The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-13
CARNEGIE BEsET BY A CRANK.
Man In Clerical Garb Disturbs Au-
thOrs' Meeting.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
A clerical crank, or at least a very
predetermined man in clerical garb,
called Andrew Carnegie a philanthro-
pist to his face in the Hotel st. Denis
last evening in the presence of a few
hundred people attending the dinner
of the Society of American Authors,
and there was a merry little to-do at
once.
Anyone remembering Mr.. Carnegie's
definition of a philanthropist-" man
with more money than brains"-mtght
nave expected something to happen,
and it did. Mr.. Carnegie repealed the
attack upon his intelligence as swiftly
and as aggressively as though it had
been an assault and battery upon his
person.
Mr.. Carnegie was the guest of honor
at the dinner, and he had just taken
his seat after a short after dinner
speech, when the man in the clerical
clothes arose, and addressing Rastus
S. Ransom, president of the society
and chairman of the dinner, asked
permission to make a request of Mr..
Carnegie.
Mr.. Ransom politely asked If the
request might not be made after the
ceremonies of the evening were over,
but the stranger brushed the chair
mans remark aside and went on talk
ing.
my name is Crawford Frost of Bal
timore,' he said; II want to offer Mr..
Carnegie, the great philanthropist, an
invention"
Mr.. Ransom-Wont you wait
Crawford Frost (crenscendo)-I want
to offer him $1,000, 600
Mr.. Ransom-After the diner is over!
Crawford Frost-Will he take it? I
ask him if he will take it?
Voices-Put him out! Sit down! Stop!
Crawford Frost-I want to ask this
philanthropist-
Mr.. Carnegie, rising in his place at
the table and speaking with the great
est emphasis: Il will answer the gen.
tleman by telling him that he is max
ing mistake in calling me philan-
thropist. L reject the name. 1 am no
such foolish fellow"
What more Mr.. Carnegie might have
said was lost in the next assault of
Crawford Frost, who having got, as he
appeared to think, a rise" out of the
"philanthropist," did not propose to
lose his chance to follow it up, and,
addressing Mr.. Carnegie directly from
his place, half way back in the room,
he said, speaking louder than ever: Il
offer you $500O,00O. Will you take it?
Cries: "Sit down! Go out"
Crawford Frost: an invitation
whereby 1 can think a thought and
have it automatically recorded on pa
per, Will YOU take" and the rest
was lost in an outburst of laughter.
Mr.. Ransom-Will you go? Or will
you be removed?
Crawford-Frost-I'n go.
"Why," exclaimed Mr.. Ransom, did
you ever come in?"
Crawford Frost, who had turned his
clerical waistcoat toward the exit,
wheeled like polo pony and hurled
back in the diction of melodrama
hero: I'm order to convict this as
sembly or stupidity"
To the outburst of laughter which
greeted this thrust he retorted, para
phrasing the young Disraeli to the
Commons: But, you'll invite me back
some day."
The peculiar cleric said in the cor
ridor that he was the Rev. William
Albert Crawford Frost, rector of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the
Holy Comforter of Baltimore, and that
he was staying at the Waldorf-Astoria.
He had so many names for his in
vention which he wanted to give to
Mr.. Carnegie that the reporters could
not take them all in as he shot them
out. The invention, he said, was a
photograph, vitograph, a typewriter
which was to do away with all other
typewriters.
1.-THE spacing and shifting" said he,
sis done with the feet and knees. You
make the capitals with your left knee
and do the spacing with your right"
The invention, he explained, was a
substitute to think thoughts with and
make them objective at once. Human
ity could not do without it. He had
come here to offer it to Mr.. Carnegie
and to humanity. He had offered it to
Mr.. Carnegie once, and Mr.. Carnegie
would have one more chance at it, he
said.
And then Mr.. William Albert Craw~
ford-Frost, as the gentleman called
himself, walked out of the hotel. The
clerks at the ST. Denis said that they
knew nothing about him and had never