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FULTON COUNTY NEWS. Published Every Thursday. 13. VV. Peck, Editor. McCONNELLSBURG, PA. Thursday Oct. 12, 1899. Published Weekly. 1.00 per Annum in Advance. Prompt attention will be tfiven to applications for ad vertisinf rates. Job Printing of every des cription executed with prompt ness, in a workmanlike manner and at consistent prices. KI OI IKI MKNTS OF TIIF.COM I I'l.SOR V l.ni CATION LAW and now i:mokci:i). THE DEATH OF 6E0. 6. RUPLEY. AN F.XF.MI'I-ARY CITIZEN OF MF.Ki;F.RSHl'R(i. Ills Experience lit tins Time of the First KnIJ In Southern Pennsyl vania t'nptulii of the Home ' (tiai'iU and Hm-gcNS of the Town Ills Arrest with Other Lending i Citlcns and Incarcerations in Lihhy Prison An IntcrcxtiiiK .Story, Ktinirt's Raid -Mr. Hurley i Shared a Frugal .Meal With (ien eral Wade Hampton. Ia reply t an inquiry as to the compulsory school law and wh;it individuals are resjionsible for its enforcement, the West Ches ter News says: The Compulsory Edueationlaw was passed in 1305 and amended in lh!)7. Tho latter act made a number of ini)ortant changes in the law, almost, indeed, supply ing the i l ice of the original act. As the law stands at present, ev ery parent, guardian, or other person having charge of a child between the ages of 8 and six teeu years is required to see that such child attends a school in which tho common English branches are taught at least 70 per cent, of the time tho school is open, unless the child is excused from such attendance by the board of directors upon presen tation of satisfactory evidence of mental or physical or other ur gent reason. If there be no pub lic school within two miles by the nearest traveled road such person is excused, or if able to produce a certificate of a teacher that the child is being instructed in other than a public school in the English branches, ho is also excused. A child between tho ages of 13 and 10 years, who is regularly en gaged in any useful employment r service is excused. Tho person in parental rela tion neglecting to send a child to -school is declared guilty of amis demeanor and on conviction be fore a Justice of tho Peace or an Alderman, shall be fined not ex ceeding 2 for tho first offense and not exceeding $5 for every subsequent offense. When the Assessor has made his enumeration of the children in the district and returned the same to the County Commission ers, these officers certify tho list to the Secretary of the School Board and the Board must fur nish the teacher of each school with a correct list of all children in his or her district subject to the provisions of the act. The School Board has author ity to appoint an attendance offi cer to look after truant children, and neglectful parents, but if they do not make such appoint ment it is tho duty of the Secre tary of the Board to look after them. The teacher must report immediately to tho Secretary of tho Board and once a month 'hereafter the names of all chil dren absent from school five days n the month without satisfactory excuse. Tho first duty of the attend ance officer or Secretary of the ooard is to notify in writing the imi rent or guardian in tho delin quency and thus give an oppor tunity to comply with tho law in tho future and avoid tho penalty. If tho child is then not sent to school or its education properly accounted for a complaint should o made before a Justice of the 'eace or Alderman. The Secre try or attendance officer, if eon s meed of neglecting his duty, is ulr'e !t to u fine of IT). Tho seventy perceutum of tho school year which children are equired to attend begins at tho beginning of the school term un less the School Board fixes a dif ferent time at which it is to be- There are some other provis ions in the law, but those given over the portions most imjort i'iit for public information. Incorrigible children can be : '-quired to attend a separate -. hool, where one is provided or j' ay by due process of law be nt to the House of Refuge or :her institutions for their reform .jnl spc-inl training. From Public Opinion. Mr. George (. Rupley, nn ex emplary citizen of Mercersburg i and a man of more than ordinary j intelligence, has passed away at J that ripe old age to which, ac-j cording to the Psalmist, one may ! attain by reason of strength. He ! was a quiet man, somewrhat re-1 served in disposition, but a carta- j ble and entertaining talker with j persons who enjoyed his porso- I rial acquaintance. In the com munity at large his influence for good was felt more from his Up-: right christian life, than from j what he said, but he always found ' voice in any crisis or time of need j to array himself on the. side ofi jH'ace, morality and gxd order. His life exjieriences present a rather interesting and curious cluster of anomalies. While ho instinctively shrank from the publicity of office or honors, yet he was called upon frequently to assume the duties of local govern ment. He was at various times' Justice of the Peace, town couu-1 cilman, burgess aud school direc- j tor. Diligent in tho pursuits of j peace, ho found himself Captain of the Homo Guards and in com-! mand of tho defences of the town at tho outbreak of tho civil war. ! He never committed a public J crime and yet ho was publicly ar- rested at his own place of busi-1 ness, kept in tho custody of arm ed men and taken away from his own State into Virginia where without trial ho was cast into ! prison and compelled to undergo j a term of imprisonment which in- j volved greater hardship and pun- j ishment than is now meted out to ! the worst criminals of the nation. Always a staunch and uncom promising Union man, he found himself on one occasion quietly seated in a Confederate camp j partaking of an evening meal, j and in pleasant conversation with i no less personage than General Wado Hampton. The following brief account of Mr. Rupley's experience at tho time of the first Rebel raid into Southern Pennsylvania, was re duced to writing and is the sub stance of an interview with Mr. Rupley himself who afterwards pronounced it a correct statement of facts. The morning of October 10th, lHtiL', was rather cool and cloudy, and late in tho afternoon a driz zling rain set in and continued far into the night. Captain Rup ley of the Home Guards, and Burgess of the borough, was at work in his tin shop. The mer chants were quietly attending to the wants of their few customers who were unusually few owing to the threatening weather. Daniel Shaffer had taken down his trusty rifle to shoot a chicken for a la to dinner which ho expected to enjoy with his family. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart with tho flower of his famous cavalry crossed the Potomac that morn ing at McCoy's ferry above Will- j iamsport and proceeded to make a raid around tho army of Mc-' Clellan, such as he had made once ! before while the army of tho Po-' tomac was nearer Richmond in tho memorable Peninsular cam-! iniim Tlfttlt urnrn uiwmuu. ! JMIIUi .ivrwi.ii limn nvi,y nui.i,.nrr ful, and tho latter one was prob ably tho most profitable to the bold cavalrymen, at least as far as the gathering of foi-age and , horses was concerned. The nurn-' ber of troops has been variously ! estimated, one writer putting it 1 us high as .'i,."0O mounted men and six pieces of artillery. They udvanced rapidly through tho Blair's Valley road into tho "Corner." About half past 12, just when most of tho good peo ple n Mercersburg were quietly seated ut their dinner tables, a few cavalry soldiers made their j appearance in town. This uu-; looked for occurrence attracted ! some little attention. Citizens : came out to see them and to in- j quire from what jniint they laid i come. The yonnj? boys r.lways anxious to see soldiers, crowded around, running in and out among the horses and gazing with evi dent admiration at the bold look ing blue coats. For a little while everything seemed right and no suspicion was aroused ngainst tho soldiers until they com menced to swarm into the town by the hundreds from tho direc tion of the "Corner." The oncoming ranks did not look no blue as the first ones, but it was now the citizens' time to look blue, as they began to realize that the town was in possession of the southern soldiers. Gen. Stuart's forces remained in town about two hours and dur ing that time visited most of the business places and made quite extensive requisition ujion the citizens of the town generally. The details of their visit must be passed by, as the limits of this article will not permit of much more than a brief account of the fortunes of Burgess Rupley. About half past two the forces began to leave town taking the road to Bridgeport and evidently bound for Chambersburg. They had as prisoners, Daniel Shaffer, Perry A. Rice, C. Iiouderbaugh, John McDowell, James Grove, William Raby, D. O. Blair and G. G. Rupley, all citizens of Mer cersburg, and Joseph Winger, of Claylick. Mr. Rupley was taken prisoner because ho was Burgess of the town, others were captured because they were representative citizens, and others still, for no particular reason at all. Daniel Shaffer had just fired his gun at tho chicken and stood with smok ing gun in hand when several cavalrymen came upon him and placed him under guard. The prisoners thus taken were compelled to walk until they ar rived at the junction of the Lou don and Bridgeport roads about a mile from town. Here they we're met by several squads of men with a fresh supply of horses taken from the neighboring farm ers. Riding outfits were scarce in those days, and our captives, though allowed to ride were forced to go it boy fashion, without sad dlo and with a halter as tho only means of guiding and curbing tho fiery steeds. With squads of soldiers on every side, however, they were comparatively safe from either accidental or inten tional runaway. Mr. Joseph Winger was more fortunate than his fellow prisoners as far as the conveniences of travel were con cerned. Before leaving his home ho bargained with tho officers in chargo that ho was to rido his own horse, and also that he was to go no further than the Potomac river. The first part of this promise was faithfully kept by the officer whoso name was Hen ry Clay Benton. And indeed it was the intention concerning all these prisoners that they should bo taken as far as tho river where they were to be paroled and ex changed for Southern prisoners then in the custody of tho Feder al Government. But tho faith was not kept and in accordance with an order of General Lee, these captives, including Mr. Winger, were hurried forward to Richmond and confined within the dreary walls of Libby and Castle Thunder. A slight accident occurred just be Tore tho party reached