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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1909)
tgiOLiHiggag ffifiiTTiBl mill M.ilBi.pw'TiPgr The Commoner. VOLUME. 9,. NUMBER 1 s i,i - fCURBSNT 1 I tjggTT-W.. ... !BBfiWh im r.mwr ffssi lW?yk Li'"V. -' ' ' ' sSdr. iir ii mftTii i fe I CHRISTIAN RUDOWITZ was recently arrest ed Jit Chicago and taken before a United States commissioner on charges preferred by representatives of tho Russian government. Rudowitz was charged with 'murder, arson and various other crimes. An Associated Press dis patch says: "Rudowltss was an acknowledged member of the social democratic labor party, a Russian revolutionary organization with branches in all parts of tho world whose avowed purpose is tho Improvement of political condi tions in the Russian empire. He is charged with having murdered or participated in the murder of a man, his wife and a married daughter in ono of tho Bajtic provinces In 1906. The next year ho came to tho United States and from the west wont to work in a large manufacturing .es tablishment. At tho hearing in Chicago testi mony was offered both by Rudowitz and his wit nesses that tho order for killing these persons was issued on the ground that they were spies; not that they traveled around the country in this capacity, but that they gave the names of persons taking part in revolutionary movements directed against tho government." o UNITED STATES Commissioner Footo Upheld tho Russian government's demand and ordorod that Rudowitz be extradited'. An ap peal was taken, however, to Secrotary of State Root Secretary Root refused tho extradition because the offense charged comes under tho goneral prohibition against extradition in the treaty with Russia which declares that if it bo made to appear that extradition is sought with tho view to try to punish for an offense of a political character surrender Bhall not take place. A PARTICULARLY interesting story is told of tho manner in which the good news was broken to tho fugitive from Russian "justice." The Associated Press says: "Tho good news from Washington was slow in reaching Chrls Ifan Rudowitz. Thoro was no one at the jail where the prisoner had been confined who could speak Russian, and attempts to reach his law yers with tho Associated Press bulletin found thorn absent. Meanwhile the bailiffs and guards already in possession of tho news bulletin, were fairly aching to impart the cood tidings to the man most affected. Rudowitz gazed stolidly at them. Presently ono of them had an inspiration. Ho resorted to pantomime. He imitated tho click of a telegraph instrument by tapping on the bars of tho coll; then he pointed out doors seized tho Russian's hands, grinned broadly jumpod up and down and patted the prisoner fin tho back. Slowly the latter broke into a smile and pointing interrogatively to the east Washington grunting, 'Huh?' Whereat the guards nodded their heads vigorously and the judications wero that Rudowitz at least compre hended that something fortunate had happened to him." npHE WHITE STAR liner, Republic, was X rammed by tho ship Florida and sank The passengers wero taken from tho Republic on board tho Florida and later transferred to an other vessel. Captain Sealby of the Republic and other officers displayed great courage The captain was tho last ono to leave the sinking vessel Tho collision occurred in a Tense fog5 Mrs. E. Lynch of Boston, and W. J. Mooney9f Langdon N D., wero killed. Several passenge?s wero injured. Many striking stories are to d of tho bravery showed by officers and passen- womenm CUra bdne displayed ?e WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY played an imnnr Pn . ant part in this colllsiSnaSd next to Captain Sealby, Jack Binn, tho wireless. teWr)? operator on the Republic, is the hero of th 75? Tho Now York World says: "Over and above every other feature of tho disaster BtnnS ?!! marvelous arm of the wirelesftelegraph with its message of now hopo to those who ll hereafter go down to tffe sea, thf trtcVrou" and dreaded sea, in ships. Scarcely had tho shock of collision died away on the Republic ero her heroic Marconi wireless operator, J. H. Binns, whose nerves had been steeled by his experiences in the earthquakes in Jamaica and in Italy, had taken his post to click out the magic letters 'C. Q. D.,' which sent out through the air for hundreds of miles In every direction the warning of a disaster. For 'C. Q. D.' in the wireless code is the urgent notification to all ships in tho wireless zone that some ship is in danger. All business is suspended in every wire less telegraph office as soon as that signal comes flashing it thrilling message down from the upper air. The operators, in suspense, wait until their answering signal is responded to. Then the location of the vessel and the cause of tho distress are sent out. And so it was yes terday. At 6:40 a. m. the Marconi operator at the wireless station at Siasconset, Mass., was startled by the faint calling of some steamer using the Marconi signal of distress. With bated breath he dropped the key and listened. A moment later came the sign which indicated it was the Republic, of the White Star line, which had sailed from here Friday afternoon, with a full cabin list, for the Mediterranean. The operator on the Republic reported the ship was in dire distress, having been rammed by a steamer the identity of which had not at that time been ascertained. The collision, the oper ator on the Republic said, had occurred while tho vessel was proceeding slowly in a dense fog about twenty-six miles south of Nantucket light ship, in latitude 40.17, longitude 70. The ex tent of the damage, the operator