Deworeaic Wald
BY P. GRAY MEEK.
INK SLINGS.
erm
—Even the heroics of L’il ARTHUR in
Paris must be coming in for their share
of the censors pencil.
—The mills are paying only ninety
cents a bushel for wheat yet the price of
flour is going up. Why this thusness?
—Physically it may be pretty hot in
some parts of this country, but political-
ly the pot hasn’t even begun to sizzle in
Pennsylvania.
—From the dictatory character of Ja-
pan’s ultimatum to Germany one could
almost imagine the Colonel the Emperor
of the flowery kingdom.
—Apparently we are just emerging
from a very rainy season yet farmers re-
port that the ground is so hard and dry
that it is almost impossible to plow.
—Cuyahoga county, Ohio, is spending
one million dollars on roads this year. If
Centre county tax payers were asked to
do such a thing there would be none left.
They'd all drop over dead.
— With sugar at ten cents a pound it
is too costly to even undertake to sugar-
coat this foreign war pill that American
consumers have to swallow as well as
those responsible for the trouble.
—In this war hold-up game the for-
eigners are the ones who are getting shot
while we are getting robbed. Prices of
food stuffs in London have not gone up
near to the price we are asked to pay.
—If the French, German, English, Aus-
trian and Russian war vessels keep on
sinking as rapidly as they are reported
as having done during the past week the
seas will be overflowing their banks be-
cause of the extraordinary water dis-
placement.
—German poultry fanciers have dis-
covered that capons make much better
guardians for little chicks than the
“clucking” hen. They take better care
of them and stay with them longer. In-
cidentally, capons make better eating
than “clucking” hens.
‘—Some of the foreign papers that were
sneering at President WILSON'S ‘‘watch-
ful waiting” policy in Mexico might have
found it easier in the future to finance
their business had their own governments
done a little “watchful waiting” rather
than precipitately going to a war that is
costing fifty million dollars a day.
~ —That “take-it-back-day,” for the fel-
: lows who had so much to say about “bi-
partisan” Democrats, prior to the May
primaries, might help warm up matters a
little for some people, if properly com-
_memorated before a political frost sets
in, for those most responsible for the
bad blood that campaign engendered.
—Rumor has it that the president of
the Pittsburgh and Susquehanna railroad
Co., wanted the Lubin people to defer
taking the pictures of that head-on rail-
road collision in Philipsburg until No-
vember 4th. If he doesn’t get elected
Congressman the day before he wants to
be in one of the locomotives when they
come together.
—The “ascendancy” which the Centre
Hall Repeater so proudly boasted of two
weeks ago has had every syllable knocked
out of it but the first. If reports be true
it’s editor couldn't pass the civil service
examination so can’t get the post-office
in that place. Really we are not surpris-
ed. Brother SMITH’S memory has been
bad for the past three years.
——Professor WILLIAM BATESON, pres-
ident of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, takes the oppo-
site view of evolution to that expressed
by the late Dr. DARWIN. He says it is
attributable to loss rather than addition
and that possibly man has degenerated
into monkey instead of the monkey de-
veloping into man. And a careful esti-
mate of the capabilities of some of our
prominent politicians lends plausibility to
the new theory.
—There must be doings in the Repub-
lican camp. For two days this week
candidates ROWLAND, MILLER and SCOTT
have been “doing” this side of the moun-
tain and county chairman HARRIS has
been too busy to roll his own cigarets.
What it all means we have been unable
to find out. But if the G. O. P. has sent
out orders to mobilize it seems to us that
the ultimatum has been handed to the
Democrats. Paraphrasing a recent ap-
peal of the Czar of Russia to his Jews:
Isn’t it about time for the near boss of
Centre county to begin to send out a'call
to arms to “my beloved bipartisans.”
—The voters of the Nineteenth Penn-
sylvania Congressional district might do
well to consider that their Congressman
is doing exactly what they sent him to
Washington to do: Remaining at his
desk to represent them and uphold their
President. We repeat what we have
often stated in these columns. We be-
lieve that Col. WARREN WORTH BAILEY
has no superior in mentality in Congress.
And he is not a derelict to his duties
there. While the WATCHMAN is not in
accord with some of his theories there is
so much of good and determination in
Col. BAILEY that it earnestly hopes that
those of his constituents who may also
differ with him on the questions of sin-
gle taxation, re-organization, and a few
other hobbies we might mention, will
submerge their personal antipathies for
the greater good that would be accom-
plished through his re-election.
STATE RIGHTS AN
D FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 5%.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
AUGUST 21, 1914.
XO.23
Concerning Ship Subsidies.
Rear Admiral GoobricH, U. 8S. N,, in
an article in the August issue of The Na-
chant marine with much frankness. “Our
legislation for more than a hundred
years,” he declares, “has always had the
shipbuilder in mind. So far as the laws
could go they have helped him. And so
far as the laws could go,” he continues,
“they have equally discouraged the ship
owner.” In view of this fact the Admiral
adds: “It is a marvel that there are any
ships afloat flying the American flag,
while the theory that builders can really
flourish while owners are penalized is an
amazing violation of common sense.”
During the last half century the only
idea in the direction of strengthening the
merchant marine that has been seriously
considered by the dominant party in
Congress is subsidy. The plan was to
pay ship owners out of the public treas-
ury so much bounty that they could af-
ford to divide with the shipbuilders and
satisfy the cupidity of both. No matter
how much materials might be taxed un-
der such circumstances or how inefficient
the products of their plants, there would
be graft enough to go around and every-
body except the taxpayers could be con-
tent. The rational proposition to admit
American owned ships, wherever built, to
registry was flouted as a sinister assault
upon the tariff and a species of treason
against the government.
Because of this discrimination in favor
of shipbuilders these gentlemen have
come to believe that they enjoy a vested
right to legislative favor and during the
consideration of the question in Congress
the other day an announcement was
made that in the event the pending meas-
ure is enacted into law one of the Phila-
delphia plants will be removed to Cana-
da. This same concern has built ships
for owners in all parts of the world in
competition with ship yards of Europe
and proved its ability and capacity to
hold its own in the strife for business.
But the legislation in question curtails
its opportunity to graft in building for
American owners, which is an _infringe-
ment upon its rights, and consequently it
is peeved.
But the legislation will amply recom-
pense the people of the United States for
the loss involved in the removal of this
plant and whether it goes to Canada or
to that insalubrious climate where Gen-
eral SHERMAN said war is, the govern-
ment at Washington will still live and
“we may be happy yet, you bet.” We
want all the industries we can get in this
country and profitable employment for
all the labor that diversified manufac-
tures can use. But we don’t want pam-
pered enterprises to boss the government
Revenue Deficits and Remedies.
The foreign war is certain to create a
! aid statesmen at Washington are striv-
- ships would jeopardize no vital interest
or bulldoze Congress and the people. We |
have turned our faces away from that
sort of evil and will not even look back. ;
Conspiracy to Advance Prices.
‘ed New York contemporary that “his
It is hoped that the inquiry into
the causes of the increase in the prices
of foodstuffs, recently inaugurated by
the administration at Washington, will
be thorough and effective. The cupid-
ity which will cause suffering and dis-
tress among the people is most atrocious
and should be severely punished. There
are many reasons to believe that recent
advances in prices are ascribable to this
cause. The European war could not
have had such an effect at this time.
That disturbance may have justified the
apprehension of scarcity of products in
the future, but certainly not at present.
There has been no foreign demand for
our abundant stores thus far.
The price of sugar always advances
perceptibly at this season of the year.
The canning period creates an unusual
demand and natural consequences fol-
low. But an advance of half a centa
pound is all that can be claimed on this
account whereas there has been an ad-
vance of three cénts a pound. So far as |
flour is concerned there is no excuse for
any advance. On the contrary the abun-
dant crops ought to have caused a ma-
terial decline in values. Yet there has
been an extraordinary increase in the
price of flour. It is safe to say that con-
ditions in the war zone have not added
a pound to the usual foreign requisition
for meat products of this. country. But
prices have been advanced enormously.
There is but one conclusion to be
drawn from these facts. The advances
in prices are the results of conspiracies
to extort money from a helpless and suf-
fering public. In the case of sugar the
purpose is double, probably. The s:gar
trust is still hoping that the sugar sched-
ule of the UNDERWOOD tariff law will be
altered so as to renew the graft franchise
it has enjoyed so long. But the advances
in meats, flour and other products are
ascribable only to cupidity and every
person concerned in the iniquity ought to
be punished to the full extent of the law.
It is encouraging, moreover, to feel that
under the direction of WOODROW WILSON
sue investigation will produce that re-
sult.
give him the reputation for impulsiveness
Certain it is that he is very vain and al-
ing to devise a remedy. In this connec-
tion Hon. A. MITCHELL PALMER has
spoken in favor ot a stamp tax and an
increase of the tax on beer and incomes.
He also proposes an ad valorem tax on
cigars. If additional taxes are to be lev-
ied, these would be fair subjects for con-
sideration. The stamp tax has always
been unpopular in this country but prob-
ably for the same reason that an income
tax has invariably been opposed by those
most able to pay taxes. And if cigars
are to be taxed at all the ad valorem
method should be adopted. It is unjust
to tax the toby and the high priced cigar
alike, which was the Republican system.
But there is a better way of making
the revenues and expenditures of the
go rernment balance than by levying ad.
ditional taxes on any subject of taxation.
The UNDERWOOD tariff bill would have
provided ample revenue under normal
conditions. The threatened deficit is as-
cribable to the disturbance of commerce
incident to the war in Europe and will
disappear as soon as armed hostilities
cease. Therefore any new taxes levied
now would have to be repealed then and
the war is not likely to last long. Sir
HERBERT KITCHENER, Secretary of War
in Great Britain, estimates its duration at
eighteen months and it may be said that
he has not taken a too hopeful view of
the situation. Luxuries that cost fifty
million dollars a day are not usually pro-
longed.
It wouldn’t hurt the country much, or
greatly impair the efficiency of the pub-
lic service if expenses were cut down
temporarily, or at least during the time
that the revenues are diminished by the
curtailment of importations. For exam-
ple, the improvement of Sqedunk creek
might safely be postponed for a couple
of years and the delay in building a
postoffice structure at Liberty Cross
Roads wouldn’t do a great deal of harm.
A cut of half in the number of battle-
within a short period and other profliga-
cies that Congress has been indulging in
might be abandoned. These economies
would soon amount to the hundred mil-
lions which it is estimated will be lost
and the platform pledge of Baltimore
would be fulfilled.
——When the constitutionalists march-
ed into the City of Mexico General ViL-
LA probably regretted that there were no
heads to smash. But he will become
reconciled to peace after awhile if other
things come his way.
We Had a Narrow Escape.
One of the numerous panegyrists of
the German Kaiser writes for an esteem-
activity is so ceaseless, he is so contin-
uously in action, that he has no time for
careful analysis or inductive reasoning.
In this he is strikingly like Colonel
ROOSEVELT. He loves speed. When he
has decided upon a thing it must be
done at once. Not a moment must be
lost in setting in action the forces that
are to accomplish his end. When he
starts to do a thing if he finds he cannot
do it one way he is quick to change his
methods, and it is this changeability of
methods and haste in applying them that
and erratic tendencies.”
In another part of the same article this
eulogist of the Kaiser says: “He never
rests and professes the deepest horror of
idleness. Some call him a genius, others
insist that he is merely a paranoiac.
ways wishes to be first in everything he
does.” Could any biographer of ROOSE-
VELT describe him more accurately?
“During the first few years of his reign
Europe was distracted,” the writer con-
tinues, “with his furious journeys, rash
speeches and silly sermons.” How like
the Colonel as he rushed across the con-
tinent and harrangued the public from
pulpit or rear platform, or dashed into
jungles to strargle wild beasts with his
bare hands?
What the Kaiser has done for Europe
ROOSEVELT would have done to America
if the opportunity had been present.
Happily while he occupied the seat of
authority there was no chance to involve |
the country in war. But if he had been |
elected in 1912 who can doubt what he |
would have done in solving the Mexican |
problem? No “watchful waiting” for al
man of his temperament. ‘Saddles and |
spurs,” and bayoneis and big guns would
have been his implements and diplomacy
could go hang. Instead of the peaceful
settlement of affairs that has delighted
the Christian world there would have
been a harvest of death and desolation
from the Texas line to the City of Mex- |
ico. We made a narrow escape. !
|
Sete
Progress of the European War.
1
Between censored reports and con-
ie flicting claims the progress of the great
vy, discusses the problems of our mer- | deficit in the revenues of the government )
| war in Europe is involved in uncertainty.
| There have been battles in Belgium,
Servia, Austria and Russia and on the
| borders between the contending coun-
! tries and according to all reports the
losses have been heavy. But estimates
i differ widely both with respect to casu-
alties and the results of the encounters.
It can be said, however, that Germany
has made little progress in its purpose to
invade France and Austria has had no
tter success in its invasion of Servia.
In the nature of things, mcreover, these
aggressive forces had their most favor-
able opportunities in the “early stages of
the conflict. i
Thus far the participants in the war’
are Germany and Austria-Hungary on
one side and France,Russia, England and
Belgium on the other. Italy, which was
the third power in the Triple Alliance,
has thus far refused to join with her
allies, Germany and Austria, but Turkey
seems to be ready to take her place. On
the other hand Japan appears to be anx.
ious to get into the scrimmage on the
side of the Triple Entente and Holland,
Sweden, Norway, Portugal and Greece
are giving moral support to the same in-
terests. The Balkan States are nearly
evenly divided in their inclinations and
ultimately Spain may be drawn in. In
any event the German empire promises
to be the bone of contention.
In such a conflict there can hardly be
any doubt of the ultimate issue. The
Triple Entente is so far superior in numer-
ical force both on land and water that '
the greater efficiency of the Kaiser’s
army will hardly work a balance. Unless
HY
the signs are misleading the brunt of the :
fighting will be on Belgian soil though '
extraordinary energy on the part of the |
Kaiser may shift it into France. The
world will watch the struggle with differ- .
ent emotions and the end is more than
likely to reveal some vast changes in the
map of Europe. Dynasties are already
tottering and the successor to Emperor
WiLLIAM may be called President instead
of Kaiser. :
——OQur Boys band of Milesburg clear- |
ed just $185.85 at their big festival last
Saturday evening. The Pleasant Gap
band failed to show up but that did not
detract from the gathering as Our Boys
band rendered an even seventy selections '
during the evening, which was blowing
some. Frank Kohlbecker was master of
ceremonies over the cake department
and of the eighty-six cakes contributed
he auctioned off eight, pulled off sixty-
one cake-walks and helped to eat the
other seventeen. But all the others in
attendance had just as good a time as |
Frank.
——The burgess of Bellefonte has’
been requested by the Hon. A. B. Fletch- |
er, president of the Fourth American
Road Congress and State Highway Engi-
neers of California, to name three dele-
gates to atte: 1 the sessions of the Con-
gress at Atlanta, Georgia, duri.g the
week of November 9th. Forty-seven
great organizations are taking part in the
Congress under the leadership of the
American Highway Association and the :
American Automobile Association. |
1
——There are hundreds of good |
horses, good cattle and good hogs in Cen- |
tre county; and if only a small per cent. |
of the best were brought to the Centre
county fair, September 1st, they would
make an exhibit worth going many miles |
to see. Farmers in other counties take |
great pride in making a stock exhibit at |
their county fair, and Centre county
farmers ought to be in the front line. !
Try it again this year.
S— |
—If the European war lasts eighteen |
months, as General KITCHENER, Secretary |
of War for Great Britain, predicts, and |
costs fifty million dollars a day, as some
statisticians estimate, bankruptcy will be ,
epidemic on the continent of Europe |
: when peace is restored.
|
——ROOSEVELT’S candidate for Gover- |
nor of New York declares he is opposed
to female suffrage but as ROOSEVELT is |
in favor of it they hope to catch votes
“coming and going.”
