Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1898-05-21
LIGHT COMMITTEE.
A MEETING OF THE NEW
COM MMITTEE
Last Night al the City Building New
Lights Asked and Not Granted
Lights Out-Overoha ces for Gas
Lamps.

The new electric light committee o.
the city council met last night at tht
city building, and considered severa
matters that had been by council re
ferred to that committee. The mem
bers of the new light committee are
Gillian, Whelan and kemper- Among
the matters to be considered were sew
eral petitions for electric lights at vari-
Gus points. These petitions viii be
let alone for the present. or until the
courts have settled the matter of the
rights and duties of the railroad COM
paaies in the supplying of lights at the
crossings. The city adopted an ordi-
nance to the effect that the railroad
company should furnish the lights for
the crossings within the city limits,
specifying certain crossings that were
in use after night for the moving of
the company's trains. and that were
considered dangerous. The company
failed and refused to supply such
lights, and the matter was brought in
to the courts. Several cases were de-
cided against the company IN police
court and fines were assessed, and the
attor ey for the company promptly
appealing all the cases. The questio n
with the city is, in case the liz hts that
are now furnished by the city at the
railroad crossings be removed, would
the city or the company be responsible
for the damages that might result from
the removal 2 Until that question
shall have been decided, no lights will
be taken from the railroad crossings
and placed elsewhere, and there will
be no lights ordered in addition 10 the
number already in operation. The
cases are still hanging fire in circuit
there they will go to the supreme
court, so it will perhaps be a good
while, year or two in all, before the
final decision can be had.
Other petitions are for gas lights,
and some of those may be granted.
The matter of the gas lamps paid for
and never lighted, and also tor those
paid for twice by reason of removals
that have never been properly record
ed, was taken up, and a full investiga
ton will be made. Many of the allega
tions in the communication eff the city
engineer on that. subject are known to
10 II duu Aiit fCi1dlhdFi W III pc III
vestigated. His statement was that
the city had been paying regularly for
60 lights and having only 81 lights in
fact. The amount alleged to have
been oyerpaid to the company on ac-
count OF such overcharge in the past
three years is shown to be oyer $342
The question of what to do with un-
electric lights was also
All over the city there
are lights that burn few minutes at a
ulD-eoB4nty-@1uD~1asuup
die down and show with red glow for
an hour or so. These are worse than
no lights at all, as they only intenify
the darkness. The only means known
by which they may be made
to burn at all is for some public spirit
ed citizen to go out and kick the
post as hard as he can. This
sometimes jars down the carbon and
makes the proper junction for the
spark. Yet that does not pay, as the
citizen who pays taxes for the mainten-
ante of the lights does not wish to
wear out his shoes in addition. The
committee decide that all lights burn
ing in that very unsati sfactory and
worse than useless manner should be
regarded as out all night, as the con-
Tract calls for a 1000 candle power
light, and the burning in that style
furnishes no such light. The patrol
men have been instructed so to report
such lamps out all night, and it is
hoped that in that manner the lamp:
may be kept in better order. The
same lamps have been giving trouble
night after night ard month after
mouth since the service began, and nC
amount of kicking seems to have any
effect on the lights. unless said kick
ing is applied directly to the pole, witt
the shoe of the dissatisfied, rather thar
to the company in a tigurative sense