November 12: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 12, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1889, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Washington has been admitted to the Union by Presidential proclamation … Montana having been admitted into the Union, Washington will become the baby State, and is very likely to remain at the bottom of the list for a long while to come.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1892, the Eagle reported, “The central committee of the [Grover] Cleveland and [Adlai] Stevenson clubs of Kings county met last evening in the headquarters, 193 Montague street, for the purpose of terminating, by the disbandment of the committee, the excellent work that has been accomplished since February for the Democratic cause. The attendance was large and enthusiasm over the victory asserted itself in many ways at frequent intervals. Edward M. Shepard presided and Everett Greene recorded. Fully 60 percent of the audience were young men, the same faces that have shouldered so many arduous and responsible duties in the campaign just ended. They were really joyful over the success of their effort, and made no attempt to conceal it.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1897, the Eagle reported, “The amateur Ice Hockey League held its meeting at the New York Athletic Club House last night, with representatives from all the principal hockey clubs of the district. Judging from the demonstrations this early in the season, this mazy game promises to be more popular than ever this winter on the rink surfaces.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1899, the Eagle reported, “‘Sherlock Holmes,’ with William Gillette in the title role, is playing to the capacity of the Garrick Theater every evening, and all signs point to a continuance of these conditions for some time to come. Arrangements have already been completed for the presentation of the piece in London upon the conclusion of the season in America.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Eagle reported, “District Superintendent of Schools Dr. James J. McCabe of 614 St. Mark’s ave. bears a striking resemblance to President Wilson. Yesterday as a member of the Friars he marched up Fifth ave., Manhattan, in the Victory Parade. Frequently along the line of march cheers were raised as he passed and it seemed like a good joke to him. When the parade disbanded and he was returning to the club house, however, it was different. ‘There’s President Wilson,’ a woman exclaimed as he reached Fifth ave. and 42nd st. The cry was taken up by others and soon Dr. McCabe was the center of a surging mass of humanity. He protested that it was a case of mistaken identity, but the crowd would not believe him and the ovation continued.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (AP) — A crowd of eager admirers, who nearly mobbed him, forced the Prince of Wales to seek refuge in Scotland Yard after an Armistice Day celebration at the Cenotaph. When the Prince was inside the Yard the crowd tried to rush the gates and the Prince had to pass through the Yard to the Victoria Embankment to his car. The Prince and Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, attended a service at the Cenotaph. As the Prince turned to leave there was a wild road of cheering and shouts of ‘Wales.’ The crowd, waving their hats and flags, surged madly toward him.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “BERLIN (AP) — Jews today were assessed 1,000,000,000 marks ($400,000,000) as a penalty for the murder of Ernst vom Rath, German diplomat in Paris, it was announced officially. Field Marshal Hermann Wilhelm Goering, as director of Germany’s four-year plan, issued a decree, effective next Jan. 1, prohibiting Jews from conducting retail businesses, mail order and commission houses and independent handicraft enterprises. Goering’s decree further banned Jews from heading any industrial or commercial concern by forbidding them to hold the position of ‘betriebsfuehrer,’ which every factory or similar undertaking must have under the national labor law. At the same time, semi-official sources said that 1,600 Jews had been arrested in Berlin alone. (The United Press estimated 6,000 Jews arrested in Berlin.) These sources said it was impossible to estimate how many other Jews had been seized in the rest of Germany since the killing of vom Rath, secretary of the German embassy in Paris, which incited nationwide burnings of synagogues and destruction of Jewish stores Thursday.”

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Cote de Pablo
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “My Dinner with Andre” star Wallace Shawn, who was born in 1943; sportscaster Al Michaels, who was born in Brooklyn in 1944; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young, who was born in 1945; “Will & Grace” star Megan Mullaly, who was born in 1958; “All My Children” star Vincent Irizarry, who was born in 1959; gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci, who was born in 1961; “Challenger Deep” author Neal Shusterman, who was born in Brooklyn in 1962; singer-songwriter and actor Tevin Campbell, who was born in 1976; “NCIS” star Cote de Pablo, who was born in 1979; “La La Land” star Ryan Gosling, who was born in 1980; Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway, who was born in Brooklyn in 1982; and Denver Nuggets point guard Russell Westbrook, who was born in 1988.

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THE GOOD FIGHT: Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born on this day in 1815. Renowned along with compatriot Susan B. Anthony as a leader of the American Women’s Suffrage Movement, she organized the Seneca Falls Convention (1848) and authored its eponymous Declaration of Sentiments, the first document to call for women’s elective franchise. She died in 1902, 18 years before the passage of the 19th Amendment, which she drafted in 1878.

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AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY: American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, on this day in 2001. The plane took off from JFK International Airport and was en route to the Dominican Republic. All 260 people on board and five people on the ground were killed. The disaster occurred just two months after 9/11 and sparked fears of another terrorist attack, but the NTSB determined that the first officer had overused the rudder controls in response to wake turbulence from another plane. A memorial to the victims was dedicated in Rockaway Park in 2006.

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

Quotable:

“Do you believe in miracles?”

— sportscaster Al Michaels, who was born on this day in 1944