BY P. GRAY MEEK.
Ink Slings.
—Methinks nature has still a little snow
up her sleeve.
—At last the ‘‘old man’’ stands before
Justice. What will the harvest be?
—As the good book assures us that an
ever considerate Providence tempers the
winds to the shorn lambs, about the most
balmy atmosphere to be found on this green
earth must be sighing listlessly along Wall
street these days.
—The only trust that the people have
nothing to fear from is trust in God. Would
that there were more of it and less of the
great combinations of wind and capital
that are so certain to destroy honest busi-
ness and honest people.
—The attempt of the New York investi-
gation committee to find out how boss
CROKER made his money will be very apt
to terminate in failure. He wasn’t born
rich, so there are two conclusions confront-
ing everyone; he either acquired riches or
had them thrust upon him.
—Now that the exchange of peace treat-
ies has been made we are supposed to be
good friends with Spain again. It is the
kind of friendship, however, that two
pugilists express for each other in the
hand shake that follows a bout in which
one of them has been knocked out.
—Far sighted glasses will be in demand
at the state capitol, now that the QUAY
trial is in progress at Philadelphia. The
term is so near at an end that the Members
and Senators have tostick to their desks,
but they will have their weather eyes to-
wards the Quaker city all the same.
—Secretary of War ALGER has announced
that he went into the President’s cabinet
to stay four years and he will stick to it.
How considerate he is. It would be such
a pity if he were to desert the President
now, when such a really competent man as
he is is needed in the cabinet, we don’t
think.
—JAMES KNOCKED-oUT CORBETT,
pugilist, actor, blatherskite, has decided
to give up all his past employments and go
into the irrigation business. All of the
irrigating will be done through the alimen-
tary canal and he will doubtless keep all
the human clay that lines up to his bar
flooded constantly.
—The report that Gen’l Roy STONE
has made to the effect that in Puerto Rico
people are starving and products are going
to waste because they cannot adapt them-
selves to the new order of things follows so
closely upon the one from that island in
which it was triumphantly announced that
a Republican party had been organized that
we cannot escape connecting the one with
the other as a natural sequence.
—The Kansas girls, who have been serv-
ing with the 20th Kansas volunteers all
through the Philippine war, passing cart-
ridges to them in the trenches and tender-
ly nursing them when wounded, have been
making history of which their State will be
proud. The Kansas boys and the Kansas
girls are happily showing no inclination to
follow in the foot steps of such blather-
skites as old bloody bridles WAITE and sis-
ter MARY ELLEN LEASE.
—Now that the army contractors have
worked off all the job-lot brown overalls
they were able to secure, under the more
pretentious name of Khaki uniforms, the
inspector general has condemned them as
unfit for soldier dress in tropical countries
and recommends linens, such as are worn
by Spanish soldiers. It is to be inferred
that the makers of the white trousers that
flunked so disastrously on the market two
summers ago have gotten a pull and are go-
ing to put in their shelf-worn trash at gov-
ernment prices.
—It is just as well that the American
Philippine commission stated at the outset
that the object of our ‘government is to
ELEVATE the Filipinos,” for if it hadn’t
been done the world might not have known
that the thousands of blacks who are being
shot down every day have all been given
Uncle SAM’S pass-port to Heaven. You
know he has a dead cinch on the golden
stairs, by virtue of this glorious war that
he is carrying on for christianity and civil-
ization and it is to be supposed that; hav-
ing evangelized Cuba and Puerto Rico with
gospel dipped bullets, the matter of a few
more dusky winged angels from the Phil-
ippines will not use up all the transporta-
tion over his air line to Heaven.
—Rev. WiLsoN CARLISLE, the sensa-
tional London divine, has delivered him-
self of a very uncomplimentary disserta-
tion on the American slavishness to dollars.
While the confession that wealth takes
precedence over intelligence, morality or
business acumen in our country should
bring blushes to our cheeks England is the
last source under the sun from which the
finger of scorn should be pointed. What
bought the title which MARY LEITER has
as wife of the Viceroy of India, the most ex-
alted position in all the British Empire,
next to that occupied by VICTORIA, her-
self; what bought the title of Duchess of
Marlborough; what bought the rank of
Lady RANDOLPH CHURCHILL, if not
American dollars? Since the proud but
petered out nobility of England has bent its
effete neck to the American dollar is it any
more to be wondered at that toadyism to
wealth should make our people forget all
else that is good and noble.
VOL. 44
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEF
ONTE, PA., APRIL 14, 1899. NO. 15
An Unavailing Complaint.
The esteemed Philadelphia Press declares
its disappointment in and dissatisfaction
with the Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives in Harrisburg, Hon. JOHN R.
FARR, in very emphatic language, in a recent
issue. ‘At the very outset,’’ observes the
Press, ‘Speaker FARR, instigated by a vic-
ious influence, abused the great responsi-
bility that had been put upon him and
misused his official authority to name a
committee which was intended to cover up
and not expose corruption.’”” It was in
connection with the bribery investigation
now in progress that this language was em-
ployed. Mr. FARR has not done what the
Press expected him to do with respect to
that matter which is a pet affair of our es-
teemed contemporary. Maybe what is said
is true. We have ourselves had some
doubts of the sincerity of the Speaker in
his professions of sympathy with the move-
ment for reform, and it will be remember-
ed that when the committee was appointed
we suggested that there was something like
inconsistency in appointing gentlemen to
make an investigation who were opposed
to exposures of any kind. But we protest
that complaint against Speaker FARR
doesn’t fit in the mouth of the Philadelphia
Press.
When the Legislature met for organiza-
tion in January last the seventy-four Dem-
ocratic Members of the House made tender
of their votes and help in the organization
toward the election of a Speaker whose
character would serve as a guarantee
against such outrages against integrity and
decency as those of which the Press com-
plains now. The proposition was to elect
a gentleman to the important and influen-
tial office of Speaker who, though a Repub-
lican in politics, would use the powers of
the office only for the public good. Asan
evidence of good faith these seventy-four
Democratic Members asked no pledge of
faith or promise of recompense for their
service in reforming the Republican party
in the Legislature. Gen. KOONTZ, it was
reasoned, would be just to the Democrats
because he would be loyal to the State and
faithful to his obligations to the constitu-
tion and the law, and that was all that was
expected or desired. But the Republican
people and press of the State refused to en-
tertain the proposition. Such Republican
reformeis as Senator FLINN, of Pittsburg,
and Senator MARTIN, of Philadelphia, pre-
ferred a reformer of their own selection and
they nominated and elected Mr. FARR.
He disappointed them, it is true, but that
is only an accident of conditions. If QUAY
had been defeated and driven out of power
as they promised he would be ‘‘within a
week’’ after the balloting for Senator be-
gan, Mr. FARR would probably have been
with them in every plan they have pro-
posed since.
The truth of the matter is that even the
reform Republicans, with rare exceptions,
don’t want reform. They are against QUAY
because he doesn’t divide the spoils of
party victory with them according to their
ideas of fairness, but that is as far as their
notions of reform go. FLINN and MARTIN
and others of their kind wanted a man for
Speaker of the Gen. KoONTZ type no more
than QUAY and ANDREWS and DURHAM
wanted that sort of a man. Both factions
of the Republican party were anxious to
put a weak man in the chair, who could be
used by whichever faction came out on top,
and each accepted FARR, because they
thought they were cheating the other. It
turns out that QUAY got the oyster and the
reformers the shell in the matter of the
speakership and it would be more manly,
if not more honest, for those who were hoo-
dooed to accept their disappointment more
philosophically.. It isa case of ‘‘diamond
cut diamond’ and the bogus reformers,
represented by the Philadelphia Press, will
not secure much public sympathy by cry-
ing over their disappointment in Speaker
FARR, the thinly gilded gold brick by
which they duped themselves.
——The government, which really means
President McKINLEY, has rightly declined
to grant the application for the temporary
release of Admiral DEWEY, in order that
he might enjoy the welcome that would be
accorded him on such a premature home-
coming. The welcome will be all the more
cordial when the natural order of events
finds the new Admiral once more in Amer-
ican waters, so why rob it of its genuine-
ness by calling him home before he has
finished his work. Then too, there is that
other reason, which the President probably
never thought of, DEWEY might become a
presidential candidate if he comes home
and finds out what a great man he has be-
come in the public eye.
——Governor STONE, on Monday, vetoed
the first measures since he has been in
office. They were House bills extending
the duration of the lien of the debts of a
decedent upon real estate to five years and
to protect the public from the unlawful use
of bottles, jars, vessels and other packages
in the sale of milk and cream and their
products.
President McKinley’s Public Record.
President MCKINLEY is preparing to
make an extended trip westward during
the coming summer, and if his present
plans are carried out he will visit the Yel-
lowstone Park and other far away points of
interest in the remote sections of the coun-
try. It has been the custom for Presidents
to ‘‘round the circuit’ during the summer
following their mid-term, and it has come
to be regarded as the beginning of the cam-
paign for re-election. But in the present
instance it is not the beginning of the cam-
paign. Itis the continuation of a canvass
which began almost simultaneously with
the announcement of the result of the last
presidential vote. Other Presidents have
been quick enough and assiduous ‘‘a-
plenty.” But McKINLEY has beaten all
records. Circumstances almost justify the
impression that he was scheming for the
second election before he was certain of
the first.
In some other respects President Mc-
KINLEY has achieved the questionable dis-
tinction of making new records and raising
unknown standards. It will be remember-
ed that the Spanish Minister at Washing-
ton in service at the time the present ad-
ministration came into power, was prac-
tically dismissed from the capital because
in a letter he had expressed doubts of Mc-
KINLEY’S sincerity in certain matters and
questioned his candor. Yet an impartial
review of the public events since the Fourth
of March, 1897, force the conclusion that
DELOME was more accurate than diplo-
matic in his expression. That is to say the
records show unmistakably that the Presi-
dent has been either lacking in candor or
else he has been woefully vacillating in
various matters, to speak mildly. For ex-
ample he has pretended that he had no
sympathy with the Imperialists, and actu-
ally, by implication, asked the confidence
and support of those who are opposed to
that dangerous, not to say nefarious, policy.
But in every possible way he has himself
given aid and assistance to the Imperial-
ists, and to promote their plans he has not
hesitated to violate the constitution and
pervert the laws of the land.
It has become the custom to speak of
MCcKINLEY’S faults with bated breath, and
indulge him in his fancies as if there was
something in the nature of “les majestie’’
in holding bim to account as other Presi-
dents and public officials have been and are
held. Maybe there was wisdom, if not
reason, in this while the war with a foreign
foe was on. But the conditions are alter-
ed now and we can see no reason why he
should not be criticised, when he deserves
criticism, as WASHINGTON, J ACKSON,
LINCOLN and GRANT were. Under that
honest and earnest conviction we have no
hesitancy in saying now, in the light of
the facts which have been developed before,
during and since the war, that this country
has never in its history had a President
who paid as little regard to the obligations
of patriotism, of truth and integrity as
WILLIAM MCKINLEY. His administra-
tion has been from the beginning one of
political intrigue, and a foil for conduct
that would not have been tolerated by any
of his predecessors in office.
i ——————
Perplexing Conditions in the Senator-
ship.
The senatorial situation at Harrisburg,
continues to perplex the public. That is
to say the balloting continues from day to
day without material change, and though
there are plenty of rumors of impending
events, they fail to materialize. This, in
itself, is neither surprising nor altogether
bewildering, for politics have always been
an uncertain quantity. But the fact is
that no man can tell one day what turn af-
fairs may take the next, and that is the as-
tonishing thing about the present sena-
torial contest.
For more than two weeks there have
been rumors current that Senator MAGEE,
of Pittsburg, intends to withdraw his sup-
port from QUAY and any time within that
period there have been close friends of the
Pittshurg leader ready to bet any amount
of money that he would be elected Senator
in Congress before the end of the session.
Yet as a matter of fact the leaders of the
‘‘insurgents’’ are ready to swear that
under no circumstance will any consid-
erable portion of that contingent vote
for MAGEE, while the QUAY leaders
protest that they will everlastingly be be-
switched if they ever leave the ‘old man’’
to go to the support of a man who has been
manifestly treacherous to their chief from
the beginning, as they allege that MAGEE
has been.
Meantime we are within a week of the end
of the session and there are no signs of a
change in conditions that are discernible by
the naked eye. The Democrats are assolid
in the support of their admirable candidate
as they were in the beginning, the “insur-
gents?’ will accept neither QUAY nor Ma-
GEE and the QUAY followers will take no-
body but their own and only ‘‘0ld com-
mander.” Under the circumstances how
is a fellow to make any predictions? To
our mind it is utterly impossible, though
we can see how all the elements in the
contcst might promote the interests of the
State and political morals by uniting on
GEO. A JENKS for the office.
The Matter of Militarism
One of the military statisticians of the
country has been favoring the public with
some figures which show beyond doubt
that we haven’t troops enough in our regu-
lar army to serve the purposes for which
they are intended, and it is therefore the
bounden duty of Congress or some other
agency or authority to provide more with-
out delay. Previous to the beginning of
the war with Spain, this writer tells us, we
had about 25,000 men in arms to man the
forts and defend the frontiers but now,
though the army is more than twice the
strength of that time, there are only 18,000
men to perform the same duty, while the
exigencies of our foreign, or to speak more
accurately, the requirements of our colonial
affairs, may further deplete the force at
any time. In his opinion, in view of these
facts, the present army of about 62,000 men
ought to be increased to at least double
that namber.
No doubt this man 1s right. Since we
have embarked on a career of militarism
we are shamefully short of the military
force which will bring us up to the stand-
ard of Germany and Russia and France and
Great Britain and the other powers with
which we are likely at any moment to be
brought, not only in competition but in
actual conflict. Of course those countries
which have maintained large standing
armies have been growing poor while we
have been increasing in wealth with mar-
velous rapidity, but what of that? In the
matter of parade and panoply either one of
them can knock the spots off us with one
hand tied behind her back and what do
other things matter? Their people there
are tax-ridden, downtrodden and poverty
stricken, to he sure, but they have vast
armies and strut about in regimentals like
bullies in a barroom and that is the sum of
all greatness, according to the military no-
tion of things. In view of these facts there
can be no doubt of our duty in the matter.
It is to not only double but to quadruple
our military force at once; and if Congress
can’t be depended on to perform its obvious
duty in the premises there is nothing left
but for the President to take the matter
out of the hands of Congress and attend to
it himself. That would be a trifle bard on
the, constitution, but as TiM CAMPBELL
once remarked, ‘‘what’s the constitution
among friends.”
There is another way to look at the mat-
ter, to be sure, but a military statistician
could not be expected to think of it and as
our “‘manifest destiny’’ is the matter of
first consideration and highest importance,
it is just as well not to give too much at-
tention to it. But for the contemplation
of such old-fashioned fellows as have not
yet been raised up to the altitude of mili-
tarism we might mention that the trouble
could be avoided by attending to our own
business, cultivating our own soil, develop-
ing our own resources, protecting our own
property and lives, and living in the future
as we have in the past, a peaceful and
prosperous people, promoting civilization
by setting a wholesome example of in-
dustry, ingenuity and progress to the whole
world. By that policy our forefathers laid
the foundations of a prosperity which has
won not only the respect but the admira-
tion of the world, besides laying up a sup-
Ply of material resources physicial strength
and moral courage that enables us to com -
mand the respect and obedience of all the
spendthriftand dissipated powers on earth.
Under such circumstances we might dis-
charge soldiers rather than increase the
army and restore the force of our military
police to the numerical condition it was in
before the ‘‘dreams of empire” turned our
silly heads. :
There are plenty of forms of greatness
preferable to that which is achieved by
stifling the liberties and dwarfing the
productive powers of the people. A vast
army is one evidence of strength, but it is
one that leads to weakness and produces |,
poverty. The true form of greatness and
power is that which strengthens the man-
hood and promotes the self-reliance of the
people and a big standing army never has
and never can accomplish that result. Be-
cause of these indisputable facts, therefore,
we shall continue to align ourselves with
those of the people, and they will increase
in number as time moves on, who believe
in the practices and policies which have
made this country the greatest, most pros-
perous and most progressive in the world,
and its people the happiest and most en-
lightened.
——Within the past fifteen months trusts
with capital aggregating $4,185,489,000
have been formed in the United States;
more than a dollar a piece for every man,
woman and child living on the globe. The
real value of the properties of these gigantic
combinations is not more than $1,000,000,-
000, so that there is certain to be a collapse
some day and the holders of the stock will
be the sufferers. Away with a system
of government that permits such air plants
to live, parasites on legitimate business.
——You ought to take the WATCHMAN
Quay at Last Before a Jury.
The Ex-Senator Must Defend His Churacter Now or
Fall—0n Trial Alone and on Only One of the three
Counts.
Ex-United States Senator Matthew Stan-
ley Quay was, Monday, put on trial before a
jury on the charge of conspiring with Ex-
State Treasurer Benjamin F. Haywood, de-
ceased; John S. Hopkins, former cashier of
the People’s bank, deceased, and others not
named to misuse the State’s money depos-
ited in that bank.
Richard R. Quay is not yet on trial,
since he is not named in the particular bill
of indictment, No. 331, on which district
attorney Rothermel elected to begin.
There are also two other indictments
against Colonel Quay upon which he may
be tried if either a conviction or an acquit-
tal is secured on the present indictment,
but the success or failure of the Common-
wealth in securing the verdict in the in-
dictment now before the court will prob-
ably decide the fate of the other two.
TRYING ON ONE INDICTMENT.
The defense was offered the opportunity
of having the two defendants heard on all
four indictments at once, but A. S. L.
Shields, one of the defendants’ counsel, in-
sisted that the cases be tried ‘‘according to
law,’ that is on one indictment at a time.
At Mr. Shields request also it was not
made a matter of record that Ex-State
Treasurer Haywood, in the bill which the
district attorney elected, was under in-
dictment with Colonel Quay. Haywood
was alive when the bill was originally
drawn, and in it he was indicted with
Quay.
JURY SOON SELECTED.
In the selection of the jury which follow-
ed it was noticeable that district attorney
Rothermel used freely his exclusive right
to stand aside jurors, the right which
would have been curtailed and divided
equally between the prosecution and the
defense by the MecCarrell bill. He stood
aside 14 talesmen. The Commonwealth
used up 3 peremptory challenges and the
defense its full amount, 4. One talesman,
Talcott Williams, editorial writer on the
Press, was challenged ‘‘for cause,’”’ the
cause being that ‘‘openly, bitterly and in
an ugly manner’’ he had assailed the two
defendants in the editorial columns of his
paper.
The panelling of the jury was not com-
pleted until Monday afternoon, then the
State presented an outline of what it hopes
to prove.
THE PROGRESS ON TUESDAY.
On Tuesday the most important testimo-
ny was received from receiver Barlow and
ex-Judge Gordon. The chief feature of
the day was the offer by the district attor-
ney of the books of the bank and other pa-
pers as evidence for the Commonwealth.
This proposition in generally understood
to go to the vitals of the case.
The remainder of the day was occupied
by Mr. Watson in a legal argument against
the admission of the bank books and papers
as evidence.
