St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-06-25
VILLAGE MEETING.
The Article Relating to Telegraph Poles
Dismissed.

Nearly 800 voters and at least 100
spectators attended the special vii
lage meeting in the Town hall last
Saturday evening. The meeting was
called to order by President Nichols
and the call read by the clerk, John
c. Clark. The only article discussed
read as follows: "To see if the vii
1age will instruct its trustees to pre-
vent Eastern avenue from being
blocked up and obstructed by the
large line of telegraph poles and
wires erected by the Western Union
Telegraph company"
Col. T. c. Fletcher moved that the
article be dismissed. Charles P.
Carpenter wanted the reason given
for summarily disposing of this arti
Gle. He said this meeting had been
called for purpose and he wanted
to hear a discussion of the article.
w. L. Quimby hoped the article
would not be dismissed. Eve are
ter ought to be thoroughly dis
cussed."
Alexander Dunnett said this was a
controversy between DIR. Bullard and
the Western Union company. He did
not believe the village ought to take
sides in a lawsuit, but he did believe
| he Of II,
had right to decide whether our
streets should be blocked up by these
poles.
H. c. Bates thought Col. Fletcher's
motion could be properly discussed,
and asked for the ruling Of the chair.
The chair ruled that Mr. Bates idea
was correct.
Col. Fletcher said that in making
the motion he meant to bring the
article up for discussion.
c. P. Carpenter said he did not
understand that this village had
anything to do with the fight be-
tween DR.. Bullard and the Telegraph
company. The poles on Eastern
avenue constituted great obstruc-
ton to a very narrow street and he
believed the time would come when
the village would have those poles
removed
Mr.. Dunnett spoke in the same line
and stated that DIR. Bullard had
given land to the village in the past
and had offered 1t this time to give
land free elsewhere if the telegraph
company would move their poles
On motion of Harry Blodgett it
was voted to decide the question by
ballot.
Cries of Question" brought DR..
Bullard to his feet, who spoke at
length upon the question at issue.
The doctor spoke very pathetically
and was occasionally applauded.
Once he brought out round of
laughter when he acknowledged that
he was indiscrete when he cut down
the poles. He began by saying that
there was no feeling between himself
and the trustees; that the difficulty
began when the Western Union COM
pany stepped in. He reviewed briefly
his side of the case and admitted his
indiscretion in cutting down the
poles The doctor then made two
propositions to the village: He
would give 10 feet to the village for
widening the street for every five
that anybody else would give. Sec
ond, he would give 500 a year for
20 years to the village treasury for
the privileges the Western Union have
got, and their poles and connections.
He closed by telling the citizens that
they were his jury and said there
would be no lawsuit if this was set
tied tonight.
In a calm and eloquent manner w.
P. Stafford replied to the doctors |
argument and refuted every state
ment that DR.. Bullard made. He |
was frequently applauded and once
interrupted by the doctor who said,
"That's a 1ie," when Mr.. Stafford |
said that if the vote tonight took
DIR. Bullard out of lawsuit it would |
take the village into one. Mr.. Stat
ford said there was evidence enough |
that there wasn't any friendly feeling
between DIR. Bullard and the trustees;
that DIR. Billiards. s statement that he |
had given the village his sidewalk
was false; that the doctor never
owned an inch of land north of his |
stone wall on the avenue, as proved |