Las Vegas optic., 1914-08-21
AN ITALIAN CARDINAL
BECAUSE OF WAR IN EUROPE
WILL SUCCEED Plus X

Merry del Val, the papal secretary
of state. dated at Rome 10:18 Wednes-
day, which was 4:1S p. m. New York
time, OF one hour and SO minutes af.
ter the United Press circulated the
announcement of death, showing that
the pope was still alive, az follows:
Holy father dangerously i'll since
this morning. He may die at any
moment"
1t is well enough to permit the is
sue of veracity between the Vatican
and the United Press to stand.
Ambassador Page at Rome tele-
graphed the state department at
Washington that the pope died about
o'clock yesterday morning.
The Agences Havas of France in
its independent service from Rome
gave the hour Of death at 1920 a. m.
THE Reuter- Telegram abency of LON
Gon, in another independent message
fixed the same hour. The Central
News agency of London, in another
message, gave the hour as 1:35 a. m.
AS to the claim that the United
Press message was sent in code, the
following correspondence is illuminate
ling:
The general manager of the Asso-
ciated Press sent to the officers of the
only three cable companies over which
a dispatch from Rome could be trans
mitted, note as follows:
my understanding is that during
this war period news messages cannot
be sent between any part of Europe
and the United States in code. Am I
right? An answer will oblige"
To this were returned the following
answers:
"Mr. Stone: Yes, for the reason
that messages cannot get to the Unit
States without passing through q
belligerents territory and the belt
gerents have prohibited code.
y (signedl George Clapperton. trafs
manager. Commercial Gale compan
Dear Mr. stone: Your undersran
ing, unfortunately, is only too correct.
There is no route between any part OF
Europe and this continent over which
any kind of messages prepared in
code can be sent.
(Signed) ~. C. WilIever, manager
cable department, Western Union
Telegraph company"
Dear Mr. Stone. You are quite
right All codes outside of government
messages are prohibited.
tSigned) "E. C. Sweeney, manager
French Gable company"
Nothing New About It
This business of announcing the
death of distinguished person before
it actually occurs is not new with the
United Press people. Queen Victoria
died January %, 1901 at $50 p. m.
London time (1;S4 p. m. New York
time).
Before that hour dispatch from
the London office of the UNI
tied Press, announcing the queens
death was printed When the charge
was made that this was reckless
guess or bold anticipation since the
message was sent before the queen
had breathed her last, answer was
made that code word "Bergerac" had
heen used and that it meant death"
The claim was also set up that
though the official announcement fixed
the time of the queens death at 6:30
p. nit actually occurred at al hour
earlier and that a message to that
effect was sent from Osborne House
at 5:35 D. m. to the archbishop OF
Canterbury. An investigation resulted
in an autograph letter from the arch
bishop to the general manager of the
Associated Press assuring him that
he had received no such messages
So far as he knew or so far as any
one else knew or believed, the hour
of death officially given out-namely
1880 p. m.-was correct. Very soon
this was shown to be the fact
On September IS, 1911. also after
! M. Stolypin. former Russian premier.
had been wounded at Kiev. Russia.
and had fingered for some time ana
was nearing his end, the United Press
: announced his death some time befors
it actually occurred.
Melville E. Stone. general manager
OF the Associated Press.
Pope's Sister III
!. London. Aug sl--An erroneous