The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-01-29

which was heard by large and appieota-
live audience of legislators this week.
rTba Ieetures would be delivered In suoh
narts of the country and in such manner
rs the governor and council mlght ulrece.
The manufacturing and Agricultural re-
suurCes of Maine would be parulculafly
empbasized as well as it's attractions as
q summer resort.
IN THE COMMITTEE ROOMS.
II liz not always the hearing on an i'm
nortaut matter which is interesting, and
a hearing upon a subject Of little mo-
mens to the great public is sometimes
the entertaining one. The committee on
legal affairs listened the other day TO
same interesting stories anent th6 way
in which some Of the towns in this gooo
old State of Maine kept the records,
They heard how in one town, an ancient
volume oil papers, a book which to the
a nti tuarian would have seemed WoiJn
it's weight in gold, was found stored
away in a pile Of frswood under fight
of stairs. And one story leading to an
3thsr. a gen tleman told of the custom IN
an ancient borough of York county,
Where rare and valuable papers of the
col0nia! era were hung up in the houaes
of the citizens, and treasured as relics
of great worth. Instead of being Kept as
a mart of the town records, which they
yeallv were. All of these occurrences
were told in connection with the Dill re-
ouiring towns of more than ], OUo imam
itants to keep their records and valuable
pnpers in fireproof vaults or Safes Az q.
Stilphen, ESQ.,, of Gardiner, who ad-
dressed the committee in favor OF the
hill. told what had teen done in the
town of Pennington, wbera FOL SOU or
thereabouts, freproof brick vault had
been built and equipped with steel door
and combination lock. The argument
in favor Of the paassge OF the Dill IS a
hy pointing to the effect lost paper
might have were it necessary for the
heir of some great estateSto show itln or
der to establish his claim that his great
great grandfather had once lived in o
Maine town. Think Of the feelings OF
the heir il he learned that the missing
link in his chain Of evidence had been
cut up into paper dolls by the chliaren
of some tax collector Or had been USED to
Klbdle the kitchen fire in the days before
kerosene took the place of paper for that
purpose. Leaving out of consideration,
however, the mythical heir and his fabH-
lous fortune, lawyers ssy that the care
lessness in preserving the record BOOKS,
OF rather the failure to keep them IN
May towns in the State. does lead to
great annoyance. and in some cases to
actual loss. But many Of the towns are
likely to look askance on the proposed
legislation. 1t puts them to some ex-
penso. and their officers to more inconve-
Ilience, for it ia undoubtedly handy for
these officials to keep papers and DOCKS
where they please; SO II the bill gets on
to the floor OF the House or Senate it may
lead to an animated debate.
thoughts of the Bran case naturally fol-
lowed a visit to the room IF the sea shore
fisheries committee, where lively battle
was in prospect over proposition to al
low MIR, Erastus Cunningham, OF EDGE
comb to build fshway. Mr.. Cunning
ham wants legislative enactment to
allow him to go into the business OF
raising alewives on Parson, e creek 70
the vicinity OF Lily Pond and tho Devil 3
oven, but Mr.. Ounningham's neighbours
do not agree with him and one OF the
remonstrants is Captain William Patter-
son. who. way back in the '70's, COM
manded the Jefferson Borden on the ILL
fated voyage during which some MEM
bers of the crew mutinied and murdered
the mates, but were subdueh ny the
plucky captain. Two of these mutineers
are now in the State prison at Thomaston
serving life sentences. After telling the
committee what he Thought about the
fishing in Parsons Greek. Lilly Pond
and the DEVILS Oven. Capt. Patterson
adjourned to the Cony House, where he
gntertai ID one OF two Of the mem berg
with n aphio account of the famous
voyage, when armed with gun and revolt
yer, he subdued mutipy and worked
his ship into port. The similarity OF the
cruise on the Jefferson Borden in some
resrcets to the murders on the barken-
tine Herbert Fuller recalls the fact that
Hon. voranus Coffin, one OF the Cover
nora Council, built that vessel and,
wien the trial Of Mate BraTp was begun,
~se & to Boston the model OF the barken-
tue. which, figured SO prominently in the
proceedings.