ZZhe  RURAL  N  L  W-  YORKER 
585 
EVENTS  OF  THE  WEEK 
DOM  ESTIC. — After  deliberating  for 
two  hours  a  jury  before  Justice  Shearn  in 
the  Supreme  Court.  Criminal  Term,  New 
York.  March  23.  found  Mrs.  Matilda 
Francolini  and  her  sister.  Rose  Halley, 
guilty  of  grand  larceny  in  the  first  de¬ 
gree.  The  women  were  widely  known  in 
the  real  estate  world,  where  they  were 
called  the  “realty  queens.”  They  opened 
a  few  years  ago  sumptuous  offices  in 
Forty-second  street  and  later  merged  sev¬ 
eral  real  estate  companies  into  one  called 
the  Annex  Homes.  Inc.  It  was  while 
serving  as  officers  of  that  company  that, 
the  defendants  were  charged  with  having 
taken  $7,450  from  Mary  Steen,  a  seventy- 
four-year-old  servant,  for  investment  in  a 
first  mortgage.  Instead,  she  got  what 
purported  to  he  stock  in  the  realty  com¬ 
pany.  When  the  Annex  Homes.  Inc*,, 
went  into  bankruptcy  in  August,  1014. 
liabilities  were  about  $600,000.  So  many 
women  called  on  the  District  Attorney  to 
complain  that  a  general  inquiry  showed 
that  money  had  literally  flowed  into  the 
business  office  and  the  evidence  was  that 
the  two  defendants  controlled  the  finances 
of  the  corporation. 
Fire  at  Augusta,  Ga..  March  2,  swept 
an  area  of  one  and  a  quarter  square  miles 
and  destroyed  property  valued  at  $5,000,- 
000.  Tea  central  business  blocks  and  220 
residence  blocks  were  swept,  clean.  One 
person  was  killed  and  several  firemen 
were  seriously  injured.  Three  thousand 
persons  were  homeless. 
Fire  at  Fast  Nashville,  Tenn..  March 
22,  destroyed  600  residences  and  left.  5.000 
persons  homeless.  The  property  damage 
is  estimated  at  $1,500,000.  One  person 
was  killed. 
Henry  Doherty,  Jr.,  who,  with  his  two 
brothers,  owns  and  operates  one  of  the 
largest  silk  mills  in  I’aterson,  N.  J., 
created  a  sensation  March  24,  by  offering 
in  a  public  letter  to  turn  his  mill  over  to 
his  operatives  if  they  can  furnish  an  ade¬ 
quate  guarantee  to  pay  him  8  per  cent,  on 
his  investment.  Wearied  of  the  constant 
bickering  and  discussion  over  the  demands 
for  a  nine-hour  day  at  this  time  and  fear¬ 
ing  a  repetition  of  the  costly  strike  of 
3913,  the  manufacturer,  whose  mill  at 
Lake  View  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
up-to-date  establishments,  says  he  will 
let  his  workmen  run  things  if  they  can 
get  the  backing  of  the  Paterson  news¬ 
papers  and  the  Paterson  Chamber  of 
Commerce  anil  supply  the  guaranty. 
Five  deaths  and  seven  persons  injured 
in  Chicago  and  nearby  towns  of  northern 
Illinois  and  southern  Wisconsin  and  prop¬ 
erty  damage  estimated  at  $500,000,  make 
up  the  toll  of  floods  which  followed  a 
thirty-six-hour  rain  and  wind  storm 
March  27. 
At  Columbus,  Ohio,  the  Scioto  River 
was  within  a  few  inches  of  the  top  of  the 
levees  protecting  20.000  people  and  still 
rising  March  27.  Warned  by  the  ap¬ 
proaching  waters  thousands  of  families 
residing  in  the  lowlands  have  abumlonel 
their  homes.  March  28  serum  ;  flood  con¬ 
ditions  existed  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  many 
miles  of  streets  being  submerged.  Flood 
conditions  prevailed  at  many  points  in 
Western  New  York.  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  was 
preparing  for  Hood.  In  Southern  Wiscon¬ 
sin,  about  250  miles  of  trackage  of  the 
Milwaukee,  (be  North  west  eru  and  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  has  been  rendered  use¬ 
less.  More  than  30  towns  on  these  roads 
were  cut  off  from  mail,  freight  anil  pas¬ 
senger  service  March  28.  Water  was  two 
feet  above  the  tracks  for  stretches  of  over 
n  half  mile  in  Greene,  Lafayette  and  Iowa 
counties. 
Three  men  were  killed  and  20  others 
frightfully  burned  and  injured  when  an 
explosion  partially  wrecked  the  King 
mine  of  the  Tidewater  Coal  Company  at 
West  Vivian,  W.  Vn.,  March  28.  Twenty- 
three  miners  were  in  the  section  where 
the  explosion  occurred  and  not  one  es¬ 
caped  dentil  or  injury.  Most  of  those  in¬ 
jured  will  probably- die, 
FA  K M  A  ND  G A R DEN.— The  forty- 
first:  annual  convention  of  the  American 
Association  of  Nurserymen  will  be  held 
at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  June  28-30. 
The  initial  meeting  for  the  organization 
of  the  apple  growers  of  southern  Chau¬ 
tauqua  County,  N.  Y\,  was  held  in  Ash- 
ville  Grange  hall  March  21.  Marc  W. 
Cole,  of  Albion,  N.  J.,  former  member  of 
the  State  Legislature,  and  later  head  of 
the  Co-Operative  Bureau  of  the  State  De¬ 
partment  of  Agriculture,  delivered  an  ad¬ 
dress  on  the  value  of  co-operative  effort 
in  disposal  of  farm  products. 
The  white  pine  forests  of  the  West  in 
which  the  Federal  government  and  pri¬ 
vate  interests  have  holdings  valued  at 
$240,000,000  would  be  endangered  in  ease 
the  white  pine  blister  rust  is  introduced, 
according  to  the  Department  of  Agricul-* 
ture.  in  a  warning  March  24  to  Eastern 
nurserymen,  against  the  shipment  of 
white  pines,  currants,  and  gooseberries 
west  of  North  and  South  Dakota.  Ne¬ 
braska,  Kansas  and  Oklahoma  and  Texas. 
Full  co-operation  of  the  nurserymen,  it  is 
stated,  may  obviate  the  imposition  of  a 
Federal  plaut  quarantine.  The  blister 
rust  is  said  to  be  destructive  to  all  white 
pines  and  occurs  also  as  a  leaf-disease  on 
currants  and  gooseberries.  The  disease 
already  has  gained  a  foothold  in  six  East¬ 
ern  States  and  is  suspected  in  the  Ohio 
Valley. 
MEXICO. — It  was  announced  March 
23  that  Villa  was  attacked  and  defeated 
at  Santa  Gertrudes  by  Carranza  troops. 
Villa  fled  to  El  Oso.  Lieut.  Gorrell,  one 
of  the  aviators  wfith  Pershing's  column, 
was  lost  for  five  days,  and  was  finally  dis¬ 
covered  near  starvation.  Two  of  the 
army  aeroplanes  with  the  Pershing  expe¬ 
dition  in  Mexico  have  been  destroyed. 
Announcement  to  this  effect  was  made  at 
the  War  Department  March  27  by  Sec¬ 
retary  Raker.  Of  the  eight  aeroplanes 
sent  into  Mexico  the  report  showed  that 
only  two  were  then  in  working  order,  four 
of  them  being  laid  up  for  engine  trouble. 
Secretary  Raker  announced  that  at  the 
request  of  Gen.  Funstou  the  Department 
is  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  addi¬ 
tional  aircraft.  At  present  there  are  only 
eight  machines  in  the  army. 
WASHINGTON.— A  bill  will  soon  be 
introduced  in  Congress  providing  for  a 
coast  guard  aero  corps.  The  measure  is 
indorsed  by  the  Aero  Club  of  America, 
and  is  being  framed  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Treasury  Department.  The  new  aerial 
corps  will  operate  as  an  auxiliary  of  the 
coast  guard.  In  Lime  of  peace  it  would  be 
used  to  facilitate  the  work  of  saving  lives 
and  property  at  sea.  Provision  will  be 
made  in  the  bill  for  the  conversion  of  the 
coast  guard  auxiliary  into  an  arm  of 
naval  defence  in  time  of  war. 
Extension  of  the  existing  duty  of  one 
cent  a  pound  on  sugar  until  1930,  as  a 
substitute  for  the  House  Free-Sugar  Re¬ 
peal  bill,  which  would  extend  it  indefin¬ 
itely,  was  recommended  to  the  Democrats 
of  the  Senate  in  caucus  March  27  by 
Chairman  Simmons,  of  the  Finance  Com¬ 
mittee. 
The  literacy  test  was  kept  in  the  Im¬ 
migration  bill  March  27  by  the  House, 
working  in  committee  of  the  whole,  by  a 
vote  of  225  to  82,  which  defeated  a  motion 
by  Representative  Sabath.  of  Illinois,  to 
strike  it  out.  The  question  will  come  up 
again  when  the  House  votes  on  the  '  ill  as 
a  whole.  An  amendment  to  exempt  from 
the  literacy  test  persons  coming  to  this 
country  to  escape  cither  religious  or  po¬ 
litical  persecution, was  rejected,  140  to 
43.  The  bill  ns  drawn  would  exempt  only 
persons  persecuted  for  religious  beliefs. 
With  a  single  dissenting  vote  in  the 
House  and  none  in  the  Senate,  Congress 
March  28,  passed  and  sent  to  the  White 
House  for  the  President’s  signature,  the 
urgent  deficiency  bill,  appropriating  $8,- 
611,502  for  expenses  in  connection  with 
the  army’s  punitive  expedition  into  Mexi¬ 
co  and  the  recruiting  of  the  additional 
20.000  men  to  bring  the  regulars  up  to 
maximum  strength.  Three  hundred  and 
seventy-three  Democrats  and  Republicans 
in  the  House  voted  fur  the  bill,  and  Rep¬ 
resentative  Meyer  London,  Socialist,  of 
New  York,  voted  against  it.  Representa¬ 
tive  London  asserted  that  an  effort  was 
being  made  to  bring  about  war  between 
the  United  States  and  Mexico  and  op¬ 
posed  the  punitive  expedition  on  that  ac¬ 
count. 
Coming  Farmers’  Meetings 
International  Flower  Show.  Grand 
Central  Palace.  New  York,  April  5-12. 
American  Jersey  Cattle  Club,  annual 
meeting,  New  York,  May  3. 
Holst.ein-Friesian  Association  of  Amer¬ 
ica,  Detroit,  Mich..  June  6. 
American  Association  of  Nurserymen, 
Milwaukee,  Wis.,  June  28-30. 
International  Apple  Shippers'  Asso¬ 
ciation,  New  York.  Aug.  2. 
Sixty-seventh  Michigan  State  Fair, 
Detroit,  Sept.  4-13. 
New  York  State  Fair,  Svracu.se,  N.  Y., 
Sept.  11-16. 
National  Dairy  Show.  Springfield, 
Mass.,  Oct.  12-21. 
“  We  Know  That’s  True,  Father— Every  Word  of  It” 
You  folks  in  the  country  know  that  there  is  nothing  in  the 
world  so  comfortable  and  homelike  as  plenty  of  good,  bright  light — 
and  nothing  so  depressing  and  gloomy  as  poor,  dim,  smoky  light 
For  years  people  had  to  stand  the  poor  light — disagreeable  smell  and 
danger  of  kerosene  lamps — because  they  couldn’t  get  anything  better. 
But  these  last  few  years  have  so  changed  living  conditions  that  up-to-date 
farm  families  won’t  be  satisfied — any  longer — with  poor  light. 
Pilot-Outdoor 
Lighting  and  Cooking  Plants 
have  totally  changed  the  old  fashioned 
methods  of  house  and  bam  lighting  and 
cooking  in  the  country  home. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  progressive 
farmers  in  all  parts  of  the  country  have 
taken  advantage  of  this  wonderful  modern 
improvement. 
They  have  selected  the  PILOT  because 
they  have  been  quick  to  see  the  value  of 
good  light — its  safety  and  the  convenience 
it  brings  to  their  homes. 
They  have  selected  the  PILOT  because  it 
gives  them  not  only  all  the  fine,  bright,  inex¬ 
pensive  light  they  can  use  —  but  cooking 
fuel  as  well. 
There  is  no  excuse — today— for  any 
family  to  struggle  under  the  burden  of  out- 
of-date  old  fashioned  lighting  methods. 
Just  because  your  father  and  grandfather 
used  oil  lamps  and  lanterns  is  no  reason  why 
B 
you  should  any  longer  put  up  with  their 
danger  and  poor  light. 
Light  the  modern  way  —  the  safe  way  — 
with  the  PILOT. 
The  PILOT  stands  out  of  doors  — on  top 
of  the  ground  —  anywhere.  It  is  simple  to 
install,  automatic  in  operation  and  requires 
only  a  few  minutes ’attention  for  re-charging 
at  infrequent  periods. 
Let  the  PILOT  put  your  home  in  the 
“Good  Light”  Class. 
Find  out  today  about  this  modern  lighting  plant. 
You  owe  it  to  yourself.  You  owe  it  to  your  wife 
and  children.  You  can  well  afford  the  little  it  will  cost. 
Write  for  illustrated  catalogs  and  descriptive  book¬ 
lets  giving  all  the  facts. 
Address  our  nearest  office  —  Dept.  A 
Oxweld  Acetylene  Company 
Newark,  N.  J. 
Chicago 
Los  Angles 
Largest  Makers  of  Private  Lighting  and 
Cooking  Plante  in  the  World 
