The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-03-15
MEETING is
FINALLY OVER
Town Affairs Discussed in
Two More Sessions.
EXCITEMENT AT BOTH
]. P. Sargent Elected Second Road
Commissioner and g. L. Piper Audi
tor at Mondays Gathering-C. S.
Hopkins Chosen School Director.

Hopkins Chosen School director.
The second and third acts in Brat
tlcboro 5 dramatic town meeting,
which at first bade fair TO be con
tinuous performance, were concluded
Monday and Tuesday before large aud
interested audiences. They contained
as many interesting situations as did
the opening act last week Tuesday, and
contributed their share in making the
March meeting Of 1907 the most event.
ful in the history of the town. At the
adjourned session in Festival hall Mon
dav morning G. l.. Piper was elected
auditor and John 7. Sargent second
road commissioner after a heated dis
cussion over the question of whether
anyone but residents Of the town out
side the village had right TO vote for
candidates for road commissioner At
the town school meeting in West Brat
tlcboro Tuesday evening Carl ). Hop
kns was chosen a member of the board
of town school directors and a school
tax of 80 cents was voted. \ detailed
report of each meeting follows:
Story of the Second Act.
The second act OF Brattleboro's an
nual town meeting drama began IN fes'
tiyal hall Monday morning at 9 o'clock.
Moderator II. d. EIolton after calling the
meeting to order announced the result
of the vote at last week Tuesdays meet
ing and stated that one auditor and a
second road commissioner still renamed
10 be elected. He then read section one
OF act No. ) Of the laws of 1904 which
is as follows:
In towns having an incorporated
village. the voters in said incorporated
village shall not be entitled to vote in
town meetings for the road commits
sioners OF the town unless at least
Is Der cent. of the last highway tax
OF said village shall have been paid
over to the town treasurer to be
expended on the highways of the town
outside the village corporation.
DR. Holton said that his attention had
lust been called to this statute and that
according to its provisions only voters
outside the village could legally vote on
the question of road commissioner. a.
+. Schwenk then asked the moderator
TO read the second section oi this act
which is as follows;
In all cases when the voters OF an
incorporated village are not entitled
under the provisions OF the preced'
ing section to vote in town meeting
for road commissioners, the names OF
the persons candidates for road COM
missioners shall be printed on a sep
arate ballot and shall not be on the
ticket with other town officers and
the ballots shall be deposited in a
separate box.
After reading this section the modera,
tor was of the opinion that there had
been no legal election of road commls'
sioner and stated that it would be nee
essary for the town voters to elect two
road commissioners instead of one. This
announcement caused considerable eX-
citement and seemed extremely pleasing
to the West Bratteboro people who were
in the hall j. l.. Roess moved that the
meeting adjourn Before putting this to
vote Dr. Holton explained that in case
this were done, G. i. Piper, who was a
member of the board of auditors last
wear and Mr.. Eames, the present road
commissioner, would continue to hold OF
flee until their successors were chosen at
a special meeting called for the, purpose,
but the motion was lost by a large ma
jority, practically all the voters from
the outlying districts voting against 1t.
1lllDtlll was lllCl ptphll WIN '''
derstanding that the voters in the village
could vote only for an auditor, but be-
fore it had been in progress very long,
the question relative to who had the rgnt
70 vote for road commissioners was again
brought up. +. w. Gibson asked II 1t
could be shown whether or not the town
had spent Is per cent. of the highway
tax on roads outside the village limits,
and to this DR.. Holton replied that he
had been told by Mr.. Putnam that this
had not been done. When he asked Mr.
Putnam for the figures, however, the lat
ter stated that he had not looked the
matter up definitely, but had SIMPLY
taken the word of j. P, Sargent f. d.
i. Stowe thought the burden was on
the village to prove that Is per cent. of
the highway money had been spent ac-
cording to the provisions of the act in
ouestion and if this were not shown
none of the residents of the village had
A right to vote. r. c. Bacon inquired
if the village had raised any highway
fax and was answered in the negative.
W. II. Vinton then moved that the meet,
ing adjourn, but the motion was DECIDED
out of order, as no business had been
transacted since the previous, motion Tor
adjournment. J. G. Stafford demanded
that the balloting be continued, saying
tDaU IlOllOu lOI duJoui hiiShI he "
ready been voted down and would be
voted down again if it came up After
more discussion in which L. E. Holden,
w. L. Walker and others participated,
r. C. Bacon made the claim that every
one in the town had a right to, vote for
road commissioners, saying that the
statute quoted applied only in cases
where villages raised special highway
taxes in addition to those raised by
towns. Z. W. Gibson agreed witt, Mr.
Bacon's Interpretation of the law and was
of the opinion that the village voters
could not be excluded from balloting tor
road commissioner. Mr.. Stowe took the
ground that the village must show Its
right to vote before it could do so and
said that the law would be nullitied. II
Mr., Bacon's Interpretation of it were fol-
lowed. To this Mr. Gibson replied that
Mr.. Stowe misunderstood the meaning
of the statute. Then followed numerous
calls for ballot, Mr.. Stafford urging, the
West Brattleboro residents to stand up
for their rights. -,
w. Fl. Vinton inquired if the village
charter did not provide for raising high
way tax and John Calvin replied that
there was an article in the village char.
ter that not less than three-fourths OF
the highway money might be spent un-
der the direction of the board of bailiffs,
Int there was no provision for raising
village highway tax as far as he knew.
Mr.. Holden was the next man to move
for adjournment, but his motion, was
cried down. Fl. G.. Barber asserted that
the act in question did not apply to Brat
II l,aI ar