The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-12-20
SANFORD TOWN MEETING
soted DOwn Proposition to Aid the
Cape P0rpOise Road.

Cape P0rpOise Road.
4he question Considered In "a Bed Hot
Town Meeting Iu Which Many Fiery
Speeches We're Made.
ESPECIAL TO THE PaEssI
Sprlngvale, December 18-The electric
ralAroao question was under discussion
Jour hours today in the liyiest kind of
town meeting.
I4as' Maroh, IN an exciting meeting
which terminated in the giving way Of
the town house floor, the town voted nv
narrow margin, to subscribe st5 600
worth of preferred stock in the Mopsam
river railroad. When the company reached
Eennebunk with its survey. it encount.
cred formidable obstruction in tbe shane
of a remonstrance from certain residents
of that town, who made their epht on
the ground that the Mousam river roads
charter allowed it to use steam as we'll
as electricity as motive power. The
insertion of the word steam in tba
charter left the company at the mercy of
demonstrating abutters. SO it WIS de.
oided to reorganize under the general
| laws, and the corporation changed its
name to the Sanford q Cape Porpoise
electric railway company, the objection
able word being eliminated from its char.
| ter.
The change in name and character of
the railroad company invalidated the
town S vote OF last March, SO today's
meeting was called for the purpose Of
repeating that action.
Messrs. George W. Hanson and Leroy
A. Wentworth of the board of selectmen
were opposed to the raising of town
funds to invest in stock, and they
ignored the petition sent in by certain
property owners and railroad projectors
of Sanford, calling for the issuance of q
warrant for town meeting to consider
the question OF stock buying. The Pc
titioners applied to a justice OF the peace,
and the meeting was called through his
intervention.
crowded as it was in March when the
floor let 200 citizens down into the mire.
A new floor has since been laid and well
propped. A solid 10 king rail had also
been put up, across the front OF the hall,
to facilitate voting, but when once the
polls opened and the crowd began way
ing, the rail went down with crash
"ii' OAafios HaoulGou pfeslueu. ifst,
the vote Of last March was rescinded, by
common consent, and then the oratory
on the question at issue was let loose,
The motion was to the effect that the
selectmen he authorized to subscr lie,
in the name of the town for SIS, 00o worth
of preferred stock of the Sanford Il Cape
Porpoise electric railway, 1t being agreed
that the total amount OF preferred stock
to be issued by the company should not
exceed $1,000.
There was a separate article in the
warrant that related to the method of
raising the $4,000, but that article was
not reached, for the reason that the first
was defeated.
Fred j. Allen, Esq, counsel for the
Railroad company, explained in detail
the occasion for the holding of this spec
| ial meeting, and elaborated on what the
projected electric line from Springvale
to the sea would do for these two thirty
| ing villages. Ten citizens of the town
| have personally subscribed $1,000 apiece
for common stock of the corporation, and
| now they ask the town to show its conf
dence In the PROJECT by subscribing for
Sl5, 600 for preferred stock, on which in
tersst at per cent, is guaranteed before
a single dollar can be paid out on COM
mon stock.
He said, further, that conditional con
| tracts have been made with construction
and equipment companies and that the
brokers who are to handle the bonds had
| been assured that the town could be
counted on to invest In stock to the
amount named.
Mr.. William S. Cheney asked if the
whole project would fall through in
case the town did not subscribe.
| Mr.. Allen replied that the arrangement
with the bond handlers woul d not be
binding unless the town passed the vote,
and that negative vote today would
either defeat the project entirely or, at
least, put the projectors to the expense
| and labor Of beginning all over again
| their negotiations.
| MIR. Cheney took occasion to predict
that the road would be built, whether
| the town invested money in the enter
| prise or not
Selectmen George W. Hanson delivered
q half hours GRAFTON, in which he ridi
culed ell that had benn said about the
| road bringing business into Sanford
| The projectors of the road had shrewdlv
bought up all the land they could End at
the beach terminus of the line and ex-
pect to make big profits in it's sale, he
said. He didn't believe in saddling debt
onto The town in order to boom pri-
vate land DEAL bis address bristled
with sarcasm, which kept the anti
railroaders in state of tumultuous ap-
| planse.
Mr.. Allen replied to Mr.. Hanson. and
then Deputy y. S. Marshal E. II.
Emery took hand in the debate. and
forcefully argued in favor of q passage
Of the motion. He believed it would
greatly help the merchants, farmers and
manufacturers of Sanford to bring the
town in direct connection with the south
ern part of the county.
Mr.. l.. 2. Goodwin, "a lumber mnnufact-
ufer, spoke in favor of the project, and
then followed series of shert pros and
cons from various parts of the hall.
1t took the COMMITTEES half an hour te
count the ballots. Both sides were con.
fident when the counting began, but this
| oountenances of the railroad projectors
| fell before the task was completed. The
| project was defeated, failing by nint
votes to secure the necessary wo.thirti'
majority. The total vote was $685. neces
sary for choice, 457; yeas, 44S, nays, 237
THE CONDUCTOR WAS DETER
MINED.
Saturday evening o young conductor
on one Of the electric cars running tx