Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-05-04
AGREEMENT IS REACHED
AUsTINE TRUSTEES NOT TO
BUILD TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL
Without First Submitting the Question
to Vote Of the Town-Stipulation
to This Effect Filed in Court Mon
day-Victory for Mr.. Hooker.

The litigation which has been In
progress over the bequest of $4,000
left by Colonel William Austine to the
town of Brattleboro for the establish
ment of hospital "for the temporary
treatment of strangers and local IN.
valids peculiarly situated was settled
Monday when the trustees named IN
the Austine will filed stipulation
agreeing not TO use the money for the
establishment or maintenance of a
tuberculosis hospital without first sub
mitting the question to vote OF the
town. 1t is further agreed that If any
such meeting is wished for this purpose
il shall not be called before Sept. !,
this clause being inserted on account
of the fact that James +. Hooker, chair
man of the board of selectmen, will be
abroad this summer.
BY the terms of Colonel Austine s
will, which was probated in the latter
part of September, 1904, Dr. George
+. Gale, DIR. A. |. Miller, DIR. George
II. Anderson, c. A. Miles, g. c. Averill,
and the first selectman of the town
were named as trustees of the insti-
tuition toward whose establishment the
beauest was made. A bill incorporat.
ing the Austine sanitarium was put
through the Legislature of 1904, and
soon afterward the trustees, with the
exception of Mr.. Hooker, announced
their intention of erecting a sanitarium
for the treatment of tuberculosis pa
tients This form of hospital was
decided upon for the reason that il was
believed that Colonel Austine had such
an institution in mind when he made
the bequest, although to just what use
the testator did want the money put
will never be known. Mr.. Hooker
strenuously opposed the tuberculosis
sanitarium idea on the ground that such
an institution would be of no beneht
to the town and would not be favored
BY the majority of its citizens. Later
he brought petition in the probate
court asking that the money be turned
over to trustees appointed by the town
instead of to the trustees named IN the
will. claiming that money left in trust
to town had to be disposed of in
that manner. The decision of the pro,
bate court was in favor of the original
trustees. but Mr. Hooker took an APP
peal to county court, and the matter
has been pending since then. As a re-
suit of the trustees agreement Mr..
Hooker will withdraw his opposition,
and the money will be turned over to
the trustees at once.
The stipulation made Monday means,
probably. that no further steps will be
taken toward the establishment of a
tuberculosis sanitarium. There has
been little doubt since the beginning of
the controversy that the majority of the
people in town were on Mr.. Hooker 5
side of the question, and since Senator
Proctor 5 gift for state tuberculosis
hospital the need of such an institu-
tion in Brattleboro has been even less
than before. The Austine trustees
have not yet decided what their course
will be in the matter. but it is not I'M
likely that the money will be used for
the establishment of hospital in con
nection with the Home for Aged and
Disabled. or for the endowment of a
free bed at the Brattleboro Memorial
hospital