Ref: Town and Country Newspaper Pennsburg, Montgomery County, PA Saturday - November 19, 1904 FIRST STORM OF SEASON WAS RECORD BREAKER This section of the Perkiomen Valley was on Sunday visited by the first snow storm of the season, and had we not read the prophecy that Elias HARTZ, the Reading Goose Bone Prophet made we would not have been prepared. It began to rain long before daylight and by nine o'clock it turned into hail and snow and continued all day with high winds. The weight of the heavy snow on the telegraph and telephone wires was too much and it broke them. On Monday morning our streets were covered with broken wires. The telegraph wires on the railroad were also out of service from Saturday evening until Monday evening. Both the Delaware and Atlantic and Keystone telephones as well as the local line were out of service for the major portion of the week. It is thought that had the snow not melted and had laid upon the ground as it fell, it would have been eight inches deep. The snow fall, at Hosensack and farther north was greater than at Pennsburg. The public road leading to Palm from Isaac ROEDER's farm was drifted and impassable. The large ice house which the Knickerbocker Ice Company, of Philadelphia had in coarse of erection at their dam at Green Lane, was blown down by the high winds and must be started from the foundation to rebuild. The building operations which have been in progress in these three boroughs were given a set-back. Sixty-five telephone poles were blown down between Emaus and Macungie. Milton L. MOYER, carrier of R.F.D. No. 2 route, of Macungie, had his first winter experience. When he reached the mountain he found the snow a foot deep and the roads badly drifted. At one place he got stuck and had to cry for help. Two farmers came to his assistance and shoveled his team out upon which he had to go through fields for some distance. FINED FOR NEGLECTING HIS HORSES A.M.F. FOGEL, a truck farmer of Breinigsville, was ordered to appear before Mayor LEWIS at Allentown, on Monday afternoon to answer a charge of cruelty to his horses brought by James STUBER, agent for the Society of the Prevention of cruelty to Animals. The latter had three witnesses to state that FOGEL left his horses stand in the streets from 10 a.m. until after 5 p.m., on Saturday and that the animals suffered from neglect. FOGEL's defense was that he was partly intoxicated and forgot the team. He was fined $10 and $2 witness fees, which he paid. AGED WOMAN WAS ASSAULTED Alone in her home at Bridgeport, Mrs. Lydia ROSS, the aged widow of a civil war veteran, was brutally assaulted by a negro fiend. She was awakened by a noise and realized that a man was in her room. She sprang from bed and grappled with the intruder. The assailant finally beat her down and esaped. It is supposed the man sought her pension money which she had just received. A cigar box found in the room the next morning may serve as a clue to the culprit, for it was the identical box purchased from Mrs. ROSS that Saturday afternoon, by a negro. BAKED THOUSANDS OF PIES IN ONE YEAR The orginator of penny pies in Reading is Mrs. Robert IRVING, who has baked thousands and sold them to school children since she has been engaged in the business. From May, 1903, to May, 1904, she sold 10,790 pies of all kinds. Many bakers have tried to force her out of business by making up penny pies, but they failed. Mrs. IRVING says that the success of making pies lies in her use of the best of materials. She is 69 years old and is still active. DRAWN AS U.S. DISTRICT COURT JURORS Ex-County Commissioner John E. DUBBS, of Locust Valley, and Squire Leon L. SNYDER, of Zionsville, Lehigh County, were drawn on Saturday as grand jurors in the United States district court to meet in Philadelphia, December 12-15. SHOT HIS OWN ARM OFF Leaning over the barrel of his gun while his companion took a drink, Fritz, a young man of Hazleton, had his right arm shot off on Saturday. WILL BUILD LARGE HALL Charles F. MOTZ, the proprietor, of the Red Hill Hotel, has made arrangements to rebuild his sheds and hall which were recently destroyed by fire. He has engaged the services of contractor Clayton H. FRYER, of Pennsburg and a plan for a frame building 60 by 116 has been prepared. Work on the new building will be started at once and the building is to be erected as quickly as possible. The hall will be built about forty feet further back from the turnpike than the old shed, and will be four stories high. The first floor or basement will be made for the stabling of cattle, the second for horses, the third will be made into a public hall and a portion of it will be used for the storage of hay and straw, while the fourth floor will be used for the meeting of lodges. A portion of the second floor will be fitted up with a ten pin alley, a pool room and a shooting gallery. The building will have a French roof and in general it will be the roomiest and best equipped shed in this section of the county. BOY AND GIRL BURNED Two Allentown children, 4 and 6 years old, respectively, were fatally shocked by a live wire on Tuesday while a dozen or more persons were more or less shocked in their endeavors to release the little victims. Susie BOVANS saw a wire dangling from a pole, and each time the end came in contact with the ground it emitted a shower of sparks. This attracted the child, she toddled toward it and seized it in her hands. In a second she was screaming in agony, and try as she might she could not release her grasp of the wire. Her little brother, but two years older, heroically rushed to his sister's aid, and he, too, seized the wire, and with the same result. Then it was that a number of adults tried to rescue the children, but no sooner would they touch them than they would be hurled to the ground by the force of the shock. A lineman was soon found and cut the wire, but too late. Both children were terribly burned, and their deaths are momentarily expected. SUED ON $1,000,000 MANSION To avoid a disputed payment of $150,000 or more, Percival ROBERTS, the multi-millionaire, of Lower Merion Township, this county must answer in Court at Norristown on November 21, where suit is brought against him by George F. PAYNE, contractor. The suit grew out of the erection of Mr. ROBERTS' million-dollar mansion, for which PAYNE had the contract. Mr. ROBERTS discharged him from the job for alleged faulty work, for which PAYNE seeks to recover for his outlay and loss of contract. It is likely that at least three weeks will be necessary to try the case, because of its importance and on account of the amount involved. There will be more than 200 witnesses, many of them experts in building. An extra session of court will be held and the panel of jurors that served at the October Court have been called for the special session. BARBER TAKEN IN CUSTODY John M. BRUNNER, of Emaus, a barber, was arraigned before Mayor LEWIS, at Allentown, on Saturday, charged with disorderly conduct. When arraigned he said to the Mayor: "The end of time has come. I have no time to wait for you. My special train is waiting at the station to go to Bethlehem, which is now the Zion City of the good. Time is at an end." By this time his Honor was looking over the top of his glasses, an interested listener. He finally said: "Well, now; you just go in the other room before you catch that special." The prisoner refused, and it took the combined efforts of three of the heftiest officers in the Court room to put him in a cell. BRUNNER was later turned over to the poor authorities. GUN BARREL BURSTS AND MUTILATES HAND While gunning Monday morning Daniel FOUNTAIN, of Moorestown, N.J., met with a painful accident through the explosion of his gun. As he was about to fire his first shot of the season the gun barrel exploded near the stock and his left hand and wrist were badly multilated. PURCHASED A FARM AT ZIONS HILL William MOYER, of Chestnut Hill, purchased Allen WEIL's farm at Zions Hill for $3300. Mr. MOYER will take possesion next spring.