St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1869-12-17
The RdiirOdd Question IN Ddn-
rjI/P,


Considerable interest has been felt in
Danville, and more or lo-s i'll the other
towns along the line of the Lamoillc
Valley Railroad, in consequence OF the
action of certain men in Danvilc, in
regard to bonding the town for the new
railroad. A history OF the case is solne-
thing as follows:
Soon after the enabling act was passed
in the fall Of 81, a majority of the legal
voters and tax payers of Danville signed
a paper granting town aid to the Mont
pelicr and st. ,John-Dury Railroad to the
amount of one hundred thousand dollars.
BY one of the provisions of this act,
three commissioners were appointed on
the part Of the town to complete the
contract with the railroad company.
These com misSioncrS were Mes>rS. VIM.
b. Palmer, VIM. J. Stanton and Benz.
Grcenbank. In the paper which these
men drew up as a contract, they inserted
certain conditions not made i'll the vote
of the town, and among them, that the
railroad should be built via North Dar-
vile. The railroad company objected to
the wording of this paper, and requested
that one be made t. correspond with the
vote of the town, which was simply that
the road should be built through Dan
vile, as we are informed. Such CON
tract was subsequently drawn up and
signed by two OF til. commissioners, Mr..
Stanton refusing to sim.
When it was ascertaincd that the rail-
road would not 20 through North Dan
vile, certain men in the north part #
the town caused Il town meeting to be
caled which was had on Wednesday of
the present week. The protesscd object /
of this meeting was to see if the town .
would instruct the selectmen to withhold .
the bonds of the town from the railroad .
company.
Andrew Mcmillan, Esq, was chosen /
moderator OF the meeting, and on Il call /
for information on the subject-matter,
Mr.. Stanton made u statement in rca;lrl
to the action of the town and of the
commissioners in which he claimed that
the first paper drawn up and signed by
the commissioners was the LEGAL con-
and tl.,r tl,nt hlI h.,u
refused and returned, the town was not
legally holden for the SlOO,0OO. lie
also criticised rather sharply, the action
of the other two commissioners i'll taking
back the original paper and giving an
other.
VIM. b. Palmer, Esq, was called M
on to make statement in behalf of tie
action of the majority of the conmis-
sioncr>, which lac did. .ivimg mainly the
points to which we have all lded, and
justitying the action of NJ Greenba X
and himself on the ground that the pa
per signed by the voters of the town was
virtually the contract, and that the COM
miS>loners had no right to transcend their
power, and insert conditions not included
in the original vote of the town.
The matter was still further discussed
by Messrs. Stanton, Theo. Drew and
Fry i'll opposition, and by Messrs. Pal
mer and Ira Brainerd in favor when on
motion it was voted to appoint i COM
mittee of three to procure legal counsel
and see If the town Is holden for the aid
voted, and report at next March meet
ing. This vote was firmly opposed by
Mr.. Brainerd, who believed that the
town was holden by its vote granting aid
TO the railroad, and that by litigation the
town was only adding to its taxes; that
they could not get rid of paying the
amount agreed upon il they would and
would not If they could. They, as a
town, wanted the railroad If it was
four miles shorter by the located survey
than by the way of North Danville. il
WIS ~ MUCH llle better Tor them they
were stockholders Nh. Brainerd closed
by urging upon the town to get out an
injunction at once, reStraininin" the pro-
per officers from issuing the bonds, rather
than put it off until next March. and
subject the town to expensive litigation.
This proposition was 50 plausible that
the opposition fell in with it, and it was
''Fotei, That the town agent be in
s,ructed to get out an injunction forth
with from the proper court 10 restrain
the town officers from issuing town
bonds TO the Montpelier and St. Johns
bury Railroad Company"
This action of the town will soon do
eide the matter, and we have no doubt
but the action of tie commissioners will
be sustained We sympathize with the
people in the north part of Danvile
They want railroad there they have
perhaps the bes, farming district in CAL
edUnia county; they .lave large wood
and timber tracts; but after months Of