EAST GALLUPVILLE.

— The fourth mysterious fire since August was that of Gideon Zimmer’s barn last week. Investigation is being made. It is hoped that the firebug will be apprehended soon.

— Garry Oliver, who was committed to the Schoharie jail Dec. 2 for stealing chickens, made his escape Dec. 9 and is still at large. A reward of $50 is offered for his capture.

VILLAGE NOTES.

— Helderberg chapter, O. E. S., will hold a thimble social Friday afternoon at the home of Mrs. Ada Mynderse.

STATE ROAD SOUTH BERNE.

The young people of the Christian church are rehearsing for a Christmas cantata “Kris Kringle and his Crew,” to be given in the church Christmas night. There will be a Christmas tree.

WEST BERNE.

The W. B. R. C. ladies had something new at the last meeting. Each member tried her skill at picking up small white beans with two tooth picks and putting them in a dish. Mrs. I. B. Schoonmaker secured first prize. The booby prize was awarded to Mrs. R. Shultes. The next meeting of the Circle will be held at the home of Mrs. John Weidman.

A TRESPASS LAW NEEDED.

Just why a person should risk his life by choosing a railroad right of way as a place to walk is difficult to understand. But thousands do it daily, simply because there is no adequate law to prevent it.

Trespassing on railroad property has cost 60,000 lives in the United States in the last ten years. Over 5,000 people in 1915 gave up their lives for the privilege of taking the dangerous “short cut” along railroad tracks. This number is in excess of the total American casualties from all causes during the Spanish American war.

Trespassing on rights of way and on cars is the cause of more than half of the railroad fatalities in this country. One railroad, in a district where trains run with great frequency and at high speed, counted six trespassers per mile — 145 men and women, excluding employees, passed a given point in one hour. This is a greater number of pedestrians than is usually encountered on a regular country highway.

The railroads post warning signs, erect crossing guards and fence in their right of way, yet because of the desire of trespassers to “save a few minutes” the slaughter goes on.

It is grossly unfair to the public to permit such a condition to continue. Most of the deaths are those of children and regularly employed citizens — not of “hoboes,” as is generally believed.

A simple amendment to the penal law, covering trespassing in definite terms, and properly enforced so that conviction could be obtained and fines actually collected, would reduce trespassing accidents to a minimum. Europe furnishes proof of the success of practical non-trespass laws. There, trespassing is practically unknown — conviction beting easy and sentence certain.