Bellefonte, Pa., March 1, 1918.
P. GRAY MEEK, - -
Editor.
Terms of Subscription.—Until further
notice this paper will be furnished to sub-
scribers at the following rates:
Paid strictly in advance - - $150
Paid before expiration of year - 1.75
Paid after expiration of year - 2.00
LOCK HAVEN’S BAD PLIGHT.
Bellefonte Rendered Very Efficient
Aid to the Stricken City.
Lock Haven is rapidly recovering
from its devastation of water and ice
last week and in a short time all evi-
dence of the disastrous effects will
have entirely disappeared. But it will
be many days before the affair will
be forgotten. The flood at its highest
was only a little over a foot lower
than the flood of 1889 but it was far
more terrible because it was accom-
panied with floating ice and zero
weather the next day. Although most
of the water had gone out of the town
on Thursday some of the streets were
impassable owing to huge piles of ice,
while every cellar in the flooded dis-
trict was filled with water and the in-
mates of such homes had not the
wherewithal to build a fire or cook
food.
Appeals for help were sent to the
surrounding towns and the response
was prompt and generous. Bellefonte
on Friday afternoon sent down 1600
pounds of bread, 200 pounds of but-
ter, as many eggs as could be secur-
ed, forty-five oil stoves and a quanti-
ty of oil, with the Logan fire engine
to assist in pumping water out of the
cellars. The relief train reached
Lock Haven at 8:30 o’clock on Friday
evening and the supplies were
promptly distributed and the steam-
er put to work. The steamer was
kept there, at work most all the time
until Monday afternoon and the men
who manned it and kept it in opera-
tion almost continuously were James
D. Seibert, Edmund Blanchard, Thom-
as Caldwell, Milton R. Johnson, Alex-
ander Morrison, Elmer Yeager and
George Eberhart. Most of them re-
mained in Lock Haven until Monday
evening.
A SUNDAY RELIEF EXPEDITION.
Realizing the urgent need of work-
men to help clear the ice from the
streets of the flooded city and get the
thoroughfares open for business Rob-
ert F. Hunter, president of the Belle-
fonte Board of Trade, with the as-
sistance of W. G. Emerick, organized
a relief expedition to go to Lock Ha-
ven on Sunday and assist in the work
of cleaning up. Just 135 men volun-
teered and this number in fourteen
big auto trucks and a full complement
of picks and shovels went down early
Sunday morning and spent the entire
day digging and hauling ice and oth-
er refuse to the dump. Railroad shop-
men were also present from Renovo
and Jersey Shore and the result of
their combined efforts was the open-
ing up of Henderson and Water
streets, both of which were jammed
with ice. Several of the Bellefonte
trucks were also utilized in deliver-.
ing coal and other supplies to the flood
sufferers.
The Bellefonte contingent not only
‘went to Lock Haven fully equipped
for work but baker Harry Clevenstine
acted as commissary of the crowd,
taking in his big truck sandwiches,
baked beans and coffee, so as not to
impose upon the hospitality of Lock
Haven, and after cleaning out Ach-
enbach’s restaurant a substantial din-
ner was served there to 152 people.
Knowing that Lock Haven was un-
der martial law every truck that went
down bore a placard marked “Belle-
fonte Truck Fleet, Volunteer Relief,”
and every man was tagged as a work-
er of the Bellefonte relief expedition.
The total loss is estimated at a half
million dollars. Both the Lock Ha-
ven Express and Times offices were
flooded and were unable to get out pa-
pers before Monday.
Two Bellefonte women, Mrs. J.
Robert Cole and Miss Sallie Fitzger-
ald, were returning from Williams-
port on Wednesday evening and got
caught at Lock Haven. They man-
aged to get to a hotel where they
were marooned until Friday morning.
Three horses were caught in the
swirl of water and ice and were
drowned, while quite a number of
chickens met a like fate. One colored
man saved his chickens by taking
them up to his bedroom on the second
story of the house while two cows
were saved from drowning by being
pulled up onto a high porch.
All the business places have been
cleaned out and opened up, but the
ones who feel their loss the most are
the poorer residents in the lower part
of the city, and they will probably be
given help in repairing their houses
and making good their furniture loss.
*oe
A Peculiar Engine Wreck.
