The Portland daily press., 1895-10-29


or two. WASN'T. you invited W oo
present at public meeting caiieu -
fast to consider this question: he ''s 81.
81 was" replied Mr. Hartmann ouO
l say to Mayor Hanson that all NV :,
the habit of trying case with a p"oAoN
jury. Had gone there and maue Guy
objection should have only been hi'soo
and booted. The mayor has said tha0 siio
city of Belfast is here to ask 1or 'nis
| location, but while he is here the oiOy u
Belfast is not. - He then made vigorous
| assault on Mayor Hanson, anu us
| petitioners, and went into statlsblcs. iio
said that those VINO voted for the proposou
| location do not pay one-fifth OF the taAes
of the city. OF those who voted FOR the
bill the larger portion only pay q poii
tax, and in large number of cases onac
was abated last year. A Northport pauper
was one of the 6S3 who voted for 6he
mayors plan.
| Mayor Hanson interrupted Mr. Harfl-
man, and denied that he could by any
possibility knew how people voted at thau
meeting, but Mr.. Hartman retorted that
he had gone pretty deeply into the
matter. He said that he proposed to call
upon men who do know great deal
about the harbor of Belfast and the ice.
| John Sanborn, a stevedore was called
upon, and started in by speaking OF the
course of the channel fifty years ago, but
Mayor Hanson interrupted with the
question. "What has that got to do with
the bridge John?" Mr.. Sanborn paid no
attention to the mayor, but proceeded
with his history of tho harbor. but was
interrupted by Colonel Damrell, who
wanted to know where the draw bridge Is
to be placed, and Mr. Sanborn said he
understood at the point where the water
is the deepest
| Mr. Sanborn said that he knew as
much about the wharves as any man IN
Belfast. A heavy storm would SEED the
smaller schooners flying for the upper
harbor. and safety, and then the proposed
bridge would be a very dangerous
obstruction to navigation.
| Mr.. Sanborn rather called in question
| the motives of some of those who favor
the proposed location. There's my
| friend Captain, Baker, he said, when he
owned property on the water front he
was great man to k eep the harbor clear
| of ice. He was the one who solicited the
money, and he was commonly the one
who cut the ice after it was raised. Now
that he's sold his water front property
he's interested in the bridge, and cuts no
| ice. -
Captain Baker-"I'll tell that story
| myself later on Colonel.
Mr. Sanborn said that Goose river is
not very much Of stream. not enough to
cause Belfast bay to freeze over. 1t
won't supply power TIC the electric plant,
he said. He thought the proposed bridge
would '''head the ice, and prevent vessels
from going to place Of safety in
storm "Mr. Morrison said that but 25
per cent of all the shipping goes above
the bridge, but if know anything about
it 300 vessels year discharge above. and
perhaps so below the proposed bridge.
Even the coal schooners have to go to the
Lewis wharf to Tighten before discharging
below Mayor Hanson interrupted the
witness and doubted if vessels of the size
he was talking about. three masters,
could be got up there, but Mr.. Sanborn
waived the objection and the objector
aside observing that if he couldn't do it
he'd go over to Searsport and get job at
farming The draw of the present bridge
is opened perhaps 50 times year, while
the draw of the proposed bridge would
have to be kept open most of the Time
"Look here" said Mayor Hanson,
"what have you at stake in this, Mr..
Sanbornp"
'My bread and BUTTER" replied Mr..
Sanborn, land not only my own bread
and butter, but the bread and butter of
a good many other poor boys. Now
want to say one thing more. l am paying
my own expenses and I'm no tool of any
man, but that has been thrown i'll my
face all day. My bread and butter is in
this and lots of business for these gentle
men here. ;,
Hon. Charles Baker doubted ii there
had been 800 vessels in Belfast any year
for years, but added that he supposed
trips were meant. He said that 1875
was the last cold year at Bel
fast, and then while in February party
went i'll their teams across the bay to
Castine distance of thirteen miles, a
man could not have rested his weight on
the thin ice above the proposed bridge 1t
couldn't in any case cost much to cut the
ice. "But Colonel" he said sit isn't a
question of ice but other questions am
not at liberty to discuss here. =" Damage
to wharf property must be settled in the
courts. II have cut ice below" he said,
"when if could have been in two places
at once I might have run sail boat IN
the upper harbor - Mr.. Baker said he
didn't believe Mr.. Chase knew much
about salt water anyway, but Mr.. Chase
only smiled and asked him more
questions. He said that if the bridge
should be built and vessel should try to
go through to the upper harbor and
should strike against the bridge the bridge
or the schooner would go into pieces.
Mr.. Chase called III. G. Pitcher, who
proyed q very direct sort of witness He