8v P. GRAY MEEK.
Ink Slings.
Democrats are gettin’ thick in New Jersey!
Democrats are gettin’ thick in New Jersey !
Democrats are gettin’ thick and Republicans get-
tin’ sick
Democrats are gettin’ thick in New Jersey.
* Bewosaifitn
Demacrali
RO
it
—The Greeks have the Turks on the run.
We usually get them on the run about
Thanksgiving or Christmas time.
—Jail deliveries are of almost nightly
VOL. 42
ILLEFONTE, PA., APRIL 16. 1897.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
occurrence down at Lewisburg and the old
bastile at that place is so ful) of holes that
it would almost do duty as an ash sieve.
—Eggs have been selling at eight cents a
dozen this week. Such a price is unheard
of at this season. The chicken hens are
about the only things that seem to have
enough confidence to do anything.
——Standard oil stock jumped up nine-
teen points last week and made that gigan-
tic corporation $19,000,000 richer in four
day’s time. We wonder if the assessors
will return an increase for any Bellefonte
individuals.
—The Cretan-Greek war has distanced
the revolution in Cuba all ready. Down
in Cuba they don’t kill anything but pack
mules, but the first clash between the
bloomered battalions of the Orient resulted
in the death of thirty people.
—C. LINFORD Woops, of Pittsburg, has
just been arrested for buncoing eastern in-
surance companies into taking risks on
the lives of decrepid old men for whom he
had himself made beneficiary. This isa
case of blood sucking with & vengeance.
—Talk about newspapers being such bad
things! Why if all that are published in
the world in one year were to be piled one
on top of another they would make a pile
nearly fifty miles high and that would
reach nearer to heaven than a good many
church steeples.
—A New York exchange is making a
great fuss because it has unearthed an res-
thetic maiden who kneads bread with her
gloves on.
girls have never been known to have a fail-
ing for getting flour on their hands. The
face is the portion of their anatomy with
which flour is no stranger.
_—Lots and lots of the fellows who, six
months ago, were almost consumed with
rage when you suggested that more money
would be the only means of relief from the
depressed business straits, shake their heads
now and say nothing when you argue on
the same line. It takes but a nip of ex-
perience to start them all to guessing.
—The fellows who staid up all last Wed-
nesday night and went fishing before day-
light, only to get water-hauls and have the
cold, drizzling rain continually drip down
the back of their necks, might get a few
pointers from the ‘‘Cheerful Liar.”” Trout
lies don’t go unless they are told with a
certain bon homie.
—In commenting on the proposed tax on
vehicles, including bicycles, the Connells-
ville Courier remarks that
“The rich who ride in chaises
Should pay the tax be jasus.”
which leads us to infer that HENRY’S: ex-
perience with that burro in Mexico has
soured him on all kinds of transportation
mediums, other than rail-road cars and
Shank’s mares.
—Governor HASTINGS has reappointed
Dr. NATHAN SHAEFFER to be state sup-
erintendent of public instruction. Al-
though Dr. SHAEFFER isa Democrat we
are glad to see that the Governor has come
to a realization of the need of removing
such offices from political bias and appoint-
ing men who are most capable of filling
them.
—At Helena, Arkansas, the negro who
was trying to save his big bull from the
Mississippi’s awful floods and got it
into a boat in which he was trans-
porting his family to a place of «safety, is
minus bull, family and his own life. The
whole outfit was drowned because the bull
wanted t: get at the pussies on the branch-
es of willow trees through the tops of
which SANDERS was rowing his hoat, and
caused it to upset.
—Why don’t the Republicans squeal
now because MCKINLEY has appointed a
Tennessee man to be commissioner of
pensions. They made fuss enough over
Hoke SMITH’S being appointed secretary
of interior, because the pensions depart-
ment is one of the branches of that port-
folio, even though a past grand commander
of the G. A. R. had been appointed its
commissioner. It remains to be seen
whether their squeal of four years age
wasn’t only for political effect. Of course
they will explain that EVANS was born in
the North. So he was, but having lived
thirty-five years in the South is enough to
identify him pretty closely with that sec-
tion.
