EE —
INK SLINGS.
.—Golly, it’s only thirty-six days
until Christmas.
* —Of course the fellow who never
undertakes anything is in no danger
of making a failure. :
—The parents who regard their
home as little more than a place to
change their clothes in can usually be
identified by the character of their
children.
" —The people of Somerville, N. J.,
will have something to be thankful for
next Thursday if, as at present pre-
dicted, the Hall-Mills murder case is
over and done with then.
- —If you don’t know how to pro-
mnounce Il Duce, used much in print
when referring to Missolini, the Ital-
ian premeir, say “eel-doo-see,” with
the accent on “doo” and you’ll have it
right. Incidentally it means “the
leader.”
—Unless we miss our guess Govern-
or elect Fisher will have no problems
of government quite as ticklish as will
be the one of satisfying both Mellon
and Grundy and making each one be-
lieve that he is really the man behind
the gun in the Executive office.
—Talking about subtlety in busi-
ness, the bankers are the boys who
practice it to the nth degree. Look at
them now: In one breath telling the
world of the gobs of money they are
going to pay out to their Christmas
club members and, in the next, urging
them all to get right back into next
year’s club.
—By the way, “moonshine” can’t be
.as terrible as Mr. Wayne B. Wheeler
and his cohorts would have us believe
it to be. It was “moonshine” two
hundred gallons of it, that was given
to the Centre county hospital last
week and if it’s good enough for sick
people it certainly can’t be so bad for
“well ones. Of course, moderation has
.something to do with it. A little
“makes the sick well. A lot makes the
“well sick.
—Kiwanis has taken up the cause
~of the underprivileged children of
Bellefonte and community. But cer-
tainly it can’t think that calling them
to rehearse on Sunday afternoon, for
a theatrical show, is one of the privi-
leges that has been unfortunately
denied them. Either Kiwanis is get-
ting away from the ideals we thought
it had or we have failed to discard the
thought that ideals are still necessary
if society is to survive.
—If, as the Pennsylvania Public
Service Commission says, consumption
of water is a barometer of the busi-
ness condition of a ¢ommunity Belle-
fonte is evidently doing right well,
thank you. Chicago is the largest
consumer of water of any ecity in
North America. The per capita con-
sumption there is two hundred and
seventy-eight gallons per day. Two
hundred gallons a day are pumped
through the pipes for each man,
woman and child in Bellefonte. Far
more is consumed, per capita, here
than in New York or Philadelphia.
—Let us have a “Secretary of Edu-
cation,” the pedagogues of the country
are beginning to shout every time they
get together to discuss the problems
of their profession. God save us from
another Secretary of any kind, say we.
Before the war every man in Germany
went to work with a soldier on his
back. Since the war the U. S. A. has
been doing its dangdest to take on
Germany’s yoke. We believe in edu-
cation. We also believe that it has
been getting along all right and
doesn’t need a Cabinet officer and an-
other army of departmental clerks for
us to carry to work with us each day.
The country’s too smart now. More
than half the people in it are educated
out of any notion of working for a
living.
—We note that a British company
has landed a fifty million contract in
Buenos Aires. How about that Pan-
American propaganda of ours? It
was only a few years ago that we were
sure of having captured the South
American business. Courses were
added to the curricula of our colleges
to equip young “go-getters” for busi-
ness forays under the “Southern
Cross” and England, Germany and
France were supposed to be “dead
ones” forever and a day. We hear
little of that stuff today. Do you
know why. The tariff’s the reason.
As long as tariff pampered industries
in this country ean force government
into making us pay more for their
products than they sell them abroad
for they’re not going out to hunt
world business.
—The appointment of Howard E.
Holtzworth, of Unionville, to serve out
the unexpired term of the late Harry
Austin, County Commissioner, will be
a grievous disappointment to the
thirty or forty applicants for the posi-
tion. It should be a matter of grati-
fication to the tax payers of Centre
county, for Mr. Holtzworth is a man of
marked ability in business lines. So
much so that we own surprise at the
fact that he has accepted an office, the
emoluments of which are so out of
proportion to the kind of service re-
quired in it. We congratulate Judge
Keller for having named him. We
congratulate the people of Centre
county because he has named a Coni-
missioner who will give them far morc
than a dollar’s worth of service for
each dollar of pay he draws and sce
to it that they get a dollar's value for
each dollar of taxes they pay.
N a he,
RR Er :
A
“VOL. 71.
BEL
Scoring for Public Place.
