VOL. XY.
NO. 44
DIAZ ASKED TO
FREE AMERICANS
State Department Tries to Save
Piatt and Converse.
MAY INVOLVE BOUNDARY
Washington Holds That Mexicans Cap j
tured Men on American Soil —Death
to U. S. Citizens Caught as Rebels.
Two developments in the Mexicai
crisis, if their coming together is noi
a mere coincidence, may be fraught
with serious meaning.
Almost immediately following an an
nouncement by Jose Limantour, Mexi
can minister of finance, in which he
virtually declares that Americans ad
judged rebels will be summarily shot
without formality, the state depart
inent asked the Mexican government
to release Rlatt and Converse, Ameri
cans, who are held prisoners at Juarez
Mexico.
The reason far this request is sig
nificant. The Mexican government
has been informed that the young men
were arrested on American soil
whereas the Diaz pfilcials at the iron
tier have maintained that the met !
were arrested at Tia Juana, a town on
the northern frontier of the Mexican
state of Lower California, and on the
Mexican side of the line. Only an
imaginary line defines the southern j
boundary of California, and this has
never been thoroughly surveyed.
Whether the state department's le
quest is made in the belief that the
point near Tia Juana at which Rlatt |
and Converse were arrested, accused
of being spies, is really American soil, j
or whether it is contended that the I
arrests took place farther north, in j
territory admittedly this country's, de
spite the Mexican authorities' state
ments, is not made certain.
If the government at Mexico City
releases the prisoners this will con
stitute a rebuke for the Mexican of
ficer in command, for he has insisted j
that the uicu were caught on Mexican;
soil.
The fact that the United States con
sul at El Paso at the time declared
that he could offer no argument why
Blatt and Converse should be released
points to the possibility that a bound
ary dispute may result.
Edwin M. Blatt, of Pittsburg, and
Lawrence Converse, son of a Glen
dora, Cftl., lawyer, were arrested on
Feb. 23. Accused of carrying arms
against Mexico and of acting as spies
for the rebels, they were seized and
for a time it was feared had been shot.
They protested their innocence, but
have remained in prison two weeks.
'chrantour's Defiant Statement.
What may be considered in effect
the official Mexican reply to recent
representations said to have been
made by the United States, asking as
liberal treatment as possible for the
Americans caught bearing arms on
Mexican territory, is contained in a
statement made by Jose Yves Liman
tour, Mexican minister of finance, in
New York. In substance, it is indicated
that captured American allies of the
revolutionists will have to take their
chances with their Mexican rebel com
panions. This is considered to mean
that under martial law Americans may
be summarily tried and executed.
To Teach Pupils to Swim.
Swimming is to be taught in the
Chicago public schools as a part, of
the regular curriculum.
Plans were approved by the board
of education for the new Nicholas
Senn school building, at South Port
and Francis avenues and Perry street,
and it is here that the first pool will
be constructed. Pupils are to be given
swimming lessons by an expert.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK,
ZEITTGKEIIESVXIL.LIE, IP.A..
CAPITAL STOCK
$50,000 W. C. FRONTZ President.
Surplus and FRANK A. REEDER, Cashier
Net Profits
75,000, DIRECTORS:
Transacts a General Wm. Frontz, Johu C. Laird, C. W. Sones,
r» i* nW. C.Frontz, Frank A.Reecler, Jacob Per,
Banking Business. | ' '
Lyman Myers, \V. I. Reedy, Peter Frontz,
Accounts oflndivid- j. A. S. Ball, John Bull.
uals and Firms
solicited.
Safe Deposite Boxes for Rent, One Dollar per Year.
3 per cent. INTEREST PAID ON TIME DEPOSITS.
Republican News Item.
GENERAL BLANCO. |
Revolutionary Leader Operating
Near Douglas, Ariz.
© 1911, by American Press Association.
MAY HAVE BEEN SHOT
Fifteen Americans With Mexican
Rebels Captured In Battle.
That the fifteen Americans taken
prisoners by the Mexican federal
troops at the battle of Casas Grandes
have been shot is the belief expressed
in El Paso, Tex.
All the efforts made to reach the
military authorities at Casas Grandes
have failed.
Madero, under whom the men
fought, is still within a few mile3 of
the place, but according to his con!!
dential messages sent by couriers
here, lie has been unable to learn the
fate of his men.
Madero has been asked to send in a
roster of the men's names, but the
courier who took this message has not
yet returned.
Casas Grandes is 150 miles from EI
Paso, and the messenger is traveling
on foot.
BANK ROBBERY KILLS WOMAN
Cashier's Wife, Who Had Been 111,
Dies From Shock.
The safe in the bank of the Rush
ville Hank company, at Rushville, west
of Geneva, N. Y., was blown open dur
ing the night and its contents, esti
mated at SSOOO, stolen.
Villagers heard the explosion and
one of them saw three men, one with
a bag on his shoulder, walking from
the bank.
The safe breakers escaped in a rig
before a general alarm could be given.
Mrs. W. I. Jones, wife of the cash
ier of the bank, who lias been ill,
died from shock when she heard of
the robbery.
Oil Trust Officer Dies at Desk.
William P. Howe, assistant treasur
er of the Standard Oil Company of
New Jersey, died suddenly in his of
fice in the Standard Oil building in
New York city. Acute cardiac trouble
was given as the cause of his death.
Mr. Howe was silting at his desk
when he was stricken.
Society Boxer Nearly Lost an Eye.
For more than three days Anthony
J. Drexel Riddle, the popular ama'eur
society boxer, of Philadelphia, has
been reposing in a dark room, and ii
was not until Sunday that Dr. Charles
S. Turnbull was able to assure him
that he wouldn't lose the sight of his
j right eye.
i Riddle's injury was sustained last
Thursday afternoon in a furious bout
with Jack O'Rrien. Incidentally the
energetic amateur had three teeth
broken in the same fight, while Jack
O'Rrien sustained severe damage in
the way of cut lips and nose.
LAPORTE, SULLIVAN COUNTY PA. FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1910.
QUITS BANK HE !
BORROWED FROM
Cashier of Mt. Holly National!
Resips.
Bank Examiner Objected to Lee's ,
Leans and He Gave His Horr.e and I
Other Real Estate to Secure Debt.
Frederick H. Lee, cashier of the
Mount Holly, N. J., National bank, re
signed his position because objection
hail been made to the fact that he bor
rowed money from the bank.
Mr. Lee had many friends on the
board who wanted him to remain as <
cashier, but there were others who <
thought it would be better if here- 1
signed, and to avoid controversy he <
did so.
The following statement was given
out by Pearson Taylor and George M.l
Hillman, members of the directorate, 1
at the close of the meeting:
"Mr. Lee has insisted upon resign
ing as cashier. His resignation was
accepted by a full board meeting. Al
bert 13. Walters, former assis ant
cashier, was selected to take Mr. Lee's
place.
"The total indebtedness of Mr. Lea
is less than SIO,OOO and It is amply
secured."
It Is said that Mr. Lee borrowed
from the bank with the knowledge
and consent of several of the direc
tors and there was nothing criminal
in the transactions. A bank examiner,
however, recently objected to them,
and the cashier gave his home, one of
the finest properties in Mount Holly,
and other real estate to secure the
debt.
"I have not made up my mind just
what I shall do," said Mr. Lee after
the board meeting. "1 have good
prospects, but no definite plans for the
future. 1 am going to stay in Mount
Holly a while, but have severed all
connection with the bank."
The bank, it was said, will hold
Lee's property for him until he is in
a position to redeem it. He was also
bonded for $20,000, and at no time
was the institution in danger of losing
money through his borrowing. Fur
thermore, the bank has a surplus of
SSO,OOO and other securities and is in
excellent condition.
Lee's salary was SISOO a year, but
he is said to have lived in the style
of a man with a much greater income.
He and . his wife entertained fre
quently at their home here, which was
one of the centers of social activity in
the town, and both have many friends
in Philadelphia.
It is estimated that Lee had bor
rowed as much as $40,000 from the
bank, but the amount had been re
duced until it is within the limit of
the banking laws and is now so pro
tected that the institution will not lose
anything.
Lee has been cashier of the Mount
Holly National bank for ten years,
filling a position his father once held
The demand made upon him to trans
fer his real estate as security is sa d
to have been due principally to the
bank's unfortunate experience in the
past with trusted employes.
Thirty year ago a cashier named
Kelly embezzled $15,000 and was sen
tenced to state's prison for eight
years. The second defalcation occurred
last summer, when Heller, the assist
ant cashier, disappeared with $18,500
of the bank's funds.
UNHURT WHEN BOLT HIT BED
Couple Escape Lightning, Which
Wrecks, Then Ignites House.
A lightning bolt that in its freak por
?grinations parted at an iron bed an.l
'.eft unharmed a cou;>le sleeping there,
while it destroyed chairs and pictures
and other furnltu-e In the room, cans
3d the destruction by fire of the two
story frame home of David Fulk, near
Singer's Glen, Va.
The electric flash shattered the
roof of the house, set fire to a va
cant bed, dar.cJ iu.o the lower room,
occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fulk, divid
ed at their iron bedstead, wrought
havoc in the room all about them,
shot out into the kitchen, demolishing
a sideboard and chairs, shattered ev
ery window and fired the structure.
The terrified couple escaped in their
night clothes.
Colored Man Kills Wife.
Mary Powell, a colored woman, was
shot and instantly killed by her hus
band, Ephraim Powell, at their home
in Milford, Del. The husband used a
shotgun, and the entire charge en
tered his wife's head below the left
eye. The crime was witnessed by a
small child. Powell met the father of
the dead woman while being taken to
jail, tore loose from the policeman
and struck the aged man in the face.
Four Fishermen Drowned.
Four fishermen, the crew of the gas
oline boat Hope, were drowned just
outside the breakwater at Gloucester,
Mass., when the boat collided with
the schooner Hallie Heckman.
CORPORATION TAX I
DECLARED VALID'
[i
Supreme Court Holds Law
Constitutional.
AN EXCISE TAX ON BUSINESS
Decision Insures an Annual Income ,
For the Government of $25,000,000
or More.
The corporation tax was declared
constitutional by the unanimous de
cision of the supreme court of the
United States. The decision was deliv
ered by Associate Justice William R.
Day.
Washington, March 14. The cor
poration tax was declared con titu
tional by the unanimous decision of
the supreme court of the United
States. The decision was delivered by
Associate Justice Wiliam R. Day. ,
This upholding of the validity of a
new system of raising revenue, made
part of the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, is
a sweeping victory for the administra- (
tion, as the tax was evolved by Presi
dent Taft himself. .
The decision insures an annual in
come for the government of $25,000,-
000 or more, the collections for the
fiscal year having amounted to more
than $20,900,000.
The decision is the first in the
three big cases affecting the business
world to which financial interests and
lawyers have long looked forward
with greatest interest. The others
are the dissolution suits against the
so-called oil trust and tobacco trust.
All three have been reargued since
the president's recent appointments
to the supreme court.
Government Loses One Point.
Of all the objections to the tax
raised by suits in all parts of the
country none of them was found suffi
cient to nullify the law. The court
did hold that the tax was not appli
cable to the real estate "trusts" of
Boston, which are organized, not un
der any statute, but under the com
mon law.
The law was held not applicable
also to the Minneapolis syndicate, a
real estate concern, on the ground
that it was not "doing business" with
in the meaning of the law.
Justice Day first announced that
it was within the power of the sen
ate to insert the corporation tax pro
visions in the tariff law„ which orig
inated in the house.
He said that the court held the tax
was an "excise tax on the doing of j
business." This is exactly the basis!
on which the government defended the
law.
Justice Day next held that the tax
provisions were not the arbitrary ex
ercise of a power. This was urged
in argument as one reason why the
law should be held unconstitutional.
By regarding the tax as measured
by income rather than being a tax on
income, the opinion held that the law
was constitutional, notwithstanding
that the law might reach the Income
from sources in themselves non-tax
able.
Near the outset the opinion sets
forth that the tax "is imposed not
upon the franchises of the corpora
tion, irrespective of their use in busi
ness, nor upon the property u, ic
I corporation, but upon t' e doing of
corporate or insurance business, and
i with respect to the carrying in there
of in a sum equivalent to one per
centum of the entire net income over
I and above SSOOO received from all
sources during the ;~ar; that is, when
imposed in this manner, it is a tax
upon the doing of business with the
advantages which inhere In the pe
culiarities of corporate or joint stock
organization of the character de
scribed."
Find Body of Man Tied to Wild Horse.
The First United States cavalry,
with a pack train, found on the desert
150 miles east of Yuma, Ariz, the
mummified body of a man attached to
a wild horse's tail by a lasso.
The lariat had been bound to the
man's wrists. The soldiers shot the
horse and when they arrived in Yuma
notified the coroner. It is evident that
3 the man was tied by enemies, who
then set the stallion free, allowing the
animal to drag the victim to death.
Big Locomotive Order.
An order for forty locomotives was
received by the Baldwin Locomotive
works in Philadelphia from the Illi
nois Central Railroad company. The
transaction will total about SBOO,OOO.
Chicken a Graceful Quadruped.
i- Elmer Crawford, of Bloomsburg,
t Pa., is the owner of a young chicken
with four perfectly formed legs. It
l> handles the four as well as the aver
age chacken handles two.
If
! JUSTICE DAY.
i
I
: Celivered Decision Upholding |
lj Corporation Tax.
I 1 _J
r750? bv c
Explosion Felt a Hundred Miles.
Hardly a house in the thickly pop
ulated farming country within a ra
dius of five miles from Pleasant prai
rie, Wis., is in a habitable condition as
a result of the explosion of five maga
zines filled with dynamite and black
gunpowder in the plant of the Du-
Pont de Nemours Company.
One man, E. S. Thompson, was
killed; one was seriously injured, sev
eral hundred were painfully hurt, and
the greater number of residents of
Pleasant Prairie, Bristol, and the sur
rounding farming country have pack
ed their remaining household goods
and moved away until their home are
rebuilt.
The explosion was felt more than a
100 miles away, in Illinois, Indiana
and Michigan.
In Chicago, sixty odd miles from
the scene of the explosion, the larg
est granite buildings were rocked as
if by an earthquake. The tremor
caused a panic in some of the hotels
and theatres. Many persons rushed
to the streets. At Elgin, 111., a woman
dropped dead from fright.
The five magazines which exploded
contained 150 tons finished dynamite,
130 tons unfinished dynamite, 80,000
kegs finished giant powder, 25,000
kegs unfinished giant powder.
Mr. Bumstead, superintendent of the
powder plant, said the exact cause of
the explosion could not be learned,
but that it might have resulted from a
a hammer blow or from a broken
piece of machinery fiyiug against the
wall or iioor of the glazing or finish
ing room.
Nearly every one within ten miles
I of the factory when the explosion oc
; curred is wearing a bandage, but the
I injuries sustained are not severe in
! more than half a dozen cases.
To Electrify Eastern Pennsylvania.
Plans have been filed with the re
corder in Allentown, Pa., giving no
tice that application will be msde on
April 3 to the governor of Penn
sylvania by W. A. Lathrop, Rolliu 11.
Wilbur and 11. F. Baker, of Philadel
phia, for charters for about sixty elec
tric companies.
This will be the first public move
in the fulfilment of the great powei
scheme of the Lehigh Coal and Navi
gation company, which aims to elec
trify eastern Pennsylvania, affecting
a territory with a population of 2,500,-
000 people, including Philadelphia.
Immense power houses are to be
built at Lansford, to be run by coal
that has heretofore been allowed to
goto waste, as well as by water
power, and the main high tension
transmission lines, 132 miles long, are
' to run into Philadelphia, with branch
es to all industries, towns, villages and
sections that will contract, to uUl:ze
the now or
HARDWARE—iBfepr
WHENJyou'think'of buying hard- .
ware you naturally ask yourself
t-hig question: "What kind of
stove, washer,'"cutlery, gun,"—or m"" **
whatever it may be —"shall I buy? Don't ponder over these thing*,
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 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.
75C PER YEAR
'Ju'r ASS RtUIPROCITY
WITHOUT CHANGE
Democrats Won't Add Tariff
Amendments to Pact.
The Republican opponents of Cana
dian reciprocity in Washington are
disappointed over the evident deter
mination of the house Democrats to
pass the Taft agreement without tack
ing any tariff revision measures to It.
The senate progressives and a num
ber of the regulars were elated last
week when the announcement was
made, seemingly by authority, that
the Democratic committee on ways
and means planned to add amend
ments to the cotton and wool sched
ules to the Canadian agreement. Since
then the committee, or at least a ma
jority of its members, have experi
enced a change of heart.
Within the past day or two Chair
man Underwood has caused it to be
known that the Canadian agreement
would be reported to the new house
precisely in the form in which it was
submitted to congress at the recent
session.
Whether the committee has chang
ed front because of intimations of the
president that he disapproves of the
plan to add anything to the Cana
dian bill or whether the Democrats
came to the conclusion that it would
be better politics to ratify the agree
ment just as it came from Mr. Taft,
is not made clear. All that the leaders
can be induced to say on the subject
is that the agreement is to be passed
by the house as it was outlined in the
McCall bill.
WITHDRAW WARSHIPS
Sea Patrol Abolished at Mexico's De
sire.
Within twenty-four hours all the
American naval vessels in Mexican
waters will be withdrawn.
This action was taken in accord
ance with orders sent out by Beek
man Winthrop, acting secretary of the
navy, following a formal protest to
the state department made by Senor
Francisco I.eon de la Bavra, the Mexi
can ambassador in Washington.
The activity of the American naval
vessels was obnoxious to the Diaz gov
ernment, and Ambassador de la Barra
was instructed to ask that they be
withdrawn.
The dispatching of the naval vessels
to Mexican waters was for the two
fold purpose of having them available
in case it became necessary to pro e.t
American and foreign property and
also to gather accu:ate information of
the real conditions in Mexico.
It was never intended, it was ex
plained, to establish a permanent pa
trol of the Pacific and Gulf coasts of
Mexico.
The navy department took these
steps to obtain information not only
of conditions in Mexico, but also of
attempted filibustering expeditions. In
view of the complaint of the Mexican
government, however, these investiga
tions will be abandoned and the ves
i sels withdrawn.
"Buffalo Bill" For Senate.
It is semi officially stated in Tucson,
; Ariz., that Colonel William F. Cody.
1 known to fame as "Buffalo Bill," plans
to round out his career by becoming
! first United States senator from Ari
zona. The colonel does not deny the
' rumor. He has established a home in
i Tucson and a permanent camp in the
' mountains.
Cattle Worth $250,000 Burn.
Altiiost two areas of stock sheds
were burned down in Fort Worth,
Tex., roasting to death between 500
and 1000 head of horses, sheep and
hogs and seriously burning four men.
The value of the dead animals is es
timated at about $250,000 and the
property loss $50,000.