July 22, 1907 (Monday)

WEATHER RESEARCHERS LINE UP THEIR KITE-FLYING: The largest weather-related kite-flying experiment will get off the ground today at sites throughout America, including the Blue Hill Observatory near Boston. Scientists hope to establish some scientific principles upon which to base weather predictions. The founder of the observatory, Professor Abbot Lawrence Rotch (shown) will oversee the work at Blue Hill. Information gleaned from equipment attached to the kites will be recorded on the ground. The data are being gathered under the oversight of the international commission for scientific aeronautics, headquartered in Strasbourg, Germany. This is considered, according to today's Boston Globe, the "most extensive kite-flying experiments ever made in America."

ACQUITTED OF MURDER CHARGE, MAN HAS HIS PICTURE REMOVED FROM ROGUE'S GALLERY: A new dimension to one of New York City's most interesting legal cases has surfaced with word that New York's Gov. Hughes has signed a law that changes the penal code and requires that records (photographs and Bertillon information) be removed from police possession in the wake of an acquittal of criminal charges. This case involves the acquittal -- on appeal -- of murder charges of Roland B. Molineux, the son of Civil War general Edward Molineux. He was charged in the death of Katherine Adams in 1898.

July 21, 1907 (Sunday)

ABOUT 30 KILLED IN TRAIN WRECK IN MICHIGAN: A collision between a Pere Marquette railroad excursion train and a freight train yesterday near Salem, Mich., left about 30 people dead and 70 people injured. The excursion train, filled with many Pere Marquette employees, was heading downhill at about 50 mph at the time of impact, which was severe.
"It struck the lighter locomotive with such force as to turn the freight locomotive completely around." This will be remembered as one of the worst train wrecks in Michigan history.

THE VICE PRESIDENT'S FAMILY IS VACATIONING IN...DANVERS, MASS.: Today's Boston Globe says the wife and children of Vice President Charles Fairbanks have set up shop in the Rea House in the Boston suburb of Danvers. It's not the first place that might spring to mind as a vacation hideaway, but the Fairbanks family will be in the house until November 1. Here's a description of the house, which was built in the 1700s and is on Locust Street:
"The house is painted a dull yellow and looks cool and restful. There are hammocks under the apple trees in the rear of the house and there is a spacious lawn one one side and shrubbery on the other."
The paper adds that the family is "safe and secluded from the public gaze." The main reason is that they are "protected by an experience butler."

CROWDS TURN OUT AT SPECTACULAR MURDER TRIAL IN GERMANY: A professor of Roman law at George Washington University is still on trial in Germany -- for killing his MOTHER IN LAW. The trial -- of Karl (or Carl) Hua (shown here).
According to an article in today's Boston Globe,
(T)he German public is showing an absorbing interest in the case, and the newspapers are selling greatly enlarged editions to satisfy the demand for the latest news of the trial. The streets outside the courtroom are filled continuously by a large crowd, among which can be seen at any time many WELL-DRESSED WOMEN.
Here's a recent look at the trial.