The trial went steadily forward in judge
Biddle’s court Wednesday, the judge over-
ruling the objections of the defense to the
admission of the books of the People’s
bank. The exception made respecting the
famous ‘‘red book,’’ which has occupied
such a conspicuous place in the proceeed-
ings thus far and upon which a judical de-
cision is temporarily in abeyance, gives
promise of a future locking of horns by the
distinguished legal gladiators representing
the respective sides of this contention.
The appearance on the witness stand of
ex-district attorney Graham was not pro-
ductive of the sensational features antici-
pated by some, his testimony being a per-
fanctory indentification of “the ‘Quay’
letters and telegrams that had been offered
at the hearing befor a Magistrate last au-
tumn. The lawyers are confronted with
the knotty problem of how most conven-
iently to attack the great mass of documen-
tary evidence comprised in the more than
two hundred books of the People’s bank.
Now at Peace.
Hatchet of War Buried Between the Umited States
and Spain.
WASHINGTON, April 1I.—The condition
of war which has existed between the
United States and Spain since April 21st,
1898, terminated to-day when the last for-
malities in the restoration of peace were
performed by the exchange of ratifications
of the peace treaty. Coincident with this
President McKinley issued his proclama-
tion declaring that the war was at an end
and the appointment of Bellamy Storer was
determined upon as United States minister
to Spain.
After the ceremony connected with the
exchange of the ratification of the treaty
President McKinley issued the following
proclamation:
Whereas, The treaty of peace between
the United States of America and her
majesty, the queen regent of Spain, in the
name of her august son Don Alfonso XIII,
was concluded and signed by their respect-
ive plenipotentiaries at Paris on the 10th
day of December, 1898, the original of
which convention being in the English and
Spanish languages, is word for word.
And, whereas, the said convention has
been duly ratified on both parts and the
ratifications of the two governments were
exchanged in the city of Washington on
the 11th day of April, 1899.
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Wil-
liam McKinley, president of the United
States of America, have caused the said
convention to be made public to the end
that the same and every article and clause
thereof may be observed and fulfilled with
good faith by the United States and the
citizens thereof.
In witness, whereof, I have hereunto set
my hand and caused the seal of the United
States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this
eleventh day of April in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and
ninety-nine, and of the independence of
the United States the one hundred and
twenty-third. By the President,
WILLIAM McKINLEY.
JOHN HAY, Secretary of State.
Spawls from the Keystone.
—Weavers in the New Holland (Lancas-
ter county) silk mill are on a strike because
of a wage disagreement.
—In the Milnesville colliery, Luzerne
county, Andrew Dino and a mule he was
driving were killed by a fall of slate.
—Postmaster Young, of Gettysburg, Sun-
day appointed Harry Elliott, a Democrat, his
assistant, vice John H. Slentz, Republican.
—While coupling cars in the Philadelphia
& Reading railway yard at Tamaqua, brake-
man Joseph Swanborough was crushed to
death.
—Lockjaw, the result of a wound in his
foot, sustained by stepping on a rusty nail,
caused the death of Charles Hershock, of
Lancaster.
—Inside superintendent Joseph Bier-
schmitt fell part way down the Locust Spring
slope, Northumberland county, and was
badly injured.
—As Peter Underlow, of Elysburg, North-
umberland county, drove hurriedly wish his
sick daughter, Nellie, to a doctor the child
died in his arms.
—1In full war paint and Indian costume the
newly elected officers of the Lappawingoe
tribe of Red Men of Bethlehem, were pub-
licly installed in the presence of 3,000 people.
—A committee appointed to consider a pro-
posed division of the Protestant Episcopal di-
ocese of Central Pennsylvania met Sunday at
Bethlehem for that purpose, but would not
reveal the character of its coming report.
—The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittshurg
railroad company will erect a four stall
round house and a new station at Johnson-
burg this season. They will also strengthen
the trestlework which spans the P. and E.
tracks.
