SE
Former Governor Daniel H. Hastings is Dead.
One of the County’s Most Eminent Citizens Passed Away at
His Home Here Last Friday Morning. A Short Illness
of Pneumonia Terminated in Death Almost Be-
fore the Public Realized that He Was
111.
The Story of a Successful
Life and Incidents of a
Reminiscent Nature.
Former Governor Daniel Hartman Hast -
ings is dead. The story of his illness
need hardly be told to the people of Centre
county, since he was at all times so promi-
nent in their eyes and affections as to be
an object of constant interest. An inter-
est that discovered two years ago that the
man who had brought so much prominence
to the county was failing. No cause was
ascribed, but the steady decline of the
vigor that made him a giant among men
was so apparent as to excite the deepest
concern. While the Governor. himself,
never posed as an invalid his manner seemed
changed, there was an absence of that bon
domie that had made him the attractive
companion of all classes of men. Last
summer he went abroad, visiting the
famous springs at Carlsbad for the purpose
of wooing back the health that had left
him in the very prime of years. Upon his
return it{ was announced that he was het-
ter, but bis appearance failed to reassure
those who were most intimately acquainted
with him.
Whatever it was, it was indisputable that
the Governor was not a well man, conse-
quently when he contracted a slight cold
on the 3rd inst he was not in a condition to
resist its advancement. On Sunday morn-
_ ing, January 4th, he came home from Phil-
adelphia where he had been on a business
trip. It was observed that he walked
down the station platform rather languidly
and there was an absence of that cheery
salutation with which he invariably grees-
ed the familiar characters gathered there.
After walking to his home his appearance
at once alarmed Mrs. Hastings, who wanted
to call the family physician. But the
Governor deprecated the idea of it; insisting
that his cold was only a trifling matter and
laughingly suggesting that the physician
would put him to bed and he would be
unable to keep an engagement at Ebens-
burg on the following Wednesday. The
cold did not get better, however, and on
Monday evening Dr. Geo. F. Harris was
called in. In an instant he realized that
the patient was in a very grave condition
and called two trained nurses to his bed-
side at once. :
Tuesday, pleurisy developed and the
symptoms hecame so alarming that Dr. Geo.
B. Klump was called in consultation.
Notwithstanding the most assiduous at-
tention of the two physicians the symp-
toms grew more alarming every hour and
Wednesday brought a development of
broncho-pneumonia. Then when the tem-
perature began falling and there was an
acceleration of the heart without an abate-
ment of the symptons of the disease Dr.
Harris told Mrs. Hastings of his worst fears
and asked if she would have a specialist
called on the case. They agreed on Dr.
Roland Curtin, of Philadelphia, whose
skill in pulmonary diseases bas given him
eminence among the great physicians
of the country. He arrived Thursday
morning and was in consultation all
day with Drs. Harris and Klump;
agreeing with their diagnosis of the case
aod their treatment of it. Shortly before
. ‘he left for the city that night the cheering
bolletin was issued that the Governor’s
condition was somewhat improved. Later
in the evening there was a turn for the
worse, bowever, and oxygen treatment had
to be resorted to. It was administered to
~the very last,but all without avail, for at 10
o'clock Friday morning the life of our
eminent citizen ebbed away, leaving a use-
fal place unfilled and a man gone, the true
measure of whose worth to this com-
- munity only future needs will discover.
Throughout his illness the Governor was
cheerful and encouraging to the anxious
watchers at his bedside. Frequently he
would sit up in bed, unassisted, and di-
rected some of his minor business affairs.
In fact he was sitting up talking to those
about him an hour before the end came.
Beside him when he breathed his last
~were Mrs. Hastings, their daughter, Helen,
now Mrs. Ross Hickok, and her husband,
Mrs. Ella Saltsman, his sister, and
Mrs. Rankin, Mrs. Hasting’s mother. The
end was calm and peaceful. Nothing bus
a slight dilitation of the right hear in-
«dicated the transition whereby his soul was
~8wept out into the great mysterious realm
of eternity.
EX-GOVERNOR’S CAREER.
Daniel Hartman Hastings was born at
‘Salona, Clinton county, February 26th,
1849, being the youngest of William and
Sarah Fullerton Hasting’s nine children.
