Terms, $2.00 a Year, in Advance.
Bellefonte, Pa., Dec. 24, 1897.
EpiToR.
P. GRAY MEEK, - »
an
May You all be Happy and Prosperous.
If the old saw that ‘if wishes were
horses all beggars would ride’’ were only
more than a saw what a fine time there
would be on the earth, particularly at this
festival season. If you can stretch your
imagination far enough to comprehend the
happiness that the gratification of every
mortal wish would encompass then you
can conceive our meaning that with the
morrow we hope a great flood of joy will
weep over the land, blotting out sorrow,
at least for the day, so that the world may
rejoice that its Saviour has been born.
This is the last issue of the WATCHMAN
for 1897, and with the closing of its forty-
second year it wishes all a gladsome holiday
season and hopes that the New Year will
bring forth something more material than
the ephemeral prosperity of the last.
Some Random Remarks About Christ-
mas.
The merry Christmas tide is again with
us and we wish our readers and our fellow
humans, generally, the fullest enjoyment of
an event which should be the happiest of
the year. Its religious associations should
especially render it a happy period in the
revolving seasons, as it was at Christmas
that a Saviour was vouchsafed to a world
greatly in need of redemption, giving all
peoples great reason to rejoice in that
crowning benefice of a Creator who allow-
ed his justice to be tempered with mercy.
There are other reasons why Christmas
tide should bring us joy. Its coming finds
most of usin health and in the possession
of means sufficient to keep want from our
doors. Some are better fixed than others
in the way of worldly wealth, but the
number who have not enough to make
Christmas the happy event of the year
which it is intended to be are comparative-
ly few. This is particularly the case in the
country districts, where the extreme poverty
of the great cities exists but in rare cases.
Yet there is a percentage of poor in all
localities, and it is in its endeavor to im-
part to them some degree of cheer at
Christmas that benevolence exercises its
heaven-born function. It is at the merry
yuletide that the generous soul takes more
delight in giving than in receiving, though
the liberal hand is never closed at any
season.
But when we come to think of it the
Christmas that is about to make its joyous
advent should be a peculiarly merry one,
and the incoming year should be attended
with more than the usual amount of happi-
ness.
For some years past the country has not
been any too prosperous. We were assured
by Republican speakers and organs, who
couldn’t be persuaded to tell an untruth
under any circumstances, that the hard
times were caused by a Democratic ad-
ministration, and that the business slump
was directly chargeable to a Democratic
tariff. So sure were they of the destruc-
tive effects of that tariff that they vouched
for its having brought on a general pros-
tration of business and destruction of
prosperity at least a yeare befor it went
into operation.
It was on account of the patriotic feeling
they had for their suffering country, and
their deep interest in the general welfare
of the people, that the Republican leaders
felt it to be an incumbent duty to rescue
the government and the offices from the
Democrats, and restore to power the grand
old party whose devotion to the country
was never known to falter as long as
there was a dollar in the treasury. Their
noble determination to carry out this high
resolve was displayed in the liberal con-
tributions of such patriotic organizations
as the trusts and bank syndicates that
poured into the campaign fund the mil-
lions which MARK HANNA employed in
the presidential election for the mainten-
ance of the public credit and the de-
fence of the national honor.
Nor was the interest of the working peo-
ple overlooked in this noble effort to rescue
the government from Democratic hands.
They were rallied under the Republican
banner by the promise of protection to
their labor, and an alarming disclosure of
the fact that the free silver Democracy de-
signed to reduce the value of their hard-
earned dollar to 50 cents. Such was the in-
terest taken in the toiling masses by the
campaign leaders of the highly honorable
and moral party that those who could not
be affected in any other way were brought
to a sense of their duty as electors by
liberal payments of cash. Even the un-
sophisticated HuN and DAGo suffragists
were enlisted in defence of honest money
and the national credit by arrangements
that brought them to the polls in squads to
vote the Republican ticket for a pecuniary
consideration, and as for the colored popu-
lation, they were made to see their duty so
Plainly that they voted en masse with the
party of lofty national aims and high moral
ideas.
It could not have heen otherwise than
that such noble and patriotic efforts should
be crowned with success. The election of
a Republican President and Congress was
the result; a Republican tariff has been
passed to fulfill the promise of protection
to the working people, and in addition to
{ backs
this it may not be unreasonable to suppose
that Republican influence was exerted in
bringing about the failure of crops in Eu-
rope that has given such a boom to our ag-
ricultural interests. These are causes that
should make everybody prosperous and
contented, and for that reason we repeat
that this should be more than a usually
merry Christmas and that the New Year
should come in with more than ordinary
happiness.
The Wage Reduction in the Cotton Mills.
The heavy cut in the wages of the cotton
mill hands, in New England, which is to
take place on the first of January next,
having excited unfavorable comment as one
of the fruits of DINGLEY’S protection, the
advocates of tariff taxation as a means of
producing prosperity are greatly bothered
in finding an explanation for this early ef-
fect of the DINGLEY bill. One excuse that
is made for this reduction of wages is that
the mill trouble in New England is due to
the big cotton crop. This explanation at-
tempts to make it appear that the cheaper
raw material with which the mill owners
have been supplied by an unusually big
cotton crop has compelled them to pay
their hands less wages. An answer to a
conundrum by the end-man at a negro
minstrel show could not be more laughable
than this explanation of a wage cut.
But the excuse upon which the most re-
liance is placed in this case is that the New
England mills are suffering so much from
the competition of the southern cotton
mills that they can’t continue to be run
with a profit unless the hands are allowed
less pay. This is indeed a curious state-
ment in view of the fact that no farther
back than in the fall of last year, when
the WILSON tariff was in operation, the
Fall River mills, which are the ones that
are going to cut wages on the 1st of Jan-
uary, declared 8 and 12 per cent dividends.
Mills that declared such dividends a year
ago, under the so-called Demceratic hard
‘times, ought to be able to keep up the
wages of their working people when they
have the advantage of DINGLEY’S high
protection.
——The Chicago federation of labor is re-
quiring trades unionists to quit the Nation-
al Guard service, because ‘the men cannot
consistently serve in the militia and run
the risk of being called out to shoot down
fellow tradesmen who are on strike for the
betterment of their economic condition.’
Such an action as this will go far toward
discrediting federations of labor. In fact
it is almost a license, granted its members,
to do such unlawful acts, while striking, as
necessitate the calling out of armed forces
to check them. Labor has the sympathy
of everyone, when peaceably striving for
its own, but when it breaks the mandates
of the law and endangers the property or
the liberty of others it must be dealt with
as any other infraction of the law.
————
Chandler's Protest
Gage’s Scheme.
Senator Against
Secretary GAGE’S plot to establish a
monetary despotism by fixing the currency
more thoroughly on a gold basis, and to
strengthen the hold of the bankers on the
money interests of the country by destroy-
ing the circulation of government notes, is
arousing a determined opposition, even
among prominent Republican leaders.
There is evidence that speaker REED is op-
posed to handing the currency over to the
control of a gold trust, and setting the
banks up in the governing business asa
substitute for the government being in the
banking business, as it is alleged to be by
gold conspirators of the GAGE stripe.
Furthermore so prominent a Republican
Senator as CHANDLER, of New Hampshire,
sounds a note of warning against GAGE's
in the easy control of a gold trust that
would have its centre in Wall street, with
the earnestness of intelligent conviction on
this subject Senator CHANDLER says :
“It is not feasible to retire the green-
backs ; there is more probability that a
bill will be sent to the President to in-
crease their amount. It is not possible to
secure the passage through either House of
a bill making the greenbacks into gold
notes, or authorizing bonds payable in gold.
The effort to do either thing will probably
result in the passage of a bill for the re-
demption of the greenbacks in silver dol-
lars and for the payment of all United
States bonds in gold or silver coin, in the
discretion of the President, who will be
commanded to exercise his option for the
advantage of the government and not for
the advantage of the creditor.
