Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1902-11-20
West Virginia Items.

near Moore6eld last Wednesday that
weighed $50 pounds.
ga grain of corn lodged in the wind.
pipe of a 6-year-old ron of Walter
Halves at Central City, Monday, and
death soon resulted.
Judge Ralph L. Berkshire. one Of
West Virginia's most distinguished
citizens, died last Saturday in Nor.
gantown, aged 81 years.
The people of Fairmont are trying
to rid the town Of the gambling dens
and other tough places that are so
numerous-but it is big job.
1t is said that Judge Edwin Max
well, of Clarksburg, will be an active
candidate for the speakersbip of the
West Virginia House of Delegates.
John Mills and George Wherle, as
the result of quarrel at Glen Jean,
Monday, fred their Winchesters at
each other. Wherle was killed and
Mills was hit in the shoulder.
General J. A. Holley has resigned
as clerk of the Supreme Court of West
Virginia, and William Burdette Mat
thews, assistant encouragement Of
the State, has been appointed in his
place.
John Heaton, aged 63, is dead at a
small village just below Morgantown,
from heart failure caused by overjoy
when informed that he was an heir to
$4,000 out of the Staple estate in
England. His widow is critically i'll.
Forest fires are raging in the noun
tains of Boone county, and the people
are fleeing for their lives. The town
of Round Knob has been abandoned.
Thousands of acres of the finest timber
land in the State have been burned
over. Only one life is known to have
been lost.
T. and A. Picard, of Paris, expert
engineers, are making tour of this
State preparatory to making report
to one Of the leading syndicates of
France on the probable future output
of coal in the West Virginia fields.
They will visit every coal-producing
county in the State. The syndicate
they represent has immense coal
contracts, and the representatives
state that the supply from many fields
is falling short, and they are DESTROYS
of ascertaining something more def
mite regarding coal-producing fields Of
this country before taking on many
more longtime contracts. They will
first visit the Chesapeake and Ohio and
Norfolk and Western fields, and will
then visit the northern section Of the
State.
Fayette is the most remarkable coun.
ty in the State. Its condition is no.
torious. 1t is ring ridden and con-
trolled by corruption. The county
court is the whisky ring" of the
county it owns the wholesale liquor
house from which every saloon keeper
must agree to buy before he can
get license; controls 40 saloons in the
county and has absolute control of the
whisky business. The sheriff is bar
keeper. The judge of the criminal
court is under Indictment in his own
court of embezzlement and will have
to vacate the bench to let special
judge sit on trial on him. The debt
of the county is 100000 and the tax
rate is 1886 on the 500. Of about
5000 voters in the county, 5000
were last year returned delinquent.
And one-ffth of the inmates Of the
penitentiary are from Fayette county.
1t is Republican county. Can any
county beat it?
A deadly explosion occurred at
Rush Run in the interior of Pocahon-
tas county the other night. There
was party of some kind at a house
occupied by the family of Benjamin
Jackson. Jackson is a miner and kept
a keg of powder in the house. Dur
ing the evening someone threw light.
ed cigarette into the keg, which caused
the accident. There was number
of men and women in the house, and
two of the former and one of the latter
were killed. The women were Carrie
Robson and Anna Brown. The male
victim was young man, named Rich
ard Whitlock. After the explosion
the house caught fire and all three
were cremated. Benjamin Jones was
blown through a door and into the
yard with his clothes on fire. He was
perhaps fatally injured. The rest Of
the company escaped without serious
injury.
1t will be the duty of the incoming
West Virginia Legislature to. fix the
salaries of the FIVE judges of the Su-
preme Court of Appeals, as well as
that of the Auditor and Secretary of
State. The latter officer becomes
elective under the adoption of the
constitutional amendment and re-
quires that the Legislature shall fix
The salary for the services rendered.
The fees of the offices of Auditor and
Secretary of State are to be diverted
into the State treasury at the exprra-
ton of the terms of those already in
office. There has been considerable
discussion among the people regard
ing these proposed salaries, and it is
insisted that the Legislature shall fix
the salaries at an adequate sum for
Al T. AL