NEWS: Items from the Morning Tribune, December 4, 1879, Blair County, PA

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Items from the Morning Tribune, Altoona, Thursday, December 4, 1879

THE PENSION LIST.
Interesting Facts from the Report of the Pension Commissioner.

  J. A. Bentley, Commissioner of Pensions, has completed his annual report 
to the Secretary of the Interior.  It shows that on the 30th of June last 
there were 242,755 persons in the United States receiving pensions from the 
government.  The pension list is now larger than at any previous time.  The 
highest point heretofore reached was in 1873, but the number now reported 
exceeds the list of that year by 4,344.  The present list is composed of 
125,150 army invalid pensioners, 81,184 army widows, children and dependent 
relatives, 1,844 navy invalids, 1,772 navy widows, etc., 11, 621 surviving 
soldiers of the war of 1812 and 21,194 widows of deceased soldiers of the 
war.  During the year 31,346 new names were added and 908 names previously 
dropped were restored and 13,497 were for various reasons dropped.
  The aggregate amount of one year's pension to all is $25,493,742.15, but 
the actual annual payment exceeds that sum by several million dollars and is 
due to accrued pensions.  During the year the first payment to new 
pensioners amounted to $5,783,758, of which $4,375,147 was paid to army and 
navy invalids, widows, etc., and $1,388,611 to survivors and widows of the 
war of 1812.  There will be a deficiency in the pension appropriation for 
the current year, as nearly as can be estimated, as follows: $5,000,000 army 
pensions and $30,000 navy pensions.  A very large portion of the new claims 
cannot be proceeded with until the soldier's military and hospital record 
can be obtained from the offices of the Adjutant General and Surgeon 
General, and the large number of calls which will soon be sent to them will 
doubtless cause greater delay in those offices than have heretofore been 
experienced.
  There are 40,000 claims now ready for such calls to be made, and 
additional claims in which calls upon these officers must be made are coming 
in at the rate of five or six thousand per month.  The change of the system 
for settling pension claims which has heretofore been recommended is 
earnestly commended to the early attention of Congress, to wit: the division 
of the country into districts and the appointment of a surgeon and a lawyer 
to visit each county seat twice each year to receive the testimony in regard 
to all pension applications and claims.  Commissioner Bentley says:
  "An aspect of the ex-parte system which has not heretofore been urged is 
of a very grave nature.  I refer to fruitfulness of crime against the laws 
in the form of perjuries, forgeries, and false presentations.  An 
examination into the papers in the cases of 500 pensioners whose names have 
been dropped from the rolls within the last three years and four months 
because the pensions had been obtained by fraud shows the following: 229 
invalids established their cases by producing 1,581 affidavits and 
certificates, of which 1,283 were false.  Of the latter 291 were made by 
officers, 178 by comrades, and 763 by other persons.  Two hundred and 
seventy-one pensions of widows, minor children and depended relatives were 
established and allowed upon 2,816 certificates and affidavits, of which 
1,851 were false.  Of the latter 75 were made by officers, 69 by comrades 
and 1,687 by other persons.  It is also ascertained that at least 92 
forgeries were committed in the 500 cases."
  There had been paid to these pensioners before the discovery of their 
frauds $547,225.

STATE NOTES.

  Mary O'Connell, 52 years old, of Oil City, had three teeth pulled and bled 
to death.
  Mr. William Hillards, of Titusville, after fifteen years labor, has 
produced an organ with a violin and bass viol attachments.
  The famous spring at Litiz, Lancaster county, is said to be drying up, and 
instead of pouring its limpid waters out at the rate of 1,000 gallons a 
minute, has dwindled down to about five gallons.
  In LeRoysville, Indiana county, while a workman was repairing a roof, he 
threw a nail to the sidewalk, which struck Mr. J. P. Roseworth in the eye, 
instantly destroying the sight and which the physicians say can never be 
restored.
  Mrs. Ray H. Ramsey, a Norristown teacher, has been acquitted by the School 
Board of a charge of violence in the case of Louis G. Murr, the lad who 
died, as it was supposed, from the effect of such violence.  In trying to 
remove the struggling and resisting boy to another room his forehead came 
slightly in contact with the wall, but that occurred two weeks before his 
death.  Mrs. Ramsey's vindication is deemed just by the boy's father.

Two Children Burned to Death. 
  
  The Huntingdon Globe says on Monday afternoon between 3 and 4 o'clock the 
house of Mr. William Bordell, in the Big valley, Mifflin county, about two 
and a half miles below Allenville, was totally destroyed by fire, and his 
two small children perished in the flames.  Mrs. Bordell had gone to a near 
neighbor's leaving the children in the house, and while there saw her house 
on fire, but before she could get home the house was a burning mass and the 
children could not be rescued.  It is not known how the fire originated, but 
it is supposed the children got to playing with the fire in the stove and 
thus set fire to the house.

FROM HOLLIDAYSBURG.

  Jerome Rooney owns but a few acres, but he knows how to make them produce.  
From a half acre lot, adjoining town he cut and threshed 25 1/2 bushels of 
wheat.
  Those iron bridges did not come to hand as promised.  The County 
Commissioners, who are noted for their patience, are beginning to lose faith 
in the promises made by the bridge contractors.
  Yesterday Mr. J. Ritz undertook to drive a fat hog to the butcher.  When 
passing the gas house the hog fell in a vat full of coal tar.  It was got 
out, but no method could be devised by which the tar and lard could be 
separated, and consequently the valuable porker will be converted to soap.

HOUSE BURNED.

  About 8 o'clock yesterday morning a frame house at the ore bank back of 
Shantytown took fire and burned to the ground.  The building was owned by 
the Blair Iron and Coal Company, and occupied by Michael Morgan, who lost 
nothing but his overcoat.

STILL THEY GO.

  R. L. McCartney moved his family to Altoona on Wednesday.  This game that 
Altoona is playing on our town reminds us of the man who said he did not 
accuse his neighbor of stealing his chickens, but he noticed a great many 
chicken tracks leading into a hole in his stable, but could not discover any 
tracks coming back.

POOR HOUSE REPORTS.

  The Poor Directors held their regular monthly meeting at the almshouse on 
Tuesday.  Orders were drawn on the County Treasurer amounting to $710.54, 
viz.: House expenses, $99.19; farm, $149.81; wages, $34; tobacco, $34.55; 
groceries, $30.42; merchandize [sic], $72.29; drugs, $19.19; Justices and 
Constables, $19.50; outdoor relief, $270.08.  Nineteen applications were 
made for outdoor relief.  Two of the number were rejected for cause.  The 
increase of visitors over last meeting day was marked.  Twenty-one hungry 
individuals left their homes before breakfast and stretched their weakened 
limbs under Stewart Shinafelt's hospitable board.  On the next morning the 
pauper inmates were increased by the safe arrival of twins, a boy and a 
girl, whose combined weight was 13 1/2 pounds.  Mrs. Rose Frank is the name 
of the mother of these bouncing babies.  The Directors are looking for the 
father.

FROM TYRONE.

  A. C. Zerbe, a butcher of Tyrone, handled during the month of November ten 
deer and one hundred and fifty turkeys, nearly all of which were shipped to 
eastern markets.  The largest of the deer weighed 135 pounds and the 
smallest 40 pounds.
  Robert G. McLanahan has knitted in all twelve hundred pairs of woolen 
stockings, hose and leggings since November 1 on the Branson knitter, for 
which he is agent.  The stockings and hose are completed on the machine with 
the exception of one small seam at the toe.  Some of the work shown us, in 
which Milroy yarn was used, was fine, beauty and strength being harmoniously 
blended.
  William Wilson, a laborer whose family lives at Bellefonte, was run over 
and instantly killed by an empty engine near Milesburg on Saturday night.  
It is said he was under the influence of liquor when last seen alive, about 
an hour before, and had started for Bellefonte, walking up the railroad 
track.  Going only a short distance he lay down on the track and must have 
fallen asleep.  The engineer of the engine, which was going up to Bellefonte 
to turn, did not see him, and only knew it was a man that had been run over 
after the mangled remains were being gathered up.  He leaves a family.
  The Sabbath School Convention of the Huntingdon Presbytery held their 
annual session here on Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Tuesday the usual order of 
business - reading reports of the condition and progress of the schools 
throughout the district - consumed the entire day.  In the evening a sermon 
was delivered for the instruction of the young people and food for the 
meditation of the older scholars by Rev. Hollifield, of Huntingdon.  The 
subject, "Sowing and Reaping," was well chosen, and the lessons it brought 
out were highly appreciated by all.  On Wednesday a little general work 
occupied a short time, after which a number of interesting and instructive 
short speeches were made by Revs. Duffield, Kelly, Coale, Hon. A. S. Landis 
and others.  The meetings were well attended on both days, and a great deal 
of interest was manifested.  The convention closed at 5 o'clock on Wednesday 
evening.

CITY AND COUNTRY.
Things Briefly Told.

  There will be a shooting match at Vaughn's brickyard, Allegheny station, 
on Saturday for a mustang pony.
  Letters address to James Beacom, Allegheny City, Pa., and W. M. Laird, 
Alexandria, Pa., are held at the postoffice for postage.
  The name of the station on the West Chester branch, Pennsylvania railroad, 
heretofore known as McCalls, has been changed to Fern Hill.
  In the United States District Court at Pittsburgh yesterday, before Judge 
Ketcham, John K. Templeton, of this county, was discharged from bankruptcy.
  J. D. Hicks, Esq., of Tyrone, is stocking his Woodberry farm with ducks.  
There will be lots of quacking down there or there is no virtue in J. D. as 
a duck fancier.
  The Gap tannery, about a mile this side of Shade Gap, Huntingdon county, 
was destroyed by fire on Tuesday morning; also, one house.  The tannery 
belonged to the Lupfer estate.
  Miss Hannah Holliday, of Hollidaysburg, a delegate to the Presbyterian 
Sunday School Convention at Tyrone, was the guest of Mrs. T. H. Greevy, on 
her was home from the convention, last evening.
  Colonel Jacob Higgins, of Henrietta, has been appointed to a position in 
the Philadelphia Custom House.  He leaves on Monday next to assume its 
duties.  We congratulate the Colonel on his appointment.
  Mr. A. G. Morris' railroad at the Tyrone forge is almost ready for laying 
down the track.  The Sinking valley farmers are strenuously opposed, it is 
said, to the building of this railroad, because of its close proximity to 
the public road.
  John Woods, of Prospect, whose face has been familiar on Johnstown's 
streets for fifty years, died early yesterday morning.  He was 73 years of 
age.  James Myers, an old citizen of Johnstown, died there on Tuesday 
afternoon.  He was 77 years old.
  Yesterday the President of City Council paid through the First National 
Bank $1,090.16, the tax on loans, including interest and commissions, 
claimed by the State for 1878.  He also paid to the Gloucester Iron Company, 
of New Jersey, $1,888,85 for water pipe furnished in August last.
  In the Cambria county court on Tuesday a verdict of guilty was found in 
the case of the Commonwealth vs. A. J. Christy, of Loretto, charged by 
Father Ward, principal of St. Francis College, with having sold intoxicating 
liquor to students under age.
  John Maynard, James Kelly, James L. Russell and John Collins, the four men 
who were arrested in Johnstown recently for robbing the clothing store of L. 
M. Woolf, were placed on trial at Ebensburg on Tuesday.  Maynard pleaded 
guilty and the others went to trial.  The jury found Kelly guilty and 
Russell and Maynard not guilty.
  Tuesday evening Logan Lodge No. 490, Free and Accepted Masons, elected for 
the current year, commencing St. John's day, the 26th inst., the following 
officers: Worshipful Master, T. W. Cole; Senior Warden, J. W. Cherry; Junior 
Warden, W. D. Couch; Secretary, John Frazier; Treasurer, Samuel L. Fries.
  David Alonzo Lloyd, foreman of the Herald printing establishment at 
Shenandoah, in Schuylkill county, died at that place on Sunday morning.  Mr. 
Lloyd was an intimate friend of the writer, and in his breast throbbed one 
of the truest hearts that ever man possessed.  It is sad to contemplate the 
loss of a friend like "Dave," and there will be many mournful hearts among 
his typographical companions of the "olden time" in the anthracite coal 
regions of Pennsylvania and elsewhere.  Mr. Lloyd was but 28 years of age, 
and leaves a young wife.

Another Claimant for Riling and Turnbaugh's Deer.

  Some people think that Messrs. Riling and Turnbaugh, the Eldorado 
gentlemen whose exciting encounter with a five-pronged buck in the highway 
near Bell's Mills on Monday was chronicled in yesterday's Tribune, are 
likely to get in trouble from the fact that they succeeded in killing and 
carrying away the deer, while others are of the opinion that another man, 
who claims the game by right of following it for some time before its 
capture, is the one who will fall into the law's clutches.  The claimant of 
the deer - whose name could not be ascertained because Constable Dougherty, 
who is the only person as far as heard from know him, could not be found - 
followed Messrs. Riling and Turnbaugh to this city, and before they took 
their departure on the train for Eldorado he went before the Recorder and 
procured a summons in trover and conversion, which was served upon Riling 
and Turnbaugh at the depot.  These gentlemen paid no attention to the matter 
and proceeded on their homeward journey.  The claimant then brought suit 
against them, and the case will be up for a hearing on Monday next.  The 
claimant's demand is half the carcass of the deer, and it is intimated that 
if he persists in his demand the penalty will be placed on the claimant for 
hunting deer with dogs.  This charge, however, the claimant denies, and 
states that he had no dogs with him.  The dogs that engaged the deer in the 
road before Riling and Turnbaugh came along belonged to a farmer who resided 
in the neighborhood of the opening at which the deer made his appearance.  
The farmer appeared on the scene after the buck was dead and told the 
claimant afterward that the animal bore indications of having been shot.  
The claimant insisted that he had tracked the deer for several miles and had 
shot it once.  He followed it, guided by the barking of the dogs, until he 
came to the farmhouse, but the work had been done and the deer's captors had 
departed.  The claimant then proceeded to Bell's Mills and, failing to 
obtain an attachment there, he came on to Altoona and took action as 
related.

The Sick and Needy Family Find Friends.

  The note in the Tribune yesterday morning regarding the sick and needy 
family of Mr. Beard, on Sixth avenue, near Eighteenth street, had the 
desired effect, and several persons have interested themselves in the case.  
Among these are Mr. D. F. Beegle, the Twelfth street jeweler, who is raising 
a sum of money for the benefit of the Beards.  A Mr. Russell, of Mudtown, 
who belongs to the same order of which Mr. Beard is a member, is also making 
efforts in the family's behalf, and the prospects are that the afflicted 
people will be taken care of and made comfortable.  The 8 year-old girl, as 
was expected, was taken with the scarlet fever on Tuesday and was pretty 
sick yesterday.  The remainder of the invalids are progressing favorably, in 
the opinion of the attending physician, and he reitated [sic] the statement 
that they would all recover in due time.  Mr. Beard is an old soldier, it is 
stated, and fought for the Union in a Maryland regiment.