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Vol. 49
"THE DALLAS POST
More Than A Newspaper, A Community Institution
THE POST, FRIDAY, JULY 21, 1939
A Kind Word Does Us All Some
Good. Mention The Post When
You Patronize Our Advertisers.
Better Still Tell Your Merchant
You'd Like To See His Ads In
The Post.
No. 29
POST
SCRIPTS
THE
BIRTH
OF
AN
AMERICAN
SEVEN MILES DOWNSTREAM from
the sandy little island where our
snug little cabin awaits our return
there is a clearing, and if you look
closely you will see all that is left
of the log home Colonel John Frank-
lin built, more than 150 years ago.
We like to think that John Frank-
lin kept his rendezvous with destiny
at that lonely spot. We are sure it
was there, beside the clear stream,
underneath the stately hemlocks,
that the bold Yankee dreamer ex-
perienced the emotions and conceiv-
ed the dreams that made him great.
So often the circumstances which
propel men into greatness are lost
in the blinding glory of their achiev-
ment. In the bright, white flame of
noble works, the tiny, clean spark
which was the beginning is forgot-
ten. In the exact moment when Fate,
reaching down from the clouds,
touches a life gently and deflects it
toward nobility, there is far greater
beauty, far greater power, than in
the actual hour of achievement.
Historians have spread Colonel
Franklin's contribution to the build-
ing of a new nation across many
glowing pages, but it pleases us to
think that when Franklin, the ro-
mantic failure, came to die he re-
membered most fondly the days
when he swung his axe and tilled his
fields along Huntington Creek and
dreamed of courage and justice.
JUST WHAT HAPPENED to John
Franklin down there remains a
matter of conjecture, a blank space
in the recorded history of his life.
There were times, during the last
month, when we thought we knew.
In the forest there is, between
sunset and darkness, the time of the
great silence. The last yellow sun-
beam fades and disappears. The
birds go away. No leaf moves. Deep
purple shadows steal over the east-
ern sky ‘and kiss the tree-~tops.
Men who are alone then, or who
have no human company to break
the spell, know true solitude. It is
almost as if the world had stopped
rolling on its axis and were resting;
as if the mind were suspended in a
tremendous vacuum.
It is a time for brave, fine
thoughts, a moment of exquisite
beauty, and we have wondered if,
experiencing, it night after night,
John Franklin might have felt the
spark of greatness being fanned
within him.
THE TIMBER ALONG Huntington
Creek has thinned considerably in
150 years, but it was thick enough
to suit us. Editorial desk work is
poor training for clearing land.
We hacked and perspired and
wore callouses on our palms and at,
the day’s end we looked with sink-
ing heart ’upon the poor progress we
had made. We sunk a spade into
soil which had never been broken
and we strained the muscles of our
back laboring to break the matted
roots. Then one day the rich, black
soil was ready, smooth ‘and fine
under the blazing sun, and we knelt
and plunged our hand into it and
felt the warm power of the earth.
What we did was a small thing,
scarcely more than a new kind of
vacation. But what Franklin did
was important. And when we stood
back and surveyed the pitiful thing
that had cost us so much back-
breaking labor we had a picture of
John Franklin, standing before his
lonely cabin at sunset, shading his
eyes and gazing out over the fields
he had won from the wilderness.
That triumph, too, must have con-
tributed to his character, must have
added fuel to the fire which was
growing within him.
WHEN JOHN FRANKLIN had fin-
ished his cabin and cleared his fields
he went back over the mountains
and brought his wife to their new
home. It was a brave, lovely world
(Continued on Page 8)
TRUCKSVILLE CHILD IS
NEW MEMBER OF STAFF
OF NANTICOKE TABLOID
Faith Hope Charity Harding,
precocious daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Harry Harding of Trucks-
ville, and whose strange predic-
tions of coming events have ex-
cited considerable | controversy
during the last four years, has
become a feature writer on the
Nanticoke Daily Press.
This week The Press, under a
two column photograph of the
local child, credits Miss Hard-
ing with an ‘unusual power”
which it calls “Occult Suasion.”
Miss Harding's duties as a staff
member, presumably, is to ad-
vise readers of the Press on per-
sonal matters.
Mid-summer heat and two-month drought have
no meaning for these beauties who skate at the
Alpine Village at New York’s World Fair.
artificial snow.
frozen surface is
They and replaced by
BALLET ON ICE DEFIES SUMMER'S SIZZLING HEAT
perform their gyrations amidst peaks capped with
In between shows, the artificially
slid back into a cooling chamber
a dance floor. Like ’em?
worth $4,562.50 in back wages and
of John Barrymore.
New Road Ready
By Mid-October
Big Machinery Speeds”
Work Un"Coacrete Link
The new $220,000 concrete link
along Bowman's Creek on Route 92,
which connects Dallas and Tunk-
hannock, will be completed by mid-
October according to estimates made
this week by Banks Construction
Co., which has construction well
ahead of schedule.
The 3%%-mile stretch, 42 feet wide,
cuts through some of the loveliest
scenic beauty in this section and
strengthens local claims that Route
92 would, if completely concreted,
be one of the most popular roads in
Eastern Pennsylvania.
Four miles of the concrete south
of Tunkhannock to Evans’ Falls was
completed earlier. The link now
under construction will be graded
and ready for concrete foundations
within another month, barring un-
favorable conditions.
The project is unique among con-
struction jobs of the kind because of
the methods and machinery adopted
for the work by Joseph Banks, presi-
dent of the contracting company.
Some of the huge machines are be-
ing used for the first time in this
part of the state and the operations
themselves attract many curious
visitors.
Instead of the usual steam-shov-
els, dump-trucks and similar equip-
ment so familiar on construction
work of the kind in this section,
Contractor Banks has in operation
four 80-horse power ‘caterpillar’
driven machines which not only
excavate the rough ground, but
smooth it, collect and dump the
earth, rocks, tree-stumps and the
like and carry these to the points
required for filling.
The new roadway will include a
twenty-two foot wide strip of con-
crete with ‘“black-top” berms of
ten-foot widths on either side.
Two new bridges, several giant
culverts, deep ‘fills,’ one of them
1 an eighty-foot deep gully, and the
| installation of two or three 36-inch
pipes for drainage are all a part of
- | the undertaking, as well the divert- |
ling of two mountain streams and
the actually changing at one point
of the course of Bowman’s creek.
ELAINE LATE FOR HER CUE
BUT IT WAS WELL WORTH IT
A flying trip to New York City almost deprived the Harvey's Lake
summer theatre of Elaine Barrie’s services on Tuesday night but it was
$500 a week to the estranged wife
Miss Barrie, who is playing with
the Lake company in “End of Sum-
mer” this week, flew to New York
Tuesday morning to testify at a
hearing on her demands for back
salary. She was dismissed from
Barrymore's play, ‘My Dear Chil-
dren,” after their spat in St. Louis.
At curtain-raising Tuesday night,
Miss Barrie had not returned and an
understudy attempted the role of
Paula. The play had barely begun,
however, when Miss Barrie arrived
breathlessly and took over her role.
Yesterday the American Arbitra-
tion Association decided to award to
Miss Barrie $4,562.50 in back salary
and $500 a week as long as “My
Dear Children” runs, or until expira-
tion of her run-of-the-play contract,
which ends at the close of 1939.
She must, however, have permis-
sion of the play’s producers before
accepting other theatrical employ-
ment and must pay back any money
she earns up to 500.
“My Dear Children” has never
reached New York, despite a long
try-out in the provinces. It is play-
ing in Chicago now and if critics are
correct Miss Barrie’s $500 a week
will not be forthcoming very long.
A petite, graceful girl with large,
expressive eyes, Miss Barrie is giv- |
ing a creditable performance here.
It is painfully obvious, however,
that it takes something more than
marrying one of them to make a
Barrymore.
Pickets Move Base
To State Capitol
A group of dismissed sewing pro-
ject workers who picketed Gov.
Arthur H. James home at Harvey's
Lake last week moved their base of
operations to Harrisburg this week.
Twenty-five women went to the
State capitol and camped on the
steps, determined to stay there until
they are assured a WPA sewing pro-
ject. The Governor protested that
he is not responsible, since the mat-
ter has been referred to the secre-
tary of public assistance.
Mrs. Stookey Catches
29-inch Fish In Canada
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stookey of
Parrish Street have returned from
a two-week fishing trip to Black
Lake, Ontario, Can.. Mrs. Stookey
caught a fish weighing 43% pounds
and measuring 29 inches long. The
family returned with 75 pounds of
fish.
A chain of woods fires west of
Evans Falls, just off the Dallas-
Tunkhannock Highway, defied fire
fighters this week and destroyed
hundreds of acres of timber.
Apparently started by huckleberry
pickers, the blaze reached alarming
proportions last Saturday and on
Sunday a crew of men recruited
in Dallas spent 21 sleepless hours
battling the stubborn blaze.
