The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1896-11-19

Strange Lot Of People In . Small
Maine Town


He0loe0to OF M6ln0 VINO look 10 the
New York and Boston papers for ac-
counts Of queer people and strange
forms Of government in different parts
of the world could learn facts worth
studying by going to Norcross. The
settlements of Eskimos on the coast
of Greenland have their old men, the
tribes Of Africa have their chiefs, and
even penal colonies recognize the au-
thority Of firearms and the lash. Here
the law-abiding people feel but one
power-the hurrying, unsympathetic
cars, which bring everything that
comes to their homes and take away
everything that goes out ~~s-~--'
The distance from Milpocket bridge,
which crosses the West branch east
Of there, to Perkins Siding, which is
three miles west, is Ave miles as the
railroad runs OF the crow flies. Al
and between these two points are Ave
ssttlements Of new log and board
structures, comprising about 40 build
ings in all. OF these one is Q railroad
station, one is a small store, two are
small hotels, One is q sawmill, six are
good-sized sporting camps, eight are
frame houses with shingles and clap
boards on them, and the rest are prim-
itive log cabins with splits forroofng,
spotted poles for floors and boughs for
bedding. One-half of the male inhab-
'tants are either guides or lumbermen,
partly both, one-quarter are mill hands
who saw spool bars and dowels at Per-
kin's Siding, and the remainder are Sec
ton hands and other employees who
work for the Bangor & Aroostook rail-
road. Though no census was ever
taken of the place there are about
zoo people who live there the year
round. Among them are some rs wom-
en- and nearly 40 children. This is
when the population Is at low ebb. In
July when the West Branch drive
comes down the population swells to
400 or 500, and after open season for
big game begins it often reaches 1000
eouls, besides Indians.
Having grown without governmental
restraint from one log camp to its
present proportions inside Of three
years, Norcross has made itself the
most anomalous community on earth.
It is not a town. It is not even planta-
ton. On the old survey maps 1t is
named Indian township, No. 8, SO
called by the surveyors to distinguish
it from Indian townships Nos. and
Q. The name of Norcross signifies moth
ing. It was SO called in order to locate
a station for railroad and post Office
for the hunters.
Though property that cost S500,000 is
here and visible, the assessor and tax
collector never visit the place. The
children are born and grow up without
seeing the inside or the outside of
schoolhouse. There are not two rods
of bicycle and not 20 rods of cart roads
in the whole township. AS the nearest
clergyman, lawyer and doctor are from
30 to so miles away the people getalong
very well without them. When
couple want to get married they take
their bridal tour in hunting up min
lister and coming home again. If a
person is sick he is sent out to doc
tor, because no physician can be coaxed
to come and see him; and, in case he
dies, the body must be transported
more than 80 miles before IL can rest
in Christian burying ground. There
IS no drug store, no dance hall, and no
barroom or other place where liquor
is sold in the township. If two or more
men have dispute which leads to
free fight, the non-combatants stand
by to see fair play, without attempting
to interfere. In case the defeated par
~ feels himself wronged and wants to
take the matter into court, he cannot
afford TO do 50, because he would have
to travel nearly all day by rail before
he could find magistrate. Even the
game wardens who arrest men for kill
ing deer spend more money in taking
their prisoners to court than the fines
amount to when conviction is Sc
cured. Once in it's history, when a
murder was committed near here, a
sheriff from Dover spent week reach
ing here and getting back home. The
chances are it would take something
bigger than q murder to take him there
again.
The person who reads this descrip-
tion of Norcross and thinks the inhab-
itants are degraded or immoral will
make q great mistake. A mail four
times day brings letters and papers
from everywhere. An enterprising and
considerate railroad carries away all
the people have to sell, and brings in
all they buy. Divine Providence does
the rest. The men are INDUSTRIOUS and
moral. The women are model wives
and excellent cooks. The children are
bright and we'll dressed. II Norcross
were formed into plantation or in
corporated as town, the residents
would have to pay municipal, county
and state taxes. Now they pay no
taxes. they do not vote, and every man
is as good as his neighbor. The place
is fairer than Utopia, and sweeter than
the dream Of q nihilist. It has no coun-
terpart on earth.-N. Y. Sun.
Changing serpents into Rods.
The Egyptian cobra is not unlike its