INK SLINGS.
—The days are growing very no-
ticeably longer.
—It may be recalled that former
Secretary Fall was appointed to the
Harding cabinet as one of the “great
minds of the country.”
— The death of Lenine, who was
more dictatorial than any Czar Rus-
sia ever had, may have been a Prov-
idential removal of one of the great-
est obstacles in the way of tranquility
in that distressed land.
—As for the public esteem for a
man who has been trying to do some-
thing worth while we would rather
have what will be given to Edward
W. Bok than what will fall to Sena-
tors Moses, Reed or Greene.
— Fred Beauvaus, the Indian guide,
who was named as corespondent by
James Stillman, the New York bank-
er, in his suit for divorce, has sued
Mrs. Stillman for pay for the time he
spent with her in the Grand Anse
country. Thus, Fred goes on record
to prove that there are such things
as Indian gifts.
— Councilman Hall and Mayor Ken-
drick, of Philadelphia, have joined
Mrs. Sinnamon in her claim that Mrs.
Barclay Warburton isn’t“ the only
one” whenit comes downto Republi-
can women in Pennsylvania. Hall and
Kendrick are very practical men.
They can use the woman who actual-
ly delivers the votes to far greater
advantage than the one who merely
makes speeches as to how they should
be delivered.
—Having been assured that he will
not have to fight his way to Cleve-
land the Governor has announced the
opening of his fight to have only men
who will pledge themselves to sup-
port his policies nominated for the
Legislature in the spring. Having
heard that Mayor Holmes, of State
College, is out on a no pledge, no
promise to any one platform we are
interested in developments. What
will the Governor’s friends in Centre
county do to Mr. Holmes?
— President Murphree, of the Uni-
versity of Florida, will be presented
to the coming Democratic National
convention by William Jennings Bry-
an, as his own pick for the presiden-
tial nomination. We observe, from
Dr. Murphree’s latest photograph,
that he wears a very conspicuous
scarf pin, so we are for him. Though
fashion for men relegated the scarf
pin to the pin cushion years ago we've
stuck to ours and comraderie in obso-
lescence, if nothing else, demands that
we support Murphree—until the next
edition at least.
—Al Munro Elias, writing for the
Williamsport Sun, says John Mont-
gomery Ward, our “Monte,” is one of
the six pitchers in professional base-
ball who have pitched perfect no-hit
games—that means that no player on
the opposing team reached first base.
Of course, to some of us, the story is
old, old stuff, but Mr. Elias has given
us some new with it. He says that
“Monte” was a regular Beau Brum-
mel or Shiek of the diamond and that
he wore “a big black mustache.”
Which makes us rise to say he didn’t.
Unless he dyed it and we don’t believe
Johnny ever did that.
—“Beat me if you can” was the defi
that Pinchot hurled at Mellon, Pep-
per, Reed, Baker, et al, last week,
after they had finally decided to leave
him off their slate for National dele-
gates. The Governor's public an-
nouncement that he intended to fight
his own way to Cleveland, without
paying the organization tribute for
the favor of going without a contest,
seems to have had its effect. On Mon-
day the organization announced that
it’s for Gif, committed or non-commit-
tal. Really, it’s amusin’, the way the
gang quakes when Mrs. Warburton or
the Governor start talking turkey.
—Mayor, realtor, notary public and
general legal factotum John Laird
Holmes, of State College, is willing to
jmmolate himself on an altar of
greater public service than that of
making greetings and handing the
keys of the “three mile limit” metrop-
olis of College township to visiting
hordes. He is willing to succeed the
Hon. Tom Beaver in the Legislature.
We understand that his platform is:
“Trust Me.” No pledges to any per-
son or for any cause. Only to repre-
sent the people of Centre county—
Republicans, Democrats, Prohibition-
ists, Socialists and political eunuchs,—
alike, without regard to race, creed,
color or previous condition of servi-
tude. Personally, we have a very
high regard for Mayor Holmes. Also,
personally, we have a very high re-
gard for our meal ticket. And be-
tween the two—the Mayor loses.
