Bemoreal Waar
BY P. GRAY MEEK.
INK SLINGS.
When council met on Monday night
It started in with vim
To find out why the ’lectric lights
Are so flickerin’ dim.
And when the wise men gathered there
Began to hit the mark
The lights went out in town again
And left them in the dark.
—God speed President WILSON’S ef-
forts to arrange for the independence of
the Philippines.
—It takes only a few degrees of tem-
perature to change the name of “the| Former Secretary of State P. C. KNOX |
| made a good point in his argument for | on Monday wiil have little opportunity read to Congress on Tuesday, reveals the |
beautiful” to mud.
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STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
PA. DECEMBER 1 1,
1914.
VOL. 29.
One Irrefutable Fact.
BELLEFONTE,
) en
| Congress and Its Work.
The session of Congress which began
oo 2 : : tithe the release of HARRY K. THAW, the other | to do good or harm. It expires by limi-
ron oat of Chr 2 iat le day. “Under the constitution of the | tation on the4th of March and if it takes
catch only the material things.
—Its getting very close to Christmas.
In truth next week’s will be the last
issue of the WATCHMAN for 1914.
—Of course President WILSON’S latest
message will not please those whose
personal interests he is not exploiting,
—You haven't ordered the WATCHMAN
sent to that friend of yours as a Christ-
mas rememberance yet. It’s a suggestion
worth considering.
—There are some people silly enough
to think that their aplomb would be less
disturbed by being knocked over by a
Pierce-arrow than by a Ford.
| deliberate and
United States,” he said, “one cannot be
extradited unless charged with crime in
the State from which ‘he fled; that by
sane person is declared not to be a crime,
and that THAW is adjudicated a lunatic,
the courts of New York having so decid-
ed five times in the last six years, during
all of which the State has kept him con-
fined in a madhouse as a dangerous
nevertheless there ought to be a way to
return him to the madhouse from which
he escaped.
THAW committed one of the most
cold-blooded murders
‘ the usual two week’s holiday recess will :
“have only ten weeks for business. In
the last session the supply bills occu-
i the New York statute the act of an in- : pied more time than that. Under the spur
‘of necessity the movement of these
| measures may be expedited to some ex-
(tent. But the careful consideration of
| the various appropriation bills will leave
i little time for other legislation. Probably
; this is fortunate, however. We have had
( lunatic.” Every word of that is true but : a good deal of legislation in the recent
‘past and if Congress will complete cer- |
i tain legislation pending and pass the
| supply bills it will do enough.
| One encouraging incident of the open-
ing of the session is the obvious deter-
Monday night was our first real | recorded in the criminal annals of this | mination to curtail expenditures. Under
-— 1
wintry looking one of the season. The
rain turned to sleet early in the evening
and the ground was quite white Tues-
day morning.
—Philadelphia’s yearly loss through
destruction by rats is reported as being
in the neighborhood of a million dollars.
That is like pouring it down a rat hole,
sure enough.
——The anthracite coal tax has cost |
the consumers a good deal and hasn't
increased the receipts of the State Treas-
ury. But it has been “a pudding” for
the anthracite coal mine owners.
—Dr. DiXoN’s weekly health talk tells
of horrible consequences that follow con-
tinued selfishness. We recommend the
reading of it to everybody and especially
the gentlemen who own the Democratic
party in Pennsylvania.
—One ball player of the Athletic team
has been sold for fifty thousand dollars
and Bellefonte will probably have lots of
trouble raising less than half that amount
to buy an industrial plant that is em-
ploying nearly a hundred men. z
—A California naturalist is authority
for the statement that skunks like to be
petted. Here's a chance for some of you
curious individuals to find out for your-
selves just how much these high brows
know about things they are telling us
from time to time.
—So its the “exciter” that has gone
wrong with our electric light plant, is
it? Judging from the way most of the
consumers in this place have been carry-
ing on the past two weeks we would
infer that the “exciter” is about the only
thing about the new plant that really
has been delivering the goods.
—An Italian mathematician has figured
. out that every person in the world could
stand up comfortably in an area 500
miles square. Of course no allowance
is made for the extra room that would
be required for the daddies of new born
babies or for the friends who had drunk
their health until they couldn’t stand up.
—Talking about the new war stamp
tax, about the only time the ordinary
fellow has to worry about that is after
he has found a good friend to go on
with him, sounded the bank out as to
whether the friend looks good enough to
it and then produced the note, he has to
pay two cents for each hundred dollars
or fraction thereof.
—A little suggestion for Christmas for
you is that a twenty-five cent toyor a
box of candy given to some poor waif
will produce more genuine happiness
than a box of Garcias sent to someone
who is able to buy his own. A pleasant
Christmas note is freighted with as much
real significance to the latter friend as
anything you might send him.
—The metropolitan papers announce
that professional “dips,” otherwise pick-
pockets, are actually looking for work in
other lines because business in their own
is so poor. What can they expect so
near Christmas time? No wise .nan
would carry much money in his jeans
just now, especially if his wife has ac-
cess to them after he has retired.
—How lovely the political atmosphere
in Clearfield must be. Within the same
week the Republican and the Spirit have
both announced their intention of bury-
ing the hatchet and working to the end
that the Democracy of Pennsylvania be
reunited. This sounds so much like the
millennium that we are constrained to
think “Doc” STouGH did do them some
good, after all, over there.
—Philadelphia has an accurate testing
plant, carried in an automobile, and used
every night in different places in the
city to ascertain whether its various
forms of street lights are maintained at
contractstandard. Say! you overworked
councilmen, why don’t you find out what
a contraption of that kind costs. We'll
bet a lolly pop to anything you name
that there'll be a candle power or two
more in every street light in Bellefonte,
as soon as the juice makers hear that
you've written for prices.
(country. The man he shot had a reputa-
tion for evil but had not been tried or
convicted of any of the crimes charged
against him in the current gossip of his
day and community. Besides that THAW,
who was morally little better, if any, had
not been appointed executioner or in-
vested with the power of regulating the
morals of the city in which he operated,
criminally and otherwise. He escaped
the just penalty of his outrage by plead-
ing insanity. The statutes of New York
provide that a murderer who thus es-
capes shali remain in a madhouse until
released by process of law.
By bribing officials, corrupting attend-
ants and other nefarious practices, THAW
escaped from the madhouse. If he be
innocent of the great crime of murder,
for which he was committed, he is guilty
of the lesser crime of bribery, or at least
he is chargeable with the crimes com-
mitted in making his escape and he
might justly be extradited for them and
put upon trial. If he is not crazy he
ought to have been hung. If he is crazy
he ought to be returned tothe madhouse
from which he escaped and kept there
until released by the natural process
which will take his odious person out of
the light of public contempt for all time.
No lawyer can refute this fact.
——Senator PENROSE declares that he
will not give serious consideration to the
question of Senator OLIVER'S successor
fora year. And between the lines of
that notice one may easily discern an
admonition to all other Republicans to
“keep off the grass.”
Get Together is the Order of the Day.
Whatever movements are contemplat-
ed by the leaders of either faction of the
Democratic party of Pennsylvania to pro-
long the factional strife or widen the
chasm now yawning, may as well be
abandoned. The Democratic voters of
the State want no more factional strife.
They have analyzed the election returns
and learned that one gubernatorial seat,
one seat in the United States Senate,
half a dozen in the House of Representa-
tives in Washington and more than half
a hundred in the Senate and House of
the Legislature were lost to the party
through this factional quarrel, and they
want no more of it. What they want is
harmony and fidelity to the principles of
the party. :
It makes mighty little difference to the
average Democratic voter who is chair-
man of the Democratic State committee
or whether the headquarters of the party
are in Philadelphia or Harrisburg. The
voter is influenced by faith in the prin-
ciples of the party and if the managers
of the organization are honest and sin-
cere the individual voter will do his part
if hope of victory spurs him to action.