There is much truth in this view of what
will be the result if secretary GAGE shall
push his scheme to contract the currency
by the retirement of the government's
paper circulation, and to make gold more
exclusive and absolute than it now is in
our monetary system. Neither House of
Congress will agree to turning = the green-
into gold notes, or authorizing
the issue of gold bonds, upou which the
people would have to pay interest, in order
to furnish the basis for asystem of national
banks that would have both the currency
and the government in subjection.
The effect of secretary GAGE’S bill, if it
were possible for it to hecomea law, would
be to bring the mouetary system more com-
pletely under the control of a combination
of money dealers, and to invest the banks
with a power vastly more dangerous than
that which JACKSON apprehended when he
made the United States bank the object of
his patriotic hostility.
An arrangement far safer and better for
the people’s interest than the scheme of
the secretary of the treasury would be the
passage of a hill making the greenbacks
and government notes the exclusive paper
circulation, and directing the payment of
all government obligations in gold or silver,
at the option of the government, asis now
the law but is not the practice of the treas-
ury authorities.
Wolcott Is Mad.
Senator WOLCOTT is the maddest man in
Washington and he has good reason to be
in an angry frame of mind. He is con-
scious of having been made to appear ridic-
ulous by the administration that sent him
to Europe on the pretense of entrusting him
and his two colleagues with a mission to
Secure international bimetallism, while the
treasury authorities were arranging, as sec-
retary GAGE avows, to place the currency
of the country more thoroughly on a gold
basis.
There could not have been a greater
deception practiced upon public men like
WoLcorT and his colleagues, who sincerely
believed that they had been delegated to
perform a certain duty. It is easy to
imagine the light in which the Senator re-
gards the position he has been placed in by
the double dealing of the administration in
this matter. He went abroad with the firm
conviction that he had been sent on an
earnest errand. His instructions led him
to believe that his government sincerely
desired to accomplish the object that con-
stituted the subject of his mission. His
fellow commissioners had reason to enter-
tain a similar belief. They entered upon
the duty entrusted to them with the
earnestness of men who were sincere in the
performance of a delegated trust. With
this earnest belief they represented to
foreign governments that the United States
wanted to secure their co-operation in estab-
lishing international bimetallism, and used
every power of argument and persuasion
to induce compliance with what they repre-
sented to be the desire of their government.
Now, when it is made to appear that while
Senator WoLcoTT and his colleagues were
making all these exertions abroad to in-
fluence the governments of Europe to join
the United States in restoring silver to its
old monetary status, the American secre-
tary of the treasury was arranging for a
still lower degradation of silver by a more
thorough establishment of the gold stand-
ard, it becomes evident to Senator WoL-
COTT that he and his colleagues must appear
either as having knowingly and willingly
played a part in what was intended to be a
fake, or were unwittingly sent abroad on a
fool’s errand to serve the deceptive pur-
pose of the administration in regard to
silver.
Either of these views of the part he play-
ed in this matter must be disagreeable to a
self-respecting man, and therefore it is not
surprising that Senator WoLCoTT is decid-
edly out of humor.
Miss Leila Herbert, Daughter of the Ex-
Secretary, Committed Suicide.
Jumped from a Window—She Sustained Injuries
Which Soon Caused Her Death,—Had Been III Some
Time.—Had Also Severed An Artery.
WASHINGTON, December 21.—Social cir-
cles in the capital were shocked to-day by
news of the suicide of Miss Leila Herbert,
daughter of the ex-secretary of the navy,
She jumped from the third story window
of her father’s residence, 1313 New Hamp-
shire avenue, and sustained injuries which
almost immediately caused death. This
afternoon the following authorized state-
ment was made by a gentleman familiar
with all the facts of the suicide.
Miss Herbert at the time of the occur-
rence was suffering from acute melancholia.
