Fs
BY PP. GRAY MEEK.
ink Slings.
When you're runnin’ for an office
And a hustlin’ round for votes
There are lots of funny little things
. The tireless hustler notes,
Some fellows tell him they're all right
While others work the game
Of making him believe they are
When ferninst him, just the same.
Then some recall each little thing
He's ever said or done,
And frankly make him feel as if
He didn’t want to run ;
But of all the propositions
That the hustler has to chase
The meanest, most despicable
Is the one with double face.
—Mr. DOBLIN seems to be an artist as a
liar, but there are others.
—1903 seems determined to outdo her
predecessor in rail-road horrois.
—The course of true love grows rougher
than ever when little cupid takes the
chaffeur’s seat in the automobile.
—There is no doubt about honesty being
the best policy, but the trouble with most
men is that they make too much of a policy
game out of it.
—The soft weather of the past few days
has been taking the snow very fast, but
the early gardener basn’t begun to shine
up his spade yet. :
—The blockade of Venezuela is to be
raised, but the blockade of QUAY’S omni-
bus state hood bill shows no sign of being
broken in the Senate.
—When courtesy costs so little and ac-
complishes so much it is surprising how
few people number it among the necessaries
of their personal habiliment.
—The campaign for local offices is pro-
gressing so rapidly in Bellefonte that the
average man commences to grin as soon as
a’candidate approaches him.
—Cousin SAM isn’t going to let the car-
toonists of the country make a parrot out of
him any more, if the Pennsylvania Leg-
islature can be used to prevent it.
—Next Monday his hog-ship will have
a look at the weather and tell us how
much more winter we will bave. Let us
hope that he hasn’t entered the coal and
rail-road combine.
—With all the advance there has heen
in surgery and medicine within the past
fifty years there seems to be less danger
than ever of the undertakers being driven
‘out of business.
—When the war in Venezuela, tae coal
stringency, Congress and the Legislature
at Harrisburg are things of the past we'll
all have to fall back on the weather as the
old reliable topic of conversation.
—The independence of America might
have been secured by the efforts of farmers
but the returns of last fall don’t indicate
that the Governorship of Mr. PENNY-
PACKER was secured through the same
agency.
—1It is said that if China is duly econom-
ical she will be able to pay off all the in-
demnities she owes the allied powers. Does
this mean that the poor celestials will have
to get down to something even cheaper
than rats and rice. :
—The Republican says ‘‘we must have
some changes io our ballot laws’ because
it was promised the people during the
campaign last fall. How surprising that
the Republican should make such a demand,
when it knows that Mr. QUAY has prom-
ised Pennsylvania so many reforms that
never have heen made.
—The Philadelphia Record is of the
opinion that Senator MORGAN has lost his
battle for the Nicaragua canal unless he
can throw doubt as to the existence on the
map of the Panama route. Aud that isn’t
80 much of a joke either, for if one or two
of the volcanoes or earthquakes get into
action down there it might be up to more
than the Panama lobhyists to prove that
there is such a place.
—General McARTHUR has developed
quite an alarmist turn. He says there is
to be an European invasion of America.
That is, he says the foreign countries are
about to concentrate on a well defined
course that will disrupt and disintegrate
our Republic entirely. How interesting.
Why bless your soul, General, it wonldn’t
matter how completely they broke us up
any one of the particles lef6 would be strong
enough to lick the stuffin’ out of all the
European and Asiatic powers combined.
—LAMBRO FRANCESCO, an Italian, un-
dertook to rob the postoffice at Gallitzin a
few nights ago and when caught in the act
he pulled out a revolver and shot himself
in the ear, with suicidal intent. FRANCESCO |
is not dead yet and explains his act by
saying that he understood that the penalcy
of the crime was shooting and he wished
to impose it himself. Poor, misguided
<dago that he was, not to know, as the
‘‘Hon.”” SAMMY SALTER, of Philadelphia,
does, that the laws of this country seldom
£o to extremes of punishment and—some-
ti mes—don’t punish at all.
—The bill before the Legislature that
proposes $0 impose the costs on the de-
fendant, the prosecutor or the magistrate
sending the case to court, or all three of
‘them, when a hill is ignored by the grand
jury, will bave a tendency to keep many
petty cases out of court. Under the pres-
ent system justices tou frequently give law
$0 individuals for the sake of the fees ac-
craing from their action and if there were
some way to get back at them when they
do not exercise good judgment many of
the spite cases that take up the time of
courts and pile costs on the taxpayers
Fm
di] enact
a
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA., JANUARY 30, 1903.
RX
7
.
ys
NO. 5.
VOL. 48
They Owe an Explanation.
Those so-called reformers of Philadel-
phia who have so hastily abandoned their
professed purpose of improving the politic-
al morals of that city in order to give
their support to district attorney JOHN
WEAVER for mayor owe some sort of
an explanation to the public. A little
more than a year ago the odious machine
of that city determined to punish district
attorney ROTHERMEL because of his fideli-
ty to the people and Bis obedience to his
oath to office and his conscience. The cor-
rupt managers had a good deal of difficul-
ty in putting their plans in execution.
They couldn’t find a reputabie lawyer
at the bar who would take their nomina-
tion for the reason that it clearly implied
a complicity in a nefarious conspiracy to
punish a man for doing his duty. Aftera
considerable search, however, Insurance
Commissioner DURHAM dug out from
among the lower strata of the legal no-
bodies Mr. JoEN WEAVER and he under-
took the work.
By the skillful operation of ballot box
stuffing, false counting and various other
forms of ballot frauds, Mr. WEAVER was
declared elected by a comparatively mea-
ger majority. He entered upon his duties
a year ago the first of this month. Aft that
time SAMUEL SALTER and three of his com-
panion ballot box stuffers were fugitives
from justice and between four and five
hundred other political criminals were un-
der indictment for ballot frauds of one
kind or another. The evidence against
SALTER and his companions in crime was
overwhelming. They knew that they
badn’t the shadow of a chance of escaping
the penitentiary if the case against them
was honestly tried and they remained in
concealment. The other criminals had
managed by perjury and subornation of
perjury to postpone their trials until after
the expiration of ROTHERMEL'S term of
office and the induction of JOHN WEAVER
into the office. An honest prosecution
meant ' certain conviction and they all
knew that.
On the first Tuesday in January, 1902,
Mr. ROTHERMEL retired from the office
and WEAVER took his place. Within a
month from that time the community was
startled by the announcement that SALTER
and his fellow criminals had returned to
the city and presented themselves at the
office of the district attorney for trial.
They were no longer afraid. They had a
friend behind the proceedings then and
felt secure. They impudently strutted
into the temple of justice and stared the
Judges out of countenance. Their bail
was renewed with the consen t of the dis-
trict attorney and though the forfeit had
not been paid they dared to meet hones
men and claim to have been wronged. In
due time their cases were called for trial
and there was no evidence against them.
The district attorney had failed to make
a case and providing an alibi by obviously
perjured evidence they were acquitted.
For that miscarriage of justice the dis-
trict attorney ought to have been sent to
prison.
Subsequently the four or five hundred
other ballot box stuffers were discharged
from custody on motion of district attorney
WEAVER with out trial and his debt to the
machine was paid at the expense of his
own honor and the interests of the public.
Since that ballot box stuffing in Philadel-
phia has become more common than ever.
Last fall it was done in the open because
every scoundrel who practices the crime
felt that he was immune from punishment.
As a reward for this vile service to the
machine JOHN WEAVER has been nomi-
nated by the machine for the more impor-
tant office of chief magistrate of the city
and strangely enough the reformers, the
municipal leaguers, and the other whited
sepulchers who have been hypocritically
posing as political Saints have come out in
support of him. It is the most disgraceful
proceeding that has put a stain on the
political history of Pennsylvania from the
beginning. It proves that Philadelphians
are incapable of self-government.
Senator Quay’s Great Time.
Senator QUAY is having the time of his
life in Washington according to the news-
paper reports of the proceedings of Con-
gress. He is impatient to ges his omnibus
statehood bill through, it appears, but
makes no headway. His option on specula-
tive property in one or more of the terri-
tories is drawing to a close, probably. and
he wants to realize. But everything gets
in his way. All the various cunning little
tricks of his cunning but varrow little
mind which he bas used in the past are
being invoked now to confuse him and he
scarcely knows how to turn. If he weren’t
sach a despicable creavure one might
sympathize with him now in bis agony.
QUAY'S bill ought to be defeated and we
sincerely hope it will be. There was a
time when New Mexico and Arizona were
entitled to admission as States in the
Union. But that was when the covgres-
sional ratio was less and the population of
would never be heard of,
the territories greater. QUAY was dead
against their admission then, however. He
imagined at that time that they would
elect Democrats to the United States Senate
and they probably would during CLEVE-
LAND’S administration when the territorial
officers were Democrats. But those po-
litical agents are Republicans now and of
the QUAY type and they ought not to be
given the chance to increase the QUAY
kind of men in the United States Senate.
Even if all the territories were entitled
to admission as States, moreover, QUAY’S
omnibus bill ought to be defeated. That
manner of legislating is against the spirit
of the constitution. It isa device of the
lobby to ride bad legislation into the statute
books on the back of good legislation. We
believe that Oklahoma and the Indian
Territory ought to be joined together and
erected into a State. Probably New Mexico
and Arizona might be properly admitted
by a similar consolidation. But in the
omnibus form the very idea of passing them
is abhorrent to political morality and we
are glad to believe they will be defeated.
The Lee Monument.
Colonel A. K. McCLURE made a very
interesting address in the ball of the
House of Representatives in Harrisburg on
Tuesday evening in behalf of his own hill
introduced by Colonel THOMAS VALEN-
TINE COOPER providing for the appropria-
tion of $20,000 to pay half the expenses of
a monument on the Gettysburg battlefield
in commemoration of the services of the
late General ROBERT E. LEE for the Confed-
eracy on that historic and sanguinary field.
The bill provides that the State of Virginia
shall bear the other half of the expense
and Colonel MCCLURE asserts that the
purpose is to establish accurate historic
data.
Whatever good might be achieved in the
way of marking the positions and lines of
the two great and heroic armies which
were in blood contention on that pivotal
field of the Civil war, it is certain that the
proposition of Colonel MCCLURE fulfilled
would contribute to the elimination of any
remnants of bitterness between the North
and South which may still exist. It is
probably. not going too far to say that there
ought to be no such feeling on either side
at this time, for when the manhood of the
North and South went elbow to elbow into
bloody encounter with a foreign enemy in
defense of a common country and the flag
of which each was equally proud all such
differences ought to have disappeared.
But it may be predicted that Colonel
MCCLURE has over estimated the magna-
nimity of theaverage Republican Legislator
of Pennsylvania. A few veterans of the
war like Colonel COOPER who bear on their
bodies the scars of rebel bullets fired in
manly encounter each striving for what he
believed to be right, may forget the en-
mities of a past generation, but the small
spirits which fill the hearts of narrow
vermin like Representative CHAMPAIGN
who tried to prevent Colonel MCCLURE
from being heard will never be reconciled
to a magnanimous movement and, unbap-
pily, they are in the majority in the Penn-
sylvania Legislature. J
Fix the Courts at Harrisburg.
The resignation of Judge PORTER from
the Superior court bench is less to be re-
gretted now than if it had occurred a month
ago, for the reason that it may be assumed
that Governor PENNYPACKER’S regard for
the integrity of the judiciary will guaran-
bee a fit snccessor. But it is to be re-
gretted, nevertheless, for Judge PORTER
has proved a capable and conscientious jur-
ist. The causes which led to his retire-
ment are, therefore, worthy of considera-
tion on that account, if for no other reason.
But as a matter of fact they deserve the
closest scrutiny and more careful investi-
gation anyway. :
Judge PORTER states, in commenting on
his resiguation, that the duties of the office
were agreeable to him but thas he was con-
strained to resign because he couldn’t en-
dure the labor and trouble of the move-
ments of the conrt from one seat toanother.
Such flittings, be said in snbstance, are not
only distressing but actually dangerous,
and as the compensation of the office is
much less than he is able to earn by prac-
tice at the bar, he was not inclined to con-
tinue the sacrifices in order to serve a not
too appreciative public. There is more
truth than poetry in the judge’s statement
of the case and the Legislature ough to
give it attention.
The trath is that there is as much reason
for the seat of the judicial branch of the
government being at the capital of the
State as there is for executive and legisla-
tive branches being there. The sabordi-
nate courts are properly located in the sev-
eral connties but the courts of review —that
is he Gapreme and Superior courts ought
to be in Harrisburg, which is accessible to
litigants from all sections of the State and
offers to the attorneys the advantage of
the splendid state library for purposes of
research. The present Legislature ought
to alter the laws governing the ‘judiciary
80 as to give the higher courts a permanent
seat at the state capital.
Absurd Praise of Hay.
Some time ago negotiations were opened
with the government of Columbia for the
right of way to construct an Isthmian canal
on the route of the practically abaudoned
Panama canal. For some reason the Presi-
dent preferred that route to the Nicaragua
line which bad been recommended by a
commission composed of the most illus-
trious civil engineers of the country and
the Attorney General was dispatched to
Paris to purchase the franchise from the
company which owned it. He made a pro-
visional bargin to pay $40,000,000 for the
ditch provided the government of Colum-
bia would consent to a transfer of the
authority which had been given to the
French company to build. At that stage
of the game Secretary HAY took charge of
the affair and bas heen pressing it ever
since.
To the first proposition the Government
of Columbia demanded a bonus of $10,000, -
000 and an annual payment of a quarter of
a million with a few other things such as a
guarantee of its own sovereignty over the
territory covered, a zone of six miles wide
across the country, and Secretary HAY
pronounced the demand as absurdly and
outrageously high. The $250,000 a year,
he said was all right and the other things
were within reason, he added but the
$10,000,000 cash was cut of the question
and would never be considered. Then he
began bluffing and blustering. We will
never allow anybody else to build a canal
across the Isthmus he declared and your
poor little government will be deprived of
the revenue which it would produce. Last
week, however, he signed the treaty as
originally proposed by Columbia and it is
now in the Senate for ratification.
We have no particular fault to find with
the treaty. In view of the recent incidents
in the neighborhood of Venezuela we need
the waterway and it is cheap at any price
or may be if Emperor WILLIAM gets too
gay. But we most emphatically protest
against lauding Secretary HAY to the skies
as a genius of diplomacy as the adminis-
tration orgaus are doing for if there was
any diplomatic victory in the affair it was
achieved by the little South American Re-
public. “This memorable instrument,”
say one of these offensively sycophantic
organs, ‘‘is an epoch-making milestone in
our national progress to world-wide power
and powers.”” An epoch-making fiddle-
stick. It was simply the performance of a
perfunctory duty which any clerk in the
office might have done quite as well as the
Secretary of State.
—If the parrot is to be cut out of ‘‘Cousin
SAM’ what more will be left than those
ancestral boots ?
A Matter of Monuments,
The proposition expressed in a bill in-
troduced in the House of Representatives
in Harrisburg by Democratic State chair-
man CREASY, on Friday morning, and in
the Senate by Democratic Senator HERBST,
on Monday evening, to erect a monument
at an expense of $150,000 in the capital
park at Harrisburg, to the memory of the
heroism, valor and patriotism of the Penn-
sylvania soldiers who participated in the
Civil war, deserves the gravest considera-
tion. Nearly every State in the Union has
already expressed its appreciation of the
courage and manhood of the soldiers of
that great conflict, but through all the
years which have since intervened Penn-
sylvania has been silent, though the dom-
inant party in all the time has professed a
guardianship of the soldier’s interests.
This year appears to bean era of monu..
ments, however. Under circumstances
which indicate orders from the machine
manager a bill bas been introduced appro-
priating a considerable sum of money for
the construction of a monument in which
to commemorate the services of the late
SIMON CAMERON. Among the conspicuous
acts of that gentleman was the bribery of
members of the Legislature to vote for him
for Senator in Congress and the payment
of a large award to Indians in notes of the
Middletown bank which were subsequent-
ly bought back ata vast discount, thus
yielding an immense profit. We recall
nothing else except his services in the War
Department at the beginning of the Civil
war under circumstances which almost led
to a public scandal.
To our mind it would be infinitely bes-
ter to spend the amount designated in the
bill of Representative CREASY and Senator
HERBST, or even twice that sum, in erect-
ing a memorial to the courage and patriot-
ism of the soldiers who offered their lives
for the preservation of the country than to
give one-hundredth part of it to the erect-
ion of a monument to SIMON CAMERON.
We owe much to the soldiers and the fail-
ure to repay that debt of gratitude is a
present reproach to the people of the Com-
monwealth. But there is nothing coming
to S1MON CAMERON who turned his public
service into a generous source of profits,
died the possessor of a colossal fortune ac-
quired by means which will bardly bear
investigation.
As Others See Him.
From the New York Post.
Ifany one had a lingering hope that
Governor Pennypacker might yet indicate
some desire to better political conditions in
Pennsylvania, it must now have received
its death blow. If Pennsylvania is ever to
be raised from the low estate into which
she has fallen under the domination of
Quay and his gang, the first step must be a
reform of the ballot law. This is common
knowledge in Pennsylvania, and indeed so
patent that both parties, in their platforms
last year, promised modern registration
laws and other measures to prevent frauds
on election day. The necessity for such en-
actments, moreover, was rendered more
clear than ever before by the very election
which made Judge Pennypacker Governor.
The most barefaced frauds in Philadelphia
were exposed by the election figures. We
quoted at the time the returns from several
Philadelphia wards, where, according to
the official tables, the total vote more than
doubled that of the year before, the in-
crease being made up wholly of alleged Re-
publican votes. Of course, no such votes
were ever cast. Surely, with his party
platform before him Governor Penny-
packer should have bad the scant courage
required to say something about these
frauds. But not a word does he utter. He
does not say that the present law is ‘‘cum-
bersome and inefficient,’” and suggests that
it be changed, but he hastens to add that
‘‘the thought that something ought to be
done by means of the law to encourage in-
dependent voting and to make it difficult
to vote a full party ticket 18 mere vicious
theorizing.’’ What can the cause of decent
government hope from a man, however
respectable his antecedents, who thus ex-
‘hibits himself on his entrance into office?
Quay is laughing in his sleeve, and he has
a right to, over his sworn enemies who sup-
ported the learned and virtnous Penny-
packer.
Our Mothers.
From the Altoona Tribune.
While it is true, as a valued contempor-
ary suggests, that the mothers have not re-
ceived as much honor from the pen of the
historian as the fathers, yet the fact remains
that the mothers have been far more in-
fluential in shaping character and moulding
destiny than the fathers. They have the
boys during the formative years of life and
impress upon them lessons that are never
forgotten and which influence the whole
life. It is true that some men forget the
mothers who bore them and plunge them
into grief, but the majority of mankind
never get bad enough to he unmoved by a
picture of a good mother kneeling with her
little child by its bedside, hearing the sim-
ple prayer which it has heen taught to re-
peat each evening.. Some of the greatest
men the world has ever known have been
the result of mother love and mother care.
The good mother deserves to live forever
on the marble tablet, we admit; but better
than that, she lives in the hearts of her
children and in the influences which they
set in motion under her inspiratian. His-
tory may take little note of her efforts, but
the invisible genius of the future holds in
sacred trust her eternal fame.
Preserving the Plum Tree.
From the Lancaster Intelligencer.
Observing that Governor Pennypacker
recommends a small tax for good roads.
The Philadelphia Record innocently asks
why not take for this purpose some of the
money loaned to banks at one and a-half
and two per cent. With a nine million
dollar surplus it seems to think the tax un-
called for.
Great Scott !| Has the Record forgotten
the plum tree? The surplus must and
shall be preserved in order that there may
be plums to shake in the shape of deposits
at one and a-half and two per cent. in
banks that lend at five and six per cent.
Otherwise there would be no pleasure or
profit in politics. » “
Expenses.
From the Philadelphia Record.
That is a good bill of State Senator Fox
for arresting the industrious zeal of com-
mitting magistrates and aldermen in send-
ing petty cases to court for the sake of ac.
cumulating fees. In order to check this
iniquitous abuse of justice the bill provides
that in all cases ignored by grand juries
(felonies excepted) the costs may be im-
posed on the defendant, the prosecutor or
the magistrate, or on all three of them.
Such a law would exercise a more salutary
restraint on the fee business, and it onght
to be passed.
Seems to Be Acquainted With Them.
From the Clearfield Republican.
Pennypacker’s cabinet appointments,
save alone that of Hampton L. Carson, are
about the worst ever inflicted. A reform
‘administration with Frank Fuller, Bob
McAfee and Jim Shoemaker up close to the
throne is neither sublime nor ridiculous to
look upon. The unsophisticated who have
business with the new top-notchers at Har-
risburg ~hould carry deoderizers and leave
their valuables in the hotel safe.
Mont Pelee’s Cone Blown Off,
Big Party of Excursionists had Narrow Escape
from Death.
CASTRIES, B. W. L, Jau. 25.—Half of a
party of 400 excursionists that went from
here on the steamer Esk, on Saturday, to
visit St. Pierre, had a narrow escape from
death due to the sudden eruption of Mount
Pelee.
Volunteers from the Esk's passengers
who had remained on board, assisted the
crews of the ship’s boats in hastening to
the rescue. After 40 minutes of excite
ment, all the passengers were brought back
safely to the ship. Apparently about 800
feet of the cone of the volcano has been
blown away. Deuse clouds of smoke pass-
ed three-qnarters of a mile from the Esk.
——Subscribe for the WATCHMAN.
Spawls from the Keystone.
—A report from Jersey Shore is to the ef-
fect that hereafter all southbound coal trains
going over the Beech Creek road will go to
Newberry over the Pennsylvania road instead
of going into Oak Grove and going down over
the New York Central as heretofore.
—Clarence Edward Smeal, infant son of
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Smeal, of Coalport,
choked to death recently. The family were
at dinner and the baby bad just taken a drink
of water when it began gasping for breath and
before the doctor could reach the house it was
dead.
—There are now 1,700 cars stored on the
Altoona and middle divisions of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad company and nothing can be
done with them. Sixty seven were stored on
the Petersburg cut off Monday night. Lack
of motive power and men are the cause of the
tie-up.
—The tunnel built by the Pennsylvania
Railroad company on the middle division, 2
miles east of Altoona, has been completed.
Monday the tracks were connected and trains
went through. The tunnel, one mile long,
was built for the purpose of eliminating a
curve.
—At Milton Friday, Mrs. Margart A. Port-
er, widow of Rev. J. Frank Porter,leaned too
far over the balcony of the residence of her
daughter, Mrs. M. H. Barr, and fell to the
brick walk. She was picked up unconscious,
and expired in a short time. She was nearly
'69 years old.
—The 3 year old son of August Nelson, of
North Braddock, died Monday, making six
children of Nelson’s who have died within
14 months, all from pneumonia, the last two
within the past week. A seventh and the
only remaining child of the family is ill with
the same disease.
—Mrs. Ellen Ramsey, of Williamsport, died
of consumption Monday morning. Sixteen
years ago her husband was murdered in the
coal regions, leaving her with seven children,
the youngest twins three weeks old. Within
the last two years five children have died of
consumption.
—The body of Carlos Reshaun, the six-
| year-old child of Francis Reshaun, of Latrobe,
who was drowned Tuesday afternoon of last
week, was not recovered until late Thursday
afternoon. The little cold hands still tightly
clasped the sides of the sled on which he had
coasted to his death.
—A stuffed calf’s hide owned by William
Fisher, of Mt. Union, is quite a curiosity.
Some time ago the calf was born at Johns-
town but died in three weeks, and the skin
was stuffed in Buffalo. It.is made up of one
head, two eyes, three ears, two bodies, two
tails and eight legs.
—A dispatch from Coudersport says that
Representative Mocre is using his influence
to have a state fish hatchery located in Pot-
ter connty. He has been assured of consid-
erable support. A natural park with water
courses at Seven Bridges, is contemplated as
a site. It is the centre of a good fishing
country.
—Henry McDowell, a colored dyer of Will-
iamsport, during one of the recent cold nights
bathed his legs in gasoline to relieve rheuma-
tism. While sitting near the fire, there was
a sudden flash and his legs were ablaze. Be-
fore the flames could be extinguished, both
legs from the knees down were badly burned.
—A bill introduced in the house at Harris-
burg Wednesday prohibits the shooting of
pigeons released from traps. The bill is aim.
ed at the practice of shooting clubs in using
live birds as targets, and provides a penalty
upon conviction of twenty five dollars orim-
prisonment for thirty days, or both at the dis-
cretion of the court.
—The Methodists of Clearfield are going to
build a new church just as soon as the weath-
er permits the tearing down of their present
structure. Architect Weaver, of Harrisburg,
will have supervision of the work and the
new church will be of stone with a tower 100
feet high. The total cost of the building is
estimated at $50,000.
—Professor N. W. H. Schafer, of Sha-
mokin, took a hot brick to bed with him last
Monday night, and was nearly burned to
death. The brick set fire to the bedding, but
fortunately the Professor got awake in time
to prevent serious consequences to either
himself or the house, although four quiltsand
a blanket were put out of service.
—The Oak Grove town association is ar-
ranging to build 50 houses in that place in
the spring, the work to be started as early as
the weather will permit. Stone for the
foundations of the new buildings are being
havled now while the sleighing is good. It
is stated that several hundred new houses
will be put np at Oak Grove the coming sum-
mer.
—Mrs. Rachel Brode, of Altoona, and her
nephew, Berry Dodson, were convicted of
voluntary manslaughter in the Blair county
court on Saturday. While Mrs. Brode was
holding a masquerade party at her home a
party of boys congregated dutside. A quar-
rel ensued between the masqueraders and the
boys, and in the melee a boy named Ambrose
Gehl was shot and killed. !
—Thirteen men were being taken to their
work in the recesses of the Bellevue mine of
the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Co.
on an electric engine Tuesday morning. They
had a keg of powder with them. A spark
from the naked lamp of one of the men set off
the powder and a terrific explosion followed,
blowing the men in all directions. William
Hughes was terribly burned about the face,
bands and feet and will die; Walter J. Need-
ham, John Mangan and Edward Miller were
also badly injured. but will recover.
—It is estimated that a half a hundred peo-
ple in Clinton, Cameron and Potter counties
are making from $4 to $9 a day gathering rat-
tlesnake oil and ginseng root. The two voca-
tions can readily be followed at the same
time—indeed, it is a noticeable fact that
where ginseng grows there one invariably
finds rattlesnakes. Ginseng root sells for
from $3 to $5a pound, according to size and
quality, and with rattlesnake oil a remarka-
ble article at the rate of $2 an ounce, the out-
look for the ‘‘bushwackers’ this season is ex-
ceptionally cheerful. A Mrs. Norman, of the
vicinity of Keating, in one day last summer
‘killed seven rattlesnakes, from which she ob-
tained eleven ounces of fat. This amount at
$2 an ounce, made her a pretty good day's
wages.