Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-05-09
THE RAILROAD MEETING.

The attendance at the Brattleboro and vii.
mington railroad meeting held at the town
ball last Friday evening was not SO large
rs the importance of the subject under
consideration ought to have called out. 1t
is true, however, that the 100 to 200 citizens
present formed representative gathering in
GLIDING men of all vocations, and it was no.
ticeable that deep and intelligent interest
was shown in everything that was said dur
ing the evening. Mr.. Edward Crosby, presi-
dent Of the road, called the meeting to order
and Col. Hooker was made chairman. On
taking tho chair Col Hooker spoke briefly,
expressing his conviction of the Importance
of the enterprise.
Mr. Crosby was then called to the platform
and said the purpose of the meeting was to
see what the people of Brattleboro thought
about railroad to Wilmington whether they
were ready to take hold and go on with the
project, or whether they thought it had bet
ter be dropped. Mr.. Crosby briefly referred
to what had taken place in the past two years,
and summarized the efforts that had been
made to find out what other roads would do
in the way of help. He had found out Just
what the Central Vermont would do. Gov.
Smith had told him that that company would
like the Wilmington road to run in connection
with the Brattleboro and Whitehall II the
idea of pushing the road through to South
Vernon was dropped the Central Vermont
stood ready to guarantee the same proportion.
ate freight rates in and out of Brattleboro as
North Adams and Shelburne Falls have That
company would give the new road free terminal
facilities and render all the assistance possible
in its construction. Mr. Crosby had met the
Connecticut River managers several times
After much correspondence and long waiting
they had finally said that they didn't want TO
hnpua IN to
sistance, therefore, could be hoped from them.
Hon. b. d. Harris spoke of the Importance
OF holding the trade of the southwestern part
| OF the county, and said he was heartily in
favor of the proposed road from a conviction
of its Importance to Brattleboro.
Col. Estey declared himself ready to do any
thing possible to secure the road He did not
believe it possible to build it by subscription
there was no encouragement to build it as an
investment; the question was, shall Brattle-
boro say to the towns on her southwestern
border Come" or Go" Speaking as one
of the directors of the company be said all
| the present board want is TO know what the
| people want. The old officers were all ready
| to give way to others.
Col. Haskins was as thoroughly convinced
as ever of the importance of the road It's
construction would benefit every town west of
us, and would help Brattleboro more than sny
other town. He did not believe Brattleboro
| could afford not to have the road built or stand
the loss that would follow if it was not built,
but he came to the conclusion a good while
| ago that he could stand as hot hell as any
| body else could"
Col. Fuller said he had stated his conviction
OF the Importance of the road two years ago
and had not changed his mind since. There
was as much business waiting for it, mile for
mile, as on the Brattleboroa and Whitehallroa
He was willing to give his share toward build
ing the road by subscription, but he did not
believe it could be built by subscription. He
| was willing, without reservation to grant pub
lie aid, but he felt that the people lacked full
information about the merits of the enterprise
He thought full statistics of the natural re.
sources and present business of the region
through which the road would pass should be
| gathered and given to the people SO that they
might act intelligently and on a certainty.
lie alluded in closing to the work that had
been done in getting at the exact facts about
the proposed river dam at Brattleboro.
As Col Fuller closed Mr. Crosby arose un-
der considerable excitement and said that for
two years he had been spending his money
| TO the amount of $1,000 and his time TO get
at facts, and now it was folly and an imposi-
ton TO ask for more facts. The course Of the
| speaking, he believed, was to throw cold wa
ter on an enterprise for which he had worked
faithfully, and he then and there resigned all
connection with the road.
Mr. Harris assured Mr.. Crosby that he be-
lieved he had inexperienced the purpose of
those who had spoken. He had himself felt
that there was a spirit of warm support of the
enterprise in the meeting.
Hon. j. l.. Martin said that both he and
Mr.. Harris had found out in their work for
the Brattleboro and Whitehall road that diff
ferent men had different ideas of the way TO
accomplish an object and that all opinions
have right to be heard. He had been a
/ friend of this enterprise from the start,
though from the fact that he had been coun.
sci for the town in the late case before the su-
preme court an impression had gone out that
he was opposed to the road. He said that
with regard TO the vote of aid for the road two
years ago. many had favored it under belief
that the building of the Wilmington road
would assure a competing road to South Yer
non, but when they found that this was not
assured they had moved to rescind the vote.
In the mandRmus suit he had simply tried 10
do his full duty as counsel for the town. He
favored the road now as heartily az ever, If
built 1t must be by public aid, and ii must be
built on its merits as a road to Wilmington.
and not because We expect to secure by means
OF II competing road to South Vernon.
Mr.. n. l. Hawley at this point asked Mr..
Martin to state more fully the reasons why he