pe
aE
Ey Be EES SHARE
BY P. GRAY MEEK.
ams
Ink Slings.
—Philadelphia will be bluer to-morrow
than she has been for many-a-day.
—About the nicest feature about the air
ships is the fact that there is no steerage
spoken of.
—The ‘‘siek man of Europe’’ has proven
to the world that it isn’t a Grecian doctor
that he needs; at all events.
—General MILES has reached the scene
of the Turkish-Grecian war and explana-
tions as to how it happened will soon
be in order.
—1In the South the ‘blue-gum’’ negroes
are considered the lowest type of human-
ity. What of the chewin’ gum whites in
the North ? :
—An air ship that actually flies in the
air is on exhibition at Nashville. Possibly
we have improperly called it an air ship,
since air ships have never been known to
fly.
—Mr. CLEVELAND no longer has to have
a body guard of detectives to protect him
from admirers and fanatics. Both
classes of fools realize that he is a good
thing to be left alone.
—A team of runaway horses dashed into
a Philadelphia saloon, on Wednesday, and
the sight of anything going so fast in that
nice, easy old city almost frightened the
bar-keeper to-death.
—If QUAY does make terms with his old
enemies, the combiners, how will our dear
Governor know where he is at. He can’t
help feeling wet doggy if he has to crawl
“back into the camp he deserted under cover
of the boss’ coat tail.
—Notwithstanding anything QUAY
might say about the untruthfulness of the
Inquirer's charge that he has made terms
with the combiners, JIMMY ELVERSON
must have had great and -sufficient cause
for saying what he did.
—The electrical ear drum that has just
been patented by a St. Louis genius, is de-
signed to make deaf people hear. For such
purposes the toy drum of the average
healthy kid will knock all other contriv-
ances into a cocked hat.
—A western paper thinks jubilation is
an awful good thing because it makes peo-
ple spend money. It does do that, there
is no denying it, but the trouble seems to
be that the fellows who can least afford it
are the ones who want to jubilate all the
time.
—Governor PINGREE, of Michigan, did
the right thing when he vetoed the bill to
imprison children under a certain age who
are found smoking cigarettes. No State
should be expected to do the duty that the
moral law proclaims to be that of a parent.
—Gradually, sadly, remorsefully are the
Republicans settling down to the belief
that it was all a mistake to elect MCKIN-
LEY President. As yet not one of the
many great promises for better times have
been fulfilled and deeper and graver be-
come theg rumblings of discontent in the
land.’
—The latest sensation in the fistic arena
is the verascope picture of the blow that
knocked CORBETT out. As shown by the
machine that was used at Carson to record
the fight, FITzsiMMONS undoubtedly won
on a foul, though it is not believed that he
could not have defeated CORBETT fairly.
—Gotham has indeed become a ‘‘greater
New York’ when it can afford to arrest
General BooTH-TUCKER, head of the Salva-
tion arnfy in America, on a charge of
‘‘keeping a disorderly house.”” The citi-
zens complain that the salvationists make
too much noise around the barracks. Noise
of such sort ought to be exactly what New
York needs. :
—1It is one of the wonders of this nine-
teenth century that the Philadelphia In-
quirer has gotten tired of QUAY’S promises
of reform, that are as sterile as Philip’s
eunich, and wants ‘‘to trow de boss
down.”” Can it be that Mr. ELVERSON is
honestly for reform or has he failed to
make some pet pulls that he might have
had in view after getting QUAY on to vic-
tory ?
—Governor: HASTINGS issued a procla-
mation making to-morrow a legal holiday
in this State, but the Governor's repu-
tation as a lawyer is not such as to war-
rant the banking classes of the State in
observing it. His authority for issuing
such a proclamation i. very questionable
and as a result of the shaky ground, on
which he is known to stand, very few bank-
ing places will be closed, even in Phila-
delphia.
