Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, April 23, 1926, Image 1

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    HE
eee ——————————————
Bera lpn.
EE EA EE RC asin,
INK SLINGS.
——John K. Tener has all the opti-
mists of all time literally shoved off
the map.
—Among the things for which we
are grateful today is the announce-
ment that council has decided not to
raise the taxes. :
——General Andrews, having help-
ed the wets in the Congressional in-
vestigation, now asks to be subpoe-
naed by the drys.
—If Cal. decides to spend the sum-
mer with us the icemen needn’t worry.
The town’s just naturally too courte-
ous to be cool with Coolidge.
—— Since Andrew Mellon picked
John S. Fisher as his candidate for
Governor Fisher imagines Mellon to
be the greatest financier on earth.
—Here it is the twenty-third of
April and we, who have strutted as
a fisherman for more than three de-
cades, haven’t caught a trout. Lord,
what a poor fish!
—Now that he has decided to start
filling metal tanks with gasoline are
we to presume that Cohen has drop-
ped his project of filling human tanks
with “Big Spring” water?
——Judge Porter, one of the can-
didates for the Democratic nomination
for Governor, is everlastingly right in
declaring for the convention method
of nominating. The Watchman has
been urging that tor years.
— The Harrisburg Telegraph pre-
dicts that Beidleman will get ninety-
five per cent. of the Republican votes
in Dauphin county. But a hundred
per cent. in one small county would
cut little ice.
——In urging citizens to vote, as
he did in addressing the Daughters
of the American Revolution the other
day, it is practically certain that
President Coolidge had no intention
to help Bill Vare into the Senate.
—The new moon is pretty far
around to the north and we might
have some cold weather yet. Our pre-
diction, however, is that the back-bone
of winter finally has been broken and
more seasonable weather is about to
set in.
—If the personal and written ex-
pressions, we have received, of pleas-
ure at the reading of our “Preach-
ment” of last week are sincere, and
not mostly flattery, we have been re-
paid for having devoted this column
to something so foreign to its nature.
Because it proves what we have al-
ways contended: That there is always
fertile soil for seed that is sown in the
o right way.
1% _Of course we haven't talked to
many Republicans about the matter
but from those with whom we have
had converse we might have gotten
the impression that Beidleman and
Vare are leading the field in this vi-
cinity at about the ratio of four to
one. They are not and won't, but
there are more Republicans ’round
here for them than the Pepper-Fisher
managers are aware of.
—As between their three aspirants
for senatorial nomination we are
ready to admit that Pennsylvania Re-
publicans might find a real difference
as to fitness, but we defy any of them
to show us, from the private life or
public record of John Fisher, Edw.
W. Beidleman or John K. Tener where
either of them has anything to prove
that he would make a better Governor
than the other. In the last analysis,
they are men of exactly the same
type—politicians—and, if in office,
nothing out of harmony with the idea
of Pennsylvania Republican machine
practices could be expected.
—Weather dopesters who have been
digging into reports find a great
similarity between the signs thus far
this spring and those recorded of the
spring of 1816. During that year there
. was snow every month and practically
no summer. Of course our memory
doesn’t run back to 1816, nor 1867,
when there is said to have been a
frost in every month of the year here
in Central Pennsylvania. However
authentic these reports are what dif-
ference has it made? We're all here,
living happily, and there is likely to
be a lot of our posterity crowding this
old U. S. A. even if the weather man
should decide to take the sun out of
the summer of 1926.
—Some people are smiling at the
conceit of the thought that Bellefonte
would be desirable as the summer
capital of the Nation. Why wouldn’t
it be? What’s the matter with Belle-
fonte? A prettier, cleaner, healthier
town isn’t on the map. It has splen-
did water, railroad and highway facil-
jties and three hour mail and air pas-
senger service to Washington. There
are plenty of homes in Bellefonte
that offer more pretentious environ-
ment than President Coolidge was
accustomed to before he entered the
White House and we are of the opin-
ion that if he wants to gratify his
wish to spend the summer in the
Pennsylvania mountains he would
find them at their best right amid the
Alleghenies, Nittany and Tussey
ranges. The President and his family
are just folks. Strip them of the glam-
our of the exalted position they hold
and they would appear to be just the
average, right thinking, right living
Americans, who can be found in every
city, town and hamlet in this broad
land and being such they would enjoy
Bellefonte just as much as others,
«equally as human as they.
in Philadelphia and unless the signs
CULACT
Adland
HO!
STATE RIGHTS AN
A. AP
D FEDERAL UNION.
RIL 23. 1926.
"VOL. 71.
Pinchot Likely to be Nominated.
The big enrollment of voters in |
Philadelphia on the 14th instant, was
the first ray of hope that Senator
Pepper has a fighting chance of the |
nomination for Senator. Of the 180,-
BELLEFONTE, P
At a meeting of Republican women |
at Scranton, the other evening, form-
er Banking Commissioner John 8.
Fisher, the Mellon-Pepper candidate
for Governor, declared that “the fight
000 voters who registered on that day {has taken a form where the leader-
it may be assumed that seventy per |
cent is against Vare. If sixty per
cent of that number were to vote for |
Pepper it might possibly place him on
a level with Vare in the State-wide
vote. Besides the vote Vare gets in
Philadelphia he will have consider-
able strength in the “strip” district of
Pittsburgh and some in Scranton,
Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre. But he
will fall behind so far in the more
sparsely populated sections of the
State as to make certain only second
or third place.
Pepper will likely get a fairly good
proportion of the vote in the rural
districts and the signs indicate a
growing strength for him among the
women voters. But even with the
advantage gained by the big regis-
tration in Philadelphia he will not be
able to match Vare’s vote in that city
by at least one hundred thousand.
He might have made the result in
that city vastly different, if he had
joined Pinchot in an effort to enact
ballot reform legislation during the
recent extra session. But he silently
acquiesced, if he didn’t actually en-
courage, the Vare machine to strangle
ballot reform legislation when there
was a chance to enact it and Vare
will be certain to employ the oppor-
tunities the present laws allow to
debauch the ballot. ;
It is reasonable to ‘assume that
Pinchot will gain some from the big
enrollment in Philadelphia. It may
be only ten or fifteen per cent., but
it will swell his total to that extent
and he will run in the rural districts
in about the ratio which Vare will
have in Philadelphia. It is absurd to
say that the Governor is losing in the
country districts. «= As a matter of
fact he has been gaining and is still
gaining every day in all sections out-
side of the big cities where the Mellon
rifionis and the “wet” enticement cut
no figure. .” His honest vote of the coal
miners will ‘equal Vare’s stolen vote
are deceptive he stands to win by a
safe majority.
Vare’s Criminal Scheme Failed. :
The Scranton Times expresses the
opinion that Mr. Vare’s criminal and
absurd effort to induce wet Demo-
crats of that moist city to register
as Republicans in order that they
might vote - for him at the coming
primary has proved a dismal failure.
“With all but two districts heard
from,” our Scranton contemporary
declares, “the total of Democrats who
changed their registration was only
255 out of 23,000 enrolled.” This
number, even if it had been a bona
fide demonstration of a purpose to
help the candidate who “followed the
plow and milked the cow,” would be
hardly worth the price paid for the
page advertisement in the Scranton
Sunday paper which prostituted
itself to serve Vare’s scheme.
But as a matter of fact all those
Democrats who changed their party
affiliation were not regular party men.
“For the most part,” continued the
Times, “they were floaters who en-
rolled according to conditions or senti-
ments at the time of their registra-
tion. Last fall they were Democrats,
this spring they want to be Republi-
cans and next fall they may again
enroll as Democrats.” They are of
the class that hold their votes as the
huckster holds his cabbages, for the
highest price. Possibly they will not
vote for Vare at all, for the indica-
tions are that the “bulls” in the vote
market this year are the millionaire
managers of the Pepper campaign
who not only have the most money
but the greater interest in the re-
sult.
It may be assumed that Mr. Vare
has not limited his sinister activities
to the communities which registered
on the 14th instant.
class cities of the State registrars will
sit on Tuesday next, April 28th, and
the chances are that systematic ef-
forts will be made in all of them to
get the wet Democrats to register as
Republicans in order to vote for Vare.
But the sceme is not likely to work :
better in the third class cities than
in the second, and as the Scranton
Times states “whoever concocted the
plan is entitled to a leather medal
with a first class boob citation attach-
ed to it. As a political move it was
a bloomer, a flivver, a rank failure.”
——Senator Pepper's answer to
Governor Pinchot’s last letter was in
the nature of a “shoo fly, don’t bother
me,” epistle.
In all the third
ship of Andrew W. Mellon, in this
State is at stake.” This is a rather
surprising statement. We are all
familiar with the Cameron leadership,
the Quay leadership and the Penrose
leadership. After the death of Perrose
General Atterbury used Governor
Sproul as a temporary leader and
George Wharton Pepper was made
Senator in the hope that he might de-
velope the qualities of leadership. But
nobody had ever imagined Andy Mel-
lon in the attitude of leadership in
politics.
Mr. Mellon is a very rich man. By
ministration tax bill a few weeks ago
he saved in the neighborhood of $100,-
000,000. Out of this amount he can
well afford to make a generous con-
tribution to the campaign fund of the
party which thus favored him. And
possessing this very ample free gift
tion which stands for little except
graft. It is true that he has not yet
asserted his claim to leadership. But
with the encouragement of sycophants
who have already or fondly hope to
enjoy his favors in the future, he
probably will do so in the course of
time. He is a modest man but not
averse to favors.
But reduced to the last analysis the
“Mellon leadership means nothing more
or less than control by the free use of
money The first gesture of the Mel-
lon leadership was the opening of a
political trading post in Philadelphia
for the purpose of out-bidding Vare
in the market for purchasable votes,
and it may be predicted that so long as
will be the dominant agency for
proselyting in politics in Pennsylva-
nia. In view of this fact the end of
‘the Mellon leadership will impose no
hardship on the people.
est will not suffer greatly by substi-
tuting other .methods. of. persuasie
for those the Mellons are accustomed
to employ.
—If the report be true that Mr.
Zerby only. filed papers for the posi-
tion of Democratic County-Chairman
because he thought there was to be
no candidate and the ticket should be
filled he was volunteering service to
the party—which is commendable.
Now that Mr. Freeman, of Philips-
burg, has filed for the same position,
perhaps, Mr. Zerby will withdraw.
Such further evidence of service on
his part ought to leave a good impres-
county. For years the chairmanship
ness. There has been much outside
criticism of the conduct of our organi-
zation and the time seems most op-
portune to start rebuilding with a
supervisor at the head who is removed
of the local differences that have nul-
lified rather than solidified behind the
our party in the county—and in the
an eleven man foot-ball team. We
can’t get anywhere even with a Red
Grange in the back-field if our line
is so busy crabbing about this, that
and the other thing that it neglects
making a hole for him and following
that up with perfect interference. We
can win with that kind of an organi-
zation and we want to win so badly
—if that’s the thing we can do best.
——Twenty-Seven
Centre county are out in a manifesto
to all the women of the county calling
upon them to support Pepper for the
United States Senate in preference to
Vare or Pinchot. They are candid in
{ their statement that they helped put
Pinchot in the Governor’s chair but
are also emphatic in denying that
they are under further obligations
to him. In fact there does not seem
to be much Pinchot sentiment in the
county, even editor Thomas H. Harter,
a member of Pinchot’s board of fish
commissioners, being outspoken in his
support of Senator Pepper.
Ten counties
produced one-third of all the hay
grown in the State last year. Centre
was not one of them. Only three
States, New York, Wisconsin and
California, grew more hay than Penn-
sylvania.
——When a woman is making a
fool of a man she is wasting her time.
He would turn the trick for himself
——Without claiming the gifts of a |
prophet it is safe to say that Con-
gressman Phillips “also ran.”
sooner or later.
n—— ew ————————
—Get your job work done here.
Speaking of Mellon Leadership. | Significant Incident of the Fight.
persuading Congress to enact the ad- !
from Congress he may well aspire to
the title of leadership in an organiza- '
the Mellon leadership endures money |
Public inter- -
sion on the Democracy of Centre .
has been held in Bellefonte. For years
the party has been losing cohesive-
from and—we hope—knows nothing :
organizations of local chairman. What
State for that matter—needs most is |
that we're ready to even carry water .
representative |
Republican women of Bellefonte and |
in Pennsylvania |
The most significant incident of the
week in connection with the Senator-
ial contest between Senator Pepper,
Governor Pinchot and Congressman
Vare is the letter written to Senator
Pepper and signed by forty-two
: prominent Philadelphia clergymen
urging the Senator to withdraw from
the contest in order to guarantee the
defeat of Mr. Vare. The tone of
the letter is not altogether friendly
toward Pepper but the appeal is to
his conscience and his sense of polit-
ical morality. “While it is true that
seat Newberry who tried to buy a
seat in the Senate, we cannot believe
{that you would care to defend the
Vare papers,” meaning the forgery in
his nomination petitions.
| This letter reveals an aroused con-
' science of the clergy and a_ declared
: purpose of the church people, not only
in the city of Philadelphia but
throughout the State, to resent and
rebuke the corrupt methods which
have created and maintained the
power of the machine in Philadelphia.
