VOLUME { OLD SERIES, XL. sna rs —————————————— THE CENTRE REPORTER. n— By FRED KURTZ. Under the new rules governing the Democratic organization in this state, Center county will have four delegates in future state conventions—one delegate for every 1000 democratic votes cast for governor. Pattison’s vote in Centre Co. was 4178. Under the new rule the num- ber of delegates in the Democratic state convention will be 359, or 108 more than heretofore. In our opinion it makes the convention unwieldy. - tien Dukes, the man who shot Nutt at Un- iontown, appeared at Harrisburg on 11, and at once consulted with Speaker Faunce, of the House, whether there was anything to bar him from taking the oath and his seat as a member. The Speaker told him he thought not and advised Dukes to take the matter into considera- tion for himself, ei itri—— At Reading, Pa., two brothers were ar- rested, charged with selling the meat of hogs which had been bitten by a mad dog and died of rabies. It is hard to say what punishment is severe enough for such miscreants, — ei memm—— In Baltimore, the other day, a German, Joseph Miche, shoved off this mortal coil in guite a merry mood. His body was found with a bullet wound in the right temple. In his right hand was a revolver and in his left a glassand a wine bottle was on the ground near by. On his per- son was found a paper with the following writing in German: “As I have lived, so have died—always merry—my last glass is tendered to my friends.” seam meiae —— The Senate on 9th, passed the presi- dential succession bill. An amendment offered by Mr. Morgan, providing that the cabinet officer becoming acting pres- ident shall act only until a president is elected or the vacancy otherwise filled, was agreed to, as was also one offered by Mr. Ingalls, providing that it shall be the duty of the acting president to con- vene congress by proclamation, giving twenty days’ notice of the time of meet- ing. The bill was then passed—Ayes 40, noes 13. The bill provides that in case of the removal, death resignation or ina- bility of both the president and vice president the secretary of state shall act as president; and if there be no secretary of state the secretary of the treasury shall so act, the vacancy always to be filled by the cabinet officer next in rank down to the secretary of the navy. ———— — In the state senate the Independents were severely snubbed by the stalwarts. The Patriot says the action of Senators teyburn, Adams et. al, in connection with the attempted confirmation of Phil- ip C. Garrett, has caused a diversity of comment. Senator Stewart is righteous- ly indignant at the insult offered the in- dependent republicans, in the rejection of this distinguished member of the com- mittee of one hundred. He says that in retaliation he will vote against the con- firmation of all notaries public, whom he may know voted against him for govern. or. Where there is any doubt as to the action of these appointees he will call up on Senator Cooper for the necessary in- formation. Senator Herr, who has be- come quite a reformer, is thoroughly dis gusted with the rejection of Mr. Garrett as a member of the board of public char- ities and says such a course is well calcu. lated to “bust” the republican party, a Ee, . Pattison’s inauguration has not cost the state one cent. Score one for sensible reform. Cooper, stalwart, and late chairman of Beaver's state committee, wants a law passed fining every man who does not vote, $2.50. The House has put itself against the Legislative Record by 172 to 18. Good. Thank the Rerorrer and other papers for raising the alarm. Down at Richmond, on 9, snow fell to a depth of 18 inches. Beats us up here, “Grit,” the weekly of the Williamsport Daily Banner comes up to the plane of weeklies of the larger cities. We always admire “grit.” Lot. M. Morill, one of the republican leaders in Maine—governor, congress man and U, 8, Senator, died a few days ago. sont LAI MS a Thanks to our contemporaries of the press for complimentary notices of the Reronter on its enlargement and im- provement. Modesty restrains us from re-publishing these kind expressions. —— The Clearfield Bituminous Coal Come pany was organized, on 10, in Clearfield, Pa. with a capital of $5,000,000, Wm, A. A SHARP LEGISTATOR. The reader of the RerorTer will re- remember that for the last four or five years we have been calling attention to the money drawn by the members of the Senate and House for postage and stationery, $100, who then drew their stationery besides and most of them used the postage stamps for paying in- dividual debts and left the documents unmailed, to be expressed to their homes at an additional cost to the state, and that we put down the thing as a steal and unlawful, The ablest member now in the House, is J. M'Dowell Sharpe, of Franklin, We do not know whether he read the Reror- TER, but we are pleased to observe that he has called the attention of the House to this steal, which costs the state some $25,000 per session. And as Mr. Sharpe is one of the foremost lawyers of the state, the Rerorrer flatters itself that it was correct in the view it took of this business. Let the distinguished mem- ber from Franklin insist upon having this steal put an end to, We are also pleased to see that the same able gentle- man has made a move against that nui- sance, the Leg. Record. We call the attention of Mr. Sharpe to a table which we publish elsewhere in this issue of the RxrortEr, carefully made up from the Aud. Gen'l Report, 1881, and which gives the amount that can be lopped from enormous charges paid for doing some little things about the hill—it is in these where the extrav- agance and stealings are carried on. WHERE THE CHIEF-CLERK CAN MAKE A REAL POINT. To discharge a lot of scrub-women and pages, was all right—there were too many. But they got only a few dollars, and they were not an an eye-sore to the people. But we score one for their dis charge. Now then, we call the attention of chief-clerk Meek to larger game that will flutter around him and ask him fo keep his shot-gun heavily loaded and let drive at practices of former chief clerks who had heavy bills for things in and around the chamber. Who got the divies the chief-clerks might know, We call the attention of clerk Meek to the items below, taken from the last Aud. Gen'l Report, and if he will see that bills of the kind shall not be foisted upon the taxpayers, we will score one for him. Here is one of the big leaks and where the people want reform: Members $50 each for stationery, $10, 000, William "P. Smull, acting chief-clerk for contingent expenses, 1881, $1045, do "81, $41. Harry Hahn, chief clerk for contingent expenses, $8,500, Harry Huhn, chief-clork, for lacks, &e., $187. Harry Huhn, chief-clerk, for repairs, $805, Harry Huhn, chief-clerk, for repairs, $107. Harry Hahn, chief-clerk, for indexing journal, $200, Here are nearly eleven thousand dol- lars, outside stationery, that passed into the hands of chief-clerk, Harry Huhn, just for fixing around the House, besides the regular salary of that officer, which is $2500. Then there is the deal for carpets and oil clothe, $2708, What was done with the old put in the session before? Then there are further “repairs” amounting to near $2000 all coming under the jurisdic. tion of the chief-clerk. Now how much steal is hidden under the name “of re- pairs?’ Repairs has been a big thief around the House chamber for 20 years, and we would be pleased to have Meek route him out and let Reform take his place. sins G—— The expenses for the government of the District of Columbia are paid by the United States. The population is 180,000 and in territory its extent is about that of one of our Pemnsvalley townships. It costs about $2,150,000—o0r near $12 per head for every man, woman and child. At this rate the expenses for governing Centre county one year would foot up $450,000. Now this gives the reader of the Rerorres an idea of ring rule. But as the United States pays the expenses for governing the District of Columbia, the people there dio not feel the effects of these expenses. In cities like Philadelphia, however, where the people pay for the fun of having the ring man- age the city's affairs, the tax-payersshud- der when the collector comes around. There have been enormous jobs in the District of Columbia, and men like Boss Shepherd havz saade millions there out of worthless paving contracts and such like. Will congress look at this rotten. ness, and plant a little reform there ? Wallace was elected President. Subscribe for the Reporter-—or send at least one new name, ug WHERE TO REFORM IN EARNEST, A Guipe 10 Hoxgst LecisLatons, Jf the Penn’a Legislature is really de- sirous of obeying the voice of the people, which is loudly for cutting down expen- ditures, and the stopping up of the big leaks, the Rerorrer will point out plain- ly where the ugly holes are that suck in the public funds. We were the first to publish a list of these stealsjpome years ago, and for the benefit of our servants now at Harrisburg, we will again show them up, pointing them out as contained in the Auditor General's Report for 1851, The sums we present are such as we take to be in excess, and most of them a clear steal: SENATE. Page _. ., : 135, Stationery to Senators “ (Clerks and ass, clerks, Speaker's clerk, Sergeant-at-arms, door- keepers and messengers, Pasters and folders, Pages, Firemen, Postmaster, J. C. Delaney, paid already as Librarian —for post- age, labor, &c., Postage for Senators, Carpets, chairs, &c., Plumbing, &c., Forwarding doc’s to Senators Dellany, for repairs &c, HOUSE. Members, stationery, steal, Clerksand asst's Speaker's clerk Sergeants-at-arms, doorkeep- ers, and messengers, P. M. and assistant, Pasters and folders, Janitors, Pages Firemen Chief clerk Smnll contin- gent expenses Postage stamps to members Huhn, chief clerk, contin- gent expenses do do repairs Carpets, oil cloths, &c Seats and repairs Forwarding docs to mem- bers al 4 (6K) 5.000 1000 1000) O00 HOOK) 600 fix) tan} $4) 1 A iER) ri MEE HK 16x) UH u “ 1000 Resident clerk, postage labor, express charges, &c, Committee to improve venti- lation 15600 Salary State Library JH Salary Sup’t of printing Public grounds, steal Supplies for senate, pens, toothpicks, &ec, &c. 2 do for House do do departments Leg. Record Printing Wrappers Advertising for proposals Philad. School of Design Pedrich for statement show- ing titles and exhibiting summary of powers grant- ed to corporations On sundry items to the no- torious Dellaney On public printing EWE oi ¥) do LAK) Ken) 10.05%) 106 HX) 5000 50.000 Total, $200,000 Here are $200,000 that can be lopped off of the expenditures and machinery of the state government will run right along without a jar. A committe, of either house, right on the spot, can find other holes yet to stop up which will ers, ple want. The eye of the tax-payer was not so much upon a few scrub women and pages as upon the stealings of clerks, and other employees about the capital. Anything short of lopping off $100,000 to $150,000 dollars as exhibited above, is not very much in the line of Reform. Let the fight be against the big thieves women. ass——_— To ——— AT HARRISBURG. The Reform started ai Harrisburg is all good, but it is only a drop of what is wanted, There was not much com- plaint about scrub-women and pages, al- tho’ too many, and what they got was a trifle and that was not stolen. Reform must run into the big steals by the big fish and jobbers. A bill has been introduced in the House requiring Justices of the Peace to attach seals to their returns, A bill was read to abolish the contract system in penitentiaries. A Dauphin member has a bill for a vote every three years on gen- eral license. Another bill to fix the sala- ry of members $1000, long or short ses- sion. Then 4 bill to prevent political or- ganizations from paying taxes for voters, Then there is this bill that offers a new idea: That there shall annually be lev- fed upon voters a poll tax of two dollars and fifty cents, in addition to other taxes now prescribed by law for State, city and county uses, the voter not to pay the tax if he votes but if he fails to exercise the franchise, To remedy an rpparant defect in the presidential succession bill, in the Sen- ate, on 12, Mr. Ingalls introduced a bill to provide for determining the existance and the removal of the inability of the president of the United States to dis charge the powers and duties of that of fice, two heads of departments shall state in office, if the court be not then sitting, the chief justice, shall, within ten days, con- vene it to hear and determine summari- ly the question of the alleged inability, and if, upon said hearing, it shall appear to said court that such inability exists, they shall certify their decision to the vice president, who shall therenpon dis- charge the powers and duties of the of- i fice of president. - ce ly ole Mp The Fitz-John Porter bill passed the provid- or allowance prior to his reinstatement in to. Mr. { moved to indefinitely postpone the bill, genate on 11, The amendment | ing that Porter shall receive no pay the army was agreed Conger Mr. Cameron (Pa.) spoke in favor of the | bill, | triotic services in organizing the troops beginning of the Porter's of Union cause, He described Porter's valuable pa- at Harrisburg at the war, and said he believed that influence had secured the adhesion the Argan General Thomas to Messrs, Conger, 1 gpoke in opposition to the bill. The mo- and Lapham tion to indefinitely postpone was lost, | Ayes, 34; At 2:10 the Porter i hill was passed by a vote of 33 to 27 nays, 51. 27. | Cameron, Hoar and Sewell were the on- { ly Republic «ans voting in the affirmative. | The Senate resumed i consideration of the sn 3 aa Sata p Ale iff bill and after a brief discu tar ion ad- ourned. eerste fe — Clearfield county has a big railroad | and coal boom, We expect our neigh- | bors across the ridges to be among the | most populous counties of the state in | course of time, as the vast coal fields of | Clearfield are being opened up and new | railroads traverse the county, thousands | of miners and others will flock thither. lelative to the new railroad projects the Lock Haven Republican of a late | date, says, “that there will be two rail roads built np Beech Creek is about as | certain as anything can be, On Tuesday, December 26th, an agreement was en- between the Williams- port and Clearfield Railroad and the { Penusylvania Railroad, under which the former company will enter at once upon the construction of a railroad from the mouth of Beech Creek to Snow Shoe. | The charter of the Williamsport and Clearfield company authorizes the build | ing of a road from Williamsport to Clear- | field town, and it is stated they propose | after the construction of the road to Snow Shoe to continue acrossthe Summit i to Clearfield. The contract has already been awarded to strong parties in New | York for building the road from Beech Creek to Snow Bhoe and work will com- mence at once, as it is expected to com- plete the road so as to connect with the Bald Eagle Valley at Beech Creek by the first of next August. The rails have | been purchased and will be forwarded as goon as possible, The price of iron is now lower than for some time past and | the company concluded to take advan. tage of it. An offer was made a few days | ago to parties furnishing the rails, and it | was accepted. Some active demonstra tions may be looked for within a very | few weeks, and it is not improbable that | two new railroads will traverse the coun- | try between Beech Creek and Clearfield { within the next year, The officers of | the Williamsport ang Clearfield com- pany are New York men of large means and have the confidence of capitalists, and with the backing of the Pennsylva- nia Railroad will push things from the start, “About seventy miles of the Susque~ hanna and Southwestern Railroad from Jersey Shore, up Beech Creek into Clear- field county, will be let within the next few days. When this is done we may look for lively times in this section of the country.” . tered into The Girard estate, college and all, is now valaed at about eighteen million dollars. Two children were burned to death at Petrolia, Pa., by their clothes taking fire from a stove. —— PERSONAL. W.T. Meyer, of Aaronsburg, one of the most accomplished mumscal instruc tors in this part of Penn's, favored sanctum with aeall. Mra. Brisbin, of Joliet, Illinois, sister of our neighbor D. K. Geiss, gave usa call, This is her first visit to her old home since she left with her father, 16 years . Prot J. N. Corman informs us’ that Rebersburg will have another musical convention the week of Fab, 12. Mr. Cor. man, we find is not at all suffering from throat consumption, as was erroneously reported. Mr. Rouben Eartman, of Millheim, ac. companied by his son, gave os a call. we. [Vinges has nice, fresh, plump oy ters, and the best oyster crackers, al ways. our THE MILWAUKEE HORROR, 75 Persons Burned—Men and Wo men Jump from the Windowe. Milwavkee, January 10.~The city is | grief stricken by the most terrible disas- | ter that has ever visited it. The New- hall House, a six story brick building, | was burned to the ground at an early { hour. The fire was discovered at about four o'clock, when all the guests were | sleeping, and in less than balf an hour, the whole building, long designated as = {death trap, was enveloped in flames, {Scenes of the utmost horror prevailed. { The inmates of the doomed building { jumped by dozens from the upper sto- | ries, covering the stone sidewalks with | lifeless bodies, The shrieks of the une | fortunates filled the gir in a heartrend- {ing manner. The people below were un- {able to render any sid. Quite a number |of the terrified guests and employes of | the hotel appeared at the windows, and | seeing the distance to the ground fell back to perish in the flames, The employes of the hotel, which ac- commodated 800 guests, numbered eigh- ty-six, mostly lodged in the sixih