NEWS: Cambria Freeman; Ebensburg, Cambria Cnty., PA; Feb 1908 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Patty Millich Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria --------------------------------------------------------------------- Cambria Freeman Ebensburg, Pa. Friday, 14 Feb 1908 Volume 42, Number 6 Local and Personal John O'Hara of Munster Township was in Ebensburg on Tuesday. Philip Sanders of Munster Township was in Ebensburg Saturday. The venerable Philip Pritsch of Lilly was an Ebensburg visitor Tuesday. Joel A. Gates of White Township is in Ebensburg on business at present. James A. McClain of Spangler spent Saturday and Sunday in Ebensburg. Nicholas Friedhoff of Munster Township was a visitor to Ebensburg Saturday. Attorney Wm. F. Dill of Barnesboro spent Saturday and Sunday in Ebensburg. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Hughes of Cambria township are convalescing from a severe attack of grip. Evan M. Davis of the West ward is physically under the weather by reason of an attack of rheumatism. Messrs. George and Wess and Mrs. Joseph L. Wess of New Germany were among the Ebensburg visitors Tuesday. The physical condition of William Kimball of the Metropolitan Hotel does not improve as his many friends would wish. James Dunn of Nant-y-Glo, aspirant for the nomination for Assembly on the Republican ticket, paid Ebensburg a brief visit on Tuesday. Squire Joseph W. Harrison of Blacklick township was in Ebensburg Tuesday afternoon and paid THE FREEMAN office a pleasant call. Reuel Somerville Esq. of Patton who aspires to be one of the Republican candidates for Assembly next fall was in Ebensburg on Wednesday. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Devereaux of Cambria Township are convalescing from an attack of grip from which they have suffered for the past week. Poor House Directors Bader of Johnstown and Hertzog of Carrolltown were at the county home on Wednesday settling with the county auditors. Harry Owens of Pittsburg came up to Ebensburg Tuesday to spend a few days with his mother, Mrs. Charles J. Owens, and other relatives in this place. Lincoln Roberts and his daughter, Alice, drove to Ebensburg Monday from their home in Summerhill township as did also William Howell and Joseph Krutendorfer of Cambria Township. Mr. and Mrs. J. F. C. Jones of Homestead, who had been in Ebensburg since the funeral of Mrs. Jones' mother, Mrs. Edward Owens, Friday last, Wednesday afternoon departed for their home. Mrs. Mary Dunegan of St. Augustine came to Ebensburg Tuesday evening to visit her brothers, Messrs. George and F. W. Gurley and her daughter and stepdaughter, Mrs. Maggie Brooks and Mrs. A. E. Bender of the Bender Hotel. Alex Strittmatter of Bradley Junction was in town Tuesday evening and paid THE FREEMAN a pleasant visit. While here he was asked by several of his friends to be a candidate for Assembly again this year, but declined to run. John Elder, J. Edgar Evans Esq. and William Smith left Ebensburg Saturday evening for North Carolina to look after their interests in gold mining stock. It was expected that Judge Savidge of Northumberland County would join the party. Joseph W. Kearney, teacher of the Summit school, together with his scholars, composed a happy sleighing party which visited this place Wednesday. They visited the court house and other points of interest and all enjoyed the outing immensely. Mr. Kearney, the teacher, is a son of M. C. Kearney, a well and favorably known labor leader of Lilly. It is reported that Rt. Rev. Monsignor John Boyle of St. John's church, Johnstown, and vicar general of the Altoona diocese, has donated $9,500, the accrued maturings (sic) of a life insurance policy to the new Diocesan Orphan Asylum at Summit. St. Boniface Items Thomas Endler is again able to be around after being confined to his bed for several weeks with pneumonia. Elizabeth Kruis, Anthony Burkhart and Michael Endler went to Wilkesbarre on Monday to attend the funeral of Glasser who died in that place on Saturday. Disastrous Wreck near Cresson, Pa. Passenger and Freight Train Collide near Crossing of Pike on C. & C. Branch Engineer John McNelis, of Altoona, Fatally Injured Dies the Same Evening in Altoona Hospital The worst wreck that has occurred on the Cambria & Clearfield Branch of the PRR for the past fifteen years took place a short distance west of the crossing of the Pittsburg pike about a mile west of Cresson on Monday morning last. From all the information at hand it appears that the northbound passenger train, the scheduled time of which to leave Cresson is 9:20, was that morning about an hour late in taking its departure, having, it is reported, orders to run to Munster siding and there switch over for [two words faded] Susquehanna freight, on the time of which it was then running. By one of those unaccountable occurrences which often take place, the freight engineer, John McNeelis (sic), had orders to run to the Cresson yards, thus overlapping the orders of the passenger train which, hauled by two engines, pulled out from Cresson at a good rate of speed to make up for lost time; but when near the end of the Cresson siding, emerging from a piece of woods sparsely timbered, on a down grade, on a left curve to a sump near the crossing of the pike where once stood a steam saw mill, from which towards to Luckett's station, a sharp right curve, the view across which is obstructed by the timber left standing from the lumbering operations of forty years ago and a considerable undergrowth of young timber, when the trainmen were apprised of impending danger by a trackhand sent by sub-division boss, Thomas Karns, to flag the train. Karns at the same time sending another man to endeavor to stop the freight then rounding the curve from Luckett's on the down grade into the sump before mentioned. Instantly the brakes on the passenger train were applied and this prompt action doubtless prevented the piling up of the passenger cars. To slacken the speed of the heavy coal train was a more difficult matter, as it was being pushed by an engine, the view from which across the curve was obstructed by the woods mentioned and the engineer was on the outside of the curve and the trains went together with terrific force, as may be judged from the annexed cut. The impact of the collision aroused the passengers of the train to the realization of the fact that an accident had occurred and no one was seriously injured; with one impulse, they alighted from the coaches which remained on the track and began the search for the injured trainmen of both trains. The three engines were found to be a mass of wreckage, one of the passenger engines as will be seen in the picture being piled on top of the wreckage of the other two. One baggage car was smashed to flinders and several coal cars had been thrown bodily forward, the coal covering the wreckage of the engines. From underneath the debris, John E. McNelis, the engineer of the pulling engine of the freight train was taken. Both feet and one arm had been crushed, the hand lying under one of the wheels of his engine. As he was being lifted up he is reported to have directed one of the bystanders to get his orders as they would show that he was not to blame. Rev. Father James Graven, of Summit, administered to him spiritually, after which he was, with some of the other injured trainmen, hurried to an Altoona hospital where he died about 5 o'clock the same evening. The other injured trainmen were: Ralph F. Dewalt of Cherry Tree, McNelis' fireman, scalds of face and contusion of right leg, in Altoona hospital with condition more serious than at first supposed. Joseph E. Sharkey of 1718 Union Ave., Altoona, brakeman on freight train, lacerations of face and scalp, scalds of face, hands, arms and neck, contusion of back and fracture of fifth rib, in Altoona hospital, condition serious. S. Grant Johnson of Cherry Tree, aged 42 years, engineer of passenger engine, lacerations of the left shoulder, at the Altoona Hospital. Theodore Haney of Barnesboro, fire man on passenger engine, left side contused and body bruises sustained in jumping. J. A. Eselman of Cresson, baggage master, back and legs injured and body bruised. C. C. Baker of Cresson, engineer of passenger engine, lacerations of face and body, contusions and bruises. Horace Ross of Cresson, riding in baggage car, slight contusions and bruises of body. A. J. Wylie of Cresson, mail clerk, lacerations of head and body bruises and slight contusions. John E. McNelis, the dead engineer, was a son of Anthony McNelis and Catharine McNelis, the latter now deceased, and was born in Johnstown forty-seven years ago, but the family subsequently removing to the mountain in the vicinity of Wopsononock, where the father for many years conducted farming operations and vegetable gardening for the Altoona markets on a large scale, he grew to manhood there. Twenty-three years ago he went to Altoona and secured employment from the PRR and since that time resided in that city, his late residence being 2322 Beale Avenue. He was, for nineteen years, an engineer and was considered a most reliable and trustworthy man at the throttle, careful at all times, and had met with success in his calling, having but few accidents to his long career. He was held in high esteem by his follow trainmen and his death caused regret among his wide circle of friends. He was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic church, a member and past chief engineer of Jerry C. Burley Division, No. 287, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Pennsylvania Railroad Relief Association. He was married on May 27, 1890 at Loretto to Miss Olive E. Topper, who survives with eight children: Clair, Catherine, Bernadetta, Mary, John, Francis, Gerald, and Olive, all at home. He is also survived by his aged father, Anthony McNelis of Coupon, Pa., and these brothers and sisters: James of Hastings; W. S. of Altoona; Mary, Annie, Bernard and Joseph of Coupon; Frank of Gallitzin; Peter of Barnesboro and Catherine of Altoona. He was a cousin of Hon. E. T. McNeelis (sic) of Johnstown and was as well and as favorably known throughout his native county as in Blair. The funeral of Engineer John E. McNeelis whose death in the Altoona Hospital on Monday evening resulted from injuries received in the terrible railroad accident near Cresson the morning of that day, occurred yesterday morning after a high mass of requiem in the church of the Sacred Heart, Altoona, of which he had been a member. Typhoid Fever in Boswell Boswell, Somerset County, a mining town on the Somerset and Cambria branch railroad, is now suffering an epidemic of typhoid fever, the cause of which has been bad water. Out of 256 pupils of the public schools but 42 were reported as attending last week. One hundred and nine cases existed in the town last week of 1,000 inhabitants of the place and four deaths occurred. It is believed that the schools and mines may have to be closed if relief is not soon found. Enjoyed a Sleigh Ride The following young people composed a merry sleighing party to Cresson Monday night in a rig driven by Charles Johnston. A chicken and waffle supper at the Anderson House was a part of the program and the party report having spent a pleasant evening. Those composing the party were the Messrs. George DeLancey, Sherman Bumford, Alonzo Danvir, Robert Cassidy, James Kline, Bert Frederick, John Wolf, William Griffith; the Misses Catherine Fernaldy, Emma Marsh, Mary Cassidy, Gertrude Cassidy, Mazie Bumford, Ida Griffith, Bertha Marsh and Julia Lehmar. Snow Very Deep in Woods P. Spotts, formerly of Ebensburg, now driving team for G. D. Rhodes of Wheatfield, Indiana County, whose steam saw mill was burned in October last was in Ebensburg Saturday evening and reports the snow in the woods in the locality of Wheatfield is so deep that it is impossible to haul saw logs from the woods or to do anything towards putting up a new mill to replace the one which was destroyed by fire. He says the average depth of the snow in the woods is about three feet. Fire at Spangler The residence of James A. McClain of Spangler caught fire on Wednesday night from a defective flue in the kitchen. The Spangler Fire Company quickly extinguished the blaze which did but little harm, more damage being done by the water required to put it out. Suicide at Cresson John Goreyea, a foreigner residing at Patton, was found hanging underneath a dancing platform at Rhododendron Park, near Cresson, on Wednesday last. It is supposed the suicide was committed some time ago. A telegram in the dead man's pocket signed, "Annie" revealed his identity. The telegram was dated Hoboken, N. J., and informed Goreyea of the landing of his wife at that place, which fact it is thought for some reason or other caused despondency and suicide. An inquest was held on the remains of the unfortunate man. Doings of 50 Years Ago! Mountaineer, February 11, 1858 The first page of this issue contains the conclusion of R. L. Johnston's lectures on "The Mountain County," an outline of which has been given. At the foot of the last column of the first page is this item pointed out by a hand. "The Medical Gazette of Lisbon asserts that all the persons in that city who reside in the houses lighted with gas have escaped the yellow fever." The second page contains the President's massage to Congress favoring the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution, over five columns in length; also a notice of an anti-Lecompton meeting in Philadelphia. On the third page is the "Local and Personal" column, among other things, we find the following items: "The National Telegraph company has established an office for general business at Wilmore. This will be a very great convenience. John Isett, the Sequestrator of the Huntingdon, Cambria and Indiana Turnpike Company has given notice that he will pay 1 1/2 per cent on all stock upon which from dividends have been declared. Every ice house in Ebensburg was filled last week with ice a foot thick. Badly frozen – everything in our office this morning. The Cambria County Teachers' Institute will commence its session at Jefferson today. Jefferson was the name at that time of the present town of Wilmore. In 1832 the post office established at Jefferson was called Wilmore; in 1854, the PRR named its station at the place Wilmore and in 1850 the borough of Wilmore came into existence. This was before the teachers' institutes were organized under the law at present in force, which went into effect in 1867. Several veins of coal have been discovered within a short distance of town. Messrs. Evans and Jones have opened a bank about a mile distant. This vein measures three feet. We are glad to announce that the Allegheny Mountain Health Institute was formally organized by the election of officers at Philadelphia on the 28th of January. The following gentlemen were elected: Joseph Pennock, Thomas J. Bingham, Isaac Pennock, John Lowman, M. D.; Thomas B. Moore, Thomas R. Scott, John P. Lesley, R. M. S. Jackson and Wm. K. Piper. The R. M. S. Jackson mentioned was Dr. Jackson, the promoter of the Mountain House at Cresson as a sanitarium. From a notice published in the fourth column of this page it appears that Joseph Pennock was elected president of the Institute for that year and Dr. R. M. S. Jackson, T. B. Moore and Wm. K. Piper were chosen commissioners. On this page also under the heading "Congressional," will be found the doings in Congress, then of a most strenuous nature on account of the debates on the admission of Kansas and on the Kansas Nebraska bill; and under "One Week Later From Europe," there appeared an item among news brought by the steamer Arabia that in the then recent attempt to assassinate Emperor Napoleon, 114 and Empress Eugenie 150 people had been wounded and six deaths had occurred. The attempt alluded to was that of Orsini and his companions to assassinate the royal family by the use of an infernal machine thrown at their carriage in a public thoroughfare. Accounts had reached Paris of the landing of 200 Mazzinians at Ahcona and their attempt to surprise the garrison which met with defeat, many of the assailants having been killed and others taken prisoners. This was the first Atlantic cable which had been laid in 1856, but which had gone out of service after the passage of a single congratulatory message between the President of the United States and Queen Victoria and the laying of the second cable. Attorneys John and Thomas P. Fenlon published a professional card and D. H. Roberts had a notice of administration on the estate of Catharine Behe of Allegheny township. An ad of William Singer announced that having bought out the interest of George Harencaine in the tinware business, he would carry on that business in the future, two doors west of Blair's Hotel. On the fourth page among other things appear, "The Orphan's Dream of Fame" a political selection signed "Mattie" and the following: "The oldest newspaper in Holland, the Harlemsche Courant has been published two hundred years on the 8th of January last. For more than 100 years it has been owned by the family of the present editors, Johannes Ensehede and Son. The paper was first started by Abraham Casteivn.