INK SLINGS.
—If the ground hog did it, it’s some
comfort to realize that his job is half
done.
Another thing to consider is
the danger that Germans may fall in-
to the habit of loafing.
It must have been a dentist in-
stead of a doctor who said that Bol-
shevism is the result of bad teeth.
—Anyway Mr. Volstead’s little act
has served a fine purpose for a lot of
daily newspapers. Always there are
stories of dry raids and boot-legging
breaking to fill up columns.
—We are sending grain to Russia
to succor the starving population while
Russia is sending grain to Ruhr to
feed the Germans who won’t work for
our friend and ally, France. A fine
state of affairs, isn’t it?
—Tt is making a lot of difference in
Washington these days whose wind is
jamming the Senate. Talking Hard-
ing’s ship subsidy to death in 1923 is
the analogy of talking Wilson’s mer-
chant marine bill to death in 1915.
— Cherry trees, little hatchets and
all the accessories for properly cele-
brating George’s natal day were in ev-
idence yesterday, but the weather man
didn’t do much toward leaving pleas-
ant memories of it in this neck
o’ the woods.
—Having withdrawn from running
England’s machinery long enough to
gather up an armful of monkey
wrenches Mr. Lloyd George has re-
turned and is throwing them into the
wheels of the machinery Bonar Law is
trying to keep moving.
—The Governor is growing more in-
teresting every week. He has emerg-
ed from the stage of telling us what
he intends doing. Now he is begin-
ning to let the people in on how he is
going to do it. The real thrill will
come, of course, when we discover
that he’s done it.
—TUnder ordinary circumstances we
find getting out of bed in the morning
the hardest thing we have to do in the
day’s grind. And we want to tell the
world that the mess of snow that
greets our eyes nearly every morning,
after the fight with the hay is won,
is making it harder and harder.
—One proposition of the Governor
that we'll all support is the proposal
that there shall be no new taxation
by this Legislature. We're all poor
now and if Gif. can get through with-
out making us any poorer we'll forget
it, if his administration ends in less
“magnificent achievement” than did
that of his predecessor.
— Now that the explorers have
found old King “Tut” none of the big
won’t keep in any other pickle than
the Egyptian atmosphere. It seems
to us that a cadaver with a record of
three thousand years ‘could stick it
out long enough to see them that say
it won’t keep lying peacefully beside
it.
—That Harrisburg couple who are
asking the neighbors to supply a name
for their new baby are doing some
clever advertising for its pop’s florist
shop. What Mr. Uttley is really after
is to get a lot of people to “say it with
fiowers”—flowers from his shop—
then he’ll step in and name the baby
himself. It’s his prerogative. It’s a
boy.
—The Prince of Wales, the demo-
eratic young chap who some day
might be King of England, is tired
bein’ fiddle-de deed and having pink
sashes tied on him. What he is is in
rebellion. It is. crying out to be let
alone, to pursue life like regular
folks pursue it. We're for the Prince.
He's the boy who is taking the joy out
of life for the snobs.
—The proposal that a commission
of the Legislature be appointed to
study and report on a plan for a more
equitable system’ of taxation for
Pennsylvania sounds good to wus,
principally because the author of
the resolution, Representative Al-
exander, of Media, thinks fifteen
thousand dollars a sufficient appro-
priation to defray its expenses. A
Pennsylvania commission on fifteen
thousand dollars would be worth
while even if it only scratched the skin
of the tax problem.
—Just at the season when the reg-
ular duck is thinking of flying north
one of the big lame ducks in Wash-
ington is getting ready to fly south.
Senator Miles Poindexter, of Wash-
ington, whose constituents invited him
to stay at home last fall, has been ap-
pointed Ambassador to Peru. : He
much preferred being in the Cabinet,
but the Ambassadress was evidently
regarded as being too frank with her
gossipy letters to newspapers to be an
entirely safe person to have around
Washington these days.
— We note that a movement is afoot
among the world’s best writers to
project real literature on the silver
screen. In other words the highbrows
are going to uplift the movies. Our
first impulse was to view this under-
taking with alarm, but now that we
recall the result of that conference of
the best writers—no, it was the best
minds—that was held at Marion,
Ohio, a bit over two years ago, we're
not so much perturbed. Anyway, we
can’t stick a movie out. We get a
dizzik in the head—as old August"
Newman, of Milesburg, used to say—
after ten minutes and all our real joy
of the film went to heaven with John
Bunny.
a
3
\
{
VOL. 68.
Ee Tove
Democrali
Na,
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA., FEBRUARY 23. 1923.
NO. 8S.
A —,
Importance of Honest Elections. Just Protest Against Injustice. Woman's Views of Woman's Rights.
The esteemed Clearfield Republican
joins in the regret expressed in this
column last week that Governor Pin-
“How about the ballot box stuffers,
the feliows who override the will of
the people year after year in Pennsyl-
vania and elect whomever they please
in defiance of law, in opposition to the
honest efforts of the best men and
women of Pennsylvania?” asks our
contemporary. But we see no signs
of response to the inquiry. The right-
eous war against the saloons and boot-
leggers continues to absorb the single-
track mind of our Governor.
The “mess at Harrisburg” is easi-
ly traceable to this paramount evil in
the public life of Pennsylvania. It
practically began with the inaugura-
tion of John K. Tener and the late Ed- :
win H. Vare boasted in a speech in the
State Senate that he was elected by
the 40,000 fraudulent votes counted
for him in South Philadelphia. The
esteemed Clearfield paper confidently
declares that Martin G. Brumbaugh’s
election was accomplished by the
same corrupt methods. “At the late
November election, when Gifford Pin-
chot himself was elected Governor,”
continues our Clearfield contemporary,
“Philadelphia contributed little short
of a hundred thousand crooked votes
to the Pinchot aggregate.
county contributed many more than
ten thousand votes to the same col- |
umn, and that against the often ex-
pressed declaration that the gang in
that big county would not sit in the
Pinchot corner.”
If Tener had been defeated there
_ vote-getters should have equal share
with the men managers in.the selec-
tion of candidates ‘and the conduct of
In that event the cus-
tomary southern trip would have to be
abandoned or the female leaders in-
vited to participate. Neither of these
things happened. . The trip was taken,
as usual, with the undeistanding that
the usual result would follow, and
Mrs. Harman is inferentially informed
dsovs they were iat
per- -*
would be no “mess at Harrisburg” to
“clean up” now. It would have been
“cleaned up” immediately following
the inauguration of William H. Berry
as the capitol graft mess was cleaned
up after his induction into the offiec
of State Treasurer, and the monu-
mental blunders of Brumbaugh and
the profligacies of Sproul would nev-
er have defaced the escutcheon of
Pennsylvania. The saloons at their
ot the boot-léggers in the
iod of their highest prosperity, never
inflicted as much harm upon the peo-
ple and good name of Pennsylvania as .
these vile creatures, servants of the
Republican machine and liberally re-
warded by appointment to important
offices of honor and emolument, have
compassed within a quarter of a cen-
tury by stuffing ballot boxes with
fraudulent votes and making false re-
turns to place Republican politicians
in positions of honor and power. No
crime equals the pollution of the bal-
lot in iniquity and evil.
“Why then does Governor Pinchot
treat the election reform efforts of his
friends so indifferently?” continues
our Clearfield contemporary. “It was
on the liquor traffic and crooked elec-
tion boards that the Republican State
organization depended for years to
carry through any ticket named.
Why separate the longtime partners
today? That is precisely the question
every man and woman of Pennsylva-
nia should ask. Can it be possible '
that Governor Pinchot has entered in-
to an agreement with perpetrators of
the vilest of all crimes to continue
their license to debauch the ballot?