Governor-elect Fisher is not ready
to name his cabinet advisers as yet.
A series of conferences were held in
Philadelphia, on Monday, in which
Joseph R. Grundy, W. L. Mellon, Wil-
liam S. Vare, Eric Fisher Wood and
others participated. It is understood
that the selection of official advisers
was the purpose of the gathering. But
no public announcement was made of
conclusions and after the departure of
the conferees Mr. Fisher announced
that he “intends to say nothing about
appointments until he is ready to
make a definite announcement and
that will not be before December and
probably not until shortly before he is
inaugurated.” He will postpone dis-
appointments as long as possible.
But public interest will continue
meantime. There are a good many
candidates and considerable feeling is
developing among the rivals. Even
for the office of private secretary the
party bosses are asserting prefer-
ences. Mr. Grundy is supporting a
Philadelphia candidate and Mr. Mel-
lon has entered a Pittsburgh candi-
date. Hitherto that place has been
exempt from outside influence. It is
understood that Colonel Eric Fisher
Wood is the Governor-elect’s choice
for Secretary of the Commonwealth,
but he is not inclined to enter pub-
lic life through that door. This is the
more surprising for the reason that
there is no better gift at the disposal
of the Governor, and both Grundy and
Mellon would approve.
Probably the most strenuous efforts
of the faction heads will be centered
in the selection of an Attorney Gen-
eral. That official exercises a large
influence on legislation and Grundy’s
heart is there. His entrant is Ira
Jewell - Williams, law partner of
Francis Shunk Brown, former Attor-
ney General. Mr: Mellon offers a
Pittsburgh lawyer: in the person of
Peter Glick, though he reserves the
right to withdraw that nomination and
substitute another. The Governor's
selection between: these entrants will
indicate ‘his ntent between the
two factions.
mainly to-Grundy but Mellon is the
growing figure in the party and the
Governor is not only a wise but a
calculating politician. EL
——Governor Pinchot has invited
his ballot reform committee to resume
business at the old stand, and there
is still a possibility that “good may
come out of Nazareth.”
The Refund Scheme a Party Trick.
Those near-statesmen who serve the
rurpose of leaders of the Republican
party are greatly pleased with Presi-
dent Coolidge’s proposition to dispose
of the treasury surplus by refunding
a per centage of the 1926 income tax.
It “takes the wind out of the sails” of
the Democratic plan to reduce taxa-
tion, a purpose which might be dam-
aging to the Republican organization,
and is therefore a clever political
trick, according to their system of
measuring results. They realize that
tax reduction in the near future is
absolutely necessary but hope to defer
the oreration until a short time before
the Presidential election so that they
may use it as an appeal for a continu-
ance of power.
It is estimated at the White House
that the surplds this year will amount
to $250,000,000. It will probably be
considerably more than that. While
the Mellon bill was pending in Con-
gress Democratic leaders protested
that it would create a surplus and
asked a further decrease of a couple
of hundred millions. Meantime most
of the taxes for 1926 have been paid
and the proposed refund would be
mainly to corporations which have
already reimbursed themselves by in-
creased service charges or price in-
flations on the commodities they sell.
The consumers who have already paid
the taxes would get nothing from the
refund and the cost of distribution
would consume most of that which
would go to corporations.
The only just tax is that which is
necessary for the maintenance of the
government. If the existing law pro-
duces more revenue than is required
for that purpose the remedy is a new
law which will eut down the taxes to
the just level. - The present surplus
may be disposed of by payment on the
public debt, an operation that may be
conducted without cost. In view of
these facts the Democrats in Congress
will proceed with their plan to reduce
taxes to the point which will meet the
requirements of administration of the
government and leave only sufficient
surplus for safety against possible
contingencies. The petty scheme said
to have been evolved in the White
House mind will fail of its purpose.
——There would be little public
sorrow if the “pig woman” and all
| others connected with the Hall trial in
New Jersey would die.
e owes his nomination
The Way to Get Justice. :
Senator Thomas J. Walsh, of Mon-
tana, the famous investigator who ex-
posed the oil lease frauds, points out
the right course to pursue in relation
to the recent Senatorial election in
Pennsylvania. Senator Norris, of
Nebraska, whose unselfish service in
behalf of political decency and justice
during the campaign cannot be over-
estimated, suggests a reference to the
Reed Slush Fund committee. But
there is grave doubt of the legal right
of that committee to assume jurisdie-
tion. It was created to inquire into
campaign expenses rather than cor-
rupt voting and bogus returns. But
the Senate standing committee on
elections has an undoubted right to
probe every phase of the subject.
The Slush Fund committee has al-
ready developed enough evidence of:
fraud in the primary election to justi-
fy the rejection of Vare’s claim to a
seat in the Senate under the resolution
adopted in the Newberry case. But in
the event that political exigencies
might influence some Senators who
voted for that resolution to “renig,”
it would be wise policy to have anoth-
er expedient to invoke and Senator
Walsh believes that a contest of the
seat would meet the requirement.
That would involve some expense but
the money might be easily provided
by popular subscription. William B.
Wilson is not a rich man and it would
not be fair to put on him the burden
of a great public service.
As the Montana Senator suggests,
it would not be necessary for the con-
testant to allege that enough fraudu-
lent votes were cast to alter the re-
turns. . All he would have to declare is
that many fraudulent votes were cast
and false returns made, and Mr.
Vare’s best friends must admit that
fact. There is a well recognized
principle of law that “fraud vitiates
everything it touches” and as there
was fraud in every one of the first
twenty wards in Philadelphia as well
as in some of the others, the legal ex-
posure of that fact by the Senate com-
‘mittee would not only justify b
actually require the throwing
all the returns of every election dis--
trict in which fraud was committed,
—The question of Vare’s eligibil-
ity to a seat in the Senate may be con-
sidered during the coming session, in
which event Senator Pepper will have
a hand in “dumping him in the river.”
——— ele —————
Women in Politics.
In her annual report as president of
i the Pennsylvania League of Women
| Voters, at the seventh annual conven-
tion of that civic organization held in
Philadelphia last week, Mrs. John O.
Miller, : of . Pittsburgh, somewhat
sharply censured some of her sister
members. She said: “Many women, 1
am sorry to say, tried to coerce their
organizations and friends to vote the
straight Republican ticket, If my
party, and I am as much a member of
that party as any boss, does not offer
me a good candidate or any relief
from a bad one, I am going to vote
for the opposite party.” The plain in-
ference is that in her estimation the
duty of women voters is to correct
rather than support the evils of poli-
ties.
A few days before the election the
president of a Philadelphia woman’s
political organization assembled the
membership for the purpose of in-
structing them in voting. She ex-
pressed great regret that the candi-
date of the party with which her or-
ganization is affiliated, for Senator in
Congress, was unfit for the office,
unworthy cf confidence and undeserv-
ing of support. But because he was
the candidate of the party, and not-
withstanding the questionable meth-
ods by which he obtained the nomina-
tion, she urged all the ladies present
to vote for him. To the credit of
womanhood a considerable number of
the ladies present promptly declared
| that they would not support such a
candidate.
When the question was pending be-
fore the public the Promise was made
that the enfranchisement of women
1 would have a moralizing influence
, upon political activities. This seemed
; & reasonable proposition. Women are
more likely to indulge ideals than men
and have a keener perception of the
spiritual side of a question. But the
expectation has been disappointed.
The enfranchisement of women has not
made a single improvement in either
the morals or methods of politics. If
women of the Mrs. Miller type exer-
cised a wider influence among the
female voters of the country it might
be different, and her expressed hope |
of electing female school directors
might be realized.
mr—a
~ ——The Klan masked marriage in
Bloomsburg, the other day, may have
been a curious spectacle but it hardly
expressed the solemnity of the. cere-
mony. :
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
LEFONTE. PA.. NOVEMBER 19. 1926.
Slush Fund Politics Condemned.
Several of the
Armistice day speak-
ers referred to the slush fund evil in
more or less caustic terms of condem-
nation. “The fight for the purity of
the ballot is as great a cause, if not
: greater,” declared Governor Pinchot,
“than the one which the American
soldier went to France for in the
World war. There is no question of
peace,” he added, “that more properly
demands the attention of the Ameri-
can Legion than this matter of allow-
ing the worst of our citizens to con-
trol the government by the votes they
cast and the votes they steal.” The
remedy the Governor suggests for this
execrable evil is the fulfillment of
civic obligations by the better element
of the citizenry. :
But the most significant denuncia-
tion of the practice which made Wil-
liam S. Vare a candidate for Senator
in Congress and subsequently secured
sylvania at the general election was
expressed by General John J. Persh-
ing, in an Armistice day address in
Chicago. “If the present system of
selecting candidates,” he said, “per-
mits the contribution of inordinate
sums by wealthy eandidates or their
supporters it should receive the most
careful scrutiny by honest citizens. If
the time ever comes when public of-
fices can be virtually bought and sold,
either directly or indirectiy, then the
downfall of the Republic will not be
far off.” =~ pa
The time when public offices may be
bought both directly and indirectly. is
already present in Pennsylvania. Last
May the cost of the nomination of the
Republican candidate’ for United
States*Senator was upward of $3,000,
000, and the expense of selecting a can-
date for Governor for the same party
was $1,800,000. General -Pershing says
“the presumption that large expendi-
tures for campaign purposes may be
made without ulterior motive does not
appear to be warranted.” In the re-
cent case in this State it is directly
ulterior purpose.
