Dewi
INK SLINGS.
—Apparently Mabel Normand has
gone to join the society of the un-
screened, which “Fatty” Arbuckle
founded a few years ago.
—Last month we might well have
sung “December’s as Pleasant as
May.” Thus far January is bidding
hard to start us composin’ something
that would get it into the June class.
—The New York girl who sold her
forty million dollars to a foreign for-
tune hound, thinking she was to be-
come a Princess, will have to be sat-
jsfied with a less high sounding
though none the less empty title. It
has been discovered that Salm isn’t a
Prince at all. He is only a baron and
a very impecunious one at that.
—We know Mrs. Barclay Warbur-
ton by sight only, and there may be
those who will question our compe-
tency to express an opinion as to her
charms, but the manner in which she
causes chairman Harry Baker and
Senators Pepper and Reed to change
their minds, on occasion, rather justi-
fies our belief that she is a woman of
very winning ways.
—Spring creek got on a rampage
on Wednesday and for a while it look-
ed like our press rooms were in for a
bath. The water rose at the rate of
about a foot an hour for a while in
the early afternoon and we felt about
as miserable and helpless as when as
a kid we knew the terrible ordeal of
having our neck and ears washed was
impending. The flood reached its
peak, however, at twelve o’clock, when
about four inches over our floor, and
then the menace to the prompt arri-
val of this visitor to your home be-
gan to subside slowly.
—A story is going the rounds to
the effect that former Congressman
Evan Jones, of Bradford, would like
to go back to Washington and is con-
sidering entering the primaries
against the Hon. William I. Swoope
for the Republican nomination. While
Mr. Swoope hasn’t yet set the halls of
Congress ringing with one of his rose
painting flights of oratory we don’t
recall that the Hon. Jones ever did
anything during his two terms that
might be recalled to flim-flam Repub-
licans into giving him a third term by
choking Billy off with one.
—General Dawes talked with char-
acteristic candor to the foreign ex-
perts with whom he is sitting in Par-
is to diagnose the European financial
disease. Ever since the General
shocked the country with his rather
inelegant but certainly understanda-
ble answers to a congressional inves-
tigating committee that was quizzing
him he has appeared an interesting
character to red blooded, two fisted,
he men. They were expecting more
from him in his first Paris speech, but
it is probable that’ Dawes is saving
his hot stuff for later crises when it
may have more startling effect.
—The president of the Republican
women’s clubs of Pennsylvania has
telegraphed Senator Reed that Mrs.
Warburton isn’t the big cheese, at
least among her Republican sisters in
Philadelphia and that there are oth-
ers who want to have a say as to who
shall be the woman to go to Cleveland
as a National delegate. Pity the poor
political leader of today. All of them
know that it was hard enough to keep
everybody pleased when there were
none but men to squabble over places,
but now that the women have come in
for a share of the spoils their efforts
secure it’s going to take more palaver
and “bull” than was ever called into
use before.
—The next Democratic National
convention will be held in New York.
We Democrats are proverbially poor
and Gotham offered to do most by
way of relieving that embarrassment;
so there you are. As it will not be an
expensive trip for delegates from this
section it is reasonable to expect more
looking toward that honor than would
have been the case had the conven-
tion got back to San Francisco, Chi-
cago or St. Louis. By way of sugges-
tion to the Democrats of this District
we want to say that they could have
no more creditable representative in
the convention nor confer the honor
on a more deserving party man than
Dr. F. K, White, of Philipsburg, if he
could be persuaded to become a can-
didate.
—The average radio fan is almost
an exact replica of the owners of the
first automobiles. We recall many in-
vitations to what had been anticipat-
ed as delightful rides that in reality
turned out to be afternoons wasted
on the roadside while our host tinker-
ed with the carburetor, the ignition
or the timer. When the car was
working at ity best he would have to
stop to see why it was hitting so reg-
ularly and tinker a bit more. We
have been invited to several radio
evenings and anticipated picking up
something good from somewhere, but
every time our host got us tuned in
right he commenced working the dials
and left us to listen to a bedlam of
cats yowling and winds shrieking
while he groped around in the ether
for PDQ, SRO, SOS or any other old
station he could get in tune with. We
were in and out everywhere. One
moment hearing Dowie’s band in Zion,
the next Prof. So and So talking on
child welfare down in Columbia, Mo.,
and the next jazz in Atlanta, Ga. We
were in the air for more than an hour
and all the satisfaction we got was
the beaming face of our entertainer
as he announced that it was his best
night’s work: He had gotten fifteen
stations in one evening, and we had!
nothing.
Gr
Say.
CUNT
VOL. 69.
Revolt or Reconciliation, Which?
Governor Pinchot has announced
his candidacy for the honorary office
of delegate-at-large to the Cleveland
National convention, but it is not cer-
tain whether it represents a declara-
tion of war on the machine or a tok-
en of reconciliation. As has previous- |
ly been stated in these columns, a
place has been reserved on the slate
for the Governor on conditions. That
is he and his friends have been assur-
ed that he will be chosen for the cov-
eted honor “if he will agree to go
along with the leaders.” In announc-
ing his candidacy, therefore, he may
be accepting the conditions, thus
avoiding a bitter and expensive fight.
It is fairly certain that the “party
leaders” would prefer to put that con-
struction on the event.
But on the other hand the Gover-
nor may mean that he will be a candi- |
date for the office in spite of the lead-
ers. That is the attitude he assumed
when he aspired to the nomination of
has party for the office of Governor
two years ago, and he won out,
though at an enormous cost to him-
self and his family. Mr. Pinchot has
strong faith in himself. He believes
that he is a real reformer and that
the people of the State are in accord |
with him in that opinion and highly
appreciate his work. It may safely
be added that he prefers independ-
ence of, rather than servility to, the
machine. But he is ambitious and a
defeat of his present aspirations
would work complete consignment to :
obscurity. It is life or death.
Two years ago Mr. Pinchot beat the
machine at its own game because he
completely fooled the managers of the
opposition. He spent money as free-
ly as a drunken sailor but obscured
the operation in such secrecy that it
was not suspected. If it had been
known that he was buying the favor
he would probably have been outbid.
Posing as a political purist, however,
he was practically without competi-
tion in the vote market and scored
heavily. That is not likely to occur
again. Lightning seldom strikes
twice in the same place and the re-
sources of the machine are quite as
ample as those of the Pinchot family.
In the next fight between the same
forces there will be less pussy-footing
and more hard hitting.
Within the next few days the at- |
mosphere will be cleared and the facts
developed. There are signs of other
troubles in the ranks and insurgen-
cies impending and in the event that
they grow sufficiently to menace the
machine Governor Pinchot might
make up his mind to lead the revolt.
He has the inclination if he had the!
moral courage to become a crusader.
‘But he is cherishing an ambition for
future honors and is not likely to take |
a step that would destroy his hopes.
He is outclassed in political exper-
ience and intellectual force by any one
of half a dozen of the machine lead-
ers, but it may be doubted if he is
equaled in caution. In any event it
is an interesting situation well worth
watching.
— The big dirigible, Shenando-
ah, broke from its moorings at Lake-
hurst, Long Island, on Wednesday
evening as the result of a seventy-two
mile gale and was adrift for eight
hours. One report had it drifting
west but this was a mistake, as it got
no further away from its base than
BELL
' sels on the matter until the question
Newark, N. J. In breaking loose from
its moorings the nose of the ship was
torn away and one of the experts on
board hurriedly emptied the water |
tanks in the other end of the big ship
which enabled it to attain an even
keel, then turned it tail to the wind
and simply rode out the storm. When
the wind subsided the ship made its
way back to Lakehurst where it was
again moored at three o’clock yester-
day morning. The only damage was
the destruction of the nose of the ship
when it broke its moorings.
—1It isn’t the fact that Governor
Pinchot has decided to go to Cleve-
land that is worrying the Republican
organization in this State. It is
what he might undertake to do after
he gets there that is causing them
the sleepless nights.
—— After all the adage, “when
rogues fall out, honest men come by
their own,” may not have had any-
thing to do with the existing Ku Klux
quarrel
a ——— A ———————————
——General Dawes has made his
first speech to the Reparations Com-
mission and singularly enough he
used no “swear words.”
A ——— A ———————————
——Hearings on the Mellon tax bill
have begun in Washington and it is
a safe guess that most of those heard
will favor the bill.
——Secretary Mellon’s heart bleeds
for the poor millionaires mainly be-
cause he is among the foremost in
that group.
——If it isn’t in the “Watchman”
this week it isn’t true.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
EFONTE, PA., JANUARY 18. 1924.
NO. 3.
Chairman Baker Greatly Surprised.
i
Mrs. Barclay Warburton, of Phila- |
delphia, presented chairman W. Har-|
ry Baker and his colleagues in the
management of the Republican ma- |
chine of Pennsylvania, the surprise of |
their lives, the other day.- Mrs. War- |
burton has been a source of some anx- |
iety to the managers for some time.
A few years ago Mrs. Warburton was |
made vice chairman of the Republican |
State committee. She is a daughter |
of the late John Wanamaker and |
probably a liberal contributor to the |
slush fund. But she disappointed
those who bestowed the favor on her
by supporting Mr. Pinchot for the
nomination for Governor, and in some
other ways, and the managers have
been secretly trying to get rid of her
ever since.
This fact has not escaped her atten-
tion, though she kept her own coun-
of slating delegates-at-large to the
National convention came up. Mrs.
Warburton demanded that a woman
be placed on the list and the managers
paid no attention to her demand. In
resentment of this slight she assem-
bled a number of the leading Republi-
can women workers and told them her
troubles and disappointments, wind-
ing up with the declaration that be-
cause the managers were opposed to
her re-election as vice chairman and
their unwillingness to slate a woman
for the convention seat, she would
not be a candidate for any office. This
aroused the women, including Mrs.
Pinchot, and they sent a committee to
chairman Baker to express their pro-
test.
Of course Mr. Baker was surprised
and amazed that any one should think
that he is opposed to Mrs. Warburton
for the vice chairmanship, or that it
could be imagined that the list of del-
egates-at-large would be without a
woman member. Mr. Baker is the
most gallant and courteous of men
and lays awake nights thinking out
plans to honor the women workers of |
his party. It is true that his list is
made up, all except the place left for
Pinchot, “if he will be good,” is com-
pleted. But he assured Mrs. Warbur-
ton and her sister complainants that
it has been the settled purpose all
along to put Mrs. Warburton or some |
other woman on the list. The state-
ment is not consistent with the facts,
but no matter.
——The approved plan for the Bok
prize is probably not the best that
could have been made, but according
to the judges is the best that was
made, and as it is disapproved by the
bitter enders ought to be favored by
all others.
Moral Improvement in Philadelphia.
The marvelous progress which the
new Mayor of Philadelphia and his
imported Director of Public Safety
has made in “cleaning up” that “cor-
rupt and contented” city, must be
gratifying to every right-minded cit-
izen of Pennsylvania. A great many
saloons have been closed up for vio-
lating the Volstead law, the number
of murders and Dbanditries have
greatly diminished and vice and crime
almost eliminated. During the week-
end, a period so prolific of crime,
scarcely an arrest was made and,
greatest achievement of all, nearly all
the crooks and thugs on the police
force have been removed or demoted.
Philadelphia’s crime record has
been a blot upon the escutcheon of
Pennsylvania for many years. The
haunts of vice have been under the
protection, rather than the condemna-
tion, of the police and the gravest
crimes were perpetrated with immu-
nity for the reason that however no-
torious the offender political influence
and agencies were able to guarantee
him freedom from punishment. The
last Mayor, Mr. Hampton Moore,
made an earnest effort to correct
some of the evils but the councils, un-
der the control of the machine, antag-
onized him at every point and made
his efforts futile. The chances are
that as soon as Mayor Kendrick an-
tagonizes the “gang” his work for re-
form will end.
But the people of Pennsylvania
would have greater reason to rejoice
if the reform energies of the city gov-
ernment were directed in the right
channel. Philadelphia has been bad
in every variety of crime but the
worst feature of its criminal record
lies in the corruption of the ballot.
From one to two hundred thousand
fraudulent votes are cast in that city
at every election and the necessity to
protect the perpetrators - of those
crimes from punishment is the princi-
pal cause of all the crimes committed
in the city. If the new Mayor will
turn his attention to prosecuting bal-
lot crooks he will have solved the
problem.
——Some fellow fond of figures has
discovered that more money is spent
for chewing gum than for books in
this country. But he hasn’t the cour-
age to ascribe the fact to the suffrage
amendment.
Mr. Mellon’s Tire Punctured.
The Senator from Michigan, Mr.
Couzens, formerly an automobile
builder, was a fit instrument to punc-
ture the tire of Secretary of the
Treasury Mellon. Mr. Couzens is a
Republican and a multi-millionaire.
He knows all about paying income
taxes. Within the last ten years he
has paid $8,223,679 tax on income,
nearly all of which was surtax. If
the proposed Mellon tax law had been
in force during that time he would
have saved $4,000,000 of the amount,
quite a fortune. Senator Couzens has
challenged Secretary Mellon to de-
bate the question in the open. He
believes that he can prove the fallacy
of Mr. Mellon’s theory that the tax
rate on big incomes is crippling the
industrial life of the country.
Mr. Mellon contends that the tax
rate on big incomes forces capital to
accept tax-free securities of less pro-
ductive power, thus robbing industrial
enterprise of an essential element.
Senator Couzens declares upon the ev-
idence of his own experience and ex-
ample, that rich men invest in tax-
free securities, “for the purpose of
avoiding business cares and risks.”
As corroborative evidence he shows
that there are only $11,000,000,000 in
tax-free securities on the market
whereas there are $125,000,000,000
taxable securities available to invest-
ors and that bankers say “there is no
shortage of funds to capitalize indus-
trial enterprises.” Smaller investors
are always ready to accept the care
and risk of business.
Congressman Tague, of Texas, a
member of the House committee on
Ways and Means, estimates that the
adoption of the Mellon bill by Con-
gress would save Mr. Mellon $2,000,-
000 a year in income tax. That is,
the able Secretary’s tax bill would be
decreased that vast amount annually
by the decrease on big incomes as
proposed in his bill. It would require
an increase in the taxes of ten or
twenty million smaller tax bills to
reimburse the government for this
loss of revenue. . But it reveals the
real reason for Mr. Mellon’s anxiety
to translate the bill into law. It
makes equally clear the duty of Con-
gress to substitute the Democratic
ill, which is framed in the interest of
taxables least able to pay.
Former Secretary Fall has
been caught in one lie in connection
with the Teapot Dome transaction
and the investigation is not finished.
Confession of Imbecility.
The election of Senator Smith, of
South Carolina, to the important of-
fice of chairman of the Senate com-
mittee on Interstate Commerce was a
real surprise. That corporate influ-
ence would prevent the elevation of
Senator LaFollette, ranking Republi-
can on the committee, to the chair-
manship, was certain from the begin-
ning. That Senator Cummins would
not be permitted to hold the chair-
manship of that committee and the
presidency pro tem. of the body at the
same time, has been equally obvious.
But it was fully expected that some
arrangement would be made that
would result in the selection of a
chairman who would satisfy the cor-
porations and preserve the ascenden-
cy of the Republicans. :
If Senator Smith were a servile
agent of the corporations his election,
notwithstanding his well defined po-
litical faith, could be understood. The
Republican majority in the Senate, in
that event, might have made his elec-
tion a useful party expedient. Cer-
tain legislation is contemplated that
will be sharply resented by popular
opinion and a Democratic committee
chairman would have served the pur-
pose of a “goat” admirably. But
Senator Smith is not that type of a
Democrat. He believes in the real
gospel of the party and can neither
be fooled, frightened nor bribed into
a betrayal of his party and Senator-
ial obligations. That is why his elec-
tion is the big surprise of this ses-
sion of Congress.
As it is now the election of Sena-
tor Smith to the chairmanship of the
Interstate Commerce committee is a
public and official acknowledgment
that the Republican leadership in
Congress is utterly and irretrievably
incompetent. With a clear majority
of seven there is not sufficient cohe-
sion.to function as a party organiza-
tion and the proceedings are certain
to drift with the tide of contention in
whatever direction passion leads, It
is the most abject confession of imbe-
cility that has been revealed in Wash-
ington within a generation. As a
matter of fact it may be doubted .if
there has ever been a parallel case.
If Senator Penrose had been present
it would not have occurred.
em rer—————— es ———
——Japan is still shaking at inter-
vals but not because she is afraid of
any army or navy in the world.
A ——— A ——————————
——One good reason for encourag-
ing air service is that they have with-
drawn favor from the submarines.
Irrigation in New Mexico.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Former Secretary of the Interior
Fall leased the Teapot Dome naval oi
reserve to the H. F. Sinclair interests
| while he was still functioning as a
| member of President Harding’s Cabi-
! net, for which act Fall became the
subject of ugly criticism, followed by
an investigation by the Senate Lands
Committee. The inquiries of this
committee developed the facts that
Mr. Fall, previously believed to be
without financial resources, had be-
come affluent enough to arouse the cu-
riosity and perhaps the suspicions of
his New Mexican neighbors. Some of
them compared Fall’s change of con-
dition to a withered plant that has
been refreshed by copious watering.
But the unabashed Mr. Fall was
ready with a very plausible explana-
tion. He told the Senate committee
| that he was in funds because he has
procured a loan of $100,000 from Ed-
ward B. McLean, the millionaire
Washington newspaper publisher, It
was obvious that on funds furnished
: by McLean, as Fall testified, he could
| put up quite an impressive front after
| a long and lean period of unprofitable
| office-holding. Then Fall went South
' to Palm Beach, where McLean has a
magnificent villa. He found McLean
| already installed in his Florida home.
Fall had notified the Senate inves-
| tigators that he was too ill to appear
for further examination; McLean gave
‘the same excuse. Then the commit-
| tee voted to send Senator Walsh, of
| Montana, to interrogate McLean. On
{ Friday McLean testified that he
"agreed to make a loan of $100,000 to
Fall on his notes, and that he drew
two or three checks, totaling that
amount, payable to Fall’s order. But
within a few days Fall returned the
checks—unused—with the statement
that he had gotten his funds else-
where. The astute and resourceful
Walsh then went after Fall for fur-
ther explanation, and Fall conde
scends to corroborate McLean, there-
by contradicting his own testimony.
If millionaire McLean did not water
this dusty New Mexican plant, who
was it that performed the generous
act of irrigation?
In the Pan-Slavic Tide.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Recognition of the Bolshevist gov-
ernment of Russia is the bitter pill
governments of the Little Entente
nations are preparing to swallow: In
their conference at Belgrade the
statesmen of Czecho-Slovakia, Jugo-
slavia and Rumania are trying to
sugarcoat it as much as possible.
As misery loves company, the three
governments want to do the same
thing at the same time and in the
| same manner, lending each other mor-
al support through the ordeal.
Russia has brought a tremendous
economic and political pressure to
bear upon these three border nations.
One of them is a republic founded
upon conservative lines; the other
two are monarchies. All of them have
to put up with a heavy bombardment
of revolutionary propaganda from
Moscow, and they can get no assur-
ance that it will cease even if they
knuckle under and accord political
recognition.
So much for the governments. The
peoples of these countries are pre-
dominantly of Slavic extraction; of
the 50,000,000 combined population,
37,000,000 are bound by ties of race
to the Russian people. This accounts
for the close sympathy they feel for
the great mother of all the Slavs, a
sympathy that does not take into ac-
count Bolshevist political institutions.
The crux of the matter is that the
governments of the Little Entente
are closely related to those of West-
ern Europe while the people are look-
ing toward the East. The issue is the
old one of Pan-Slavism. That the
government cannot avoid the recogni-
tion of the distasteful Russian regime
brings up the old problem: . Can
Western Europe resist the tide of
Pan Slavism ?
Distribution Again.
From the Pittsburgh Post.
As the case stands the farmer has
proved that his prices are too low and
the milling interests seem to show
through statistics of operation that
they are paid a minimum for the con-
version service. Yet a spread exists,
measured by 1% cents per pound the
farmer receives for his grain, and the
10 cents per pound paid by the con-
sumer for whole wheat flour. The
difference is accumulated between the
flouring mill and the consumer—in
the cost of distribution. And obvi-
ously a distribution which costs al-
most six times the charge of produc-
tion is too high. If the farmer suc-
ceeds in advancing the price of his
wheat he may be placing it on a level
where the ordinary consumer cannot
reach it with comfort. In that case
the wheat grower may be in worse fix
than at present.
rm — A ————
Something Wrong Somewhere.
From the Altoona Tribune.
Something is wrong somewhere.
One hundred and fifty farmers in Im-
bler, Oregon, sat down to a banquet
at a meeting there and the meal cost
them just sixteen cents each. Nearly
everything on the tables was the pro-
duct of the farm and the cost a plate
was computed at the price the far-
mer was paid for the products, plus
the labor cost of preparing the food.
The same: menu then was computed
at Portland @ restaurant prices and
amounted to $1.55 a plate.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
‘—While all the members of the Erie po-
lice force were in conference with Mayor J.
C. Williams, last Wednesday afternoon,
discussing law enforcement, two bandits
entered the Lincoln bunk, in the business
district of that city, held up the cashier
and three girl clerks, and escaped with
$2800.
—Mrs. James Silverthorne, aged 62
years, of Titusville, died in about half an
hour after being taken to the city hospital
last Thursday afternoon. When her cloth-
ing was removed nurses found in salt
bags sewed to the inside of her skirts
$6,617 in cash, Liberty bonds and bank se-
curities.
—Stabbed in the abdomen during a
street fight at Altoona, early on Monday,
Benedetto Laporte, a Pennsylvania Rail-
road workman, died four hours later in
the hospital. Alfonseo Damico and Domi-
nick Nagniso were arrested, and each ac-
| | cused the other of the crime, both being
held for trial for murder at the next regu-
lar term of court in Blair county.
—The Pennsylvania railroad on Tuesday
awarded to the Bethlehem Steel company
a contract for erection of two two-track
bridges over the Susquehanna river from
Sunbury to Packer’s Island and from the
Island to Northumberland. This will
make six tracks crossing the two branches
of the river to the yards there. The con-
tract price was said to be $1,600,000.
—While she was bidding Frank Kip-
horn, her lover, good-bye over the tele«
phone, Miriam Orr, aged 19, of Lancaster,
collapsed from the effects of poison tablets
which she took in an attempt to end her
life. Kiphorn notified the police who
went to the house, found the girl uncon-~
scious and a note addressed to her lover
on the table. In the note she denied alle-
gations which caused an argument be-
tween the two. Kiphorn is a baggage
agent at the Pennsylvania railroad sta-
tion in that city. :
—The rod was upheld as a necessary aid
to the cause of education when a jury that
tried Eugene Moyer, a school teacher of
Lehigh county, acquitted him on charges
of assault and battery, growing out of a
whipping that he was alleged to have in-
flicted upon two sons of Ray Geary, using
a razor strop. The outcome of the trial
hinged entirely on the ancient question
whether a teacher has a legal right to flog
pupils for breach of discipline. The jury
divided the costs between the teacher and
father of the boys.
—A record for speed in the disposition
of court trials was established at Lewis-
town, on Monday, when Walter Smith, a
Harrisburg negro, who was charged with
having held up and robbed a local grocer
on Saturday night of $44.35, was sentenced
to not less than two and not more than
four years in the western penitentiary.
Less than an hour and a half after he had
staged the hold-up, Smith was arrested as
he boarded a train at Miflin, by J. B. Ei-
senhart, of the Middle division police de-
partment. He was taken back to Lewis-
town in an automobile.
—Division and district engineers have
been ordered to remove immediately from
State Highway routes all signs or adver-
tising matter illegally placed within the
limits of the highways, Paul D. Wright,
secretary of highways, announced last Fri-
day. He pointed out that under the law
no advertising matter of any kind or di-
rection signs erected either by individuals,
an association or municipalities, may be
placed on a state highway route, and said
attention of the engineers had been called
to violations of law by candidates for of-
fice at the spring primaries.
—Mrs. Ray and her niece, of Mauch
Chunk, while on their way home from a
neighbors on Saturday night, were con-
fronted by a highwayman, who stepped in
iront of them and ordered them to stop.
Mrs. Ray, a powerful woman, did no such
thing as stop, but let her right arm swing
with all the effect of her strength, and
landed a crushing blow on the hold-up
man’s nose, which made him reel and beat
a hasty retreat. Mrs. Ray hit the high-
wayman so hard that she knocked several
of her knuckles out of joint, but other-
wise she was unscathed by the encounter.
—Registration of the Templer Motor
Car company, of Lakewood, Ohio, for the
sale of $2,500,000 worth of stock in Penn-
sylvania has been refused by the State se-
curities bureau. A syndicate of the officers
and directors of the Templar Motors com-
pany, which went into the hands of a re-
ceiver in October, 1922, has taken over the
affairs of the old concern and are now rep-
resented by M. F. Bramley, who was presi-
dent and general manager of the company ;
W. M. Pattison, who was vice president,
and Newton D. Baker, of Cleveland, the
Secretary of War under President Wilson.
—“That represents matrimonial content-:
ment,” George E. Diehl, business manager
of Penn Hall, explained to members of the
Rotary club, of Chambersburg, when he
drove up Lincoln way in his roadster. The
right hand sille of the body of the au-
tomobile is painted blue, while the left-
hand side is painted gray. The wheels are
done in bright red. Mr. Diehl further ex-
plained that his wife likes blue for an au-
to body color, while he prefers gray, and
as they like to go riding together, the col-
or problem was satisfactorily solved by
using two kinds of paint. But it does cause
the curious to ask many questions.
—The sum of $250 for information as to
her whereabouts has been offered by the
parents of Miss Verna Rhodes, a McVey-
town girl who mysteriously disappeared
on the night of December 22nd at Wer-
nersville, Berks county. Miss Rhodes for
the last five months had been a patient at
the Wernersville sanitorium, where she
was receiving treatment for nervous trou-
ble. The week before Christmas she de-
cided to go to McVeytown to spend the
holidays with her sister, Mrs. S. B. Kiner.
She was taken to the Wernesrville rail«
road station, where she bought a ticket for
Harrisburg and checked her baggage.
That was the last seen or heard of her.
—_Shot through the heart as he lay in
bed, Gabor Trott, 45 years old, was killed
instantly at Erie, last Friday, by one of
four bullets fired at close range. Police
arrested George T. Kocik, 35 years old, a
boarder, and the holding him for the slay-
ing. August Jonies, 56 years old, is being
held as a material witness. Kocik told po-
lice that he and Trott were quarreling
over money and that the latter had attack-
ed him with a knife when he shot. + This
is the second murder to occur in the same
house, while a boarder recently fell down
a pair of stairs and killed himself through
breaking his neck. Four men paid with
their lives in the electric chair at Rock-
view, for the killing of John Florain, dur-
ing’ an attempted robbery. The house is
known ‘by neighbors as the ‘black cat,”
because of its record for killings.