Evening star., 1946-05-12
Fifty Years Ago
A dispatch from Teheran to The stal
OF May /, 1896. announced the murder


OF May l. 1885, announced the murder
of Nazir Ed-Din, shah
Assassination of Persia since Sep
OF the Shoh tember 10, 1848. De-
scribed as the most
enlightened of the Persian rulers in
modern times" the dead sovereign had
been shot in the region of the heart"
While entering a shrine 6 miles from
his capital The assassin was a "revo-
lutionary fanatic who gained access to
his victim by Disgusting himself as a
woman Fourth of the Kajar dynasty.
the Shah had made several tours of
Europe but never had visited the United
States. He was succeeded by his son,
Muzaffer-ed-din. long recognized by
Great Britain and by Russia as heir
apparent to the throne.
4
The residence of Senator Eugene Hale
OF Maine, supposed by many to have
been the most nota-
Senotor Holes bly, beautiful house
Home Burned in that State. was
destroyed by fire on
May /, 1896. and The Star for the fol-
lowing day devoted front page space to
an account of the blaze. Designed by
Rotch & Tilden, famous Boston archi-
tecs, and built in 1882, the devastated
mansion occupied "a slightly spot" at
Ellsworth on the Union River about Is
miles from Bar Harbor. The house was
of frame and was peculiar in that it was
absolutely satisfactory to its occupant.
who congratulated himself that he had
escaped the general experience of men
who build houses and find something in
them afterward not quite to their liking
Mr.. Hale was represented as having in
formed a reporter that it was the de-
struction Of his library that grieved him
most. He had been collecting books for
more than 80 years. The con1agration
at first was believed to be "the work of
an incendiary" but the Senator insisted
that there was no foundation for that
notion.
London Truth was quoted in The
Star of May g. 1896, to the effect that
many writ
Cutting Shokespeore's ers devoted
PIoys for Moderns to the the
ater had
failed as dramatists because they
thought only of literature and disdained
to study the art Of dramatic construc-
tion." Tennyson, 1t was argued, could
not have succeeded as a contributor to
the stage had his work mot been taken
in hand" by Sir Henry Irving and Au-
gustin DAILY, both practical men" Fur
ther, Shakespeare himself would not
be feasible Of presentation ION any Eng
lish stage of today, if his plays were
not fashioned = by practical stage
managers" However, the cited article
continued: There are people idiotic
enough to talk about the vandalism
and the atrociously bad taste of touch
ing one word or syllable of Shakespeare,
when they know that every Shake
spearean production by Charles Kean
and Irving was most carefully and ju-
diciously edited for the stage. *"' With
Shakespeare, it must be either case of
cutting or no Shakespeare for the
stage"
The Star on May S. 1896, began a
running account of the mystery of the
killing Of Elsie Kre-
Murder of glo, 16-year- old far
Elsie Kreqlo mer's daughter who
was slain the pre-
vious afternoon within sight of her
home in the woods just north of the
National Geological Park and only a
few yards from the Connecticut avenue
electric trolley line. Returning from
taking COW to pasture, the young girl
was attacked and murdered before men,
bers Of her family and neighbors drawn
by her screams could reach her side.
Her throat (was) cut in half a dozen
places" From "the appearance of the
grass and bushes along the slope of the
hill" 1t was evident that she had fought
for her life with courage but in vain.
A lengthy article quoted from the New
York Herald in The Star of May 6, 1896,
discussed the ques-
New CentuYs tion: Does the goth
beoinninu century begin on
January /, 1900, or on
January l, 1901" 1t was set forth that:
Those who hold that the Goth CEN
tury will dawn on January l, 1900,
reason that this Is so becauGe the first