His actions justify that grave suspi-
cion. He is willing to punish one ele-
ment of his supporters but not the
other.
——Judging from the weather we
have had the past three weeks the |abundance of revenue to meet
groundhog must have seen two shad-
ows on Candlemas day. And the man
who last fall predicted a mild and open
winter made a poor guess as a weath- ! of an over-ambitious executive to put
er prophet. The fact is the winter has
been most everything else but mild
and open. While we have not had any
extremely cold weather, where the
thermometer dropped to 15 to 20
degrees below zero and hung around
in that neighborhood for a week at a
stretch, yet there have been few days
when the mercury topped the freez-
ing point.
has been everything but that. The
first snow of any consequence fell on
December 14th and some of that is
still on the ground. In fact the total
snowfall this winter has undoubtedly
been the greatest in some years, and
at the time this item was written
more iof it was coming down. But
thank goodness, the first of March
will soon be here and the cold weather
can’t last much longer.
—— They have finally got “Mont”
Reily, Harding's alleged Governor of
Porto Rico. Persistent effort may get
Attorney General Daugherty and Am-
bassader Harvey.
PRE—
——The moment that any one an-
nounces that King Tutankhamun’s
private stock has been found we will
begin to feel an interest.in the search
of his tomb,
Allegheny :
And as to heing open, it |
i
less frequently since
come into the right to vote.
done to her.
her vice chairman of something else.
Mrs. Archibald R. Harman, of Phil- |
adelphia, president of the Women’s
| Republican club of Pennsylvania, is
chot is inclined to invest all his official | justly indignant because of some re-
energy in the enforcement of laws to ' cent developments in the political life
suppress one vice to the neglect of . of the State. Mrs. Harman, who im-
other equally if not greater evils. | agines that she carries the bulk of the
- female vote of Philadelphia in what-
_ ever receptacle in her costume women
(are in the habit of placing such
“things, has stultified herself more or
women have !
‘When
Mrs. Barclay Warburton was made |
vice chairman of the Republican State |
committee Mrs. Harman felt with
' good reason that injustice had been
But the late Senator Ed.
Vare salved her wounds by making
Mrs. Archibald Harman has recent- |
in which she lives. The club women
en.
may be assumed she knows her sub-
ject.
It goes without saying that any leg-
There is reason and logic in the ar-
gument of a woman writer in the
Philadelphia Record who favors the
bill introduced into the General As-
sembly by Senator Schantz, of Lehigh
county, on the subject of jury service
for women. The bill in question pro-
vides that any woman drawn for jury
service may be excused on application
in writing to the sheriff of the county
of the State protested with considera-
ble vehemence against such legisla-
tion on the ground that it would work
an impairment of the rights of wom-
The writer in the Record is not
in accord with that view, and as she
signs herself “A Woman Juror,” it
ly been a “war horse” in the Repub- | islation which impairs the rights of
tion, the rank and file of the female
Republicans of the city have been or-
ganized, importuned, instructed and
even dragooned into active party
work. But whenever any special dis-
tinction was,to be bestowed un a wom-
‘an the scion of some more socially
prominent or wealthier family was fa-
vored. The best she could ever get
“was the vice presidency of the city
‘ committee or the presidency of the
Women’s Republican club of Penansyl-
vania. Even a casual consideration of
the subject will convince any discern-
ing mind that that wasn't right.
The recent trip of the male bosses
of Philadelphia to Florida for the pur-
' pose of picking a candidate for May-
or seems to be the “straw that broke
the camel’s back.” Mrs. Harman had
come to understand that the women
campaigns.
3 5, SNe e dr :.
ang.” We shall watch the
sult with interest.
suing now
disappointment at the ingratitude of
a thankless Kaiser.
Repeal of the Coal Tax.
There are now pending in the Gen- |
eral Assembly, at Harrisburg, three
bills providing for the repeal of the
law levying a tax on anthracite coal.
- We have not had opportunity to ana-
lyze these measures and are unable
to express a preference between them.
But it is certain that the purpose is
No more objectionable
or unfair tax has ever been imposed.
It simply multiplies the miseries of
commendable.
cold weather and increases the dis-
comforts of an unpropitious climate.
. It was conceived in an iniquitous pur-
pose to promote profligacy.
enacted in contempt of an overwhelm-
harm and injustice every day it re-
mains on the statute books.
There never was a valid reason for
imposing this tax on the poverty and
industry of Pennsylvania. If the gov-
ernment of the State had been proper-
i ly administered during the last quar-
ter of a century there would have beea
the ob-
ligations of administration. But the
i opportunities for graft availed itself
| this evil over and a packed court af-
| firmed its validity in spite of the pro-
| tests of the ablest lawyers of the
! State. The expectant grab at the ten
million dollar pool was the enticement
| that influenced the machine to strive
‘ for this unjust exaction.
'! In every part of Penusylvania to-
day people are suffering because of |
this tax.
| excessive, was increased because of |
| the tax and the poor who buy a buck-
ey in the ratio of the increase in price.
But it enabled the Republican machine
one of the pending bills is better than
and passed, and in any event the in-
famous tax should be repealed at the
earliest moment possible.
without this monstrous measure.
i ns————— pf ——————————
substituted.
by legislation,
lican organization of Philadelphia. By | Women in this day of grace is absurd.
her own efforts, or under her direc- | The rights of women to complete
equality before the law is recognized
State and national,
and guaranteed before the possibility
of a backward step.
exemption from jury upon request is
no impairment of privilege, legal or
In fact it bestows upon the
feminine citizen a power which would
be eagerly seized and highly prized by
their brothers, their uncles or their
Under the Schantz bill a
woman drawn for jury service may act
or not as she chooses, whereas a man
similarly situated has no choice.
must serve or pay a heavy fine. :
But the point which the “Woman
Juror” brought to notice is of a dif-
ferent nature. During the committee:
hearing on the bill one of the female
opponents of the measure, assuming
to speak for all the women of the
But the right to
He
Prince Bismarck would
It was’
ing popular opinion and it is working
; hungry political machine in search of
! etfull at a time get less for their mon- |
to indulge in an orgie of profligacy for
a time and that is what it was for. If
the others it ought to be supported
There are
plenty of methods of taxation and
abundance of objects for revenue
—— Possibly the saloon keepers
weren’t as good to Pinchot at the cru-
cial moment as the ballot box stuffers.
—If Germany insists on the “side-
step” too long the “tango” may be
the bill in question?”
this “A Woman Juror”.
do the same,
SW
{
——If France had adopted the! -——Ambassador Harvey believes
course in 1871 that Germany is pur- | that Great Britain and the United
| States are closer together than ever.
have died of heart-failure instead of | That impression may have come from
the fact that this is the first time in
! our history that we have been rcpre- | 000 soldiers to France—in torder to
! sented in London by a joke.
‘
In the Days of Stage Coaching.
tire front page was filled with adver-
little in one hundred and four years.
But most remarkable of all the ad-
vertisements was that of the stage
line between Northumberland and
Bellefonte. According to schedule the
day morning at five o’clock and drove
to Deerstown in time for breakfast.
‘the night spent at Aaronsburg. Leav-
ing Aaronsburg at seven o'clock the
next morning the stage made Earlys-
town (evidently the Old Fort hotel)
in time for dinner and arrived in
Bellefonte at four o’clock in the after-
noon, thus taking two days to make
the trip that is now made by auto-
mobile in from three to four hours.
The fare was $4.50, and passengers
were entitled to carry baggage to the
extent of fourteen pounds. Return-
Ling the stage left Bellefonte at five
! o’clock on Monday morning and reach-
The price of coal, previously | oq Northumberland at four o’clock on
| Tuesday afternoon.
|
t sr m—— eee.
——At a joint meeting of the Cen-
tre and Clinton county commissioners,
was decided to repair the inter-coun-
in substantial shape just as soon as
the weather in the spring will permit
no definite selection made at that
meeting.
en———————— en ——
With the adjournment of Con-
a while.
nrmrr————— fp
~The ship subsidy bill is breath-
ker have about given up in dispair.
State, asked Senator Schantz “where
are the women who are in favor of
In answer to
states that
they are not organized in clubs for
uplifting or other purposes, “but they
are at home cooking, sewing and car-
ing for their children,” and added, “if
some of the women who spexd all their
time lobbying at Harrisburg were to
life in Pennsylvania
living.” This i )
"OD= |
A copy of the Bellefonte Patriot,
{ Vol. I No. 11, under date of Monday
i morning, July 27th, 1818, was placed
| upon our desk this week, and after
! looking it over we have decided that
i the local editor of that day had a very
easy time of it, as not one item of lo-
, cal news could be found in the four
, pages of four columns each. The en-
| tising matter and among the number
j were the announcements of five men
j eager to be elected to the office of
sheriff, evidence that in this respect
times and customs have changed very
stage left Northumberland every Fri-
Dinner was eaten at Mifflinburg and
held in Lock Haven last Thursday, it
ty bridge at Beech Creek and put it
of work being started. A number of
designs and plans were considered but
gress we will get rid of the ship sub-
sidy forever, and of Senator Borah for
ing hard and Drs. Harding and Las-
The War Debts.
From the Philadelphia Record.
All of the 10 billion dollars we ad-
vanced to our associates in the war
was spent in this country, buying
American materials, employing Amer-
ican labor and enhancing American
fortunes. The European belligerents
were good customers, and even in the
cold world of business. favors are
shown to be good customers. Further-
more, nearly half of the 10 billions
was recovered by the government in
excess profits taxes. We were not out
quite so much as we may have sup-
Those of our statesmen who regard-
ed the financial aid we extended to our
associates in the war as exclusively a
business matter are very much dissat-
isfied with the rate of interest. The
rate is more likely to be too high than
too low. It is lower than the present
rate of money, but for a many
years the British public ebt was pop-
ularly known as the 3 per cents, and
before the Boer war the rate had been
reduced to 23. Our government has
in recent years sold 2 per cent. bonds
that could be used as security for note
issues, and 3 per cent. bonds without
that privilege. A rate of 3, rising to
3% per cent. after 10 years, in a trans-
action that will extend over two gen-
erations, long before the expiration of
which money will again be cheap, is
uote likely to be too high than too
ow. :
But it is a mean soul, or a disloyal
heart, that insists on regarding this
transaction as merely a matter of
finance. We entered the war in our
own interest, because our rights were
violated, and because a German tri-
umph would threaten our safety and
our freedom of aétion. The war was
our war, and we advanced our nation-
al credit’ in aid ‘of the nations that
were pouring out their blood in rivers |
in a struggle that was ou
well
theirs. ic:
ey are not merely, or chief-
ly, our debtors; they are our comrades
in arms. We fought by the sid the
British in breakin bY The sie ne
line. We fought by the side of the
French in the Belleau Wood and at
Chateau-Thierry and St. Mihiel and in
the Argonne. They furnished men,
and we furnished some of the money.
It will be painful for Americans in
the future to read esel
were Americans who wanted to make
rood
i
rg TC
[0 © J’ rat had “Been
pouring out their ; blood for: nearly
three years before we entered it in a
war for civilization and democracy, in
which our interest was as deep ss
theirs. It is perfectly right for us to
expect them to repay the advances;
we incurred very large expenses on
; our own account. But we sent 2,000,-
keep the war out of America—and
they crossed the ocean in safety be-
cause the British navy was helping us
in keeping the sea clear of the com-
mon enemy. We should be disgraced
if we sought to make money out of
our financial backing of our comrades
in arms.
Senator Glass told the truth when
he said, “The indebtedness of the
United States to Great Britain is quite
as great as Great Britain’s indebted-
ness to the United States.” It was a
noble speech that Mr. Glass made, a
speech that honors his country as well
as himself, and it will be remembered
when the peanut politicians who fear
that we will not make enough out of
our loans have been long forgotten.
All is Not Rosy for Pinchot.
From the Clearfield Republican.
Pittsburgh and other large daily
newspapers with correspondents at
Harrisburg are beginning to tell the
truth about the conditions in evidence
down there. All is not as rosy for
Governor Pinchot and his program as
they wanted the public to believe two
weeks ago.. It seems now a lot of Sen-
ators and Members who were appear-
ing to rush to his side at the outset
are seeing things and wondering
whether or not they were too prema-
ture. They cannot worm themselves
into his confidence and he will not
trust any one outside the select few of
his personal appointments. Looks as
if there will be some hot doings within
the very near future, Many of the
would-be independents feel they have
been slighted and are talking much
like the followers of the organization
talk, when they are in earnest.
They Were Pikers.
|
From the Harrisburg Telegram.
It is writ that Daniel went down
into a den of lions and escaped un-
scathed, that little David went out
against the mighty Goliath and slew
him, 2nd it is of written record what
Sampson did to a multitude of Philis-
tines with no more formidable weapon
than the jawbone of an ass.
But even so they were pikers, all of
them. Mere pikers. i
For lo, and behold, and there com-
eth in these latter days one Gifford
Pinchot, who, having formulated a
budget some twenty-eight million less
than hath been customary, he layeth
it before the Legislature, and not only
doth he get away alive, but is ac-
claimed as well by the populace.
——1If Lloyd George will “search
his heart” thoroughly he may discover
that he is himself somewhat to blame
for present conditions.
h ‘the present discus-
sions and learn that ‘in 1923 there
‘county, ‘was arrested on a
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Plans are now being made by the Get-
tysburg chamber of commerce to celebrate
the sixtieth anniversary of the battle of
Gettysburg on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd of
this year.
—Mrs. Lena Margel, widow of Joe Mar-
gel, was awarded $10,000 damages at New
Castle last Saturday, by the jury which
heard her suit for $25,000 damages against
Louis Weinberg, a constable. Margel was
killed in an encounter with Weinberg more
than a year ago.
—Speechless for six months, Miss Laura
Hartzell, of Bloomsburg, suddenly recov-
ered her voice at the Bloomsburg hospital
last week. For six weeks she made no ef-
fort to speak, resting her voice completely. -
She was confident that her prayers for re-
covery would be answered. Doctors said
if she were careful not to strain her voice
she would probably experience no further
trouble.
—G@Grace Methodist church, Williamsport,
has instructed the superintendent of the
Williamsport district, Central Pennsylva-
nia Methodist conference, to use his good
offices to obtain reappointment of the Rev.
Alexander Scott to the Grace pastorate. If
he is sent back the congregation will add
$400 per year to his salary. Rev. Scott's
pastorate at Grace has been successful and
satisfactory to lis parishioners.
—A murdered man’s widow is entitled to
compensation under certain circumstances,
the State Compensation Board decided at
Pottsville, last Friday, in awarding $5000
to Mrs. Catharine Ford, of McAdoo. Her
husband was found with his throat cut,
near a coal stripping, and was so near
death he could not tell what happened to
him. The decision put the burden of proof
of suicide or murder on the employer.
Declared to be the largest ever fabri-
cated in this country, an anchor has been
shipped by the American Steel foundries,
of Chester, for the Leviathan, which is now
being reconditioned at Newport News, Va.
The anchor weighs 33,300 pounds and is
wrought of cast steel. The giant anchor
was shipped in a well ear, which, with a
lower bottom, accommodated one arm of
the device. As a usual thing, anchors va-
ry between 600 and 10,000 pounds.
—Bernard Strouss, wealthy Mount Car-
mel resideat, invited Elmer E. Rowe, his
barber, to ride with him in his automo-
bile, The car upset, and Rowe has sued
Strouss for $30,000 damages. According to
Rowe's statement, filed in the Northumber-
land county court, his shoulders were
crushed, his arms, wrists, hands, legs,
spine, spinal cord and column, face, nose,
lips, eyes, ears, heart, lungs, liver, stom-
ach and nerves were so damaged that he
has been unable to perform his work.
—Running away from her home only
partially clad, Mary Wasko, 17 years old,
of Columbia county, was found dead last
Friday afternoon from exposure, in a field
a half milé from her home at Briar Creek.
The girl had been ill for some time, and
following’ a reprimand left the house. She
tried to commit suicide by throwing her-
self in front of a train, but the engipeer
stopped in time to avoid striking her. Res-
idents of that section took her home, but
she escaped a few minutes later and dis-
appeared to her death. :
—A 50-gallon still, seized when George
Bowers, of West Fairview, $
umberland ounty jail a arlsie, an
‘Bowers is the operator. The county -
bought the still when it was offered for
sale and the sheriff put in a plea for if,
He said he needed a coffee pot for the jail.
His plea was granted, the jail has the pot
and Bowers, a prisoner as a result of his
illegal operation of the machine, is in the
kitchen as coffee-maker.
—-Radio offers a wholesale challenge to
churches because “we may perhaps pe
compelled to make good or to go out of
business,” the Rev. FE. J. Van Etten told
his congregation at Calvary Protestant
Episcopal church, in Pittsburgh Sunday
night. Among the dangers of the situation,
he said, were that “broadcasting church
services will prove something of a disinte-
grating force of the church organizations
themselves, that only the fittest preachers
will survive, and struggling churches will,
more or less ‘go to the wall” ”
—Thomas Wilson, 6 foot basket ball stav
of the Camp Hill High school team, of
Harrisburg, helped save Prof. C. G. Bow-
ers, principal of the school, from getting a
thrashing at the hands of another pupil,
but it did not save him when it came his
turn to get one from the principal. Four
pupils were summoned hefore the princi-
pal for disorderly conduct. The first took
his punishment and apologized before the
school. Merle Balmer, another basket ball
player, was next. He started to mix it up
with the prineipal, and the latter had to
call for help. Wilson intervened for him,
but, being next on the list, he got his lac-
ing just as if nothing had happened. As
Balmer refused to take a thrashing and
apologize he has been expelled.
—The home of C. W. Shannon, of Der-
wick, was wrecked by an explosion of the
kitchen range just as Shannon arose from
the breakfast table Saturday morning.
Pieces of metal were driven through par-
titions, all the windows in the house were
broken and several in adjoining homes,
but Shannon and his wife, who were up
stairs, escaped injury. One piece of iron
weighing about 10 pounds tore the back off
the chair on which Shannon had been sit-
ting only a minute before and then went
through a partion into another room. Im-
prints of the stove lids were made in the
ceiling and the coals from the stove were
scattered through three rooms, setting fire
to the debris. Neighbors put out the blaze,
however, before the firemen arrived. Frozen
water pipes are believed to have caused
the explosion.
—@George Bryant, known throughout the
northern part of the State as the “David
Harum” of Pennsylvania, is dead at his
home in Carbondale, which is known as
the “house of a thousand fiddles.” Bry-
ant, who was a great character and who
would rather make a dicker for an article
than purchase it, had a penchant for fid-
dles, and the rooms of his home are lined
with cases containing all manner of vio-
lins, from the cheap variety sold in pawn-
shops to the really good instruments. Per-
sons who have visited the house say that
there are easily 1000 violins there, but his
brother Joseph maintains that there are
nearer 2000 of them. In addition to this
wonderful collection of violins there are nu-
merous other musical instruments, enough
guns to equip an infantry company and
two or three trunkfuls of watches that the
deceased had acquired in trades.