Wakeman
BY FP. GRAY MEEK,
Ink Slings.
—Talking of a name for the new MARL-
BOROUGH baby what would be more a pro-
pos than JONATHAN BULL MARLBOROUGH? |
—Boss QUAY was 64 years old yester-
day.
tions to him.
—What with all the plots that are being
discovered to be aimed against the life of
Czar NICHOLAS, of Russia, that monarch
means by having the audacity to live on is
more than we are able to comprehend.
—Since Spain thinks it is funny to
laugh at our fighting resources we might re-
mind her that one Pennsylvania sheriff’s
posse killed more men in five minutes than
her 20.000 trained soldiers have done in | instead of preventing electoral fraud is not
80, av: $ & !
Cuba in five months.
——The Braddock Catholic priest who telligence.
broke his vows, last fall, and ran off and
married a pretty telegraph operator had | the
been out of the business so long that he
doesn’t Tike married life at all and wants
to get back into the church again.
—The citizen's union of NewYork is try-
ing to get the women of the metropolis to
fighting TAMMANY. Petticoats will have
little effect against the current that is go-
ing to sweep the old woman ideas, that
have heen running Gotham since TAM-
MANY lost control, into oblivion.
—The entire English fleet of 141 vessels
that was gathered at Spithead, at the time
of the Queen’s jubilee, is said to have cost
$155,000,000.
ing quite a fuss over such an aggregation
representing so much of an out-lay. We
can pooh-pooh at their pretentions and
point to our body of old soldiers who re-
ceive more than that amount in pensions
every year.
—This new fad of grass walking which
seems to be luring a gdad portion of Phila-
delphia’s smart set }o Fairmount park,
where they pick up their frocks and parade
around in their bare feet over the dewy
grass, has not reached this section yet. It
is an English means for beautifying the
Trilbies. How beneficial we don’t know,
but we imagine we’d like the treatment.
It always did please our rustic fancy to
see the calves in the grass.
—The Kentucky horseman who has in-
vented a water filter with which to purify
the water consumed by his blooded stock
is certainly a man after Dumb Animal AX-
GELL’S heart. Here is a Kentuckian who
has done more for the horses of the blue-
grass State than has ever been done for her
sons and daughters. It is not to be won-
dered at, however, for the sons of Kentucky
have never been accused of being well
enough acquainted with water to know
anything of its impurities.
—There are too many reform candidates
in the field this fall. Too many cooks al-
ways spoil the broth and unless some of
the political chefs, who aspire to dish things
up in the state treasury department for the
next four years, get off the track that same
old Republican hasher will get the job
again. There is a chance to defeat the
machine methods that have made the pub-
lic treasury a private snap if all these who
are honestly seeking reform vote for
MicHAEL E. BrRowN, of Indiana county.
Otherwise the election of the Republican
aspirant is a foregone conclusion.
—While the movement looking toward a
new court house for Centre county is only
in its infancy it might be well for the tax-
payers to take it in hand before it has
progressed too far to admit of a change.
The idea of destroying those Doric columns
and putting in their place an architectural
jumble of steeples and windows seems al-
most sacrilege. The court house is old,
but to-day it is Centre county’s most im-
posing building and if its unique prospect-
ive is to be effaced let us not do it until a
time when the county can afford to replace
it with a building, whose architectural
beauty shall be something commensurate
with the one it displaces.
—The pastorate of the United Brethren
church in Bellefonte is an honorable and
pleasant charge though the emoluments
are not such as to make those who have
served it remember the place as a bright
oasis in the desert of pecuniary stringency
over which most ministers of all denomina-
tions have to toil. The last pastor of that
denomination in this place will
carry away with him the memory
of a very thrilling experience, how-
ever, and no matter where he goes, nor
what he becomes the day HENDERSON'S bull
ran him up a tree will live in his mind and
constantly recall to him the time he went
meandering mid the clover and the flowers.
