The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-03-06
SELECTMEN
NOT CHANGED
Opposition TO Old Board
Amounted TO Little.
TOWN WENT NO BY lis
West River Bridge Question Dismissed
An Appropriation for Improving
Ventilation in Town Building Town
School Meeting March 10.

.
Bmttlshoro cniuyed a rral oli.iashiDned
town meeting Tuesday; one II the kind
where 0ihccr- ate named by the ASSEM-
I hlcd voter instead Of hy q Few men who
g,t together al a previous time and hlr
nominations, On the whole the towns
I people seemed 10 like the change. TO be-
sure. d looked Tor q time a. ii the elee'
I tion Nas going to be- long drawn out, but
after the Barbcr.Nafe combination was
/ ANONYMOUSLY routed on the vote for iirst
.clcrtman aiilirs moved with great IA
lpidity. Everything but the license gucs.
ton was settled by l2.l5 aud the result Of
this vote was announced few min
ute, after o'clock.
Briefly stated the result, Of the meet.
ing wep a. iollow-: No license by a ma.
lurity OF l5s. reelection OF practically all
I the old officers with the exception oi iir-t
I road commissioner, a town tax Ot ~
! cents aud a special highway tax Of two
cents. exemption Of the Lowell Scale
cDmpany's property for a term OF hya
year; an Appropriation Of $500 Tor IN.
! sialling new ventilation system aud
building additional tire escapes on the
I town building; authority gwen the Sc
lectmcn 10 appoint a committee 10 confer
with the Central Vermont Railway com
q
i Vernon street. The article relative 10
new West river bridge was dismissed.
4 The license vote was as follows: Total,
Il 1896 ycs. 42a; no, GOs; majority for no.
/ license, lis. Last years no majority was
4 263.
i The meeting opened with the likelihood
/ OF something doing because of the APP
pcarance in the field OF new selectmen's :
ticke, headed by II. G; Barber, whose
i candidacy was announced Monday alter
noon when it looked as il W. IL. Ninton
would not stand for reelection. The re.
suit OF this move, however, was Mr.. NIn-
\ tons consent TO allow the use OF his name
again, and his decisive defeat Of Mr.. Bar
her on the first ballot carried the remain
der OF the board through with flying col
ors Had Mr.. NintOns victory come by
a narrow margin the names of c. \. Boy
den and II. +. Weatherhead would have
been put forward in opposition to Messrs
! Walker and Putnam.
More than 300 voters were in the hall
when the meeting was called to order at
o o'clock by DIR. II. ID. liolton. After
the warrant had been read by the town
clerk DIR. Holton announced that the yot-
ling on the license question would con
tinue by ballot until 3 o'clock in the af-
ternoon and that the other articles in the
warrant would be taken up in their or
der. James +. Hooker then moved that
article 3, relative to action upon the au-
ditors report. he taken up before article
2 which had TO do with the election OF
I officers This motion was seconded by u.
IN Ware and was unanimously carried.
Rev. l.. NJ. keneston then brought up
article Is relative to separate meeting
for the town school district and moved
that action ON town school matters be put
over to an adjourned meeting to be held
. March Ii at 7.30 p. m. in Academy hail.
/ West Rrattleboro. This was finally voted
and articles 20 and Il which referred to
town school matters were laid upon the
table until that time.
In regard to article g. II. G. Barber
spoke briefly on the showing made IN the
auditors report and asked for some eX-
planation relative to figures which ap-
peared under the head of liabilities.
These questions were answered by ii. b.
| Chamberlain. /. 4. Holden then in
quired why the selectmen had not col
lected the Western avenue sewer assess.
ment which appeared under the head of
resources and A. +. Schwenk in behalf OF
the town stated that these were not lev
led until a very short time previous to
the close of the year and that the taXpay-
| ers were always allowed n reasonable
time in which to make payment. Further
criticism of the town report was made
| by Mr.. Hooker and Mr.. Holden, the latter
saying that he say something like $1,000
! in over-estmates. On the motion of \.
! f. Schwenk the reports of the town Off
GERS were accepted unanimously.
When article 2 was brought up for con-
sideration L. +. Holden Immediately nom
mated James F. Hooker for moderator
but Mr.. Hooker positively declined to run
against DR. H. ID. Iolton who was i'm
mediately nominated by Rev L. NJ. Ken
eston and elected unanimously.
The next office to be filed was that of
first seectman and several people placed
the name of w. H. Vinton before the
fhouse. H. G. Barber was also nominated
according to pre-arranged plan and
some one Immediately called for ballot:
continued until l0.45. The board of civil
authority needed but few minutes to
count the vote, which was announced by
the moderator as follows:
Total vote cast. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 6ll
Necessary for choice. ce................. $50
4 III. G. Barber. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. I50
w. II. Vinton. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 3Zl
This result so effectively settled the
status of the opposition that there was
no further need for balloting ID. T. Perry
nominated w. L. Walker for second Sc
lectman and j. p. Sargent nominated G.
NJ. Hamilton. There were few calls for
ballot. but the moderator decided to set
tie the matter by division of the house
and practically everyone in the hall went
over to Mr.. Walkers side. At first Mr..
Sargent was not satisfied with this over
whelmng expression of opinion and con-
tinued his demand for a ballot, but the
result was so apparent that DIR. Holton
overruled his request and declared Mr..
Walker elected E. III. Putnam was the
only candidate named for third selectman
and he was elected without opposition
A. w. Roel was then elected tree war
den. +. L. Stockwell overseer of the poor,
A. w, J, Wilkins first constable, and Z.
i. Knapp second constable, the latter re-
ceiving the office only after both d. X
IThayer and M. r. Micott had declined
reelection. w. A. Shumway and W. II;
Rrackett were elected tax collector and
treasurer respectively without opposition
as were also the listers, HI. B. Chamber
lain. j. L. Barney, G. l.. Piper, +. w.
Blodgett and A. J. Currier, and the au-
Iditors. IT. B. Chamberlain, Charles Sta
ples and C. L. Piper w. S. Newton was
elected trustee of public money, r. G;
Bacon and F. ID. L. Stowe town grand
Jurors, w. s. Newton town clerk, and
A. p. Carpenter town agent.
When the office of road commissioner
was reached DR.. Holton announced that
the law required that the election be by
ballot. L. E. Holden moved that the