Party harmony is the fountain of hope-
Exact jussice among men is the source of
harmony. Therefore instead of bending
energies to the triumph of one faction
and the defeat of another, the obvious
duty of the leaders of both factions is to
harmonize. Get together.
Bossism is! abhorrent to Democracy.
The usurpation of power is obnoxious to
the Democratic mind. Rules which stifle
the voice of the voters must be repealed
and regulations which are subversive of
Democratic principles abandoned. The
personnel of the ticket is of little conse-
quence. The candidates are chosen by
the people under the present primary
system. But the platform is the expres-
sion of convictions of the party as a
whole and its construction should be the
work of the aggregate through their
representatatives. No man is big enough
to hold the consciences of nearly half a
million individuals in his hand and plat-
form conventions should be held when
there are State candidates.
——The London stock ' exchange is
still closed but that doesn’t matter much.
World prices will be made on this side
of the Atlantic after “this cruel war is
over,” and making prices is about all
that stock exchanges are good for.
the directions of the President depart-
| ment estimates have been cut consid- |
| erably and promise a saving of nearly
| three and a-half millions. Then the pork
| barrel has become anathema at the
| White House and if it makes its appear-
: ance upon the floors of Congress at all it
will be in so modest a form as to sur-
! prise the country. The party in the ma- ;
jority in Congress is pledged to econom-
| ical administration and the failure of the
last session to make good on that prom-
| ise cost a lot of Congressional seats. It
| may reasonably be hoped, in view of
present feeling in Washington, that that ;
| fault will be corrected during this session.
| Of course there can be no curtailment
| of appropriations for the army and navy
| and slight increases may be looked for
lin the bills for those departments. But
there is no necessity for adopting a milita-
{ ry policy or burdening the people with
| vast expense for multiplying the force of
| either department. Those who insist
| upon the opposite course are not in
| fluenced by patriotism. It is the selfish-
|ness which discerns graft from the
| beneficiaries of big armies, large navies
and redundant war equipment, that is
‘urging toward militarism and the ma-
| jority of Congress may safely set its face
| against such criminal profligacy. The
| earnings of the people may and must be
| put to better purposes.
| ——Philadelphia is certainly “making
a full hand” in the work of relieving the
i distress in Belgium. But Philadelphia
‘has the entire State of Pennsylvania
| behind her in this enterprise and Pennsyl-
vania “goes some” when she gets started.
| President Wilson Will be Supported.
The decision of the President to with-
hold support from the movement to in-
{ vestigate and make public the strength
of the army and navy will be approved
| by a vast majority of the patriotic peo-
ple of the country. Such an action at
this time could have no other than a
mischievous effect. If the investigation
should reveal an unsatisfactory condi-
tion there ‘would be no means of provid-
ing a remedy until after the’ harm had
| been done. If it prove such efficiency as
i the expenditures during recent years
{warrant the money spent in the
investigation would be wasted. In
j either event it is better that the admin-
istration direct its energies toward rais-
ing the standard of the service.
Manifestly there is an organized move-
ment afoot to force the government of
the United States into the adoption of a
military policy of the most aggressive
type. Simultaneously the stand-pat states-
men and the stand-pat press of the en-
tire country have taken up the agitation
and all sorts of bugaboos are being trot-
ted out to frighten the public. It is al-
leged that our army is weak in force,
badly disciplined and poorly equipped
and that our navy is delinquent in every-
thing. If this were true it would be the
duty of patriotism to conceal the fact
until the deficiency could be repaired.
But as a matter of fact it is not true.
i Both the army and navy are in a fair
state of efficiency.
Of course there is a reason for this
propaganda at this time. The excuse for
it lies in the present disturbed conditions
in Europe, but the cause is vastly differ-
ent. The armorplate makers, gunsmiths
and various ammunition trusts are anx-
ious for a military policy because it would
enable them to coin money out of the
fears of the people and rob wage-earners
of the fruits of their toil. The Republi-
can statesmen and newspapers lend
themselves to this nefarious conspiracy,
for or without a consideration, in the
hope that it will give them a party ad-
vantage in the campaign of 1916, but
President WILSON will be neither fooled
nor coerced into such folly.
steamship tickets may
curtail the travel to Europe but appre-
hension of troubles in the war zone will
have a greater influence in that direc-
tion.
—Taxing
| The President’s Message.
| President WILSON’S annual message,
i broad mind and careful analysis of a pro-
' found student of affairs. His reference
to the senseless agitation for an investi-
“gation and exposure of the strength or
weakness of our army and navy is most
admirable. “Let there be no misconcep-
“The country has been .
misinformed, we have not been negligent |
tion,” he said.
of national defense, we are not unmind-
ful of the great responsibility resting
upon us. We shall learn and profit by |
the lesson of every experience and every |
new circumstance; and what is needed
will be adequately done.” What more
could be asked of the government in
| reason? :
In his legislative programme the Pres-
ident is equally wise and conservative.
He asks that the unfinished conservation
bills be completed; that the legislation
providing for the ultimate independence
of the Philippines be finished; that the
London convention providing for safety
at sea be ratified; that a government
, owned merchant marine be created and
that the perilous waters of the Alaskan
coast be charted and he gives good rea-
sons for all this legislation. Finally he
| urges the strictest economy in all branch-
es of the government. In this he simply
{demands the fulfillment of the Demo-
cratic pledge made in the platform of
the Baltimore convention.
All Democrats will not concur in his
proposition for the creation of a govern-
ment owned merchant marine, though
| he supports it with the soundest argu-
ment available. It is true that we have
subsidized railroads across the continent
and that shameful scandals attended the
consummation of that policy. But it
was not a Democratic policy and that
party was not responsible for the conse-
quences. Moreover he shows a confi-
dence in the future which will not be
universally shared. Experience teaches
that governments rarely, if ever, relin-
quish power or authority and when the
time comes to give over to private enter-
prise control of the business the plan
might be defeated.
No War Tax on Marriage Licenses in Cen-
tre County.
The new United" States war revenue
tax which went into effect on De-
cember first is causing consternation
among the marriageable inclined through-
out the State. In some counties the
marriage license clerk construes the law
to mean that a ten cent revenue stamp
must be attached to each certificate on
the license, which naturally increases the
cost twenty cents. In other counties only
one ten cent is attached, and that on the
regular license certificate. In Dauphin
county dyring the first three days of
December one stamp was attached but
this was discontinued on advices from
Washington that the revenue Act does
licenses.
In Centre county, however, Register J.
Frank Smith construed the law as ex-
empting marriage licenses and has at no
time affixed a revenue stamp or required
the applicants to put up the price thereof.
He believes in encouraging the young
people in every way and all who apply
will be accommodated at the old price of
one dollar, which is fixed by law, and
cannot be changed by anybody outside
an Act of the Legislature. Therefore if
you want to get married don’t hesitate
on the grounds that you might have to
Pay a revenue tax on your license, be-
cause you will not.
——With pleasure the WATCHMAN
apologizes to Mr. T. R. HAMILTON.
When it referred to the Hon. A. G.
MORRIS as one of the youngest old men
in the town it intended to excite no com-
petition among gentlemen. It never
even thought of Mr. HAMILTON as an
older man. He is so remarkable in: his
activities that few people do.
——There is to be no award of the
Nobel peace prize this year. This hasn't
been the year for peace makers. At that
fellow who can stop the fight in the
Democratic party in Pennsylvania.
SCHWAB the other day failed to dull the
edge of his energy. A day or two after
the conference he went to Europe to
book new orders ‘or transact business of
some sort.
——The one way to insure the deliv-
ery of a Christmas package on time is to
send it early. Don’t wait until a day or
two before Christmas, when the mails
are likely to be over crowded.
——Probably those Bull Moosers who
met in Chicago last week want to fool
the public into the belief that ROOSEVEL
isn’t the whole cheese. :
A
not contemplate the taxing of marriage !
they might hold it out as a prize to the!
——Whatever Mr. BRYAN said to Mr. |
NO. 49.
War’s Check on Enterprise.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Those persons who believe that, be-
j cause of the present rush of war orders
i to be filled in this country, we are enter-
| ing upon an era of great manufacturing
{ activity of indefinite duration, overlook
{ several important adverse factors. One
, is that the United States will be largely
shut off from that source of capital, Eu-
rope, upon which it has drawn so freely
for nearly a century in developing its re-
sources. If the present war lasts a year
it is estimated that it will cost $18,000,
- 000,000, which is about the ainount that
would under normal conditions be invest-
ed in new securities during a period
of fouror five years. Much of this money
| will go into the great loans which all the
nations are putting forth, and the savings
availabe for investment in the United
States and Canada promise to be small.
Because of such demands upon foreign
capital which for patriotic reasons will
have first preference, it is difficult to see
where American railroads, public service
corporations, mills, factories and other
enterprises are to get needed money for
development, unless it shall turn out that
the United States is now amply able to
do all such financing without outside as-
sistance. This is problematical, because
there have been heavy losses here as well
as in Europe.
Another consideration is that the rel-
atively high rate of interest paid on for-
eign loans (that of Germany being over
five per cent.) is going to have its influ-
ence on the return to be expected from
other permanent investments. This will
affect the price of bonds, which may
naturally be expected to decline. Indus-
trial issues, especially those of a specula-
tive character, may thus be difficult to
market only at exceptionally high rates,
and the promotion of new enterprises
will be checked.
Possibly it may prove that the United
States is equal to all the demands for
capital made upon it. Let us hope so.
But at the same time it must be remem-
bered that such a vast sum as $18,000,
000,000, and possibly even more, cannot
be largely destroyed without it having a
vast influence upon the whole world. The
consequences will be feit here no less
than abroad for many years.
Who Pays for the Parcel Post?
From the Johnstown Leader. : p
When the war tax was imposed upon
a people at peace, no adequate provision
was made for its collection. There were
precedents. When the parcel post was
established two years ago no pr vision
was made for its transportatiofss Fhe
entire parcel post was carried by the
railroads for six months without any
compensation whatever. You remember
that we rushed into the parcel ‘post busi-
ness head over heels because it promised
to reduce the high cost of living. The
business grew like a mushroom does in
the advertisements intended to sell
spawn. Six months later the mail pay
of the railroads was increased to pay for
the weight of parcel post then being car-
ried. But the business was still growing
at a great rate, and the railroads were
certain to be deeper in the hole than
ever. Six weeks later the government
increased maximum weight of parcels
from 11 pounds to 20 pounds and on Jan-
uary Ist, 1914, to 50 pounds, while the
postage rates were lowered. The middle
States railroads are today carrying free
to Uncle Sam packages above 11 pounds
in weight. Approximately half the parcel
post business, after two years is car-
ried without pay. The loss, in this year
alone, has been more than $8,000,000.
| These statements are given as facts by
the railroads and by employees of the
railway mail service. The government
does not contradict them. There is no
excuse. Railroads which are robbed in
one department, by a user of ‘their serv-
ice who cannot be resisted, must get back
their money from some other source, or
they must go into the paths which lead
to bankruptcy. It has taken a long time,
but it is now apparent to most men that
the railroads have not had and are’ not
now enjoying a square deal. The pun-
ishment fits the crime. The people pay.
Our Obligations to Great Britain.
From the Johnstown Democrat.
A whole lot of people were given a
round turn when they read that Lloyd
George had said the United States owed
Great Britain about five billion dollars.
The chancellor of the British exchequer
may be a bit high in his figures, but his
statement brings the fact forcibly to
mind that the people of this country cer-
tainly owe the people of Great Britain a
powerful lot of money. The debt is in
the form of money loaned us for ‘pro-
motion. English gold has helped to build
our railroads, and our traction lines.
English money has been invested in our
mines and in a thousand and oné in-
dustries. Very little of the money ad-
vanced us is in the form of notes that are
due. We have the utilities, the mines or
the industries and the Englishman has
the stock that represents his interest
| therein. The only way it would be pos-
sible for England to realize on the sum
we “owe” would be for her people to at-
tempt to sell to us the stock they own,
In other words, having loaned us five
billion dollars, they might decide that it
would be worth while closing the deal by
getting four billion back and allowing us
to keep the other billion. That is prac-
tically what a general selling campaign
would amount to if England were to
start one. But as a rule, the English do
not do business that way.
——CHAMP CLARK says that ROOSE-
VELT is half crazy. But then CHAMP
CLARK always was exceedingly conserv-
ative.
——1If those Pittsburgh councilmen
would cut their salaries in half they
would still get more than they are worth.
i SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—T. A. Mayes, sheriff of Jefferson county, is
also a fruit grower and has gathered from his
orchard this season about 1,000 bushels of apples.
—It is predicted that the hamlet of Buelah, two
miles from Ebensburg, will soon become one of
the largest mining towns in Cambria county.
—A female imposter has been traveling about
| Johnstown soliciting contributions for various
benevolent organizations, all of which repudiate
her.
—Indiana’s new postoffice is to be located on
the Wilson property, corner of Church and Sev-
enth street, and the government will pay $18,000
for the site.
—Robbers invaded the office of the Postal Tele
graph company, Williamsport, the other morn-
ing but secured nothing except a small amount
of tobacco.
—During the first seven days of this month the
commissioners of Indiana county have paid over
$2,000 in bounties on weasels, and it is expected
the total for the month will be $3,000.
—Punxsutawney must have some city lockup _
We learn from the Spirit that the improvements
are almost completed as “the cement floor is
down and the painters and decorators are at
work.”
—Mrs. Irma Guyer, teacher in the primary
grade of the Mifflintown public schools until a
few weeks ago, when sickness compelled her to
relinquish her work, died last week at her home,
near East Salem.
—Three-year-old Annie Semin, of Johnstown,
fell into a tub of scalding water in the kitchen of
her home and died four hours later in the Me-
morial hospital. The entire back of the child’s
body was terribly scalded.
—Many citizens of Westmoreland county, in-
cluding the farmers, are in favor of the erection
of a workhouse on a farm owned by the county.
It is said that it costs $10,000 annually to send
prisoners to Allegheny county.
—The large general merchandise store con-
ducted by J. H. Steele & Co., at Eriton, Clearfield
county, was destroyed by fire one afternoon last
week, involving a loss of about $38,000. Crossed
electric wires are believed to have caused the
damage.
—Danville has twenty cases of typhoid fever
and the health board is becoming alarmed, fear-
ing a repetition of the outbreak of a year ago,
when there were twenty-six cases and several
deaths. There has been one death, while a num-
ber are seriously ill.
—Roy Colflesh, aged twenty years, who lives
on a farm near Ursina, was terribly injured
when the glove of his left hand became entangled
in the mechanism of a new corn shredder. The
entire arm was mangled up to the elbow and had
to be amputated above the joint.
—Admitting that he beat her “with his fists,”
but without intent to kill her, Samuel Lewis,
aged 49, of Haydenyille, Westmoreland county, is
in jail charged with the murder of his wife, Em-
ma Lewis. The woman's skull was crushed and
it is evident a club was used.
—Twelve-year-old Mary Smith is under arrest
in Johnstown for stealing a small doll from M.
Nathan’s store. She said she wasn’t sure she
was going to get any Christmas gifts and the
store contained so many dolls she didn’t think
one little one would be missed.
—Kimber Cleaver, editor of the Meyersdale
Commercial, admits in the current number of his
valuable weekly that he assisted a thief who had
stolen his raincoat to wrap it up and permitted
thief and coat to depart, not knowing of his loss
until next morning. He offers a reward for the
coat.
—As the result of a violent physical ‘controver-
sy metween Polanders John Pedolock is confined
to the DuBois hospital suffering from a depress-
‘ed fracture of the skull, four scalp wounds and a
broken and a lacerated finger. Andy Sopomack
hasbeen locked up to await the result of Podo-
lock’s injuries.
—One Stiney Sinkavish, said to be a despera-
do, has been arrested in DuBois. He was an in-
mate of the Clearfield county jail three years ago
and was released by mistake The arrest, how-
ever, was for assault on a Clearfield county man,
although the fellow is wanted in Indiana county
for assault and battery and resisting an officer.
—George Jackson, a young machinist, stood on
a crowded street corner in Latrobe last Saturday
night and sent a 38-calible bullet through his left
lung, two inches below the heart. The ball pass-
ed through his body and struck a young girl on
the forehead, doing her no serious injury. The
young man ascribed his misfortunes to “women
and booze.”
—Merle Rudge, a Johnstown lad aged seven
years, failed to return to his home last Tuesday
evening at the close of school. Parents and
friends made an all night search and next morn-
ing his dead body was found at the building op-
erations of the Park Avenue United Brethren
church. A steel beam weighing 100 pounds had
fallen on him and broken his neck.
—More than 2,000 names have been signed in
Shamokin, Mt. Carmel, Northumberland and
Milton, to petitions asking for the parole of W.
M. Lloyd, ex-county treasurer, who is now sery-
ing three years in jail at Sunbury, for embezzling
$19,427.38 of county funds while he was in office.
These will be presented to Judge Moser. Under
the law, the court may parole him, if his condact
is good. Lloyd has served five and a half months.
—Youngwood, Westmoreland county, turns
out a pathetic tragedy. Worn out by her exer-
tions in trying to support her six little children,
-| through doing washings and other work, Mrs.
Eleanor G. Shannon, aged thirty years, of that
town, is dead. Her husband, John G. Shannon,
was serving a term of six months in jail for steal-
ing chickens and whiskey. Under the circum-
stances the court paroled him. Let us hope he
will take care of his motherless children.
—What is believed to be a pirate treasure chest,
with more than $17,000 in it, was discovered by
Frank Lewis and Isaac Gearhart, of Danville,
who were digging up fern roots on an island
three miles below the borough. It was rust-cov-
ered and showed signs of great age. Calling
Isaac Rorke, who was plowing nearby, they
broke it open and were surprised when they saw
the fortune inside. Sixteen thousand dollars in
Mexican silver, thirty dollars in Spanish gold
and one thousand dollars in smaller Spanish
coins of an early mintage were counted before
the bottom was reached.
—Charged with being short $2,397.83 in his ac-
counts, A. N. Yost, secretary of the Industrial
Building and Loan Association and a Blooms-
burg lawyer, was arrested upon information of
Albert Wagner, a bank examiner. He was held
in $1,000 bail for his appearance at the December
term of the Columbia county court. After he
had a hearing he resigned, and Harry S. Barton,
of Bloomsburg, was elected his successor, Yost
is also secretary of the Columbia County Agricul-
tural association. He has also been prominent
in politics having twice been defeated for regis-
ter and recorder of Columbia county.
—John P. Seis, of Horton township, Elk coun-
ty, who has a contract for cutting wood in the
vicinity of the Hyde club house, ten miles from
Ridgway, encountered a large bear last week
and was forced to kill it with an axe to protect
himself. The bear rose on its hind feet and
made a rush for the woodsman, who struck it a
blow over the ear with a sharp axe. The bear
Rot up again and attempted to fight but was final-
ly overcome. Seis returned home and secured
the aid of some neighbors, went back to the
woods and brought the animal in. The bear
weighed 275 pounds and was of the black variety.
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