--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Thomas Hull collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 5 number: 4 published: 1902-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Thomas Hull, "Events of the Month," *Improvement Era* 5, no. 4 (February 1902): 316–320.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0504unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0504unse start_page: 316 end_page: 320 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1902-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0504unse publication_year: 1902 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1902, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Events of the Month EVENTS OF THE MONTH, BY THOMAS HULL, GENERAL SECRETARY OF Y. M. M. L A. Local — December 18 — The schoolhouse in Huntsville was completely destroyed by fire; loss $3,000 ...Peter Mortensen was arrested and held on suspicion of being implicated in the murder of James R. Hay. 19 — The physical laboratory building State University was partially destroyed by fire 22 — Five hundred people attended the touching and appropriate funeral services of James R. Hay the mur- dered secretary of the Pacific Lumber Company. He was born in Aus- tralia, May 29, 1870. He came to Utah in the spring of 1890 Commemorative services in honor of the birthday of the Prophet Joseph Smith were held in all the wards of the Church 24 — J. B. Fairbanks of the Brigham Young Academy Exploring expedition arrived in New York on the Atlas liner Andes from South America A meeting of interested citizens of Salt Lake and Provo meet in the latter city to discuss the project of making a reservoir of Utah Lake 25 — W. G. Sharp resigns the management of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company and is succeeded by H. G. Williams 26 — Peter Mortensen was arraigned before Judge Diehl on a charge of the murder of James R. Hay, and pleaded not guilty County Treasurer Ed. C. Christensen of Sanpete suddenly died at Moroni of hemorrhage of the lungs The eighth annual convention of the State teachers association, Emma J. McVicker presiding, opened in Salt Lake 27 — The Inter-Mountain baseball league broke up, owing to inability to obtain railroad rates James D. James, born in Wales, aged 87, at pioneer of 1852, died in Tooele Dr. M. V. Oshea, of the University of Wisconsin, is giving a series of addresses to the State Teachers' Association. This convention is pronounced the most success- ful of any in its history 28 — Professor Wm. M. Stewart was chosen president of the State Teachers' Association, and Professor D. H. Adams, secretary, and Samuel Doxey, treasurer. The convention ad- journed 29 — Senator Kearns arrived from Washington EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 317 The second annual session of the Church Teachers' Association, met in the L. D. S. University, Superintendent J. M. Tanner presiding. President Joseph F. Smith addressed the teachers, closing with the words: "I marvel and wonder to see what we are accomplishing in the promotion of education" 31 — The stock sales for the year were 34,065,484 shares for $24,171,760,20; ore and bullion settlements, $22,044,623. Utah produced $3,824,300 in gold, and 10,250,000 fine ounces silver, plac- ing the state sixth in gold and third in silver production. Utah mines paid $4,518,000 in dividends in 1901. January 1 — 1902 — Ray Leepham and Norley Hall, eighteen and six- teen years, were drowned, while skating in Utah Lake The San Pedro railroad has called for one million dollars for construction making in all to date six millions 2 — Major Egan of Fort Douglas was acquitted by the court martial and reprimanded by Colonel Sanno Hannah Shaw, mother of Robert Sherwood, Salt Lake City, age eighty years, died; also Catherine Erickson, born in Sweden, seventy-eight years ago; Bent Hansen, Mt. Pleasant, age sixty-four, who came to Utah fifty years ago, died 3 — Salt Lake Valley is over- shadowed by a dense fog 5 — Manager Hubert, of the Rio Grande, was in Salt Lake on an inspection tour 6 — Charles Cottrell, Jr., was elected president of the City Council of Salt Lake City and William Driver of Ogden city. The new oificers in all the cities of Utah took their positions Roy Kaighn pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder in the district court The Supreme Court decided that the state officers are intitled to increased salaries, as provided by the last legislature; this gives the governor $4,000 per annum Today $285,789.68 was divided among the school population of 87 131 children in Utah 8 — People in Park City witnessed the fiight of a large meteor Jonathan Averett, Utah pioneer, born in Alabama, June 12, 1816, a member of the Mormon Batalion, died at Springville. Ester W. Bennion, pioneer of 1847, born in England, 1817, died at Taylorsville The Salt Lake City Council refused to remove Chief Hilton Frank Co well, of Salt Lake, was killed in a collision on the Rio Grande Western, at Roy, Weber County, and J. 0. Woolvine seriously injured Governor Wells called a meeting of prominent business men to consider the project of a commercial club. District Attorney A. B. Hayes, of Ogden, is recommended for a judgeship in Alaska 9 — At a testimonial in the Salt Lake Theatre, Miss Emma Lucy Gates is given a great ovation Judge Erastus W. Mclntire, a Utah pioneer, died at Price on the evening ■of the eighth instant in his sixty-second year Secretary James 318 IMPROVEMENT ERA. T. Hammond announces the total amount of state secretary's fees col- lected for 1901, as $77,739.95 The fog which enveloped the city for a week past was dissipated Alma Ash, born in Eng- land, February 10, 1862, died at Sugar Ward Martha Hurst Coop, mother of Professor Squire Coop, born in England sixty-nine years ago, died 11 — The business men of Salt Lake took steps to organize a commercial «lub Weber County wool-growers were organized, Preston A.Blair, president 12 — English agents are buying horses in Southern Utah for the South African war The telephone line to Stateline, Utah, is completed 13 — It is announced that Governor Wells will name January 29th as McKinley Memorial Day, at which time Utah is expected to raise $2,000, as its quota for the $650,000 McKinley Memorial Fund, Dayton, Ohio A movement is on foot to pave Brigham Street, from State to Eighth East, at a cost of $200,000 William B. Thornley, born in England, March 5, 1820, joined the Mormon Church in 1837, died at his home in Lay ton 14 — The Board of Education decided to pur- chase the old University site, from the State Land Board, for $100,000. Domestic — December 18 — The Philippine tariff bill passed the House by a vote of 163 to 128 20 — Judge Advocate General Lemly and Solicitor Hanna of the Navy Department replied to Admiral Schely's bill of objections, and counsel for Admiral Sampson filed a pro- test against Admiral Dewey's opinion 21 — The president, through Secretary Root, reprimanded Lieutenant-General Miles for com- menting on the findings of the Schley court of inquiry Secre- tary Long ended the Schley controversy, so far as the navy department is concerned, by approving the verdict and dissolving the court ; he also demanded the resignation of Edgar S. Maclay 22 — Turkish authorities at Beyroot, Syria, demand that naturalized Americans re- nounce their naturalizations in fifteen days on penalty of expulsion 28 — The government paid Admiral Schley $3,334, his share of San- tiago prize money William Ellery Channing, author and poet, died at Concord, Massachusetts 24 — Secretary Long dis- missed Edgar S. Maclay, from his post in the Brooklyn navy yard, on request of President Roosevelt 25 — Governor Leslie M. Shaw, of Iowa, has accepted the Secretaryship of the Treasury, Governor Crane of Massachusetts having declined 26 — The navy department has taken steps to adopt wireless telegraphy on war- ships 27 — Eighteen men of the ninth United States regiment were attacked by Bolomen on Samar, P. I., and seven of them killed Captain Richard P. Leary, first American governor of Guam, died at EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 319 Chelsea, Massachusetts 27 — A wind storm badly damages the orange crop in Southern California 28 — The battleship Mis- souri was launched at Newport News 30 — The navy depart- ment decides to establish wireless telegraphy plants at Washington and Annapolis 31 — The Cuban elections were held. Senor T. Estrada Palma headed the Nationalist ticket, the only one in the field; the partisans of Maso in Havana refused to vote The governors of seven states agreed to oppose the Northern Pacific-Great Northern- Burlington, railroad merger. January 1, 1902 — Eight thousand people passed through the White House and shook hands with President Roosevelt, at the New Year's re- ception. Last year was the most prosperous in the history of our coun- try Mayor Seth Low was inaugurated, and New York's City government changed hands from Tammany to the fusion reformers. The world has 484,348 miles of railroad, of which 220,657 are in North America 2 — The debt of the United States December 31, less cash in the Treasury, was $1,011,628,286; cash balance, $321,- 603,278 3 — The Paris Panama Canal Company offered the canal and franchises to the United States at the price named by the isthmian commission, forty millions 4 — The obstacles to the Carnegie library gift having been removed. Secretary Hay and others interested in the national university project formed the incorporation, the Carnegie Institution The managers of the St. Louis Exposition offer a prize of $200,000 for a dirigible airship The crude rubber company organized in 1897 in Virginia failed; liabilities two millions in ex- cess of assets .5 — W. J. Bryan addresses a meeting in Cleveland in favor of the Boers A movement is given impetus in Chicago for the opening of Palestine to the Hebrews Senator Kearns intro- duced a resulution in the Senate blocking the intention of the Interior Department to approve the Uintah Mineral Land Lease It is announced that Admiral Schley will appeal from the judgment of the Court of Inquiry 8 — Fifteen people perished in a tunnel col. lision on the New York Central Railway Engineers lay out the ground for big, new railway shops in Pocatello The Pacific cable project is given a hearing before the House Committee, and the Senate Committee hears representatives of the Panama Canal Company, regarding the sale of the waterway It is announced that the Harriman railroads will spend twenty-five to thirty million dollars in bet- terments in Utah, Nevada, and California Richard Crocker the leader of Tammany Hall, announces his formal retirement from such leadership 12 — Madam Nordica is injured in a railroad wreck. 320 IMPROVEMENT ERA. George E. Graham's book on Schley and Santiago, proof read by Admiral Schley, is ready for print 13 — Congressman Sutherland introduces a bill for a $5,000 Fish Culture Station in Utah. Foreign — December 18 — The revival of Irish agitation is being met by the British government by coercive measures 19 — The iron trade in Germany is improving, a sign of revival of industry in that country A demonstration of sailors and populace against the sale of the Danish West Indies was held at Charlotte Amalia 21 — The shareholders of the Panama Canal Company in Paris decided to sell all the company's property to the United States for forty million dollars 22 — TheGerman government is preparing for military action to collect a debt from Venezuela The British railroad from Mombasa, East African coast, to Lake Victoria Nyanza, is completed. 23 — General Kitchener reports brisk fighting in the Transvaal and Orange River colony, with severe losses to both British and Boer The Chinese court arrived at Tzee Chow Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert, the chemist, died in London 24 — Two Irish members of Parliament were sentenced to imprisonment for connection with an aijti-rent meeting 25 — There is trouble between Argentina and Chile, and war expenditures are authorized by both countries 2fi — The Zionist Congress opened at Basel; President Herzl referred in his opening address to the Sultan's statement that he is a friend of the Jews A protocol has been signed assuring peace between Chili and Argentina A treaty of commerce between Italy and Russia was signed at St. Petersburg — 27 — The Marquis Ito, Japan, was received in audience by King Edward VII 31 — The Boers were reduced in fighting force in 1901, 21,800, and the end of the war is at hand. January 1, 1902 — Czar Nicholas and President Loubet exchange greetings 2 — General Matos and 300 revolutionists sail from Martinique to attack Venezuela and overthrow President Castro Three thousand persons meet in the 11th congress of Russian Naturalists at St. Petersburg 3 — Marquis Ito was entertained in London by the Lord Mayor 4 — General Matos landed in Venezuela 7 — Lord Kitchener reports skirmishes in various parts of South Africa. Most serious at Amersfort on January 3rd, at which the British lost eighteen men and one officer, and twenty-eight men and five officers wounded 10 — There are rumors of a revolution in the Republic of Paraguay, caused by presidential succession The French minister to Pekin refuses to present his credentials until China complies to demands of France,