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s c Spawls from the Keystone.
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Democratic afclpan, ' e —The contract for a soldiers’ monument at
ug ~~ / < Ebensburg, has been let to a Philadelphia
BY P. GRAY MEEK.
Ink Slings.
—CHARLES DICKENS was evidently
thinking of the coming of SAM MILLER
into the world when he wrote ‘Life is
short and why should speeches be long.”
—WANAMAKER is out for Governor, at
least, so his own words say ; but WANA-
MAKER’S running for Governor, will be
done in the old Republican way—of with-
drawing when he makes terms] with
QUAY.
—WANAMAKER’S ‘‘such a man as you
and your associates agree to represent’’
will probably be Mr. PETER A. B. WEID-
NER. If the plans miscarry, however, and
Allegheny STONE wins at Harrisburg then
the Philadelphia merchant will probably
remain on the ticket.
—Would you believe it, secretary of
state JOHN SHERMAN succeeded in dous-
ing his assistant DAY’S glim long enough,
on Monday, to get his own name in the
Washington dispatches. It must have
been very gratifying to the public to learn
that JOHN is still living at Washington.
——Some of our blantant gold friends
who were calling the silverites anarchists
and government destroyers, last fall, might
profitably turn their attention Washington-
ward and learn a lesson in patriotism. The
American mind may vary on questions of
finance, political economics and govern-
ment, but it is a unit on patriotism.
—Mr. WEBSTER FLANNAGAN, who
asked the tart question: ‘“What are we
here for, if not for the offices,” has just
been made an internal revenue collector for
the third district of Texas. WEBSTER seems
to have had the right idea of things, from
his own stand point, and it is quite evi-
dent that he has gotten the McKINLEY
administration imbued with ic.
—England says she’ll be with us in the
event of war with Spain, that is, she will
give us her moral support. England is
great at giving things that don’t cost her
anything. When the whole world was
contributing to the relief of the Johnstown
flood sufferers, and even the Sultan of Tur-
key sent a thousand dollars, Queen Victo-
ria’s heart swelled to most double its nor-
mal size and to relieve the strain she sent
her sympathy.
—The Khedive of Egypt has a menag-
erie filled with the ugliest animals he can
find and he takes a great deal of pleasure
out of naming them after people he doesn’t
like. What an innocent fellow the Khe-
dive must be and how harmless. Now in
this country when a man doesn’t like an-
other he stands up and calls him an ass, a
snake or a white livered hog and anything
else he feels like—if he is the bigger of the
two.
——Out in Troy, Ohio, a few nights ago
a young colored boy killed himself while
trying to drink thirty glasses of whiskey
on a wager. He succeeded in downing
eighteen and then the Democrat, in writing
his obituary, said ‘‘he was a worthless fel-
low, anyhow, and no good.”” The ‘no
good” depends entirely upon the kind of
whiskey he was drinking. There is some
on sale right here in Bellefonte that any
man who drinks half of eighteen gldsses of
it and lives is a dandy.
—The sentence committing the two In-
dian girls from the Carlisle school to eigh-
teen months in the eastern penitentiary for
having attempted to set fire to their school
has been commuted to twelve months im-
prisonment in the county jail. While
penned behind iron bars the dusky daugh-
ters of the plains will have ample time to
consider the thought that fire in water is
all right when given to the big braves, but
fire in a school room filled with Indian
girls is all wrong.
The brilliant and logical argument
with which WILLIAM J. BRYAN faced the
United States supreme court in his defense
of the validity of what is known as the
Nebraska maximum law seems to have
had no effect upon that judiciary. It has
handed down an opinion that the law is
unconstitutional and cannot be put into
force. The maximum law is one fixing a
maximum rate that can be charged on
freight carried by railroads in Nebraska.
It would have proven a blessing to the
great wheat shippers of that State, but
then the laws that are good for the people
are not good for the corporations and the
corporations hold the winning hand, even
in our courts.
—Well, the expected has happened and
JoHN WANAMAKER is out for Governor ;
that is to say JOHN is out for a purpose.
From the first no one expected that that
Bourse meeting would result in his becom-
ing a bona-fide candidate, as the Republi-
cans are not so anxious for reform in state
government as they would like to appear
and are the last fellows who would jeop-
ardize their chance of electing a Governor,
when it comes down to a test. Mr. WAN-
AMAKER’S letter accepting ‘‘the call to
duty” was given to the public yesterday
and is as transparent as a moon-beam. He
discloses the whole purpose of the. Bourse
meeting when he says ‘‘If this action of
yours in bringing me into the field creates,
discord within party ranks it will cost me
nothing to step aside, at any time, for such a
man as you and your associates agree to
represent.’”” So Mr. WANAMAKER con-
fesses that his candidacy is to be just, as it
was intended to be, an attempt to defeat
QuAY and not an honest effort toward purer
state government.
4
Demacrali
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA
.. MAR. 11. 1898.
NO. 10.
Why ?
Why would not an agreement and plat-
form on the following lines be conservative
enough, broad enough and Democratic
enough for ALL Democrats, within the
State, to stand together upon during the
coming campaign :
1st. The recognition of the right of the
National Convention to declare the principles
and define the policies of the party on all ques-
tions over which the general government has
control, and the acknowledgment of the bind-
ing force of these declarations upon state and
local organizations until re-affirmed or modi-
fied by the same authority.
2nd. That the campaign for the state
ticket be made on state issues exclusively.
3rd. That all questions or issues that are
decided by the votes of Representatives in
Congress, be submitted, by resolutions of the
state convention, to the several congres-
sional districts of the State, for such action as
the delegates or conferees of the respective
districts may take.
4th. That the candidates for Congressmen-
at-large, whose names will be upon the state
ticket, be pledged to vote on all political ques-
tions as the Democratic congressional caucus
may determine.
With a platform that acknowledges what
no Democrat will deny—the right of the na-
tional convention to voice the sentiments of
the party ; that places its state ticket on a
platform pledging its candidate only on
such issues and to such reforms as pertain to,
and can be enforced in the offices, for which
they are nominated, and that recognizes
the right of the Democrats of each congres-
sional district to pledge their candidate for
representative in Congress as the sentiment
of the party in the district demands, there
should be no trouble in getting the party
into the condition of making a harmonious,
hot and hopeful contest.
The WATCHMAN is conscientious in its be-
lief in the principles enunciated in the Chi-
cago platform but with the hope of uniting,
not only all Democrats but all other good
citizens, in the support of a state ticket, as
against the rottenness, and debauchery, and
disgrace of Republican boss rule, it is wil-
ling to fore-go the formal re-declaration of
these principles, so far as the state ticket
is concerned, and trust to the sound
Democracy of the several congressional
districts to see that our candidatse for
representatives are duly pledged to their
advocacy and support.
‘Why could we not all unite on the above
basis ?
Mr. Cleveland’s Bad Advice.
In writing to the gold Democrats who
held a conference in Philadelphia last week,
counseling them to put a state ticket in the
field on a gold basis, ex-President CLEVE-
LAND claimed that he was prompted to
give them such advice by a desire ‘‘to see
our country blest with safe money and a
suitable financial system.’’
This was certainly a commendable aspira-
tion, abstractly considered, as it is of great
advantage to the country to have safe mon-
ey and a suitable currency, but what is of
greater moment to the people of Penn-
sylvania, as a result of their state election,
is the deliverance of their state government
from the control of a corrupt political ma-
chine. While the people can do this by
their action in an election of state officers,
the issues involved in such a contest can
have no bearing upon the question of safe
money and a suitable financial system.
The Democrats want better government
than the Republican machine politicians
are giving the people of this State. If Mr.
