_ INK SLINGS.
~~ | —Anyway Governor Sproul has
been denied a chance to write a new
constitution for Pennsylvania.
. —Bellefonte registered an emphatic
“No” to the proposal to hold a consti-
tutional convention at this time.
. —The proposal to hold a constitu-
- tionl convention in Pennsylvania was
~ , overwhelmingly rejected on Tuesday.
~~ —About the only business that the
Harding administration has put any
pep into thus far is that of the pho-
tographer.
—While burgess Walker was being
put through the 33rd degree up in
Boston his rival, Mr. Johnston, was
being put through the 3rd right here
in Bellefonte.
—Sitting judge Thomas J. Bald-
ridge defeated District Attorney Mar-
ion D. Patterson by nearly three
thousand votes in their contest for ju-
dicial honors in Blair county.
—Marshal Foch is coming to visit
us next month but as he is not going
to stack up against either Mr. Demp-
sey or Mrs. Mallory he will go back
to France as great an idol as he left.
—The Vare victory in Philadelphia
was accomplished on a fifty-fifty slate.
After the election the contractors will
turn the other side around and the
Brotherly Lovers will discover the real
figures—ninety-nine—one.
—This word agenda that we hear
rolled so glibly from the tongues of
real and near statesmen means merely
what is to be digested at a stated sit-
ting. In other words, it includes
everything from soup to nuts.
—The New York architect and fur-
niture manufacturer who are in court
wrangling over which one of them will
be entitled to recognition in history
for designing a chair recently present-
ed to President Harding might do well
to ask for a suspension of judgment.
‘The fellow who designed the chicken
coops for Rutherford B. Hayes isn’t in
the spot-light in the Hall of Fame.
—The primaries are over. The men
of your choice may not have succeed-
ed on getting on the ticket. If they
didn’t it was only because the majori-
ty of the voters didn’t view your fa-
vorites with the same appreciative
vision. Be that as it may, you still
have many to pick from, for the elec-
tion that is to come is not like the pri-
mary just past. At the election you
can vote for any of the primary nomi-
-nees, no matter what their politics
choice was confined to only such per-
sons as sough lace on your own
RR
heat works here last week wasn’t
en from the postoffice at all. The de-
termination of that point isn’t worry-
ing us half so much, however, as the
may be, whereas at the primary the!
stol- |
VOL. 66.
Those of us who recall the hysteria
of Republican Senators over the dis-
position of Shantung in the Versail-
by a new development concerning that
province in China. It will be recalled
that long before the world begun Chi-
na had ceded Shantung to Germany.
After the beginning of hostilities it
became an exceedingly useful and im-
portant army and navy station for
Germany in her operations against
Russia. For this reason the Allies en-
tered into an agreement with Japan
to dislodge Germany from the port
and pledged the German title to Japan
as a reward for the service in the
event of the successful issue of the
enterprise.
The Versailles treaty confirmed and
fulfilled this pledge after Japan had
given a promise, at the demand of
President Wilson, that in the course
of a short time it would be restored
to China, the rightful owner. It was
at the beginning of the war as much
the property of Germany as any of the
provinces and property of the German
empire and the conquest by Japan
gave that country as valid a title to
it as France obtained to Alsace and
Lorraine. But the Republican Sena-
tors went into hysterics over the great
wrong which had been done to China
and in the absence of a better reason
cited that as one of the causes of their
opposition to the ratification of the
| Versailles treaty. Senator Lodge
“threw a fit” over it.
