Morning journal and courier., 1885-03-12
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,.
 Ihe Pigott Petition to be Reported
 Back To-Day-Selectfon of Judges
 tonic Dam Fishway-WOman Suf-
 frage Apostles-Other Matters.
 HARTFORD, March Il.
 Especial to the JOURNAL AND CoURIER.l
 The present status of the Pigott case is about as follows: After the hearing yester- day before the House portion of the Judicia- held and as predicted in my letter yester- day, the committee decided1 to report back to the House recommendation giving the New Haven petitioners leave to withdraw. To this end a subcommittee consisting of Messrs. Newton, of Durham, and Joslyn, of Hartford, were appointed to draw up de- tailed statement of the whole matter and re- port back to the entire committee. This has been done and the report with it's recom- mendation will be presented fcr the action of the House tomorrow.
 Considerable interest centered about the selection of judges by the New Haven county caucus this morning. The first move was made by the Democratic county members, who held caucus and resolved that the as- sociate judge on New Haven's City court bench should be a Democrat, provided, how the same mind. They also decided that their choice for this position was the Hon. Joseph D. Plunkett. In order that their views might be laid before the Re publican caucus in 8 proper manner they appointed committee consisting of Senator Golden and Representatives Troup and Brown to make their wishes known. The Republican caucus met in room % immedi- ately after adjournment and was called to order by Senator Day, chairman of the cau- GUS committee. On motion Senator Turner was appointed chairman and Representative Fowler, of Guilford, clerk. Representative Jackson, of Derby, stated the object of the caucus to be the selection of a.judge to fill the vacancy in the Court of Common Pleas and to fill any other vacancies that may oc cur by the reason of such selection. He also said that the Democratic representatives of NewHaven county had expressed 8 wish to be heard and he moved that the request be granted. The motion was carried and the committee were invited to enter and they promptly responded to the invitation. Sen ator Golden stated that his side of the House had expressed 8 wish that MT. Plunkett should be appointed assistant judge if any vacancy should occur. Mir. Troup followed with an eulogistic address regarding the worth and capabilities of Mr. Plunkett for the position. He thought if the request was granted and the political complexion of the General Assembly should ever be changed that the Democrats would recognize the same rule in making their appointments. He said that he and his colleagues did not come beg ging for this, but they asked it as a matter of right
 Mr. Lee, of Meriden, then stated that he had been spoken to by number of parties who were in favor of the selection of MT. Newton, of Durham, for judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He said there was no doubt about the qualifications of that gen tleman for the position. Although he lived outside of New Haven county, yet he was one of New Haven's lawyers and had his office there and his ability was well known.
 MT. Graham, of Orange, moved that Judge Studley be nominated for the position by ac- clamation, but afterwards withdrew it on the suggestion of Mr. Jackson that as two candidates were named it would be proper to have an informal ballot. This was ordered and resulted as follows:
 Whole number of votes Necessary to choice Fl
 John P. Studley .................-...----17
 Henry G. Newton. -.--------.----.
 On motion of MT. Munson, of Hamden, the ballot was made a formal one and the nomination of Judge Studley declared unanimous. An informal ballot for judge of the City court followed. There were 19 votes cast and Judge Deming receiving the entire number was declared the unanimous choice of the caucus.
 The selection of an assistant judge was not so easily accomplished. The first ballot re- vealed the fact that there were four candi dates. It resulted as follows: Edward L. Linsley 7, R. s. Pickett 10, James S. Thomp son 2 and Joseph D. Plunkett 1. Gp the next ballot MT. Linsley gained one, MT. Pickett lost one, while MT. Thompson and MT. Plunkett held their own. On the third ballot MT. Linsley lost one, MT. Pickett stood the before, while MT. Thompson gained one and MT. Plunkett stood as before. At this point MT. Stiles, of North Haven, withdrew the name of MT. Linsley in favor of Mr. Pickett and the fourth ballot was or dered. It resulted in IA for MT. Pickett and 6 for MT. Thompson. The nomination of MT. Pickett was then made formal and unan- imous. After instructing Mir. Jackson to draw the usual resolutions to be presented to the House the caucus adjourned. After the i some of the Democrats sug gested that if they could find out who the man was that stood up for their rights so valiantly by voting three successive times for MT Plunkett they would present him with a vote of thanks.
 There was a hearing this afternoon before the Committee on Fisheries regarding the bill which provides that the fish commissioners shall cause suitable fshway to be built for the free passage of shad and other fish over the Ousatonic dam at Birmingham. Colonel William B. Wooster appeared for the Ousa tonic Water company and MT. Paige, clerk of the Senate, for the petitioners. It will be that fshway was constructed answer the purpose for which it was intend ed, although built on the most approved plans. Later freshet carried it away and since that time there has been no fishway, the charter of the company pro- vides that they ''shau erect and maintain one Dr. Hudson, one of the fish commis- sioners stated to the committee that the reason why they had not ordered a new fish way built was from the fact that nothing of the kind had yet been invented that would induce shad to go over it and into the waters beyond. Experiments were now being made and he thought that it would not be right to force the company to go to an experse of 5000 or $20, 1000 on any doubtful experiment. When the more recent inventions had been fairly tested then | 1t would be time to order the company to | carry out the provisions of their charter
 There was large gathering of the advo- l ;ates of woman suffrage this afternoon in 1 ,he room of the Agricultural committee, l most of them being females. They advocat- l d their right to the use of the ballot in a 1 :orcible manner and no doubt left favora- | ole impression on the minds of the commit | zee and the auditors. It is not likely, how ,ver, that this petition will receive favora- | ole consideration by the General Assembly | his year. |
 Following is a summary of the business l in the Senate and House today:
 The Senate.
 The Senate was called to order at II 80 | ,'clock by Lieutenant Governor Cooke l Prayer was offered by Chaplain Taylor.
 The Committee on Fisheries, Senator Chaf- | ee chairman, reported a substitute bill au- horizing the fish commissioners to appoint a | to act with the Rhode Island com nissionors in establishing boundary lines in | Long Island Sound between Connecticut and | Rhode Island; calendar.
 The Senate concurred with the House in accepting the resignation of David A. Tor rance as judge of the Court of Common