Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, September 18, 1925, Image 1

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INK SLINGS.
". —Good morning, Judge Walker!
. —From all sources, Democratic,
Republican and Prohibition, Dale had
3084 votes and Keller, from Republi-
can sources alone, 3462.
- —The primary returns prove the
prediction that the “Watchman” made
last fall that twelve hundred votes
would make the nominee of the Demo-
cratic party for Judge. -
* —On the Democratic ticket Spang-
ler carried 18 precincts in the county,
Johnston carried 9 and Dale 6, making
33 of the 64 precincts. Walker carried
9 precincts over the combined votes
of all opponents.
—We’re never satisfied. A week
ago we were praying that sufficient
rain might fall to soften the ground
so that fall seeding might be complet-
ed. Now we are praying that the rain
will stop long enough to get it done.
—As for Centre county. Its voters
of Republican proclivities seem to
have given notice to Rebecca Naomi,
of Bellefonte; Dr. Foster, of State
College, and Governor Pinchot that a
horse can be led to the water but it
can’t be forced to drink.
. —And t8 think! After years of
nursing the delusion that we are the
writer of a column without a parallel
in country journalism in the United
States—it isn’t a delusion, its a fact—-
it remained for the Philipsburg Ledg-
er to call us a “scribe.”
—The outstanding gratification we
‘have in the primaries of Tuesday was
the reaction of the common sense of
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
Pinchot Making Progress.
Governor Pinchot seems to think
that there is still good political fish-
ing in the coal pool. On Saturday he
entertained Mr. Inglis, chairman of
the operator’s scale committee, at his
home near Milford and presumably
“listened to his tale of woe.” On Mon-
day Mr. Lewis, president of the Unit-
ed Mine Workers, “told his troubles”
to the Governor. Mean time the Gov-
ernor tried to “throw a scare” into
both sides of the controversy by start-
ing a movement to stimulate the effort
to increase the market for bituminous
coal as a substitute for anthracite in
the manufacturing sections of the
east. The result of these endeavors
remain to be seen, though as yet be-
yond conjecture.
Governor Pinchot has been scoring
strong in promoting his political am-
bitions during the last month. His
tour of the State has yielded divi-
‘dends far in excess of expectations,
our beloved West ward of Bellefonte .
to ‘the eleventh hour attempt of spite
and bigotry to keep a really worth-
‘while man out of council.
—Anyway, Judge Dale gave the or-
ganization that was against him scare
enough to make it work harder than
it has ever done before to convince
the Republicans of Centre county that
it is anything more than a swivel chair
combination of pipe-smokers.
—Dale defeated Keller in the Re-
publican balloting in only thirteen of
the sixty-four precincts in the county.
He carried the Third ward of Philips-
burg, Snow Shoe borough, north and
west Boggs, Burnside, North Curtin,
North Gregg, West Harris, Howard
township, Penn, West Rush, West
Snow Shoe and Taylor.
—Brookville lost a thousand dollars
on Chautauqua this year. DuBois,
Clarion and Punxsy all failed so mis-
erably that they didn’t feel justified in
signing up for next year. Why? Be-
cause the tea-hounds are running wild,
spreading saxaphobia everywhere and
saxaphobia gets to the heels faster
than Chautauqua can get to the head.
—The impressive manner in which
Herby Auman ran away with Orian
Kline for the 1
for tax collector in Bellefonte has the
leaders of their party guessing. Or-
rie has long been recognized as one of
the men who make and unmake as-
| moment.
Republican nomination
piring Republicans so his failure has |
caused a lot of surprise. It needn't.
We'll explain it. Herby advertised
This wares in the “Watchman.”
—Mrs. White, of Knebworth, Herts,
England, claims the grand long dis-
tance championship among umbrella
owners. She has had one in her pos-
session for sixty-one years. The an-
«cient White parachute is probably kin
of some of the two-quart lids that our
Masonic friends don when they turn
cout with a twig of spruce in their
hands and a “so moted be” on their
lips for a departed Sir Knight.
—Wouldn’t there be an awful hol-
ler if the Commissioners of Centre
county were to refuse to priat ballots
for the Prohibition party. As a mat-
ter of fact neither the Prohibitionists
nor the Socialists are legally entitled
to put the county to such an expense.
Neither one of these parties—if such
there are-—cast enough ballots at the
last general election to entitle them
to a ticket. Time and again have we
«called attention to their inconsistency.
We can’t recall a single dry candidate
‘who owes his election to a Centre
county office to the votes on the Pro-
‘hibition ticket recorded for him and
we can name a dozen or more soak-
ing wet ones who have held office be-
cause they got their names on it.
Why should the county be asked to
pay for printing a ticket for a party
whose president didn’t even register
.as a Prohibitionist. There was only
one Prohibition vote cast in the North
ward. It was for Keller and Rebecca
Naomi didn’t hand that one in.
—Senator Geo. Wharton Pepper has
finally made good on his threat to
“spit in the eye of a bull dog.” Made
good in a way that must command the
respect of the voters of Pennsylvania
no matter what may have been their
opinion of him prior to his statement
.of last Thursday. His declaration
that his candidacy to succeed himself
in the upper House of Congress must
stand on its own legs might have
‘been regarded as a mere political ges-
ture, had it not been accompanied with
a fearless endorsement of Judge Ren-
shaw for re-election to the bench in
Philadelphia county. Judge Renshaw
is a Democrat, an appointee of Gov-
ernor Pinchot and an official whose ,
scalp Bill Vare, the political boss of
Philadelphia, has determined to have
«dangling at his belt. We are at a loss |
and if he is able to compromise the
differences between the coal producers
and miners on terms fairly satisfac-
tory to the public he will easily ap-
pear as the outstanding figure in the
equation. His settlement of the strike
two years ago. promised splendid re-
sults for a time, but the reaction was
hurtful rather than helpful. He will
probably be more considerate of pub-
lic interests this time, and by holding
the bituminous club over the anthra-
cite operators and miners may forge
out an agreement that will help every-
body else and himself. :
In any event, recent events have
shown that the Governor is a shrewd
and resourceful politician. He may
not be able to accomplish as much
with his money as he did in 1922 when
he fooled the most experienced ma-
nipulators in his party by releasing a
golden stream at the psychological
But he is in a better posi-
tion now and is more strongly en-
trenched. He has the coal miners
safely anchored, and if he succeeds in
attaching the operators and enlisting
a considerable part of the public he
will Tot only acquire the Senatorial
toga but get a lien on the White
House. He is “working both ends
against the middle” in a surprisingly
successful manner now.. 4
Rising to a question of inquiry
it is pertinent to ask what has become
of Vice President Dawes and his cel-
ebrated fight on the Senate rules.
The Air Service Scandal.
Rear Admiral Moffett is justified in
his somewhat heated defense of the
charges against the administration of
the bureau of aeronautics, for he is
the head of the bureau and largely re-
sponsible for its operation. President
Coolidge is equally. justified in direct-
ing an investigation of the charges
recently preferred by Colonel Mitch-
ell, for he is head of the service. But
neither the defense of Admiral Mof-
fett nor the action of the President
will satisfy the people. Public denials
are easily made and bureaucratic in-
vestigations are not reliable. The
charges are grave and appeal strong-
ly to popular sentiment. Only a thor-
ough investigation by Congress will
afford satisfaction.
Admiral Moffett declares that the
charges are false and were inspired
by selfish ambition and malice. A
vast majority of the flying men, in
and out of the service, believe that
they are true and were inspired by pa-
triotic impulses. The author of the
charges, Colonel Mitchell, is an air
man of recognized ability and con-
siderable achievement. He was de-
moted from the rank of Brigadier
General to that of Colonel for telling
a Congressional committee what he
believed to be true, and could hardly
expect to acquire personal advantage
by repeating the acts which caused
his demotion. In view of these plain
facts Admiral Moffett is appealing to
public credulity instead of popular
reason.
When Colonel Mitchell wrote his
last complaint the officials in Wash-
ington as well as the public in gen-
eral believed that the crew of the
PN-9 was lost and the conditions at-
tending the apparent tragedy favored
the view expressed in the complaint.
Happily the machine has been recov-
ered since and the crew saved. But
the charges have not been refuted.
Admiral Moffett expresses a different
view of the cause of the disaster to
the Shenandoah than that entertained
by Colonel Mitchell. But Mitchell is
the experienced witness and all things
considered has the least selfish inter-
est in the matter. Meantime the pub-
lic will await the report of a Congres-
sional inquiry.
——After what Senator Pepper did |
OL. 70. BELLEFONTE, PA.. SEPTEMBER 18. 1925.
NO. 37.
| Senator Pepper’s Courageous Act.
Senator Pepper revealed a coura-
geous spirit in declaring his purpose
te support Judge Renshaw and an-
nouncing his candidacy for re-election.
That was literally defying the boss
and figuratively “spitting in the eye
of a bull dog.” Congressman Vare
had just been given absolute control
over the Republican party of Phila-
delphia. He had just acquired the
right to name the candidates of the
, party and direct the action of the vot-
ers. His highest aspiration was to
, control the patronage of the Munici-
pal court and his “pet aversion” was
Judge Renshaw. He might have for-
given the liberty of announcement
without permission but he never can
or will condone the “aid and comfort
to the enemy.”
Yet Senator Pepper’s action ought
to have a helpful influence upon the
morale of the city. It sets a splendid
example to the independent voters of
the city and the State. It asserts a
leadership which self-respecting men
and women may follow. It is a clar-
ion call to the better element of the
party to unite on a basis of character
rather than corrupt bargain and raise
the standard of official life above the
level of the pie counter. It has been
‘complained that the Senator ought to
have gone farther and declared alle-
giance to other independent candi-
dates. That is hardly just in the cir-
cumstances. His attitude on the main
question conveys his independence of
the boss.
It may be added that Senator Pep-
per’s declaration was timely as well
as daring. Governor Pinchot’s tour of
the State made a considerable impres-
sion on the public mind and his ar-
raignment of the Vare machine struck
a ‘popular chord. It wouldn't have
been a hard task to link Senator Pep-
per with that odious conspiracy. His
vote for Newberry, his attitude on the
League of Nations and the world
court, and his silence on the iniqui-
ties of the Harding administration in-
dicated an indifference to political im-
morality that fitted in with the Vare
organization. If Vare had been forced
by - conditions to support Pepper
against Pinchot, as might have hap-
pened, the inference would have been
Sm
——The Governor will begin the
third leg of his State-wide tour to-
morrow. ' He may take advantage of
the opportunity to declare himself on
the Senatorial fight.
The Glen Campbell Forum,
“The mountain labored and brought
forth a mouse.” The long heralded
and much discussed gathering of
Pennsylvania Republican politicians
at Glen Campbell, former State Sen-
ator Clark’s “sylvan retreat” in In-
diana county has come and gone. It
was advertised to be a conference of
reconciliation. It was expected to be
a forum at which party troubles would
be ironed out and a ticket chosen for
the campaign of next year. It result-
ed in an announcement that Joe Grun-
dy, of Bucks county, the political
“panhandler” of the Penrose regime
had agreed upon a group of candidates
which he offered for the consideration
of his associates at the picnic.
But at that it developed some sur-
prises. Mr. Grundy’s candidate for
Governor is John S. Fisher, who was
Banking Commissioner in the Sproul
administration.
Senator in Congress is George Whar-
ton Pepper whom Governor , Sproul
appointed Senator. His candidate for
Secretary of Internal Affairs is Fred
J. Godcharles, who was Deputy Secre-
tary of the Commonwealth in the
Sproul administration. For Lieuten-
ant Governor he has kidnapped an
, outsider in the person of Charles J.