——An esteemed contemporary calls
the scrimmage in Europe “A Devil's
War.” Well in view of General SHER-
MAN'’s definition of war, that’s an appro-
priate name.
——We will probably not know who
will be running for office in this State
until ROOSEVELT has made up his mind
upon the subject.
——This country spent five billion dol-
lars for luxuries during 1913 and some
girls didn’t have half enough ice cream.
—For high class Job Work come to
the WATCHMAN Office.
| tial pomp and an array of commerce de-
stroyers and battleships.
| apply for transfer from sea to sea;
Opening the Canal.
From the Philadelphia Record.
With the passage through of the Pana-
ma Railroad steamer Ancon Saturday,
the Isthmian Canal was thrown open to
the world’s just now badly disarranged
commerce. Unless the ceremonial open-
ing, scheduled for next Feb , and
which was to be attended by the war
fleets of the great Powers, should agtual-
ly take place according to program, the
informal passage of the Ancon may be
regarded as the final dedication of the
waterway to its real purposes. And this
unostentatious dedicatory act may be
considered a more appropriate celebra-
tion of a triumph of the arts of ‘peace
than if it had been associated with mar-
In the
presence of these instrumentalities, so
deadly to trade, would have been rather
anachronistic. /
One consequence of the present deplor-
able situation in the civilized world will
be to make the canal completely Ameri-
' can—for the time being, at least. Until
this dreadful war among the maritime
nations of Europe shall have passed and
its memory shall have become as that of
a horrid nightmare, it is not probable
that any flag but that of the United
States will float from the mastheads of
the ships that shall go through the canal.
Fugitive war ships seeking havens of
refuge from more powerful enemies way
ut
the appearance of such unbidden appli-
cants for hospitality would only empha-
size the fact that international commerce
lies crippled everywhere and has become
paralyzed in many parts of the world.
If there must be a ceremonial opening
for the great canal it might better be
postponed to a time when the flags of
: Germany, Great Britain and France can
once more flutter peacefully side by side
and ruffled by the same breeze; when in-
stead of sending over ugly floating for-
tresses, their Iron Dukes, Moltkes and
other equally well-named super-dread-
‘ naughts, the nations will be represented
by fleets of Vaterlands, La Frances and
Olympics. And the time is coming.
Whatever may be the issue of the pres-
ent conflict, one thing is practically cer-
tain—the booming guns are tolling the
death knell of militarism. The nations
: will surely awaken to the folly of seek-
ing advantage in mutual destruction and
to the fact that world-wide competition
in the advancement of commerce and the
arts of civilization is really world-wide
co-operation. Under such new and bet-
ter conditions, let us hope, will the for-
mal dedication of the Panama ginal be |
celebrated. =". eA
Villa Ready to Break Loose.
From the Altoona Times.
With bad blood existing between Gen-
erals Carranza and Villa, and an open
rupture imminent, the former's order
that supplies for the latter’s army shall
be withheld may precipitate a situation
"in Mexico that will be attended with the
most serious consequences.
It is stated that Villa is determined
that reforms for which his army has
been contending must be redeemed by
General Carranza, and that if the new
Constitutional government evinces a dis-
position to sidetrack them he will again
‘ take the field in a new revolution, in
which the cause of the common people
i will be advanced with fire and sword.
i And there is no doubt that if this predic-
| tion is realized that the struggle will be
as bitter and as bloody as that which
was terminated with the flight of General
Huerta.
Villa is the idol of the peons of Mex-
ico, and it is questionable whether Car-
ranza could command the allegiance of
"any great portion of his army were he
pitted against his former victorious gen-
eral. Just what position this government
might take, in the event of a new rebel-
lion, is not defined. It is improbable,
however, that we are committed to Car-
ranza to the extent of guaranteeing his
government or making issue with him
against his opponents.
In its dealings with the Mexican lead-
ers, Villa alone has evinced a disposition
to respect the wishes of the administra-
tion. Probably Washington might regard
his success as the most certain assurance
of that abiding peace which it has en-
deavored to establish.
Go To It Mr. President.
From the Johnstown Democrat.
President Wilson is justified in using
every power within the reach of the gov-
ernment in attempting to halt the mad
rush upward of the price of foodstuffs.
Flour has taken a jump, and yet what
possible excuse can there be for an ad-
vance? Europe is not drawing upon us as
heavily as usual. The wheat crop is the
largest in years. To assert that the war
has forced an advance in the price of
flour is to state a manifest absurdity. It
is not war that is back of the increase,
but plain and simple robbery. Eggs have
advanced in price within the last two
days. Meat has advanced. Advancing
prices has become a mania, and manias
of the dangerous sort must be curbed.
President Wilson has made a ten strike
by calling the attention of the Depart-
ment of Justice to the present situation
and demanding that every legal means
be used to protect the ultimate con-
sumer.
It is to be expected that the adminis-
tration will be attacked upon the ground
that it is “attacking business.” Itis. It
is attacking business of the dishonest
sort. It has been attacking dishonest
business for some time and the men who
have been crying calamity and declaring
that Wilson should withdraw his anti-
trust measures and that Congress should
adjourn are the men who today are forc-
ing prices upward and using a fake war
scare as a basis for the boost. An in-
crease in the price of flour at this time
is absolute evidence of a wide-spread
conspiracy against the public welfare.
It is to be hoped that President Wilson
will be able to “smoke the rascals out.”
i
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Five men and a woman were arrested on a
charge of a Latrobe fruit dealer who complained
that they made a raid on his shop and attempted
to carry off his stock.
—A terrible tragedy was enacted at Sidney,
when David Williard was deliberately shot in
four places by Frank Guthrie, also of Sidney.
He died later in the Adrian hospital.
—Mifflin county farmers report the peach crop
the most promising the county has had for sev-
eral years past, potatoes showing a fine yield of
excellent quality, and berries of all kinds very
plentiful.
—Thinking that they had found some candy
two Connellsville children feasted on twenty-
eight medical pills and their lives were saved
only by the prompt administration of emetics by
a physician.
—While riding at a speed of a mile a minute in
the motordrome connected with a carnival at
Minersville, a young man was badly hurt by be-
ing hurled almost 100 feet out over the top of
the motordrome. :
—Of the 400 teachers who took the examina-
tions recently held in Cambria county 320 passed
them successfully. Something over 15,000 sheets
of paper, weighing about 200 pounds, were used
by the applicants.
—D. H. Hamaker, for the last forty-two years
agent for the Adams Express company at Lew-
istown, the oldest acting express agent between
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, retired last Satur-
day. His successor is C. O. Ely, of Harrisburg.
—The tipple of the Rich Mill Coal company, at
Hastings, was blown up by dynamite early Mon-
day morning. It was entirely destroyed. So was
the barn of the Pennsylvania Coal and Coke com-
pany. The entire town was shaken by the ex-
plosion.
—All the mines of the P. & R. Coal and Iron
company, in the vicinity of DuBois, and in the
Indiana district, are working full time to fill an
order for 75,000 tons of coal consigned to the
Grand Trunk railway in Canada, and believed to
be for the Russian or English government.
—Last year the Berwind-White Coal Mining
company, Windber, mined more than 4,000,000
tons of coal, most of which was shipped east for
the use of trans-Atlantic steamships. Owing to
the almost complete discontinuance of steamship
service this trade hasbeen very seriously affected.
—Jefferson county had a malevolent murder
last Saturday when Frank Guthrie, aged 20, shot
and fatally wounded David M. Williard, a mer-
chant of Sidney, a town located about twelve
miles east of Punxsutawney. The murder was
deliberate, the result of a quarrel over Williard’s
son. ’
—Pittsburgh had a big bank robbery on Mcn-
day and one of the auto bandits was positively
identified at the Pittsburgh police headquarters
by a photograph in the Bertillion Bureau as
Frank G. Hohl, who robbed the Union bank of
Altoona last March. The bandits made a good
get-away.
- Mrs. James Long, of Portage, gave her infant
daughter a dose of soothing syrup and then went
out driving with her husband Sunday afternoon.
Presently the mother thought the chid had a
peculiar look and closer examinations showed
that it had ceased to live. The soothing syrup
is to be analyzed.
—By an order of Judge Cummings, all men
hereafter committed to the Northumberland
county jail for desertion and non-support will be
employed on the streets of Sunbury, with re-:
muneration of sixty-five cents per day, the money *
passing through the hands of the court to the
prisoner's family.
—A 15-year-old Italian girl named Bershinski
whose home is in Meyersdale, has had two
C es to marry, both. of which she declined,
(‘has been whipped by her father for tSntumacy,
has run away from home and been recaptured
and is now taking her father into court for cruel
treatment, all within a few days.
—The Johnstown Traction company is de.
fendant in a suit for damages to the amount of
$25,000 and hospital expenses amounting to
$665.20, brought by Miss Rachel Simendinger, a
trained nurse of Johnstown, who alleges care-
less operation of one of the company’s cars in
which she was riding when injured last May. !
—Walter Gaskins, chef on a dining car, was
standing on the car step watching a hot box last
Saturday afternoon when his head came in con-
tact with a girder of the Queen’s Run bridge, be- .
tween Lock Haven and Renovo, resulting in his
death. The upper part of his head was torn off,
including the eyes, both legs and an arm were
broken and he was frightfully mangled.
—MTrs. H. F. Heffner, a resident of South Wil-
liamsport, was struck by lightning last Friday
evening and badly shocked. Women who ex-
amined the woman soon after she had been struck
say she was purple from head to foot. This’
color gradually faded away, beginning with her:
head and passing off toward the toes. This was
followed by a greenish tinge which also vanish-
ed, leaving a large purple burn covering the"
whole upper portion of her breast.
—The strike of the miners of the Miller Coaj
company at Portage continues, the company re-
fusing to make any concessions other than to
refer the matter to an arbitration board and de-
claring that it will not give an inch of ground if
the mines are allowed to remain idle for months.
President Gilday of the United Mine Workers
made this announcement following a conference
with general manager Maxwell. Mr. Gilday
announces that his decision not to be a candidate
for re-election is final, but that he is not pre.
pared at this time to announce his plans for the
future.
—Corl Porta, who held the distinction of being
the father of the largest family ever raised in
Altoona, and who for many years was employed
as a puddler at the Altoona Iron works, died at
his home in that city on Monday evening, of
cirrhosis of the arteries, after a week's illness.
He was the father of thirty children, twenty-one
of whom are still living, the youngest being about
3 years of of age, while the oldest is past forty.
In addition of the twenty-one children, there are
forty grandchildren. Mr. Port was a veteran of
the Franco-Prussian war, having served for five
years in the Prussian army.
—A bold and daring robbery was perpetrated
at the Metz hardware store, Williamsburg, Sun-
day night, the thief or thieves carrying away
with them in the neighborhood of $200 worth of
revolvers, rifles, pen knives and a large amount
of ammunition. The deed was not discovered
until the opening of the store Monday morning,
when upon entering the office which is located in
the rear of the main store room, it was found
that the large glass in the lower part of the win-
dow had been removed and entrance made,
which led to investigation and the discovering of
the missing hardware, with no clew, however, as
to the identity of the burglar. The work with-
out doubt was executed by a professional.
—The European war last week caused the
shutdown of the Berwind-White Coal company’s
big operations at and near Windber. The com-
pany furnishes ocean steamships with coal and
the calling into ports of all trans-Atlantic liners
has resulted in the demand for coal falling off.
The Windber plants did not work for several
days, but resumed operations on Monday in full.
However, until the trans-Atlantic transportation
companies restore ocean service, it is not likely
the mines will run more than five days and per-
haps only three days per week. The recall of
the United States army equipment from Vera
Cruz also has had its effect upon Berwind-White
business. The company carries part of the
.| contract for coaling the war vessels.