nordic
~rpD 1S
INK SLINGS.
—— Now that a method has been
discovered by which “static” can be
eliminated something besides the
statements of the “announcer” may
be heard distinctly on the radio.
——Our Senator, William I. Betts,
of Clearfield, is sponsor for a new tax
bill that is likely to attract consider-
able attention in this session of the
Legislature.
being to include real estate of various
public utility corporations in the list
of taxables is calculated to draw fire
from the railroads and other enter-
prises of this class.
—The Governor and the anti-
saloon league have composed their
differences on the matter of enforce-
ment legislation to be proposed at this
session of the Legislature. Their
squabble is said to have ended be-
cause both sides agreed to “give and
take.” That's a surprise to us, for
while we have felt that both Gif and
Homer Tope are long on the “take”
we never dreamed that either one of
them had even a speaking acquaint-
ance with the meaning of “give.”
Burgess Harry Todd has taken
issue with the town council of Philips-
burg as to who is boss of the police
department over there. At its last
meeting council elected a new force
which meant the elimination of the
old chief, Daniel Brink. The burgess
immediately dismissed Council’s offi-
cers and directed Brink to continue
on duty, and so the situation is
charged with controversy as to who
is boss so strong that an explosion is
expected when the council of that
borough meets again.
—_When Bellefonte invested $20,-
000 in two modern fire fighting ma-
chines one of the c‘rong points in
favor of their purchase was that if
they didn’t reduce insurance rates,
they would, at least, be strong argu-
ments against any suggestions of
raising them. We have heard that
the old line companies have decided
to advance rates in Bellefonte by
about forty percent. If this is true
it would seem that there is little
encouragement for municipalities that
assume heavy financial burdens for
the purpose of minimizing losses by
fire.
—Any who might be thinking of
joining us on the trip we proposed
last week are advised to cease the
mental process of evolving how it
could be done. We're not going to
win the grand prize for solving cross-
word puzzles. We know it. Because
we never won, but once in our lives
and then the accident of chance was
blighted by the evil eye that seems
always to have us as its focal point.
We might get one of the dollar
Li for ES iy nursed a. fifteen
pound dictionary on our bread-basket
for thirty nights in succession, but
we won’t get the thousand, so what’s
the use of planning .a; perigrination
into fields we haven’t seen since we
were credulous enough to believe that
two--now four— could live as cheap as
one. We ‘wander afield, however. We
started to tell of the only time that
“lady-luck” ever really played into
our hand. It was in April years ago.
The late Chas. Cruse was continuing
his departed father’s well establish-
ed tobacco store in the Bush house.
He had bought heavily of pipes for
the Christmas trade, but had most of
the costly ones still on his hands when
spring came. To convert them into
cash he bethought himself of pooling
them off to the loafers in the hotel
lobby, one of which we were. The
night before we had planned a fishing
excursion on Logan’s branch we
bought a dozen numbers on a fifteen
dollar meerschaum. Early next morn-
ing we walked to the “Blue Spring”
and fished with constant hope to the
plant of the Nitany Iron company—
four miles by the creek. There we
met “Donny,” rarely known as Morti-
mer O'Donoghue, superintendent of
that since scrapped industry. Foot-
sore and wet, hungry and dry we
stated the tale of ill-luck when he an-
nounced that we had won the pipe. We
never had won anything before so you
will understand why we replied that he
take his seat by the side of Ananias.
Then he offered to trade an eighteen
inch brook trout—which he didn’t own
and we knew it, on our equity in the
pipe, which we believed we had every-
thing but any. We accepted, stepped
into the Company office and put it in
writing. After that we were con-
ducted to Jim Miller's spring house
where all the trout in Logan’s branch
and Spring creek seemed to have se-
lected as their safety zone and, sure
enough, among them was an eighteen
inch brook trout. This piscatorial
prodigy we put into a bucket, not in
our creel, and started for home where
a new porcelain bathtub had just suc-
ceeded the one of tin vintage. Filling
it with water we dumped the ill-got-
ten fruit of the expedition and started
over town to seek glorifiers of our
skill. We found three, but when we
got back to prove the verity of our
claim that we had caught the daddy
of them all there he was, lying dead
on the bath room floor. Released
from the confines of the bucket he had
gotten gay in our absence and raced
out over the edge of the top to a
death that made thoughts of eating
him nauseating. We had won the pipe.
“Donny” got it and forthwith present-
ed it to Kelley, his boss-furnace man
and Kelley busted it that very night
“knocking it out” against the stack,
as was his manner of cleaning the old
clay boy that was built for furnace
men.
One of its provisions |
a
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNIUN.
VOL. 70.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. JANUARY 30. 1925
NO. 5.
The Cambria County Outrage.
The palpable injustice perpetrated
by the court of Cambria county in
giving a certificate of election to a
candidate shown by judicial investi-
gation to have been defeated is at-
tracting attention and provoking com-
ment outside of Pennsylvania. The
Springfield, Massachusetts, Republi-
can expresses amazement that the
Supreme court of Pennsylvania should
have sanctioned such an outrage upon
justice in view of a decision handed
down by that tribunal in another case,
less than a year ago. “If a return
is in such shape either from mistake,
ignorance or fraud, that nothing can
be predicated upon it,” the State Su-
preme court declared in March last,
“it could not properly be determined
that the court must find its hand
palsied when it would raise the lid of
the box.”
In the case in point both claimants
to the election had suspicions, of the
integrity of the returns in certain
election districts and upon motion of
counsel of both candidates the judges
of the court, one Democrat and the
other Republican, decided to recount
the ballots in the districts named.
The recount showed a majority for
the Democratic candidate, Warren
Worth Bailey, who in the interest of
honesty as well as decency, ought to
have been given the certificate of
election. But the defeated candidate
interposed a claim that the court had
no right to open the ballot boxes be-
cause the question in dispute was the
election of a Congressman rather than
an officer of the
Thereupon the Republican judge re-
versed himself and sustained the
point. Another Republican judge was
called in and he concurred in the poli-
tical view expressed by the Repub-
lican judge of Cambria county.
An appeal to the State Supreme
court failed to correct the injustice
because of an equal division of the
judges. It is only proper to say that
all the judges participating were Re-
publicans but three of them favored a
reversal of the lower court while the
other three deelared “the court must
find its hand palsied when it would
raise the lid of the box.” A subse-
quent appeal to the Supreme court
of i, ited tates X it “dismissed
on the ground that the court had no
jurisdiction and thus by the sanction
of the highest courts of the country
a grave crime is approved and a great
wrong perpetrated, for it can hardly
be expected that a Congress with a
large Republican majority and under
no moral restraints will humiliate
the men “in robes” responsible for
the outrage.
— Senator Wheeler, of Montana,
is a modest man but recent events
show it is dangerous to monkey with
him. :
Coolidge Reveals Signs of Program.
Addressing a conference on “the
causes and cure of war,” at Washing-
ton on Saturday, President Coolidge
said: “I. believe that the next step
which we may well take is by parti-
cipation in the Permanent Court of
International Justice. I believe that
our adherence to that tribunal, for
which I earnestly hope, will become
one medium in which may be grad-
ually precipitated and crystalized a
body of international law and pro-
cedure which, by avoiding the dangers
that would attend the establishment
of a super-government, will ultimate-
ly command the respect and approba-
tion of the world’s public opinion and
the co-operation of the nations.” This
is certainly a sign of progress.
The super-government, the shadow
of which “strikes terror to the soul”
of every “bitter ender” within or
without the Senate, to which the Pres-
ident refers, is the League of Na-
tions, which is no super-government
at all. An association of governments
which requires unanimous consent
of all its signatories to any major
proposition as the covenant of the
League of Nations provides is neither
dominant nor dangerous. Viewed
from that angle the Permanent Court
of International Justice is quite as
potential as the League and in sup-
porting one and denouncing the other
the President simply reveals a mental
weakness that belittles the great
office he occupies.
For the reason that adherence to
the proposed International court is a
step in the direction of ultimate en-
trance into the Legue of Nations it is
dsirable. The proposed court is a
creature of the League. The Hughes
reservations cast some doubt upon the
sincerity of our participation in the
court and the honesty of our purpose
in affiliating with it. But notwith-
standing this fact adherence to the
court is an acknowledgement of the
League of Nations and should be en-
couraged by all thoughtful men and
women of the country. In the course
of time the malignity which influenc-
ed Senator Lodge and others “to
fight Wilson” will give way to better
impulses.
Paying Political Debts.
| There is a good deal of anxiety in
official Washington over a recently
! developed opposition to the confirma-
. tion of the appointment of Attorney
| General Harlan F. Stone to be asso-
| ciate judge of the Supreme court of
the United States. At the time he
was appointed Attorney General the
favor was ascribed to a college friend-
ship. Since his promotion to the
higher office it has been alleged that
the first appointment was made at
the solicitation of certain trust in-
terests and the college story was a
pleasant fiction. It is alleged, more-
over, that Mr. Stone was on the legal
staff of the Morgan bank, which was
declared an unpardonable crime dur-
ing the recent Presidential cam-
paign.
Whether Mr. Stone was a Morgan
attorney or not ought to be of little
consequence provided his relations
with the firm were legitimate and of
a character which a reputable lawyer
might espouse. Fairly considered
that would mean only that he is a
good lawyer, for the Morgan bank
can afford to employ the best and
usually does so. It is claimed, how-
ever, that the case in which Stone
represented the Morgan bank was not
that kind of a case. An old Colorado
pioneer asserts that through Stone
the Morgan bank robbed him of a
vast estate. This charge is the ori-
ginal cause of the opposition to con-
firmation. Mr. Stone’s connection
with the Daugherty “frame-up”
against Senator Wheeler is an added
State or county. cause of objection.
! Whether the nomination of Mr.
Stone is confimed or not, and the prob-
abilities are that it will be, it is anoth-
er link in the chain of evidence that
Wall street interests are in complete
control of the appointing power. of the
Coolidge : administration. Mr. Stone,
being a corporation lawyer, and be-
cause he was a corporation lawyer,
was made Attorney General and sub-
sequently promoted to the bench of
the highest court in the country. Be-
cause Charles B.-Warren, of Michigan,
is a corporation lawyer and counsel
‘for the Sugar trust he is nominated
to succeed Stone as Attorney General
and he also will be confined. - The ob-
“ligations to the campaign contributors
must be met.
—-—Obviously the President misin-
terpreted thé lesson of - the "election.
The Senate is now pointing out that
the big majority didn’t mean an ab-
solute boss in the White House.
Harrisburg Not a Bed of Roses.
A careful survey of the present
Legislature involves the proceedings
in doubt. The decided defeat admin- |
istered to the Governor in the selec-
tion of the Speaker indicated an over-
whelming opposition to his pro-
gramme for legislation. But a closer
inspection of the personnel of both
Houses reveals the fact that while
the Governor may be disappointed in
‘his expectation ‘with respect to dry
legislation those who hope to put
over certain measures of a wet char-
acter will also fail in their purpose.
In the House of Representatives the
wets seem to be in the majority but
there are enough dry Senators to sus-
tain the veto of any wet legislation
they may enact.
It will require thirty-four votes to
carry any measure over the Govern-
or'’s veto in the Senate. It is safe to
say that no wet measure vetoed by
the Governor will get that many
votes. The friends of the Governor
boldly and somewhat freely claim that
| seventeen of the fifty Senators will
support the Governor in his veto of
any bill, and if that be an accurate
estimate, the victory scored by the
machine in the organization of the
House will degenerate into’ an unim-
portant skirmish of doubtful value.
Pinchot may be depended upon to keep
up his sniping operations and with
his appeal to the public, plausibly
presented, he may hold his enemies
in a state of terror to the end of the
‘session.
Of course this line of procedure
will not “bring much bacon” to the
Governor’s political larder but it may
divert a good deal from the path that
leads to the pantry of the machine.
The managers, who have been con-
ducting a systematic war against the
Governor since early last summer,
have been making promises rather
freely and if they are not fulfilled, at
least in considerable measure, they
will cause trouble.
outlook is not radiant for either side.
The indications point to a life and
death struggle between the factions
of the party with an indifferent pub-
lic complacently watching the moves
and reflecting that “when rogues
fall out honest men come by their
own.”
The equipment of a Ilepresen-
tative in the Legislature this year is
a bunch of stationery, a fountain pen,
a Smull’s hand book, a revolver and a
stiletto.
ve oy Edi dee SR A
, \—Under "date of ‘January 24 the
, New York papers announce the return
In any event the
| Pinchot a Help to the “Wets.”
Governor Pinchot is again playing
into the hands of the “wet” interests,
according to news dispatches from
: Harrisburg. That is, he is setting up
an impracticable line of enforcement
legislation which threatens to divide
the “dry” forces in the Legislature
and thus defeat all legislation on the
subject. The Harrisburg correspond-
ent of the Philadelphia Public Ledger
writes: “Continued differences of
opinion of a grave character between
the Pinchot adminstration. and the
Anti-Saloon League over supplemen-
tary prohibitory legislation are re-
ported here.” The result is likely to
be a repetition of the Speakership
fight. The “wets” will have their way
in everything.
| - This is in the main an expression
of the abnormal egoism of Gifford or
Cornelia. They insist on creating a
court or tribunal consisting of “heads
of departments” of the State gov-
ernment. The Governor or Cornelia
appoints the heads ¢~ the departments
in question and er vs the power of
removel. Under the ..rcumstances the
Governor could, if so inclined, control
the decisions of the tribunal. In
‘ other words, he might constitute him-
self judge, jury and prosecutor. The
(plan of the Anti-Saloon League is
, said to be less drastie but more prac-
tical. It would amply serve the pur-
| pose of enforcing the law but without
i giving the Governor so much power
~over the operation.
| © As a matter of fact Governor Pin-
¢hot appears to be absolutely in-
| sincere in his pretense of devotion to
{the cause of prohibition or the en-
‘forcement of prohibition legislation.
. He has by some process of reasoning
: persuaded himself that it is the
popular side of a present. contro-
versy.and has espoused it as a medium
‘ of promoting his selfish ambitions.
If he had acted with even resonable
: intelligenee in the contest for = the
| Speakership a “dry” man would have
been chosen and there would have
“been no occasion for dispute over the
-Law and Order committee. If pro-
hibition fails during the present ses-
sion it may be aseribed to the same
cause. : }
‘ from a. trip abroad of John W. Davis.
Possibly you have forgotten the name.
He was our candidate for President in
1924.
Forty-one Below at Clarence.
i
{
{ .
There can be no questioning of the
statement that Wednesday morning
{was the coldest of the winter, thus
: far.
| In Bellefonte thermometers record-
‘ed variously, according to their loca-
. tion and accuracy. Reports came into
i this office running all the way from
12 to 20 degrees below zero.
i Clarence, however, always regard-
‘ed as the coldest spot in the county,
; broke all records that we have mem-
‘ory of. On the porch of O. J. Harm’s
store at that place the thermometer
| recorded 41 degrees below at 7 o’clock
{in the morning: An hour later the
‘mercury rose to 39 degrees and at
“noon it was still 8 degrees below zero.
The trouble with the child
' labor amendment to the constitution
| is that at every step in its progress it
encounters a memory of the Eigh-
- teenth.
' <——-Weather prophets last week pre-
dicted that the backbone of the winter
was broken with the passing of the
eclipse, and the warm weather of Sun-
day and Monday seemed as if such
might be the case. But a decided
change on Monday night brought an-
other four inch fall of snow and this
week has been just as wintry like as
any time since the early part of De-
cember. In fact we have had a long
stretch of cold weather without a
general breakup, but next Monday
i will be groundhog day and let us hope
| the pesky critter will not be able to
'see his shadow from morn until
night.
— legislatures are in session in
| forty States and it’s small wonder
| that credulous folk are preparing for
the end of the world next month.
——The President is opposed to the
elevation of warship guns.. He prob-
ably wants to show respect for the
twelve mile limit.
— Governor Pinchot appears de-
termined to enforce prohibition in his
own way or prevent its enforcement
in any way.
Attorney General Stone now
realizes that butting into other peo-
ple’s business is a dangerous thing.
——The eclipse is over and the
country safe, but the 6th of February
is yet to come.
‘France loaned a great de
Poland and France.
From the Philadelphia Record.
There was an interesting con-
trast on Friday between the Polish
Diet and the French Chamber of
Deputies. After the war we sup-
plied Poland with food, and the
credit given to the new nation was
$178,000,000. The agreement for
the funding of this sum was passed
by the Diet unanimously, and
speeches of gratitude to the United
States were interrupted by tumultu-
ous applause for this country.
While the war was going on, and
when France was showing signs of
exhaustion, the army was mutinous
and the “defeatists” were trying to
arrange a peace on German terms,
we entered the conflict, put 2,000,000
soldiers in France, incurred a debt
of $15,000,000,000 on our own ac-
count, besides about $10,000,000,000
loaned to the Allies, of which France
got nearly $4,000,000,000, and we
saved that nation. On Friday the
Chamber of Deputies experienced its
most disorderly session because a
large proportion of the members
were wroth at the Government for
refusing to adopt as its own the
preposterous speech of Louis Marin
repudiating all obligations to the
United States and insisting that we
were indebted to France for, begin-
ning the war when it was invaded
by Germany.
At the previous
Herriot made a speech supporting
Marin’s repudiation, but later it is
evident that the men responsible for
the French Government realized that
this sort of thing would not do at
all, the Government refused on sober
second thought to make Marin’s
speech its own, and it was supported
by a majority of 60 in a vote. But
the opponents were able to make the
session of Friday the most riotous
in its history : het
It is hardly necessary to.comment
upon the gratitude of Poland for a
piece of bread and the attitude. of
a great part of the Chamber . of
Deputies toward the United States
which saved the life of France, =
But there is :
which it is worth while to note.
of money
to the Czar’s Government, ‘much of
which was spent in a criminal war
with Japan over some’ Gortupt thn.
ber concessions in Korea...Later the
French bankers brought ‘the war to
an end by refusing to lend any mere
money to Russia urlléss’ the war wa
closed. Japan . also was un;
borrow abroad, and the natiens.
to make peace. :
The Czar’s Government was as-
suredly not a Government of the
Russian people, and it has been de-
stroyed by a revolution, yet France
insists that the Soviet shall pay the
Czar’s debts. It has refused until
recently to recognize the Soviet be-
cause it denies its obligation to do
so, but a few weeks ago it gave
diplomatic recognition in the belief
that the Soviet had consented to
its liability. Some doubt about this
has arisen. :
Here are the illuminating con-
trasts between France and Poland,
e: to
and between the French attitude to- |
ward the Russian debt and toward
its own debt to the United States.
We have our full quota of fools, and
we do not hold all France responsible
for Louis Marin. But the applause
of the Chamber of Deputies at
Marin’s speech, and the disorder re-
sulting from the Government’s re-
fusal to adopt this speech as its
own sentiment, indicates a good deal
of French sentiment for repudiation,
while France is demanding that the
Russian Soviet pay all the obliga-
tions of the Romanoffs.
Will Hear From the People.
From the Connellsville Courior. Bl
If members of the General Assem-
bly do not now realize the fact, they
will very probably learn later, that
the people of Pennsylvania are in no
mood to sit complacently by and
watch the spectacle of our state legis-
lative body wasting time in struggles
and wrangles over “wet and dry” or
other issues which will prevent the
business of the session being disposed
of as expeditionsly as possible.
Everywhere throughout the State
the sentiment has prevailed that the
present session of the General As-
sembly should promptly get down to
business, enact only such legislation
as imperatively needed, then adjourn.
Any other program will meet with
the degree and kind of disapproval it
will merit.
—————— ee ee.
Scandals in Government.
From the DuBois Express.
Considering the number of revela-
tions during the past year of crime
and shady dealings in the Federal
government and in the governments
of various States, the average close
readers of the newspapers probably
believe that crookedness in public
life is more prevalent today than at
any other time in the history of the
country. Frank R. Kent says that is
not a fair conclusion. In the past
there may have been just as many
unworthy persons administering the
affairs of the community, but they
were not caught in their criminal ac-
tions. Mr. Kent thinks crooked pub-
lic officials have been either more
clumsy or more unlucky this year
than were their prototypes in other
years.
——————————————————————. >
——1f vou see it in the “Watch-
man” you know it’s true.
session Premier:
destroyed ". the Browns
¥ Reedsville early on Sunday. The build-
‘| ing: was owned by the Spanogle and Yeag-
_anothér contrast
was.
ad
‘SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Joseph Wyehanis, 50 years old, and
his som, 22, of Shanandoah, were serious-
ly burned about the head, face, chest and
hands in a gas explosion at Maple Hill
Colliery.
—Charged with the embezzlement of
$4334.51 of the funds of the Shamokin
State Hospital, Marlin W. Kaseman, 21,
chief clerk, was committed to the North-
umberland county jail.
A safe containing between $800 and
$1,000 was missing from Walter Speineck-
er's market in Pittsburgh, when he went
to work on Monday morning. A rear win-
dow had been broken and the safe, which
was found open several blocks away had
been carried out.
—Attempting to scale an eight foot fence
in search of a deck of playing cards,
Melvin Park, of Juniata, at 11:15 Satur-
day night was instantly electrocuted
when he came in contact with Penn
Central transformer connections at the
rear of the Juniata silk mill. He was
only eighteen years old and the sole sup-
port of his widowed mother.
—A petition with approximately 100
names has been presented to the Hunting-
don county court for the parole of William
Filson, of Yeagertown, whose automobile
collided with' that of the Rev. Bell mear
Mill Creek last summer which resulted in
the death of the minister. Filson was sen-
tenced to six months and has served
about half of the sentence.
— Mrs. Mary Zuganda, who died in a
private hospital at Pottsville on Saturday,
is said to have been the largest woman in
Schuylkill county, if not in the State. She
stood six feet two inches in her stockings
and weighed 515 pounds. Mrs. Zuganda
was 48 years old and lived in the east
end of that county. A specially prepared
coffin was built for her and the body
shipped to Tamaqua for burial.
—Reading health officials are preparing
for the departure of the woman afflicted
with leprosy whose case was discovered
there recently. According to word from
Washington, she will not be removed to
the government institution at Carrville,
La. Officials of the public health service
at Washington have been informed by
health authorities of Pennsylvania: that
the woman will be returned to Greece,
the country of her birth. :
— Her clothing entirely burned from her
body, Mrs. Anna M. Cogan, 80 years old,
was found dead sitting in a chair in the
kitchen of her home in Juniata Gap
shortly after noon, Saturday by her hus-
band, C. 8. Cogan. The aged woman's
clothing had apparently caught fire from
the stove in the kitchen near ‘which she
was sitting. Apparently she had" been
unable to beat out the flames or rise from
her chair and was burned to death with
but little struggle. :
__Fire’ originating from a defective flue
Mills. hotel at
er Milling company, Now in the heands of
a receiver. It was built more than a cen:
tury ago and was popular in the social
circles of the Kishacoquilas valley in
stage conch days. The building was used
as an apartment house and the occupants
escaped in their night clothing.
—Tony Bertullo, 14, was rescued from
*
| an abandoned mine in Mount Washington
on Sunday after haying been imprisoned
for 20° hours by a cave-in. The boy was
exploring the mine on Saturday when a
{ portion of the roof fell, confining him in a
space ‘about five feet square. He was
rescued ‘by his father and a neighbor
after an all-night search had led them to
the abandoned mine. With the exception
of being hungry the boy showed mo ill
effects of his experience. al
— Attacked by three yeggmen, whom he
surprised while they were blowing a safe
in the office ‘of George H. Philips! and
company, wholesale jewelers in the heart
of the business district of Scranton, at
8 o'clock Sunday morning, Patrolman
Wesley Kresky, 55, was relieved of his
revolver, beaten into unconsciousness, and
handeuffed to the piping of a steam radi-
ator in a nearby office. The safe-crackers,
however, got no loot, having made their
get-away, it is thought, immediately after
tying the officer to the radiator.: :
— Thomas B. Bookhamer, -of Roaring
Springs, and John W: Bookhamer, ‘of Ty-
rone, two of the oldest twins in central
Pennsylvania, recently celebrated. their
eightiy-second birthday. They: were sol-
diers in the Civil war and. are both Metho-
dists, active in religious circles, and mem-
bers of the Odd Fellows fraternity. The
father of the Bookhamers ‘was’ one of
twins, as was the mother. Thomas is the
father of twins and several other sets
have been born on both sides of the fam-
Hy. a . a
—The place where Tom Mix, of movie
fame, learned to “ride the range’ has
been purchased by. the State Game Commis-
sion as a game refuge, it was announced
on Saturday. A tract of land containing
8800 acres at the headwaters of Mosquito
creek, Mix run and Madix run, in Elk and
Clearfield counties, was purchased "for
§26,400, the game commission announced.
Mix run derived its name from Tom
Mix’s father, who was a horseman of
note in the region where Tom Mix roamed
as a boy. . .
— With a population of 800 the village of
Ringtown, Schuylkill county, " reported
only eight deaths during 1924, and those
were of persons with an average age of
80 years and 3 months, the state depart-
ment of health announced recently. The
youngest of the eight was 58 and the
oldest 95, and all the deaths were of dis-
eases common to old age. Six were women
and two men and all were native Penn-
sylvanians. There were seventeen births
in the village during the year with no
deaths among the infants. : 3
—The barn of Milliard Swope, in Hill
Valley, several miles from Mount Union,
was destroyed by fire last Thursday
evening, although the Mount Union fire
company responded to the call and every-
thing possible was done to save the build-
ing. There was a high wind and the
weather was bitter cold and the fire had
gained a great headway before being dis-
covered. Fourteen head of cattle, includ-
ing one horse, were burned in the fire.
Two mules were gotteen out but it was
impossible to reach the other livestock.
The barn was insured for $500 but the
Joss will exceed several thousand dollars
Mrs. Swope was helping a neighbor woman
do some work and saw the fire from her
neighbor's home. = It is believed that the
fire was the work of incendiaries.