——The rain of Monday night and
Tuesday was the hardest continual
downpour of all the rains we have had
this summer and fall, and we have had
quite a number of them, at that. In
fact it was the only rain this year that
raised the streams in Centre county
to any appreciable extent. Spring
creek came up about eighteen inches
but not enough to be alarming or do
any damage. All the streams in the
county were affected and every cistern
is probably full to overflowing, so that
there is no danger of a water famine
in the immediate future.
——Bellefonte’s curb market which
was so’ well patronized during the
summer months, has dwindled to al-
most the vanishing point. In fact
there has not been any market on
Wednesdays for three weeks and only
four automobiles showed up on Satur-
day morning. A few farmers will
likely continue coming in for sevéral
weeks yet, if the weather does not be-
come too cold, as butter and eggs,
potatoes and apples are still in de-
mand.
A ———— a Sa —
——Chairman Mellon, of the Re-
publican State committee, announces
that he will take no part in the con-
test for local nominations already
developing. He feels it’s safe to trust
such matters to Max Leslie.
EE ————— ep ——————————— .
—=All the Democrats in Pennsyl-
vania and thousands of Republicans
will gladly support Wiliam B. Wilson,
morally and financially, if he contests
Vare’s false claim to a seat in the
Senate.
Se — pm —
——Senator Reed, of Pittsburgh,
probably feels that he is uttering a
fore-word for himself when defend-
ing Vare. He will be the candidate of
the Steel trust for Senator in 1928.
————r te re ——
——If Speaker Bluet is re-elected
to the Speakership upon the reorgan-
ization of the General Assembly there
2 be little chance of reform -legis-
ation,
——The State Highway Depart-
ment’s fall oiling schedule this week
included the stretch of improved high-
way from Milesburg to Howard.
——DLast Friday morning was the
coldest of the season so far, thermom-
eters in Bellefonte registering as low
as twelve degrees above zero.
——————p el ———————
———Up to this time there has been
no indication of an unusual number of
Thanksgiving turkeys in Centre coun-
ty. I.
—Subscribe for the Wai hman.
him a majority of the votes of Penn- |
tradieted by sworn evidence before |
Se. Slush Fund commit of the Sen
his i
contribution of $400,000 was for an
Howard E. Holtzworth, of Unionville
Appointed County Commissioner,
On Tuesday morning Judge Harry
Keller announced the appointment of
Howard E. Holtzworth, of Unionville,
as County Commissioner to fill the
unexpired term of the late Harry
Austin, deceased. Mr. Holtzworth,
who is a traveling salesman by oc-
cupation, is a staunch Republican and
always has been a hard worker for the
party. He was not an applicant for
the appointment but has accepted it
‘and will serve until the first Monday
in January, 1928. There were several
dozen active candidates for the ap-
pointment but the court ‘was influene-
ed in selecting Mr. Holtzeworth
through his being a resident of Bald
Eagle valley where Mr. Austin lived,
and his belief that he will make a
good commissioner. In faet Judge
Keller qualified his appointment in
, the following statement.
| “My first consideration in appoint-
ing a County Commissioner, was that
of qualification. 'I was desirous also
that recognition be accorded as large
a section of the eounty as might be
possible. ‘One of the present incum-
bents was elected from Harris town-
ship, in Penns valley, and the other
from Benner township in Nittany val-
ley. It seemed fitting that the va-
caney should be filled by the ‘selection
of some well-qualified citizen from the
Bald Eagle valley, which was the
home of the late Commissioner Harry
P. Austin® 1c Tor gn uie
“Among the many applicants were
a number of very Bight vated per:
sonal friends, each of whom I believe
would have made a conscientio
creditable Commissioner.
selected any one of them might have
been viewed, although unjustly, as
| some refléction u on the fitness of the
| others. I, therefore, finally, decided
to ask Mr. Holtzworth to aeeept the
appointment, and he has consented to
serve. Mr. Holtzworth, ough a
warm personal friend, was met an ap-
plicant. However, he has kindly co-
operated to the extent of enabling me
to solve a very trying situ
In accepting the appeink
“To my friends and all eitizens of
| Centre county: I wish to state that I
was very much surprised to receive
notice from the Honorable Judge Har-
ry Keller that he had appointed me to
ill the unexpired term of Harry P.
: Austin as Commissioner in Centre
.county. I was not an applicant for
! the office. The appointment was en-
tively unselicited.
!'" “I highly appreciate the courtesy of
His Honor, and will endeavor to fill
i the position honorably and creditably
in a manner which I feel is best for
Centre county.
i “J also wish to state that I will not
be a candidate for the office at the ex-
piration of my appointment.”
SEE Sa.
|r fhe “Dandy Copper of ; the
‘ Broadway. Squad” cut quite a figure
lat the Sesqui the other day. He had
, a dandy Mayor and a popular Gover-
nor to support him as he marched
down Broad street. Ry
——————eet mS
Mussolini’s Work in Southern Italy.
From Ida Tarbell in December McCall's.
!" When the Benito Mussolini took
charge of the kingdom of Italy, in
October, 1922, he declared that the
' chief business of the Government and
people was to put the country again
on what we call a playing basis. He
i found on his hands a number of vast
wornout lands making up practically
the whole south of the country, and
including the provinces, or States as
we would call them, of Sicily, south-
ern Campania, Calabria, Apulia.
| Of course, the Sicilian “had the
vote.” But somehow the Sicilians
were never able to make headway in
the bureau at Rome. They didn’t get
roads and water out of the new insti-
tution, and they didn’t get any decent
policing or administry of law. There
sprang up self-constituted groups in-
tent on seeing that evil-doers were
punished for their crimes—which the
government had neglected to do. They
were called the Mafia; and I have
heard more than one Sicilian argue
that the Mafia saved Sicily.
And then came Mussolini! “The
Italian Government has always ne-
glected the South,” he said. “We must
build up the South.”
Mussolini can be trusted to put his
finger instantly on the weak spot of :
a practical problem. “You can’t raise
more wheat in Sicily,” he said, “until
life is safe, and men can work their
fields and raise cattle with no other
, risks: than those of the weather and
their own ignorance or neglect; and
that day will not come until you've |
done away with the Mafia. They must
be destroyed.”
The campaign was swift, relentless,
quiet and terrifying. The methods
were medieval. Probably by none
other than 2000 of the leaders, most |
of ‘them believed to be criminals of !
long standing, have ‘been 1 in
prison. Mothers and wives and chil-
dren were clapped into jail and held |
until the outlaw gave himself up, In
an incredibly short time the infected
territory was stripped of its leaders
and life became as safe and as orderly
as in an American countryside.
i
'|SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
~The Blair County Commissioners let
the contract for 12,000 feet of portable
'y snow fence, to be erected along highways. 3
—The large plate glass window in front
of the clothing store of C. F. Tischler, of
Avoca, was broken and merchandise: to the
value of more than $1000 carried away. Le
—Police say Albert Simon, of Beaver
Falls, hurriedly poured moonshine over
his wife, while she was lying in bed, to
dispose of the contraband evidence. Raid-
ing’ officers there-upon squeezed enough
liquid from Mrs. Simon’s niglitgown to
warrant Simon’s arrest.’
—Arthur Clough, treasurer of the New
York and Pennsylvania company eof Lock
Haven, died early Friday morning at a
hospital in DuBois of injuries received
Thursday night when the automebile in
which he was riding, skidded and upset
near that place.
—While toting a quantity eof whisky in
bottles and hot water bag, Lewis 8. shope,
aged 50, of Altoona, was hit by an auto-
mobile on the highway between Gallitzin
and Cresson Monday night. He is in the
Altoona hospital with a broken leg and in-
juries to his head.
—Her suspicions aroused by a noise in
her bedroom at 2 o'clock om Monday morn-
ing, Miss Isabelle Bashline, daughter of
Dr. 0. O. Bashline, of Grove City, started to
investigate and found a man hiding under
the bed. The man sprang through an open
window and fled.
—Dr. Jay Rudolphy, ef Philadelphia, is
richer by $4,391 this week than he was
last, that sum having been willed to him
by Charlotte A. Sherwood, of New York.
The odd part about the bequest is that Dr.
Rudolphy did mot kmow the domer, nor
why she left him the money.
—The State Department of Agriculture
has warned shippers of poultry to be “ex-
tremely careful about the reliability” of the
commission merchants to whom shipments
are made during the holiday season but
said the warning is not to be taken as a
general criticism of the trade.
—Lighting a match to determine how
much gas he had in his automobile tank
caused an exploson that killed John Tur-
horn, 46, of Millmont. His wife, Kate, was
badly burned about the arms in trying to
put out the fire which damaged Turhoun’s
garage and destroyed the ear. poyil
—Thought to have sustained an injury
in nowise dangerous, John B. Drupp, 33, of
Reading, a rabbit hunter, died suddenly in
a hospital of shock. A brother, with whom
he was gunning, accidentally shot Drupp
in the thigh when a rabbit jumped out of
hiding immediately in front of the men,
‘ —@Going into a physicians office at
Franklin Bruce Lawsen, twenty-four, of
Meadville, picked up a bottle of disinfect-
‘| ant ‘and drank part of the contents. The
| physician was absent at the time. Lawson
died in ‘the Franklin hospital an hour later.
His health had been poor for several
months, and friends said he had appeared
despondent.
"dv. Pinchot has issued a respite to
Paul Orlakowsky, Allegheny county, con-
victed of murder in the first degree, stay-
ing the date of his execution from the week
beginning Monday, November 22, to the
8 | week beginning Monday, November 29.
Orlakowsky has made application to the
State Board for commutation of sentence
to life imprisonment.
—Robert Dill, a resident of Shrewsbury,
York county, has just made a record, it is
believed, when he trapped six black skunks
under a building in the town owned by
John T. Wagner, local undertaker and
furniture dealer. Two quarts of skunk oil
were rendered from five of the skunks. This
oil is used for medicinal purposes. Mr.
Dill will probably receive about $30 for
the hides.
—An order. to repair 500 steel hopper
cars for the Buffalo, Rochester and Pitts-
burgh railroad has been received by the
Berwick plant of the American Car and
Foundry company, following closely an
order for 110 new all steel ears for the
- I Long Island Railroad. Steady work is as-
sured for some weeks in the freight car de-
partment aid enough ordeis are now book-
ed in the passenger department to keep it
busy until next summer.
—Because he developed a fondness for
peeping in the windows of homes in the
residential section of Jeanette, Adam Esler,
who clams he is 95 years old, was arrested
by constable Thomas Adamson at Jean-
nette and given a hearing before justice of
the peace C. M. Parker. Esler was charged
with entering and pilfering milk and ether
articles of diet from homes in Jeannette
and Grapevill> and with “frightening
women to death” by peeping in the win-
dows at them.
—Chester Black, aged 19, of Pittsburgh,
who pleaded guilty to the theft of two
automobiles, and said he stole them be-
cause ‘the girls wouldn't ride in street
cars,” was sentenced to serve from 6 to 12
months in the workhouse, on Monday, in
criminal court by Judge John A. Evans.
He was given an additional sentence of
three to six months when the court was
informed Black was then out on parole
after having been implicated in the theft
of 19 automobiles.
—William J. Bobb, of Lewistewn, has
confessed to the larceny of a roadster be-
longing to his wife, Mrs. Ada Bobb, which
he sold in Florida for $50 and was held in
lieu of $500 bail for court. Bobb also con-
fessed to burning a bungalow belonging to
his wife two years ago. He said he went
to the bungalow one cold night and finding
no one home and the furniture gone, he
built a fire on the floor and fell asleep.
—One man met death and another was
probably fatally burned when fire destroy-
ed the home of Wm. Sheets, at Fayette
City, early on Sunday. Sheets, who was
53, was burned to death and Harry Fur-
long, 58, of Fayette City, a visitor at the
home, was taken to a hospital in a serious
condition. The house in which Sheeets
lived alone, was a mass of flames when
firemen arrived. The building was a one-
story, three-room structure. Origin of the
fire was undetermined.
~—Electricians and millwrights employed
by the Lehigh Portland Cement company,
at Allentown, were mystified on Friday
night when the electric lights went out and
the machinery in the huge West Coplay mill
ceased to function. It was some hours be-
fore tha mystery was splved and every-
thing put in working order again. The
mischief-maker ‘was a tiny mouse that had
wandered into one of the delicate parts of a
large dynamo, causing a short circuit that
put the generator out of business. The
logs, In production was several thousand
dollars, and, in life, one mouse.