It developed several weeks ago as the final
result of injuries received by being thrown
from her horse in Virginia last September.
The melancholia was not insanity in the
sense of being accompanied by delusions.
At the same time there was profound de-
pression and, as is always the case in this
type of disease, there was great danger that
suicidal tendencies would develop. For
this reason nurses were provided to main-
tain the closest watchfulness. No suicidal
tendency developed, however, until yester-
day, when, for the first time, Miss Herbert
made an attempt to get out of the window,
but was restrained by the nurse. This led
to additional caution and two nurses alter-
nated in constant watchfulness of the pa-
tient. She was at all times rational and
design to contract the currency by the re- | would yield to treatment,
tirement of the greenbacks, which would |
thus bring the money of the country with- |
gentle, and it was supposed the disease
Early this morning the nurse on duty
noticed a small spot of blood on the bed
covering and she inquired what it meant,
but the invalid endeavored to pass it by
lightly. On making an investigation, how-
{ ever, the nurse found that the under bed
| clothes were saturated with blood and that
Miss Herbert had severed the artery of her
wrist with a pair of scissors. Feeling that
the emergency was great, the nurse has-
tened to the door and called an alarm.
In this momentary withdrawal from the
bedside Miss Herbert leaped out and sprang
from the window. The plunge was made
headforemost, so that she alighted on the
top of her head on the asphalt pavement.
This injury alone was sufficient to have
caused death from concussion. and it was
doubtless the immediate cause. Aside from
this a cursory examination indicated the
skull was fractured. The severance of the
artery also would have resulted fatally.
When the physician reached her Miss Her-
bert was still breathing, but died about an
hour after the leap.
The coroner returned a verdict of suicide
during temporary insanity. As the facts
in the case were clear he decided that an
inquest was unnecessary.
The Chestnut St. National Bank, of Phil-~
adelphia Closes Its Doors, with
Liabilities of Nearly a
Million.
The business and financial circles of
Philadelphia were thrown into a furor of
Chestnut street National bank of that city
and the trnst company connected with it
closed their doors.
The greatest excitement prevailed and |
when the news of the suspension spread |
the street became jammed with creditors |
of the institution, all eager to learn some-
thing of the cause and anxious for their
interests. Coming as it did, just two days
before Christmas, it seriously affected busi-
ness in Philadelphia, and may end dis-
astrously te others.
Up to last evening no statement had
been given out, but it was rumored that
the liabilities will aggregate a million
dollars.
William M. Singerly, editor of the
Record, and late Democratic nominee for
Governor, is the president of the corpora-
tion.
The suspension will probably not affect
excitement yesterday morning when the |
A Runaway Freight Train Kills and
Maims Many at Altoona.
Terrible Wreck at the Altoona Station Tuesday
Evening.—Freight Beyond Control.—And the Im-
pact When Three Trains Came in Collision was
a Disastrous Oi.e.—Many Narrow Escapes From
Death.
A terrible wreck, in which three men
lost their lives and five were injured, oec-
curred at 6.05 o'clock Tuesday evening
just outside the shed of the passenger sta-
tion at Altoona. Extra freight 604, east,
ran away at Gallitzin, and, after whirling
down the mountain at a rete of speed that
sometimes exceeded sixty miles per hour,
crashed into Pg 2 in front of the Logan
house. About 63 freight and half a dozen
passenger cars were wrecked, and eight
persons were killed.
The wreck was the most terrible that has
occurred on the Pennsylvania railroad sys-
tem for years. Spectators who saw the
runaway train dash down through the yard
say that it had ‘reached a speed of more
than sixty miles per hour. It was a re-
markatble spectacle. Engineer F. S. Bur-
ket had reversed the locomotive, but the
fearful momentum attained since the start
at Gallitzin rendered this procedure and
the air brakes useless. Sparks from the
wheels flew twenty feet in theair, but still
the train dashed on, until finally the crew
saw, dead ahead on the same track, the red
gleam that warned them death was wait-
ing.
