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January 25: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

January 25, 2025 Brooklyn Eagle History
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ON THIS DAY IN 1875, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Among the women who are to take part in the Centennial celebration will be Antoinette Doolittle, the leading woman in the Shaker Society, at present editor of the Shakeress, published at Mt. Lebanon. The Quakeress, Lucretia Mott, now aged and infirm, will not survive, it is greatly feared, until that time. She is failing rapidly, and has given up all thought of future work. She is residing in Philadelphia with her daughter, Mrs. Davis.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1883, the Eagle said, “Mr. J. Wilbur Brooks’ Assembly resolution directing the Judiciary Committee to inquire into the advisability of incorporating the main feature of the Pendleton Civil Service reform scheme in a bill to apply to State and municipal offices would doubtless have met with wide approval if the author had taken the precaution to provide that the members of the Legislature should also be included. The people are in no frame of mind to look with favor upon half way measures of reform.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1889, the Eagle reported, “The inhabitants of Daly Waters, in South Australia, were rudely awakened at midnight on Sunday, August 26, by an explosion resembling the blasting of a rock, which lasted for a few minutes. The time and other circumstances show that Krakatoa was heard this time at the monstrous distance of 2,023 miles. But there is undoubted testimony that to distances even greater than 2,023 miles the waves of sound conveyed tidings of the mighty convulsion. Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands, is 2,267 miles from Krakatoa, but the thunders traversed even this distance and created the belief that there must be some ship in distress, for which a diligent but necessarily ineffectual search was made. To pass at once to the most remarkable case of all, we have a report from Mr. James Wallis, chief of police in Rodriguez, that ‘several times during the night of August 26-27, 1888, reports were heard coming from the eastward like the distant roar of heavy guns. These reports continued at intervals of between three and four hours.’ Were it not for the continuous chain of evidence from places of gradually increasing distances from Krakatoa, we might well hesitate to believe that the noises Mr. Wallis heard were really from the great volcano, but a glance at the map, which shows the several stations where the great sounds were heard, leaves no room for doubt. We thus have the astounding fact that almost across the whole wide extent of the Indian Ocean, that is, to a distance of nearly 3,000 miles ― 2,968 ― the sound of the throes of Krakatoa were propagated.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1891, the Eagle reported, “OTTAWA, ONT., JAN. 24 ― Le Canada, the French Canadian government organ, says that the cabinet has decided to dissolve parliament, and that the elections will take place in March. A leading conservative member of parliament, however, denies that the premier talks about a session, with an election in October. The talk about the dissolution of parliament has given way to a well defined impression that Sir John Macdonald has, at the last moment, decided either to postpone the appeal to the people, pending the result of trade negotiations, or to assemble parliament in March.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, JAN. 24 ― Although Republican leaders in the House today are dubious of getting action at this session of Congress on new immigration legislation, Chairman Albert Johnson of the House Immigration Committee is preparing a report upon the committee’s bill to provide for drastic deportation of alien criminals. This will be presented to the House on Monday. The measure, if enacted, would, according to the Washington Representative, clean out of the country the ‘professional bad alien’ class, which he believes is now giving civil authorities most of their trouble. The feature of the bill which appears most interesting to the chairman of the House Immigration Committee is that which provides for the prompt deportation of aliens engaged in the business of smuggling other aliens into the country. Another item in the bill which Mr. Johnson emphasized was the provision whereby no deported alien could again return to this country, as is sometimes possible now under existing law. Under the provisions of the bill to be presented to the House, an alien will be deported, among others, for the following reasons: If he is convicted for any offense for which he is sentenced to a year’s imprisonment; if he receives jail sentences which, on several offenses, add up to 18 months or more; if he receives jail sentences for liquor violations which add up to 12 months, and if he aids another alien to enter the country unlawfully.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― In a talk yesterday at Girard College, Connie Mack told the boys that [Babe] Ruth is ‘one of the grandest characters and a monument to baseball.’ ‘I never really knew Babe until our recent trip to Japan,’ Mack said. ‘Before that trip Babe had won my admiration and respect for his ability. Now I am happy to say I know him as Ruth, the man. Babe’s spirit and the fire kindled in him through baseball cannot be extinguished. It was worth that trip alone just to know Ruth.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, JAN. 24 (UP) ― Republican and Democratic Senators insisted today that President Eisenhower’s nominees to be Army, Navy and Air Force Secretaries sell their stocks in companies doing Government business or step aside. Opposition grew to a plan urged by Defense Secretary-designate Charles E. Wilson by which the service chiefs would be permitted to retain their stock interests while keeping hands off matters touching such holdings. There were insistent demands, too, that before the Senate votes confirmation they follow Wilson’s action in agreeing to sell his stock in General Motors Corporation. The stock, on today’s market, is worth $2,674,092.50. Wilson’s confirmation by the Senate, possibly Monday, is certain. But there will be at least one protesting voice ― Senator Wayne Morse, the Oregon independent, who told a news conference today that Wilson’s nomination was ‘shocking and unconscionable.’ Wilson’s subordinates await an uncertain fate.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, JAN. 24 (UP) ― Allen W. Dulles, brother of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and a veteran of high-level cloak-and-dagger operations, was chosen today by President Eisenhower to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Dulles has been deputy director of the CIA for the past 17 months, second in command to Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, whom Mr. Eisenhower has nominated to be Undersecretary of State. The move will put into the hands of two brothers chief responsibility for direction of both major aspects ― diplomatic and undercover ― of the ‘cold war’ against world Communism. In World War II, Dulles took up headquarters in neutral Switzerland as European director of the hush-hush office of Strategic Services. From there, he directed spies and counterspies working in the north against Nazi Germany and in the south against Fascist Italy. The work he did was important to clearing the way for the sweep of Allied forces, under Mr. Eisenhower’s Supreme Command, through Italy and the South of France.”

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Alicia Keys
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Ana Ortiz
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Pro Football Hall of Famer Carl Eller, who was born in 1942; “Soylent Green” star Leigh Taylor-Young, who was born in 1945; “Empty Nest” star Dinah Manoff, who was born in 1956; “The Preacher’s Wife” star Jenifer Lewis, who was born in 1957; Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Chelios, who was born in 1962; N.Y. Rangers Stanley Cup champion Esa Tikkanen, who was born in 1965; “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” author Stephen Chbosky, who was born in 1970; former N.Y. Knicks forward Chris Mills, who was born in 1970; “Ugly Betty” star Ana Ortiz, who was born in 1971; “Empire State of Mind” singer Alicia Keys, who was born in 1981; former NFL linebacker Patrick Willis, who was born in 1985; and Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose, who was born in 1991.

Stephen Chbosky
Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP

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LET IT SNOW: The first Winter Olympics opened at Chamonix, France, on this day in 1924, with athletes representing 16 nations. The ski jump, previously unknown, thrilled spectators. The Games offered a boost to skiing, which became enormously popular in the next decade.

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EAST MEETS WEST: The first scheduled transcontinental flight in the U.S. took place on this day in 1959. American Airlines opened the jet age when a Boeing 707 flew non-stop from California to New York.

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MEET THE PREZ: President John F. Kennedy held the first televised presidential news conference on this day in 1961, five days after his inauguration.

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

 

Quotable:

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”

— author Somerset Maugham, who was born on this day in 1874





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