BY P. GRAY MEEK.
Ink Slings.
—A mild little rebuke that every one
"will understand has no provocation will
not hurt Admiral SCHLEY, if it paves the
way to presidential recognition of him as
the real hero of Santiago.
—Talking about food for the dime novel
writer; Pittsburg and Butler both have old
Shelby, Mo., looking like a Sunday ham-
let now. The haunts of the JAMES boys
at their worst were never able to show up
more blood and thunder that the BiDDLES
““made good’’ last week.
—They say that upon QuUAY’S advice
PENROSE and DURHAM have decided that
it would be a good thing for ELKIN to
wait four years more before he becomes a
candidate for Governor. They have pass-
ed it up to the Indiana couutystates man
but he is not likely to pass it out.
—The sickly sentimentality that led
Mrs. SOFFEL to her awful crime was not
much more than the morbid curiosity that
led thousands of people to jostle and push
and forget all dignity in the wild scramble
to view the wretches who had been the
¢ ause of her down fall.
—There are doings and doings over at
Clearfield but nothing more seems to have
been done up to this time than to prove to
Mr. HARRIS that when the WATCHMAN
said he was a violator of pledges and a cor-
ruptionist it was no more in earnest than it
is now in the effort to back up its assertion.
—As might have been expected QUAY
was one of the fifteen Senators who voted
to increase their own salaries from $5,000
to $7,500 on Monday. It is not strange,
either, that of the fifteen who tried to vote
money into their own pockets only one isa
Democrat and he merely a renegade pos-
ing as such. -
—It is quite evident that his hegship
saw his shadow on Sunday. That is, if he
was able to get out through the banks of
snow that must have been blown into
his hole. However that may have been
JACK Frost has been doingall in his pow-
er to ‘‘make good’ for the ground-hog as a
weather prophet.
—The tendency of young college men to
go about without hats will work against
the realization of the theory that humanity
is gradually approaching a time when all
will be bald-headed. There is nothing
that will insure a good and healthful
growth of hair like going bare-headed out-
of-doors. = But we prefer something in the
shape of covering for this kind of weather.
—A great commotion is being stirred up
by ‘a rumor to the effect that the chief horse
expert in the United States army is to be
joaned to: the British government to help
the English select horses for their war in
South Africa. Why raise such a fuss about
nothing. We have nosuch a fanctionary
in our army, but we do know where there
is an old expert on ‘embalmed,’ beef, for
whom we have no further use, who could
be given to the English and never be
missed.
—The Jersey Shore telephone girls do
right in refusing to sign a contract with
their employers in which they are to agree
that they will not get ma ried in five years.
In the first place they would be old maids
by that time and, besides, who knows what
moment their fate might appear and surely
it wouldn't be fair to ask him to stand and
look sad-eyed until the expiration of the
contract. Then, too, he might not do it
andthe averagegirl wouldn’t think of tak-
ing that risk.
—J AMES ZEIGLER, the Wilkesharre ci-
gar manufacturer who has been sued by
Miss NELLIE WHITE, who claims that he
cracked one of her ribs while hogging her
on Friday night, will be very apt to have a
care as to where he grabs the next girl he
attempts to hug. He must have polar bear
blood in him. If NELLIE succeeds in mak-
ing him pay one hundred for one fractured
rib, we would advise him to buy a steel
jacket for her before he goes to pouring out
his feelings in such a crushing mauner
again,
—The case in the Centre county court
this week, in which a plaintiff went on the
gtand and swore that his left arm had been
hurt in a railroad accident, just after his
attorney had read the declaration that the
right arm bad been the one that had heen
injured, reminds us of the fellow who had
lately been converted at a revival and was
later giving his ‘‘testimony’’ at an exper-
ience meeting. He stood up and was very
fervently thanking a kind Providence for
many biessings that he bad not deserved
while he was leading a life of wickedness.
He waxed eloquent and earnest until he
finally became carried away in telling how
he had been preserved after nearly severing
his leg with an ax. Describing the awful-
ness of his injury he had his hearers work-
ed up to a high pitch of interest and be-
came so enthusiastic himself that he put
his foot up on the back of the pew in front
of him and began to roll up his trousers to
show the terrible scar that had been left.
Not being able to find it on his left leg, he
quickly put up the other leg and started
the search with renewed energy. But there
was no sear to be found there either and
when the penitent realized ithe blurted
out: ‘Oh h——1 it was my brother SAM'S
leg that was cut.’’ Now we don’t mean
to imply that there will be any such a de-
nouement in this case, but. the evident slip
in getting the wrong arm described in the
declaration just reminded ‘us of the old
story. : :
VOL. 47
When the German Chancellor the other
day resented the offensive language of the
British Secretary of State for the Colonies,
previously uttered, the whole world held
its breath as if listening for the clash of
arms. Mr. CHAMBERLAIN had in an un-
guarded moment declared that the atroe-
ities of which the world complained in
South Africa had been paralleled by the
Germans in the Franco-Prussian war of
1870 and are now being equalled every day
in the Philippines by the American troops.
It was a mean thing to say for the opera-
tions in the Transvaal are as horrible as
anything that had been charged against
General WEyLer in Cuba. It is small
wonder that Germany complained.
But there was no protest in Washington
against the assertion of Mr. CHAMBERLAIN
that what the British did in South Africa
was no worse than what the Americans
were in the habit of doing in the Philip-
pines. The British were charged with es-
tablishing 1econcentrado camps in which
non-combatants were herded and starved.
They were accused of murdering prisoners,
burning barns, devastating homes and out-
raging helpless women. But when Mr.
CHAMBERLAIN justified such things by as-
serting that the Americans were doing the
same thing in the Philippines there was
no remonstrance. Silence gives consent, it
is alleged, and our officials in Washington
were dumb. :
Now that the cloud of war which passed
over the horizon when the German Chan-
cellor spoke is cleared away it might
be well for the liberty loving and jus-
tice practicing American people to in-
quire as to the facts. Is 1t true, as alleged,
by Mr. CHAMBERLAIN that the atrocities
in South Africa have been equalled in
the Philippines? Can it be possible that
we are disregarding the rules of civilized
warfare in our endeavor to rob half-civiliz-
ed Tagals of their liberty and conquer their
territory that it may be distributed among
favorites as prizes of conquest after the
fashion of the ancient Romans? We
hope not, hut the signs are ominous. /
The Ship Subsidy Scheme.
The news whieh comes in spurts and
starts to the world concerning the shipping
industry is perplexing. There is only one
thing concerniig it which is certain. That
is that the ship subsidy bill is being pressed
on Congress without interruption. We are
told. now and again that the American
millionaires are buying up the steamships
of the world. The Standard oil company
owns all the tank steamers that are worth
owning. One or ancther of Mr. MORGAN'S
syndicates, he has a new one nearly every
day, is acquiring control of the steamship
lines engaged in the ocean carrying trade.
But the demand for the subsidy is heard,
notwithstanding, every day.
The steamship lines have been prosper-
ing during the past few years beyond meas-
ure. - There was a plain reason for this, but
the public refused to see it. The war in
South Africa withdrew from the trade all
the British ships. The war in the Philip-
pines took out of the. competition all the
American ships that could be enticed to
enter the transport service. France, Ger-
many and Russia bave had their troubles
in China and elsewhere that taxed their
shipping facilities, and meantime exports
and imports ‘have béen increasing. The
result is that freight rates have been ad-
vancing with an unparalleled rapidity and
investors have become covetous of the
profits.
But such things can’t always continue.
The ship yards have been busy and the
shrewd foreign: ship owners have been nu-
loading. With other people’s money the
Standard oil company and ‘the Morgan
syndicates have been buying what the
foreigners had for sale until now that the
reaction is about to set in the millionaires
want recompense from the treasury for the
losses which their folly has made inevitable.
And they will not be disappointed in their
expectations. The entire power of the
dominant party in Washington is commit-
ted to the scheme of spoliation and it will
be consummated unless all its potency has
been exhausted, which is not probable.
——Owing to the attention which other
matters of more personal concern have re-
quired this week we have been unable to
make a careful examination of the statement
of the county finances, as published by the
commissioners in this issue of the WarcH-
MAN. There is one item, however, that
stands out so conspicious on the statement
that we call it to your special attention be-
cause it reflects so much credit on the com-
missioners in general and the various tax
collectors in the county in particular. We
refer to the outstanding taxes for 1900. Of
all the vast levy made two years ago every
cent has been turned in or accounted for
but $2,916.80. This seems to us to be a
remarkable condition of affairs and the
WATCHMAN ‘most heartily congratulates
both ‘dommissioners and “the ¢ollectois on
such a healthy showing, dies Fa
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
The Guard Will Not Come. io Belle-
fonte.
It will be a matter of keen disappoint-
ment to many to learn that the next an-
nual encampment of the National Guard of
Pennsylvania will be made at Mt. Gretha.
There had been very strong hopes that
those having charge of the selection of a
site for the coming encampment would act
favorably on the offer made some time ago
by Col. W. FRED REYNOLDS, of his farms
at Rock-view. Just when the proposition
was being brought to a focus Adjutant Gen-
eral STEWART met with the unfortunate
accident from whieh he has not yet recov-
ered and the decision was left to others
with the 1esult that the next division en-
campment will be at Mt. Gretna instead of
near Bellefonte. 3
There are many reasons why the site of-
fered by Col. REYNOLDS should have heen
accepted in preference to the old place in
Lebanon county, but the one that should
have appealed most forcibly to the
committee is that of sanitation. The old
grounds at Mt. Gretna have been used and
used until they are thoroughly permeated
with the excrement of a great army camp,
while the ones that might have been had
here are fresh and healthful, properly drain-
ed and located so as to be readily supplied
with an abundance of pure Spring creek
water.
For the health of the men who must
spend a week undergoing the arduous du-
ties of military life in the field, it, would
have been wise to have selected some other
place. if for no other reason, but it must
also be borne in mind that Mt. Gretna has
no more claim on the Guard than any oth-
er portion of the State.
Had those in Bellefonte and Centre coun-
ty who are influential turned in and co-
operated with Col. REYNOLDS at the time
the WATCHMAN suggested it there is a
very strong probability that the encamp-
ment would have come here. Inasmuch as
it is to be a Division encampment. it will
be given special attention by the federal
authorities. President ROOSEVELT, Sec-
retary of War Roor and Major General
MILES, expect to visit the camp the day of
Governor STONE'S review and Secretary
Root will also detail a regular army officer
for duty at division headquarters during
the encampment. This being the Tast year |
of the STONE administration special effort
will be made by General STEWART and
‘Major General MILLER to make the camp
a great success,
The Pittsburg Tragedy.
The lesson which is plainly expressed in
the tragedy which ended in the Butler jail
on Saturday evening points its own moral.
Two confirmed criminals with something
of what is called personal magnetism over-
came a weak woman and prevailed on hep
to assist them in an effort to escape from
the jast penalties of their crimes. They
convinced her that they were innocent and
that her duty to humanity required that
she should sacrifice not only her woman-
hood but her honor to achieve the result.
If she had been less vain she wouldn't have
yielded. If she had been less weak they
would never have had the opportunity to
impose on her.
But being both weak and vain she listen-
ed and was overcome. Maybe in this she
was less to blame than others who will
suffer less. Her husband, the creature of
a vicious system, had been warned of her
infatuation. He had been told of the time
she spent at their cell door. But he took
no steps to restrain her impulse. On the
trary he resented the suggestion of danger
and notified those about him that she had
the liberty she claimed and that nobody
was to interfere with her movements. The
result was that her opportunities to aid the
criminals were multiplied. The culmina-
tion of the association was the Butler
tragedy. : :
Now everybody blames the woman. A
clergyman in ove of the leading cities of
the State on Sunday denounced her as the
greatest oriminal of her day and genera-
tion. He referred to the crime of leaving
her husband aud children and of assisting
the convicts to escape by committing new
crimes. But that is only shifting upon
her the neglect and all its consequences of
otbers. The Pittshurg crime which culmi-
nated in the Butler tragedy is the fault of
a vicious political system which puts men
in office, not because they are worthy or fit
but for the reason that they have served
| the party machine, unwisely and improper-
ly but well and efficiently.
——~Sunday was the worst day, from a
weather standpoint, that this community
has experienced in many years. It rained
and snowed and blowed and froze until it
gave us a very realistic taste of what a real
western blizzard is when it breaks loose in
the east. No particular damage has heen ;
reported, though both telephone com panies
were troubled with many crossed lines.
. ——The seventh annual convention of
the public school directors of Pennsylvania
will be held in Harrisbirg on Wednesday
and Thaorsday, Feb. 12th and 13h.
BELLEFONTE, PA., FEBRUARY 7, 1902.
On Trial For Libel. |
The WATCHMAN had hoped to be able to !
announce to its readers in this issue, what |
conclusion the twelve good and lawful men
of Clearfield county will come to, after
carefully considering all the evidence that
is being presented to them in the trial of
the editor of this paper, who is charged
with having libeled State Treasurer-elect
FrANK HARRIS. The failure to do so is
perhaps solely because of the fact tbat
many of the witnesses who were summoned
in the case imagined it was ‘‘horse play’’
and not the real serious, determined de-
fense that is being set up.
The general line of defense that is being
followed in extenuation of the WATCH-
MAN’s charge that the man who has been
elected to the high office of Treasurer of
this Commonwealth has sought and ac-
cepted money for his services in pushing
certain legislation through, is detailed in
the news columns of this issue. It will
not, therefore, be necessary to set it forth
here, but it might not be out of place to
state that the WATCHMAN has no reason,
whatever, to regret its utterance of August
30th, 1901, which is charged as being libel-
ous. It was made in all sincerity, without
malice or neligence, and was based on
common report, as well as reliable private
information.
The WATCHMAN has been challenged to
prove its assertion and it proposes to leave
nothing undone in the honest effort to
do so. If in substantiating its charge
against Mr. HARRIS, it becomes necessary
to show to the public some of the inner
most secrets of the gang of corruptionists
whose carnival of plunder at Harrisburg
last winter was an outrage upon the Com-
monwealth and a stench in the nostrils ‘of
decent people it feels that it will have ren-
dered the public a great service.
As was stated before this is not to be at-
tempted through malice or because of per-
sonal bitterness against any of the parties
thereto, but because of the fact that the
WATCHMAN has always stood for good gov-
ernment and wi.l fight to the last trench in
defense of it.
The Clearficld Story in Rhyme.
From the Pittsburg Leader.
= #8 Clearfield there-are “doin’s” great.
Unto its county court
From ev'ry quarter of the State
Illustrious ones resort.
Brigades and troops
And bands and groups
Of publicists astute
Fresh fame will win
By mingling in
The Harris libel suit.
Tis P. Gray Meek that brings "em all
Around to testify,
Their schemes and games to overhaul
I. Gray will bravely try.
Says he, “Let's squeeze
The truth from these
And no one can dispute
My right to win
The verdict in
The Harris libel suit.”
Among the witnesses behold
That mighty man, Bill Stone,
The thougnt of having to uatold
State secrets makes him groan.
Says he, “P. 8S.
With much distress
I hear this talk of loot.”
He'd like to take
His leave and shake
The Harris libel suit.
John Elkin carries to the scene.
His very doubtful boom,
The tales of elongated green
Have filled his soul with gloom.
Quoth he, “I fear
The doings here
Will ruin our repute.
“1 fear a crash
. Unless we quash
The Harris libel suit.”
‘I'om ‘Bigelow has been told to bring
His check book and to show
What votes he had upon a string
This time a year ago.
Says: Tom to Meek,
‘‘{n point of cheek
You're certainly a ‘beaut.’ ’’
Small pleasure Tom
Will gather from
The Harris libel suit.
A hundred others are required
To figure on the stand.
With deep disgust they're all inspired.
They hate the job on hand.
And if they're forced
To tell the worst,
Someone will have to scoot
‘Far, far from view
Or, perish through
The Harris libel suit.
——State College is having an epidemic
of measles. Dr. Glenn stated that there
were fifty-five cases there on Wednesday
afternoon. The epidemic is among the
residents of the place, not the students
—Prince HENRY is not to ‘talk German
when he comes over to call on us this
month. It is just as well, for it will save
trouble of adding to the entertainment ex-
penses a large bill for interpreters.
—— The teachers’ local institute at
Aaronsburg on Friday aud Saturday was a
decided success. Dr. Perrine’s lecture was
especially fine and the singing was a uote-
worthy feature of the institute.
* the General drove away.
ve
—=O
v
0. 4.
Has a Bad Case
Disease.
Bellefonte of This
From the Clearfield Spirit. 3
There are people in Clearfield as well as
other towns, who from time to time be-
come afflicted with the disease, which up
to date no one has tried to name.
There is no particular season of the year
when the malady becomes malignant, but
its outbreaks are frequent and severe. The
ladies are usually the first to succumb to
the malady, although the sterner sex oft-
times have a slight touch.
It is both infectious, and contagious, and
the only human remedy yet discovered is a
mixture of common sense and pride in one’s
own town taken in allopathic doses.
There are quite a number of women af-
flicted with that particular form of disease
which prompts them to buy everything, or
as much as possible, out of town. This
habit is as insidious as the morphine habit,
and as a rule it bas no more good reason in
it. It grows on the patient by degrees un-
til the case becomes desperate. Finally
the victim becomes convinced that to get a
gown made or a hat trimmed, a piece of
ribbon or some buttons, it is necessary to
send to New York, Philadelphia, Pitts-
burg, Altoona or Johnstown, or perchance
the patient feels it necessary to go in per-
son to one of these places for everything.
Does a woman with the mania for for-
eign purchase every stop to think that it is
in a way disloyal to do this. That her
husband or father perhaps, depends on the
patronage of his neighbors, and that it is
hardly fair to send elsewhere for purchases
as well made at home. If there were any
good reasons for it, it would be different,
but there are few towns not supplied with
good stores and good stocks of goods, and
anything special can be ordered as well or
better through the home merchants. IF it
cannot, then yon have reasons on your side,
but next time the question comes up as to
sending out of town, just make a self-diag-
nosis and see if you have contracted the
disease or are laboring uuder the hallucina-
tion above mentioned. We cannot find
our Greek dictionary or we would give it
a long, hard, barsh-sounding name.
If the money for purchases made outside,
which could as well or hetter be made at
home, were kept at home it would be a
great hel lhe shopping woman is a pow-
er and no “¥ptake. She can do much good
to home tra. rut when this disease be-
comes epidem™, she works much damage.
Think this little article over. Maybe it
will serve as an antidote, or as a germicide
to the foreign purchase bacteria.
The Old Case of Whose Ox is Being
Gored.
From the Lancaster Intelligencer. :
The effect of companionship is showing
quickly in the case of Porto Rico. It was
thought that the inhabitants of Jit island
were too far removed from us by raeial dif-
ferences for them to readily grasp the
American way of thinking. But here is
Delegate Degetan, of Porto Rico, protest-
ing against the tariff concessions proposed
for Caba. He stands up with the repre-
sentatives of the beet sugar industry and
the tobacco trust and cries that the pro-
posed action is not fair to ‘‘us.”” A couple
years ago, Porto Rico wasin the same posi-
tion as Caba. Deprived of her former
markets in Spain, and shut out from the
United States by the high tariff, she de-
manded the lowering of that tariff as a
plain duty. Now with Cuba in straits
even more desperate than her own were,
she would deny the same salvation to that
island. Surely Porto Rico has grasped the |
Awerican idea; at least the idea of sell- |
interest that governs the dominant party.
Will Give Credit to Admiral Schicy.
NEW YORK, Feh. 3—The World's Wash-
ington correspondent says:
‘‘President Roosevelt will find that Rear
Admiral Schley was in command at the
battle of Santiago, and will give him credit
for the victory. At the same time he will
criticise some of Schley’s movements prior
to the engagement especially the retrograde
movement and the failure to destroy the
Colon. : ’
“This is the opinion of those best inform-
ed on the President’s views of the contro-
versy. He so expressed himself to some
callers to-day. Mr. Roosevelt to-day bad
before hin four of the fleet commanders—
Admirals Evans and Taylor, Captain Clark
and Commander Wainwright, who com-
manded the Iowa, Indiana, Oregon and
Gloucester, respectively.
“The President inquired of each of these
officers regaring all points involved in the
case. As the versious of these officers are
all on record in the shape of sworn testi-
mony there is no speculation as to what re-
plies they made.
“Of the four men the facts as given by
Captain Clark will prove of most value to
Schley’s side. It was the testimony of
Captain Clark thas emphasized the fact that
the Brooklyn and Oregon hore the brunt of
the battle and inflicted the disabling shots
that put the four Spanish cruisers out of
action. i LE
“‘Schley’s friends will feel that they have
gained a signal victory if the President
gives it as his opinion that Schley fought
and won the battle, and it will relieve
Schley from the position in which the find-
ings of the Court of Inquiry left him.
*‘This is manifest from the fact that a
major portion of Schley’s appeal deals with
the question of command, and that is the
one point he most desires an expression up-
on from the President. Also. it is obvious
that the department seeks to prevent the
President from transfering the laurels fron
Sampson to Schley, for the Judge Advocate
in his reply devoted nearly the whole of
his comment to that one question.
Horse Drags Gen. Miles.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.—While driving
his fast trotter Gold Pebble on the Whice
Lot to-day General Nelson A. Miles met
with an accident, his sleigh colliding with
the rear of one driven by Wm. Rackey and
overturned. -
General Miles was thrown to the ground,
bus he clung to the reins and managed to
control the frightened avimal, although he
was dragged about fifty yards over the ioy
ground. The cutter was then righted and
1
!
Spawls from the Keystone.
—For eloping with Mrs. H. Holshue last
months in the county jail at Sunbury yester-
day. Sentence on the woman was suspended.
—Adamsburg, Snyder county, which has
been known by that name for nearly a cen-
| tury, was on Saturday changed to Beaver
| Springs by order of the Pennsylvania Rail*
| road company. "
—A. W. Cook & Co., having purchased the
Bell Run timber lands, have decided to locate
their mill at Grampian to manufacture their
lumber. It will take about seven years to
cut this vast forest which consists of hemlock
and hardwood.
—Sergeant Harry E. Fellows, of the re-
eruiting station at Johnstown, for soldiers for
the United States army, received instructions
Thursday from Capt. T. M. Griffith, of Pitts-
burg, to make a special effort to secure desir-
able colored men for the infantry and cavalry.
—The frozen remains of Monroe Depp, of
Big Run, were found imbedded in the river
ice near Mahaffey by a couple of boys a few
days ago. He had been cutting paper wood
near that place, and it is thought while
temporarily and mentally deranged laid down
on the ice and froze to death.
—A colored man, whose name is unknown,
went up to look at the abutment on the West
Branch Valley railroad bridge at Shawsville
a few days ago, and fell off and broke his
neck. His was'the eleventh fatality about
the place since the railroad overations were
started. His body was shipped to his late
home in Virginia.
—~George Prosser, of Sunbury, a few even-
ings ago threw a kettle of boiling water on
Miss Susie Ritchey, who resides with his
mother, and then dashed the empty kettle at
her head, but luckily did not hit her. She
was given surgical attention and is getting
along nicely. The trouble will likely get in-
to the aldermanic courts, and Prosser may re-
ceive a dry bath hot as scalding water.
—A distressing occurrence is reported
from Mammoth, Westmoreland county. An
infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bly-
stone is said to have died from injuries sus-
tained while in the arms of its mother. Mrs.
Blystone was walking through the house on
Friday carrying the child, who was only a
few weeks old. Her foot tripped in the car-
pet and she fell. The child was so badly hart
that it died a short time afterward, it is stat-
ed.
—A reward of $300 has been offered by the
Elk county commissioners for the arrest and
conviction of Tom Madeline, alias Domiano
Masselno, and $200 for the arrest and convic-
tion of Ben Haolo, alias Binny Paul, both of
whom are wanted for the murder of James
Heekin, at Shawmut, on Jan. 25th. The
above reward has been doubled by the offer
of $500 by the Shawmut Mining Co., being
$250 for the capture and return of either of
the men.
—Miss Mollie the 17 year old daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Funk, of Cresson, was
walking over the Pennsylvania railroad cul-
vert near the passenger station at that place
on Monday when she slipped on the icy cop-
ing. Seeing that she would drop to the road
some twenty feet below, she wisely turned
the fall into a jump, and thus threw herself
beyond the projecting stones of the abutment
below, escaping with the fracture of both an-
kles and some bruises about the body.
—Adam Kramer an unmarried farmer has
been living alone on a farm near St. Mary's
for a number of years. Thursday morning it
was discovered that his house was burned to
the ground. Upon further investigation it
developed that Kramer himself was dead in
his barn with a bullet wound in his head. It
is generally supposed that the building was
burned and the tragedy enacted on Tuesday
night. The authorities are investigating, and
startling developments are expected.
—Love got mixed up in school affairs in
two of the districts of Southern Fayette coun-
ty last week, and as a result the pupils of the
High House and Continental schools are en-
joying a rather unexpected vacation. After
school adjourned Friday the teachers—Miss
Blanche Eastburn and Frank C. Newcomer—
boarded a train for Addison, that county,
where they were married by the Rev. John
T. Eastburn, father of the bride, assisted by
the Rev. Charlesworth,of McKeesport. When
the honeymoon is over school will be resum-
ed and the teachers will finish their terms.
—John McCabe, 24 years old, employed as
a steam shovel cranemar under Contractor .
McManus, in Lewistown Narrows, Saturday
was carrying a double barreled shot gun on
an engine. The butt of the gun slipped,
striking the hammer in such a manner as to
discharge both barrels. From the first a
charge of turkey shot entered McCabe's
groin, taking an upward course and making
a horrible wound. The second charge pass-
ed between his body and his clothing, doing
no damage except to tear every button from
his tightly buttoned coat. He was taken to
a Harrisburg hospital where it is said his
wounds will prove fatal,
—The Marion Independent tells this story,
which may be true : Judge Gordon, of Clear
field county, appears to be ever ready and
willing to accommodate the attorneys who
practice law in his court. The other day
State Treasurer elect Harris made a witness
on the stand testify that a certain man was a
liar, when another attorney added : ‘just like
some politicians,” Harris became indignant
and said if the remark was made for him he
could be seen outside. The attorney was
willing, and Judge Gordon offered to ad-
journ court to accommodate the two gentle-
men, but the matter was properly adjusted
and the court did not take a recess.
—John Barlow, of Oak Ridge, Montgomery
county, has reached the age of 107 years. He
retains his faculties and frequently takes
long walks in the country. Although he has
been married four times he is said to be court-
ing an Oak Ridge widow with 97 years to her
credit. Barlow has been a farmer all his life
and has been the highway commissioner in
his town. He has never been compelled to
consult u dentist or a physician. He is bald-
headed, but his face is adorned with whiskers
which would do credit to a populist politician.
He has drank liquor and chewed and smok-
ed tobacco nearly all his life. He has two
sons who are great-grand fathers, thus mak;
ing Barlow a great-great-grand father.
month, Henry Arrison was sentenced to nine - _