—The HAMILTON road bill has passed
the Senate, practically. without opposition,"
- the vote having been 41to 6. It is said
that the bill will more than likely pass the
House, so that it might not be basing too
much on anticipation to say that the HAM-
ILTON bill will be a law before long. The
only oppesition that has heen made to it
comes from country districts, the very quar-
ters in which such a measure should be
hailed with delight, as it is designed to
We better roads at less expense to the
farmers. It will seem hardly possible to
them that they should get better roads for
less money, but practical, intelligent efforts |
will economize every time and the HAMIL-
TON bill is calculated to bring such forth.
We are glad that no opposition has come
from Centre county.
ing.
planation why these Democratic victories
should be so general unless there was a
general cause for them. ;
lieve that local causes affected so many dif-
ferent localities in the same way.
should be going on.
Nothing wrong about that, for | it in all parts of the country, but partic-
ularly in Chicago, where a greater number
of unemployed and distressed people than
in any other city are exasperated by the
deceptive promise of better times, and feel
like kicking themselves for having been
humbugged into the belief that the ‘‘ad-
vance agent of prosperity’’ would improve
their condition.
ever, that this improvement was to be ef-
fected by a tariff that would increase the
cost of their living and enlarge the profits
of the trusts they did better than kicking
themselves by kicking the party that had
deceived them.
tinued at future elections until the party
of trusts and the gold standard shall be
given the grand bounce in 1900.
A General Effect from a General Cause.
The decided Democratic victories in the
local elections in the West show that the
reaction against the MCKINLEY adminis-
tration has already set in.
this reverse of popular sentiment more pro-
nounced in its significance than in Chicago,
where McKINLEY’S big majority of last
November was changed to a majority of
over 70,000 for the Democratic candidate
for mayor.
Nowhere was
While the Republican leaders are startled
by these elections, which in their results
are so opposite to the expression given by
the same localities last year, the Republi-
can organs try to explain away their mean-
But they fail to give a reasonable ex-
It isidle to be-
~.In Chicago, where the victory was most
pronounced, the party lines were strictly
drawn. 3
mayor ran on = strictly Democratic plat-
form, including free silver, and explicitly
re-affirming the principles upon which
BRYAN made his campaign last fall.
the dullest Republican close his eyes to
the fact that a victory won under such
circumstances, and upon such a platform,
was an emphatic and unmistakable re-
versal of last year’s popular expression.
The Democratic candidate for
Can
There is good reason why this reaction
There is reason for
When they found, how-
The kicking will be con-
Obstruction is not Advisable.
The New York Journal takes the position,
which was taken by the WATCHMAN weeks
ago, that there should be no obstructive
tactics resorted to by the Democrats in
Congress to defeat the passage of the DING-
LEY tariff bill.
duty bound to vote against it, and expose
its abominations in debate, but it is neither
their duty nor their policy to employ fili-
bustering methods that may interfere with
its enactment.
They will, of course, be
The people have given the Republicans
the power of legislation. When they voted
for MCKINLEY they knew that they were
voting for higher tariff duties and for all
that is implied by the term McCKINLEYism.
In fact major McKINLEY would not have
been elected if his name had not stood for
the policy that is embodied in the DINGLEY
bill: The people were promised that it
would bring them prosperity, and as the
majority of them wanted it, and voted for
it, they should have it to the full extent,
and be given a full opportunity of seeing
how they will like it.
Therefore it is neither the duty nor the
policy of the Democrats in Congress to
offer any other opposition to the passage of
this bill than merely to vote against it. As
to our own feelings in the matter, we
should like to see it passed just as it came
from the hands of DINGLEY and the trusts
and monopolists who assisted him in get-
ting it up. We entertain this feeling, not
with any hostility to the welfare of our
country, which it might seem to imply, but
because we believe that in the end the ef-
fect will be beneficial.
country has been humbugged, harrassed
and injured by the alleged protection of
Republican tariffs, which, has not only had
an injurious effect upon general industrial
interests, but it has kept up an agitation
that has disturbed business, and exerted a
corrupting influence upon public affairs.
A great majority of the people have heen
led to expect prosperity from such a source,
and this delusion can be dispelled only by
giving them a thorough experience of its
effects.
“enacted in its original form, and with atl
its enormities, the Republican leaders
For years the
If the DINGLEY bill should be
would not be able to go before the people
in 1900 with the claim that if they had not
been prevented from furnishing the full
measure of protection proposed in their
tariff bill the country would have had the
promised prosperity. Ultimate good, in
the way of dispelling the delusion that a
monopoly tariff is beneficial to the country,
will come from giving the people the full-
est possible dose of Republican ‘‘protec-
tion’’ for the next three years.
—The fountains in the court house yard
have been repainted for the summer and
the dear little angels are now too green to
burn.
The Bimetallic Commission.
The President has been commendably
prompt in appointing commissioners to go
to Europe with the object of securing the
co-operation of European countries in an
international movement to restore silver to
its former monetary position. The com-
missioners appointed are Senator WOLCOTT,
of Colorado ; ex-Vice President, -STEVEN-
soN, of Illinois, and Gen. CHARLES G.
PAINE, of Boston, all of them strong sup-
porters of the silver policy, @
In doing this President McKINLEY does
no more than to follow his conviction and
his instruction. He was a silverite up to
the time of his nomination for President
and his party put a plank in its platform
favoring international bimetallism.
But the interesting query is what course
will the President pursue if England and
the other countries of Europe should de-
cline to join a movement for the restoration
of bimetallism ? England is master of the
monetary situation, and as she is making a
profitable thing out of the gold standard at
our expense, it is not likely that she will
agree to abandon it for our advantage.
What then will be the course of this ad-
ministration in the event of the failure of
international conference? What will
President McKINLEY do if his commis-
sioners come back from Europe with the
report that England and the other nations
won’t go into an arrangement for a double
standard? A question of this kind was
asked Republican Senator CHANDLER, of
New Hampshire, some days ago, and after
his declaring quite positively that there
was not going to be a failure in _ this mat-
ter, he added that ‘‘if by any emergency
failure should occur, then he believed bi-
metallism could be safely tried gby the
United States.”
It is gratifying to see a Republican Sena-
tor coming out so squarely on the BRYAN
platform in regard to silver. It was the
contention of WILLIAM J. BRYAN and the
Democratic party in the last campaign that
the United States could adopt the double
standard without the permission of Great
Britain, and independent of the co-opera-
tion of European nations ; but BRYAN and
the Democrats were denounced as anar-
chists and repudiators for advocating that
which Republican Senator CHANDLER now
says can be safely done.
An Important Bill.
The State Legislature has been now in
session for over three months with nothing
completed in the way of legislation to show
for the length of time it has spent at Har-
risburg. There are, however, some meas-
ures before it which, if enacted, would be
of great importance to the State. Prom-
inent among these is bill No. 231, which is
intended to amend the ballot law.
When the present method of voting was
adopted it was designed to be an improve-
ment on the old way. It was proposed to
make the Australian system an instrument
by which absolute secrecy would be se-
cured in voting, and bribery and intimida-
tion eliminated from our elections. The
intention was good, but the performance
was deficient. The arrangements in the
new system that were intended to correct
the defects in the old way of voting, were
so changed and perverted by those who
made the present election law, that the
ballot is less secret than it was under the
old law. By the provision that voters may
be ‘‘assisted”’ in making up their ballots
the briber and coercer has been really
given a better chance to effect his object.
Besides . this abuse of the system the ar-
rangement of the hallot sheets really con-
fuses and embarrasses the voter, instead of
enabling him to make a free and intelligent
selection of the candidates he wants to vote
for. The defects in the ballot law were in-
tentionally put there by parties who ex-
pected to profit from dishonest elections,
and if the present Legislature would cor-
rect those deficiencies by passing bill
No. 231 it would agreeably surprise the
people by doing at least one good act.
Let Them Flounder in the Ditch.
It is beginning to dawn upon the mana-
gers of the high tariff scheme that they are
overdoing their contract to favor the trusts
aud nourish the monopolies. They proba-
bly didn’t intend to cut it quite as fat
as they have, but the door having been
opened to the tariff beggars, it was found
impossible to resist their importunities.
The contract having been made with the
campaign contributors, there was no put-
ting off their demand to be repaid ten-fold.
The tariff leaders who have involved
themselves in obligations they can’t go
back on, find themselves forced to frame a |
tariff bill dictated by the trusts whose
gains it is specially designed to increase by
giving them a greater chance to rob the
people. In fact the spoliatory character of
this bill is so apparent to those who got it
up and the reaction among the people against
this scheme of robbery is so evident, that the
head tariff managers would gladly have
some opposition from the Democrats in the
Senate that would modify the bill,“ and
thus extend a helping hand by which they
might be pulled from their tariff ditch ;
but if the Democrats are wise they will of-
fer no amendment or obstruction, but let
the party of tariff taxation flounder in the
ditch which has been of their own
digging.
The Keystone Gazette and Doctor
Swallow.
Our neighbor of the Keystone Gazette ap-
pears to misapprehend the Doctor SWAL-
LOW case, which may be intentional on his
part, or the result of deficiency of compre-
hension.
The Doctor’s publication, which made a
comprehensive charge of mal-administra-
tion in the state government, was based on
reports that were of general circulation.
When an impression that public affairs are
being improperly managed is so widely
prevalent charges can be made by the press
without that element of personal malice
which constitutes the gist of criminal libel,
and which a consideration for the public
good may justify.
Doctor SWALLOW made a number of
charges, more or less specific, and those
whom they implicated elected to prosecute
on those least susceptible of proof. By
such selection the Doctor was placed at a
disadvantage, yet in the first suit brought
‘he was acquitted of libelous misrepresen-
tation, and as tothe other, he was con-
victed of having libelled an official against
whom a reputable member of the House of
Representatives offers charges almost iden-
tical with those for which doctor SWALLOW
was prosecuted, repeatedly, but ineffect-
ually urging, that they be investigated.
Was the right which belongs to the public
press transcended by doctor SWALLOW’S
publishing what was a matter of such pub-
lic notoriety and importance as to be
brought to the attention of the Legislature
by a demand for an investigation ? If this
is so, then the liberty of the press, which
is considered the palladium of public
safety, must cower in the fear of libel
prosecution brought by those against whom
there is reasonable suspicion of mal-admin-
istration.
In an article on this subject upon which
our neighbor animadverted, in his last is-
sue, we took the position that although it
was difficult to prove the charges made by
doctor SWALLOW, yet in punishing him for
having made them ‘‘the public will be the
greater sufferer and the cause of good gov-
ernment will be the loser by such a stroke
at the liberty of the press.” Our neighbor
entirely misses the mark in lugging into
Ins argument the Centre county court
house fire, with the inquiry how long a
time would expire until he would have
been put under arrest for libel, if he had
charged, in his paper, that the Democratic
officers in the court house had set it on fire
to burn the ballots and thus end the con-
test for sheriff? Laying aside the fact of
the outcome of the contest, that the Demo-
crats never for once feared it, and that all
knew the ballots to have been stored in a
fire proof vault, thus making the Gazette's
inference about as simple as anything we
have heard of for some time, he overlooks
the fact that doctor SWALLOW did not spe-
cifically charge anyone with having set the
capitol on fire, that being merely incidental
to his specific charges of malfeasance in of-
fice, upon which he was prosecuted. If
our neighbor would have charged the
Democratic officers in the court house with
having fired that building, he would proba-
bly have heen prosecuted and properly
punished ; but if reports had been circula-
ted fora long time through the county
that those officers were guilty of official
wrong doing, that they were misusing the
county property and misapplying the
county funds, would he notbe doing his
duty as a public journalist and as one ex-
erting the rightful power of the press, by
calling public attention to such ynfaithful
stewardship, even if he could ngt furnish
positive proof that such malfeasance was
being practiced ? This is just what doctor
SWALLOW did in regard to matters at Har-
risburg, for which he has been prosecuted
on charges of libel.
Our neighbor may call the doctor a ‘‘pug-
nacious crank,”’ but is Republican Repre-
sentative NESBIT alsoa crank for having
brought, on the floor of the House, charges
against superintendent DELANEY almost
identical with those for which the Doctor
was prosecuted ?
Czar Reed as an Obstructor.
Speaker REED is again playing Czar and
exercising his imperious sway over the low-
er house of Congress. His former acts of
tyranny were for the alleged facilitation of
business by fictitiously and irregularly
counting quorums which did not actually
exist. Now he is acting the tyrant, not to
facilitate, but to obstruct business.
Congress having been called together, it
has a right to proceed with its legitimate
business as a deliberative body, but the
Czar has presumed to tell it that it hs no
right to exercise its functions and makes
it an inoperative body by refusing to name
the committees.
This is the most high handed piece of
despotism that has as yet been attempted
by a presiding officer, and shows how the
‘popular branch of Congress, under Repub-
lican rule, is being made the mere tool of
an autocrat in the speaker's chair.
——DAN VOORHEES, known to fame as
‘‘the tall Sycamore of the Wabash,” is
dead.
NO. 15.
The State Superintendent of Public In-
i struction.
From the Carlisle American Volunteer.
Dr. Nathan C. Schaffer, who was this
week reappointed state superintendent of
schools for a term of four years, was born
in Maxatawney township, Berks county,
Pa., Feb. 3rd, 1845. He received his pre-
paratory education at the Kutztown state
Normal school of which he was afterwards
principal for many years. He was gradua-
ted from Franklin and Marshall college in
1867, then studied theology at Mercershurg
and was ordained to the ministry.
next pursued a course of lectures at the
University of Berlin, Tubingen and Leip-
sic. On his return to this country he was
clected a professor in his alma mater,
Franklin and Marshall college. This po-
sition he resigned in order to become prin-
cipal of the Keystone state Normal school
which was exceedingly prosperous under
his administration of sixteen years. Ile
has served as president of the Pennsylva-
nia teachers’ association, secretary of the
national council of education and as a
member of the Pennsylvania commission of
industrial education. :
Prosperity’s Advance Agent a Long
Way Ahead of His Show.
From the Altoona Tribune.
The continued depression of business
throughout the year has its reflection in
Pennsylvania railroad affairs in Altoona.
An era of the strictest economy has been
inaugurated and a great deal is being done
to diminish unnecessary expenses. ' Small
suspensions have been made at Juniata and
in the car and machine shops, but in most
cases the suspended men were only laid off
for a few days. Along the road the num-
ber of extra firemen and engineers have
been reduced somewhat, while several trains
have been consolidated to reduce the num-
ber of helpers. The outlook for the im-
mediate future is apparently dubious.
For Once the Miners Got What They
Demanded.
From the Spangler Sentinel.
The strike which has been in progress for
several weeks at the mine of the Clearfield
bituminous coal corporation has been set-
tled, the company agreeing to pay the price
demanded, 22} cents per ton for loading
coal after the mining machines.
The strike at Anneston mine, at Barnes-
boro, has also been declared off on account
of the company agreeing to pay 45 cents
per gross ton for mining.
The Hastings miners were also success-
ful in their efforts against the day system,
and the miners are again at work at the
old rate.
You're off Your Base, Brother Savage.
From the Clearfield Public Spirit.
The Hamilton road bill gotten up at Gov-
ernor Hasting’s State College and backed, no
doubt, by the Governor passed the Senate on
Wednesday last. Many Clearfield county
farmers are opposed to it.
Mr. SAVAGE knows better than the above
paragraph, taken from his paper, indicates
He has been interested in the cause of edu-
cation too long to make believe that he
thinks The Pennsylvania State College
anything else than one of the widest open
of public institutions. No, no! The Penn-
sylvania State College belongs no more to
Governor Hastings than it does to the
humblest son or daughter of the humblest
miner- in Clearfield county. It is an in-
stitution of the State, for the State and
should be by the State.
Great Democratic Gains in New Jersey.
Democrats showed some of their old time
vigor in the elections ip the larger cities of
New Jersey on Tuesday. They elected
their candidates for mayor in Patterson,
the home of Vice President Hobart, by a
majority estimated at 1500. The city gave
McKinley and Hobart a plurality of nearly
4000 Jast fall. They won hands down in
Jersey City, electing Edward Hass mayor
and made heavy gains in Newark.
Camden Republicans met terrible
slaughter at the hands of the committee of
one hundred and Democrats.
SIGNIFICANT RESULTS OF THE ELECTION.
McKinley's Result
Plurality. Tuesday.
Trenton . 3,000 R. 1,400 R.
Patterson . 3,490 R 1,500 D.
Newark . 11,000 R 1,000 R.
Jersey City 3,500 R 2,400 D.
Bayonne 214 R 250 D.
Senator Voorhees Dead.
WASHINGTON, April 10.—Senator Vor-
hees, of Indiana, died at 5 o’clock this
morning at his home. He had heen in
poor health for at least a year past and tak-
en little part in the proceedings of the Sen-
ate. His friends for some time have ex-
pected a sudden end from rheumatic af-
fection of the heart. Last reports were
that he was improving. :
Senator Voorhees was the nominal leader
of his party on the floor of the Senate in
the discussion of the tariff and financial
questions.
Daniel W. Voorhees was born in Butler
county, Ohio, September 27th, 1827, and
in 1849 was graduated at what has during
later years been known as De Pauw Uni-
versity. Upon his admission to the bar in
1851 he began the practice of law at Cov-
ington, Ind. In 1858 he was appointed
United States attorney of Indiana, and dur-
ing his official career proceeded to Harper's
Ferry and appeared as counsel for John E.
Cook, one of John Brown’s band of raiders.
He was a member of Congress from 1860
to 1866, and again from 1868 to 1872, serv-
ing asa member of the more important
committees. In November, 1877, he be-
came United States Senator from Indiana,
vice Oliver P. Morton, deceased, and was
elected to that body in 1879, and again in
1885, and in 1881 for the tern ending
March, 1897.
Senator Fairbanks, a Republican, suc-
ceeded Senator Voorhees, March 4th, this
year. The deceased statesman was given
the sobriquet of the ‘Tall Sycamore of the
“Wabash.”
He |
Spawls from the Kcysfone.
—York’s deadlocked common council met
and balloted again in vain Monday night.
—St. Stephen’s church has been chartered,
to be located at McAdoo, Schuylkill county.
—Williamsport councils re-elected George
D. Snyder as city engineer over four other
candidates.
—Ex-Senator Don Cameren’s wife will go
to Europe as soon as she recovers sufficiently
from the grip.
—Five Lancaster boys were arrested for
stealing and selling several miles of suburban
trolley feed wires.
—Reading nolice raided a ‘social club”
where a hard cider debauch was going on,
with girls as waiters.
—Ridgway’s new $10,000 opera house will
be opened on April 20, when Hoyts “A
Texas Steer” company plays there.
—A government official is at Sunbury mak-
ing investigations as to the advisability of
establishing a free delivery postoffice at that
place.
—The Lebanon board of health was reor-
ganized Monday evening, and A. B. Carmany
was elected president and Ira M. Rutter,
secretary.
—John W. Ely, a ball player, and John
Stump and Calvin Boyer were arrested at
Lebanon, charged with stealing a demijohn
of brandy.
—Efforts are being made to pool the four
leading iron companies of Blair county, lo-
cated at Altoona, Hollidaysburg and Dun-
cansville.
—The annual convention of the Sunday
schools of the primitive Methodist churches
in the Schuylkill district has just been held
at Girardville.
—Fauste de Paolo is to be tried for murder,
and ex-burgess McDonal, of Easton, for em-
bezzlement of express funds, at this term of
court in Easton.
—The trolley line from Tamaqua to Lans-
ford, a distance of six miles, will soon be in
running order, and in a short time will con-
nect with Summit Hill.
—Beer in the Reading district yielded
$229,728 revenue for the year just ended,
$75,000 of it from towns outside of Berks
county ; the increase in output being 10,000
barrels.
—Homestead building and savings associa-
tion No. 6, of Reading, has transferred 56 of
its mortgages to James R. Mercer in trust, to
secure indorsements on which cash could im-
mediately be raised.
—Representatives of the Central league of
base ball clubs met at Shamokin Friday and
decided that the following named clubs
should compose the league: Milton, Sun-
bury, Shamokin, Bloomsburg, Pottsville and
Williamsport, Two of the umpires were also
chosen—S. E. Collins, of Olean, and George
Brown, of Altoona. The schedule of games
will be announced later.
—William O'Conner, Wellsboro, and C. H.
Rexford, of Gaines, have closed a contract
with the Union tanning company to cut 40,-
000,000 feet of logs and to peel 30,000 cords of
'| bark on a tract of land near Jamison City,
Sullivan county. Eight hundred men will
be required to peel the bark and one hundred
teams will be used to haul it to the shipping
point. It is expected that it will take about
a year to complete the job.
—At Jersey Shore a few days ago John C.
Irvin, while removing a cellar wall at the
home of his son, found an old pocket-book,
which he had hidden in the wall eight years
before, and which circumstance he had for-
gotten. In the pocket-book was $24.25, sev-
eral sheets of court plaster and several
needles. The pocket-book was in tatters,
but the contents were all right.
—The first Presbyterian church of Tyrone,
organized April 7, 1857, with fourteen mem-
bers, celebrated its fortieth anniversary on
Sunday last with appropriate exercises. The
church now has a membership of 650, and
the church property has a value of $48,000.
The Sabbath school connected with it also
observed its thirty-first anniversary, and re-
ported an average attendance the past year
of over 400.
—The county commissioners of Blair coun-
ty have leased the old seminary building at
Martinsburg, formerly used for an Indian
school, and will fit it up as a home and school
for children that have been cared for at. the
county alms house, with other orphan child-
ren supported by the county. Mrs. S. C.
Shaeffer, who has been a teacher at Martins-
burg for many years, will be matron. The
building will be put in repair immediately
and be ready for occupancy in a few days.
—The Beech Creek railway station at
Clearfield was entered by robbers at noon on .
Tuesday and a small quantity of change and
some tickets were stolen. Two men were
seen on a freight train near Curwensville a
short time afterwards both of whom were
captured and taken to Curwensville where
they will be held on the charge of commit-
ting the deed. The robbery occurring at mid
day was one of the boldest that could be per-
formed and it is believed that the two men
captured are the guilty parties.
—Jersey Shore is at the front with the first
real snake story of the season and it’s a good
one, too. It appears that Bernie Smith and
Charles Poust were at work on the interior
of the new Swedish Lutheran church in that
town when they heard the cries of female
voices, and rushing from the building they
perceived two ladies a short distance from
the church, jumping about in a lively man-
ner, and at the same time screaming frantic-
ally. The young men ran quickly to their
assistance and found that they had walked
into a nest of garter snakes and the reptiles
were curling themselves around the ladies’
feet despite the latter’s efforts to free them-
selves. Quickly seizing a club the young
men began the slaughtering of the snakes,
and after the melee was over twenty-two
snakes ranging from six inches to two feet
and six inches in length bad been killed.
—A trio of Williamsport wheelmen, consist-
ing of Geo. Lawrence, H. E. Herman and
Irvin Bower, were chased by bears near Slab-
town Sunday, but succeeded in escaping.
The men were wheeling along the mountain-
side near Slabtown when Bower cried out,
“My God bearsare after us,”’ and sure enough
two big black bears were dashing down the
mountain side towards them, Reaching the
road the ‘‘bars’”’ chased the frightened cyclists
for nearly a mile and once nearly succeeded
in catching Lawrence, but fear added strength
to his legs and he and the others finally
wheeled themselves out of danger and left the
bears behind in a cloud of dust and mud.