Demorraic; atm
EE SH a AMBRE,
INK SLINGS.
—The mild weather of the fore part
of the week might have been the Jan-
uary thaw.
——The winter wouldn’t seem half
as hard if the price of coal were only
half as high.
——The Legislator who sponsors a
bill to increase the alcoholic content
of beer may be described as a real
optimist.
—“That Royle Girl” is a very inter-
esting study in Americanization.
There is no doubt about that, but our
reaction to it is that we had better
put another rail on the immigration
bars until the “melting pot” has done
the work it is trying to do.
— Beware of the person who advises
you that housing facilities in Belle-
fonte will gross you fifty dollars a
month. Some of them will, but there
are nine who want places that will
cost from fifteen to thirty to every
one who can afford to pay anything
more.
——Don’t take chances on “pet
days.” Tuesday was one of that kind.
We took one and went foolin’ around
without rubbers or overcoat, just be-
cause it looked like spring and right
now we have earache, sore throat and
all the other penalties one pays for
thinking its spring in January.
—For more than a year govern-
ment experts have been experiment-
ing with the hope of developing an
anti-knock gasoline. It would be a
wonderful find, but not half so won-
derful as an anti-knock serum that
could be injected into those who crab
about every step forward a community
tries to take.
—OQur advice to farmers is to sell
their wheat if they can get a dollar
eighty for it. It might go to two, but
it might slip back to one-sixty. It is
our opinion that any good times that
may be ahead are already discounted
by the boys who are wise enough to
get out when they have drawn in
enough others to hold the bag.
—Pierre Van Paassen has given it
as his opinion that what is really news
is everything of interest gathered
from the four points of the compass,
the four points of the compass, N. E.
W. S., spell news. Quite a sensible
deduction, isn’t it? Very like that of
U. S., the United States, meaning us.
In reality both are in the nature of
perfect acrostics.
—Col. Geo. Nox McCain says that
three years of Pinchot government has
cost the State fifty-one miilion dol-
lars more than Gov. Sproul spent in
four years. If the Colonel is right in
his calculations——and he must be,
else he wouldn't dare make such a
statement--it. might have been-cheaper
for the tax payers if they had not
hired a man to clean up the mess at
Harrisburg. That is, cheaper in dol-
lars and cents, but not so in moral
satisfaction.
—The Curfew ordinance was put in
effect again in Bellefonte on Monday
night. As was to be expected there
has been a lot of criticism, but why?
Argument that the home isn’t a better
place for a boy or girl, after 8.30 at
night, than the streets hasn’t a leg to
stand on. And go deep enough into
the motives of the person who criti-
cises the Curfew and you’ll find that
he or she has some ulterior reason for
keeping the young folks on the streets
at night. We haven’t an idea that its
enforcement will be of long duration.
With only two policemen it is a phy-
sical impossibility to enforce it to the
letter, so that it will eventually be
laughed into general disrespect unless
an occasional apprehension of a viola-
tor is made. One or two caught in a
month would prove as effective in en-
forcement as the addition of a lot of
officers to the force, for what youth
could feel that he might not be the
next to be grabbed.
—In reporting the recent meeting
of veteran athletes in Philadelphia,
Ed Pollock, sports writer, seems to
have been awed by the orderly manner
in which friend Eugene C. Bonniwell,
who presided, had the records in all
branches of sports labeled and tucked
away in his mental filing cabinet. That
the Judge should be up on track-events
is no wonder. Ever since we first
heard of him he has been at the
scratch ready to run in any political
race to be started. The Judge is a
very clever gentleman. Years ago,
when we were in College, George
“General” Hoskins came up to State
to break the ice as a professional
coach. He was then reputed as the
“champion amateur wrestler of the
Athletic club of the Schuylkill Navy.”
The “General” was a very impressive
personage in the eyes of the several
hundred students State then boasted.
He was king and the king could say
or do no wrong. He knew everything
and records rolled off his tongue like
water from a duck’s back. He was a
veritable encyclopoedia of sports
facts and became the court of last ap-
peal in every argument as well as the
awesome admiration of every boy in
college. Then came one George Lintz,
from Tacony, who happened to be
somewhat of an athlete himself. Lintz
and the “General” got into a jam one
day and the former dug out the New
York World’s almanac and with it
knocked our idol clear off the pedestal
we had built for him. The “General,”
because he knew we didn’t know any
better, had been slick enough to make
his own dates and records and got
away with it until George Lintz be-
came iconoclastic.
Demacralic
_VOL. 71.
Secretary Mellon too Sensitive.
It will strike most observant minds i
that Secretary Mellon is over sensi-
tive in the matter of his nephew’s
activity in polities.
given at Washington, on Saturday,
Governor Pinchot stated “W. L. Mel- |
lon, nephew of the Secretary of the
Treasury, was interfering with his
dry programme at Harrisburg, by in-
fluencing Allegheny county Legislators
against it.”
prising degree. “W. L. Mellon,” he
said, “is a private citizen engaged in |
business in Pittsburgh. He is attend-
ing to his business there and I am at- |
tending to my public duties here. Just
because he is the nephew of the Sec-
retary of the Treasury is no reason
for exploiting him in this connection.”
Mr. W. L. Mellon may be attending
it
to his business in Pittsburgh but
is certain that part of the business he
is attending to is politics. Within the
last three or four years every impor-
tant political movement in Pittsburgh
has been directed by him, and it is
widely known that most of the legis- |
lation enacted within the same period
of time in Pennsylvania has been ap-
proved by him or passed in spite of
his opposition. It is well known that
he exercises a large influence in se-
lecting the candidates of his party in
the State and exerts practical control
in Pittsburgh and Allegheny county.
Recently Congressman Vare traveled
‘| from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to
enlist him in the opposition to Sena-
tor Pepper and in the organization: of
the special session, enly the other day,
he compelled Chairman ' Baker to
acquiesce in his choice for an impor-
tant chairmanship.
These facts are ‘notorious. They
afford no perceptible reason for com-
plaint against Mr. Mellon, however.
He has an inherent right to pref-
erences a§ between candidates and
party policies and to express them.
As a matter of fact it is rather credi-
table to influential business men to
take an interest in politics if the
effect is for the public good. But any
citizen ‘has gn. equal right to differ
with business men as well as profes-
sional politieians: and express their
differences, It has been a commen
mmor in Harrisburg and throughout
the State that Mr. Mellon has been op-
posing prohibition enforcement legis-
lation. Governor Pinchot is greatly
concerned in that sort of legislation
and his public reference to a current
impression can hardly be called a
crime.
Senator Capper says the farm-
ers “dont want subsidies.” He might
have added that if tariff tax discri-
minations were abolished the farmer
would be able to depend upon his own
resources and prosper.
A Suspicious Movement.
If the purpose of the State in fixing
the date of final adjournment of the
special session as Thursday, February
18th, is to enforce industry and as-
siduity to tasks before them it is com-
mendable. If, on the other hand, it is
to stifle legislation or prevent proper
consideration of the measures before
the Legislators, it is correspondingly
reprehensible. Under the call of the
Governor there are eight subjects of
legislation for consideration. It might
be possible to maturely consider and
intelligently act upon all these sub-
jects within that period of time. But
it is quite possible to prevent the pas-
sage of any of them within that time.
It is clearly apparent that a consid-
erable number of the Republican lead-
ers of the State are ready and willing
to adopt any course that will defeat
the Governor’s purpose to procure re-
form legislation that will guarantee
fair elections and just returns of the
votes cast. It is not improbable that
the same leaders are anxious to de-
feat legislation on most of the other
subjects expressed in the Governor’s
call. Even the question of tolls on the
Delaware river bridge is developing
opposition and it is certain that any
legislation which would help the Gov-
ernor to end the coal strike is dan-
gerous to the machine. To openly op-
pose such measures would be disas-
trous but they might be stifled.
It is desirable that the General As-
sembly shall proceed as diligently as
possible with the business before it
and adjourn as soon as the work is
finished. But‘ early adjournment is
not sufficiently desirable to justify the
defeat of pending legislation. The
saving in expénse by curtailing the
session a few days is comparatively
trifling. The salaries of Senators and
Representatives will be the same,
whether the session lasts one month
or six, and the wages of employees is
not a great sum even if the time of
service is prolonged another month.
It is possible, of course, that the best
intentions of the party leaders is ex-
pressed in tying up to a brief session,
but a Missourian might have doubts.
In an interview!
This statement is said to |
have aroused the indignation of the
Secretary of the Treasury to a sur- |
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. JANUARY 22. 1926.
| Secretary
i Conspiracy of Curious Elements.
interesting friend, Colonel George Nox
! McCain, has discovered another mare’s
nest.
"mination, analysis or whatever other
methods the professional sleuths em-
ploy, he has arrived at the monstrous
"conclusion that Gifford Pinchot,
! Joseph Grundy and Bill Vare have en-
| tered into a criminal conspiracy to
prevent the re-election of George
Wharton Pepper to the office of Sena-
tor in Congress. Obviously it was a
painful subject for his consideration.
The very idea of opposing George
| Wharton is sinful, and deliberately
organizing to defeat him is atrocious
beyond measure in the estimation of
Colonel George Nox.
| The head and front of this con-
spiracy is malice. Mr. Grundy, for
some unexplained reason, has a per-
sonal enmity against Senator.Pepper.
| Congressman Vare, for reasons which
may be conjectured, has organized in
his mind an intense hatred of Senator
| Pepper. Governor Pinchot may have
neither enmity nor hatred toward Pep-
per, but he has a large-sized ambition
to wear the toga which now adorns
the Pepper shoulders, and that is sub-
| stantially as bad. It is true that Vare
"doesn’t like Pinchot and Grundy is
of them is partial to the other. But
opposition to Pepper is a common sen-
timent which might bring them to-
gether and thus compass the defeat of
the Senator.
Outside of the eranium of Colonel
George Nox McCain and the sanctum
sanctorum of the esteemed Philadel-
phia Public Ledger there is not a
great deal of interest in the political
ambitions or public service of Mr.
George Wharton Pepper. He doesn’t
seem to represent anybody in the
State except the corporations and they
are pretty well taken care of in Con-
gress. Soon after he was appointed
to the office of Senator he made an
effort to gain the affections of the
organiztion in Philadelphia. He of-
fered to “spit in the eye of a bull dog”
and do other stunts that would com-
mend him to the rough-necks. But
his efforts miscarried and if he fails
of re-election there will belittle popu.
lar grief.
——= Senator Stites, of Montgomery
county, was a strong Pinchot sup-
porter during the last two sessions.
He has joined the opposition. Mont-
gomery is a machine controlled coun-
ty. Mr. Stites aspires to re-election.
A plain case of “cause and effect.”
Abolish the Commission.
If the present disgraceful squabble
in or concerning the Public Service
Commission should result in the abol-
ishment of that body the result might
compensate for the shame it has
caused. From the beginning the Pub-
lic Service Commission has been a
cruel instrument in the service of
corporate greed to loot the public.
For a time, in the person of the late
John S. Rilling, the people had a
champion on the board. But though
he was vigilant and courageous in his
efforts he was helpless for the reason
that- he was alone. All the other
members of the board seem to have
been under the influence of the cor-
porations.
As Governor Pinchot declared in
his criticism of the action of the
board last summer, when it gave the
Philadelphia Rapid Transit company
authority to increase rates while the
question was under investigation, the
Public Service Commission was creat-
ed to protect the interest of the pub-
lic against the predatory purposes of
corporations. As a matter of fact it
has never even attempted to fulfill
that obligation. No matter how pre-
posterous a corporate injustice might
be the decision of the board has been
given in its favor. So far as our in-
formation goes not a single complaint
of the public against corporate greed
has been allowed.
It is barely possible that the Gov-
ernor has blundered in his treatment
of the present trouble. The Supreme
court has nullified one of his acts in
the matter and that tribunal has the
last word in such disputes. But when
we recall the late Senator Quay’s
statement of the processes of select»
ing Supreme court judges there is
excuse for a doubt. But there can be
no doubt of the subserviency of the
Public Service Commission to corpor-
ate power. It has been revealed a
hundred times within twenty years in
decisions in which just complaints
have been turned down and corporate
greed not only sanctioned but en-
couraged.
rrr Sm —
——The meager opposition to the
World Court may keep the United
States out for a few weeks but not
much longer. By the same token the
bitter-enders may keep this country
out of the League of Nations for a
Our highly esteemed and invariably
Commerce in the Coolidge administra- |
i tion and a good deal of a Poo Bah in |
By processes of deduction, eli-
not enamored of Vare and that neither !
, the owners of our industrial plants as
‘ bonuses.
few years but not much longer.
Hoover Making Trouble.
Mr. Herbert Hoover, Secretary of
the government at Washington, is
likely to talk himself out of a good
job.
subject of foreign trade he is alleged
to have said that “our industries have
the ability to maintain their export
trade in competition with other coun-
tries.” This is rank heresy from the
Coolidge standpoint. If our indus-
tries are able to maintain their export
trade what reason under heaven is
there for taxing our people to the
verge of poverty in order to enable
our industries to maintain the home
market? If we can compete where
carrying costs are added why not at
home?
Mr. Hoover is a very versatile gen-
tleman and exceedingly fond of talk-
ing. He has shown a perfect willing-
ness to give advice to all his col-
leagues in the Cabinet on any-subject.
Why, therefore, should he withhold
from the administration as well as the
- public his theory that our industries
are able to meet competition abroad
and not at home if he entertains such
a theory, while the government is
permitted to take from the consumers
of the country four or five billions of
dollars annually to be handed over to
The President declared in
his message to Congress at the open-
ing of the session that taxation for
other than revenue is larceny.
Everybody knows that tariff taka
tion is not for the purpose of produc-
ing revenue. The proponents of pro-
tective tariff legislation claim that it:
protects labor, a vicious fiction that
has deceived thousands of men and
women in the past. Recent experience
in New England, where the highest
protected industries have paid the
lowest wages, have refuted this claim
so completely that no one is now de-
ceived. The only effect of it is to in-
crease the profits of the employers of
labor, and that is the purpose for
which it is maintained. Such state-
ments as that attributed to Mr. Sec-
retary Hoover are likely to expose the
wid upon the public more fully and
serious irouble- to. ‘Mr. Coolidge.
——There is an old Pennsylvania
German saw that if the fifteenth of
January finds no ice it will make it,
and if it finds ice it will break it,
which is equivalent to meaning that
the backbone of the winter will be
broken and an early spring will fol-
low. Everybody will recall that last
Friday morning was cold and crisp
and ice abounded everywhere. During
the day it warmed up and the ice be-
gan to melt. During the week prac-
tically all the ice and snow have
gone from the fields and mountains
and the ice has even gone out of the
streams. Whether this is the break-
ing of the backbone of the winter we
cannot say, but it is at least a respite
from zero weather. Of course we
will have more snow and more cold
weather, but we are nearing the first
of February and it is almost a certain-
ty that the most of the winter is be-
hind us.
meanest =e seems.
——Last Saturday night a Burns
detective passed through here with F.
P. Michaels in his custody. He was on
his way to Lock Haven where Mich-
aels was wanted for skipping three
bail bonds aggregating $10,000. Wil-
liam Weber, . of Howard, was the
bondsman who stood to lose the en-
tire sum had not Michaels been picked
up in Pittsburgh by the detective. He
was under indictment in Clinton coun-
ty for false pretense and fraudulent
conversion. Michaels is well known
in Centre county. He lived at the
Bush house for a long time while sell-
ing bonds and stock here.
rn fe
——The January thaw came along
on Monday when the temperature rose
to above fifty and considerable rain
fell. Most of the snow fall of two
weeks ago was taken away and the
ice went out of the Bald Eagle creek
on Monday night. Spring creek car-
ried an eighteen inch flood, but not
enough of water to do any damage
anywhere. Of course we are sure to
have more snow and cold weather, but
even a few days respite were welcome.
BE
——If Monday night’s proceedings
in the General Assembly are to be
taken as “a sample,” the machine
leaders have a queer notion of cour-
tesy.
setae Ap eee eens
——-As between Benn and Scatter-
tergood the Governor backs Scatter-
goad. Of course it is a matter of
choice between Philadelphians,
sn pn Mp i ni
——Senators Blease and Borah may
convert a majority of their colleagues
to the views of the Vice President on
the rules question.
In a recent comment upon the | pejlefonte to see a revolving beacon
i at Philadelphia.
~_NO.4
Lighthouses of the Air.
From the Pittsburg Post.
Thanks to the remarkable clearness
of the air one night recently, a pilot
of the United States air mail service
was able at all times throughout his
flight from Hadley Field, N. J., to
His report of the
i matter naturally attracted attention;
but it is suspected that the time is
rapidly approaching when it will be no
uncommon thing for aviators to per-
ceive lights for an even greater dis-
tance. Indeed some beacons have al-
ready been set up in various parts of
the world that can be observed from
points hundreds of miles away.
The French have erected, for ex-
ample, a lighthouse for aviators on
a hilltop near Dijon, 2,000 feet above
sea level, which it is reported can be
espied from the air, under the
most favorable atmospheric condi-
tions, at points as far south as Mar-
seilles and as far north as Brussels.
It is a lamp ef one billion candle pow-
er and is the largest in the world.
Some conception of its power can, per-
haps, be formed when it is known that
a 5,000,000 candle power lamp sheds
an effulgence almost sufficient to al-
low a baseball game to be played at
night on a field on which it has been
set up.
Our largest lamps are half-billion
candle power affairs. We have five
of them on the division landing field
of the air mail service -at Chicago,
Iowa City, Omaha, North Platte and
Cheynne. Between them, at 25-mile
intervals, are 5,000,000 candle power
beacons, marking emergency landing
fields, and between them, at ree
mile intervals, are small
lights pointing out the route to the
nocturnal flyers. East of Chis
the course of the flyer is indicated y
beacons of the Western emergence
landing field type, set from twelve
to seventeen miles apart. It:
of these that the aviator had :
during his flight from New Jersey to
Bellefonte. At one time he saw tw
of them. On hills and ridges,
tween the beacons, are lamp
emit broad, constant Se ‘at
shorter intervals are the small ‘blink-
ing lights. Fs
_ In view of the progress that
to guide aviators and sailors @
will become obsolete in a few
The history of the advance rat ms
been made in illumination is epitom-
ized in the story of the lighthouse at
Cape Henry, at the mouth of" Chesa-
peake Bay, which was set up in 1792
and was the first to be erected bythe
United States as an independent gov-
ernment. At the outset it burned fish
oil; in 1810 sperm whale oil was sub-
stituted; then came rapeseed or colza
oil; then lard oil; then kerosene; then
in 1910, vaporized kerosene, with an
incandescent mantle and finally, in
1922, an electric incandescent lamp.
In the more or less remote future
we shall probably have cold light,
much more econmical than the kind
we have now because all of the energy
in the lamp will go into light and none
into the production of heat.
We can imagine our great-grand-
children sailing about in their flying
machines at night as nonchalantly as
the youths of today drive their motor
cars. Lamps of varying degrees of
power, and with light of different
colors to signify different things, will
lie spread out before them for many
miles, They will plot their course
from the lighthouses of the air more
readily than sailors can navigate by
stars.
Couzens Deals With High Figures.
From the Cleveland a Plaindealer.
Two years’ work by the Couzens
Senate Committee brings a mass of
charges against the Bureau of Inter-
nal Revenue which spokesmen for that
branch of the Government should
hasten to explain. On their face they
indicate, to say the least, a looseness
of administration which must shock
such an advocate of economy as
President Coolidge. That Couzens is
a Senator unfriendly to the head of
the Treasury will not be accepted as
a sufficient answer to the charges.
Favoritism in‘ the execution of the
revenue law, incompetency, “leaks”
mounting high into the millions—
these are accusations not to be dis-
missed offhand. The public which
pays the taxes has a right to know
that this important bureau is admin-
istered efficiently and honestly. The
answer to the Couzens report, what-
ever the answer is, should not be de-
layed.
Congress Friendly to the Farmers.
From the Chicago Tribune.
The farmers at Washington can't
decide on what they want. Congress
is in a mood to give them about any-
thing they ask for; yet they can’t get
together on a program.
The public of the cities was never
more friendly to the farmers than it
is today. If agriculture can agree on
a program and select leaders and
spokesmen who are not altogether
discredited, the prospect for thorough-
going measures of relief is bright.
rm ———— A —————
——It will be hard to believe that
President Coolidge sincerely desires
economy so long as he favors spend-
ing six or eight million dollars for a
dirigible air ship.
ol
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—When Thomas J. Dunlap, 68, of Lig-
onier, stepped from the cab of the Lig-
onier Express recently he completed a
period of 46 years’ service in the employ
of the Ligonier Valley Railroad company.
—John Skovronsky, convicted of attempt-
to rob a Millville (Pa.) bank, was sen-
tenced at Bloomsburg, on Monday, to four
and a half to nine year in the eastern peni-
tentiary after he withdrew his motion for
a new trial.
—Albert L. Sayers, aged 30, driver of a
truck of the Lock Haven Chair corporation,
sustained a broken neck on Monday when
he was jammed between the truck and the
company’s building. His body was found
several hours later.
—Seventeen members of TUniontown’s
police force have signed the pledge tc ab-
stain from the use of intoxicating liquors.
Three did not sign. Each officer yho
signed was made an honorary member of
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
—The plant of the Dilltown Smokeless
Coal Company, at Dilltown, Indiana coun-
ty, consisting of a mine, equipment and
1,378 acres of high grade coal, has been
sold to the Cosgrove-Meehan Coal cor-
poration, of Johnstown, the price being
about $575,000.
—Dr. W. B. D. Ainey, chairman of the
Pennsylvania Public Service Commission,
is in Johns Hopkins hospital, at Balti-
more, Md., for treatment for an illness,
the nature of which the hospital author-
ities declined to discuss. Dr. Ainey en-
tered Johns Hopkin’s hospital January 14.
—Another big gas strike has been made
in Greene county, the Natural Gas company
of West Virginia bringing in a five million
foot producer on the H. M. Stewart farm,
near Oak Forest. It is the first strike to
be made in the Oak Forest district in re-
cent years and will cause a revival of oper-
ations in that section.
—~Sergeant Philip L. Tulley, recruiting
officer at New Castle for the United States
marine corps, was fatally wounded while
in bed in a rooming house. A woman,
giving the name of Dora Tucker, 33, fired
a bullet into her breast after shooting
Talley. The sergeant died shortly after
reaching a hospital
—As A. D. Cozad sat reading the Sunday
paper in his- home at Mercer, on Sunday,
he heard music coming from the kitchen
stove. It was part of a program .broad-
cast from a Pittsburgh radio station, He
called in his neighbors and radio fans, who
said the smoke from the stove had acted
apparently as a conductor of the radio
waves.
. —The Slatington post office sought shot.
ter in a pool room last Friday, driven out
of its building by a fire. A blaze started
in® the meeting ‘rooms of the Klu Klux
Klan: ‘on’ the third floor and burned
‘through to offices on the second floor. The
fifeen poured water into the building to
save the mails. They were carried to the
nearby available place. The loss amount-
= | ed to $40,000, fully covered insurance.
—General Charles Miller, 83 years old, of
Franklin, one time head of the Pennsyl-
vania National Guard and noted through-
out the country as a wealthy oil man, will
fight the charges of his wife, Emma Miller,
who seeks a divorce and alimony on the
ground of alleged. infidelity. In her libel
in divorce filed in Franklin, Nov. 30, Mrs.
Miller, charged one specific act of unfaith-
fulness; last May in New: “Fork city, nam-
ing one Alice McCormack as co- respondent.
—Constable Marvin C. Burkholder, of
Juniata, after ten jurymen had been
selected to try him, pleaded guilty to sec-
ond degree murder in Blair county court
last Thursday, and was sentenced hy
Judge Thomas J. Baldridge to serve from
six and one half to thirteen years in the
penitentiary. He admitted he shot and
killed Bernard Gephart, 18, of Juniata, on
October 27, when Gephart failed to stop
his automobile in response to a signal from
Burkholder.
—Mrs. Mollie LaRue,36 years old, was held
for court Thursday night by Justice
of Peace Edward R. Patterson, of Waynes-
burg, on the charge of felonious shooting
with intent to kill. Her husband, Homer
LaRue, is in the Waynesburg hospital with
four bullet wounds in his legs. Mrs. La-
Rue had been separated from her husband
and decided to go back and live with him.
LaRue objected. The shooting followed.
Mrs. LaRue is in the Greene county jail
awaiting the action of the March grand
jury. )
—Denying that she gave her husband a
steady diet of kidney beans and potatoes,
Mrs. Olive S. Gearing, defending herself
against divorce, told a jury in common
pleas court at Philadelphia, on Monday
that she fed her husband on English mut-
ton chops, porterhouse steak, artichokes,
to say nothing of allegator pears in Janu-
ary and strawberries in February. Her
husband, Lieut. Commander Henry C.
Gearing, Jr., stationed at the Philadelphia
navy yard, charges his wife with barbar-
ous and cruel treatment.
—Earl G. Caldwell, Negro, former em-
ploye of the Exchange National Bank, of
Pittsburg, hasn't had much luck. He tried
to rob a church back in St. Louis, and
served time for that. Then while he was
a mail truck driver he tried robbing the
mails, and went to Atlanta for that. He
was sentenced to serve four years in Atlan-
ta prison en Friday for robbing the Ex-
change bank. Sentence was pronounced
by Judge F. P. Schoonmaker in Federal
court. Caldwell was convicted last Nov-
ember of stealing a little more than $6,600
from a small safe in the Exchange National
Bank, of which he was watchman. A large
part of the money was in $1 bills.
—Charles P. Lukens, defaulfling assistant
cashier of the Parkesburg, Pa., National
bank, was sentenced to 18 months in the
Federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga. and
fined $1,000 by United States district
Judge Thompson in thg eastern district
federal court on Monday. Last week Lu-
kens appeared as the government's chief
witness against Alexander H. McAdams,
New York broker, with whom he and
Albert C. Hamill, were indicted for the
misapplication of about $125,000 of the
bank’s funds. Lukens’ sentence was post-
poned to enable him to appear against
McAdams. The jury in the latter’s trial,
unable to agree, were discharged and he
will go on trial again March 1. Both Lu-
kens and Hamill pleaded guilty last April.
Hamill served less than 10 months of a 16
months sentence at Atlanta, and was pa-
roled last October. The Parkesburg bank
closed its doors in: September, 1924, and an
investigation by National bank examiners
and others revealed, it was. testified, a
shortage of between $125,000 and $150,000.