Republican News Item. VOL. XV. NO. 35 CAPITOL SUITS ARE SETTLED State Receives 51,485,000 to End Gases. DROP CRIMINAL ACTIONS Accused Pay $1,300,000 In Cash and Surrender Sanderson and Huston Warrants For $185,000. The legal actions resulting from the frauds in the furnishing of the Penn sylvania state capitol were brought to a close in the Dauphin county yourt, at Harrisburg, Pa., when President Judge George Kunkel handed down decrees affirming an agreement of set tlement between the commonwealth and various respondents and sustain ing the demurrers tiled by the trust companies. The decrees require the payment to the state of $1,300,000 and the sur render of warrants by the John H. Sanderson estate aggregating SU»B,OnO and by Joseph M. Huston, achitect, amounting to $77,000. As soon as the money was paid over the criminal ac tions agaiust various persons, not in cluding the action against Huston, were formally dropped. The cases closed were two actions In equity and twenty criminal actions. In one case $1,100,000 in cash was paid over and in another $200,000. In the cases of the trust companies tlie demurrers were sustained because the principals having effected a settlement the sureties could not be held. In the case of T. Lincoln Eyre he filed an an swer and the case closed without testi mony being taken. Special pleas were made by Lyman D. Gilbert in behalf of William P. Sny der, Frank G. Harris, E. B. Harden bergh and James M. Shumaker, setting forth that they be joined in the pro ceedings to avoid prolonged litigation. All set forth that they were not culpa ble. The court then made the decree in the case against H. Burd Cassell and others, known as the Metallic Furni ture case, to this effect: First —That the demurrers filed by the Commonwealth Trust company, Harrisburg Trust company, Annie E. Barr and the Lancaster Trust com pany, executors of Sam Matt Fridy, deceased, are sustained and the bill is dismissed without costs. Second—That the demurrers filed by H. Burd Cassell, E. L. Reinhold and E. B. Reinhold, Penn Construction company, Frank G. Harris, E. B. Har denbergh, James M. Shumaker, Jo seph M. Huston, William P. Snyder, W. Roger Fronefteld, executor of Wil liam L. Mathues, are overruled. Third —That the bill as to T. Larry Eyre and his sureties, William P. Sny der and the estate of Sam Matt Fridy, is dismissed without costs. Fourth —That the loss sustained by the commonwealth is hereby in ac cordance with the aforesaid stipula tion filed in the case ascertained and assessed in the sum of $200,000. Fifth —This decree to be satis-fled of record upon the payment of $200,000 and payment of the record costs. In the case against the estate of Sanderson and others a statement was made to the court by the attorney gen eral explaining the differences and then a decree was made to this ef fect: First —The demurrers filed by the sureties are sustained and the bill is dismissed as to each of said demur rants without costs. Second —The demurrers filed by Harris, Hardenbergh, Snyder, Frone field, Shumaker, Huston, the Common wealth Title Insurance and Trust com pany, Dimner Beeber and Pedro G. Salome, executors of Sanderson, are overruled. FIRST NATIONAL BANK, HUG-HESVILLE, JPJL CAPITAL STOCK $50,000 W. C. FRONTZ President. Surplus and FRANK A. REEDER, Cashier. Net Profits, . 75,000, DIRECTORS: Transacts a General Wm. Frontz, John C. Laird, C. W. Sones, Banking Business. W - C.Frontz, Frank A.Reeder, Jacob Per, Lyman Myers, W. T. Reedy, Peter rontz, Accounts oflndivid- j A s Bal] John Bull, uals and Firms solicited. Safe Deposite Boxes for Rent, One Dollar per Year. 3 per cent. INTEREST PAID ON TIME DEPOSITS. LAPORTE, SULLIVAN COUNTY PA. FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1910. PORTER CHARLTON. Center of Interest In Ameri can-Italian Extradition Case. CHARLTON CASE HELD UP Habeas Corpus Proceedings Halted by Death In Lawyer's Family. The hearing in the habeas corpus proceedings at Trenton, N. J., brought to prevent the extradition of Porter Charlton to Italy to answer for the murder of his wife, was postponed un til Jan. 23. The postponement is due to a death in the family of one of the lawyers ap pearing for Charlton. The case was to have been heard by Judge Hellstab in the United States circuit court. The prisoner, who was in court in custody of a deputy sheriff, was re turned to the Hudson county jail at Jersey City. Selden Auto Patent Invalid. The United States court of app<a!B reversed a decision by Judge Hougu in New York, in which he upheld the va lidity of the Selden automobile pat ent. Judge Hough's decision was handed down in September, 19U9. It affected every owner or manufacturer of gaso line automobile made or used in the country and involved many millions of dollars. It is expected now that the hard fought and long drawn out case will be carried to the United States su preme court for final decision. The gist of the upsetting of the pat ent was to the effect that Selden had a patent on a car that made use of the Brayton two-cycle engine, which wa.% of the constant pressure type, but that his patent could not be considered as covering the Otto gas engine, of the four cycle, constant volume, type. Moreover, the Otto used a carbureter and electric ignition system, things not provided for in the Selden patent. Therefore it was ruled that the de fendants in the case, Henry Ford and Panhard and Levassor, among others, do not infringe the Selden patent. Big Locomotive Order. A contract for 19G locomotives for the Harriman lines has been awarded to the Baldwin Locomotive works in Philadelphia. It is one of the largest orders ever received at one time by the plant. The contract calls l'or delivery of the loco motives during the spring and summer of this year. The cost will be $4,000,- 000. Boy of Five Kills Grandmother. After his father had been arrested in connection with the shooting to death of his grandmother, a five-year old bay at Danville, Ky., confessed that he had shot her accidentally while pointing an old shotgun at her In fun. He hid in an outbuilding ail rlgtU. GALE DRIVES & 17 TO DEATH Three Barnes Beaten to Pieces; on Gape God. TOW LINE PARTED IN GALE Many Phlladelphians Among Victims of Disaster on Dreaded Sands on Massachusetts Coast. The tragic history of the Peaked Hill liars, near Highland Light, Mass., ieceived a substantial addition when three coal barges were driven on the dreadel sands at the Knuckle of Cape Cod. and seventen lives were lost. The barges were the Treverion, Captain F. I. Brown, of Lncolnville, Me., and six men; the Corbin, Captain C. Smith, of Philadelphia, and four seamen; the Pine Forest, Captain M. \V. Hall, of Provineetown, Mass., and four sailors. The Treverton was bound to Port land, Me.; the Corbin to Portsmouth, N. H., and the Pine Forest to Marb'e head, Mass. The three barges sailed from Philadelphia. It was froai the tug Lykens that the barges broke adrift just as the dou bling of the cape was almost accom plished. The gale was blowing fifty miles an hour when Highland Light was passed, and hauling well into the northward, made the ten miles of sand dunes around this point to the Race, the worst kind of a lee shore. The tow lines snapped and a few minutes later the barges were in the breakers. In the marine history of Cape Cod no large vessel has yet grounded on Peaked Hill bars and escaped destruc tion. The three barges began breaking up almost immediately, and by day light wreckage was coming ashore and sunrise disclosed but one of the three barges remaining, and that one, the Pine Forest, was showing every indi cation of following the fate of the oth er two. On the beach stood three life saving crews, powerless to aid the men who could be seen clinging to the wreck of the Pine Forest. Stretching out for 800 yards was a seething mass of tum bling seas, in which even a lifeboat could not have lived, while the dis tance was too far for a shot from the life gun. The tug. which hovered in the oiflng, was unable to run in close for fear of grounding also. The life savers patrolled the beach and their watch was soon rewarded by the discovery of two bodies tossing about in the breakers. These were hauled ashore. About each body was strapped a life belt, on which was stenciled the word "Treverton." In the meantime the Pine Forest was being hammered mercilessly. The crew clung on until about 10 o'clock, and then, giving up hope of help from shore, launched their own lifeboat and tumbled into it. The second sea that hit the barge, after the crew left her, swept around her stern, and those on shore saw the four men thrown into the surf. This completed the fatalities of the day, and the life savers hauled their appa ratus back to the houses, but contin ued their patrol for bodies. The Lykens remained around until it was seen that all the barges v/ere wrecked and then ran around into Provineetown. The disaster was one of the heav iest in loss of life on Cape Cod in many years. The bodies from the three wrecks came ashore quite rapidly after the tide had turned, and.it 2 p. m. twelve bodies had been recovered and were taken to a temporary morgue at Prov ineetown. WOLVES EATING SETTLERS Traveler, Back From Alaska, Says the Packs Aie Desperate. Several resi ' t if the west coast of Prince of Wales island, southeast ern Alaska, have been killed and eaten by wolves during the last year, ac cording to Charles A. Sulzer, of New York, who has just returned to Seat tle, Wash., from the north. Mr. Sulzer says that the wolves, hav ing killed off all the deer, have become desjierate with hunger and now come up to the doors of the miners' cabins. TRIED TO KILL HIS BRIDE Young Husband Attacks Harrisburg, Pa., Girl With Hammer. Following a quarrel with his bride, Joseph F. Robb, of Baltimore. Md., in jured her skull with a hammer, in flicting wounds which are expected to result fatally. The attack was made while the young woman was in bed at their home, 226 South Chester street. Hobb then went to the river front and jump ed into the water, but swam ashore and was arrested. The bride was Miss Julia Dean, of Harrisburg, Pa. Fli/E HELD IN BLACKMAIL PLOT Sent Letters to Maryland Far mers Demanding Money. ONE CONFESSES TO GRIME Threatened Death and Destruction of Property Unless Demands Were Ac ceded to Promptly. Accused of blackmailing opeiations in Somerset county, Md., Noah Thom as, Frank Braxton, Thomas Savage, Charles Dennis and John Fields are held at Salisbury under S4OOO bail each. Salisbury, Md., Jan. 10. —Accused of blackmailing operations in Somerset county, Noah Thomas, Frank Braxton, Thomas Savage, Charles Dennis and John Fields are held here under s4ooo bail each. It is charged that the five men formed a blackmailing society and sent letters through the mails de manding sums of money on the pen alty of death. Though the operations were confined alone to Sorueiset county, it is believed the alleged band had also sent letters into Worcester county. Residents of the two counties were terrorized by the receipt of letters, which in some cases threatened the destruction of property unless the de mands were acceded to promptly. Harry Cluff, a farmer residing near Princess Anne, was the first to receive one of the blackmailing demands. On Dec. 21 he found a note in his barn which read as follows: "Dear Sir —If you do not put SSO in your mail bo* by Wednesday evening we will burn your barn down before Sunday, and you do not want to put any guards out neither. Warning. "SECRETARY." A few days later other persons be gan to get letters. W. F. King, cash ier of the l'ocomoke National bank, received a demand that he raise the pay of farm hands to $1.25 a day or he would be annihilated with a bomb. Samuel Twilley, a hotel proprietor; Edward Langford, county commission er, farmer and lumber dealer; Benja min Jones, a butcher of Pocomoke, and Milton L. Veast, Frank E. Mat thews, James Mitchell and Frank Fl fer, all farmers, received letters simi lar to the foregoing. Mr. Cluff did not heed the "warning note," but sent to Baltimore for De tective Robert W. Walter, who secured the services of a colored detective named Williams. Williams started in to work as a farm hand among the! colored employes. Braxton was the first man arrested, and upon cross-examination confessed, implicating Thojnas. Braxton said the first letter was sent to Cluff because his wife was convalescing from typhoid fever and they thought Cluff would part with the money to prevent any excitement. The federal authorities may be ask ed to prosecute, as the letters were sent through the .nails. Gallagher Gets Twelve Years. James J. Gallagher, who attempted to kill Mayor Gaynor, of New Yo.k. in Hoboken, N. J., as he was a Don. to sail for Europe last August, wa found guilty in Jersey City of atrocious assault with intent to kill Sae-t Cleaning Commissioned Edwaids. ol New York, who was shot while at tempting to aid Mr. Gaynor. Justize Swayze sentenced Gallagher io twelve years in state's prison at Trenton, and further until the cost of prosecution is paid. Jersey justice, proverbially swift, moved with celerity in Gallagher's trial. The jury was chosen in a little more than ten minutes, two of the men selected having acted on the Jury thai declared Gallagher sane. Assistant Prosecutor Vickers opened for the state, taking exactly four min utes. The employes of the steamship company told how Gallagher came to the steamship and inquired for Ma. or Gaynor. Their testimony was taken in five minutes, and Commissioner Ed warde took the stand and told of the shooting and how he went to Mayor Gaynor's assistance. Soutn Carolina Loses i-ropeiiei'. The United States battleship South Carolina, now on her way home from Europe, reported to the navy depart ment by wireless that she lost her port propeller and shaft. In spite of the fact that she will complete the journey on her starboard propeller, the South Carolina will arrive at Hampton Roads about Jan. 12. 85 Fishermen Swept to Death. Eighty-five fishermen were carried out into the Caspian sea on an ice floe at Astrakhan, Russia. Tuesday. A steamer was requisitioned at Baku and sent to the rescue, but the chances that any will escape death are poor. STEPHEN B. ELKINS. West Virginia Senator Dies Sud | den!) In Washington. w jjj \ S Senator Elkins Is Ce;.d. Senator Stepuhen B. Elkins, of West Virginia, died at his home in Wash ington. Sudden collapse, following a lung illness, caused his dealb. The end was not unexpected, for the senator had been sinking lor hours. At his bed.-iide were Mrs. Elkins, his two sons, Blaine and Richard Elkins; his daughter, Miss Katheriue Elkins, and Henry Gas saway Davis, his father-in-law. Mr. Elkins had been sick for several months. He was unable to attend the sessions of congress when it convened early in December and had bfen con fined to his home all the fall. Every effort had been made to bring him back to health, but it was unavailing and the last few days septic poisoning is understood to have developed, and this probably caused the end. The funeral took place on Saturday at El kins, W. Va. Inside Explosion Wrecked the Maine. The war department at Washing ton is receiving reports from those who are engaged in raising the sunktn battleship Maine from Havana harbor which tend to show that the disaster was due to an internal explosion. In the mud and silt in which the hull lies buried have been found much coal and the bones of some of the crew of the ship, who met their deaths when the explosion came and the fchip sank. Engineer officers think the coal and the bodies of the men were blown from the battleship by an explosion in one of the air tight compartments in which was stored powder and other explosives. They do not think the coal could have been blown from the hull of the battleship by an outside explo sion. Spanish authorities contended that the sinking of the Maine was the re sult of an internal explosion. It was the popular belief in thlu country t' at some Spaniard had wreeke i th Maine through the use of a mine or some high explosive because of this co n try's sympathy ior Cuba. The wave ol indignation that swept over (he coun try precipitated the war with Siain. With the present progress of the work the hull should be raised by April. There is some fear that th ■ hull may break in two while being rai-ed. Befoer this occurs, if it should hap pen, those in charge of the work will know the cause of the sinking of the Maine. 80 Dying Daily of Bubonic Plague. Reports from Fudziadian, Russ.», say there are ei o hty deaths daily from the bubonic plague in that section. The foreign colony is threatened. COLE'S 4ggj Up-To-Date whatever it may lie—"''shall I buy? Don't ponder over these things, nor spend your time looking at pictures in "cheap goods" mail-order catalogs. Come to our store and let us solve the problem. We have a fine variety of standard goods to choose from. When you think of HARDWARE think of COLE'S. SANITARY PLUMBING. We give special attention to Piping, Steam, Hot Water and Hot Air Heating. General job work and repairing In all branches, prompt ly and skillfully executed Samuel Cole, - Dushore, Pa. * YEAR ADDS $45,000,000 TO PENSION BILL House Passes Bill to Give Veterans More. The national house of representa tives pnsned the Sulloway general pen sion bill. This measure grants pensions ranging from sl2 to $36 a month to all soldiers who served ninety days in the United States army in the Civil War, and who have reached the age of sixty-two years. The bill adds about $45,000,000 a year to the pension roll. Opposition to the measure was ex pressed by some members upon the ground that its terms were too gen eral. It provides for the pensioning oi all Union soldiers regardless of dis ability, the only requirement being that they shall have attained the age of sixty-two years. The general scale of pensions fixed in the new bill according to age is as follows: Sixty-two years, sls a month; G5 years, S2O a month; 70 years, $25 a month; 75 years, s3ti a month. It was declared by the advocates of the bill thai 100 veterans are dying every twenty-four hours. NORTH POLE STILL LOST Peary Admits He Made No Chart of Journey In Arctics. Admitting the North Pole is as much lost as ever, and that all future at tempts to find it must be independent enterprises, unaided by his own work, Captain Robert E. Peary, the Arctic explorer, answered a cross-fire of questions at a hearing before the house committee on naval affairs. The captain told how he wanted the glory of tiie polar achievement for himself, declining to let any member of his expedition, other than Henson, togo on the last dash with him, how his publishing contracts had preclud ed him from testifying before the com mittee last spring, and how members of his expedition had been prohibited from writing about the trip. Captain Peary, replying to repeated questions as to tiie results of his Arctic trip, said that he had not yet prepared such a chart as would en able any one to follow in his footsteps to the pole, but he "imagined" that he had data by which he could prepare such a chart. He said the position of the North Pole could be determined just the same as the equator, but the trouble was the comparative low altitude of the sun. which never gets higher than 22V2 degrees above the horizon. For that reason ordinary obs rvations could not be relied on with accuiacy. Hughie Jennings Weds. Hugh Jennings, the manager of the Detroit club of the American ball league, and Miss Nora M. O'Hoyle were married at St. Peter's cathe.lral at Scranton, Pa. Right llev. Edmund F. Prendergast, the auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, officiating and cele brating the nuptial mass. John F. Mur baugh. of Elmira, N. Y., was best man and Miss Amelia O'Boyle, the bride's sister, bridesmaid. The honeymoon tour will be to San Francisco. Calls on National Banks. The comptroller of the currency is sued a call for a statement of the con dition of the national banks at the 2lose of business Saturday, Jan. 7. Son Succeeds Elklns. Davis Elkins was sworn in at Wash ington as the senator of the United States from West Virginia. He is tiie eldest son of the late Senator Stephen P. Elkins, and is the third generation of the family to represent his st ite in the upper branch of congress. He wm appointed by the governor of West Virginia to serve until the legislature, which Is Democratic, elects a succes sor to his father.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers