The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-23
Hartford & Worcester and Wor-
cester & Southbridge Street
Railway Companies Both Anx-
iouS to Lay Rails in Leicester
SELECTMEN SLOW IN
CHOOSING BETWEEN THEM
Spur Track From Leicester to
RoChdaIe Must Be Built by the
Company That Is Given the
PIum-SeveraI Hearings Have
Been Given

Special to The Spy.
Leicester, Oct. 22.-The Leicester Sc
lectmen have two petitions for fran
chises to build electric roads in Leices-
ter. The petitioners are the Hartford
and Worcester Street Railway Com
pany and the Worcester & Southbridge
Street Railway Company. Both COM
panies want franchise to lay tracks
in town. Both companies have had
hearings, the latter having had more
than one. However the Leicester Sc
Ilectmen are not disposed to grant either
of the Company's a franchise until they
comply with terms that will be favor
able to the town.
The town of Leicester has been be-
seiged with petitions for franchises dur
ing the past year and if all the fran
chises that had been asked had been
granted the town would have been a
street railway centre of some repute.
The latest aspirant for franchise is
the Hartford & Worcester road. The
selectmen of the town are investigating
matters thoroughly before they grant
a franchise to either the Worcester &
Hartford or the Southbridge & Wor-
cester road. The selectmen will grant
a franchise to the company that will be
the most beneficial to the town.
The question that has been upper
most in the minds of the Leicester Sc
lectmen has been the matter of spur
track to Leicester from Rochdale. Both
companies are willing to build a spur
track to Leicester if the selectmen will
grant them franchise to locate tracks
in Rochdale.
A hot time is expected over the fight
of the rival companies for the much
coveted franchise.
The selectmen of Leicester are inter-
ested in the hearing that will be given
the Spencer Board of Trade in Boston
this week. The Spencer Board of
Trade have petitioned the Consolidated
Street Railway Company of Worcester
for a reduction in the fare from Spen-
Ger to Worcester. The petition of the
board was turned down by the road
and now the Spencer body has appealed
to the Railroad Commissioners of this
state. They will be given a hearing in
Boston. Thursday.
What the people of Leicester want is
five cent fare to McDermott's store
and a seven and one-half cent fare to
Leicester Centre. Another seven and
one-half cents will then be necessary
in order to ride to Spencer, thus max
ing the full fare Is cents.
Colonel Henshaw Chapter, Daugh-
ters of the American Revolution, will
meet at the home of Mrs Alexander
McNeish Wednesday afternoon at $50
o'clock.
There will be no session in the
Leicester public schools Friday, on ac-
count of the county convention.
The Leicester Academy Basketball
team had a game scheduled with the
Holy Cross team of Worcester Tuesday
but the Worcester boys failed to put in
an appearanceand theAcademy team in
dulged in an hours practice.
A bull owned by Michael Rice es-
capped from a pasture Tuesday and
created quite a disturbance on Waite
Street. The animal was roaming at
will tearing up lawns and doing all
sorts of damage. 1t attacked a COW
belonging to Owen Callahan on Waite
Street, and but for the interference Of
Mrs. Owen Hanlon the COW would have
been seriously injured.