Easterly whose only distinction is
that he carried the Berks-Lehigh Dis-
trict for Congress last year. During
the Sproul administration the Gover-
nor and Grundy were irreconcilable
enemies.
There is no evidence that the Grun-
dy ticket will be accepted by the ma-
chine but thus far no protest has been
entered against its adoption. As a
matter of fact there is a wide spread
impression that the conference was
called in the interest of Mr. Fisher and
that Grundy has offered the other
names as a lure for suckers. It must
; have been a severe tax to accept Pep-
! per for Grundy has resented the party
, favors to the Senator from the be-
ginning. But “politics makes strange
bedfellows” and if Pepper can forget
and forgive it ought to be easy for
Grundy to reciprocate. But there are
other elements to consider. There are
| Vare and Pinchot to be reckoned with.
i
——The primary election revealed
to recall a parallel in Republican lead- to Bill Vare Grundy took a long the vast difference between the Dem-
ership in Pennsylvania to the coura- chance in offering the olive branch.
geous announcement that Senator
Pepper has inaugurated his candidacy
ree fp Ap eee.
——Now they are talking of muffs
‘with. He has appeared in the stature for the bare knees of the flappers.
' What's the use.
of a big man,
ocrats of New York and the Republi-
cans of Philadelphia. No boss can
muzzle the Democrats.
—~Subscribe for the “Watchman.”
His candidate for
! Wisconsin Disappoints Coolidge.
. The result of the primary election
in Wisconsin, on Tuesday, carried lit-
{ tle comfort to President Coolidge. It
not only guarantees an opponent of
the administration in the Senate in
the immediate future while a friend
was expected in the seat but indicates
, continued opposition to the adminis-
: tration policies in the middle west. It
. was hoped in administration circles
' that the people of that section had be-
come reconciled. The vote of the ad-
joining States plainly indicated that.
But the vote for young Mr. LaFol-
i lette,. on Tuesday, tells a different
story. ;
President Coolidge had freely ex-
pressed his hopes of carrying the
State for the Senatorial candidate of
his choice and had cheerfully given all
his moral and material help toward
that result. Before the vote it was
confidently predicted that Mr. LaFol-
lette would run far behind the admin-
istration candidate. As a matter of
fact he has been nominated as the Re-
publican candidate for the office after
a frank and emphatic declaration of
opposition to the policies of the Re-
publican party as interpreted by the
President and the Republican organi-
zation of the country. It would be
difficult to imagine a more direct par-
ty challenge.
Other evidences of continued, if not
increasing, opposition to the adminis-
tration in the west have been appear-
ing at intervals. An organized move-
ment against Secretary of the Inter-
ior Work has been in progress for
some time. A group of Senators have
been demanding his removal and it is
believed were gaining ground before
the Wisconsin primary. Now that
the administration weakness in that
State has been revealed the chances
| are the Colorado member of the Cab-
"inet will be sacrificed. But it will do
! no good. The false pretense has been
' exposed.
—It will be recalled that when “Ma”
Ferguson was elected Governor of
Texas it was a mournful year for De-
mocracy everywhere but in the “Lone
Star” State. So hard was it to find
victories to crow over that the only
rl ®
‘nerve to drag out of the coop was the
one for “Ma.”
than it knew. “Ma” has made good
in Texas. She so managed the peni-
tentiary farms of her State that this
year, alone, a deficit of $600,000 has
been wiped out and a surplus of $1,-
i 200,000 created. The secret of the ac-
| complishment will probably be found
{in the fact that she thought it more :
constructive for the Texas convict to
get acquainted with plow handles than
those of tea wagons.
——Governor Pinchot is scheduled
; to visit Centre county on October 5th,
ostensibly on his tour of inspection of
State institutions, but in reality to
strengthen his fences for the Senator-
ial fight next year, but Senator
. Geo. Wharton Pepper stole a march on
the forester from Milford by coming
| into this section last Saturday in com-
pany with his colleague, Senator Da-
vid J. Reed. The two gentlemen were
guests of prominent Philipsburg and
Clearfield Republicans at the Joswin
'game preserve in Clearfield county.
Among the guests at the gathering
was Charles M. Schwab, which would
indicate ‘that he is a Pepper backer.
——Following a month’s spell of
dry weather Bellefonte had hard thun-
der showers both Saturday and Sun-
day, but the rain was entirely local in
character. In fact while it rained un-
usually hard here on Saturday only a
few drops fell out at the aviation field,
less than four miles away. Sunday’s
‘rain was also confined to portions of
Centre county, so that the prolonged
drought, general everywhere, has only
been partially relieved in some sec-
tions.
——No reasoning person expected
Judge Renshaw to win at the primary
but if the people of Philadelphia are
not corrupt he will have a chance at
the general election.
——Senator Pepper threatens to as-
sume the leadership of the party in
Pennsylvania which suggests the ad-
age “there’s many a slip ’twixt the
cup and the lip.”
——Probably Joe Grundy will be-
come the party boss. The Glen Camp-
bell conference has given him a good
start in the contest for that job.
——When Governor Pinchot throws
his hat into the ring he will probably
use the sombrero presented to him by
the Governor of Texas.
——————————————————
——The Glen Campbell conference
appears to have been a convention for
the ratification of the Sproul admin-
istration.
|
rooster the “Watchman” had the
And it crowed better
Agricultural Improvement.
From the Philadelphia Record. 2
Commercial news regarding ; agri-
cultural affairs is far more imglessive
than the stories carried to Swamp-
scott by Republican politiciafis who
want to believe in any chee news,
and wish to please the President by
telling it to him. However, the cheer-
ful news has foundation, and we are
very glad of it. We are anxious that
the rmers should have as much
prosperity as they can get under a
protective tariff which enhances the
price of almost everything the farmer
buys and of very little that he sells.
A dispatch from Minneapolis speaks
- of combined efforts of banks to find
customers for the farm lands that
they have been obliged to take over in
the last few years. This dispatch
speaks of the collapse in 1921; but the
most acute point in the farm situation
came two years later. The price of
wheat got under a dollar in Chicago,
partly because of the unprecedented
crop in Canada, and the mort;
given in 1918 for the purchase of farm
lands at war boom prices matured in
1923. The suffering was very great,
but most of it was due to the specula-
tive purchase of farm lands at prices
based upon war prices for grain and
hogs. No one could have believed that
the war would continue . indefinitely,
or that war prices for produce would
last long after the war. But all over
the country men were buying farm
{lands on the assumption that prices
were to remain high. They bought
‘on mortgage at war prices, the prices
of farm products dropped, and the
| principal and interest of the mort-
| gages remained unchanged. It was a
i desperately hard time for men who
had speculated in farm lands.
This Minneapolis dispatch says that
thousands of former farmers who had
: drifted into the cities during the de-
‘ pression are now ready to go back to
the country. There is more activity
{in farm land sales in the northwest
‘ than at any time since 1921, and prices
have advanced somewhat. It is to be
{ hoped that they will not advance very
' rapidly, for if they do they will start
another speculative movement in farm
: lands.
| The farmers are digging themselves
out of the hole of 1921-23. Some have
paid off their debts. The aggregate
values of crops have been advanci 2
during the last three or four years.
boom is always followed by a collapse,
and the collapse is followed by recov-
ery. Agriculture is now well advanc-
edon the u road. &i “prices
based upon the value of the products
there is a better demand for land than
for four years. The banks are able to
“thaw” their “frozen assets.”
Stranglehold on the Public.
From the Easton Free Press.
The anthracite coal strike is near-
ing the close of its third week with no
apparent action from any source to
i bring it to an end. Of course no one
: expected a labor battle of such mag-
Difade to end within such a brief per-
iod.
Regarding the merits of the contro-
versy the people generally have no de-
cided opinions. They have come to
view these periodical disputes, involv-
ing suspension of hard coal mining, as
inevitable incidents of the practically
monopolistic control of the anthracite
industry and are gradually realizing
| that the surest way to bring both op-
: erators and miners to their senses is
to make the widest possible use of
other fuels equally available and in
most ways satisfactory.
By submitting to a little inconven-
ience the people can loosen the stran-
glehold that the anthracite operators
and miners have on the public throat.
And We Used to Unscramble Them.
From the Pittsburgh Post.
The news that President Coolidge
expects to place before Congress next
winter a proposition to force the rail-
roads of the United States into a se-
ries of consolidations, after six or sev-
en years, is a further reminder of the
apparent right-about-face of public
sentiment from the days when the
chief demand was to unscramble the
common carriers as far as possible.
While there still is the same insist-
ence as of old against combination in
restraint of trade, it has dawned
that the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission has a regulatory grip upon
| the railroads that seems unlikely to
leave much leeway for the charging
of exorbitant rates. Then there has
been the lesson learned from the fact
! that the railroads in the main have
’ had more or less of a struggle for ex-
istence instead of rolling in wealth.
Electing Democratic Governors Noth-
ing Unusual.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Mayor Hague, of Jersey City, who
{is also Democratic National commit-
teeman from New Jersey, has return-
ed from abroad with renewed confi-
dence that J. Harry Moore, the Demo-
cratic candidate for Governor, will be
elected. Stranger things than that
have hapened in politics. New Jersey
has been electing Democratic Gover-
nors pretty steadily ever since Wilson
won the State in 1910.
——The Miller Construction compa-
ny and J. M. Hutchinson, contractors
on the state highway through Bald
Eagle valley, had gangs of men at
work on Sunday pushing the work so
that the road can be completed before
cold weather comes.
ges.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE
—Walter G. Shelly, of Hazleton, aged 20
years, who was to have left on Sunday for
State College to start his junior year, died
quite suddenly Saturday night from a
stroke of apoplexy. He was a son of War-
ren A. Shelly, former city councilman.
—The Coulter Shoe company of Halifax,
Pa., will locate a factory for the manufac-
ture of babies’ shoes at Lewistown, in the
near future. S. M. Andres, president of the
company, has notified the Chamber of
Commerce of the acceptance of the site of-
fered for the plant. It will employ 25 to
30 men regularly. >
—Robbers early last Saturday morning
"entered the home of George Bollinger, on
the Blairsville-Derry road in Indiana coun-
ty, chloroformed members of the house-
hold, and escaped after stealing $50 from
a bureau and several locks of gray hair
which they clipped from Mrs. Bollinger’s
head, as she lay sleeping. E
—Captain Wilbur Day and Lou Law-
rence, of Pittsburgh, escaped injury on
Sunday evening when their exhibition fly-
ing machine crashed into a fence as it was
about to take off from a landing field at
Somerset. The plane was badly wrecked.
The two men were starting for home after
spending the week-end there.
—Charged with robbing the poor boxes
in several Allentown Catholic churches,
Michael Kalock, aged 21 years, of Hazle-
ton, was taken to Allentown on Saturday,
from the Norristown jail, where he served
a year for a like offense. Kalock was com-
mitted to prison and will be tried in Oc-
tober, The robberies were committed ear-
ly last year.
Mistaking a rustle in the bushes for a
hawk, which she said had been killing her
chickens, Mrs. Bertha Baxter, of near Hon-
eybrook, Lancaster county, fired a shot
last Thursday and fatally wounded George
Koffroth, 60 years of age, a neighbor. He
was taken to the Lancaster General hos-
pital riddled with buckshot and died shori-
ly after being admitted.
—The death on Sunday morning of
Louise McWhorter, one year old, at the ju-
venile court detention home in Pittsburgh,
was due to prolonged crying, morgue of-
ficials said. The child had cried continu-
ously since taken to the home last Thurs-
day by her mother, who said she had been
forced to leave her home because she was
unable to pay her rent.
—Within sight of a number of neighbors,
Mrs. Molly May McGinnis was beaten to
death when a piece of lead pipe in front
of her home at Vernon, Allegheny county,
on Friday afternoon by an unidentified
man, who escaped into a woods while be-
ing pursued by the victim’s husband.” A
man who had attempted to obtain lodging
in the McGinnis home a number of times,
is suspected.
—Thoubarh Taylor, of Juniata Terrace,
Lewistown, has been held in $500 bail to
answer a charge of having failed to stop
and give assistance after causing an au-
tomobile accident. Taylor was arrested by
state patrolman J. M. 8nyder, after he had
crowded a coupe off the road near Belle-
ville on Wednesday night and injured
Mildred Briggs, of Blandsburg, and Jean
McCoy, of Lewistown.
—Frank J. Powell, of Sharon, arrested
early Thursday morning in Pittsburgh,
while carrying an automatic pistol, 25 car-
tridges, a flashlight and a screwdriver, was
held for court on Saturday following a
hearing in Penn avenue police court. He
was charged with carrying concealed weap-
ons. Powell said his’ wife had run away
with $700 belonging to him, and that he
was out looking for her.
—The Ireihofer Baking company, of
Philadelphia, on Saturday morning com-
pleted a deal which resulted in their tak-
ing over the plant of the Altoona Baking
company, one of the largest of its kind in
Central Pennsylvania. The price is said to
have been in excess of $200,000. Work will
be started immediately in enlarging and
improving the plant to increase produc-
tion. The battery of ovens will be enlarg-
ed and a cake and pastry department will
be added.
—James Donato, 28 years of age, and
John Luigi, 24 years old, Italian shoemak-
ers of Mahanoy City, were asphyxiated by
gas last Friday afternoon and Mrs. Mary
Dagregorio and two daughters, Helen and
Gladys, with whom they boarded, were
almost overcome. A gas leak in the cellar
where a pipe had rotted away was the
cause of the trouble. Mrs. Dagregorio was
just able to get out on the porch and sum-
mon neighbors before she collapsed. The
men were dead when the neighbors ar-
rived.
—Accompanied by a furious wind which
for a time assumed cyclone-like propor-
tions, a heavy electrical storm hit Scran-
ton late on Sunday, paralyzing all traffic,
demolishing a number of small buildings
and leaving property damage estimated at
$100,000 in its wake. Only one serious cas-
ualty was reported. George Hunter, of
Lancaster, was riding on a roller coaster
at an amusement center when a tree blew
down, striking him across the face. He
sustained a fractured nose and other in-
juries to his face. Others received slight
injuries.
—Personal property valued at $200,000
and real estate valued at $10,000 are dis-
posed of by the will of Mrs. Rachel H.
Hepburn, of Jersey Shore, which has been
filed for probate. Included among the pro-
visions of the will are bequests of public
and denominational nature which total
$20,000. Chief among these bequests is one
of $10,000 to provide for the erection of a
chapel! with modern, fully equipped receiv-
ing vaults in the Jersey Shore cemetery.
In the event of such a chapel not being
erected within a period of two years, the
amount of the bequest reverts to the resi-
duary estate. The land upon which the
chapel is to be built is to be donated by
the cemetery company.
—The mystery surrounding the sudden
disapearance of county treasurer R. Y.
Hissong, of Huntingdon, three months ago
with no knowledge of his whereabouts,
was cleared up Saturday night with his ar-
rest in Pittsburgh by deputy sheriff Abra-
ham Corbin. Hissong was arrested on a
bench warrant issued on his default to pay
alimony to his wife and in absenting him-
self from a court action while under bail
Mrs. Hissong, a helpless paralytic, had ob-
tained a court decree for her maintenance.
Hissong, then living apart from his wife,
it was charged at the special court hearing,
had been devoting his attention to another
woman with whom finally, it is alleged, he
eloped. For two months the couple re-
mained in the vicinity of Sunbury, until
ten days ago, when Hissong’s companion
notified her friends she had been deserted,
and asked for funds to pay her way home.