INK SLINGS.
—Thus far February, with the ex-
ception of two days last week, has
been continuously cold. The new
moon is lying far around to the north
and that would indicate that there
is to be no immediate let up in it. |
—Over in Bombay last week the
Hindus and the Moslems celebrated
the settlement of a feud that had ex-
isted between them by killing fifty
and wounding four hundred others of
the participants in the peace demon-
stration.
—The Humane Society for the
State of Illinois gets the brown der-
by for the best example of damphool-
ishness during 1928. It ‘boasts of
having given special attention to the
comfort and welfare of ten thousand
gold fish, forty thousand canary
birds, nine hundred and fity hogs and
sixty-five children.
—1It looks very much as though the
State is going to add another cent
a gallon to the gasoline tax, then it
is to be rubbed in by adding another
dollar to the cost of a driver's license
and another to the charges for a
‘learner's permit. If they've got lo
raise more money to keep up the
roads why don’t they tax the hitch-
hikers?
—As part of the radio celebration
of the occasion of Mr. Edison's eigh-
ty-second birthday anniversary Prof.
B. A. Rolfe’s orchestra played “Kath-
leen” which is said to be the wiz-
ard’s favorite of the songs of yester-
year. When we heard it we thanked
God that Edison was too deaf to hear
what has become of Kathleen. That
fellow Rolfe rolled down her stock-
ings, pulled up her skirts, shot her
in the arms and legs with gig-
gling saxes and cachinnatin’ trum-
pets and the tuneful “Kathleen” that
Edison remembers was given a ‘Black
Bottom,” daubs of several “Blues”
and thrown into the arms of “Old
Man River.” It was a shame to let
the grand old man of electricity hear
what a wanton thing his love of half
a century ago has turned out to be.
—On Monday evening we watched,
for a little while, the county’s inde-
fatigable oand master work with his
small army of juvenile musicians.
The patient determination with which
he went about it started us to won-
dering whether it was worth while.
‘Then name after name of accom-
plished musicians whom Frank Wetz-
ler has produced came into our mind
and we realized that certainly a
few in that group in the Undine en-
gine house, Monday night, will find
that there is something beautiful in
their souls that can only find its
most perfect expression through the
instrument they were struggling
with. Mr. Wetzler can hope for no
reward for such devoted service un-
less it be in the gratitude of the many
he has. helped to a worth-while ac-
complishment. And we wonder how
many of them appraise that as it
should be appraised.
—Down in Columbia last week
Lynn Gutshall tried to stamp a rat
to death with his foot. He missed it,
however, and struck the ground so
hard that he broke is leg. The in-
cident recalls an accident that hap-
pened in the sanctum of the Repub-
lican office when it occupied the
building at the west end of this block.
The late E. T. Tuten, editor, and his
general utility man, A. B. Steele,
‘were resting from their labors so
quietly that the rats that infested the
print. shop decided to hold a confer-
ence on the floor. Unexpectedly one of
them ran up the venerable editor’s
trouser leg. It hadn’t gotten to the
knee before he encircled his leg with
his hands and called Brittain to the
rescue. The only way of disposing of
the rambling rodent that occurred to
the latter was to smash it with the
stove poker that was standing near
by. This he attempted to do but
missed the rat and Mr. Tuten hob-
bled about for weeks after on
crutches.
—More and more it is apparent
that Pennsylvania is spending mil-
lions of dollars to no purpose. For
instance, why waste money on a Gen-
eral Assembly of Senators and Rep-
resentatives? There was a day, per-
haps, when their biennial meeting in
Harrisburg had something to do with
the government of the State, but is
that the case today? It seems to
us that they are goats rather than
Legislators in this highly specialized
era. of machine domination. Some
very important legislation will be en-
acted during the present session of
the Legislature, yet not one piece of
it will have originated in the mind of
any Senator or member of the House.
All that was arranged by Governor
Fisher, Joseph Grundy, W. L. Mellon
and a few other advisors long before
the Assembly convened and there is
nothing for those whom the State has
chosen to represent them in the law
making branch of our government to
do but approve the proposed legisla-
tion or stand the consequences of
their opposition. The Legislator who
isn’t for the program the bosses pre-
paré doesn’t get fair consideration of
his claims for road improvements or
public institutions in his district and
his constituents “ride” him for that. If
the program of legislation he votes
for to secure such concessions proves
unpopular they “ride” him for that,
too.
\
NAN /
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
The Departent © of Revenue.
After prolonged deliberation in
which Governor Fisher, W. L. Mel-
lon and Joseph R. Grundy dominated,
the fiscal code bill was introduced in
the General Assembl;” on Monday
evening, Representative Philip Ster-
ling, of Philadelphia, being its spon-
sor. It provides the machinery for
the operation of the Department of
Revenue, which was created by the
session of 1927, and it is said “makes
the most radical changes in the State
government since the Pinchot admin-
istrative code of 1923.” Probably its
main purpose is to concentrate in
the hands of the party bosses com-
plete control of the revenues and ex-
penditures of the State. That it will
accomplish this result may be relied
upon.
The principal function of the new
department and the leading purpose
of the proposed code is to take from
the Auditor General and State Treas-
urer, officials chosen by the people,
certain powers and duties and lodge
them in the hands of the Secretary of
the Department of Revenue, who will
be appointed by the Governor and is
responsible only to him. Possibly some
good may come of this. In any event
it will relieve those officials of a good
deal of arduous labor, though we
have never heard any complaints that
they were overworked. The Gover-
nor must have imagined they were,
however, for he paid nearly half a
million dollars last year for services
that the Auditor General's staft
ought to have performed.
The code will serve the party man-
agers in another way, moreover, In
keeping the organization in trim.
Agents will be appointed to collect
the revenues accruing from services
in the Normal schools and hospitals
who will be paid by the State. The
Secretary of the Commonwealth will
continue to collect the fees which
come to that office for charters and
the present system of collecting in-
heritance taxes will not be disturbed.
Considered from a party angle it
could hardly be improved, and most
of the legislation is viewed from that
angle. The new Secretary of Reve-
nue will be a highly efficient politic-
al manager and his compensation
will be liberal. Taking one consider-
ation with another it is a wise party
measure.
——After reading the records of
the weather in Europe it’s hard to
find just cause of complaint with the
conditions,.in this country.
renee peer.
Relief for Poor in Philadelphia.
The Finance committee, of Philadel-
phia city council has “unanimously
approved an’ ordiance authorizing the
appropriation of $50,000 to relieve
distress among poor families brought
on by the present unemployment
situation.” In advocating the measure
the president of council made it clear
that this relief measure was in no re-
spect in the nature of a municipal
soup-house enterprise. He expressed
doubt of the legality of such an ap-
propriation and added, “we can’t re-
fuse to take cognizance of the fact
that there is genuine distress among
poor families in this city.” In the face
of such a situation “red tape” cuts no
figure.
No man or woman, “with a heart
in the right place,” will take excep-
tions to this generous action of the
city law makers. It is a matter of re-
cord that thousands of children in
Philadelphia are suffering for want of
proper food and clothing. The ami-
able purpose of the council was to
alleviate the suffering by providing
the necessary food and clothing. The
same thing has been done in that and
other cities in former years, usually
by private philanthropy, and in the
form of soup houses and bread lines.
In view of this fact it is not easy to
imagine why the present movement
should take on some other name.
It is equally difficult to realize that
such distress should have come upon
the principal city of Pennsylvania at
this time. Only three months ago the
numerous millionaires of that city
were boasting of the prosperity, not
“just around the corner,” but every-
where and exhorting the people to
continue in power the party which
had given them such substantial
blessings in the past, as a guarantee
of their continuanee in the future.
Has the machinery which produced
prosperity “slipped a cog?” There is
certainly something the matter. Jf
Governor Smith had been elected it
would have been “soup houses,” be-
yond question.
Es
— Meantime the Secretary of
Highways knows what he wants and
has the nerve to ask for -it.
——The legislative mill at Harris-
burg is grinding with surprising
smoothness and celerity.
‘city manager bill for
BELLEFONTE, PA. FEBRUARY 15. 1
Tardy on Ballot Reform Legislation.
The session of the General Assembly
of Pennsylvania opened two years ago
with abundant promise of ballot re-
form legislation. The Governor had
taken pains and incurred expense to
formulate a series of bills which were
promptly introduced. Senators and
Representatives were anxious to co-
operate in an effort to make ballot
frauds extremely hazardous if not
impossible. But before the Governor’s
bills emerged from the committee to
which they had been referred the
party bosses intervened and so emas-
culated them as to make them prac-
tically worthless. There is grave dan-
ger of a similar result this year. Bal-
lot reform legislation is moving “with
a leaden heel” in the present Legisla-
ture.