—In the Adrian mine near DuBois, Satur-
day a fall of coal instantly killed Albert Jen-
kins, fatally injured William Frew and se-
verely bruised Andy Nicholl. Jenkins’ body
was horribly crushed. He was 24 years old
and leaves a family.
—It is reported that the Pennsylvania rail-
road company has sold the grounds and
buildings of the famous Mountain house,
Cresson, to the United States government
which, it is said, proposes to establish there a
home for disabled soldiers of the Spanish-
American war.
—At Jersey Shore, Friday, Benjamin Ath-
erton while standing in his back yard, was
conscious of sharp twinges of pain in his
cheek. Blood began to flow. A physician
picked two bird shot from his cheek. ‘The
shot had come from the gun of Peter Knauff,
who was shooting pigeons.
—The report of the Danville insane asy -
lum shows that the common laborer leads
the list of patients, farmers are a close second
and miners are third among the demented.
The cause of insanity in most cases is as-
cribed to worriment, and in this the poorer
classes predominate. Of the trades and pro-
fessions there are comparatively few patients
at the asylum. ;
—A. E. Maxwell, of Montoursville, sued
G. W. Hall of that place to recover a balance
of over two dollars on a bill. Judgment,
Monday, was given the plaintiff by the jus-
tice, whereupon Hall retaliated by swearing
out a warrant charging Maxwell with setting
fire to his own store, which was destroyed
about a year ago. Maxwell gave bail for
trial at court.
—The old Juniata Iron works at Holli-
daysburg, operated by the Eleanor iron com -
pany, will again resumethe manufacture of
iron very soon, after being idle for about fif-
teen months. R. C. Neal, of Harrisburg, H.
L. Sholly, of Tyrone, and others, constitute
the company. Everything for an early start
is being pushed along as rapidly as possible,
and it is expected that the works will very
soon be turning out muck bars, various sizes
of merchant iron and skelp iron. f
—Ex-county commissioner John McGaugh-
ey of Clearfield after an absence from the
river for ten years, piloted a very heavy oak
raft from Hogback run to Lock Haven last
Thursday. On account of the heavy oak
timber it scarcely floated above the water,
and several pilots refused to run it. Mr.
McGaughey, however, took it through with-
out any trouble, and found the course as
natural as when, years ago, he made the trip
many times each spring. He is now 72 years
of age. :
—No sleeping cars will be stored by the
Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio or the
Philadelphia and Reading at Philadelphia.
during the encampment of the Grand Army
of the Republic there in September. Two
reasons have been assigned for the action o f
the three roads. One is that the hotel men
have objected to the custom. The other rea-
son is that the phenomenal activity in
freight movements for the past few months
will, in all likelihood, continue, and that it
will be a difficult matter for the lines to set
aside any special section of a yard or siding
for a week or ten days.
—John Rohn, living about three miles
from Pottersdale, near Keating, left his home
last Wednesday morning to go to the woods.
Up to date he has not been seen or heard
from. It is feared that he has either been
waylaid and killed for his money or lost his
way or was injured in some way. Tuesday
morning a party of fifty or more neighbors
started out on a hunt for the missing man.
Mr. Rohn was somewhat eccentric in his
habits and is known to have had considerable
money about his person. He had a habit of
hiding it in peculiar places, such as wood
sheds, barns and in the woods.
—The contract for the construction of a
large tunnel on the main line of the Penn-
sylvania railroad, just east of Tyrone, was
awarded, on Friday, to the Drake & Stratton
company, of Pittsburg, for a sum approxi-
mating $200,000. Work will begin on the
contract at once, and it will be rushed
through before the end of the present year.
The improvement is in line with the other
extensive work the Pennsylvania road is
pushing through in order to perfect its sys-
tem. The tunnel will greatly reduce the
heavy mountain grade at that point. Other
contracts of a similar nature will be awarded
throughout the year. The point where this
tunnel will be driven is at Spruce Creek, not
far east of Tyrone, where the grades are very
heavy. The tunnel will be over 1,150 feet
long and will be double tracked. Two hun-
dred men will be put to work on it at once.