Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-10-15
MEETING WAS A HOT one
City Fathers Divide Along the
Usual Lines.
Bills for the AImshouse, Bribery
Charges, Records Of n Board Meet
ing and New Library All in
the Mix-up.


last night The primary purpose of the
meeting was to receive an itemized bill
| from Matt & LaMothe, contractors, for
work done at the poor farm. but other
matters were brought up that over
| Swallowed the itemized bill so far that it
was only one of the incidents of the
meeting, the principal feature being
discussion of a resolution appropriating
| $4,000 for the new library building.
Alderman Courtney was late in arriving
and shortly after eight o'clock Alderman
Trick asked that the board be called TO
order This was not done, however until
| Alderman Courtney arrived, when Alder
man Shea assumed the presidents chair,
the meeting being adjourned from the
| previous night, when Alderman shea was
elected president pro TEN.
The first business to come up was the
itemized bill for sl,3i2l7. presented by
Matt & LaMothe. Alderman Morgan OBJ
| jected to an item charging % per DAY
for a masons work, on the ground that
it was too much. Alderman Trick moved
| that the mayors warrant be drawn Tor
the amount and the motion was carried.
! A resolution was adopted authorizing the
| city treasurer to borrow sum not TO
exceed $40 900 to pay the accrued ana ac-
cruing liabilities of the city, making the
second resolution for that amount passed
| this month.
While the discussion of the loan was in
progress Alderman Trick and Alderman
Reeves were in consultation aud it annoy
ed Alderman Shea, who remarked: ny
| don't you kiss him and have done with
| it?"
Alderman Trick referred to the charge
made against him on Tuesday evening
| by Alderman Richardson. He said that L.
| +. Wood was present and that he would
like to hear from him.
Mr.. Wood did not respond and Alder
! . too
! of three be appointed to investigate the
charges against Alderman Trick, the com
mittee to consist of Alderman Cohey Nor
gan and Stiles.
| At this point Alderman Shea called Al
! derman Courtney to the chair while he
! addressed the board. Alderman Shea said
| he had been an alderman for II years and
that never before had a direct charge of
bribery been made against member. He
further said that the matter was one that
concerned the entire board and that it
was no more than right. if only to main
tain the reputation of the board. to in
vestigate the charge thoroughly. He said
he would appoint a non partisan COM
mittee. which would report at the next
regular meeting of the board. In closing
Alderman Shea expressed n doubt as to
| the truth of the charges and said that If
any member Of the board was going to
steal he would take n large sum than 81.
| Alderman Richardson followed Alder
man Shea with the remark that he was
going to ask that the vote authorizing
! the payment of Mr.. Woods bill be re-
scinded but that the board stood the same
as it did on the previous evening and such
request would be useless. He then pro
duced a letter which he said referred to
the case but objection was made to his
reading ii by Alderman Courtney on the
ground that the matter had been referred
! to a committee and the letter should go
/ to them. If the letter was read Alder
man Courtney thought the charges should
be gone into in detail by the entire board
| at once and not be referred to a special
| committee.
Alderman Shea remarked that he would
stop the reading of the letter at the
proper point
| Alderman Trick then called for m ex
PLANTATION but the matter was disposed of
| by the appointment of committee, by
Alderman Shea, to consider the matter
The committee is composed of Alderman
| Coffey. chairman. Aldermen Parker and
Reeves, one democrat and two repub-
cans. After the appointment of the COM
mttee Alderman Shea said he would hear
no more OF the matter and would enter
tain no motion in regard to it.
At this point bill for 81 in payment
! for the typewritnC of the warrants is
sued last Saturday night for the absent
aldermen was presented and ordered paid.
The next matter to be taken up was the
request OF Alderman stiles to have the
minutes of the meeting Of October 10
read again. This motion was seconded by
Alderman Trick The records were read
and Alderman stiles said he had no OBJ
lection to make 20 them but would like to
have something included that he thought
should be on record. He said the record
contained no mention of the manner in
which the warrants were issued and he
thought that should be included. Some dis
cusson about the matter ensued and AL
derman Shea finally remarked that he
had heard that Alderman Stiles was
going to bring suit against him as the
result of Saturday nights arrest and
further said he was ready for it. With
reference to the rules of the board Alder
man Shea said they were adopted with
| Alderman Stiles's consent and that they
had been enforced by President Taft
In closing, Alderman Shea said he should
enforce the rules while he was in the
chair He then asked that the records
of Saturdays meeting be read again
During the discussion Alderman Trick
moved that the records of the meeting be
adopted and read again.
| After the records had been read again
Alderman Shea spoke about hearing curb
stone talk about a suit and this prompt
ed Alderman Trick to say: Good for you
Johnnie"
| Alderman stiles said he wished to have
the records changed so as to include the
matter about the warrants. This caused
| Alderman Shea to say that he issued the
| warrants and that he objected to hav
ing anything injected into the records
| that happened outside the hoard room.
Alderman Trick followed Alderman
Stiles by saying that he seconded Alder
man Shea's motion. The latter said no
motion had been made and upon that
Alderman Stiles moved that the records
| be amended This caused further discus
sion which ended in reading the records
| again.
! The reading Of the records was followed
| by further discussion In which Alderman
Richardson took part, Alderman Shea ad-
dressed him and said Alderman Rich
ardson. the records were adopted and
approved at the last meeting OF the board
and you were present and made no OBJ
| lection and you can't inject anything in
now"
Alderman Reeves also favored the mo-
ton made by Aldermen stiles and this
caused Alderman Shea 10 say: what
do YOU know about il Tom? You We're not
here" Turning to Alderman stiles, Alder
man Shea said. George, u you lack a
link in your chain of evidence | shall
object to your injecting il in now" He
then said his objection to having tho
records changed was based on the fact
that what Alderman stiles wished to have
included occurred during a recess taken
by the board and could not properly be
made a part Of the record.
Alderman Morgan seconded the motion
made by Alderman stiles and that was
followed by series of questions asked
Clerk Macomber by Alderman Shea. The
clerk replied that he thought everything