NY :
Pemormaiic; Watdpmm
INK SLINGS.
—Let us hope that the powers that
be don’t decide to can the promised
prosperity for use as a campaign
fetish in the fall of 1932.
—The more banquets we attend the
more convinced we become that Mr.
Volstead took a lot of the b.t.u. out
of the natural gas supply.
—No, dear, those long web-like con-
traptions you see displayed in the
windows of electrical contrivance
stores are not razor strops. They are
the new devices that are guaranteed
to give the wasp contour to hyppopot-
amus beams.
—Unless the grain fields of Centre
county get a blanket of snow pretty
soon there is likely to be another
failure of the wheat crop. And two
years in succession without any wheat
is going to put a lot of farmers in a
very serious financial condition.
-—Another indication that there is
not much love lost between President
Coolidge and President-elect Hoover
is the fact that the latter is in Wash-
ington and intends staying there while
picking his Cabinet. No other Presi-
dent-elect has ever set up shop in
the Capitol to create a “the King is
dead, long live the King” atmosphere.
—“Tex” Rickard, fight promoter
and millionaire sportsman, is dead.
“Tex” never did much that society, as
it used to be constituted, would ap-
prove of, but society as it is today will
think the country has suffered a very
great loss. Because “Tex” is gone
it will be hard to find another
promoter with the nerve to make it
pay fifty dollars to see a two dollar
fistic encounter. Few men could have
done what Rickard accomplished in
making Jack Dempsey a millionaire
and writing Gene Tunney’s name into
the social register:
—Dr. Arthur A. Noyes, retiring
president of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, is
of the opinion that the foundation for
a new civilization has been laid down
by science within the last three dec-
ades. He doesn’t follow up the start-
ling declaration with any intimation
as to what the new civilization is to
be. He leaves that all to conjecture.
We have no idea what yours might
be, nor do we care much, but we're
hoping that it won’t be one so utterly
wedded to Republicanism that we
can’t pull an occasional Democratic
victory to crow over.
—Congress threatens further, leg-
islation in control of radio broad-
casting. It is a devil of an.annoy-
ance when that old gospel tabernacle
up in Buffalo keeps buttin’ in when
we are trying to get a prize fight in
New York, but we don’t think it’s up
to Congress to do something about
it. We think its a matter for scien-
tists, not law makers. What is needed
is a receiver so delicately selective
that it will pick out of the air just
what one wants and hold it to the
exclusion of all other attempts to butt
in. And that, ladies and gentlemen,
is what we believe the radio will
eventually do.
—This Blymyer case down in York
county interests us a lot. The poor
devil is being tried for the murder of
D. Rehmeyer who is supposed to have
been a “hexer.” A hexer is a witch
doctor, a voodooist, a pow-wower or
a nut, whatever you please to call
him. With those who still believe in
signs and think that chestnut shingles
won't lie flat if laid in the up-sign of
the moon this hexing business is no
laughing matter. And its not confin-
ed alone to such sequestered and be-
nighted districts as York county. We
have pow-wowers and fortune tellers
right here in sophisticated, erudite
and intellectual Bellefonte. We don’t
think their devotees take them ser-
iously. There are parts of the county,
however, in which people can be found
who believe that some old crone can
cast “a spell” on them that will either
keep them from achieving something
big that they never could have achiev-
ed or make them do some dirty a job
that they were just naturally cut out
for. We've never been in contact with a
“hexer.” We have talked with an old
gentleman who was. He owned a
sawmill a short distance above a
camp we once frequented. Someone
stole an extra engine belt from the
mill and he went to the “hexer” for
advice as to how to ferret out the
thief. The ‘“hexer” told him not to
worry, just wait and talk about the
belt every time anyone comes down
to the mill that you might think stole
it. When the thief comes I will have
him hexed so that he will freeze stiff
on the Fourth of July or sweat drops,
as big as tumble bugs, in January.
That's what the credulous mill ownet
told us the ‘“hexer” said. Then he
confirmed his belief by vowing to us
that a certain man—we shall not
name him—came to his mill on a day
in January when the thermometer
was down to zero and sat down on a
log on the mill carriage and when he
was told about the missing belt that
man, who was all bundled up in a
horse-hide coat, “started
and sweat so much that the sweat ran
down onto the log and splattered
around on the floor, and froze, and
made things so slippery that we
couldn’t saw anymore that day. Then
I shut down the mill and went home
and when I came down the next morn-
ing there was the belt just where it
had always been.”
EE
Ny
fia
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 74.
BELLEFONTE. PA.. JANUARY 11. 1929.
NO. 2.
Vare Scored an Unimportant Point.
The managers of Mr. Vare’s cam-
paign to legalize the theft of a seat
in the United States Senate scored a
point, though not a very important
one, at the session of the Slush Fund
committee of the Senate in Washing-
ton last Friday.
Mr. Vare’s physician, and Mr.
Francis Shunk Brown, his lawyer, per-
suaded the committee that Mr. Vare
is a seriously sick man, and secured
an indefinite postponement of action.
But the temper of the committee, as
expressed by chairman Reed, Senator
Goff, Senator King, and Senator La-
Follette, indicates a determination to
make its report within the limit of
the present session, and unless the
Senate reverses its action in the case
of Smith, of Illinois, Vare will be
disqualified. :
In the history of American politics
there has never been a case in which
fraud has been protected by audacity
as in this.
use of money for criminal purposes
was clearly revealed. By the evi-
dence of his own friends it was shown
that nearly a million dollars were
expended to procure Mr. Vare’s nom-
ination and it is reasonably certain
that if Tom Cunningham, of Phila-
delphia, had answered pertinent ques-
tions it would have been found that
a considerable part of this corruption
fund would have been traced to
sources repugant to every principle
of morality. But Cunningham refus-
ed to give the committee this in-
formation and though properly de-
clared in contempt he has thus far
escaped just punishment. :
the policy of delay has béen revealed.
First, Vare demanded a recount of
the ballots in every voting district in
the State. He knew that in ninety-
five per cent of the districts no frauds
had been perpetrated or even sus-
pected. But the demand offered a
chance for delay. Next came the fili-
buster at the close of the last session
which netted him nearly a year. His
infirmity in May of last year, followed
by the stroke in August, justified
some delay but hardly the eight
months that have intervened. If he
has any new evidence which might
help his cause his very capable and
cunning lawyer could present it, and
for that reason the committee is right
in its purpose to end the mater.
meee rere seen.
Mr. Mellon will probably have
the legislative programme ready when
the House and Senate reassembles on
Monday.
Borah Defines the Kellogg Pact.
In presenting his plea for the rat-
ification of the Kellogg multilateral
treaty Senator Borah, of Idaho, self-
appointed manager of the campaign,
simply stated that it is an innocuous
gesture intended to fool somebody.
He declared that it binds the signa-
tories to nothing, interferes with no-
body and accomplishes no result in
the direction of peace or anything
cise. He protests that the reserva-
tions made by Great Britain, France
and other governments are equally
without value and for that reason it
wouldn’t be worth while for the Unit-
ed States Senate to make reserva-
tions. Probably it was the strongest
argument that could have been made
in favor of ratification.
Each country signing the treaty
promises to refrain from war as a
medium of adjusting difficulties but
enjoys the inherent right to go to
war whenever it wants to. In other
words every signatory to the treaty
may appeal to arms “in self defense,”
and has the right to interpret the
term “self defense” according to its
own fancy. In the history of civili-
zation it is doubtful if any country
has ever engaged in war that did not
set up the claim that it acted in self
defense. Napoleon justified all his
military operations on the ground that
they were in defense of something of
vital importance to France. It is
only a bogus alibi which the passion
for conquest has been able to invent.
The Kellogg compact is a vicious
concept of partisan bigotry. It was
intended to embarrass the progress
of the League of Nations in its ef-
forts to promote peace and prosper-
ity throughout the world. But it is
to sweat, |
| impotent even in that direction. The
| League of Nations is functioning suc- |
"cessfully and will continue to do so
| notwithstanding the malice of its
!enemies in the United States. So it
would be just as well to ratify the
Kellogg treaty.
money and by the confession of its
own friends means nothing. Let
Coolidge and Kellogg revel in the ab-
surd notion that they have achieved
something. In due time the country
will wake up and join the League of |
Nations.
{ ~—Subscribe for the Watchman.
Dr. Kirby, ]
At every stage in the investigation
It has cost a lot of
! Senator Schantz Proclaims a Policy. |
The “declaration of independence”
‘made by Senator Schantz, upon as-
suming the duties of president pro
tem. of the Senate, should not be
taken too seriously by the people of
I the State. “We are the direct rep-
‘able to them and to them alone,” he
' said, “and I favor the repeal of every ,
law empowering boards, bureaus or
any agency whatsoever to adopt rules
‘and regulations
‘of Pennsylvania.” This policy of
| legislative sovereignty will go only
‘as far as the party bosses give it ap-
| proval, and probably no member of
the General Assembly will bow more
, meekly to orders than the very com-
‘ placent. president pro tem.
The confusion caused by a recent
i order or rule of the State Game Com-
mission with respect to the killing of
i deer during the season of 1928 may
dignation and it may be safely pre-
dicted that the authority under which
that order was issued will be revok-
Legislature. But it is shrewdly sus-
alcohol board was also in the mind
of the Senator. He is, to use a com-
jmon expression, “as wet as the
| ocean,” and it is altogether likely
that his animadversions against a
faulty practice might have been sug-
gested by the fact that the alcohol
board is also invested with arbitrary
power.
All the game hunters and most of
the people are opposed to rule of the
Game Commission and Senator
Schantz will have little if any trou-
ble in securing the repeal of that
provision of the game law. But he
will find a less royal road to an
achievement which might curtail the
power of the aleohol board. That
body was created as a medium to be
used in the enforcement of prohibi-
tion and the political prohibitionists
in the General Assembly wll not read-
ily yield as important a .peinb.as it
might be. Still Senator Schantz has
both the right and the opportunity to
try and if the big bosses are acquies-
cent or even willing to take a chance,
he may succeed. But his movements
will be watched.
re een
The Philadelphia politicians in
deadly strife for control of one of the
courts of that city is a spectacle to
cause alarm all over the State.
Tariff Mongers Already Busy.
The tariff mongers in Washington
are as eager in pursuit of increased
tax rates as the grafters in Harris-
burg are to get at that $25,000,000
treasury surplus. The House com-
mittee on Ways and Means began
thirty persons appeared to advocate
higher schedules on chemicals; A
time limit of ten minutes was fixed
for each witness but even at that the
committee fell behind its schedule on
the first day. The representative of
the manufacturing chemists associa-
tion modestly demanded an increase
of fifteen per cent. on the present
advalorem duty of twenty-five per
cent. “on chemicals not now enjoy-
ing a specific import rate.”
In other words, the New England
producers of chemicals thus -classi-
fied feel that no less than a forty per
cent. tariff tax will fulfill the pledges
of the Republican party to adjust
tariff schedules to the satisfaction of
campaign contributors. They also
suggest the expediency of levying
duties on raw materials in order to
justify the increased rates on finish-
ed products in which such raw ma-
terials are used. By such a pyramid-
ial process it would be easy enough
to build up a structure that would
make the justly celebrated Chinese
wall look like an ornamental hedge
around a summer garden. Of course
there will be other and equally ab-
surd propositions presented as the
work progresses.
These tariff mongers feel that they
have a right to make such demands
upon the incoming administration for
they paid their good, and some times
tainted, money to create it. But it
will be hard on the consumers of the
products thus enhanced in price. They
derive no benefits from increased tar-
iff taxation. The existing rates range
| from twenty-five to eighty per cent.,
and the proposed rates will fix the
minimum at about forty and run up
to a figure which is, to put it mildly,
larcenous. But the people of the
country voted for such a policy. Mr.
Barnum expressed the truth when he
said “we like to be fooled.” This op-
eration may be cruel but it is what
is coming to us.
——1It may be safely predicted that
| in the distribution of spoils Joe Grun-
dy “will get his.”
resentatives of the people, account-
which may be en-
forced the same as the penal statutes |
ed during the present session of the
pected that the activities of the State |
hearings on Monday and more than.
Governor Fisher’s Message.
i It would be unfair to Governor
Fisher to withhold approval of the
tone and language of his message to
the General Assembly at the opening
of the session the other day. It com-
prises a fairly accurate review of the
activities of the State government
since the adjournment of the last
session in phraseology which simply
‘radiates contentment. He expresses
particular pride in the treasury sur-
plus. “The finances of the Common-
wealth are in excellent shape and the
(credit of Pennsylvania never stood
higher,” he declares with pride. He
' attributes this largely to a rigorous
and relies upon it for a continuance
{of the “pay-as-you-go” policy.
But he neglects to say that both
the budget system and the pay-as-
! you-go policy were inherited from the
| Pinchot administration and were ac-
cepted reluctantly by his party ma-
The evidence of excessive | have inspired this expression of in- {cBine after the adopter of them had
| b n thrown overboard. Neverthe-
{less what he says on the subject is
| i bably true, his satisfaction justi-
fied and his admonition against ex-
| tEavagance appropriate. Signs point
Binly to a raid upon the surplus
ich will tax his energies to re-
strain or even divert into the channels
which will reflect equal credit upon
the second biennium of his adminis-
tration. If it is used for the useful
purposes the Governor enumerates
there will be little cause of complaint.
But Governor Fisher cannot be de-
pended upon as a crusader for re-
form. At the opening of the last
session of the General Assembly he
was enthusiastic for ballot reform
and subsequently allowed W. L. Mel-
lon to emasculate the measures he
had prepared for that purpose. This
year he only directs atention “to such
revisions and additions to ballot laws
as may be suggested” by recent ex-
posures of fraud. He does recom-
mend legislation to provide for the
operation of voting machines where
the people want to use them, and that
~~4#i help some. It is notcertain.that
Mr. Mellon favors such legislation
but public opinion is so strong on
that point that open opposition would
be hazardous.
»*
—Mrs. Aida Porter, of Meadville,
has sued John Schwartzman, of North
East, for five thousand dollars dam-
ages because he squeezed her so hard
that he fractured one of her ribs and
injured two others. We understand
that cave-man stuff is passe nowa-
days and John should have done a
little gentle “necking,” but Aida will
have to show that she wasn’t guilty
of contributory negligence before any
jury will give her five grand for a
bear hug.
ry esi nt
Prison Commission Opposes Rockview
as Separate “Pen.”
At the last session of the Legisla-
among the members for passing a bill
creating and establishing Rockview
penitentiary as a distinct and sepa-
rate institution. But now, it is said,
a recommendation opposing such a
move will be made to the 1929 Leg-
islature by the State commission on
penal institutions.
Members of the commission, meet-
ing in Harrisburg, said they had
reached that decision because of the
various improvements being carried
out at the Centre county “pen.” At
the present time, and ever since its
creation, Rockview has been operated
under the jurisdiction of the warden
and the trustees of the western pen-
itentiary at Pittsubrgh. Long-term
prisoners from both the eastern and
western prisons, with good behavior
records, are sent to Rockview to labor
on the farms and nursery conducted
there.
tnt fp Asem
——Republican State chairman
Martin reports a big balance in the
treasury, which vindicates the judg-
ment of the bosses in putting a cabi-
net officer in charge of the collections.
——Uncle Andy Mellon denies that
he bought an “Old Master” in London
for something like a million dollars,
and we believe him. Uncle Andy has
no such expensive habits.
——The Question Mark has broken
all flying records and those respons-
ible for its achievements may now
have time to explain what it was all
about.
mp
——MTr. Hoover is said to have ac-
quired some new ideas on prohibition
during his southern tour. Well there
is opportunity where booze is plenty.
No doubt Mr. Vare is a very
sick man but that is no reason why he
should get an office and honors to
which he is not entitled.:
i observance of budget requirements
ture there was a general sentiment ;
Treaty Advocates Should Not Oppose
National Defense.
From the Philadelphia Record.
The Senate has given priority on
its calendar to the Kellogg treaty.
Under ordinary circumstances there
would be nothing sinister in that ac-
tion. But the reported purpose is to
use ratification of the treaty as a
means of defeating the displaced bill
providing for the building of 15
cruisers.
As an earnest advocate of inter-
national peace and national defense—-
aims which are not merely consistent
but also complimentary—The Record
youd profoundly deplore such an ef-
ort.
If, having procured ratification of
‘the treaty, its supporters then demand
. crippling of the navy upon the ground
"that warships are no longer needed,
they will gravely injure the cause
which they profess to serve.
i For by such a course they will tend
to divide the country into just two
! groups—ardent pacifists and fanati-
cal militarists. They will drive those
who believe in both peace and nation-
‘al defense into supporting naval ex-
| pansion at any cost.
Multitudes of Americans, while
' doubting the efficacy of the Kellogg
| pact, favor it as a step in the right
i direction. But if its ratification should
‘be used as a pretext to strip the na-
| tion of needed protection these moder-
‘ates will inevitably distrust and op-
i pose future peace schemes.
The truth is that the attempt to
| substitute the treaty for cruisers is
based upon assumptions and conclu-
sions wholly inaccurate.
First, the pretense is that the Kel-
logg treaty eliminates the possibility
of war, and that for the United States
to “increase its armament” after re-
nouncing war would be an act of hy-
pocrisy and bad faith.
Such reasoning is wrong in every
fact and implication set forth.
The Kellogg treaty does not abolish
war. It is merely an international
agreement not to resort to war except
for reasons which seem adequate to
the nations concerned; and the only
| penalty for violation is the censure
of public opinion. It is a verbal “out-
lawry” of war, but it excludes from
renunciation wars of defense; and
each nation” is to” deterinine for itself
{ whether its use of armed force is de-
fensive.
These are not our interpretations
merely. They are the interpretations
given by the author. To the Senate
{ committee Secretary Kellogg explain-
ied candidly that in the treaty the
| right to wage defensive war is not re- |
{ nounced, but affirmed.
| Senator Borah, as an ardent advo-
{cate of the treaty, emphasized the
point: “It is prefectly certain that
{every nation, when the time comes,
i will construe the treaty in the way
it regards as justifying self-defense.
It does not make any difference what
was said by the negotiators, or what
was stated afterward—when the time
comes, what a nation regards as self-
defense it will construe as self-de-
fense.”
The pact, therefore, does not elim-
inate war. Its signatories merely
condemn and renounce aggressive
war—which none would ever acknowl-
edge making anyway. The treaty, in
statutes
homicide.
Nor does it make inconsistent rea-
sonable measures
paredness. “It does not supersede,”
says President Coolidge, “our inalien-
able sovereign right and duty of na-
tional defense.” Secretary Kellogg
has made the same declaration.
There is as much justification and
as much need for an efficient navy as
there is for a police force to apply
the laws by which the people of a
community renounce and outlaw pri-
vate warfare.
Finally, the charge that the naval
bill means a provocative “increase in
armament” is quite baseless.
“The program,” says the President,
“is for necessary replacements and
renewals and to meet our needs of de-
fense.” The building of the 15 cruis-
ers would leave this country still far
below the parity contemplated in the
limitation treaty of 1922.
Those who are demanding that the
Kellogg treaty be ratified and the
cruiser bill killed are engaged in a
campaign detrimental to their coun-
try and equally injurious to the pros-
pects of future moves toward world
peace.
outlawing murder abolish
» So, Borah Will Be Borah.
From the Kansas City Times.
It is not surprising that Senator
Borah would rather be Senator than
Secretary of State. The privilege
he has enjoyed above all others in
his public life is the privilege of be-
ing William E. Borah. Sometimes he
has rendered great service by exer-
cising this privilege; sometimes he
has satisfied few beside himself; but
always he has done as he pleased. We
can see how he would not like being
some one else, as he might needs be
even in such an office as that of Sec-
retary of State. We. know of no one
in public life less disposed to take
instructions.
ernest —
—The death of Tex. Rickard will
put a crimp in sport life for a time,
at least, but somebody will be found
to take his place.
fact, no more abolishes war than the |
of defensive pre-
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Joseph Ricupero, Indiana, Pa., was as-
rested by State policemen and charged
with passing several Hundred dollars’
worth of counterfeit $20 bank notes on a
dozen merchants in Slickville and Salts-
burg. Ricupero was turned over to Fed-
eral officers in Pittsburgh.
—Thomas Adamson, 52, of Jeannette,
employed by the Tomajko Coal company
at Adamsburg, met instant death last
Thursday night when a dynamite cap he
held in his mouth exploded while he was
attempting to tighten it. His face, hands
and arms were badly lacerated.
—Mrs. Aida Porter, of Meadville, wants
$5000 damages for a hug which broke a
rib. In an action filed in court at Erie,
last week, Mrs. Porter said she entered
the employ of John Schwartzman, of near
North East, on November 22, and that on
December 30 Schwartzman seized her and
hugged her so tight one rib was fractured
and two others injured.
—Twelve chickens, twelve dueks, five
geese, seventy pies, forty loaves of bread,
two bushels of potato chips, one and one-
half bushels of potatoes and fourteen
cakes, each of three layers, were served
at the wedding dinner of Mr. and Mrs.
John Pertesheim, a young Amish couple,
of Lancaster county. Twenty stewed
chickens were also served for supper.
—Cyrus Stauffer, 83, who was found
dead in bed, at Columbia, was buried in
a grave in the Mountville cemetery, that
he had dug for himself twenty years ago
while caretaker of the cemetery. When he
had about completed walling up the grave
he was asked who it was for. “That is
for myself,” he replied. “I will need it
some day and may be soon, there is no
telling, life is so uncertain.”
—While auditors were checking over his
accounts, George Heltzel, 55, station agent
for the Western Maryland Railroad at
Fairfield, near Gettysburg, committed sui-
cide by shooting himself in the head Fri-
day afternoon. He was found dead in an
outbuilding near the station by the audi-
tors, who were hunting him for an ex-
planation for certain alleged discrepancies.
Heltzel' lived in Hagerstown, Md., com-
muting daily to and from Fairfield.
—Twelve of the thirteen York county.
farmers who were sentenced to pay fines
of $100 and costs each after conviction
of resisting officers and obstructing legal
process in York county's “cattle war”
have taken appeals to the Superior Court.
Each has furnished bond of $500 to pros-
ecute the appeal, and in the meantime the
sentence of the local court is stayed.
Malcolm Miller, one of the defendants, has
paid his fine and costs and has not tak-
en an appeal,
—Thirty-thrée western hotsese stamped-
ed on the village street at Belleville when
they were being taken from a car on the
Kishacoquillas Valley railroad to the
stables of D. C. Peachey, who took them
there for a special sale among the Amish
farmers. Joseph Peachey, driving an au-
tomobile was run down by one of the ani-
mals, the horse jumping into the automo-
bile which was badly wrecked and Peach-
ey sustained bruises and lacerations of the
head, face and body.
L. —Nevin Oakes, 11-year-old son of Mr,
and Mrs. Nathan J. Oakes, of Mill Hall,
{ was killed when he jumped from a trac-
tor, which was driven by his father, and
| fell under the wheels of the hay bailer
{which was drawn by the tractor. The
‘boy and his father were taking the tractor
and hay bailer to the Snyder farm, near
| Mill Hall, and on the hill at the Brown
i schoolhouse the trailer crowded onto the
! tractor and alarmed the boy, who jumped.
| His parents and four other children sur-
| vive.
—A sick man was burned to death in
} an isolated cottage near Tuscarora, Mif-
fiin county, on Saturday, where his neph-
"ew was seeking medical aid for him.
{ When the nephew, P. L. Rohr, of Van
| Dyke, returned he found the cottage de-
| stroyed by fire and the charred body of
| his uncle, Robert Grub, 65, in the de-
| bris. The position of the body led Port
' Royal firemen to believed Grub was over-
' come while attempting to escape from the
i dwelling. Grub and his nephew had
| rented the cottage for a month from H.
Ss Kilmer, of Port Royal
{ —The Nelson Silk company, Shamokin,
{ and the Shindel Silk corporation, in Mt.
Carmel, have merged as the Shindel Silk
corporation, with Fred W. Maue, Shamo-
kin, general manager, succeeding Ryan
Rosendale, who was bought out of the
company; John Brown, general superin-
tendent, and Conrad R. Braeber, Shamokin,
have been placed in charge of the sales
department in New York City. The cor-
poration has five mills, in Mt. Carmel, Sha~
mokin, Hughesville, Elysburg and Pater-
son, N. J. It has about 800 employes who
have been working steady time for a long
while. The consolidation added the Sha-
mokin mill to a group operated success-
fully for many years.
—TFigures compiled by warden William
Wilson, of the Fayette county jail, show
that about two per cent. of the popula-
tion of that county was behind the bars
last year. The year’s list of prisoners to-
tals 2658, including 544 women. The re-
port shows that not a single abstainer
was committed to jail, 2100 of the number
being classed as moderate drinkers and
558 intemperate. The married prisoners
exceeded the single ones, 1452 to 1154, with
fifty-two being widowed. Nine hundred
and fifty-three were unable to read or
write, 1900 had attended public schools
and 758 had not. Not a death occurred in
the county jail during the year and not
a prisoner escaped.
—Joseph Valotta, slayer of two Pitts-
burgh policemen, who escaped the elec-
tric chair eleven times, died from pneu-
monia in the western penitentiary at
Pittsburgh, on Saturday. Valotta, after
gaining eleven respites and carrying his
case to the United States Supreme Court,
finally received a commuted sentence of
life imprisonment. Convicted of killing
patrolmen Edward Couch and Thomas
Hopkins October 30, 1922, Valotta was sen-
tenced to die in the electric chair June
28, 1923. A long legal fight followed,
Valotta contending his constitutional
rights were violated when he was tried
for both killings at the same ‘time. After
the United States Supreme court held
against him, a series of stays were given
by former Governor Gifford Pinchot and
finally his death sentence was commuted.
Valotta, an employee of the Pennsylvania
railroad, claimed he fired in self-defense
during a railroad - strike, thinking they
were about to attack him.