INK SLINGS.
—DMaybe, if the anthracite miners
go on a strike September 1st their
brethren in the soft coal fields of Cen-
tral Pennsylvania will be able to get
a few day’s work a week.
—Dog days are on us and “the pre-
cious little darling” who will proba-
bly go to a premature grave because
of calorie feeding and antiseptic liv-
ing, shouldn’t be allowed to go into
the water.
—Possibly the wish is father to the
thought, but it seems to us that both
profane and vulgar language is on the
decline on the streets of Bellefonte.
Occasionally we hear a leather-lunged
individual using ugly words to ex-
press himself, but not nearly so often
as we did a few years ago when walk-
ing along the streets. Let us hope
that the boys all come to learn that
there is no thought they may have to
express that can’t be clothed in clean
words.
—Wouldn’t Congressman Vare look
like the breaking up of a hard winter
if Tom Cunningham and Sam Rotan
* were to put it over on him in the fight
they are having to name candidates
for the “row offices” in Philadelphia.
Cunningham and Rotan, with Bill
Campbell, are of the old Penrose
regime. Vare is the beneficiary of his
more astute brother’s political estate.
He is a small peg in a big hole and all
that keeps him from falling clear
through is money bulging in his pock-
ets.
—Dr. Ellie Potter, specially, and all
others who think prisoners ought to
be coddled, might well read Richard
Washburn Child’s article on the
“Great American Scandal,” published
in the Saturday Evening Post of last
week. It is a dispassionate, fact for-
tified discussion of the alarming in-
crease in crime in our country and is
appalling encugh in its revelations to
bring any dreamer back to a realiza-
tion of the fact that where respect for
the law doesn’t command its observ-
ance then fear of it should compel it.
—The Eastern States Dyer’s Asso-
ciation has been in session in Atlan-
tic City and out of the deliberations of
the august body comes the startling
contention that fat men are tidier than
the thin ones. The buyers say that
twice as many vests size thirty-six
“come in to be cleaned as those of size
forty-four.” Aside from the fact that
there are twice as many men wearing
the smaller size as there are of those
wearing forty-four the dyer’s experts
have evidently failed to note a fat
man at the table. Nine out of every
ten of them have their napkins tucked
under their chins.
—Major Adams probably thinks he
is going to do a good job in taking en-
forcement of the Volstead law out of
politics. He might be sincere and all
that, but we are here to tell you that
its enforcement will only go to the
point where it threatens the contin-
uation of the Republican party in
power. And we are not saying this
because we are of the opposition. If
our party were entrenched as the Re-
publican is, its leaders would proba-
bly try to dig in deeper, just as their
opponents are doing. What the coun-
try needs most is change. A threat,
always, to the party in power that
unless it thinks less of providing jobs
for its henchmen than it does of those
who pay the taxes to pay their sala-
ries it is going to be turned out.
—By way of suggestion to those
who are striving to guide the wayfar-
ers of Pennsylvania back into the port
of good citizenship at the new western
penitentiary let us say that they de-
serve every failure that has rewarded
their efforts. If men convicted of
crime are only children in conception
of their duty to society they should
be treated as children. Corrected
when they need it, rewarded when
they merit it. Above all, they should
be impressed with the sanctity of the
Sabbath day. If they are children
they should have five days of school
work, Saturday for play and Sunday
minus the ball games, movies and all
the other sugar coatings that modern-
ists are devising to bring back grown
children who are mostly errant be-
cause they never were taught to re-
member the Sabbath day and keep it
holy. Consequently it isn’t, to them,
the seventh course in the mason’s
wall, binding them to all that makes
for good citizenship.
—If none of his Republican friends
are knowing enough to advise George
‘Wharton Pepper to stop writing let-
ters to Pinchot let us step into the
breach and do it for them. Pinchot
wouldn’t have had the whip hand he
has over the Republican voter if it
hadn't been for such blunders as Pep-
per is making. George is a loyal
Episcopalian, and a greu.! lawyer, so
those who know him better than we
tell us, but he’s a damnpoor politician.
Some years ago the late Senator Hein-
le was figuring on being a candidate
for Judge of Centre county. Some-
body who didn’t appraise the Sena-
tor’s real ability as a lawyer, said to
him: “Why, Bill, you don’t know
enough law to be Judge.” To this the
Senator replied: “A Judge doesn’t
need to know any law. All he needs
is to have good common sense and a
good lawyer.” We believe the Sena-
tor was right, at that. And because
we believe he was right we are con-
vinced that Pepper is a lost cause for
the Republican organization unless he
gets sense enough to stop writing let-
ters and gets a manager clever
enough to turn the tide that is against
him flowing the other way.
VOL. 70.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
a.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. AUGUST 7. 1925.
Pinchot’s Change of Mind Gratifying.
In the processes of approach to an
impending conflict between Governor
Pinchot and the Republican machine
the “breaks” continue to favor the
Governor. Last week he scored heav-
ily in the declaration that the anthra-
cite coal barons objected to him as an
arbiter in the disputes between the
miners and operators for the reason
that in a speech he had denounced the
operators as “monopolists who in var-
ious ways gouged the public.” Since
then he has earned additional popular
favor by summarily removing one of
the Public Service Commissioners for
the reason that he had failed, in his
official capacity, “to protect the pub-
lic interest.”
Almost from the beginning the Pub-
lic Service Commission of Pennsylva-
nia has served the interests of corpor-
ations. During all that period of
time nearly every case brought before
it has been decided in favor of the cor--
porations, whether they appeared as
complainants or defendants, and in no
instance has the Commission initiated
proceedings against a corporation. As
the Governor says, “the vital duty of
a Public Service Commission is, upon
its own motion, to protect the public.
To do so it must seek out, take up and
deal with cases in which the public in-
terest is involved, but which, without
its action, would never come before
it.” This obligation has never been
fulfilled by the Pennsylvania Commis-
sion.
But Governor Pinchot is in part to
blame for this obvious delinquency.
When he assumed the duties of the of-
fice there was one member of the
Commission, the late John S. Rilling,
who was always alert in asserting
and supporting the interests of the
people. But because he happened to
be a Democrat Governor Pinchot
availed himself of the first opportuni-
ty to chop his official head off and fill
his place with a subservient instru-
ment of corporate power. That he
has changed his mind on the subject |
is gratifying, even though there is
ground for suspicion that he is influ-
enced by the selfish purpose of pro-
moting his personal estate and polit-
ical ambition. It is impolite “to look
a gift-horse imgthe- mouths” .
——Of course the Philadelphia
Chamber of Commerce is opposed to
the removal of Public. Service Com-
missioner Benn. That organization is
naturally opposed to anything that in-
terferes with the political machine.
Unnecessary or Insincere Worry.
Some of our. Republican contempo-
raries are unduly worried over the
lack of leadership in the Democratic
party since the death of Mr. Bryan.
We beg leave to assure them that
there is no occasion to lose sleep or
impair digestion on that account.
Mr. Bryan was a great orator and
deeply concerned for the prosperity of
the people. But his untimely and
widely lamented death did not entire-
ly plunge them into a hopeless sea of
dispair. The woods are full of lead-
ers and the Democratic party is rich
in resources and abundantly supplied
with capable men ready and willing to
assume leadership and amply endowed
with the mental and moral qualities
essential to success.
As a matter of fact the cause which
worries our Republican contemporar-
ies is not that the Democratic party
is without fit men to guide its forces
in the impending contest between the
masses and plutocarcy. They are
worried because the signs indicate an
increasing flow of public sentiment in
support of the beneficent policies of
the Democratic party and a certainty:
of triumph in the near future. The
false pretense of the Republican lead-
ers is becoming so palpable that only
those held by the force of expected
profit to their false doctrines can be
depended on. There are capable men
in every section of the country to lead
the Democrats to certain victory in
1928.
But our friends, the enemy, are not
so well provided. Calvin Coolidge is
their only hope, and he is an accident
without learning or experience. In
Pennsylvania the Republican leaders
are at each other’s throats in quar-
rels over spoils and throughout the
country the energies of the party
managers are spent in unsuccessful
efforts to suppress the scandals of the
Harding administration. The Demo-
crats will miss Mr. Bryan because he
was a great force in the moral life of
the country. But they will find a man
entirely capable of taking his place as
the “guide, philosopher and friend” of
the people, and under such leadership
will move forward to certain and glor-
ious victory.
tebe mo ret
——1It may be well enough to have
push ‘if it isn’t used to force others
out of the line of success.
ip aise
——The world may owe every man
a living but it’s up to him to work out
a settlement.
Mr. Benn’s Absurd Action.
In view of the plain facts it is diffi-
cult to conjecture upon what basis for-
mer Public Service Commissioner
James S. Benn hopes to retain his
seat on the Commission, notwithstand-
ing his summary dismissal by the
Governor. It is admitted that the
General Assembly has no power to
enact legislation which conflicts with
the constitution of the Commonwealth.
The fundamental law specifically de-
clares that the Governor has power to
remove any official appointed by him
except judges of the courts and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The act creating the Public Service
Commission in so far as it conflicts
with that provision of the constitution
is invalid.
Possibly Mr. Benn imagines that
the courts will set the constitution
aside and restore him to his coveted
place on the pay @oll. It will be re-
membered that the late Senator Quay
cast a rather serious aspersion upon
the courts of the Commonwealth when
he declared that some of the judges
are “catapulted” into their seats on
the bench by the political machine.
There was a time when such a charge
might lie against some of the judges
of the State, but let us hope that per-
iod has passed and that all the judges
row in commission, either on the low-
er or appellate courts, have been wise-
ly chosen by the people on account of
fitness rather than in reward for par-
ty service, sinister or otherwise.
The Governor has abundant reasons
for wanting to thoroughly reorganize
the Public Service Commission. It
may be and probably is true that he
sees in his action an opportunity to
boost his political plans. Mr. Pin-
chot’s motives are not always.above
suspicion and there has been no time
since the beginning of his brief polit-
ical activities in Pennsylvania that he
stood in greater need of help than
now, if he expects to remain in public
life. But if in pursuit of his ambition
he does good for the people he gives
no cause of complaint. As a matter
of fact any public official deserves
whatever advantages accrue to him
for faithfully fulfilling his obligations.
mer ——— eer eeeeeteme—
"——t is said that a burnt child
dreads fire and following the same
line of reasoning the American Fed-
eration of Labor advises against af-
filiation with third party movements.
Failure of the Coal Conference.
As was widely expected the “coal
conference” has adjourned sine die
without achieving results. The ad-
journment resolution provides for re-
assembling, however, and the polit-
ical leaders may conjure up some plan
that will contribute to their prosperi-
ty even though it may not benefit the
consumers. It has come to be a habit
with the Republican machine to bend
the almost annual labor dispute to the
service of the party. In 1902 the late
Senator Penrose conceived the plan
and put it in operation through Pres-
ident Roosevelt. It saved the party
in Pennsylvania that year and has
been adopted as an expedient every
two years since. It is a cold blooded
sacrifice of public interest to machine
necessities.
The settlement at the expense of the
consumers two years ago was largely
in the interest of Governor Pinchot.
In 1902 it was worked for the benefit
of Penrose, whose term in the Senate
expired in 1903. This year it will
probably be manipulated to benefit
Senator Pepper. No doubt Governor
Pinchot will try to shape it so as to
make himself the arbiter, but this will
be prevented by the final interposition
of President Coolidge who, having
converted Pepper to his world court
scheme, is anxious to have him re-
elected. But no matter which of the
aspiring Republican politicians is ben-
efitted the coal consumers are robbed
because of the increase in the price of
coal which invariably follows.
The “scale conference” this year
was more in the nature of a joke than
anything else. Neither the operators
nor the miners’ organization took it
seriously. Mr. Lewis knew quite as
well as Mr. Warriner that it would
end in disagreement and neither of
them paid much attention to the ses-
sions. It was simply a preliminary
performance to lead up to the real ar-
bitration which will settle the matter
at the expense of the consumers, as
usual. In that final session the poli-
ticians will point the way and the pub-
lic will be obliged to acquiesce. It
may raise Mr. Lewis to the rank of
national politics and place the pres-
ent Secretary of Labor in the office of
Governor. | But it will certainly bene-
fit Pepper.
——Senator Pepper may be as
“dry” as he claims but in selecting en-
forcement agents he proposes to give
the “wets” a run for their money.
——1If Penrose were alive now mak-
ing choice between Pepper and Pin-
chot would be a difficult problem.
Coolidge and Pinchot Equally Guilty.
The criticism of the summary dis-
missal of James S. Benn, of Philadel-
phia, from the very attractive office
of Public Service Commissioner, opens
up a wide field for mental speculation.
The only serious charge that has been
brought against the Governor in this
connection is that his purpose is to
“pack” the Commission in his person-
al interest or the support of his pol-
icies, That, of course, is in the nature
of “jury-fixing,” which is forbidden
by law and punishable by fine or im-
prisonment. But the supporters of
President Coolidge have no right to
complain because Governor Pinchot
indulges in a practice which is the
“favorite indoor sport” of the Presi-
dent of the United States.
When Coolidge became President
the Tariff Commission was composed
of eminent political economists affil-
iated with both political parties but
familiar with the principles of scien-
tific taxation. Their duty as pre-
scribed by the law creating the body,
was to investigate complaints of too
high or too low tariff schedules and
report to the President that he might
increase or decrease the rate in ex-
istence. Complaint was made to the
Commission that the tariff tax on su-
gar was too high and the Commission
made a searching investigation. It
reported to President Coolidge that
the tax was too high and recommend-
ed a cut of one per cent. in the rate.
Did President Coolidge make the cut?
Not on your life.
Instead he returned the recommen-
dation to the Commission with direc-
tions to renew the investigation and
then set about to “pack” the Commis-
sion. He first removed the only Dem-
ocrat on the board and filled the va-
cancy appointing a radical high tariff
partisan. Then he induced the Repub-
lican commissioner who had favored
the decrease to resign by offering him
a more attractive office. This “pack-
ing” operation guarantees the sugar
trust and the beet trust producers who
have formed a profit-sharing agree-
ment with the trust the excessive rate
which robs the consumers of the coun-
try ‘to the tune of hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars annually. If Pinchot
Lig wing Coolidge is atrocious.
rs —— ss ——— HE ——————
—After four years devoted largely
to broadcasting his achievements as
Prohibition Commissioner Major Roy
A. Haynes has been superseded by
less time at the “mike” and more in
the field.
| Centre County Farmers Not in Favor
of Killing Deer.
Two weeks ago the State Game
Commission promulgated a ruling
that farmers and land owners in coun-
ties thickly populated with deer would
be permitted to shoot the deer which
are persistent in destroying farm
crops; and that they can keep the
meat.
This ruling was probably brought
about through an insistent demand
for protection from the deer by farm-
ers in certain portions of the State,
notably in Lycoming county, and in
order not to make the ruling too ex-
clusive the Commission made it apply
to all counties in which deer are
known to exist in goodly numbers.
Up to this time, however, not a deer
has been killed in Centre county as
the result of the ruling of the Game
Commission, according to information
furnished the “Watchman” yesterday
morning by game protector Thomas
G. Mosier. And there is probably no
county in the State, not even Lycom-
ing, where deer can be seen pasturing
in the fields more frequently or in
greater numbers than in Centre.
And to their credit it can be said
that the farmers and land owners gen-
erally in this section do not look with
favor upon the ruling of the Game
Commission permitting the killing of
deer. They believe it opens the way
to the wilful violator of the game law
to slaughter deer and evade just pun-
ishment. The farmers would rather
see an increase in the hunters’ license
fee sufficient to create a fund sufficient
to pay damages when they reach that
stage where they become burdensome,
but most Centre county farmers have
the same generous feeling regarding
the birds and wild animals frequently
expressed by “Waxey” Straub, when
he lived on the old Alexander farm.
“Waxey” used to say that he always
planted enough of every crop so that
there would be a little left for him
after the birds and the rabbits and the
groundhogs got their share.
———————— ee —
——Senator Pepper has a new
scheme for getting = into the world
court and hopes the Republicans will
adopt it. - But most of the other na-
tions may object.
LL ee——pl—————
——Obviously former Public Serv-
ice Commissioner Benn shares the late
Tim Campbell’s opinion of the consti-
tution. . Tim thought it meant noth-
ing,
Gen. Andrews, who promises to spend’
NO. 31.
Another “Shining Mark.”
By John F. Short in the Clearfield Repub-
lican.
That “Death Loves a Shining Mark”
was again exemplified to the civilized
world last Sunday when William Jen-
nings Bryan passed peacefully to the
other life while sleeping in the home
of an admiring friend in the little
mountain town of Dayton, Tennessee.
The circumstances surrounding his
last hours and days have been told in
detail in the newspapers of the world
since Sunday afternoon. Everybody
has heard and read the story.
The Republican supported Bryan
faithfully and loyally each of the
three times he was the Democratic
party’s candidate for President. The
writer knew him well since 1896, trav-
eled with him and his party through-
out the eastern side of the country on
most of his campaign tours in the
three campaigns as a reporter for
Pittsburgh newspapers. The Republi-
can did not always agree with Bryan’s
policies and deductions. That is all of
the past.
No man ever stood in the limelight
who fought his cause more cour-
ageously than the Commoner. He
never compromised and for that rea-
son he was the loser more often than
the winner. The world believes he
was consistent and the record sup-
ports the belief. That Bryan was am-
bitious goes without saying. He never
gave up the hope of leading his fol- |
lowers to victory with the White
House as the goal.
His greatest weakness was his in-
tense hatred of Big Interests or “Wall
Street.” He was obsessed with the
belief the East should be punished
for being more or less prosperous, al-
ways charging whatever gain eame to
the eastern business men and busi-
ness interests was unjustly taken
from the pockets of the west and
southwest. :
Many people who knew William
Jennings Bryan :
his proper place.
That Bryan achieved much good in
his battles for better things, as he
viewed situations and questions, is
generally believed. He fought long
and hard for the election of United
States Senators by the people. He
was one of the strongest and most
earnest supporters of the Eighteenth
Amendment,
“William Jennings Bryan met; fesiw
personally and talked to more:
than any other man in the world. He
lectured in every State, city, town and
hamlet from the Atlantic to the Pa-
cific, not once but many times.
He was a power in the Democratic
party, notwithstanding his many de-
feats for office and party place. His
followers stood by him to the last
minute. He had many enemies in his
own party who were as relentless in
their hatred as he could possibly be.
The followers of the late Champ
Clark never forgave him for his vio-
lation of his home instructions and de-
sertion of Clark at the Baltimore con-
vention in 1912. That sore never
healed.
- Although a life-long outspoken
hater of the “monied interests” Mr.
Bryan was a wealthy man when he
passed away. He was reputed to have
accumulated a million or more from
his lectures, writings and Chautau-
qua activities. The past several years
he has been active in Florida real es-
tate transactions and is said to have
been very successful.
That the country has lost a great
man, one of the most prominent fig-
ures of his day and generation, is ad-
mitted by everybody. He was beyond
all doubt the greatest orator of his
time. He swayed audiences of tens of
thousands as no other man ever did.
When he first vaulted into promi-
nence with his “Crown of Thorns and
Cross of Gold” speech he was one of
the finest specimens of American
young manhood any one ever gazed
upon. He was truly handsome. - His
voice was melodious, far reaching and
never rasping. Whether you agreed
with him or not, you were delighted
to listen and never tired. The past
ten years or more he was different in
every respect from the Bryan of 1896
and 1900. He appeared ten years old-
er than he really was. His face, voice
and entire physical appearance evi-
denced the man old beyond his time.
He was only 65 years of age.
William Jennings Bryan died as he
lived all his public life, fighting for
what he advocated, fighting his best,
neither giving nor asking quarter.
Official Law Violators.
From the Louisville Courier Journal.
Those prohibition officers near
Maysville who, so they allege, shot at
automobile tires and pumped three
bullets into the tonneau of the car and
one bullet into a child in the car could
hardly have put up a more notable ex-
hibition of marksmanship if they had
been loaded with the moonshine they
were hunting. By the way, what ar-
ticle of their official instructions au-
thorize them to shoot tires, tonneaus
or children on suspicion of violating
the prohibition laws? We are hear-
ing much just now about a proposal to
take politics out of the prohibition en-
forcement organization, but it is even
more needed to take law violators out
of that organization.
etme fp eee
——Congressman Vare is opposed
to a Democratic judge in Philadelphia
because he couldn’t possibly hope to
make a messenger of him.
well ~ believe he’
should have entered the ministry, left
| politics alone and that as ‘a minister’
of the gospel he would have been in.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
. —James Rauch, of Bethelehem, a retired
jeweler, celebrated his 83rd birthday on
Sunday. In the sixty-five years he was in
business he estimates he repaired more
than 55,000 clocks, not to mention watches.
—John 8. Lingle, for several years
driver of a State Health Department truck,
in Harrisburg, has been arrested on charg-
es of stealing a clock, typewriters, motor
tires, electric fans, blankets, oil stove and
other articles from capitol stores. The to-
tal value was $600.
—Dr. B. H. Warren, of West Chester,
connected with the State Department of
Agriculture, is being strongly urged for
appointment by Governor Pinchot to the
vacancy on the State Game Commission
caused by the death of John S. Speer, of
Elk county, by men active in agricultural
organizations.
—George Gillespie, 37 years old, a po-
lice sergeant, of Pittsburgh, is recovering
in a hospital there from his 268th opera-
tion, undergone last Friday, for injuries
he suffered in an automobile accident two
years ago. Surgeons told him it will prob-
ably be his last, and hereafter he will wear
an artificial leg. Nineteen of his opera-
tions were major ones. ’
—So fascinated are Uniontown sheiks
with new feminine styles in “undies” that
women shoppers complain that they can-
not get a peep at display windows on ac-
count of the groups of loafers who haunt
the fronts of the stores. Mayor R. D.
Warman has decreed that male window
shoppers must “move on” or suffer the
penalty of fines and jail sentences.
—Mrs. Vincent Hess, 24 years old, of
Burnham, has been missing since Friday
night. The authorities have been asked to
aid in locating her. Mrs. Hess has been ill
and melancholy for some time and left her
two year old child in charge of a relative
to go to Lewistown. When last seen she
was walking in the direction of a trestle
across the Kishacoquillas creek after leav-
ing the street car.
—Mrs. Samuel R. Hill, of Philadelphia,
died of heart disease beside the body of
her husband as it was about to be lower-
ed into the grave in Hillside cemetery on
Monday. As the Rev. Dr. G. M. Brodhead,
pastor of the Devereaux Methodist church,
began the last rites Mrs. Hill collapsed
and fell beside the coffin. The same hearse
that had borne her husband took Mrs. Hill
to a hospital, where she was found to be
dead. =
‘—Two miners were killed and 17 burned,
four seriously, when gas exploded in the
Hillman vein of the Lehigh Valley Coal
company’s Dorrince mine, near Wilkes-
Barre, 1,000 feet below the surface on Mon-
day. It was two hours before the dead
and injured could be brought up. The
cause of the explosion has not been as-
certained, although it was suggested that
blasting operations might have ignited the
collected gas.
—Holland Folke, a lineman of the Key-
stone Power corporation, at Ridgway, is
back on duty after having passed through
the experience of having 2,300 volts of
electricity pass through his body last Sat-
urday. He was working on a telephone
pole at the grounds of the Elk county
Country club, and came in contact with
the current when he grasped a crossarm.
He was unable to release his hold, but was
pulled from the pole in an unconscious
condition by a rope thrown over him by a
companion.
ple | ‘—Miss Margaret Meyer,” aged- 19 years,
who resides in Lamar, with her uncle and
aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Loveland, sus-
tained injuries to her throat Wednesday
afternoon which required twenty-seven
stitches to close when the automobile own-
ed by Mr. Bucher, of Lamar, in which she
and several other girls were riding, col-
lided with a truck at the Flemington
bridge, throwing Miss Meyer through the
windshield, and cutting her badly about
the throat and face. She was removed to
the Teah hospital.
—JI'or years while he was working in a
mine at Blairsville, Pa., Isador Forlin, an
Italian, wanted to go back to his home in
the Tyrolean Alps and establish a tourist
hotel. A misfortune that befell him in the
mine helped him to realize his desire. He
was caught under a fall of slate and suf-
fered an injury to his back which inca-
pacitated him for further work. The
‘Workmen's Compensation Board awarded
him $12 a week for 500 weeks. He applied
for it in a lump sum in order that he
might return to his native town to start
the hotel. The board granted his request.
—Paralyzed with fear as she saw a pas-
senger train approaching a railroad bridge
across which she and Katherine Bachman
were walking, Miss Margaret Ellen Sheard,
of Fayette county, saved the life of her
companion, but lost her own. This fact
was brought out for the first time at a cor-
oner’s inquiry into the case. Katherine
Bachman said Miss Sheard saw the train
and told her to .run for her life. She did
and barely got across the trestle as the lo-
comotive swished her dress. Miss Sheard
was too frightened to move and either
jumped from the trestle or was knocked off
and drowned. As a result of the accident
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad compa-
ny has closed the bridge to all pedestrian
traffic.
—M. A. Davis, county detective of Mif-
flin county, was arrested last week by con-
stable M. C. Weirick and deputy C. L.
Runkle, of Middleburg, on a warrant
sworn out by Mrs. Mary Gill, charging him
with assault and damage to beehives and
other property during a raid on the home
of the complainant and her husband, John
W. Gill, in West Beaver township, Snyder
county, on November 22, 1924. Davis fur-
nished bail in $1,000 for his appearance at
quarter sessions court at Middleburg, Oc-
tober 5. Ten State policemen and five
peace officers from Mifflin county were
present during the raid and eight witness-
es testified in court that the raid was con-
ducted in an orderly manner and no dam-
age inflicted.
—William Porter, of Joplin, Mo.,, an ex-
pert on lead mining, has just made an in-
spection of half a dozen farms in Sinking
valley, Blair county, and plans to pros-
pect for lead there. It was in Sinking val-
ley that mines were opened during the
revolutionary war to supply Washington's
army with lead for bullets. The mines
were abandoned shortly after the cluse of
the war and mnever have been operated
since. Because of the historic significance
of the mines, Colonel Proctor Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution,
marked them with a bronze tablet, which
was unveiled July 4. Mr. Porter read of
the ceremonies in a newspaper and, being
a native of Alexandria, Huntingdon coun-
ty, he came east to investigate. He is of
the opinion that lead in paying quantities
underlies the valley. If test holes disclose
he is right mining will be resumed there.
4