INK SLINGS.
—Mr. Naginey is in the field for
Legislative honors again and Miss
Zoe Meek, post-mistress and a school
- teacher, of Clarence, has ambitions to
sit in the legislative halls. Both are
good Democrats and we believe both
would make capable Representatives |
for Centre county. So there you are,
Democrats, take your choice on May
16th, the Primary day. :
—Now that the last bar in Belle-
fonte has gone dry council had better
install two new water wheels instead
of one. ' If each man, woman and child
in Bellefonte is consuming four hun-
dred and seventy-seven gallons of wa-
ter daily now the Lord only knows
how much water it will take for them
after April first which will really be
the last of August.
—The impending coal strike will
scarcely cause either hardship or dis-
comfort to users of bituminous coal.
There are enough non-union mines in
the country to supply all present
needs. What the Union miners in
Central Pennsylvania fields have to
gain by striking no one knows. As it
is their demands are so high that none
but operations with large outputs can
pay them and compete with the West
Virginia prices. Most of the small
mines of the district are idle and have
been for months and none of them can
resume until the miners go back to
the 1917 scale or something approach-
ing it.
—The Altoona Tribune is of the
opinion that “the thing which keeps
many a big-hearted man from serv-
ing the public gratuitously is simply
the absence of private wealth.” Usu-
ally the big-hearted man is the man
of limited means. And usually the
man of limited means gives and does
out of all proportion to his rich broth-
er. But we are not ready to believe
‘that he would be the altruist the Trib-
‘une pictures him if he were very rich.
He thinks he would, of course, and
‘might be so if riches were suddenly
thrust upon him but when he amasses
-a fortune through grinding self nega-
tion and thought only of the piling
of dollars he rarely grows big in
‘heart. .
VOL. 67.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA, MARCH 2
The Committee Fails to Find Candi-
dates for Senate and Congress.
The committee of representative
Democrats from all parts of the coun-
ty that was chosen, several weeks ago,
the May Primaries met again in the
office of county chairman G. Oscar
Gray, last Friday evening.
It was a very representative gather-
ing, large enough, both as to numbers
and geographical location to insure a
fairly general expression of all sec-
tions of the county. Many possible
names were considered, but in almost
every instance the prospect was found
to be not even a receptive candidate.
For State Senator the committee
had under advisement several gentle-
men, either of whom would make can-
didates who could rally the party to a
strong fight. Dr. F. K. White, of
Philipsburg, and Robert F. Hunter, of
Bellefonte, could have had the en-
endorsement of the committee but as
neither gentleman felt that he could
afford the expense of a real campaign
it was impossible to press them to
service.
While the county is clearly entitled
to the candidate for Congress a care-
ful canvass of all probabilities reduc-
ed the field to Col. J. L. Spangler. As
he was not at home at the time he
could not be consulted as to his feel-
ings in the matter. A committee was
appointed to interview him upon his
return. That has been done and the
Colonel has declined to enter the field.
The surprise of the meeting came
when the question of the Legislature
was brought up. A number of names
had been under advisement for this
office and when the prospect of induc-
——If Mr. Odell Hauser’s survey of | ino any of them to accept an endorse-
‘the Congressional situation in other | ment seemed hopeless Miss Zoe Meek,
Districts of Pennsylvania is no more
postmistress and former school teach-
accurate than was that of the Twen- qo. of Clarence, volunteered to step
ty-third, published under his name in
the Public Ledger yesterday, the pub-
‘lic will be sadly misinformed as to the
real situation. As a State political
writer Mr. Hauser should know that
jority to Democratic tickets in years.
i
' mand acceptance of her candidacy.
| Miss Meek had evidently been consid-
li Ea os oe { ering the matter for some time before
‘Clearfield county g
into the breach if her ideals and qual-
ifications were high enough to com-
coming to Bellefonte as a member of
| the committee representing Snow
In fact it has been regarded as Repub- | hoe township, for as soon as the
lican by from two to four thousand for committee voted to endorse her can-
.a long time and his statement that the | didacy she produced nomination pa-
Democrats will have no candidate for { pays already filled out and started the
Congress shows further lack of thor- | work of adding to the signatures al-
ough inquiry, for Mr. Frank W. Sny- | ready on them.
der, of Clearfield, is in the field and
his papers are ready for filing.
—The publishers of New York are
in trouble with their union labor
again and another strike is threaten-
ed. This time the walk-out is to be |
called unless the publishers reset in
their own offices all matter they get
from other offices for use and then
throw it away. Now, what do you
think of that? To apply such a waste-
ful and utterly unreasonable demand
locally it would operate like this: On
a Thursday evening, when the
“Watchman” goes to press we find
ourselves short of enough matter to
fill the forms. Some of our employ-
ees have been ill or off during the
week and it is necessary for us to go
to one of the other printers in town
and borrow several columns of type.
If Bellefonte printers were organized
‘within four days after we had borrow-
ed that type we would have to set it
all up ourselves, take proof of it, read
and correct the proof then throw the
whole thing into the melting pot. It
is just such obstinate, wasteful, asin-
ine demands as this that is driving
out the last vestige of sympathy that
lingers in the public mind for organ-
ized labor.
—In light of the incontroverti-
ble fact that nearly every active Re-
publican politician of prominence in
Pennsylvania has felt called upon to
«explain something or other during the
past year and that most of them have
‘been driven to the extremity of throw-
ing dust and yelling: “Stop thief!”
.every time a printed line gets within
a mile of their number what do you
think there isin the story, sent broad-
. cast last week, to the effect that Sen-
-ator Crow was to resign his seat in
“the upper branch of Congress so that
John A. Bell, the Pittsburgh banker
and coal operator, could be appointed
to succeed him; the consideration be-
ing that Bell was to underwrite the
Crow financial difficulties to the ex-
tent of $650,000? Gov. Sproul has
. denied any knowledge of such a deal.
Mr. Bell has declared he had not made
any such offers and Senator Crow
gave out an interview to the effect
that he had reconsidered his contem-
plated resignation and was holding
the matter in abeyance pending furth-
er advice from his physicians. Hon-
estly, now. What do you think about
this story of the sale of a United
States Senatorship? Our opinion is
that there is or was something in it?
If we are right it is quite as much of
a disgrace to the great State of Penn-
sylvania as was the Newberry scan-
dal to Michigan, though those who
“have been engineering it are not legal-
‘ly guilty of crime against the elec-
torate.
|
‘and Congress should be located in
The committee adjourned to meet
at the call of the chairman in the
event that hopeful timber for Senate
time to file applications.
To the Democrats of the county we
, want to say that we were present at
{ the meeting only as a spectator, not
{ having been a member of the commit-
| tee. As such we had opportunity to
| form an unbiased opinion as to the
i methods of procedure and the fairness
| with which all matters were consider-
‘ed. We were greatly impressed with
| the evident sincerity of purpose of
prejudice, if there was any, seemed
wholly submerged in the general de-
sire to suggest to the party a ticket
that might be named with credit and
hope.
due to any failure on the part of the
committee to make a very comprehen-
sive survey of the situation.
mendations that were and might have
been made are not binding on Demo-
crats. The purpose of the commit-
tee’s appointment was merely to seek
command the united support of the
party and reflect credit on it if elected
to office.
—Nobody seems satisfied with any-
! nomination for Governor.
to recommend candidates for the var- |
ious offices that will be voted for in
Mr. Pinchot’s Mistaken Course.