His father was a native of Ireland who
located in Clinton county after working on
the railroad there for some years. His
mother, Sarah Fullerton Hastings, wasa
native of Scotland, and,though they were a
most worthy, upright coupls they were far
from being in comfortable circumstances.
The farm on which they lived was a very
poor one and consequently the early edu-
cational opportunities of the future Govern-
or, as might be imagined, were very limit.
-ed. But be made the very best of his op-
“portunities and at no time in his subsequent
~oareer was he ever else than proud of his
“early life and struggles.
During the winter months he attended the
distriet school and worked on the farm in
summer and fall, bus the drudgery of it
was always distasteful to him and he early
resolved to engage in another career.
~The first experience to break the mo-
notony of his farm life was when he ran
~.away from*home and tried to enlist in the
Union army. ‘He was only 13 then, and
by stealing and begging rides on freight
trains and wagons he managed to reach
Carlisle, then a great recruiting point.
The youth of the young volunteer made
the recruiting officer careful, and because
the boy could not produce evidence that
he bad the consent of his parents to his
enlistment he was turned back.
When but 14 years of age he learned of a
school teacher’s position which had become
vacant in Wayne township, Clinton coun:
ty. He secured it, but with the condition
attached that he should pass an examina-
tion. He walked back to Lock Haven,
passed the required examination, received
his certificate, and footing it back, was in
time to open the sehool next morning and
began his new avocation of teaching. For
the next four years he taught school in the
winter and worked with his father on the
farm in the summer.
All this time he studied to perfect him-
self as a teacher, and in 1867 he was elect-
ed principal of the Bellefonte High school.
His new responsibilities impressed him with
the need of education in the higher
branches, and under the tuition of profes-
sor Murray, of the Bellefonte Academy, be
mastered Greek and Latin. While princi-
pal of the High school he essayed into jour-
nalism and was for a time connected with
the Bellefonte Republican in the capacity of
associate editor. Later he was made su-
perintendent of all the town schools and in
the meantime studied law: In April 1875
he was admitted to the Centre county bar
and became a member of the firm of Bush
& Yocum. Two years later Mr. Bush re-
tired from the firm and Yocum & Hastings
continued in partnership until after the
election of Mr. Yocum to Congress in 1878.
Wilbur F. Reeder, a cousin of Mr. Yo-
cum’s, was at that time a law student in
the office, and in 1881 he and Mr. Hast-
ings entered into partnership. The part-
nership formed at that time continued un-
til the Governor retired from the law to
give his entire attention to his growing
commercial interests. They were business
associates, political allies and close pe:-
sonal friends,
HIS MILITARY RECORD.
In 1877 he became connected with the
National Guard, and in Julv he was made
paymaster of the Fifth regiment, with the
rank of captain. He served on the staff of
General Beaver, then a division command-
er, during the riots of July, 1877, accom-
panying the command to Altoona. In
March, 1878, he was elected and commis-
sioned lieutenant colonel of the Fifth regi-
ment; in June, 1883, he was appointed as-
sistant adjutant general of the Second Bri-
gade and in March, 1884, he was elected
colonel of the Fifth regiment, and at tle
annual inspection of 1886 his regimens
achieved the highest standing of any in the
State. In 1886, when General Beaver was
elected Governor he made Colonel Hastings
his Adjutant General and in January, 1887,
Col. Hastings resigned his commission in
the National Guard to take charge of the
Department at Harrisburg.
General Hastings’ work following the
Johnstown flood again brought him prom-
inently before the people of the State and
country. On June 1st, 1889, he happened
to be in Cambra county over seeing some
extensive coal operations, which he had re-
cently acquired, when tidings of the great
disaster at Johnstown reached him. He
hired a team and drove in company with
Colonel Spangler, as hurriedly as possiole,
to the scene of the disaster. Upon his ar-
rival there at four o’clock in the afternoon
he telegraphed to Governor Beaver for tents
and supplies and from that time until July,
13th, he was in absolute control of whe
town and work of relief. He superintend-
ed all of the attempts to aid the survivors
and rescue the bodies of the drowned. He
was placed in ahsolnte charge of the work
of relief for the flood sufferers and assumed
the responsibility of taking under his con-
trol the dispensation of the stores and
money that poured in upon the stricken
city. For a-month and a half he worked
there and when he left the post, of the
Grand Army of the Republic, of Johustown,
enrolled him as their ‘‘comrade’’ in honor
and presented him with a heautiful
badge of their order set with diamonds.
