—— SS UE
———
~ Democratic
Beworalic atc
INK SLINGS.
— Here it is thirty-eight days after
the opening of the fishing season and
we haven’t caught a trout. Is it be-
cause we have lost our cunning or pep
or might it be because our private
bootlegger deserted us last season?
— After all, Bellefonte is a pretty
nice old town. You can search the
country over and find few that carry
their one hundred and twenty-four
years with an air of more substantia-
bility, respectability and well set-up
looks.
—The Methodist general conference
in session at Springfield, Mass., has
lifted the church ban on certain forms
of amusements and thereby removed
the possibility of further technical
charges that thousands of its mem-
bers are hypocrites.
—The one nice thing about the sc-
lection of Senator Pat Harrison, of
Mississippi, as temporary chairman
of the forthcoming Democratic Na-
tional convention is this: What Pat
has to say he will say in a way that
no one can misunderstand.
—TIt remains to be seen how much
active interest Mr. McCormick will
have in the welfare of the Democrat-
ic party in Pennsylvania now that he
is no longer in a position to distrib-
ute the patronage and withhold his o.
k. from all who declined to eat out of
has hand.
—Now we know that “Gaston and
Alfonse” were only mythical French
characters. The discourtesy = with
which their countrymen treated the
American Rugby team last Sunday
proves beyond peradventure that the
fine manners of the French are more
imagined than real.
— Neither Mitch Palmer nor Jim-
mie Blakeslie were in Harrisburg to
help Vance on Tuesday. Mitch is far
sighted enough to have seen the hand-
writing on the wall, but as for Jim-
mie: Well, it seems to us that had he
been there to light a cigarette and
think a while he might have saved
the Earl of Rosegarden like he once
imagined he saved Wilson.
—Senator David Reed says he “is
sick at heart” over the passage of the
soldiers’ bonus bill over the Presi-
dent’s veto. The Senator was a sol-
dier. He'll get some bonus, of course,
‘but he doesn’t need it. What he is re-
ally “sick at heart” about is that the
Mellon tax bill didn’t get through so
he wouldn’t have so much income tax
‘to put up for the boys who do need
the bonus.
—Talking about singing swan
songs, the board of trustees of the
Bellefonte hospital made a choral of
it Tuesday night when they resigned
in a body, to take effect the moment
their successors are elected’ That
moment will never come, however.
For the Bellefonte hospital is ebbing
its useful life away and by June 9th
will have passed into eternity. After
that it will have re-incarnation as the
Centre County hospital.
—The Nanty-Glo Journal looks
with suspicion on Strassburger’s ex-
penditure of $70,000 to make himself
a delegate-at-large to the Republican
National convention. It opines that
large sums were probably paid to
election boards in Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh to count up a big lead for
him. The Journal is probably not far
off in its opining, but we fail to re-
call any suspicion on its part as to the
manner and purpose for which the
Pinchots spent nearly double that sum
only two years ago.
—County chairman G. Oscar Gray
voted for Nesbit for National com-
mitteman on the first ballot and when
Nesbit withdrew from the race threw
his vote to Guffey on the third ballot
and thereby contributed to the de-
feat of Judge Bonniwell. Guffey and
Bonniwell are both wet, so there was
no choice on that score, but since the
Guffey faction secured the State chair-
man in the person of John H. Bigelow,
of Hazleton, it might have been bet-
ter politics to have given the Nation-
al committeeman honor to Bonniwell.
—Do you know what a rope-walk
is? Some weeks ago a correspondent
mentioned the “rope-walk” and the
“footless boy” as having been objects
of interest in Bellefonte away back
in the forties. We thought the “rope-
walk” referred to some sort of a
swinging bridge over a chasm or—
perchance—a primitive amusement
device where the early Bellefonters
met to measure their equilibristic skill.
Tuesday night we learned that our
imagination had led us about as far
afield as it was possible to go. “The
rope-walk” was a place up in the
“Pine woods” near the Friends bury-
ing ground, where rope was made and
the long shed in which material was
laid to be twisted into rope was called,
in those days, a rope-walk.