The popular approval of the consti-
tutional amendment providing for
voting machines justified the ex-
pectation of promt action for ena-
bling legislation. But the indications
are that such expectations will ve
disappointed. Two bills have been
introduced in the Senate, each pos-
sessing merit, but differing in meth-
ods. It may be assumed that the au-
thors of both these measures are sin-
cere in their purposes. But instead
of getting together and combining
the best features of both into one,
they are entering into a contest
which will probably result in the de-
feat of both, thus nullifying the will
of a vast majority of the people as
expressed at the polls in adopting
that amendment to the constitution.
The last session of the General As-
sembly, probably as an expedient for
delaying ballot reform legislation,
created a commission to investigate
the subject and recommend a ballot
reform code to the present session.
This commission, composed largely of
cunning pratical politicians, has not
made either a report or recommenda-
tion, though the session is nearly half
over. Of course that means there will !
‘be no action as the result of this ges- |
ture at this session, for any report or.
recommendation the commission
might make
drawn out discussion. There is time
yet for an agreement ‘Among thos
who favor the voting machine, on an
enabling act, but none to spare.
|
-——The sponsorship of Senator
Salus would probably have killed the
Philadelphia
anyway. i
Se —
Vare’s Lawyers Submit His Case.
{
1
|
Counsel for Wiliam S. Vare submit- |
ted to the Slush Fund committee of |
the Senate, the other day, his defense |
against the twenty-two specific |
charges of fraud in the primary cam- |
paign for Senator in 1926. The brief :
is ponderous in volume, covering for- |
ty-two pages of manuscript, but mea-
ger in facts. Summed up it asserts
that all the frauds exposed by a pro-
longed and searching investigation :
were simply “honest mistakes and’
misunderstandings of the law.” The
brief frankly admits one case of
fraud. It would have been hard to!
avoid that for the reason that the !
perpetrators had pleaded guilty in
court and are now serving sentences
in jail as just penalties.
The brief is a long drawn out “con-
fession and avoidance.” It accuses all
the witnesses against Vare of preju-
dice and charges the Reed committee
with unfairness in limiting the time
to answer the great number of ac-
cusations to eight days. It over-
looks the fact that Mr. Vare and his
lawyers have been “jockeying” the
committee for more than eight
months and are still hoping by trick
and device to prevent a report of the
investigation within the limit of the
present Congress, thus improving the
chances of miscarriage of justice in
the ratio that the strength of the Re-
publican force in the Senate has in-
creased and the moral influence of th:
White House will be altered next
month.
Notwithstanding these facts we
acknowledge that the brief of Mr.
Francis Shunk Brown and his legal
associates appeals to our sympathies.
It is too bad that simple minded
gentlemen like Mr. Brown, himself,
Sheriff Cunningham, Senator Salus
and hundreds of other Philadelphia
“rounders” should have been imposed
upon by a Senate committee made up
mostly of country lawyers and inex-
perienced or rather unsophisticated
statesmen as the brief submitted the
other day seems to indicate. Jim
Reed ought to be ashamed of himself
for making the amiable persons who
compose the Vare machine look like
crooks to the entire country. Still it
can’t be helped.
een———— re ——————
— The tariff question will give
the new President and the new Con-
gress all the trouble they want dur-
ing the sultry season of midsummer.
has failed.
be transacted.
: of Lancaster,
Jocieying for Delay.
Senator Reed, of Missouri, chair-
man of the Slush Fund committee,
hopes to dispose of the Vare case this
week. Tt is a question of “high privi-
lege” and can displace any pending
legislation if it can be brought to the
floor. But thus far the Missouri Sen-
ator’s efforts to get the report, al-
ready prepared, before the Senate
Twice last week a time
was. ‘set for the final meeting of the
committee, but because of the ab-
sence of a quorum, no business could
The committee is
composed of three Republicans. and
two Democrats and the Republican
members have refused,
failed to attend. The finding of the
committee was unanimous,
order to report requires a quorum.
or at least
but the
The plain inference is that Sena-
tor Goff, of West Virginia, and the
other Republican members are being
influenced by the Republican machine
to prevent a quorum to complete the
work. Mr. Vare’s
friends imagine
that if the question is carried over to
the next Congress the committee's
report will be rejected and a minor-
ity report declaring his election legal
will be adopted. This expectation is
based on two ideas.
Mr. Hoover, as President, will give
.active support to the Vare interests,
The first is that
and the other that the increased Re-
publican majority in the new Senate
will be to his advantage. President
Coolidge could not be dragooned into
‘even passive support of Vare.
The present signs indicate that the
new administration will be intensely
partisan. Nine
Hoover didn’t know which party he
belonged to.
mirer of Woodrow Wilson, an enthus-
iastic supporter of the League of Na-
tions and opposed to excessive tariff
years ago Herbert
He was an ardent ad-
taxation. But the failure of the Dem-
ocratic National convention of 1920
to nominate him for President com-
pletely changed the trend of his po-
litical thought and now he is a more
‘radical protectionist than Smoot or
Moses, and a more bitter opponént
would provoke long gf the League of Nations than Borah.
e cordially concur in the hope of
ator Reed that he will get the re-
port in during the present Congress
i but have doubts.
———The courts in Michigan know
how to fix bomb throwers. At Flint,
‘in that State, the other day, such a
criminal was sentenced to “not less
! than ninety-nine years.”
1929 an Off Year Politically but
Many Local Offices to Fill.
While 1929 will be an off year po-
i litically, so far as State, national and
county offices are concerned, it will
ibe one of more or less importance
! locally because .of the election of
| most of the borough and township
officials.
In the State the election will be
confined to two Judges of the Super-
ior court, owing to the expiration of
the term of Judge William H. Keller,
and a successor to
Judge Thomas J. Baldridge, recently
appointed to the bench by Governor
Fisher to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of Judge Henderson. Judge
Keller will likely be a candidate to
succeed himself and there is no ques-
tion but that Judge Baldridge will
be a candidate for a full term. Up
to the presnt time no opposition to
either one has developed in the Re-
publican party and both will proba-
bly be renominated without opposi-
tion.
In the county the voters will be
called upon to elect a district at-
torney and two jury commissioners.
John G. Love is serving his last year
as district attorney and at this early
date has not intimated whether he
will be a candidate again or not.
In Bellefonte borough the voters
will be called upon to elect a burgess, '
tax collector, one school director and
four councilmen. Councilmen whose
terms will expire with this year are
W. J. Emerick and W. Frederick
Reynolds, in the North ward; W. H.
Brouse and J. M. Cunningham in the
West ward. The six year's term of
Dr. M. J. Locke, as school director,
will also expire with this year.
——Mayor Mackey, of Philadel-
phia, has done nearly everything to
make the people laugh except stand
on his head on top of city hall.
ett mnede
——The flareup in the Philadelphia
machine didn’t last long enough to be
a revolution. It hardly attained the
dignity of an insurrection.
tom eee
——With four Sundays and two
holidays this month bankers will
have only twenty-two working days.
irr rein
——Senator Salus might find some
consolation in a careful reading of
the history of Don Quixote.
929.
NO.
Grundy ism Must Wait for Its Tariff
Rewards.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Sharper than a serpent’s tooth,
saith the proverb, itis to have a
thankless child.
Is the ingratitude of a political
party towards a dutiful son less
wounding ? What shall be said of the
rebuff just administered by the Re-
publican high command to its fore-
most and most faithful fat-fryer? A
lamentable story, this.
It is the more shocking because
such an outcome had not been fore-
seen. When announcement was made
that Joseph R. Grundy had organized
a drive for upward revision of the
tariff at the special session of Con-
gress, only one deduction was plaus-
ible—the thing was as good as done.
For what party leader, what offi-
cial, what combination of strategical
considerations, could withstand the
demands of the president of the
Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ As-
sociation, undisputed master of the
art of financing campaigns?
Was not the summoning of the ex-
tra session itself against the urgent
advice of Secretary Mellon and Sena-
tor Dave Reed and Speaker Long-
worth, an evidence of his power? Tt
seemed only a question of how soon
the schedules he specified would be
boosted, and how high.
Not that these statesmen who op-
posed the Grundy plan are squeamish
about protection. Their dissent was
based upon expediency. General re-
vision they urged, would mean not
only a prolonged and contentious ses-
sion, but the furnishing to the Demo-
crats such a supply of ammunition as
might enable them to win control of
the House at the elections next year.
But Mr. Grundy was implacable.
He insisted upon what some of the
perturbed “old guard’ called a
‘blanket embargo” on the importa-
tation of goods competing with the
products of his clients. To get that,
he said was his business; to take care
of the political consequences was the
business of the party leaders, with
which he had no concern.
I As for his arguments they were, in
his estimation, quite unanswerable.
They comprised the facts that
through his assiduous efforts the in-
terests he represented had contribut-
ed $700,000 ta the Coolidge campaign
fund in 1924, $615,000 to. the; Fisher
campaign fund in 1926 and $547,000
to the Hoover campaign fund in
1928.
“Q. E. D.,” said Mr. Grundy.
so P. D. Q” And that was the mes-
sage carried to headquarters by Sena-
tor Smoot, who handles tariff affairs
in the upper branch.
But the disconcerting response was
that the program must be radically
altered. At the extra session, the
President-elect ruled, there would be
no general revision—only such
schedule changes as would satisfy the
farmers.
The claims of Grundyism, though
not totally rejected, were authorita-
tively deferred. Is there any wonder
that the champion of that cause feels
that he and it have been victimized
by base ingratitude ?
To the student of pubilc affairs,
however, the episode is interesting
chiefly as a reminder that partisan-
ship has varying causes and manifes-
tations.
With most Americans party mem-
bership may be due to personal senti-
ment, or family tradition, or environ-
ment, or to sincere belief in certain
political and economic doctrines.
Grundysim and its blunt demands
furnish a striking example of parti-
sanship which is a matter not of
principle but of investment—of poli-
tics for revenue only.
Rough Sailing Ahead.
From the Harrisburg Telegraph.
Republican leaders are reported as
being of the opinion that there is
rough sailing ahead in the Legisla-
ture for any general increase of taxes
that may be suggested. They are
correct in that belief.
The best argument those in favor
of increasing the highway funds by
added levies have to offer is the de-
mand of Legislators for more im-
proved roads.
The farmer is insisting that he be
taken out of the mud, but he is
strenuously opposed to increasing his
tax burden for that purpose. The
Legislator who is promised r\ore
roads in return for his vote for high*
er taxes will hear a powerful plea.
He will have to decide whether he
would rather face an electorate that
is insisting on roads which they will
not get in the number desired or
those who are sore over a raise in
‘taxes. It will not be an easy choice,
and chances are there will be die-
hards on both sides.
the party leadership to let the Legis-
lature have its head in matters of
| this kind will only add fuel to the
fire.
———————— A ———————— \
— With Owen D. Young presiding
| over the deliberations of the Repara-
| tions Commission in Paris we are
getting closer to membership in the
League of Nations.
eee eee.
— Senator Reed, of Missouri, is
‘capable and earnest but his Republi- |
can colleagues on the Slush Fund
‘committee “got cold feet.”
“Al-'
The policy of
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Ralph Weaver, of Nescopeck, who was
sentenced to a year in the Columbia coun-
{ ty jail for carrying a pint of liquor, has
i completed his sentence, but he still re-
mains in jail. Judge Evans has declined
{ to release him until costs of $88.19 are
paid.
—Lillian Dando, 5, of Minersville, died
' from burns and scalds received when she
| fell into a tub of hot water last Saturday.
| The child was on her way upstairs, in
' her hurry to reach the steps she failed
to see the tub of awter and tripped, fall
ing into it.
! Applications already have been receiv-
ed from 300 private land owners for al-
‘ most 7,000,000 forest tree seedlings to be
planted this spring, according to a state-
ment issued today by State Forester Jo-
seph 8S. Illick. These trees will be plant-
ed on waste areas throughout Pennsyl-
vania covering an area of 7,000 acres.
State highway workmen have erected
3800 ‘‘Stop’’ signs at intersections of
through- trafic highways since the plan
was adopted. Orders have been placed
with the prison labor section of the State
Welfare Department to furnish 13,000 stop
signs and 1300 slow signs to be ‘used in
marking newly designated through-traffic
routes. -
—Because the ashes of Levi Huber,
printer and veteran of the Spanish-Ameri-
call war, heave been lost in the mails.
enroute from the west to his old home
in Lebanon, Pa., it was necessary for a
second time to postpone the funeral. The
ashes were expected on Monday from the
crematory, and plans had been made for
a military funeral.
—Sneak thieves are getting careless out
in the western part of the State. After
taking a waistcoat from the home of Hugh
McCue, of Braddock Friday night, and
picking a pocket of a watch, the thief
left the sleeveless garment hanging to a
fence paling. McCue found it there, and
in one pocket found two $100 bills the
thief had overlooked.
—A handsome youth walked into the
home of C. C. Poff at Sunbury, on Tues-
day. Mrs. Poff stared a minute and recog-
nized him as her son Oliver Mensch, whom
she had given to a charitable organization
20 years ago and had not seen since. He
was adopted by a Coatesville family,
which later went to Downington, where
he is now employed. He was traced by
a local charitable organization.
—The Public Service Commission has
ordered an additional sum of $5,253 award-
ed to Martha Hafer and Sarah McDowell,
doing business as Hafer and McDowell,
in Oil City, for destruction of an oil well
in the abolition of a grade crossing over
the tracks of the New York Central rail-
road and the Nypano Railroad company in
Qil City. The county of Venango was or-
dered to pay the additional award.
—A young man eighteen years old is
wanted by Sheriff W. H. Printz, of Mif-
‘flin county, for the theft of $10 in bills
and a wallet taken from the clothing of a
traveling man using the pool at the Y. M.
C. A. The man hung his clothes in a
locker while he took a shower. He saw
the young man walk into the locker room
and leave, but paid no attention, think-
ing he belonged there, he told police.
—The dead body of Miss Ida Wagner,
23; was taken from Codorus ereek, York
county, on Sunday, after the stream had
been dragged about three hours by a vet-
eran waterman, Ben Sipe. The women
committed suicide on Saturday night
about 9 o'clock, she having been seen for
the last time shortly before that. Ill
health, from which she had suffered for
a long time, caused the act. A note which
she left for her parents led to the search
in the creek for the body.
—Martin J. Wahnon, 23, of Pittsburgh,
was despondent over a love affair and de-
cided to end it all. He chose poison as
the way out, and to make the suicide dou-
bly sure, mixed two poisons and drank the
mixture. One counteracted the other,
with the result that Wahnon did not die,
but only got sick and collapsed on a
lawn. In police court he was fined 325
and given the alternative of ten days in
jail. Things look brighter now and “I'm
glad I'm still alive,” says Wahnon.
—Fear that the rabies epidemic in
Greene county in the past two weeks, re-
sulting in infection of 2000 sheep and
scores of dogs, has spread to Washing--
ton county, is felt with the appearance
of a supposedly mad dog near Scenery
Hill, 10 miles east of Washington, Pa.
The dog bit a dog owned by Samuel Wil-
son and also mangled several chickens ut
the farm of Ellwood Crumrine. Wilson
shot the dog. The epidemic in Greene
county, despite the efforts of specialists.
continues to spread.
—Replacement of teeth lost in an acci-
dent are compensable under the Work-
men’s Compensation act, Commissioner
John L. Morrison ruled on Tuesday in
the case of Joseph Gober, Kingston,
against the Temple Coal company, of
Scranton. The defendant admitted lia-
bility for dental services for the gums
but resisted payment for replacement and
crowning of the damaged teeth. An arti-
ficial crown or an artificial tooth is just
as necessary in dental service as a metal
nose bridge or a metallic skull plate are
accepted in surgery, he held.
—Trying out a new kind of an omelet
for the past several days, three York, 2.
boys fell into the hands of police because
of their pranks. The boys had been pum-
meling the sides of street cars with eggs
secured from a local bake shop. Because
of the obnoxious odor which the eggs
caused, the affair was reported by of-
ficials of the street car company to the
police deparment and the arrests followed.
It became necessary to take the street cars
off the runs and take them to the barns
to clean them. After the boys were rep-
rimanded by Mayor Jacob E. Weaver
they were released into the custody of
their parents.
— This is unseasonable weather for
snake stories, but one comes from Smeth-
port, twenty-five miles east of Kane, rel-
| ative to the discovery of a five-foot boa
| constrictor wrapped around a bunch of
bananas, which frightened a grocery store
| salesman so that he nearly fainted. The
' snake was alive, but due to the cold was
sluggish and was easily dispatched with a
half-pound weight. The snake measured
! five feet in length and three inches in di-
ameter and made the trip from the tropics
in a carge of fruit. A Smethport man, who
is described as an expert, because he ‘has
i seen lots of snakes,” pronounced the rep-
, tile a boa constrictor, a species that some-
i | times attain a length of ten or twelve feet.