Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-14
Board of Selectmen.
The Blasting at East Rock Park Con sidered-The Views of Different Parties fin Tnf Tat

The Blasting at East Rock Park Con
 sidered-The Views of Different Parties
 in Interest-Other Matters.
 A meeting of the Board of Selectmen war held last evening. Present, Selectmen An drew (presiding), Reynolds, Cooper, Feld- | man, Hugo and Sperry.
 Johnson T. Platt and c. c. Blatchley ap- peared before the Board to protest against the 1 blasting at the East Rock quarries. The latter
 said that during the last month it had simply been terrific, and there was no safety to life
 or property anywhere in the immediate I vicinity of the Rock.
 ! Thomas Juniver said he owned house ! nearest to the quarries. He said that twice
 he had had to rebuild his chimney and the l walls had been jared off repeatedly by the
 blasting. He said that while no rocks had
 ever struck his house they had come very ! close to it. In arother house on View street,
 he said, nearly half mile from the quarries,
 the walls had been broken down. He hoped
 that something would be done by the town or
 city to prevent their blasting, either by pur- ! chase of the quarries or otherwise.
 Professor Fisher made an earnest protest ! against the blasting andrthe attempts of own
 CTS of property to prevent people by the use
 of dogs and pistols and bludgeons from visit ! iue this beautiful locality. He hoped some- thing would be done to abate the nuisance. Professor Dwight said that while the blast l ing was very dangerous the park was being
 continually robbed of it's beauty by this con 1 tinued blasting He said he did not think
 the people appreciated the value of this park. F He said in his travels in Europe he had never ! seen so beautiful a location for park. He
 hoped this wholesale destruction would be P stopped.
 Mayor Robertson said he knew from ex- perience the danger that arose from this con-
 tinued blasting at the quarries He said
 work had been suspended on the park in con-
 sequence of it, and he thought some steps should be taken to prevent thls nuisance. , Judge l. D Munson gave some of his ex- z perience while in the vicinity when a blast was made, and he said he was certainly glad to get out of the vicinity alive with his horse and carriage.
 Francis Donnelly stated that no person or
 horse or wagon had ever been injured by the blasting from the quarries so far as he knew. F He said that he sure that the owners of 5 quarries would never accept the assessment , of benefits as made without contest in the
 courts. He did not object to the park, nor to . being assessed on the grand list. provided he
 got fair compensation for his property.
 Thomas Colwell said all he owned in the D | world was in his East Rock quarry, and if he ? | was robbed of 1t he must go to the poor D house. He said that he had lived in New Haven forty seven years and he protested U that this was scheme to rob the people out u l of their hard earned property.
 C.. w. Blakeslee said that while he did no : own anything but what be called squatter's . right to quarry there, yet he thought it wal U u wrong to take this property without reason n able compensation. He said that he did no u blast there often and when he did he alway ;, gave warning beforehand. He said that i ,' they were obliged to go to West Rock i .' would largely increase the price for build <, ing stone.
 a R. s. Pickett said he had been compellet n to bring suits against some of these gentle 10 , men who were blasting, because complaint '' had been brought to him by respectable gen |. tlemen like Isaac Anderson. He though ls this Board should decide soon to keep thes M 1 people out or trouble
 u | Julius Fwiss, who appeared as counsel fo = the quarrymen. addressed the Board He sai le that until recently he had never heard Of an = danger from blasting at East Rock. H n thought he could what was back of al , this great hue and cry about blasting H H. l thought 1t was not right that men should 2 'i and build houses right under these quarrie
 and then ask that the quarries or the blastin r 1 be abated because their property is in dan
 ger. He thought when the commissioner 70 gained a title to the land of these men " would be time enough to stop them iron IS pursuing their legitimate business. is Johnson T. Platt contradlcted MT. Twis ,e in some of his statements He sad he ha :. no interest in the East Rock Park but h :. s thought he had right to go upon city prop 1t erty without his life being endangered. 7- After further talk by both parties in inter ,s est Mir. Donnelly informed the Board tha
 the quarry owners were willing to be put un '' der restrictions as to blasting, and that the l. had no desire to injure the East Rock Parl ,s Commission anybody else.
 , The Board then proceeded to regular busi
 ness. The quarry business considere and the members expressed their opinions. l. It was voted to grant licenses to the qua1 a rymen to blast for sixty days from July 15 between the hours of and 10 o'clock
 ! Bills approved aS follows. Outsid L. poor, $5O2 19; general hospital society, $l d S91 21; general account, $566. l4 roads an ,r bridges, $676 50; construction $31.25 aimshouse, $3, ,216 A. Adjourned.