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MILESTONES: November 2, birthdays for Nelly, Kendall Schmidt, Shah Rukh Khan

November 2, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Nelly. Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Nelly. Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
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ON THIS DAY IN 1920, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Men and women voters of the 48 sovereign states of the nation went to the polls today to select a new President for the four years beginning March 4 next. Before the dawn of another day has broken, the country, in all likelihood, will know whether Warren G. Harding, Republican, or James M. Cox, Democrat, has been elected to succeed Woodrow Wilson, for it is generally agreed that, barring a miracle, none of the other five candidates has a chance. This choice, it is estimated, will be registered by a record vote of between 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 persons, many of whom are women who have been enfranchised since the last presidential election and are voting today for the first time … Gov. Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, Republican Vice Presidential nominee, will watch the returns at Boston, while his Democratic opponent, Franklin D. Roosevelt, will await the result at his home in Hyde Park, N.Y.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “Baltimore, Nov. 2 — In one mad sprint that lasted every inch, every foot, every yard of the mile and 3/16 course at Pimlico yesterday, Seabiscuit proved the master of War Admiral in both speed and stamina. That great burst of speed, sustained throughout, earned for Seabiscuit the laurel wreath as ‘king of the turf.’ And the winning margin of nearly four lengths’ advantage fairly transformed War Admiral to ‘Rear Admiral.’ The result, which left most of the 40,000 onlookers amazed by its decisiveness, not only was worth the $15,000 prize to Charles S. Howard, owner of the sturdy five-year-old son of Hard Tack, making Seabiscuit’s total winnings $340,480, but it also enhances considerably the winner’s future as a stud horse.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “Wendell L. Willkie returned to New York City today for the climactic address of his presidential campaign. Meanwhile, he lashed out at President [Franklin] Roosevelt for the Chief Executive’s address in Brooklyn last night, which, said Willkie, was designed to ‘stir up class hatred and divide our people,’ combining ‘the tactic of Lenin, the strategy of Hitler and the preaching of Trotsky.’ The Republican Presidential nominee, resting before his final campaign appearance tonight at Madison Square Garden, issued a statement calling Roosevelt’s address his ‘fourth defense speech — defense of his own administration.’ In his statement today, the Republican nominee said Roosevelt ‘attempted to defend his record of continually unbalanced budgets and astronomical expenditures by citing the abnormally low interest rate at which some government notes recently were sold.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “Police in New York took extra precautions today to guard against any new incident developing out of yesterday’s Puerto Rican Nationalist Party attempt to assassinate President [Harry] Truman in Washington. In the Commodore Hotel, a continuous 24-hour uniformed guard was posted at the door of the suite of Ramos Antonini, speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. A night-and-day police guard also was posted in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, outside the suite of Warren Austin, chief U.S. delegate to the United Nations. This was done at the specific request of Austin, but whether because of any specific new happening was not disclosed. Uniformed guards were also placed at various Puerto Rican government offices in Manhattan, including the Labor Department office at 1881 Broadway, where two small ‘Molotov cocktail’-type bombs were exploded with ineffective results. Manuel Cabranes, director of that office, said he had received threatening telephone calls both at the office and at his home in Flushing. Some of the callers warned that the Nationalists would ‘really bomb your office today — what happened yesterday was just a warning.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “The Rev. Martin Paul Luther, pastor of the New Utrecht Reformed Church, 83rd St. and 18th Ave., yesterday deplored the desecration of gravestones in the historic graveyard on the church’s grounds by Halloween pranksters. Rev. Luther said that 64 gravestones were toppled over by the vandals and that many of them were badly broken. Fortunately, the sturdy monument that commemorates the grave of Gen. Nathaniel Woodhall, Revolutionary War hero, was not disturbed. The New Utrecht Reformed Church graveyard dates back to the latter part of the 17th century and was the burial ground for many of the Dutch settlers of the Dutch village of New Utrecht.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include political commentator PAT BUCHANAN, who was born in 1938; researcher and author SHERE HITE, who was born in 1942; Bollywood superstar actor SHAH RUKH KHAN, who was born in 1965; singer K.D. LANG, who was born in 1961; rapper Nelly, who was born on this day in 1974; actress STEFANIE POWERS, who was born in 1942; golfer DAVE STOCKTON, who was born in 1941; and Wisconsin Gov. SCOTT WALKER, who was born in 1967. ****

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DANIEL BOONE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1734. The American frontiersman, explorer and militia officer was captured at Blue Licks, Kentucky in 1778 by Shawnee Indians, under Chief Blackfish, and was adopted by the chief and inducted into the tribe as “Big Turtle.” Boone escaped after five months and in 1781 was captured briefly by the British. He experienced a series of personal and financial disasters during his life but continued a rugged existence, a hunter until his 80s. Boone died in 1820.

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WARREN G. HARDING WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1865. Harding was the 29th president of the U.S. and served from March 1921 to August 1923. Although he won the presidency with the highest popular vote yet, he was later regarded as one of the nation’s worst presidents. His undistinguished administration was plagued by cronyism and corruption, the full extent of which wasn’t apparent until after his sudden death.

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BURT LANCASTER WAS BORN IN MANHATTAN ON THIS DAY IN 1913. The distinguished American actor began his career in show business as a circus acrobat. In a career spanning nearly 45 years, he appeared in nearly 80 films and won an Oscar. He died in 1994.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, THE BRIGHTON BEACH EXPRESS, exceeding its speed limit five times over (going 30 mph) while approaching the station near the Malbone Street tunnel in Brooklyn, jumped the tracks, killing 97 people and injuring 100. The supervisor-engineer, taking the place of a striking motorman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, was tried and acquitted of charges of negligence.

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

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“America’s present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration.” — President Warren G. Harding, who was born on this day in 1865

 


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