October 15: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1912, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “CHICAGO — Colonel [Theodore] Roosevelt is resting as quietly as possible at the Mercy Hospital in this city. He will be confined there, according to the doctors, for about ten days, if all goes well. The bullet which was fired into his chest last night at Milwaukee by a would-be assassin has not been removed. His condition is announced as ‘hopeful’ in a bulletin issued over the signatures of four doctors in attendance, headed by Dr. John B. Murphy, the noted Chicago surgeon.” Roosevelt, who made a 50-minute speech before going to the hospital, was reported to have said, “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.’”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1923, the Eagle reported, “POLO GROUNDS — By defeating the Giants in the sixth game here today the Yankees won the World’s Series after two previously unsuccessful attempts. An 8th inning rally that netted 5 runs for the Yankees put the game on ice.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1932, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (AP) — Sarah Ann, much to the consternation of the astronomical world, has disappeared and, it is feared, drowned. Just a pin-point freckle on the broad face of the Pacific, Sarah Ann was — and maybe is — the tiniest sort of an uninhabited island. This Cinderella of the sea was last reported alive some 15 years ago. Then of no value to any one and avoided by ship captains, she has become today a spot of great importance. If she can be located, many scientists want a date five years from now. The reason for the sudden popularity arises from the efforts of Professor A. Kopff, director of the Rechen Institute of Berlin, and Professor James Robertson, director of the Naval Almanac Office here, to calculate the course of the 1937 eclipse. They have found that on June 28, 1937, the sun will be eclipsed totally by the moon for about seven minutes. In all the Pacific, Sarah Ann was the only reported spot of land suitable for observation in the 5,000-mile long, 120-mile wide band of totality. But being off ship lanes, Sarah Ann will have to be rediscovered for she hasn’t been seen for 15 years and some fear she has sunk into a watery grave.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, former head of the Zionist Organization of America, called on President Roosevelt last night while additional appeals came to the State Department for the United States to use its influence for continued Jewish immigration to Palestine. Brandeis spent more than an hour with Mr. Roosevelt. He refused to discuss the conversation afterward, but observers regarded it certain he had talked with the President about keeping Palestine open as a national home for Jews. Senator Robert F. Wagner (Dem.-N.Y.) made a telephone appeal to Mr. Roosevelt and said later he was sure the President would ‘exert every proper effort to deal with the situation.’”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.I.) — President Kennedy was back at work in the White House today in the wake of a whirlwind campaign tour that climaxed with appearances at Buffalo and New York City in support of Democrat Robert Morgenthau’s gubernatorial campaign against Nelson Rockefeller. Kennedy spoke at Buffalo in ceremonies honoring Casimir Pulaski, Polish American Revolutionary hero, then flew to New York for a conference with Ambassador Adlai Stevenson on United Nations matters. Earlier, the president predicted that his national campaigning and that of former President Eisenhower may boost the size of the congressional election vote next month. He said he hoped his 19,000-mile tour this fall would ‘arouse some interest … and encourage the turnout.’ Famous as a vigorous campaigner, Kennedy jarred some newsmen when he told a television interviewer: ‘I don’t enjoy it very much. I think one of the great myths in American life is that those who are in politics love to campaign. Well, maybe some do, but it is hard work making a lot of speeches, and I have a good many other things to do.’”
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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Eve of Destruction” singer Barry McGuire, who was born in 1935; “Alice” star Linda Lavin, who was born in 1937; Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who was born in 1945; singer-songwriter Richard Carpenter, who was born in 1946; “Don’t Pay the Ferryman” singer Chris de Burgh, who was born in 1948; actor and comedian Larry Miller, who was born in 1953; celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, who was born in 1959; “General Hospital” star Vanessa Marcil, who was born in 1968; “The Affair” star Dominic West, who was born in 1969; singer-songwriter Ginuwine, who was born in 1970; singer-songwriter and TV personality Keyshia Cole, who was born in 1981; N.Y Islanders center Brock Nelson, who was born in 1991; and “Bridge to Terabithia” star Bailee Madison, who was born in 1999.
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LEARNING TO FLY: Mankind left the earth for the first time on this day in 1783. Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d’Arlandes, became the first people to fly when they ascended in a hot-air balloon in Paris less than five months after the first public balloon flight demonstration, and less than a year after the first experiments with small paper and fabric balloons by the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph and Jacques. The flight lasted about four minutes and carried the passengers to a height of about 84 feet.
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FAMILY MAN: Mario Puzo was born on this day in 1920. The Manhattan native wrote the best-selling novel “The Godfather” (1969), which sold 9 million copies in two years. He and director Francis Ford Coppola adapted the novel into a wildly popular Oscar-winning film trilogy. Puzo also wrote the screenplay for the 1978 blockbuster “Superman.” He died in Bay Shore, N.Y., in 1999.
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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.
Quotable:
“Fortune favors the bold.”
— Roman poet Virgil, who was born on this day in 70 B.C.
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