Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-12-18

; that the Messrs. Burden of Troy were actin
f for the Troy and Boston railroad in their ap
t plicaton for charter for railroad to thei
n mines
The Jealous attorney for the Burdens un
questonably worked himself into the belle
that - there was no proof nor was it tn,
, fact, &c. &c, and yet, when he found tina
+ nearly everybody of the contrary opinion
, it would have been wise to doubt whether
his interest and zeal as counsel had not put
E him in the wrong. The fact is that Mr.
Willard is arguing against the court that
tried his case, and against public opinion
, that sustains the court, and will sustain it
just so long as the Troy railroad men persist
IN their gross wrong TO the people of the
State.
Not satisfied with this, Saturday the Daty
returns to the subject again, as follows
The FREEMAN's complaint that VIC have
not given the facts in the Burden case,
especially to the interest of the New York
roads, comes with very bad grace In the
Waterman Of Nov. -, and in preceding dai-
lies, gave report of the case on both
sides as tried in the Legislature, embracing
I even the yeas and nays on the test question ::
whereas, the FREEMAN gave much less COM
plete account. and not even the figures of the
vote by which the Burdens were defeated
Instead of finding fault with us, it had bet
ter be apologizing to its readers, the Legis-
lature, and the public, for its short-coming
1t is quite possible that the public would
rather have fair report of both sides as we
gave it, than the one-sided editorials of the
attorney for the Burdens
7 /. The FREEMAN gave Mr.. Parks speech,
as reported in Walton's Daily, occupying a
column of our paper. The speech embraced
all the points made by the opponents Of the
/ WalloOmsac road and was as strong pres
entation of them could be made. and az
we gave no speeches on the other side, our
report, if one-sided at all. was all on Mr.
Park side Of the controversy The omission
Of the figures of the test vote about "a for
the road to something over loo against il,
was an inadyertencc. happening without the
knowledge of the editor Of the FREEMAN
but the report and the editorial columns of
the FREEMAN stated that the application was
defeated. 81 much for the charge that our
report was unfair.
,. When we printed the first editorial on
this subject, had no expectation of any
none had not Walton's DaiIy charged us with
"quibbling.' In answer to that. and to the
statement that the Messrs Burden were onlv
moving in the interests of the Troy and Bos-
ton railroad, we asked that paper for facts,
innocently supposing that it was willing to
furnish proof or retract its statement 1t.
however, furnishes proof whatever of the
truth of it, statcment-for the simple reason
that there is no such proof-and yet insists
on its unjust and unsupported assertion that
the road was asked for in the interest of the
Troy and Boston road: and. moreover, said
and lest we should mar the exquisitelv
choice language of our cotemporarv, we give
its own words if the FIREMAN wishes to
hang at the tail Of the New York monopoly,
we won't begrudge it all the honor it can get
by it
Now, it i. a fact that the editor of the
FREEMAN was counsel for the Messrs Burden
and SO far that fact makes the statements
in the FREEMAN liable to suspicion they should
he suspected. But that fact also gave US
peculiarly good opportunities-whch the
editor of the DaIly did not hayc-of know
ing what testimony given before the
committee and there was no evidence before
the committee 20 contradict the positive ted-
rimonv of the Messrs Burden that the Troy
K Boston railroad had no connection what
ever with the application. There was an
unlimited amount Of outside assertion and
street talk, charging that the Messrs. Burden
were only the agents of a New York railroad,
but when these loud-talkers were brought to
the test of an oath upon the witness stand,
their assertions faded into admission that
they had no knowledge whatever that the
Troy & Boston road were asking for charter
for road to the iron mines in Bennington.
These are facts and if the writer i'll the
Ddifv had been member of the committee
or had been present at the hearing, he would
never have done the Messrs. Burden the in
Justice he has done them, by the persistent
that the facts were different
Street clamor, and legislative speeches, and
newspaper assertions, are no answer to such
facts.
We have already given more space to this
controversy than we intended to give at the
outset, or than we should have given had
We not hoped our cotemporary was not in
misleading it's readers The
Messrs. Burden are gentlemen of the highest
character, the universal sorrow in the
city of Troy at the recent decease of Mr.
WM F. BURDEN, bears abundant witness and
it was imputation both upon their honor
and their truthfulness to charge that they
were in Montpelier in any capacity different
from what was claimed In their application
Where they are known, no respectable news
paper would intimate that these gentlemen
were asking for railroad for anybody but
or that their statements, whether
under oath not, anything but the
simple truth as such an intimation could only
damage it's author. And it was because we
our contemporary was acting under
4 IN lisa pprehensiOn and would be willing to
accord to other gentlemen the same credit
OF truthfulness which it would claim for it
self, and would not he willing TO he the We :
1icle of an unsupported and insulting charge t
against gentlemen at least as honorable,
truthful and incapable of deceit neigh ,
,or, that we have pursued the discussion. s
We regret to be obliged to confess that we G
rave been greatly disappointed in the way a
he Daily has treated the subject, persisting
IS it has, in charge most fagrantly unjust, a
nd utterly unsupported and insisting that 7
he Messrs Burden and their counsel APP '
,eared before the Vermont Legislature under :
alse pretences. and asked for charter os- h
ensibly for themselves, but really for the a