BY P. GRAY MEEK.
ev
Ink Slings.
—The thirteen Bangs onto QUAY with
terrifically bad portent. =
—The QUAY frost at Harrisburg has
evidently penetrated to all parts of the
State.
— Thermometers went away down
yesterday, but they sold at the same old
price.
—FEvery minute you live is a minute
gone—irretrievably lost. ‘Remember that
vou waste not a minute of your life.
—The latest reports are to the effect that
the Filipinos are suing for peace. Ques-
tion : Do the Filipinos know what peace
—Two thousand dead Filipinos are a
poor recompense for the fifty American
boys who lost their lives in Sunday’ s battle
at Manila.
—-In one way the QUAY fight isa bless-
ing in disguise. The fewer laws a Republi-
can Legislature, such as the present one is,
passes the better off the State will be.
—The peace treaty was ratified on Mon-
day by the Senate, but that is no assurance
that we are going to have peace. From the
looks of things at Manila the trouble has
only begun. :
—The National steel trust has been form-
ed with a capital of four hundred million
dollars. Oh, my, how significant that
word steel sounds in connection with a
trust.
—The McCARRELL bill is up against the
real thing now. It failed to pass first read-
ing in the House Monday night and the
Qu AY-ites have about abandoned bope of
passing the bill.
—The policy that prompts county offi-
cials to pay interest on borrowed money;
when they have more than the amount
borrowed in the treasury, is not one that
the tax payers of Centre county will be
able to see much in for themselves.
—It might be well to see, on the 21st,
whether or not some of the old incumbents
have grown fast to offices in Bellefonte.
A shaking-up helps everything once in a
while.
—The West Virginia girl who wrote to
Senator-elect CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, offer-
ing to send him a fine bull pup, provided
he pay the freight, must have thought that
CHAUNCEY was some relation to JONES,
that other New Yorker who ‘pays the
freight.”
_—1In the valley of the Lebanon, whence
the ancient cedar didn’t come, they got
after MATTHEW STANLEY, and got him ob
the run. He's not a quitter, nora lobster,
nor a ringer, nor a skate, but he’s a dead
one; don’t forget it, that’s a tip that’s on
the straight.
—And we are to pay two dollars a head
for such creatures as Ygorotes who try to
defeat men armed with gatling guns with’
bows and arrows. They displayed won-
derful nerve, but we have no use for them,
unless uncle SAM contemplates going into
the dime museum business.
—The fellow who sold arms to the Fili-
pinos has turned out to be an American
citizen, and not the German consul af
Hong Kong, as was first reported. The
sale was merely a business speculation
made before the Filipinos were at war with
the United States and there can be no cen-
sure attached to his actions.
—Oh, its a great policy, this one of ex-
pansion that says we must bave Hawaii,
Porto Rico and the Philippines over which
to let our industries spread. Why don’t
they spread around a little at home. We
are raising cotton here and the English,
French, and Germans buy it, carry it away
across the Atlantic, manufacture it into
fabrics, carry it back and sell it on the
very ground that grew it.
—If QUAY could only get the same grip
on the political atmosphere about Harris-
burg that the ground hog has on the weath-
er about here he could soon freeze the op-
position stiff. But such a condition will
hardly obtain. In fact it is quite the re-
verse, the fight against the old man is so
hot that it would not be surprising to hear
that he is wearing crash trousers and car-
rying a palm leaf fan.
—K1pPLING did well to name the Fili-
pinos the ‘‘White Man’s Burden.”” A bur-
den they are and a burden they will be un-
til GABRIEL toots his horn. Of what avail
will a civilization that has to be punched
down their throats at the point of a bayo-
‘net be to them. Missionary soup will be
the epicurean dish in the Philippines for
years to come, notwithstanding our taking
up the “White Man’s Burden.”’ :
—The Philadelphia Press is of the opin-
ion that the members of the Legislature
from Lebanon county should resign. It
bases its opinion on the recent expression of
the people of that county that was so mani- |
festly against QUAY, who is being sup-
ported by the two Members previously
elected. Messrs. ZERBE and MEYER were
elected by : the people of Lebanon county
and if the people have changed their minds
there is nothing in that to prompt the Leg-
islators to do the same thing. ZERBE and
MEYER are not to blame. The voters of
Lebanon’ county made the mistake of dis-
covering that QUAY is not a fit man for
United States Senator too late. If they
had taken good Democratic advise they
would have known that years ago.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. FEBRUARY 10, 1899.
NO. 6.
Worse Than a Barren Victory.
After all it is a question now if it would
not have been better if DEWEY had brought
his squadron straight home into American
waters, when ordered out of Hong Kong,
than to have entered Manila bay and
saddled the troubles ‘of ‘the Philippine
islands upon ‘this country. His was a
great victory; a glorious showing of Ameri-
can courage and American manhood; a
never to be forgotten exhibition of the
valor and patriotism and skill of the Amer-
ican navy; but as the glory grows older
and the patriotism fails to enthuse, we be-
gin to wonder what we won and what was
the excuse, necessity or incentive for win-
ning it:
It is certain that if we had never had
anything to do with the Philippine islands
we would be better off to-day than we are.
The “troublesome questions that now face
us and must be met would not be upon us.
The expensive and probably never ending
campaign that must be organized and
maintained, if we are to see a stable gov-
ernment permanently established over the
ignorant and law-defying people who in-
habit them, would not be the discouraging
prospect that now stares us in the face.
The lives of the brave men who have gone
down to their deaths following the flag in
that inhospitable climate would not be
chargeable to our greed for glory. The
millions upon millions of dollars that have
already been expended; the $20,000,000
more that have been promised Spain as a
peace offering, and the hundreds of mil-
lions additional that must go in the effort
to establish and enforce our authority and
rights in those far away islands, would all
have been saved. *
It was not necessary to take Manila to
save the starving and oppressed reconcen-
trados of Cuba. The victory of Manila
bay and Cavite in no way assisted in
shortening or lessening the hardships,
the relief of the oppressed Cubans. In fact
they contributed nothing to its success.
They gave us confidence in the valor of our
navy and evidence of the skill and 'intre-
pidity of its commanders, and when we
add to these the excuse they gave us for
self gratification, we have covered every
actual benefit that the occupation ‘of Ma
| nila andthe destruction of thei rotten: fleet
that was expected to protect it brought:
There may have been glory in the cam-
paign in the far east, but as we are begin-
ning to find out, that is about all we won.
"We are now but a few months away from
it and already we can realize its utter use-
lessness, how little it had to do with that
which we started out to accomplish, how
easily we could have won all we expected,
or thought of winning, even if we had had
no fleet in Asiatic waters. And then when
we face the facts and understand how little
we will have when we get all that we de-
mand, and are hotest enough to recognize
the seriousness of the trouble we are al-
ready wrangling over. and the others that
will have to be met in‘the future, in conse-
sequence of our ‘victory’ in Manila bay.
It looks very much as if its results would
prove. but ‘‘dead sea fruit,’ the ashes of
which are already gathering upon our iii)
glorifying lips.
> [Juay’s Trial for Conspiracy.
The. QuAY trial has been postponed fora
week and is now scheduled for February
27th, instead of the 20th, as fixed by the
district attorney of Philadelphia. The
reasons given by the judge who acted in
the matter on his own motion, is that there
are two holidays during the week begin-
ning Feb. 20th. the election occurring on
the 21st and the anniversary of Washing-
ton’s birth on the 22nd. If the trial was
begun on the 20th, therefore, the jury
would be kept through two’ days in idle-
ness which would be a needless hardship.
The reasons for the postponement are, there-
fore, valid and adequate.