If Mr. Gifford Pinchot were sincere
in his pretenses of reform he would
not be a candidate for the Republican
His plat-
form is, in the main, admirable. He
pledges himself, if elected, to drive
all saloons out of the State; to pre-
vent and punish bootlegging; to main-
‘ tain and secure good laws for the pro-
tection of working children, men and
women; to safeguard the industries of
Pennsylvania; to advance the inter-
ests of the farmers; to give our chil-
dren the best schools in America; to
check centralization and give more
home rule to cities, counties, town-
ships and school districts; to maintain
the direct primary and protect the
rights of women voters; to revise and
equalize taxes and effect other re-
verses of Republican policies and
practices.
Mr. Pinchot has acquired a vast for-
tune by inheritance and marriage and
has had a long and varied experience
in public life. He has had much influ-
ence in the party to which he gives
allegiance, as is shown by the fact that
he was able to defeat its candidate for
President in 1912, for it was he who
projected Roosevelt into the fight
against Taft. He has been an influ-
ential figure in the present profligate
State administration and might have
altered its course and changed its pol-
icies at any time if he had set him-
self earnestly to the task. But his lust
for office was greater than his desire
for poiitical morality and he moved
along with the procession, drew his
salary as a member of the cabinet, and
kept quiet concerning the abuses of
which he now complains.
Everything which Mr. Pinchot has
promised to do in the event of his elec-
tion ought to be done. Evils have
been multiplying with startling rapid-
ity during recent years and if the
Sproul administration, of which Mr.
Pinchot was a part, has accomplished |
nothing else it has made the Brum-
baugh regime both respectable and
economical, by comparison. If he has
come to a change of heart, as his plat-
form would indicate; he is adopting a
wrong course to make a correction.
Instead of becoming a candidate for
Governor on the Republican ticket he
ought to declare himself for the ad-
mirable ticket which has been recom-
. mended to the Democratic voters of
those present. Personal preference or
It is unfortunate that it met
with so little success, but this was not
It is needless to add that the recom- !
and call to duty candidates who might
the State and ask his friends to join
him, in that way he would be certain
to achieve the results he pretends to
desire.
Recent events lead to the im-
pression that base ball is also a sort
of asylum for political “lame ducks.”
A Complicated Party Deal.
In last week’s issue of the “Watch-
man’ comment was made on the mys-
tery of Senator Crow, and the im-
pression was expressed that the Sen-
atorial seat of Mr. Crow “is on the
auction block and will be disposed of
in the near future to the highest bid-
der.” Within twenty-four hours from
the time that statement was made the
startling statement came from Pitts-
burgh that the auction was on and a
bid of $650,000 was pending. The
parties to the deal, according to the
statement, are Senator Crow, Gover-
{ nor Sproul and John A. Bell, directly,
and Senator Pepper, incidentally. The
money consideration was to be used in
the settlement of Senator Crow’s
financial obligations.
Of course all the parties directly
charged with participation in the
transactions have issued denials. Sen-
ator Crow has since declared that un-
! less his physician forbids he will serve
| out his appointment, but will not run
| for election. Governor Sproul as-
thing these days. A traveling theat- ! serts that he has known Mr. Bell for
Saturday had advertised a matinee ex-
clusively for women and stressed the
announcement that no person under
sixteen years of age would be admit-
ted to either the afternoon or night
performance. Of course a lot of wom-
en kept their tongues in their cheeks
and slipped into the opera house in an-
ticipation of something very risque.
Then another lot railed and ranted at
the prospect of a grossly immoral ex-
hibition and they slipped in to be able
to bear personal witness to its awful-
ness. Both lots are mad as wet hens.
The one, because it was a perfectly
decent, clean little play. The other,
ing to claque about.
———— A ————
—At this time in the spring of 1919
farmers were plowing, buds and vege-
tation were far advanced and several
gentle, warm rains had brought the
chlorophyl into the grass so that the
landscape was green as in late May.
There were no killing frosts later, as
there were last spring, and we had an
abundant fruit crop.
pollute every department cf our gov-
ernment came the Walnut scandal.
because it wasn’t and gave them noth- |
—And to add to the deluge of |
shameless corruption that seems to !
rical company that played here last | many years and that he would not un-
der any circumstances be a party to |
| such a deal, and Mr. Bell assures the
| public that he wouldn’t think of pay-
i ing that price for a seat in the Sen-
| ate even if his election to a full term
. were assured, which it isn’t under the
, agreement. But every fellow who is
. caught protests his innocence and
| there is a tradition that where there
is much smoke there is some fire.
{ The Pepper connection with the
| transaction is somewhat remote but
! within the limit of possibility. The
! story was that Crow would resign and
Sproul appoint Bell to succeed him.
. Then either Attorney General Daugh-
erty would resign, Harding would ap-
| point Pepper to that vacancy, and
| Sproul would be named by the next
Governor to the Pepper seat in the
Senate. If the cabinet vacancy could
not be provided it was agreed that
Pepper would get a seat on the fed-
eral bench under the pending act cre-
ating several new federal judges. It
is a somewhat complicated and more
or less ambitious enterprise but all
| those concerned in it are masters in
i political intrigue.
——————— eset.
——1It would be a good idea to rati-
fy the four-pact treaties just to show
how absolutely worthless they are.
New Scandal in Politics.
|
| A new cause of complaint against
| the Republican management of Penn-
sylvania has sprung up and a new rea-
son for suspicion developed. The sum-
| mary discharge of an assistant district
| attorney would be a matter of local
! interest ordinarily. Few people in a
judicial district know who the assist-
! ant district attorneys are and nobody
| outside of the district cares, as a rule.
But the summary discharge of assist-
| ant district attorney Walnut, of Phil-
! adelphia, has created such a volume
of protest as to make it a matter of
‘national interest. Mr. Walnut says
i that he was dismissed for insubordi-
{ nation. The acting Attorney General
{ at Washington says it is because Wal-
nut is a Democrat.
The facts are that Mr. Walnut, who
is a Republican, was appointed to the
office by a Democratic district attor-
ney because he is a capable lawyer.
Since the adoption of the Prohibition
amendment and the passage of the
Volstead act he has been in charge of
prosecutions under that law in the
United States court for the Eastern
district of Pennsylvania. In this
work he has proved so efficient that
he has become a terror to big and lit-
tle “boot-leggers” and other violators
of the law. It was through his work
that Senator McConnell was turned
out of office and a couple of his confi-
dential associates indicted. It is said
that because of his efficiency McCon-
nell and other politicians were about
to be held under indictment.
In view of these facts an impres-
sion has taken lodgment in the pub-
lic mind that Mr. Walnut was remov-
ed in order to avert action which
might involve some conspicuous par-
ty workers in violations of the Prohi-
bition laws. This suspicion is
strengthened by the statement recent-
ly made by Mr. Walnut to the effect
that he had been asked by high offi-
cials of the Department of Justice in
Washington “to ease up” on the in-
vestigations. Of course being a law-
yer of ability and a citizen of integ-
rity he refused to abandon his work
4nd just as he was. about to bring the
matter to an issue, he was discharged
by an order from Washington. This
looks like a new scandal in Pennsyl-
vania politics.
ere ee enema
——Those well meaning persons
who are memorializing the President
to recall Ambassador Harvey may as
well save themselves the labor ex-
pended in writing their resolutions.
Harding is more afraid of Harvey's
pen than of the proverbial wrath to
come.
Rl
False Pretense of Reform.
Of the five avowed candidates for
the Republican nomination for Gover-
nor four are members of Governor
Sproul’s cabinet and the other, State
Treasurer Snyder, is closely related to
the administration by virtue of his of-
fice. Each of these gentlemen has
pronounced a creed of principles and
| policies directly opposite to those
which have been pursued by the Gov-
ernor. Mr. Beidleman has declared
for taxation on the property of manu-
| facturers and economy. Mr. Fisher
! favors decentralization and economy.
| Mr. Pinchot promises any old thing
' which Sproul has not done and Mr.
Mackey wisely leaves the matter to
! Senator Vare. But both of them are
strong for economy.
All of these gentlemen have been in
position for some time to urge their
party to adopt the policies they now
pretend to favor. It is not a reckless
statement to say that if they had join-
ed in a protest against the riot of prof-
ligacy which characterized the last ses-
sion of the Legislature, it would have
been stopped. It will not do to say
that they were unaware of what was
going on. They were cognizant of
every move and if not participants in
all the operations quietly acquiesced
in each transaction, whether good, bad
or indifferent. Possibly a protest
would have been futile but it would
have shown the right spirit. To con-
sent is to become party to a transac-
tion.
Do these distinguished gentlemen
imagine that they are fooling the peo-
ple by oral declarations of reforma-
tion? If so they pay scant respect to
the intelligence of the people. The
public schools have taught men and
women to reason as well as think and
no reasoning mind can be deceived
by such transparent acting. Men who
have been head over heels in official
malfeasance can not change their hab-
its as readily as they can change their
shirts. Their cronies in crime will not
permit it. In such things the action
is not individual. The organization
exercises the power of control and so
long as the Republican organization
continues in power the abuses com-
plained of will go on.
Sr ———— fp ———————
——1TIt is better to have cold weath-
er now than to have frost when the
fruit trees are in bloom.
4, 1922.
NO. 12.
A Paradox.
From the Philadelphia Record.
If a deal had been arranged between
the friends of Senator Crow and the
friends of a Pittsburgh millionaire for
the transfer of a Senatorial seat from
the former to the latter, and if the
terms of the dicker had been made
public, one would hardly expect the
parties to the transaction to rush into
print with corroborative statements.
Such agreements are usually arrang-
ed in private between gentlemen, and
are regarded as none of the public’s
business, the publie’s only function be-
ing to pay the Senutorial salary.
Messrs. Crow and Bell have indig-
nantly denied that any negotiations
have taken place for relieving the in-
cumbent of any of his responsibilities
and imposing them upon one better
ghie to bear them. That ought to set-
e it.
Of course, we must put all evil
thoughts out of our minds in consid-
ering the following facts bearing on
the situation:
(1) The G. O. P. is in urgent need
of oodles of money for use in the im-
pending fight against the embattled
taxpayers.
(2) Mr. Bell has oodles of money.
(3) Mr. Bell publicly states that
he aspires to the Senatorship.
(4) Senator Crow, who has been
too ill since he was sworn in as a Sen-
ator, in October last, to perform any
of the duties of his office, is going to
consult his physicians to determine
whether his health is good enough to
allow him to strenuously campaign
for election; and he intimates that in
the event of an adverse decision he
will withdraw from the race.
(5) The Governor has announced
that none of the rumors about the use
of money would prejudice him in con-
sidering Bell’s availability in the event
of Crow’s resignation.
People who can put two and two
together may conclude that Bell, the
millionaire, is to succeed Crow; but
they may feel assured that no money
will change hands, and that there will
be plenty of money available for the
G. O. P. campaign notwithstanding.
An Old-Fashioned Financier.
From the Brooklyn Hagle,
wd a = . No
Ways and Means committee, 6ught to
be convinced that the effort to con-
vert Secretary Mellon into a friend of
the bonus project can never succeed.
Mr. Mellon is hopelessly old-fashion-
ed. He believes that you cannot pay
money out of the Treasury without
first putting money into it; he dis-
cerns danger to finance and to indus-
try in issuing promissory notes, and
he has a callous indifference to the
plight of the politicians in Congress
who desire to buy the favor of the
American Legion by casting their
votes for a bonus bill. The Fordneys
and the Mondells might as well give
Mr. Mellon up as a bad job. He sim-
ply will not look at the bonus ques-
tion their way; perhaps he is incur-
ably honest and averse to selling out
the taxpayer to liquidate political
debts.
After a searching analysis of the
certificate plan and after considering
some of its possible alternatives, Mr.
Mellon concludes by saying that as
the taxpayers must bear the burden
in any event, the only proper way to
meet the expense, assuming that bo-
nus legislation of some sort can be
forced through Congress and receive
the President’s approval, is to impose
new taxes. !
Mr. Mellon might well stick his
tongue in his cheek as he offers this
suggestion. He knows that the bo-
nus crowd in Congress do not dare
impose new taxes. Taxes hurt the
general public and the general public
has more votes than the American Le-
gion. What they are trying to do is
to fool the ex-service man with an I
O U redeemable not earlier than three
years hence, and on the other hand to
fool the public into the belief that be-
cause payment is deferred there is no
need to bother about the expense.
Life’s Tragedies.
From the Altoona Tribune.
One who studies the news columns
of the daily papers from day to day
perceives that tragedy stili plays a
leading part in the life of the world.
Old as the planet is and as far as hu-
manity has advanced in the scale of
being, there is still much savagery ex-
tant. Passion, fleeting and uncertain
as it is, is still strong enough to ruin
many lives each year and to send
many into eternity prematurely. Pov-
erty has a large place in the life of
the world. Our own country, although
the most prosperous of the nations, is
not free from the curse of want. To-
day many unfortunates are dependent
upon the charity of others for sub-
sistence. When one looks at the world
from this angle it seems a dreary
enough place and one is led to the
verge of abject despondency. One
wonders why humanity is so con-
structed as to make folly and down-
right wrong-doing so easy! Yet there
je brighter and a better side, after
all.
mA rib
—Up to this time the Democracy of
Centre county has entered no candi-
dates for Senate or Congress, though
we are really entitled to both.
ee—————— feet
—Let us be Pennsylvanians long
enough to save Pennsylvania.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—A number of new homes are to be built
at Woolrich soon, besides an addition to
Rich Brothers’ woolen mill and one to
their general store. The town will have a
building boom.
— Three silk mills at Easton have been
closed by the Haysock-Cronemyer compa-
ny with the announcement that they will
remain closed “until the employees realize
that the plant is not being run from union
headquarters.”
—James O'Donnell, of Summit Hill, Pa.,
and a member of the town’s fire depart-
ment, claims to be the biggest volunteer
fireman in Pennsylvania, being six feet two
inches high and weighing 385 pounds. He
is the foreman of Diligent fire company.
—William Walker, of Harrisburg, was
sentenced to three years in Atlanta prison
at Scranton, last week, by Judge Witmer
in federal court after he pleaded guilty to
having stolen three coats from the parcel-
post transfer station in Harrisburg Febru-
ary 11. .
—Two employees of the American Rail-
way express at Latrobe quit some weeks
ago and left the region. Since then it has
developed they are wanted in connection
with a supposed robbery of the office of
$2,500 in goods and small sums cleverly
removed from time to time.
—Mayor James G. Harvey, of Hazleton,
has directed that an investigation be made
of the sale of peppermint which many
men, arraigned on charges of intoxication,
claim was responsible for their condition.
One drunk said that an ounce of pepper-
mint gave him a “jag” that was worse
than a whiskey spree.
—Boys removed a cannon ball from the
Laurel Hill cemetery at Johnsonburg, last
Saturday, and started it down the hillside
toward Vennard Island. The ball landed
in the home of Andrew Mishenko, tearing
away a window and plowing through the
kitchen and dining room, bringing up
against the parlor door, smashing it
to splinters.
—A horse purchased at a sale in Lycom-
ing county last week made trouble for
Joseph Shoemaker and William Gohr, of
Salladasburg. They tied it behind their
buggy and when it saw a trolley car it
tried to jump into the back of the buggy.
Both men were thrown out and the buggy
wrecked. The horse ran away, but was
caught a quarter of a mile away.
—Johnstown officeholders are having
their share of troubles. Mayor Couffiel
was called into court a few days ago for
neglecting to pay a portion of the costs in
a trial which the jury had placed upon
him, he having Leen the prosecution’s chief
witness. He was reprimanded by the
judge. The deputy constables are charged
with extortion and face court trials.
—¥rank W. McCall, until recently post-
master at Morton, Delaware county, has
been held for court in $5,000 bail following
a hearing before a United States commis-
sioner, on a charge of opening mail. Mec-
Call is said to have admitted before the
magistrate that he did not intend to take
anything, but opened letters addressed to
a Republican aspirant for his position to
satisfy a curiosity as to who his successor
would be.
1. —Amelia, four.year old daughter of Mr.
and Mrs.” Albert Snyder, died at her home
in Hawstqone Sunday evening from burns
received late Saturday, when her clothing
ignited while playing about a rubbish pile
fire in front of the general store. Merle
Cunningham, proprietor, was seriously
burned on both hands in his efforts to
prevent the child from breathing the
flames. Others smothered the fire with
their clothing.
—Suit for $100,000 damages for alleged
breach of promise was filed in court at
Mercer on Saturday, by Miss Elizabeth
Pfleiderer, former professor of music in
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, against
John Fahnline, a wealthy retired manu-
facturer, of Sharen, Mercer county. The
case is listed for trial at the May term of
court. Miss Pfleiderer, who is now em-
ployed in Indiana, gave her home address
as Bucyrus, Ohio.
—Federal agents who raided the suppos-
ed piggery of Andy Orzichowski, on the
outskirts of Kane, last week, declare they
found the place to be a well-equipped dis-
tillery, and that portions of the garbage
its owner had gathered from the refuse
cans of the city had gone into the manu-
facture of the whiskey and not into hog
troughs. Fifty gallons of garbage distill-
ed whiskey were seized, with nearly 100
gallons of prepared mash.
—Women who fail to pay their taxes
may be immune from imprisonment under
the terms of an old act of 1834, but the tax
collector can seize their jewelry, personal
effects and such parts of their wearing ap-
parel as can be conveniently spared. This
is the text of an opinion given tax collector
Whitman, of Middletown, Dauphin county,
by borough solicitor, John R. Geyar. Tax
collectors in many communities have re-
ported much difficulty in collecting” the
tax.
—The time between 10 o'clock Friday
night and 3:30 o'clock Sunday morning
was required for a mixed jury in Fayette
county court, composed of five women and
seven men, to decide the case in which An-
drew John and Joe Coury were charged
with receiving stolen tobacco. They were
found guilty after, it is said, the women
and six men jurors had out-argued the
other man. It is the first case on record
in that county in which a mixed jury had
spent the “wee” morning hours in the jury
room. The husband of one of the women
became so uneasy about his wife that he
went to the court house to determine the
cause of her absence.
—A Mifflin county jury returned a ver-
dict late Friday night in the sum of $8,-
438.48 in favor of the plaintiff, Mrs. Mar-
tha Corbin, of Alexandria, Pa., in her le-
gal battle against the Haws Refractories
company, of Johnstown, Pa., to recover
damages for the loss of her husband, Cloyd
Corbin, 38 years old, one of the directors
of the defendant company and an officer of
the Silica club, an organization of men
banded together for their own betterment
in the manufacture of silica brick. Mr.
Corbin was drowned on May 10th, 1919,
with four others when an improvised fer-
ry boat, maintained by the defendant com-
pany, capsized on the Juniata river oppo-
site Hawstone, throwing the fourteen pas-
sengers into the swollen stream. One of
the drowned was Clair Miller, superintend-
ent of the Superior Silica brick plant, at
Port Matilda, and his widow has also
brought suit to recover damages, but it
and three others will probably not be tried
until the above verdict is tested out in the
higher courts.