Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-04-04
THE BOUNDARY COMMISSION.
A Mysterious Body which steals Away
From an Audience ana Meets I'm an

, From an Audience ana Meets I'm n,
: Ante room.
At about 10 o'clock Wednesday morning th
members OF the Methodist boundary com
, mission on the side Of the Troy Conference
with few representatives from the churche
Of the Burlington district and friends of tn
cause, assembled in the audience room of tn
} Methodist church, and appeared to be wait
ing for something. After about fiftcer
minutes Of this exhilarating exercise
it was whispered around that Their
was q deadlock somewhere--a failure to con
meet, or something of the sort. The rumo
speedily ripencd into certainty. A com
munication WAS received, dated evan Mes
House. Burlington, VT, April g." and signet
by the members OF the commission on tn,
side OF the Vermont conference, informing
their brother commissioners on the side o.
the Troy conference, that the parlors of thu
Van Ness House had been engaged for the
deliberations of the commission, and that
there the five gentlemen representing the
Vermont conference would meet the five
gentlemen representing the Troy conference
at their earliest convenience. lnasmuch a
the place of meeting had been left to the
|
had plainly designated the Methodist
church, they did not Immediately
put on their ovcrcoats and rush down to the
hotel on the contrary, they adjourned to
the lecture room of the church, and sent
three of their number down 10 cxpOstulatC
with the retiring and modest members OF the
| Vermont conference commission. The labor
of this embassy was long and painful-pecu-
liarly painful to the audience assembled in
expectation Of their triumphant return,
and when they came back bearing with
them merely repetition of the kind invita-
ton to use the pleasant and secluded parlors
of the hotel instead of the crowded lecture
room of the church, for their deliberations,
it was too much, and every man, woman
and child promptly adjourned to dinner.
"Come back after diuuer, friends !" urged
Elder Noe. 1T seems to me an unheard of
thing that petitioners should be excluded
from hearing the presentation Of their own
petition"
Yes" added Rev. Mr.. Jump-"Come
back anyway. If you can't hear the dcliber-
atiOns of the commission, you can at least
have good time visiting with each other
in the room above; and that's something
Methodists don't have enough Of It's n
means of grace"
Promptly ut o'clock in the afternoon the
audience reassemblcd, bringing others
with them. They visited and
visited and told revival stories
and had a sort of an Informal love
feast in general and one man SO forgot
himself as to get up and propose that col
lection be taken, but just as the hat was
about to be passed, one of the good brothers
who had been studying the railroad time
table jumped up and remarked that it was
| u w,lrp
the mixed train south to be starting. There
was rush to the door-parlcpated in by
quite number of local rcsdents-and the
collection was not as large as might have
| been expected. At about this stage OF the
proceedings it was discovered that the
boundary commission was holding secret
session 10 distant ante-roOm, with
a line Of guards posted along the hall IL
prevent anybody's coming up close enouIh
to peck through the keynote. The commits
sioners on the side of the Troy conference
had consented, under protest, to meet In this
| secluded spot, in order to prevent tiic en-
barra sment which would otherwise have
afflicted their colleagues, they being modest
men and unused TO speaking in large audi
enccs-especially mixed audiences. When
this fact became known, ali of the audience
who had survived the collection dispersed
and no one was left in the building excep,
| the ten commissioners aud their line of out
posts
| Late in the afternoon the commissioners
took vote, and it stood to ia most lame
and impotept conclusion, but just what was
expected.
The question now goes to the general con.
ference.
The ProCeedings I'm the secret Session
The commission organized by the choice
Of Rev, j. D. Beeman of the Vermont con-
ference as chairman ard Rev Homer Eaton
D. D., of the Troy conference, as secretary
On motion of Rev. ii. Graham, d. d..
seconded by Rev. w. H. Hughes, it was
voted that the sessions OF the commission bt
not open to the public. Some discussi on
then ensued in regard TO the admission Of
Interested parties to present memorials and
petitions, pending which an adiournmeuI
was taken to 2 p. m.
Upon Resembling, further discussion re-
suited In the loss of the motion to admit
such personal presentation. A iOr
was then offered that any petitions anc
memorials from parties in interest might bC
introduced through the commission, ant
after teug once LOST on acc Int of a clause
| vas CphSIllCitu J.CllDud)t ny tut
Troy members, was offered in an amended
form and unanimously adopted.
a memorial signed by the presiding elder
and the pastors Of the Burlirgton district
was then presented, citing reasons which ii
their judgment render retrOCessiOn o. tn,
district to the Troy conference desirable.
A memorial which has been circulated il
all the charges of the district and generally
signed by the official members ofthe churches
was also presented, quoting "A portion of
paper read by Bishops Andrews and l1arri
at the conference of 1881 as the basis of al
argument for a retrocession of the district.
Following the presentation of these memor
lals Dr. Eaton submitted apapcr with pream
bic based on the dis satisfaction in the Bur-
llngton district and resolutions 10 the ctfec
that The district b. retroccded to the Tro,
conference, and addressed the commission II
support Of the same. Others of the commits
sion followed in the discussion and Rev. ii
A. Spencer offered "a substitute paper, scltiuy
forth that the general conference being nea
at hand, that the transfer of the district T.
the Vermont conference bad been effected b.
, that body and not by a commission, and tina
the memorials now presented threw no al
diliOnal light and offered no argument new l.
tie discussion, and hence resolving that TIN
boundaries remain unchanged by the commits
ion.
A general and extended discussion follow
ed, in which each member of the JOINT con
mission participated, occupying the time q
= the entire afternoon.
: At length the question WAS called and tn
substitute motion was lost, the vote 'audn
five to five.
The original paper was then acted upon
and met with the same fate, by "A vote of hv
, to five,
THIS result remands the case to tile geu,r
Conference which in case of such failure I
1 agree upon the part of a joint commission
becomes the court Of final adjudication.
The records of the proce digs having bee
read and approved, the commission then dl,
= solved by adjournment. 1t is an inlereslia
fact that every vote stood five to five, eac