But it may. be said that nobody expected
the trial to begin on the 20th and scarcely
anyone thinks it will be called on the day
that case be brought to trial until after the
McCARRELL bill has become a law, and
maybe not then. In saying this we are
not to be construed as questioning the in-
tegrity of the distriet attorney. We be-
ious to begin the trial but to procure ex-
act justice between the Commonwealth and
the defendant. But Mr. QUAY is not will-
ing to come to trial and so long as his asso-
ciate in one of the indictments and his most
important witness in the others is unable
to attend the court he will be able to put
off the case.
Those who expect the trial and acquittal
of Mr. QUAY to solve the senatorial dead-
lock, therefore, may or will dismissall such
hopes. QUAY. wants to be elected Senator
now in order that a renewal of his lease on
so important a public office will aid him in
his ambition not to get an acquittal but to
evade a trial. The postponement of his
case for a week took some ‘people by sur-
prise. The postponement indefinitely
would hardly surprise those Who are: Bester
informed. on the:subject.
dangers ‘or cost of the war we started for
now fixed. Under no circumstance will |’
lieve that Mr. ROTHERMEL is not only anx- |
Legalizing Padded Pay Rolls.
There is not much prospect that reform
will cut any particular figure during the
present session of the Legislature. It was
hoped that extravagance, about the Hill ab
Harrisburg, had reached high water mark
when the padded pay rolls and indemnity
bonds of 1897 were resorted to, but it is begin-
ning to look as if what was then attempted
to be accomplished by stealth and in defi-
ance of law, will find enough of friends in
the present Republican Legislature to per-
petuate the useless places then made, and
legalize the steals secured through. them.
Already a bill increasing the number of
offices and employees connected with the
Legislature has been formulated by the
Republican state committee and presented
to the House. It adds to the number of
clerks, officers and employees in the Sen-
ate, seventeen, and to those of the House,
sixteen; while seven additional places are
created about the public buildings and in
the Lieut. Governor’s office. In all, forty
new positions are to be provided at an ex-
pense, to the tax payers, of two hundred and
seventy-five dollars per day, during the ses-
sion of the Legislature.
The uselessness of these positions and
the audacity of the proposition to add this
additional burden to the load already born
by the people, for the benefit of hangers on
to the Republican machine, will be better
understood and appreciated when the
number of officials proposed by this bill is
compared with the number who, years ago,
did the same and more work,
Under the old constitution, when both
local and special legislation was rail-roaded
through in such quantities that the ‘‘Acts
of Assembly,”’ for each session, filled from
twelve hundred to two thousand pages of
our law books, it required but eighteen
clerks, all told, to do the work in both Sen-
ate and House. Now, with fhe clerical
‘work reduced to about one-fourth, by the
prohibition of both local and special legis-
lation, and with twenty-one clerks already
provided to do this work, it is proposed to
add to this twelve additional clerks at sal-
aries of $7.00 per day each. With no more
duties for sergeants-at-arms, janitors and
watchmen to perform than were necessary
in 1872, when nineteen men were able to
serve both houses of the Legislature and
forty-employees are now paid for perform-
ing the duties pertaining to their places, it
is proposed to crowd eleven more political
heelers on the pay rolls at an expense
of $6.00 per day for each man. And so
with other positions, each one of which is
now crowded with men who have nothing
to do, new names are to be added until the
whole number of employees, directly con-
nected with the Legislature is increased
from 112 to 152, and the tax payers
mulcted to the amount of $275 per day
additional to the enormous sums now paid
for the performance of duties that one-half
the number of men already provided would
easily attend to.
The brazenness of the purpose to enlarge
the already over-loaded list of employees
about the Legislature and the audacity of
the steal contemplated will be more ap-
parent when the number of paid employees
contemplated in the bill presented, is con-
sidered in connection with the number who
performed all the duties now required, dur-
ing the session of 1883. The comparison
will also show the difference between Dem-
ocratic economy and Republican extrava-
gance. During that year the House was
under the control of the Democrats. The
duties now to be performed by officers and
employees are precisely the same as then—
no more, no less. And yet the proposition
presented by the QUAY managers, to make
places for his henchmen at the expense of
the taxpayers, will more than double the
number of employees then found neces-
sary.
The figures given show the number of
¢lerks and employees required in 1883,
when Democrats organized the House, and
the number the Republicans claim they
must have now to perform the same
‘duties.
Chief clerk..
Resident cle
5
8
1899
Reading clerk.
Journal elerk..
Message clerk.....
Speaker’s clerk..
Bill elerk...............
Transcribing clerk
Committee clerks
Property clerk
Post masters...
Sg’t- at-arms.....
Door keepers..
Messengers...
{anjtors rteeats
Sd pd Bd pd pd pd pd
CHOIR WING DIDS pt pd
bh DCT DLO
=
Total...oiinimiiing in, 29 60
It is possible that enacting this kind of a
steal into law may prevent the necessity
hereafter of resorting to padded ‘pay rolls,
but all the same the passage of the bill in
question. will be nothing ‘more ‘or nothing
less than legalizing robbery.
. ——Howard B. Hartswick, of Clearfield,
a nephew of Henry B. Hartswick, of Fer-
guson township, this county, has been re-
appointed to the position of assistant state
librarian. It is an $1,800 a year berth that
former Governor Hastings gave him, but
‘Howard was a Quay man and thus holds
‘on for four years nrore: 3
4
Concerning the Senatorial Deadlock.
Congressman SIBLEY offers a curious but
characteristic plan for solving the Sena-
torial problem. He would give the in-
dependent Republicans the choice of sev-
eral Democrats of high character and emi-
nent fitness and if they failed to accept a
choice he would then have all Democratic
Senators and Representatives in the Legis-
lature refrain from further participation in
the joint convention, thus leaving the reg-
ular and independent Republicans to fight
the battle to a finish among themselves.
This plan might or might not serve the
purpose. That is to say undersuch circam-
stances the independent Republicans might
go into the fight alone and accept the
trouncing that would he promptly ad min-
istered to them. If they didn’t the prob-
lem would remain unsolved and if they did
it is not easy to see how the Democrats
would escape a share of the moral responsi-
bility for the re-election of QUAY. In any
event the plan is impracticable.
But why should the Democrats of the
General Assembly shirk their official duty
in order to hasten the election of Senator
QUAY or some one of his own selection to
succeed him? It is said truly and justly
that the prolonged senatorial contest is not
only delaying but actually demoralizing the
legitimate business of the Legislature. One-
third of the session, as fixed by the Repub-
lican caucus at the outset, has passed and
practically nothing has been done, it is
alleged, and while the fight continues there
is little hope of improvement in the future.
Granting that, what have the Democrats to
do with the matter? That party is in the
minority in both branches and. are respon-
sible to the people neither for the passage
or failure to pass of any measures that are
brought before the body for consideration.
That is the burden of the majority. It is
one of the proper penalties of party suc-
cess. All that the Democrats are expected
to do is to exert their best efforts to pre-
vent vicious legislation and so long as no
legislation is being enacted they are ac-
complishing that result.
Beside the Democrats are not responsible,
directly or indirectly, for the creation or
continuance of the senatorial deadlock.
They bave simply fulfilled their duty as
f representatives of the Democratic people in
the Legislature. That is tosay, there being
a Senator to elect they have placed in nom-
ination for the office an eminent and worthy
member of the party and voted for him.
If they bad a majority in the joint conven-
tion, they would have elected him on the
first joint ballot. Not having a majori-
ty they have done the next best thing,
that is, they have voted for him con-
stantly and consistently at every ballot.
Moreover the deadlock is not between the
Democrats and the Republicans. It is be-
tween the opposing factions of the Repub-
lican party and if it is operating to the det-
riment of the public interests of the peo-
ple it is their fault. In the face of these
facts it is the manifest duty of the Demo-
crats in the General Assembly to continue in
the course they have hitherto pursued.
They have presented to the members of the
joint convention an admirable candidate
and if either or both factions of the Re-
publican party desire to end the deadlock
they can do so by voting for GEORGE A.
JENKS, without prejudice to the moral or
public interests of the State.
This is and must remain the situa-
tion until the independent Republicans
unite upon and present a candidate who
will be acceptable to the Democratic
Members and the constituencies they rep-
resent, or until Mr. QUAY is withdrawn
and the party whose division are responsi-
ble for the deadlock, bury their difference
and elect a Senator. The Democrats could
not break the deadlock if they would.
The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Few of the great metropolitan dailies
have ever held a position similar to that in
which the Philadelphia Inquirer finds itself
to-day. Among all the more important
Republican papers in the State it was alone
in its support of Governor STONE'S candi-
dacy last fall, consequently it should be
the one organ having weight with the pres-
ent administration.
Aside from the fact of its having the
rightful claim to be the official organ of the
Republican party in Pennsylvania the In-
quirer has many other features that com-
mand for it a position of prominence among
the large dailies. Its foreign and local
newsservice is splendidly organized. Hap-
penings ‘all over the world are handled
fully and with dispatch so that the Inquirer
is never behind—frequently in front of the
van.
It was the first Philadelphia paper to
penetrate this portion of the State by. nine
o'clock in the morning and for that good
work, alone, it deserves the popularity it
has up this way.
—— Mrs. Julia Dent Grant, widow of
old, and having grown quite feeble, rarely
leaves her Washington home. Her sight
is rapidly failing. : :
General Grant, is now more than 70 years |
The Beginning.
Trusts, monopolies, corporations and all
the long, long list of labor grinders and
poormen oppressors, whose greed for gain
outweighs every instinct of humanity can
feel secure hereafter. They will have no
need to feel the uprising of starving work-
ingmen. No dread of strikes among half-
starved and poorly housed laborers. No
worrying about forcing men to work at
sich wages as avarice may dictate or self-
ish greed demand.
Throngh the ratification. of - the peace
treaty, they have secured that’ for which
they have looked and longed for years—
the necessity and excuse for an immense
standing army. This must come. now.
Conditions demand it, and when it comes,
look out for the policeing of every densely
populated district, every labor centre in
the country, with United States troops.
The rule of the army has been given
birth to. An excuse for bayonets, backed
by men whose duty it will be to obey
orders, has been made. The opportunity
to use them to ‘‘enforce order and protect
the interests’’ of the powers that make and
unmake Presidents and Congressmen
will not be overlooked. The greed of cor-
porate monopoly and the demands of
grasping capital, lose no opportunities
that present themselves.
Necessity now requires that the army be
enlarged. Their necessities will demand
its use. It will be used. God help the
laboring people.
Yes, Get the Trolley Car After Them.
From the Lancaster Intelligencer.
The military situation at Manila may
not be so cheerful as it appears to be for
the whole island of Luzon must now be
om quered :
Although General Otis has a force of
more than twenty thousand men under his
command, and some five thousand on the
way to reinforce them, his greatest advan-
tage over the natives lies not in the nu-
merical strength or even in the superior
equipment and efficiency of his troops, but
in the control of the sea by our fleet, which
is very much more thorough than that
which enabled Spain’s enfeebled armies to
successively crush many desperate upris-
in
The difficulties will be multiplied when
it becomes necessary for our army to pene-
trate the interior,” where the unopposed
travelers have reported most diffiealt pro-
gress, and where a hostile 2 population might,
be ‘very hard to deal wit But we have
dealt with North American Indians and
should have no great trouble in dealing
with the usually mild and tractable Fili-
pinos. The difficulties, of the interior of
Luzon may be solved by quick road ‘and
bridge building, followed by the iron liorse
and the deadly trolley: car.
2
John Morley Saw it in its True Lighs,
From the Altoona Times.
There are words that should be carefully
considered: ‘Imperialism brings with it
militarism, and militarism means the .pro-
fusion of the taxpayer’s money everywhere
except in the taxpayer’s own home.” So
spoke John Morley, the eminent British
politician. = They constitute part of an ad-
dress which he delivered to
Liberals. Mr. Morley is a man of con-
siderable learning and experience. He has
been a minister in the British cabinet.
When ‘he talks about imperialism and
militarism he knows whereof he. speaks.
This is the testimony that he furnishes to
the Scotch Liberals and the world on these
subjects. .. Who will be found to question
its correctness? Our expansionists might
well ponder over these words of John Mor-
ley and consider what their policy, if
adopted and persevered in, would carry us
to in the future. They are as applicable
to the case of the American expansionist as
for the imperialist in Great Britain. Still;
the expansionists are in no frame of mind
to listen to the words of sound and sober
reasoning.
The Sooner the Better.
From the Lancaster Intelligencer.
We suddenly find ourselves in the posi-
tion which was so uncomfortably held by
Spain with regard to fillibusters and the
furnishing of arms to insurgent islanders.
The Washington advices charging Germans
with the shipment of arms to Filipinos,
and pointing out the ‘prospect of like
shipments from various perts of the Asian
coast, serve to remind us of the precedent
amply afforded by ourselves in our strenu-
ous efforts to prevent the sendingof war
material to Caba.
We had better wind hpi ‘that Philippine
war rapidly.
Eagan’s Sentence.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7.—The President
to-day caused to he promulgated the sen-
tence in the case of General Charles P.
Eagan. The court martial sentence was
dismissal from the army and the President
has commuted this to six years suspension
from duty which covers the remainder of
the time prior to General Eagan’s retire-
ment in January, 1905.
It was stated by the Adjutant General
that General Eagan’s suspension carried
him to within a few days of his retirement
under the age limit. He will be reinstated
in time to retire with the regular rank and
pay provided in such cases.
The sentence of suspension according to
the legal officers of the department does not
deprive General Eagan of any part of his
pay, but as the sentence reads ‘‘without
rank and duty’”’ he loses his allowances,
which include commutation of quarters,
rations and fuel and his horse - allowances.
This is quite a large financial item.
——Subsecribe for: the WATCHMAN. «-
the Scotch
Spawls from the Keystone.
—The B. C. R. R. sent out seventeen trains
in twelve hourson Thursday last, the largest
number in any one day since the existence of
that road.
—Mother Mary Elizabeth Strange, founder
of the Hollidaysburg Convent, who is said to
be the oldest Sister of Mercy in this country,
is'dying at St. Xavier's Academy, near La-
trobe.
—It is stated that there is a movement on
the go to combine all the cut nail factories,
which, if successful, will have a tendency to
shut up the nail factories on the West Branch,
which would have a very harmful effect.
—Mrs. Sarah Weeks, widow of Jesse
Weeks, died near Watsontown Sunday, she
having refused to permit an abdominal tu-
mor to be removed. At the autopsy after
death, the tumor was removed. It weighed
28 pounds.
—Edward Carter, of Lock Haven, is a
member of the First Colorado regiment,
which regiment took an active partin the
battle at Manila. Fortunately Mr. Carter's
name does not appear among the lists of
killed or wounded.
—The number of logs as rafted out of the
Susquehanna boom at Williamsport in 1898
was 130,000,000 feet as against 110,000,000
feet in 1887, a gain of 20,000,000 for the year.
It is estimated that 110,000,000 of logs will be
put in this winter and will be brought down
on the floods this spring.
—The Godcharles Nail company has de-
cided to rebuild their plant, which was re-
cently destroyed by fire at Milton. The firm
has also purchased the Lewisburg nail works
and will add the same to their plant at Mil-
ton. The Milton council has agreed to ex-
empt the company from local taxes for five
years.
—Several days ago 4 year old Helen,
daughter of Jacob P. Wenner of Wenner,
Bastress township, Lycoming county, was
playing around the stove during her
mother’s absence. Her clothing caught fire
and the child’s screams summoned the
mother to her side. The child was nearly
burned to a crisp. She lived a short time.
—Thomas Clinton, who was sentenced from
Clinton county over two years ago for re-
ceiving stolen goods, was released from the
western penitentiary January 26th, Fri-
day, he was sent to the city home, Mar-
shallsea, near Pittsburg, he having consump-
tion in its advanced stage. Clinton claims
that his former home was in New York.
—The agent of a big lumber concern in
Germany is again in this State buying up
large quantities of walnut trees for shipment
to his country. An Ohio agent is purchasing
walnut lumber in the lower end of the
county for shipment to England. In the
past few years eastern Pennsylvania farmers
have been paid $75,000 for walnut trees sent
to foreign countries.
—C. W. Lingle and H. R. Downes, both of
Philipsburg, have gone to Williamsport.
These gentlemen are engaged in securing the
right of way from property owners along the
route of the proposed West Branch railread.
Both gentlemen state that no serious obsta-
cles have been encountered, and ere long the
right of way along the entire line will have
been’ secured.
« —The first move towards the abandonment
of the Pennsylvania canal, between Newton
t Hamilton and Clark!s Ferry, was made in
the Legislature several days ago, when Mr.
Fow, of Philadelphia, read a bill in place au-
thorizing its abandonment. There is little
doubt but. that it will go through and receive
the signature of the governor, then good bye
to the ditch and the cheerful sound of the
boatman’s horn.
—A sad affliction has recently come to the
home of Jacob Garber, a farmer living near
Stumptown, a small village on the public
road leading from Osceolo to Philipsburg.
Three of his children, Sarah, a bright girl of
sixteen, Lavada, almost five and Ida May
aged two years, have died within the past
ten days of malignant diphtheria. Two
others arc prostrated with the same dread
disease but hopes are entertained for their
recovery.
—1¢t is stated that the new silk mill is now
practically assured for Muncy. The pro-
moters of the concern asked that the ground
be donated to them and that a loan of $10,000
be made, secured by first mortgage. This
money will be used in erecting the buildings
and equipping the plant. One man it is
learned, has offered sufficient and suitable
ground and has also stated that he has $5,000
of the $10,000 wanted. The balance of the
loan will no doubt be placed.
—Valentine Pfirman, of Nisbet, has been
held for a hearing by a Williamsport alder-
man on the charge of attempting to poison
his wife. Mrs. Pfirman alleges that her hus-
band has made several attempts to end her
life during the last two years and that re-
cently he put poison in the coffee pot. His
efforts to make her drink the coffee aroused
her suspicions, whereupon she urged him to
drink of the coffee first. This he refused to
do.
—The citizens of Farrandsville made a
great capture of fish Saturday. Some time
| during the morning a school of the finny
tribe made their way to a pool at the mouth
of the creek, which empties into the river at
that point. The ice was very clear and the
fish huddled together, could be seen distinct-
ly through the ice. By pounding on the
ice the fish were driven towards an opening,
where they were scooped up in large quanti-
‘ties. It is estimated that about 3,000 fish
were caught. They ranged mn size from six
to ten inches.
—Postmaster A. L. Otto and fifteen citi
zens of Herndon, a village below Sunbury,
have been arrested on the charge of using
the mails for fraudulent purposes, and were
given a hearing before U. S. Commissioner
Bently, of Williamsport Tuesday. The ac-
cused citizens some time ago organized the
Herndon supply company. In its advertise-
ments it agreed to send, for the small sum of
_ten cents, ten yards of silk in ten different
pieces and colors. Then, when some bargain
hunter would remit ten cents to the com-
pany, the custoiner would receive by return
mail ten pieces of different colored silk
thread, each one yard long. The business
became so great at the ITerndon office that
the post office officials became suspicious, and
set a detective to work on the case. When
he ascertained the cause, he ordered the ar-
‘vest of the citizens who have been held over
' 4 for trial at the U. S. court.
4
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