said, had not been fully determined, but it was known that the engine room was full of water. But by means of the water-tight compartments the boat could remain afloat some time. The Republic's broadcast call by wireless for help was dispersed all over the eastern piart of the Atlantic. It was heard by the Baltic, her sister White Star ship, hurrying here from Europe. It was heard by tho operator on board the French liner, La Lorraine, also bound to New York on her west ward trip from Gaul." J N THE HOUSE of representatives Jack Binns A was honored. Representative Boutell of Illinois, addressing the house said: "Mr Speaker, I rise to a question of personal privi lege. During the last to days we have been f2?in?S?fnee,mopo of the perils that eset those 'that go down to the sea in ships, and do "SH, in f reater ters'' The accident that befell the steamers Republic and Florida last Saturday found heroes ready for the heroic work demanded of officers, men and passengers i believe that every one who read the accoiinti of the collision and the jeopardy in which occu! pants of the two ships were T placed and the S in which news reached the rescuers felt that there was one silent actor in the tragedy who se name should be immortalized. refer to the Marconi operator of the Republic! who had thl tmVieaVnd steady nand to send forth on thl wiling wings Qf the air the message of disas ter that saved hundreds of lives and the message neartLVenJSei5at ?'? thouss of"StoS iieai ts. His name is John R. Binns Ho i known to several members of this house Jack Binns has given the world a- splendid iHustra- tton of the heroism that dwells on seas in mny who are doing quiet, unnoticed work in life " CAPTAIN JOHNSON of tho shin donQ0 n of the vessels that went totte rdVn? the Republic, tells tho story of Cantata SSL heroism in this way: "AaLoh ? - Sealby 's mi with water Cheat woul I go o uSSi T Uld into the rph- wnnnw . VJU1U eo a little lower pridge, He smashed it, as a fdtHinTnw' wat had reached;' TUen8"1 p the rigging forward 'and .placed another ono there. He climbed up on the shrouds above it. He told Williams to leave the ship and the mate then jumped into the sea. A life boat, swing ing on the davits of the Gresham was lowered and took him in. It was one of the prettiest and most picturesque rescues that I have ever seen. We had scarcely pulled him abroad when the second blue light came in contact with the water and lighted up. Captain Sealby hung on until the ship went down under him, easily and smoothly. The Gresham then lowered a lifeboat and brought him in. We were nine miles south by east of the Nantucket Shoals Light when the water finally swept over the Republic. We started off again at a record clip, and at daybreak this morning, when off Vinyard Haven, , Captain Sealby and his crew were brought over to the Seneca."- HENRY SAVAGE LANDOR, the famous Eng lish explorer, who w -. on the vessel, paid this tribute to the courage and helpfulness of the women passengers: "The American women were magnificent in their courage. It was a spectacle ennobling to humanity. I had a view over the side of the Baltic when gray haired women and beautiful girls were lifted from the lifeboats after being tossed on the waves. I did not see a tear. They came aboard with hope shining in their faces. Many, had lost 'all, but they were cheery. There was one woman, the Countess Pasolini, the American-born wife of an Italian nobleman. I saw her stagger up the gangway, her night garments drenched by the waves. Without changing her clothing .she hastened to the immigrants' quarters and nursed the children and women until she was exhausted. Thus she spfent the ni'ght;f' '- THE "MARVELOUS tale of the wreck" 'is 'told by a writer in the' New York World in this way: "An imperilled great vessel's sharp cry for help breaking in, two liours before sunrise, on a stream of commercial 'wireless.' To any part of the world outside tho stricken steamship Republic that was the, beginning. In the hours that followed, such a story of sea fact was un folded through the wonderful service, of the Marconi system as sea fiction has yet to equal. There are technical questions of interest in volved in this tale of ocean collision and of mir aculously averted wholesale tragedy. Did the submarine signal apparatus in the pilot-room of the Republic fail to give warning of the Florida's approach? And since the piercing of the Re public's engine room by the Florida's steel prow seems to have been comparable to the driving of a knife into a man's heart, what is to be done to relieve henceforth any modern shin from vulnerability like that here revealed? But matters of construction will be discussed in or der in steamship offices and builders' yards At this moment and everywhere the story is the thing. That which is absolutely new in tho narrative is the working of the wireless Tim shock of collision-passengers have been" awk! ened by it many times before. The first rush of the panic-stricken it was inevitable and is always theatrical. The quick command of the situation by a competent captain and disciplined crew-fortunately for the annals of e S fi Id BnWhi13111 V1 WhW5 Wtatton wafftS filled. But the voices out of the air and th fog. From the thick mists, suddenly the Flor da emerged to deal its destructive blow The thrust' delivered, the sharn nrow ,ii.. S behind a gray veil as mysterTuV SPft Maa ESTX?- JhenVwhile the Repub c still reeled 25 e bl0W' began the succession of those wireless messages in .which hardly less of mv? tery remains because we know that L, S and control them at will, These" were tl?e?o fees-1 rtbritik.ii'.'-i'.iiWV,. Usl'. l..W&-l iw. it, tut