What Possesses the Witching Rod: The question as to whether water can be located underground by the use of the witching rod—the forked branches of an apple, plum or cherry tree—in the hands of a so-called water witch, is receiving considerable discussion in a good many homes in this section of Pennsylvania, since the excursion of G. E. Douglas to Washington, D. C., and his experiments before a committee of Pathfinder magazine editors. There are those who look with doubt on the entire question of water finding by such methods and there are plenty of others who have an abundance of faith in the water witching processes and declare their faith, is founded on works that they have seen performed. On Tuesday last Mr. Douglas gave a demonstration of the powers on John J. Simpson’s Meadow Breeze farm, near Crystal Lake. There were 50 observers present, including a number of ladies. It developed that among the spectators were a number of other claimants of water witching powers and for some time the fields adjoining Mr. Simpson’s farm building were an animated scene with men standing about holding the forked sticks. It can hardly be said that the time and place were adapted to a fair test. A heavy rain had fallen the night before which probably saturated the ground, and it is doubtful if the water pipes carrying only a one inch stream would be sufficient magnet to cause unusual attraction. If the witching rods of the various experimenters are to be relied on the Simpson farm is supplied with an abundance of underground veins of water. It was conclusively shown that in the hands of Mr. Douglas the wand would, at certain spots, bend and point earthward, while in the hands of others it would not. Frank Warner, of Newton Lake and his son, Willard, who were present, also appeared to have witching powers and some of the other spectators who had never tried the art before found that the rod would bend in their hands. As Hamlet observed, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than dreamt of in your philosophy.” The question still is, can water be found with a witching rod. Mr. Douglas says it can, that he has found it.

Birchardville – The fox chase in the forenoon was a pronounced success. The large pack of stalwart hounds covering the chosen three mile course in a phenomenally short period of time, awakening the keenest interest for those witnessing the event. Prizes were awarded to owners of hounds as follows: Ball Brothers, Birchardville, hunting coat; Glenn Billings, of Springville, a live fox; Joseph Brotzman, of Rush and Mortimer Rhinevault of Birchardville, tied for third. Clay pigeon shooting continued throughout the day perpetuating a rare sport of days gone by. Dana Barrett, of New Milford, took the honors, scoring 24 out of 25. The ball game between Fairdale and the Fox Chasers resulted in a victory for Fairdale, 4-13.

Montrose – Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Bostwick left for Grand Bay, La., where they will reside with their daughter, Mrs. Charles T. Marvin. Many friends regret their removal from town. The Daughters of Veterans packed a special lunch and gave it to them as they stepped on the train leaving Montrose. Mr. Bostwick was the genial [Court House] tipstaff here for many years. He will be greatly missed by the G. A. R., being one of the few survivors of the Civil War. ALSO And now prohibition enforcement officers are said to be very much up in the air over the activities of aerial bootleggers.

Brooklyn – A potato spraying demonstration on the farm of W. S. Tiffany, of this place, showed that spraying doubled the yield and prevented rot and blight. The expense of spraying was small. ALSO Two auto accidents occurred on the state road in this vicinity. B. A. Oakley, who was driving near C. J. Savige’s, lost a bolt from his steering wheel and a smash-up ensued, which did not prove serious, although it probably would have been had he been driving fast. Stanley Lord, who was driving a Ford car, and was accompanied by Howard Osborne and Maurice Bailey, when near the residence of Mrs. Minnie VanAuken, struck a head block, being unable to make the curve at that point in the road. All three boys were thrown from the car and more or less seriously injured. Dr. Taylor was summoned and dressed the wounds.

Jackson – Chas. F. Whitney, who very likely is the largest grower of high class fruit in the county, marketing as high as 5,000 bushels of apples in a season, reports that the long drought injured fruit considerably this year, the stems withering and the apples falling from the trees.

Susquehanna – Rev. Wm. Clemon, of this place, head of the East Mountain Coal Co., while at Scranton, last week, filed suit for heavy damages against the D & H Railroad company for failure to deliver coal consigned to Clemon & Plummer, said cars of coal becoming lost and not delivered. After a search it is said the lost cars were found in the Carbondale yards. The damages asked are $50,000 from the D & H Company. ALSO The work of remodeling and decorating St. John’s Church is nearing completion. It is expected another week will finish the work and when done the church will have one of the most beautiful interiors of any in the Scranton diocese.

Uniondale – Shubael Carpenter, the grand young man, will be ninety-one years of age next Monday, if spared. Tuesday he was at work in his garden and as strong as a man of fifty. ALSO Fifty years ago, Monday, we had a snow storm. Snow began falling in the early afternoon and by night there was a heavy fall. The snow remained until January. An early spring followed.

Transmission of Power by Radio: Transmission of power from Niagara Falls to New York by radio is a possibility of the future in the opinion of Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, chief engineer of the radio corporation. This prediction by the noted engineer followed the success of a sixteen hour test of election tubes in place of large alternators in transmitting wireless messages across the Atlantic Ocean. Possibility of power transmission by the use of election tubes has stimulated the imagination of scientists, who for some time have believed that wireless transmission of power might come to pass. The almost infinite possibilities of the tubes attracted the attention of Marconi when he was here and their development, he said, was the next most important step in wireless.