—Anyway the meeting of the Dem-
ocratic State Central committee in
Harrisburg, on Tuesday, was snappy
enough to convince any one that the
party is far from being dead. And
the fact that the delegates fought
hard and won or lost in good spirit
is a hopeful augury of the future. If
chairman Bigelow can only persuade
the Democrats of Pennsylvania to put
the success of the party before per-
sonal prejudice as to “Old Guard” or
“Reorganizer” affiliations, wet or dry
convictions, or religious principles,
which Mrs. Renshaw very properly
said should be taken care of in their
churches, there will soon be a virile
Democracy in Pennsylvania again. A
party at least formidable enough to
constitute a threat that will save the
State from the rapacious plundering (
of the opposition machine.
i
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 69.
BELLEFONTE, PA. MAY 23. 1924.
NO. 21.
Democratic Committee Reorganized. |
The Democratic State committee
met for reorganization on Tuesday at
Harrisburg, with every seat occupied.
It was the most inspiring event in the
recent history of the party and the
most promising. There was present
that wholesome competition for the
favors of the party that indicates
deep seated interest while the absence
of asperity guarantees harmony.
There were two candidates for the of-
fice of chairman, Charles A. McAvoy,
of Norristown, and John H. Bigelow,
of Hazleton, both amply qualified and
admirably equipped for the important
service. Mr. Bigelow was elected by
a, vote of seventy-one to forty-one and
by subsequent vote the election was
made unanimous.
The sharpest contest was for the
honorary office of member of the Na-
tional committee. Three candidates
were named for this office and the
friends of each worked intensively but
without bitterness for victory. The
candidates were Joseph F. Guffey, of
Pittsburgh, present incumbent; Judge
Eugene C. Bonniwell, of Philadelphia,
and Harrison Nesbit, of Pittsburgh, at
present treasurer of the National
committee. After the second ballot
the name of Mr. Nesbit was with-
drawn and Mr. Guffey was chosen on
the third ballot by a vete of sixty-
seven to forty-five. Upon motion of
Judge Bonniwell’s floor manager the
vote was made unanimous and when
the committee completed its work it
was in perfect harmony.
Upon assuming the chair Mr. Bige-
low delivered an eloquent address out-
lining his policies and plans for the
impending campaign. The other offi-
cers of the, committee were chosen
‘without contest. The women members
of the committee cast their votes for
the different candidates and partici-
pated in the deliberations of the com-
mittee like veterans. The proceed-
ings were earnest and interesting
from beginning to end and marked a
most auspicious beginning of a cam- |
paign which ought to result in great
gains for the party in members of
Congress, State Senate and Represen-
tatives in the Legislature. Chairman
— Secretary Mellon assures the
country that he will not resign. The
advantage of controlling the finances
is so great that Andy will hang on to
it until he is kicked out.
Bank Books Hold Secrets.
One of the reasons for the refusal
of Mal Daugherty to produce for ex-
amination the books of his Washing-
ton Court House bank was revealed in
the testimony of George Remus,
“king of the bootleggers,” given be-
fore the Senate committee on Friday
and Saturday of last week. Remus
paid some $250,000 or $300,000 to At-
torney General Daugherty’s friend,
Jesse Smith, for the double purpose
of securing permits to remove whis-
key from warehouses and protecting
Remus from punishment in the event
that he should be discovered and ar-
rested. It is believed that the books
of the Daugherty bank would show
deposits corresponding in amounts
and dates to the statement of pay-
ments to Smith.
The bootlegging operations of Re-
mus amounted to millions of dollars.
He was a Chicago lawyer before the |
Volstead law opened up the avenues
of illicit traffic in booze and his ac-
quaintance with Daugherty and Smith
presented the opportunities for ac-
quiring wealth. His first step was to
buy up distilleries with stocks in
bond. After securing such properties
in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, his
next step was to procure permits in
the names of fictitious drug and med-
icine companies in various sections.
Thus equipped he needed protection
and found Jess Smith with an office
in the Department of Justice in Wash-
ington “willing to oblige.” He paid
Smith liberally but was finally arrest-
ed, convicted and sentenced.
Remus is no piker and even after
his commitment to the Atlanta fed-
eral penitentiary he continued to pay
Smith until death by suicide or other- |
wise cancelled the contract. Nobody
challenges the truth of the statements
of Mr. Remus, and it is probably as
well for the late Attorney General
that they are let go without contradic-
tion. Remus states that he has at his
office in Chicago the cancellel checks
to prove his payments. Tt is true that
he did not hand checks to Smith pay-
able to Smith. The Columbus crowd
was too wise to be caught in that way.
Remus made the checks payable to
himself and they passed through the
Daugherty bank into oblivion.
——1TIt may be remarked that the
Republican State committee, in ses-
sion on Tuesday, neglected to name
Governor Pinchot as a “favorite son.”
——Of course the Republican com-
mittee meeting was harmonious. Half
Bigelow ‘may be glepended upon to
| makes tlic mee! Bans
a dozen men do the thinking for the
entire organization. ‘
Coolidge to be Sacrificed.
The Washington correspondent of
the esteemed Philadelphia Record
supplies a motive for the apparent
purpose of the Republican leaders to
“sacrifice” President Coolidge. With
the patronage and Southern delegates
at his command they sensed the im-
possibility of preventing his nomina-
tion and set about to dispose of him
“finally and forever” by defeating
him at the election. The correspond-
ent in question writes: “So many Re-
publican Senators belonging to the
Senate oligarchy had groomed them-
selves for the White House, after
their success in nominating the late
Warren G. Harding, that there seems
to be a secret grudge within the bo-
soms of several of the so-called “ad-
ministration leaders” in Congress
over Coolidge’s “luck.” There can be
no other explanation.
The basis for this impression is the
adverse action of the Republican lead-
ers in Congress upon legislation in
which the President has expressed in-
terest. Not a single proposition ad-
vanced by the President in his mes-
sage to Congress at the opening of
the session has been approved by
either House and on the one measure
upon which he had-declared as his ul-
timatum, the "Mellon" tax bill, both
Houses voted adversely by large ma-
jorities. If there were no other evi-
dence of hostility toward the Presi-
dent on the part of the “administra-
tion leaders,” the vote in the Senate
on the question of sustaining the veto
of the Bursum pension bill would sup-
ply one. Among those who voted to
override the veto were Senators Wat-
son, Smoot, Fess, Willis and Curtis,
who is the Republican whip of the
chamber.
On the vote to pass the Bursum
bill over the veto in the House the
Republican leaders were almost a unit
against the President and the align-
ment on the question of overriding
the veto on the bonus bill in the
House revealed the same opposition.
Every Senator and Representative in
Congress knows that in thus flouting
the President’s wishes in legislation
“tém. If they were op g his
nomination there would be expressed
a reason for their attitude in legisla-
tion. But they are urging his nomi-
nation and encouraging his ambition
to become the party candidate while
providing ammunition for his enemies
in future. Coolidge is a “load” too
burdensome to carry.
——-Anyway the State committee
meeting on Tuesday revealed a mili-
tant Democracy in Pennsylvania and
if it can be harmonious it will mean
something.
et em fr e————
Revenue Bill Completed.
The conferees representing the two
chambers of Congress have finally
ironed out the differences on the tax
bill and information comes from
Washington that the measure thus
agreed on will be approved by the
President. The Senate has yielded to
the House somewhat on the surtax
question. The House bill fixed the
rate on $200,000 incomes at 37% per
cent. and the Senate bill named 40
per cent. The conferees agreed upon
38 per cent. The Mellon bill set the
figure at 25 per cent. Upon small in-
comes the Senate rate was adopted
which is considerably lower than that
of the House bill. The committee
eliminated the provision for making
income tax returns public.
While the measure was under con-
sideration Secretary Mellon protested
vehemently that the adoption of any
measure other than the Mellon bill
would cause a treasury deficiency and
that to avert such a calamity the
President would be obliged to veto
such legislation. While making no
open declaration on the subject the
President encouraged the public to be-
lieve the story. Probably there was a
double reason for this. Both the
President and the Secretary were anx-
ious to relieve big incomes from a fair
share of tax burdens and to prevent
the passage of the soldiers’ bonus
bill. The late President Harding was
influenced to veto the bonus measure
by that tale of woe a year ago.
The bonus bill was passed over the
President’s veto last Saturday and
the compromise revenue bill was
agreed to by the committee on Tues-
day. Nevertheless on Wednesday the
President indicated that he will ap-
prove the revenue measure and the
Secretary declared that a tax reduc-
tion of 25 per cent. for 1923 may be
made. If this means anything it in-
dicates that both the President and
the Secretary were deliberately try-
ing to deceive the public when they
were urging the Mellon bill and op-
posing the bonus bill. This is an un-
usual attitude for the President and
the Secretary to assume. So far as
information is obtainable no other
President has done such a thing.
———— WE —————
—When you see it in the “Watch-
man” you know it’s true.
he is making votes against the Presi-
dent in his contest for e ion to aj the veterans. 2
rm. I express the hopes of the people.
Harrison a Wise Choice.
The committee on arrangements for
the Democratic National convention,
which will assemble in New York on
the 24th day of June, has wisely
chosen Senator Pat Harrison, of Mis-
sissippi, to be temporary chairman.
By tradition this is the most import-
ant officer of the convention. Under
an unwritten but universally recog-
nized law of politics the speech of the
temporary chairman of a party con-
vention sounds the key note of the
party policies, not only of the cam-
paign but of the party in the event
it is successful. In selecting Sena-
tor Harrison to discharge this import-
ant service no mistake has been made.
He is not only able and eloquent but
he is courageous and wise.
The only Southern statesman who
has been called to this service of a po-
litical party since the Civil war was |
John Sharp Williams, a predecessor of
Pat Harrison as Senator in Congress,
for Mississippi, who presided over
one of the National conventions that
nominated Grover Cleveland for Pres-
ident. In the Baltimore convention
which nominated Woodrow Wilson
Olie James, of Kentucky, sounded the
keynote and performed the service
with great satisfaction to the Demo-
crats of the country. But Kentucky
is not a Southern State, though it
was slave territory before the Civil
war. It is a border State in the mat-
ter of sectionalism and though Demo-
cratic as a rule slips sometimes.
Mississippi never does.
The selection of Senator Harri-
son as temporary presiding officer of
the New York convention is a happy
solution of what might have been a
vexed problem. He is a partisan of
no candidate for the Presidential nom-
ination and is entirely satisfactory to
all and the friends of each. He is so
capable and thoroughly grounded in
the principles of the party that no one
needs to worry over what he will say.
The Republican party tried out three
or four candidates for the office in
their convention and finally selected
an Ohio banker who will do and say
whatever. Wall Street wants done or
said, regardless of the farmers and
the veterans. But Pat Harrison will |
Not enough members of bor-
ough council could be gotten together
on Monday evening to constitute a
quorum. In fact this was the third
consecutive regular meeting night
that not enough members showed up
for the transaction of business, the
last regular meeting having been held
on April 7th. Verily some of the
present councilmen are not taking
their job very seriously.
Calcide Rock Found on the Behrer
Farm.
It will be recalled that some months
ago C. C. Hassinger, of Norristown,
secured an option on the Jacob Behrer
farm in the upper end of Buffalo Run
valley. It was his purpose to pros-
pect for calcide rock which was sup-
posed to underly the property. Cal-
cide rock is a crystalline formation of
the native limestone, is cream white
in color and harder than marble, being
susceptible to a polish that produces
a lustrous glassy surface.
The Pennsylvania Drilling Co., of
Pittsburgh, has been at work on the
farm for some time and evidently the
rock has been found in quantity, for,
on Tuesday, we received, from Mr. W.
E. Hartsock, a piece of core from the
drill. It is 1% inch in diameter, four
inches long, a beautiful cream white
and heavy, almost as the same bulk in
lead would be.
— Senator Johnson has “releas-
ed” most of the delegates to the Re-
publican convention who had been in-
structed for him. It may be said,
however, that that will make no dif-
ference in the result of the ballot.
A dispatch from Washington
early in the week stated that Hon.
Cyrus E. Woods had preferred the re-
quest to be relieved of his appoint-
ment as Ambassador to Japan. No
reason was given.
Secretary Mellon complains
that Governor Pinchot was too indefi-
nite in his recent Massachusetts
speech. Probably the Governor will
oblige him by specifying some of his
delinquencies.
—Who can blame the “Afaletics”
for digging their way into new quar-
ters. They have been in the cellar so
long that any old place—even if it be a
sub-cellar—must look good to them.
——The Senate has again given the
public assurance that “agriculture is
the country’s basic industry,” but
still neglects to pass any of the relief
measures the farmers want.
S—————— A A ———
——Bank deposits in Pennsylvania
for the year ending on the 31st
March amounted to $2,068,187,9- 5,
but a good deal of it was spent during
| ate.
| ation by a committee of his fellow-
many years. Mr.
the year.
Executive Encroachments.
From the Philadelphia Record.
It is customary to speak of Sena-
torial encroachments upon the prerog-
atives of the President, or the execu-
tive branch of the government, but re-
cent events at Washington seem to in-
dicate that in this long-continued
struggle, which is almost as old as
the United States itself, the Presi-
dent and the departments under his
control have taken the aggressive in
a way which cannot be defended. The
most flagrant and spectacular move of
this kind was the conspiracy hatched
up between Daugherty, while Attor-
| ney General, and the Republican Na-
tional committee to “get” Senator
Wheeler on a framed-up indictment,
with a view to discrediting his expo-
sure of the rottenness in the Depart-
ment of Justice. The tactics pursued
! in this case were worthy of the French
police under the notorious Fouche,
and were a direct attack upon the in-
dependence and integrity of the Sen-
Mr. Wheeler's complete exoner-
members, including such eminent Sen-
ators as Messrs. Borah and McNary,
may not save him from the indignity
of having to appear in court to defend
himself against a criminal charge,
but it certainly represents the view
taken by the general public of this
outrageous and un-American proceed-
ing. Under Daugherty no Senator or
Congressman was safe from the es-
pionage of Burns and his satellites,
including Gaston B. Means, who testi-
fied on the witness stand to having
broken into Senator LaFollette’s com-
mittee room and rummaged through
his papers in an effort to find some-
thing on which charges could be bas-
ed -because of his activity in initiat-
ing the Teapot Dome exposure.
Much of a piece with this was the
President’s pardon of a Chicago pris-
oner, which was an invasion of the
rights of the judiciary and has receiv-
ed a severe castigation from two Fed-
eral Judges. It is only fair to Mr.
Coolidge to say that in this matter he
seems to have been misled by that evil
genius, Daugherty, who suppressed
essential facts and played politics, as
usual.
A great deal of American history
revolves around the continual clashes
between the President and the Senate.
They began in Washington’s day, were
acute in Madison’s Administration,
and have been almost ineessant for
Loo Mery Herding eving
been a Senator himself, thought he
could reduce this friction to a mini-
mum by conciliatory co-operation, but
he failed miserably, and it was under
him that the flagrant abuses of
Daughertyism flourished most rankly.
The tension between President and
Senate seems to be particularly acute
just now, and Mr. Coolidge’s ill-ad-
vised course in some matters is large-
ly responsible for this. Both sides
are jealous of their rights, and resent
any supposed invasion of them. And
so it will probably be as long as the
republic lasts. It is not an unhealthy
sign. Better this suspicious attitude
than one of servility and surrender of
Dretogesives granted by the Constitu-
ion.
In Revolt Against Coal.
From the Rochester Herald.
Financial reviews comment on the
fact that thousands of miners are out
of work, particularly in the bitumin-
ous fields. Always on the verge of
overproduction, the soft coal miners
are now facing a crisis due to the
slackening of demand for their pro-
duct. Business is going to the non-
union mines, where wages are lower
than in the union fields. But there is
no assurance that active demand will
continue long, even in the non-union
area.
Several causes are operating to
check the demand for coal. One is
the approach of the summer season,
when less coal will be needed for do-
mestic heating. Another is a noticea-
ble falling off in activity in the steel
industry, one of the heaviest consum-
ers of coal. Immense hydroelectric
developments are beginning to com-
pete seriously with coal in the North-
eastern and Southern States and that
factor will become increasingly effect-
ive from this time on.
_ In addition, coal men are discover-
ing that thousands of houses in North-
ern cities are being equipped with oil
burner heating devices, many new
groups of residences recently erected
in Chicago suburbs having been built
without furnace or coal bins, but with
a neat little oil heater in the corner of
the basement, which is fitted up for
use as rooms. As this has the dou-
ble advantage of dispensing with coal
and ashes and at the same time add-
ing to the living-room capacity of the
dwelling, the idea promises to be gen-
erally adopted.
Almost everywhere the coal men
may look, they see a public in revolt
against the domination of mine fuel.
As to whether or not the rebellion will
be successful depends on the effect-
iveness of substitutes for coal. No
one who has considered the question
believes that coal can be dispensed
with entirely, for its by-products are
in great and increasing demand. But
that coal will be burned less and less
in its raw state seems to be indicated
by all the signs of the times.
——Mr. Coolidge’s campaign man-
ager boasts of the strength of the can-
didate in the South as shown by del-
egate elections. But only postmas-
ters and revenue officials vote at the
Republican primaries in the South.
Amm———A A ——
—Subscribe for the “Watchman.”
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—James M. Gibson, 82 year old Civil war
veteran, was asphyxiated by artificial gas
from an open jet at his home in Milton on
Monday.
— Nicola Gingliani, of Lewistown, has
received $16,000 in settlement from the
Pennsylvania Railroad company for the
loss of his left arm last november 22nd.
—The State and Federal inheritance
taxes on the estate of the late William
Decker, of Montgomery, will be more tham
$100,000. It was the largest estate that
ever passed through the office of the reg-
ister of wills of Lycoming county, aggre-
gating over a million and a half.
—A bolt of lightning following a radie
aerial into the home of M. R. Harman, at
Berwick, broke ten windows, brought
down plastering in five rooms, tore off
patches of the roof and weather boarding
and set fire to the house, but did nof, in-
jure ten members of the two families who
were in rooms on the first floor.
—Mrs. Anna Halamin, Northu:nberland
county’s oldest resident, died Sunday
night at her home in Roaring Creek, near
Mount Carmel, at the age «f 108 years.
Until several weeks ago, she walked every
Sunday to Slabtown, a distance of several
miles, to attend church services. Death
was due to infirmities of old age. She is
survived by one son, John Halamin, with
whom she resided.
—Borough engineer F. E. Colony, of Re-
novo, has been in conference with State
officials at Harrisburg on the matter of
the building of an overhead bridge in the
eastern part of Renovo, and has received
assurance that the bridge will be complet-
ed before January 1, 1925. The State,
Clinton county, Renovo and the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad company will pay for the
bridge, which will cost nearly $200,000.
—A record perhaps unequaled in the
State has been made by Miss Emma Ben-
son, of Martinsburg, Blair county, who re-
tires from active work as a school teacher
this spring. She has taught for 41 years
and in all that time never has missed a
single day on account of illness. At a re-
ception attended by teachers, former pu-
pils and citizens she was presented with
$150 in gold and Martinsburg has named
a school building in her honor.
