Yes, I did notice an odd coincidence in the paperwork. Most people are never going to notice which particular consular official signed their passport application. It's just thank you very much for the U.S. passport, which gets me almost pretty much anywhere I would want to go.
Interestingly, my great-grandfather's passport application is signed by Samuel Sokobin. I don't know why I noticed this. The man from Singapore, his passport application occurs directly before that of my great-grandfather, in terms of the stack of passport applications. That of a mysterious single woman appears shortly after. Oh, is there something magical about this particular stack of passport applications, that it should be dubbed Solomon's pool or some other significant appellation? I wouldn't know how to describe that or why it matters.
Even so, I doubt that my great-grandfather could have been involved in the shooting incident. Mr. Sokobin and another man, Charles Coltman by name, were traveling together in a car in the northern part of China or Mongolia where Mr. Coltman was shot and wounded. Some accounts say that the shooting incident occurred at the Kalgan Gate of the Great Wall of China, where they were accosted by Chinese soldiers attempting to prevent them from passing through the gate. Mr. Sokobin's account differed from that of the Chinese authorities but what actually happened I have no idea. It seems that Mr. Sokobin was not charged in the matter, but somehow escaped getting shot. Anyway, I only know what I found on the Internet. My information on these matters is not complete.
