Litchfield enquirer., 1878-03-07
Accessible Courthouses.

tAOcC AOCoAbACo. AS Aoc tAC SlO0t usCk1o VI PAN- posing definite issue, in concise form, ito be settled once for all, next year, by the removal of the county seat from Litchfield to Winsted and New Milford. ? The vital portion of the McMahon confession of faith'-for it takes that form-is the following: a@1
 We believe that before any definite action is taken in regard to building jail the people of the county should be consulted as to their wishes in the matter. If the county prefer to have the jail remain in Litchfeld, .and that place retain the county seat then let it remain thore. But if the people of the county wish the removal of the county seat to some place, or places, easy of access, where they can transact their court business at the least ex- pense of time and money, where they can be the least inconvenienced, then let them secure it. We believe that, situated as the county is, with the means of communication such as they are, no one place will be convenient for the parts of the county. We believe that for all convenience of all, two places in the county l should be selected for the county seats, and | from their positions there are no two places which will afford so much accommodation to all sections as Winchester and New Milford. We confess to great surprise at the cool way in which the convenience of the people of the southern and eastern portion of the county is ignored in the foregoing plan. Woodbury is | to crawl over the abominable road between that place and New Milford, or must take what would probably be found preferable-a thirty miles journey to Winsted. Watertown and Bethlehem must also suffer extraordinary l inconvenience and Thomaston and Plymouth are to go to Winsted by rail-with no chance of doing any business in court and returning the same day-or, to travel by highway twice the distance they now have to go to reach their county seat. Nor are the towns of northwest ern Litchfeld county particularly convenienced l by such an arrangement. They can, indeed, reach Winsted or New Milford by rail, but they can spend only half day in either place, and return the same night-a great inconven- fence for witnesses in criminal trials especially. As we recently suggested, county could no doubt be arranged, by allowing eight or ten towns to secede to "Waterbury county, that would be tolerably convenienced by coun- ty seats at Winsted and New Milford though, even then,a single jail and single court house at North Canaan would prove nearly as acces- sible, by rail, as the two jails and the two court houses proposed at Winsted and New | Milford
 Indeed the fundamental defect of the whole plan is the awkward location of the proposed county seats for highway travel. No amount of ingenuity can ever make the corners of county as accessible by highway as the center, even when that center is on hill Moreover, Litchfeld is not difficult of access by highway,
 as highways go in this difficult region. The highways from this place to New Milford, to Roxbury, to Woodbury to Watertown and to Thomaston are not badroads Neither are the highways north specially difficult. Our worst roads are those which cut across the grain of the country, from east to west though none of these are as bad as the roads west from Woodbury and Bethlehem to New Milford
 or east from Goshen over the everlasting hills
 of Winchester to Winsted. It must not be
 forgotten that the highways of our County
 have been laid out with special reference tC
 convenience of access to the county seat
 Litchfeld was not only the center of the origi
 nal highway system of this part of Connecti
 cut, but it was also the great center of the sub.
 sequent turnpike system which gave us the
 best roads we now have. In 1866 llitohtielC
 expended $8,000 on a new road to the Naug atuck Station, which brought the heavy ascent
 from the Waterbury River to Chestnut Hill tC
 an even grade. Except, therefore, for the
 system of railroads that have come into exist
 ence within forty years past, there would nev ] er have been any thought of division o Litclfeld County,
 The real question at issue, therefore, il , whether our system of railroads has 80 changed the modes of travel as to call for two jails ano two courthouses at the corners of the presen county. In opposing that proposition wemain
 tain, in the first place, that the travel to cour
 by highway, is still, notwithstanding the con
 struction of our railroads, the matter of chic importance in farming community like ours 7 No doubt those who go to court tora a long stay-judges, lawyers and jurors-would gen
 orally prefer travel by rail- even if considerably longer, since they would thus avoid the hir and keeping of teams, needed only at the be
 ginning and end of weeks stay. Parties ant . witnesses, on tue other hand, who come fo f short stays, will naturally take the highway il preference to the railroad. This is especial! . the case with criminal trials. In civil trials D each party boards his own witnesses In stat f cases, the witness is only allowed his 50 cent
 a day trials are short, and overnight stays ar
 generally avoided by early and late travel
 This practice, indeed, is very naturally on tn
 increase. The average farmers facilities fo s locomotion have greatly improved of lat 8 years He now keeps his span of horses wher I he formerly had but one. Moving machines - milk marketing and the practice of carryinl h produce by team to distant markets, have lec d to this exchange of ox-power for horse -powe 5 on most of our Litchfeld county farms. Henc f the witness summoned to court, especially in n criminal case, manages to save both time ant , money by taking hls own team in preferenc l to travel by rail.
 @ We have always noticed that the clamor fo | railroad access to court comes from the peopl g who gain rather than the people who lose b ) litigation. Judges, lawyers, and jurors a 
 : $2.5O day, would undoubtedly prefer Wa t terbury, Bridgeport or Danbury, to any othe county seat. Parties, on the other hand, wh : bear the burden of court expenses, and wit ! nesses at 90 cents 2 day, would choose tn
 county seat most readily accessible by commo
 road.
 !. While we hold, that convenience of acces :. by highway is the prime requisite of count
 seat in farming community like ours, we d .. not wish to undervalue convenience of acces l. by rail, especially for those seasons in whic e highway travel becomes difficult and uncel > tain We see much reason, therefore, for sue m a change of Court terms in this county as wi y transfer our January Term of the Superit ID Court to North Canaan, the most convenier IL railroad centre in the County, and point tn,
 will best accommodate those towns which fin