—The Hon. HENRY K. BOYER, speaker
of the House of Representatives, doubtless
did it in the nature of a joke when he re-
marked to the House, on Tuesday, that,
‘“‘at this time, when the advance agent of
prosperity has not come around, the people
can’t afford to gay any more taxes.”’ It is
a very serious] joke to the Republican
party, this failifre of their advance agent to
show up with anything but continued fall-
ing wages and suspensions of manufactur-
ing industries. His fellow members tried
to laugh at his reference to McKINLEY’S
failure, but it is not a laughing matter.
Broken promises are bad enough at any
time, but when they stalk over the land,
hand-in-hand with pinched bellies and
naked backs, then they become serious mat-
ters.
1C,
A
“VOL. 42
BELLEFONTE, PA, MAY 14, 1897.
So ~
Tremoeratic al chi
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
_NO. 19,
A Remedy for Legislative Bribery.
We have in recent issues of the WATCH-
MAN commented upon the tendency of state
Legislatures to degenerate into gangs of
boodlers whose legislative functions are ex-
ercised more for the personal profit of the
venal lawmakers than for the benefit of the
public that has entrusted them with the
lawmaking power.
This is an evil that is obviously on the
increase in state legislation, and it springs
mainly from the influence which the moni-
ed interests are allowed to exert upon legis-
lative action. Those who fill the seats of
such lawmaking bodies, as a rule, don’t
claim to be there ‘‘for their health,’”’ but
act in the representative capacity for the
personal gain that may accrue from it. Of
course there are exceptions, but the general
trend of state legislation shows that the
boodle spirit actuates the majority.
This tendency is so manifest at Harris-
burg that it is obvious to the most super-
ficial observer. It showsitself in the pas-
sage of acts that confer corporate privileges
and promote the interests of wealth, while
legislation for the benefit of the laboring
clase, that has no boodle in it for corrupt
lawmakers, seldom secures final enactment,
or, if it is enacted, it is found to have been
passed in such a shape as to be inoperative.
This subservience to the money power,
which renders Legislators open to the cor-
rupt influence which wealthy applicants
for legislation are able to bring to bear
upon them, is observable not merely at
Harrisburg, but at all the state capitals
where the Republican party runs the law-
making machinery. It is the natural re-
sult of the Republican preference for the in-
terest of wealth in the making of the laws
and in the administration of government.
We have already adverted to the injury
which such legislative corruption is inflict-
ing upon the country, and the danger to
our popular institutions involved in it,
The perilous character of this evil is at-
tracting serious attention in New York
State, where a large number of the mem-
bers of the present Republican state Legis-
lature are openly accused of having been
bribed.
As a remedy for this deplorable state of
affairs it is proposed to alter the present
law in regard to corrupt influences in legis-
lation. Under existing laws on that sub-
ject, which are the same in all the States,
the bribe taker and the bribe giver are held
to be equally criminal. The consequence
is that both escape punishment, as the one
cannot be used as a witness against the
other in legal proceedings instituted for the
punishment of the offense. No witness
can be forced to give testimony by which
he will criminate himself. Rut it is pro-
posed to exempt the legislative bribe taker
from punishment, making only the act of
the bribe giver criminal, and confining the
punishment to him. :
By this arrangement the Legislator who
had taken a bribe could not claim exemp-
tion from testifying in the case on the
ground that he would ineulpate himself by
his testimony and be rendered liable to
punishment. He could then be punished
for contumacy should he refuse to testify,
and be liable for perjury if he should testi-
fy falsely. The wealthy party who now
goes into a state Legislature and secures the
legislation he wants by paying for it,
whether he be the agent of a railway cor-
poration, an insurance company, or an oil
monopoly, would hésitate before engaging
in such a transaction, if, by a change in
the law, he should be confronted by the
danger of being sent to the penitentiary on
the testimony of the party whom he}had
bribed.
To increase the danger to themselves
that should attend the action of those who
corrupt state legislation, it is additionally
proposed that the receiver of a bribe shall
not only be exempt from punishment, but
shall be invested with the legal right to re-
cover by civil action payment for the legis-
lative service rendered the briber, his bill
for such service to he recognized as a legiti-
mate charge. This would furnish a motive
for the bribed Legislator to fasten the offense
upon the party who had bribed him.
It may be said that even the most cor-
rupt ‘‘rooster’” in any state Legislature
would have too much henor for such a be-
trayal, but the fear of exposing themselves
to the cupidity of men base enough to sell
their legislative votes would deter the
agents of the wealthy corporations from
entering state Legislatures with the cor-
rupting appliances that are used to secure
the passage of bills. They wouldn’t run
the risk of being sent to the penitentiary
on the testimony of men who wong profit
by their punishment.
A remedy of this kind would he adopted
on the principle of setting a thief to catch
a thief, which is often resorted to in law to
secure the ends of justice and would be
justified by so vital an object as the pre-
vention of such an evil as the corruption of
the lawmaking function. 3
A remedial measure almost identical in
its method, has completely eradicated the
electoral corruption in Indiana that reach-
ed its most scandalous development in the
viol five’’ scheme that secured the
electoral vote of that State for HARRISON.
That culmination of electoral rascality was
so shameful as to induce a changein the
election law in Indiana, which not only ex-
empts the bribed voter from punishment,
putting the offense entirely upon the brib-
er, but gives the party who sold his vote
the right to collect from the purchaser the
sum of $300, with costs and attorney’s fees,
by an action at law.
Such a liability thrown upon the vote
purchaser, which has put a stop to election
bribery in Indiana, would have the same
effect if applied to legislative bribery.
But it may be asked, what is the use of
proposing such a remedy when it will have
to depend upon the action of Legislatures
whose evil practice it would be intended to
correct? Correction certainly cannot be
expected to emanate from such a source,
but the evil can be removed by removing
from legislative power the party that is re-
sponsible for it.
Senator Jones is Consistent.
DINGLEY and the other Republican tariff
managers in the House are unreasonable in
their dissatisfaction with Senator JONES for
the alterations in their tariff bill which
he insisted upon before he consented to its
being reported to the Senate. He had the
controlling vote, and like a true tariff rob-
ber he insisted on having all he could make
out of it.
His action was entirely consistent with
the principle that underlies the tariff
policy. That policy is used in a selfish
desire for all the benefits that can be se-
cured for those who are favored by it.
Why should not Senator JONES secure
them for his section as well as the Senators
who represent the interests of Pennsylvania,
New England and other States ?
The duty on hides and carpet wool,
which he demands, may be objected to by
the shoemakers of New England and the
carpet weavers of Philadelphia, but the
cattle and sheep raisers of his section have
as good a right to part of the tariff spoils as
the manufacturers of the East. Therefore
it does not become the latter to denounce
JoNEs’ hide and wool duties as caloulated
to destroy their industries. The Nevada
Senator is but looking: after the interests
of his own constituents, whom, according
to the tariff ethics, he has a right to serve
without regard. for the interests of others.
What he wants is to enrich his constitu-
ents at the expense of the rest of the peo-
ple. But in what respect is his object dif-
ferent from other protectionists who want
to enrich other beneficiaries at the expense
of the general public? The object is the
same, whether the interests to he favored
are in the West or the East.
The Shoe and Leather Reporter, which is
good authority, says that Senator JONES’
hide duty will raise the price of the manu-
factures of leather 124 per cent and destroy
our export trade, which now exceeds $20,-
000,000. But what of it? Shouldn’t this
be endured if the bill couldn’t be reported
to the Senate without JONES’ vote.
“Wages Must Come Down.”
Senator ELKINS, of West Virginia, one
of the bituminous coal kings, and a great
Republican champion of protection, declar-
ed, in a recent interview, that ‘the coal
miners’ wages must come down.’
This is a pretty declaration to be made
at a time when a high tariff is being push-
ed through Congress for the pretended rea-
son of increasing the wages of the working
people. And in view of the fact that the
bituminous coal miners are getting scarcely
enough to keep them from starving, what
is the amount that ELKINS thinks they
should be brought down to? If their pay
were made any less they would work for
nothing.
Why does Senator ELKINS think that the
pay of the miners should be lower? It is
for the reason, as he declares, that ‘‘wages
in America stand in the way of any revival
of business.” According to his view busi-
ness will not recover as long as working-
men receive the wages they are now get-
ting. Capital can’t stand such a drain.
This is a different story from that which
was told on the stump before the last elec-
tion. Then the workingmen were assured
that by voting for MCKINLEY they would
secure the passage of a tariff that would en-
sure them good wages and make the coun-
try prosperous. Now they are told by
ELKINS that business can be revived and
prosperity restored only by reducing the
pay of the working people.
——The measure that Representative
WILLIAMS has just introduced in the
Legislature that is designed to prevent in-
surance companies from over insuring
properties and alse to compel them to pay
the face value of policies, in case of total
loss, is one of the most commendable meas-
ures that has ever been started on the way
toward being made a law. It is to be
hoped that the Representatives at Harris-
burg will see the merit in this measure
and push it to speedy passage.
More Raids on the Gold Reserve.
Borro wing gold in order to secure a re-
serve with which to ‘‘maintain the national
credit,’”’ does not appear to be good finan-
ciering when the same end could be reached
in another way with less expense and with
less risk of bringing on periodic disturh-
ances. The broader hasis of a ‘double
standard would afford a more substantial
support than is furnished by a reserve of
gold constantly exposed to the danger of
depletion.
But gold has been exclusively adopted as
the basis of public credit and if it were not
for the $250,000,000 borrowed by the
CLEVELAND administration to keep the sup-
ply above what is called the danger point,
President McKINLEY would find him-
self compelled to resort to the Wall street
dealers for the replenishment of an ex-
hausted reserve. Ii he H##* come into
office #s CLEVELAND did, fier HARRISON'S
administration, with the means in the
treasury reduced almost to the last dollar,
and a deficiency in the general fund that
reduced the gold reserve $10,000,000 below
the danger point, his secretary of treasury
would be in New York making terms with
MORGAN, ICKELHEIMER and the other shy-
locks of the gold metropolis for a loan on
such terms as they would manage to make
the most profitable for themselves.
Unfortunately for Mr. CLEVELAND, as
well as for his party and for the country,
he adopted the gold method of meeting
the government's obligations, a method that
is expensive and far from being a secure
support of the national credit, as it is liable
to be impaired by the raids of the gold
speculators. Such was his experience
when compelled to issue bonds to the
amount of many millions to prevent the
exhaustion of the reserve. It was a bad
policy when a better way was open to him,
but it nevertheless gave the government
such a stock of gold that MCKINLEY isn’t
compelled, at this time, to peddle bonds
among the New York gold dealers for the
means of ‘‘maintaining the credit of the
government.’’
And how long is this stock of gold going
to last, for which the MCKINLEY adminis-
tration is indebted to its predecessors?
ere is now an alarming indication of a
ruff on it that may severely strain it.
Last week $6,477,000 was drawn “from it
and shipped to Europe, and it is believed
that the drain this week will be still heav-
ier. If this shall continue, it won’t be
long before secretary. GAGE will be offering
bonds for another gold loan.
The Failure of the Treaty.
The American people have not much
reason to regret the failure of the arbitra-
tion treaty between this country and Great
Britain, which received its quietus by reason
of an insufficiency of votes in the Senate
for its ratification.
As a matter of sentiment it may appear
to be a good thing to have a peaceful mode
of settling difficulties that may arise be-
tween the two countries, but if it should
be brought to the test of a misunderstand-
ing involving the honor, or the very ma-
terial interests of .the two nations, it
would likely - be found impracticable and
ineffective.
There were really no existing circum-
stances that urgently called for an arrange-
ment with Great Britian, such as the treaty
was intended to supply. If, in'the future,
there should be any cause for a mis-
understanding the hands of the United
States should not be tied in advance hy an
arrangement which might interfere with
her adopting a line of action that would be
more suitable to the exigency. If such a
misunderstanding should be a proper sub-
ject for arbitration that course should be no
prearrangement that would preclude us
from a different course, which our honor and
interest might demand.
It would seem that if we were. to
strengthen our naval force, and put our
military defences in good order, it would
have more effect in keeping the peace with
Great Britain than could be secured
through the agency of an arbitration treaty.
There were a number of influences and
considerations that operated against the
treaty in the Senate. Some of the digni-
taries of that body felt an aversion to en-
tering into a treaty with -a power that has
pursued: such a contemptible course in its
treatment of the Greeks, and shows a dis-
position to bully weak nations like the
Transvaal Republic. Others thought it was
incompatible with peaceful intentions for
England to be building up such strong
fortifications and such formidable naval ar-
rangements along the Canadian frontier and
in the Canadian waters. Besides such in-
fluences, a considerable element in the
Senate has been soured toward England
by her grasping monetary policy by which
she holds debtor nations in financial vas-
salage to her through the instrumentality of
gold monometallism. Every Senator fa-
vorable to the monetary freedom of this
country voted against the treaty.
——The HARRIS fish and game bill has
passed the Legislature, finally, and now
awaits the Governor's signature to become
a law. .
~ The Profits of the Hide Tax.
It is calculated that the tariff duty which
it is proposed to put on hides will put some
$20,000,000, annually, into the pockets of
those who control the hide product in this
country. Since 1877 this raw. material has
been on the free list, and in consequence of
the effect it had in reducing the cost of
leather, the industries connected with that
commodity were greatly benefitted. This
was particularly the case with the shoe
trade, which has been wonderfully pro-
moted by free hides.
The DINGLEY bill prop
this and give the advantag
interest.
And what interest will it be that will
profit to the amount of $20,000,000, an-
nually, from the hide duty? It will cer-
tainly not be the agricultural interest.
When a farmer sells a steer the hide goes
along with the animal whose value to the
seller is not increased one cent by the tariff
on hides. The only way in which the
farmers may be affected by it may be in the
increased price of their shoes. The duty
may be of some account to the butchers,
but the bulk of the $20,000,000 that is go-
ing to somebody on account of the hide tax
will go into the pockets of the ‘‘Big Four’
who compose the Chicago beef trust that
controls the cattle market of the country
and will help to swell their enormous
wealth.
The favoritism shown by the tariff laws
of this country helps to build up the
colossal fortunes of the small class that is
forming a plutocratic aristocracy in this
Republic. Every one of the immensely
rich men who are absorbing the wealth of
the United States is enabled to do so by
advantages conferred upon him in this
way. It has been the policy of the Re-
publican party to encourage such accumu-
lations, but a return is made for it by
liberal contributions to Republican elec-
tion funds. Probably nobody but MARK
HANNA can tell how much was given
towards paying the MCKINLEY campaign
expenses by the ‘‘Big Four” who will be
the chief beneficiaries of the hide tariff.
to change
a different
, Uncle Sam as a Banker.
From the Pittsburg Post. t
Post-master general Gary’s approval of
postal savings banks may finally open the
way for the establishing of those institu-
tions in this country. The United States
and Switzerland are the only important
nations in the world in which postal sav-
ings banks are not in existence. The sys-
tem works admirably in almost every
country where it has been tried, and its ad-
vantages are mutual in their benefits to the
government and the people. But this
thing is to be considered. The money in
the government savings banks will be ap-
plied, of course, as a trust fund to govern-
ment purposes or invested in bonds. The
money that goes into local savings. banks
is loaned out on real estate security, and
hence becomes an important factor in local
enterprise and progress. Will not the di-
version to government or postal savings
banks of the savings of the people operate
to withdraw money from local uses and
concentrate great sums where they cannot
be utilized in legitimate and safe enter-
prises? Is not the money in the savings
banks of Pittsburg, loaned by them on safe
and ample real estate security, more im-
portant and beneficial to the interests of
the community, so placed, than if deposited
in goverment savings banks ?
Quay Prionds Becoming Quay Enemies.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"If Senator Quay fondly imagines that it
is possible for him to secretly make deals
with his enemies of the party of reforms in
this State, he is the more deceived. His
leadership has been followed, not from any
personal liking from himself, but simply
because he has put himself squarely on a
reform platform and has so far led theanti-
combine forces. So long as his leadership
justifies itself it will be followed by the
great mass of Republicans in this State,
but if he attempts to betray the interests of
those who at great personal sacrifice have
fought for reform, he will find it impossible.
The only thing he can do is to take him-
self into the combine camp. He cannot
lead the anti-combine forces there and he
might as well understand that now as at
any time.
The Salvation of the Country.
From the Altoona Times.
The Dingley bill is mained as a
measure that is destined to restore pros-
perity to the country. It is to be presum-
ed, of course, that it has some peculiar
features that will ensure this. Let us see
what they are. It levies a duty of a cent
and a half per pound on hides. Will this
bring prosperity and set going idle indus-
tries ? A duty on wools; what benefit will
that be? Then a tax that has not been
levied for a quarter of a century is to be re-
imposed on tea. Is the duty of 10 cents a
pound on that article to be the salvation of
the country ?
How About This, Youn People Down in
Clinton County.
From the Hollidaysburg Register.
The bill to abolish the conferee system of
making congressional, senatorial and ju-
dicial nominations passed the State Senate
last week, by a good majority. It is earn-
estly hoped that the House will promptly
Lact in the matter and that it will receive
the approval of the Governor. No congres-
sional district in the State has suffered as
much as has ours from the conferee sys-
tem of making nominations, and it is earn-
estly desired by our people that this reform
‘may be made.
Spawls from the Keystone.
—The Reading artillerists will parade on
bicycles on Memorial day.
—Allentown is to have another silk mill
that will employ 800 hands.
—Congressman Wanger has Seoomnaden
H. F. Stauffer for the Limerick postmaster-
ship. : :
—The Merchants’ national bank of Kit-
tanning has authority to organize with $50,-
‘000 capital.
—George Svetz accidentally shot his 8-
months-old baby at Scranton while examin-
ing a revolver.
— Arthur Jones, driver, was thrown under
his runaway team at Wilkesharre and proba-
bly fatally injured.
—Clearfield county commissioners paid
$151.50 during March and April for damages
to sheep by dogs.
—Brakeman Groon, of Columbia, sustained
probably fatal injuries under car wheels at
Sinking Spring. o
—In Athens township, near Titusville, W.
B. Sanders, 76 years old, was gored to death
by a vicious bull.
—Reading councils have substituted asphalt
for vitrified brick for the paving of Penn
street, in that city.
—A forest fire threatened Adamstown ;
but citizens fought it heroically for two
hours, and stayed its progress.
—Instead of meeting Wednesday, as had
been announced, the Board of Pardons will
convene on May 27th. b
—The primitive Methodist state confer-
ence, in session at Scranton, voted to meet in
Pittsburg next year.
—Chambersburg council again removed
the Good Will company’s fire team, which
300 citizens had reinstated at the stables.
—It is believed in Pittsburg that on the
passage of the “‘ripper’’ bill Governor Has-
tings will appoint George W. Guthrie mayor.
—While catching off the bat, William
Dorsey, aged 17, of Hadley, Mercer county,
was struck by the bat and seriously injured.
—Schuylkill Haven grants the Pottsville
Reading electric railway a right of way on
condition that it employ residents of that
borough.
—Eleven-year-old Fred Doerrman fell 40
feet from the top of an ice-chute he was slid-
ing on at Reading, and broke both arms and
his nose.
—Charles A. Wilson, of Peoria, Ill., second
grand-master of the brotherhood of locomo-
tive firemen, initiated 20 new members into
the Harrisburg lodge Sunday.
—The bridge of the Pennsylvania railroad
company across the Susquehanna river at
Columbia will probably be opened for travel
by June. It is 2,522 feet long.
—As Mrs. Benjamin Gottschall, threw a
pail of boiling water out the kitchen door at
Tamaqua her 4-year-old gfe passed.
The child was frightfully scalded.
—Of the six architects invited to compete
for the new capitol plans, it is said that two
of the three New Yorkers have declined.
The first alternate is a Pennsylvanian.
—The annual meeting of the Westmore-
land county Women’s Christian Temperance
union adopted resolutions denouncing church
military bodies known as ‘‘boys’ brigades.”
—Henry Shertz, a night watchman at Lan-
caster, returned home Sunday morning to
find his wife dead in bed, caused by the
bursting of a blood-vessel. She was 60 years
old.
—Rev. Dr. E. V. Gerhart, president of the
Reformed church theological seminary,
preached the baccalaureate sermon to the
graduating class of 27, the largest, at Lan-
caster, Sunday.
—At Williamsport last Friday the infant
child of Harry Blair met death in a very
singular manner. The child had been left
asleep in a baby carriage and had crawled
through the slats in the rear of the body of
the coach. Its head caught in the strap and
it strangled to death.
—The Elk Tanning company has closed its
Clearfield plant for the purpose of making
repairs and improvements. The old beam
house has been found inadequate to the de-
mands of the times and will be torn down
and replaced by one built according to the
most modern plans,but with the same capacity
—550 hides per day.
—Mrs. Mary Anthony, an aged widow liv-
ing at Mill Run, Clearfield county, recently
received a pension of $12 a month and $2,400
arrears. After the death of her first hus-
band, a soldier, she married another soldier,
now also deceased. This second husband had
another wife, and in all the families involved
there are twenty-one living children. Mrs.
Anthony has given each $100, keeping but
$300 of the $2,400 for herself.
—Rev. Thompson Mitchell, D. D., a widely
known Methodist minister, and a former
presiding elder, died at Williamsport Sunday
morning after several months’ illness. He
was born in Mifflin county in 1817. He served
different charges in this state as pastor from
1840 to 1859. In 1860 he was elected presi-
dent of Dickinson seminary at Williamsport
and served in that capacity until 1869. From
1870 until 1881 he served as presiding elder
of the Carlisle, Williamsport and Juniata
district. In 1881 he served as pastor of the
First church at Altoona, but a year later he
expressed a desire to retire from the active
ministry. He, however, acted as pastor for
the church at DuBoistown fora few years
without pay.
—William A. Le Fevre is very much wanted
in Blair county at present, but he skipped
and, as far as known, is still at large. It. is
supposed that he has victimized about fifty
people, but the amount cannot be. now esti-
mated. Le Fevre was the manager of -an es-
tablishment in Bellwood known as the Bell-
wood meat and produce company. The most
conspicuous feature of his operations was the
ease and frequency with which he used a
check book without the necessary cash for
liquidation. His entire deposits in the bank
were about $35, while his checks in different
instances were more than the entire amount.
When the affairs had reached a crisis on Moz-
day last, he skipped, going eastward. On
reaching Huntingdon, in collusion with a
drummer, he succeeded in passing another
$25 check, on account of which a warrant
was sworn out for his arrest. He succeeded,
however, in breaking through the meshes of
"the law.
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