Al ata
iD
Bellefonte, Pa., October 20, 1911.
_P.GRAY MEEK, - Epmor
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—
Democratic County Ticket.
For Shen.
A. B. Leg, of Potter township.
For Treasurer. ‘
Jonn D. MILLER, of Walker township.
For Register.
J. FRANK SMITH, of Centre Hall.
For Recorder.
W. FRANCIS SPEER, of Bellefonte.
For Prothonotary.
D. R. ForeMAN, of Bellefonte.
For District Attorney.
D. PauL FORTNEY, of Bellefonte.
For County Commissioners.
W. H. NoiL, of Spring township.
D. A. Grove, of College township.
For Auditors.
SiNiE H. Hoy, of Benner township.
JEREMIAH BRUNGART, of Miles township.
For Coroner.
DR. P. S. FisHER, of Walker township.
For County Surveyor.
J. H. WETZEL, of Bellefonte.
Before and After.
The Gazette, of last week, that has con-
stituted itself the mouth-piece and apolo-
gist for Messrs. WOODRING and ZIMMER-
MAN in their miserable management of
county affairs, says that architect HAR-
RIS said to the editor of that paper “I
would not undertake to erect another
building like it and furnish it complete as
is this one for iess than a quarter million
dollars.”
And yet there are good, reliable men in
Bellefonte who will go on the witness |
stand and swear that Mr. HARRIS, after
presenting his drawings and specifica- |
tions of the court house just as it is, and '
before the Commissioners had given him
the job, declared that under no circum-
Oscar W. UnperwooD, chairman of
Means and author of the wool tariff bill,
recently vetoed by President TAFT, ad-
| dressed the Industrial club of Chicago, on |
Saturday evening. The theme of his
speech was the tariff on wool. To illus.
| trate his point he took an all-worsted |
| fabric used extensively in the manufacture |
of men’s and women's woolen clothes.
He proved that the cost of this fabric is
seventy-seven cents a yard in England. |
The compensatory duty, in the ALDRICH-
PAYNE tariff law is twenty-three cents a
yard. The advalorem duty is thirty-eight
cents a yard, making a total tariff tax of |
sixty-one cents a yard. Three and a-half
yards make a man’s suit. There are 36,-
800,000 suits made in this country a year,
so that 128,800,000 yards of the goods are |
consumed and the tariff is $104,400,000 a
year.
The UnperwooD bill proposed a de-
crease of the tariff tax on woolen fabrics
of upward of thirty-five per cent. For
the purpose of making the statement
plain we will say the reduction was one-
third. At that rate the saving to the
people by the UNDERWOOD bill would have
amounted to $34,800,000 a year. This
would have been on the single item of
clothing, for though all men and women
who wear woolen garments do not buy
imported goods is a fact, nevertheless the
price of the domestic product is made to
just come within the imported price with
tariff tax and carriage added. Therefore
those who don’t buy imported goods get
the worst of it for they pay the price and
get inferior goods. The burden is the
same though whereldomestic goods are
used the government gets no revenue.
The outrage is therefore the greater.
This is the real reason why President
TAFT vetoed the UNDERWOOD bill and the
other tariff tax reduction measures en-
acted during the special session of Con-
gress. The UNDERWOOD bill would have
saved the people the amount of the tax.
The veto delayed its operation a year.
The Farmer's Free list bill would have
saved the farmers an equal sum. The
veto of] these two measures, therefore,
robbed the people of the United States to
the aggregate of $69,600,000 and put that
stances should the cost of the building Vast sum into the treasuries of the wool
and furnishings exceed $65,000. Assuring | trust and the harvester trust. It was a
the public and those with whom he talked, | complete fulfillment of President TAFT's
that if contractors here could not be se- obligation to the trusts but we can dis-
cured to do the work at these figures that cover no reason why the people should
he would bring responsible builders and
furnishers from Philadelphia, who would
complete it at that price and make money
on the contract.
