Kiss me, I'm unpleasant

Bob and I share some ancestry. I have it on good authority that it comes with the cousin gig. He is much more informed on it than I am, so I'm taking a bit of a risk here. I believe we have some Irish ancestors which makes the following story of interest.

If we don't, it's still an amusing story.

At the time of the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 large and festive celebrations were planned. (They had fireworks!) The citizens of New York City and Brooklyn were thrilled that the 14-year-long project had been completed and that they would no longer have to rely on ferry service to cross the East River. And, of course, many politicians got into the act - the two mayors, Governor Grover Cleveland, the next president of the U.S., and the sitting president, Chester Arthur, also a New Yorker.

But not all was sweetness and light.

Indeed the only people who seemed displeased with the arrangements being made were some of the more militant Irish, who in mid-April had suddenly realized that the 24th (of May) happened also to be Queen Victoria's birthday and so began angrily protesting the date selected. The Central Labor Union issued a statement calling on "all good men and women in both cities to remember this latest insult of the would-be aristocratic element in our midst." The (New York) Tribune answered that "it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to fix upon a day that did not commemorate something or other unpleasant for Ireland," and as the appointed day drew nearer there was talk of Irish fanatics, "Dynamite Patriots," attempting to blow up the bridge.

Happily, the Brooklyn Bridge stands yet today, a perfectly gorgeous edifice in my opinion.

The story above came from The Great Bridge by David McCullough, a book that I am thoroughly enjoying. McCullough, you may remember, is the author of several historical narratives including Truman and John Adams.