1] PAGE EIGHT Children Mourn Granny's Death "Mrs. Nora Riley Buried At Wardan ‘When Mrs. Nora Riley was buried in Wiardan Cemetery Tuesday after- noon, all the children on (Claude Street who fhiad called her Granny for years, gathered round her grave to say goodbye. It was Granny who baked the cookies, Granny who bound up sore toes, Granny who mever refused the children an apple from her back yard. Granny will be sorely missed. She was always there, rocking on her front porch. When she was taken to the Nesbitt Hospital five weeks before her death last Sunday morn- ing, the nurses picked up the term of affection from her next door neighbor, Mrs. John, H. Roberts. It was Mrs. Roberts who spent the long days with her while she was ill, and who has mow taken over guardian- ship of Mrs. Riley’s little dog, Taffy. Friends will be glad to know that Mrs. Riley slept away her last days, and was spared pain. Her health began to fail when she heard that her favorite grandson, Corp. Fred Brown, had been killed on the Korean front early in Novem- ber. The boy had lived with her for several years while attending Dallas- | Franklin Township High School. She would have been seventy-two years old on July 4th. Born at the old Bulford home- stead, daughter of |Samuel and Jean- etta Hoover Bulford, she lived her life in Dallas, and was a long-time resident of Claude Street. She is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Arthur Brown, 'Church Street; five grandchildren and one great- grandchild; two sisters, Mrs. Myrtle Rinemian, [Fernbrook, and Mrs. [Stella Reynolds, Norwich, New York; and a brother, George Bulford, Trucks- ville, Rev. Joseph Sproule conducted funeral services from tthe Nulton Funeral Home. I Pallbearers ‘were mephews: Billy and Sterling Rineman, Donald and Roland Bulford, John Fielding, and Ralph Meyers. \ THE POST, FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1952 a} x LEAGUE = EEC ee BASEBAL WATCH THAT WASTE! WATER IS PRECIOUS, USE IT ADVISEDLY. “We have a good water sup- ply in Dallas,” states Les War- hola, manager of the Dallas- Shavertown Water Company,” but nobody knows that a sum- mer will bring. This one has started off with intense heat. “There have been reports that water is being wasted. “Nobody who lives in the country can afford to be spend- thrift with water. Water means life itself. “So, please, please, don’t let your children waste water by playing with the hose. Water your gardens between eight and ten at night, when water will do the most good. - 5 BIG JULY 4th CELEBRATION Orange Community Hall DINNERS ® GAMES ® AMUSEMENT OLD FASHIONED CHICKEN DINNER "5c and $1.25 Sponsored By Franklin Twp. Vol. Fire Go. OVEN - DRESSED BELTSVILLE WHITES EG TURKEYS Strictly FRESH 13m GS FRYERS ROASTERS STEWERS Combination ® Breasts & Legs ...... 9c 1b. Oven - dressed 65; > 1b N. Y. Dressed 51c 1b. 9 Breasts '....L...0.0.0 89c 1b. PHONE 58 Trucksville Mill Poultry Shop STANLEY MOORE, owner Sarah Moss Dies Quietly At 92 Burial Services This Afternoon Mrs. Sarah A. Moss, lifelong resi- dent of Bloomingdale, passed away Tuesday night at 7:40. She had been in, failing health for some time, due not to a specific ailment but to advancing age. Up until last fall she took great delight in raking leaves and caring for her flowers. She will be buried this afternoon from her home, with Rev. William Howie and Rev. J. W. Booth offici- ating. Interment will be in Bloom- ingdale Cemetery in the family plot. Born of pioneer stock, Mrs. Moss was the granddaughter of David and [Sarah [Seward Rood, daughter of Stewart and Esther Benscoter. Her husband, Samuel B. Moss, te whom she was married on New Years Day, 1882, predeceased her in December, 1923. Originally a member of the Meth- odist [Protestant Church, she fol- lowed the congregation when it be- came the Protestant Bible (Church, and served for seventeen years as treasurer of the Willing Hand Mis- sionary Society. A daughter, Mrs. Harold Booth, survives. Ralph Rood, on the staff at the Dallas Post, is a relative. He visited her sickroom on Tuesday, and real- ized from her condition that death was very mear. [She had been critic- ally ill for ten days. He describes her as “a kindly woman, devoted to her home, active in, the church, with a seemingly in- exhaustible store of energy and en- joyment of life.” He recollects at- tending her wedding when a very young child. Weekly Dances Start At Country Club Weekly dances every Wednesday night are announced by the enter- tainment committee, Dr. Robert M. Bodycomb, chairman, as having al- ready begun at Irem Country (Club. Hours are from 9 to 12, and the public is invited. Governor Fine Is Called President Maker (Continued from Page 1) a political boss and a judge at the same time. : Loyalties A serious politician like Fine may hesitate long over decisions and make them finally in great anguish. It is unlikely, however, that Fine is suffering as much over his Taft-TIke decision as he did over one that faced him in 1930. Fine is still stirred by the memory. The story throws some light on the ethics and values of politics as played by John Fine. In the 1920's, Fine became friendly with a Philadelphia lawyer by the name of Francis Shunk Brown. Brown wanted some day to run for governor, and discussed his plans with Fine. The boy from the mine patch was thrilled to be the confidant of so big a man. “I felt highly honored to be in the pres- ence of Francis Shunk Brown,” says Fine. “I looked up to him with the LAST WEEK’S SCORES TO BE PLAYED Standings W L Pet. Wed. Shavertown 19 Fri. Trucksville | Jackson 81 880 June 18 | Trucksville 1 June 27 Fernbrook Fornbrosk 6. 3 L087 | ; ' Thurs. | Jackson 8 0 Shavertown 5 4 .556 June 19 | Fernbrook 3 2 Z Trucksville 4 4 .500 > Fri. Shavertown 10 8 a g = Carverton 2 6 .250 June 20 | Dallas 9 S 2 Oo Q Dallas 1581 Oo 2 rj = Th . . > = e race 1s getting Ma Py pbeoek 2 Z = Ee S ‘| tighter with Fernbrook a © 3 strong challenger. Q a . = Some of the other teams Mon. Carverton 0 <i z E Bes FH will get in good practice June 23 | Dallas Sa 5 = sessions during the vaca- Ho tion period. Tues. | Fernbrook 15 Fr = Pleasant holiday to all June 24 | Shavertown 3 S the fans. - a most profound respect and admira- tion.” But Fine told him that if ever Gifford Pinchot, to whom he owed his judgeship, should decide to run for governor again, he would have to support Pinchot. Brown thought that quite proper. Three years later, when Pinchot actually tried for the nomination against Francis Shunk Brown, the situation grew a little tight for Fine. At first, not being sure of Pin- chot’s plans, he favored Brown. When he dropped in to see Pinchot in Washington, on his way to Flor- ida, Mrs. Pinchot snapped: “You're against Gifford!” Fine promptly re- turned to Pennsylvania, told Brown he had to go to work for Pinchot. Brown was hurt. “I didn’t mean that Pinchot owned you for life,” he said. As Fine recalls it: “We both had a tear and I left.” Pinchot won with a slim majority of 21,000. Fine’s own Luzerne County gave him a majority of 26,500. In a way, this meant that Fine had elected Pinchot virtually single-handed. Says Fine: “If Pinchot had won by 50,000, Brown and I could have healed the breach. As it was, we never could. I did not sleep for two nights after the returns were in.’ Rebellion The next major trial of John Fine’s loyalties came in 1950, with the big rebellion against Joe Grun- dy. The Pennsylvania county lead- ers were disgruntled at the Grundy regime. The P.M.A. expected them to get out the vote, but often ignored their requests at the coun- cil table. The county leaders, in touch with the people, thought that they should be consulted on un- popular measures that might hurt their organization. Grundy’s P.M.A. never worried much about popu- larity. The county leaders wanted to run their own man for governor rather than the P.M.A.’s candidate. But suppose they lost? How seriously would they suffer under a hostile governor who could withhold state patronage? They reached an im- portant decision. As one of the leaders put it: “This state patron- age is way overrated. I have more jobs in my own county than the governor can give me. State pat- ronage is the meringue on the pie. | But we have the pie itself.” Who Is Punitive 2 The big moment of the 1950 re- bellion came at the Penn Sheraton Hotel in Philadelphia. Duff, who was planning to run for U.S. Sen- ator, made a rousing speech urging the group to pick an anti-Grundy candidate for governor. The major- ity picked Fine. John Fine was in a delicate posi- tion. He had dealt with Grundy for 30 years. But then, of course, he also owed a great deal to Duff, who had appointed him to the supe- rior court. In characteristic fashion, Fine managed to stretch between the two forces—without tearing. ¢ Fine felt he needed Grindy sup- port at the polls to beat the Demo- crats, and went to see G. Mason Owlett, Grundy’s deputy. “His big worry,” recalls Fine, ‘was whether I would be punitive against the Grundys. He didn’t ask for any- thing and I didn’t offer anything. But I said I had no intention of being punitive.” As a result, Grundymen urged the election of the straight Repub- lican ticket, and Owlett raised money for Fine’s campaign. Mother & Father Three months after Fine moved into the 27-room, heavily Victorian * STOCK CAR * AUTO RACES PITTSTON, BONE STADIUM PENNA. EVERY FRIDAY NITE AT 8:30 P. M. FEATURING AARA (Authracite Auto Racing Association) Yo NO ADVANCE IN PRICES * governor's mansion on Harrisburg’s Front Street, personal tragedy shook his life. His wife, whom he had married in 1939 (she was 19 years his junior), died of brain can- cer. Fine moved out of the man- sion, and went to live at the gov- ernor’s summer residence at Indian- town Gap. Mrs. Fine’s brother and his wife came to keep house for the governor and help him look after his two sons, Jack, now 11, and Donald, 9. Fine is deeply de- voted to the boys, and they to him. One of the reasons for Fine's affec- tion for General MacArthur is sup- posed to be the attention the gen- eral paid to the boys during a visit. Eisenhower was well briefed on this matter. At the Gettysburg picnic Ike met the boys, and asked Don- ald: “What do you call your father?” “Dad.” “And what do you call your fa- ther, Jack 7” “Pal.” Says Fine: ‘He always calls me pal. I don’t know where he picked it up but I get a great kick out of it.” Fine is a regular churchgoer (Episcopalian), vice president of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches and a senior warden at his own par- ish, St. George’s, Nanticoke. He says with true Pennsylvania can- dor: “As a boy, I never missed an opportunity to cut church. But when I became a judge, I felt that a judge should set a good example in his county.” Ultimatum As governor, Fine continues to run Luzerne County almost as closely as before. He will call his lieutenants several times a day, sometimes at 7:30 in the morning, sometimes at 1:30 at night, and drop in for unexpected inspections. He continues to supervise Luzerne County patronage, and often angers the regulars by handing jobs to de- feated political enemies as consola- tion prizes. He always likes to play his cards close to the chest: he rarely announces a slate of candi- dates until the last possible minute of the last day. Fine had not been governor long before the P.M.A.’s masterful lob- byists sold him Joe Grundy’s favor- ite idea—a state personal-income tax (ungraded) to.reduce taxes on corporations. The anti- Grundy county leaders howled in outrage. They said the tax would lose thou- sands of woters to the Democrats. Eventually, the tax bill was de- feated. On the heels of that row came a related one, the Taft-Eisenhower is- sue. Last month the anti-Grundy group met again. Jim Duff came up from Washington. Conspicuously missing: John Fine. The group’s decision: John Fine ought to come out immediately for Ike. Other- wise, Fine would either |) be “on the freight,” ie. go for Eisen- hower too late to do himself any good, or 2) be stuck with the man (Taft) who, the leaders thought, was sure to lose in November. News of the impending ultima- tum leaked out, and Fine heard about it. When two of the county leaders appeared to deliver it, Fine was ready. No one knows just what he told them. The gist: he flatly refused to commit himself for the time being. Once again, John Fine stretched without breaking. Maybe Later? There are other pro-lke forces working on Fine. One of them is a millionaire with a passion for politics and photography named An- drew John Sordoni, for years a close friend of Fine’s. Sordoni, a son of one of Garibaldi’s famous 1,000 who came to the U.S. in 1867, worked in the mines as a CR OE OR RR ER TY Cad al i 5 SEI ees Cig 3S ITN ' 5 child, and decided to make a mil- lion. He made his million many times over. He owns 14 companies, is a director of 40 more, lives in one of his six hotels. He is also secretary of commerce in the cabi- net of his good friend Governor Fine, and an Ikeman. Some months before the primary, Sordoni offered $15,000 to the Eisenhower campaign fund. A few days later, Fine told him: “Andy, I wish you wouldn’t do it. I don’t think we should make a commit- ment now.” Sordoni told the Eisen- hower people: “I am sorry, gentle- men, but I've got to respect his wishes. Maybe later.” But Sordoni still likes Ike. He has nothing against Taft except the belief that he can’t win the elec- tion. “Ike has a feeling for people,” says Sordoni. “They have a feeling for him. It isn’t that way with Taft. I'm sure Taft is one of the ablest men in the country. But I thought Hoover was too. Taft is like Hoo- ver. He says no, then won't take the trouble to sell a man his rea- sons for saying no.” Most people who know Fine say that the man who has the greatest personal influence on him is An- drew Sordoni. Man of the Hour? Fine, who, like Boss Quay, has great ‘skill in calculating political quantities,” can certainly wunder- stand the arguments of the county leaders and his friend Sordoni to the effect that Ike is a good bet for November. The Grundys, out of touch with the voters as usual, are pressing just as hard for Taft. They can point to 20 pro-Taft coun- ties. The Ikemen reply that these are rural counties, Republican since the Civil War. The pro-lke county leaders come from the populous centers where the party faces the fight of its life against the Demo- |. crats. Fine seems to have only three alternatives: ; 1) He can continue to do noth- ing until Chicago where, on the first ballot, some think he might go for MacArthur—a safe way to tempo- rize—and then jump either on an Ike or a Taft bandwagon. But there is some question whether Fine can hold on to his bloc of delegates that eee aaa J long. Also, a last-minute decision will earn him less gratitude from the nominee than an earlier com- mitment. 2) He can come out for Taft. While Taft may well be nominated, it is another question how much good that would do John Fine. Chances are that a pro-Taft stand by Fine would simply be regarded as a machine politico’s routine fall- in with the Grundys. Taft leaders have been saying for weeks that Fine will be in their camp; if he is, he won’t get much credit for it. While John Fine might pick a Re- publican nominee in Bob Taft, it is more than doubtful that he would be picking a President. 3) He can commit himself to Eisenhower. He is obviously still afraid that if he does, and Ike loses in Chicago, John Fine’s political po- sition will be badly shaken. But there is a very good chance that a pro-Ike pronouncement from Fine would assure Eisenhower’s nomina- tion. In that case, John Fine would be the man of the hour, the Presi- dent maker from Luzerne County. Youre a DEAD DUCK Once you've learned about automatic Coal - O - Matic ANTHA-FLO heat . . . you're a ''dead duck." Never again will you be satisfied with a heating plant less efficient... less economical to own and operate. FOR A FREE ESTIMATE CALL MONK PLUMBING & HEATING Phone Dallas 138 ALFRED D. FUNERAL DIRECTOR Phone Dallas 8241 “We Are As Near To You As Your Telephone” 24 HOUR AMBULANCE SERVICE BRONSON BABYTALK . tony this PURVIN’S MILK! : Love wonderful Must be a hole in this cup. ~ For Regular Delivery in the Back Mountain Area—Call Wilkes-Barre . by PURVIN It’s all-l-1 gone. More, Mommy, more! 2-8151—Collect I'M TAKING THEM ALL to HOWARD RISLEY’S BARN for the LIBRARY RUCTION JULY (0, 11, 12 Potted Plants Used Furniture Farm Produce Books Picture Frames Record Albums We Need Antiques Baked Goods Candy Odds and Ends New Goods— and you to help! Give just one thing you'd like to keep
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers