©“. © INK SLINGS.
ol yp Vare doesn’t throw the sup-
port rt of the Philadelphia machine to
ve Reed in the coming contest he
be ungrateful. Reed had a fair
reputation before he stultified him-
2 Supporting Vare.
fhere’s one night in the week
that a radio isn’t an alibi for our
“staying up so late.” It’s the night
we right this stuff. What’s that you
say? You can’t see. why anyone
should have to spend much time writ-
ing a column no better than this one
is." Our alibi on that is that we start-
ed to do it late.
—That was rather an anti-climax
that the young Maharajah of Cooch
Behar pulled” when he fell off his
horse during the hunt of the Quourn
hounds at Meton Mowbray, England,
Monday. It seems to us that the fall
would have had much more finesse
had he held it until the Prince had
pulled his usual stunt.
- —The former Secretary of State of
New York, Mrs. Knapp, seems to be
in a rather embarrassing situation.
While we are not ready to believe
that she wilfully padded the payrolls
it does look as though her relatives
got.a jowerful lot of money for doing
> In'-any event her present
predicament isn’t one that women in
politics will point to with pride.
«There: are: symptoms of a revival
of civic righteousness in Pennsylva-
nia. In the eastern part of the State
Several towns have instituted im-
peachment, proceedings against coun-
cilmen and trustees of public institu-
tions who sell their own wares to the
‘bodies they serve. This is just a bit
of scrap, yet there might be some in
Centre county who should put it in
their pipes and smoke it.
. ‘—The imperial wizard of the K. K.
K. has directed that members of the
order shall drop their masks on Feb-
rary 22. Why didn’t they select
ground hog day? It would have been,
traditionally, a far more appropriate
one. For then, had they gotten
frightened at the sunshine of public-
Hotioy could have ducked back into
their hoods and given a well estab-
lished precedent in explanation of
their timidity.
"Since the announcement that Jus-
tice John W.. Kephart, of the State
Supreme court, might become a candi-
date for United States Senator in op-
position to Senator Reed’s ambition
to be returned, we have been wonder-
ing whether his having come here to
administer the oath of office to Judge
fog might hook up with any-
1g... With the turmoil in. the Re-
party over the Mellon lead-
p and with the situation in Cen.
recent : visit here might have been
more significant than we thought it
at the time.
—A news item in this edition pre-
sages a lot more political fun in the
offing. If it is to be believed there
are ten prospective candidates for the
Legislature ‘already “within view of
the dopesters. - We note with hope
that several of them are said to have
founded their ambition to represent
us in Harrisburg on a desire to get
appropriations for something or oth-
er. That's the spirit. What's the
use of wasting brains on the problems
of government in Pennsylvania? Bill
Vare and Max Leslie will hire some-
one to do that, so there’s nothing left
for the country member to do but get
something. And if our next Mem-
ber runs short of objects to get some-
thing for we wish to here and now
remind him that most any kind of an
appropriation would be very accept-
able to yours truly. Since the modern
idea of politics has come to the point
of thinking that all any one is in it
for is what they can get out of it we
are almost persuaded to support the
candidate who will promise to get an
appropriation for us.
—The death of Major General
Geo. W. Goethals marks the passing
of one of the greatest engineers of
his time. His name might not have
gone down in history as such, how-
ever, had it not been for the country
newspapers of the United States. In
1909 his assignment to the Panama
canal work had expired and there was
a movement to assign him to another
station, as is the custom in the army.
‘The canal was about completed, ex-
cept for the Gatun dam, but the
world knew little of what Goethals
had done. Had he been recalled and
another sent to put the finishing
touches on the work, would Goethals
or his successor have been acclaimed
for completion of the project? That
was a question that the National Ed-
itorial Association considered, not as
an organization but as individuals de-
termined to see that credit goes where
credit belongs, when they visited the
canal early in 1910. They came home
from the Isthmus, took up their pens
in insistence that the Colonel—for
- that was his rank then—should be
left to complete the work he had car-
ried on so well and the clamor for his
reassignment ended. And giving
credit where the credit belongs
we note that most of the comment on
Gen, Goethals’ work stresses his hav-
ing made the Canal Zone a safe place | be
to live. If he were alive he would
rebuke those who would give him
credit for that, for we heard him say,
on the porch of the Tivoli, at Ancon,
“We could never have done this work
had Gorgas and Seibert not so ef-
fectively sanitated the Zone that the
death rate here today is less than it
is in the States.”
county as it is Justice Kephart’s:
VOL. 73.
Smith Case Properly Disposed Of.
The case of Frank L. Smith, of
Illinois, one of the “slush fund twins,”
was properly disposed of by the Sen-
ate, on Thursday of last week, by the
adoption of a resolution, by a vote of
sixty-one to twenty-three, declaring
that “the acceptance and expenditure
of the various sums of money afore-
said in behalf of the candidacy of the
said Frank L. Smith is contrary to
sound public policy, harmful to the
dignity and honor of the Senate, dan-
ernment and taints with fraud and
corruption the credentials of a seat |
in the Senate presented by the said
Frank L. Smith,” and that “the said !
Frank L, Smith is not entitled to
membership in the Senate of the
United States and that a vacancy
exists in the representation of the
State of Illinois.”
Previous to the election of 1926,
and during his campaign for nomi-
nation and election to the office of
Senator in Congress, Frank L. Smith
was chairman of the Illinois Com-
merce Commission and in practical
control of the operations of utility
and public service corporations - in
that State. An investigation of his
activities in the campaigns revealed
the fact that $358,782 had been col-
lected and expended in his behalf, and
that of this sum $203,000 had been
contributed by public service corpor-
ations or officers of such corporations
in violation of the laws of that State.
In the face of the declaration of the
Senate in the Newberry case no other
course was possible. Newberry was
allowed to sit because he was the
first offender. But he made a prec-
edent.
The next step will be to similarly
dispose of the case of William 8.
Vare, of Philadelphia, in so far as it
is analagous. The only material dif-
ference is that in the Smith case
there was no other claimant for the
seat whereas in the Vare case there
is pending a substantial contest. It
has already been shown that large
contributions to the Vare slush fund
were made in violation of law, and
a'disclosure of the source of much of
liould, be. Sean Jrandalous. Tt is gener:
ally “the bootleggers,
gamblers and a underworld ha-
bitues bought immunity from punish-
ment by contributing to the fund. But
details are unimportant in the matter.
The point is to emphasize -the fact
that seats in the United States Senate
are not disposed of by bargain and
sale.
isn’t much danger of bloodshed,
Vare’s Castle in the Air,
Mr. Vare is diverting his mind these
days by building political “castles in
the air.” He imagines that the Sen-
ate Committee on Privileges and
Elections will, in the near future, de-
cide against recounting the vote of .
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and that
that will eliminate the contest, which |
will enable him to resign his claim
to the seat and hook up with Dave
Reed, of Pittsburgh, in a contest for
election this year. The scheme is to
have Francis Shunk Brown raise the
point before the committee that no
specific case of fraud has been alleged
in the Wilson petition and the sym-
pathetic committee will promptly re-
port that there is no legal cause for
the contest.
This is certainly an appealing prop-
osition. If there is no basis for a
contest there will be no reason for
recounting the votes and the frauds
will be ratified by authority of the
Senate committee. But it will stulti-
fy Mr. Vare, who rather ostentatious-
ly declared, some time ago, that he
was not only willing but anxious to
have not only the votes of Philadel-
phia, but those of every election dis-
trict in the State recounted. He then
expressed full faith in the integrity
of the vote in the zero districts and
all other districts in Philadelphia and
and the “strip” districts in Pitts-
burgh. But he has changed his mind
and prefers to keep the records in
concealment. :
But his fond hopes in this respect
will be disappointed. His servile at-
torney may raise the point referred to
and the partisan committee of the
Senate may make the report he de-
sires. But that will be the end of
his enterprise. The minority mem-
bers of the committee will make a
report affirming the competency of
the Wilson petition, and the recent
vote of the Senate in the Smith case
plainly indicates what the result will
The minority report will be
adopted by a substantial majority, the
recount will proceed and the frauds
exposed. The vicious practice of buy-
ing seats in the United States Senate
has become a vice of the past.
—If one would hit Senator Heflin
with an axe he would think it a “love
tap.”
gerous to the perpetuity of free gov- |
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. JANUARY 27.
Senator Heflin Rebuked.
If any other man in public life had
been concerned the rebuke adminis-
tered to Senator Heflin, of Alabama,
by Senator Robinson, of Arkansas,
would have been significant. But
Senator Heflin is such an unconscion-
able blatherskite that reproval,
however richly deserved, passes over
him like “water from a duck’s back.”
Completely immersed in bigotry and
absorbed with an absurd notion of his
own importance he chatters upon ev-
ery conceivable subject to the annoy-
ance and distress of his colleagues in
the Senate and to the delay and prej-
'udice of public business. His latest
outbreak of prejudice is directed
"toward the Catholic church and all
‘and singular devotees of that faith.
The other day he interrupted im-
portant business in the Senate with
a tirade of this type in which he ac-
cused the Pope and all other digni-
taries of that church with personal
animosity toward him. The recently
published charges that the Mexican
government paid a considerable sum
of money to four United States Sen-
ators, his name being included in the
list, for some indefinite purpose, was
‘the basis of his outburst, and the
failure of the Senate committee to
direct an investigation, as he thought
it ought to be directed, the theme.
Nobody believed the story and the
accused Senators were exculpated.
But Mr. Heflin imagined that the
committee ought to have condemned
the Pope.
- Nobody in or out of Washington is
much concerned about Senator Hef-
lin’s prejudices. But when he under-
took to commit all the Democratic
Senators and all other Democrats of
the country to them he was going too
far and Senator Robinson called him,
“He does his country no service,” the
Arkansas Senator remarked, “who
lights the torch or sounds the cry of
religious intolerance and persecu-
tion.” “He, and other members of
the committee,” he added, “had no
suspicion that the Roman Catholic
church had anything to do with the
Hearst documents.” They were forged
for
purpose known only to
OE “The Democratic" Senators
subsequently endorsed Mr. Robinson.
—Clarence Chamberlain is toying
with death: in his proposed thirty
thousand mile tour in an old patched-
—The Senate seems to be in a
fighting mood this year though there
up airship, and he is too valuable a
| man to be sacrificed to a foolish
whim.
EEE—————— AA
Mr. Borah’s Futile Gesture.
| There is little cause for alarm in
the published statement that Senator
| Borah, chairman of the Senate Com
i | mittee on Foreign Relations, proposes
. to butt into the arena of politics. Mr.
‘Borah “thunders in the index” but is
jas meek as a lamb in the text. Some
, months ago he threatened to make
(some disturbance with the adminis-
tration on account of operations in
; Mexico and Nicaragua. But he had a
j conference with the President and his
indignation, if that is the right name
for what ailed him, vanished. It is
true that the policy of the adminis-
tration with respect to Mexico was
modified in some measure but there
has been no perceptible change in
Nicaragua.
From the beginning of the govern-
ment the regulation of foreign affairs
has been a prerogative of the execu-
tive department. The Senate has ex-
ercised a sort of veto power in its
function of ratifying treaties and con-
firming diplomatic appointments.
‘When the unconscionable Henry Cab-
ot Lodge organized his famous fight
against Woodrow Wilson he gnder-
wok to usurp the functions of the
executive and was supported in the
effort by Mr. Borah.
keeping this country out of the
League of Nations, in relinquishing
the leadership among nations which
President Wilson had acquired and
delayed the readjustment of affairs
of the world for many years.
After the election of a Republican
President, in 1920, the pretense that
the Senate, through the chairman of
its Committee on Foreign Affairs, had
a voice in framing the foreign noli-
cies of the government was aban-
doned. If ever there was a reason for
the Senate or some other agency ex-
ercising a restraining or directing
authority over the executive depart-
ment of the government, it is now.
With a grouch in the office of
Secretary of State and a not quite
competent in the office of President,
our foreign affairs were drifting in-
to a sorry condition until a young
man without experience in public af-
fairs, but high achievement in an-
other direction, had to be called in
to rescue us from confusion.
—“It seems to Heywood Broun”
that Senator Heflin has wasted a
chance to protest against an Ameri-
can base ball team being called the
Cardinals.
sale and published. for some ul- |?
It resulted in|.
1928.
NO. 4.
Clouds Over the Mellon House.
There are ominous clouds lowering
on the House of Mellon. The other
day former Lieutenant Governor E.
E. Beidleman, of Harrisburg, an-
nounced his candidacy for delegate to
the Republican National convention
with a frank declaration that he is
not committed to any candidate for
President. A short time ago Mr.
Jeidleman met State chairman Mel-
n, by appointment, in Philadelphia,
with the view of adjusting any dif-
ferences that may have existed be-
tween them, and subsequently Mr.
Mellon announced that no selection
would be made for the Dauphin dis-
trict until after another conference
in Harrisburg. The Beidleman an-
nouncement, therefore, indicates that
the negotiations have been broken off.
There is a deep rooted impression
in the minds of the friends of Mr.
nomination for Governor two "years
ago and that the fraud was perpe-
trated in Pittsburgh with the assent,
if not the actual assistance, of Mr.
Mellon. Mr. Beidleman was persuad-
ed to abandon a contest which he had
begun in the interest of harmony and
probably in consideration of a prom-
ise that his friends in office would
e taken care of. But if there were
such promises they have not been
fulfilled and the ex-Lieutenant Gov-
ernor was obliged to make the fight
yr the organization in his home coun-
{ Now that the Mellons are anxious
to go to the Kansas City convention
with a solid delegation entirely under
Shel control, an attempt to conciliate
T. Beidleman was made and appar-
ently had proved futile. It is well
known among the politicians interest-
ed that Beidleman will be elected del-
egate if he remains a candidate in
spite of all the Mellons and the State
administration may ‘do against him.
But there are suspicions that his can-
dacy may be in the interest of Mel-
on. His oldest and most militant
political enemy was removed from of-
ce, to which he had been appointed
vernor Pinc the other day, |X
his conversion to the Mellon leader-
ship.
Armmms————p
—The Senate Committee on Priv-
ileges and Elections will save itself
from a ‘rebuke by considering the
Wilson-Vare contest on principles of
justice rather than political expedi-
ency,
Many Men Aspirants for Legislative
Honors.
Wednesday was the first day for
taking out nomination papers for na-
tional and State offices, and while
Centre county will forego pre-
senting a candidate for the Presidency
there are quite a number of men, if
all reports are correct, who would
like to go to the Legislature. First
among the number is the Hon. J.
Laird Holmes, of State College, who
would like to be returned for a third
term, not so much because he wants
the job but because he believes he will
be needed there to push through that
$8,000,000 bond issue for the College.
Then up in the same section of the
county are L. Frank Mayes, at Le-
mont, and Frederick Clemson, at
State College, who believe they could
do more for the College than any
former Legislator. In Bellefonte, W.
H. Brown has aspirations toward sit-
ting in the legislative halls, probably
with an eye single to a bigger appro-
priation for the Centre County hos-
pital. And it is also rumored that ex-
county treasurer J. O. Heverly has
‘been figuring on his chances.
‘Since they got a judge over in Phil-
ipsburg, the people of that town are
looking up a little and “Little Phil”
Womelsdorf has a feeling that he
would like to go back and have an-
other try at law making. Josiah
Pritchard is another Republican over
there who believes he would make a
good Assemblyman, so that there is a
field of seven starters already lined
up in the Republican camp.
So far the Democrats have not
come out in force but three men have
been mentioned as [possible candi-
dates, ex-sheriff E. R. Taylor, of
Bellefonte: A. C. Thompson and John
M. Beals, of Philipsburg. But there is
still lots of time for others.
lr ——
—The Park hotel in Williamsport,
a landmark among hostleries in Cen-
tral Pennsylvania, has passed out of
the control of Col. Charles Duffy and
will be operated by the Williamsport
Hotels company. The latter owns the
Lycoming in that city and also oper-
ates the Updegraff. If the Park were
given voice to tell what happened
within its spacious walls during the
first forty years of its catering to
the traveling public one of the most
interesting volumes. ever compiled
would be at hand.
of his life last fall to retain control
‘raissed in a few news i
Grim War Warning from the Red
Cross.
From the Philadelphia Record. }
At no time since the world war has
more earnest attention been given to
the prospects of peace and the means
of attaining it than is the case to-
day. At Havana 21 Re ublics are
seeking closer accord. h the
League of Nations and the
Court the whole world is eT
in the settlement of disputes and the
promotion of friendly intercourse.
Governments are in constant negotia-
tion over treaties or arbitration, the
reducing of armaments, and even
plans for the outlawry of war. These
are the chief preoccupations of states-
men and the foremost topics of pub-
lic discussion. - They have created a
widespread hope, almost a conviction,
that if conflicts: arise in the future
: they will be quickly suppressed, and
Beidleman, at Harrisburg and else-
where, that he was cheated out of the . ous that the prevailing disregard of
that never again will ervilfagion be
' threatened by universal s
Yet this comforting beli
lenged by facts so plain and
s chal-
omin-
them is astounding. very na-
tions which are ardently striving to
establish peace are not only feverishly
preparing for war, but are exerting
every ingenuity to make it more de-
structive. The same Govérnments
which gravely discuss the sérapping
“of battleships, the limiting of sub-
marines and the reducing of armed
‘ forces are employing all the resources
of science in devising more ferocious
, weapons, more powerful agencies of
porsibly ‘this was ‘the price of | 1.
distinguished citizens.
death and devastation.
These conditions have just had
startling emphasis. Although _dis-
conference held this week in Tusssls
has not less significance
gathering at .Havana or re
like assemblage. Its theme was not
how to preserve peace, a ‘how to
meet the foreshadowed "conditions of
war. It. dealt not only with theories
of aspirations, but | existing facts
and thei? inevitable Contes
‘The problem. Sioeunged for three
days was poison da. ally the
contriving of measures to A its de-
structiveness ii B the nex an, in
which, it is agreed, none
populations will infallibly b a
to attacks by this weapon.’
The participants in the conferencé
were not statesmen, but mi oda
ya engineers and
rts ey wasted no tim
ing aware that itis a reality, a means
of offense which all nations are ener-
getically preparing, they concentrated
upon the one subject of saving human
life when it is employed, as it will
be, without discrimination.
Moreover, this meeting was in no
sense a move of politics or propagan-
da, but of humanitarianism. It was
held under the auspices of the In-
ternational Red Cross, as a necessary
recognition of its salvage responsi-
bilities.
The facts cited and conclusions
reached are of arresting gravity. De-
vices for the prosecution of chemical
warfare are being, developed to the
‘utmost by every Government, includ-
ing that of the United States. It is
the one form of offense uncontrollable
through limitations of armament, be-
cause its potentialities lie in peace-
ful industries, The airplane extends
its range far beyond battle zones, and
in future conflicts distant noncom-
batant areas will be drenched with
death-dealing fumes. That vast _pop-
ulations will be exterminated in a
single raid is a fanciful idea; but it
is incontestable that such attacks
would create appalling panies and
casuality lists.
Prohibition of chemical warfare has
been tried and has failed. Outlawed
in 1907, it was used in 1915. Seven
years later it was renounced as
among themselves by the United
States, Great Britain, France, Italy
and Japan, but the treaty lapsed for
lack of ratification. A similar com-
pact made in 1926 at Geneva was
pigeon-holed by the Senate upon the
widely accepted ground that such an
agreement is unenforceable and that
no nation endangered by war would
obey it.
n—— A ——————
A Master Builder.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
In the death of General George W.
Goethals the Nation has lost one of
its most valued and one of its most
Although his
service in the military branch of the
Government was long and varied, n-
cluding that to which he was recalled
from civilian life during the World
War and which won for him the Dis-
tinguished Service Medal, his name
will always be inseparably associated
with the building of the Panama Ca-
nal. Assigned to the cutting of the
Panama Isthmus by President Roose-
velt, after several civilian engineers
had made unsuccessful beginnings, he
brought to the task an executive abil-
ity and a driving force that carried
the gigantic work to a brilliant con-
clusion. He surmounted the prime
obstacle on which his predecessors at
the Isthmus stuck, namely, the trans-
formation of the region into a health-
ful place for the workers. It was
his early recognition of the vital na-
ture of the problem of sanitation that
made it possible for him to succeed
where De Lesseps and others had
failed. The name of Geothals is writ-
ten large and indelibly in the history
of our times, and his work stands as
an imperishable monument for future
ages.
| Agriculture,
1 by depositors.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—An automobile tire was responsible
for starting a fire in a store at Shamokin.
A display of matches was in the window
when a wheel broke from a truck, the
heavy tire rolled across the sidewalk and
through the window, igniting the matches.
Employes extinguished the blaze before
serious damage had been done.
—Charged with thefts aggregating more
than $500 from Dr. Malcolm Z. Gearhart,
prominent surgeon, Dr. Herbert Wanner,
of Reading, was placed under arrest af-
ter three $20 gold certificates stolen from
Dr. Gearhart at the St. Joseph hospital
had been traced to him. Wanner de-
clared he found the money on the floor
of the physician’s dressing room at the
hospital.
—Insanity by reason of being in love
was advanced on Monday by Mrs. Lizzie
Ferris in a court petition, at Pittsburgh,
asking that her son, Elias J. Ferris, 23,
former University of Pittsburgh student,
be released from Fairview State Hospital.
She said she would take her son back to
his native Syria in the belief he would be
restored to normal if taken away from
Pittsburgh.
—The Lancaster Airways, Inc, was or-
ganized at Lancaster, last week with a
capitalization of $30,000. Property will be
leased along the Manheim pike, directly
northwest of the city; a hangar to accom-
odate 10 airplanes will be erected and
commercial planes will be operated. A
school of flying will also be instituted.
Major W. D. Grant, of Christiana, is pres-
ident of the corporation.
—Rather than return to an asylum from
which he had been discharged six months
ago, Myron Sebring, 55, of Mountain
Home, Monroe county, committed suicide
by shooting himself in the mouth at his
home on Saturday. Neighbors had asked
for his arrest after he had sat almost con-
tinuously at a window of his home with
a loaded gun across his knees. Several
loaded rifles, pistols and shot-guns were
found in the house.
—When his automobile crashed into the
side of a Western Maryland freight train
at the southern end of Chambersburg
Saturday evening, John R. George, 60, a
former field agent of the Department of
received injuries which re-
sulted in his death four hours later. He
was returning from West Virginia where
he had been visiting one of his five chil-
dren. His machine struck the fifteenth
car. in the train, was dragged fifty feet
and then burst into flames. He was badly
burned and internally injured when taken
to the Chambersburg hospital.
. —An investigation into the affairs of
the closed Fayette City National bank dis-
closes that $500,000 is om deposit in the
bank to which no claim has ‘been made
A check-up reveals thst
the bank’s failure is directly ‘responsible
for the. failure of nineteen business houses
in that district. It is also said that other
bankruptcies are imminent. The school
board is facing the prospect of being un-
able to. meet its payrolls for the remainder
of the term. The board’s borrowing pow -
‘er is about exhausted and attorneys are
looking for a legal remedy for the situ-
ation.
—A favorable decision having been
granted by the State Water Power Re-
source Commission, the Panther Valley
Water Company will begin construction
{in the spring of a. reservoir and storage
dam ou the Still Creek in the Qnakake
which : in-
Valley, of ‘Schuylkill county,
volves an expenditure of over $3,000,000 and
which will keep in reserve over one bill-
ion gallons of water. The water com-
pany supplies the towns of Greenwood,
Seek, Coaldale and Lansford. Objection
was made to the grant by farmers who
contended their wuter. rights would le
jeopardized by construction of the dam.
-——During a pillow fight in their homeo
at Harrisburg, Sunday, fourieen-year-oid
Chester Fallon got his father’s revolver,
pointed it at his sister, Anna May, 16
years old, “to scare her.” The revolver
was discharged and Anna May fell dead.
The children were alone at home. The
father, E. C. Fallon, a Pennsylvania Rail-
road conductor, was at work and the
mother was out- of the city on a visit.
Stunned by the fatality the boy ran to
the street, stopped an automobile and got
help. An ambulance was summoned but
doctors found the girl had been killed in-
stantly, the bullet passing through both
lungs. The boy is at the House of De-
tention pending an inquest,
—The grit industry in the vicinity of
Charmian, Franklin county, four miles
east of Waynesboro, is reaching enormous
proportions. Two large plants have been
operating in that section for some time.
The Blue Mountain Stone company and
the Advance Industrial Supply company
have been meeting the demand for green
grit used in the manufacture of shingles.
A third quarry has just been opened in
the same section which is producing an
average of 125 truck loads of stone a day.
This same quarry expects to increase is
output to 300 truck loads per day. The
green stone which is found in that sec-
tion is considered the best in the country
for the manufacture of industrial grit.
—Profits of more than $28,000 made by
‘the 1927 Bloomsburg fair were reported
to the membership at the annual meeting
when a proposition to hold a night fair
was voted down. The membership now is
1238, an increase of 400 during the last
year. More than 900 votes were cast in
the annual election of officers, the old
officers all being re-elected. A keen fight
for offices and an amendment to the by-
laws increasing the membership fee from
$20 ‘to $50 brought out the heavy vote.
All bonds of the association now have
been paid off and the property, while car-
ried on the books at $272,000, is said by
officers of the association to be worth
more than $500,000. Paid attendance at
the fair last year was more than 70,000.
—Guy W. Eckman, of Lancaster county,
sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on
charges of stealing chickens, missed being
blown to pieces by dynamite by one hour,
it was revealed by Clay Atchinson, his
brother-in-law, from whom he stole sev-
eral chickens. Atchinson told Constable
Herbert Stiegerwalt that his hen roosts
had been raided so frequently he had
rigged up a charge of dynamite in the hen
house to catch the intruder. Wires, con-
nected to a dry cell battery, were joined
to the dynamite, and when the door of
the hen house was opened it served as a
switch, setting off the explosion, On the
night of the theft Atchinson returned
home late and set the trap. Eckman in
his confession, said he had been at his
brother-in-law’s place exactly an hour
earlier, and had stolen several chickens.
Atchinson did not discover the theft until
the following morning.