Hello Willis. I'm afraid there's not much help here about stress cracks. The author, Tom Stranko, says "The globe support wires were with the lantern but at some past time they had been forcibly broken away from the frame. There was a lot of heavy brass corrosion and some dents and a few cracks. I decided that the dents and cracks would have to stay ('charm of the piece'). I would repair and resolder the broken globe guard and clean the stains and corrosion." He then describes how he did that. He did this restoration as a favor for some friends and hoped to learn something about working on an all-brass lantern. From the photos it looks like it came out quite well.