On Wednesday evening the shifting
engine and crew of the Bellefonte
yards were on their way out to White-
rock for a draft of loaded cars and on
the sharp turn this side of Axe Mann,
where the passenger train was wreck-
ed a number of years ago, the tire
came off of one of the driving wheels
of the engine with the result that it
was derailed. Fortunately the engi-
neer was not running fast and was
able to stop the engine before it fell
over. The Tyrone work train was
summoned and responded promptly.
Going out to the wreck the engine
was lifted up by the big crane the
tire heated white hot with an acety-
lene heater and in less than an hour
it had been put back on the wheel and
welded as solidly as ever.
————
wife of James C. Weaver, died very
day night at her home at No. 5125
Chestnut street, Philadelphia, of acute
indigestion.
She was the seventh child of Philip
W. and Rebecca Leathers Barnhart
and was born on the old Barnhart
homestead near Curtin over sixty
years ago. Her early life was
spent on the farm but after her
marriage to Mr. Weaver she re-
sided in Bellefonte until the fam-
ily moved from here to Philadel-
phia in 1907. The suddenness of her
death was a great shock to her fami-
ly and many friends. Though of a
quiet and unassuming nature she
leaves a record of good work that
cannot fail to be a compelling force
for righteous living in the lives of the
many who came under the influence
of her sweet spirit in the community
and in the church. From early girl-
hood she belonged to the Presby-
terian church and was not only faith-
ful in her attendance but a great bi-
ble student. In fact she was fre-
quently consulted regarding facts in
the bible, owing to her great knowl-
edge of the book. In her home life
she was ever kind and loving and was
always willing and ready to minister
to the wants of those in need to the
limit of her ability.
She has gone to her reward and to
mourn her death are her husband and
the following children: Mrs. Roy
McCalmont, of Saranac Lake, N. Y.;
Harry, of Los Angeles, Cal.; Philip B.,
of Roanoke, Va.; Fred D., of Balti-
more, and Robert, at home. She also
leaves one sister and three brothers,
namely: Mrs. H. G. Herd, of Mill
Hall; Joseph L. Barnhart, of Balti-
more; Harry O., of Whittier, Cal,
and James K., of Bellefonte. The lat-
ter with Mrs. Herd went to Philadel-
phia last Saturday to be present at
the funeral which was held yesterday.
The services were in the Bethany
Temple Presbyterian church and in-
terment was made in the Allington
cemetery.
ll Il
HOLTER.—Following a lingering
illness with nephritis Henry C. Hol-
ter, one of the best known residents of
Howard and an old veteran of the
Civil war, died at his home in that
place last Saturday morning.
He was a son of Jacob and Catha-
rine Holter and was born in Howard
township on September 2nd, 1843,
making his age 74 years, 5 months
and 21 days. He served during the
Civil war as a member of Company
D, 45th regiment, and had an envia-
ble record as a good soldier. He was
a member of Grove Bros. Post No.
276 G. A. R., of Howard and at the
time of his death held the office of
commander. He was a man who had
the esteem and confidence of his fel-
‘lowmen, and for some years past had
been a member of the school board of
‘Howard. » He also served one term in
the borough council. He was a life-
long member of the Methodist church
and always quite active in church
work.
He was married to Miss Mary E.
Hall who died on March 10th, 1911,
but surviving him are the following
children: John S. Holter, of Johnson-
burg; Mrs. L. C. Thompson, of Port
Matilda; Mrs. W. I. Gordon, of Colum-
bus, Ohio; Mrs. J. A. Kundts, of To-
ledo, Ohio; H. Holter, of Toledo; Cam-
eron B., enlisted in the Aviation sec-
tion of the U. S. signal corps and sta-
tioned at Camp Lee, Va.; D. W., Da-
vid A. and Philip C., all of Howard.
He also leaves three sisters and four
brothers, namely: Mrs. I. R. Wil-
liams, Mrs. J. Z. Loder, Mrs. Bower
Schenck, M. P. Holter, J. Shuman and
J. L. Holter, all of Howard, and John
B. Holter, of State College.
Funeral services were held at his
late home at 1:30 o’clock on Tuesday
afternoon by Rev. C. W. Rishel, after
which burial was made in the Schenck
cemetery, his six sons acting as pall-
bearers.
i Il
CALDER.—A. Russell Calder, for
thirty-five years superintendent of the
health department of the old Penn-
sylvania Steel company at Steelton,
died at his home in Harrisburg on
Tuesday, aged sixty years. He was a
son of Dr. James Calder and was ed-
ucated at State College while his fath-
er was president of that institution,
graduating there in the scientific
course in 1877. He assisted in making
the first heat of basic Bessemer steel
made in the United States. He is sur-
vived by three brothers and one sis-
ter, William C., a Baptist preacher in
Philadelphia; Mrs. Small, of Harris-
burg, and James and Frank, also liv-
ing in the east.
il I
SAXON.—Elijah B. Saxon, a na-
tive of Centre county, died at his
home at Dungarvin, Huntingdon
county, on Monday night, following
only four day’s illness with a compli-
cation of diseases. - He was 73 years
and 2 days old, and had been a far-
mer most of his life. Fifty-five years
ago he was married to Miss Julia A.
Keith who survives with eight chil-
dren, one of whom is William Saxon,
of Snow Shoe. The funeral will be
held today, burial to be made at
Pennsylvania Furnace. ;
Il
LUCAS.—Mrs. Nicholas Lucas died
at her home on Marsh Creek on Fri-
day, February 15th, of heart failure.
She was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Lewis Miller and was born on Marsh
Creek, forty-two years ago. She was
a splendid woman in every way and
her death was deeply deplored by her
many friends in that community. Sur-
viving her are her husband and three
small sons. The funeral was held on
Tuesday of last week, burial being
made in the Disciple cemetery at
Blanchard.
suddenly at 11:50 o’clock last Thurs- |
WEAVER.—Mrs. Laura G. Weaver, | Rev. Hewitt Died of Toxic Poisoning. :
Regarding the death of Rev. John
Hewitt, at his home in Coldwater,
week, information has been received
{that his death was the result of toxic
poisoning after less than one week’s
illness. His funeral on Thursday was
largely attended. The services in the
church, of which he had been pastor,
were conducted by Rev. L. P. Frank-
lin, of Newark, Ohio. Rev. P. T. Sar-
gent, of Grand Rapids, Mich., person-
ally represented the Bishop of that
diocese.
Jacobs Commandery and members
of Tyre Lodge, F. and A. M., attend-
ed in a body and burial was made with
full Masonic honors. It might further
be stated that burial at Coldwater
was only temporary as members of
the family expect to have the remains
taken to Sunbury, probably in April,
for final burial in the lot where re-
pose the remains of his father and
mother.
Rev Hewitt was an honorary mem-
ber of Gregg Post, No. 95, G. A. R,,
of Bellefonte, and at a regular meet-
ing held last Saturday evening the
following resolutions were adopted
and ordered spread upon the minutes
of the Post:
Whereas, It has pleased our Supreme
Commander to summon to the last roll
call our late esteemed comrade and friend,
Rev. John Hewitt; therefore be it
Resolved, That Gregg Post No. 95,
Dept. of Penna., G. A. R., while sincerely
mourning the loss of our dear comrade
and friend, humbly bow to the will of our
creator, guide and protector; that we
fondly cherish the memory of Comrade
Hewitt, a true friend, a brave comrade
and conscientious minister of the gospel,
and one who loved his fellowmen. Rest
in peace.
Resolved, That the action of Post 95 be
printed in the town papers and a copy
forwarded to the family of our deceased
comrade.
i |!
SAUERS.—Mrs. Nora Sauers, wife
of John W. Sauers, died at her home
in Altoona on Sunday afternoon, fol-
lowing an illness of some weeks with
a complication of diseases. Her maid-
en name was Nora Jacobs and she
was born at State College on March
27th, 1867, hence was almost fifty-
one years old. She ‘was married to
Mr. Sauers about twenty-eight years
ago and their early married life was
spent at State College. For a number
of years past, however, they have re-
sided in Altoona. She was a member
of the Simpson Methodist Episcopal
church and of the Pythian Sisters.
Surviving her are her husband and
two sons, Guy A. and Linwood C.,
both of Altoona. She also leaves two
sisters and two brothers, namely:
Mrs. Eliza Leech, of State College;
Mrs. William Resides, of Bellefonte;
John Jacobs, of Boalsburg, and Luth-
er C. Jacobs, of Lena, Ill. Funeral
services were held at her late home
in Altoona at ten o’clock on Wednes-
same afternoon the remains were tak-
en to Boalsburg for interment in the
cemetery at that place.
li |
LYON.—Mrs. Estelle Look widow
of the late Bernard C. Lyon, died on
Wednesday of last week at the home
of her daughter, Mrs. Jonas Lichten,
in Philadelphia, of general infirmi-
ties, aged 85 years. She was a native
of France but came to this country
when a girl and the most of her life
was spent in Bellefonte. She left
here twelve years ago and since then
Lhad been living in Philadelphia. Her
husband died over thirty years ago
but surviving her are the following
children: Gustave Lyon, Mrs. Jonas
Lichten and Mrs. Alfred Gordon, all
of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Louis Grau-
er, of Bellefonte. Funeral services
were held at the Lichten home in
Philadelphia at 8:30 o’clock on Satur-
day evening by Rev. Dr. Mayer and
on Sunday morning the remains were
brought to Bellefonte and taken di-
rect to the Jewish cemetery for
burial.
i.
SHANNON —Mrs. Jane Shannon,
widow of the late Edward Shannon,
of Moshannon, died last Friday at the
home of her daughter, Mrs. Catherine
| Snyder, of Rutherford, N. J., aged 82
years. Before her marriage she was
a Miss Dale and her early married life
was spent at Curtin. Later the family
moved to Moshannon where she lived
until the death of her husband two
years ago. In addition to Mrs. Sny-
der two other daughters survive,
namely: Mrs. Olive Lymen, of Aus-
tin, Pa., and Mrs. Annie Hartle, of
Cambria county. The remains were
taken to Moshannon on Monday for
burial. Bellefonters who attended the
funeral were Mrs. C. D. Tanner and
Mrs. J. Kennedy Johnston.
ll
HUNSICKER.—Rev. and Mrs. J.
D. Hunsicker, of Rebersburg, are
mourning the death of their eight
year old son, Leonard Hunsicker, who
died last Thursday after a week’s ill-
ness with diphtheria. The funeral
took place on Saturday.
Marriage Licenses.
Following is the list of marriage li-
censes granted during the past week
by Register Frank Sasserman:
Archibald Frantz, Sandy Ridge, and
Mary E. Law, Patton.
Leonard E. Breon, Axe Mann, and
Helen R. Sliker, Milesburg.
Paul M. Wert and Grace N. Heck-
man, both of Centre Hall.
Winfield Scott Peters, Altoona, and
Elsie Mae Bowen, Bellefonte.
Christie D. Shook and Annetta K.
Decker, both of Spring Mills.
Frank J. Miller, Julian, and Rhoda
Esther Lannan, Philipsburg.
Harris G. Bechdel and Esther Gard-
ner, both of Howard.
——For high class job work come
to the “Watchman” office.
Mich., on Tuesday morning of last |
day morning by her pastor, and the.
—
|
| One of the Shortest Ever Held in the
County.
{
|
| The February term of court which
‘convened on Monday morning was one
{of the shortest ever held in Centre
| county. The grand jury, of which A.
i R. Richards, of Philipsburg, was made
{ foreman, had only one bill to consid-
ler and it took only a short time to do
{this. They then inspected the public
| buildings, made their report and were
| discharged Monday afternoon. In
{their report they recommended new
{linoleum in the office and hall at the
{ jail, a steel partition to be installed
{| between the male and female portion
| of the jail, that the old stable be sold
and either a stone or brick garage be
built for the sheriff’s use. They also
recommended that the jail roof be re-
paired and the interior walls of the
court house to be cleaned and calci-
mined.
Nine cases on the civil list were
continued for various reasons.
The first case called was that of
Wallace Immel vs. Conrad Immel, a
petition for the appointment of a
guardian for the latter, who is eighty-
two years old. After hearing the evi-
dence of the plaintiff the court grant-
ed a compulsory non-suit on %he
grounds that while quite feeble there
was no testimony to prove that Mr.
Immel was weak-minded, as claimed
by the plaintiff.
In the case of Roland Ickoff vs. Ed-
ward Gross, an action to recover an
|
favor of the plaintiff.
The last case tried was that of the
Cash Register company vs. A. C.
Mingle, an action to recover a balance
on a credit filing device. From the
evidence it appeared that an agent of
the company got a signed order from
the defendant for one of the filing de-
vices and a partial payment of $15.00,
leaving a balance of $160.00 to be paid
on the delivery and approval of the
device. The defendant contended the
device was not as represented as the
reason payment was refused. The jury
returned a verdict for the defendant.
On Wednesday afternoon Roman
Codric, who shot a fellow countryman
at Sandy Ridge some weeks ago, the
victim dying two weeks ago, plead
guilty to voluntary manslaughter and
was sentenced to not less. than two
nor more than three years in the pen-
itentiary.
Frank Harris, a former resident of
Millheim, who plead guilty to steal-
ing wearing apparel from a house
near Pine Glenn, was also sentenced
to not less than two nor more than
three years in the penitentiary. Both
men were taken to the penitentiary
yesterday.
All of yesterday morning’s session
was consumed in taking testimony in
the case’ of Mary and Edward Keen
vs. Louis Lonsbury, being an appeal
from the decision of a justice of the
peace on an action of trespass. Mrs.
Keen owns a property right on the
corner near where the old brewery
was located at Roopsburg. To keep
people from driving too close to her
property she erected a post alongside
the road and put a sign on it, “No
Trespass.” Mr. Lonsbury, in driving
along one day, got too close to the post
and knocked it down. The Keens then
brought an action in trespass before
Squire Rees who found for the plain-
tiffs and imposed a fine on Lonsbury.
That gentleman appealed the case to
the quarter sessions and it was heard
yesterday morning. Argument on the
same will be made later, probably at
the next term of argument court.
Court adjourned for the week at
noon yesterday.
— GO
Housewives Notice.
Meetings of mutual interest to both
women and girls will be held in Belle-
fonte, March 5th and 6th. These lec-
tures and demonstrations will be giv-
en by a member of the Home Econom-
ics Extension department of The
Pennsylvania State College, in co-
operation with the Farm Bureau, and
will include discussions and demon-
strations of the underlying principles
in food and clothing covering such
subjects as:
I The values and uses of grains and
grain praducts.
II (a) The meat savers and substi-
tutes.
(b) The selection and use of
clothing and materials.
III (a) What fats and sweets may be
used and how.
(b) The making of a foundation
pattern to be used for cutting
and making under-garments,
simple house dresses and
shirt waists.
IV (a) The selection of food mate-
rials and planning of meals.
(b) The care and repair of cloth-
ing.
The Wi has been planned to be
presented at four sessions to be ar-
ranged to suit local conditions. The
meetings in Bellefonte will be held at
2 p. m. and 7:30 p. m. of both days.
The afternoon meetings will no doubt
be held at the High school building
and the place for holding the evening
meetings will be announced later.
——On Monday morning while a
number of school children were play-
ing “cack the whip” Margaret Tay-
lor, daughter of Col. and Mrs. H. S.
Taylor, had her right arm injured at
the wrist. She was taken to the
Bellefonte hospital and an X-ray made
which showed that the muscles and
tendons were torn a little but no bones
broken.
Peters—Bowen.—Scott Peters, of
Altoona, and Miss Elsie Bowen, were
married at the home of the bride’s
parents, Mr. and Mrs. S. F. Bowen, in
Spring township, on Friday of last
week, by Rev. W. J. Shultz, of Sny-
dertown. They will reside in Altoona.
alleged balance on a book account the |
jury returned a verdict of $28.75 in |
eH
FEBRUARY TERM OF COURT. | Nine More Men Sent to Camp Meade. ! ’Squire Schenck Consulted as to
Centre county’s quota of the first
| call for national army men was com-
| pleted with the sending to Camp
| Meade, Md.,, on Wednesday morning
(of nine additional young men. Six-
{teen had been summoned to appear
here on Tuesday to be sent but by
{reason of a number of inductions in-
to service in other places the county
{was given a credit of seven men so
i that only nine were required to fill the
(quota. Of the sixteen men summon-
ied, a list of whom was published in
i last week’s paper, Amos Fye, of Wad-
|dle did not appear, but Wednesday
| forenoon the sheriff was officially no-
tified that he had gone away with the
Lewistown young men that morning,
to Camp Lee, Va., and had been cred-
ited to Centre county. Following is’
a list of the nine men sent:
ANDERSON, ROBERT W., Winburne.
BARNER, HARRY W., Bellefonte.
BIERLY, KARL R., Rebersburg.
DUNLAP, H. A. A, Waddle.
HUGHES, JOSEPH F., Osceola Mills.
HULL, FRED M., Bellefonte.
NOVESKI, PETER J., Osceola Mills.
RASHDORFF, WILLIAM, Snow Shoe.
WEBER, CLARENCE R., Rebersburg.