Now the surprising news comes that
Japan has been trying to fulfill its
promise to restore Shantung to China
and China refuses to accept it. What
the real reson for this attitude is, is
left to conjecture, but it may be as-
sumed that there is some subtle polit-
ical scheme concealed in it somewhere.
| China declares that she is willing to
| take Shantung back but wants the
| United States government to make the
| conditions and define the terms of the
i restoration. Possibly there is no sig-
i nificance in this but the late Bret
Harte had a thorough understanding
of the “Heathen Chinge,” and his
ri In any event it would be both
Vi afe to keep clear of Asiatic
| ——Even if the Harding conference
| fulfills the expectations of its friends
les Peace treaty are again perplexed ,
slander that is being cast upon our it will not accomplish anything in the
profession by the rumor that one of | way of progress. It may make it pos-
the few of us who has been professed- | sible for big nations to boss small
ly true to the teachings of Frances | ones but we had that condition before
Willard and Mr. Murphy got four bot- | the world war.
tles of the illicit stuff and said he had
only one when the officers called to re-
plevin it. Of course we would have
No Infringement but Dodging.
had to give him the brown derby if he
had given up the other three, but we’ll
have to take the white ribbon away
from him because he didn’t.
—Years of dabbling in it have con-
vinced us that when it comes down to
playing politics our Republican friends
are about the meanest specimens of
humanity we have ever met up with.
Of course we Democrats never expect
anything better from them than to be
kicked ’round like a miserable houn
dawg, but how they pull that kind of
stuff on one another and then all pull
together for the grand old party is
something too abstruse for our single-
tracked mind. Monday night one of the
Republican aspirants for a place on
his party ticket in Bellefonte hired a
band to parade the streets and stir up
enthusiasm for his cause. He had
handsome banners flaring enticing as-
surances to the voters and the parade
moved as scheduled. But one of his
Republican rivals for the same office
evidently got a tip as to what was do-
ing and had a lot of banners made to
sing his praises and then he hired a
lot of boys to earry them ahead of the !
band and grab off all the thunder the
other was paying for.
hear of such a trick? A Democrat
couldn’t pull such a thing and get
away with it.
—Burgess Walker carried Belle-
Did you ever |
We have seen comparatively little
comment and practically no criticism
on the recent act of President Hard-
ing in personally appearing on the
floor of the Senate to lobby against
the passage of the soldiers’ bonus bill.
When Mr. Harding’s predecessor in of-
fice invited Senators and Representa-
tives in Congress to visit the White
House and confer on pending legisla-
tion, not only all the Republican Sen-
ators but most of the Republican
newspapers condemned it as a gross
infringement of the prerogatives of
Congress. Such epithets as Czar,
boss, and other offensive names were
applied to him, but when President
sive act, they all remain silent.
What President Harding did, how-
ever, was not an infringement on
either Senatorial prerogative or dig-
nity. It was simply a rather scurvy
method of “saving his face.” If the
President had gone to the floor of the
Senate chamber to lobby for the pas-
sage of a measure of legislation, he
might be open to the charge of dis-
courtesy, for such a thing has never
! been done. The constitution specific-
ally authorizes him to “recommend to
their consideration such measures as
he shall judge necessary or expedi-
| ent.” Therefore he was not infringing
' Senatorial prerogatives. He might
Harding did an infinitely more offen- .
fonte for renomination by a majority | €asily construe his act as within that
of 210 votes over all opponents with- | Provision if he had been favoring a
out even having been in town while measure. But he was opposing pend-
his political fat was in the fire. That | ing legislation. ;
is going some. There may be those ' The constitution invests in the Pres-
who will attempt to minimize his vic- | ident of the United States the power
tory by claiming that he had weak op- [to veto any measure of legislation
position, but as a public official it can | Passed by Congress and unless two-
scarcely be said that Mr. Johnston, | thirds of the members present of both
his principal opponent, was any more | Houses pass it again, “the objections
vulnerable than he. Both were charg- | of the President to the contrary not-
ed, and not without reason, of derelic- | Withstanding,” it is dead. Therefore
tion of duty in their present offices, | courageous Presidents have never in-
but it seems that the voters preferred | terfered with the passage of offensive
the “trust me” policy of the burgess | legislation while pending in Congress.
to the pledges of the tax collector. We | They simply wait until it comes into
hope that Mr. Walker will now talk | their possession and then swipe it
turkey to council, decide once and for | With a veto. But Harding hadn’t the
all who is boss of the police of Belle-
fonte and run the town just as wide-
open as some of his advocates believ-
ed he would or as tight shut as others
would like to have it. Who cares
whether automobiles menace them by |
day and boot-leggers seduce by night.
The Big Spring flows copiously on
and them that don’t like Bellefonte
can take Charles Pickle Snyder’s ad-
vice and move to some other town.
| courage to treat the soldiers’ bonus
| bill in that way. He wanted it killed
{ but was unable to avail himself of his
| constitutional right to kill it. He hid
{ behind the togas of the Senators.
|
{ ——If the correspondence between
{ Lloyd George and Mr. DeValera ac-
i complishes no other result it keeps an
. anxious people of two hemispheres
' guessing.
Demonic
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
Surprising News of Shantung. | Secretary Mellon’s Curious Idea.
| It may easily be believed that Sec-
retary of the Treasury Mellon is cor-
| rectly quoted in a statement that
whatever improvement there may be
discernible in business conditions is
ascribable to the boll-weevil, though
the esteemed New York World pro-
tests that he could not possibly enter-
tain such an opinion. Mr. Mellon’s
statement, which is endorsed by other
high officials in Washington, is to the
effect that the boll-weevil worked such
destruction to the cotton crop that a
scarcity ensued and prices advanced.
In sympathy with this incident prices
of other commodities increased to an
extent that started a purchasing
movement and an apparent activity in
trade operations. No doubt the cause
and effect are both present.
Of course the proposition is absurd,
and as the esteemed New York World
states, “if the boll-weevil has such a
miraculous effect on cotton every good
patriot will pray from now on for
grasshoppers in the wheat, drought
on the pasture, smut in the corn and
frost on the fruit blossoms. Come
cinch-bugs, hail, flood, cyclones, sah-
otage and all the plagues of Egypt—
every visitation will leave us better
off than before it came. The short
cut to prosperity lies through calam-
ity.” Our contemporary might have
added a pious invocation for war be-
cause it is the most destructive agent
BELLEFONTE, PA., SEPTEMBER 23, 1921.
One Menacing Ghost Laid.
By a substantial majority of the
people of Pennsylvania the ghost of
one absurd ambition of the Republi-
‘can machine has been laid. The pro-
posed constitutional convention has
been defeated and it may be safely
predicted that no attempt will ever be
made again to organize a convention
on the plan which has been rejected.
It was preposterous from the begin-
ning. A constitutional convention is
the voice of the people and its mem-
bers should come from the people
rather than from an individual or a
partisan machine. The value of the
victory of the people in this instance,
therefore, lies in the fact that it has
placed the seal of popular condemna-
tion on an attempt to usurp power.
| The campaign made by the Repub-
lican machine and others influenced
‘by selfish ambition, was one of false
pretense. The most effective argu-
; ment in its support was the statement
: that unless the convention is called
' the building and improvement of the
i roads of the Commonwealth would
‘have to be discontinued. As a matter
of fact nothing except the profligacy
{ or inefficiency of the Highway Depart-
ment will check the road building in
. this State. The operation is not a pro-
: gram of the Highway Department or
| the work of a political clique. It is a
matter in which the people are enlist-
ed and the interest of the people in
NO. 37.
Interesting News for Disabled World
War Veterans.
Red Cross Chapters have received
notice of the “Clean-Up” campaign
organized by the Veteran’s Bureau
for the purpose of reaching every vet-
eran of the world war who may be en-
titled to benefits under the war risk
insurance act. The purpose of the
campaign is to assist disabled ex-
service men to secure compensation,
medical treatment, and hospital care
in cases where compensation claims
have not yet been filed. Men whose
claims are pending will be helped to
secure final action in cases where
further evidence is necessary to con-
nect their disability with service.
To effect this “clean-up” of cases,
the bureau has created in each State
a “clean-up squad” consisting of a
medical examiner, a compensation and
claims examiner, and a member of
| the district manager’s staff. To each
squad there has also been assigned a
state representative of the Red Cross
and a representative of the American
Legion. The squad will not actually
, make compensation awards, but they
{will have considerable authority in
i making decisions and recommending
‘final action. Immediate physical ex-
amination will be provided when nec-
| essary.
The Pennsylvania squad has been in
| operation for some time in the east-
| ern part of the State, and are in Pitts-
known to the human mind and affords | the work will guarantee its continu- | burgh this week. Their exact loca-
the greatest opportunity for profiteer-
ing and high prices.
But it is not surprising, as our New | sylvania is an admirable expression of | nounced.
York contemporary imagines, that
Secretary Mellon should express such
thoughts. They voice the fundamen- | spects has fallen behind in the march
| ance until completed.
{ The present constitution of Penn-
statecraft. But it was made nearly
half a century ago and in some re-
i tion in this vicinity and the date of
| their arrival have not yet been an-
! In the meantime, however,
i all ex-service men whose claims are
| pending, or who have a disability for
which they have not yet claimed com-
tal principle of protectionism and the | of events. If conditions were favora- | pensation, should get in touch with
favorite argument of tariff mongers. | ble and the public mind in proper . the nearest Red Cross Chapter, where
They have always contended that frame good results might be obtained , they will be assisted in preparing all
heavy taxation and high prices cre- by the writing of a new constitution. necessary papers ready for. the consid-
ated and promoted prosperity and In fact it may be expected that within (eration of the clean-up squad, The
made a good many credulous voters a few years a convention will be as- ; work of the squad will be much more
believe that to be a fact. The late
Mr. Blaine protested against such an
absurdity after he had given up hope
of election to the Presidency and the
late President McKinley backed away
from it before he died. But it is sa-
cred doctrine in Pittsburgh yet and
no doubt Secretary Mellon fully ~and
firmly believes it. :
——We refuse to believe the cur-
rent reports of the abundance of oil in
Bolivia. If oil could be scooped up in
buckets full in that country the Stan-
dard Oil company would have acquir-
ed title to all the land there long ago.
World Opinion of Our Attitude.
The world opinion of the attitude of
this country with respect to the
League of Nations was tersely and
truthfully expressed by Zinavasta
Zastri, representative of India in the |
Assembly of the League, now in ses-
sion at Geneva. Mr. Zastri is a law-
ver and though native of India, speaks
English admirably and eloquently, ac-
cording to the Associated Press re-
porter of the meeting, and his speech
“made a profound impression on the
delegates.” “I have no patience with
those who have been mentioned in this
debate who remain outside and criti-
cise,” he declared, adding, “it is easy
enough to find fault but it is not al-
ways useful.” !
Among those “mentioned in this de-
bate” was the government of the
United States. Since the organiza-
tion of the League we have done noth-
ing officially but criticise and in every
case “the wish was father to the
thought” expressed in the predictions
of failure. We have sneakingly tak-
en advantage of every provision of the
covenant of the League which prom-
ised advantage and. shirked every ob-
ligation it imposed. This fact is prov-
ed by the text of the separate peace
with Germany which in itself was a |
dastardly and infamous act, according
to Senator Lodge’s speech in Boston
at the beginning of our activity in the
war. This is why the world condemns
us.
M. Leon Burgeois, one of the French
representatives in the Assembly, re-
fuses to believe that the people of the
United States are not in full sympa-
thy with the purposes and progress of
the League. “It is not to be expect-
ed,” he said in an impressive speech
in the Assembly, “that a country
which sent 2,000,000 men across the
Atlantic to fight for liberty would
afterward renounce a part in future
affairs.” So far as the people of this
country are concerned M. Burgeois’
estimate is accurate, but he is appar-
ently unfamiliar with the aims and
aspirations of the petty, partisan pig-
mies who are now in control of our
government.
It may be only a coincidence
but it is true, nevertheless, that bur-
glar insurance increases in price in
just about the same ratio that booze
increases in cost.
——The declining value of the Ger-
man mark is certainly a vindication of
the law of supply and demand.
‘ sembled for that purpose. But when
such a proposition is approved by the
| people it will be laid on a just plan
: and assembled under auspices more
inviting to public confidence than the
{ one, which has just been rejected by
| the voters of the State. The conven-
+ tion" ill ‘be responsible to the people.
~——Autumn was ushered in on
Wednesday with one of the hardest
rains of the season; or perhaps the
“downpour was sent purposely to wash
| away any animosities engendered by
: Tuesday’s primaries.
eet. ee ee ee ee
Revenue Legislation Agreed Upon.
i
|
finally agreed upon a revenue bill and .
i The Senate Finance committee has '
effective if evidence in each case is
properly lined up before they arrive.
Unadjusted questions of vocational
training will be taken care of as well
as compensation matters.
{ Ex-service men in Bellefonte and
vicinity whose claims have not heen.
. settled are advised to "get’in™ touch
{with the Bellefonte Chapter Red
- Cross, or Miss Helen K. Shipps, execu-
1 tive secretary of the State College
i Chapter. Miss Shipps can be reached
: at the Red Cross office in the basement
‘of the bank building at State College
. from nine to twelve in the morning, or
' by letter sent to the same address.
| She will be glad to give immediate at-
tention to all calls from ex-service
men, or from others who may know oi
‘ cases that should be taken care of.
i will report it this week. It represents |
i the skeleton of the House bill clothed ' It may be said that Republican
in the language of the Senate com. | statesmen would rather have another
mittee. But the changes are of little j Yar than 2h enduring peace made by
importance to the general public. ® Democratic President.
They show material alteration in | WE ;
phrasing but no important difference | ——Admiral Sims is again denying
in effect. The rich man is benefitted | things, If the Admiral would hold a
at the expense of the less fortunate in tighter tongue he would have less rea-
i settled in Pennsylvania.
both measures, the greatest difference
being in the fact that the House bill
was retroactive to January last while
the Senate committee bill becomes ef-
feetive in this respect next January.
burden another year.
It is estimated that the measure as
framed by the Senate committee will
produce a revenue of $3,200,000,000,
for this year, which is the amount
ry. But provision is made for borrow-
ing about $2,000,000,000, so that it is
practically admitted that the pretense
of reducing taxes is false and fraud-
ulent. The estimated yield of the
measure for next year is $2,700,000,-
000, but as the congressional election
of next year will be over before that
deficit is revealed, it will be easy to
get deficiency bills for any amount
through. All that is needed now is a
“good enough Morgan until after the
election,” and it is hoped the bill will
serve that purpose.
Of course the Democratic members
of the Senate Finance committee
were not consulted in the framing of
the bill. What their opinions are on
that subject or this is of no conse-
quence to Senator Penrose and his col-
leagues. But the people will have a
voice in appraising the measure after
it becomes a law and it may be pre-
dicted that they will speak plainly and
to the point. Juggling of figures will
not fool all the people even part of
the time in this period of educational
progress and Republican statesmen
are likely to change their estimate of
public intelligence when the popular
verdict is expressed in the ballot box.
But the trick serves its purpose for
the present.
et orbits
——The Boston police have stopped
the auction sales of laboring men but
the price of food has not even declin-
ed in price.
——The big trout are coming up
Spring creek, which is evidence that
the spawning season is about due.
Chairman Penrose believes the heavy |
campaign contributors will stand the |
Secretary Mellon believes is necessa- |
! son for explaining.
| ;
| ——The “joy-riders” are also im-
{ pairing their health by burning too
{ much midnight oil.
The Resignation Rumors.
From the New York Times.
For some weeks Washington gossip
has been whispering of an impending
break-up of the Cabinet. In clubs and
hotels the names of members about to
resign have been knowingly mention-
ed. First it was Secretary Hoover.
He was going to wash his hands of
policies he could not approve. Then
the report was most positive that Sec-
retary Mellon was going to get out.
His financial plans had been inconti-
nently rejected by Congress, the Pres-
ident had not backed him up and he in-
tended to retire from public life. Fi-
nally, with great detail and appear-
ance of authenticity, came the state-
ment that the Attorney General meant
to leave the Cabinet in order to be-
come a candidate for the Ohio Sena-
torship. Thus one-third of President
Harding's official family were making
ready to desert him! .
All the stories have been denied,
and presumably had their origin only
in rumor. But who started the ru-
mor? This is the question that deep-
ly interested the Washington corres-
pondents, who have been trying to run
down the answer to it. And they are
said to have discovered a surprising
thing—namely, that the unfounded
and malicious yarns were put in circu-
lation not by marplot Democrats but
by disgruntled Republicans. The trail
seems to lead in the direction of Rep-
resentatives and Senators who have
not hit it off any too well with the
President, and who are taking this
means to annoy him and to give the
party leaders. concern. It is a good
deal like taking pot shots at an ene-
my from behind a hedge. Even if he
is not hit, he is startled and worried
and does not know where the next fir-
ing will be directed.
No doubt the gossip mongers at the
capital will soon have other members
of the Cabinet planning to quit their
posts. Meanwhile, Mr. Harding bears
himself as one who has an unfaltering
faith in the Jeffersonian dogma that
few die and none resign.
fos
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE
—Although John Freyman, of Lehighton,
is 90 years old, he recently cut six acres of
grass with a scythe, .
—Senator Charles E. Donahue, of Lock
Haven, has been appointed district deputy
exalted ruler for the B. P. O. Elk§ of the
Central Pennsylvania district. 1 ”
—Governor Sproul granted respites for
two Lackawanna county men sentenced to.
be electrocuted. Frank Palmer was given
a respite from October 3 to 24, and David
3 Jones from September 26 to November
—Attorney W. L. Woodcock, wife and
two daughters, have returned to Holli-
daysburg from a six week’s tour of Europe,
during which they visited many of the bat-
tlefields. The Woodcocks are residents of
Hollidaysburg.
—Arthur M. Replogle, for seven years
connected with the staff of the Second Na-
tional bank of Altoona, has been elected
cashier to succeed John D. Meyer, now vice
president of the First National bank, of
Tyrone. W. S. Kilgore and C. K. Nagle
have been appointed assistant cashiers.
—Pickpockets, believed to be members of
a gang “working” the crowds at the Read-
ing fair, and spending their evenings in
station and theatre crowds in that city,
made a big haul when they stole the purse
of Frank Gerhart, of the Independent Gun
Club. It contained $500 and a lot of checks.
—The state forestry department is erect-
ing more than 100 huge steel signs on
state forest lands, cautioning visitors to
prevent fires. Pictures of a burned area
showing the charred stumps and devas-
tated land are shown on the signs. It is
said that this is the first time any state
forestry department has attempted an ex-
tensive use of out-door picture signs as
propaganda for the prevention of forest
fires.
—The Penasylvania State Firemen’s As-
sociation will hold its annual convention
in Wilkes-Barre, October 3rd to 8th, in
conjunction with the celebration of the
city’s old home week, the fiftieth anniver-
sary of the incorporation of Wilkes-Barre
as a eity. Among the speakers at the con-
vention will be Judge Eugene C. Bonni-
well, chairman of the State Firemen's As-
sociation executive committee: Charles H.
Grakelow and Samuel B. McCormick.
—Dr. Ellen C. Potter, formerly of Phil-
adelphia, and. connectéd with American
educational work in Indiana, will become
director of the bureau of child welfare of
the department of welfare of Pennsylva-
nia. She is now chief of the division of
child health in the Department of Health.
Dr. Mary Riggs Noble, of Philadelphia,
will be advanced to succeed Dr. Potter.
Miss Mary Moss, of Reading, will leave
health department social service work for
a position with the welfare department.
—No time has yet been fixed for the sen-
tencing of the six men held in jail at Read-
ing since last March for the $180,800 rob-
bery at the People’s Trust company, Wy-
omissing. Four were convicted and were
last week refused a new trial, and two
pleaded guilty. Copies of the opinion by
Judge Schaeffer refusing a new trial were
mailed te the men's attorneys in New
York. Sentence may not be imposed for a
week or more to give counsel an opportu-
nity to take further steps if they see fit.
Mrs, Clara Kibler, 43 years old, of
| Neffsville, Lancaster county, has been. ae-
quitteéd "of the charge of killing her hus-.
band, by a jury in Lancaster quarter ses-
sions court. The verdict was returned
after deliberation of fifteen hours. The
defense claimed the act was committed by
Mrs. Kibler while in a somnambulistic
state and called physicians to prove that
such was possible. Her husband, Christ-
ian Kibler, was shot in the head twice as
he lay sleeping in bed on the morning of
May 12, 1921.
—dJohn 8. Myers, of Birmingham, nearly
102 years old, was born in Missouri, on a
plantation owned by his father. He left .
there when 11 years of age, surreptitious-
ly, and went to Irance, the land of his
grandfather, who had come to America
with Lafayette, where he remained six
years. Returning to America in 1837, he
He has lived in
Montour, Lancaster, Huntingdon and Blair
counties. He enlisted in the navy in 1847,
served during the Mexican war and was
mustered out in 1852.
—The ancient doctrine that a man has a
right to beat his wife and cannot be pros-
ecuted for doing so was involved in a case
in court at Pottsville, on Saturday, when
John Ceocpini, of Shenandoah, prosecuted
for beating his wife, asserted that in Eu-
rope he had a legal right to beat his wife,
and he thought the same right existed in
America through the English common law.
Judge Berger directed the defendant to
pay $30 a month for the support of his
wife, who does not like her husband’s doc-
trine and is not living with him.
—Frank Valoroso, tried for the murder
of the Rev. Felix Novak, his wife and three
children, at their home on Pond Hill, Lu-
zerne county, was found guilfy of murder
in the first degree, last Friday. The jury
deliberated for three hours before inform-
ing the court that a verdict had been
reached. The evidence against him was
circumstantial. District attorney James
told the jury that the Rev. Novak was shot
to death, then the house was ignited and
the wife and three children lost their lives.
He charged that there was ample proof
that Valoroso committed the crime.
—Coming upon a large wounded bald
eagle while they were hunting groundhogs
near Leckrone, Fayette county, three men
battled with the bird for some time. be-
fore they managed to place it in a sack.
Frank Sova, who first noticed the bird,
wounded it the second time, and it at-
tempting to get it home he was attacked
as he crossed a fence. Frank Enzer, who
heard Sovo’s cries for assistance, was bit-
ten on the hand when he attempted to free
Sova from the bird's beak. Andrew
Spawtz, who attempted to subdue the ea-
gle, was so badly bitten on the arm that
medical attention was necessary.
—May Slagle, aged 17 years, of Johns-
town, who lost both legs when run over by
an interurban car Thursday night, admit-
ted to the district attorney on Saturday
that she was responsible for the action.
According to the girl's story, she placed
her legs across the rail and propped them
in place with stones, then waited twenty
minutes for the car to pass. She explain-
ed that she intended to commit suicide,
but wanted death te come slowly, so that
she could have time to make peace with
God and her parents. Immediately after
the accident, Miss Slagle had maintained
that a man gagged her and placed her on
the track. She said that her home life was
unhappy. The girl's condition is still crit-
ical and her recovery is doubtful.