The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-06
ATTENDANCE
WAS LARGE
Many Prominent Citizens Of CIin-
ton Were Present to Hear TeS-
timony Relating to the Claims
for Damages
GREAT MANY DRY
FACTS WERE SUBMITTED

Bearing on the Questions I'm
der Consideration Claiming
Sweeping Injuries to Property
Special to The Spy
Clinton, Dec. 5.-The commission to
hear the claims of Clinton, Sterling
and Holden for damages caused by
the construction of the Wachusett
Reservoir, met this morning and had a
dreary day. Clinton closed the state
ment of the grounds upon which it will
ask damages, yesterday, and this
morning began to present evidence in
proof of its claims. The presentation
of the necessary facts included a
great deal of matter of the dryest
character, such as the appropriations,
valuation and tax rate in the town
for every year since the Incorporation
of the town. 50 years ago.
The attendance was larger than on
any preceding day Many of the
prominent citizens of Clinton We're
present John P. Munroe of Worces-
ter, senator-elect, and Samuel w.
Tyler, representatives. elect, We're in
leTeSJeu listeners.
Judge Corcoran presented the figures
relating to the tax rate, reading them
for the benefit of the commission.
He called eight witnesses, who were
sworn. Judge Christopher c. Stone
was the first who testified. Judge
Stone is president of the Clinton Saw
ings Bank and the Clinton National
Bank. owner of a large foundry and
justice of the Second District Court
for Eastern Worcester. He lived in
the town of Clinton % years before it
was incorporated, and his home has
been there during the so years since
it was set off from Lancaster. His
evidence, therefore, covered nearly the
entire range of claims set up by Judge
Corcoran yesterday.
Judge Stone reviewed the circum-
stances that led to Clinton being set
off from Lancaster The thing was
accomplished after an opposition that
extended over three years and was
concluded with the payment of $4,000
TO the mother town. and quit claim
to her of all title in her buildings and
other public property.
He related the story of the Messy
Pond flood, which occurred in 1916,
telling of the terrible havoc that the
waters made as they swept through
the village into New Jerusalem.
This evidence was given to add force
to the claim that the fear of the con-
sequences of the construction of a
great lake on the edge of the town
has damaged property in the town.
Judge Stone said that it has always
been the purpose of the town to take
the waters of Sandy Pond when the
supply in Sterling is exhausted. He
had advocated erecting pumping sta
ton there. He was a member of a
committee that caused the pond to be
investigated as a source of water sup
ply. The reports obtained showed that
the leakage of the waters of Sandy
Pond into the Nashua River would not
affect its value to any extent.
Burdett Hill is well known to the
witness. One of the three houses that
stood there when the town was incor-
porated is the home in which he was
born. The growth of this section had
been more rapid than the growth of
any other section in recent years.
Burdett Hill was adjacent to the ter
ritory that had been taken by the
Water Board. The California section
of the town had also had a rapid
growth. The operatives in this sec
ton have accumulated more money
than any other group of people of
equal numbers who live in Clinton and
The people lived in these two dis
tricts because they We're adjacent to
the Lancaster mills and the Bigelow
Carpet Company mills. The growth in
the northern part of the town could
be attributed to the Clinton Wire Cloth
Company, Rodgers mill, the foundry
owned by the witness and other indus
tries.
The creation of large body of wat
% he MA a n H.
jury in many ways. Thirty per cent.
of the taxable land of the town had
been taken for the use of the Com
monWealth, and where the town would
naturally develop. The element of fear
exists in the minds of the people. They
are afraid to buy property in the town
and cannot sell what they have as
readily as they could. This especially
was true of land in the Carpet Mill
valley and in the Germantown volley.
A great deal of the fear that the res
ervoir would be a peril arose from the
nature Of the ground. The territory of
Clinton was crossed by strata of water
bearing gravel which appeared to have
communication with the Nashua River
Judge Stone related his experiences
in digging wells on the land where his
foundry is. The first we'll was dug 20
feet deep. AT that depth it was
crossed by a stream of running water
Another well was dug at a little dis
lance At a depth of 40 feet no water
was found. 1t would be difficult to tell
what would happen when such a
stream as that referred to was backed
by the pressure eXerted by d lake of
water.
Judge Stone, in continuing his evil
dence. said that he did not mean that
he would care to sell his property in
the valley for IS per cent of its value
But he did know that he would not
build again in the same neighborhOod.
He could not believe that anybody
would purchase land in either Of the
valleys for Industrial purposes.
In the mind of the witness there was
a municipal loss in the diversion of the
700 horsepower capable of being devel-
oped by the flow of the Nashua River.
The destruction of Sawyers Mills
where a hundred persons were en-