It too frequently happens that clergy-
.men denounce the iniquities of cor-
rupt political bosses from the pulpit
and vote to support them at the polls.
But this letter is not the impersonal
expression of a pulpiteer. It is the
open protest of a considerable group
of prominent preachers against a
great evil and an urgent plea to a
man of culture and understanding to
i Join in a feasible plan to correct it.
These clergymen point out to Sena-
tor Pepper the hopelessness of his
“fight for the nomination, “The miners
are solidly behind Mr. Pinchot,” they
say, and the world war veterans, as
y well as the W. C. T. U., the militant
i prohibition organization of the State,
jare for him. In conclusion they say,
{ “under the circumstances we feel you
| should publicly call upon your sup-
porters to do what many of them
would gladly do if you released them.
That is, to aid in the nomination and
election of that great disciple of
Roosevelt, that great Governor of
ning mate, Mr. Fisher, who turned
the tide to Pin “four years ago,
might easily be persuaded to hitch
his chariot to the Pinchot star now.
i Mellon Shifting Managers.
For a man professing full confi-
dence in his enterprise political man-
ager Mellon does a good deal of shift- |
ing of forces. In his public state-
iments he declares the nomination of
‘Pepper and Fisher is absolutely cer-
tain. But on the theory that “actions
speak louder than words,” he con-
; tradicts himself by frequent changes
' of his managing director. In the be-
ginning Fred Rasmussen, whom Pin-
chot turned out of a fat office, was
appointed manager. Then State Sen-
ator Clark, a neighbor of Mr. Fisher,
was called to the service and still
; later the title has been bestowed upon
Mr. Cyrus E. Woods, of Greensburg.
i At the time Rasmussen was made
manager it was believed that Gov-
.ernor Pinchot would be the only op-
- ponent of Pepper for the nomination
and as he was known to cherish a bit-
ter feeling against the Governor it
for the job. But neither Grundy nor
Fisher were identified with the cam-
paign then and Grundy is a greedy
fellow who wants the lion’s share of
everything. To appease him and his
candidate for Governor Senator Clark
: was chosen as likely to be more inter-
ested in Fisher than in Pepper. Mr.
Clark declined the office, however,
when he discovered that the plan con-
| templated the elimination of Chair-
man Baker quite as much as the suc-
cess of Pepper and Fisher.
Then it was that Mr. Woods, of
Westmoreland county, was chosen to
direct the campaign. He has had a
good deal of experience in public af-
fairs and a wonderful success as a
diplomat. He can carry water on
both shoulders more gracefully and
quite as successfully as any man in
the State. He is as zealous in par-
tisanship as Vare and quite as indif-
ferent to methods, and he may con-
duct the campaign so as to offend no
one concerned in the quarrel.
his pick of the offices from the nomi-
nee if elected.
——Joseph Undercoffer is author-
‘ity for the statement that the ther-
‘mometer was down to 15 degrees
above zero at 5.30 o’clock on Tuesday .
morning. Both Sunday and monday
mornings it was down to 16. On April
. 21st, last year, the thermometer reg-
istered 27 and we thought that was
unusually cold for the time of year,
but Tuesday of this week was a rec-
ord-breaker.
have not even made a showing, so that
the cold weather will hardly result in
any damage to the fruit crop.
you spoke in defense of and voted to .
Pennsylvania, Gifford Pinchot.” His |
was thought he would be an ideal man |
If his
candidates are successful he will get |
So far fruit tree buds‘
— NO. 17.
1776-1926.
f From the Pittsburgh Post.
The fact that the politicians of the
State are so busy with the affairs of
the coming primaries as to have prac-
tically nothing to say of the sesqui-
centennial anniversary of the Dec-
laration of Independence may be sus-
ceptible of two interpretations. One
view may be that it shows a selfish-
i ness that is concerned only with office
i seeking or partisan or factional in-
i terests, The other is based upon the
' proposition that the highest tribute
i that can be paid to a public institu-
tion or system is to make use of it.
i Those who hold to this view think
i that if the forefathers of democracy
in this country could return they
{ would be more delighted with the
spectacle of the primary contests in
Pennsylvania today than with any
words that could be said on either the
Declaration or the Constitution. In
the beginning there was one school of
thought that would have had the Fed-
eral Government appoint the Govern-
ors of the States. Behold now a
whole school of Pennsylvania Repub-
licans running for Governor and with
other parties also having their share
of candidates. There seems to be no
little appreciation of the democratic
idea that the people should elect their
own officers.
| Both these views, however, call for
' some modification. It would be whol-
ly gratuitous to assume that all the
candidates are insincere in their pro-
fession of concern for the public good.
' Not a few of them may have entered
the contests at a personal’ sabrifice,
throwing themselves into the struggle
simply for principles. On. the other
i hand, there is no tribute to demo-
|eracy in the use that some would
; make of the election system. Just
| the cpposite. ' Through violation of
the election laws they would under-
| mine the system of self government.
Nevertheless the highest tribute
that can be paid to the American plan
of government undoubtedly: lies in
making proper use of the’ system.
| Obviously the only way to show ap-
i preciation of the privilege: of the
i ballot is to vote. This draws atten-
tion to a serious lack on the part of
;many of the citizenry of the State.
i Scarcely more than half those of vot-
ing age in Pennsylvania have been
discharging their duty of the ballot.
i A igevance to the basie pr
of self-government - =
shown * repeatedly hy hs zens
of the State through failure to dis-
i cipline public officers who have mis-
{ represented them. Members of the
Legislature who have blocked the en-
i actment of good measures have been
| re-elected with scarcely a thought
| given to their record. Public senti-
ment has shown itself time and again
for strengthening of the election laws,
| yet but little attention has been paid
iin years by the majority of the Gen-
(eral Assembly to such appeals. It is
idle to continue calling for election
law reform if enemies of it are to be
returned to the Legislature. In this
sesqui-centennial year of the asser-
tion in this country that governments
derive their. just power only “from
the consent of the governed,” it is
for the people as well as the candi-
dates to lift their voices on the sub-
ject today. Let Pennsylvanians turn
back to the declaration of rights and
+ Suties in their own constitution of
_ That all power being originally
inherent in, and consequently de-
rived from, the people; therefore
all officers of goverment, whether
legislative or executive, are their
trustees and servants, and at all
times accountable to them.
There is the spirit of the independ-
ence and self-government. The Penn-
sylvanians who have got the idea that
their public officers are their masters
instead of their servants have plainly
fallen far from it. So also have the
citizens who do not vote at all.
Let note be taken at every political
meeting that this is the sesqui-cen-
tennial year of the Declaration of In-
dependence. Let it mark a revival of
the spirit of independence in the cit-
izenship. Also let it recall the great
service rendered by Pennsylvanians in
the beginning to the cause of democ-
racy.
Vare’s Record as Congressman.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
As a Congressman, William S. Vare
might as well have stayed home for
all the good he has done his constit-
uents. His record for absence from
the House and on important roll-calls
is one of the worst for the entire
membership of that body; and during
‘his entire service he has fathered no
measure of consequence to the coun-
try or to Philadelphia. Taking a
| salary for a service not performed
does not apparently sit heavily upon
the Vare conscience, for he was
among those who in 1914 voted
| against the enforcement of the pro-
| vision of law requiring the deduction
of salary of members for absences
except for sickness. During the
final session of the Sixty-sixth Con-
gress Vare was present five days and
absent fifty. This is the man who
has the assurance to imagine that his
: “service” in the House entitles him to
| promotion to the Senate.
——The cold weather thus far has
served one good purpose. It has pre-
vented the usual complaint that the
peach crop has been destroyed.
ingiples |
ers through -the exeeittive “committee of
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Two workers in the Oakland-Pontiac
garage at Reading were injured, when the
acetylene tank with which they were work-
ing exploded, starting a fire which caused
a loss of $35,000.
—Plunging thirty-five feet from the
third floor of the Elks Home at Shamokin,
when he slipped while cleaning a window,
Gus Thorner, janitor, struck a wire, which
probably saved his life. He is in a ser-
ious condition at the hospital.
—Dr. Harry A. Randall, proprietor of
Bellevue Santiarium at Sharon Hill, near
Norristown, last Thursday was found
guilty by a jury of a charge of assault and
battery on his former cook, Estelle Lundy,
and sentenced to pay a fine of $250.
—There’s nothing in a name, say Federal
prohibition agents. They raided the Tem-
perance hotel in Williamsport and report-
ed finding 350 gallons of wine in the base-
ment. A Chinese restaurant at 241 Market
street, Williamsport, also netted the agents
one beer boitle partly filled with whiskey.
—Labert T. Gardner, who when a boy
organist prodigy at the Centennial Ex-
position in Philadelphia in 1876, fell in
love with Leona Gibbs, then a school girl,
married her on Monday. The wedding
was delayed for years because they had to
take care of relatives. He is aged 68 and
she is aged 61.
—Arising from his bed and walking in
his sleep one day last week, Otto Boos, 59,
of Fountain Springs, near Shenandoah,
went out on the back porch of the Cres-
son hotel, where he roomed, and stepped
off into space, falling twenty feet to the
ground and fracturing his skull. He died
several hours later.
—Entrance examination for Mont Alto
state forestry school are to be held this
year at headquarters of district foresters
instead of at Harrisburg, L. E. Staley,
deputy secretary of forests and waters,
announced today. Among places where
examinations are to be given are Clearfield,
Williamsport, Pottsville, Seranton and
Johnstown.
—A couch upon which he went to sleep
in his boarding house almost proved a
funeral pyre for Bernard Dugan early Fri-
day morning, for a cigarette which he was
smoking set fire to it, and Dugan is in the
York hospital. He was rescued from the
flames by firemen, who found him over-
com¢ by smoke and badly burned on the
face and hands.
—Firemen carried forty-five children
and eight aged women from the Episcopal
Church Home in Pittsburgh, early, on
Saturday, when the structure was threat-
ened by fire. As the children and aged
women stood on the lawn, scantily clad,
an unidentified negro rushed into the
building and brought out their coats and
other wraps. The blaze was confined to
the basement. The damage was slight.
—Two ordinary field stones were almost
as disastrous to Alfonse Gordon, 10-year-
old son of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Gordon, of
Wegley, as the stone in David's sling to
the giant. Alfonse tripped on a stone and
was precipitated over a 25-foot cliff. His
nose came in contact with another stone
and its sharp edge all but sheared the
member from his face. Surgeons believe
they can induce the nose to grow back in
place.
—Three thousand Fayette county farm-
the Fayette County Agricultural, Exten-
sion Association "went on record today
against daylight saving. It is claimed that
the extra hour of the daylight is detri-
mental to the farmer and his interests.
The farmers do not offer objections to
persons willing to work an hour earlier
but are opposed to turning back the
clocks.
—-Bowling over the tracks of the West
Penn street railway line in the vicinity of
the Trauger reservoir, near Greensburg, in
the midst of the early morning, motorman
James Stickle was annoyed to see a duck
on the rail. The bird refused to budge.
Stickle stopped his car and found that the
duck was actually frozen to the steel. It
is’ supposed the bird, wet from an early
morning swim, had alighted on the glisten-
ing steel rail. A penknife freed the duck.
.—Frank Robl, sixty-four, wealthy New
Castle merchant, committed suicide early
on Saturday, while the police were search-
ing for him in connection with the killing
of an aged woman by his automobile
truck. Mrs. Mollie Harris, sixty-two, was
killed and her husband, Moses Harris,
sixty-eight, was injured seriously Friday
night, when they were run down by Robl’'s
truck. Robl, a friend of Mr. and Mrs.
Harris, left the scene before the police ar-
rived. Robl drove the truck to an isolated
country road, where he fired a bullet into
his head.
—Fred Hannah, negro, of Elkland, Pa.,
accompanied by a young woman of his
race, applied for a marriage license at
City Hall in Elmira, N. Y., on Tuesday.
While the clerk was filling out the neces-
sary blank forms he found that the pros-
pective bride had a husband in prison.
He advised the couple they must defer
their marriage until a divorce could be
obtained, and they left the office. Two
hours later Hannah returned for a license
to marry another woman whom he had
wooed and won in record time. The license
was granted.
—The home of I. W. Yates, of Latrobe,
was badly damaged at 1:45 o'clock Sat-
urady morning when a heavy charge of
dynamite was set off under the front
porch. Yates, his wife and their son
Louis, 3 years old, were hurled from their
beds, but escaped injury. Windows were
broken in more than a dozen dwellings
nearby. The officers arrested Pasquale
Cereini, of Latrobe, in connection with
the explosion and took him to the Green-
burg barracks, where he will be question-
ed later. The officers reported that they
were unable to find any cause for the
blast.
—The school board and borough grade
teachers of Shamokin are at odds over the
question of wages. Recently the board in-
creased the wages of High school teachers
and others, but failed to provide an in-
crease for the grade teachers, Eighty of
them have signed petitions for considera-
tion on the ground of efficiency, length of
service and experience. Forty-five of the
teachers are actually involved in the con-
troversy, the others signing petitions for
the moral effect. The forty-five are those
who have reached the marks set by the
State, $1400 a term, but seek additional
money for their services since the princi-
pals “have been favored. The latter, on
the new basis of pay, will receive $56 a
month more than the grade teachers.