It cost close to, if not over, $150,000. To
pay $100,000 of which our homes have
been mortgaged for thirty years with an
interest debt of $155,000 added.
Does such financiering or management |
look like the work of men who knew any- |
thing about the business they were trying |
to do, or had any interest in the welfare
' reward the recreancy by re-electing TAFT:
| That is what he hopes they will do.
| for that reason that he is now traveling
‘over the country at public expense.
——1If the Democrats of Pennsylvania
| perform their full measure of duty at the
coming local elections the political condi-
tions of the State will be materially alter-
ed as the result of their labors. Pennsyl-
vania is not as overwhelming Republican
as some of the election returns have in-
Itis
Perfidious Party Disorganizers.
During the recent primary campaign in
the House Committee on Ways and | Philadelphia the so-called reorganization
Democratic State Committee, of which
GEORGE W. GUTHRIE is the putative head,
established headquarters in Philadelphia
for the purpose of promoting the pre-
posterous fight against the nomination of
RupoLPH BLANKENBURG, as. the Demo-
cratic candidate for Mayor of that city.
Mr. GUTHRIE and his advisers favored the
nomination of J. CLARENCE GIBBONEY, who
appears to have been a "stalking-horse”
for Recorder VARE, as the nominee of the
Democratic and Keystone parties, and
the meager vote of their bogus candidate
reveals the estimation in which the
Democratic disorganizers are held by
decent citizens of both parties.
The State Committee of a party has no
right to obtrude itself into a primary
campaign in any city or county in be-
half of any faction or candidate. Its
functions are to conserve the interests
of the entire party. It is the execu-
tive agent of the Democratic voters as
a whole, charged with the important
work of directing the campaigns against
the common enemy. But the mischief-
making contingent which is behind
Mr. GUTHRIE in his efforts to pro-
mote the sordid ambitions of himself
and a few others, not only disregarded
these palpable facts but joined in a move-
ment to sacrifice party honor and politi-
cal principles in order to help GIBBONEY
earn the price of his perfidious services
to VARE.
Of course Mr. GUTHRIE is not entirely
to blame for this prostitution of a power
that he is trying to usurp. Mr. GUTHRIE
is simply a pawn in the political game of
chess which has been disturbing Demo-
cratic harmony and destroying Demo-
- cratic hopes in Pennsylvania during the
last year. Mr. A. MITCHELL PALMER, a
party traitor who sold out some of his as-
sociates on the ticket last year, and Mr.
JAMES I. BLAKESLIE, with “the ambition
of Caesar and the brains of Blind Tom,”
are the real movers in this outrageous
conspiracy. The fight against Mr. BLANK-
ENBURG was probably organized and con-
ducted by those gentlemen but they are
the representatives of Mr. GUTHRIE and
he is responsible for their actions.
——The BLANKENBURG campaign for
Mayor of Philadelphia has been formally
opened. The primary campaign was
merely a skirmish, the venerable reform-
er announced, but now the battle is on
and the crooks will be kept busy until
the polls close on the evening of Novem-
ber 7. Meantime the friends of good
government oughtn’t to be idle, either.
Evading or Avoiding the Law.
The absurdity of the so-called corrupt
practices act is revealed in the statement
of expenses filed the other day, by WiL-
LIAM VARE, recently a candidate for the
Republican nomination for mayor of
Graft in the Navy Department.
A shortage of $3,288270.58 has been |
discovered in the Washington navy yard, |
but the Secretary of the Navy is confident |
that graft is not responsible. It is the’
result of antiquated book-keeping, he |
alleges, confidently, and the fault has been |
running for a quarter of a century. That
time is fixed, no doubt in order to take
in the last Democratic administration.
But the public will hardly stand for this
false pretense. If the book-keeping sys-
tem of the last CLEVELAND administra- |
tion was faulty or antiquated, there have
been fifteen years in which to alter it. It
was not altered, however, until the com-
mittee of a Democratic Congress began
an investigation.
It 1s more than likely that the antiquated
system of book-keeping in the Navy De-
partment made the shortage possible but
it was not responsible. The responsi-
bility lies in the grafting operations in-
troduced during the ROOSEVELT adminis-
tration and continued through that of
TAFT. The use of government ships as
personal yachts by the President is the
principal cause of the deficit. During the
last dozen years three ships have been
maintained for the personal use of the
President. The expense of maintaining
and supplying these vessels has been
charged to the Washington Navy yard
and in the absence of a lawful method of
accounting for this fund, it has been con-
cealed through faulty book-keeping.
There is probably no Department of the
government conducted more profligately
than the Navy Department. The Postoffice
Department is bad enough and the De-
partment of Agriculture is rotten. But
the Navy Department has been a riot of
peculation and would have continued so
to be if the Democratic Congress had not
determined upon an inquiry. Secretary
MEYER may not have shared in the plun-
der but if he is a man of reasonable intel-
ligence he must have known that things
were going wildly in that Department, and
he ought to have called a halt long ago.
But the profligacy was tor the pleasure of
the controller of patronage and a Sec-
retary who would interfere would have
more courage than discretion.
—We know it is not argument, but as
Musser.—On Wednesday morning jus-
tice of the peace William H. Musser re-
ceived a telegram announcing the death
of his son Dale, which occurred that
morning in the Methodist hospital, Phila-
deiphia, as the result of an attack of ty-
phoid fever, after less than two week's
illness.
Christian Dale Musser was born in
Milesburg on February 10th, 1879, hence
was 32 years, 8 months and 8 days old.
He attended the public school in that
town until his parents moved to Belle-
fonte in the spring of 1894. One year
later he went onto the Pennsylvania nau.
tical school ship Saratoga and after serv.
ing his apprenticeship for a term of two
years he accepted a position as a petty
officer on one of the Morgan line steam-
ers sailing between Philadelphia and
southern points. At the breaking out of
J. FRANK SMITH, FOR REGISTER.
Mr. J. Frank
Smith, whose
name upon the
Derticesa He tick-
et for Register
of Wills helps
materially to
strengt hen and
popularize it, is
a native of
Pennsvalley, and
one of its repre-
sentative citzens.
He was born in
that valley and
has passed his
entire life among its honest and indus-
trious pecple. His father, Jacob Smith,
Esq.. was also a life-long resident of that
valley; and was one of its best and most
respected citizens. Mr. Smith, who is
now asking the support of the voters of
the county for Register, followed the oc-
the Spanish-American war in 1898 he en- |
listed in the navy and served as a sea-'
man on the cruiser San Francisco until |
the close of the war. After his discharge
he secured a position as a telephone line- |
man in Philadelphia and later worked in |
Trenton, St. Louis, Mo., and other places. |
Finally he accepted a position with the
Keystone Telephone company at Jenkin-
town which he held until less than a year
ago when he embarked in the fire insur-
ance and real estate business as a part-
ner of Edwin Kirk, of Jenkintown. He
had but recently moved his family into a
new home he built and they were plan-
ning for years of comfort and a happy
life when the grim reaper despoiled the
home of its head and bread-winner.
On July 4th, 1905, he was married in
Philadelphia to Miss Elizabeth Quinn, of
that city, who survives with three small
children, Dale, George and Elizabeth, at
their home in Jenkintown. He also
leaves his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. H_
Musser; one brother, Horace, and a sis-
ter, Mrs. John M. Bullock, all of this
place.
The funeral will take place at ten
o'clock this (Friday) morning and inter-
ment will likely be made at Jenkintown.
| |
REEDER.—Mrs. Eliza Jane Reeder, wife
R. B. Reeder, died at her home at Cam-
bria Mines, Cambria, county. on Thurs.
day morning of last week, after an illness
both the Gazette and Republican seem to ©f some months with a complication of
think it is when they say W. H. NoLL is diseases. Deceased’s maiden name was
so rich that he won't have time to look Miss Eliza J. Lemon and she was born at
after the duties of a Commissioner, we ROSS church, in 1844, her age at death
might ask what the rich James Furst Deing 67 years, 5 months and 28 days. In
wants with the District Attorneyship.
Taft Fooling Himself.
President TAFT'S campaign tour has
been disappointing in political results
thus far. He has not made a single
speech that has met with popular ap-
proval or changed the mind of an indi-
vidual. His apologies for vetoing the
tariff bills enacted during the special ses-
sion of Congress have not reconciled the
1864 she was united in marriage to R. B.
Reeder, at Pennsylvania Furnace. Shortly
afterwards the young couple moved to Al-
legheny Furnace, Blair county, where for
many years Mr. Reeder was foreman un-
der Dr. Baker at the furnace. Later they
moved to Cambria county. When a girl
Mrs. Reeder became a member of the Ross
Methodist church but later had her mem-
bership transferred to the Barnesboro
Methodist church.
She is survived by her husband, eight
| dicated in recent years and if the Demo- |
. ? i
of the tax-payersof the county? It is for | rats carry as many counties as they
you tax-payers who have to bear the his f in thi
burden of this debt to say on election day. ougit tg this fall there will be someting
all over the country.
——(n Thursday evening of last week
a Republican pow-wow was held in the |
Hope Hose company building at Philips- |
burg. All the candidates on the Republi- |
Bewildered Boss Penrose.
The PENROSE machine is considering a
can ticket with one exception were pres- | Proposition to call the Legislature into
ent. County chairman H. C. QUIGLEY , €xtraordinary session in order to qualify
presided over the gathering and had | GEORGE H. EARLE Jr, for the office of
with him as speakers EDMUND BLANCH. mayor of Philadelphia. Mr. EARLE is the |
ARD, J. S. McCARGAR, J. LINN Harris | PENROSE machine candidate for that office |
and HARrRY C. VALENTINE. Of course and under existing conditions he is not
there were also speeches by the various | eligible. The charter of that city makes
candidates as well as a number of Phil- | five years continuous residence an es-
ipsburg Republicans. Naturally the ob- | sential prerequisite to qualification. With-
ject was to palaver the voters of that | in that time Mr. EARLE moved out of the
town into rolling up a big Republican | City, established a residence elsewhere
vote, but the people are just as well read and swore to the facts in order to escape
and as intelligent over there as anywhere | municipal taxation. Under the circum-
else and will not vote dollars and cents | stances it will be necessary, in the event
out of their own pockets. ' of his election, to get the courts to mis-
| construe the law after the event or amend
Mr. Comley to Run Independent. the charter before. That is a grave
rr | dilemma, to say the least.
Last week the WATCHMAN told about |
So far as the local courts are concerned
REUBEN T. COMLEY filing a petition pre- | S P 1d L
empting the name of the Independent | tor ROSE W bly have
pariy:and'of ‘his intention to. yun 4s. am | little, if any, trouble in getting any kind
independent Republican candidate for | Or Judicial Jesieitn bis - With
Treasurer. Since that time he has filed |
doing next year that will cause surprises |
his papers with the County Commissioners |
and his name will therefore be regularly
printed on the election ballots.
Strenuous efforts were made by the Re-
publican leaders in this place to induce
Mr. COMLEY to desist from his purpose
and withdraw his papers, but all to no
purpose. Both threats and promises were
handed out to him but he would hear to
none. He is not afraid of threats, and as
to promises, he now realizes just what
they amount to from the Republican |
organization. If they had kept faith with
him he would now be the regular nominee
on the Republican ticket instead of
PriTCHARD. He has literally been knock-
ed down and trampled upon, and he don’t
intend to stand for it. Mr. COMLEY has
been one of the hardest workers for his
party in Union township for years and he
can hardly be blamed for feeling sore at
being cast so ungraciously aside. The
WATCHMAN has always maintained that a
man defeated for the nomination should
stand by the successful candidate, but in
his case Mr. COMLEY can hardly be con-
“demned for his decision to run indepen-
dent.
—We trust that the reported attempt
to blow up the President's train in South-
ern California is only a hoax. Of course
such attempts are always the work of
fanatics or crazy persons, but it would
be so much happier if public mea would
| that it is doubtful whether the judges of
that city would know the meaning of the
language of a law. But the chances are
that an absurd decision affirming the
eligibility of the candidate would be car-
Philadelphia. The gentleman made affi-
davit, on Saturday, that the expenses of
| his primary campaign did not exceed the
sum of $50. He is reputed to be a very
wealthy man and according to popular
belief, is exceedingly liberal. His con-
tributions to religious, educational and
charitable enterprises have been generous
as well as boastful. Yet he declares under
oath that the expenses of his campaign
for the mayoraly nomination did not ex-
ceed the meagre sum of fifty dollars.
The primary campaign in Philadelphia,
this year, was unique in several respects.
{ The VARE campaign was peculiarly enthu-
| siastic. VARE headquarters were open in
nearly every ward in the city. VARE'
| clubs were “as thick as leaves in Tallam-
| brosia.” VARE meetings were held in
every public hall, including the expensive
Academy of Music and costly VARE ban-
! ners adorned the highways in every sec-
tion of the city. Thoughtful men were
amazed at the profligacy of the demonstra.
tions. Prudent men were appalled at the |
{expense of maintaining political cam-
| paigns on such a scale of liberality. Yet |
Mr. VARE swears that they cost compara- |
tively nothing. They must have just'
sprung up as by magic.
Those of us who have had something
to do with party campaigns can hardly
believe in such things, however. We
know that meetings cost money and head-
quarters are expensive luxuries. Campaign
banners made of costly wire screens are
‘not stupid. They understand why the
Insurgents or pleased the Stalwarts. They sons and two daughters, as follows: L. P,
have simply confused the public mind. Reeder, of Wheeling, W. Va.; J.C. of
He declares that he is in favor of the Dennison, Ohio; W. F. of East Liberty;
principles expressed in the measures, and J. B, of Altoona; A. H., of New Berlin,
under other circumstances will help to Ohio; R. B. of Pitcairn; Mrs. I. J. Hirst,
put them into operation. But, he adds, .f Altoona; Mrs. Jesse Beers, of Spang-
the tariff commission hadn't advised him ler. She also leaves three brothers and
to approve the bills and therefore he dis- three sisters, namely: George Lemon, of
approved them. In his opinion the con Massilon, Ohio; J. B. of Manor, Pa.
stitution is therefore defective. Capt. John R., of Gatesburg; Mrs.
The President's campaign is simply an Rhoades, of Marengo; Mrs. Jacob Cron-
electioneering junket at public expense. ister, of Centre Line, and Mrs. Meyers, of
Other candidates are obliged to pay the Ridgway. The remains were taken to
expenses of their campaigns. Even a Rogs church, this county, where funeral
candidate for Sheriff or Commissioner of services were held at ten o'clock on Mon.
the county pays the cost of his trips day morning, interment being made in
through the several townships out of his the Ross cemetery.
own pocket. They have no means of | | I
taxing the people to raise funds for such !
purposes. But the President of the K CRISSMAN.—John A. Crissman, a well
United States takes advantage of an op- | known resident of Lockport, Clinton
portunity to graft in this small way and | county, died at his home in that place on
is surprised to find that his promises of Monday afternoon, aged seventy years.
reform and pledges of improvement are | Although he had been a sufferer for
not accepted with enthusiasm. The won- months with a complication of diseases
der is that they are not denounced as his death was sudden and unexpected.
false pretenses, as they propably would He was an expert bookkeeper and for
be if respect for the office that is being many years worked for various lumber
prostituted, did not serve as a restrainer. and coal companies. He was also a vet-
The people of the United States are eran of the Civil war.
He is survived by his wife, one son,
farmer's free list and the wool bills were Harry, and two daughters, Mrs. Michael
vetoed by the President. Those vetoes
were worth $200,000,000 to the harvester |
' Probst, of Lockport, and Mrs. Fred Bald-
win, of West Chester. He also leaves the
ried up for review and pride of opinion ' not woven by spiders and men hardly ever
might influence the higher courts to | form clubs, hire halls and employ bands
decide properly. This would leave the i without money. Therefore we are con-
city in bad shape. It would involve either | strained to believe that Mr. VARE is mis-
the extension of the term of REYBURN for | taken in his statement that his campaign
a period of two years or the elevation of ' expenses did not exceed $50. It is true
director of public safety, HENRY CLAY, that his vast fortune is of more or less
who is at present under bail on the charge ' mysterious origin and like Topsy, “just
of conspiracy to loot the treasury. growed.” But campaign expenses are not
An extra session of the Legislature will met in that way, asa rule. Probably Mr,
cost the people of the State at least half | VARE has overlooked an item or two and
and the wool trusts. They extended the | following brothers and sister: Harry, of
period of spoliation to those criminal Pittsburg; Judson, of DuBois; W. Homer,
combinations at least a year and in that of Bellefonte, and Mrs. Mollie Fravel, of
time the people will be compelled to pay Snow Shoe. Funeral services were held
that enormous sum in excessive prices in the Dunnstown church at two o'clock
for necessary articles of use. If President Yesterday afternoon, Rev. Edward Crumb-
TAFT would candidly say that his speeches | ling officiating. Burial was made in the
would have better effect upon the public | Dunastown cemetery.
mind for they would impress the fact i |
that he has the courage of his iniquities. Maun—Dr. William H. Malin, of
But he tries to fool them with platitudes | Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, brother-in-
andfonly fools himself. law of Mrs. Louisa Bush, of this place,
be able to go abroad ‘ without a thought
of bodily harm.
a million dollars. If it werein pursuance
of a legitimate or even proper purpose
the expense would be no cause of com-
plaint, however. But to saddle such a
burden upon the people in order to cor-
rect a blunder of the machine managers
would hardly be patiently assented to.
Besides there is no certainty that the
purpose could be achieved in that way.
The election is three weeks from next
Tuesday and it would be practically im-
possible to assemble the Legislature and
enact the necessary legislation within
that time. If enacted after the event the
legislation would be clearly ex post facto
and consequently invalid. Pity the sor-
rows of a confused boss.
—What the Athletics are doing to the
Giants is just what the fellow who knows
it all tells you—after the score is in.
| possibly he has lied.
| —The endorsement of Senator ROBERT
M. LA FOLLETTE, of Wisconsin, for Pres-
ident by the progressive Republicans of
America, at their first annual conference
held in Chicago, on Monday, has given
the TAPT smile the drooping sickness.
—If a single Democratic voter fails
to vote for the excellent candidate of his
party this year, the fact will be accepted
as evidence of a lack of civic pride. There
is no room for dronesin the political hive
of Centre county.
—It is probably true that President
TAFT has been disappointed by the re-
sults of his western trip. But think how
much greater will be his disappointment
at the election returns from that section
next year.
——The young folks department of
the Republican wants to know why Mr.
GROVE goes out of Centre county for cat-
tle that he sells here. After the juvenile |
brain has figured out this momentous
question it might puzzle itself awhile
with figuring out why Commissioners
WOODRING and ZIMMERMAN went to Phil-
adelphia for fancy priced architects when
RoBERT COLE'S sign was to be seen from
the front porch of the court house.
——On Sunday a special collection was
taken up in the M. E. church for tke
benefit of Rev. A. A. Harter, who lost
everything in the Austin flood. Ninety
dollars were realized but enough has been
given since to make one hundred dollars.
During the week the Moose sent a box of
supplies to the Austin sufferers and
another box will be sent today which was
gotten up by the Woman's club.
!
who is slowly convalescing from a serious
illness, died at his home early Sunday
morning. He is well known to the older
residents here on account of his former
frequent visits and hunting trips to this
county.
——Every month the New York Mutual
Life Insurance: company puts out an
“honor roll” of its agents. That is, it
makes public a list of twenty men who
have turned in the most business for that
month. This roll covers all its agents in
the United States and Canada so that it
is really an honor to get on it. For the
month of August W. L. Malin, of this
place, stood tenth on this roll. Consid-
ering the fact that he has been with the
company and in the business less than
two years, this is a most creditable show-
ing and he is to be congratulated upon
his ability and success.
cupation of farmer until fourteen years
ago, when he entered mercantile pur-
suits. During these fourteen years he
has so conducted his business that he
now enjoys the esteem and confidence of
the entire community. He has earned
that esteem by his prompt attention to
business, his gentlemanly treatment of
every one, and his strict honesty in all
transactions. He has been liberal in his
' contributions to deserving charities, help-
ful to the full extent of his time and
ability, to those in need, considerate with
all, and has built himself up a reputation
for real worth excelled by few in any
community.
Mr. Smith has always been a Demo-
crat, but never an offensive partisan.
While he has always given of his time
and efforts for the success of the Demo-
cratic ticket, it has not 1 een in an offen-
sive way to those who di fered with him.
For this reason his Republican neighbors
hold him in just as high esteem, rson-
ally, as do his Democratic frien and
but few of the former can be gotten to
oppose his selection for the place for
whch he is a candidate. His entire fit-
ness for the place, eitter intellectually,
morally, in a business or any other way,
is beyond question and is a matter that
every neighbor he has, or any man who
knows him, whether Democrat or Repub-
lican—will be pleased to assure you of.
Mr. Smith will come over the moun-
tain with a tremendously large vote, and
when he is elected, which he is sure to
be, the people will find in him one of the
most efficient, courteous and obliging
public officials who has ever been chosen
to public office.
NEW HIGH STREET BRIDGE TO BE
BuiLT.—After allowing the High street
bridge to lie in a torn up condition all
summer, a new bridge is to be erected
and completed before winter sets in. In
fact the writer was informed yesterday
by a Bellefonte councilman that there
was now a car load of material on its
way to Bellefonte and that the work
would surely be begun not later than next
Monday.
The bridge situation all through is a
very peculiar one and is completely sur-
rounded with mystery. Last spring when
work was started on the bridge and then
stopped because the repairs proposed
proved inexpedient, the county commis.
sioners and their attorney declared
the matter would have to
until the question of rebuilding the
bridge had been properly brought before
the court and approved by the grand
jury. Accordingly a petition was present-
ed to the court for a new bridge, a board
of viewers were appointed who inspected
the bridge and in their report recom-
mended a new one. This report was to
have been presented to the court at the
May session but through the blunder of
somebody it was allowed to lie in a pigeon
hole. At the last term of court the re-
port came to light and when the pro-
thonotary went to present it to the grand
jury he discovered that it had never been
confirmed ni si. It was immediately
handed over to Judge Orvis who gave it
his signature and the grand jury approved
the same. But to become effective it
must be approved absolute by the court
at a regular session, and this has not yet
been done.
Now the mysterious part is that the
York Bridge company now has material
on the way to build the new bridge and
will have a force of men at work within a
few days. And the question is when was
the contract made and how could it be
made now when the viewer's report and
petition for the bridge has not yet been
officially approved by the court? And if it
can be legally built now why wasn't it
built last spring? There is one report
that the bridge is to cost over eight
thousand dollars and another that it will
cost just $7,641. But everybody in
authority simply looks wise when ques-
tioned and says that the bridge will be
built at once. That it is needed at once,
the WATCHMAN admits, but why all the
secrecy and mystery, and why wasn’t the
contract given out at a public letting?
——————
ARRESTED FOR ROBBERY.—On Tuesday
night of last week the grocery store of
lay over
‘Edward I. Gillen, on Allegheny street,
was broken into and the contents of the
cash register taken. The next morning
Harvey Tressler and Harry Barner, two
boys about sixteen years of age, left town
eee
——For high class Job Work come to
the WaTcHMman Office.