The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-01-10
SONS OLE VERMONT.
s,umu In the AtwOod-Peabody Li"e
'N' Sniff

suit.
The criminal case against +. W.
Peabody of Boston for charging Con
oressmap Fl. II. Atwood, native Oh
Londonderry, with corruption IN once
chile CITY architect of Boston came
to sensational end Monday
The accusation which was p'lh'Isilcd
during the campaign last fall wheh
Peabody ran as an independent hepuD'
lican candidate against Atwood me
regular nominee, was Il severe one ~
named $50. 600 as the amount out OF
which the city had been swlndied
bv Atwood's naladmlnlstrat'on,
accuscd him Of violating plain law III
shifting 10 cuniracts into amounts OF
less than %. UOn in order 70 give them
to farored prrsone and asserted that
| Atwood WIS dismissed from office Tor
nrooosinu n CORRUPT political bargaln.
Atwood has peisi~tentiy demand ,d
prosecution for libel as q yindication.
Refused and nut off bali a dozen times,
he finally rot an indictment and trial
and for HE first few days it BOXED AZ
il he would come out with credit IN,
deed the worst thing that had appeared
in the case, UP to last Friday was uEi-
formity with which men VINO mad haa
contracts under Atwood had lost their
check books and account books. Bdt
Friday Atwood went on the stand 10
complete his ''vindictation, and under
cross examination he admitted all
Pcabody's article had charged and
more. too. He admitted that he had
split contracts in the way charged and
when finally corncred that 1t was Tor
the purpose charged. 1t was SHOWN
also that work under him bad been !
largely done ''by the day, and he had /
approved bills Of contractors for hun !
drods Of days more labor than the re
ports of his o%n inspectors showed to
have been done, in some cases, Tor /
time as many. His only excuse was
that hc did it as routine work, sup 4
posed it was all right, had confidence
in the honesty of the contractors, re
lied upon his clerk 8 having checked
up the bills correctly. But as Atwood
is one of the sharpest men in Boston
and has had wide experience with
shady people, the excuses wouldn't
answer, and his o"n testimony with
same collateral confederation, as when
one witness swore that Atwood told
him, he planned to make $50, GOO that
year if Matthews had not turned out
IF office. was sufficient TO undo him.
The wonder is, with such a record he
should ever have pushed the case, or
ioing SO gone on the stand himself.
The result was that the district at
.orncy appeared in court Monday
and announced that he had
concluded that the public interests did
lot requier the prosecution Of the case
arther. The lawyers for the defense
# course accepted the withdrawal,
egarding it as even better than a Jury /
'erdict.
The alump probably means AtWood's
ruin. The Boston journal
alla on HIM, in double leads, 10 re-
ign his seat in congress. 1t il Il sad !
umblc from career Of success, which !.
as included, besides bis seat in g.,
ongrcss. leadership on both city and
tate party committees, and three /
arms in the state legisIatr ire. =
Air. Atwood issued statement !;
Wednesday in which he said:
"The defense Of the trial proved beyond a
oubt that Collins ana Ham oyercharged the
ty several thousands of dollars and that
pprored the bills / was amazed at the eyi, p
cnce, and can only say that was deceived ii
nd that the matter will again be heard e.
YIN IN dnolnef pToFcculng. NO one acqGalnt- -
with me, trust, would for an instant be. l.
eve that would have cndeavorcd 20 secure G,
c conviction of Mr. Peabody fer criminal libel :,
! had been aware Of the existence OF such IL
fidcnec. ! never, as for Il ! know or have
eard, have been accused of being an idiot; yet
would have been worse than idiocy II had "
'oceeded against Mr. Peabody with the Ger. N
inty that such damaging evidence womb be n
ought ont and result In my defeat" =,
Death of DIR. Clark n,
Rev. Nathaniel George Clark, ID. d.. N
l.. d.. one Of the most eminent NJ
ergymen of this country and for e
'arly thirty years prominently idonti O
I'd with the management of the tr
Board of Foreign Missions. al
ed at his home in West Roxbury. ia
ass, Friday, of form of heart
sease aggravated by his advanced 81
e and enfeebled condition. B
DIR. Clark was born in Calais. Van ca
IS, 1925, and was graduated from the 70
diversity of Vermont in 1915. He ST
rs tutor there in 1s49 and 1850. in