Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-18
Fighting the Hartford and Har-
 lam.


 Hundreds Of Witnesses Anxious to be
 Heard-OpIniOns of Members of the
 Board of Health and other Prominent
 CItIzens-DestructIon of the Sewerage
 System-DIsease and Death Follow
 the eExcavatiOns-An Adjournment Or
 dered Until July 3Ist.
 Yesterday morning at 10 o'clock the rail road commissioners met in the bar library room in the County Court building for the purpose of hearing objections to the pro posed layout of the Hartford and Harlem railroad through one of the most desirable localities for residences in the western part of the city. New Haven is the great point of controversy in regard to the layout, and there are several hundred property owners and cor porations interested in the same. AS 8 conse- quence there was large number of these in- terested parties present when the hearing opened, and owing to the crowd an adjourn ment to the Superior court room was found necessary. Simeon E. Baldwin alone ap- peared for the Hartford and Harlem, while in opposition was a considerable array of attornies, consisting of C. T. Driscoll, cor poration counsel for the city; c. S. Hamil- ton, representing large number of property owners in the western part of the city; Hugh Daley, representing his own inter- ests and those of George Harmon and F. s. Porter-property amounting to $5o,0o0,
 which, it is claimed, will be depreciated one- half by the running of the railroad as pro- posed : w B. Stoddard, Joseph Sheldon, John w. Alling James P. Pigott and s. R.
 Hull, representing various western district property interests, and Luzon B. Morris
 representing the town of Orange. There
 were several other lawyers present, presuma-
 ply representing different interests, and ar- rayed with the others on the side of the op-
 position to the proposed location.
 Commissioner Woodruff announced that the portion of the line under consideratl on was that between New Britain and Gran ge. A part of it had already been gone over, and rarties in interest on these sections might desire to say something more. This brought forward Selectmen Miller and Converse, Judge Andrew Coe and Aaron Collins ot Meriden. They agreed in asking that some change might be made to prevent the road from running for distance of about half g
 mile.in close proximity to any of the Mer! den highways. Judge Coe said the citi
 zens of Meriden wanted the railroad built and would accept the present location rather than have the project defeated, but hoped to see the city's interests and those ot
 the railroad harmonized satisfactorily to both. The stability of certain bridge in town was
 also threatened by the layout and as regard.
 ed that it was desired some changes should be made if possible. Edgar A. Curtis, a citi, zen of Meriden, stated his Uish that the lin should be changed, as at present it would greatly lessen the value of number ot building lots of which he was the owner. T. K. Doolittle was then heard as the rep resentative of the town of Hamden. He in teriected into the proceedings an element o1 liveliness by making savage attack upon the Hartford and Harlem project as a whole. Mr. Doolittie commenced by recalling some
 circumstances attending the hearing given by
 the commissioners in Hamden last Friday
 s'I asked your honors," said MT. Doolittle,
 ito look over the causeway affected by this road, but you did not then have the time. Mir. Webb also asked you to personally ex.
 anime the layout wi.h reference to it's effect upon his farm. At this MT.
 Baldwin said "Oh, no; it wasn't necessary if you were going to waste time on every farm house along the route you would never finish this hearing. Neverthe-
 less, your honors acceded to MT. Webbs re- quest, as I consider it right that you should
 'Now,'' continued Mr. Doolittle, waxing vigorous and emphatic in his manner, 'I should like to know what this corporation is and upon what meat has this our Cesar fed, that he has grown so great.' As we
 know, there are just three parties who have furnished all! the money for this corporation. They are Lee & Higginson of Boston, stock 1 gamblers; Lewis M. Brown, of New York, who has stock yard in Harlem to sell, and Chas. G. FranckIyn, who has made his money large | ly out of the importation of emigrants. Mir. Francklyn was formerly the agent for the ! Cunard steamship line Then nay brother Baldwin has promised to pay in $1, 1000, and Leverett L. Phelps, another lawyer, has promised to pay in $1o0. Par mobile JfrG | tram. Last, but not least, Henry G. Lewis promises to pay in $1 ,0O0. And this is the ! corporation which has the presumption and | audacity to try and have you deny individu als the right which belongs to the meanest | criminal-namely, the right of being heard. 1 'tThis company was not formed to meet any public necessity but to put money into | the pockets of speculators through the agen ! cy of 8 construction and by means of bonds ! foisted upon deluded public with 8 high rate of interest as the bait. Mir. Webb, whose interest MT. Baldwin wanted you to ! ignore, is, in my opinion, of more value to ! the people of Connecticut than this road ever will be-
 MT. Doolittle said the original layout was comparatively free from the objections of the present one, which would practically destroy | the main avenue leading into the Farming ton valley as no one would risk their l lives by driving along roadway made sc l dangerous to life as would the road in ques | tion be, providing the railroad was built as proposed. He read from statute passed ir | 1881 requiring companies to restore high ways encroached upon and also to run its \ line as far as possible so as not to interfere with the highway If it were found neces-
 sary to change the layout of the highway the | railroad company must pay the cost. Mir. DeoIittle then pointed out in detail the dis ' advantages to Hamden's roadways which would result from building on the present location.
 Mir. Baldwin did not reply directly to Mir. Doolittle's strictures upon the company, but made a general statement in regard to the policy pursued by the company in it's selee- ton of the present line. They had endeav-
 ored, he said, to avoid interference with property interests or public convenience as much as possible. It was. of course, impos-
 sible to avoid it altogether. On the New Haven section more pains had been taken than with all the rest of the line. They had succeeded in escaping con- fict with the sewer pipes, with the no crossings at grade in New Haven or anywhere else on the line where it wa s practicable to avoid them-the railroad go- ing either under or over the highways; in New Haven and it's suburbs special care had
 been exercised in avoiding first-class resi- dences, the less valuable buildings being en croaehed upon where some encroachment
 
 ural for property owners whose interests were affected to oppose the location; still these parties would receive proper compen- sation for the damages they suffered. It would be impossible to build 8 railroad through this section without dam aging more or less private prop erty but in the present case an effort had been made to keep the amount of this damage at the minimum. MT. Baldwin thought that altogether the present line could not be much better.
 The names of something over 300 property owners who had received notice of the hear ing was read. From about 150 to POO of these responded either in person or by coun- sell The first objector to come forward in the New Haven class was Whitney Elliott, of North Haven. He objected to a certain fill-in of thirty one feet and explained how it would damage him. The place was looked up on the map and received due consider ation.
 Twenty or thirty property owners not rep resented by counsel were next heard, each occupying one minute on an average. The railroads location was objectionable to them for various reasons. In the case of some it bisected their houses, and with others ran across their lawns or so close to them as to cause damage to their property: Massena Clark said the road would take some of his property, but he supposed he should receive .-.E ak.s ,k<a,s