—The Spanish cabinet tumbled from
its lofty perch, on Wednesday, and the re-
organization which will follow will more
than likely turn the government over to
Liberal control. AZCARRAGA’S ministry
has resigned. Their resignations having heen
accepted, SAGASTA, the Liberal leader, will
be asked to form a cabinet. It will prob-
ably be part of the new policy to recall
WEYLER and offer Cuba home rule.
Should this prove a reality the patriots
would be foolish to accept any overtures
from Spain that would not carry with them
full and absolute freedom. Cuba has won
her cause and to fall into a Spanish trap
would indeed be a misfortune in this her
almost realized hour of triumph.
We wonld like to bet with some one |
that DANIEL didn’t telegraph congratula- |
ME i
| the endeavor to reform defective election
| laws should have been so prevented by de-
| signing political managers that the ‘‘re-
| formed’’ law is worse than the
The English press is mak- |
VOL. 42
Tre Ballot Outrage.
Of the many wrongs inflicted upon the
people of Pennsylvania by a reckless and
defiant political machine none surpasses, in
injurious effects, the abusive treatment to
which it has subjected the Australian bal-
lot system. The conversion of the elec-
tion law into an instrument for facilitating
only an injury to the highest interest of
the citizen, but a direct insult to his in-
Nothing could be more aggravating to
public sense of what is right than that
one it was
intended to substitute as an improvement.
It;was proposed, by the Australian system,
to ensure the secrecy of the ballot. Its
provisions, if faithfully carried out, would
protect from intimidation and other undue
influences the dependent class of voters. It
would neutralize the effects of bribery as a
factor in the elections. Its general effect
would be an honest exercise of the right of
suffrage by preventing the perpetration of
fraud or coercion at the ballot box. When
a purpose so indispensable to the perma-
nence of our popular institutions, and so
necessary for the public welfare, is seen to
have been deliberately turned from its
benign object and converted into an instru-
mentality of fraud and corruption hy
which a base political machine may be
enabled to maintain its power, the magni-
tude of this outrage presents itself in all
its enormity to the attention of an injured
and insulted people.
This great wrong has been done with a
calculating intention to preserve the
numerical strength of the Republican par-
ty by evading the restrictions upon fraud
and force which the Australian system,
strictly enforced, would ensure. That a
political party may maintain its power,
the basis of our free institutions is to be
undermined by corrupt electoral practices.
This was shamefully admitted in the
House of Representatives last winter by a
Republican Member who openly declared#
that the Republican party ‘‘could not af-
ford” to strike from the present emascu-
lated Australian ballot law that provision
which admits of voters being ‘‘assisted’’ at
the polling booth or, in other words, of be-
ing tribed or coerced, which such ‘“‘assist-
ance’’ virtually amounts to. ’
The people of the State niust resent the
injury and insult of this deliberate prosti-
tution of the electoral system to the base in-
terests of a set of corrupt politicians. It is
a slur on decent Republicans to say that it
has been done in their interest. Citizens
of all parties have a like stake in the puri-
ty and perpetuity of our free institutions.
They are all alike injured when the ballot
is corrupted and debased. The shameful
system of election laws that has been de-
liberately framed for the facilitation of
fraud and the maintenance of a corrupt
control of the ballot box, is the work of the
machine politicians who have become the
masters of the Republican party. The evils
which the people have to endure from this
source can be corrupted only by smashing
that machine through the defeat of that
party. The smashing process should begin
this yearas a preliminary to the work of
correction next year, when a Governor and
Legislature are to be elected.
|
{
|
Unite the Opposition to Machine Misrule.
When Rev. Dr. SWALLOW started out,
last winter, on his crusade against the mis-
rule of the Republican state government
and the corrupt methods and practices of
the Republican machine which controls the
politics of the State, he was fully sustain-
ed by facts on the main points of his at-
tack, and the general charges he hrought
could not be controverted.
While the doctor displayed his courage
by his onslaught on the abuses that have
accumulated in every department over
which the Republican bosses and ringsters
have control, he disclosed to the people
nothing new in the way of Republican of-
ficial malfeasance and general maladminis-
tration. His action was noteworthy more
on account of its individual fearlessness
than for the novelty of the disclosures he
made.
The worthlessness of the Legislature, its
indifference to the public interest, its ex-
travagance in creating official expenses, its
subservience to the will of the party hoss,
and its venal regard for corporate require-
ments, needed no disclosing. That worth-
less body, in repeated sessions, had spoken
for itself and proved its character hy its
actions.
The extravagance displayed in lavish ex-
penditures upon the public grounds and
buildings and in luxurious furnishings
and equipments, was disclosed to the pub-
lic knowledge as a part of the record made
by a high priced superintendent and his
brigade of salaried assistants. If there was
no clear evidence that the historic old cap-
itol building was sacrificed for the sake of
gain it is quite apparent that the construc-
tion of a new one is being delayed to help
STATE RIGHTS AN
some scheme by which the profits of the
job may be increased.
As for the management of the treasury,
the obstructions that have been systematic-
ally placed in the way of anything like
investigation, have long given the people
reason to believe that the state money is
being misused, a fact which has been con-
firmed by the detection of the state treas-
urer in paying out the funds of the people
to state officers and private individuals
without warrant, for the sole purpose of
favoring political friends.
Most of these public derelictions were
included in Doctor S WALLOW’s truthful
arraignment of Republican state mal-ad-
ministration. But how can they be cor-
rected and the offenders subjected to pub-
lic condemnation ? That is the practical
question presented to the people. Doctor
SwALLow, himself, is a candidate for state
treasurer as the nominee of the Prohibi-
tionists. Republicans who are disgusted
with the misrule of their own party have
nominated Mr. W. R. THOMPSON, of Pitts-
burg, for the same office against the canai-
date of the machine. Both of these indi-
viduals are good men and doubtless would
do honest service if they were elected. But
the candidacy of these gentlemen merely
divides the opposition to the Republican
machine ticket and is a waste of force that
should he concentrated against the corrupt
power that has so long retained its hold on
the state government.
Practical citizens who want that power
overthrown comprehend the fact that it
can be done only by uniting the opposition
to machine misrule on the strongest candi-
dates for auditor general and state treas-
urer, who are unquestionably those pre-
sented by the Democratic party. With all
deference to their good intentions it must
be admitted by every citizen interested in
this important matter that those who vote
for either Doctor SWALLOW or Mr. THOMP-
SON will only be playing into the hands of
the parties who want to conceal the
management of the treasury.
mis-
Stamp Out This Evil.
The oppressed mining population of the
coal region are receiving their reward for
the assistance they usually render at the
polls to the party of tariffs and trusts.
When the elections come round they are
either deluded by false promises or coerced
{ into voting for ‘‘protection,’’ which in-
variably turns’ out to be a reduction of
wages, as has been the sequence of every
high tariff bill.. When dissatisfaction and
disturbance follows as a natural conse-
quence, sach ‘protection’ is furnished
them as was accorded te labor at Home- {
stead and Lattimer.
It is a recognized fact in the coal regions
that the large majority polled by the tariff
party in the mining counties last year was
largely made up of the votes cast by the
class of workmen who were shot down hy
sheriff MARTIN'S deputies for presuming to
ask for better wages after DINGLEY’S
“prosperity” tariff had gone into opera-
tion. The Hun and Dago vote was polled
almost solidly for MCKINLEY, it being in- |
fluenced partly by misrepresentation, but
more largely by compulsion. This fact
was forcibly set forth at the great indigna-
tion meeting held in the city of Scranton
to condemn the butchery practiced upon
the poor, ignorant and half starved strikers
at Lattimer, who ave recognized as the
{element by which that region was con-
verted into a Republican strong-hold at the
last election. Alluding to this fact, Mr.
P. J. THoMAs, the leader and organizer of
the mine workers in the anthracite region,
said at this Scranton meeting that ‘‘the
miners in this region, when election day
comes round, are driven to the polls like
sheep, with no alternative but to vote as
the corporations shall instruct them, and
woe to the poor miner that would dare
vote against them. It is such evils as this
that we want to stamp out.”
The truth of this is substantiated by the
fact that Luzerne and Lackawanna were
formerly strong Democratic counties, but
last year they gave McKINLEY a majority
of 12,000 in a poll of 70,000 votes. This
majority was secured hy methods practiced
upon this oppressed voting population
which not only promote the interest of
tariff beneficiaries and all the various forms
of protected monopoly, but hy the major-
ity which such practices give the Republi-
can party they contribute to the advantage
of the corrupt political machine that rules
and robs the State.
The people will have it in their power to
determine at the polls this year whether
such methods shall continue to maintain
Republican majorities in Pennsylvania.
As speaker THOMAS remarked at the Scran-
ton meeting ‘‘it is such evils as this that
we want to stamp out.”
———
——The newspaper stories sent out from
here about the good times that are sweep-
ing over Bellefonte would have made
ANANIAS blush to have owned them.
—
——Subseribe for the WATCHMAN.
D FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA., OCT. 1, 1897.
The Anthracite ‘“Pluck-Mes.”
|
| Among the wrongs of which laboring peo-
| ple justly complain none have heen more
oppressive than the extortion to which the
mining population are subjected by means
of the company stores. Low wages are the
cause of their destitution, but the misery
resulting from this is increased hy their
being compelled to take their pay in goods
for which they are charged extortionate
prices, and on which the operators make
exorbitant profits. Even if the mine work-
ers were receiving the high wages that
were paid before the coal business got into
the hands of monopolistic syndicates com-
pulsory payment in company store truck
would be an unjustifiable imposition, but
since .nine wages have been reduced to the
basis of foreign pauper labor by greedy
corporations the ‘‘pluck-ine”’ system of
payment is absolute robbery.
Such a system is not justifiable any-
where, but less so in the anthracite than in
| the bituminous coal regions. There is
nothing to interfere with the profits of the
anthracite coal syndicates. They are not
| affected by the competition that prevails
among bituminous operators who are un-
able to combine in maintaining prices.
Sut the anthracite coal trust is supreme in
its line of production and puts up the price
whenever impelled by its greed. As there
is no check upon its monopoly and no limit
to its profits there is no excuse for the
members of that combination to oppress
and swindle labor by the extortion of the
company store.
The extent to which this wrong is
practiced in the anthracite region was not
fully known until it was brought woefully
to the attention of the public by the com-
plaints of the poor miners who have had
such a bloody experience in the Hazleton
district. A sham legislative investigating
committee pretended, last winter, to give
its attention to this abuse in the anthracite
region, but its work amounted to nothing
more than a junket, the chief object of
which was to give the committeemen a
| profitable job at the expense of the State.
he ‘‘pluck-me’’ extortion still remains
without any effective legislation for its
correction. It is really more oppressive
and a greater wrong in the anthracite than
Lin the bituminous region, for in the former
it is practiced to enrich a greedier gang of
monopolists, but it is wrong anywhere.
There was never a Republican Legislature
that could be brought to pass remedial
legislation for this great outrage upon
working people, and it never will be cor-
rected until the law-making and the execu-
tive power is taken from the party of
{ monopolies and trusts.
—
Public Sentiment Aroused.
Never since the Republican party gained
control of the government of this State
were there such unmistakable signs that
the people have had enough of its rule and
| want to get rid of the combination of pro-
! fessional politicians and political jobbers
| who have run the state machine, with hut
slight intervals, since the war.
There was abundant reason for the citi-
zens of the State to have become disgusted
with the management of the rings and
bosses long ago, and ta have been convine-
ed that the only remedy for such a rotten
state of affairs was to turn the rascals out
of the official places in which they have
feathered their own nests and rendered
themselves serviceable to incorporated capi-
talists and predatory combines, and to
keep them out for a protracted period.
But the Pennsylvania voters allowed
themselves to be repeatedly humbugged by
false issues and lying pledges, actually in-
creasing the majorities that kept such
characters in power until they became so
encouraged in their wrong-doing hy the
public’s indifference to it, and so confident
of their privilege to commit every form of
official abuse that the legislative and ex-
ecutive indecencies into which they were
| led by the long continued indulgence of
the people were practiced without limit
and without restraint ; but public patience
at last broke down under the accumula-
tive disgrace of the last session of the Leg-
islature, and the mutual exposure of each
others’ rascalities brought out hy a fac-
tional fight among the leaders.
It is in this condition of the public mind,
at last aroused hy the prolonged misrule
and malfeasance of Republican leaders,
that the approaching election will come off.
The Democratic party offers its candidates
for state officers by whose election the pop-
ular disapproval of Republican officials and
methods can be expressed. Outside of the
Democratic organization there is an ex-
pression of condemnation in the nonina-
tion of a Citizens’ state ticket,
and a declaration that there must
bea ‘rebuke of the reckless dishoresty
and sweeping debauchery in the political
affairs of Pennsylvania during recent
years,”’ but that great public service stands
a better chance of being rendered by the
Citizens uniting in the support of the Dem-
| ocratic state ticket.
|
|
|
i =——DSubseribe for the WATCHMAN.
| Islands About Which Little is Known.
| From the Philadelphia Record.
During the past few years all that per-
tains to Spanish methods of governing for-
eign possessions has aroused public inter-
est ; yet there are few Americans who have
any accurate conception of the state of
affairs in the Philippines. These islands
have been owned by the Spaniards since
1521. The population of the six hundred
islands comprising the group is estimated
at eight millions. There are two hundred
native tribes, each having its peculiar dia-
lect. It will surprise most readers to learn
that Manila, the chief city, hasa popula-
tion of 300,000. In that city there are from
300 to 400 Europeans and Americans. They
do a large share of the wholesale trade,
much to the disgust of the Spaniards, who
endeavor to hamper this influence hy op-
pressive laws. Sugar, hemp and tobacco
are exported in large quantities from
Manila. The islanders are burdened with
heavy taxes.
What Mr. ‘Bryan Gets for Making
Speeches.
From the Westmoreland Democrat.
Eighteen speeches will he made by Hon.
William J. Bryan in Towa during the
pending campaign. Some of the Republi-
can papers of that state have declared that
Mr. Bryan is to receive $500 for each
speech. Like nearly all other statements
of Republican organs, regarding Mr. Bryan,
this declaration is untrue. State Chair-
man C. A. Walsh, of the Iowa Democratic
committee, publishes a card, over his own
signature, in which he avers that Mr. Bry-
an does not receive one penny, directly or
indirectly for his speeches in Iowa. More-
over, Mr. Bryan pays his own expenses,
including railroad fare, in traveling from
place to place, and has made a cash dona-
tion to the lowa campaign fund.
Out of Pugilism, into Politics.
From the Gettyshurg Compiler.
The growing candidacy of John L. Sul-
livan as a bona fide candidate for the may-
orality of Boston, against Josiah Quincy is
no longer considered a joke by the politic-
ians. Last Tuesday a regular nomination
blank headed by the name of John Law-
rence Sullivan was put in circulation, and
around city hall there was not a man
would sign it. They claimed it was irreg-
ular. The easiest and simplest way to
bring the candidate before the political
footlights is by nomination papers. To put
a man in nomination for mayor 900 signa-
tures are required.
rt —————
A New Game Law.
From tiie Records of an Utopian Legislature,
A new game law : Book agents may be
killed from Oct. 1st to Sept. 1st : Spring
poets from March 1st to June 1st ; scandal
mongers, April 1st to Dee. 1st ; umbrella
borrowers, Aug. 1st to Nov. 1st, and from
Feb. 1st to May 1st, while every man who
accepts a paper two years, but when bill is
presented says, ‘‘I never ordered it,’’ may
be killed on sight without reserve or re-
lief from valuation or appraisement laws,
and be buried face downward, without
benefits of clergy.
Fo rr——————
Opening of the Campaign.
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 29.—An old-time
gathering of Pennsylvania Democratic lead-
ers presented an animated scene at the
hotel Lafayette to-day when the Demo-
cratic candidates for auditor general and
State treasurer Walter E. Ritter, of Lycom-
| ing, and M. E. Brown, of Indiana county,
| met prominent Democrats of the State and
city. While the meeting was informal
there was a general exchange of views on
the issues of the campaign, and a lining up
of forces, in support of the ticket, which
greatly encouraged the candidates and
state committee.
Chairman John M. Garman, who intro-
duced the candidates, was ably assisted by
secretaries Matt Savage and T. K. Van-
Dyke, of the state committee. Both of the
candidates had pleasant chats with Gus-
tavus A. Muller and James E. Gorman,
the Jocal nominees, and were satisfied that
the Philadelphia candidates and issues will
increase the Democratic vote in this city.
For several hours well known Democrats
filed in and out of the rooms, heartily
grasped the hands of the candidates, pledged
their unflagging support, and greatly im-
pressed the standard-bearers of the party
with the harmonious adjustment of the
| factional differences.
In the evening there was a conference of
State and local leaders, with Chairman
Garman and the candidates to map out a
plan of campaign which was attended
among other state leaders by Chauncey F.
Black, Joseph Howley, chairman of the
Allegheny county Democratic committee :
James Kerr, of Clearfield and others.
In talking to the State party leaders Mr.
Ritter dwelt strongly upon the issues of
the hour in regard to the management of
Pennsylvania finances. Mr. Brown fully
indorsed everything Mr. Ritter said. and
added : “If Ishould be elected I will con-
duct the office on thorough business prin-
ciples for the benefit of the state.
Hale—Cameron.
HARRISBURG, Pa., September 28.— Miss
Rachel Burnside Cameron, youngest daugh-
ter of ex-United States Senator J. Donald
Cameron, was married at noon to-day to
Chandler Hale. son of United States Sena-
tor Eugene Hale, of Maine, Rev. Dr.
George S. Chambers, pastor of the Pine
street Presbyterian church, where the
Cameron family worships, officiated at the
ceremony, which was celebrated at the
Cameron county residence, at Lochiel, Pa.
The bride was given away by her father
and the groom was attended by his brother
Eugene Hale, of Ellsworth, Maine. The
ushers were James M. Cameron, a brother
of the bride; Vance C. McCormick, her
cousin, of this city : W. K. Brice, of New
York, son of ex-United States Senator
Boice, and George Cabot Lodge, of Wash-
ington, son of the Massachusetts senator.
Mr. and Mrs. Hale left on a tour to var-
ious places in this country and will then
go to Rome, where the groom will assume
his duties as secretary of the American
legation.
| Spawls from the Keystone.
—DMore than half of
| wheat crop is yet unsold.
Franklin county’s
—Muhlenberg College at Allentown is so
i overcrowded that it must be enlarged.
| —Harrisburg’s new paid fire department
| project is progressing nicely in councils.
| —William Ward, of Pittsburg, refused to
| pay $2.22 taxes and went to jail.
| —Alex Flowers, of Latrobe, was chloro-
formed while asleep and relieved of $2
—The two-year-old son of Henry Durst, of
Pittsburg, drank a bottle of Iye and will die.
—Lancaster’s new city directory indicates
that the city now has a population of over
50,000.
—Sante Fe Allen's 16-months-old child
drank 2a can of Iye at Tamaqua, and death is
expected.
—In a quarrz] at Shamokin Guiseppe Mar-
tina shot Bruno Ferrando near the heart and
escaped.
—Burglars got 3300 worth of dry goods
from L. F. Kern's store in Orwigshurg, Berks
county.
—Farmer Frank Mosier ran the tine of &
hay fork through his eye in a field near
Stroudsburg.
—While walking on the railroad near
Scranton, Daniel O'Boyle, of Hazleton, was
killed by a train.
—Charles Cohen tatally kicked Israel Mar-
cus, in Pittsburg, in a quarrel over a cloth-
ing customer.
—IHenry M. Boyer, a Spinnerstown lad,
got out of jail at Allentown by marrying
Sally Ann Stout, his accuser.
—DMore than half of the $25,000 capital
needed to establish a new silk mill at Leban-
on has been pledged.
—Miss Carrie Stine, of York, was terribly
burned by exploding gasoline which she had
poured on a kitchen fire.
—Scranton will soon have the earliest
opening high school in the State, 8:30a. m.
having been designated as the hour.
—While Mrs. Margaret Gallagher was
kindling a fire at Tamaqua her clothing be-
came ignited and she was fatally burned.
—The delivery of thousands of defective
ties has delayed the construction of the pro-
jected trolley line between South Bethle-
hem and Hellertown.
—Mayor Lewis, of Allentown, has ap-
pealed to all pastors in that city to set aside
at least one Sunday’s collections for the re-
lief of the distressed poor.
—Lancaster police have arrested Andrew
Miller, charged with robbing D. K. Wolf's
tobacco warehouse at Landisville of tobacco
worth several hundred dollars.
—With an agreement that wages will he
advanced as far as possible when prices of
cloth rise, striking weavers at the Chambers-
blirg woolen mill resumed work.
—The Pennsylvania brewer's association,
with headquarters in Philadelphia, has
closed a deal for the purchase of the Arnold
brewery, in Hazleton, for $200,000.
—A jury at Scranton has just returned a
verdict for only 51 damages in favor of
James Jennings, whose son was killed in the
Lehigh Valley's famous Mud Run disaster of
nine years ago.
—By the setting aside of the will of Pat-
rick Devlin, of Pittsburg, which left $100,000
to the Catholic orphans’ home of that eity,
James Devlin and Mrs. John J. Brophy, of
Reading, will share as heirs in the estate.
—A bottle of alcohol which Hartman Far
ley held ever a gasoline stove in the Wil-
liamsport drug store of Duble & Cornell, ex-.
ploded, badly burning Farley and Clyde
Duble and damaged the store about $500
worth.
—A few days ago while a painter was
painting the high stack at J. B. Weed & Co's.
mill at Slate Run, Lycoming county, the
scaffolding gave way and the man was pre-
cipitated seventy feet to the ground. Death
was instantaneous. His body was shipped to
his home at Canton, Ohio.
—One of the largest catches of eels made
in the vicinity of Renovo was that of
last Friday evening when four hun-
dred of them were taken from the fish weir
near Hall's run. They were literally shov-
cled into bags and baskets and brought to
Renovo. Another ‘‘haul” was made near
Westport the same evening, nearly one
thousand eels being caught in one of the
weirs in that vicinity,
—One of the nerviest walks on record
comes from St. Mary's. Thomas Morrisey,
son of the track foreman at that place, while
numb with cold, fell from a car which he was
descending. The wheels passed over the
young man, severing his arm at the shoulder
and his right foot was cut off’ at the ankle.
Realizing the fact that he would soon bleed
to death if he remained lying on the ground,
he determined to walk to his home over a
mile distant. He picked up the severed arm
and hobbled his way the best he could until
he reached his destination.
—Lafayette Van Gilder, chief of police of
Danville, committed suicide at his home ear-
ly Thursday morning. He was found dead
in bed at’ o'clock in the morning with a
bullet hole in his head. The revolver with,
which he did the terrible crime was found
laying on the bed beside the dead body. Mr.
Van Gilder witnessed the Pennsylvania-
Bucknell foot ball game at Lewisburg
Wednesday. and returned home in good
health and in an apparently cheerful
frame of mind. No cause except that he
was in some trouble or other with a girl in
Danville can be assigned as the cause of this
rash deed.
—A serious freight wreck occurred at Pe-
tersburg, six miles above Huntingdon Mon-
day evening. An eastbound freight train
struck a cow, and the animal is responsible
for the destruction of twenty-three freight
cars and a large quantity of general mer-
chandise. Many of the cars were telescoped
while the others, with their contents, were
thrown down the embankment into the Juni-
ata river. No one was injured. The wreck
occurred about 5.30 o'clock, and it was four
hours before the track was cleared. All four
tracks were torn up for a considerable dis-
tance, and the debris piled up in such a man-
ner as to make it difficult to handle. Fast
and west bound passenger trains weve con-
siderably delayed hy the