INK SLINGS.
—In four days spring will be here.
—When spring house cleaning be-
gins Bellefonte will discover that it
has been a soft coal town all winter.
—Today we make obeisance to St.
Patrick and Mr. Volstead. The one
chased the snakes out of Ireland and
the other thinks he chased them out
of the U. S. A.
—Think of it! Think of us! It’s
only 29 days until the fishing season
will open and up to the present mo-
ment our visible equipment is confined
to only bait in the can.
—Clad only in soap bubbles are the
ladies who are appearing in the new
revues in Paris. Every day, in every
way is poor old N. Webster being
shown how little he knew when he
told us what a lady is, in that big book
of his.
—The difference between being
President of the United States and
just a plain citizen of Marion, Ohio,
is just the same as being admiral gen-
eral of ahouse boat on the waters of
Florida and the host of the nth resi-
dent of Marion on the Mayflower on
the Potomac.
Evidently our Republican friends
haven’t much use for us as a prophet.
Right in the face of our predictions
that this will be a good Democratic
year in Centre county they keep an-
nouncing for office at a rate that un-
less stopped soon they’ll all be fightir’
for something.
—With a perfectly good Water
Commission functioning at Harris-
burg what does the Governor want
with another one to do something that
the one in commission can do? If
he’s after saving money why appro-
priate $35,000 for services that his
present commission would be glad
and competent to render?
—We note, with interest, that Irvin
D. Trout has been elected president
of the Mauch Chunk Rod and Gun
Club. How appropriate! That Harry
A. Grover fellow, who has been elected
treasurer, is the one we note with
concern, however. Having been treas-
urer of a lot of these eleemosynary or-
ganizations prior to the time of be-
coming “hard boiled” we are con-
strained to remark that Harry will
wake up to find his middle name
Sucker instead of A., which we as-
sume now means Altruist.
—During the summer of 1914, a
stranger rolled into Allegheny street,
Bellefonte, in a motor car. He came
unheralded, unsung.’ The car stopped
almost directly in front of the Brock-
erhoff house. Touring motorists were
objects of Curiosity: in the small town |
brain of those days and we stopped to
gape. Almost before the brake-bands
had stopped groaning under the strain
of bringing a heavy car to a stand-
still“the tall, angular gentleman who
had occupied a seat in the tonneau
with a lady was out on the run-
board pounding the palms of his hands
together to. attract attention. As
Blaine once said in Bellefonte, that
was “a work of supererogation” for
all the traffic, both afoot and awheel,
was already gaping with us. It wasn’t
a busy hour on the street, but there
were at least four persons who were
thrilled to learn that the stranger was
Gifford Pinchot and almost transport-
ed at his earnest assurance that he
was going to beat Boies Penrose. We
all know how he did it. For months
we have been banking on the assur-
ance of this same gentleman, elected
to the highest office in the State, that
he was going to give Pennsylvania a
real enforcement law. On Tuesday
his bill passed the Senate and was
sent to the House—and what is it?
Nothing more than an admission that
he has been talking through his hat,
just as he was when he declared he
was going to put Penrose out of Penn-
sylvania politics. Pinchots’ enforce-
ment bill violated the most fundamen-
tal principle of personal liberty, but
it was his bill. He had assured the
public it would pass and the State was
reconciled to it and believed in his sin-
cerity. When he finally discovered
that he had counted his chickens be-
fore they were hatched he sent for
Senators McClintock, of Allegheny;
Homsher, of Lancaster; McDade, of
Delaware; Stineman, of Cambria;
Quigley, of Clinton, and Huff-
man, of Monroe. After he had
talked with them the bill went
back to the committee and later
was reported out a spineless,
emasculated thing; afraid to tackle
the home that is the man’s castle, giv-
ing every shoe-shine stand in the
State the right to sell near-beer and
depriving the Commonwealth of a
million dollars a year in revenue.
