¢l
OL. LXXVI.
NO. 41.
x
NEIGHBORS ON TUE OUTS,
|
v
|
CENTRE COUNTY o%
IN THE CIVIL WAR. Making it Hot for Ench Other in the Vi.
cinity of Polecat Hollow.
Considerable excitement exists on
arsh Creek these days in Polecat
{ hollow, near Romola, Neighbors are
| making it hot for each other. Recent-
By T. P. Meyer, Sergeant Co. A.,148th|ly a man was arrested by Warden
Regiment, P. V. | Rightnour, of Bellefonte, on the charge
[To be Continued. |of shooting a squirrel. It is supposed
CHAPTER V. THE PRISONER'S STORY. | that the information was made by the
As before stated, quite a number of | man who was the offender, both neigh-
us were captured in the fights of Au-| bors and old friends. The hearing was
burn and Bristoe (Oct. 14th) and close- | held in Bellefonte and a fine of $10 im-
ly interrogated by the Confederate of- posed, which aggregdted $17 with the
ficers as to the number of men we had | costs. The man who shot the squirrel
here; what corps; when we began this | killed it for a friend who is recovering
movement; where our trains were; | from an operation for appendicitis. He
what Union batteries we had with us; | should recover with such high priced
how many guns we had seen during diet,
the last two days and in what direc! Agpother well known resident is re-
tion they hed moved; where we had | ported to have been arrested on the
spent the night; where, in our opinion, | charge of selling liquor without a li-
the Union army was bound for; who | cense. This bas caused something of
was in command, etc., always winding | a sensation Another report is to the
up with ashort talk on the absolute | effect that two fine hogs owned by a
uselessness of continuing Lhe war on | farmer were found with their throats
148th Regiment, Pennsylvania
Volunteers.
ABOUT INDIANS IN BOKHOMA.
Miss Cora Love, who left this place | of a hat or bonnet, often keeping it on
last spring for Oklahoma, and who | 8ll day.
now has charge of a government | They speak the Choctaw language ;
school in Bokhoma, Indian Territory, | ® strange language, like nothing I
writes from that place : | have ever heard. I can come no near-
Thinking that it may be of interest er describing than understanding it. I
to some of the readers of the Reporter, | have been able to learn a few words,
I offer’a few notes from the Choctaw | but am finding it much more difficult
Nation, in Indian Territory, more par- | than our old “Penn. Duteh.” A few
ticularly the south-eastern portion. | of them live much like the whites, but
The greater part of this country is | the majority of them live in little log
covered with the finest kind of timber: | huts, often without either door, win-
oak, pine, cypress, hickory, and wal- dow, roof or floor ; cook, eat and sleep,
nut. The trees grow very large and | #helter dogs and chickens, all in the
close together. There are a few small | #8M¢€ apartments. They do not know
prairies through this part of the coun- | how to provide food as the whites do,
try, but the timbered tracts are prefer- | #04 if they did have it provided, they
{| would not know how to cook it.
red by the settlers, as they have more | :
desirable land when it is cleared. | They live largely on Tom-fuller, (a
They clear the land much like our ear- | f00d prepared from corn) corn bread,
ly forefathers did, by cutting the bark |and meats. Many of them still break
away around the trees. They find it | UP the corn into meal as the early
almost as easy plow around the | tribes did, by using the block ; they
dead tree as around a stump, aud it | then shake it through baskets to sift
makes less work for them. it. For meat they use cattle and hogs.
The hogs are never put in pens and
to
the part of the National Government |
and that the Southern people would |
pever yield but would sacrifice thei:
last dollar and the last man to secure |
their independence. A General, whose |
name I did not learn, rode up and |
asked me: Are you not all tired of |
the war? Yes, sir! We are tired of the |
war, I answered, but it is on now and
we must win to end it. He
pleasantly and asked how many troops
do you think are beyond those hills?
I said: Our main army is there and |
if you go out there you will come back |
faster than you went. Every
arrival of prisoners were similarly
questioned. Their
generally evasively answered
The Confederate officers were gen-|
teei, clever, chivalric and all round |
good fellows. The rank and file were |
more given to sectional animosity and |
smiled
new
questi M8 were
ready to jangle with us and ina few |
instances threatened to *‘fisticuft’”’ us|
for strongly defending our side of the |
question. We got very loud during
the argument. The Confederate of-|
ficers drove their men away, saying |
that they must take what we say, or |
stay away fron us. Then there was
peace
The Confederate army
equippe !, miserably dressed and had
very little to eat. They had captured
some flour at our abandoned commis-
saries; this was distributed at night,
about half a pound to a man, Confed- |
erate soldiers and Union |
was poorly |
prisoners re-
ceivivg equal shares,
Flour, as such, could be
and we had no fires or utensils to bake |
it. We were prisoners under restraint
aud could not go after wood.
Next day, half famished, we man-
aged to get small fires of chips, grass
and dry manure. We mixed up our |
flour with water, shaped the dough in-
to balls and buried them in the hot
ashes under the fire; they would not
bake; they burned on the outside ;: the
inside was hot dough that would pull |
out like tatly; we rubbed off the ashes
and dirt that readily came off and ate
the steaming, ash and dirt begrimed
pittance of dough. Still the
and folds of our empty stomachs pain-
ed aud called for more; but for two
days longer there was no more. How
we bupgered for some of our often
ridiculed Government ‘“‘Hard Tack.”
All night long and every night
while we were kept with the Confer.
erate Army their men seemed to be up
and at work, baking flour iuto biscuits
for next day, They had not anything
else,
Many of their men were barefooted
aud io rags, [| was told that some of
them had marched from Fredericks-
burg, Va., to Gettysburg, Pa, and
back to Culpepper, over five hundred
miles, barefooted.
The soles of their feet were black and
80 tough that they marched, over
stone, stubble and briars as indiffer-
ently and freely as other men did with
shoes on their feet. I thought were I
80 destitute, I would strip the first
dead soldier I met, so that my feet
and back might be covered for it wea
very cold. At that same time I was
comfortable in the uniform of a dead
soldier myself,
Most of the shabby clothes they wore
were odds and ends sent to them from
their distressed and poverty stricken
homes and were all fashions and col-
ors, mostly, however, on the butler.
nut-gray order. Hats and caps of all
shapes, sizes, fashions and colors worn
in the same companies. They said
they had not been paid for eighteen
months; others had never seen a ‘pu, -
day” and were penniless, With all
this destitution they seemed to render
sarvice cheerfully. We felt sorry for
them and wondered if there was ever
manifested any where greater devo-
tion to any cause, This was to the
highest degree illustrative of the tus
American military spirit common
throughout the United States and so
often manifested by the Bouthern sol.
diers in every war in whieh our coun-
not eaten
Coruers
cut one morning. Other arrests are
threatened All of which has created
et il———
The Centre County Falr,
The Centre County fair which was
postponed from last week, owing to
the rainy weather, is in full swing.
I'he attendance from Penns Valley to-
There will be return
Continued from first column
have been independence for
The prisoners were all gathered into
sqquad, just to the rear of the
of battle;
this gathering by a
Uupion Battery a mile away, and fif-
teen or twenty, twelve pound Union
shells followed each other in rapid suc-
over our
There
excitement among the
for a little while. The
battery suddenly ceased
one great
Confederate supporting line
was discovered
cession, screaming viciously
heads and passed to our rear.
was
“Johnnies
of this
great
fire
A Confederate major rode up to me,
nut hat, in which crown sod rim had
“agreed’’ and huog in the same slant.
I thought he was wonderfully polite;
he held out his hat to we aud said:
Bince all the whites in this country
have either rented or leased the land, |
they do not feel like putting the work
on it they would otherwise. The larg-
est cleared tracts through here contain
from sixty to seventy-five acres. They
raise corn, Irish potatoes, sweet pota-
toes, cotton, cane and peas, raising
two crops of corn and potatoes in one
year very easily, Everything grows
very rapidly, as the soil is rich and
well watered.
We find the mountains here, which |
we look for in vain in Oklahoma, but |
they are not nearly so high as we are
accustomed to seeing in the east, |
We have long summers, although 1 |
have not found it extremely warm. 1 :
do not think we mind the heat here as
we do farther east. The winters, I am
told, are very moderate, more of a
rainy season than a winter, there
ing no danger of frosts before Novem-
ber. Do not have the high winds that
occur in parts of Texas and Oklahoma,
and no cyclones.
Dee
The country is all laid out in sec-
tions but they are not yet fenced in so
that the roads do not follow the sec-
tion lines, but run in almost any di-
rection and are as numerous as we find
them in some parts of Centre county,
I sometimes wonder that the settlers
are not in danger of being unable to
find their homes when they go far
from them, but every man appears to
have a road straight from bis house
I took it
Give me |
here, my boy, take this hat,
next?
I gave him my beautiful,
new MeClelian cap, which he put on
I put on his
so that I
He
smiled and said I looked very well in
it; then asked, are you satisfied ? Oh,
yes, I said, I guess it isa fair trade,
your cap. |
i
saying, it fits me nicely, i
it
could scarcely see out from under,
!
i
hat: “drooped’’
Another mounted Confederate of-
ficer, by his side, said to me, Lere, lad,
I handed
over my vew canteen; but he paid we
a dollar for it. The dollar was confed-
erate money, worth ten cents in green
back, about five cents in “sound mon-
ey.” For that dollar I bought a wood-
en canteen from a Confederate soldier.
This same canteen is to this day one of
my war relics
All day of Oct. 16th (1863) we were
kept with the Confederates at the
front, under the fire of our own army,
which, however, was high and did
little damage to us or the Confederates,
Next day Oct, 16th they marched us
from Bristoe to Beaiton Station, eigh-
teen miles, in heavy rain, through
deep mud and water. We forded a
number of streams from one to three
feet deep.
We were thoroughly soaked and
plastered with mud; the night turped
cold and we had an awful night in
our wet clothes; unshelitered and no
fires; we nearly froze.
About midnight I determined to try
my luck at escape. The night was
very dark. I lay down close to the
beat of one of our guards; when he
had passed me I rolled, log fashion,
quietly over his beat; then I arose
and walked slowly away. I was ner-
vous and listened amid some suspense
for his “halt” or the report of his gun,
If the latter came first, I mused, how
and where will his bullet strike me?
and to what extent will I be injured ?
I walked slowly on. None of the
guards bad seen me and I struck out
for a strip of woods halt a mile away,
I walked with and passed through
squads of Confederate soldiers, passing
as one of them in the darkness. They
spoke tome. I had planned to hide
in the woods and await the passing of
the Confederate army but in looking
for a hiding place I was discovered
and returned to the guard without
punishment or reprimand. It wss
not considered a crime to attempt es
cape. But shooting followed a refusal
to balt when detected, There were,
however, vicious men among them
who would shoot an escaping prisoner
let me have thal canteen
try ever had a part; and bul for these
Confined st foot of text oom,
suits him
for there are scarcely any bridgesand he
may not be able to cross during a part
to ford.
Travel is done mostly by wagon and
horse back. The people here go to
church, town, and everywhereon the
two-horse wagon. They put chairs in
behind the seats, when there are more
golog than the seats will hold. There
are but few buggies in the country dis-
tricts and they often have trouble in
getting through with the top up. The
Indians travel a great deal through
the woods on horse back, following
regular trails.
The towns in this country grow very
rapidly, becoming a good sized town
in asiogle year. Most of the houses
are small and built of plank. Lumber
has been very expensive as it had to
be brought from the states. The tim-
ber in this country was not allowed to
be cut or sold until after the Indians
had filed on their land.
The towns are the only places where |
the white settlers have been able to
purchase land, (and that just recently.)
Along the Choctaw and Arkansas R, |
R., which runs from Durant to Texar- |
kana, there is a town site laid out]
every ten miles, and many of them are |
already flourishing towns. |
The Indians, to whom this country |
belongs, are a strange class of people.
