THE SUGGESTED ERIE SHORT CUT. Tnenty Mill's Dlstunee Could Be Saved Why tlie Kile Wus Kept Out of Wayne Why the JellerMHi Charter Wus Secured. The recent visits of prominent Erie people to Honesdale, with some hints as to their object, leads con- j siderable interest to the revival of I current talk of a short cut being i pushed through Wayne county, ! with a view to materially lessening I the distant o between New York and the west, and of course effecting a corresponding decrease in schedule time on the main line. That this project was very seri ously considered when the Erie rail way was first built, and has been proved feasible by careful surveys from time to time subsequently made by the Del. & Hud. Co., and other parties interested, and the reasons why all plans in this direc tion have thus far failed of realiza tion, ure set forth in the following history of the movement from the outset. In 1 the Legislature of New York granted a charter to the N. Y. & Erie Knilroad Company with authority to construct a railroad from the city of New York through the southern tier of the counties of the State to Lake Erie. In 1 S4 1 the Legislature of Penn sylvania authorized the company to construct the road through a por tion of Susquehanna county. In 1844, the company, finding It in practicable to build their road on the New York side of the Delaware river without interfering with the works of the Del. & Hud. canal, proposed asking permission of the Legislature of Pennsylvania of 1845 to come into this state and construct their road on the western bank of the Delaware river in Pike county. The people of Wayne county, knowing that the Susquehanna river could be reached by a better and shorter route by following up the Lackawaxen river, and so passing through this county, called a series of meetings at various places in the county to take measures to induce the Erie company to come through Wayne county. For reasons, not then understood, the Del. & Hud. Canal Co., opposed the movement. They sent their friends and employees to the vari ous meetings that had been called, and by them every plan that was proposed was voted down, thus giv ing the meeting an appearance of hostility to the measure. The Erie Company submitted their proposition to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, which assembled in January, 1&4,", and asked permis sion to build their road through a portion of Pike county. William II. Dimmick (the elder) who was the attorney of the Del. (c Hud. tj. Co., was then in the Senate, and through his influence the applica tion of the Erie Company was re jected. F. IJ. I'enulnian and C. S. Minor had attended the meeting called at' Prompton to favor the application of the Erie Company, and when their application was rejected by the Legislature, .Mr. Minor said to .Mr. Peuuiman that if the Erie peo ple wibhod to come into Pennsylva nia and would come through Wayne county, they should have the au thority necessary to build the road. The next year the application of the Erie road was renewed, and although William II. Dimmick was still in the Senate ho allowed the bill to pass without any opposition, and the Erie company received au thority to build their road through a portion of Pike county. Mr. Minor wns still determined to ob tain from the State the authority to build the road through Wayne county, but Mr. Dimmick was stil! in the Legislature and no suitable opportunity seemed to present it self till Calvely Freeman, of Mount Pleasant, was elected representa tive. Then Mr. Minor drew up the charter for the Jefferson road. In order to carry the bill through the Legislature, and thus avoid all op position, he called it the "Jeffer son" road, taking his idea from the Washington Coal Company, which had Just been chartered. He be lieved that if the people of this section saw a notice of the bill they would think it appertained to Jef ferson county, while If the people of Jefferson county noticed It they would see that It was nothing that affected them. This shrewd scheme of the brilliant young lawyer, now, with all others associated with him in the movement, long since dead, was communicated personally to the writer by Mr. Minor. The bill passed without attracting any at tcntlon. After the charter was drawn up Mr. Minor delivered It to Mr. Pen nlman, who sent it to his brother, Hon. Edward Penniman, then a member of the Legislature from Philadelphia. He put the bill In charge of Calvely Freeman, the representative from Wayne county, who attended to Its passage through the House and Senate. The Commissioners named In tho bill were Earl Wheeler, Chas. S. Minor, Francis D. Penniman, and Benjamin B. Smith. Earl Wheeler was a brother-in-law of Calvely Freeman. His name was put on as a commissioner, but as he was also attorney for the Del. & Hud. Canal Co., and It was supposed that that company might still be hostile to the measure, Mr. Wheeler was j not informed of the bill or the use j made of his name. After the act had passed the legtslatur.e Mr. Free- j man wrote to Mr. Wheeler that the JofYnranti rnflrnnrl lit 1 1 find nnsfiprl. t and that the tax must be paid. Mr. Wheeler, knowing nothing of what had been done, called on Mr. Penni man, who, being then the editor of this paper under its original name, he naturally supposed would un derstand what "had been done in the Legislature. Mr. Penniman ex plained the business to him and found him friendly to the measure. It now became necessary to raise the money for the tax. As there was some doubt as to whether or not the charter was worth what it j would tost, Mr. Penniman and Mr. Minor on consultation agreed to lay the whole matter before Judge Thomas H. It. Tracy, one of the lo cal ofilcers of the Del. !i i.ud. t nnal Co. For this purpose Mr. Penni man called on Judge Tracy, and af ter stating what had been done, ask ed whether It was advisable to pay the tax. "By all means," f-aid Judge Tracy, "and If the amount of the tnx Is any consideration, we will pay It, for we shall have occasion to use the road to send off coal. The coal business is changing; formerly consumers were content to buy six months' supply in the fall, but since other companies are running off coal all winter, consum ers buy from month to month. We must adopt our business to tills changed condition. We were never opposed to a railroad. When the Erie road proposed in 1844 to come into the State we were afraid the idea would go forth that would put up the price of coal lands; we want ed one year to buy coal lands; we fought off the measure the first year; we had one year to buy coal lands, and withdrew all opposition. We are now in favor of the road. Mr. Tracy paid the tax for the Del. & Hud. Canal Company as he pro posed, and from that time the D. & H. Co. were heartily friendly to the enterprise. The Act of Incor poration passed April 23, 1851. Soon after obtaining the charter Messrs. Penniman, Minor and Smith employed Edward Weston to make a survey of the route from Hones dale to Susquehanna. He made a written report setting fortn that he had found a grade ex ceeding fifty feet to the mile; that the distance saved between Lacka waxen and Susquehanna depended somewhat upon the route taken, but was not not less than twenty miles. The leport was sent to the Presi dent of the Erie road. In 1S4I) the road had been opened up the Dela ware and on to Owego. Soon after petting .Mr. Weston's report the Erie company sent on engineers to take tho elevation from Susquehanna up to the Summit in Wayne county, and found that Weston's report was cor rect. Hearing nothing more from the Erie company, Messrs. Penniman and Minor called upon the President of the Erie road to ascertain from him whether the advantages of this route did not offer sufficient induce ment for tho Erie company to build the road. The president replied that if his company could have gone thiough Wayne county originally it would have been greatly to their advantage; but their road was now built along the Delaware and they had no money then to build another through Wayne county. At some time in tho future, it would prob ably be desirable to build a road on that route. Nothing more was done till 1SG3. Meanwhile the Pennsylvania Coal Company had built a road from Ilawley to Lackawaxen, there con necting with the Erie. The people. of Honesdale felt the necessity of a continuation of the road to this place. March IS, 1SG3, the Jeffer son charter was revived; the neces sary stock was subscribed; a com pany was organized and a contract was subsequently made with John Genty, but it was not until June 23, 18C8, that locomotives passed over the road, and July 13 the passen ger trains commenced running reg ularly. It was originally contem plated that the Jefferson road would run up the Dyberry to the summit, near Tallmansville, then follow the Starrucca creek down to Lanesboro and there connect with the Erie road. The Act of 1863 reviving tho charter authorizes the construction of a branch not to exceed twenty miles in length. The branch con templated was to run from the head waters of the Lackawanna, in Wayne county, down to Carbondale. As, however, the point of connec tlon with the main line was not definitely determined, the act of April 9th, 18G4, authorizes the ex tension of the branch to a greater distance not, however, exceeding ten miles additional. As the road now runs from the Erie railroad to Carbondale, that portion from the connection at Lanesboro to Starrucca is on the main line, and that from Carbon dale to Starrucca is on the branch. In 18G9 the work of construction was commenced from Carbondale to Lanesboro. The work was to be under the direction and contract of the Joffersou Company, but the money was to bo furnished by the Del, & Hud. Company, while the road was to bo run by tho Erie. A contract was made with Fonda for Its construction. C, A. Minor, one of the directors of the Jefferson road, was appointed land agent, to secure tho right of way. When Mr. Minor went on the road he found that the engineers had laid the road on the proposed route up to Stillwater, and from that point the engineers had left the Lacka wanna, deveying to the west, and were steering for Ararat summit. Mr. Minor ordered them to stop, and follow the Lackawanna Into Wayne county. The engineers said that they were employed by Fonda nnd i were working under his direction. Mr. Minor returned to Honesdale, and called a meeting of the Jeffes son directors who sent positive ord ers to Fonda to change his course nnd adhere to the contemplated route, it appears that he owned ' land on the route he wns running, and was determined to go through his laud. When the orders from the direct ors reached Fonda, Thomas Dickson, then President of tho Del. & Hud. Canal Co. through whose hands the t oiu.m'ih tion money pnssed, Inter fered, and urged that Fonda should be left to ills own course. It ap pears that Fonda was nn Intimate friend of President Dickson. The Jefferson directors urged that they wanted the road constructed nto Wayne county, so that the connection could be more easily made with the Honesdale road. Mr. Dickson replied: "That connection will be made any way let Fonda go on!" So Fonda went on, en countering the first sink-hold tills side of the summit; then Aronat Mountain, which he cut through at reat expense, then running three miles to get down to Thompson Cen ter, which was only three-quarters of a mile from the summit; next en countering the deep cut this side of Starrucca village, over which a long bridge was constructed 100 fc-.et high, and finally getting down to the Susquehanna connection on a grade as steep as to require two lo comotives to draw up an empty train of cars. All of these difficulties would have been avoided if the road had been built as the Jefferson directors con templated, and then a connection with Honesdale would have been short nnd easy. Until the road reached this stage the whole was under the control of the Del. & Hud. Canal Co. It was finally arranged that the road should pass into the hands of the Erie company, which was to pay in transportation the Del. &. Hudson company lor the advances. Accord ingly all of the stock of the Jeffer son Company was sold to the Erie road. At the time of the sale, how ever, the Erie Company entered In to a contract to put the road up to Honesdale and to build a proper depot. Hut as the Jefferson fran chise immediately passed into their hands they doubtless considered it as a contract under witli themselves which they were at liberty to keep or not as they see lit. When the Jefferson road was opened up to Honesdale the Erie road was under the management of Jay Could. Mr. Could was well ac quainted with this county and un derstood the good advantages to the Erie road to be gained by running through Wayne county. He sent on a company of engineers under Van Frank who made a careful and ela borate survey from Honesdale up the Dyberry to the summit and down the Starrucca to the junction with the Erie at Lanesboro. In making tho survey .Mr. Van Frank consulted mainly with the late Judge C. P. Waller and C. S. Minor. While they were making the map of the road as surveyed, .Mr. Minor asked .Mr. Van Frank about the goods. The latter said that tho heaviest grade between Lanesboro and Honesdale was in getting up the j Starrucca to the summit; and that I ho there encountered a grade of ixty feet to the mile. Mr. Miner said to him "we must have found a lower pass at the summit than you did, for in our survey, (the Weston) we reached the summit on a grade fifty feet to the mile." "No," said Mr. Van Frank, "I passed the summit where you did; but sixty feet to the mile is not an ob jectionable grade, and I straighten ed and shortened the route of your survey. After Mr. Van Frank had return ed his survey witli the map to the Erie office, Mr. Gould, in a confer ence with the late Col. F. Young, said that if the people of Wayne county would raise $40,000, or do what was equivalent to that In pro curing the right of way, he would, as soon as spring opened com mence operations and push the road through to the Erie road. Mr. Young reported the proposition and offered to give the right of way through all of his lands, now the Riefler property. C. P. Tallman agreed to procure the right of way or releases through the section where he lived. The equivalent for the $40,000 could readily havo been furnished, but before spring opened Mr. Gould had been removed from the presidency of tuo Erlo road, and the project ended. Swarming and Superseding. Nearly every swarm I have had this year could be traced directly to a failing queen, says a writer In Bee Culture. It does not pay tho bee keeper who expects to control swarm ing to aHow the bees to do their own superseding. Too often they will seelct tho beginning of a honey flow as, tho time for this. Tho result is a swarm, although the colony may bo In poor condition to swarm. Very often the old queen never amounts to anything afterwards, and some how It often happons that they do not try again to supersede 'aor. T IN BOASTS 2513 DESCENDANTS They Are All Living aift Mooes Russell Sends Complete List to Former Pres. Roosevelt IS WORLD'S RECORD, HE SAYS Patriarch of Adlrondacks Lives at Molra, N. Y., with His Generations Gathered About Him Believed to Be this Country's Largest Family. Malone, N. Y. A patriarch o mod ern days Is reported from the town of Molra, a resident of which an nounces, with no little pride, that he lias just counted up nnd finds that he lias 25G living descendants 13 chil dren, 09 grandchildren, 139 great grandchildren and 5 great-greatgrandchildren. This father of many living generations Is Moses Russell, who was born In St. Rocque, Canada, and came to Franklin county In 1837. He lived nt various times In North Bangor, Potsdam, Parlshvllle and Col ton. Forty-five years ago ho settled In Molra. He was married sixty-nine years ago to Rosa Larocque, to whom wore born five children, three of whom are living. After the death of his wife, Russell mnrrled Mary Bar low, to whom were born ten children, all of whom are now living within a mile of the old home. For several weeks tho Russells have been gathering data on the numerical strength of the family and they have forwarded to former President Roose velt, in the belief that he will be In terested, the following list of chil dren, together with their living de scendants: Children. Moses, Jr. Great Grandchildren. 4 8 9 29 11 28 11 15 4 21 0 0 10 9 11 17 10 2 (j 6 10 4 5 0 8 0 Levi Eli . William There are five great-great-grandchildren, descendants of Amelia. Moses Russell believes he has the largest family in the country. TOOTH BRUSHES FOR COWS. Hygiene Craze Spreads Into All Walks of Life. Paris, France. Fiance has the hy giene craze very severely; It is car ried so far as Insistent on the neces sity of looth brushes for milch cows, becauso their mouths are "veritable hotbeds of nicrobes." Fashionable hygienists have already prohibited te , coffee and chocolate on the ground that they encourage gout. They now declare that pure and harm lc s milk hardly exists at all. Even if the cow is not suffering from tuber culosis, ifs milk has been contami nated by I lie hands of a milkmaid. Professor Metchnikoff has now a large following of French people who refuse to eat fruit unless it has been cooked or washed in sterilized water, i. c Uet water Is only considered safe alter having Deen boiled two or three times, and e ;n bathing water should bo boiled. Servants who wait at tajle, say the hygiene cranks should wear gloves which are boiled after each meal and dried by hot air, in order to avoid all rhk of contamination of the food, and they should, after washing their hands with soap and boiled water, cleanse them In alcohol. If hygiene is to be regarded, all ani mals even the canary must be ban ished fr-'m the house. They are capa ble of communicating contagious dis eases. PSYCHOLOGY OF CLEAN SHIRTS. First Inclination to Send Linen to Laundry Must Be Fanned. Chicago, 111. In sending a shirt to I a laundry and repeating the perform I ance a man goes through varied psy I etiological states, according to A. F. I Sheldon, of Llbertyvllle, 111., in a com I municatlon to the annual convention of laundrymen in session here. "First he feels an interest in send ing his shirt to be laundried," says Mr. Sheldon. "But before he actually does tlu deed his mind must be built up to the lntenseness of desire." This, it is explained, Is tho work of the boy who solicits trade. "The desire must blaze up until it molts the will." Mr. Sheldon continues, "It is not until the will is touched that the decision Is really made to have the work done." This Is also said to be the business of tho boy." Plant that Prevents Mosquitoes. Washington, D. C. Consul-Gen. Guenther, at Frankfort, reports that tho Director of Fisheries at Blebrlch, ator experiments covering fourteen years, has found that the most relia ble safeguard against mosquitoes in stagnant waters Is tho growing of tho various kinds of tho semi-tropical plant arzolla. Tho plant corors the water with a layer of about 2.302 Inches, which suffocates all the mos quito larvae below and prevents tho living insocts from depositing their eggs In the water. TELL BREAD MAKING 8ECRET3 Bakers, Trying to Abul'sh Nigh. Work, Explain Their Methods. Members of th journeymen Bakers and Confectioners' International Un ion recently officially gave away a few secrets in bread making in arguments for the abolition of night work. Ohm bread maker said: "Our first bread comes out about 9.30 o'clock in the morning. Then the wagon takes the bread out for dinner. Of course, this bread Is not real warm whtn It goes into tin; wagon. It Is not the best thing to put warm bread in the wagon, as it is liable to get mashed, but tho bread that first has been baked that clay can be used for shipping in the after noon. The bread coming nlong then up until 4 or 5 o clock Is put In boxes, and in the morning It is just as fresh as anybody nuts. When tho load is not so heavy i:i the morning the wagon's come back, load up again and go out. We find It lias been a saving of horses and wagons." "I had day worl hi my shop right along," said Fred Shell, a Detroit bak er, "and in order to accommodate a few customers who wanted warm bread in the morning I put a man on at night. Then we had warm bread in the morning and all day. But the trade has dropped. I don't see tho customers come In and ask fo;' a doz en rolls each day. 1 havo done loss business. This week I have gone back to day work, and I think the custom ers will come back." New York Press. Some Brief Proper Names. In the Zuyder Zee there Is a bay called Y; and Amsterdam has the river Y; while, strange, to say, In quite another part of the earth, in China, the same brief name Is given to a town. ' Elsewhere In the Flowery Kingdom, in the province of, Honan, there Is a city called U; and in France there Is a river, and in Sweden a town, rejoic ing In the name of A. Proper names of this brief nature ure not, however, monopolized by places; instances are on record where individuals have been similarly named. Some years ago there was a shop kept on the Rue de Louvan, Brussels, by Theresa O, and there is a Madame O in Paris who Is well known as the pro prietor of a popular cafe. An amusing incident is recounted in connection with the impressment into the military service of the son of this Madame O. The young man could not write, anu so signed his name on the military papers with a cross. It not occurring to him nor to any of the officials how easily he could have writ ten his name. New York's Guests. Tho transient hotel population ot New York is figured at 250,000 people a day. The hotel properties are val upd at over SSO.000.000. !l Stil! Take the Lead ! Tlie No. 10 is the popular Plat Land Plow. Wo also keep In stock the No. E. 19. 20 and 58 Iron Heajru. Nearly 2,01)0 sold In Wayne county. The following Sub-Agents keep stock Plows and liepulrs on hand : .1. K. Tiffany. Pleasant Mount ; W. 11. Shaffer, Varcien, Pa.; S. Woodmansee. Lake Cotuo : 11. N. Farley. Kquluunk : A. J. Abrahams. Galilee ; hrank Brown Jloadleys: O. W. Shaffer. Georgetown : Seth Hortree. Sterling : C. F. Kellam. Leelgedale; V. E. Corey IJreentown. and Wutts's Honesdale and Ilawley stores. The Oliver Sulky Plow Cannot be Beat ! Honesdale andl fp All A M W A TTQ Honesdale and Hawley Stores WimiilYl W A 1 1 5 Hawley Stores Sash, Doors, lillnds, Front Sash Doors. Sewer Pipe and Builders' Hardware of EVERY Description. AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS: ?'n Ins Machines. Iron, Gravel and Tarred Roofing. Iiarb Wire, Woven Fence Wire, Poultry Netting, LIrue and Cement. Estimates given ou short notice for HOT AIR and STEAM HEAT. PLUMBING in all its branches. Telephone Announcement This company is preparing to do extensive construction work in the Honesdale Exchange District which will greatly improve the service and enlarge the system Patronize the Independent Telephone Company .which reduced telephone rates, anddo not contract for any other service without conferring with our Contract Department Tel. No. 3D0. CONSOLIDATED TELEPHONE CO. of PENNSYLVANIA. Poster Building. SKETCHES PICKPOCKET New York Artist Sends Drawing to Po lice Commissioner Bingham and Crook Gets Eight Years. New York City. An artist who has refused to make his Identity public, a few weeks ago saw a pickpocket at work on a Hobokon ferryboat Ho quickly sketched tho man on a postal card and mailed It to Pollco Commis sioner Bingham. William Springer, an Englishman, was arrested on tho strength of the postal card sketch, and ho was sentenced to eight years In Sing Sing for stealing a diamond ring and ?55 from Jacob Schneider of No. 517 West lG2d street. Schneider's pockets were picked when ho was n passenger in n street car In the Bronx on February -7 last. He gave to the police a description of the man ho suspected of tho crime, and a few days afterward Bingham received the postal card. Tho sketch on the card iltted the description giv en by Schneider. Detectives were sent out and they found Springer In a street car. Ho denied he was a thief, but Schneider afterward picked him out of a long line of men. On the pos tal card the artist wrote he had seen the original of his sketch attempting to pick pockets on the ferryboat. Springer was convicted, a Jury return ing a verdict after two minutes' de liberation. He denied that ho had a pollco record in Englnnd. His photo graph and thumb prints wero sent to Scotland Yard, and yesterday camo the reply that Springer had served fourteen short terms in English pris ons for picking pockets and "other roguery." Tho Scotland Yard report was read to Springer, and ho said: "Yes, I am the man." Ho was taken without delay before Judge O'Sulllvan, In the Court of Spe cial Sessions, to receive sentence. He said he had escaped long sentences In England by pleading guilty before Magistrates whose powers of sentenc ing are limited. Judge O'Sulllvan de scribed him as a "dangerous crook" and imposed sentence. Kansas Awake. Kansas is now planning the organ ization of a Special Court System for tho enforcement of the state prohibi tory law. It is expected to have a new court created In each of the 105 counties of tho state, which will have nothing to do except to see to the en forcement of tho prohibitory law and look after the Juvenile court business. Olive Pickers' Wages. Olive pickers in Italy get from about 9 to 16 cents a day; usually, however, they pick on shares. One Sure Result. A double life Involves the bearing of double trouble. Plows iinil l!rialri received in March. THIS (VT SHOWS THI-: No. 56 SIDE HILL. WcaKohave Xn.T.ii Mze smaller. BICYCLES and Sundries.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers