September 29: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 29, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Kings County Democratic women were ‘crowded out in the cold’ at the Women’s Democratic League luncheon to honor Alfred E. Smith, Democratic candidate for Governor, at the Biltmore Hotel yesterday afternoon. Several large delegations of Brooklynites had planned to attend the affair in groups, and had reserved tables for their accommodation, but when they reached the hotel some of them found no reservations at all while others found reservations wholly inadequate and badly scattered. Some of the women ‘wall flowered’ around the dining room until the first course or two had been served and then secured widely separated and hurriedly prepared places. Others, after finding their reservations gone, refused to stay and went back to Brooklyn without waiting to hear the speech of ‘Al’ Smith, the man they had come to honor.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1920, the Eagle reported, “Summarized briefly, the principal developments in the horrible baseball scandal are: Eight Chicago American League players of the team which lost the World Series of 1919 to the Cincinnati National Leaguers by five games to three have been indicted in Chicago for conspiracy to defraud on the ground that they took money, placed at $100,000, to throw the series to Cincinnati. The indicted men have all been suspended by Owner Charles A. Comiskey of the Chicago club, who is paying them off at once, and will bar them from Organized Baseball forever if they should be convicted. They are: Pitchers Eddie Cicotte, right hander, and Claude Williams, left hander; Outfielders Oscar (‘Happy’) Felsch and Joe Jackson; Third Baseman George (‘Buck’) Weaver, Shortstop Charles (‘Swede’) Risberg, Utility Player Fred McMullen, all of the present White Sox, and Arnold (‘Chick’) Gandil, who played first base in the series of 1919, but refused to report this year because, it has long been alleged, Gandil was purposely sent a contract for such a small salary that it was known he would not accept.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1929, the Eagle reported, “ANGORA, SEPT. 28 (AP) — Another of the new Turkey’s radical turnings from the East toward the West is indicated by an order from the Kemalist government for the total suppression in all Turkish schools of courses in Arabic and Persian, languages which have been the bases of all Turkish literature. The suppressed courses will be replaced by courses in Latin and ancient Greek, on the ground that western culture, with which Turkey is now to impregnate herself, is based on these classic languages.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1931, the Eagle reported, “Mayor [Jimmy] Walker told the late Police Commissioner Joseph A. Warren that he wanted gambling in political clubs suppressed and that he wanted Warren to do everything in his power to have the gambling stopped. But the Mayor, sprucely-uniformed Capt. Lewis J. Valentine testified before the Hofstadter Committee, did not approve the ‘jump’ raids carried out against Tammany and allied clubhouses sheltering the gambling gentry. The Mayor preferred, the witness said Commissioner Warren told him, to have the gamblers’ activities stamped out in a ‘legal way.’ ‘If there were professional gamblers operating in the clubs,’ Captain Valentine said, ‘the Mayor wanted them arrested after proper legal evidence had been obtained.’ Valentine finished his three-day recitation of gambling, politics and police secrets this afternoon. He threw light on what went on behind the scenes prior to Mayor Walker’s forcing his one-time close friend and law partner, Warren, out of office. But he balked at revealing his recollections of the criticism contained in Warren’s first, and unpublished, letter of resignation to the Mayor. Then he related his quick demotion at the hands of Grover A. Whalen, and the abolition of his confidential squad that had proved to be so embarrassing to big-wigs in the Tammany and McCooey organizations.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Eagle reported, “Capt. John J. McEwan will put the Brooklyn Football Dodgers through their final paces this afternoon as a final preparation for the opening League game tomorrow with the Boston Redskins at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers have won five of their hard exhibition games and were held to a scoreless tie by the Shenandoah Presidents on a gridiron ankle deep in water and mud. Since then, however, the Dodgers have progressed considerably. Capt. McEwan has bolstered up the defense and has developed an aerial attack superior to the one last year that was rated the best in the National Football League.”

***

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Oscar-winning director Robert Benton, who was born in 1932; “Deadwood” star Ian McShane, who was born in 1942; Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa, who was born in 1943; TV theme composer Mike Post, who was born in 1944; Grand Funk Railroad co-founder Mark Farner, who was born in 1948; journalist and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel, who was born in 1948; comedian and actor Andrew Dice Clay, who was born in Brooklyn in 1957; Primus co-founder Les Claypool, who was born in 1963; “Baywatch” star Erika Eleniak, who was born in 1969; actor and comedian Russell Peters, who was born in 1970; “Chuck” star Zachary Levi, who was born in 1980; “This Is Us” star Chrissy Metz, who was born in 1980; Pro Football Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson, who was born in 1985; former Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant, who was born in 1988; and “Without Me” singer Halsey, who was born in 1994.

***

HEROIC MEASURES: The Veterans of Foreign Wars was established on this day in 1899. The organization is loyal to the issues and actions affecting America’s heroes. Part of its mission, according to its charter, is “to preserve and strengthen comradeship among its members; to foster true patriotism; and to preserve and defend the United States from all her enemies, whomsoever.”

***

CAUGHT IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Willie Mays made “The Catch” on this day in 1954. In Game 1 of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants’ center fielder snagged a long drive by Vic Wertz near the outfield wall with his back to the infield. He then spun around and made a perfect throw to prevent runners from advancing. It is regarded as one of the greatest plays in baseball history.

***

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

Quotable:

“He who puts out his hand to stop the wheel of history will have his fingers crushed.”

— Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa, who was born on this day in 1943