They still have many of the wild hab- |
ita, which are characteristic of their
early forefathers. They dress much
like the whites, but have no pride in
dress, or, if they have, do not display
it. The little girls wear their dresses
the same length as their mothers,
which Is about four inches from the
ground, acd they all wear red hand.
kerchiefs tied over their heads, instead
The Edaeation of Boys,
In The Delineator for November
Mrs. Theodore W. Birney hasa sug-
gestive paper on the Exucation of Boys
as future Fathers and Citizens. The
gist of her argument is that boys sel-
dom receive the sympathy to which
they are entitled -—uot a maudlin, senti-
mental sympathy that is calculated to
spoil the child, but an intelligent com-
prehension of his needs and an interest
in his doings and belongings. Her
conclusion is that if parents will only
take a genuine interest in all things
that interest their boys, they can hold
their confidence, and so long as they
possess that they can be reasonably
without “halting” him. I fully un-
sure that their sons will not go far
fattened as ours are in the states, but
are let run in the woods all summer
until fall, when they are supposed to
have been fattened on the hickory nuts
and acorns. The woods are running
full of wild looking hogs now, and
they do not look as though they ever
intended getting fat.
Most of the Indians do not care
farm much and what little farming is
done the women do. They know how
to do that better than work in the
house.
Our school work here among the
Indisvs is all quite different from that
in the states. The free schools are
free only for the Choctaw children,
They are maintained by the U. B. gov-
ernment for the Indians. Books,
teacher, and all, furnished free. The
whites are compelled to pay tuition on
sending to the neighborhood schools.
In most small towns they have a sep-
arate school for the whites, also in
many country districts where there
are a good many whites, and in all
larger towns they have a public school
system of their own, There are sever
al Academies, three Orphan schools,
and quite a number of boarding
schools in the Choctaw Nation, just
for Choctaw children
We find the Indian children very
eager to learn, and they learn very
readily in all branches where they do
not have to the English. Our
work bere is largely that of teaching
them the English language. Those
Indians who can speak the English
say it is much easier for children to
learn thao the Choctaw. I find my
children take up writing and drawing
very readily. Iu fact, anything that
they can copy. They are all pretty
writers, have more trouble iu learning
to read and spell. They can repeat
the words very easily but, to the ma-
lan-
guage bave vo meaning after they
have repeated them. They are often
real good readers but do not have the
least idea what they read about. It
means just as much to them as so
much Choctaw would to the children
in your publie schools.
ifind them very easy to control.
They are timid and always obedient,
when they understand what is requir-
ed of them. Often find the most troub-
le in making them understand what is
wanted. Many of my children come
to school on ponies, leaving the ponies
to graze until they are ready to go
home. They never bring their dinner
pails to the school house, but hang
them on trees several rods from the
school house and at noon go out there
to eat their dinner. They are in the
habit of hanging them out that way
during the entire winter.
Many of their games are much like
the games white children play, but
their ball game is quite different. They
have their bats so made that with two
of them they can pick up the ball, and
they play through the entire game
without once touching the ball with
their hands.
A good education makes the greatest
difference conceivable in an Indian,
We notice the greatest difference be-
tween those who have gone to school
a great deal and those who have not,
they try to live more like the white
people, when they have learned how.
to
use
Editorial Game Laws,
The Editorial Game Laws are stated
in an Eastern publication to be as fol
lows: “Book agents may be killed from
October 1st to June 1st; scandal mone
gers from April 1st to February Ist;
umbrella borrowers from August lst
to November 1st, and from February
Ist to May 1st. Every man who so-
cepts a newspaper for two years and
on being presented with the bill, says,
“I never ordered it” may be killed on
thespot without reserve or relief.’ —
Medical Review.
# A A ——
Mrs. Mary J. Goodhart will make
public sale of her farm stock and im-
Bie rg
It is better to give than to receive
the things you have no use for,
——t———
Lieutenant Kissing Hobson will be
an attraction at the Huntingdon coun-
ty teachers institute. The ladies es-
pecially ought to be glad to have him
come into their midst, !
ms o—p— re ———
It is claimed that President Roose-
velt used the personal pronoun thirty-
six times in twenty-eight consecutive-
sentences while making a speech the
other day. That was certainly stren-
uous-I-ty,
—————— i ————————————
The two New York Benators are
paired—or will be in a few days. Ben-
ator Platt is to follow the example of
Benator Depew and marry again. He
is three score and ten, which is two
years older than “our Chauncey’ was
when he remarried. And yet foreign-
ers pretend that the strain of American
life wears men out prematurely,
rr fp fo ——
It will be well for the Democrats of
Centre county to awaken to the fact
that although there is little excitement
in politics, the Republican party will
not lose an opportunity to elect its
candidates for county offices. Centre
county is naturally Democratic, but
the stay-at-homes have turned half
the offices over to the opposition.
rm ——— —
Democrats : Don’t be fooled by the
apparent apathy in Republican local
politics! There are two county offices
—Jury Commissioner and County Sur-
veyor—to be filled, and while these are
at the bottom of the list as to impor-
tance, it will be misjudging the Re-
publican party of Centre county if it
does not put forth its best efforts to fill
them with two of its own members.
PS ————
While subjecting wheat to a duty in
bis program, ex-Minister Chamberlain
proposes to admit free the Indian corn
of the United States. If, as he argues,
the duties on wheat would not increase
the cost of bread to British consumers,
wherein lies the necessity of exempt-
ind Indian corn from his imperial
plan of protection? Duties ought to
work the same way in both cases.
—————
War is possible between Russia and
Japan. The whole matter has reached
a pass at which hostilities are largely a
question of temperament. If Admiral
Alexiefl, at Port Arthur, M. Lessay, at
Peking, and Count von Posen, at To-
kyo, intend to have war, they can pre-
cipitate a conflict, no matter what may
be the determination of the Czar, or
even of his Government at St. Peters-
burg. There are times when nations
drift so near each other that it lies al-
together with the mau at the wheel to
decide whether there shall be a
collision,
a ——— A os ———
If Governor Pennypacker shall be
guided by the desire of the people of
Pennsylvania he will do what he can
to keep the Bupreme Court out of pol-
itics and make it as nearly a represen-
tative body as possible. It would only
be a matter of the commonest fairness
to select a Democrat to succeed Chief
Justice McCollum. Locality is an in-
ferior consideration as compared with
character aud attainment. There is no
dearth of Democratic lawyers in the
Btate whose eminent fitness is beyond
dispute. And the Supreme Court
needs leveling and leavening. As it is
able, but lopsided.
AP ———
Representative Hill, of Connecticut,
has information from some source that
the President will recommend a Com-
mission to consider the currency ques-
tion, and that Congress will create
such a Commission. What is the mat-
ter with the committees of the two
Houses? This Commission idea may
be employed as a means of evading ac-
tion if it shall be felt in Congress that
public sentiment requires a blufl at
doing something. But Congress is not
fond of Commissions, It believes its
committees know as much asany Com-
mission can possibly know, and as a
means of legislation it certainly will
not create a Commission; as a megs
of concealing the cowardice of the
“stand pat’ policy it may create one
and then boast that it is proceeding in
the direction of currency reform as
rapidly as prudence will permit,
Ms ss —
LOCALS,
It might be wise to be vaccinated.
Watch the sale register in the
Reporter,
The MiMin county fair will be at-
tended by a number from Penns
Valley*
“Northern lights” were plainly visi-
ble Monday evening. The spectacle
was decidedly grand.
Among the patents granted recently
is a harvesting machine by John W.
Taylor, of Reedsville, and W. J. Hunt.
er, of Huntingdon.
Jacob Sprow, of near Centre Hall,
was a caller Monday, and bad the la-
bel on his paper advanced. He reports
TOWN AND COUNTY NEWS.
HAPPENINGS OF LOCAL INTEREST
FROM ALL PARTS.
Judge John G. Love last week held
court in Clearfield county.
Mrs. J. C, Barr, of Tyrone, was the
guest of her niece, Mrs, F. A. Foreman.
Last week's heavy rains did consid.
erable damage in the eastern portion
of the state,
Albert Bradford, of Farmers Mills,
advertises sale of personal property to
be held Tuesday, 27th inst.
Mr.and Mrs. 8B. K. Emerick, of
Fleming, attended the funeral of Mr,
Emerick’s mother, held Bunday.
Miss Romie Van Pelt Saturday will
go to Chambersburg to resume her
studies in music in Wilson College.
Misses Bess and Breeze Benner and
John Benner last week went to Phila.
delphis, where they have secured po-
sitions,
Alfred Durst is haying a bath room
fitted up in his home on Hoffer street,
Mr. Durst bas one of the prettiest
homes in the town.
D. W. Bradford is the owner of a
fine Bhorthorn bull that weighs 1725.
He is three years old, and is finely
marked and solid red.
Mre. Henry P. Bankey, of Potters
Mills, elsewhere in this issue adver-
tises public sale of farm stock and im-
plements for November 10th,
John Q. Miles, ex-County treasurer,
on his way from the Milton fair last
week. stopped with his daughter, Mrs.
George O. Benner, in this place, over
night,
The Philipsburg Ledger assures the
school teachers in Centre county that
they can secure boarding at the hotels
at from $1.25 to $1.50 per day and at
private homes at $1.00 per day.
Superior Court Judge George B. Or-
lady, of Huntingdon, being in-
dorsed by attorneys in Huntingdon
and Blair counties for the vacancy on
the state supreme court bench,
Mrs. Alfarata Goss has been ill at
Houtzdale for the past two weeks. She
left Centre Hall to visit her son Harry,
and on the way took a severe cold
which developed into pleurisy.
Rev. C. L. McConnell, of Mifflin.
burg, has been appointed historian
orator at the next meeting of the
Lutheran Synod, at which time that
body will celebrate its fiftieth an-
niversary.
is
George Kline, of Oak Hall, will sue-
ceed Albert Bradford as head miller in
the flouring mills of the J. B. Fisher's
Sons, at Farmers Mills. In the spring,
Samuel Frederick, who recently pur-
chased the mill, will assume control of
the plant.
Miss Elsie Alexander, daughter of
A. C. Alexander, of Centre Hill, Fri-
day brought to this office a part ofa
raspberry stalk that borea bunch of
ripe berries. The berries were inspect-
ed by many persons who called at the
Reporter office,
Miss Bara Boude Barber, the elocu-
tionist of Lewisburg, who will be re-
membered as having given an enter-
tainment in the Presbyterian church
in this place some time ago, has ac-
cepted a position in a school for ladies
in Washington, D. C.
Those who care to learn how Mor-
gan, Schwab and the bulk of million.
aires make their money, have only to
read the transactions of these financiers
as relates tothe U. 8. Ship Building
Company. It beats any soap confi-
dence man on the road.
Rev. Kikaturo Yoshida, the young
Japanese who graduated from the
Lancaster seminary and spoke in the
Reformed church in this place a short
time ago, was given farewell Monday
evening of last week by the Franklin
and Marshall students, Rev. Yoshidyg
will sail for Japan in a few days.
Tax Collector J. Frank Smith re-
ported to the school board that up to
October 1, he had collected school tax
to the amount of $648.67. His report
and payment to the school board treas-
urer was made in compliance to a new
law that requires monthly reports, and
the tax to be paid over monthly.
A detective of the post office
ment was in Centre Hall looking for a
witness who could identify Lewis, |
Palmer, Ryan and Shireman, the robe i
bers captured in the Beven Mountains,
These characters were seen by Messrs,
John Puff and Sturger Shultz an hour
before the attempted robbery took
place in Centre Hall, but neither of
the young men could identify them, _
A prominent woman of
Sullivan county, was arrested by a
United States marshal for having
written scurrilous avonymous letters
to business men. These missives ad.
vised the husbands to keep a close
watch on their wives. The arrest was
made after a reward of $100 was offered
Aaron and all others
for the appr of the offender,