Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-01-24

W 10 % WI 8o1stStAsoet ~ $500
| Organized under the laws Of tho State Of
Maine, and IN that capacity you should
| not act By the Recommendation OF anv
| individual, or individuals, but you should
act according 70 the dictates Of your own
| consciences. most heartily agree with
| my brother Wilson 10 this matter. And
| further, when such IN action ~ this h
proposed, 10 which the .expendlture OF
large sums Of money II involved, there
should bo necessity or Necessities, for
| the changed asked for. Some Of these
so-called necessities are outlined 10 this
petition. The fret necesslty stated IL
| that our county records, including those
OF the Registry Of Deeds, Probate ONCE
and Clerk Of Courts, arc not properly
protected from fire, but that they arc
hourly 10 danger OF destruction thereby.
Nov, various documents have been
read here, giving us detailed account
| OF the structure OF these bulldlngs, es-
peclally OF the brick building across the
way. It seems that the architects VINO
have been here have given It a. their
opinion that the vaults are not technical
lly, absolutely fre-proof. ask you.
gentlemen, II you ever saw, or ever
heard of one that VAST Only the 0ther
day there was burned on Federal street
In Boston, what was termed firc-pro0f
building. I think II these gentlemen,
Mr.. Fassett, Mr.. Stevens and others,
were here they would say To you that
there cannot be such y thing as an
absolute, technically fro-proof building.
Whether or not these vaults are more
susceptible to fire than they ought to be
Is q question for you to decide.
say to you, Mr.. Chairman and gentle
men, that do not think there u voter
In Oxford County who does not desire
that our records shall be preserved, and
that We have proper vaults to keep them
In. Certainly, u there were thing 10
the protests which indicated that the
people did not desire II, would, SO far
rs am concerned, leave tho case right
where It IL, and never open my lips. 1
have personal interest; there IL
scarcely n man In tho County OF Oxford
who has not an Interest In the proper
and reasonable protection OF the records.
SO I presume we shall have no great
Issue there, except perhaps upon the
question Of the reasonable protection
which they have now. You know the
location; you know that there u no
danger whatever OF cOnfagratlon.
There Is no building near enough to
communicate the tire from the outside |;
fire must originate from within. aud,
In my Judgment, as the building Is sit
uated to-day, 1t would be necessary for q
fire to do considerable work within that
building In order to burn It down and
destroy the records. The danger In these
matters rs rule, comes from cOnfiagra-
ton and not from within. These
buildings and offices, situated upon
this hill In the village OF Paris,
are as pleasantly and beautifully
located as any court buildings In the
state OF Maine, and ! would say, that II,
In your judgment, these vaults are not
secure, make them so. That Is what
the pr0testants, I think, would say In
one voice, snake them sO."
Now In this matter OF the removal you
are asked to do whatY In going to South
Paris you are asked to leave this build
Ing upon the spot 1t occupies. That is
the substance OF Il. II must be left here,
"a understand II, by the terms OF the
deed to the county. You are asked to
leave this court house on the spot, re-
verting to the heirs OF the original
grantOr-a court house which IL rs good
for the purposes of this county rs any
that can be built. l believe ] have be-
hind me In this matter eminent men,
who every one within the hearing OF
my voice will admit ought to know.
Eminent jurists have said that this Is tho
easiest court house In the state In which
to try cases. Now we are asked to leave
this court house, to leave our jail house
aud our jail here and start out empty
handed, to buy our lot aud lay out, ac-
cordlng to the estimates, the modest
sum Of $4,000 simply for the build
ings. Now, gentlemen, has the neces-
slty for such u step arlseny
In addition to what they term the un-
safe condition Of the vaults, they say
that we have no suitable room In which
to hold the probate court. As Brother
Wilson has said, the probate court for
the County of Oxford has been held In
that room from time immemorial, when
the county has contained as many, II not
larger number OF inhabitants, than II
has to-day, and the place has been con-
yenient. | have attended the court ut
nearly every term since March, 1877,
and I do not recall but one time, at con-
tested hearing, when the room was In
conveniently FULFILLED to overlooking.
That was In the trial on tho contest OF
will, not many years ago, In which my
Brother Swasey was upon one side and
myself upon the other. But grant what
Brother Wilson says to be true, that the
room IL not large enough and that more
spacious accommodations are needed.
We have room directly over the present
one that has been used only occasionally
for years, and that Il the County Treas
urer's Office. The present County
Treasurer does not occupy the room, nor
has any other County Treasurer occupied
It for u long time; these officers have
transacted their business In other places.
There are rooms In which tables can be
placed for the convenience Of attorneys
and the men who come here to transact
business at the probate court. Ii may
not be quite so convenient as II would be
to have nice, large, spacious room,
furnished with nice tables aud decks aud
all that sort of thing, but ] say to you
that 1t will answer the purpose anu II
would be fairly convenient. Not only
that. We have here gentleman who Is
we'll known throughout the state rs u
contractor, who may be upon the stand
to testify before you, and who will give
you written proposal To enlarge that
room so al to give ample acc0mmOda-
tlon ut very moderate expense.
The next necessity upon which you
are to pass aud, as Judge Wilson has
said, to give your honest opinions, Il In
regard to the jail. IL Is said that the
jail Commissioners have condemned the
Jail, and I suppose they did, although
their report has been tlnkered In very
many respects. 1 should suppose that u
board OF jail Inspectors that would re-
fleet upon the executive department OF
the state In the manner In which they
did In their report, might be expected
to make almost any kind OF report
they chose to makes board of officers
who will make report stating that
prisoners at Thomaston who have In
fiuence and money can get pardons, will
undertake to make report that five
men got out OF this jail, aud that the
other two did not escape because they
we're too lazy to dig. Those arc the
eminent gentlemen who were calle In
before tile Governor and Council and
asked to take their report and make II
over, and they got on TO their knees,
and said, "Dear sirs; Make II to suit
yourselves; you know more about 1t
than we do, and guess that was true.
The report which my Brother Wilson
mentions as having seen In the news
n. Al. nl hal