NEWS: Cambria Freeman; 1907; Ebensburg, Cambria Cnty., PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Patty Millich Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ Cambria Freeman Ebensburg, Pa. Friday, 21 Jun 1907 Volume 41, Number 25 Local and Personal The Misses Oline, Grace and Hilda, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Denny, went to Emmitsburg, Md., Tuesday to attend the commencement exercises of Mt. St. Mary's Academy. The older daughters, Oline and Grace, are members of the alumni, having graduated from that celebrated institution of learning. District Attorney J. W. Leech was in Philadelphia Monday on business. Miss Emma Lieb of Lloyd street returned from Pittsburg Tuesday evening. Mrs. Emory H. Davis of the East Ward spent Sunday with friends in Patton. Miss Hazel Roshon of Johnstown is visiting among friends in this place this week. Newton I. Roberts of Johnstown is visiting his brother, Merchant C. T. Roberts of High Street. Miss Mary Roberts went to Pittsburg Monday over the Blacklick extension. She will remain several days visiting friends. Plummer Robert Bolsinger and Charles Neeley, slater and tinner, made a business trip through the north of the county early in the week. Mr. Frank J. McMullen and wife of Johnstown are spending several days at the Mountain House. Mr. McMullen is foreman of the JOURNAL job rooms. Mrs. Fred Kline, who was seriously ill at her home in the West ward the early part of the week, is convalescing, which her many friends will be pleased to learn. Warden Ed Knee got rid of fifteen boarders at his jail Wednesday morning, that number having been released on account of the expiration of their sentence. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Talladay and little son, John, of Monongahela City, were summoned here Tuesday on account of the serious illness of Mr. Talladay's sister, Mrs. Fred Kline. Miss Martha Jones, daughter of Timothy Jones of the East ward, who was visiting friends in Altoona, returned home Monday, being summoned home by the critical illness of her father. Walter Dowling, Cashier of the First National Bank at Conemaugh, accompanied by his wife and Ex-County Treasurer S. J. McClune and wife of Johnstown, arrived in Ebensburg yesterday in Mr. Dowling's automobile. The following named Ebensburg people took advantage of the delightful weather Sunday to visit Carrolltown: Lewis Veith, Miss Margaret Richards, Ray Bolsinger, Ira Burns, Conrad Brown, Dr. D. H. Shoemaker and Edward O'Donnell. Among the visitors who attended the exercises at St. Aloysius Academy, Cresson, Tuesday, were the following from Ebensburg: Misses Emma and May Pruner, Nora McGough and Mrs. Cornelia Porter and Eva Sanders and Miss Glass of Munster. Decorator Richard B. Barr of Ebensburg has received the contract for renovating the interior of the St. Benedict Catholic Church, Carrolltown. He will also replace the present Stations with DePrato figures. The decorations will be of Gothic style and very artistic. Walter Burgoon of Patton is visiting friends in Ebensburg. Mr. Burgoon recently graduated at the Western University Dental College. He was the valedictorian and president of his class and just completed the examination before the State Board of Dentistry. Mrs. Mary Shoemaker and daughter, Thecla, of the Center ward, went to Philadelphia where they attended the graduating exercises of the law department of the University of Pennsylvania held in the Academy of Music Wednesday evening. Among the graduates was Alfred Shoemaker of this place. After the exercises, Mrs. and Miss Shoemaker went to Atlantic City where they will remain several days before returning home. Late News of County [most of column faded] Attorney C. C. Linton of Johnstown has accepted a position in the Pure Food Department at Harrisburg and accompanied by his wife and child will leave for his new field of labor early next week. Notes from Portage The large department store of the H. A. Tompkins Coal Company is nearing completion. The building is 50 by 150 feet in size and will be used as offices for the company as well as for store purposes. The mines are working regularly at present and a large number of people are moving into town. Fire originating from a defective flue Saturday afternoon slightly damaged the home of PRR Agent Hoover in this place. Herman Bush, aged about fifty years, who fell some days ago and sustained a fracture of the collar bone, is getting along nicely. Mrs. Paul Nelson, wife of the proprietor of the American House, is somewhat improved after a long illness. Fever in North of County St. Benedict and Spangler are troubled over the health situation. The water supply and sewers are inadequate, it is said, and typhoid fever has resulted. The state board of health has been called upon to act. Will Take Vacation Commissioners' Clerk John Lehman, accompanied by his wife, will leave Monday on his vacation. Mr. and Mrs. Lehman will be absent for a week or ten days and will visit Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Washington. Family Reunion A special train was run over the Indiana branch Friday which carried a large number of people to a reunion held at the home of George Steffley in Homer City in honor of Henry Uncapher, a well known Indiana county citizen. Over one hundred and sixty five of Mr. Uncapher's relatives and friends were present including the following from Ebensburg and vicinity: Evan Morgan and wife; Mr. and Mrs. Edward Bumford and family; Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Uncapher and family of Ebensburg; Mr. and Mrs. Roy Cunningham of Bulah (sic). Mrs. John Cunningham and daughter; Mr. and Mrs. James Buck; Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Black; James Sharp and family and Robert Rager and family of Nanty-Glo. Tyrone Boy Kidnapped is Rescued After a year's hardship during which he was kidnapped twice, Herbert Sinclair, aged twelve, of Tyrone, Pa., has been rescued. The boy says he was dragged from home by a tramp who forced him to beg money and food. He tried several times to escape and succeeded at McVeytown, Pa. Next day the youngster was stolen again, this time by Gypsies. They were seen beating the boy and a man and woman were arrested. The officials have heard from Tyrone and the boy's father is E. B. Sinclair, who has exhausted all of his resources in search of him. The child will be sent home. Taken Ill on Train Ebensburg Man is Hurried to Memorial Hospital Condition is Serious Timothy Jones, a well known citizen of Ebensburg, went to Atlantic City last week as a delegate from the lodge in Ebensburg to the state convention of Heptasophs, held there. Returning home, he stopped off Saturday at Altoona to see his daughter, who was visiting relatives in that city. Sunday afternoon he took the train at that city for home and while on the train took violently ill with what was supposed to be cramps and received medical attention at Cresson where the train for Ebensburg was held a half hour while the physicians were administering something to relive him. He arrived home on the evening train in a critical condition. He was taken on the 3:35 train Monday to the Memorial Hospital of Johnstown, Dr. Lowman having been summoned, by telephone, to attend him. Salix Man Critically Ill [Varner and Custer] David Varner, of near Salix, is lying critically ill, his ailment being heart trouble and dropsy. Mr. Varner has been unconscious the past few days. George Custer, a brother-in-law of Mr. Varner, is also dangerously ill at his home near Salix. Bank Cashier Resigns Owing to ill health, T. J. Scholl has resigned his position as cashier of the First National Bank of Patton. Mr. Scholl has been connected with the bank for the past decade and was its cashier during the past few years. His retirement is regretted in Patton and vicinity. Appropriations for Hospitals The Northern Cambria miner's Hospital at Spangler will receive a State appropriation of $8,000, for its support, the Governor's pruning knife cutting the original appropriation of $16,000 in half. The Johnstown City Hospital is to receive $7,000 as against $10,000 allowed by the Legislature and the Memorial Hospital at Johnstown will receive $50,000 of the $55,000 carried by the bill. As usual Johnstown is pretty well taken care of, while the North of the county gets a lemon. Bolsinger Wins Couch The couch raffled off by the Ebensburg Athletic Club Tuesday evening was won by Robert Bolsinger who held the winning ticket, number 108. The club purchased natty uniforms for the ball team with the money derived from the raffle. Teachers at Barnesboro The following teachers have been elected in Barnesboro to serve during the term commencing next fall: Prof. C. B. DeLancy, principal; the Misses Ruth Flack, Daisy Barmond, Mary McElroy, Ada Eldon, Kathryn Elliott, Alda Davis, Ursula Davis, Grace Slinger, Clara Eldon, Grace Sturdevant, Eleanor Slinger, Mary Davidson and Marie Sleigh. Dr. A. F. Dunsmore was elected to fill the vacancy on the board caused by the resignation of E. O. Hartshone. Commencement Exercises at Mt. Aloysius Academy The most successful commencement exercises ever held at Mt. Aloysius Academy was that which took place Tuesday afternoon. Cresson was thronged with visitors from various parts of the state, and the spacious hall of the academy was filled to the doors by friends of members of the graduating class. The Rt. Rev. Eugene A. Garvey, D. D., Bishop of the Altoona Diocese, presided over the exercise. The address of the afternoon was delivered by the Very Rev. John Murphy, Former President of Holy Ghost College, Pittsburg, now of Philadelphia. With the Bishop and Father Murphy were a number of priests from the Altoona Diocese and also from the Pittsburg Diocese as well as a number from the northern part of Cambria County. The Very Rev. John C. Farren, of St. Columba's parish, Johnstown, was among them. The graduating class consisted of Miss Caroline Eberly of Cresson; Miss Mary Blaisdell of Wilmore; Miss Mary Gloninger of Pittsburg; Miss Agnes Flemming, of Burlington, Ia., and Miss Gertrude Fitsmon of Trinidad, B. W. I. Miss Eberly graduated from the musical department and the academic department and one of the features of the afternoon was the piano selection rendered by her. Very pleasing were the vocal solos sung by Miss Naomi Bradley of Philadelphia. The class day exercises were held in the hall at 9 o'clock Tuesday forenoon when a large number of graduates of the academy were present. Many of the guests at the exercises Tuesday are members of the Alumni Association although no meeting of graduates has been arranged during the exercises this week. Letters Lately Issued Estate of Mary Boyle, late of Johnstown to Dennis Cronin. Estate of Morgan Hughes, late of Ebensburg to A. J. Waters. Estate of Marcia A. Sanders, late of Gallitzin Borough. Will probated and letter issued to Charles C. Sanders and William H. Weston. Estate of Catherine Alt, late of Johnstown. Will probated and no letters issued. Estate of Michael Kahoe, late of Lilly, to Michael W. Kahoe. Estate of Hannah Soisson, late of Barr township. Will probated and letters testamentary issued to H. L. Kromenacker. Estate of Robert Evans, late of Ebensburg to Jefferson Evans. Estate of Mary P. Hamilton, late of Westmont. Will probated and letters testamentary issued to James A. Hamilton. The Gray Trial Ended Testimony of Various Witnesses New Trial was Applied For Other Court News Irene A. Gray, charged with the murder of his father-in-law, Thomas Haney last December, did not for a minute believe that the jury in his case could find him anything but not guilty. And when this jury returned Saturday evening at 8 o'clock with a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree, he was stunned. The jury left the courtroom Saturday afternoon at 3:44 o'clock and the prisoner was taken back to his cell to await their verdict. They announced at 7:45 that they had agreed on a verdict. The defendant was brought into court at 8 o'clock. Then the foreman of the jury announced the finding. Gray, standing face to face with the jury, smiled slightly, confidently believing that the verdict could be no other than acquittal. He was possessed of the belief that the evidence presented by the defense was sufficient to establish that he had shot in self-defense. So, when the foreman said, "We find the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree," the shock to defendant was terrible. He grew very pale and then sank into his chair, being taken to the jail almost immediately afterwards. P. J. Little, attorney for Gray, immediately applied for a new trial. At the calling of the court Saturday morning the case of the commonwealth vs. Irene Gray was again taken up with the defendant, Irene Gray, on the witness stand for cross examination. His story as brought out was as follows: "At the time the trouble commenced the morning of December 6, Luther Haney was packing the goods; they packed a bathrobe and cushion of mine. I told Joyce they were taking things belonging to me. They laid the cushion down; the bathrobe was mine; both Joyce and I used it; we had used it at the hotel and we both used it at home. I had given her a bracelet; it had her initials on it. She said, 'I won't give it up.' I supposed then that she referred to the bathrobe. She said, 'If you want the cushion, leave the bracelet.' The trouble at Portage was with Horace Haney and not with Luther Haney. Luther Haney did not see the quarrel with Horace. I may have had three drinks of beer the morning of the shooting. I did not have the pistol out when I went in and up stairs. I did not say to Joyce, 'Get our or I'll shoot you.' Joyce struck the glass on the door and broke it." Referring to the policeman, he said: "I knew Crouse about 14 years. I knew him in Ebensburg and have seen him occasionally since. We never had any ill feelings. Crouse was the only officer there. I told Dr. Stuart, 'I guess I shot Mr. Haney.' Joyce Haney was my wife, although we were never married. She asked and coaxed me to take her away to cover up her shame. I did not want my father and mother to know that I was living with a woman in West Virginia." Ed Swan: "I live at Spangler. I was bartender at the Brandon Hotel at Spangler. After the shooting, I saw Crouse, Squire Rodkey and Gray before they went to Rodkey's office. After they left Rodkey's office, Crouse and Gray did not go to the Brandon Hotel and drink together. Gray and Crouse were in before they went to the Squire's office, the only time. I saw Crouse and Gray go straight to the station from Rodkey's office a little after 2 o'clock. Dr. Wheeling: "I was called to see Mr. Haney after the shooting. He was lying in a bed in a room in the building where the shooting occurred. Haney said: "I didn't think he would shoot." Peter Stoltz: "I live at Spangler, have lived there for a year. I know the building where the shooting occurred. I made an examination and located where two of the balls lodged, one struck the chimney where it struck a brick, glanced off and lodged in the right hand wall about 4 or 4½ feet from the floor line. I only found the location of one ball the first visit. I went back twice afterward and the last time I found the other located in a rafter on the left side going upstairs. (A small block of wood with a bullet mark in it handed to the witness.) 'I cut that out of a rafter in the building where the shooting occurred.' (The block was then offered in evidence. A piece of wood from wall near chimney also two small pieces of lead were shown witness and identified as the piece of wood cut from the wall and the lead being the bullet taken from the wood. The piece of wood and pieces of lead were offered in evidence.) "I am a Hotel keeper. I am not related to the defendant. I was up in the building a number of times with Gray's father. The chimney is 12 or 14 feet from the head of the stairs. The mark on the brick is about an inch long. Mr. Gray was with me when I found the mark. (The witness then explained to the jury the position of the rafters from which the rafter was taken.) Dr. Palmer: I live at Bakerton. I am a practicing physician. I was at Spangler the afternoon of Dec. 6. I was called to see Mr. Haney. He was in a bed in the building where the shooting occurred. I met Dr. Wheeling going out. Haney said: "I got shot." Mrs. Irene Gray said: "Pa, why didn't you leave him go." He said: "I didn't think he would shoot." Archie Gray: I am a brother of the defendant. I saw him at Spangler at Squire Rodkey's office Dec. 6 between 12 and 1 o'clock. While there I saw Luther Haney with a club in his hand. He was about 50 feet away. Irene stooped down and picked up a brick. Haney looked up at us then turned and went home. At 11 o'clock the defense rested. In rebuttal, the commonwealth recalled John Hefferin. Some objection was made and he was withdrawn. Joyce Haney was also called, when objection was also made and she was withdrawn. Mrs. Luther Haney: I heard testimony of defendant on stand when he said there were two chairs in the room. There was but one chair in the room. The defendant did not pick up a chair. Haney had no club when he came in that I saw. There was no person on the porch. There was nothing thrown at the defendant from the porch or windows. I never saw that club in the house. I don't know whether that is the club that Miss Gray had or not. I saw Dr. Wheeling in the house after the shooting. When he went into the room no one was in the room at the time but Mr. Haney and my daughter. I was in the room all the time. I did not hear Joyce ask her father why he struck the defendant or I would have heard it. I was in when Dr. Palmer was there. I did not hear him ask Haney what happened to him. I followed up right after the doctor into the room. I stood at the foot of the bed. I know there was but one chair in the room - in the next room to that where Mr. Haney was. Horace Haney: I am a son of Luther Haney. I lived at Portage at the time of the shooting. I was at the house where the shooting occurred Dec. 14. My sister and Joseph Kimball were with me. I examined for bullet marks and found none. I looked at the raters, there was no such mark in rafters when I was there. I could see no mark on the flue. My father weighed 147 pounds 16 days before he was shot; his height was 5 feet 7 inches; he was a strong, rugged man in good health. (Walter E. Glass, a stenographer from Johnstown, was called for the purpose of producing the testimony taken at the Coroner's inquest. After some objection the offer was withdrawn.) Mrs. Vallery: I know John Hefferon. He served the subpoena. He said if "I would tell all I could about the Haney woman I would get something extra." I thought he had been drinking. At 12 o'clock noon the commonwealth rested and testimony closed and court adjourned until 1:15 p.m. At 1:30 Percy Allen Rose of counsel for the defendant began his address for the defendant to the jury and in an eloquent manner pictured to the jury scenes at the Gray home at Spangler the day of the tragedy; impressing on them the theory of the defense that Gray was at his own home; that he was afraid of Luther Haney; that he purchased the revolver with the sole purpose and intent of using it to scare Haney and that in the trouble that occurred, Haney was pursing Gray with a poker and striking him over the shoulder of Bertha Gray, his sister, and while retreating down the stairs defending himself the best he could, the revolver was discharged twice without effect and that the last shot accidentally discharged while so retreating was the fatal shot. Mr. Rose in his address occupied 40 minutes. William Fairman of Brookville, Jefferson County, the counsel who took the leading part in the prosecution addressed the jury on behalf of the commonwealth for 35 minutes and made an impressive argument. Judge O'Connor occupied half an hour in charging the jury and made a very fair and unbiased charge, leaving the matter entirely in their hands. The jury retired at 3:45 o'clock. Sentences Imposed John Patrarch, sodomy. Sentenced to pay a fine of $100, costs of prosecution and five years in the penitentiary. Tony Wertiri and Frank Lusiani, carrying concealed weapons. Sentenced to pay a fine of $25, costs and six months in jail. John Harshberger, robbery. Sentenced to pay the costs, a fine of $50 and one year and three months in penitentiary. Nickola Focell, felonious assault. Sentenced to pay a fine of $50, costs and one year in penitentiary. Mary Kovac, incorrigibility; pleaded guilty. Committed to the Pennsylvania Reform School at Morganza. Peter Demhart, false pretense, pleaded guilty. Committed to the Huntingdon Reform School. Daniel Brandoer, horse stealing. Committed to the Huntingdon Reform School.