Why didn’t Governor Pinchot stand by
his guns? Why didn’t he let them
defeat his bill as it was originally pro-
posed and then come back to the peo-
ple as he said he would? You may
have your own answer to this little
question. Ours is that Giff. needs real
advisors: Practical, two-fisted men
who know the game and not a lot of
experts in theory and figures. What
Pinchot needs is a Kohlsatt. Roose-
velt discovered too late the value of
this brutal friend. If we were Gov-
ernor of Pennsylvania today we'd send
Clyde King home and take Sam Lewis
on. Then we'd make John Flynn our
legislative confidant. Both of them
are politicians, both know every mark-
ed card in the deck and they could yet
teach him enough about the game that
though he has lost going over he
might win coming back.
VY
7
-
b
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 68.
BELLEFONTE, PA.,
Increased Taxation Necessary.
Representative Horn, of Cambria
| Just Honor to Grover Cleveland.
i It is gratifying to learn that a be-
Pinchot’s Program Too Ponderous.
| There is great danger that Gover-
county, chairman of the House com- | lated step has been taken to pay just nor Pinchot will “bite off more than
mittee on Education, struck a true ! tribute to the memory of Grover he can chew.” With the help of his
note when de declared, during a ses- ! Cleveland, twenty-second and twenty- | “budgeteer” he has already created a
sion of the committees of both cham- | fourth President of the United States. {confused mess with respect to the
bers, the other evening, “that addi- :
tional taxes would be necessary to
meet the increased requirements of
the State
This fact has been obvious to careful
observers for some time. The boast
of Governor Pinchot that he would be
able to “clean up the mess” in two ,
years without additional taxes is pure
punk. There is a deficit of something
like fifty millions of dollars, the re-
sult of mismanagement in the past,
and that amount cannot be made up
without materially increasing the rev-
enues.
Mr. Horn suggests the necessary in-
crease of revenues by levying a tax
on manufacturing properties, on bitu- |
minous coal and on coal and sand tak- |
in educational matters.”
Near the close of the session of the
Sixty-seventh Congress Representa-
tive Rodenberg, of Illinois, introduced
a bill providing for an appropriation
of $200,000 for the purpose of erect-
ing a statue in honor of Mr. Cleve-
land. The tardiness in thus honoring
one of our greatest Presidents may be
_ accounted for in part, at least, by the
fact that he was personally averse to
i the expenditure of public money for.
| such purposes. But in view of the
; fact that most of the Presidents have .
i thus been honored it is proper that he
i be.
| It is only just praise to say that
Grover Cleveland was one of the five
great Presidents. Only Washington,
Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and Wood-
school funds for the ensuing biennium
‘and a considerable stew in the matter
of the charity appropriations. It is
now announced, semi-officially, that he
has had prepared some forty meas-
j ures of legislation which are to be la-
i belled “the administration code.”
, These bills will make radical changes
in the departments of welfare, print-
ing and binding, forestry, militia and
labor and industry, and will involve
not less than five constitutional
.amendments. That is certainly a big
‘ undertaking.
ample, it is confidently claimed that :
i
vast amounts of money will be saved. |
But on the other hand they will in- |
MARCH 16. 1923.
I
|
en from river beds. A proposition to | row Wilson are in his class and
tax bituminous coal was defeated two , though the times he occupied the of-
years ago by the wealthy operators in | fice afforded less opportunity for
that industry and Joe Grundy has achievement, the history of his two
been able to prevent a levy on manu- | administrations will shine radiantly in
facturers for years through an agree- | the archives of the country. If hehad
ment with the Republican machine. A done nothing else his bold defiance of
tax on coal and sand taken from the ' Great Britain in the Venezuela bound-
river beds would simply add to the aries crisis would establish him
burdens, already too heavy, on pover- | among the courageous and forceful
ty. The tax on anthracite coal has | Presidents. But his courage was
practically made “river coal” the fuel equally well shown in his attitude on
of the poor in the eastern part of the the currency in question and upon the
State and a tax on bituminous coal . tariff issue soon after his second in-
would affect the same class of consum- | auguration. And events have proved
ers in the west. that he was as wise as he was cour-
In view of the facts the solution of | ageous. -—
the problem lies in a tax on manufac- A writer in an esteemed contempor-
tures. It may be only a temporary ex- : ary expresses surprise that the
pedient. That is to say, it is possi- , movement to honor his memory orig-
ble that curtailment of expenses and inated in Illinois rather than in New
intelligent use of present resources ' Jersey, and that the moticn was made
will work out a balancing of the books by a Republican rather than a Dem-
in a few years. But payment of ob- ocrat. There seems to us no incon-
ligations cannot be postponed and in- : gruity in this. The memory of Gro-
creased revenue is necessary to ver Cleveland belongs to the nation,
prompt payment. Nobody wants to for he served all the people with fidel-
take a backward step in educational ity as he understood it. In office he
facilities. The highest standard must knew no partisanship. In patriotism
be maintained. But'it is about time he knew no sectionalism. It was
that ‘the burden of maintenance be therefore fit that the nt should
‘able to pay be"reduired to contribute tion from a Repu ongressmarn.
their share. ~ Taxing coal of any kind But it is up to the Democrats in Con-
is not leading to that result.
ried out. That will be a work for the
er 1t {5 tobe hoped that Uncle Sr y-sightll Congress.
Joe Cannon will not be persuaded to
write a book. There is nothing that as We
he could put in the book that would old Tut has been sealed in his tomb
be of value to the public and the oth- 2gain. He must have smelled musty.
er kind of books are boring. |
Juggling Presidential Patronage.
is? |
Can He be Saved from the Racks? { The influence which converted Al-
The Legislature has been in session exander Moore, of Pittsburgh, into an
more than twelve weeks and little if ; Ambassador has been revealed. Hun-
gress to see that the purpose is car- |
any legislation has been enacted. Al-
ready some of the Members are organ-
izing to bring about adjournment on
April 26th, little more than a month
from this date.
Impatience, dissatisfaction and
signs of revolt are on all sides so that
the State need not be surprised should
there be a real explosion at Harris-
burg, any moment. We have been de-
ceived. We had been under the im-
pression that the Governor had. the
situation better in hand than the
symptoms of the last few weeks re-
veal. About all that he really has ac- |
complished of his promising program
is to get his enforcement bill through
the Senate finally on Tuesday, but
‘gry Hi, Johnson, Senator in Congress
vide for commissions and officials to
administer them. Of course stress is
placed on the matter of enforcement
of the prohibition laws. Three new
bills relate to this service and cover
control of traffic in ethal alcohol, the,
manufacture of cereal beverages and
a return of a portion of the liquor li-
cences already paid. Naturally it will
be necessary to appoint officers to per-
form these services and this official
patronage will be under the control
of the Governor. :
The Legislature has been in session
more than twelve weeks and little has
been accomplished beyond the payment
of the expenses of the inauguration.
It is said that the tardiness is due
largely to the fact that the “code” is
to be the centre of activities and the
“code” was delayed. - But if it takes
twelve weeks to enact the meagre
grist of legislation already ground out
it will take twelve times twelve weeks
to get the code in active operation
{and the Legislators are not likely to
; submit to a program which requires
so much time and expense. Possibly
the Governor will be able to solve the
e has set but it looks to the
Server, as. a. .;
eo
sition,
|
|
{ ——Springtime is just naturally
the season of the year when every-
: thing looks its worst, but this year
: ‘ Bellefonte looks worse than usual. | wars, ¢
——It’s probably just as well that But this is not the fault of property
owners but because of the fact that
, Bellefonters have been compelled to
burn so much more bituminous coal
| during the long winter than ever be-
fore. Now that the deep covering of
snow has melted every yard and plot
of ground in Bellefonte is covered
. with soot and dirt. A few hard, dash-
ing rains like that of early Monday
volve increased expenses, for they pro- | Pekin government actually 5
j cities and made i
i
for California, is responsible for that morning will do a lot to clean up the
marvelous achievement. Alex. had, ground but only a strenuous clean up
been good to Hiram in the past and the ; campaign after the weather has set-
appointment came as a recompense | tled will give Bellefonte the tidy and
for services in the convention which | neat appearance that has always at-
nominated Mr. Harding for President. | tracted the attention of visitors in the
It would hardly be accurate to say i Past few years. i
that Mr. Harding is using the patron- |
age of the office to reward those who| ——Now that most of the snow has
worked against him. He isn’t built gone and the wheat fields uncovered
quite that way. © But he is doing ' farmers are well pleased with the way
something for one who may be a can- { the crop came through the winter;
didate against him the next time in | fruit authorities aver that all kinds of
order to impair the strength of anoth- | fruit trees came through the winter
er who might be a more formidable in fine shape and the continued cool
foe. weather will likely keep the buds back |
Senator Johnson, of California, is, until all danger of freezing is past, so
that was done only at the sacrifice of the only pure, 100 per cent. blown-in-
two of its really vital clauses. The the bottle, residuary legatee of the
bill will still have to fight its way ' political estate of the late Colonel
through the House and it might be Roosevelt. But even with that advan-
there rendered still more impotent. | tage he is not a very dangerous an-
The Legislature adjourned immedi- | tagonist in the Republican presiden-
ately after the fight on the enforce- | tian convention. Recently a claimant
ment bill and will not reconvene un- to the estate has made his apearance
that all indications up to this time are
for a good crop of fruit. Thus the
props are knocked from under the
alarmist and we are constrained to
wonder what calamity he will be able
to conjure up for the immediate fu-
ture.
til next week. Time is flying and no- |
body’s getting anywhere at Harris-
burg. The budget is so balled up that
it may never be whipped into shape to
present to this session. The school
appropriations are more of a puzzle
than they were before Dr. King began
arranging for them and then comes
the embarrassing situation of seeing
the Governor white-wash Dr. Finegan
after his early intimations that the
Superintendent of Public Instruction
would not be reappointed upon the ex-
piration of his term.
The mess at Harrisburg is not get-
ting rottener, but certainly many of
us view it as messier than before the
Governor began to clean up.
We hope the situation will not de-
velop the gloomy aspect it has right
now. Honestly we would like to see
the Governor succeed, but he’s head-
ed for the rocks and only a miracle
can save him from the humiliation of
having to acknowledge that all of his
promises and predictions were words,
mere words.
y
—After all the ship subsidy bill
might be resurrected. It’s no deader
than King Tut. :
~——DRepublican chairman Harry Ba-
ker is now doing excellent team work
with Pinchot.
in the person of Governor Pinchot, of
Pennsylvania, who not only claims to
be the most faithful follower of the
Colonel but tries to imitate him in
every action. Naturally Harding
would like to eliminate Pinchot and
imagined that tying Johnson up with
leading Roosevelt worshippers in
Pennsylvania would achieve the result.
It is not an altogether wild fancy at
that.
Among the ardent supporters of
Roosevelt in Pennsylvania few were
more earnest and liberal than Alex.
Moore. In the contest for the nomi-
nation for Governor none labored
more assiduously than Mr. Moore.
Presumably in measuring his strength
as a candidate for the presidential
nomination the Governor counted con-
fidently upon Mr. Moore. But Hard-
ing has thrown a wrench into the ma- |
chinery which may ' be expected to
alienate Moore from Pinchot and make
his attitude uncertain as between
Johnson and Harding. As a matter
of fact it won’t make much difference
{ who Moore favors. The death of his
. wife removed his most valuable asset
in .politics and the'sale of his news-
| paper left him ‘without force.
