The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-28
WIDOWS WILL SUE
 FOR RELIEF FUND Echo of the Radbod Mine
 Disaster In Germany 377 MINERS ARE KILLED Survivors Want immediate Distribu- ton of Funds Raised for Their
 Benefit-Remarkable Ex-
 perments in Fasting.
377 MINERS ARE KILLED

and the governor or WestphaIla are bo be made defendants in an action brought by the widows of the SIT miners killed in the Radboa disaster last October for the purnose of compelling the immediate dis tribution of S50O000 raised on behalf Of the survivors
 The Crown Prince is the honorary pa- tron of a special fund of S75,O0O, and the governor of the province is at the head of the national fund So far only small proportion has been doled out to the w1d- ows and orphans, as it was decided 10 defer the general distribution until the victims were disinterred and identified. This work will be begun next week Fearing riots among the population the authorities have ordered 1t to be carried on at night
 To prove that complete abstinence from food for indefinite periods is not only conducive to good health, but also to pe- rennial youth, Miss Claire de serval, niece of the famous fasting" Dr. Tan ner. has submitted herself to remark able series of experiments at the Royal Charte hospital in Berlin.
 Miss Serval ended at noon the other day in perfect health a fast of ten days without nourishment of any kind, either liquid or solid. During that time she has lived in a glass cage, into which fresh air was pumped by a motor. She was re- moved from the cage and was placed ta the ordinary ward, but she intends to ab- stain from food for another twenty days, living in the meantime on mineral water Her weight has decreased from 114 pounds to 101 pounds, but her condition otherwise is perfectly normal.
 Most of the time Miss de Serva1 has : communicated with the outer world by means of a telephone. but latterly she has written messages to the medical men E who are observing the experiment and held them to the sides of her glass prison.
 She informed an interviewer today that she never once felt i'll from lack of food and drink, and was entirely free from fever or headache. The young lady says that she was induced 10 become a faster in order to cure herself of l chronic headaches and lack of appetite, ! and also because she finds she emerges rejuvenated after period of self-im- l posed starvation. Professor Kraus the celebrated physi- | cian under whose auspices the experi-
 
 suits will be of much scientific value.
 Dr. Karl Peters, the German explorer, who was married in Berlin on Saturday to F'raulein Heilbers, will. it is reported, shortly proceed to the Zambesi on a visit to his gold and copper mines kn the Mudza valley, near which he believes the land of Ophir to be situated. The prin- cpal object of his journey will be to in- qufre further into this theory.
 hay ton hat Gf fnno Dr. Peters first set out to search for King Solomon's mines. which he sought to prove in a book published in 1897 must have been situated in the region of the Lower Zambesi. He believes that the mines worked by the Phoencians were only scratched" and that their develop ment with modern appliances might yield immense results.
 The extraordinary spectacle was wit messed in the west end of Berlin the other day of a judge becoming suddenly insane and running amuck The subject of the attack was Judge Niemer, former ly of the high court and the outbreak occurred quite suddenly. The unfortu- nate man demolished all the windows in his dwelling, smashed the entire stock of crockery, glasses, wine bottles, and flower pots and wrecked considerable portion of his own furniture.
 Nienr had previously barred and bar f1cdQeQ Ile QOOTS ana threatened 10 mur- der his servants. These fled, screaming to the balcony, and were rescued by means of a fire escape, which was hur- riedly brought up by the brigade. The firemen then attempted to enter the dwelling, and when they broke the doors open Niemer rushed to meet them armed with an axe, with which he at tackled them. He was felled by means of the jet from a high pressure hose, and then the police seized and arrested him. military novelty reported today has caused some interest. On the occasion of the equipment of the Austrian art- lery with new guns each battery has been provided with telephone patrol and telephone wagon. Each patrol has three kilometers of wire and a tele- phone station. The entire telephone ma terial for each artillery regiment amounts to 22 kilometers of wire and 5 stations The telephone patrols win transmit orders and reports to the ar tillery in the field. Up to the present Japan has been the only power to pos sess this innovation.
 The arrests effected by the political police have recently become as numer- ous In Odessa, proportionatey to the population, as those in St. Petersburg and the police searchings of private dwellings by night are again as much in vogue they were two years ago. A significant feature Is that the mili- tary casinos and private quarters of officers are not exempt from police search
 Three officers, all of subaltern rank have been arrested during the last few days but the local press is not permitted to make any mention of military ar rests. I am informed that the charge against the three officers is that they are members of what is known as the Pan Russian Military Revolutionary union."
 It may be remembered that about a month ago five officers and 27 soldiers were sentenced at Warsaw to eight years hard labor for their proved mem bership of the same organization. The Revolutionary union now evidently in- cludes a large percentage of the rank and file. judging from the continuous and numerous arrests of private soldiers, and it is known to be giving gravely anxious concern to the higher military authorities and to the military council of the empire.
 A New Vehicle.
 From Illustrated Bits.