INK SLINGS.
- —Poor Walter Johnson!
After
-waiting eighteen years to get a chance
in a world series the glory of a vic-
-xory is denied him. :
—When Edward R. Benson, candi-
date for Congress in this District, was
in the Legislature, in 1913, his vote
on every bill of importance to the tax-
payers was just what they could have
wished it to be.
—Amos Pinchot, Gif’s brother, is
out hurrahing for LaFollette. And
that’s where Gif would be right now
if he were not trying to get a lot of
“Come-ons” like Holmes elected to the
next Legislature.
—Dayvis is the real man in the Pres-
idential race. Coolidge is only a pawn
that fate is moving about on the
board and LaFollette the frenzied sol-
dier of fortune who knows the Cool-
idge weakness and hopes to slide in
on it.
—To those fanatics who'd vote for
a cow if they thought she was dry let
us say this: “Hell-an-Maria” Dawes
isn’t wearing any of the late Frances
Willard’s white ribbons. He’s as wet
as a soused rum-runner who has fall-
en overboard.
—President Coolidge actually smiled
and waved his hat while at the
world series ball game in Washington
. on Saturday. The effort was so un-
- usual that he had to take an over Sun-
day trip down the Potomac, on the
Mayflower, to recover from its ex-
- hausting effect.
—Did you get one of Joe Grundy’s
letters? You know Joe, don’t you?
He is the “fat fryer” for the Repub-
lican organization in Pennsylvania.
Joe’s scared. He says so in his letter
to the heads of all the corporations
of the State. With tears in his eyes
he is pleading for Pennsylvania to
vote for Coolidge. Think of it. Joe
Grundy admitting that Pennsylvania
is a doubtful State.
—W. H. Lewis, foot ball, base ball
.and track star at Harvard and assist-
ant Attorney General of the United
States, and colored, is stumping the
country for Davis. Why? Simply
because he “knows Coolidge.” He
knew him at Amherst and evidently
knows him well now, for he is said to
have letters from that gentleman
which go so far in expression of inti-
macy as to be signed “Yours, Cal.”
—Those who are using the straw
vote being taken by the Literary Di-
gest to bolster up their hope of Cool-
idge’s election seem to overlook the
fact that of the nineteen States re-
ported in the poll only two are Dem-
ocratic. And in the seventeen Repub-
lican States the Coolidge vote has
fallen considerably under that of
Harding in 1920; whereas the Davis
vote has gained greatly over that giv-
en to Cox.
—We haven’t an idea who she is,
but the little lady who teaches the
school out in Bush’s Addition is a girl
with her head sitting right. On Tues-
day her scholars marched in to be
guests at the showing of Abraham
Lincoln. When they reached the dan-
gerous intersection of Water and High
streets the thoughtful girl was first
to step right into the middle of the
street and there she stood until the
last of her charges had crossed in
safety. We viewed her action with
the appreciation that only a parent
can experience and a silent prayer
went up of praise for her and petition
for more of her kind.
—Just because we have always
made a point of being as accurate as
possible ourselves we can’t resist call-
ing the publicity agent of The Penn-
sylvania State College to book for
sending out dope to the effect that
Andy Lytle “has been a foot ball
rooter” up there “for more than forty
years.” State didn’t play foot ball
“more than forty years ago.” And,
while we’d as soon steal a wilted cab-
bage leaf from a blind cow as rob An-
dy of any of the deserved laurels he
has won as a later day follower and
rooter for State teams, for the sake
of history and accuracy, we are com-
pelled to say that the grand old man
of the Ancient and Honorable Order
of State Fans was the great-grand
dad of the present Sauers generation
at State College. Dear old, loyal old
“Baldy” Sauers was sitting on a play-
er’s bench at every State game long
before Andy new a foot ball from a
pound apple.
—Billy Swoope, our present Con-
gressman, is almost desperate in his
search for something he can point
with pride to. His is a rocky road.
[n Clearfield he undertook to pat him-
self on the back for voting for the old
soldiers’ pension increase. Then some-
»ody asked him what the President
1e wants to go back to Washington to
support did to that bill. Billy dropped
‘he subject like a hot cake. Then he
started in to tell what the Fordney-
VicCumber tariff has done for Ameri-
‘an industry and another inquisitive
erson asked him why everybody is
retting less under it “than they did
inder the Wilson bill. Again Billy
hanged his line of talk. Then he
vent up to Bradford to play for the
voman’s vote and there he spilled the
ceans entirely. We know Billy. We
ike him as a friend, so we won’t tell
‘ou of the hole two persistent women
ut him in in Bradford. But we will
dvise'you to vote against him for re-
lection. Doubtless he is ornamental
1 Congress, but his record doesn’t in-
icate that he is a particle of use
rere. Voit: for Edward R. Benson.
ive him. a chance to show you what
man who knows nothing about strut- '
ng can do.
VOL. 69.
Davis May Carry Pennsylvania.
Recent developments greatly
strengthen the belief heretofore ex-
pressed in these columns that the re-
sult of the election in Pennsylvania
this year will be practically the same
as that of 1912. The regular Repub-
lican candidate, Mr. Coolidge, will be
the third in the race and a rather bad
third at that. The vote in 1912 was
Roosevelt, bolting Republican, 447,426;
Wilson, Democrat, 395,619; Taft, reg-
ular Republican, 273,305. Probably
one-fifth of the Roosevelt vote was
cast by Democrats influenced by per-
sonal admiration of the Rough Rider
and factionalism in the Democratic
force. If the Democratic votes cast
for Roosevelt had been given to Wil-
son he would have had a majority over
Roosevelt and a considerable plurality
of the total vote.
Roosevelt had elements of strength
which LaFollette does not possess. A
great many voters admired that spir-
it of daring expressed in his testimo-
ny before a Congressional committee
in which he declared he had seized the
canal zone in violation of the consti-
tution and left the discussion of the
question to Congress afterward. But
LaFollette has elements of strength
which Roosevelt lacked and LaFol-
lette’s running mate, Senator Wheel-
er, is infinitely a greater help to his
chief than Roosevelt’s candidate for
Vice President, Hiram Johnson. Both
Roosevelt and LaFollette, as candi-
dates for President, had and have the
weakness of radicalism in about the
same ratio. Roosevelt was about the
first prominent public man to cast as-
persions upon the Supreme court.
Assuming, therefore, that the ele-
ments of strength and weaknesses of
Roosevelt and LaFollette are about
balanced there is no basis for a claim
that Coolidge will get a larger pro-
portion of the Republican vote than
Taft polled. "The votes of all the can-
didates will be greater, of course, the
women not having been enfranchised !
at that time. But LaFollette stands
to lose the greater part, if not the en-
tire bulk, of the Democratic votes cast
for Roosevelt in 1912. There are no
factional differences among the Dem-
ocrats of Pennsylvania this year and | E
the registrations in ‘the cities and thé | af
enrollments in the rural districts in-
dicate a measure of enthusiasm and
alertness which give promise of a full
party vote for the Democratic candi-
date.
The Republican party was wrecked
on the rocks of inefficiency and venal-
ity of the Taft administration then
drawing to a close. Nobody accused
Taft of dishonesty or even of partici-
pation in the spoils of corrupt gov-
ernment.
a mere trifle in comparison with the
colossal crimes of the Harding-Cool-
idge regime, hung over the Republi-
can party like a pall. What reason is
there to believe that Republican
voters who balked at Taft will
support Coolidge who made himself
responsible for the outrages of Albert
B. Fall, Harry Daugherty and Charles
Forbes by giving them moral sup-
port? Who can imagine that con-
sciences shocked by the carelessness
of pleasure-loving Taft will be recon-
ciled to the support of Newberryism
and the appointment of Slemp?