The runaway train was made up of forty-
three cars, drawn by engine 604. Beside
the locomotive there were ten cars in the
train equipped with air brakes. The re-
maining thirty-cars were equipped with
the common hand brake, which is applied
by the brakemen.
Shortly after leaving the tunnel, the icy
rails caused the wheels to begin slipping.
The engineer whistled for brakes and
threw on the air, but still the speed of the
train increased momentarily, and finally
the big mogul No. 604 was reversed. But
all in vain. Down past Allegrippus the
train flew with gathering speed, rocking
and swinging until the brakemen finally
found it impossible to attempt to walk on
the slippery car tops.
By the time Horse Shoe curve was
reached the train hands estimated the
speed at a milea minute. When the engine
struck the curve there was a moment of
terrible apprehension lest the runaway
plunge over the bank to the rocks be-
low. But locomotive and cars clung
to the rails and with augmented speed
darted past Kittanning Point toward
Altoona.
There was simply nothing to do but
wait. Eagerly the train crew watched for
the signal blocks. The semaphores showed
a clear track as far as McGarvey, but at
that point the green light, which indicated
danger, flashed out and the train hands
thought, with a shudder, of the passenger
(mail express) which was probably dead
ahead.
THE TERRIBLE CRASH.
The office was reached fifteen minutes
after the train had left Gallitzin, thirteen
miles distant. Few people caught more
than a glimspe of the runaway as she dart-
ed through the yard to certain destruction,
Extra 759, engineer Crawford, and conduc.
tor Westley, was dropping down the yard
at a rate of about ten miles per hour on the
same track upon which the runaway was
rushing. Mail express had just cleared in-
to the depot shed, and the Hollidaysburg
branch passenger train was standing on the
track just outside theshed. A west bound
freight drawn by engine 176 was pulling
up the yard, and another freight train was
standing on an outside track.
Into this mass of cars the runaway
plunged, and a scene of indescribable hor-
ror followed. The terrific impact of the
train piled the cars of freight high in
the air. The runaway engine, when it
struck, was lifted off the track like a toy,
and hurled completely around, until the
battered pilot faced westward. While the
cars were being ground and crushed into
firewood, the cars of the Hollidaysburg
passenger train were pushed upon an ad-
joining track, and into this mass the west
bound freight drawn by engine 176 hurled
itself. For several minutes the awful
grinding and crunching continued, and
then quiet settled over the scene. ILoco-
motives, passenger and freight cars, to-
gether with merchandise of all sorts, were
heaped twenty feet in the air, and from the
great mass of debris came the groans of the
injured.
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE FROM DEATH.
Engineer F. S. Burket and fireman Wil-
liam Levett, of the runaway train, came
creeping out from under the battered re-
mains of their engine after the grinding
ceased. Both men clung to their engine
with matchless bravery, the engineer never
relinquishing his attempts to stop the
train. Marvelous as it may appear, the
two men suffered but slight injuries,
though they remained on the engine while
it plowed into the train ahead, until scarce-
ly a stick of timber or a whole portion of
the engine remained.
The number of cars destroyed, according
to the latest official account, will reach
sixty. Of these fifty-six were freight, and
four passenger cars. Fifteen other cars
were damaged and will have to go to the
shop for repairs. The total monetary loss
to the Pennsylvania, railroad company will
closely approximate $100,000. .
DISPOSITION OF THE BODIES.
The body of Samuel Kuster, the unfortu-
nate owner of the poultry which was on
one of the wrecked trains was sent by ex-
press, to Hagerstown, Ind., where his
family resides.
The body of Charles J. Numer, the
brakeman who lost his life in the discharge
of his duty, was shipped to Mapleton.
Stephen G. Corbin, who was killed while
sticking to his post of duty. resided on
; Eleventh avenue between Twenty-third
| and twenty-fourth street, Altoona.
| Many of the friends of the dead brake-
| men visited the rooms of undertaker Laf-
I ferty to view the remains. The sud-
‘denness of their taking taking off added
| to the sadness of the visits. They were
| esteemed by all and many were the words
of sympathy and of sorrow which were
much respected and their tragic death
{ came as a blow to all their friends.
The three men who were seriously 'in-
jured were tramps and are in the Altoona
hospital.
Wages to Be Reduced.
WORCESTER, Mass., December 21.—The
Millbury cotton mills, following the lead
of the Fall River mills, has posted a notice
of a cut of 10 per cent., to take effect Jan-
uary 3. This was expected, and the own-
ers say they were forced to make the cut
by the condition of business.
——When we see in the daily papers
that a Philadelphia lawyer gave a dinner
to twelve of his friends which cost him
$2,000 and a French actress sold a jeweled
dog collar for $1,000 we are sure that pros-
perity is floating over some parts of the
the Record.
country at least.
Leiter’s Father Goes to Chicago.
Says His Millions are at the Young Wheat King's
Command.—Armour Forces Change of Plan.—
Three Million Bushels More are Expected to
Arrive and Then Will Come the Final Test.
CHICAGO, December 20.——Interest in the
big December wheat deal was greatly in-
creased to-day by the arrival from Wash-
ington of Levi Z. Leiter, the millionaire
ex-merchant of Chicago, and the substan-
tial admission by him that his millions
were at his son’s command in his strug-
gle with other interests. :
‘My son has plenty of money to pay for
what he has purchased,” said Mr. Leiter,
Sr. ‘“‘About his wheat operations he has
informed me fully. I have been a mer-
chant a great part of my life and am much
pleased that my son has broadened into a
first-class merchant. Wheat is a first-class
commodity of universal use. The quality
of wheat which he has purchased is of the
highest, and I am sure will be in demand
at a higher price than he has paid for it.
I am well pleased with the situation.”
George B. French, of the Leiter clique,
stated to-day that the bull combination
will have about six million bushels of
‘wheat to take care of. ‘The tactics of Ar-
mour in rushing millions of bushels to the
Chicago market, he said, have caused the
Leiter following to change some of their
plans very materially.
WILL REMAIN IN THE FIELD.
‘The impression that we are going out
of the market as soon as we conclude this
month’s trading is hardly true,”” he con-
tinned. ‘“We propose fo remain in the
field. Iam nos prepared to say we will
ship all our wheat abroad, but we will sell
it the best we can.’
There was another big increase in the
amount of contract wheat in store here to-
day; over 5,000,000 bushels were added to
the stocks. Friday and Saturday nearly
2,500,000 bushels were delivered here, all
of which was taken by the Leiter people.
At least 3,000,000 bushels more are expect-
ed to arrive and in the liquidation of this
is expected to come the final test of strength
for Leiter.
The 500,000 bushels delivered to-day
had not the slightest weakening effect on
December. On the contrary, it sold as
high as $1.02 shortly after the opening. It
subsequently reacted to 993, ic above
where it closed Saturday. The statement
of Mr. French concerning the Leiter crowd’s
intention to stay in the market received
some confirmation, as there was good buy-
ing of May all day credited to them.
—
There is a Santa Claus.
From the New York Sun.
We take pleasure in answering at once
and thus prominently the communication
below, expressing at the same time our
great gratification that its faithful author
is numbered among the friends of the Sun :
“DEAR EDITOR : Iam 8 years old. Some
of my little friends say there is no Santa
Claus. Papa says ‘If you see it in the Sun
it’s so.” Please tell me the truth ; is therea
Santa Claus ? VIRGINIA O’HANLON.”
115 West Ninety-fifth Street.
Virginia, your little friends are wrong.
They bave been affected by the skepticism
of a skeptical age. They do not believe
except they see. They think that nothing
can be which is not comprehensible by
their little minds. All minds, Virginia,
whether they be men’s or children’s, are
little. In this great universe of ours man
is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as
compared with the boundless world about.
him, as measured by the intelligence cap-
able of grasping the whole of truth and
knowledge. .
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and gener-
osity and devotion exist, and you know
that they abound and give to your life its
highest beauty and joy. Alas! how
dreary would be the world if there were no
Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if
there were no Virginias. There would be
no childlike faith then, no poetry, no
romance, to make tolerable this existence.
We should have no enjoyment except in
sense and sight. The eternal light with
which childhood fills the world would be
extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus ! You might
a3 well not believe in fairies ! You might
get your papa to hire men to watch all the
chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa
Claus coming down, what would that
prove ? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that’
18 no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The
most real things in the world are those
that neither children nor men can see. Did
You ever see fairies dancing on the lawn ?
Of course not ; but that’s no proof that
they are not there. Nobody can conceive
or imagine all the wonders there are un-
seen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and
see what makes the noise inside, but there
is a veil covering the unforseen world
which not the strongest man, nor even the
united strength of all the strongest men
that ever lived, could tear apart. Only
faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can
push aside that curtain and view and pic-
ture the supernal beauty and glory be-
yond. Isit all real ? Ah, Virginia, in all
this world there is nothing else real and
abiding.
No Santa Claus ! Thank God ! he lives
and he lives forever. A thousand years
from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten
thousand years from now, he will continue
to make glad the heart of childhood.
Twelve Schooners Ashore
Terrific Gale Sweeps Over Newfoundland, Doing
Damage to Shipping. “
St. JoHNS, N. F., Dee. 20.—A terrible
gale swept this island yesterday and did
immense damage to fishing establishments
and vessels at the coast settlements. Twelve
schooners went ashore in Green Bay and
became total wrecks, and several others
were badly damaged in collisions.
It is feared that the fleet from Gloucester
and the herring fleet now loading in "Pla-
centia Bay have been seriously buffeted by
the storm.
Work for 2,000 Men.
Fires Were Started Under the Furnaces at Brigeton
Sunday.
BRIGETON, N. J., December 20.-—Fires
were put under the furnaces to-day in the |
Cohansey, Cumberland, Moore-Jones win-
dow glass factories near here, and it is ex-
pected that the works will start up in a
week or two, probably on January 2.
It is expected that 2,000 persons now
idle will be given employment.
Bismarck is Failing.
The Chancellor Said to Be in a Rapid Decline
Prince Bismarck, who braced up for the
Emperor’s visit, has relapsed to his former
weakness, despondency and persistent in-
somnia.
Mentally and physically Prince Bis-
marek is rapidly declining.
Down in Cuba.
Autonomy Will Not Bring Peace.—The Conserva-
tive Party Represented by 300 Delegates Met
and Took Action. $
HAVANA, December 21. — At to-day’s
meeting of the conservative party over 300
delegates said to represent the common-
wealth of the island, were present and all
the speakers agreed that autonomy will not
bring peace to the island, as proved by the
protests of the members of the Cuban junta
of New York and the recent death of Lieu-
tenant Colonel Ruiz and five other Spanish
commissioners who have been kileld by the
msurgents.
Senor Santos Guzman, a former president
of Congress, referring to President McKin-
ley’s recent message to Congress, protested
against it, as offensive to Spain, to General
Weyler and the Spanish army, and holding
that it indicated probable early interven-
tion, a ‘‘warning to a most haughty nation
which will not permit such humiliation.’’
A message was sent to General Weyler
that at a mass meeting of the reunited union
constitutional party the policy of his excel-
lency was endorsed and the party assured
the general that he had its support.
It was announced from tke palace to-day
that during the last ten days the
Spanish troops have captured seventeen
prisoners and sixty-nine armed insurgents
have surrendered. Among the killed, the
statement continues, are three insurgents
leaders and three officers of the insurgent
forces.
The Spanish troops during the same per-
iod, according to the official statistics, lost
three officers and thirty-three soldiers kill-
ed and had 133 officers and 213 soldiers
wounded.
DE —
Another Trust Organized.
The American woodworking machine
company, which will embrace in a trust
several of the woodworking machinery es-
tablishments in Williamsport, and about
nine-tenths of the shops in the United
States, was organized at New York, Thurs-
day, with a capital of $8,560,000. Two of
the directors are from Williamsport, A. D.
Hermance and F. H. Sweet.
Hublersburg Items.
Miss Belle Webner is home for Christmas.
A. A. Miller is spending Xmas at his home
in Lock Haven.
Master Loyd Markle is the proud owner of
a watch, a premium for selling shoe polish.
Rev. J. M. Runkle was called to Phila.
this week, by the sickness of his brother, Dr.
W. V. Runkle.
Miss Gertie Bartholemew, who has been
living at Mrs. James Carner’s for the past six
months, has left for her home in Arvona.
The Christmas entertainment in Trinity Re-
formed church promises to be of more than
usual interest. The church is handsomely
decorated with evergreen and all is ready for
a fine time.
Little Harry Whiteman, the bright little
baby in the home of David Whiteman, met
with a painful accident last Saturday. His
mother was serving coffee to the family at
the table when a cup of boiling coffee was up-
set over him, severely scalding his face and
breast.
a ra————————
Pine Grove Mention.
To all a merry Christmas and a happy New
Year.
Mrs. Maggis Meek is spending the holidays
in Altoona.
William Reed is visiting the old home east
of town.
The I. O. O. F. banquet will take place on
the evening of the 27th, inst.
Rev. Illingworth, Sec. of the Y. M.C. A.
at Oil City, is at home on a ten day’s leave.
Rev. Asbury Guyer is conducting a pro-
tracted meeting that is fairly well attended.
Wesley, son of Mrs, Maggie Gates, is se-
riously ill with pneumonia and measles.
Samuel McWilliams is home from the State
Normal, at Lock Haven, for the holidays.
H. C. Campbell and wife are off to Philips-
burg to visit justice Laport and wife over
Christmas. :
Baker Krebs and Frank Bailey, dental stu-
dents at the University in Phila., are here
for Christmas.
Misses Clara and Bessie Walker were
among the bidden oneato the John Gray an-
niversary, on the 22nd.
One of our threshers has ordered a new
French barr chopper and will soon be
ready to do custom work for his Branch
neighbors.
H. C. Campbell is erecting a new home at
State College, where he expects to settle short-
ly. We are sorry, for Ferguson township is
greatly in need of citizens like Henry and
his family.
Hall Bottorf, one of College township's
leading Democrat and prosperous farmers,
with his wife and daughter Maggie, spent
Sunday with his uncle, who is much better.
Albert Blower, a civil engineer of Osceola,
a jolly good fellow, is the guest of his cousin,
J. W. Kepler. Albert has the Klondyke
craze and is arranging to start by the
20th of February.
Charles Kustaborder, a prominent stock
dealer of Chicago, is visiting his cousin
Thomas, who thought him dead, as he had not
heard of him since tke war, where he served
four years and bears that many wounds.
Misses Annie and Maria Elder, who are now
connected with the home department of the
Madina county infirmary, are spending their
vacation with friends here. They are looking
exceptionally well and are well pleased with
their work.
Captain J. M. Kepler left, Tuesday, for
Tionesta to look after his many interests there
before starting on his annual visit to Hot
Springs, Ark. In hisabsence his son, J. Wm.,,
a chip out of the old block, will look after the
plantation.
Mrs. Maggie Hess came very near being
cremated the other day when her clothing
took fire as she was looking after a kettle of
lard. Fortunately her husband was near
and he caught her and doused her into the
creek, else she would have been burned to
death.
George McWilliams returned home from
the University last week much improved by
the treatment and loud in his praise of the
surgeons and nurses who had charge of his
case. His aunt, Mrs. Keichline, expects to
eat her Christmas dinner at Mrs. Hoffet’s, a
relative living in the city, and hopes to be
home by New Year's. *