A—————————e—————
——Tt appears that Hiram Johnson,
of California, is the dispenser of pa-
| tronage for Pennsylvania.
——There is no just reason to kick
about the income tax. Only those
who acquire have to pay. The tax
levied upon those unable to pay is the
tax that is unjust.
em ————— ————————
—The more the weeks stretch out
the more fearful are we becoming that
Governor Pinchot is going to mess
things up a lot before he gets “the
mess” cleaned up.
A cabinet meeting at which
most of those present refuse to speak
| to each other must be interesting to
Yong gentleman at the head of the ta-
{ ble.
| ——1It’s all right to look after the
congressional lame ducks but there are
other varieties, and Lasker is likely
to be out of a job in the near future.
——Senator Vare threatens to leave
ithe Senate and return to Congress.
| That’s what the State Senate gets for
lacking the appreciative spirit.
——1It is rather unkind of Poncaire
to quote Bismarck against the com-
plaints of Germany but everything is
fair in war.
~—Subscribe for the “Watchman.”
China’s Status.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Secretary Hughes’ note and Minis-
ter Schurman’s speech are calculated
to disturb the self-satisfaction of the
Chinese which was copiously fed at
the Washington conference.
China went to the conference dress-
ed in Occidental clothes and announc-
ing proudly, “Me allee samee ’Melican
man.” And the conference pretty
much took the Chinese delegates at
their own valuation. Of course, the
Japanese knew better, but they were
willing to go far to cultivate the most
amicable relations with the Oceiden-
tal world, and they were not disposed
to quarrel over China. Besides, they
had already sucked the Chinese orange
pretty dry. ! the
_ The one thing China was best en-
titled to it got the least of; that was
There is positive merit in some of | the right to fix its tariff duties wher-
the features of the “code.” For ex- | ever it liked. The United S
with
oined
ng this
ng only
ford the
I per cent.
instead of nominally 5 per cent. sub-
ject, to certain offsets. ine a Re-
publican Administration denying to
duties of 50 to 100 per cent., .
the European nations in denyin
right to China and cone
such slight change as would
: China the right to collect more than
5 per cent. on imports!
Minister Schurman said: “The
Chinese customs have been increased
to an effective 5 per cent. ad valorem,
foreign postoffices have been with-
drawn and Shantung has been return-
ed to China. There has been no pro- |
gress in regard to the withdrawal of
extra-territoriality owing to China’s
own request for delay.” China in
Washington demanded what the Turks
demanded in Lausanne, unqualified
sovereignty. But the existing situa-
tion did not . justify it. There was
another Chinese government in
Shanghai and a third in the extreme
west which did not come much into
Sontett 3 with ths Ooty; The Chi-
nese army was hard to distinguish
from bandits, the finances neni a
hopeless condition, and the Courts in-
competent, or corrupt, or both.
Our Minister said that, “After 12
months we may inquire what progress
China has made in devel g and
maintaining an effective and stable
government,” and he set Forth the ans-
wer as follows: re
Hosts of young men. are take
5 :
bandit class. Under the present militar
situation irresponsible aa nr
ers with personal armies, described as"
manufacturers of bandits and banditry,
have steadily increased in China in recent
vears, reaching since last year alarming
proportions. Since the Washington con-
ference we have JVvituessed four civil
Not only did they (the western nations)
put no obstacle in China’s way, but they
smoothed the path. What since then has
China done to develop and maintain such
a government? That question I do not
undertake to answer, but I can point out
that any government is effective in propor-
tion, firstly, as it can command the obe-
dienes of Hs Subjects, and, secondly. as it
an compe! e regular payme
taxes levied. 2 PAYOR 9 fhe
China had no claim to Shantung,
which it had leased from Germany,
and Germany had lost in the world
war. And China never made any ef-
fort to get Shantung; it waited for the
Allies to make a present of it. And
China is making no visible effort to
maintain an efficient, modern govern-
ment. It is again relying on the west-
ern nations to do its work for it and
then deliver to it the proceeds.
—————— Gr ———
Austria—An Example.
From the New York World.
Th Austrian government loan has
been twice over-subscribed in the Lon-
don financial market. A year ago this
would have seemed ‘a miracle. For
Austria was considered the most com-
plete ruin in Europe. The Austrian
currency, next to the Russian, was the
worst in the world, and Austria, unlike
Russia, had no great natural wealth
to insure its ultimate recovery.
How has it happened, then, that
Austria’s credit is reviving? It has
happened because Austria became so
hopeless het ihe Politiglans gave it
an ed it over to the Le
Nations for burial. ogee
be one of the stakes of diplomacy and
became subject to the rule of reason.
The League supplied the reason, de-
vised a plan which was voluntarily
accepted by the Austrian people, and
Austria is soundly started on the road
to recovery.
Austria demonstrates most vividly
that even the most hopeless of Eu-
ropean problems is not hopeless, pro-
vided the governments of the great
Powers are willing to have them solv-
ed. The German reparation problem,
for example, is larger, but intrinsically
not nearly so difficult as was the Aus-
trian question. If the same desire to
solve it existed that has at last been
shown toward Austria, Europe asa
whole would be on the way to recov-
ery. For Europe is suffering not from
lack of knowledge, but from the lack
of will.
Austria ceased to
Let Germany Try.
From the Kansas City Times.
Mr. Lloyd George wants the United
States to intervene in the Ruhr. Be-
fore the United States does this, why
wouldn’t it be a good thing to let Ger-
many see what she can do? Ger-
many would tax her wealthy indus-
trialists and landowners and pay some
real reparations to reconstruct the
devastated district in France, she
might be able to settle her troubles
herself.
eo
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Sunbury business men pledged $50,000
for a community discount bank to make
small loans.
—Alexander Kollie, of Gilherton, was
sent to jail for one year by Judge Bech-
| tel for stealing $50. 4
—The commissioners and directors of
the poor will establish a juvenile detention
home at Chambersburg.
—Falling from his train at Williams-
burg, Otha V. Houp, a Pennsylvania Rail-
road brakeman, lost both legs . and his
right hand.
—When knocked from his automobile by
a Lackawanna engine A. D. Bower, of Sun-
bury, struck the pilot and was hurled back -
to his seat again.
—Because she deserted her husband prior
to his death, Catherine Mann, of Wilkes-
Barre, loses $500 death benefits from a local
lodge of the Junior Mechanics, according
to a decision handed down by Judge
Jones in the Luzerne county court last
week,
—Mrs. William H, Behney died at the
Geisinger Memorial hospital at Danville of
burns she suffered when her dress caught
fire at a gas stove at her home in Sunbury.
Elmer E. Oberdorf, at the risk of his own
life, tore the burning clothes from the
woman.
—Tony Capello, the Lock Haven youth
who was recently acquitted of a murder
charge that grew out of the death of Eliz-
abeth Harley, while on an automobile trip
with Capello, has been arrested again on
a charge of beguiling the girl for immoral
purposes and is now held under $1000 bail.
—“We had no trouble, he just got tired
and left,” Mrs. Mary E. Sensening, of Safe
Harbor, told the court at Lancaster on
Saturday in pressing her suit for divorce.
Sensening deserted the farm on which he
and his wife lived two years ago. The
plain statement of fact, coupled with the:
proof that desertion had continued two
years, won her a decree.
—When Policeman Stewart, of Colum"
bia, Pa., shot a dog that had been injured
by an automobile, the bullet passed"
through its body, hit the pavement, glanc-,
ed fifty feet and struck Miss Emma Bitt-
ner, who was passing, between the should-
ders. It did not pierce her heavy coat, but
she wis knocked down. She picked up the
bullet and is keeping it as a souvenir. :
—Five years ago, Jacob Carl, of Cata-
wissa, a Civil war veteran, believing he
was about to die, went to his bank, divid-
ed his securities into ten bundles, each
containing approximately $800, and wrote
the name of each of his children on a bun-
dle. But his death did mot come at that
time, as he died only last week, and his
will, when probated, instructed the distri-
bution of his estate as arranged at that
time.
—Charged with having held the hand of
her step-child in boiling water until the.
flesh dropped away from the bone, Mrs.
Mary Kruger was arraigned at Harrisburg
last Friday and held under $500 bail. Mrs.
Kruger was punishing her 9-year-old step-
son, Elmer Kruger, for buying two pickles
at a grocery and charging them to the
family account. A doctor is trying to save
the forearm, which it is feared may have
to be amputated.
—Again the American flapper has been
+ | called, to task. This time she is openly
charged with forcing ‘the Relda Ribbon
company’s mill, at Doylestown, to close
down by bobbing her hair and discarding
ribbons. Forty employees will be idle and
a weekly payroll of $1000 is lost to Doyles
town. ® Harry Bitzer, superintendent of the
mill, in speaking of the shut-down said:
“There is no financial difficulty and our
discontinuance is due simply to the lack
of a market for silk ribbon used for hair,
hats and dresses.”
—A wife is bound by her post nuptial
agreements. That, in effect, is the ruling
of Judge Thomas J. Baldridge, of Blair
county, in the case of Robert W. McIn-
tyre, of Duncansville, against his wife.
They were married November 25, 1920, and
McIntyre made her a half-owner of his
property. March 30, 1921, he gave her $400
to pay off a mortgage on the realty. “She
went to Crafton and has since refused tq
live with him, according ta the statement
in the court reeords. The court decided
that she must repay the $400 and transfer
her interest in the property ta the hus<
band. ? 3 as
—E. M. Bendit, formerly employed as &
traveling auditor in the income tax unit of
the bureau of internal revenue, was arrest-
ed in Pittsburgh last week, charged with
making a false income tax return. Bendif,
according to special agents of the treasury
department, examined the income tax’ re-
turn of a coal company, and then entered
into a verbal contract with the company *
to enter its employ at a salary of $6000 a
year for three years, the period of serviee
to begin after the tax on the return he was
examining had been settled. Acceptance of
the money from a taxpayer whose return
he examined was irregular, the agents
charged. Bendit, it was further alleged, ’
failed to include the $6000 in his income
tax return.
—Detected in an effort to rob a house
in the Eighth ward, Johnstown, shortly
before twelve o'clock Saturday night, John
Dreher, of Moxham, lately of Williamsport, :
16 years of age, jumped 35 feet from a roof,
escaping injury, and then led the officers
on a chase to Stony creek, into which he
waded until the water came to his armpits.
There he stood for an hour in the dark-
ness until the officers, who fired wild shots
in an attempt to frighten him into surren-
dering, threatened to shoot to kill and the
lad, numb from the cold, gave himself up.
He admits one previous burglary and is
believed to be a member of the gang who
have been pulling off systematic robberies *
of homes in Johnstown every Saturday
night for the last seven weeks. .
—Emanuel Silva, of Philadelphia, “on /
Sunday beat his wife and her mother, Mrs.
Mary Rames, to death with a mallet, in ,
the cellar of his home and when the, po-
lice arrived tried to take his own life.by
firing two pistol shots into his head, 'in-
flicting dangerous wounds. His 14-year-
old daughter escaped by breaking away
from her father and leaping from a second- '
story window. A hole three feet deep anid
six feet long was found in the cellar ‘and
the police expressed the belief that: Silva
planned to kill his whole family, bury them
in the cellar and flee the country. He, re-
cently had sold his home and had drawn
all his money from the bank on Saturday,
the authorities said. The daughter, an
only child, said that her father hdd 'finish-
ed digging the hole in the cellar Friday '
night. She could assign no reason for hig
actions.