Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-03-10
VOTE IN A BIG STORM
TOWN MEETING DAY A REPETITION
OF FEBRUARY II.

A Good Attendance and Interesting Legis-
Iation-New Voting Method Tried-Ap-
preparation of 5000 for Forest Worms
other County Towns.
AS a promoter of that civic virtue
viii III impels citizen to come out and
exercise the right of suffrage, the wealth
er man is a dead failure. Worse weather
for:town meeting day than prevailed on
Tuesday would be difficult to select. 1t
was a splendid imitation of the blizzard
of Feb. IL, and started in early enough
to prevent large number of voters from
attending.
Considering this drawback, it was a
very fair-sized gathering called to order
by Moderator Wilds at the town hall
Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock.
The chairman had a new gavel, and he
| told the meeting where he got it. 1t
was present to the town from Henry
' L. Sheldon, the local antiquarian. 1t
possesses historic interest. in that it is
made from wood taken from the cupola
of the old court house, recently removed.
As the structure was erected in 1896,
the value of the relic is apparent. A
vote of thanks to Mr.. Sheldon was pass
ed by the meeting.
The moderator then read and explain
ed the law under which the new method
of voting was adopted for the meeting,
and asked for nominations for the var
iOus offices. As none were forthcoming,
the meeting proceeded at once to elect
officers for the ensuing year. Under the
rules it required but one ballot to select
the following officers: Moderator, c.
NJ. Wilds; town clerk, j. NJ. Burke ;
first constable, G. j. Seeley; selectmen.
Darwin Rider, Charles j. Mathews, Will
lis n. Cady; road commissioner, Fred
Hammond school director, b. G.. Peck.
The only interesting contestfor the above
offices was that for road commissioner.
Two candidates made lively canvasses,
and the result was very much in doubt
until the ballots had been counted. 1t was
found that Mr.. Hammond had 23S votes,
and Mr.. Newton, his opponent, had 1913.
For town clerk Mr.. Burke received the
entire vote of the meeting.
The remaining offices were filled by
individual ballOting, and they gave Occa.
sion for some doubt of results. Espe-
cially was this true of the overseer of the
poor. The result stood William jack
son, 173; w. II. Sheldon, los. The 9TH
er offices filled were as follows: Second
constable, Edward NJ Day; listers. Oil
yer Severance, G. ID. Miner, M. X.
Moore auditors, j. NJ. Slade, Thomas
E. Boyce; trustee of public money,
Charles f. Pinney; town grand jurors,
j. NJ. Slade, F. II. Button and J. J. Man
ney; inspector of leather, 4. Kidder !;
pound keeper, DR.. ID. c. Noble; inspector
wood and shingles, Delmar w. Smith {;
town agent, w. II. Bliss.
After the election of officers resolu-
ton was offered and adopted that the
new way of voting be not repeated.
On motion $75 was set aside by the
meeting for the expenses of observing
Decoration Day, $50 going to w. p.
Russell Post G.. A. r., and S25 to Need
ham Post
w. II. Bliss introduced the subject of
making provision for stopping the
ravages of the forest worm in this town
outside the village limits. The result
was the appropriation of 5000, to be
placed at the disposal of the selectmen
to be used for the purpose.