New York Public Library Updated, 6:31 a.m. | In New York City, this is the year of the disgraced politician seeking a second act.
But all the publicity about Anthony D. Weiner and Eliot Spitzer got us wondering: is this just a modern-day phenomenon?
Not exactly, according to our friends at the New York Public Library.
They pointed to an even more shocking scandal, the case of Representative Daniel E. Sickles of New York.
Sickles began serving in Congress in 1857. Two years later, he shot and killed his wife’s lover, Philip Barton Key II, across from the White House. (Key was the son of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner.â€)
Sickles was jailed only briefly. He was acquitted of murder - by some accounts, after a defense of temporary insanity.
After finishing his term in Congress, he had a notorious tenure as a Union general in the Civil War.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, he disobeyed orders and many of his men were killed.
Let’s omit, for brevity’s sake, his many dalliances with prostitutes over the years.
Still, the public apparently forgave his trespasses: in the 1890s, he was elected to Congress again.
WEATHER
It couldn’t last forever. Rain and a high of 79 degrees, followed by heavier rain. Lose track of that umbrella? Better find it. Click for current forecast.
TRANSIT & TRAFFIC
- Mass Transit [6:31] Delays on the E and F trains. Click for the latest status.
- Roads [6:31] Traffic moving well. Click for the latest status.
- Alternate side parking is in effect.
COMING UP TODAY
- William C. Thompson Jr. takes his mayoral campaign on a 24-hour, 21-stop tour to all five boroughs, including a meeting with cabdrivers in Queens at 3:50 a.m. Bill de Blasio appears on Huffington Post Live at 1 p.m.
- The Go-Go’s and others play at 7:30 p.m. the Seaside Summer Concert Series at Coney Island. [Free]
- Do the Time Warp at the musical/comedy/horror classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show†at Tompkins Square Park at sundown. [Free]
-Â The Puerto Rican percussionist and bandleader Johnny Ray brings his crew to Staten Island for a salsa music performance in Tappen Park at 7 p.m. [Free]
- Remember, it’s last call to submit photos of Hurricane Sandy to the Museum of the City of New York. Deadline is midnight.
-Â Sugary tunes from the Sixties will be sung by the 1910 Fruitgum Company in Astoria Park in Queens at 7:30 p.m. [Free]
IN THE NEWS
- Former Gov. George E. Pataki was cleared of liability in a suit by six sex offenders who claimed they were wrongly confined to psychiatric hospitals after completing prison sentences. [New York Times]
- A Health Department survey showed a 3 percent rise between 2002 and 2012 in the number of adults with type 2 diabetes in the city. There are at least 670,000 adults with the disease, an increase of 200,000 in the period of study. [NY 1]
- Anthony D. Weiner received a chilly reception at a campaign event in Queens on Wednesday. [New York Times]
- Eight T.G.I. Friday’s in New Jersey agreed to pay $500,000 for passing off cheap drinks as premium-label liquor, after an investigation proved the practice. [New York Times]
- The Bloomberg administration is calling for proposals to begin Seaport City, a $20 billion project to protect Lower Manhattan from flooding. [Associated Press]
- A virgin-cocktails bar opened in Dumbo. [DNAinfo]
- Teenagers will get a playground of their own in the new plans for the Hudson Yards development in Hell’s Kitchen. [DNAinfo]
AND FINALLY
Forget about summer movie screenings or classical music on the lawn. Tonight, you can witness a perfectly legal, knockdown fight.
“Rumble on the River,†a free, fighting exposition in Hudson River Park at West 44th Street, takes place at 7 p.m.
Fast and furious Muay Thai kickboxing is on the program.
Mona el-Naggar, E.C. Gogolak and Nicole Higgins DeSmet contributed reporting.
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