—C. G. Weaver, in charge of the New
York Central roundhouse at Newberry
Junction, was found on Friday night
along the tracks with a bullet hole in his
head. He died in the Williamsport hos-
pital shortly afterward. The investigation
of the police resulted in the arrest of John
Goline, 60 years old, Joe Izzo, 31, and Pete
Simali, 12, who had been shooting at a
mark on company property about eighty
yards from where Weaver was found.
—Directors and stock holders of the
Clinton Gas and Oil company have decid-
ed to decline the offer of $165,000 for the
sale of its holdings saying no disposition
would be made for less than $200,000, and
then only by a favorable vote of the board
of directors. F. M. Noecker has been re-
elected president; W. S. Shaffer, vice-
president, and Dan D. Kline, secretary
and treasurer. C. E. Updegraff and W. H.
Fdkins were added to the board of direc-
tors.
—Fred MacGregor, aged 20 years, and
his brother Vaughn, aged 14, both of
Flemington, found the body of three year
old Mack Meyers, of Flemington, on a
sand bar under a foot of water near the
bank in Bald Eagle creek, on Sunday. The
child had been missing from his home
since Monday of last week, when he was
playing in the yard at his home, between
two streams. Searching parties, believing
he had fallen into one of the streams had
been diligently hunting for the body all
of last week.
—A reward of $1000 has been offered by
officials of the Tulpehocken Reformed
church, west of Stouchsburg, Berks coun-
ty, for the arrest of vandals who broke
into the church Sunday night and stole a
brand new carpet from the floor of the
Sunday school room and a cradle kept in
the infant department room. Chairs were
smashed and books and papers strewn
about the place. The church is near the
Lebanon line, and officers in both counties
were notified. Harry W. Kilmer, janitor
of the church, discovered the thefts.
—Because Altoona and Tyrone have been
wiped off the William Penn highway by
the State Highway Department, citizens
are preparing and sending to Governor
Pinchot resolutions of protest. The Blair
county Motor, Kiwanis and Lions clubs
have adopted such resolutions. They point
out that Altoona and Tyrone were on the
original William Penn route and ought to
be kept there. The explanation of the
Highway Department is that it wants di-
rect connection for the heavy travel, hence
selected the Water Street-Williamsburg-
Hollidaysburg route.
—When pastor John Lawrence, of Ty-
ler, Clearfield county, hit one of his par-
jshioners on the jaw some time ago, he
did not think it would cost him $3500.
Mary Levandusky, the person injured, and
her husband, sued for $10,000 damages.
When the case was called for trial at Clear-
field, last Saturday, the defendant failed to
appear. After hearing the evidence, the
court awarded the wife $2500 and the hus-
band $1000. The plaintiffs declared that
some months ago, when they called at
their pastor’s home to make explanations
in a certain matter, the minister hit Mrs.
Levandusky.
—Two gas strikes in Greene county have
given impetus to early spring drilling in
the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania.
The largest of these was made on the D.
T. Funk farm, near Ninevah, the Manu-
facturers Light and Power company get-
ting a 4,500,000 cubic foot producer. Oth-
er wells are being located there. The
Four Mile Gas company got a shallow sand
well on the William Pratt farm, four miles
east of Waynesburg, Pa. It is making
1,000,000 cubic feet. It is the fourth well
of this type the company has drilled in on
its lease east of Washington, Pa., all be-
ing good producers.
—Mary Freedline, aged 80 years, was
burned to death and her daughter, Mrs.
Blair Shultz, sustained serious injuries
after rescuing her child when their home
was destroyed by fire, on Wednesday of
last week, at Mahaffey. Mrs. Shultz bare-
ly escaped with her own life and that of
her child when she attempted to rescue
her mother. Blair Shultz, father of the
child, had started a fire in the kitchen
stove and gone to the barn to do some
work. A short time later his wife went
down stairs and found the lower floor in
a blaze. She rushed back to save her child
and mother but did not succeed in mov-
ing the aged woman to a place of safety
before the flames spread and cut off es-
cape by means of the stairs. In despera-
tion she threw her baby from a second
floor window and jumped after, receiving
serious injuries.
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