Demorraiic Wada, BY P. GRAY MEEK. INK SLINGS. —Happy New Year! ' —How many times have you written it 1914? —Let’s all make up our minds to boost Bellefonte this new year. _ —Don’t turn over any new leaves un- less you mean to keep them turned. ——MTr. BRYAN is in favor of prohibi- tion but not through the process of a Federal constitutional amendment. The President is opposed to that sort of thing and Mr. BRYAN has a wholesome respect for the opinions of his employer. —Nearly every merchant in Bellefonte reports that his business on the day be- fore Christmas was a disappointment. They add, however, that their holiday trade was quite up to, and in a few cases, surpassing expectations. This seems to be proof that the “Do Your Shopping Early” campaign found many followers in this community. The WATCHMAN has heard of few complaints 2nd infers, there- for, that the business was much better than early predictions made it. —The business men and property own- ers of Bellefonte should not fail to at- tend the Board of Trade meeting to be held in the Logan Engine house next Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock. Business of much importance to the welfare of our own community is to be transacted and everyone should attend. Persons who are not in a position to help finan- cially often make the mistake of think- ing they are of no use at such places. As a matter of fact a real hearty booster with no money is worth ten times as much as a knocker witha wad that would choke a cow. —The announcement of JAMES E. HARTER, of Penn township, that he is an aspirant for nomination by the Demo- crats for the office of County Treasurer will probably open things politically. It will make a long and exhaustive cam- paign for the candidates, but as all the county offices, including President Judge, are to be voted for next fall there will be lots of ground to cover and hosts of peo- ple to see. County elections are becom- ing more and more matters of personali- ty and activity of the individual aspirants and for that reason it seems the wise thing to get busy and stay on the job until the verdict of the voters is record- ed. . —You will probably recall that several times during the summer and fall of 1914 the esteemed Centre Hall Repeater “made the announcement that the WATCH- MAN does not tell the truth. You were doubtless surprised that the good old sheet that comes from an editor who has been in prison and whose office has been mobbed many times for fighting the fights of Democracy for the past fifty- nine years should deteriorate into a fla- grant liar, but such is the opinion of our erstwhile friend from over the mountain. Now just because the WATCHMAN could never rest under a destinction that it hasn’t honestly earned it is going to tell a lie that will finally clinch Mr. “Spike” SMITH’S opinion that it doesn’t tell the truth. Listen, all of you, to the one grandest lie the WATCHMAN has ever told. Here itis: The people of Centre Hall are simply prostrated with joy over the announcement that Mr. “Spike” SMITH, editor of the Centre Hall Repeater, has been made postmaster of that town. It isn’t a very long one, is it? But we'll wager our chances of passing a civil service examination if nearly everybody in Centre Hall, excepting Mr. “Spike” and our old friend GEORGE GOODHART, doesn’t say it’s the d——st biggest one they ever heard. —The Economy and Efficiency com- mission appointed by an act of the last Legislature to examine into the manner in which the States’ business is handled, has reported to Governor TENER. It found that there are 6,152 positions in the state government which draw an ag- gregaie salary of $3,613,409.44. It makes some very good suggestions as to changes in present methods but we are of the opinion that the Commission assumed prerogatives that were not given it when it essaved to advise the trustees of The Pennsylvania State College as to the cur- riculum of that institution. HARRY S. MCDEVITT, JACOB SOFFEL and WILLIAM H. FISHER are the Commisssion. Are they competent to pass upon what courses of instruction a great institution of learning should afford the young men and women of the State? If they are it is quite evident they have never read the Land Grant Act by which The Pennsyl- vania State College was endowed by Con- gress else they wouldn't have advised it “to bear in mind that it was created pri- marily as an agricultural institution * * #% * there is plenty for it to do in its own restricted sphere.” We quote from the Act of 1863, endowing the College, as follows: “The leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and class- ical studies, and including military tac- tics, to teach such branches of learning as are rzlated to agriculture AND THE © MECHANIC ARTS * * * in order to pro- * mote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes * * * and that is exactly what The Pennsylvania State College is doing and what it should continue to do, the advice of this Com- T mission to the contrary notwithstanding. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA.. JANUARY 1, 1915. NO. 1. The President’s Most Malignant Critic. The most malignant as well as the most inconsistent of the enemies of Pres- ident WILSON is the Philadelphia Public Ledger. Occasionally it “condemns him with feint praise,” but that is obviously Pennsylvania the Keystone of Democracy. cratic party of Pennsylvania seemed most auspicious. The votérs of the party had become reconciled to the rape ! of the organization which had deposed { An Absurd Remedy. : I A year ago the future of the Demo-| The decision of the State Public Serv- | From the Philadelphia Record. * ice Commission with respect to the in- crease of rates to commuters in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, was disap- , pointing, no doubt, for there was a good | Party Unity. A New York paper which is more or | less Democratic, but is never satistied with the party or its Presidents, is now treating Mr. Wilson very much as it did Mr. Cleveland, whom it maligned and to deceive casual readers into confidence of the sincerity of its frequent and un- just criticisms. For example, when the President declared, some months ago, that the industrial and commercial paral- ysis was more or less psychological, our bigoted Philadelphia contemporary ridi- culed the idea in a hundred ways. The other day, under the caption “Business Needs Exercise, Not Medicine,” it appro- priates the President’s thought and am- plifies it as an original and very happy conceit of its own. : That is a trifling incident, however, but characteristic. In another article published within a week the Public Ledger states that “when the profits and losses of the war are finally reckoned it is likely that the administration in Wash- ington will emerge as the chief bene- ficiary on this side of the ocean.” The idea it desired’ to'convey in that sentence is that the market for American prod- ucts created by the war averted evil consequences of the policies of the ad- earnest and faithful leaders for an ex- periment with new men who had been liberal in promises of efficiency. But the glowing expectations were not fulfilled. The spirit of faction which had previous- ly asserted itself fed upon the ambitions of the new leaders and wrecked the hopes of victory. At the end of the year the party was in worse condition than ever before. A poor third in the strug- gle for supremacy it is without organiza- tion, hope or faith. No silver is discern- able in the lining of the cloud of dis- pair. We are today entering upon a new year which ought to be made the begin- ning of a new era for the Democracy of the Keystone Commonwealth. “Truth crushed to earth will rise again,” and the ravished Democratic party of Penn- sylvania may lift itself out of the “slough | of despond” into which it has stumbled. | This grand result may be accomplished | by the simplest processes. It is not nec- i cssary to reorganize. The present or- | { deal of validity to their claims. Many | blackguarded by all the arts known to it i i road officials to locate in suburban towns by the promise of low rates of transpor- tation between their homes and their work and others located in the suburbs of their own accord because of the low rates. But the proposition of their coun- sel, Mr. ABBOTT, that the Commissioners be removed from office as a punishment for the exercise of their lawful discretion was an absurdity of the most glaring type. Public officials should be held to a strict accountability in the performance of their duties and where they are clear- ly defined compelled to literal results. | But if they have discretionary power it ' is not only the duty but it is wise to act according to the dictates of conscience. They may be quite as nearly right as those who take the opposite view and there is no arbitrary rule to govern the matter. Possibly in the case in point the Commissioners favored the railroads. In ministration. “The disappearance of the | ganization officials need not be deposed. | view of the personnel of the body it is favorable foreign trade balance in the They have been inefficient because they | €asy to imagine that they did incline spring, with its menace to the American followed factional lines and pursued a | that way. But ripping them out of of- gold reserve,” says the Ledger, “justified ' policy of destruction rather than one of | fice is not the surest or best remedy. forebodings for the future. But the war has made such heavy demands upon this country for supplies that the favorable trade balance in the next twelve months is likely to be greater than in any pre- vious year.” As a matter of fact there was no per- ceptible change in the foreign trade bal- | construction. The mistake may have ' been of the head, however, and not of the heart. If they will reverse their line ! of march they may achieve the triumph | the party principles deserve. | There are as many Democratic voters "in Pennsylvania now as there ever have | been and more. But the policy of pro- ance in the spring of 1914. About mid- | scription which has been the recent rule summer, when the war broke out, com- | will not bring them to the polls. It de- plete commercial paralysis sect in and | prives them of hope and robs them of continued for a month or two. But this ' faith. It'leaves them without incentive was not ascribable even remotely to the to activity or effort. On the other hand policies of the administration in Wash- ington. It was the logical consequence of the fear of capture of ships and car- goes at sea and the withdrawal of the insurance, companies fram the .seryice they had been’ performing. ghosts were laid by the partial return of reason and confidence, foreign commerce was resumed to some extent and the fa- vorable trade balance set in. If the of- fice boy in the Ledger shop has intelli- gence enough to meet the requirements of a country printer's devil, he could have given his stupid editor this infor- mation. Of course the foreign trade is still lim- ited to commodities of actual necessity, or nearly so. Notwithstanding the bet- ter sentiment on the subject there is greater hazard of the capture and confis- cation of cargoes than business men like | to encounter and most of :the loaded ships go out from our shores instead of in. That is why the trade balance is so greatly in our favor as to delight thi ‘When these’ harmony inspires energy and gives force to purpose. Therefore if the managers of the Democratic organization will be ‘just and fair to all honest and earnest Democrats restored. hope. -and-renewed| confidence will influence effort and com-/ mand victory. Thisis all that we need to reinstate us in our rightful position in the political force of the State and make . us the Keystone of Democracy. ——Everybody takes a fling at Ger- many and there is abundant reason for ; condemning the militarism which brought ton the destructive war. But the Ger- ‘man armies have certainly fought val- 'iantly against vast odds and have earn- | ed admiration by their courage and fidel- “ity to their country, however wrong it may be. The Hobson Amendment. ves, the other day, upon the HoBsoN amendment to the constitution can hard- The vote in the House of Representa- ti mi quacks who appear to imagine ly be interpreted as an expression of the that the only profit in foreign commerce ! sentiment of the members with respect goes to the exporter. In the course of to the question of prohibition. Many time there will be a complete adjustment ! } of commercial conditions but meantime the real beneficiaries of the business are those engaged in the trade, and not the administration. —Inasmuch as we have spent four hundred million more dollars on our navy during the past sixteen years than Ger- many spent on hers; inasmuch as Germa- ny’s navy hasn’t been licked yet and inas- much as every cent of the money we have spent was appropriated by a Re- publican Congress and expended by a Republican Navy Department we can’t see what all thjs Republican holler about the inefficiency of our navy means. —It is gratifying to learn, moreover, that Santa Claus met with fewer ac- cidents this year than usual. In other words, though his philanthropy is undi- minished he is becoming more careful. (Se erp———— ——Now if HoBsON would take him- self out of the proceedings of Congress | as completely as his hobby has been kicked out of the House of Representa- tives, the future would look brighter. ——1It will be exceedingly cruel if Mr. JOHN D. ROCKERFELLER is compelled to pay his taxes just as poor men have to do. But this is an exceedingly cruel world. —If you're on the water wagon now beware of the water that splashes out as she jolts along. It freezes rapidly in this cold weather and you're likely to slip off. ——The idea of using patronage in politics is so repugnant to Senator PEN- ROSE that he is threatened with a con- niption fit. ——If somebody doesn’t watch out Mr. ScHwAB will be voting the Demo- cratic ticket before long. He is very op- timistic. members of Congress who had no sym- ‘pathy with the purpose of the resolution voted for it and others who believe in and would have prohibition cast their | votes on the opposite side. There were other considerations than that of tem- | perance involved in the issue. The | fundamental principle of home rule was | closely associated with it. The temper- ance question was simply an incident, a sort of side issue. { There are a great many men in this | country, in and out of public life who | hope for the obliteration of state lines | in the government of the United States. | They believe in the concentration of pow- | er at the seat of government at Wash- { ington and the resolution of HOBSON was ‘a subterfuge to create the precedent i which might easily, thereafter, be tor- | tured into an endorsement of this notion. It may well be believed that President WiLsON and OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD were so influenced. They are both temperate men but they are alike fixed in the principles of government proclaimed by JEFFERSON. j The question of prohibition is a moral one to be reckoned with by the States. The control of it is a police power which is local. There is no warrant in the con- specific protest against the exercise of power by the Federal government which is not authorized by the constitution. These are the reasons which influenced certain men who are absteminous if not total obstainers to vote against the HOB- SON resolution. Temperance advocates may regret the result of that vote but it revealed a high order of patriotism and a substantial basis for hope. ——Meantime Senator LODGE will need both an army and navy to get himself re-elected and it would require a large army and navy to accomplish it, at that. 1 There are other methods of procedure. If those residents in the suburbs of Philadelphia feel that they have been wronged by the action of the Public Service Commission, their remedy is in the courts or by impeachment proceed- ings. - If the precedent of ripping officials out by executive decree or gubernatorial edict were adopted it would be hard to get good men into office because the ten- ure would be altogether too uncertain. There is no greater security of efficiency and fidelity in office than the certainty of the tenure. In this country the poli- cy has been to make terms short in or- der to make the removal of bad officials easy and certain. But if they are short would:serve. ——A number of Bellefonters are planning to go to Harrisburg next Mon- day to witness the opening session of the Legislature, which will convene that day, and a speaker elected. The Legislature will then ‘adjourn until Tuesday, January 19th, the day of the inauguration of Gov- ernor-elect Martin G. Brumbaugh. Report of the Economy _ and: Efficiency Commission. * Very little of value was expected from the “Economy and Efficiency Commis- |'sibn” appointed by Governor TENER something over a year ago, under au- thority of the Legislature of 1913, and measuring its work by the report, a sum- mary of which has been published, very | little has been produced. It récommends State civil service which is in accord with public sentiment and civil pensions which are not. State highways which may or may not be advisable and the increase of salaries makes one or two recommendations which if adopted will justify the expense it has entailed. The report says there are too many commissions and suggests the con- solidation of some of them to reduce the number. The WATCHMAN has com- plained of this evil many times but rec- ommended abolition rather than con solidation. Of course. the Legislature will adopt neither suggestion. These commissions have been created to give profitable places to political henchmen | of them had been induced by the rail- | during two administrations, and fawned ‘question. Mr. Wilson’s moderation, to- anils.uncertain. both only. adventurers when the new Members will be sworn in It suggests the rerouting of the which is clearly not desirable. But it’ upon him during the last year of his life, when he was entirely out of politics. It observes the Republican joy over Mr. Wilson's “course in splitting the Demo- cratic party wide open in a patronage fight,” and adds that “in any enterprise calculated to demoralize the Democratic party Mr. Wilson has never needed out- side encouragement.” This is just the same sort of stuff we used to get from the same source re- garding Mr. Cleveland. After a few years, when Mr. Wilson has completed his valuable services to the country and has retired from politics, he will get from the same eminent authority beautiful. tributes to his courage, his patriotism and his sound judgment. * * * * * * * Instead of dividing the party, Mr. Wil- son has made it. more united than it has been for 20 years. The seri- ous division in the party occurred soon after 1892 on the coinage and currency gether with persistence, and his réemark- able diplomacy, have brought both wings of the party together in the new Banking and Currency law. He has been not less successful in winning the support of divergent elements in the party in the laws extending the opera- tions of the Anti-Trust law, and provid- ing for further curtailment of the power of combinations, while safe-guarding business that is not of a monopolistic character. The opponents of the Trusts and the representatives of big business have been brought together as a few years ago it seemed they never could be. Mr. Wilson has procured a reduction of the tariff, and that, we presume, and not a difference with three Senators over patronage, is the real occasion for the attack upon him. Unfortunately for Protectionists who think they are Demo- crats, the overwhelming majority of Democrats are in favor of a low tariff, and have a majority of the country with them, and have had in most of the elec- tions of the last 30 or 40 years where other issues were not involved. Mr. Wilson will never secure the admiration of Protectionist Democrats until he shall have retired from politics, and then Mr. Cleveland's experience warrants the.ex- pectation that he will be the object. of | , warm admiration. More Countries in the War? From the Harrisbug Star-Independent. That Greece and Rumania will enter the war has been foreshadowed, it seems, by the guarantee which has now been given to them by Great Britain, France and Russia that in the event of their ac- | tive participation they will not be at- tacked by Bulgaria. The declaration of its neutrality by Bulgaria, apparently brought about by the careful diplomacy of the Allies, may decide Greece and Ru- | mania as nothing else could, to take up arms against Germany, Austria Hungary {and Turkey. During recent months it has been gen- , erally reported that the Rumanian peo- : ple have been eager to join the Allies ' and the sympathies of Greece have been | known to lie on the same side. The po | sition of Bulgaria had been open to ques- tion, and that it might join Germany to avenge itself for the humiliation it un- derwent in 1913, had even been suggest- ed. Now that it has declared its neutral- ity, however, Rumania and Greece have been assured by the Allies that they need not fear Bulgarian armies if Greece and Rumania enter the conflict. With these two countries entering the game of war, there would be almost a! million more men opposing the Kaiser Now that the Bulgarians are pledged not . to take sides, it may be only a question of time before Rumanians and Greeks will be fighting side by side with English- men, Frenchmen and Russians. Of greater import than the entrance of Rumania and Greece into the war would be active participation by Italy. That the latter nation, now avowedly neutral, will soon be on the side of the Allies, , has been accepted as highly probable. A | dispatch from Rome says that soldiers of ! the 1892 class in the Italian army, which would have shortly been dismissed, have been retained under the colors by royal | stitution for the exercise of such power | by the Federal government and there is | and so long as the henchmen are present ' decree. Then, too, the country’s nation- and need the jobs, they will not be dis- | 8 Joa of 3200000000 is not without - | . turbed. The Economy and Efficiency | “1 (0511d seem that the game of war Commission was created for this. reason has just begun; that the combatants are and now that its time has expired some only getting in line, and that the actual other commission will be appointed to conflict has not yet started in all earn- : . _.__. 'estness. Additional entries in the gam take its place. From the beginning it are still to be expected. Sine has been regarded as a joke. | The recommendations that the For- estry, Fish and Game departments be | consolidated in a department of conser- From the Pittsburgh Dispatch. vation and that the State College receive | The report of the committee appoint- more generous treatment are reliefs in | ed by the State Educational Association i i at its meeting in Pittsburgh a year ago the Mmpngtony of Plefinues of a jon the suggests a number of amendments to the report 1s. made up. he same. Lommis. |, school code. Chief among theses sion has been an instrument of harm the proposal for the reorganization of the for vears and since the retirement of Dr. school system on county units. The plan ROTHROCK, the forestry service has been Would call for the election at large of a a monument of inefficiency. The De- | smallipcarg of county directors who School Code Amendments. ; j 5 intendent, partment of Fisheries has been improved Would glect the Comaty superintendent by the present Commissioner but there | is room for further advancement and the consolidation of all under an efficient head might achieve the purpose. But the Economy and Efficiency Commission has eaten up its appropriation. ——The WATCHMAN enjoys the proud | distinction of being the best and cleanest ' county paper published. levy a county school tax, and generally have supervisory powers over the local boards,. Other recommendations urge a revision of the system of taxation on the line of State uniformity, standardization of rural schools,’ more ‘State normal schools, the selection by the State board of High schools where a postgraduate course of two years’ preparation for teaching could be obtained, and an ap- propriation to make effective the mini- mum salary increase by $5 a month ; SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Robbers broke into eleven cars in the Pennsy freight yards at Latrobe and carried away a . quantity of goods contained iherein. —The lifeless body of an unknown foreigner was found hanging in a shanty in the Sunshine mines district near South Fork. He was about 35. —The Cambria Steel company has received an order from the Westmoreland Coal company for 100 steel freight cars. The order is for im- mediate delivery. —L. M. Sanderson, a merchant of Lilly, was convicted in the Cambria county court of selling 18% pounds of suzar for 25 pounds. He says he will appeal to a higher court. —Mrs. Jane A. McNamara, of Williamsport, who was struck by a motorcycle and badly hurt more than a month ago, is dead of her injuries. She was one of Williamsport’s oldest residents. —During a Christmas celebration at Colver, Cambria county, one of the guests, Steve Bod- ner, fell down stairs and broke his neck. He was 39 years old and is survived by a wife and five children. h —J. Woods Clark, of Indiana, recently appointed clerk of the United States district court for the western district of Pennsylvania, is a son of the Justice Silas M. Clark, of the Supreme court of Pennsylvania. : —Samuel Mason, charged with the murder of his brother-in-law, John Roof, at Homer City, was acquitted by an Indiana county jury and imme- diately re-arrested, charged with carrying con- cealed weapons. ’ : —The Reliance Window Glass Manufacturing company, of DuBois, is overwhelmed with orders and is putting out a car load of glass a day. Itis a pleasure to hear of an industry that is un- «affected by the hard times. —Charles Raider, aged 46 years, residing near Liberty, Lycoming county, was frozen to death while attempting to make his way home from Liberty carrying a pair of horse blankets as a Christmas gift for his employer. —The rumor is reaffirmed that the proposed State Industrial home for women is to be built on a tract. of about 500 acres of land extending from the Pennsylvania railroad at Muncy station back to the State forest reserve on Bald Eagle moun- tain. —The Winburne postoffice was entered and’ robbed of $60 in money and stamps on Saturday evening. The identity of the guilty party has. not yet been discovered, but it is thought to have been some one more or less familiar with the interior of the office, —Donald Burchfield, aged 17, and Helen Fink, aged 16, both of Mifflin, eloped the other even- iag on matrimonial thoughts intent. They were captured at Harrisburg, however, and held unti] the arrival of the lad’s father, who took the lov- ing but unwedded pair back to Mifflin. —Miles Kyler, a Nippenose valley farmer, is dead at his home near Rauchtown, the result of: a fall in which he ruptured a blood vessel in his head while cutting ice on a pond near his home, some hours before his death: He was 61 years old and is survived by a widow and six children. —Archie Moran, aged 10 years, living with his mother at Munson, Clearfield county, was fatally injured Monday morning by running into a trolley car. He lived a half hour after the ac-, cident. Two other boys who were with him went under thecar but escaped without injury." —A Westmoreland county woman has “begun a suit to have a divorce set aside that was granted’ her twenty years ago. Her former husband died, recently bequeathing a fortune of $170,000 to his children and his second wife. ‘The first wife wants the divorce annulled so she can get her’ third. tailed on DuBois for more than a quarter of a. century occurred last Saturday night when the large general store room of the B. R. and P. locomotive shops was completely destroyed, with itscontents. It.is believed the loss on stock will aggregate $200,000. —The Clearfield Brick Manufacturing Co. has: just landed an order for six million paying brick for delivery as soon as possible at Miami, Florida, The company’s two plants—No. I'at Centre and No. 2 at Krebs—will start in on the big order: about January Ist and keep them running steady. for nearly six months. : —The Kane Brick company. recently received. the largest order in their history... The order which was received through Fiske & Co., of Bos- ton, calls for the delivery of approximately 1,000.- 000 brick. The plant started operations to its full capacity on Monday, as a result of the order which insures steady operations for four months. —The body of Albert Stansky, a quarrelsome citizen of Westmoreland county, was found tied to the railroad track the morning after Christ- mas. He had been badly beaten over the head: and stripped of his clothing and was probably frozen to death if he did not die of his wounds. Seven suspects have been arrested and lodged in’ jail rei Bane ’ —According to the Clearfield Public Spirit an: Italian invaded a Chinaman’s place of business; there the other day and robbed him of some money. The Chinaman complainedito. an*Irish neighbor who notified a Scotch policeman. The" officer sent a posse consisting of two Americans, a German and an Englishman after the robber; who escaped. AEE Dw —Mrs. L. S. Jackson, of Lock Haven, whose ‘husband is an inmate of the Danville hospital for the insane, has appealed to the council of ‘Lock Haven to secure the man’s release. She de- clares that while he is in a helpless condition physically, he is not insane. She also alleges ‘that he is not properly clad and is the victim of gross neglect. —Receivers for the Sunbury and Susquehanna Railroad company, a $1,000,000 corporation operat- ing trolley ‘lines between Selinsgrove, Sunbury and Northumberland, last week applied to the ‘Northumberland county court for an order of sale. Argument will be heard January 8th. The road is nine miles long and went into the hands of receiverslast May. It has defaulted in inter- est payments and has unpaid bills of more than $100,000. —Figures gathered by wardens for the State Game commission show that 27 deaths occurred through hunting accidents in Pennsylvania dur- ing the 1914 season. This is an increase of two over last year and the majority are shown to have been of rabbit hunters, some of whom were killed by discharge of their guns while climbing fences. Itis estimated that one thousand deer were killed in the State during the fifteen days of the hunting season. —Just as the family of Harry Cabman, con- sisting of himself, wife and daughter sat down to supper the other evening at their home in Her- minie, Westmoreland county, gas which had es- caped from one of the mains and followed a sewer into the house, was ignited at a grate fire, and a terrific explosion followed, dropping the family into the cellar and setting the house on fire. The three victims were rescued but the house was destroyed. —Charles Peters, who was killed" by a Balti- ‘more and Ohio train near Meyersdale some days | ago, would have been buried in, a pauper’s grave had it not been for two benevolent citizens of Meyersdale, who paid the expenses of his burial. It is said he was a member of a prominent family of Baltimore and when he landed in Somerset county thirty years ago was worth about $40,000, which gradually disappeared, and for some years | past he spent a portion of his time in the county under the new code. home. \ “~The heaviest financial loss that has been ‘en =~ =