INK SLINGS.
~—Who said that Earth is gradually
‘cooling off. :
.—We recall a great many Aprils but
none that have been as warm and
spring like as this one has been
‘thus far.
—Up to this time there has been
nothing to indicate that we'll have to
smoke or pickle our excess trout for
use next winter.
—Won’t somebody please start
‘throwing a few bricks. We're not
having near the fun out of the local
political campaign that we expected
to be enjoying by this time.
—What China needs is more auto-
mobiles. Give all the Reds a high
powered car and a barrel of gasoline
and they’ll never stop going until they
get so far away that they can’t get
back.
—The terribly disastrous floods on
the Mississippi are furnishing ammu-
nition for the negative side of the
much debated question: “Resolved
that fire is more destructive than
water.”
—What some women are prone to
look on as merely “affairs” are prob-
ably just what Ruth Snyder thought
she was starting when she met Judd
‘Gray and started for the cell of a
‘murderess.
—This is certainly fine growing
weather. It affects vegetable and
"human life in directly opposite ways.
The one is fairly jumping from the
‘ground. And the other is suffering
‘with that tired feeling that just drags
iitself from one leaning post to the
‘other.
—Now that the Legislature is ad-
journed it might be supposed that a
few appointive plums might be falling
‘in Centre county. Some are due. Pos-
sibiy they are being held up until it
is discovered just how auch the ap-
plicants can deliver in the Repuhlican
judicial fight in the coua'y.
—Tuesday evening, for a moment
or so, we thought the millennium had
come. In reading over the story of
the council proceedings of the night
‘before our eye fastened on the order
‘to pay bills. They amounted to only
‘$352.36. They were so unusually
low that we had visions of reduced
millage some where in the offing, but
the town’s emeritus councilman dis-
pelled that illusion by explaining that
someone had forgotten to present the
most of the bills.
—TUnited States Steel cut a whale
of a “melon” when it declared a forty
per cent stock dividend on Tuesday.
It seems only a few years ago that a
‘tariff was said to be absolutely neces-
sary to the fostering of this particular
~ infant industry. Judged from Tues-
day’s action we must conclude
the tariff is a wonderful nostrum—
for them that get its benefits—but
how about the fellows who have to
pay it? Where does their slice of
melon come from?
—Well, our fishing trip turned out
nearly as predicted last week. Instead
of getting up at four “numbed by the
night in a cold camp” we crawled out
at twelve-fifteen to put more logs on
the fire and got up at two—and staid
up because even the logs and four
blankets couldn’t keep us warm
enough to sleep. And at twelve we
weren't sitting on the porch paring
potatees for dinner.” It just happen-
ed that for once we had a couple of
guests in camp who act on suggestion.
They pared the potatoes.
—Elsewhere is a letter of apprecia-
tion of service received at the Centre
County hospital by one who signs
him or herself “Patient.” It is a grat-
ifying acknowledgement of pleasing
treatment received at the local insti-
tution, but the part that interests us,
especially, is the reference to its
admirable location. That interests us
because it is witness to the fact that
we were right, many years ago, when
we stood alone and finally frustrated
the purchase both of the small J. A.
Beaver Miller property on east Curtin
street and the Cruse property on east
Linn street for the hospital.
Putting it as suscinctly as we have
ever heard it expressed Gov. Al Smith,
of New York, answering Charles C.
Marshall's inquiry, published in a re-
cent number of the Atlantic Monthly,
says: “You imply that there is con-
flict between religious loyalty to the
Catholic faith and patriotic loyalty to
the United States.” And after saying
that he does not believe there is any
the Governor makes this striking
statement: “I believe that no tri-
bunal of any church has any power
to make any decree of any force in
the law of the land other than to es-
tablish the status of its own com-
municants within its own church.”
—The eternal disposition to make
mountains out of mole hills is proba-
bly accountable for the supposed break
between President Coolidge ¢nd
Herbert Hoover, his Secretary of Com-
merce. The President said he would
_ not appoint Mr. Hoover Secretary of
State even if Secretary Kellogg should
resign that port-folio, The statement
was jumped on by political gossips and
friction was seen between the Presi-
dent and Mr. Hoover. Why should
that be a necessary resultant? There
is no reason whatever. Mr. Hoover
was not an applicant for any other
post than the one he fills and he would
be a poor sport, indeed, to resent the
President’s right to select his own
Cabinet officers.
CT
%
=X)
ZO
Demaeratic
VOL. 72.
STATE RIGHTS AN
BELLEFONTE, PA..
D FEDERAL UNION.
APRIL 22, 1927.
ER
gig £4
NO. 167
Committed to Ballot Fraud.
The hearing of the petition of the
Slush Fund committee of the United
State Senate for possession of the
ballot boxes used in Delaware county,
last fall, which was held in the
United States District court at Phila-
delphia on Monday, clearly revealed
the fact that the leaders of the Re-
publican party of Pennsylvania are
committed to the evil policy of con-
tinuing ballot frauds. The result of
the effort to open the boxes and ex-
pose the corruption perpetrated for
the purpose of electing William S.
Vare to the Senate will not be known
for ten days. Judge Thompson
promptly and properly refused Secre-
tary Woodward’s attempt to “butt in”
but allowed each side five days to
file briefs.
There can be no possible result of
the opening of these ballot boxes other
than the exposure of frauds, if any
were committed. If no illegal ballots
are found in them the charge of fraud
will be completely refuted and the
Republican organization vindicated.
But the Republican leaders know that
an honest recount of the votes in
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lackawanna,
Luzerne, Schuylkill and Delaware
counties will show that William B.
Wilson was elected Senator in Con-
gress in Pennsylvania last fall, and
that the certificate of election given
to William S. Vare by the then Gov-
ernor Pinchot was not only correct
but appropriate. It declared that his
majority was half purchased and half
stolen.
The effort to prevent the investi-
gation was begun in the Senate by
Senator Reed, of Pittsburgh, immedi-
ately after the Mellon-Vare partner-
ship was made to enlist the Vare sup-
port in next year’s Senatorial contest
for Mr. Reed, who now represents the
Steel trust and the Mellon interests
in the Senate. The conspirators in this
sinister enterprise imagined that if the
Senate refused to renew the life of the
Slush Fund committee it would go out
of existence with the end of the
Sixty-ninth Congress and the Vare
title to the bought and stolen seat
made secure. But they “reckoned
without their host.” ~The Missouri
Reed is of a different type.
sa
The Socialists of Glasgow re-
fuse to dine with the King. Some of
us here are thinking of adopting the
same resolution.
\Great Scramble Impending.
great scramble for the “spoils” of the
administration will set in. Compara-
tively few changes have been made in
the offices on “The Hill” and through-
out the State, though the pressure in
that direction has been great. Only
the big offices have been disposed of
and it is said that Governor Fisher
has been holding the seekers back with
the promise that as soon as the Leg-
islature adjourned he would turn his
appointees. The time has arrived for
action and probably as soon as Mel-
lon and Grundy have made the selec-
tions the roster will be written.
There are a good many offices to be
filled in the capitol building and else-
where throughout the State, and the
Mellon-Vare partnership will have a
“haleyon and vociferous” time in ap-
portioning the favors. Mellon is new
at such work and Vare a glutton for
spoils, so that the small ruction started
over the old age pension question
during the closing days of the session
may develop into a real quarrel. Of
course Mr. Grundy will be with Mel-
lon and the Governor; well, Mellon and
Grundy were good to him both in
May and November last year. Vare
has the reputation of being a fighter,
though his unconditional surrender on
the age pension question rather tar-
nishes it.
In any event there is certain to be
some lively doings on “The Hill” in
the near future. Grundy got the bulk
of the favors so far as they have been
distributed and Mellon has been learn-
ing the ropes and cultivating an ap-
petite for patronage with consider-
able success. But Vare has the votes
which will be needed to put Dave Reed
over next year and that fact makes a
strong appeal to Mellon, who takes
much delight in the ownership of a
Senator in Congress. All in all the
promise is for an unusually interesting
period between this time and the
completion of the work of “turning
the Pinchot rascals out” and putting
their own servile tools in.
——————
——When they turn out airplanes
capable of carrying 125 passengers it
is time for the railroads to “sit up
and take notice.”
mt ii
——A device to prevent airplane
accidents has been found. If one to
| brevent automobile accidents could be
discovered it would be worth while.
cohen nF
Now that the General Assembly has
adjourned it may be expected that a
attention to “weeding out” the Pinchot |
Making it Easy for the Governor.
| The esteemed Philadelphia Record,
(in an appraisement of the work of
the Legislature says: “Governor Fish-
jer championed the cause honestly and
i decently, but the forces that controlled
the law-makers succeeded largely in
| thwarting his efforts and in emascu-
i lating the bills prepared for their con-
| sideration. The result is discouraging
| but not surprising.” This is an ex-
| ceedingly friendly and certainly a
| partial estimate of the Governor's
: part in the legislation. Obviously The
i Record has reference to the ballot re-
| form measures which were enacted
and defeated. The Governor favored
some improvements in the existing
(laws, but not much, and he failed
; absolutely to exert the power he has
‘ to secure them.
| Everybody knows, and the esteemed
i Record has frequently declared, that
| if Governor Fisher had been sincerely
and militantly in favor of genuine bal-
lot reform legislation, with scarcely a
| dissenting voice, it would have been
i enacted. He promised in his inaugur-
al address to pursue that course. But
when the Legislature assembled he
| seemed to have forgotten the pledge.
| After being prodded more or less he
1 had prepared a series of measures that
l indicated a half-hearted, rather than
earnest, desire for honest elections
| which have been so emasculated as to
i be practically worthless. The com-
pulsory opening law may only be en-
forced where no fraud has been com-
mitted, in rural communities.
That Governor Fisher might have
controlled the action of the Legisla-
ture on ballot reform is revealed in
the result of his effort to defeat the
old age pension amendment resolution.
practically “tied up” until the Gover-
nor intervened and completely revers-
ed the conditions. But on the ballot re-
form measures he assented to almost
, every change suggested by Mr. Mel-
|lon and protested that he could not
{control the Legislature. It wasn’t
the Legislature he was unable to
manage. It was Mellon, Vare, Grundy
cians don’t want ballot reform laws
to bother them and they are equally
corporations.
——That foolish and now some-
what famous town in Tennessee has
little, if anything, on West Chester,
Pennsylvania.
Reasons for the Declination of Fess,
It is not surprising that Senator
Fess, of Ohio, declined the appoint-
' ment to a seat on the Slush Fund com-
mittee tendered to him a few days ago
by Vice President Dawes. Senator
; Fess is a man of considerable ability
; and clean life and would probably pre-
fer a decent to a doubtful environ-
ment. But he represents Ohio in the
Senate and continued affiliation with
the leading politicians of that State
. has probably corrupted his manners in
3 measure, and in political affairs he is
guided less by conscience than by prej-
udice. The “Columbus crowd” organ-
ized by Attorney General Daugherty
was a corrupting force.
The Slush Fund committee as orig-
inally organized was composed cof
two Republicans, two Democrats and
one Independent, but it was unani-
mously against fraudulent voting,
Some time ago Senator Goff, of West
Virginia, one of the Republicans, re-
signed though protesting that he was
in full accord with his associates. The
pressure of the administration and
the leaders of his party to “stick to
party and let conscience go to the
devil,” if we may borrow the language
of the late Thad Stevens, was too
strong for him and he dodged out. No
doubt in selecting Mr. Fess to succeed
him the Vice President hoped to get
one dissenter in the body. But Fess
could not bring himself to agree to so
mortgaging his manhood. He lacked
courage to either obey his conscience
or the party bosses.
Senator Fess knows as every other
man capable of reasoning knows that
the completion of the investigation
will show that William 8. Vare, of
Pennsylvania, and Frank Smith, of
Illinois, should be punished rather
than rewarded for the frauds which
gave them a claim to seats in the
Senate. He also knows that his party
organization has set itself to reward
them and that exposure will not only
destroy the party and politically bury
Vare and Smith but will change the
political complexion of the Senate
when it reassembles. He could not
contribute to what must have seemed
to him a crime and was not willing
to become a party to the destruction
of the Republican organization as an
element in public life,
———————————
Governor Fisher will win wide-
spread praise for vetoing the bill re-
quiring that the flag be carried at the
head of all processions.
In that case Mr. Vare had the goods
and Max Leslie. Those crafty. politi- |
averse to pensioning anybody except, Hig polls victory is certain.
Fight for Voting Machines.
The resolution proposing a constitu-
tional amendment giving the voters
the option to adopt voting machines
passed both branches of the iegisla-
ture with little opposition, and as it
does not require executive approval,
| will be ratified or rejected by the peo-
ple at the general election in 1927. It
is a matter of much merit and ought
to receive a big majority. It will
guarantee an honest vote and fair
count and that will remove all cause
of complaint, no matter which party
wins. It will also secure a prompt re-
turn of the vote, thus depriving the
Philadelphia “neck” and the Pitts-
burgh “strip” of the power to con-
trol State-wide elections which they
have exercised for many years.
But the adoption of the resolution
by the General Assembly and the
submission of the question to the peo-
ple does not guarantee this great im-
provement in the electoral system of
the Commonwealth. It is not unlikely
that the absence of opposition in the
Legislature is ascribable to the con-
fidence of the Machine leaders that
they can defeat it at the polls. In the
campaign which will ensue for and
against it all sorts of arguments will
be brought out, the main hope of those
opposed being that the rural district
voters “will be afraid of the expense.”
Now as a matter of fact the testimony
of those who have used it is that the
saving in other election expenses will
recompense for the expenditure
‘eight years.
The vote on the question of adoption
will not be registered by voting ma-
. chines and it may be predicted that
ithe “neck” and the “strip” “will do
| their level best” to defeat it. But
the Senatorial contest in Pennsylvania
last fall demonstrated beyond a doubt
that if the voters of the smaller cities
and rural districts put energy and
vigilance into the fight the forces of
“vice and crime will not prevail. The
' opening of a campaign of education
should be attended to at once and
"continued with unabated zeal and de-
‘termination until the question is de-
cided. The vast majority of the people
of Pennsylvania want honest elections,
land if they will express that fact at
—Rumor has been current for some
| time to the effect that Ford is going
i to launch a new four speed model with
| lines more nearly approaching those
of a regular automobile. Due to the
low prices and more striking types of
other makes of cars Ford sales
have fallen off amazingly. The most
| recent statement of the Ford business
i shows inventories lower than they
| have been in many years. This would
{indicate that Henry is getting ready
i for a change of some sort and the only
change that would meet the serious
competition he has now in the low
priced car field is one of models.
terference with Traffic,
Stuart has directed that the 2700 foot
stretch of road to complete the con-
crete highway over the Seven Moun-
tains be built without necessitating
the use of a detour by motorists. Sec-
retary of Forests and Waters, Charles
E. Dorworth, enlisted Mr. Stuart’s in-
terest in the matter, impressing upon
him that closing the highway while
building approximately one-half mile
would subject all traffic to the incon-
venience of a sixteen mile detour. If
the arrangement of a temporary road
along the stretch to be concreted is
[ found to be possible this will be the
plan followed. Otherwise, Mr. Stuart
announces, the highway will be built
with the half-width plan; that is, one-
half will be finished and thrown open
to traffic before the other half is un-
dertaken.
——Of course it’s sad to be with-
out a new dress on Easter Sunday
but committing suicide is a poor
remedy as Helen Duvany, rescued
from the Delaware river on that day,
probably realizes now.
—— ra
——The Cramp shipyard, which has
turned out more warships than any
other concern in the country, is about
to give up that work. Like the saloon,
warship building is becoming un-
popular,
——The American students who in-
tend to visit Russia this summer to
study Soviet life may be influenced
more by curiosity than a desire to im-
prove public conditions.
A ——————— lp —————————
——The late Senator Quay worked
fifty years to acquire ownership of a
Governor. Joe Grundy adopted the
“cash-and-carry” plan.
——There seems to be a great de-
mand for the summer capitol. Uncle
Sam pays the rent-and he is a fairly
reliable lessee. ? :
in |
| inguiry..should be
New Highway to Be Built Without In- '
Secretary of Highways James L.
Bad News for Vare.
From the Philadelphia Record.
By one stroke of a pen Vice Presi-
dent Dawes has settled, so far as such
a question can be settled out of Court,
the status of the special Senate com-
mittee appointed to inquire into the
elections. It had been claimed that
the life of this committee expired with
the life of the Congress whose Senate
created it. To meet such a claim Sen-
ator Reed; of Missouri, vigorously
fought in the closing days of the Con-
gress to obtain a specific extension of
its authority. His efforts were frus-
trated by Senator Reed, of Pennsyi-
vania, whose filibuster, conducted to
prevent the committee from continu-
ing its inquiry into the validity of
William S. Vare’s election to the Sen-
ate, killed all the legislation scheduled
for eleventh-hour action in the Sen-
ate. Now Vice President Dawes, by
appointing Senator Fess to fill a va-
cancy on the Senatorial Investigating
Committee, recognizes its eontinued
existence. More than that, he issues
a statement explanatory of his action,
and points out that his authority for
regarding the Reed committee as a
going concern rests upon a recent de-
cision of the United States Sur+eme
Court.
This appointment by the Vice Presi-
dent must be ill news both to Senator
David A. Reed and to Congressman
Vare. To the former it is notice that
the enmities he incurred by playing
a stellar role in the slaughter of leg-
islation urgently desired by many of
his constitutents were incurred in
vain. He had no objections to this
legislation, but he prevented its enact-
ment in order to accomplish, as he
hoped, the destruction of the Reed
committee. To Congressman and Sen-
ator-elect Vare it meams an investi-
gation into the methods by which he
attained his majority in November at
the hands of an inquisitorial body not
of his own preference. That must be
a matter of considerable moment to
him, else his friends would not have
t exerted themselves so vigorously to
avert it, : ;
It is possible, of course, that the
Vare forces will not be content to ac-
cept the view of Vice President Dawes
as final. The authority of the Reed
committee is already an issue in a Fed-
oral Court, and the i there inavgu-
rated will presumably proceed to a
conclusion. But the Vice President
has given X
Proponents of the idea that the ,}
be as. thew “ar
searching as possible, and” his filling
of the committee vacancy leaves little
‘room for doubt that eventually Vare’s
title will be examined by experts in
‘whom the country has entire confi-
{ dence.
Vare
; eel eee—
i . .
: Pennsylvania Apples Grow in Favor.
From the Pittsburgh Post.
The report of the State Department
‘of Agriculture showing that after
Pennsylvania apples appeared in the
{ home markets last year there was a
(sharp falling off in shipments from
, other States, as compared with those
in the corresponding months of 1925,
suggests that Pennsylvanians are tak-
ing more kindly to the home grown
fruit, Total receipts of appies were
560 carloads less than the average for
the period since 1920, which may be
taken as another indication that the
local orchardists are more and more
supplying the home demand.
Bat there is ample room for expan-
sion of the Pennsylvunia apple grow-
ing industry. We received last year
| 1,894 cars of apples “rom the State of
| Washington and 2,232 cars from New
York. Since appies just as goed as
those raised on the Pacific coast can
be grown at home «und there is plenty
of 1aid on which they can be praoduc-
ed, it seems wasteful to pay freight
charges for bringing them all the way
across the continent. The money paid
for them could be kept at home.
A survey made by the State Bureau
of Markets elicited some information
that should be profitable to Pennsyl-
vania apple growers. Inquiries at 291
retail stores in ten cities disclosed that
the best sellers among the home-
grown varieties were the Stayman,
Jonathan, Delicious, Baldwin and
Rome. :
EE —— te ee———
More Than Meets the Eye.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
It is reported that Great Britain at
the coming three-Power naval confer-
ence will propose reducing the tonnage
limit for cruisers from 10,000, as set
at Washington, to 7500, or even lower.
It is scarcely questionable that, for
use in ordinary defense and for com-
merce protection, the smaller type
would serve all three nations as ade-
quately as the larger and would prob-
ably prove less expensive. Under
battle conditions, the case might be
different. Comparative figures for the
British and American navies may in
this connection be interesting. Great
Britain has eleven of these 10,000-ton
cruisers under construction; the Unit-
ed States has two under construction
and three more appropriated for. This
eleven-to-five ratio in 10,000-tonners
may not be important, but there is
usually something more in such pro-
posals than meets the naked eye.
—— ia
——The _ 14-year old Philadelphia
boy who held up a grown man on the
street and got away with it would
probably make more money in the end
by joining “the gang.”
great encouragement to the |
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Dr. Joseph 8. Illick, of New Cumber-
land, on Monday assumed his duties
as State Forester in the Department of
Forests and Waters. The promotion was
announced by Charles E. Dorworth, secre«
tary. Dr. Illick has been with the de-
partment for about twenty years.
—While patrolman Michael Driscoll, of
Eddystone, was on his beat hunting for
chicken thieves, who had been active in
that borough, his own yard was robbed of
10 chickens. The same gang of thieves, it
is believed, broke into the Methedist church
and robbed the children’s collection Lox of
65 cents.
—Charles Knudsen, of Mt. Wolf, Pa., was
seriously burned about the head and face
when a galvanized tank containing a tree
spraying solution expleded, aftcr lighting
a match to ascertain the contents of the
container. His entire face was blistered,
while the hair was burned from his head
and his eye brows scorched.
—Milton B. QGarling, superintendent of
the Bostwick Lyons Bronze company, of
Waynesboro, has purchased the interests
of the Smith Fence and Iron Company, in
that town, from the heirs of the late
George W. Smith. The plant, which manu-
factures fire escapes, lawn swings and
other iron and steel produces, changed
hands on Monday.
—John McClain, 72, of Burnham, died on
Sunday, a few moments after being admic-
ted to the Lewistown hospital, from in-
juries sustained when struck by a train
on the Milroy braneh of the Pennsylvania
railroad. MeClain was found unconscious
along the tracks near the Burnham freight
station and taken to the hospital, where it
was found his left leg had been splintered,
his right knee disloeated and other injuries
inflicted.
—Isaae Rumberger, 76, deputy sheriff of
Clinton county, died last Wednesday night
at his home in Lock Haven. He had been
in bad health for several years but had
been confined to bed for less than a week.
He served as deputy prothonotary, after-
ward serving two terms as prothonotary,
and again as deputy in the same office. At
the time of his death he was a deputy
sheriff. He was a member of the Evangel-
ical church and the P. 0. S. of A.
—Plans have been completed for the en-
tertainment of approximately 6000 Odd
Fellows from Central Pennsylvania at Ber-
wick on April 26, when the anniversary
celebration of the organization will be held.
The observance will be larger than usual
because of the proximity of the lodges of!
Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, which
have been invited to join in the celebration
although outside the district. . Several of
them have accepted and sent word they
will have bands.
—Beliaved to have been aided by a rope
concealed in a suit case filled with “clean
clothes,” two prisoners escaped from the
Mifflin county jail at Lewistown Thursday
night and are at liberty. The suit case,
which is now thought to have contained
a rope and plans for the jail break, was
taken to the prison by a woman whose
identity is withheld. The escaped men
both of whom were held in default of bail
for court on charges of stealing automo-
biles, are John Ehrenzellers, 27, and Ar-
thur I'ultz, 22, both of Burnham.
—George Dolas, 7 years old, gave big life
last Friday trying to rescuse his toy drum
“and | that had due’ into MeMichaels creek’ at
Stroudsburg. The lad was playing along
‘the water's edge. His drum fell from his
hands and roiled into the stream. He at-
tempted to reach it, toppled in and was
carried into the swift current before a fish-
erman who saw the accident could get to
the place to save him. His body was re-
covered two hours later. Mrs. Theodore
Dolas, the lad's mother, became hysterical
when told of his death and attempted to
jump into the water.
—DMiles Tord, 32, is lodged in the Ridg-
way jail, following his capture by a posse
of fifteen men he had held up and robbed
of pay checks. The lone, unmasked bandit
approached the crew of men employed by
the Central Pennsylvania Lumber company,
at Bear Creek, fifteen miles from Ridgway.
After engaging the men in conversation, he,
whipped out a revolver and demanded,
money and valuables. The men had just
received their pay checks and turned these
over. The highwayman held them ofl with
his gun and made his getaway through the
woods, but the men took his trail, made
the capture and recovered their checks.
—Rev. Father Ferdinand Kittel, aged
0, rector of St. Michael's Catholic church,
and the oldest priest in the Altoona diocese,
died at Loretto on Saturday. Death was
caused by a complication of diseases. He
was taekn suddenly ill during mass in his
church the Sunday previous. Father Kit-
tell was an intimate friend of Charles M.
Schawb, who was a member of his chureh,
He had been a priest for nearly 56 years.
Father Kittell was a professor in St. Mich-
ael’'s seminary, Pittsburgh, for three years.
He had been stationed at Loretto since
1891. His funeral was held Tuesday morn-
ing and Bishop John J. McCort of Altoona
officiated.
—Mike Valentine of Ralphton, Somerset
county, azed 38, jumped to his death Mon-
day night from a fourth floor window of
Memorial hospital, Johnstown. During the
day he settled his account at the hospital
for a week’s service resulting from a pre-
vious attempt at suicide by slashing his
throat with a razor, and was waiting for
friends to take him back to Ralphton.
However, Sheriff H. IL. Markle, of Somer-
set county, was on his way to the hospital
for Valentine and it is thought he became
aware of this. April 10, Valentine stabbed
Alphonse Zanderie twice in the chest and
then went to his home where he placed a
dozen sticks of dynamite in the kitchen
stove and slashed his throat.
+
—Hidden in the bushes along the Wil-
liam Penn highway, after being missing
since Tuesday, the body of William Mec-
Corkle, 45, of Mapleton, ten miles cast of
Huntingdon, was found last Thursday with
a bullet through the heart. McCorkle was
a poolroom proprietor at Mapleton and
was known to be supplied with money,
which he usually carried upon his person.
As no weapon was found near the scene
and as the victim's personal possessions
had been taken, leaving his pockets turn-
ed outward, Coroner F. L. Schum p2o-
nounced the case one of murder, on his
examination of the body. Whether Me-
Corkle was killed at the spot where his
body was found, or whether it had been
thrown among the bushes after his killing
elsewhere,” has not been determined. He
was. ‘unmarried, having gone to Mapleton
from Clearfield, where his parents live.