Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-01-29
NEW COURT HOUSE.
The Adopted Plans Criticised
With Great Freedom.
MIR Goudlng Raised the Point That the
Proposed Building Closes up Street
Architect Boyden Charged With
Unprofessional Conduct.

was held Friday morning, in the pro-
bate court ROOM
The hearing began imediately after
the close of the session of the probate
court shortly after 1890 o'clock, and
continued until considerably past
o clock in the afternoon. The county
commissioners were all present as were
also about so persons, some of whom
We're business men, but the larger num-
Der were members of the Worcester
county bar, with whom the adopted
plans meet with but little favor. The
firm of Andrews, Jaques & Rantoul of
Boston, the architects. who secured the
award, was represented by two Of it's
members. District Attorney Herbert
Parker, as counsel for the firm, also
took an active part in the hearing. -,
One or two sketches of the new court
house, as designed by the Boston archi-
tects, hung from the wall Il These came
in for some pretty hard criticism by the
gentlemen who spCRe in favor of the
petition and against the plans. Through
it all the architects sat, apparently far
m re at their case than Messrs. Stone
aid Cook the two members of the COM
mission, who have steadfastly main
tanned their preferences for the plans
which We're accepted.
The petitioners were fortified with
argued that Mr.. Boyden's plans would
cost many thousands of dollars less than
those Of Andrews. Jaques & Rantoul.
Likewise it was urged that the old
court house would be kept intact. But
most important of all was the point
raised by Lawyer Goulding that the
commissioners had no right tc stop up
the public highway between the two
court houses. This evidently had the
most weight with the two commission
ers who had voted for the Boston plans,
and if they decide at their regular meet
ing, next Tuesday afternoon, to reopen
the matter or adopt Mr. Boyden's
drawings, it will undoubtedly be on ac-
count Of that point
When the hearing opened, Commits
si0 ,er Stone, who acted as chairman of
the hearing, asked if either side was
represented by counsel. Asa L. Knee
lana, the FOCAL real estate dealer, APP
peared to conduct the petitioners side of
( the case, while District Attorney Parker
said that he appeared as remonstrant.
both as citizen of the county and as
1 counsel for the firm of architects to
which the award had already been
made
| While stating this in a few brief
words District Attorney Parker intimat-
/ ed that he did not see what the county
commissioners could do in the matter.
The award had been made by the com
missloners, and he was inclined to the
Denef that they could not rescind that
action Emphatic exception to this
, statement was subsequently taken nv
some OF the eminent lawyers, who APP
/ peared as citizens in support of the ne
Iltlon. They contradicted Attorney
FafKer s statement, that there had been
any adjudication and maintained that
Il the architects were paid the 5000
! lhey We're to receive, minus the cost the
4 urn would incur by overseeing the
4 building of the court house. The countv
/ commissioners would be perfectly free
! fit 10y iiiisit see
Ihe hearing opened with the reading
/ OF the petition by Major w. q. HarIo1T
| clerk OF the board, after which Mr.
hneeland took the floor on behalf of the
! tlSelnoIlstrants. There We're present at
silat tlme IN the court room: Stephen
.2 osoI, VI M V. B. Jefferson Gen Rock
! WOOD doar, G. f. Aldrich, c. C. Milton
1 ;. K. Haywood, o. M. Bali, F. P. Gould,
ing, ii. H. Chamberlin Hon, John r
mayer. Col W. A Gile, Willard r
! Fond. Elbridge Boyden, Mason A Boy
den, Stephen c. Earle, Clellan W. Fish
| er' j. II. Bancroft, j, E. Fuller. Robert
1. Fuller, Frank e. Haywood, Col. Il s.
I "Nttii9bli, anu many others,
mr.. hneeland proceeded to read a list
! of the signers to the petition which has
already been printed in the Spy. He said
that many men in the city might be
| mentioned whose names were not fnelud-
ed in the list he had read. Although in
FAVOR of Mr.. Boydens plans for politi-
cal or business reasons they had re-
framed from signing. Mr.. Kneeland said
/ that in carrying the petition about he
br1f a 81, NJ.
would express himself as being in favor
| OF the Boston architects drawings.
Mr.. kneeland then called upon Col.
| w. A. Gle, who was obliged to leave
early in order to keep another engage
ment. Col. Gile said he realized that il
was largely the fault of the members of
the bar that the present plans had been
! adopted, because they had not been be-
fore the commissioners and told them
what they wanted for a court house. He
was most interested in the court room
In which cases were tried, and believed
that the Worcester court room was the
best in the commonwealth. He asked es-
peclally that the commissioners see to
! it that nothing be done to interfere with
the northern light which was in every
way the most desira BILE and most steady
for court room. He believed the APP
lpurtenances of the court house had been
outgrown.
| Col. Gle concluded by saying that
while he was member of the legisla-
tture he remembered that both Essex and
| A1iddleseX counties had bills introduced
to build new court houses. Bristol and
I Dedham had followed. In three out of
the four instances there had been either
/ jobs put up on the county or else fail
4 ures in architecture. The court house at
( Taunton, Dedham and Salem had never
+ been satisfactory. Everybody was
1 familiar with the Dedham court house
I scandal. He did not wish to see the citi-
+ zens of Worcester county also dissatis-
fled when their court house was COM
pleted
Samuel r. Haywood, who next ap-
peared in favor of the petitioners, said
| that he had signed voluntarily because
it seemed to him that the plans had been
| drawn and adopted without a general
consultation or opportunity for the peo-
pie to express their ideas Later, he said
| that he thought the plans adopted too
much resembled the tomb of a famous
man he had visited While in Genoa last
summer
Mr. Kneeland then called upon Hon.
/ John r. Thayer Mr.. Thayer said he had
4 signed the petition and was there in the
hopes that the whole matter might come
before the board again and that the
I citizens might get a good building, not
merely good picture, such as was ex-
4 hibited upon the wall
I This building does not fill the bill, -
R ERR