September 27: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 27, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1870, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “From startling events on the earth attention has been recently diverted to wonderful phenomena in the heavens. But for the absorbing interest of things terrestrial, things celestial would have risen to the newspaper standard of the sensational. The indefatigable [C.H.F.] Peters of Utica, the most industrious explorer of the firmament and successful star-discoverer of his time, has added another to his long list of asteroids. He has done this so often, however, that a planet the more or less occasions little surprise. There was an auroral display the other night which those who were fortunate enough to see pronounce the most brilliant exhibition of the kind on record. It extended as far as the Pacific coast.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1903, the Eagle said, “Greater New York will have a population of 6,191,250 in 1920, according to a sober prediction made by Elmer Lawrence Corthell of No. 1 Nassau street, an engineer of international reputation. According to the figures on which he bases his estimate, this means an increase in the population of the metropolis of 2,357,251 inhabitants. If one can imagine a monster city, as large as London with all its environs — a city capable of containing the combined populations of Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Dublin, Butte, Mont., and Paterson, N.J.; or, to take another view, a city with a population within 100,000 as large as that of the state of Pennsylvania, or one as large as the combined populations of Alabama, Indiana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Hawaii — one may obtain an idea of the immensity expressed in these seven figures. If we add to this the possibilities of a series of wonderful transportation systems, uniting, almost within the hour, New York and Philadelphia with its increased population of 2,000,000 into practically one mighty municipality, by a chain of big New Jersey cities like Jersey City with 450,000, Newark with 400,000, Elizabeth with 150,000 and a score of smaller places, we may have a vision of the future more marvelous than the dreams of the most daring romancer.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “County Judge Samuel S. Leibowitz ruled that names of persons, police or others accused by bookie boss Harry Gross cannot be made public as the Gross testimony before the grand jury was read in Special Sessions Court today. Sensational evidence of graft and bribe-taking by high-ranking police, expected to come out of the reading, thus was blunted at the outset. District Attorney Miles F. McDonald, with Gross himself sitting by, awaiting sentence on 65 charges of bookmaking and one of conspiracy to which he long ago had pleaded guilty, began the reading at noon — pausing briefly each time he came to a name and omitting it. The decision to make it a no-names event — a sensational development to all who were looking forward to revelations about grafting by high-rankling police — was announced a few minutes before the Special Sessions proceedings were opened by Judge Leibowitz and then McDonald. The judge said the prosecutor and his chief rackets prober, Julius A. Helfand, had sought his advice on the matter and he ruled that, to name individuals accused by Gross in his grand jury testimony ‘would violate every elementary rule of civil liberties and due process,’ would be ‘manifestly unfair and un-American’ and an ‘unconscionable’ invasion of such persons’ rights.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “The very people who complain about public officials and criticize city, state and national governments are very often the ones who do not take the trouble to vote, members of the Pace College Alumni Association were told at their regular monthly meeting at the Hotel Bossert. The speaker, Gerard H. Carey, attorney and former law professor at St. John’s University Law School, said political parties are generally presenting better qualified candidates. ‘But the electorate has to meet the challenge at least half-way by going out to register and vote,’ he added. Mr. Carey said all citizens must show an interest in politics since politics is the basic science of government. ‘Commiseration over the neglect or passive actions of lawmakers is not the way to discharge duties as a citizen. We must cast our votes to demonstrate our beliefs in the principles of government,’ he said.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “The New York Giants baseball team, winner of the 1954 National League pennant, parades up Broadway at noon today, from Battery to City Hall, where Mayor [Robert] Wagner will honor the champs. The team will play the Cleveland Indians, American League champions, in the opening World Series game Wednesday at the Polo Grounds.”

***

Avril Lavigne
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Oscar-winning actor Claude Jarman Jr., who was born in 1934; Bachman-Turner Overdrive co-founder Randy Bachman, who was born in 1943; “Star Wars” actor Denis Lawson, who was born in 1947; “The John Larroquette Show” star Liz Torres, who was born in 1947; “The Lone Gunmen” star Tom Braidwood, who was born in 1948; Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, who was born in 1949; former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, who was born in 1951; Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who was born in 1965; Space Shuttle astronaut Stephanie Wilson, who was born in 1966; Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who was born in 1972; rapper Lil Wayne, who was born in 1982; “Complicated” singer Avril Lavigne, who was born in 1984; tennis player and Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig, who was born in 1993; and “The Fallout” star Jenna Ortega, who was born in 2002.

Gwyneth Paltrow
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

***

FOUNDER’S DAY: Samuel Adams was born on this day in 1722. The Boston native was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution. Along with his second cousin, future U.S. President John Adams, he signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He died in 1803.

***

GETTING IN TOON: Thomas Nast was born on this day in 1840. The “Father of the American Cartoon” is best known for his scathing criticism of “Boss” William Tweed and the Tammany Hall Democratic political machine in New York. He also created the modern version of Santa Claus. He died in 1902.

***

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

Quotable:

“No people will tamely surrender their liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved.”

— U.S. founding father Samuel Adams, who was born on this day in 1722