Republican News Item.
VOL. XI. NO 26.
C To Buy Your Jewelry s
x Nothing in Town to Compare WithN
( the Quality that We are Giving J
x You for the Low Price Asked. S
Quality and moderate prices makes a force that\
3 irresistibly draws into our store the best patronage r
Cof this section. Many years here in business, always )
S with a full line of goods above suspicion; chosen C
(with a care and judgment commensurate with its «
\ desirability and adaptability to refine rnakts }
112 our store a safe place to invest. C
112 Repair work done on short notice and guaran-Q
\ teed, by skilled workmen. Your orders appreciated. X
> RETTENBURY, >
SDUSHORE, PA. The Jeweler
COLE
HARDWARE^
No Place Like this Place
For Reliable
STOVES and RANGES,
COAL OB WOO D
HEATERS;
i
ONE OF WINTER'S GREAT DELIGHTS.
House Furnishiug Goods, Tools of Every !
Description, Guns and Ammunition. !
Bargains that bring the buyer back.
Come and test the truth of our talk.
A lot of second hand stoves and ranges for sale cheap. i
We can sell you in stoves anything from a fine Jewel Base
Burner to a low priced but satisfactory cook stove. !
Hot Air, Steam and Hot Water Heating and
General Repairing, Roofing and Spouting.
Samuel Sofe^tisftor^fci.
The Shopbell Dry Good Co.,
> 313 Pine Street,
WILLI AMSPORT, PA.
Table Linen and Napkin^.
Linens are like money, there are good and there are
counterfeit. We won't take counterfeit linen any more
than we would take bad money. Neither will you when
you know what you're getting To be sure about what
you're getting in linens come here and get the kind you
will be proud to own.
Needn't pav much lor them either—not as we well them. Our linen prices are
always lair; now they are very low considering the rise in linen.
Ladies' Suits Kid Gloves.
'Set the suit now, don't wait until the Ol course you will want new kid gloves
last minute and have to buy in a hurry, to jro with the new (ostume. We are
Besides the selection is best now ami it showing an excellent line of kid gloves
you wait until later the stocks will all be in a splendid of colors tor a low
picked over. Better choose the new suit price. You can't go lar wrong if yen
today while the stocks are yet complete, spend your glove money here.
Wool Dress Goods
Have you given them their share ol at- fancy mixed fabrics are now at the best,
tention ? Is the winter dress still nn- Of course you expect to find the prices
bought? Our assortment of plain and right so we wiU say nothing about them.
Corsets for All Figures. Knit Underwear.
How about your underwear supplies?
Every figure has its appropriate corset Have you everything von need? Ii not
here. We use the greatest care in giving ' et us lurnish what you want. \uu
the customer the rijiht model. Some won't Hud any better values than we art
brands are best for stout figures, others showing in either men s. ladies or chil
suit slender figures better. We know the '' re " H warm I, nit undergarments. Some
brands and we know their limitations, specially good values in ladies I nion
Ask our cors-et advtce on these. suits.
GOOD WARM BLANKETS
either white or colored in all qualities are here and you
cannot go wrong in buying them, tha prices are very reas
onable in view of the conditions of tßie wool market.
Subscribe for the News Item
LAPORTE, SULLIVAN COUNTY PA. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1906.
FAMOUS COAL LAND CASE
IS DETERMINED
The Jury Finds a Verdict lor the Plainlitl
lor Over $24,000.
\Y. W. Jackson and others, the
heirs-at-law «>f George 1). Jackson,
deceased, a former resident of the
borough of Onshore, Sullivan county
recovered on Thursday last a ver
dict in ejectment against Hush J.
Thomson, a practicing attorney
of Sullivan county, liv ing at Pu
shore, for an undivided interest in
the 102 acres of coal la mis located in
cherry township, Sullivan county,
which verdict includes the sum of
$24,055.33 as value of the coal taken
out of said lands by Walter B. Gun
ton under a mine lease with said
Thomson.
George P. Jackson died in 1*7!),
possessed of interests in various val
uable timber and coal lands in Sull
ivan county. By his will he ap
pointed his wife, Bernice \V., and
son George C. Jackson, as his exe
cutors, giving them power to make
sale of his real estate. ltush J.
Thomson, Esq., one of the defend
ants in the action is the son of a sis
ter of George I>. Jackson. lie "has
resided for many years in the bor
ough of 1 Inshore and was one of the
attorneys of the estate of George 1).
Jackson, as well as the personal at- |
torney of the executors. Thomson
was also a director of the Citizens i
National Bank At Towanda. In the '
year 1897 George C. Jackson, on ac- I
count of various unsuccessful busi- j
ncss enterprises, became financially !
embarrassed. There were claims j
against him in the hands of the slier- |
iff for considerable amount, and he j
was also indebted to the Citizens'
National Bank of Towanda, in the
sum of $ 1,500 on notes endorsed by
his mother, Bernice \V. Jackson.
In order to secure the bunk upon
these notes and to obtain from theui j
an additional s:>, GOO with which to i
meet the most pressing claims against j
him, George C. Jackson and his j
mother offered to convey to Rush J. j
Thomson, as trustee for the bank, j
various interests held by them in j
valuable timber lands located in
Cherry township, Sullivan county.
The bank refused to accept a convey
ance of these lands unless they were |
made to ltush J. Thomson absolute
ly and were accompanied by a con
veyance from Bernice \V. and George
C. Jackson as executors of the estate
of George 1). Jackson, to the said
Bush J. Thomson absolutely of the
undivided one-third interest of the j
estate of George 1). Jackson in the
102 acres of valuable coal lands
which was the subject of the present
action in ejectment. This convey
ance the executors of George 1).
Jackson had no power to make for
the purpose of securing the payment
of their own individual debts, but
under the stress of circumstances
they were finally constrained to
make the conveyance demanded by
the bank in order to save themselves
from financial ruin.
Accordingly on the 9th day of
July 1597, they executed to Bush J.
Thomson absolutely four deeds for
undivided interests in valuable tim
ber and coal lands in Sullivan coun
ty. The deeds having been executed
and delivered to Thomson, he im
mediately took possession of the
lands hereby conveyed and pro
ceeded to strip them of timber and
bark, realizing a profit from the
same of over >25,000, out of which
he paid to the Citizans' National
Bank of Towanda, the SB,IOO due
from Bernice W. and George C.
Jackson individually and some other
claims against him, making the total
amount expended by him on their
account about $14,000.
In 1898 Thomson, in conjunction
with the other owners of the 102
acres of coal land, in which the es
tate of George 1). Jackson had owned
a one-third interest, leased the same
to Walter Is. Gunton lor a term of
ten years, with the privileges of
taking out th • coal at a royalty of
twenty-cents a ton. Between the
years of 1898 and 1905, Walter B.
Gunton mined and sold from this
tract of land about 350,000 tons of
coal, upon which his banks showed
. he had made a net profit of $250,000.
j Upon the 350,000 tons of coal taken
out by him, he had paid to Rush J.
Thomson about $22,000 as royalties.
In 1899 the heirs of George P. Jack
son began legal proceedings against
Bush J. Thomson and the Citizens'
National Bank of Towanda, to re
cover the property of which the es
tate had heed deprived by the deeds
of 1897. The case was taken several
times to the supreme court and re
versed for technical reasons, first in
favor of one side and then in favor
of the other. Finally in 1902 the
present ejectment was brought
against Thomson and Gunton, the
heirs alleging that the conveyance
maele by the executors to Thomson
was ultra viras, and bad been ob
tained by Thomson by reason of a
confidential relation existing be
tween himself and the executors.
The trial of the case began on
Monday, October 29, and after hav
ing been conducted for five days was
continued for a week on account of
the intervening election. The trial
was resumed on Monday, November
12th and proceeded for four day
longer, the jury bringing in A ver
dict Thursday night. The jury was
directed by the court to find a ver
dict in favor of the defendant Gun
ton, he being an innocent lessee for
value. The jury found a verdict for
$24,055.35 against the defendant
ltush J. Thomson.
The defenelants were represented
by I. Mcpherson and Rodney A.
Mercer of Towanda; James \V. Piatt
ofTunkhannoek; Albert F. Ifeessof
Pushore and A. J. Bradley of La
porte. The interests of the plain
tills were looked after by A. Walsh
of Pushore; E. J. Mullin of Laporte;
S. T. McC'ormick and It. K. Foster,
ot Williamsport.
James P. McMahon, a prominent
citizen of Renovo, has recently in
vented and lias had patented, cover
ing the United States and Canada,
what is known as a smoke consumer,
to be used on both stationary and
locomotive engines. This invention
relates to an apparatus for consum
ing s rioke and gases m fire boxes
The primary object of the invention
is to provide a smoke consuming
apparatus which will not only con
sume the smoke and other objection j
able products of combustion, but will
also appreciably multiply the heat
units and operate to minimize the
consumption of fuel.
The apparatus is easily applied
and reliable in operation, and con
sists of and especially designed bur
ner adapted to spraying fuel oil ovei
the bed of coals, thus consuming al
smoke and gases arising therefrom
On a trial trip of seventy-two mile?
the amount of oil used amounted to
thirty-six cents, saving by actual
weight about one-third of the amount
of coal. The inventor would like to
hear from anyone who would be in
terested relative to purchasing a
part or all, or to manufacture on a
royalty.
Supt. W. W. Evans of the Colum
bia County Public schools was in
Berwick on Tuesday in conference
with Mr. W. F. Lowry Superintend
ent of the local works in regard to
the visit of the school teachers of
the county to the Berwick plants of
the American Car and Foundry
Company on the afternoon of Wed
nesday, December sth when the
county teachers' institute is being
held at Bloomsburg.
The teachers, three hundred in
number, will goto Berwick by
trolley and spend the entire after
noon ingoing about the works. The
plant will be the main point ot
interest and the object will be to
study geographically and economic
ally the steel car industry. Mr.
Evans will conduct the trip and ac
companying the party will be sever
al men experts in the study of steel
car construction. Principally noted
among these well versed men will
be Pr. Charles A. McMurray, prin
cipal of the California State Normal
school.
Superintendent Evans is very en
thusiastic over the plan and every
effort will be put forth by the man
; agenient of the works to make the
i visit of instructors a pleasant and
I successful one.
Stealing Railroad Scrap Iron.
Having suffered long in silence,
patiently overlooking numerous
offences, the management of the
S. & N. Y. has finally determined
to begin a cusade against wholesale
steal ii.g of scrap iron from their
premises. Constable Guy C. llol
lon and Chief of Police Miller, of
Towanda, were called into service
with the result that Elazer Talada,
of Towanda,"is in jail, and war
rants are issued to be served upon
Casper Talada and Piggy Goodale,
of Athens, and the company has
recovered a load.of junk valued at
about $l5O.
; The Towanda Review says that
General Manager Newman is un
derstood to have issued orders to
arrest and prosecute to the limit of
the law any persons found guilty
of this form of thievery. The com
pany has for several months suf
fered the loss of car wheels, journ
als and all kinds of railroad iron
and even other kinds of property.
It is now proposed by the officials
to put an end to these lawless dep
redations by the enforcement of
severe measures.
The trial of Joseph Francke of
(Iverton against P. F. O'Brion and
others which was begun in the Sep
tember term of court ot Bradford
county, is a case in which Francke,
who is the postmaster at Overton,
charges four Overton men with forci
ble entry and detainer. The trouble
grew out of a misunderstanding be
tween the lodges of Macabees and
Grangers of that place. Both of
these orders shared a single.liall, un
til last summer, when the Macabees
decided they needed a hall to them
selves. The Grangers then, it is
stated, entered into a contract with
Mrs. Lancaster, an aged woman, to
lease part of the large building in
which she made lier home. Post
master Francke is Mrs. Lancaster's
son-in-law, and when he heard about
the lease he advised her to repudiate
it and refuse the grangers admission
to the hall. Mi. Francke and IX F,
O'Brion then tried to hold occupan
cy of the premises at one and the
same time, which being obviously
impossible, led to the trial at court
which was again before Judge Fan
ning last week.
A troop competition, a new feat
ure in the life of Troop B. of the
State Constabulary, stationed at \Vy_
oming, occured oil Saturday, and
showed the members of the troop to
be very proficient in horsemanship.
The first event was a saddling con
test for squads consisting of a sergeant
and five men. The horses were tied
to a picket line with the saddle four
yards in front of the line, the blank
ets on the ground in front of and the
bridles alongside the saddles. .The
horses had to be saddled and bridled
according to regulation; cinches had
to be tied according to regulation
and the squads had to form, after
saddling, five yards in front of the
-tables with the sergeant ready to
report. This event was won by a
squad in two minutes, thirty-six anil
two-fifths seconds.
The second was an equipment
match with one sergeant and four
men in each squad. The men wero
stationed at the front door of the
barracks with putties, helmets or
batons and the horses were tied on
the pickctt line. The saddles and
horse equipment were in the saddle
room and the butties, helmets and
batons on the front porch. At a
given signal the men went to the
saddle room, got the horse equip
ment, saddled and bridled the horses
returned to the barracks for their
personal equipment, putting on the
same before mounting, returned to
the picket line, mounted and fell in
to line in front of the stables where
the sergeant reported his squad.
This event was won by the squad
which won the previous event.
School directors at Williainsport
have established a medical depart
ment to inquire into the health ol
the pupils of the public schools.
Five examiners will constitute the
staff. They will be elected annually,
and each will receive SSO a year.
75C PER YEAR
BERNICE ITEMS.
Joseph A. Ilelsman was a visitor
from Dushore on Tuesday.
Mrs. E. D. Suttliffand soil Dirk,
of Bloomingdale, l'a., were visiting
friends at this place last week.
Oust Guiuoski of Sugar Hill, is
under the doctor's care for typhoid
fever.
James J. Connor of Mildred, was
a Wilkes-Barre visitor last week.
The Rev. J. A. Enright preached
at Laporte last Sunday.
Misses Maggie Watson and Min
nie Defl'enbach were Dushore visit
ors on Tuesday.
There are rumors of a new Demo
cratic paper being published in the
county in the near future.
J. A. Thayer of Dushore, was a
business caller at this place on Tues
day.
The spring candidates for town
ship offices are already soliciting
foY votes on the pretext that they
will save the county taxpayers
thousands of dollars, if elected.
The Ladies' Aid Society of the
Presbyterian church will have a
Thanksgiving dinner in the hotel.
Albert Jenks, an elderly farmer,
living near Washington, Pa., who
has seldom been outside of Beaver
county, never saw an automobile un
til recently, when he met one near a
graveyard. The farmer has ever
been superstitious and when he was
met in the lonely road by a large
touring car, well lit up, and which
honk honked past him, he fell in a
tit by the side of the road, where he
remained until found by neighbors
several hours later, lie passed from
one tit into another during the day
and in the evening was in a dying
condition.
Smith field township is up in arms
about the vaccination" law. A -.iiort
time ago the school directors ex
pelled the teacher of the grammar
school with non-compliance with
the law by allowing children to
come to school without being vac
cinated, ami now notifications sign
ed by several citizens have been
served on the four Sunday school
superintendents of that village that
they must not allow anyone to at
tend the Sunday school unless they
are vaccinated or lay themselves li
able to prosecution.—Reporter Jour
nal.
The Lewisburg, Milton and Wat
sontown railway company a few
years ago built a long wharf along
their tracks about two miles above
Milton to protect the tracks from be
washed out by high water. Some
hunters built a fire in the wharf in
order to chase a rabbit and it will
cost the company $l5O to repair the
damage.
The postal card craze is on the in
crease. The statement is made that
5,000 pieces of such mail matter
passes through the Williamsport
post office every twenty-four hours.
This craze has increased the sale i.f
one cent stamps to such an extent
that during the past week 000,000
one cent stamps were sold at the
Wiiliauisport post office.
Charles Decker, a Canton black
smith, while out hunting rabbits,
was accidentally shot by bis sc.n.
Mr. Decker, Sr., was on top of a
brush pile trying to scare bunny out
and just as he came out his son shot
at the rabbit, but bit his father in
the ankle, tearing the bono and
flesh in a terrible manner and neces
sitating an operation.
The pay roll of the Pennsylvania
railroad in Sunbury amounts to $95,-
000 a month, so the recently an
nounced ten per cent, increase which
will go into effect on December Ist,
will mean that the Pennsylvania
distribute an additional SIOO,OOO in
Sunbury each year.
IT is said that the best way to pre
serve apples in winter is to wrap,
them in newspapers so as to exclude
the air. The exception is made,
however, that the newspaper must
be one on which the subscription has
been paid, else the dampness result
ing from what is "dew" may result
in spoiling the fruit.