Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, March 08, 1929, Image 1

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    —Now that the eventful day js
drawing near thirty-eight days seem
an awful long time to wait.
—1If the story is true that the Eng-
lish people are thinking of making
the Prince of Wales Regent poor
King George ought to get Jim Reéd
into Parliament. Jim refused to drag
Mr. Vare's seat out from under him
because “he is a very sick man.”
—=Since the Grangers and the Ki-
wanians of the county have sent word
to Senator Scott and the Hon. Holmes
that they are against the proposed
increases of tax on gas and motor
licenses we presume that our repre-
sentatives at Harrisburg are begin-
ning to have some restless nights.
Both will be expected to support the
measure, if the administration gets be-
hind it. Both know that they will be
damned in Harrisburg if they don’t
and damned here if they do.
—By way of paying a little tribute
to the memory of Dr. Ezra H. Yo-
cum we want to record here that no
man has made a more indellible im-
pression on our life. Could we be as
he was: Courtly, generous of heart
and mind, eloquent of tongue and un-
fathomable in spiritual grace we
would be the ideal christian gentle-
man. We can’t be that, because God's
wonderful gifts would be common if
they were given to one who could not
radiate them as our departed friend
did.
—Another chain store is coming to
town. The more the merrier. When
enough of them finally get located
here we do hope they'll do to each
other what they are now doing to
the long established, property own-
ing, tax paying, community building
local merchants. The trend of the
times is toward corporate control of
all business, so that it takes only a
little glance into the future to see the
day when local merchandising will oe
as completely in the hands of absen-
tee ownership as is manufacturing
now. The problem will work itself
out some way, of course, but it will
surely be at the sacrifice of home in-
itiative.
—Maybe the President was foxy in
selecting William D. Mitchell, of Min-
nesota, as his Attorney General. Mr.
Mitchell is a Democrat and as pro-
hibition enforcement is to be taken
out of the control of the Treasury
Department and put under that of
the Department of Justice there will
be a Democrat to hold responsible if
enforcement isn’t more efficient dur-
ing the Hoover administration than
it was under that of Mr. Coolidge.
Of course we do not think that Mr:
Hoover deliberately planned to have
a goat handy in the event of failure
of his proposed experiment, but if he
didn’t he is so lucky that he could
fall into the Potomac and come out
brushing dust off his clothes.
—One need not even read between
the lines of the President’s inaugural
address to learn that Mr. Hoover
knows there is no short cut to com-
plete prohibition. We might be read-
ing things into it that are not there,
but we are convinced that our Presi-
dent is paving the way to an ultimate
declaration that the only real prohi-
bition must come through the practice
of temperance and temperance must
come through education of the masses
to the dangers of excesses. If we
are right in our conjecture as to the
presidential concept of the solution
of the liquor problem it will be grat-
ifying, indeed, for we have consist-
ently held the notion that prohibition
won't prohibit and that temperance
is a matter for education, not legis-
lation.
—Just now it is the popular thing
to be railing against the passage of
new laws and increased taxation.
Some agitators are actually en-
couraging rebellion against constitut-
ed authority for the imposition of
ever increasing legal bondage and tax
burdens. Why rebel at something we
bring on ourselves. When the pub-
lic comes to understand its own and
Sole responsibility for existing con-
ditions there will be an end of this
fatuous claptrap. In Bellefonte, some
time ago, someone discovered a lit-
tle sediment in a bottle of milk left
at his door by a local dairyman. A
great hue and cry went up over it.
‘Thousands of babies who will be
cheating the undertaker for seventy
years or more were handed over to
him the day the discovery was made.
Alarmists swarmed around the old
people who have one foot in the grave
and tried to push the other one in.
Instead of being a happy, healthful
town Bellefonte saw itself pictured
as the country’s morgue. Everybody
was going to die because some dirt
had been found in a bottle of milk.
Of course we'd all been going serene-
ly on had the dirt not had the bad
luck to be discovered. It was one of
those cases of what you don't know
‘won't hurt you. But the result is
what we are out to emphasize. That
questionable bottle of milk resulted
in the employment of a health of-
ficer for Bellefonte who will have to
be paid through taxation. It also re-
sulted in adding to the dairyman’s
cost in preparing his milk and that
extra two cents is to be passed on
to the consumer. Moral—If you start
yelling “Let's do it” the moment
something is proposed don’t crab
when they come around to collect
your share of the cost of doing it.
0 emacr
"
drm
AN
STATE'RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL.
BELLEFONTE, PA. MARCH 8. 19
29.
President Hoover’s Inaugural Ad-
dress.
In his inaugural address President
Hoover paid generous tribute to the
virtues and achievements of his pred-
ecessor in office. But his sincerest
flattery of Mr. Coolidge is implied in
the perfect imitation of his manners
and methods of expressing opinions
on public questions. The address is
a model in many respects.
on all topics
concern and favors everything that
is worthy and opposes all that is vic-
ious. It is short enough to hold the
interest of the reader to the end and
long enough to give superficial ref-
erence to current events. It reveals
enough optimism to inspire nation-
wide hope and sufficient pessimism
to suggest caution.
Our new President is strong for
law enforcement and happily his vis-
jon embraces all laws but his pro- perience in civil official life, but that
cesses, though promising, will be nec- ‘little was full of thrills. Mayor Ken- | tigated conditions in the Pennsyl- | war periods of 1912, 1865 and 1920,
essarily slow. To obtain improve-
ment, he says, “we must critically
consider the entire federal machinery
of justice, the redistribution of its
functions, the simplification of its
procedure, the provision of addition-
al special tribunals, the better seléc-
tion of juries, and the more effective
organization of our agencies of in-
vestigation and prosecution.” These
things accomplished the problem of
law. enforcement might be solved, but
imagine what time may be required
to accomplish them. Besides the en-
forcement officials must have the
moral support of all good citizens. |
When the government was prosecut-
ing the Teapot Dome swindle Mr.
Hoover gave it neither moral nor ma-
terial support, though he could have
helped a lot.
To analyze the address from be-
ginning to end would require more
space than we have at our disposal.
It is sufficient to add that most of his
purposes, as expressed in his inaugu-
ral, are more or less idealistic but im-
possible of early application. - Like
his campaign speech promise to prac-
tically abolish poverty, his references
to public’ health, world peace, -eco-
nomic systems, brotherhood of man,
special privileges, permanent peace
and party responsibilities are finely
phrased and enticing to minds too
easily misled. That was the Coolidge
system and it worked like a charm.
But it is not likely to prove so effec-
tive with his successor. The fulfill-
ment of the promises are too far in
the future.
Increase of Gas Tax Assured.
The boosters of the four-cent gaso-
line tax are now confident that they
have solved the problem. That is to
say, by promises of improved high-
ways in rural districts they believe
that they have enticed the Legislators
concerned to support not only the
four cent tax but a considerable in-
crease in the fee for driver's licenses
and learners’ permits. There will not
be the customary “omnibus” bill.
Instead of that the plan is to increase
the rewards to townships for im-
proving roads. The scale for such as-
sistance will range from twenty-five
to seventy-five per cent of the cost,
to be determined by the ability of the
county to pay. It presents a strong
appeal to poor counties.
The plan was devised at a joint
session of sub-committees of the
roads committees of the Senate and
House and hands out substantial in-
ducements to other interests. For ex-
ample, it proposes to take over 375
miles of city streets, all county
bridges, and ‘remove ten per cent.
of the obligation of boroughs in the
construction of State routes.” The
maintainance of city streets on pub-
lic highways is a considerable bur-
den which, except in Philadelphia,
has heretofore been borne by the
municipality, and keeping county
bridges in repair costs a good deal to
the several counties in which they
are located. The promise of relief
from this burden appeals to Legisla-
tors concerned.
The ostensible purpose of this
somewhat complicated and altogether
comprehensive scheme is to check the
insistent demand for roads for the
rural districts by giving them plenty
of roads by another system. But it
will cost money to carry out this plan
and the proposed increase in the gaso-
line tax and the enlargement of the
fees for drivers’ licenses and learn-
ers’ permits is the process. The only
other way to procure the necessary
funds is to levy a tax on the capital
stock or earnings of manufacturing
corporations, and therefore it may be
assumed that the real purpose of the
plan is to ‘save the face” of Joe
Grundy, who solemnly pledged con-
tributors to the slush fund that no
such tax would be laid.
—The new Republican administra-
tion is giving us rotten weather.
It touches
of immediate public |
sna —
NO. 10.
General Smedley Butler for Governor. Bogus Policemen Held for Murder. | Local Kiwanis Protests the Increased
The rumor that Brigadier General
Smedley Darlington Butler, the fight-
ing Quaker marine of West Chester,
might become a candidate for Gov-
ernor, was the surprise injected into
i the political gossip of Pennsylvania,
"the other day. General Butler has
! recently returned from China where
"he has been for several months in
c d of the American marines
Fi During his thirty years ser-
| vice “he has fought at the head of
i his troops in every quarter of the
' globe,” and holds the Congressional
medal of honor for personal bravery
| and several other decorations for dis-
| tinguished service. But in the nature
of things he has reached the limit in
' promotion and achievement in his
| profession and is probably willing to
| enter more promising fields.
General Butler has had little ex-
The corner’s jury which investigat-
ed the murder of John Barcoveskie,
a miner employer by the Pittsburgh
Coal company, at Santiago near
Pittsburgh on the night of February
9, has rendered a verdict holding the
three coal and iron policemen who
participated in the beating responsi-
ble and recommending their prosecu-
tion for murder. The evidence show-
ed that they had followed their vic-
tim into the home of his mother-in-
law, where they obtained entrance by
battering down the door. There they
hammered him with revolver butts
and an iron poker and kicked him in
the face and body with heavy boots
until his ribs were separated from the
back bone and protruded through the
flesh. Their purpose was to make
| im admit a crime charge against
| him.
The Senate committee which inves-
Gas Tax Proposal.
In the absence of the president, W.
Harrison Walker, vice president J. K.
Johnston presided at the Kiwanis
meeting on Tuesday.
Dr. F. P. Weaver, of the depart-
ment of economics of the Pennsyl-
vania State College, gave a very ii-
teresting and instructive talk on “The
Relation of Price Movements to Bus-
iness.”
Among other important facts, Mr.
Weaver said that we have no definite
standards of value. While the nec-
essity of such a standard is keenly
felt in the business world, yet no
standard exists comparable to those
of weights and measures. He com-
(pared the rising and lowering price
i levels with conditions as they would
exist if there were no such standards.
Mr. Weaver showed that the high
peaks in prices since 1790 were the
| drick, of Philadelphia, appointed him | vania bituminous coal regions, a year | respectively. The war, however, is
‘Director of Public Safety in which
' position, during the two years of his
tenure, he kept the politicians, in- | which this murder was a product. in jg responsible for
ago,
| condemned
fully exposed and vigorously
the police system of
| not the cause of high prices, but rath-
‘er the method of financing the wars
the high prices.
cluding Boss Vare, on “pins and need- | its report to Congress 309 pages were Bond issues or other methods, where-
les.” He adopted policies and inau- | given to the subject, in which it was | by credit is extended results in high
gurated methods for improvement of declared that “everywhere your com- | prices.
- government that might have revolu-
| tionized the politics of the city if he
had been properly supported by the
other agencies of administration. But
he was not so favored and at the ex-
piration of his furlough from the ma-
rine service, the political machine in-
fluenced President Coolidge to refuse
fan extension of time and he was
obliged to return to the marines.
During his brief service in civil life
General Butler formed a close inti-
macy with Gifford Pinchot, then Gov-
ernor of Pennsylvania, and it is said
that the Governor urged him to resign
his commission in the marines, con-
tinue in his municipal office and be-
come a candidate for Governor in
1926. If he had acceded to this prop-
ogition a Pinchot-Butler combination
would have been created capable of
cutting a big figure in the affairs of
the State. But Butler was fond of
then chances of promotion to the
rank of Major General. The recent
appointment of General Neville has
ble General Butler is now willing to
try chances in civil life.
————— le ieee
——The Pennsylvania contingent
cut the big figure at the inaugural
parade on Monday.
nse fp pen —
Election Frauds in Harrisburg.
On complaint of the Dauphin coun-
ty branch of the Pennsylvania Elec-
tions association the ballot box used
in one of the voting precincts of Har-
risburg was opened last week with
amazing results. Judge John E. Fox,
who conducted the investigation, re-
ferring to evidences of changing the
ballots said; “This number is so large
that it cannot be conjectured that
it was done by the voters, but was ob-
viously done by some one else than
the voters. It is apparent fraud, by
whom perpetrated there is no dis-
closure of evidence.” But there ought
to be a disclosure and a penalty. An
apparent fraud of such a nature
should be promptly investigated aad
the responsibility disclosed.
It has long been suspected that
elections in Harrisburg, Pottsville,
Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Erie and oth-
er cities of considerable population
have been controlled by frauds and
that the frauds in those cities, supple-
mented by those in Pittsburgh and
Philadelphia, have provided the Re-
publican majorities in Pennsylvania
frequently of late years. It is practic-
ally admitted by fair-minded and ob-
servant Republicans that the major-
ity for William S. Vare, in the Sena-
torial election of 1926, was obtained
by that process. Yet the Republican
organization, from the National com-
mittee down, is exhausting all its re-
sources to secure a ratification of the
frauds by awarding the stolen seat
to Mr. Vare.
The only excuse that has been of-
fered for the frauds exposed in Harris-
burg is that the election officers were
ililterate negroes incapable of con-
ducting the election according to law.
Possibly that is true, but it is equally
certain that those officers were chos-
en because of their incapacity to in-
terpret and enforce the law, thus op-
ening the way for cunning and crook-
ed politicians - to perpetrate the
frauds and escape punishment. The
judges and the district attorney of
the Dauphin county courts are in po-
sitions to investigate “an apparent
fraud,” and in the opinion of laymen
this far removed from the capital
city of the State it is their duty to do
So promptly and vigorously.
——The 1928 potato crop in Cen-
ire county is given as 364,080 bush-
els, valued at $229,370.
the marine service and there were
altered the situation so that it is possi-.
mittee visited they found victims of
| the coal and iron police who had been
{beaten up and were still carrying
| stars on their faces and heads from
i the rough treatment they had receiv-
ed.” Outrages upon women and chil-
dren were frequently brought to the
attention of the Senators. “Only the
vigilance of the State police,” the re-
port continued, “prevented atrocities
of a more serious nature.”
It is proposed to remedy this evil
by legislation placing restrictions up-
on the activities of this force. Gov-
ernor Fisher has promptly sounded
the alarm but qualifies his protest by
suggesting amendments to the law au-
thorizing it. But amending a viciously
bad law will not serve the purpose
| of correcfion. The only way to treat
such a law is to repeal it. Corpor-
ate property is entitled to protection
See as much as that owned by in-
i uals: But that result can “be
achieved by appointing watchmen as
banks and other business enterprises
protect themselves. It is not nec-
essary to give a ruffian authority to
roam about and kill in order to avert
imaginary dangers for his employ-
er.
—The township road supervisors of
the State maintain six times as many
miles of roads as does the Highway
Department and they do it on one-
fifth of the amount that is spent on
the State highways. The figures
happen to be correct, but if you don’t
believe them drive over some of the
township roads and be convinced.
——Benjamin Franklin Manning
has applied for a divorce from his
wife because her “wealth has proved
a bit intolerable.” She was the wid-
ow of one of the Dodge Brothers.—
“Poor Richard.”
mmm eee fy Aeeeeeeeetereeree
——The Power trust will derive
comfort from Mr. Hoover's statement
that his election meant ‘the denial
of ownership or operations of busi-
ness by the government.”
ners lp lp eee.
——We failed to find either Joe
Grundy or Tom Cunningham among
the Pennsylvania celebrities at the
inaugural. Probably modesty held
them in the back ground.
ee ————— reser.
——Possibly Mr. Hoover's national
commission to investigate the mat-
ter of law enforcement will be able
to report in time for the next Presi-
dential campaign.
——The Philadelphia crooks are
gaining confidence since the bosses
have reached an agreement. Kael-
ker, “King of the gamblers,” has sur-
rendered.
——The President spoke kindly of
religious tolerance in his inaugural
address but clings to Colonel Mann,
the Klu Klux organizer of the cam-
paign.
mre ae
——Former Vice President Dawes
gave the Senate rules a vicious slap
in his retirement speech but his suc-
cessor promptly applied a poultice.
——MTr. Hoover promises to choose
only fit men for office and after the
record of Harding and Coolidge that
is an encouraging promise.
——Of course the inauguration of
Mr. Hoover had nothing to do with
the decline in the value of stocks on
Monday.
a
—Talking about weather, Tuesday
and yesterday were bad enough to
suffice for all of March.
The minutes of the board of di-
rectors were approved. The club
voted to inform the Legislators to
use their influence against all in-
crease of taxation, especially on gas-
oline and automobile licenses. Robert
Hunter reported on a bill in Congress
relative to appropriations for a
public building for Bellefonte. The
following visitors were presént:
Messrs. G. L. Raynor, Williamsport,
R. F. Glenn, Bellefonte; E. A. Danby,
M. W. Neidigh, H. B. Shattuck, and
T. A. Miller, of State College.
i — ge TE
This Young Man Was Going Some.
A twenty-three year old young man
who gave his name as James W. Mil-
ler, alias Shawley, and the place of
his birth and former home State Col-
lege, was given a hearing in the Blair
county court, on Monday, on the
LW
charge of false pretense and larceny.
State highway patrolman H. W.
McCartney, who made the informa-
tion against young Miller, stated that
he had posed as a State highway pa-
trolman and had, acting in this as-
sumed capacity, ordered a patrol-
man’s uniform tailored, bought a
turkey and $21 worth of groceries,
without producing payments, and had
a barber bill charged on the strength
of his assumed position as an officer.
Miller declared that he had ap-
plied for admission to the State high-
way patrol ranks, and had received
letters from headquarters at Harris-
burg, which he was unable to read.
The youth declared he could neither
read nor write. These letters, he
said, he produced at each instance,
and permitted the grocer, the barber
and the tailor to read.
He asserted that the turkey had
been given him, and as for the order-
ing of the uniform, the youth said
he was under the impression he had
been accepted and was purchasing his
clothes.
The district attorney, after read-
ing Miller's letters from the State
highway patrol headquarters at Har-
risburg, said that the letters notified
Miller that he had not been accepted.
Miller declared he had been mar-
ried recently, and had been in jail
awaiting appearance in court. He
was given a sentence of six months
in jail, to be paroled at the end of
two months, to date from time of
commitment. He was also fined $5.
neil tits
Public Hearings on Proposed Increas-
ed Road Taxes.
Public hearing before the court will
be held in the court house on Monday
afternoon, March 11th, at two P. M,,
in the matter of the several petitions
by supervisors for increase of road
tax. These petitions are as follows:
Union Township for the levying of
an additional five mills, Huston
Township for the levying of an ad-
ditional five mills, Howard Township
for the levying of an additional five
mills, Gregg Township for the levy-
ing of an additional two mills. All
interested parties are invited to at-
tend. :
r————————————
——The baseball itch is spreading
in Bellefonte. A fair crowd of fans
were present at a meeting, on Mon-
day evening, to decide on whether to
have a team this year or not. Francis
Crawford, Russell Rider and Mark
Williams were appointed a committee
on the nomination of seven men for
a board of directors and report at a
meeting to be held March 14th, at
8 p. m. If sufficient interest is shown
at that time application will be made
for a franchise in the Centre and
Clearfield league.
—Subscribe for the Watchman,
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Strangling when a peanut lodged m
her throat, Betty Pauline Wilt, daughter of
Mrs. Chester A. Wilt, Duncansville, died
while being taken to Nason hospital,
Roaring Spring, on Wednesday.
—C. J. Held, of Loganton, has been
awarded the contract to carry the mail
from Loganton to Rebersburg, and Walter
Hackel has been awarded the contract to
carry the mail from Loganton to Mill Hall
for the next four years, beginning July 1,
1929.
—The State Highway Department has
made a survey for a re-alignment of the
highway and construction of a new bridge
over the Masden Hollow run at the Jo-
seph Bickel farm, midway between Beech
Creek and Mill Hall. A bad curve will
be eliminated.
—Compensation for the death of her
husband who was struck over the head
with an automobile jack during an argu-
‘ment with a fellow-workman, was grant-
ed to Jane Kricher, widow of Fred Krich-
er, of Philadelphia, by an opinion ren-
dered by Paul Houck, chairman of the
Workmen's Compensation Board. :
—Mrs. Ruth Wilson, 28, wife of John
B. Wilson, of Sem gd he e b
inhaling carbgit
mained seate
closed garage
running. 8 :
had been tied down with a cord, th
ner reported, and the woman left a note
to her husband in which she planned her
funeral.
—David K. Frey, Highville, Lancaster
county, has just rounded out 50 years
without missing a single session of the
Highville Sunday school. Frey believes
half a century of perfect attendance is a
record for the State. Frey is 76. He was
one of the organizers of the Highville con-
gregation and has lived in the neighbor-
hood of the little church since it was es-
tablished.
—A wooden leg does not give a man rea-
sonable execuse to dodge jury duty, Judge
Williams decreed at Norristown, on Mon-
day. Benjamin Jacobs, Lower Merion,
summoned for service this week, sent word
he could not report because he had a
wooden leg. The court directed the Sher-
iff to investigate. ‘If he is able to walk,
bring him in,”” Judge Williams told Sher-
iff Pratt. :
—Work on the new gravity yards to be
constructed by the Pennsylvania Railroad
company at Lewistown Junction has been
started. The plans call for five tracks
with a capacity of 25 cars each, added to
the storage and drilling space now in
service. Robert Woodcock, supervisor, is
directing the work. Construction of the
new coal and ash hoist in the Lewistown
shops is progressing rapidly.
—Max Keffer, 30, chain store manager,
of Bradford, is recovering in a hospital
from the inhalation of smoke. He was
caught between floors in the skylight
shaft in a blazing building. Bud John-
son, negro rescued him after firemen fail-
ed. The building collapsed shortly after
Keffer was removed from the living fur-
nace. Johnson pried a hole in the build-
ing with a crowbar while standing on a
ladder. :
~K shot from a révolver, ag the congre-
gation was kneeling and the minister was
making the closing prayer, nearly cost the
life of a worshipper in the Towamencin
Mennonite church, near Kulpsville, Sun-
day night. A revolver said to have been
in the hands of William Hangey, of
Fricks, was accidentally discharged and
the bullet ripped through the woodwork
of a pew and struck Henry Landes, of
Souderton, in the back. The woodwork
of the pew checked the bullet and prob-
ably saved Landes’ life.
—Clare and Clara, 3-year-old twins of
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dillsworth, of West
township, in Huntingdon county, were
tragically separated by death on Monday.
The mother, going to the barn to do some
chores, had instructed her 8-year-old son,
Dean to look after the twins. The little
fellow seeing a rifle on the porch, picked
up the weapon, which was discharged, the
bullet striking the twin daughter, Clara
and killing her. Dean ran®to inform his
mother at the barn, telling her that he
didn’t know the rifle was loaded.
Mrs. Helen W. Eiker, 19, of Gettys-
burg, convicted of slaying her husband,
Percy D. Eiker, has been sentenced to
serve from five to 10 years in the Eastern
penitentiary, Philadelphia, for fatally
shooting her husband in August 1928. Mrs.
Biker's defense was that her husband was
accidentally shot while endeavoring to
take a shotgun from her after, she said,
she had shot through the head of the bed
on which he slept to frighten him and to
dissuade him “from running around with
other women.” District Attorney John P.
‘Butt contended that the shooting was
“wilful and deliberate.”
—Two men were burned to death at
Pittsburgh, on Sunday when a gasoline
tank truck exploded after striking a curb
at a sharp turn in a downtown thorough-
fare. Flaming gasoline, which spread ov-
er the street, set fire to two buildings.
The street was a flaming sheet of fire for
a time and the heat repelled efforts of
firemen to reach the two truckmen pinion-
ed in the wreckage of their vehicle. When
finally reached, the two men were dead
and their bodies badly burned. The street
intersection where the accident occurred
is not far from the Monongahela river and
gasoline ran along the curbing toward the
stream, causing boat owners to move their
craft. The flaming liquid, however, did
not reach the river.
When a large quantity of nitro-gly-
cerine which he was transporting in an
automobile exploded, a man whose name
is believed to have been W. J. Shaner was
blown to atoms, and a section of the im--
proved road between Emporium and Siz-
erville was destroyed on Monday after
noon. The man, a well-shooter, had call-
ed at an Emporium factory that after-
noon and had secured 100 quarts of nitro-
glycerine which he intended to transport
to a section of the oil fields in the north-
ern tier of counties. There were no per-
sons ‘in the vicinity at the time the ex-
plosion took place and as a result no de-
tails of the manner in which it occurred
are available. Persons arriving on the
scene failed to find any traces of the man’s
body and but few pieces of the machine.
A large hole was torn in the road bed
and all traffic was stopped by highway
patrolmen until necessary repairs could
be carried out. The blast was heard for
a distance of several miles and windows
in homes at a distance of a mile were shat-
tered by the blast.