The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-05-24
TRUSTEES OF FUND
HEAR COMPLAINTS
Hearing on the Thompson Fund Contro.
versy Held Last Friday in Boston
Local Lawyers Made Five Def
mite Requests of Trustees.

; There was a hearing Friday after
noon in the Office of Bradley Tyson,
60 State street, Boston, before Rich
ards NJ. Bradley and Laurence MinOt,
trustees of the Thomas Thompson fund,
on the complaints made by the seams,
trcsses, needle women and shop girls of
Brattleboro in regard to the manage.
ment of the fund. Those present at
the hearing from Brattleboro were
Congressman Kittrcdge lIaskins and
Anthony +. Schwenk, counsel for the
beneficiaries, and Mrs. Nellie NJ.
Streeter and Miss katherine Dryer,
chairman and secretary of the commit.
tee appointed by the local society of
seamstresses, needle women and shop
girls to take steps toward investigating
| the fund. Several attidaVits were pre-
scented to the trustees tending to show
that the fund had not been equitably
distributed, and the attorneys for the
local society made five requests of the
trustees In the first place they ar
gued that the ruling which makes il
necessary for sewing woman to have
been a resident of BrattlebOro since
1901 in order to receive aid ought to
be done away with and that the simple
test of bona fde residence be SUBSTITUTE !
ed. Second, they claimed that the dis
tinction made by the trustees between /
shop girls and factory girls was not
warranted by the terms of the will /
and therefore was unjust. In the third (
place the counsel for the benefciarics
asserted that Mrs. 4. L. Wells, local .
agent of the trustees, was incompetent
to do the work properly and ought to
be removed for that reason. Fourth,
that a local agent with funds at his
immediate command ought to be APP
pointed so that cases of immediate
need could be attended to without the
delay that is necessary under the pres.
emit arrangement whereby every case
has to come under the personal atten
ton of the trustees The fifth claim
was that the local beneticiaries were
entitled to a detailed accounting from
the trustees every year in place of the
condensed statement now made.
The hearing lasted from l until )
, clock and every detail Of the contrO'
,crsy was carefully discussed. Charles 5
4. Williams of Boston, who represent ,
ID the trustees, expressed an opinion q
hat the demands of the BrattlebOro
awyers were reasonable and saw no
eason why they should not be granted, !
rhe trustees said that they would take g,
he matter under consideration and =
lold second conference with Has h
inns & Schwenk when they were ready .
0 give decision.
: 81 Of
[r. Bradley made the following state
nent to a newspaper man:
"The trustees have not, until the
asst three days, had any definite state
lents of the wishes of the sewing
7omen. 1t was thus impossible at this I
hort notice to take final action in the
natter.
Some time ago the sewing women
ppointed committee to look into the
uestion as to how the fund was used.
he decree Of the court provides that
shall be used partially for the es- a
lblishment and maintenance of a
kindergarten and hospital for the sew :.
lg women and their families u
''The meeting was for the purpose of OF
,ating to the trustees the wish of the g
ewing women as to the admnistra te
on of the fund so far as it concerned Is
lem, and for receiving information as di
how the fund was actually admins W
red 20
"Their complaint is mainly that the 70 70
omen who have come to Brattleboro II
the last few years and have gone IN
to the shops have not received the III III
,neft of the fund "
"The main point in the discussion is ia
neither substantial direct aid could W.
given these women without causing ri
cir occupation to be overcrowded and Tn
ndering their condition worse in the 5ag
NO run. - pu