CLEVELAND can convince them that they
may attain this object by running their
campaign on the money question, and that
they will be more certain of overthrowing
the Republican corruptionists by dividing
their party into conflicting gold and silver
factions, he may succeed in getting them
to conduct their campaign in that way.
But common sense Democrats do not be-
lieve that the money question is involved
mn the coming state contest, and are con-
vinced that the only way to restore good
government to the State is to conduct the
campaign on the only issues that pertain
to such a contest.
——Convinced of the hopelessness of an
undertaking which would inevitably have
starvation as its only result, the New Eng-
land cotton mill workers have in a large
measure abandoned their strike and made
the best possible terms with their capital-
istic taskmasters. They were not prepared
for the ordeal of matching their slender
resources against the unlimited means of
the mill owners in such a trial of endur-
ance. In such an encounter those who
work with their hands must yield to the
superior advantage of a class who can draw’
on their capital and live comfortably wheth-
er the mills run or not. Labor must work
or starve. This overpowering fact was not
duly considered by the cotton workers
when they believed that their strike would
force higher wages from mill owners who
had been favored with higher tariff duties.
It was but a repetition of the past ex-
perience of labor in such matters. The
strikers are going back to work, willing to
accept the reduced wages, but in no way
inclined to be satisfied with that sort of
prosperity.
Apprehended Disgrace.
There was great reason to apprehend
that the Maine outrage would be patched
up in some mercenary and pusillanimous
manner that would be disgraceful to Amer-
ican honor and humiliating to American
pride. Such a fear was not unreasonable
when appearances indicated an intention
to juggle the investigation of the crime,
and to create the impression in advance
that the destruction of the American ship
swas due to an accidental cause. The
American mind had reason to suspect that
a disgraceful course was in contemplation
when a member of the cabinet, the head of
the navy department, authorized it to be
published that there were no indications of
Spain’s complicity with this outrage and
that she could not be held ‘‘officially’’ re-
sponsible. A shameful line of action could
be apprehended when MARK HANNA, the
confidential adviser of the President and
the keeper of his political conscience, was
letting it be understood that there was
nothing in the Maine case that could not
be fixed up by the payment of money.
All these surface indications depressed
the minds of the American people with the
fear that their country was going to be dis-
graced and humiliated in the treatment of
a matter that involved the national honor.
This fear had its original justification in
the course pursued by this administration
in the treatment of the Cuban question
during the past year, every measure having
been marked by weakness and indecision,
and every movement adjusted more for the
benefit of the stock jobbers than for those
interests of national honor and human li-
berty that are inseparably connected with
this Cuban struggle.
It may occur, however, that the very
nature of the crime committed in Havana
harbor, its flagitious character, the deep
treachery of its conception and the bar-
barity of its execution, followed by a
defiant demeanor on the part of the per-
petrators, may be too much for even this
administration to condone for a money
compensation. The aroused feeling of the
American people may be too dangerous to
be forced by men in authority who would
be willing to huckster the blood of those
murdered American sailors for a sum of:
nation for the advantage of the stock
market. Or it may be that an administra-
tion, which for more than a year has
pursued a course more Spanish than Amer-
ican in its treatment of Cuba, may, at
last, be aroused by a truly national and
patriotic spirit to a course of action that
will not only redress the wrong which our
country has sustained in the destruction of
her battle ship, but will confer the boon
of freedom upon the people of Cuba.
If President McKINLEY shall arouse
himself to such a truly American lin® of
action he will have the support of the
American people. He will he backed by
the Democratic party without whose sup-
port no foreign enemy of the Republic was
ever conquered.
New England Incivism.
If we are to have war with Spain our
principal instrumentality of warfare will
be our navy. It will be from our naval
arm that the enemy will receive the severest
blows. Such being the fact it would be an
unpatriotic if not criminal neglect to allow
the nation to drift into a war with Spain
without making every necessary provision
for the efficiency of the navy ; yet there is
a coterie of New England statesmen, of
whom speaker REED is the principal, who
have opposed the needed naval equipments
in the very face of a war with Spain.
REED won't allow the passage of a bill
that proposes to make the small addition
of 1500 men to our deficient force of sailors,
and he is backed in this unpatriotic op-
position by BOUTELLE and HALE, the
whole trio being from the down east State
of Maine.
Why there is such an unpatriotic dis-
position in the New England States when
our nation has a difficulty with a foreign
power. is a subject of interesting inquiry.
One of the motives for REED’S action in
the case of Cuba is his disposition to pro-
tect the interest of the money changers.
He would sooner have Cuban freedom
trampled under the heel of Spanish
tyranny, and the American navy blown
out of water by Spanish torpedoes, than to
raise a fuss about it that might disturb
the operations of the eastern stock jobbers.
In addition to so sordid a capitalistic
spirit as this, these New England naval
obstructionists appear to be pervaded by
the same unpatriotic spirit that put their
section practically in disloyal alliance with
Great Britain in our last war with that for-
eign enemy, and infused into the New
England heart the hope that the American
soldiers who were fighting under the old
flag in Mexico would be ‘‘welcomed by
bloody hands to hospitable graves.’”’ This
incivic spirit- always prevailed in New
England when this nation, under the direc-
tion of the Democrtic party, was conquer-
ing the foreign foes of the Republic.
Encouraged to Do His Duty.
It is now to be hoped that when Congress
shows a truly American spirit, and offers
to back the administration with all the
money and military appliances that may
be needed in the pending emergency of a
war with Spain, the President will not
hesitate in assuming the position of
decided national assertion to which he
should be encouraged by such popular
support.
It is true that he has been weak-kneed
in his Cuban policy, but there is no longer
any excuse for such weakness when the
People’s representatives have already ad-
vanced him fifty millions of dollars as a
starter to a vigorous American policy in
dealing with the Cuban difficulty. With
such congressional backing, and the sup-
port of the American people, he should
abandon any intention that may have been
entertained by him and his counsellors to
settle on a cash basis a question affecting
the honor of the nation. He should reject
the idea that the destruction of a national
vessel by unprecedented treachery is the
kind of injury that may be repaired by an
indemnity, and that the murder of Amer-
ican sailors can be condoned by the pay-
ment of blood money. These are objects
too sacred to be made the subjects of
mercenary huckstering.
Congress appears to have been excited to
a proper pitch of patriotic feeling in the
treatment of this emergent situation. It
looks as if President McKINLEY is also
trying to bring himself up to the level of
his duty in this emergency. Even Czar
REED, who reluctantly allows patriotic
considerations to outweigh the capitalistic
interests, and whom the Spaniards con-
sider ‘‘too good for a Yankee,’ is forced to
abandon the obstructive tactics by which
he proposed to suspend the measures nec-
essary for the national defence.
Present appearances encourage the peo-
ple to hope that those in authority at
Washington will no longer yield to in-
fluences that have made their past Cuban
policy a disgrace to the nation.
If, with all the backing which a patriotic
and loyal people are ready to give them,
they shall shirk their duty by bartering
the honor of this nation and turning down
money, and compromise the honor of thf the cause of Cuban freedom, they will have
to shoulder a load of odium such as was
never borne by any who have wielded the
powers of government.
The Acquittal of Sheriff Martin and His
Deputies.
It was not an unexpected verdict, the
acquittal of sheriff MARTIN and the one
hundred and two deputies who helped him
enact the bloody tragedy at Lattimer, the
little coal mining village near Hazelton,
on the 7th of last September.
Their trial was begun February 1stin the
criminal courts of Luzerne county, with
judge STANLEY WOODWARD presiding,
and in many ways has been the most
notable case known in the records of our
courts. Over one hundred men were
charged with the murder and felonious
wounding of twenty-one striking miners,
who had disregarded the proclamation of
sheriff MARTIN, calling upon them to dis-
perse, when banded together to march from
colliery to colliery to urge other miners to
strike. The case set up by the prosecution
was that the miners were not unlawfully
assembled and that they had not violated
the riot act. Had they been able to prove
this sheriff MARTIN and everyone of his
deputies would have been guilty, as in-
dicted. As it developed, however, the
testimony showed that there had been
rioting in that vicinity and that the min-
ers had refused to respect the order of the
high sheriff. Under such circumstances no
other verdict than an acquittal could have
been looked for.
The case was a peculiar one. It involved
a fine conception of the intent of the riot
act and has had no parallel in its possible
effect upon the institutions of our land and
the rights of citizenship. However guilty
the sheriff and his deputies might have
been a conviction would have carried with
it a quasi license that would have resulted
disastrously to the peace of communities
wherein is employed a large foreign labor
element.
Under the law, had one member of that
posse been guilty of murder every in-
dividual composing it could have been held
for the same crime, but while all have been
acquitted and the ends of justice best sub-
served a feeling that a great moral wrong
was done at Lattimer must still linger in
the hearts of those who, while respecting
the majesty of the law, deplore the ruthless
slaughter of so many men.
No other verdict than an acquittal was
expected from the first. The ends of good
government will be aided by it, but let the
horrible affair be a lesson to all, who are in
a position to be called in a similar duty,
that the dignity of the law is not upheld
by shooting fleeing men in the backs, nor
is it necessary to kill a score or more in
order to disperse an unarmed party of a
few hundred.
——Subseribe for the WATCHMAN.
A Pleasing Danish Custom.
From the West Chester J. effersonian.
The dietetic hygienic Gazette calls atten-
tion to the Danish custom, which during
the summer holidays sends the school
children of the cities to the country and
those of the country to the cities. “The
parents of the country and the cities swap
children temporarily, so that the city
children are strengthened and made happy
in the country, while the people in the
cities show their little visitors the sights
and get up little festivals for them. In
this way Copenhagen sends 10,000 school
children to the country and entertains the
same number in exchange.” The custom
of ‘‘swapping’ visits between city and
rural relatives and friends is a general one
in this country, but, as a rule, the city
people prefer to pay their visits to the
country in the summer, and the country
people prefer to pay theirs to the city in
the winter. The custom of giving the
poorer classes of city children a summer
vacation in the country has also become an
established one in many parts of the
United States, but the Danish idea is even
better, inasmuch as it provides a recipro-
cal arrangement that confers happiness and
benefit on city and country children alike
at a season of vacation when ‘‘outings’ are
the rule. A visit to a city is just as much
of a treat and an advantage to a country
boy or girl as a vacation among the fields
and woods is to the town-bred youngsters.
There is pleasure and education for both
in this system of temporary exchange, op-
portunity for new ideas and suggestions,
which stimulate and feed the brains as the
change of scene strengthens and refreshes the
body. Such intercourse also brings city
and country people into closer and more
friendly relations and tends to create mu-
tual interest and sympathy.
The Glorious Work of Reform.
From the Mercer, Western Press.
With Senator Quay trying to get a good
hard push at the button so that he can
shape matters his own way, the Hon. Bill
Andrews acting as chief ticket seller for the
W. A. Stone show and the Hon. Dan Hast-
ings pushing the capital commission into
court we are furnished an impressive illus-
tration of how the great work of reform is
going along in the Keystone State. Mean-
while the Hon. Thomas V. Cooper is swal-
lowing in buttermilk and waiting for some
one to take in seriously his gubernatorial
manifesto.
* EE wer ———
What Should be Their Only Object.
At this time the object of all good citi-
zens of Pennsylvania should be to secure
good government for the State. Very few
will deny that Pennsylvania is badly. gov-
erned. It is generally admitted that there
is maladministration in every department,
and common sense will concede that the
party that has had almost exclusive control
for many years past is responsible for this
misgovernment. The party is ruled by a
combination of corrupt politicians, work-
ing with the regularity and force of a ma-
chine, rendering it obvious that under such
direction the public affairs of the State
must be managed with the object of serv-
ing corrupt personal interests, rather than
for the promotion of the public welfare.
There is but one way of ending this
vicious government, and that is by supres-
sing the corrupt agencies that are produc-
ing 1t. These derive their power and op-
portunity for the commission of public
wrongs from the party which they con-
trol. It should therefore be plain to all
citizens who are averse to this state of af-
fairs that the correction of this evil can be
effected only by the defeat of that party.
This cannot be done if the elements op-
posed to machine state government are di-
vided. The good work can not be accom-
plished if those who want to accomplish it
allow themselves to be divided by issues
that have no bearing upon state affairs
whatever. There is an element in the
Republican party that is sincere in its de-
precation of machine misrule, and wants
to bring about the correction of the pre-
vailing abuses. Why should they be de-
terred by a difference of view in regard to
tariffs and money standards from joining
with another element that equally aims at
reform in the state government? There is
no reason for such a separation of reform
Republicans from the Democrats who also
want to overthrow the debased political
machine that misrules the State. And
when such a duty, due to the State, is
imposed upon them, least of all have Dem-
ocrats a right to divide their force by a dif-
ference of sentiment on the money ques-
tion, an issue which in no way affects
state government.
Taking this view of their duty, and with
a sensible understanding of the only way
in which machine rule in this State can be
overthrown, it must be evident to practical
Democrats that the advice given by ex-
President CLEVELAND, that the gold Demo-
crats of this State should put a state ticket
in the field representing their preference
for the gold standard, would divide the
party by an issue that would be impracti-
cable in its effect upon the currency and
would have no bearing upon state matters.
Such a movement might gratify the ex-
President by arraying a part of the state
Democracy on his side of the money ques-
tion, but it would assist the corrupt re-
publican machine to maintain its hold on
the state government. This would be pay-
ing dearly for the gratification of maintain-
ing the gold standard as an issue in a con-
test with which it has no practical connec-
tion.
firm for $15,000.
—There have been more than 300 penitents
at the altar in the BM. E. church at Clearfield,
and the meetings have apparently lost noth-
>
ing in interest. ?
—Judge Martin Bell, of Blair county, or-
dered the rules of court amended last week
so as to admit wsmen to the study and prac-
tice of law in that county.
—The secretary of the McKeesport school
board and the truant officer have brought
suit against three fathers in that place for
violating the compulsery education law in
not sending their sons to school.
—The superior court convened at Harris-
burg Monday afternoon and will continue in
session three weeks. There are twenty-eight
cases on the list for argument. No decisions
were announced Monday by the court.
Sarah McFarland, an ‘aged resident of
Grazierville, while gathering coal along the
railroad near her home on Saturday was
struck by an engine and instantly
killed. The remains were picked up and
carried to her home.
Sister Mary Gabriel, of the Order of St. Jo-
seph, while returning from visiting the sick
Wed. evening with another sister, was struck
at George's crossing, at Lilly, by a train and
thrown about 50 feet. When picked up life
was extinct. Her companion had a narrow
escape. Sister Mary was 53 years of age.
—Russell G. Smith, of Renovo, died in the
Williamsport hospital Sunday of appendi-
citis. The young man becameill last Friday.
The disease developed so rapidly that by the
time he reached the hospital on Saturday he
was in such a shape that he could not be
operated on. He was 32 years old and leaves
a wife and two children.
—The contract for the addition to the Odd
Fellows orphans’ home, at Sunbury, has
been awarded to Simpson Bros. of Sunbury,
at their bid of $2,745. There will be two ad-
ditions—one 16 x 42 and the other 35 x 40
feet, both two stories high. They must be
completed by July 1st. The capacity of the
home will be fifty orphans, after these addi-
tions are erected.
—DMac Timberlake, a colored man of Wil-
liamsport, swallowed two dozen raw eggs in
four minutes and a half. The eggs belonged
to a farmer named Decker, who after attend-
ing market Saturday had twenty-four eggs at
his disposal. Not knowing what to do with
them, he told Timberlake that if he would
swallow them in ten minutes he could have
them for nothing.
—Miss Norris, of Mount Union, last week
obtained a verdict of $225 against W. G. Ew-
ing, of that place, for having sold her salt-
peter instead of epsom salts, which she took
as a medicine, and from the results of which
she almost lost her life. Mr. Ewing did not
deny making the mistake, but alleged the
young lady was only in bed one week from
the effects thereof.
—It is estimated that the new liquor li-
cense law will increase the state revenue
about $600,000. The cities of Philadelphia,
Pittsburg, and Allegheny, in which retail
liquor license fees have been increased $100
for state purposes, will add at least $10,000 to
the revenues. The new methods of taxing
beer according to the number of barrels pro-
duced yearly is the chief source of the ine
crease.
—There is no truth whatever in the report
that the Patton Coal Co., has secured an or-
der for 400,000 tons of coal from the govern-
ment to be delivered at Key West in 60 days.
In an interview with Mr. Kerr he denies the
story, and is also authority for the statement
that the government is buying their coal for
$1.30 per ton F. O. B. at Philadelphia, and
that it is impossible for his company to get
anywhere near such a low figure.
—Business men are warned to be on their
guard against a man representing himself to
be president of the international advertising
agency of New York. He pretends to have
for rent a nickel in the slot machine from
which, if a proper coin is dropped, postage
stamps and an envelope is said to be forth-
coming. He solicits advertising on the out-
side of the machine and, having secured them
leaves town with the money collected and
that is the last of the schemer and no ma-
chines are placed in position.
—At Coudersport Friday sheriff Gillen
heard a suspicious noise in the jail. He pro-
ceeded at once on a trip of inquiry and
caught David Hicks, a desperate character
awaiting trial for forgery, in the act of saw=
ing the bars in the bathroom. Further in-
vestigation showed that the bolt fastening
the corrider had been sawed in a way to al-
low the door to be easily opened and yet pre-
vent the cut being seen. But for the sher-
iff’s timely discovery, the nineteen prisoners
in the Potter couuty jail would be fugitives.
—Major general Nelson A. Miles, of the
United States army, telegraphed the P. R. R.
officials at Altoona asking how many pieces
are in a class L locomotive of the standard
type. His question has no war significence,
it being understood that he wants to make
sume sort of a comparison between a locomo-
tive and a disappearing gun carriage. The
counting of the pieces require but a few
hours and was done at the Juniata shops. It
was found that in all there are 20,006 pieces
in one the big “‘L’s.”” This includes screws,
rivets, nuts, washers and the large pieces.
—Edward J. Riley, until Monday morning
assistant car clerk in the general superin-
tendent’s office of the P. R. R. at Altoona,
drank an ounce of laudanum that evening
and died a short time after 12 o'clock Tues-
day morning. He had for some years been
addicted to the drinking habit. Recently his
mother died and since that time his intem-
perate habits became more marked. On this
account he was discharged from his position
with the railroad company. He brooded
over his discharge all day Monday and in the
evening swallowed the laudanum. He
leaves a wife and two children.
—Last fall Maurice Stayer was employed
by the directors of Woodbury township, Bed-
ford county, to teach the Paradise school.
For some reason Mr. Stayer incurred the dis-
pleasure of the patrons and pupils, and for
the last three or four weeks no onc has at-
tended the school, but the teacher has been
on hand each day. He has been asked to re-
sign, but has refused to doso. A few days
ago some of the citizens nailed the door shut
and took the stovepipe down and broke it.
The directors, hearing of what had hap-
pened, opened the door and mended the
stovepipe, and now Stayer is still holding the
fort. The directors are in a quandary.