Jan. 31, 1908 (Friday)

INJURED SOPRANO HAS THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE: Early yesterday afternoon, opera star Olga Nethersole was walking in front of her hotel in Pittsburg, where she was engaged in the title role of "Carmen." Nethersole (shown above in a 1910 newspaper article) fell on the slippery sidewalk, hours before the performance. She was carried to her room, with a badly sprained ankle. At 8 p.m., as curtain time approached, managers were prepared to announce that whe would not appear. However, she gamely insisted that she could appear on stage at the Nixon Theater. She performed most of her role while SEATED IN A ROLLING CHAIR on stage. Today's New York Times says "The lines and the 'business' of the piece were changed so as to allow the actress to sit during almost the entire time she was on the stage."

MAN FINDS ONE WAY TO BYPASS THE WAITING ROOM AND GET RIGHT TO SURGERY: Marcus Cohen of New York has been a patient at the Battle Creek (Mich.) Sanitarium. In order to pay for his treatment, he has performed odd jobs around the facility (which was opened, above, in 1903). While cleaning a skylight on the roof, he slipped and FELL THROUGH THE GLASS. The accident has a GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS component. The GOOD NEWS was that he fell RIGHT INTO THE OPERATING ROOM at the sanitarium. Doctors were able to operate on him RIGHT AWAY. You can guess at the BAD NEWS component of the story. The fall was 30 feet. The fractures and cuts were numerous. Today's New York Times says Cohen may die.