Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-07-11

Fourth Of July morning, was the old brass
piece belonging to this town, which was
loaned to them for the occasion. Col. Austine
examined the gun and advised the parties be.
fore they took II that II was badly honey
combed, could not be properly swabbed, and
waa dangerous to use. Tho cannon has now
been returned to BrattloborO, and, We under
stand, will bo sent to n foundry 10 be recast
into q smaller piece.
The hoodlum racket in Main street dur.
ing the entire night before the Fourth was
! incessant and would have put South Sea Is
land community TO the blush On the outly-
ing streets comparative quiet roigned broken
only by an occasional discordant sorenade.
| During the day Of the Fourth a more than
! Sunday stiffness prevailed In the evening
there were numerous handsome individual
displays Of fireworks. The street racket
was shut of abruptly by the heavy rain which
began falling soon after o'clock and contin.
ued all night.
The members of Post Sedgwick, G.. A.
r., have completed arrangements for their
picnic to be held at Sylvan grove, Bernard
ston, on Saturday Of next week. The party
will leave here by q special train at 7:45 in the
morning and will return by the regular train
which leaves BeTnardston at 5:1O, the faro for
the round trip being Is cents for adults and
40 cents for children. The First Regiment
band and orchestra will furnish music during
the day and there will be dancing and other
nmusements. The knights and Ladies of
Honor and the Unversalist Sunday school
join the Grand Army Post on this occasion
Miss Palmer Of tho Grammar school is
now in Washington, d. c., for the begin
ming of the year Of rest from her school work
which she has so well earned. For seven
teen consecutive years Miss Palmer has done
faithful service for Brattleboro children in
nearly all departments of public school work,
and no teacher has ever more fully won or
deserved the respect and goodwill Of both
pupils and parents. For the last three or
four years she has had charge Of tho depart
mont of drawing, where her services have
been especially valuable in developing a taste
for industrial drawing among the pupils. 1t
10 understood that the present school board,
II in office at the end of the year, will hold
Miss Palmer's place open for her should she
choose to return to 1t.
Mr.. Orowells reservoir is now rapidly
taking form, though several weeks will yet be
required to complete the heavy wall at the
south end The debris is being removed as
rapidly as possible-the large fragments of
rock being utilized for building the wall and
the chips for banking up against the wall from
the outside. The working Of clearing up
from the upper end began yesterday. The
prospect is now good that Mr.. Crowell will
be able TO carry out his plan TO have the res
orvoir filed by the end Of October. Work
on the pavilion is being pushed forward and
will be finished during the season. Tho i'm
provement in the appearance OF the park il
apparent to visitors who have not been there
within month past. On the southern border
the grass has grown green aud the Towering
plants and shrubs which line the avenues
give promise of the beauty which they will
n "a in he
young people find great delight in the two
Central.Park swings which have been put up,
and will be glad to know that half-a- dozen in
all are to be erected at different points
The three members of the Brattleboro
bicycle club, who attended the Chester
Fourth of-July celebration and entered for
the bicycle races, did themselves and their
club proud, bringing away all three Of the
prizes-Clifton Sherman taking the first,
Fred Reed the second and Charlie Crosby
the third. There were seven entries-the
other four being from Ludlow-but all the
Ludlow boys gave out before the rRco was
over. The track was n wretched one, cover
cd with turf and very uneven. Its length
was one.hah mile requiring 10 laps for the
five miles. Sherman's time was 2G minutes.
At the end Of the 9TH lap Reed was in the
lead and slowed up and rode back to the
judges stand after he had passed the wire,
only to be told that he had missed his count
and had one more round to make. He at
once started after Sherman, but too much
time had been lost for him to recover his
lead. The prizes, which consist OF Ornamen-
tai articles Of silver and glass ware. are on
exhibition in Frink's window, as is the hand /
some Childs club medal which the club will /
compete for on the driving park track within |
q few weeks
The present season is proving to be q
very hard and expensive one for telephone /
lines. II was only two or three weeks ago .
that the lightning disabled several instruments
on the lines running out of Brattleboro, and .
Wednesday evening Mr. Clary, the electrician
OF the exchange, returned from trip TO Jack |
sonvlle, Wilmington, Dover and Newfane TO
repair the damage done during last Saturday
nights thunder storm. At the tirs.-n med
place the bells were entirely burned out of
the instruments for the second time within
two weeks but the most curious and serious
freak Of the lightning was found on the line
between Williamsville and Newfane At
point a mile out Of Williamsvlle, near d. A.
Dickinsons, pole had been struck and half
OF it split oil, and from the same stroke the
fluid had evidently gone ON to two other poles
and partly shattered them. Tho wire between
these koles-two full stretches of 20 rods
was entirely gone, and had evidently been
melted or burned up. All that could be
found Of it was q handful Of melted frap-
ments picked out of the road From this
point the fluid followed the wire in both di-
rections, charring II and giving it the look of
having been through a furnace At Williams
vile it turned of the main line at Parks
store, and then went on to Sherman's, melting
and fusing the ground plate on the top Of the
bell-box of the instrument From there it
went into his water pipe and filed it full of
holes for several rods. The noise as it en- +
tered Mr.. Sherman's store was like the dis
charge of a gun. In the other direction the
fluid went on to Hewfane and entered the
store of Edwards d Pierce not damaging the
telephone instrument, except to melt the
ground plates, but taking to tho water-pipe.
cutting several holes in it, and, with a curious
perversty, cutting off a branch pipe which
supplied Mrs. Winslow's house with water.
The ends Of the wire, where the lightning
struck the poles, as above mentioned, showed
plainly that the wire had melted and run
down, standing in large drop at the end.
The following is the list of letters remain.
ing in the Brattleboro post Office, July IL:
Ladies-Holon Burt, Mrs Samuel Bawers Mrs
Name Currier, Maddie Gregg, Mrs Charles Harris,
laDgille, Lizzie Pratt, Mrs Eli Taft Ella Tyler Molly
Tucker, Mrs Harriet Taft -
Gentlemen-H Alfonzo, W W Allen Cbas W Rut-
lerheld, Osborn Brown, VIM Hatchelder, Eugene Ft-
ten, W Ewell, / Foster, Edwin Glavin, Richard
a Gates, W II Gleason, A Jebb, Oscar IAmphere o
Leonard, Frank Maxfed, VIM Myers A Omfero
Rev + Palmer. L Wilson, A Weld.