IN POLITICS.
From the time of his coming to Centre
county until Pennypacker’s election, lass
fall, he was actively and aggressively in-
terested in" politics. His entrance into
state politics may be said to date to 1886
when be presented the name of General
Beaver to the Republican convention which
nominated him for Governor. In the fol-
lowing year he was elected to the chair-
manship of the republican state conven-
tion. In 1888 he was chosen a delegate at
large to the national convention at Chicago
and was selected to nominate John Sher-
man, of Ohio, for the Presidency. His fame
a8 an orator was assured by the speech he
made on that occasion.
At the state convention of 1890 he was a
candidate for Governor but was defeated
for the nomination by George Wallace
Delamater by only 11 votes. Delamater in
turn was defeated hy Robert E. Pattison
at the election in the fall of that same
year. Again in May, 1894, General Hast-
ings name was presented to the re-
publican State convention for Governor
by General James A. Beaver and this
time he was nominated. In November of
that year he was elected Governor of Penn-
sylvania by a majority of 241,397 over
William M. Singerly.
In the first year of his administration he
entered into a combination with Senator
Magee, of Pittsburg, and David Martin, of
Philadelphia, to wrest the Republican
leadership from Senator Quay. The Gov-
eruor was unsuccessful, as Senator Quay
was elected state chairman at the State
convention and dictated the candidates
nominated by that body.
MADE PEACE WITH QUAY.
In 1896 Governor Hastings and Senator
Quay became friends, and the former at.
tended the national convention in St.
Louis and nominated the Senator for Presi-
dent of the United States. After McKin-
ley’s election Governor Hastings was
said to be a candidate for Secretary of War,
and hoth Senators Quay and Penrose visit-
ed Canton, O., in his interest.
In the summer of 1897 the Governor
forced Secretary of the Commonwealth
Reeder and Deputy Attorney General El-
kin to resign for signing a bond during the
session of the legislature indemnilying
employes against loss of salary
by reason of the Governor re-
fusing to sign an appropriation bill for
that purpose. He appointed David Martin
Secretary of the Commonwealth to succeed
Reeder years before,and Wilbur F. Reeder,
his law partner, to succeed Elkin.
During his term of office the executive
mansion at Harrisbuig was extensively
repaired, the departments of banking and
agriculture were created and the first steps
taken toward the erection of a new capitol.
After leaving the gubernatorial chair,
four yearsago, Mr. Hastings engaged in the
building up of his great coal mining inter-
ests in Cambria county until he became
one of the largest individual shippers of
coal in Central Pennsylvania. Some time
after the death of Major William F. Rey-
nolds he hecame associated with the
late George W. Jackson and F. W. Crider
in the banking business under the name of
Jackson, Crider and Hastings. In August
of 1897 Mr. Crider withdrew from the firm
and J. Henry Cochran and Henry C. Me-
Cormick,of Williamsport, became members
of it under the name of ‘‘Jackson, Hastings
and Company, Baukers.”” Previous to
the campaign of 99 he leased ‘‘The Belle-
fonte Republican’ from Edward T. Tuten
for five years as an adjunct to his political
forces. Since then he has dictated
many of its editorials in addition to his
various other enterprises. As a business
man he was remarkably successful and at
the time of his death was rated as one of
the richest men in the county.
HIS HOME RELATIONS.
In 1877 Mr. Hastings was married to
Miss Jane Armstrong Rankin, daughter of
James H. Rankin, who at the time of his
death was the oldest member of the Centre
county bar, and his home 1elations were
unusually happy. Even hefore he attained
affluence and prominence. his home was
noted for its hospitality for he thoroughly
enjoyed the social side of life and was
never better pleased than when his home
was full of guests. His beautiful place on
the corner of Allegheny aud Lamb streets
was remodeled and built after the family’s
retarn from Harrisburg and it has since
been the scene of some of the most brilliant
social functions the town has ever had.
Men of prominence in pclitics, art and
science have heen pleasantly entertained
there and the most obscure visitor was al-
ways accorded a gracious welcome.
He was a man of superb physique and splen-
did presence, but for several yeas it has been
evident to the most casual observer thas
freely ac-
his
fundamental issues they all
knowledged the pPeisnasiveness of
magnetic personality.
He was a member of the Union League
and only on New Year’s day dined there
in company with George M. Van Bonn-
harst. of Pittshurg, and General A. L.
Pearson all three of whom were claimed,
by death in the short space of nine days.
They all left Philadelphia with colds
General Pearson died Monday from pneu-
monia. Mr. Von Bonnharst on Tuesday
and General Hastings Friday, from the
same disease.
Mr. Hastings, family consisted of his
wife and two danghters, Helen, now Mrs.
Ross Hickok, of Harrisburg, and Sarah
aged nine years. Of his father’s family
two of nis sisters, Mrs. Ella Saltsman. of
Lock Haven, and Mrs. McKean of Akron,
Ohio, and one brother are living.
Four of the Six Combiners Gone.
The death of General Hastings removes
the fourth of the half-dozen conspicuous
figures in the ‘‘Combine’’ of 1895, which
launched the anti-Quay fight that has been
waged without intermission up to the pres-
ent year.
Senator C. L. Magee, of Pittsburg, died
in the spring, of 1901.
Henry C. McCormick, of Williamsport,
who was Governor Hastings’s Attorney
General and close personal and political
friend, passed away last summer.
George M. Von Bonnhorst, of Pittshurg
always at the right hand of Magee during
the latter’s public career, succumbed only
last Tnesday to the same disease (pnen-
monia) as Hastings.
Of the “‘Big Six’’ only David Martin,
of Philadelphia and William Flinn, of
Pittsburg, are left.
On ly Two Ex Governors Living.
At no former time in the history of the
Commonwealth were there so few ex-Gov-
ernors living as now The death of ex-
Governor Hastings reduces the number to
two, James A. Beaver and Robert E. Pat-
tison, though within ten days Governor
Stone's retirement will make three. Mr.
Pattizon has just entered upon his 54th
vear, ex-Governor Beaver, now one of the
Judges of the Supreme cours, is in his 66th
year, and Governor Stone is 55. Of the
six Governors who have served out terms
under the present Constitution three,
Hartranft, Hoyt and Hastings, are dead.
THE LATE DANIEL H. HASTINGS.
From the Photograph for which. he always expressed a marked preference.
through the courtesy of the Philadelphia Press.
Published
his health was rapidly breaking down. He
stoutly maintained that he was well as
ever and it-was only because of the urgent
requests of his family that he decided to
take a course of treatment at Carlshad.
Accompanied by Mrs. Hastings he went to
Europe last May and remained for
several months, bns even the benefit he
derived there was only temporary. Dui-
ing the holidays an old friend, who had not
seen him for several months, remarked in
this office that he surely was in a critical
condition to have chauged in appearance as
he had.
He was always moss earnestly interested
in the Methodist church. He was named
for Rev. Daniel Hartman, a pious old
Methodist minisver, and several years ago
he was instrumental in building a church in
memory of his venerable old friend. He sub-
gorihed one hundred dollars in 1875 towards
the erection of the present church edifice
in town and that was a munificens sub-
scription for a man of his means. He was
superintendent of the Sahhath school for
several years and always took a prominent
part in the music of the church. He was
most loyal to the clergy and generous in
his giving. Indeed it is generally acknowl-
edge that the town has lest its moss liberal
citizen and the Methodist church of . Belle-
foute its greatest benefuctor. Two years
ago at the time of the remodeling of the
church edifice he gave two thousand dol-
lars towards the improvements in addition
to helping Mrs. Hastings secure the pipe
organ. Juss last year he voluntarily added
one hundred dollars to his pastor’s salary,
and there is not a church in Bellefonte that
has not been substantially aided by him.
He has been a trustee of the M. E. church
for years and years as well as of Dickinson
college at Carlisle.
His relations with the Masonic fraternity
were quite as active and he kept in touch
constantly with the local commandery.
He was alsoa member of the Bellefonte
and Nittany county clubs. It was
in politics thongh, that he excelled
aud much as men differed with him in
Press Has to Say of Oar
What the
3 Lamented Citizen.
From the Harrisburg Patriot, (Dem )
General Hastings, while neither a great
nor brilliant man, wasan excellent example
of the sturdy, industrious, patriotic and
enterprising citizenship which bas made
Penusylvania great. That he has been
struck down so suddenly in the very prime
of life is cause for profound sorrow and his
bereaved family will have the warmest
sympathy of the people of the entire State.
From the Altoona Times, (Dem.)
Euergetio, aggressive, patriotic, conrage-
ous—these were the attributes that broughs
him success. and his life and record will
live, an honored chapter in the story of the
Commonwealth he devotedly loved and
served to the best of his ability. The life
of no man is peifect. Even the most ex-
alted bave their failings, the moss brilliant
their shortcomings. Daniel H. Hastings
was no exception to the rule, but had he
lived he would undoubtedly have added |
to his fame, lived down his errors and
achieved a still higher place among the
great names of Pennsylvania.
From the Clearfield Public Spirit.
Th ere was a time in the career of Daniel
H. Hastings, Bellefonte’s third Governer,
when he was seriously considered as a for-
midable presidential possiblity, and that
was juss following his popular canvass for
the governorship and the unprecedented
majority given him at the polls in 1884.
It wus destined to be otherwise, however,
for Mr. Hastings returned to his home in
Bellefonte, and his participation in politics
since then has, with but one exception been
confined to local and district lines. He
was a good fighter but not always a win-
ner. Bat best of all he was a big, good-
hearted man who liked to mingle with his
fellowmen, sharing their sorrows and joys
as is natural with the man without artifi-
ciality. The state mourns his death.
wo ERAS
| powers.
From the Pittsburg Post, (Dem.)
Probably his most noted public service
was in connection with the Johustown
flood and his distribution of the relief fund,
for which, as happens with most men
charged with such duties, there was both
censure and praise. There was much
criticism of his administration as Governor,
and it gave rise to ugiy feuds in his own
party. His career in education, politics
and high office was one of gieat activity
and marked success.
From the Altoona Tribune, (Rep.)
Governor Hastings was well known in
Blair county. As colonel of the Fifth
regiment, as Adjutant General, and as
Governor, he was well known and pretty
generally liked. He carried Blair county
at the primaries in 1890, when Delamater
was nominated for Governor, and the year
he received the nomination, Blair county
again sent delegates to the state conven-
tion who were friendly to his candidacy.
Daring recent years he has devoted himself
to hie private business affairs, having had
little to do with polities.
From the Johnstown Tribune, (Rep.)
All who knew him, and especially those
who enjoyed a close personal acquaintance,
will be sorry to learn of the death of ex-
Governor Hastings. Mr. Hastings was a
self-made man from the ranks of the com-
mon people, and had rendered valuahle
services to his countrymen in various
capacities; was a genlal fellow in all the
relations of life, and had a large and
generous heart.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger, (Ind.)
The death of ex-Governor Hastings will
cause sincere regret. He was a man of at-
tractive qualities, of fine capacity and good
ambitions, who had done the State varied
and useful service, and was still young
enough to have served it usefully again.
His misfortune was to have become one of
the many victims of that malign influence
which we recognize in Pennsylvania as
Quayism. Quay used him and abused
him; beguiled him for his own purposes to
Hastings’ detriment; and, when he was
no longer serviceable, turned on him and
thrust him out of public life, as he has
done with so many others, over whose
wrecked careers he has pursned his tri-
umphant way. It is not ungracious to re-
call the warning example at this time, for
the measure of independence which he
showed in the office of Governor and which
turned the ruling power of the State against
him will be remembered to his honor. In
the town of Bellefonte, which has given
three Governors to Pennsylvania, a sense
i of personal loss will be added to the gen-
eral regres for his too eaily death, a loss
that will be shared by many friends through
out the State, to whom his manly qualities
had endeared bim.
From the DuBois Evening Express, (Ind.)
The death of Daniel H. Hastings removes
another familiar figure from Western Penn-
sylvania. He had attained to the highest
position in the gift of the people of this
commonwealth, and will be missed and
wourned by handreds of Clearfield county
people-
From the Philadelphia Press, (Rep.)
In his career from boyhood on the farm
to the governorship of his native State and
marked success in business Gen. Hastings
gave another and admirable illustration of
the possibilities open to the American hoy
born to nothing but an honest name. His
early life was a struggle with adverse for-
tunes. It was the rugged discipline which
many get and some make useful. Strong
willed, earnest and conscientious, he was
a horn leader.
Daniel H. Hastings fully and capably
met every emergency of his life. He not
only filled bus he increased the importance
of every position he held. No man in the
State enjoyed greater popularity. He won
friends at every turn and bouud them to
him with indissoluble ties. Politics was
his diversion; his taste was for business,
in which his success was magical. Through-
out an unusually active career his integrity
and high purposes have never been question-
ed. Well poised, finely cultured, faithful
and steadfast in bis friendships, a generous
neighbor, a devoted and loving husband
and father, his life exemplified the highest
type of honest American manhood.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer, (Rep.)
Whatever enemies Hastings made he
made as the result of political affiliations.
His business friends were numerous. He
bad a faculty for creating friendships, and
his sudden death will come as a shock to a
very wide eircle.
From tte Harrisburg Star-Independent, (Dem.)
Sturdy integrity was the chief char-
acteristic of Daniel H. Hastings. Because
of this he was frequently out of favor with
the leaders of his party and such compli-
mente as were bestowed on him came not
in the form of recompense for obedience to
the machine, but as the just reward for
faithful service to the public.
From the Philadelphia Record, (Ind.)
Daniel Hartman Hastings was what he
made himself. Springing from humble
parentage, he had the stuff in him to build
upon, and he did build, and forced his way
to promiiience. With greater opportunity,
however, he would have been a greater
man. By his gifs of being able to put what he
knew into the form of persuasive speech he
pushed himself forward as a partisan, and
after some rebuffs and disappointments in
1894 secured his election as Governor,as the
age of forty five, in the very prime of his
He had practically imposed him-
self upon the despotic political leadership
that dominated his party. In the first years
of his administration he allowed himself to
be bended to the uses of the Machine which
controlled the State Legislature. He was
of a nature that preferred compromise to
war. Bus be could not go to the full length
required of him, and, like his predecessor,
Governor Hoyt, retired from office with
broken-political fortunes.
Since his retirement he has made busi-
ness his business and politics rather a mat-
ter of diversion. He has no doubt left his
family well provided for. His death will
he regretted by a wide circle of friends who
were attracted to him by his fine social
qualities. To every poor youth who has
an ambition to rise in the world his exam-
ple muss remain an incitemens.
( Concluded on page 4.)
Preparation For Death.
A Western Kauvsae editor published this
notice the other day for the guidance of
delinquent subscribers. *‘If you have fre-
quent headaches, dizziness, fainting spells,
accompanied by chills, cramps, corns, bun-
ious, chilblains, epilepsy and jaundice it is
a sign you are not well, but are liable to
die any minute. Pay your subscription a
year in advance, and thus yon make your-
self solid for a good obituary notice.
Methodism's Achievement
The Methodists of the United States
closed the old year with one of the greatest
feats in the history of a religious denomi-
nation. They have obtained, as they set
out to do a twentieth century thank offer-
ing of $20,000,000. In fact, the exact
amount exceeds this magnificent figure.
And every penny of the offering has been
subscribed within four years.
The movement to this great end originat-
ed in Trinity Methodist Episcopal church,
Springfield, Mass., in 1898. At the out.
set the size of the sum deemed necessary
for the work of the church struck the coun-
try with something akin to amazement and:
there was no scarcity of people, inside as.
well as outeide of the denomination who
doubted the ability of the church to get is.
Yet on the night before New Year's day
the secretary of the fund, Dr. E. M. Mills,
was able to announce, in the church in
which the movement began, that more than
$20,000,000 had been pledged.
Of the whole amount $9,000,000 is to pay
church debts in all parts of the country;
$8,150,000 is for Methodist colleges,
schools, philanthropies and charities; $600,-
000 is to constitute a general fund for con-
ference claimants, and $200,000 is set aside
for the building of churches in destitute
communities,
An interesting feature of Dr. Mills’ re-
port was the announcement that one twen-
ty-fifth of the amount raised had been
given by the sons of Methodist ministers.
This is an elegant refutation of the time-
worn slur upon the minister's son, and
will prove to be a lasting testimonial to the
sons of Methodist ministers in particular.
The Methodist church of the United
States bas certainly the best reason to be
prond of itself, and in the era of liberality
and good fellopship the congratulations
which will be extended to it will not be
confined to any creed or class in the coun-
try.—Chicago Inter-Ocean.
———————
Elephant Killed by Electricity.
Topsy Put to Death in Two Minutes at Coney
Island.
Topsy the hig man-killing elephant at
Luna Paik, Coney Island, was put to death
by means of a heavy electric current and
460 grains of cyanide of potassium recent-
ly. The execution was set down for 1:30
o'clock. Carl Goliath, of Hagenback’s,
with *‘Skip”’ Dundy, of the park, and two
employes, led her out of her house and to
the scaffold.
Dr. Bretheridge, veterinary in charge,
took two carrots—into which had been
stuffed cyanide—100 grains in all—and of-
fered them to Topsy. She ate them greed-
ily. Then the electrodes were put in posi-
tion. one on the right foot and the other on
the left hind foot.
At 2:45 the signal was given, and D. P.
Sharkey, of the Edison company, turned
on the current. There was a hit of smoke
for an instant. Topsy raised her trunk as
if to protess, then shook, bent to her knees,
fell and rolled over on her right side
motionless. All this took a matter of ten
seconds. There had been no sound, and
hardly a conscious movement of the body,
outside the raising of the trunk when the
current was first felt.
In two minutes from the time of turning
on the current Dr. Bretheridge pronounced
Topsy dead. The elephant was brought
to America twenty-eight years ago by Adam
Forepaugh.
First Reunion of Veteran Reserves.
Survivors of the Pennsylvania Corps in the Civil
War Will Gather in Harrisburg Next Summer.
Regiments Have Heretofore Held Separate Re-
unions.— !
For the first time in its history the cele-
brated Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer
Corps of the union army will hold a re-
union as a whole in Harrisburg next sum-
mer. All of the regiments of this famous
organization have held separate reunions,
but Captain W. H. Rauch, of Philadelphia,
of the ‘‘Bucktails,’’ conceived the idea of
a rennion of the fifteen organizations asa
whole, and a committee of survivors mes
in Harrishurg and took action.
Judge R. M. Henderson, of Carlisle, was
elected president, and Captain Rauch,
secretary, and they were empowered to ap-
point an execontive committee of one from
each regiment, from which all minor com-
mittees will be selected.
Major Levi G. McCauley, of West Ches-
ter, announced that a tablet to the reserves
will be unveiled at the West Chester fair
grounds next summer.
It is proposed to secure Capitol Park as
a camping ground during the reunion, the
date of which will be announced later, and
among the features will he a remnnion of
the ‘‘Bucktails,”’ the shaipshooters of the
Army of the Potomac, who answered the
call to war by soming down the Susque-
banna on rafts, with their commander, Col-
onel Thomas L. Kane, as leader.
Smallpox
Predicted.
World-Wide Epidemic is
There is grave danger of a world-wide
epidemic of smallpox, according to Dr. C.
O. Probst, secretary of the Ohio state
board of health. Dr. Probet points to the
fact that all over the earth, both in Amer:
ica and Europe, the disease is spreading
rapidly. :
He attributes the prevalence of the dis-
ease to a disregard of vaccination. Dr.
Probst said :
‘Not alone in the United States, but in
Europe are the physicians battling with
the scourge. Great Britain is baving a
serious time with is, as are other European
countiies. Germany, were vaccination
is general, is in the best condition of any
of them. :
“The disease is not epidemic, but pan-
demic. It is in almost every country,
and the type has been increasing in ma-
lignancy. In the past quarter or half cen-
tury vaccination bas been neglected, and
the country is fall of people who have
neverfelt the scratch of a vaccine point.
As these precautions have heen neglected,
80 bas the disease increased, until now we
are in danger of a world-wide epidemic.’
Rich Man Weds Setretary.
W. H. Bradley Worth $40,000,000, Marries While
Stricken With Fatal lliness
While sitting in a chair last Tnesday
with what is believed to be a fatal illness,
William H. Bradley, the wealthiest man in
Wisconsin, was married to his secretary,
Miss Mary Hanuemeyer. The former Mrs.
Bradley died in Milwaukee on November
13th, lass. Mr. Bradley issaid to be worth
$40.000,000, and is associated with J. J.
Hill in many railroad deals in that pars of
the country.
Judge Halsey went to Mr. Bradley’s
house, and in the presence of a few rela-
‘tives united the lumberman and his bride.
His friends refuse to discuss his illness,
bat it is said he cannot recover. He is 66
years old.