January 4: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

January 4, 2025 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1914, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, JAN. 3 ― The Panama Canal will be in condition to pass vessels all the way across the Isthmus within the next seventy days, it was learned today, unless some unexpected obstacle is encountered. This is the judgment of a high canal official, who heretofore has refused to make any definite promise in regard to the completion of the canal, and even now declines to fix the date more definitely. The only remaining obstacles to prevent the passage of vessels at this moment are the Cucaracha slide, which blocks the cut at Culebra, and the few additional slides of relatively minor importance in the same locality. The dredging is progressing very satisfactorily on these slides, and as soon as a channel of sufficient width and depth is established it will be possible to pass vessels through from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “FLEMINGTON, N.J. ― Col. Charles A. Lindbergh this morning identified the voice of Bruno Richard Hauptmann as that he heard in the shadows of St. Raymonds Cemetery where he paid the $50,000 ransom. The voice Colonel Lindbergh heard called ‘Hi, Doctor!’ The father of the kidnaped and slain baby said he had heard the voice since. ‘It was Hauptmann’s,’ said Colonel Lindbergh steadily. His eyes turned for a moment on the man he accused, 20 feet away.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “As New Yorkers began to feel the pinch of a growing fuel oil shortage, Investigation Commissioner John M. Murtagh, on Mayor O’Dwyer’s order, started a probe into reports that some dealers were exacting bonuses and exorbitant prices for fuel oil. Meanwhile, G. C. Randall, port traffic manager for the American Association of Railroads, announced that an embargo had been placed on non-essential freight shipments by lighter through New York Harbor. Difficulty encountered in New Jersey freight yards because of last week’s snowstorm had made it necessary. Foodstuffs, drugs and army and navy shipments were excepted from the embargo. The Mayor himself, disclosing that ‘ugly rumors’ of profiteering at the expense of freezing home owners had come to him, denounced this practice as ‘nothing less than old-fashioned shakedown and racketeering.’ Commissioner Murtagh’s job, he added, was ‘to find out if the rumors are true, to let the public know the names of the firms involved, to smoke them out and to prosecute them as far as the law will allow.’ If existing law is not enough to bring conviction and punishment for such profiteering, the Mayor commented, he would ask the Albany legislature to pass a law that will.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “The old International Longshoremen’s Association, fearful the National Labor Relations Board may rule out its apparent victory in its bargaining election fight with the American Federation of Labor, moved on three fronts today to improve its position: 1. The racket-pocked union announced it would file formal charges with the NLRB that Governor Dewey and the State Mediation Board were guilty of an unfair labor practice by favoring its A.F.L. rival; 2. The I.L.A. revealed it was casting about for a ‘top-notch crime buster’ to be hired to oust racketeers and mobsters from its ranks. Federal Judge Thomas F. Murphy, a former police commissioner, was cited as an example of the type of man wanted; 3. Six private detectives were put on the I.L.A.’s payroll to delve into the background and possible criminal records of certain organizers of the A.F.L. dock union, which was set up by the Federation after the I.L.A. was ousted from the parent body. In line with the I.L.A.’s contention that the Governor and Merlyn S. Pitzele, State Mediation Board chairman, had been unfairly meddling in the dock labor picture, I.L.A. counsel George A. Brenner went to Washington today to seek an interview with Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (UPI) ― Telstar 1, the world’s first active communication satellite, resumed operation today after more than five weeks of silence. The American Telephone & Telegraph Co. said engineers had succeeded in turning on the satellite’s receiver and transmitter by ground command and would attempt a live television exchange with Europe via Telstar tomorrow. Telstar, launched July 10, went dead Nov. 23 after more than four months of successful tests and demonstrations. It was silenced by failure of the command circuit by means of which ground stations switched its receiver and transmitter on and off. The failure was attributed to the effects of high energy electrons in the radiation zones surrounding the earth. AT&T’s Bell Telephone Laboratory engineers have tried from time to time to restore the satellite to operation, and today succeeded in sending a television test pattern to Telstar and getting it back. AT&T plans to launch a second Telstar, with improved radiation shielding, this spring.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Heaven Can Wait” star Dyan Cannon, who was born in 1937; historian and commentator Doris Kearns Goodwin, who was born in Brooklyn in 1943; businesswoman and fashion designer Tina Knowles, who was born in 1954; actress and performance artist Ann Magnuson, who was born in 1956; country singer Patty Loveless, who was born in 1957; “Max Headroom” star Matt Frewer, who was born in 1958; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Michael Stipe (R.E.M.), who was born in 1960; former NBA player Sidney Green, who was born in Brooklyn in 1961; “NewsRadio” star Dave Foley, who was born in 1963; “Sabrina” star Julia Ormond, who was born in 1965; country singer Deana Carter, who was born in 1966; former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Ted Lilly, who was born in 1976; and “Sex Education” star Emma Mackey, who was born in 1996.

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HIGHER LEARNING: Sir Isaac Newton was born in England on this day in 1643. The chief figure of the scientific revolution of the 17th century, he laid the foundations of calculus, studied the mechanics of planetary motion and discovered the law of gravitation. He died in 1727.

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IT’S A HIT: The pop music chart was introduced on this day in 1936 when Billboard magazine published a list of bestselling records for the week that ended Dec. 30, 1935. It included songs by the Tommy Dorsey and Ozzie Nelson orchestras.

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

Quotable:

“Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.”

— Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, who was born on this day in 1930