which glowed for 15 seconds, brighter than Venus. ‘Of course,’ he commented, ‘some of our counts were necessary duplications but J. Fletcher Hickerson on Mt. La Crescenta has not reported his count yet, and it is safe to say that our figures will be increased by at least 500 or 600 by his observations.’ The meteors, known as the Perseids, fell at the rate of 120 an hour from 2 to 3 a.m., said Simpson. In one 15-minute period 32 were counted.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “Chances are ‘bright’ for the recovery of 2-year-old Patricia Malone of Jackson Heights, after emergency treatment for septicemia with the rare new drug, penicillin. Dr. Dante Colitti, house physician of the Lutheran Hospital of Manhattan, said today that she showed considerable improvement overnight and her temperature is back to normal. Penicillin, the most effective anti-bacterial agent yet discovered, was released by the army to doctors at Lutheran Hospital after an emergency appeal was made to the army surgeon general. Dr. Colitti, in a last-minute effort to save Patricia’s life, traveled to the Squibb Laboratories in New Brunswick, N.J., Wednesday, and rushed the drug to New York himself.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who was born in Brooklyn in 1946; former N.Y. Yankees shortstop Fred Stanley, who was born in 1947; opera star Kathleen Battle, who was born in 1948; Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke, who was born in 1949; “United 93” director Paul Greengrass, who was born in 1955; “The Partridge Family” star Danny Bonaduce, who was born in 1959; weather anchor Sam Champion, who was born in 1961; “Mad Men” star John Slattery, who was born in 1962; “Goodfellas” star Debi Mazar, who was born in 1964; Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was born in 1982; “Captain America” star Sebastian Stan, who was born in 1982; and Olympic gold medalist and NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins, who was born in 1990.

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NO WAY OUT: The Berlin Wall was built on this day in 1961. Early in the morning, the Communist East German government closed the border between the east and west sectors of Berlin with barbed wire to discourage further population movement to the west. Telephone and postal services were interrupted, and later in the week a concrete wall was built to strengthen the barrier between official crossing points. The wall remained in place for 27 years.

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A HERO’S EXIT: Mickey Mantle died on this day in 1995. The Oklahoma native was signed by the N.Y. Yankees after high school and roamed the outfield at the Stadium from 1951 to 1968. He led the Yankees to seven World Championships while winning three MVP awards and a Triple Crown, despite a slew of injuries that left him in pain for the rest of his life. Mantle succumbed to alcoholism after his retirement and received a liver transplant in June 1995. Shortly before his death, he recorded a video message for his fans, saying, “This is a role model. Don’t be like me.” He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1974.

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

Quotable:

“A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.”

— N.Y. Yankees legend Mickey Mantle, who died on this day in 1995