Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-25

Fifty years ago the aftermath of the
collapse of the Ford's Theater Building
was front page news in
A Grand Jury The Star of July "a,
lndicts 1893: The grand jury,
in an indictment re-
turned today, says that Col Frederick A.
AinsWcrth, Contractor George w. Dent,
Supt. William E. Covert and Engineer
Franklin Sasse on the 9th of June 1898,
willfully and feloniously did kill and slay
Frederick B. Lotus, one of the victims.
These are the four men held responsible
for the deaths of the % men who died
from the effects of injuries received in
that terrible catastrophe, and, as indi-
Gated in The Star weeks ago, their in
dictment was merely a question of time.
The presentment of the indictment today
was the final result of several weeks
consideration of the matter by the grand
tWoscore of witnesses
The Metropolitan Railroad Co., a
local transit system, was in hot water
for failure to comply with
Tronsit a congressional directive to
Troubles quit using horses and make
the operation entirely me-
chanical. According to the law, the
charter was forfeited for that failure, but,
practically the horse cars still were run
ming. Said The Star of July 25 1898:
Those who are living along the line of
the Washington and Georgetown rail-
road are in enjoyment of rapid transit,
while the victims of the management of
the Metropolitan Railroad are compelled
to endure each day a waste of valuable
time riding in horse cars" The
real story behind the headline was that
the Metropolitan had spent years in I'M
successful attempts to develop as motive
power storage batteries in each car, while
others had gone on with the cable system
Then, belatedly realizing that they were
getting nowhere, Metropolitan had Of
fered to convert if allowed to use the
old-style overhead trolley. They were
refused, inasfnuch as much objection had
been made to that method, once uni
versal, and authorities and public alike
were determined to do away with the
overhead trolley once and for all, never
to return.
The Star of July "a, 1893, showed
cut of the new United States cruiser Co.
lumbia, in conjunction
Powerful with an account of its
New Cruiser impending trial for
speed and performance.
"The Columbia is the first triple
screw vessel of the new Navy. In fact
there are not more than half dozen
such vessels, of any size, in the world
and the Columbia is the largest and most
powerful of them all. = Naval experts
predict that the Columbia will make %
knots, and far surpass the City of Paris
in speed" The City of Paris was then
considered the fastest ship in the world.
How much progress in naval design has
been made in the last half century may
be noted from the fact that the present.
day cruiser makes IS or more knots.
The friction between France and Siam
increased to a point where France noti-
neQ Gne WOIlQ OF leT IN
Fronce tention to blockade Siam.
vs.. Siam Britain was indignant, but
did nothing, and the block
ade proceeded so effectively that 1t was
not long in operation and soon brought
Siam to terms. 1t is interesting to note
that this column, in bringing to light
and commenting on the Franco-Siamese
situation of so years ago. was scooped
not long since by Premier TOTO, when he
referred to those events, while handing
over new provinces to Siam on silver
platter, as evidence of the hostility of
France and all the United Nations to
the best interests of Siam, now Thailand
To make Westinghouse endure the
heat with fortitude, an extract is given
of a dispatch from Fort Nc
Reel Kinney, Wyo. Mercury at
Heot $50 degrees The hottest
weather recorded for eight
years." Closer inspection Of the article
shows that the heat was not quite as bad
as indicated. though bad enough. Tho