Thursday, June 24, 1915
Farmers wear whiskers so that they can tell when it is good growing weather. Whiskers and corn respond to the same climatic conditions.
“Setting Hen” is what they call an intoxicating drink made by fermenting cracked corn, molasses and other things by some people up the railroad who are being distressed by the stringent prohibition laws. It is about as potent as Jersey Lightning, Forty-Rod or Valley Tan.
A new trial has been refused Max Curry by the Supreme Court. Curry was convicted at the last circuit court and sentenced to six years in the penitentiary for burning his store building at Cass. Curry was taken to the penitentiary this week.
It is reported that the C & O railroad will no longer run a pay car over the line each month, but beginning next month will adopt the modern method of paying by check. The pay car is expensive and somewhat dangerous, as well.
MARLINTON BRIDGE A-COMING DOWN
The old state bridge is being taken down to be replaced by a modern concrete structure. Daniel Linn, foreman for the Luton Bridge Company, started in Friday morning with a force of men to dismantle the old structure and it is now pretty well down. A ford was picked across the river and at no time were foot passengers interrupted. A strong temporary bridge immediately below the old bridge was completed Wednesday afternoon.
The old bridge has been the point of interest of the town this week. Among the spectators was the venerable Ewing Johnson who says he sawed the boards used in the floor of the bridge on a sawmill owned by the late James A. Price, located at what is now Riverside addition of Marlinton. This mill was run by water power, and by working early and late Mr. Johnson could manage to saw three hundred feet a day.
The old was certainly built from the ground up, with the best of material and the best of workmanship. The nails and bolts were hand forged, and wooden pins were used whenever possible. The timber, Mr. Johnson tells us, was gotten mainly on the nearby ridges, the white pine on Knapps Creek and the oak on Jericho flats, but the largest and best white pine was floated from Harter and cut in the ravine above Paul Sharp’s house.
This bridge was built before bridge engineering had become the exact science that it is today, and all parts were made equally strong, with no attention paid to the fact that certain parts and portions of the structure would have greater stress and strain to bear than other parts.
THE WAY OF
TRANSGRESSORS
Sheriff Cochran made a raid on the upper End and took from the enemy eighty-seven quarts of alcohol and eight prisoners who will visit with him in the caboose for the next sixty days for which privilege they will each pay the sum of $100 and trimmings.
The liquor comes from Westernport, Maryland, and was imported in suitcases of a similar character which leads one to believe that the parts of a well regulated saloon on the outskirts of the State is a supply of suitcases and other things to go with an evening dress.
The most notable trial was that against a prominent citizen of Durbin, known to his familiars as Hobo Bobby. He is a vote getter and was elected to the council of Durbin. He is a restaurant keeper and as this sort of a publican he was suspected of being a dealer in a small way. He was arraigned before Justice Marshall who is also the mayor of the town, and on being tried was found guilty and fined $100 and given a period of sixty days enforced retirement. He first arranged for an appeal but decided to come on to jail. So far as we can learn, no particular courtesies have been extended to him by the local aldermen. He would appreciate, no doubt, a key and the freedom of the town.
Cam Thorne’s shanty was watched and twelve quarts arrived. It was touched by two Swedes, a blue-shirted man, and the gentleman of the house, all in the space of a few minutes, and so potent was the touch that drew $100 and sixty days in jail. Aladdin’s lamp is the only thing we ever heard of, that equalled this little batch of wet goods for quick effects.
Bill Cunningham had made a fatal error of having thirty quarts of alcohol in his possession; Bill Carl, or Red Wing, had 15 quarts, and F. W. Any had 30 quarts if he had any at all, and each was convicted.
This is enough to make the average man shy at the sight of a bottle.
