Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, September 29, 1922, Image 1

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    Brown itim
INK SLINGS.
—Vote for Betts for Senator and be
sure your vote will count if you real- ;
ly want Pennsylvania to be cleaned '
up. ; |
—Centre county always has been a |
leader. Let us be first to send a wom-
an to represent us in Harrisburg.
Vote for Zoe Meek.
—If Gif. Pinchot keeps on talking
like he is Governor his term will be
up before he has any chance of really
doing what he imagines he’s going to
do.
—Bits of political information have
been filtering into this office during
the past few weeks that lead us to be-
lieve that Mr. Swoope, Mr. Scott and
Mr. Beaver are on the toboggan and
can’t get off. 3
—King Constantine has abdicated
his throne again, principally because
the Greeks are beginning to discover
that so far as accomplishing anything
is concerned that there is nothing to
him but the first syllable of his name.
—Senator Tom Watson, of Georgia,
is dead. He has been a stirring fig-
ure in the political life of the country
for almost forty years and we recall
no impression he has made upon it, ex-
cept as a fanatical and fantastic ex-
ponent of heresies.
—The French have been thrown
into another frenzy of fear by the
discovery that the German birth rate
is increasing while their own is de-
creasing. We have piles of sympathy
for war-torn, unrehabilitated France,
but this latest bogey they can and
must get rid of themselves.
—Georges Carpentier has been
knocked off the pedestal that the fis-
tic fans of France had built under
him. One Siki, a Sengalese, beat him
all up on Sunday and after he went
down in the sixth round the referee
could have counted a million before he
could have gotten up again, for he is
still in bed. Georges, by nature and
manner of fighting, was an ornament
to the ring but was too light for
heavy work.
—The editor of the Indiana Demo-
crat has suspended publication of his
paper until he gets over an earache
with which he has been suffering for
several weeks. How do you suppose
he gets away with a trick like that?
There wouldn’t be any “Watchman”
at all if we suspended for every ache
and, as for those in the ear, as soon
as the paper reaches its readers Fri-
day morning both of our ears start
burning and there’s rarely any let-up
until the next edition goes to press.
—Today we expect to have a
Michaelmas goose. Some twelve years
ago, never having dallied with a ma-
ture gosling prior to that time, we
fell for the superstition that if goose
is the chef-d’oeuvre for the Michael-
mas dinner good luck will follow all
who partake of it. We've stuck to the
superstition and the goose for a leng,
long time and we don’t want to dispel
any illusions others may have but
we've come to the point where we can
no longer make ourselves believe that
lemons are golden eggs.
—The authorities of The Pennsylva-
nia State College are trying to get rid
of two bears that the Game Commis-
sion set up there last year with the
hope of stimulating in the studes an
interest in wild life. The bears have
emerged from the cub state and are
indulging little bear pastimes that
might far better be screened by the
autumn foliage of a mountain fast-
ness. The cave man stuff is bad
enough, but the cave bear stuff is too
utterly shocking for Penn State and
interest in wild life will have to be
stimulated by the stuffed specimens of
bruin in the museum.
—1It is quite as important that the
voters of Centre county should give
the same care to the selection of a
Congressman, a Senator and an As-
semblyman as they do to a Governor.
They should bear in mind that the
election of Snyder, Betts and Miss
Meek are as necessary, if they desire
a change, as is that of McSparran.
McSparran will really clean things up
at Harrisburg if he has a Legislature
and Senate with the courage to stand
with him and Miss Meek and Mr. Betts
can be counted on to do that. Besides,
if McSparran should not be elected
Miss Meek and Mr. Betts would be of
greater service at Harrisburg than
their opponents for the reason that in
the event of Pinchot’s election they
would support any really construct-
ive program he might present.
—President Harding and the Senate
were probably both right when they
insisted that the government had no
money with which to pay the soldiers
2 bol... Congress was unable to de-
vise a plan for raising the funds and
the President, in his veto message,
acknowledged that the government is
facing a deficit under his administra-
tion. Last week the “Watchman”
commended his courageous veto and
his candid statement of the reason
therefor. Already we are driven to
doubt as to the sincerity of his utter-
ances of last week for he has demand-
ed a revival of the Lasker ship-sub-
sidy bill and the Senate has voted
seven and a half thousand dollars as
a bonus to the widow of the late Sen-
ator Crow who actually served in the
upper branch of Congress only three
days. If they knew not where to get
the money to pay a bonus to the five
million soldiers who responded to the
country’s call where is that to come
) enacratic
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 67.
Democratic Victory Assured.
accurate estimate of the result of the
election may be made and it plainly
indicates the election of John A. Mec-
Sparran, the Democratic nominee, and
all his associates on the Democratic
ticket. If the Democratic voters per-
form their duty that result is certain.
The Republican majority in Penn-
more votes than Tener who became
somewhat but not a great deal.
that one-fourth of the loss indicated
by the registration thus far will be
upon the Democrats and estimating a
recovery on the final registration day
at the same ratio, the Republican par-
ty stands to lose 231,000 votes this
year.
And it is safe to say that the esti-
mate gives the Republicans a shade
the better of the facts.
phia, at least, the delinquency in the
registration is not likely to be made
up. Mr. Pinchot is trying to fool one
faction of his party or the other. He
imagines he is an expert in that line.
But the machine managers of Phila-
delphia are not what you would call
credulous. They have taken Pinchot’s
measure accurately and unless they
get assurances that it is the other fel-
lows that are being fooled, Pinchot is
city. SenatorsVare:is somewhat of a
energy the Democrats are sure to car-
ry the State this year.
— In his speeches Mr. Pinchot
promises to make “sweeping changes
in the State government” but he pro-
poses to achieve the result “without
offending any one.”
Pinchot’s Absurd False Pretense.
Pinchot assumes the lordly air of one
commissioned by the people to admin-
ister the government of Pennsylva-
nia. In addressing the Republican
committee of Philadelphia, the other
day, he assumed this lofty attitude
and he has expressed the same
thought in various other places. As
a matter of fact the people of Penn-
sylvania had little to do with his
nomination for Governor. Even the
Republican voters have not indicated
a preference for him as against the
candidate who opposed him. The
nearly half a million dollars contrib-
uted by himself, his wife, Joe Grun-
dy, Colonel Elverson and others nom-
inated him to rebuke Governor Sproul
and his party machine.
In a total vote of about one miilion
My. Pinchot received a majority of a
trifle over seven thousand. This mea-
ger majority cost Mr. Pinchot and his
family and friends very nearly seven
dollars and fifty cents a vote. “Buck”
Devlin of the Eighth ward, Philadel-
phia, gave him a thousand more than
his entire majority and the eight
thousand votes supplied by “Buck”
hardly cost more than fifty cents a
vote, that being the price of a tax re-
ceipt in Philadelphia. Deducting the
four thousand dollars that Devlin
paid for the eight thousand majority
in the Eighth ward of Philadelphia
Pinchot and his family and friends
spent in the neighborhood of half a
million dollars for a most humiliating
defeat.
It is true that Mr. Pinchot is the
Republican nominee for Governor of
Pennsylvania but the fact is not as-
cribable to confidence of even Repub-
licans in him, but because W. Harry
Baker, Senator Vare, Larry Eyre and
Max Leslie, having first entrenched
themselves in control of the organiza-
tion, adopted him as a political or-
phan. But this benevolent act on the
part of the machine doesn’t invest
him with power of attorney to speak
for the people of Pennsylvania or
even the Republican voters of the
State. He is simply a millionaire
posing as a mendicant permitting the
machine to milk him of his inherited
money. That type of man cuts a
poor figure masquerading in the char-
acter of a master.
ee mmna—
from with which to pay subsidies to
a few ship owners? We fear the
President is getting into deep water.
One objection to soft coal is
that it makes house cleaning very
i much harder.
In Philadel- !
| worst. The fact is now revealed that
not likely to get any majority in that i
politician himself and with reasonable '
In his campaign speeches Gifford |
BELLE
|
|
{
4
FONTE ° PA. 9
SEPTEMBER 29. 1922.
Mr. Pinchot’s Political Backers.
The registration in Philadelphia and; No force has been found strong
Allegheny county, including Pitts- | eenough to draw from Gifford Pinchot
burgh, on the first two registration | a statement as to who are his backers
days this year, shows a delinquency | in the campaign for Governor. Joseph
of about 500,000 votes. Possibly half R. Grundy, the inveterate enemy of
of this total will register on October ! legislation for the protection of chil-
7th, the last opportunity. This will dren, spent $80,000 to secure his nom-
leave a deficiency in those two coun- | ination, but he refuses to acknowl-
ties of 250,000. In the other counties | edge publicly that Grundy is behind
of the State the registration is light, him. William Flinn, the Pittsburgh
but invariably the Republicans suffer | contractor, contributed largely to the
most. That being the case a fairly ' nearly half a million dollars spent in
his primary campaign, but he is silent
on the subject of obligation to Flinn.
“Buck” Devlin, of Philadelphia, sup-
plied from the slums of the Eighth
ward of that city the votes that turn-
ed the tide in his favor, but he de-
clines to name Mr. Devlin as a backer.
It is safe to say, however, that each
sylvania is normally less than 200,000. | of these gentlemen are still support-
On the vote for Governor in 1910! ing him and that each expects full
Grim and Berry together polled 95,908 | recompense for his services.
It is
their way of doing things. They are
Governor by plurality. In 1914 Brum- | not in politics for health or recreation.
baugh’s majority was 134,625 and in | Each expects his reward in his own
1918 Sproul’s majority was 93,211. | way and will be greatly disappointed
The enfranchisement of the women if he fails to receive it. But there is
may have increased this proportion | no uncertainty as to the attitude of
In , Thomas E. Finegan, Superintendent
any event it is safe to say that the! of Public Instruction. He took little
normal Republican majority in Penn- part in the primary campaign for the
sylvania, on a fairly full vote is con- | reason that he felt perfectly safe with
siderably under 200,000. Assuming either of the candidates. But now ;
: that his official life is in the balance
he is so earnest that he is prostituting
the educational system of the State to
the service of Mr. Pinchot.
It is a matter of record that wher-
ever possible the schools are dismiss-
ed in communities during campaign
visits of Pinchot in order to swell the
crowds in attendance at his meetings.
While that is bad enough it is not the
a great part of the energies of the
Department of Education
spent in promulgating propaganda in
the interest of Pinchot. In this work
the lying statement is made that Mr.
McSparran favors a decrease in the
salaries of school teachers and the!
destruction of the educational facili-
ties of the State. As a matter of fact
Mr. McSparran takes the opposite po-
sition. He favors high wages for
teachers and lower salaries for swiv~
el chair bosses in the department.
——The Republican executive com-
mittee, which represents the Grundy
element of the party, was in session
yesterday (Thursday) to devise meth-
ods of increasing the registration.
ey, Boys,” session.
“Fineganism.”
Because John A. McSparran has de-
nounced “Fineganism” in somewhat |
emphatic language and with a consid-
erable degree of vehemence, it must
not be inferred that he is either op-
posed to generous recompense to
school teachers or to the highest
standard of educational facilities in
Pennsylvania. Liberal salaries to
school teachers is not “Fineganism.”
Long before Mr. Finegan was heard
of in Pennsylvania the people of the
State had set their heads in favor of
fair compensation to school teachers.
The Legislature of 1901 enacted a law
fixing the minimum wages of teach-
ers at $35 a month, which was all the
teachers asked.
