INK SLINGS.
— Evidently Mr. Harding doesn’t
propose to let his admirers “shimmy”
him into office. Washington and he!
disagree as to the “normalcy” of an
inaugural ball.
— The electoral college for this
State met, transacted its business and
adjourned in Harrisburg last Monday |
and the average man didn’t know
what was going on. :
. ——When it is recalled that King
Constantine got ninety-eight per cent.
of the votes cast at the recent elec-
tion in Greece it will be seen that
Harding isn’t the “whole cheese.”
- —The experience of those three na-
my balloonists who were lost in
the frigid fastnesses of Canada ought
to be sufficient to warn us all that it
isn’t half as hard to fly off as it is to
get back again. :
—Congress has struck out of the
postal appropriation bill the estimate
for the continuance of the aerial mail
service and unless the Senate restores
it Bellefonte will be in danger of be-
ing expunged from the aerial map.
—The public will probably not be
so much interested in the fact that
Senator Penrose has changed his mind
on the matter of the necessity for tar-
iff legislation at this session as it will
be as to what made him change it.
—A statement crediting Lloyd
George to Scotch lineage got past our |
proof reader’s desk last week and |
seems to have been detected by doz-
ens of our readers who have called our
attention to the fact, which we very
well knew, that England’s Premier is
a Welshman.
We see the peaceful quiet “round
the Bush house down on High, we note
there’s nothing doing at the Brock-
erhoff, as we go by. Old Stricknine
looks as dead as a mackerel in its kit
and all there is at Haag’s is to just go
in and sit. The Voltead act is acting
and booze is getting shy and every
night will look like Sunday, in Belle-
fonte by and by.
—Always the men are putting their
foot in it. When the women first got
the vote it was the men who insisted
that they had to tell their age. Then
it was the men who said they had to
pay taxes and now that they are be-
ing drawn for jury duty the men come
out and publish their occupation. Just
mark the prediction that when some
of them see themselves listed as
“housekeeper” when others are “lady”
we wouldn’t want to be the culprit in
the case they sit on until they have
had ample time to blow it all off.
—“Devil Anse” Hatfield, eighty-one
years old, was laid to rest at Logan,
West Virginia, on Sunday. “In days
gone by when a Hatfield or a McCoy
ventured from his cabin in the moun-
tains he knew his life was only secure
go long as he could keep the other fel-
low from getting the drop on him.
For fifteen years the feud that existed
between those two families flamed
until thirty-five men and one woman
paid the price for the quarrel. They
were the terrors of the mountains of
West Virginia and Kentucky and
“Devil Anse” was as notorious as
Jesse James.
—The average person has very lit-
tle conception what the disparity in
exchange between this country and
Europe means to the people on the
other side. Most of us notice it in
print and pass it up as a matter in
which we are not interested. But we
are vitally interested. Our industries
will never boom until the buying pow-
er of foreign money is raised to the
point where it comes nearer to the
value of the American dollar. Take,
for example, the insurance question.
A resident of Central Europe had a
policy for two thousand dollars in an
American company. He was compel-
led to pay his premium in American
dollars and now that he is dead the
company has paid the face of the pol-
icy, ten thousand kronnen, in kron-
nen which have depreciated so that
the company was able to buy ten thou-
sand of them with which to pay the
policy for only twenty dollars of our
money. Can you wonder, after know-
ing this, at Europe not coming into
the American markets to buy. And
don’t you see why a League of Na-
tions is needed to stabilize such con-
ditions.
— Bellefonte needs a lot of houses
-and until we get them rents are going
to keep climbing. It is a mere matter
of supply and demand. Generally
speaking rents will not be high in
Bellefonte, even after advances that
we hear are being made for April 1st
are operative. As a matter of fact most
rents in Bellefonte have been too low.
So low as to make building investment
unprofitable and consequently unat-
#ractive. And when taxes run up to
fifty mills they become a serious over-
head on any property. To our way of
thinking renters in this place in par-
ticular are to a certain extent respon-
sible for the plight they find them-
selves in. Usually they are found
foremost among those who agitate for
-every public improvement that is pro-
posed. And usually they join the cho-
tus that knocks the property owners
who naturally enough hesitate before
falling in with every proposal to in-
crease the borough indebtedness.
They do it thoughtlessly, of course, so
we are writing this paragraph merely
‘to remind them that every addition to
the borough or county debt means an
addition to the tax rate and an addi-
tion to the tax rate means additional
rentals, if property is to yield its own-
er a proper return on his investment.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
During the
of all time”
den
the surprising
service of a car.
VOL. 66.
Here Wi
——Speaking of the great humor-
ists of the United States the procla-
mations, promises and predictions of
fair price commissioner Frank B.
McClain are certainly very funny.
Where a Freight Car Spends Its Time.
People who complain of the annoy-
ance of delayed freight know little of
the causes that contribute to the hold-
up of shipments between their origin
and destination.
Statistics recently compiled reveal
information that a
freight car spends only 11 per cent. of
its time in actual travel from one ter-
minal to another. 37 per cent. of its
time is spent in the hands of the ship-
per or the receiver. 43 per cent. of
the time it is in use is required to pass
it through a classification yard and
get it onto a through train, and 9
per cent. of its time is required for re-
pairs.
It will be seen from these figures
that both the shipper and receiver and
the railroads might combine to effect
an increase in the actual carrying
If the former were
to load and unload more promptly the
37 per cent. of time now consumed by
them would be reduced. And the rail-
roads, themselves, might materially
reduce the 43 per cent. of time spent
in classification.
If savings could be effected in these
two points alone it might result in a
freight car rendering twice the serv-
ice that it is now doing, the railroads
would be saved the costly additions
they are mow compelled to make to
their equipment and lower freight
rates might reasonably be expected.
— The people of Berlin, Germany,
having made a great fuss over Sena-
tor Medill McCormick
hope that he may remain there all his
life.
—— One-half of the first month of
the new year is already past and gone,
and in ninety days the trout fishing
season will open.
and the
Hundreds, of
tipsy dance
creates the
BELLEFONTE, PA., JANUARY 14, 19
Harding Halts Belshazzer’s' Feast.
Word comes out of Marion, Ohic,
that the President-elect, with pre-
science that we had not credited him
with, has already read the handwrit-
ing on the wall and has cast a shadow
over the magnificent inaugural func-
tions that were planned for him.
Washington was prim
an orgy of social dissipation at public
expense as the world has rarely wit- |
nessed. The inaugura
down in history as “the most
event of all time.”
been held in the interior court of
Pension office at an expense to
public of about $200,000 and some con- |
siderable delay in the dispatch of the
business of that bureau of the govern-
ment. But as an esteemed contempo-
rary said, “it: will be some party.”
The average pensioner, even though
hungry, would have felt fully recom-
pensed for suffering, when he contem-
| plated the grandeur of the inaugural
ball. He has made other sacrifices
for his country before and would
again, if necessary,
brilliant achievement of all time”
would have been worth while.
Gorgeous were the plans up to yes-
terday when the word came from Mar-
jon that Mr. Harding has seen things
and coincidental with his vision Con-
gress threw cold water on the ardor
of the shimmiers by paring the ap-
propriation to a paltry $50,000.
last several months
there has been a good deal of desti-
tution throughout the world. In Eu-
rope and Asia and Africa men, wom-
en and children have been starving
and American philanthropy has been
heavily taxed to save humanity from
the severest suffering. Even in this
land of plenty the specter of want has
been revealing a horrible presence
and a. menacing figure.
industries have been closed up and
thousands of industrious men and
women thrown out of employment
since the election last November. But
the information that the inaugural
ball will be the “most brilliant event
was to reward and
completely ;solace every right minded
man and woman in this broad land,
ed for such
1 ball was to go |
brilliant |
It. was to have
the
the
“most
all when | dream ‘of his had dissolved “lik
; , Wilgon was inducted into
office either inf1913 or 1917 and there
would probably have been no “func-
tion” of the Kind if Governor Cox had
been elected.” Wilson wouldn't stand
for an interruption of the pension
service and Washington society was
deprived of the privilege of “the mid-
night shout and revelry,
and jollity” at public expense. - It’s
small wonder that he is hated by friv-
olous Washington and it was expect-
ed that Harding would be liked be-
cause he is so different. But the in-
augural ball managers were daringly
ambitious at that. Belshazzar’s feast
was an event of considerable brillian-
cy, but it would have been outdone in
Washington in March had not “mene,
mene, tekel upharsin” appeared too
soon.
| Most of his time after his elevation to
Unjust Charge Against Palmer. !
i
We have no brief and not much in-
clination to defend Mitchell Palmer
against accusations of whatever sort.
But one made at a hearing before the
Senate committee on Finance, in
Washington, the other day, by a per- |
son called Colonel John P. Wood, of |
Philadelphia, against the Attorney
General is so utterly preposterous, as |
to compel comment. This Wood per-
son appeared before the committee in |
behalf of the wool manufacturers and |
hi§ charge is that Mr. Palmer “was |
unwise in promulgating a campaign |
i
against high prices.” Prices of wool |
and woolens, it will be remembered,
increased so rapidly during and after i
the war that they pushed the clouds
up, and Mr. Wood thinks it was a
crime to check the ascension.
Mr. Wood was arguing in favor of
the Fordney emergency tariff bill up-
on ‘which Senator Penrose. is said to
have changed * his mind. Men and
women have been getting garments at
from thirty to forty per cent. reduc-
tion in price since New Years and
though they are still from fifty to a
hundred per cent. higher than: before
the war prices, the woolen manufac-
turers are striving to .check the de-
cline. ' Mr. Wood probably .imagines
that if Attorney General Palmer. had
kept quiet during the soaring period,
public interest in prices would have
been less active and militant. For
that reason he boldly asserts that the
campaign against high prices was un-
wise. The average burglar believes
that policemen are an unmitigated
evil and their activities exceedingly
improper. :
As a matter of fact, however, we
can’t see why Mr. Wood, even from
his point of view, should object to the
campaign against high prices conduct-
ed by Mr. Palmer. Mouth activities
are seldom productive of results and
outside of proclamations, promises
and interviews Mr. Palmer never did
anything toward checking high prices.
the office of Attorney General was
consumed in his campaign for the
nomination for President and it was | poss
not until some. time after that pipe
e thet
baseless fabric “of a vision,” that
prices began to come down, and in the
process there is no trace of responsi-
bility leading toward A. Mitch.
—We will know more: about the
width, depth and durability of the
harmony in the Pennsylvania Legis-
lature when the report of the Spoils
committee is presented next week.
Blunder of Women Politicians.
The Democratic ladies, Lord bless
‘em, who assembled in Philadelphia to
celebrate the birth anniversary of the
immortal Jackson, and incidentally to
reorganize the party, on ' Saturday
evening, made a bad start, according
to the esteemed Philadelphia Record.
“Everything was rosy while the ora-
tors confined themselves to spread-
eagle efforts,” the Record adds, “but
the moment straightforward criticism
was offered a storm. of protest broke
loose. For a time it looked as though
the dinner, far from paving the way
for rehabilitation of the party, would
create another rupture and make the
task of reorganization harder than
ever.” The purpose was to praise and
not to bury the party.
The principal mistake, if the pub-
lished statement of the proceedings be
taken literally, was in the selection of
the “orator” of the occasion. The la-
dies in charge of the event invited
Senator Thomas, of Colorado, to de-
liver the principal -address, and no
doubt taking that as a license to speak
his own mind, the Senator launched a
severe criticism of the policies of
President Wilson. Senator Thomas,
a native of Georgia, has always been
opposed to the policies of the Presi-
dent. Naturally he assumed that this
was his recommendation to the Dem-
ocratic ladies of Pennsylvania, and
with characteristic southern courtesy,
he aimed to please. But his animad-
versions on the President didn’t
please.
In the memorable campaign of
1892 Senator Thomas was the Colora-
do member of the Democratic Nation-
al committee and used the powers of
the office to elect the notorious Davis
Waite Governor of the State over an
admirable candidate fairly nominated
by the Democratic party. By some
curious accident of politics he was
elected United States Senator in 1915,
as a Democrat, and has since taken
advantage of every opportunity to op-
pose the President and embarrass the
party. The ladies who invited him to
speak at the Jackson day dinner in
Philadelphia may justify their blun-
der by pleading inexperience in polit-
ical matters, but the result sheuld ad-
monish them to be more careful in the
future.
——John Bull is wondering how the
Republicans of this country got the
idea that he had six votes in the
League of Nations.
qous effort from now
Suggests a Business Manager.
Itisa hopeful sign that leading
Democrats throughout the country
are seriously discussing the question
of organizing now for the campaign
of 1924. The failure to hold a Jack-
son day celebration under the auspic-
es of the National committee this
year was a disappointment to many
who believed that would be an appro-
priate time to inaugurate the move-
ment. But for some unexplained rea-
20.
son the usual Jackson day dinner at.
Washington was omitted this year and
the opportunity to begin the new or-
ganization has been lost. The ap-
proaching anniversary of the birth of
Thomas Jefferson might serve the pur-
‘hardly be sufficient. to prepare for. so
‘important an event..
The Republicans began immediately
after the election of 1916 to prepare
for the campaign of 1920 and the
completeness of their organization and
the effectiveness of their work shows
that it was both wise and expedient.
Even before the National conventions
were held the Republican organization
had victory “wrapped up,” and from
the beginning of the campaign to the
end there was never, except for a day
or two, a doubt of the result. Gover-
nor Cox’s Pittsburgh speech exposing
the profligate plans of the Republican
machine dazed the Republican man-
agers for a few days. But when Pen-
rose assured big business that putting
a Republican in the White House
would be worth $100,000,000 to them,
‘the courage of the managers return-
ed and confidence was restored. .
But there should be no friction
among the party leaders in leading up
to a movement for reorganization. In
a speech at a Jackson day dinner at
Los Angeles, William C. McAdoo sug-
gested the appointment of a business
manager for the party and some of
the friends of Governor Cox are try-
ing to torture that into a criticism of
the management of chairman White.
Clearly Mr. McAdoo had no idea of re-
flecting upon chariman White, who
made as strong a campaign as wa
rar
on would
the party in shape for the next cam-
paign and the result of the election
will be vastly different.
——The best minds may be making
‘the Marion hotel keepers rich but so
far they have made no perceptible im-
provement in public affairs.
Needless Worry About the Cabinet.
Some of our esteemed contempor-
aries are wasting mental energy in
worrying over the personnel of the in-
coming President’s cabinet. No very
definite information as to who will be
called to his council table by Mr.
Harding has been revealed, and the
fact is causing a good deal of com-
ment. As a matter of fact, however,
it is not a subject of surprise. Most
Presidents-elect have concealed from
the public the names of the men sub-
sequently appointed to the cabinet,
until after the inauguration and in
many cases the announcements have
created both disappointments and sur-
prises. It is regarded among those
active in public affairs as a largely
personal affair and the right to secre-
sy is generally acknowledged.
It is true, probably, that there was
a widespread notion that Mr. Harding
would pursue an unusual course in
this respect. He is different from the
type of men who have been honored
with the great office in the past, with
the possible exception of Rutherford
B. Hayes, and nobody has ever been
able to figure out how Hayes got the
nomination. The nomination of Hard-
ing was forced by the Senatorial
bunch which imagined that the Senate
had been slighted in various ways by
President Wilson and it was expected
that the Senators rather than the
President-elect would select the offi-
cial advisers. Therefore the fact that
Penrose and Lodge and Smoot have
not spoken on the subject have excit-
ed mental speculation.
The truth is, probably, that the
President-elect has had some difficul-
ty in getting men to accept the sev-
eral portfolios in his cabinet. The
Senators have about made up their
minds to run the administration and
the average man of cabinet calibre
would hesitate to accept the responsi-
bilities involved under such conditions.
Senator Penrose said the other day
that it didn’t make any difference who
is Secretary of State as the Senate in-
tends to shape the foreign policy of
the administration. Of course men of
the type of Root wouldn't stand for
such a thing and Harding would like
to get some respectable dummy who
would. We can imagine nobody ex-
cept Justice Hughes or our friend
Taft as available.
———————————————————
— Penrose made a sudden jump
£r ym low to high tariff but it remains
tc be seen whether or not he landed on
his feet.
1
RET
Keeping Up With Boies.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Senator Penrose’s flipflop on the
emergency tariff bill has its amusing
as well as its . political aspects. Of
course, his enemies say that it reveals
his weakness, both physical and as a
party leader, and that he no longer
has to be regarded as an important
factor in the councils of his party.
That is a matter for Republicans to
decide for themselves. To the disin-
terested observer the contention would
seem to possess considerable force.
In another way the Senator's com-
plete about face, after his contemptu-
ous references to “popgun” tariffs and
the necessity for proceeding with the
revision of the existing duties in a sci-
entific and orderly manner, has its dis-
pose, but. three months time would
tinctly humorous features. When he
announced his stand all the loyal par-
ty organs hastened to point out how
correct his position was and how ab-
surd an emergency tariff bill would be
under present ‘circumstances. For
once they told the truth about the tar-
iff. Here, for instance, is The Harris-
burg Telegraph, which speaks of the
Senator, “with the clear vision of an
experienced “statesman,” opposing a
bill “which certain special interests
make an excuse for protective tariff
enactments.” It then goes on to rid-
icule the plan for boosting the prices
of food and manufactured articles, as
follows: H
The public will agree with him that this
is no time for hasty legislation. The times
are fluid. Every day sees'a change. We
are in the midst of a trying period, it is
true, but tomorrow will see am improve-
ment and early spring will witness most
industries back to normal and business
going ahead under full steam. |
If a tariff measure is to be worth any-
thing it ought to be based upon normal
conditions, .and in the present unstable
state of business no basis of that can be
reached, for the whole intent of the emer-
gency tariff appears te be to maintain eér-
tain lines upon an abnormal basis, while
other branches of trade are going through
the readjustment process. There is no
more call for an emergency tariff now than
there is for the re-establishment of food
control, with the hope. of keeping prices of
provisions up. . :
If this was true'on Wednesday, be-
fore the Senator made his abject sur-
BE
i
=Reonomic S ot depend
upon the stand taken by a single poli-
tician, even though he may be a high
priest of the G. O. P. sanhedrin.
The Republican papers in indorsing
Senator Penrose’s views as first for-
mulated about this preposterous tar-
iff bill stated the truth about it. When
they crawfish in order to keep in line
with the Senator’s surrender of con-
viction they do not change the facts in
the case. “There is,” as The Tele-
graph says, “no more call for an
emergency tariff now than there is for
the re-establishment of food control,”
and if such a bill is passed it will be
purely for political, not economic, rea-
sons. :
The “Movement on Foot.”
‘From the New York World. :
Sir Robert Horne, president of t
British Board of Trade, is making the
suggestion in a published interview
that the United States cancel its war
loans to Great Britain on condition
that that country shall cancel its loans
to France and other European Allies.
He would have a “forgiveness of debts
all around.”
This seems to give the proposi-
tion the sanction of the British gov-
ernment and the fact is of interest at
this end of the line of forgiveness.
But even more interesting is Sir Rob-
ert’s further statement in the London
Daily Graphic that “the attitude of
America is strictly self-contained but
there is a movement on foot which I
hope may lead to something.”
There is evidently such a movment
on foot and it is located in America,
as indicated. It began with the Home
Market club some months ago and it
maintained a lively if whispered exis-
tence in high tariff circles all through
the Presidential campaign.
These European war debts to the
United States must be paid, if at all,
mostly with goods which would com-
pete with those of the manufacturing
interests and keep down their prices
to the American people. Their can-
cellation is, therefore, as imperative
a protective necessity for monopoly to
these interests as high tariff itself.
Sir Robert Horne is clearly well ad-
vised in seeing a “movement on foot”
which “may lead to something.”
ern eral ——————
Just a Matter of Clothes.
From the Charlotte Observer.
Mr. Knox is now finding so much of
good in the Versailles treaty that he
would hold Germany to fulfillment of
the pledges exacted of her in that
treaty, and then, in place of Article xX,
he would adopt a section providing
that when the peace of Europe is
again threatened “the United States
would regard such a situation as a
menace to its own peace and freedom,
and would consult with the Powers
with a view to co-operating 1n the de-
fense of civilization.” In short, he
would disguise the League of Nations
in a Republican made suit of clothes
and bow down to it.
If some one will providé a way
to limit the home brewery to less
than one-half of one per cent, we will
all agree that he is a public benefac-
tor.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
— Frank Sarvi, who discovered a burglar
| in his store at Williamsport shortly after
{10 o’clock Saturday night, engaged in a
| pistol duel with him, and was shot just
: above the heart, in the shoulder and
| through the thigh. He is in the Williams-
| port hospital in a critical condition. The
; burglar got away but blood marks show
| he was hit. The police are searching for
him.
— Five members of the Tyrone basket
ball team were on their way to Hunting-
don last Wednesday night to play the
High school five, when their automobile
! went through a fence on a sharp curve near
Alexandria and rolled down a 125-foot em-~
bankment. The branch of a tree tore off
the top of the car as it turned over and
the boys were dumped out, escaping ser-
ious injury.
—Walter Frederick, aged 67 years, was
instantly killed at Lewisburg on Saturday
night, when struck by an automobile
driven by Lester Horam. The accident oc-
curred on the main street and was wit
nessed by a large crowd. The aged man
became confused while crossing the street,
momentarily hesitating when he saw the
machine approaching, and then stepped
back in its path.
—After the Lehigh county grand jury
had found a true bill against Miss Ella
Riegel, of Bryn Mawr, her trial was com-
tinued until the April term. Miss Riegel
is charged with manslaughter in causing
the death on October 12th last of Miss Ma-
bel Thompson, assistant city librarian in
Allentown, whom she struck with her au-
tomobile as Miss Thompson was alighting
from a trolley car. Miss Riegel’s bail was
increased from $3000 to $4000.
—Michael O'Connor, register and recor-
der of Elk county, has held nearly every
office of any importance (except that of
J udge) in his county during the last quar-
ter of a century. Just what the court
house at Ridgway would be without him
Elk countians wouldn't want to imagine.
Mr. O'Connor belongs to a number of or-
ganizations, including the Elks. He is a
charter member of the Ridgway Lodge,
having been a member of Renovo Lodge.
~ —Rebecéa Conroy, alias Edith Grant,
aged 40, n 1 her brother, Charles Conroy,
27, were shot and killed by former consta-
ble William Miles, at Reading, Sunday
evening. Miles then turned the weapon on
himself and killed himself. The tragedy
occurred at -the woman's home. She had
recently resented the attentions of Miles,
and the supposition is that when the
brother arrived home and found him in
the house, a quarrel ensued and the shoot-
ing followed. ;
-—Before Samuel Knelly, a young farmer
of Black Creek township, Schuylkill
county, left last week for State College to
take a winter course he had a thrilling
battle with a bull that attacked him as he
was at , work in. his barn. Fortunately
Knelly was handling a pitchfork at the
time and. he used this in repelling the
charges of the infuriated animal, which
finally gave up the fight after being se-
yerely cut about the eyes and head with
the sharp prongs. .
| Major William G. Murdock, adjutant
of ‘the Pennsylvania Department of the
American Legion and who served as chief
“Pennsylvania during the
hobby for autographs, of which he has one
of the finest collections in the State. He
has all of the Presidents, including some
of their autograph letters, nearly all of the
Vice Presidents and Speakers of the House,
many Congressmen, Governors, Cabinet of-
ficers and statesmen, as well as most of
the signers of the Declaration.
—Fighty head of cattle at the State hos-
pital for the insane at Danville, one of the
finest herds in the entire State, were sold
last Thursday to butchers, breaking up the
herds that had taken fifteen years to breed.
The eighty cattle sold had reacted to the
tuberculin tests conducted by the State,
and while it was possible to use the meat
of the animals, it was no longer safe to use
their milk. Of the herd of 130 cattle, there
are now left only fifty, twenty of them
being cattle of more than two years, while
thirty are calves and young heifers.
__Gold medals to ten men who had been
in their employ fifty years or more and
bronze medals to fifty-two men who have
been employed more than forty years were
presented lest week by the American Car
and Foundry company. Each of the med-
als presented bears the words “The Old
Guard,” inscribed on a tiny metal passen-
ger car. Sofarus Smethers, who has been
an employee of the Berwick plant for six-
ty-seven years, was honored with a special
gold medal. He has worked at the plant
twelve years longer than any other man.
__Associate Judge George E. Boyer, of
Duncannon, slept undisturbed over $500
tucked under his pillow on Friday night
while thieves ransacked his big general
store. A preliminary investigation Satur-
day showed that no great amount of mer-
chandise was taken, but Judge Boyer is
particularly aggrieved by the audacity of
the thieves who built a fire in the kitchen
adjoining his storeroom, above which the
Judge lives, and cooked themselves a meal
of ham and eggs. That the men rested
long after their night's work was evidenc-
ed by 20 or 25 cigarette stubs strewn about
the kitchen floor.
__Three suits were filed last week in the
United States District court, Pittsburgh,
against Charles E. Specht, of Johnstown,
to recover the sum of $448,200, as the after-
math of a coal brokerage business he is
‘said to have engaged in. The largest of
the three suits was filed by Victor Guion-
net, of 13 east Thirty-sixth street, New
York city, who seeks to recover $370,000.
The other two suits were filed by Louis N.
Small, of Riverside, Conn., who seeks to
recover $74,000. The bill sets forth that
Guionnet and Small acted as agents for
Specht, who had for sale certain coal and
his failure to deliver the coal in accord-
ance with a contract resulted in losses to
the agents.
—For six hours on Saturday two fire
companies fought to save Louis Bolick, of
Pittsburgh, from being sucked down to
death under a mass of coal in an automat-
ic stoker in the plant of the Armstrong
Cork company—and won after Bolick’s
arms, neck and head only remained visi-
ble. Bolick had charge of six boilers in
the factory, all fed from a coal bin twenty
feet square and twenty feet deep. He
climbed to the top of the bin to loosen the
coal when he lost. his balance. Bolick
shouted for help, but it was ten minutes
before he was heard. A pole pushed to him
was useless as the coal pressed about him
too firmly. Firemen were called. After
stakes had been ' driven as close to the
helpless man as possible, the firemen were
able to loosen the coal about him suffi-
ciently to pull him out.