Because of a firm and abiding faith
in the intelligence and integrity of a
vast majority of the voters of Penn-
sylvania the “Watchman” is persuad-
ed that Calvin Coolidge will not re-
ceive even a plurality of the votes of
Pennsylvania at the coming election.
Which of the other two candidates
will be so honored is a subject of con-
jecture. Even the earnest supporters
of LaFollette admit that John W, Da-
vis is the fitter man for the great of-
fice and the better qualified to meet
the burdens and obligations during the
crucial period approaching. And if
the Democrats of the State are just
to themselves and true to their obli-
gations to the country he will get the
electoral vote of Pennsylvania on the
4th day of November. Let us of Cen-
tre county do our part.
—~Speaking of Senator Brookhart’s
defection the Harrisburg Telegraph
says: “It’s a good year to purge the
G. 0. P. of undesirables.” Strange
that the Telegraph never thinks of
the purging business until after the
“undesirable” has declared his inten-
tion of deserting Coolidge.
iene ss
—Probably the most disappointed
man in Philadelphia was Mayor Ken-
drick when Gen. Butler swallowed
whatever was ailing him and busted
the plan to let him go.
——Attorney General Stone is
proving himself a fit successor to
Daugherty. He regulates the depart-
ment of politics rather than law.
——=Secretary Hughes thinks Cool-
idge is the only issue in the campaign.
That is slighting Fall, Daugherty and
Forbes without reason.
Sat————— ina —
——Coolidge is free with lip service
for peace but offers nothing more.
But the Ballinger scandal, |
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
WILLIAM H.
a few days ago, why he was going
voters of Centre county.
The gentleman said:
them.
the laws.
the backs of the tax payers. He
public pay-roll and how hard it is
ker demands as the price of being
and vote “Aye” for that.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. OCTOBER 10. 1924.
NOLL, WHY?
There are many reasons that we might advance in support of the
candidacy of William H. Noll for the Legislature, but the terse, com-
prehensive answer that a Republican gave to a friend who asked him,
to vote for Noll seems to cover the
situation so perfectly that we pass it on for the consideration of the
“It doesn’t matter to me whether Holmes
is for Pinchot, whether he is for our organization or what he is for.
Bill Noll knows more about Centre county, what we need and how to
get it than Holmes could ever hope to know.”
That expression sums up the situation as well as it could possibly
be done. Mr. Noll does know Centre county. He was one of its Com-
missioners for eight years and in that office he proved that, though a
Democrat, his eye was single to the interest of the tax payers whether
his action made for party expediency ar not.
him to seize every opportunity to prociaim from the rostrum what he
will do. He needs but ask you to turn to the county statements from
1911 to 1919 to discover what he has had a great part in doing.
He will go to Harrisburg under obligation to no one but the voters
of Centre county. If Governor Pinchot has any measures to introduce
that will affect the people of Centre county favorably he will support
If the Republican organization—which will oppose any pro-
gram the Governor presents—introduces anything that will be of ben-
efit to Centre county, he will support that. If the Labor party has
any legislation to enact that will help the laboring man of Centre
county Noll will be for it. He has labored himself and at present is a
director of a corporation that employs hundreds of laboring men. If
any proposals are made for more effective enforcement of the prohib-
itory laws now on our statute books he will support them, unless they
should give to some one the right to spend the taxpayer’s money lo
employ other officers than those who are now being paid for enforcing
It is not necessary for
Mr. Noll is against the insidious grafting of political parasites on
was in the County Commissioner’s
office long enough to discover how easy it is to add some one to the
to get rid of him.
He will go to Harrisburg unpledged and uncontrolled. He won’t
have to teeter between what Governor Pinchot wants and Harry Ba-
regular. All he'll have to do is sit
back and watch to see where the interests of Centre county come in
Because Mr. Noll has a more intimate knowledge of what Centre
county needs and because he will be FREE to vote for what we need
is the answer to the question: “William H. Noll, Why?”
In a speech delivered at Emmitts-
burg, Iowa, a few days ago, Senator
Brookhart finally and firmly fixed
iW
State on the Presi
year. Senator Brookhart is the Re-
publican nominee for United States
Senator, having recently defeated the
Coolidge candidate at the primary con-
test by upward of 200,000 majority.
What he says on.the subject may,
therefore, be accepted as the voice of
the Republican party of Iowa. What
he says is that President Coolidge is
against every principle that the Re-
publicans of Iowa stand for and that
i he favors every principle they are op-
posed to. That being the case, Iowa
is certain to cast its electoral vote
against Coolidge.
ator Brookhart declared that Mr.
Coolidge is the candidate of Wall
Street and the Republican machine.
In support of this declaration he
states that Coolidge was for Newber-
ryism, ship subsidy, the Esch-Cum-
mins railroad law and the Mellon tax
bill, while the Republicans of Iowa
are against those things. He charged
that Mr. Coolidge opposed the inves-
tigation of corruption and eriticized
i the Senate for denouncing it, that the
, President opposed the soldiers’ bonus
bill and the postal employees measure
and favors disccriminating taxes
against the poor and in favor of the
rich. In view of this difference in at-
titude there can be no doubt of Iowa’s
electoral vote.
What is true of Iowa is equally cer-
tain of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado
and Wyoming. So far as Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Idaho and the Dakotas are
concerned there has never been a
chance of Coolidge getting an elec-
toral vote. Then if the Republican
managers are afraid of the election
going to Mr. Bryan as a result of the
failure of the electoral college to
make the choice why shouldn’t they
advise the regular Republicans of
those States to cast their ballots for
his sanity or disputes his safety. We
do not share in the fears they express
on this subject. We are fully convinc-
ed that Mr. Davis will be elected in
ithe usual way. But if they have
doubts, a vote for Davis is the remedy.
Since Kendrick and Butler have
reconciled their differences the enter-
prising Philadelphia burglars have re-
sumed their burgling.
——The prosecution of Congress-
man Hill for making cider like that of
| Fall and Forbes will be held off until
after the election.
Senator Brookhart has located
Coolidge.” He belongs to the “Wall
Street bloc,” the Iowa Senator de-
clares. }
——1It is suspected that Coolidge
got hot when he read Dawes’ appro-
val of the Ku Klux Klan.
fixed the J
In the opening of his speech Sen-'
John W. Davis? Nobody questions |
Towa Certain Against Coolidge. | Prosent Standing of Young Theodore,
* Roosevelt.
When the conspiracy to steal the
oil
ashington Edwin Denby, of Michi-
gan, stupid but not exactly venal, was
Secretary of the Navy, and under the
law custodian of the oil reserves.
Theodore Roosevelt, not exactly stu-
pid but very obliging, was first assist-
ant secretary and confidential adviser
in the department. The conspirators,
Secretary of the Interior Fall, Sinclair
and Doheny were not willing to sub-
mit the matter to Denby but used
Roosevelt to persuade Denby to relin-
quihs to Fall the control of the prop-
erty who for and in consideration of
bribes of generous proportions and in
violation of law turned the property
over to Sinclair and Doheny.
Thus far in the proceedings young
Roosevelt seems to have received no
, reward for his helpful services in be-
half of Sinclair and Doheny. It is
true that subsequent investigation
, showed that both he and his wife own-
.ed stock in the Sinclair and Doheny
, organizations, the value of which was
considerably enhanced by the acqui-
, sition of the leases. It was also dis-
covered by inquiry that while the ne-
gotiations were pending Archie Roose-
velt, a rather helpless brother of The-
~odore, was given an office in the Sin-
clair organization at a salary of |
$5000 a year, which was increased
later to $10,000, though he was de-
; clareds incompetent by his employer.
: These substantial tokens of friend-
ship may have had something to do
with the matter. 2 oe
For some reason as yet unexplain-
ed the Senatorial committee investi-
, gating the fraudulent leases of oil
, reserves showed great tenderness to-
ward Mr. Roosevelt. It might have
placed him in position to appear in
court as co-defendant with Fall, Sin-
late and Doheny, but it passed him
along with Denby. That is no reason,
however, why he should insult the
public conscience by asking the peo-
i ple of New York to elect him to the
office of Governor. It was generous
| to shield him on account of his father
in the report of the investigating com-
mittee. But it is impudence on his
part to interpret that expression of
unearned favoritism as a condonation
of his part in a grave conspiracy.
—Judge Landis has advised those
who criticized him for not blacklisting
the entire New York base ball team,
when two of the members were caught
attempting to buy games, to “keep
their shirts on.” The Judge's advice
is equally pertinent in thousands of
other situations. Every community
has its quota of people whose meat
and drink is criticism. They are so
busy finding fault with others that
they never have a thought of doing
something constructive themselves.
wswThe alluminum report dazed
Secretary Mellon, according to Wash-
ington dispatches. ‘ The Secretary
: hoped it would be withheld until after
| the election. :
in eret
United States and the World.
From the Philadelphia Record. =
The honor of the nation, the prog-
ress of humanity and the supression
of war demand the election of John
W. Davis. For three and a half years
a Republican Administration has put
the country to shame before the world,
continuing the infamous work of the
Senate, which began a year and a half
earlier. i
During the war there was a univer-
sal expectation in this country that
the greatest of all wars would be the
last. It was assumed by all that the
i nations could not leave the way open
for another such catastrophe. In fo-
‘cusing public opinion on this point
i the lead was taken by the two Repub-
. lican ex-Presidents, Mr. Taft, through
i his organization, the League to En-
| force Peace, and Mr. Roosevelt, by his
| writings and speeches in support of
what he called “the posse comitatus
: of nations.” i hie
| Public opinion emphatically de-
: manded measures to end the needless
| horror and barbarism of war. But the
j election of a Republican Congress in
: 1918 inspired Senator Lodge and oth-
; ers with the idea of “fighting Presi-
‘ dent Wilson.” ‘They broke the heart
| of humanity, in Mr. Wilson’s word:
to win a little partisan advant
i The Republican party has not repen
ed; it has not cast out the leaders w.
‘defeated the peace treaty and kept
| the United States out of the Leagu
and left to foreign nations the work of
securing humanity against ano
war. ne
Republicans—some of them—voted
for Mr. Harding under the influence
of thirty-one men—two. of them now
in the Cabinet—who said that the
surest way of getting ‘the United
States into the League of Nations was
to elect him. Mr. Harding was elect-
ed, and there is not the slightest in-
dication that we shall ‘enter the
League, or even join the. civilized
world in maintaining the Permanent
Court of International Justice, under |
Republican rule, Mr." Harding was
really enthusiastic about the Court
idea, but’ Mr. Coolidge is not, and he’
describes the League of Nations
foreign affair of no interest to us.
The League is absolutely the only:
agency that can reduce the danger of
war. -It has already done netablé| day was so badly frightened by a bull
work in adjusting international con-|
| troversies and substituting negotia-
tions for menaces, and driving out se-
i od C 1 CY, t is ‘now pe C1
a plan to make the action of
League more certain and more effi-
‘cient. But if the Republicans carry
"the elections the United States will
i have nothing to do with the most be-
i neficent international action in all his-
tory. With the accession of the Unit-
ied States to the League, and with its
acceptance of the Geneva protocol,
the perpetuation of the world’s peace
would be assured.
The United States will never join
the civilized world in averting war
while the Republican party is in pow-
er. Its barbaric disinclination to
peace goes back of Mr. Wilson. When
| Chief Justice Taft was President he
negotiated universal arbitration treat-
ies with England and France, and a
Republican Senate mutilated them so
that they were worthless and Presi-
dent Taft dropped them. We can get
no help for civilization from the Re-
publicans. No adequate conception of
the world can find entrance into the
parochial mind of Calvin Coolidge.
If the country will elect Mr. Davis,
the United States will join the civil-
ized world in proscribing war by-as-
suring each nation of justice by peace-
ful methods, and agreeing to prevent
any bellicose and predatory nation
from attacking a neighbor.
pecs
—————— A es—————
Premier’s Boyhood Friend.
From the Providence Journal.
Some professional critics of the
MacDonald government in Great Brit-
ain are trying to stir up trouble for
the Prime Minister because an old
friend and benefactor was honored
with a baronetey last June. Boyhood
friends, they have retained for each
other that great measure of mutual
affection bred in earlier days. Neith-
er had any large endowment of world-
ly riches in youth. In fact, they work-
ed their way laboriously from the bot-
tom to the top, one in business, the
other in public life. :
In position to exchange some sub-
stantial form of recognition for such
a life-long friendship, the one of great
riches made certain that his friend
should have a little share in the com-
forts which wealth brings. The other,
head of Britain’s government, request-
ed King George to bestow a baronet-
cy. To try to draw false inferences
in the case or to suggest impropriety
is but te display one’s ignorance of
the qualities of character and the hab-
its of life that have made Ramsay
MacDonald one of the great men of
our times.
Ma is Feminine.
From the Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph.
The eternal feminine came to the
fore again when Mrs. Ferguson, who
won the Democratic gubernatorial
nomination in Texas, smilingly yet
firmly declined to tell her age.
rr ——— en
——=The first educational classes at
thé Roc¢kview penitentiary, under the
auspices of the school of engineering
at The ‘Pennsylvania State Cilege,
were held last night. About 125 in-
mates answered to the roll call of
prisonér students.
as a]
]
the
1SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Homes for more than 400 additional
families have been provided in Altoona so
far this year. (bs lhe
—Because her husband would not accom
pany her to Italy, Mrs. Matilda Manga-
noro, of Pittston, took poison and died. .
—The Pennsylvania Railroad shops at
Altoona went on a 48 hour schedule Mon-
day, affecting approximately 11,000 men.
—Mrs. Dell deForrest, of Cassville, was
appointed constable by the Huntingdon
county court, being the first woman to
hold that position in the county. :
—@rant Reeder, of Beech Creek, is in the
Clinton county jail under bond for $5,000,
charged with burning the barn of G. Mack
Johnson, of Beech Creek township.
.- —Peter Lechman, of Freeland, was ad-
mitted to the Hazleton State hospital with
a stab wound in the abdomen, which he
told the doctors was inflicted by his wife
with a table knife, = - . i L
+ “—Governor Pinchot on Monday appoint
ed Henry D. Brown, of Williamsport, &
member of the board of trustees of The
‘Pennsylvania State College. The appointee
‘is publisher of the Williamsport Gazette
and Bulletin, > ’
—The Shannon Oil company is drilling a
test well on the William Baker farm, on
the Roosevelt highway near Rexford’s
bridge, in Potter county. The well, which
is to go down at least 1000 feet and cost
$5000, is said to be backed by Elmira, N.
Y., capitalists.
—Mrs. John Fitzoli, aged 45 years, her
two daughters and her four sons were in-
stantly killed and her husband was so bad-
iy injured he may die, when their auto-
mobile was struck by a Pennsylvania rail-
road passenger train at a grade crossing
near Port Allegheny, McKean county, on
Sunday. ; (ono .
. ~The Reading fair earnings this year
were $50,000, according to a report by pres-
ident Abner 8. Deysher. This, it is stated,
‘is the largest net profit for one year for
{any county fair ever held in Pennsylvania.
The total receipts were more than $115,
000 and the paid admissions were nearly
1120,000, also a high record there. The to-
tal admissions were about 200,000.
—The Highland pulp mill, at Johnson-
burg, which has been shut-down for three
months, resumed operations on Monday.
‘The plant employs 125 men, the majority
{ of them have béen employed at the Clarion
paper mill on special work. Most of the
pulp will be shipped to Lock Haven, to
supply their needs owing to the recent ex-
"plosion that crippled the pulp department
of the paper mill in that place. {
—For the first time in the history o
Huntingdon county a woman has been ap-
pointed to fill the office of constable, and
to act with all the high authority pertain-
ing to that office. The woman distinguish-
ed by this appointment is Miss Dell De
| Forrest, of Cassville, and her selection for
‘this position was made by the citizens of
Cassville themselves, and confirmed jgdi-
cially by Judge Bailey at a special session
of court. She : ) 2
,—Mrs. Kate Garner, an Oneida town-
‘ship, Huntingdon county, widow, return-
ing from the home of her brother, william
McElwain, a Civil war veteran, on Thurs-
‘that she became hysterical, fleeing into
the woods, where she became unconscious.
Sixty men scoured the country for her,
day morning, when Mrs. Garner efnherged
from the woods in an exhausted condition.
—While William O’Hay and Albert Rob-
inson, each 11 years old, were playing in a
shanty, last Saturday, on the outskirts of
Easton, Pa., the O’'Hay boy found two ri-
fles, one of which ke knew was not loaded.
He wanted to play with this and picked up
one of the guns, but got the wrong one,
He pointed it at Robinson and fired. Now
Robinson is in the Easton hospital in a
serious condition with a bullet wound near
his left shoulder, and O’Hay is in charge
of probation officer Miss Carrie Riddle,
—Joseph Bach, of Philadelphia, pleaded
| suilty on Monday on a charge of taking a
gold watch from the home of a élergyman
in that city, where Bach had been servilig
as best man at the wedding of two Phil-
adelphia friends. While the clergyman
was making out the wedding certificate,
Bach found the watch and later gave it to
the bride as a wedding gift. Later the
trio were arrested. The bride and groom
were held in jail for several days, but were
discharged when Bach confessed. Judge
Schaeffer sentenced Bach to nine months in
jail and fined him $50.
—The reptilian population of Hunting-
don county took a sudden drop recently,
when Charles Rath, an Altoona boy, killed
thirty-one copperhead snakes at a cabin
on Spruce creek. One of the snakes was &
female adult, three feet twé ifiches in
langth, while the rest were her family of
- | youngsters, froii &ix to eight inches long.
Later in the same day another large cop-
perhead snake was killed in the sdmé vi-
cinity. The Rath family spent practically
the entire summer at Spruce creek and saw
no copperhead snakes excepting on this
day, when the copperheads appeared in
wholesale lots.
—A damage suit in which defamation of
character was alleged, was decided against
the defendant by a jury in the Clinton
county court last week, which returned its
verdict after a trial lasting over two days.
Mrs. Annie Salmon, of Beech Creek, al-
leged that Frank Kunes, a neighbor, had
circulated stories that she locked her hus-
band in a corn crib and otherwise abused
him and that this treatment was a con-
tributory cause of his death. Sixty wit-
nesses were called. Kunes denied the
charge and said that he had not originat-
ed any of the stories which were circu-
lated. The jury placed all the costs,
whi¢h will amount to a large sum, on Mrs.
Salmon.
—~Charles A. Thompson, former register
of wills of Butler county, who shot him-
self at Butler, is said to have been short
$4,188.96 in his accounts with the State of
Pennsylvania and a letter demanding that
he make immediate settlement was sent
him on September 29th by the Auditor
General's Department. Thompson's term
expired in January and in making an au-
dit of the inheritance and other taxes due
to the State from his office, one of the
auditors from Auditor General Samuel 8S.
Lewis’ office found a shortage of $3,000
due to failure to make payments of the
taxes on an estate. The remainder of the
delinquency was turned up soon soon
after and early in September Thompson
was asked to go to Harrisburg and make
settlement, He sent word he had been
overcome by the heat and on one excuse
or another did not comply with notices.
A peremptory letter was then sent him.
The Auditor General has notified the com-
pany bonding Thompson of the situation.
continuing the search until ‘early >Satag= r=