Cham bersburg, which in itself was nothing unusual in army life, yet in its results upon tho fortunes of our captives it amounted to considerable aud lessened to a great extent Mr. Rupley 'schauces of escape. Ono of tho cavarly men in somo way received an in jury to his foot and tho pain was so great that ho was unable to rido his horse. Ho was brought to tho wagon in which Mr. Rup ley and Mr. McDowell were then riding they having obtained that convenience towards the latter part of the journey and in order to make room for tho wounded man, Mr. McDowell was very un cermouiously ordered out, aud a caisson, or ammunition wagon, was assigned for him to ride upon. This modo of travel would no doubt have been disastrous in its effects, considering tho ago and delicate state of Mr. McDowell's health. Mr. Rupley saw this at once, and promptly offered to take the place. No objections were made on tho part of those in command, and Mr. Rupley ac cordingly took his jKtsitiou where tho powder and balls wore the Ihickest, and biwly maintained it, until they reached camp on the other side of Cnnmborsbnrg. After the accident alluded to, Mr. Daniel Shaffer, who had been he roically making his way up hill and down upon a baro backed horse, was ordered to take charge of the wounded man's horse. Af ter that, he always thought, tho lcoplo of Chambersburg must have regarded him as one of them as he had the regulation army saddle and bridle and his two big horse-pistols, one at each side in front. Mr. Rupley had no opportunity of stopping in Chambersburg, but was taken through to camp where he was obliged to remain. After they had settled down ho began to size up his chances for escape, but as pickets were im mediately thrown out on every side, he finally concluded that the odds were decidedly against him. He sat down by tho fire, fooling tired, cold and hungry. While he was musing upon the fortunes of war, no less a distinguished person than Gen. Wado Hampton canio up to him, and after a little conversation in which the names and circumstances of each were made known to the other, tho General pulled out from his hav ersack a piece of meat (flitch per haps) and with the aid of an old pocket knife, shared it with the prisoner. This was not a very choice meal, but "under tho cir cumstances," said Mr. Rupley, "it tasted pretty good." After tho General had cut the pork aud handed ono piece to his messmate, ho walked over to a tree and cut off a branch which ho sharpened at one end and stuck it through the meat. This done, he sat down by the fire and held the meat over the flames un til it was fried, or whatever the result of such a process may be called, perhaps it was partly burned. Mr. Rupley quickly fol lowed the pxamplo of his com panion and ero long this citizen of the North,' and the soldier of the South were seated side by side preparing their fugal meal, be fore a camp fire that failed to make cheery the surrounding grove amid the gathering shades of a bleak October evening. After the victor and tho van quished had finished their simple meal, and had conversed a while over the camp fire, the prisoner was asked whether ho had any place to sleep, and he replied that he had not. Gen. Hampton then directed him to a house not far away and told him to find lodging there. Seeing the pickets around, Mr. Rupley ventured to inquire whether he could get there, and being well assured that he could, the two then separated. Mr. Rup ley fittr to tho house indicated where he found tolerably com fortable quarters for tho night. On tho following morning Sat urday Messrs. Louderbaugh and McDowell were released and allowed to return homo. All tho other prisoners were taken along with tho riders, who after burn ing several buildings in Cham bersburg, took their departure eastward across the South Moun tain. Mr. Rice was last seen seated upon a caisson in front of the Mansion house, Chambers burg, and it is likely that the most of his jonrney to Richmond was made upon that wagon. Dr. Blair and Mr. Raby had about tho same accommodations for travel until they made their escajie in Montgomery county, Md., just before crossing tho Potomac. On tho following Monday tho party reached Richmond and the prisoners were locked up in Lib by. Messrs. Rupley and Winger remained until tho first of Dec. following when they were releas ed on jNirole, reaching Washing ton on their way home, Decem ber 4. Mr. Rico died in prison somo time in January lHOJl, and Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Grovo were not exchanged until the following March. Mr. Rupley at the time of his capture had in his pocket several papers relating to the or ganization of tho Home Guard and somo little memoranda of tho affairs of that body. These pa pers ho destroyed before ho was many miles on his way to Rich mond, thinking that if found on his person, they might lessen his chance of adjusting tho littlo dif ficulty between himself and tho Confederate g ver nmen t. Mr. Rupley made one other trip to the South during tho war. His going on that occasion was volurtary, however, uud was for the purpose of bringing home for burial the body of his brother, Simon W. Rupley, a Serg't of Co. hi. 120th Reg'tPa. Vols., who was killed in action at Chancellors ville, May !!, 1W3. Among the few remaining men who were active in the affairs of the community in war time, Mr. Rupley will be gratefully remem bered as one who performed his good part. Among tho citizens generally. of Mercersburg his fa miliar form and kindly face will be sadly missed- A TEimiuLK tragedy occurred at Kesler's Curve, W. Va., on Thursday night, September 21. Absalom Kesler, an agd and well-to-do farmer and Albert Gross, his hired man, were hor ribly beaten, and Kesler's house was burned. Kesler's niece, Ann Doman and her child who in the house nt tho time, were burned to death. Tho object in commit ting tho deed, is supposed to have been robery, Mr. Kesler having recently drawn from tho bank all of his money, amounting to $4, 000. This money is missing, sus picion rests upon a man named Doinan, husband of tho woman burned to death in tho house. He was at the place on tho evening of the tragedy and has not boon seen or heard of since. Kesler has since died from the effects of the wounds received. Tho man Gross had his jaw fractured and is unable to talk. Ho is steadily improving. Only the charred re mains of the woman and her child were found in tho house. Hancock Star. FitOM advance sheets of the re port of the Soldiers' Orphans' Schools Commission it is learned that on May 31st last there were 1,102 children in the schools, a decrease of 25. The number of admissions during the year were 102 and 180 were discharged. The amount expended by the Commission since it assumed charge in 1889 was $1,081,749, or an average of 180,174. The ex penditure last year was 105,450. The Commission states that it is the intention to consolidate all of the schools at the Scotland school but this could not be carried out this year. The results in the schools have been exceedingly satisfactory and particularly so at the Scotland Industrial School. The Legislatureiscommended for having passed a law admitting to tho schools the children of sol diers of tho Spanish-American war, a number of whom have ap plied for admission. A pauent wrote to an editor for information as to how to stop his boy from smoking cigarettes and received the following reply: "We suggest bribery, persuasion, instruction or shutting off his al lowanco. Then if ho remains ob stinate uso rawhide on his raw hide. Welt him until he is ready to hold up his hands and promiso never to smoke another cigarette. If that does not work drown him. A drowned boy is much better than a boy who smokes cigarettes." At Klausthal, Germany, light ning struck tho wooden part of a house and fused two nails four millimeters thick. Siemens and Ilalkske, of Berlin, afterward ex perimented to ascertain tho force required. Assumiug one second as tho timo standard it required a current of two hundred amperes and twenty thousand volts repre senting seven thousand horsepower. All voters over twenty-two years of ago must pay a county tax within two years, aud ouo mouth before election day, to give them the right to vote. The election comes on the 7th of No vember this year. Tho last day to pay taxes is October 7th, Till-: man who has not a million dollars has much enjoyment in the contemplation of what he would do if ho had it. The fellow who has it is subjected to much misery in his efforts to hold on to it. With so many trusts being formed, it would seem quite apro os to organize a trust in human ity that would do away with tho necessity for locking our doors. Kentuckians say that William Goobol, the Democratic candidate for Governor, is tha ablest poli tician the State has produced. X00 OOOOOOOOOOCi FALL AND WINTER In t But (- '. A M n .1 IVLSwJfl 1LllU .t; Viil , J Pi lut 11 We are now prepared to sho; our Friends the Largest and a Best Selected Stock of GENERAL MERCHANDIS IN nd In boi Th o 1 hrh He ft! Lad FULTON nOlIiMTtf (a claim that is being extensively made.) Satisfy v." self about that matter. We will show you the ?a LARGEST LINE OR ?L TL fht lis dt at that Fulton county has ever had in it, and at price cie low as is consistent with perfect goods. The rantt c Plush capes 2,50 to 13,00. Cloth capes as lovbc 1.25. See them. Jackets, 4,00 up. We havelt od lie prettiest line ot Ladies' Skirts to show you from 20 cents to $2,00. in Ac e id fta ce Dress Goods in Stacks?1 , i n A good Wool Suiting for ID cents, well worth L'5 cvj ; See our stock of a it; i Ladies' and Men's NeckwcbJ 1 1 Lots of new, nice things. i A matter of interest to all is good warm UNDERWEJ.M for cold weather. Wo have it. j, We have a case of 82 dozen of MEN'S SHIRTS1' DRAWERS, at 40 cents apiece, that lots of peopled be slow to ask 50 cents for. They are perfect in niako.tn fit, and in every way acceptable, Of course we haw mi cheaper, and several lines of Underwear at f0c, 75c. L 1,00, and up; Ladies,' from i!0c. to 1,00. Children's? and on. Ut 8 LtWlSSHOtSir j ! I W Ifl It. o'.kvc ryJpockbtbooh. L 7 A Word about SHOE! We have two lines of Ladies' aud Children's Shoes tha't will stand against anything anywhere, price considered, tit, and wear, and appearance A general line, iucluir Men's, Boys , Ladies' and Misses', that will stand agn any line, wo don't care who produces them, or their pri' We a re selling a very fair Children's Shoe, 8-12 at f A first-rate Oil Grain Shoo for women at 'JHc. Men's l' f as low as 1.50. A very good one. I Ready-made A larger stock than yrf will find anywhere else t town. We luiow the price;. are all right, every time oooooooooooo OOOOOOOOOOl Clothin