The question of raising the stand-
ard of educational facilities in Penn-
sylvania was considered as long ago
as 1873, when it was taken up in the
constitutional convention. That au-
gust body inserted a provision in the
organic law of the State requiring
the Legislature to appropriate “not
less than one million dollars a year”
to provide “an efficient system of pub-
lic schools.” At the session of 1875
this requirement was complied with
and at each recurring session the sum
has been increased as the enhancing
expenses demanded. During the ses-
sion before Finegan was discovered
the appropriation amounted to six
million dollars, so that high standard
of facilities for public education is not
“Fineganism.”
As a matter of fact “Fineganism”
is the prostitution of the educational
department of the State to the base
services of a corrupt political machine
by concentrating all executive power
of the department and placing all the
power of disbursement of the funds in
ehe hands of servile and sordid poli-
ticians at Harrisburg, with the result
that the appropriations are not paid
and the local control of the schools has
been usurped by a gang of pirates.
John A. MecSparran is unalterably op-
posed to this system of piracy and
this prostitution of power, and he has
the courage to denounce it with all
the force he can command. And in
this righteous protest the people of
Pennsylvania are with him.
m—————— i —————
——Mr. McSparran’s style of ora-
tory appears to be very offensive to
Republican politicians and newspapers
but according to reports from sec-
tions in which he has spoken it is
pleasing to the people.
is being '
; i
might safely be called a “Get the Mon- |
NO. 38.
Pepper and Reed are Delighted. Col. Theodore Davis Boal Reluctant to
George Wharton Pepper and David
A. Reed, Senators in Congress for
Pennsylvania, by appointment of the
Pennsylvania railroad and the Unit-
ed States Steel corporation, respect-
ively, issued a signed statement the
‘other day, expressing cordial appro-
ival of the Fordney-McCumber tariff
law. This measure, according to the
estimate of conservative experts, will
increase the taxes of the people of
the United States to the enormous
amount of $5,080,000,000 annually,
which is equal to $45 for every man,
woman and child in the ceuntry.
Pennsylvania families average five,
so that the tax to each Pennsylvania
family will amount to $225, a con-
siderable sum for the family of a
working man to give up.
Of course it will be claimed that
the burden of this levy will not be as
heavy on working men as upon per-
sons of greater income, for the rea-
son that the families of wage earners
do net consume as much in the line of
luxuries as their more fortunate
neighbor. But this: is a false and
fraudulent pretense. The unit in the
family of the working man requires
sugar, meats, fish, clothing, hosiery,
glassware, medicines and other nec-
: essaries of life in equal ratio with
i that of the merchant and manufactur-
er, and the blacksmith has the same
physical needs as the banker. But
the ability to bear the burden is not
equal. The laboring man is obliged to
coin his own sweat and his wife's
| tears to meet the obligation from
- which there is no escape.
While the burden of the bricklayer
and the broker may be comparatively
equal, there is a class among the tax
payers required to pay more than
either. It is the farmer. He pays
like the others on the necessaries of
life and in addition has to pay a tax
in the aggregate of $45,000,000 a year
and as an individual $1.25 a year on
fertilizers, to feed the rapacity of the
Chemical trust, a tax on implements
{as well as a tax on everything else
! necessary to produce his crops. Yet
| Senators Pepper and Reed are so de-
lighyl. with the measure that they
k “the farmers of Pennsylvania to
| ratify the appointments of the Penn-
| sylvania railroad and the Steel trust
by electing them for a full term.
-—Up in Altoona last Thursday a
woman was fined five dollars and costs
for using the city water to scrub the
porch. The long dry spell has so af-
fected the water supply of that city
that strenuous measures are taken to
conserve it. Bellefonters should be
very thankful that our big spring is
always on tap with a steady flow of
| pure water regardless of whether the
| season is wet or dry.
—The Altoona Tribune views the
future of that city as something bril-
liant and then discovers a speck on
the rose glasses through which it gaz-
es in the fact that there is a crying
need for more houses. We rise to in-
quire what Altoona would do with
more houses when she can’t supply
enough water with which to scrub the
porches of the ones she now has.
—————————
——Gifford Pinchot, Republican
candidate for Governor, is booked for
a reception at the Bush house some
I time this afternoon and the London
Gayety Girls will be at the opera
house this evening. Of course there
is no coincidence between the two
but the girls will probably draw the
biggest crowd.
m—— A ————————
——Senators Pepper and Reed are
delighted with the new tariff bill. It
adds $45 a year to the expenses of
every man, woman and child in the
State and makes it considerably easier
for the corporations represented by
the Senators to keep working men in
subjection.
——————— A ——————
——The road building contractors
have already been tampering with
Pinchot’s conscience, according to a
recent statement made by the Forest-
er. Those fellows take nothing for
granted and Gif. must “toe the mar Red
——1In his “Outline of History” Mr.
H. C. Wells tells us that “half a mil-
lion years hence this may be a much
sunnier and pleasanter world to live
in than it is today.” Thanks for
“them kind words.”
—————— A ———————
— General Pershing is hunting a
quiet spot on the seashore to write a
book. But a book written by “Black
Jack” even in such an environment
migh create a good deal of noise if
entirely frank.
——————
——Newberryism will continue a
live question so long as ambitious mul-
timillionaires continue to buy party
nominations.
——p A ———————————
—After Monday night there can be
no doubt that the frost is on the
pumpkin,
Talk of the Work of the Penn-
sylvania Battlefield Com-
mission to France.
So little has found its way into
print concerning the activities of the
Pennsylvania Commission to report to
the next Legislature on the nature and
location of monuments which this
Commonwealth contemplates erecting
in France to commemorate the feats
of arms of Keystone soldiers that we
took advantage of an opportunity to
interview Col. Theodore Davis Boal on
' the subject, on Monday.
Col. Boal was attached to the Com-
mission not only because of distin-
! guished service during the war and
his knowledge of the front, but be-
cause he knows France almost as well
as he knows his own country, much of
his life having been spent there. He
was most reluctant to talk, presuma-
bly because, in the first instance, he
had no authority to speak and
in the second he might have re-
garded it as inappropriate to antici-
pate any report it has yet to make to
the next session of the Legislature.
However, we were able to get some
idea of suggestions and impressions
that were presented during the stay in
France, Belgium and Germany.
The Commission comprised Maj.
Gen. Wm. G. Price, Col. David J. Da-
vis, Lt. Col. Samuel Fleming, Maj.
Timothy O. Van Allen and Capt. H.
G. Stewart, all well known for their
splendid work over seas in various
units of our service. Col. Boal went
over in May, with credentials from the
War Department, and in advance of
the party, to make arrangements for
the facilitation of its mission. His first
calls, after that on our military at-
tache, were on Gen. Buat, chief of staff
of the French army, and Gen. Joos-
tens, military attache of the Belgian
embassy, both of whom received him
most courteously and gave every aid
possible in forwarding his plans.
It was through General Buat and
Colonel Constantine that the Com-
mission was fortunate enough to
have the service of Capt. Le Rock
as liaison officer. ;
over them during the entire war and
proved invaluable during the exhaust-
ive study of the fronts that followed.
Col. Boal also called on the head of
the French foreign office, Count de la
Rocca, who offered his services to
the Commission and entertained its
members.
While in Paris the party was receiv-
ed with great courtesy by Col. Blan-
ton Winship, of the American repara-
tions commission, who commanded one
of the regiments of the 28th Division,
and rendered distinguished service in
the severe fighting in the Argonne.
They were entertained also by the
military attache of our embassy
and the secretary, F. Lamotte
Belin, a Pennsylvanian. Major Ul-
lern and Captain Pernet, of
the French army, also did all
they could for the Commission. The
former, it will be recalled, was in
charge of the French military mis-
sion to this country when we were
mobilizing and it was the splendid
training by these two officers that
contributed so largely to the prepar-
edness the 28th Division had when it
was suddenly sent into the front line.
When it is remembered that Penn-
sylvania furnished 870,000 troops it
will be seen that the question of mon-
uments or memorials was not a mat-
ter to be settled in a junketing spirit.
As we have said Col. Boal was most
reluctant to talk of what really had
been done, but he said enough to con-
vince us that the Commission gave
serious attention to the duty it was
sent to perform and took broad and
constructive views on the proper car-
rying out of the project. .
Evidently the Commission was im-
pressed by the still devastated condi-
tion of the war zones of France. To
the members there seemed to have
been scarcely any reconstruction of
the places with which they were so
familiar in 1918. For instance, Fis-
mes and Fismet, two French towns
lying on opposite banks of the Vesle,
are places where the valor of the 28th
Division was put to the test. The
towns are still in ruins, little or
no restoration has been accomplished,
and the residents are still using the
wooden bridge that was thrown over
the river by American engineers, the
original structure having been blown
up. There was a suggestion in that.
Varennes is another point that will
ever be fraught with stirring memo-
ries for Pennsylvania soldiers. It is
the town where Louis XVI was cap-
tured when he tried to escape from
France. There the old chateau on the
edge of the cliff was completely de-
molished by the Germans and it will
never be rebuilt. Its grounds are a
mass of ruins and weeds and there is
no regular train service to this once
important village-town that was re-
taken by the 28th Division.
Montfaucon, the point overlooking
(Continued on page 4, Col. 1.)
He knows: ewery.
inch of the battlefields, having hh
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—John Musser, 55 year of age, of New
Holland, Pa., who has been blind in his
left eye since youth, lost the sight of his
other eye when he was struck by a stone
while operating a crusher on the site of
his new home.
—Robert Borlin Brewer, 64 years old, is
dead at his home, three miles north of
Greensburg, Westmoreland county, as the
result of injuries he received when he was
kicked in the stomach and chest by a horse
one day last week.
—The Masonic fraternities of Lock Ha-
ven have decided to proceed with the erec-
tion of their $100,000 temple at the corner
of East Main and Grove streets, as soon
after the holidays as the weather will per-
mit, and expect to complete it next fall.
—The State Department of Internal Af-
fairs was last week asked by Oldney
Thompson, of Pittsburgh, to inform him
what will kill fleas on dogs and cats. The
information was also given that “they are
big in size and can jump some distance.”
—Howard R. Davis, a past exalted ruler
of Williamsport Lodge of Elks, has been
appointed by Grand Exalted Ruler J. Ed-
gar Masters as district deputy for the
Pennsylvania North Central district. He
succeeds Senator Charles E. Donahue, of
Lock Haven. This is the second honor
Mr. Davis has received at the hands of
Elks’ State and national organizations. At
the State convention in Scranton he was
elected a member of the State board of
trustees for five years. -
-—Mike Rancher was gloating over his
pay last Friday. He works in a mine at
Rockwood, near Johnstown, and drew
$291.45 for two weeks’ work. He worked
only eight hours each day. Rancher, a
coal digger, was “in luck,” as his fellow
workers termed it. He struck what is
known as a “soft spot” in the vein, and
during the two weeks turned out more
than 250 tons of coal with a pick. A ‘soft
spot” requires little digging, as one stroke
of the pick brings down a heavy fall of
coal.
—A. M. Eby, for years cashier of the
Hazleton National bank, who was found
dead in bed of heart disease last Thurs-
day, had made arrangements for his own
funeral. He gave minute directions as to
the text to be preached, the singing of
“Lead Kindly Light’ and “Nearer my God
to Thee,” his favorite hymns, and the se-
lection of the pall-bearers. Two of these,
were past masters of Hazle Lodge, No. 827,
F. and A. M., and four from Robison Post,
No. 20, G. A. R., both of which organiza-
tions Mr. Eby was a member.
—Four young men, Harry Cummings, °
Ralph Enders, Joseph Blackburn and Da-
vid Willets, all of Johnstown, who last
March were convicted in the Blair county
courts on a charge of having robbed the
First National bank at Claysburg, were at.
noon on Monday sentenced by Judge
Thomas J. Baldridge, at Hollidaysburg, to
imprisonment at solitary and separate con-
finement in the western penitentiary for
terms of not less than seven nor more than
ten years each. Along with the peniten-
tiary sentence the judge also handed out a
$250 fine to each of the young men. The
bank was robbed of $20,000 in cash and
bonds.
—FEel fishing along the Juniata river
and its tributaries is at its height. Tons
of them are being caught and placed in
the Iive-boxes of the professional fisher-
men or skinned and salted for the winter
months by the farmers through whose land
flow the streams they frequent. Eel dams,
or fish baskets dot the Juniata about every
half mile. Many tons of eels are taken
from the streams each fall, those caught
in the mountain streams being considered
best. The Pennington camp crew catch
several tons of eels in the Juniata river
annually, and keep them in large live-
boxes or sell them dressed at 25 and 30
cents a pound.
—Women living in Park avenue, Leba-
non, who rose early Monday morning for
washday, were horrified to see the body of
a man hanging from a telephone pole in
the rear of Judge C. V. Henry's residence
at Third and Locust streets. . Benjamin
M. Kline, aged 50 years, member of the
firm of Fuller and Kline, prominent hard-
ware dealers for the past twenty-five years,
left his home a few blocks from the place,
early Sunday evening. He had been suf-
fering from nervous prostration for sev-
eral months. Searching parties spent
nearly the entire night hunting him. Mon-
day morning his body was found hanging
from the pole.
Andrew Johnson Kiser, aged 56 years,
and residing at Mifflintown, Pa., met in-
stant death in a rather odd manner at 7:40-
o'clock Sunday morning at the Denholm
coaling wharf. He was struck on the side
of the head by a sledge hammer in the:
hands of a fellow worker and died in a
moment. Kiser, who was employed by the:
Pennsylvania Railroad company as an ash-
man, at the time of the fatality had been
holding an iron bar which was being
sledged by John A. Watt in order to open
the drop door in a coal car. In seme man-
ner Kiser allowed the bar to move and the
swinging heavy sledge missed it and
struck him a glancing biow on the left
side of the skull, killing him.
—Three cars of burning sulphur threat-
ened so much damage on the Pennsylva-
nia Railroad, near Marsh run, south of
Harrisburg, that the Harrisburg fire de-
partment was called out early last Friday
to save the rest of the train and surround-
ing property. The fire started when a gon-
dola of pig-iron jumped the tracks, tore up
100 feet of rails and wrecked ten cars.
Wreckers dammed the molten sulphur
which was running in a broad stream into
the dry woods near by, threatening a for-
est fire. The rumor spread in New Cum-
berland and near by towns that the Marsh
Run United States army ordnance depot,
where large numbers of shells are stored,
was on fire, and many people fled to the
hills. The depot was not in danger.
—William Phipps, 21 year old receiving
teller of the Jenkintown National bank,
who admitted to having caused a fire in
the basement of the bank several months
ago to detract attention while he remov-
ed about $5,000 from the cages of two other
employees, pleaded guilty before federal
judge Thompson, at Philadelphia, on Mon-
day, to having embezzled approximately
$6,683 from the bank. Despite the fact
that his employers desire his release on
probation and that his wife is about to
receive a visit from the stork, Judge
Thompson indicated that Phipps would
receive a jail sentence. “To suspend sen-
tence in this case,” said the judge, “would
tend to destroy the confidence of people in
the integrity of banks.” Phipps, married
about a year and receiving a salary of
about $85 a month, said he stole the mon-
ey to provide a home for his bride.