story, exit by way of the roof was cut off by the fire and the two standpipes with the fire Iadders were not available for the same reason. A number of wholesale estab- lishments in Water street wers da by fireand by the falling walls of the building. It way be safely said that six- ty persons are dead and thirty seriously injored. The scenes at the morgue, where thir- ty«<two bodies are lying in a ghastly heap on the floor of a amall room, are heartrending beyond human power of description, Tom Thumb got out through the front entrance, and his wife was brought down the fire escape by a fireman. Regarding the origin of the fire Mr Antisdel said the night watchman saw it first, but before he coald do anything, the flames shot up the elevator igniting every door, “I am confident that the fire started at the elevator, but how I cannot say. | was awakened by the noise and rushed out to find the building filled with flames and smoke and people gy. ing for their lives,” A number of th: rescoed guests say the fire started from the basement and went throogh the ele- vator to all parts of the house before an alarm could be given. John Antisdel, proprietor of the New- hall House, is 8 raving maniac, running up and down the streets crying: =“Oh, my God ! who set that on fire ?” The halls of the hotel were a scenes of the wildest contusion. Men, women and children rushed up and down in the dense, suffocating smoke, avoiding the | blinding flames and roaring blaze, and in their frantic efforts rushed by the stairways and windows leading to the fire escape, tumbling over the bodies ly- ing unconscious. A man stood on the corner of the fifth story, twenty minutes, not daring to leap. inally, he became bewildered by the smoke and slid off the perch to the canvass below, The few who held it could not give necessary re- sistance. The body was shattered to a lifeless mass, Above the last unfortu- pate sat & man crouched upon & window sill, gazing like one absent-minded into a fiery abyss, motionless, but from time to time sending up beartrending shrieks. The flames encroached upon him, sing- ing bis hair and licked his night-clothes. With a despairing look he tumbled back into the fire, About a dozen jumped from the Mich- igan street front. Each leap meant death or shattered limbs, and not less than four unfortunates, at one time, lay upon the icy sidewalk, clad only in night clothes, blood and brains oozing from wounds through which the bones pro- truded, The scene in the alley west of the burning building, was sickening. As early as 6 o'clock the bodies of seven un- fortunate girls were stretched upon the snow, with broken limbs writhiog in ag- ony. GOOD MRS, TOM THUMB, Tom Thumb and wife wererescued, from the hotel by Police Officer 0’ Brien. They were in their night clothes, and Mrs, Thumb suffered much from the cold air. The General,immedistely upon being pla ced in the express office, began mourning the loss of] valuable diamonds and other jewelry belonging to himself and wife. The latter heard him through and replied reprovingly, “What if we have lost every. thing; just look at those people there,” pointing to mangled forms of twenty dead und dying men and women lying upon the floor. The little woman then bravely bes gan relieving the sufferings of those around her by supplying them with water and the display of other acts of sympathetic kinds ness, WHAT THE GENERAL BAYS, Tom Thumb, one of the rescued inmates of the house, tells the following story of his experience:— 1 was partially aroused from a heavy sleep by s violent beating and pounding at my door. I was hardly awake when I arose and wondered what the matter could be’. “It seemed as if retreat was impossible, The blinding, suffocating smoke and terris ble heat were about us, We finally made our way through the smoke lo the front baloony, and the officer called people te put up a ladder. The freezing water from a stream thrown into the building above us poured down on and nearly drowned us, HOTEL FIRE IN ST. LOUIS. fit. Louis, January 14.—~The Plantier’ hotel, one of the largest in the city, took fire this morning shortly before § o'clock and burned so rapidly that four persons lost their lives, The greatest confusion prevailed when the alarm was given, and clothes, The weather was intensely cold and the firemen were thereby greatly hin- dered in their work, It is thought that there were not more than four victims. —— Ar Ass ———— 200 PERSONS BURNED IN A THE. Al ‘RE. Bt. Petersburg, Jauuary 14. —During the performances at a circus in cheff, in Russian Poland, & fire broks out in the building, and before the spectators could escape the whole siruciure was ablaze. Thres hundred persons perished in the fames, Berd iss Aenm——— ITA A TERRIRLE EXPLOSION IN ILLIONOIS COAL MINE Chicago, Jan. 9—A dispatch from Couls tersville, 111, says: Yesterday'sfternoon a terrific explosion occurred in the coal mine of Jories & Fesbit, near here. Of 12 per- sonsin themine at the time only 2 escaped a man named Mason and a boy. Mason was al the mouth of the shaft, «nd was badly hurt, The’ boy was uninjured. At sight o'clock last night relief parfies bad not been able to enter the wine, foul air rising in dense volumes and overpow- ering them at once. The fate ef the ten men is not known, but it is believed to bs impessible that any can escape, Nothing could be done for several hours, therefore a telegram was sent te While Oak for & force of miners. These manned the cage at 8 o'clock Isst evening and de- scended. The smoke was still thick below, but after about an hour's work they pene. trated one hundred yards through the de- bris to where James King ley oa his face dead, though his body was still warm. A dead mule was next found, and another hundred yards farther the nine men were discovered lying only = distance apart most of them face downward, td —— FATAL GUNNING ACCIDENT. A week or so ago two young men named Eves and Blackburn, of Blorms- town, Centre county, were out gunning about a mile and a balf from tibet ancient village, and from some cause the ramrod of young Eves’ gun became so tightly fastened in the thimbles of the stock that he could not remove it. In order lo get it from its place Eves asked Blackburn to take hold of the gun, placing one hand in front and the other back of the lock, and Eves took hold of the ramrod. Eves gave a quick jerk which drew the gun through Blackburn's hand, raising the hammer #8 it was driven through, and in the same instant the hammer not bes ing drawn back a sufficient distance dropped, and the contents of the rifle were sent crashing through the young man’s bowels, inflicting a fatal wound. The young man fell to the ground and his comrade, who was the younger of the two, hastened to carry the sad news fo the friends of the young man, who ap- peared in a short time, finding him sen- sible and entreating bis companion not to ery as he was not seriously hort. Med- ical aid was sent for, but before it reach. ed, the heart of the lad had coased to best. Death came from internal bleeds ing an hour and a ball after the accident occurred. He was 18 years old; the son of Mr. Joreph Eves, 8 promisest and highly respected citizen of Stormstown $fiuntingdon Local News. AN ARMERS' INSTITUTE. A FREE LECTURE COURSE ON FARM TOPICS. A course of lectures will be delivered st the Pennsylvania State College, begin- nin TUESDAY MORNING, JAN 80, 1885 and ending Friday afternoon or evening, February 9. The lectures will embrace a wide range of subjects, of special impor tance to agriculturists, and opportunity will be given, as far as time will permit, for questions and discussions in connect tion with them, They will be open to all, free of charge, and all interested are cordially invited to sttend, any one lec: ture, or the whole course: A few rooms in the College can be sup. plied st a Sharpe of $3.00 for each room, this charge including rent, fuel and use of such furniture as is farnished to sta. dents, viz: d, matiress, table, washstand and obsirs. Other articles, such as light, bedclothing, towels, etc, will need to be furnished by the occu. pants for themselves. Table board can be had at the hotel or with private families in the village, the usual charge of the latter beiag §8 00 per week, Adem by etry *» Heoaion, cu procure in the College Club at their usual rate of about $2.00 a week, The lectures will treat on a variety of important and interesting subjects, as we L By President Atherton—Twn Lec tures: Industrial Edocation, and Politi« cal Economy for Farmers, 2. By Professor McKee—One Lecture : Book-keeping for Farmers, 3. B f. Jordan—Fifiteen Lectures : A tural Chemistry, 4; Fertilizers, 3 ; Stock-Breeding, 2; Feeding, 3; DE oaloMOl Buckhout-—Eight Lec res: Botany, 3; Froks Growlag, 3 5 By Professor Osmo rei Lec: .’ tures: Farm Mechanics, 2 Meteorology. n, Roads: their and Dra 7. B Ewing—One Lecture : The Anatomy of the ticated Anis 8. Professor Bell--Two Lectares Doi Wier iuil-=Tws Lactares
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers