Brooklyn Today for March 11
Good morning. Today is the 70th day of the year. On this day in 1901, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that because of overcrowded conditions at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the asylum’s management had no choice but to turn two brothers, ages 9 and 11, over to the care of the Brooklyn Catholic Protectary. The brothers were not orphans, but their mother, a widow who lived on Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg, had turned them over to Family Court, saying she had no way to care for them. After “a considerable furor,” the boys were taken back to court and were placed in the care of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children until things could be sorted out.
Well-known people who were born today include jazz musician-singer Bobby McFerrin, media executive Rupert Murdoch, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and screenwriter-producer Jerry Zucker (“Naked Gun” movies, “Airplane”).