The young men were quartered at
the Bush house during their stay in
Bellefonte and Tuesday evening they
were given a smoker as a fitting send-
off. Among those in attendance who
made brief speeches were Capt H.
Laird Curtin, Major S. M. Huff, Sher-
iff George H. Yarnell, Col. H. S. Tay-
lor and Judge Henry C. Quigley.
Karl Reed Bierly, who had been giv-
| en charge of the squad, responded for
the young soldiers and after thanking
the sheriff for his kind and courteous
treatment pledged the loyalty of every
one of them.
It might here be added that the lo-
cal exemption board has completed its
work of classifying the registrants in
the county and their statement of
same is as follows.
1 a Single men without
depend
CLS. Cy ie eit ie seins 1190
III a Men without dependent chil-
dren, (not their own) ...... 1
b Men with dependent parents.... 23
¢ Men with dependent brothers or
SISLOTS hein 5
d County or municipal officers .. 4
Iv 1450
Vv 11
Married men 5. dies ei
b Ministers of the gospel
¢ Ministerial students ............
d Men in military service
e Alien enemies (chiefly
ITIANS oovviiiiviviniividiye.
f Aliens claiming
tio
285
86
4
Ese leds ine eles 58
h Men morally unfit ,.i........... 1
Duplications of registration.... 2
Men over or under age.......... 2
Dead since June 5, 1917........ 9
Total registration.........
The exemption board also calls at-
tention to the fact that the surgeon
general of the army reports that the
need of enlisted men for the medical
department at the present time is ur-
gent, and attention is called to the
provisions of general orders No. 161,
which provides that registrants who
so desire can be inducted into military
service for assignment to any partic-
ular corps or department.
Unionville’s Big Drive on Thrift
Stamps.
Residents of Unionville borough fur-
nished an example on Monday of what
can be done in the sale of government
war savings and thrift stamps when
the right kind of an effort is
made. That was the day they had set
for a big drive and they made it most
successfully, too, as the final summing
up in the evening showed that the
amount sold averaged over three dol-
lars for every man, woman and child
in the borough. And as proof of the
above statement Howard Holzworth,
chairman for that section of the coun-
ty, came to Bellefonte on Tuesday and
going to the postoffice purchased just
$1,200 worth of the stamps. Now
this is a concrete example of what can
be done when there is push and deter-
mination back of the movement.
W. Harrison Walker, chairman of
the War Savings committee for Cen-
tre county, states that his weekly re-
port for the week ending February
16th, shows Centre county as having
an increase of 13 cents per person for
the week. Instead of being next to
the lowest there were only four coun-
ties that had larger per capita sales
for that week and one the same as
Centre. Centre county’s standing
up to the 16th instant was 68 cents
per person.
The Centre Hall public schools have
organized the second War Savings
society in the county. Although Cen-
tre county is expected to have 140 of
these societies only two have been or-
ganized so far.
Mr. Walker has received reports
from several postmasters in some of
the most prosperous parts of Centre
county in which they state that so far
they have not been able to sell a sin-
gle stamp, and he is unable to under-
stand the attitude of the people of
those localities who display so little
interest in the welfare of the govern-
ment and the success of the war in
which we are now engaged.
State College Will Train School Boys
for Farm Work.
Hundreds of High school boys from
all parts of Pennsylvania will be
trained at The Pennsylvania State
College during the next two months
for summer work on farms. After
learning some of the fundamentals of
farm labor there the boys will be put
on farms to help relieve the labor
shortage. Advanced students in the
school of agriculture will supervise
the boys training, and later the stu-
dents will be in charge of farm camps,
where the youngsters will be quarter-
ed while at work. Twenty-four boys,
a camp leader and a cook will compose |
each unit. The preliminary training
there is designed to develop the boys
physically so that they will be able
better to endure the work they will
be called upon to do on the farms.
asia —
Fraudulent Probates.
Readers of the “Watchman” will re-
call the conviction of Squire Hayes
Schenck, of Howard, at the February
term of court, 1916, on the charge of
issuing fraudulent bounty probates
and his subsequent sentence to the
penitentiary for two years. At the
time the evidence showed that from
July 1st, 1913, to April 1st, 1915, the
County Commissioners had paid out
in bounties the sum of $8,057.00. Of
this amount $3,053 were paid on pro-
bates issued by ’Squire Schenck, rep-
resenting the bounties on 121 gray
foxes, 779 weasels, 34 wild cats, 18
goshawks, 92 sharp shinned hawks
and 80 great horned owls, a total of
1144 noxious animals.
After the conviction and sentence
of ‘Squire Schenck the State refused
to reimburse Centre county for the
money paid out on the Schenck pro-
bates. In order to get a basis of set-
tlement game wardens E. W. Kelly,
of Clearfield, and Charles Batcheler,
of Philipsburg, came to Bellefonte
last Friday and in company with the
County Commissioners and their at-
torney went to the Rockview peniten-
tiary with a complete schedule cf the
Schenck probates and asked Mr.
Schenck to check off the fraudulent
ones. This he willingly did, and the
entire number as checked off amount-
ed to about $300. In addition to the
above there was about $67 worth rep-
resented in court proceedings which
the Commissioners voluntarily threw
out, making a total of approximately
$367 that the county stands to lose
if the State Game Commission will
accept the statement of ’Squire
Schenck as to the fraudulent probates.
But the matter, of course, is still up
to the Commissioners for final adjust-
ment.
> oo
An Enthusiastic Temperance Meeting.
One of the most enthusiastic tem-
perance meetings held in Centre coun-
ty in many years was that in the W.
C. T. U. rooms last Thursday after-
noon. Workers from every part of
the county assembled with one pur-
3 | pose, to organize as never before for
an aggressive campaign this year. All
present were absolutely and unani-
mously opposed to any candidates
who had ever opposed temperance ef-
fort or who would not emphatically
declare their support of all anti-liquor
measures. ,
Dr. C. F. Swift, of Philadelphia, su-
perintendent of the Anti-Saloon
League of Pennsylvania, and C. H.
Brandt, of Altoona, superintendent of
the Anti-Saloon League of the Altoo-
na district, delivered stirring address-
es and were ably supported by several
local speakers. An organization was
formed by the election of the follow-
ing officers:
President—Prof. Irving L. Foster,
State College.
Secretary—Prof.
State College.
Treasurer—Rev. R. Raymond Jones,
Centre Hall.
The president was empowered to
select representatives in every district
in the county as vice presidents.
Messrs. Ives L. Harvey, J. Kenne-
dy Johnston, C. C. Shuey and James
R. Hughes were appointed a commit-
tee to investigate the attitude of can-
didates on the temperance question
and report at an early date.
A. L. Wright,
Daniel Sharer Declared Sane by Com-
mission in Lunacy.
It took a day and a half’s time last
week and the evidence of more than
a score of people to enable a commis-
sion in lunacy to determine that Dan-
iel Sharer, of Taylor township, is
not insane.
Mr. Sharer is a son of the late
Christ Sharer, of Taylor township,
and a warrant had been sworn out for
his arrest by his brother-in-law, J. R.
Mattern. Mr. Sharer has been in
trouble on various occasions and on
petition of district attorney James C.
Furst a commission in lunacy was ap-
pointed to inquire into his condition,
mentally. The commission consisted
of Dr. M. J. Locke, W. Harrison
Walker and A. L. McGinley. Last
Friday morning was set as the time
for the taking of testimony but so
many witnesses had been summon-
ed that it took all day Friday and
most of Saturday morning to hear
them, and at the conclusion of the
testimony the commission decided that
Mr. Sharer is not insane.
Three U. S. Sol liers Killed by Poison
Gas.
Washington, Feb. 27.— Artillery
bombardments on the western front
have increased in intensity, espe-
cially in the Ypres sector, along the
Chemin des Dames and on both
banks of the Meuse near Verdun.
On the American sector northwest of
Toul the Germans have attempted un-
successfully to wipe out the Ameri-
cans with flaming gas and gas shells.
Two American soldiers were killed in
two such attacks and nine suffered
seriously from the effects of the gas.
The American artillery is shelling the
enemy position heavily.
No official recognition has yet been
taken of the Chancellor Von-Hertling’s
speech. It is regarded in Washing-
ton, London and Paris as a war speech
and not a peace statement. The Chan-
cellor’s purpose, an official of the
French foreign office says was to sep-
arate the entente allies, stimulate
peace talk and impress Germany and
the outside world with the notion that
the military caste had lost its power.
Belgium, it is declared, hardly will
answer the Chancellor’s peace hint.
German submarines have not let
up in their campaign against Span-
ish shipping. The steamer Negurf,
of 1,859 tons, is the latest victim.
She is the fifth Spaniard to be torpe-
doed within five weeks.
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