Mount Pleasant journal (May 13, 1918)

              (&W Mount Mmmnt $onrn&l.
^OL. 43.
MOUNT    PLEASANT.    WESTMORELAND   COUNTY,    PA..    MONDAY,    MAY    13.    1918.
NO. ao.
IAY 25111 CALL
WILL MEAN SOME
140 MORE MEN
to be Sent from this District
to Camp Greenleaf. Ga.
hlE JUNE SUMMONS IS STILL MORE
to MEET THE DEMAND FOR AMERICAN
FIGHTERS IN FRANCE.
President Wilson's Great Army Expansion Plan is Backed up by a
Reservoir of Approximately ) ,750,-
OOO Physically Fit Members of Selective Conscription Class One and
Heavy Drafts are Expected to Follow During the Summer for the
Special Benefit of the Hun.
During the five days following Saturday, May 25, this district expects to
lend some 14© draftees for National
JArmy training at Camp Greenleaf, Ft.
|Oglethorpe, Ga., as its quota under the
:all for 300,000 more men in Class 1.
"he June summons for the army will
Imean still more. The local board has
seen notified by the War Department
to prepare for registering those who
lave become 21 years of age since
last June.
President Wilson's great army expansion plan is backed up by a reservoir of
approximately   1,750,000  physically   fit
|men of Class 1.
This represents the actual fighting
Istrength of the class, with a deduction
Ifor the next call for 300,000 men included. To this will be added about 700,000
ladditional fit fighters by the registration
lof the 21-year olds next month, increas-
ling the reserves to nearly 2,500,000 men.
This figure assures that the deferred
Iclasses need not be invaded to supply
■all the increases now planned under the
| expansion program, officials said.
Exact figures on the number ol men in
Ithe various draft classes are still incomplete, but the number the questionnaire
(system  put  in Class 1 was very near to
13,200,000, or about 30 per cent of the registrants.       Physical      disqualifications,
which were less under the second draft,
brought   down the number of available
I fighting men to 2/00,000.
Since then, however, the calls have
I beeu ufiusually heavy, and 650,000 of
this number will have been sent to camp
by June 1. Mobilization orders between
March 25 and June 1 will total about
575,000 men.
The needs of agriculture will not cut
down Class 1 now, officials point out,
and essential farmers were given defer-
I red classification. Farm laborers of Class
1 will not be taken until after harvest,
but they are still in that class and will
be subject to call then.
NEXT RED CROSS DRIVE.
Chairman Loar Has a Word to 8ay Regarding Tonr Plain Dnty.
The next drive of the American Red
Cross for $100,000,000 will begin on Monday, May 20. Burgess S. P. Stevens has
been appointed campaign manager. It
is not too early to decide that yon are
going to do your best in this drive.
Make up your mind now what you will
give, and when the solicitors call upon
you do not take up their time by telling
them how much you have invested in
Liberty Bonds; forget that, as you will
get it all back and more, too.
Rather say you are only too glad to
help give sympathy, comfort and good
cheer to the boys who are fighting for
you; for that is where your money will
go. Make yourself worth fighting for.
This chapter's allottment is $30,000.
Help to put it across.
B. M. Loar, Chairman.
Hospital Nurses' Commencement.
As already noted in the columns, the
Mount Pleasant Memorial Hospital
Training School for Nurses will hold its
annual commencement in the Methodist
Episcopal church tomorrow (Tuesday)
evening. The well known Institute artists, Misses Trickey and Jones and Prof.
Gambles, will furnish the music for the
occasion.
  *-« o  	
Guard Against Forest Fire.
The Public Safety Committee has made
a special plea to the people of this state
to conserve the time by guarding against
forest fires which should be promptly
reported to the nearest fire wardens. E.
B. Swartz and E. C. Myers are local wardens; J. E. Kurtz at Donegal and M. M.
Rodman at Kregar.
1—German Gottin bombing plane brought down hy British aviator behind the lines In France. 2—British antiaircraft guu in action In Flnnders. 3—Miss Catherine Hughes, daughter of ex-Justice Charles E. Hughes, drafted for
work on the farm to be operated by Wellesley college this summer.
~ ' ■■-y—        ■     —-
COMERS AND GOERS
Paragraphs Abont Prominent   People Hutu
ered During the Week.
Miss Duffy, of Belle Vernon, spent last
week here as the guest of Mrs. Daniel H
Stoner.
Rev. J. L. Updegraph, of Findlay,
Ohio, spent the week end here with old
friends.
B. W. Berg, a prominent Point Marion
business man, called on a few of his old
friends here Wednesday.
Mrs. J. M. Miller and Mrs. Elmer
Whetzel leave today for Scranton as
local delegates to the Protected Home
Circle state convention.
Miss Lyda Evans has gone to San Antonio, Texas, to visit her brother, Prof.
Walter E. Evans, who went there several months ago for the benefit of his
health.
Judy Lemon, in the employ of the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad at Crafton,
West Virginia, for the past 23 years,
called on a few of his old friends here
Monday.
Mrs. R. M. Gilkey, ol Mercer, Pa.,
whose husband is in the army ordnance
department at Camp Hancock, spent the
past week here with her sister, Mrs.
Samuel N. Warden.
State Senator William C. Sproul, candidate for the Republican nomination
for Governor, called here Tuesday afternoon when a reception in his honor was
held at the National Hotel.
Alex Dougan, wife and little son,
William Kenneth, after a week spent
here with relatives and old friends, left
Friday for their Cleveland, Ohio, home,
where Mr. Dougan will resume his pattern
making position.
Mrs. W. C. Stevenson, Misses Margaret
Hurst, Ruth Byers, Charlotte Page, Adelaide Ramsay and Ola Stoner, with Mrs.
John Wertz, of Scottdale, were at New
Kensington Saturday attending a very
handsomely appointed luncheon given
by Mrs. Fred King.
LIBERTY LOAN
HONOR FLAG
BIG RED CROSS PARADE.
Mount Pleasant will open a week's campaign to raise its quota
for the second hundred million dollars for the Red Cross Society of
America Monday evening, May 20, with a big parade that will move
from West Main street at Eagle street promptly at 6:30.
The 25 units of the local chapter will each move as a division in
addition to the different local societies and organizations and school
children, both public and parochial, bands and drum corps.
T. O. Anderson, the chief marshal, desires to have the mothers
and wives of those in war service to join in as a special feature of the
parade.
/A*/A*/-4
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING.
A Number of Important Hatters Acted on
Monday Evening.
The Mount Pleasant Board of Education transacted a number of important
matters at its regular monthly meeting
Monday evening. One of special interest to the local taxpayer was the fixing
of the rate for this year at 15 mills, an
increase of 2 mills over last year. The
schools will cost about $43,000 net, owing largely to the increase in salaries
paid teachers, and the board was compelled to take the action it did.
Miss Ola Stoner, of this place, was reelected a member of the corps of teachers. Miss Frances LeVere, of the Mil-
lersville State Normal School, was chosen
as Science teacher.
Principal DeLong was instructed to
arrange a lecture course for next year
for the benefit of the school library.
It was decided to drop the study of
German at the close of the present term,
taking up French next year in its stead.
The Gregg system of shorthand will
replace   the   Isaac  Pitman method next
year.
 ■» • »■
TWO APPOINTMENTS
We Have a Star, Too.
The Mount Pleasaut district's Third
Liberty Loan quota was $205,450 and not
only was that sum doubled but the total
boosted to almost the half million mark.
As a result, Chairman Samuel N. Warden received a star that adorns the old
town's prize flag.
Of Well Known Westmoreland Citizens to
War Positions.
Charles C. Crowell, the well known
Greensburg attorney, has been made Director of the Department of Civilian
Service and Labor, one of the most important of the fifteen sub-divisions of
the Public Safety Committee. His duties will pertain entirely to the Civilian
Service and Labor problems which are
constantly arising in this, as well as in
other counties and states, and the position is an important one.
Another appointment in connection
with the work of this department is that
of John D. Martz, of Salem township, to
the position of Farm Labor Manager for
Westmoreland county. His work will
have to do with tbe solution of the farm
labor problem this year in this county,
so the responsibility of his position can
be readily seen.
Draftee Accidentally Shot.
Clyde  N. Kettle,  a Camp Lee draftee
whose home was at Fayette City, was accidentally shot  and  killed last Sunday
by a fellow soldier doing police duty.
Be Saving on Sugar.
State Food Administrator Heinz says
that his order to grocers limiting sales
of sugar to town people to five pounds a
week and ten pounds to rural residents
must be obeyed. Violators will be severely dealt with. Special regulations
may be made to cover the canning season, but tbe above rule is still in force.
County Food Administrator John Barclay, of Greensburg, has been advised
that the supply of sugar is very restricted.
COKE AND COAL.
Items of Interest Gathered from Both Mine
and Tard.
Government fuel authorities, tearing a
big shortage of coal next winter, again
urge storage during the summer especially on the part of private consumers.
Fire last Monday night destroyed the
Westmoreland Coal Company's big barn
at Rillton together with 23 head of
horses, wagons, harness and farm implements.
On petition of Harvey R. Worthing-
ton, of Pittsburg, a stockholder in the
Thompson Connellsville Coke Company,
Judge J. Q. Van Swearingen, of Fayette
county, has granted a preliminary injunction restraining that company from
electing officers at its annual meeting of
stockholders until after pending litigation shall have been disposed of.
R. M. Mears, John B. Keim and G. Emerson Knight, of Greensburg, are the incorporators of the newly chartered Mears
Coal Company with $50,000 capital.
The Bolivar Coal Company is building
a third plant at Bolivar to develop the
"B" vein, a high grade steam coal. The
owners are John Husband and his son,
Elmer, of this place, and William Byers,
of Greensburg.
MET DEATH BRAVELY.
Captain Tells How Scottdale Soldier was
Drowned off Scottish Coast.
Thomas A. Lewellyn, tbe Scottdale
lad who lost his life when the transport
Tuscania was torpedoed, was drowned
when his lifeboat was engulfed at 2
o'clock on the morning of February 6,
eight hours after the shipwreck, according to a letter from his commander, Captain D. D. Hall of Company D, Sixth
battalion, Twentieth engineers, to his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Lee Lewellyn,
at Scottdale.
Lewellyn, according to the letter,
marched to his lifeboat station with
coolness and in every way conducted
himself as an American soldier should.
Lewellyn's body was recovered the day
after his boat had been broken to pieces
on the rocky Scottish coast. It was buried with military honors by the survivors. The Scottish people are declared
to have been very tender in their care
of both living and dead, and lavished
flowers on tbe caskets of Lewellyn and
the others. Captain Hall's letter concludes:
"We who remain hope we may be
spared until we can render some payment to the pirates who caused so many
to go prematurely."
DEATHS OF THE WEEK.
The   Grim Reaper's  Work  in   This
Place and Vicinity.
Henry J. Lents.
Henry Justice Lentz, the well known
local Civil war veteran and retired foun-
dryman, died of pneumonia Thursday
night at bis North Hitchman street
home, aged 76. Following divine services conducted at the house Sunday afternoon by Rev. A. W. Barley, pastor of
the First Reformed church, the interment took place at the Middle churches
by the side of his wife who passed away
some years ago.
He was the father of fourteen children
of whom only four survive, two sons
and two daughters—George, of Akron,
Ohio; Rov, of this'place, his successor in
business; Mrs. John Britt of Latrobe, and
Mrs. Lehman Gaylor, of United.
Mr. Lentz was born in Berlin, Germany, and came to this country when 17
years of age. While employed as a farm
hand by Jacob Gress at Pleasant Unity,
the sound of drums calling for Civil
war volunteers led him to enlist in Company B, 28th Regiment, Penna. Vols.
He reinlisted at tbe end of the three-
year term and served to the close of the
war.
With peace restored he returned and
opened a foundry at Donegal. Burned
out there, he engaged in the same business at Mellingertown where he met v»iih
a similar loss and then started the foundry here now run by his.son, Roy.
David R. Stauffer.
David R. Stauffer, another local veteran of the Civil war, following a gradual
decline as the result of a fall suffered
several months ago, died at his Main
street home Friday morning, aged 77
years. Rev. T, C. Harper, of the United
Brethren church, conducted divine services at the house Snnday afternoon, the
interment then taking place in the cemetery. Of the thirteen children born the
late John T. Stauffer, his was the first
death for over 80 years.
His surviving brothers aud sisters are
Henry, of Scottdale; Joseph and Mrs. B.
F. Coughenour, of Kansas; George, of
Iowa; Mrs. Elizabeth Zothers, Mrs. Mary
Swain, Aby, James, Frank, Meade and
Misses Martha and Belle, of this place.
Obitnary Hotel.
Private Clyde T. Kepple, a son of W.
H. Kepple, of near Greensburg, and a
member of the Depot Brigade, died at
Camp Lee last Monday. The body was
brought home Wednesday for burial.
DATES FIXED
For the Annual Commencement of the Honnt
Pleasant High School.
Tbe following dates have been fixed
for the exercises attendant upon the annual commencement of the Mount Pleasant High School, Thursday evening, May
23—Class Day exercises in tbe high
school, free.
Sunday, May 26, 8:15 p. m.—baccalaureate sermon by Rev. Sylvester Fulmer,
opera house.
Monday evening, May 27, class play,
"Claim Allowed;" opera house; tickets
25 cents.
Wednesday evening, May 29—Commencement; opera bouse; free.
The commencement speakers are: Lottie Klimowski, Mary Neider, Nellie
Whipkey, Carl Ruder, Emanuel Volkin
and Mildred Gaftney.
Active Bed Cross Unit.
The report of the Junior Red Cross
unit of the Third ward public school
shows $67.25 dues paid; expenditures,
$50-50; balance on hand, $16.75; extra
money given to the work, $28.40; work
done, 2 ambulance blankets, large quilt,
14 baby blankets, 18 wash cloths, child's
skirt, 682 white wipes, 101 absorbent
cotton pads, 800 squares knit, (approximately); value W. S. S. and T. S., $2,210;
Liberty Bonds, $1,500. This school bas
also built up for itself a library of 252
volumes.
Hats Off to the Institute !
The concert, given Tuesday evening
for the benefit of the local Red Cross
chapter by tbe Institute Choral and Orchestral clubs under the direction of
Miss Elsbeth Jones and Prof. J. Hunter
Gambles, with Miss Mima E. Trickey as
accompanist, packed tbe Grand Opera
House with delighted Mount Pleasant
people. There were 40 students in the
cborns and 22 in the orchestra. The receipts were $150,
Week's Four Minute Speakers.
On Chairman Merritt A. King's list of
Four Minute speakers for the Red Cross
this week, beginning tonight and continuing until Friday evening, are in the
order named, at Cox's: Rev. T. C. Harper, Elizabeth King, Charlotte Roy,
Belle Markle and Rev. A. W. Barley; at
the opera house: Rev. E. P. Smith, Mary
MeniaJr, Mary Madden, Jean Marsh and
S. N. Warden.
IHE TRIAL OF
J.V.
IS
As the Result of United States
District Court Ruling.
CASE CALLED AT PITTSBURG TUESDAY
WHEN FORMER  UNIONTOWN   BANKBB
FACES CRIMINAL CHARGES.
There Were Forty-Seven Counts in
Two Indictments, of Which Judge
Orr Quashed one and Sustained tho
Other. Appeal by the Prosecution
Doubtless Means a Year's Postponement While Awaiting a Decision from a Higher Court,
The trial of J. V. Thompson on
criminal charges connected with the
failure of the First Nationa.1 Bank of
Uniontown has been continued possibly a year as the result of Judge
Charles P. Orr's ruling in the United
States District Court at Pittsburg
Wednesday last when, on motion of
Attorney W. Cook McKean, of Uniontown, chief of the defendant's
counsel, with whom Jesse E. B. Cunningham, a Mount Pleasant boy, is
associated, he quashed one of the indictments.
The case was called for trial Tuesday
when the defendant faced 47 counts in
two indictments brought against him, involving charges of unlawfully certifying
checks on an overdrawn account, false
entry in the books of the bank, false reports to the comptroller of the currency,
perjury, abstraction and   embezzlement.
The first day and part of the second
was taken up by the attorneys arguing
for and against the motion to quash the
indictments. One is known as the Erie
indictment, containing 30 counts brought
against the defendant by the grand jury
at Erie, in March, 1916. The court sustained the motion on the grounds that
the grand jury had acted on the indictment withont the knowledge or approval
of the conrt, after a former grand jury at
Pittsburg had failed to bring a true bill
on identical charges.
Judge Orr also announced that he
overruled the motion to quash what is
known as the Pittsburg indictment, containing 17 counts. Immediately after the
court had made known the decision Attorney McKean presented a petition ta
quash eight counts of the Pittsburg indictment, all of them relative to a charge
of unlawfully certifying checks. Judge
Orr promptly overruled this request.
The prosecution gave notice of its intention to appeal from Judge Orr's decision quashing the Erie indictment to
the United States Supreme Court. As
that highest tribunal . does not sit in
Washington until October next it is said
no final decision can be had until after
that date. This is accepted to mean that
Mr. Thompson's case will not again bo
called for trial in the district court at
Pittsburg before the May term next year.
la the mean time he will continue to
look after his personal affairs, being still
under heavy bail.
EATAL MIME ACCIDENT.
George L. Copeland Crushed to Almost Instant Death at Acme Works.
George L. Copeland, aged 27 years, »
son of now Mrs. George Parfitt and
brother of Councilman Ernest Copeland,
was crushed to almost instant death
Thursday morning in the Rainey company's Acme mine where he was employed as a tracklayer and timberman.
It seems that he had drawn a post and
the fall of slate that followed caught
him, crushing the stomach and breaking
the back. George Shulic, a fellow workman, standing by, pulled him from in
under the fall only to see the victim die
as he mummered:
"O, help me I"
When the body had been prepared for
burial at the King morgue, it was taken
to the darkened West Vine street home
where the young widow and her two
little daughters awaited the return of
the husband and father who had left
them but a few hours before in the lull
vigor of manhood. The interment took
place in the cemetery Saturday.
Marriage Announcement.
Capt. U. B. Hubbs announces the marriage of his daughter, Miss Ruth Mc-
Cleary, to Thomas K. Fitz Gerald that
was performed by Rev. C. E. Charles-
worth in the Smithfield street Methodist
Episcopal church, Pittsburg, August
15, 1917.