[ ——— Odd and Curious News The Most Widely Read Newspaper in Centre County. A Visitor in Seven Thousand Homes Each Week. | SECOND SECTION Che Centre Democrat NEWS, FEATURES VOLUME 59 Mt BELLEFONTE, PA. | What a Boy Can Do Three-year-old Louis Epstein gave Altoona city officials a half hour's | unusual excitement when the lads leg slipped into an uncovered iron | sewer pipe at his home and he was held fast. Police were called by his | worried parents, City firemen re-| sponded and stood by with first aid | equipment. The Mercy Hospital sent | a doctor and ambulance In case | they should be needed. After unsuc- | cessful attempts to remove the boy's leg, city highway workers were call | ed to the scene. They smashed the concrete, freeing the tot with the pipe still attached to his leg. The | hospital physician, assisted by sev- | eral others, used mineral oll to re-| move the pipe. While Hubby Scrubs | At least one Blair county census enumerator, a female, is bound and determined shell carry a pair smoked glasses from now on. On a census taking trip to a smal] two- room apartment in the Altoona dis- trict the census enumerator was escorted by the lady-of-the-house | into one of the rooms where the | husband sat bathing in a wooden tub. The husband calmly kept on washing while the enumerator ask- | ed questions. He was still busy scrubbing away when the enumer-| ator finished her job and left Expensive Breakfast Patients at the Lock Haven Hos- | pital were treated to an expensive breakfast last Wednesday morning. | Fish commission officials turned over to Miss Ada C. Zorges, superin- tendent, 58 undersized trout and 28 over the legal limit all taken in the | arrest of three persons, charged with having the fingerlings in pos- session. Fines for the trio amount- ed to $850, plus costs of $14.30, Embarrassing Moment The face of Joseph York, of] Coatesville, was plenty red when he] fell asleep smoking a cigar and his clothes caught fire. But imagine his chagrin when “guests” burst in the door soon after and saw Joe, in his underwear, dashing water on his clothes on the floor. Neigh- borg had seen smoke coming from! a window and summoned firemen First ‘Phone User Mrs. Caroline A Williams, 85, who owned the first private tele- phone line in the United States, | died recently in Boston. Her tele- | phone was installed on April 4) 1897, by Alexander Graham Bell] and Thomas A. Watson, his assist- | ant, and ran from her home to the | electrical shop of her husband, the late Charles Willlams, Jr. Car Kills Child Seeing her two-year-old daugh- ter, Carol Jean, lying at the curb, Mrs. HP. Hughes, of Albuquerque, | N. M. thought she was playing a prank. When she investigated, however, she found the child dead, the victim of an automobile, Crusaders’ Fortresses Become Pawns i An illustrated story telling how gigantic fortresses which defend-| ers of the Crosg built in their war! with the Moslem have become pawns in the game of world politics, One of the many features in the May 5th issue of The American Weekly the big magazine distribut- ed with the Baltimore American. ! On sale at all newsstands. Sandy Ridge Pastor Transferred | The Rev. Merle 8. Cowher, for mer pastor of the Sandy Ridge Methodist church, has been assign- ed to the Wallaceton charge, and the Rev. Elford M. Sayers, who will | be graduated from the Drew Theo-. logical Seminary within a few weeks has been assighed to the Grampian- Lumber City charge. The two posts’ were left open at the recent con- ference held in Clearfield. | Henszey, ! structure will be known as Foster | Court. | day at Ridgway. He was 70, TRUCK COAL PRICES BOOSTED IN ENTIRE PHILIPSBURG AREA Increases Ranging From 11 Cents to 25 Cents Per Ton Will Apply to All Mines in Number One District Consumers who buy coal from truckers will pay more than they had been during the past winter, | according to the Federal Coal Divi- sion, which announces an increase in truck coal prices ranging from 11 cents to 25 cents, for District No, 1, which includes the Philipsburg ares. The schedule of recommended minimum prices includes mines in the Philipsburg, Houtzdale, Morris- dale and Osceola Mills area, Prices are based both from the vein of coal mined and the classifi- Pedestrian Run Down By Auto | Millard C. Greene Dies After Accident at Green- wood While making calls for the sale of bottled horseradish, by which he made hig living, Millard C. Greene, of Greenwood, Blair county, was hit by a truck Monday night and died two hours later in the Altoona Hospital Greene, who was 65 years of age and suffering from a lame leg due to a previous accident, was walkin? | along the highway at the Green- wood intersection, when struck by a truck driven by Russell Kizer 286, | of Osceola Mills. Kizer told police he wag blinded by headlights of an | oncoming car, and was unable to see the aged pedestrian until too late to avoid the accident The victim was a known stone mason and contarc- tor of Greenwood and at one time served as justice of the peace. He survived by his widow and ten children former well cation of coal produced. Analyses of coal produced from mines reached before setting of prices. The following prices of coal is for run of mine coal from the mines in the immediate Philipsburg area: Banner Coal Mining Co. J. H. Wal. lin, president, $235 per ton: Brook- wood Coal Mining Co., Houtzdale, £235 per ton; Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corp., Grassflat, $2.10 per ton: Clyde Coal Co, Philipsburg, Stott, president, $235; Gulbranson Coal Co., Houtzdale, Imperial No. 2, $2.30, Imperial No. 3, $2.25, Imnerig] No. 4, $2.15; HiUl-Moshannon Coal Co., Morrisdale, W. D. Hill, presi- dent, $230; Hill Brothers Coal Co. Morrisdale, $230; Hill-Scott Coal Co., James Hill, president, $230: Hawk Run Coal Mining Co, Coal- dale No. 20, $2.10. DuShan Coal Mining Co. Osceola Mills, $230; Hillside Coal Co. Phil- ipsburg, $2.15: John Galbraith Coal Co., Ghem mine, $2.25; Bacon mine, $2.25; Moshannon Coal Co. Osceola Mills, Louis Hohnka, president, $2.15; Moshannon Smithing Coal Co., Beccaria, Walter Williams. pres- ident, $2.40; Morrisdale Coal Co. Cunard, $230; No. 1, $225: No. 3, 2.30; ristianson-Johnson, Alder Ira Run, $2.30; Guion, $2.20. Prices for graded coal other than (Continued on page six) THURSDAY, APRII Or 4 Lh), 1940, NUMEER 17. The Oldtimer RON EH, SN J (4% PEMEMPER WHEN ALL LAND AROUND HERE WAS (OVERED WITH MUSHROOMS. my, MY, THEY WeRE $0 PLENTIFUL WE USED TO FEED THE HOGS WITH EM AND ( were | NY NA Theyee ONSORRED A DEcacY 8 \ | - | | | | | | | | & 10-year-old HAINES TOWNSHIP TO GET ROAD Presidential approval of a $20.842' 1 WPA project for the improvement of township roads throughout Halnes township, Centre county wis announced at Washington this week. The project, which will on a township-wide scale, calls for excavating, grading, placing base, surfacing, installing drainage facil- ities, bullding berms, Ing incidental and work operate appurtenant The project, tirely on 0 be carried on en- township-owned property ponsored by the Halnes WWnHe ship supervi Editing Quarterly Alderler, professor and executive » of Local Pennsylvania new Professor is o¥ ad and perform-, Qua MOTHER DIES IN VAIN EFFORT TO SAVE SON FROM BURNING HOME Mrs. Elizabeth Spade of Portage, Burned to ™ Death When She Entered Flame-Swept Room Where Boy Was Trapped Jost her | save Mrs Bunday in Elizabeth Spade, 36 atlemp wrapped in uel Cam-~ | all 164] son fire-swept home at Portage bria . county Harvey Brown, a roomer iI the Bpade home Chie! of Po- lice John H. Mayers, of Portage that a pan of gasoline he had been ng to clean trousers expioded, ting fire 10 the Spade aparunent n a second floor over a garage, Brown sald the moiher aided on, Thomas, 15, in escapi apparently returned to for Richard he i, he ibe 20, told one ng Wen the flaming 10. In the ana ile ald xiLcawen meanume, acueq { & window Named to Commission Robert G. Bernreuter, asso- professor of education and } the : ‘POW-WOWING’ AND <HEXING’ the younger generation, are prepared to say how important a part i black arts of “hexing” and “pow-wowing” played in the lives of our ancestors. That such superstitions did exist in Centre county, and still do to a much lesser degree in this enlightened age. is not of We not ito be denied. One has only to min- Apartment House Of Unusual Type Twelve-Unit Structure Being Erected at State College A 12-unit apartment house is be- ing constructed at the corner of East Foster Avenue and South Pugh! Street, Stats College, by John H.| contractor. The new Of masonry construction, Coloni- al style, the building will be a series of small homes—all bed rooms be- ing on the second floor. The ten- ants will have private front and! rear entrances, according to the plans. } Being built at a cost of approxi- mately $35000, plans call for com- pletion of the work by the middle of | { August. Eight of the units will De of the five-room type, and the re- | maining ffur will comfain three | rooms efich. A parking lot, will be! provided at the rear of the struc! ture, and a stoker will provide the heating facilities, Former Judge Dies. Bugens H. Baird former presi- dent judge of the 25th judicial dis- trict comprising Elk, Cameron and Clinton counties, died last Thurs CONSIDER DETOUR UNJUST | of a muzzle-loading gun, The detour gighs at Lock Haven, | Mill Hall and Milesburg directing traffic away from Route 64 and over | Route 220 through Nittany Valley! between Milesburg and Lock Haven, are considered gomewhat unjust by proprietors of service stations, busi- ness men, and residents along Route 64, according to reports, | It is claimed that the public should have been properly inform- ed of alterate detour routes over: the hard surface roads available, | one admitting of use of Route 64 west to Blanchard then on the Marsh Creek road via to Milesburg which would increase the distance very little and ig much | Triplets Named April, May and June little tired” She has two gd br RETA § dire Up in AHlquippa, Beaver county, and there he'd keep the nurses had given the babies—April more direct than over Route 220. The other is leaving Roue 645) after reaching Howard, going through the “gap” into Little Nit- tany at the cross roads taking that road into Bellefonte on Howard Street, with no increase of distance. | These routes can be used eastward | as well The only excuse for these routes not being posted ag detours might | be to not inflict them with ex- ceedingly heavy trucks, but it is pointed out that such oulflis could | be denied use of these alternate] routes. Motorists generally will | find these routes advantageous and | good hard surface roads, i Not expecting a child for six es h i The after new home. The | had unloaded furniture at 00 cottage but beds hadn't! there was no heat, ! clothes for the babies. | At of ; E 5 Th ; § | & | wowing” and “hexing” | view gle with a certain class of citizens i Lo know this to be a fact To most minds the terms “pow- are similar in meaning, but this is a wrong im- pression. Pow-wowing is known as a healing art, and Is as rigidly be- lieved in by some families today as jare the texts of the Bible. Hexing i was bewitching or casting a curse, se'dom heard of now except when brought to light by some tragic event in which #£ was supposed to have an influencing power The Belinsgrove Times in its “Yes. teryears” department, wrilten by Agnes Selin Schoch, recently con- tained an interesting historical re- of “black arts” as practised among the Pennsylvania Germans in the } y whatever ex- | existed in largely 1 folks known as ania Dutch We have taken the liberty of printing a portion of Mis article as it appeared in the Time: for the informative light throw on a once common code of strange beliefs and practices among a God- fearing people. Following an explan. ation of the meaning of pow -wowiny and hexing, the writer say ‘Since the Indians were pow-wow doctors, and ¢ are Schoch's goes on to the first ir early pi- oneers had few physicians 20 call upon in time of sickness, they nat- urally tumed to what waz at hand -Pow-wowing. Soon they learned the art of the pow-wow doctor. but instead of using herbs like the In- dians, and appealing to demons and spirits in natural things like rain Sun, stars, and the moon, they in some unexplained way appealed to A Natural Beginning » Penns vara ermal aginative mM Coming mn : from with their German up land far from NEghnor, and in the fuming tw t Vien Ld a 5 pry fraser des, taking POW-WOWINE mixed inlo a « called sorcery “There iz no mistaking that many of the concoctions, used by the pow-wower were compound- ed from pianis gathered in the near- by woods. Those same things play a became somewhat of s0- mgomeration the fact Medica as example the dande- pumpkin nd tho Massage from J from comprised the pow -wow doclor His self importa: was his bed- side manner, and in many cases the patient's faith did the trick, for af- ter all human nature funny thing, and we are not often as sick as we imagine. Let Mother Nalure alone many times and she takes ex- cellent care of us Strange Procedures in the Art “What were some of the superstitions, and hexeries survived through the our people? “Some of the just ordinary good sense “For example ‘never walk under a (Continued on page six) Materia ake fo and the mumbling Bible wel where no one knows technique of Verses Whe al ar the or is a remed.es that have years among superstition were No Prosecution In Gap ‘Attack’ Investigation of Alleged ‘Ride’ Reveals “Two Sides to the Story” “There are two sides to the story.” authorities reported last Thursday after completing an investigafion into the attack allegedly made April 10 on Harry Keller, 35, of Pleasant Gap, by three men whose names were not revealed. District Attorney Musser W. Get- tig indicated that the Common- wealth would not prefer any charges in the matter unless Kelle= should unexpectedly suffer some se- i rious effects from his encounter BEECH CREEK MERCHANT | with three companions. The vic- tim is reported to be recovering nicely from head injuries receiv when he was struck with the buit Sheriff Edward R. Miller and an officer from the Btate Motor Police at Rockview substation after inter- viewing Keller involved in the matier, dec that if any prosecution js to be made, it will have to come from Keller. The officers indicated that Kel-| | ler’s story that his three compan- | fons had taken him to the Pledsant | Gap baseball fleld and after beat- | ing him there took him home where they administered further punish- ment, was somewhai one-sided. They added that the three men in- volved in the affair have been giving Keller ald since the night of the “ride,” Keller is the father of six children, m Injured By Exploding Tar Freeman Bowersox, of Mifflinburg, nooh. flinburg man had just finished plac- | ing a tire on a rim and then on the | wheel of a car, He was inflating it | when it suddenly burst open, rip- | ping off the edge of the rim, which | The accident occurred at! Hackénberg's garage when the Mif- | | BELLEFONTE MAN RECALLS SEVEN MOUNTAIN ACCIDENT An item published last week in the “Twenty Years Ago" column of The Centre Democrat, concerning a wild ride 14 Penn State students had when a truck in which they were riding to Lewistown wen! out of control on the Seven Mountains road, recalled the accident to one who helped rescue the students as they leaped, one by one, from the fast-moving truck Stewart Hoy, now of Lewistown. son of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Hoy, of Thomas street, Bellefonte, was driv- ing down the mounitain when he saw 8 man's form slong the road Believing the man to be intoxicated, Stewart didn't stop. Further down the road he saw crawling from a ditch another youth, who signaled Hoy to a stop. Upon learning about the truck Hoy and the youth went! back and loaded the unconscious man in Hoy's coupe. As they pro- ceeded down the mountain in the {wake of the run-away truck, they | picked up three other students, and Hoy somehow managed to get the five men to the Lewistown Hospital in his coupe Hoy didn’t give the students his name at the time, and forgot about | ithe incident until last week's item | {called it to mind. 20,000 Men Employed on Road Work on the $70,000,000 Pennsyl- vania Turnpike between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh is rapidly reaching | peak construction with nearly 20.- 000 men employed along the 160- mile express highway. President Roosevelt is scheduled to dedicate i the highway July 4. i | Coburn Improves | Water Service $16,000 WPA Reservoir Will] Provide Adequate Source | of Supply | Cobwmn is going 0 have a new | community water service, i Recent developments indicate that | a local authority will be set up to! take over the present holdings of | the two companies that operate in| Coburn, and a new reservoir, thirty | feel by ninety feet, will be ocon-| structed in Stillhouse Gap, below! Coburn, where two streams of water! converge 0 make a bountiful sup- ply of good drinking water. The reservoir, to be made in ac cordance with specifications ap- proved by the Department of Health| and the Water Power and Resources Board, will be a double affair, the first dam for the purpose of throw- ing off excess waler during spring freshet periods and to catch debris of any nature that may be washed | down from the source, and throw it off {0 a side stream, or race, with! out going through the reservoir proper The local authority organization has taken over the stock of both companies, and will extend the wa- ter service to all of Coburn and ad- joining dwellings, including Rail- road street and Hartertown. Drafts have been made from sur- veys taken recently by John F. Mus- ser, of Bellefonte, and the entire layout will go into a vast program TY ESE LAAT | { *y boundary line. { of improvement for Coburn under a WPA project. Costs are figured to be approximately $46,000 for the en- tire plant. with local authority fur {| nishing approximately $7500 in ma- terials smn som MP i ——c— Woman Dies at 107 Believed to have been the oldest person in this entire central-county area, pint-gizged Mrs treated by a physician, died Monday morning at Springdale, near Sykes- ville, just across the Clearfield coun~ Although blind, Irs. Micko made her way about her 68-year-old daughter's home with the aid of her 18-inch cane which was one-third the height of the small physique which for 107 years withstood the ravages of time. Mrs Micko was hard of hearing but could flash out with witty and logi- cal replies when she was question- | ed loudly by the Slovakian tongue, her native language. lama Plan Deer Protection Underbrush and trees are being cut back about 100 feet on each side of the Lakes-to-8ea highway on State Game Commission lands near Philipsburg in a “save-the-deer herd” project. Many deer have been killed because they were unable to sce approaching automobiles until too late, game authorities said. With the wider clearance, it is felt the animals will be better able to time their crossing of the highway, — | officials Catherine | Micko, who for 107 years never was ' The two ¢i 1 were taken the Camibrim county Home locale thelr father. Brown the Spades were es- ryt a told Mayers tranged Mrs Bpade’s the Beck Funeral Her husband Bar] Spade, living in La Jue, Pa She Ww thie deugh mas Edge af taken 0 home in Porlage DOAY Was @ - w Buch- WCTU To Hold Spring Institute Afternoon and Evening Ses- sions to Be Held in Bellefonte wing Institute ol ns Ghristian Temper- will be beid in Belle- Thursday, May 2, aocorcing this week. Botn aliernoon De held in The meet lowing progr Afternoon Session Devotions; 2:00 p ¥ Call, 2:30 j Jocal has Cone BIDCK tober 1988--Local President: 3:00 Gleanings from Florida ocon- Mrs lx 3:30 m 2 rt 3 c VOR la Gardner 5-30 n Dedication of babies , Official lunch; 6:15 ing Evening Session 7:30 Devotions dress—Mrs, Barihalee Melal Contest Ida Wilmer; Reports of com- - Benediction : Ad- Broyies, ted special GDC Gold Mrs sn A — Juniata Youths Admit 14 Thefts Six Churches and Building Among Places Looted By Trio Arrested by police on charges of burglary, three Juniata youths con- fessed to 14 robberies, including &x : churches and a school building. The offenders are: Leroy M. Buch- anan, 17: Hubert B, Woleslagie, 22 and his 16-year-old brother, Lloyd C. Woleslagie Because they wanted “a good time.” the youths pianned the Joot- { ing in adva , police said, netting approximately $300 in cash value items that included whiskey, beer, cigarettes, candy, and monhey-—the big item The list of the trio's victims in- cluded two Altoona and four Juni- ata churches several civic associs- tions centers. a service station and i a cafe. Police said the young marauders also broke in the Mc- Kinley school building at Juniata, where the two younger youths had attended, Jooted the building and then obtained their report cards which they destroved During their 15-day escapade they | hired an automobile, spending $74 of their “take” in renting it for seven days, during which time they motored to Washington, D. C., Ww see the cherry biossoms. When arrested, police disclosed, the young | burglars had $258 as a “cash bal- ance.’ Sedan, Truck in Collision The sedan of J. Aaron Haugh. driven by him. and the truck of Joseph Bechdel, driven by his bro- | ther, William Bechdel, collided head- ‘on at a curve on the Monument-Oy viston highway above Monument, Monday morning. Both vehicles were considerably damaged in front, the truck getting the worst of the jar ‘Mr. Haugh was somewhat shaken {up by the impact but apparently not seriously injured. The accident hap- pened during a heavy rain with wet iroad surface on a bad curve, Appointed Postmaster Announcement has been receive i ed of the confirmation by the Sen- | Random [tems * PLANK No. %: Authorita one reports hat ® member of the Belle fonte Bchool Board triumvirate is in favor of excluding from board meetings the Chamber of Cominerce tee and newspapermen. Just 10 keen things in orger we ote from Plank No. § of the plstiorm on which the triumvirate elects To welcome Lo our hoard moet ings newspaper men, parents, teach ve ive it bogs sed Lae] q War 0 rs, pupils and any other ed in the educations] wellare of our The board probably can interest. cong FOUR WEEKS: Today marks the end of the fo week of Rachel investigallon, As nbie learn, the alors are much in the dark as hey were at the beginning It har BeTNE Crime cout be rth murder we've Deen the Taylor ‘ Sa AAr a 10 invest ne eYioen Vigo { nave; 1 ideas ' wtartia WIV 8 er, ang g GET PRECAUTION: When Charles Mclean appesred in Court here Monday allernoon Ww have his 6 to 12 year sentence for an escape from Rockview reduced to from 2 to 4 years, officers who nied him took no Mclean was clothes 1 infetiered Yop nere a plain reg RHEARD: ry 4 Ret cord $y 0 dhe gels declared: 5 identity hrough her clothing, and POSSE at Shiloh been found y he £ ns £107 * church! sinoe?™ ng in the fied What else has School ymopERN POSTCARDS: Druggist Ray E. White calls our attention to modern postoards of Bellefonte which are now ale n most local drug stores and sta- tionery stores. There are views of Fishermen's Paredise, the Big Spring, the Titan Metal Plant Penn's 1 ew, the falls In town, and numerous scenic views taken in the Bellefonte area. And in none of the views can you find & model T. Ford, hitching post. or a spring wagon. This department feels a certain gense of pride in the new postals, since some months sgo it was sug- gested in this corner that the post- cards on sale in local stores might give outsiders the impression that Bellefonte hadnt heard of the Span- ish-American war, and no changes had taken place in our community since the gay nineties BUILDING REPORT: We were not much impressed with the report of the School Board com- mitiee which visited Harrisburg re- cently in regard to a new school bullding. The report said Bellefonte could build this kind or that kind of a building if the school district has the money. There isn't anything profound in that. Anyhow, all that preliminary sparring was covered thoroughly by the oid board last vear. It does seem odd the present board doesn’t call in Hunter & Cald- well, architects, to find out exactly | what has been done so far, and be- gin from that point instead of go- ling over a lot of ground which has | already been plowed. On the back cover of the April issue of Boys’ Life, monthly maga- zine, appears a large photo of Coach Cari Snavely, of Cornell University, former athletic mentor at the Belle fonte Academy, who endorses a weil known brand of candy. on 3 A that Teo Get Large Beguesis i Word has been received in Sayre that the will of Herbert Baker, of New York Oity, who lely an estate | appraised 8t more than a million dollars, provides a bequest for the | Robert Packer Hospital, which will { amount 0 SI28388. Mr. Baker wa: an uncle of Emily B. Guthrie, When people take themselves t00 ate of the appointment of Jacob 8.) of the hospital each of whom is to seriously they become funny; tt Williams as postmaster at Portl| receive $50000 and a share in the even applies to newspaper editors. | Matilda, | residuary estate, | | [Ax Two THousano DOLLARS SAFELY PUT i ‘KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES’ — Another Wor for Eddie By POP MOMAND
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers