BY P. GRAY MEEK.
INK SLINGS.
—Gradually HARRY THAW is being
“crowded out of the lime light.
~~ —It’s a long way to Tipperary, all
right, but that Irish town isn’t half as
far off as BRUMBAUGH'S victory on the
“local option question.
—With potatoes a drug on the market,
eggs down to nineteen cents the dozen,
and more pigs than the farmers know
what to do with we hear little of the
high cost of living in Centre county these
dave. ih
—Estimates of $100,000 are already be-
- ing made as to the amount BILLY SUN-
DAY will be given in Philadelphia. What-
ever the gift may amount to the good
BILLY has done that “corrupt and con-
tented” city can’t be measured in gold.
——The German warship undergoing
repairs at Newport News will have the
time of her life getting back into German
society after she is made fit to go to sea.
There will be plenty of British ships
waiting for her to come out in the open.
—There are actual signs of Bellefonte’s
getting out of debt. The statement of
the auditors, just publiched, shows that
the debt is less then it was a year ago.
What a hopeful outlook and what a cred-
it to a council that the public seems to
take pleasure in knocking.
—Under an Act of Assembly rushed
through last Friday no alien can be em-
ployed in the erection of the new peni-
tentiary. On Saturday all that were em-
ployed there were dismissed and now the
only chance they have of getting a look
in at the great penal institution is to be-
come regular inmates by due process of
law.
—The Hon. A. MITCHELL PALMER has
been offered a seat on the bench of the
federal court of claims. The Presi-
dent has announced his willingness to
appoint the ex-Congressmen to this
$6,500 job and PALMER is ready to ac-
cept. A sure thing job likethis is a good
deal better than running tor Senator,
anyway.
—The Hon. “Deacon” HARRIS and Col.
W. FRED REYNOLDS were chosen by Gov-
ernor BRUMBAUGH to represent Centre
county at the launching of the super-
dreadnaught “Pennsylvania” at Newport
{News on Tuesday. If things keep going
‘like this we shant be surprised at all to
' ‘hear of the distinguished gentlemen be-
‘ing raised to the r.
+ 5 or Fi
| =A. MmerELL PALMER'S decision to
‘accept the position of Justice of the fed-
eral Court of Claims will result in his
elimination as Democratic National com-
mitteeman for Pennsylvania. Politics
and the Bench are not compatible. In-
asmuch as Mr. PALMER was the last but
one of the Reorganizers to step into a
federal berth it is quite probable that the
last little injun sittin on the gate, VANCE
McCorMICK, will want to fall into PAL-
MER’S shoes as National committeeman.
If the rest of the Democrats in Pennsyl-
vania want to stand for it we can.
—We congratulate the members of
GEO. L. JACKSON Camp Spanish American
War Veterans. The selection of Lieut.
JACKSON’s name is a signal honor to the
memory of the young man who gave his
life to the service of his country in the
Philippines. Not only that, but it will
perpetuate a family name, once among
the best known in Bellefonte, but now
almost forgotten in the rapidly changing
personnel of our population. Lieutenant
JACKSON loved military duty and he died
an honor to the service. It was a most
commendable suggestion that gave his
name to the new organization.
—The State Board of Charities has
recommended that $13,700 be appropri-
ated to keep the Bellefonte hospital going
for the next two years. With what the
good people of this community give that
amount will probably be sufficient, but
the strain on our resources will not be
lessened by the slight increase of main-
tenance recommended, for the reason
that every day the cost of running the
hospital is increasing. It is called upon
for more service continually and notwith-
standing the most careful management
bills keep growing larger. What the
hospital needs more than anything else
now is the completion of the wing in
which the kitchen is to be located. Since
there is no hope of an appropriation
from the State for this purpose is there
an individual who will make it?
—Look out Democrats! Beware of
the plans of DAvy CHAMBERS, of Clar-
ence, to elect himself treasurer of Cen-
tre county. DAVY is one of the kind of
fellows who does things. He made ‘the
wholesale liquor business go, he’s mak-
ing the Lehigh mines go, and he makes
that Cadillac car go. He is a candidate
well worth watching, if we expect to
head him oft." Just now he is making
votes in Snow Shoe township at a rate,
if kept up, that will elect’ him without a
struggle’ On Monday he had twenty-
five foreigners in the Prothonotary’s of-
fice having them naturalized and if he
keeps that up every one of the 234 days
that intervene until the election he'll
have more votes than the Democrats and
Republicans put together when Novem-
ber comes. Let us keep an €yeon Davy,
or he'll put one over on us sure. =
4
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 60.
A New Legal Technicality. |
i
In his defence of HARRY K. THAW |
charged with conspiracy to escape from
a New York asylum for criminal insane,
lawyer JOHN B. STANCHFIELD enunciated °
anovel legal technicality. The four or
five persons who acted with THAW and
aided him in his expensive enterprise,
Mr. STANCHFIELD declared, were not con-
spirators at all. They were simply em-
ployees of Mr. THAW and as employees
properly obeyed his orders. They were
high priced servants, the brilliant lawyer
inferentially admitted, for one of them
got $6000 for a few days’ work and the
others were paid in the generous way
that HARRY THAW recompenses his legal
and other employees in his efforts for
liberty. :
An authority in legal definitions de-
clares that “a conspiracy consists, not in
the accomplishment of any unlawful or
injurious purpose, nor in any one act
moving toward that purpose; but in the
actual concert or agreement of two or
more persons to effect something, which,
being so concerted and agreed, the law
regards the object of an indictable con-
spiracy,” when used “to do any act with
intent to prevent the course of justice,”
or “to commit an offense punishable by
law,” or “to make use of illegal means
even for the effecting of a legal purpose.”
Even if Mr. THAW'S companions in his
attempt to escape from the custody of
the authorities were his employees their
action certainly comes within the defini-
tion.
As a rule conspiracies are formed for
acquiring profit. Mr. THAW wanted to
get away from Matteawan in spite of the
law and he employed certain persons to
perform certain things which would pro-
mote his purpose. They may not have
known exactly what part they were to
take in the tragedy or comedy in con-
templation, but they knew they weren't
going fishing or to play golf. They ac-
cepted his offer of money to do what he
‘wanted and in spite of hair-splitting law-
yers and far-fetched legal technicalities,
| they became cogspirators with him. For-
famately the cout set this tech-
nicality aside as all legal. technicalities
ought to’ be ‘disposed™of. CEYLTNTT
Yet the jury acquitted THAW and his
associates in the escape enterprise and
probably upon the technicality set up by
Mr. STANCHFIELD. Or maybe THAW
found means of employing some of the
jurors, thus further polluting the foun-
tains of justice. In any event he has
been acquitted of the charge of conspira-
cy and that without setting up the plea
of insanity but in the achievement of
this result justice has been severely jar-
red and law and order sunk a fathom or
two deeper in the sea of public contempt.
It looks as if we will never escape from
the evils of his tainted money until
THAW is rotten in his grave.
On the Job.
The “jitney” has already fallen a vic-
tim of corporate greed. In other words
the servile corporate agents in the Leg-
islature have determined to stifle it in
the beginning by taxation. A bill has
been introduced in the Legislature at
Harrisburg to levy a tax of ten per cent.
upon the earnings of jitney busses. Of
course that would make them impossi-
ble. In all probability that is more than
they will earn annually for years to come.
But it will keep the busses out of the
field and off the streets and give the trol-
ley and other street car corporations the
monopoly which they have enjoyed in
the past for an indefinite period in the
future.
In western cities and towns the jitney
busses have come to be regarded as re-
lief agents to the public. At the nomi-
nal fare of five cents they carry passen-
gers a limited distance with safety, cer-
tainty and speed. They take on custom-
ers anywhere and discharge them any- |
where else and are never held up by coal |
wagons or brewery trucks. But they cut |
into the receipts of the trolley companies
and threaten to shatter dividends. That
is an unpardonable offense in theeyes of |
the trolly managers and the corporate
agents in the Legislature. Corporate re-
ceipts and dividends are sacred in the
minds of managers and agents. They
must not be tampered with under any
circumstances.
The jitney busses are public conven-
iences as well as conveyances. But what
are public conveniences and popular in-
terests to the managers and Legislative
agents of corporations? By pumping
water copiously into the capital of the
trolley corporations their stocks have been
made to represent an immense amount
of money and it takes a good many fares
to pay the dividends. Therefore nickels
paid to jitney busses are indirectly taken
from the trolley treasuries and that is in-
tolerable. The remedy is to strangle the
jitney spirit in Pennsylvania by taxing
the jitney SHieiprise and the corporate
Ses in the Legislature are ‘“on the
job.”
with the incident.
. But there is no use in the authorities of
, erty and they want no false pretense of
Centre County is Practically Out of Debt.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. MARCH 19, 1915.
The prudent management of the business of Centre county by a Democratic
Board of Commissioners has practically wiped out a debt of $139,506.85 in the
period of three years.
Astonishing as this showing is it is not a surprise to the
WATCHMAN. When this paper advocated the election of Messrs. NOLL and GROVE,
three years ago, it had the confidence born of knowledge of their acumen as busi-
ness men, that they would accomplish for the tax payers just what the recent
statetnent published by the County Auditors shows that they have accomplished.
To put it before you in the clearest manner possible we submit the following
table showing the liabilities of the county from 1912, when they took charge, down
to 1915:
Jan. dst, 1912... leas Liabilities $139,505.85
Jan. Ast, 1913 tad Liabilities 87,520.95
Jon. 1st, 1914... legis Liabilities 38,540.80
Jan. Ast, 1915... oasis Liabilities 6,585,61
Have you ever known a public debt to be cut down like that? It means that
counting in the entire $100,000.00 of court house bonds and all other evidences of
debt on the part of the county we have assets enough to pay every cent of it but
$6,585.61. And among the assets the statement shows that there are $42,843.73
in cold cash the greater part of which could have been used toward paying off
been made to run for twenty-five years
court house bonds if the issue had not
longer.
The situation 1s just this, with practically enough resources to wipe out every
cent of indebtedness we have we must go on paying interest on those bonds until
we have paid $192,000 in principal and intérest to get rid of $100,000 worth of
bonds, for the issue has twenty-five years yet to run before it will mature.
Commissioners NOLL and GROVE had nothing whatever to do with that unwise
bit of financing, but they have worked wonders in bringing the county’s affairs to
the point where its extravagance will be minimized. This will be effected in the
following manner:
While we will have to continue paying interest on the bonds a cert ain saving
will be secured to the tax payers through a reduction of tax millage.
This year
the county will levy only 4 mills, a drop of 331-3 per cent from last year’s rate and
20 per cent lower than the rate has been
since 1905.
That is where the tax payer gets relief. That is why the tax payers of Centre
county have been wonderfully repaid by
putting WiLLiaMm H. Noli, and D. C.
GROVE in control of the Commissioner’s office.
Waste of Crocodile Tears.
rn
The government of Great Britain is
greatly concerned, according to London
dispatches, as to what the goverhment of
the United States will do in the matter
of the sinking of the clipper WILLIAM P.
‘FRYE and her cargo of wheat. “Although
the cargo was consignéd to a British
port,” declares an obviously inspired ca.
blegram, this government has no status
for protest or
ter for Washington, but it is felt that
Americans will not fail to appreciate the
contrast of the method of dealing with
conditional contraband as between Great
Britain and Germany, as illustrated by
the cases of the Wilhelmina and the
WILLIAM P. FRYE, respectively.”
Of course there was no excuse for sink-
ing the FRYE with her cargo of wheat,
though even wheat consigned to a bellig-
erent port that is fortified may be re-
garded as conditional contraband. But
‘even sinking a neutral ship is hardly less
reprehensible than the hypocrisy express-
ed in the dispatch in question. The Wil-
helmina laden with cotton and consign-
ed to Hamburg was taken into custody
by a British ship and committed to a
prize court through which the cargo will
probably be confiscated. The main dif-
ference, therefore, lies in the waste caus-
ed by the sinking of the FRYE and de-
struction of her cargo, which may be
needed later to avert starvation of non-
combatants somewhere.
That the owners of the FRYE and her
cargo will be recompensed by the Ger-
man government may be accepted as cer-
tain after the matter has been thorough-
ly canvassed by the authorities in Wash-
ington and Berlin and the cargo of the
Wilhelmina may be paid for after the
British prize court has passed upon it.
London shedding crocodile tears over of-
fences committed by Germany or indig-
nities perpetrated by German warships
against the United States. The people
of this country are amply able to take
care of their own dignity as well as prop-
sympathy which is intended to hurt rath-
er than help.
Real Billy Sundaygrams.
BILLY SUNDAY has been an evangelist
for eleven years and in that time he has
carried home with him about $400,000 in
thank offerings. Following is a list of
the contributions given him during the
past ten years at twenty-two revivals:
Philadelphia (estimated)................. $60.000.00
Pittsburgh............0..08 .. 46,000.00
Johnstown... .. 41,000.00
Scranton...... 22,398.00
Wilkes-Barre 22,188.90
Columbus, O 20,939.58
Wheeling, W 17,450.00
Toledo, O........ , 15,423.00
McKeesport ... . 13,438.00
. Des Moines, Ia.. 13,000.00
East Liverpool, O.. . 12,554.00
anton, O... 12,500.00
pringficid 12,000.00
Erie, Pa..... 11,565.00
South Ben 11,200.00
ichita, Kan.. 10,111.00
. Beaver Falls, Pa. . 10,000.00
ima, Oi... 8,050.00
Portsmouth, O.......... 1.0000
Colorado Springs, Col.. 5,611.58
Fargo, N. D....... .... 5,000.00
Total...... .... $386,529.06
In six other cities where SUNDAY con-
ducted revival campaigns, Steubenville,
0.; Newcastle, Pa.; Youngstown, O.; De-
catur, Ill.; Bloomington, Ill., and Musca-
tine, Ia. the personal offering for the
That is wholly a mat-|
evangelist fell below $5000.
Brumbaugh’s Policies and Methods.
We haven't a word of complaint against
Governor BRUMBAUGH'S interest in legis-
lation to fulfill his campaign pledges. It
j reveals a spirit that is commendable and
a conscience that is admirable. No doubt
a great many men voted for BRUMBAUGH
ee hoped he would be indif-
rent such matter "They deserve
the disappointment that has come to |g
public officials brought to understand !
that failure to keep campaign pledges is |
perfidious. Governor BRUMBAUGH is
helping to accomplish both of these re-
sults. If he will continue resolutely in
his determination he will vindicate him-
| self.
We are not so fully in accord with
Governor BRUMBAUGH'S methods, how- |
NO. 12.
b Two-Year Record of Wilson.
: From the Indianapolis News.
© A Washington dispatch to the News
summing up the constructive work done
{ during the Wilson administration, said
i that more knotty problems had been
1 dealt with than by any administration
' since the Civil war, but that it all meant
| that the administration was still on trial.
: This coincides with an editorial in the
current World's Work on “A two-year
record,” which takes the President's In-
dianapolis speech as a definite announce-
' ment of his second term candidacy. It says
i that he is quite certain to be re-nominat-
ied. As President, it thinks he is just
| what he was as Governor. When elected
‘in New Jersey he assumed that he be-
! came the leader of his party, and he act-
| ed on this theory throughout. He has
| done the same as President, and “be--
i cause of one definite idea which he in-
| troduced, American politics can never be
! precisely the same thing that it was be-
i fore.” Until his advent in the New Jer-
i sey and in the national field, “certain un-
i official persons who skulked about the
| conspicuous illustration in Indiana) led
the party.” Mr. Wilson in both fields
i brushed these folk aside.
| This, the article continues, is Mr. Wil-
| son’s great contribution to our political
: philosophy and politics, and it is influenc-
| ing the whole country. “He has given
! office a new and higher dignity, and no
President can haye succeeded more com-
pletely than that.” That he has made
mistakes no one denies, but “unquestion-
ably he has become the dominating figure
in the country. ... The old-fashioned
Washington lobby has become as extinct
as the dodo.” Reviewing the achieve-
meats under his leadership, and pointing
out the shortcomings, as the writer of
the article sees them, he concludes that
this two-year record, with all its deficien-
cies reckoned, . contains more wise, far-
seeing and constructive statesmanship
than any two years in a generation. If
of the critics think, the World's Works
says that this is the fault of Mr. Wilson's
amiable predecessor, for most of the
things were long overdue.
Destruction of Prizes.
From the Philadelphia Record.
When Ambassador von Bernstorff said
(informally) that the captain of the cruis-
er Eitel Friedrich acted in accord with
the Declaration of London in sinking the
fmesican ship William P. Frve, he must
eh
the destruction
hem. - Voters should be taught to know ,.o izes cin umefaac 8 dis
that campaign pledges must be kept and | bling the captor irom taking Same
Hipaigd pledges ust be Rept and ! before a Court. The nationality of the
captive vessel does not alter her status,
and it would make no difference wheth-
er she were of enemy or neutral nation-
ality. But the first question to be .deter- |
mined is whether the William P. Frye!
could be regarded a “good and lawful
prize.” She would be so if caught with
contraband aboard.
The Declaration of London, however,
impresses the character of contraband
on foodstuffs only when it is proven that
there has been too much done, as some :
erred to that section of the Dec- |
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—As one of the results of the evangelistic cam-
paign now in progress in Milton it is announced
that the borough council sessions will be opened
with prayer hereafter.
—Williamsport is moderately excited over a
mysterious voung girl who is in the habit of
sporting apple green silk hosiery. The evant
courier of St. Patrick's day, probably.
—It has just developed that a young gentleman
engaged in the business of peddling shoe polish
recently succeeded in passing bogus checks to
the amount of about $75 on four business men
of Clearfield.
" —The ministerial association of Meyersdale
has adopted a resolution pledging its members
not to officiate at the funeral of any member of
asideboard organization when such society at-
tends in a body.
—Mayor Kreamer, of Lock Haven, has notified
several physicians who have been in the habit of
issuing prescriptions to whiskey users on Sunday
that they must cut it out if they do not wish to
get into trouble.
—Twenty-one of the leading dentists of Johns-
town have united to promote the success of the
free dental clinic which has been opened for the
benefit of poor school children in the Johnstown
high school building.
—Williamsport, Lancaster and York have en-
tered into an agreement to buy large quantities
of coal. That is to say The Manufacturers’ clubs
of the three cities have determined to test the
merit of co-operation.
—The members of the Clearfield county bar
and the wives of those who are married are go-
ing to give an elaborate dinner at the hotel Dime-
ling, Clearfield, on April 5, in honor of Thomas
H. Murray Esq., who will be 70 years of age on
that date.
—Clearfield is the home of a number of boys
who have been in the habit of going to merchants
with whom their parents deal and purchasing
, goods which have been charged to the parents.
| Thearticles were carried to a ‘cabin” organized
| by the lads. They are now threatened with im-
| Legislature (of which we have had such | jrisonment.
; —On the large stock farm of J. E. Wineman,
near Youngwood, Westmoreland county, the en-
tire stock, consisting of 21 head of cattle, 300
chickens and several large hogs, has been order-
ed killed on account of foot and mouth disease.
All the dogs and cats and other pet animals are
to be killed, aiso.
—The Eastern Steel Company's plant at Potts-
ville resumed work Monday morning full-hand-
ed for the first time in six months. The plant
has been working with a reduced force, butim-
provement in the steel market made it possible
to employ virtually all the hands formerly on the
payroll, 1,000 in number.
—The lifeless body of Patrick Skelly, a well
known resident of Bradenville, Westmoreland
county, was found the other evening by a son
who broke open the door of his room, not having
seen him about the house for several days. One
shoe was on, his suspenders about his hips; the
end must have come suddenly. He was aged 65
years.
—Would-be robbers blew open the outer door
of the safe in the Iryona post office at an early
hour last Thursday morning, but the explosion
blew the inside door in, wedging the safe shut,
A large hole was blown in the floor. The rob-
bers were alarmed and fled before they could get
the inner door open, so they got nothing for their
labor.
. —John R. Davis, a well-known resident of
Cambria township, Cambria county, a farmer by
occupation, had a narrow escape from death the
other night, when he entered his burning house
to secure an old teapot containing $125. The
presence of mind of his daughter, Miss Maude
Davis, saved his life. The house and all its con-
tents were consumed. . : :
''*=Dr. Eric Blackburn, 72 years old, a retired
dentist, was burned to death Monday at his
home in Pleasantville, Bedford county. Being
paralyzed and living alone he was unable to ex”
tinguish the flames and although he reached the
door and aroused his neighbors he was over-
come and could not be rescued. Dr. Blackburn
was formerly of Philipsburg.
—Judge Moser, in the Northumberland county
| court on Monday, refused a new trial to Ceorge
| E. Zimmerman, a Shamokin manufacturer, who
{ was convicted last May of false pretense in fail-
ever. It is not only his privilege but it | the lading at the time of the capture was | ing to return a $400 note to John E. Birkley, of
is his duty to be firm in the exercise of | destined to the armed forces of a bellig- | Williamsport, after he had been given anew
his executive functions and the direction |
of his administrative activities toward |
the achievement of reforms promised
and policies pledged. But he has no |
right to boss the Legislature or coerce |
Senators and Representatives in the Gen- |
|
eral Assembly to obey his mandates
erent at war with the captor. This rule
also has been adopted by the German
Government as the
tion of contraband. Indeed, the subma-
rine war was proclaimed because Great
Britain insisted upon seizing as contra-
band foodstuffs destined to the use of
the civil population of Germany, notwith-
standing the offer of guarantees that no
nly correct descrip- |
i note. Itwas testified that he had both notes dis-
| counted and used the proceeds.
—When an ambulance arrived at the home of
Mrs. Joseph Sobel on Monday, bearing the body
| of her husband, who had been burned to death in
. an explosion of gas at the Reading Coal and Iron
| company’s Henry Clay colliery, the widow was
| so overcome that she is in a critical condition.
| Sobel was her sixth husband, all having been
rather than their own consciences. In ! part thereof should be diverted to mili- killed by mine accidents. She is of middle age.
fact an attempt in that direction is ab- tary purposes. This being the case, the | _ycoomen broke into Kennard & Snyder's jew-
horrent to every principle of civil liberty |
and social justice. Besides that, it is ob- |
noxious to the fundamental law of the |
State. Tnere can be no encroachments
by one department of the government
upon ar other \ ithout grave danger to
both.
Governor BRUMBAUGH is projecting
himself into the operations of the Gener-
al Assembly, nevertheless. We learn
from the public prints that he has per-
sonally prepared bills upon ‘various sub-
jects. A wiser Governor would avoid
such dangerous shoals in the sea of poli-
tics. A more experienced Governor
would be less pedagogic and more dis-
creet. He would have ideas, of course,
and assert them. But he wouldn’t insist
absolutely upon his own phraseology and
punctuation. The Senators and Repre-
sentatives ought to have some liberty in
vocabulary and discretion in the use of
periods and commas. Without them they
areslaves and BRUMBAUGH is inclined to
restriction.
——The groundhog’s reign was up on
Tuesday and it has been six weeks of
real wintry weather, notwithstanding the
fact that the little critter did not see his
shadow in this section on February 2nd.
But spring will begin on Sunday when
the day and night are of equal length
and the cold cannot continue much
longer. And when it does warm up it is
to be hoped that the weather will con-
tinue seasonable and that “winter won’t
linger in the lap of spring.”
——ALLEN RYAN, of New York, refused
to answer what he thought were irrele-
vant questions put to him by the Senate
Committee investigating the ship lobby
the other day. Young RYAN is very
rich and probably a trifle rank but he is
going up against a hard proposition when
he tackles the United States Senate,
—— Subscribe for the WATCHMAN,
German Government cannot sustain the
{ act of Captain Thierichsen without stul-
tifying itself. It is hard to believe that
the Government at Berlin would do some-
| thing so contrary to its best interests and
so certain to arouse hostility in this and
every other neutral country. Probably
Ambassador von Bernstorff intended
merely to say that under certain condi-
tions a lawful prize may be destroyed,
and thus absolve the German captain of
the charge that he committed an unprec-
dented act of vandalism.
A Dark Horse, Perhaps.
From the New York Times.
The list to date, however, is fairly im-
pressive, considering that it is only
March, 1915, and that the convention will
meet in June, 1916. Ohio has no less
than four, Gov. Willis, ex-Senator Bur-
ton, ex-Ambassador Herrick and Senator-
elect Harding. Illinois has Representa-
tive Mann; Idaho, Senator Borah; Iowa,
Senator Cummins; Massachusetts, Sen-
ator Weeks; Pennsylvania, Gov. Brum-
baugh; Missouri, ex-Gov. Hadley; Indi-
ana, ex-Vice President Fairbanks; New
York, Gov. Whitman; Wisconsin, Senator
La Follette. Of course Ohio will not go
into the convention with four favorite
sons; that matter will be thrashed out
between now and then, and she will have
only one in 1916.
Back of this medley are two figures of
really dominating size—Justice Hughes
and ex-President Taft. But Justice
Hughes will hardly consent to make the
race—if he did the favorite sons would
take to the brush like rabbits—and the
Taft talk has so far consisted chiefly of
kindly comments on the high standing he
has gained by his course since he left
the White House. If it continues to be a
favorite-son fight to the doors of the con-
vention, it will mean a long and dead-
locked session, no candidate having any
great predominance over the others, and
finally a nominee chosen as the result of
dickers and deals and backstairs confer-
ences between party leaders, as Harrison
was chosen in 1888. t ae
——Japan has modified her demands
upon China. Japan put up-a bluff which
was called and it is humiliating to show
down under such circumstances.
elry store, on the corner of Market and Second
| streets, Clearfield, Saturday morning and escaped
| with nine diamond rings valued at $20 each, and
| two bloodstone rings. The thieves had thrown
! a brick through the glass of the show window
| and thensecured the rings, making their escape
| before the few people who were on the street
| became aware of the crime.
—The will of Josiah Rumbaugh, late of Greens-
i burg, was filed for probate Wednesday. To
i James B. Reed and wife he bequeathed all his
| household goods, and a bond of the Greensburg
Coal company, in return for the care bestowed
upon him in the latter years of his life, and “in
short for strewing flowers in my pathway during
the last years of my lifetime rather than on my
grove after my death.” The bond mentioned is
of a five hundred dollar denomination.
—Dorris Auker, 10 years old of Lewistown,
experienced all the thrills incident to a
visit to the war zone of Europe on
Monday when his horse was practically shot
from under him. Young Auker was astride the
family driver,on the way to the cross roads store,
when a charge of dynamite fired at a nearby
quarry, frightened the beast and, after stagger-
| ing a few steps, she dropped dead in her tracks.
Heart disease was the verdict of the veterinary.
. —Edward Seyfert, farmer, and his wife, of
Berks county, committed suicide on Tuesday
by hanging themselves in their barn. The
tragedy was discovered by their two young sons,
who went to the barn to feed the stock. Upon
entering the building they found their parents
hanging side by side. Husband and wife retired
last night in the best of spirits, bidding the chil-
dren a pleasant good night. They were about 45
years old. There is no known motive for the
double suicide. They were converts of Evangel-
ist Sunday.
—Joseph Knuff and his Johnstown associates
have succeeded in obtaining options on about
12,000 acres of coal lands on both sides of the
Pennsylvania railroad west of New Florence, a
large strip of which extends back into the hills
of Westmoreland county, and expect to dispose
of it to one of three syndicates of capitalists with
in the next week [or 10 days. Bidding for the
options has been very spirited within the last
week. The Miller, C and acoking vein are easily
accessible and the tract is especially desirable be-
cause it is the largest unsold acreage that can be
found in that section of the Conemaugh valley.
The coal is of the very finest quality and places
where the different veins can be tapped are in
close proximity to the main line of the Pennsyl-
vania company, It required considerable effort
to assemble the various holdings into one large
~—Have your Job Work done here.
tract, many of the owners being loath to sell.