St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1904-09-14
VERMONT NEWS.
S,643 Vermont Pensioners.

On the pension rolls of the government
July l last there were 994. 1862 names.
During the fiscal year that came to a
close June 80 the cost TO the government
of its pensioners was S144, 942 937.74.
The high-water mark as TO pensions,
Commissioner Ware says, was reached
September 80, 1902, when there were L.
000,7 1872 names on the rolls. He does
not believe that this record will ever
again be reached. July 1, 1903. there
were 996. 545 pensioners. A year later
there was a decrease in this number of
1888. During the year just closed there
were added to the pension list 1874
names. OF these additions 326 were
made at the direction OF Congress and
the remainder by the pension bureau in
the every. day conduct OF its business.
Although the Revolution was fought
over a century ago, there are today three
pensioners of that war enjoying the
bounty of the government. They are
Esther Damon, aged 80, and now living
at Plymouth Union, VT; Sarah c. Hurl-
butt, Sc years old, OF Little Marsh, Pa,
and Rhoda Augusta Thompson, 80 years
old, of Woodbury., Conn. Hiram Cronk
is the only surviving pensioned soldier of
the War of 1912. OF him Commissioner
Ware writes:
ION small farm in Ava, N. Y, cleared
by himself more than IS years ago, Hir-
am Silas Cronk, the last pensioner of the
War OF 1912. is now living, attended by
his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Crowley. Mr..
Cronk was born April 90. 1900"
Commissioner Ware, in his report says !;
AZ recommend that the New England
pension agencies of Augusta, Boston,
and Concord be consolidated. The con-
solidated agency would then have only
81, 112 pensioners, while Columbus has
100, 637 and Topeka has LIE, 500.
There were in Vermont during the past
year, S,643 pensioners, and the sum OF
81, 400. 651 was disbursed in pensions.
The boarding house belonging to the
Woodbury. Granite Co. and used fo- the
benefit of their employees in Bethel was
burned recently. 1t evidently caught
fire from chimney, and was past help
when the fame was discovered. The
boarding house keeper, Mr.. Markham,
loses most of his housekeeping outfit,
and the greater part of the boarders lose
all of their clothes. It is reported that
one of the boarders also lost $50 in
money.
w. E. Haskell and ]. w. Cobb of Brat
tleboro had a narrow escape from death
or serious injury in an automobile acct
dent about a week ago. They were out in
Mr.. Haskell's big touring car and were
on their way to Bernardston, Mass.
Near the point known as Keith's Mills
they went over an enbankment ten feet
high into a brook. At the time they
were speeding at about 80 miles an hour.
The machine turned over as it fell, the
two men being underneath. Just how
they ever got out with only few bruises
is mystery The back of the seat and
part of the top helped hold the heavy
machine from crushing them. 1t was
gotten to the road with pair of horses
and the aid of it's own engine which ran
all the time during the accident. Once
on the road, however, it refused to work.
The machine was not badly wrecked be-
You'd the crushing of the top and break
ing some of the body.
The Rutland Railroad company has
contracted with Charles E. Paige OF Rut-
land to build a new union depot there.
The contract price is withheld, but it is
understood that the structure will be
one of the best on the Rutland system,
and that city will be amply repaid for it's
long wait for the building.
The Burlington festival chorus has
decided to present the comic opera 1.-The
Chimes of Normandy" about the middle
of November. The opera will be sta ged
by G. E. Macomber, of Boston, formerly
OF Essex Junction.
Th Orleans County Bar Association
held a banquet at Newport Wednesday
evening at the Newport house. Inter.
state Commerce Commissioner Charles
A. Prouty o{ficiated as POSTMASTER and
speeches were made by J. c. Burke Of
Lowell, Mass, w. w. Miles of Barton
Ex-Gov. Josiah Grout of Derby, J. w
Redmond of Newport. Guy Hill of ST.
Johnsbury, State Auditor II. F. Graham
of Craftsburv and w. J. Clark of Glover
The Rutland Humane Society is circu
lating report OF the society's work, the
first of the kind that has ever been issued
Among the worthy deeds chronicled for
the past few months was the finding Of
good homes for six children and giving
to four needy aged people. The society
has within a comparatively short time
cared for $50 horses and 90 cattle and
sheep that were being maltreated and
35 neglected dogs and cats have beer
put out OF misery.
Charles Taylor, the veteran horseman
drove in the races at the fair in Water
bury Thursday. He is 90 years old.
The next meeting of the Vermont state
board of pharmacy will be held in Brat
tleboro on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
r. c. Smith, commander of the Yer
mont division, Sons of Veterans U. S. A.
will soon reorganize the camp at Essex
Junction and is planning to institute sew
eral other camps in different parts of the
state. There are now 26 camps in the
division.
The 51st annual meeting of the Yer
mont State Medical Society will be held il
Rutland October IS and IA. The upper
floor of the Baxter building will be useG
for the meeting and the second floor fol
exhibits of medical and surgical equip
ment. These exhibits will be made &
special feature of the meeting and it is
expected that some of the largest firms
in this part of the country will be rep
resented. Several noted medical mer
will speak.
H. P. Woodwork, of West6eld, picked
this year 1000 quarts of Strawberries
from bed of less than an acre. The
picking season lasted from June 20 unit
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