Throughout: the week the local
| crew, which is led by Grover Jones,
LITTLE SLEEP FOR CREWS
BATTLING BLAZE NEAR HERE
has continued to fight the fire. The
mountainous nature of that section,
the distance from the highway, the
danger of snakes and the rocky sur-
face have contributed to the rigours
of the assignment for the fire fight-
ers.
The blaze is under control but
may burn for some time yet because
the fire has eaten into roots deep
in the parched earth and smoulder-
ing particles can be fanned into a
flame unexpectedly.
Sometimes It
Gets Monotonous
Youths’ Bad Luck Gives
Police A Busy Evening
When a policeman rescyes some-
body from trouble once iy an _even-
ing that’s duty, but when-He“has to
play Good Samaritan to the same
fellows three times in an hour
that’s monotony.
The other night Patrolman Fred
Swanson and Harry Jones of the
Harvey's ‘Lake: golice force were
cruising about, keeping their eyes
open for evil, when they spotted a
car in a ditch at Warden Place.
The two young men in the car ex-
plained that they were stuck. Pa-
trolmen Swanson and Jones turned
to with a will and pulled the car
out.
Gratefully, the two y. m. drove
away in a flurry of farewells. Pa-
trolmen Swanson and Jones re-
sumed their regular patrol. They
were headed toward Sunset when |
they spotted a car stalled on the
road. It was, the patrolmen dis-!
covered, the same two young men.
Now they were out of gas.
Still helpful, Swanson graciously |
car and donated it to the youths
and for the second time they drove
away after thanking the policemen.
It was half an hour or so later
that Swanson and Jones, cruising
along near Sunset, saw a car ablaze
dangerously close to the Grotto.
When they tried to move the flam-
ing automobile they found it was in
gear. They found, too, that. .it was
the same automobile and the same
two young men. One of them, it
seems, had lit a match while the
other was pouring in gasoline.
While the two policemen strug-
gled to move the car, flames licked
against the fence and porch of The
Grotto. Jack Nothoff, the proprie-
tor, and his wife rushed out. One
of the young men grabbed a can
and ran for water, but only man-
aged to fall head-first into two-and-
one-half feet of some filthy liquid
in a six-foot hole nearby. Swanson
and Jones finally moved the car and
extinguished the blaze.
That time the weary patrolmen
made sure the unfortunate young
men were leaving the lake. The
policemen stood and watched until
the car disappeared along the road
toward Dallas. Then they breathed
a deep, relieved sigh.
Summer Enrollment At
College Exceeds 350
rolled in the summer session of
College Misericordia, which has been
in session since June. ‘This is the
largest enrollment in the summer
school history of the institution.
A total of 52 courses are being
offered by members of the regular
faculty and by a number of visiting
professors from other institutions
of higher learning. A faculty of 25
The school will close August 1.
Booster Association
Will Meet Tuesday
The I. O. O. F. Booster Associa-
tion of the Fourth District of Lu-
zerne County will meet with Toby's
Creek Lodge, No. 1078, on Tuesday
siphoned a gallon of fuel from his)
More than 350 students are en- |
is available for the summer work. :
Space Testifies
AtHearing On
Milk Prices
Dairymen Seek Higher
Prices; Claim They Are
Operating At A Loss
A crowd of determined dairy-
men who jammed a room in Lack
awanna County Court’ House on
Tuesday heard Cliff . Space
of Dallas testify that milk prices
paid to farmers now do not even
meet the costs of production.
Mr. Space was the first witness
to appear before the State Milk
Control Board, which called the
hearing in response to a militant
protest among farmers against a
price reduction ordered last April.
dnv-,afi
He presented a long and detailed
statement to support the contention
of Attorney Harry W. Mumford,
counsel for Northeastern Pennsyl-
vania Milk Producers’ Association,
that dairymen deserve a better price
for their products.
A director of the Milk Producers’
Association, Mr. Space, has been
active in
throughout the Dallas section. The
growth of interest in the movement
was evidenced by the crowd at Tues-
day’s hearing. Only standing room
was available in the court room
when the hearing opened.
Howard Eisaman, chairman of the
Milk Control Board, presided. His
associates were John M. McKee
and J. J. Snyder.
In reviewing the dairymen’s case,
Attorney Mumford charged that
farmers in Luzerne and Lacka-
wanna Counties are the victims of
an experiment to determine whether
low price milk will increase the
consumption of bottled milk.
After Mr. Space testified, At-
torney Mumford said he was pre-
pared to call several hundred
farmers to give cost figures similar
to Mr. Space’s. He asked that the
new base price of $2.05 per hun-
dredweight be increased to $3 and
that the four per cent butterfat re-
quirement be reduced to 3.5 per
cent.
Speaking for a group of milk deal-
ers, Attorney Leo White said that
retailers have been forced to operate
duction in price from 12 to 10 cents
caused them a loss of about $200,-
000.
Mrs. Frank Hontz
Taken By Death
Funeral To Be Held
Today At Sweet Valley
Mrs. Minnie Hontz, 52, wife of
Frank Hontz, Sweet Valley, died at
Nanticoke Hospital on Monday
night. The funeral will be held at
the home today (Friday) at 1:30
with services in First Christian
Church, Sweet Valley, at 2.
Interment will be in Sweet Val-
ley Cemetery. Rev. Ira Button will
officiate.
Surviving Mrs. Hontz are her hus-
band; daughter, Mrs. Mildred Kros-
tag and Mrs. Ethel Kusma of Sweet
Valley; Mrs. Cathleen Heinz of
Trucksville and Geraldine at home;
also two brothers, Rex and Reuben
of New Jersey.
Sometime It Might
Not Be So Funny!
It was a very good thing there
was not a fire in Shavertown at
10:30 Wednesday morning.
When The Post telephoned Shav-
ertown Fire Co. at that time a re-
| ceiver was down somewhere on the
line and the operator was unable
to ring the fire company.
A few minutes later the alert
young lady at the switchboard rem-
edied the situation, cleared the line,
and it was alright to have a fire.
organizing dairymen |
‘ToBe
on a close margin and that the re- |
NOXEN AND TUNKHANNOCK
AMONG TOWNS TO BALLOT
ON LOCAL OPTION ISSUE
Two boroughs and seven
townships in Wyoming County
will vote on Local Option this
year.
Noxen, where the question
was defeated by a 10-vote ma-
jority in 1935, will thrash out
the question again in Septem-
ber. Tunkhannock Borough also
will vote on the issue.
Other communities which
have asked that the question
be placed on the ballot are
Meshoppen, Braintrim, Lemon,
Meshoppen Township, North-
moreland, Tunkhannock and
Washington Township.
In three Wyoming County
communities the sale of beer
and liquor already is barred.
Local Option Is
Or Ballot
Lehman And Ross Drys
Fight Liquor And Beer
The voters of Lehman and Sweet
Valley will decide in September if
the sale of liquor and beer is to be
permitted in the future in the two
communities.
Formal petitions have been filed
asking that the local option ques-
tion be placed on the ballots. Two
other Luzerne County municipali-
ties, Huntington Township and New
Columbus Borough also will be
among the 200 communities in
Pennsylvania which will vote on the
issue.
It will be the second attempt
of Lehman drys to banish intoxi-
cants. In 1934 the township voted
‘on the question and defeated it,
200 to 198. Local option in Lehman
would hit the night clubs near Sun-
set, Harvey’s Lake, especially hard.
That section of the Lake is within
Lehman’s borders.
The petitioners from Sweet Val-
ley (Ross Township) carried 393
signatures, according to Rev. Ira
Button, one of the leaders in the
movement. There are about 751
voters in the township, he esti-
mated. The petitions were spon-
sored by the W. C. T. Us of the
section, with the support of church
congregations.
The questions, as they will ap-
pear on the ballots in Lehman and
Ross Townships, follow:
“We favor granting of malt and
brew beverage retail dispensing li-
censes for consumption on the
premises when sold in— ——,
“Do you favor granting of liquor
licenses for sale of liquor in ¥
Spaces for “Yes” and “No” will
| be provided back of this question.
{On the other question voters will
pull the lever for “Yes” or ‘No.”
Townsend Club Is
Organized In Dallas
A Townsend Club was organized
at a meeting in the Odd“Fellows’
Hall, Main Street, Dallas, on Tues-
day night. Temporary officers se-
lected are: William Elston, presi-
dent; James Franklin, secretary-
treasurer. A second meeting will be
held next Tuesday night.
;
Frankie XKuehn’s “Becky”, a
hound doz of doubtless lineage, but
an impor.ant member of the Kuehn
household nonetheless, kept the
Kuehns, "from grandsen to grand-
mother, in a dither for a few days
this week.
It betan when wranapa Kuehn
and Hajold Thompson drove out to
A. C. Leven’s home at Kunkle to
deliver ssme medicine. “Becky” rode
along bu; somewhere along the way
she disappeared and her absence
threw a shadow over the Kuehn
home.
night, July 25. All Odd Fellows
are invited.
After supper a posse went out
Kunkle-wzy looking for “Becky” but
POSSE COMBS KUNKLE WILDS
TO BRING "BECKY’ BACK
without any luck. All next day the
search continued, while Mrs. G. A.
A.-Kuehn, who had charge of the
base of operations for the quest,
kept the wires humming with flash-
es to police and others,
About 7 Wednesday morning Julia
Kunkle of Kunkle called with the
good news. She had seen a dog
which looked like “Becky.” The
search took on new zest and this
time there was victory. They found
“Becky,” trembling behind a stone
wall, and there is some question
about who gave out the loudest
yelp, Frankie or “Becky.”
Governor Invites Civic Club Group
To Conference On New Dallas Road
Crew Begins Survey At Trucksville On New Route
To Follow Abandoned Street Car Right-Of-Way
Governor Arthur H. James has invited representatives of Mt. Green-
justify discussion’ has been compiled.
wood Kiwanis Club and Greater Dallas Rotary Club to confer with him
soon at his Harvey's Lake summer home to discuss the possibility of con-
structing a new highway between Trucksville and Dallas along the aban-
doned right-of-way of Wilkes-Barre Railway Corp.
Encouraged by the Governor's interest, a joint committee from the
two service clubs is planning to meet with him as soon as enough data to
As a result of a conference several
days ago, between the Rotarians, Ki-
wanians, representatives of the
State Highway Department and of-
ficials of the traction company, a
crew from the Highway Department
began a preliminary survey this
week along the proposed route,
Tentative plans are that the
new highway would connect with
the concrete at the Trucksville “Y’*
and follow the present route as far
as the Mt. Greenwood street car
station, where it would continue
along the traction company’s road-
bed through Shavertown and Fern-
brook, entering Dallas below the
present main street.
Besides deflecting traffic from the
winding Shavertown road and the
hilly Mt. Greenwood route, §
too narrow for modern traffic,
proposed highway would be an im=
portant mid-way link in the long-
anticipated short-cut from Wilkes-
Barre to Tunkhannock and it is log-
ical to assume that if the Dallas
link were paved it would not be
long until the other sections of the
Tunkhannock road would be com
pleted.
At the conference of the Rotary-
Kiwanis committee and the officials
interested, John Jones of Wilkes-
Barre Railway Corporation outlined
the procedure which would have to
be followed by the county commi,
sions in acquiring the right-of-v
of the street car company.
John L. Herbert, district engineer
of the State Highway Departmen:
told the committee he could beg
a survey to collect informati
which can be used as a basis for
cussion. - He could give no Aassur-
ance how soon such a highway could
be built, he said, but he indicated
that the plan was a sound one.
The proposal is not entirely new.
A year or so ago the county com-
missioners studied a plan to use the
right-of-way, which was abandoned
when construction of the by-pass
cut the traction company’s lines at
Luzerne. It was proposed then that
the road be continued through Dal- -
las, following the right-of-way as far
as Ide’s Corner.
Theoretically the traction com-
pany did not abandon its right-of-
way when it suspended operation
of street cars several months ago
and substituted buses. Except at
Luzerne, where the new road is laid
along the street car line, no tracks
have been removed. Actual aban-
donment of the right-of-way would
mean that the property would re-
vert to its original owners, except
on such stretches as are owned out-
right by the traction company.
Tumbleweeds Appear
At Kunkle July 28 2
The Texas Tumbleweeds will ap-
pear in a floor show at a dance to
be held at Kunkle Community Hall
on Friday night, July 28. The affair
will be sponsored by the auxiliary
of Daddow-Isaacs Post, American
Legion, of Dallas.
Irem Caddies Triumph
A team of caddies from Irem
Country Club defeated the caddies
of Fox Hill for the fourth consec-
utive triumph on Monday. The
Irem ladies already. have victories
over Glenbrook, Wolf Hollow and
Hollenback.
W. C. T. U. Picnics Here
Members of Wilkes-Barre W. C.
T. U. held a basket lunch on Tues-
day afternoon at the home of Dr.
Sarah D. Wyckoff, Center Hill Road.
FALL ELECTION CONTEST
TO BEGIN MONDAY; LAST
DAY TO FILE PETITIONS
Officially, the Primary Elec-
tion campaign will begin next
Monday, the last day on which
candidates for office can file
their petitions at the Court
House.
Other important election
dates: July 29, last day to with-
draw; August 12, last regular
registration day; August 14,
last day to change party regis-
tration; September 12, Primary
Election day.
The week-end will be a busy
one for political leaders in this
section as they labor to com-
plete slates.
’
L