Dec. 27, 1906 (Thursday)

VOICES IN INDIA CLAMOR FOR INDEPENDENCE: About 10,000 delegates at the Indian National Congress yesterday cheered Dadabhai Naoroji (left) who opened the congress with a demand that Indians be allowed to govern themselves, as British subjects. He noted that the Boers now had self-government in South Africa. Meanwhile, the Indians, who helped the British Army subjugate the Boers, had NO self-government. He asked that delegates raise money to take the case to Great Britain and to help educate people in India about the matter.

WIDELY KNOWN ARTIST IS DEAD: Walter Appleton Clark, one of the premier illustrators in this country, died early today at 31. Appleton (shown at right in a portrait) was born in Worcester, Mass. His most recent work appeared in Percy Mackaye's version of "The Canterbury Tales." The item on the front page of today's New York Times says, "Mr. Clark's work had a beauty of conception and a technique which made them masterpieces in their line, and won for him awards in competition against the best illustrators here and abroad."

AN INCREDIBLY SAD TALE OF A DOUBLE DROWNING: Yesterday afternoon, John Arke, 8, was skating with some other boys on the frozen surface of the grist mill pond on the Rockaway River in the area of Morristown, N.J. At one point, John broke through the ice and called for help. The other boys ran to a nearby house, and George Davis and his wife rushed to help the youngster. Mrs. Davis tied a clothes line around her husband's waist, and he headed toward the hole. He slipped into the water and grabbed John. However, he could not hoist the boy up onto the ice. He tried repeatedly. Soon, he tired. He called to his wife to pull him out. She and the other boys tugged on the rope. IT SNAPPED. George Davis and John Arke slipped under the ice. The Times has a sentence about the accident that puts a chilling tone on the story: "Although several men had been attracted by the cries of the woman, they stood on the banks like statuary."