Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-27
LONDON HOME OF
FRANKLIN IN PERIL
Hotel to Be Erected on Its
Site, but May Be
Saved.
ANNUAL EASTBOURNE
TENNIS TOURNEY ENDS
Other Utilities Jealous of the
Phone System Taken Over
by British Postoffice.

tie house in Craven street Wnere BEN
jamin Franklin lived in his more
prosperous days, and from which he
issued his delightful series of papers
called the Craven Street Gazette"
forms part of a block of property
which has been purchased for the con-
sstruction of a large hotel. and, unless
immediate steps are taken to save 1t,
this historical building win be torn
down. An appeal has been made to
Americans to save the house and
proposal will be made to the hotel
builders to include Franklin's rooms
within the new building.
The house is now conducted as
small residential hotel. much ire
quented by Americans. 1t bears above
the front doorway the following tab
let: Lived here Benjamin Franklin,
printer. philosopher and statesman.
Born 1905, died 1880"
Here the great American philoso-
pher resided after he had served his
hard apprenticeship in London and
during the absence Of his landlady,
Mrs. Stevenson, from home he en-
tertained his fellow boarders with
the issue of the Craven Street Ca
zette. One of the paragraphs was as
follows: AT o'clock this afternoon
news came by the post that her
majesty (Mrs. Stevenson) had ar
rived safely at Rochester on Satur-
dav night The bells Immediately
rung for candles to illuminate the
parlor: the court went into cribhages
and the evening concluded with every
demonstration of joy.
The tablet was affixed to the house,
which has been rebuilt, but in the
same style as when Franklin lived
in 1t, by the Society of Arts, before
7 Council undertake.
the work of marking the one-time
homes of eminent persons in London.
Franklin was not the only famous
resident of Craven street. At various
periods the poet Akenside and Helm
rich Heine lived there, and James
Smith, the author of Rejected ADD
dresses died in a house not far from
the Franklin house. In his Comic
Miscellany, Smith wrote:
In Craven street, Strand, ten attor-
neys find place,
And fen dark coal barges are moor'd
at It's base;
Fly Honesty fly seek some safer
retreat,
For there's craft in the river and
craft in the street.
About this Sir George Rose wrote
the following lines:
why should honesty fly to some
safer reatreat,
From barges and attorneys, cd
rot 'em2
For the lawyers are just at the top
of the street
And the barges are just at the
bottom
Business Judgment rather than SEN
fiment probably will lead the hotel |
owners to include the Franklin |
apartments within their new build |
ing, as several historic houses of en- |
tertainment in London pay heavy |
dividends because American tourists
nut ND with bad food and poor serv-
ice on account of the historical asso-
Citations. And, moreover, some OF |
these lack the historical authenticity |
of the Franklin house.
EASTBOURNE, Sept. 27.--The an !
nuai Eastbourne tournament, second |
only In Importance to the all-Eng-
land championships at Wimbledon
has ended, bringing to a close one
of the most successful lawn tennis
seasons ever witnessed in England.
The season has been a verltable |
triumph for ]. c. Parke, the brill
liant Irish player, who went down |
to defeat only once during the year, |
and that to Mclaughlin in the open |
championship at Wimbledon. He re-
trieved this defeat by beating the |
great American player in one of the |
Single matches in the Davis cup |
challenge round. Since last Novem-
Der Parke has beaten among others,
Norman Brookes. A. F. Wildfng, M
E. Mclaughlin, r N. Williams, A.
z. Beamish and A. H. Lowe.
LONDON. Sept. 27.-Another in
stance of old customs giving way |
to new is found this week In Lloyds
Underwriters room, where the famous
old LOSS Book which almost since
the inception of the present head
quarters only contained records or
losses of vessels, their capture,
seizure or other forms of detention,
is now to become a casualty book,
which will have posted within its
pages minor casualties, such as dam
ages to ships equipment, collisions or
any happening that might cause de-
lays, for which the underwriters re-
insure.
LONDON. Sept. 27.-The taking
over of the telephone system by the
British postoff1ce department has not
been welcomed by the other public
utilities already under the control or
the postmaster-ge and when
that official returns from his visit
to Canada he Will find reud IN run
swing between the officials of the
telegraph and telephone divisions.
The officials of the two departments
have been at loggerheads for some
time, and the lack of teamwork has
been made painfully apparent by the
adoption Of separate codes for the |
two systems, although the same |
clerks in most of the offices do both |
the telegraph and telephone work.
Practically ever since the telegraph |
was invented code names have been
used to designate towns with long |
names. and recently the telephone |
department decided to adopt the |
same system, but instead of dupH-
eating the telegraph code it invented |
one of its own. Now most of the |
towns have different code names and |
when the system comes into use on |
October subscribers will be pre-
pared for trouble. Some of the sub
scribers already have protested and |
pointed out that the use of a little |
common sense and cordially between |
the two departments would have Sc
cured uniformity.