—The offer of the Republican mem-
bers of the House Ways and Means
committee to compromise with the
Democrats on the Mellon tax program
and frame a non-partisan measure, if
accepted, might have a far reaching
effect on the political fortunes of
President Coolidge. The Mellon bill
has been the hope of the Coolidge
boom. Under his administration Con-
gress has been a riot of discord and
disorganization, but it was hoped that
the stupendous Mellon propaganda
that has been carried on would befog
the public mind so that it would not
see the failure of everything else.
Now if that lack of leadership is
shown as so woeful that it must seek
compromise with the Democrats in or-
der to get any kind of a tax bill
through the House we are of the opin-
jon that the Republicans will gradual-
yy
NX
7H)
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 69.
BELLEFONTE, PA., JANUARY 25
Philadelphia contemporary makes the
prediction that a searching investiga-
tion of the Teapot Dome oil leases
will “place the country upon the
threshold of the greatest official
scandal that it has known since the
whiskey ring disclosures in the Grant
administration.” Ever since the res-
ignation of A. B. Fall, as Secretary
of the Interior, there has been gossip
concerning the leasing of the Teapot
Dome oil reserves in Wyoming to a
group of oil speculators headed by
one Harry Sinclair. But it has been
studiously and somewhat mysterious-
ly kept down. It has been revealed,
however, that both the Secretary of
the Navy, Mr. Denby, and Assistant
Secretary, Theodore Roosevelt, joined
in a recommendation that the lease
be made.
It has transpired that soon after
the lease of this valuable property
Secretary Fall became suddenly opu-
lent and gossip took the sinister form
of charging that he had been bribed.
He promptly denied the charge and
alleged that he was influenced to the
transaction by the recommendation of
Secretary Denby, and assistant secre-
tary Theodore Roosevelt. He explain-
ed his sudden opulence by stating that
he had borrowed $100,000 from Ed-
ward B. McLean, a millionaire Wash-
ington publisher. This didn’t seem
plausible to Senator Walsh, who was
one of the investigators. He went to
Florida where both McLean and Fall
were sojourning and obtained from
both a statement that McLean had
furnished no money and that Fall had
misrepresented the matter.
Something like a climax was reach-
ed, the other day, when Archie Roose-
velt voluntarily appeared before the
investigating committee of the Sen-
ate and declared that another em-
ployee of Mr. Sinclair had confessed
to him that Sinclair had paid large
Fall about the time that the lease was
destinely left the country and that he,
Archie, was so outraged by these evi-
dences of fraud that he had resigned
his office in the Sinclair organization
‘and sevewed his connection with “the
group. His testimony was corrob-
orated by his brother, Theodore, as-
ment and resign.
prediction of the correspondent will
be verified.
——Mr. Bryan is in hard luck. His
ident says he doesn’t agree with the
Commoner in some things.
is orthodox in prohibition nothing
else matters.
Messrs. Mellon and Couzens.
Secretary Mellon is an able letter
writer as well as a capable financier
but he stirred up a nest of hornets
when he took his pen in hand to open
up a correspondence with Senator
Couzens, of Michigan. These gentle-
men entertain widely opposed views
on questions of taxation and in re-
plying to some amiable objections to
the Mellon tax bill the Secretary re-
vealed some asperity and indulged in
what the late Josh Billings would
have called “sarkasm.” This provok-
ed the Senator to invoke the same
epistolary style with the result that
most observers will get the opinion
that the Secretary got the worst of it.
For example, the Senator advanced
the proposition in reply to the Secre-
tary’s assertion of the opposite, that
capital is not forced to investment of
tax-free securities by the exactions of
the income tax, and the Secretary re-
torted that when the Senator sold his
extensive holdings in the Ford auto-
mobile plant he did invest the pro-
ceeds in the tax-free securities.
Senator denies this emphatically and
states that while some of his money
invested in buildings and building op-
erations in Detroit. Such investments
are certainly not tax-free and as the
Senator adds, “are quite as useful to
the public as the Secretary’s vast in-
vestments in breweries and distiller-
ies.”
Senator Couzens has paid income
tax to the amount of upward of eight
law has been in operation and if the
Mellon rates had been in force from
million dollars of that amount. Mr.
Mellon has paid a much larger
amount, no doubt, but neither of them
was ever obliged to miss a meal on
account of the draft upon his resourc-
es, and both are quite able to meet
their obligations now. Mr. Mellon is
anxious to reduce his assessment, as
most other men are, but it is hardly
fair for him to misrepresent the rea-
sons which influence him to that nat-
ural desire.
——If General Butler had been op-
ly waken to realize that the President
isn’t strong enough to lead their bat-
tle hopefully next fall.
erating in Philadelphia about elec-
Prediction Likely to be Verified. |
The Washington correspondent of a |
amounts of money to an employee of |
made, that Sinclair himself had clan-
sistant secretary of the Navy, who
advised the other to make his state-
It looks as if the:
newly discovered candidate for Pres-
But if he |
The |
is so invested a large amount is also |
million dollars since the income tax |
the start he would have saved four
Mellon Bill Propaganda.
The propaganda in support of the
Mellon tax bill takes on various and
curious forms. The President has
practically declared that no Senator
or Congressman who opposes the
measure need expect favors from the
administration. This is a form of lob-
bying which is beyond the censure of
Congressional committees but of
doubtful efficiency. Senators and
Representatives in Congress who are
amenable to such influences are not
likely to exert a large influence in
legislation. But there are other agen-
cies at work more dangerous. The
banks and corporations are appealing
through their officials and by intim-
idating employees and dependents,
and that method of approach is dan-
gerous.
Another method of achieving the
' purpose is by lauding Secretary Mel-
lon to the skies. One of the under
secretaries of the department, in a
Governor Pinchot Has been Adopted.
At a meeting of the Republican
State leaders held in Philadelphia, on
Sunday night, it was agreed that the
organization will support Governor
Pinchot for Delegate-at-Large to the
national convention at Cleveland. But
no information has been given as to
the terms of the agreement. Orig-
inally the organization laid down con-
ditions which seemed impossible of
fulfillment. The Governor was not
only required to relinquish his choice
of candidates but to surrender his
right of utterance. So far as the pub-
lic is informed Mr. Pinchot has not
done either. All that he has done is
openly declare that he is a candidate
for the office. Unless there is a se-
cret agreement the organization has
backed out.
Taking
one consideration with
| another our friends, the enemy, have
| a vexed problem to solve. As late as
last Saturday afternoon the leaders
speech delivered at a dinner in honor | had determined to make a fight
of his chief at the Manufacturer’s
against the Governor and slate Secre-
Club in Philadelphia, the other even- | tary of Labor James J. Davis to the
ing, gave Mr. Mellon generous credit |
with all the decreases in expenses of |
government which have occurred since
the close of the world war. “In 1921,”
he declared, “the nation’s expenses to-
talled fifty-five hundred million dol-
lars, while in 1923 it had been reduc-
ed to thirty-seven hundred million.”
Possibly a group of stupids who be-
lieve that European exporters pay the
tariff taxes might swallow that bunk,
but the average American citizen can-
not be so deceived.
In 1921 the government of the Unit-
ed States was demobilizing an army
| of upward of four million men and
' was still maintaining an army and
navy on a war footing. In 1923 the
army had been reduced to a trifle
more than one hundred thousand men
and more than half the naval force
and equipment had been demobilized.
The vast decrease in the cost of gov-
ernment is ascribable to the changed
conditions rather than to any budget
system introduced by Mr. Mellon,
though justice requires an admission
that he is a capable financier and an
efficient business man. Neither is he
entitled to credit for .the increased
-value- of the Liberty bonds. In the
beginning many of them were held by
working people who were forced to
sacrifice them by an industrial flunk.
; Senator Pepper has positively
refused to introduce Governor Pin-
i chot’s coal bill in the Senate, which is
. additional proof of complete harmo-
ny in the Republican party of Penn-
sylvania.
i Charles Snyder Squelched.
i
It is a great pity that the Supreme
| court did not finally and forever set-
| tle the question of the constitutionali-
| ty of the Pinchot code in its decision
upon the Snyder appeal the other day.
It did, as might have been expected,
declare the questions raised by Mr.
Snyder valid. But it added: “It may
be there are some sections which will
be found to transgress the constitu-
tional provisions hereinbefore refer-
red to. We shall determine these
questions, however, if any, when they
come to us in due form—not before.”
That is a sort of invitation to contin-
ue the absurd litigation with which
Charlie Snyder has been cluttering
. the courts for nearly a year.
Upon the pretext that Mr. Snyder
held the code to be unconstitutional
he refused payment of the salaries of
certain employees of the State. The
basis of his opinion was that the pur-
poses of the code were not explicitly
declared in the title. The constitu-
tion provides that “no bill except gen-
eral appropriation bills, shall be
passed containing more than one sub-
i ject, which shall be clearly expressed
in the title.” The code treats of a
good many subjects, all grouped un-
der the head of “executive,” and the
court rules that is sufficient. “The
executive department,” the court de-
i clares, “is a single subject of legisla-
tion, in the sense that it may be
structurally reorganized * * * in
one Act of Assembly.”
As a matter of fact it doesn’t now
and never did make much difference
| to the public whether the office held
by Dr. King is called the Secretary of
the Commonwealth or Secretary of
' State. The duties of the secretary
and the prerogatives of the official are
the same, and quibbling over the mat-
ter is a waste of time and energy.
| But when, under the authority of the
| code, the Governor or his subordinate
agents usurp power vested by the
| constitution in another department in-
: dependent of the Governor, the fun-
| damental law is violated and a dan-
| gerous precedent is established. But
{ that question was not raised in the
| proceeding in question and the public
will be gratified to know that Snyder
is squelched.
| ——1It has been proved that a tack
! may be removed from the lung of a
[tion time the Republican majority as to whether a kink may be taken
{would have been considerably less.
out of a Governor's brain,
place which had been tentatively re-
served for Pinchot. But immediately
following this decision a conference
was arranged for Sunday evening, in
the Philadelphia office of Senator Pep-
per, which was held according to
schedule. Those present were Gover-
nor Pinchot, Senators Pepper and
Reed, chairman Baker, Secretary Mel-
lon and Mrs. Warburton. At the con-
clusion of the meeting it was an-
nounced that the Governor has been
adopted by the machine.
Of course there is a possibility that
Governor Pinchot has agreed to the
terms of the machine and equally
possible that the machine has surren-
dered to the Governor rather than.
risk disastrous defeat in the drawn
battle. There is even one more field
for conjecture. The Governor may
have been taken into the family as a
sort of “step-child” subject to the tra-
ditional treatment of obdurate boys |
and cruel parents. In other words it
may be the intention of the machine
to lure the Governor along until elec-
tion day and then give him “the
hook.” There are more names than
Jere are places on the slate, and it
uld be comparatively easy to put
such a trick over on a simple-minded
man like Pinchot.
—“Zev” wasn’t any faster when he
beat Papyrus, English champion run-
ner last fall, than was his owner when
he heard of the explosion in the Tea-
pot Dome affair. The way Mr. Sin-
clair beat it for the first foreign- |
bound steamer makes us believe that
if he and his horse were racing to-
gether he could say to “Zev:” “Git
out o’ de way and let somebody run
what kin run.”
Penn State Students Must Leave Cars
at Home.
College studies and automobile par-
ties do not make a good mixture, is
evidently the conclusion of the board
of trustees of The Pennsylvania State
College, and students at that institu-
tion will be requested to leave their
cars at home, in accordance with a
resolution passed at the annual meet-
ing of the board held in Harrisburg
on Tuesday.
The resolution declared “it is the
opinion of the board of trustees that
students of the college can not keep
automobiles for use while at college
without interference with their
studies and without considerable risk
to their personal safety and health.
The council of administration is there-
fore directed to take such action as
may be necessary to prevent this
practice and to bring general notice
of such action to the attention of the
parents of students.”
According to reports many
Bellefonte landlords are again boost-
ing rents this year, and renters are
naturally wondering where the end
will be. A few years ago a certain
house rented for $12.50 a month. Suc-
cessive yearly boosts brought the ren-
tal up to $25.00 a month last year and
now, itis said, notice has been given
that the rent next year will be $30.00.
Owners of houses that have no mod-
ern conveniences are asking $25.00
and $30.00 a month rent, while rentals
of a number of business places are
also being boosted. And notwith-
standing high rents desirable homes
are hard to get. In fact, so hard that
the only sure way nowadays of hav-
ing a comfortable place to live is to
own your own home.
ent e—— A ——————
——Twenty per cent. increase in
taxes and twenty per cent. decrease
in the value of the franc is the dan-
gerous combination now striking at
the popularity of President Poincaire
of France.
——The real difference between the
Mellon tax bill and the substitute
| proposed by Mr. Garrett, of Texas, is
baby, but there are doubts remaining
that one benefits the millionaires and
| the other offers advantage to the
millions.
. 1924.
NO. 4,
“Profoundly Pacific.”
i From the Philadelphia Record.
There was probably pathos in the
voice of M. Poincare when he said to
the Chamber of Deputies that “some
of our Allies have failed to grasp the
profoundly pacific policy of France.”
It is painful to be misunderstocd
after a man has tried as hard as M.
Poincare has to preserve the peace.
But William II knows how it is. In
the interests of peace he built up the
most powerful army in the world, and
a navy that he believed could at least
make the British navy cautious, and
yet the world accuses him of militar-
ism. Did he not declare that he was
for peace? Did he not keep Europe
at peace for 25 years by making
every country afraid of him?
And M. Poincare is also determined
to have peace. France has been sit-
ting on the chest of Germany for a
year so that it should not disturb the
peace. France cannot pay its debts
of honor to the United States and
Great Britain, but it can lend several
billions of francs to Poland and the
Little Entente for the avowed purpose
of equipping their armies so that they
would be in a position to prevent Ger-
many from committing any belliger-
ent act. France is negotiating trea-
ties with the several members of the
Little Entente, binding both parties to
support each other in the event of
war, or binding one party to preserve
neutrality if the other gets into a war,
and all this is designed to preserve
peace; to make it impossible for Ger-
many to struggle.
i If France can get alliances with all
the nations adjacent to Germany it
will be as confident of peace—undis-
turbed by Germany—as William II
| was that no nation dared to make war
unless Berlin gave permission. The
treaty between France and Czecho-
Slovakia obliges the latter to go to the
help of the former in the event of
war. There is a treaty between Italy
and Jugo-Slavia which binds each side
to remain neutral if the other should
be involved in war.
Thus the “profoundly n»acific policy
of France” aims to make it impossible
for Germany to rise, but assures
France of allies at the rear and on the
flank of Germany if Germany should
show any restlessness. It is a pro-
foundly pacific policy, but it is not
strange that some of the Allies have
failed to grasp it because it looks so
much like the profoundly pacific poli-
cy of William II, which in his "“onest
opinion enabled him to preserve the
peace of Europe for 25 years.
But when the Prime Minister de-
clared it necessary to take energet-
ic measures against the offensive be-
ing conducted against the franc a
Communist shouted, “Leave the
Ruhr!” Of course this aroused a
storm of protest, but it hit the bull’s
eye.
A Grain Subsidy.
From the Journal of Commerce.
Senator McNary’s bill providing for
an export subsidy on wheat is in line
with that type of legislation which
was naturally to be expected follow-
ing the numerous conventions and
conferences held during the past year
on the grain situation. Its avowed
purpose is to increase the cost of
wheat to the consumers, and there-
fore ranks even below the level of leg-
islative efforts to tax coffee and tea.
The frequently proposed taxes on cof-
fee and tea at least had the merit of
endeavoring to raise revenue for the
general expenses of the government,
whereas the proposed tax on wheat
production would be paid out in the
form of subsidy to those merchants
who export that commodity. It would
return no revenue to the government,
but would add to the governmental
expenses, inasmuch as some machin-
ery would have to be perfected to car-
ry out the suggested statute.
It would be easy to attack the new
bill on the score of its impracticabil-
ity and its failure to accomplish what
is intended of it, namely, to increase
the price the farmer would receive for
his wheat, but its class intent is suf-
ficient to demonstrate its objectiona-
ble quality. Class legislation is nev-
er acceptable in our body politic. Even
paternalistic legislation which had a
purely altruistic purpose has in the
past been defeated because it was
class legislation.
Pinchot and Pepper.
From the Scranton Times.
Governor Pinchot and United States
Senator George Wharton Pepper have
reached the parting of the ways not
only in things political but policies.
Senator Pepper refuses to sponser
Governor Pinchot’s coal regulation
bill. He gives as a reason that in his
opinion the measure is unsound and
declares he does not wish to father a
bill which he can not conscientiously
and whole-heartedly support. Be that
as it may the opinion prevails that
Senator Pepper utilized the request
of Governor Pinchot as a way of in-
forming the Governor that henceforth
and hereafter their ways run in en-
tirely different directions.
The Bok Probe.
From the Harrisburg Telegraph.
Mr. Bok need not be alarmed nor
opponents of his plan elated by the
investigation which has been started
by the Senate of the charge that the
whole thing was engineered by
League propagandists.
The subject of the contest and the
award will be ancient history so far
as public interest is concerned at least
a year before any Congressional in-
vestigating committee could make a
report.
| SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Thousands of railroad crossties are be-
ing stored along the old Pennsylvania
Railroad right-of-way in the upper part
of Duncannon, hauled from the lumber
camp of Duncan and Wills, near Sher-
mansdale,
—REighty-two persons in Lewistown and
vicinity lost $41,000 by buying “participat-
ing operating certificates” of the Keystone
Auto Gas and Oils company for which re-
ceivers were recently appointed, it was an-
nounced on Friday.
—Mrs. Frank Corey was badly burned
on Saturday at her home at Ridgway,
when her clothing caught fire from a gas
heating stove. Her husband tore the burn-
ing garments from her and he sustained
painful burns on his hands.
—The body of John Radomsky, of Hawk
Run, was found in the William Slee mine
near Hawk Run on Friday morning by
mining engineers. It is believed the man
was caught in a fall of rock and the life
crushed out of him. He was 45 years old
and was married.
—While counting money in his store at
Butler, last Wednesday morning, William
Vine was held up and robbed by two
masked men. They drove away in an au-
tomobile with $170. The police believe
thieves who have been operating in Pitts-
burgh, are extending their activities to
nearby towns.
—A jury at Lewisburg, last Thursday,
acquitted Walter Keiser, a local barber, on
a charge of shooting John Oberdorf, while
hunting deer last season. Oberdorf hov-
ered between life and death with a rifle
bullet in his body. Keiser, with a party
of friends, was accused of doing the shoot-
ing, but denied it.
—Oscar Altland, steward at the York
county almshouse, welcomes tramps to the
local institution. Before he will give them
food or lodging, however, he introduces
them to a saw-buck and a large wood-pile.
Those who balk at this offer to give food
and lodging in return for work are order-
ed to keep moving. 3
—A survey of the expenditures of pu-
pils of the Lock Haven public schools for
the week of January 7, made in order to
encourage thrift in the public schools edu-
cation shows that the sum of $750.58 was
expended during that week for “movies,”
candy, ice cream, tobacco and other luxu-
ries and entertainment.
—When a truck containing sixty hogs
fell through the flooring of the Herrs is-
land bridge, over the Allegheny river, at
Pittsburgh on Friday, John Reimenschnei-
der driver of the truck, caught hold of a
hog's ears and reached shore in safety.
John Richards, helper on the truck, was
drowned. Thirty of the sixty hogs were
lost.
—The Standard Steel works at Lewis
town closed its gates on Saturday night.
Only sufficient men were retained to keep
the plant from freezing in the event of
cold weather. The watchmen were laid
off and the gates about the plant were all
locked, except at the main entrance. Stand-
ard officials say conditions look drab and
make no predictions when the plant will
resume in full.
—Lester Daubenmeyer, alias Smith and
Obermeyer, pleaded guilty before Judge
Thomas F. Bailey at Lewistown, last Wed-
nesday, and was sentenced to serve from
five to ten years in the western peniten-
tiary. He was charged with holding up
thirty-eight men in the Harmon pool-
room, when he was caught off his guard
and hit with a billiard ball by Joseph
Henry and landed in the hospital with a
fractured jaw. !
—The commercial department of the
Dunmore High school at Scranton, was
literally stripped of its equipment on Sat-
urday afternoon when sheriff James Reap
carried out an order of the Lackawanna
court directing that thirty-seven type-
writers, three desks and eight chairs be
seized. Failure of the district to pay
$3415.43, the amount due on the articles
mentioned, prompted the issuance of the
writs of replevin.
—Agents of Henry Ford are believed to
have taken option on a forty-eight-acre
water power site along the Susquehanna
river near Sunbury, last week. The per-
mit to buy was taken out in the name of
Wade H. Cruse, but the residence was not
given, and came after weeks of negotia-
tions. Theodore Hummell, owner of the
property, does not know who the buyer is,
he says. The agreed price is said to be
$50,000, a record for property there, far-
mers said. :
—Guiseppe Gremaldo, found guilty in’
the Blair county court, on Saturday, of
first-degree murder in connection with the
death of Clarence Leonard, of Grafton
Centre, N. H., last year, ended his life by
hanging himself to the door of his cell in
the Hollidaysburg jail Saturday noon,
only a few hours after the jury had given
its verdict. Gremaldo shot and killed
Leonard in a boarding house in that place,
after they had quarreled over who would
wash the dishes.
—Summoned before Mayor Harvey, at
Hazleton, on a charge of annoying an un-
named widow with persistent proposals
for marriage, Michael Fetchko, aged y 14
years, a widower, of that place, turned the
tables and declared that he was a victim
of the woman’s wiles. She is 68 years old,
and Fetchko claims that she has followed
him wherever he has gone at nights with
invitations that they be wed. The mayor
discharged the case, saying that as this is
leap year, it was the privilege of any wid-
ow to spring the question.
—After fifty-five years, the estate of the
late Harry Cooper, a Nescopeck man, was
finally settled on Saturday at a conference
of the heirs. Cooper died in 1869, and un-
der terms of his will the estate could not
be settled until aster the death of his
daughter. The daughter died a few years
after her father, but extended litigation,
in which the heirs figured, prevented set-
tlement of the estate until an agreement
was reached out of court on Saturday.
The estate, originally worth about $6000,
has increased in value until it is estimat-
ed to be worth about $30,000.
—Colonel David Gardner, aged 84 years,
Civil war hero and pioneer in Pennsylva-
nia oil fields, died at the Warren General
hospital shortly before midnight Saturday
night of heart failure following hardening
of the arteries. Colonel Garduer partici-
pated in sixty-three engagements, was
wounded three times, and four horses
were shot from under him. He was lieu-
tenant colonel and acting colonel ef
the First Pennsylvania cavalry at the bat-
tle of Gettysburg, and he was selected as
the sculptor’s model for the monument at
Gettysburg in honor of that command.
Colonel Gardner was born on a farm near
Hollidaysburg, Pa., February 19, 1840. He
was one of six brothers who enlisted in
the Union army, two of them being killed
in service.