Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-04-28
AGREEMENT MAY COME
Governor Mead Will Meet Rail.
road Officials in Boston
Legislature viii Be Convened II Needed
Bids Closed Today for Construction
on New Hampshire Side.

Bids Closed Today for Construction
on New Hampshire Side.
Not since the legislature turned down
the original plan for building Il line of
the Boston Il Maine railroad through
the Central Vermont yard has the pros
pect been bright as it is today for
the abandonment of the survey for the
projected Boston & Maine line in New
Hampshire and the construction of the
road on this side of the Connecticut.
| What another week may bring forth is
purely speculative and the fondest
| hopes of the people of this town may
| yet be dashed to pieces, but the outlook
| is encouraging. AS stated last week. the
services of Gov. John a. Mead of Rut-
| land have been enlisted in the inter-
| ests of the state and while a special ses-
| sion of the legislature will be called If
necessary, as last resort, Governor
Mead and those working with him have
| arranged for a conference, at which the
Governor and officials of the two rail-
| roads Will be present, in the hope of
| bringing about an agreement whereby
the necessity for calling legislators to-
| gether may be avoided Vice President
| +. H. Ftzhugh of the Grand Trunk sys-
| TEN is in Chicago, but before he went
he mentioned Friday, May >, as a date
when he could meet in conference. Presi-
| dent G. S. Mellen of the New York, New
| Haven & Hartford system. of which the
| Boston & Maine is a subsidiary road, has
consented to postponement of actual
constructive work on the New Hamp-
shire side, pending the meeting.
A newspaper correspondent inter-
viewed Governor Mead Tuesday night
and issued a statement to the effect that
Governor Mead said he would be pres
| ent at a conference soon to be held in
| Boston, and that as a result of the
meeting he hoped the necessity of a
| legislative session might be avoided
'lnaSmuch as there are concessions of
| value to both parties that can be made"
| the despatch said, Governor Mead has
grounds for believing that a full adjust
ment of the difficulty at Brattleboro can
be brought about He will be accom-
panied by his legal advisor, John l..
Lewis. Although the date of the con-
| ference is not officially announced, it is
understood that it will be held about
May 5.
THE Grand Trunk and Central Yer
mont roads will be represented by Vice
President Fitzhugh, General Manager
Jones and Attorney Writers and the New
Haven system by President Me tlen, Vice
President Byrnes and Attorney Stick
ney.' The Brattleboro railroad commit
| tee also will be represented by counsel.
y despatch from Providence Tuesday
| stated that at hearing that day before
| the House committee on corporations of
the Rhode Island Legislature; which has
| under consideration the petition of the
Southern New England branch of the
| Grand Trunk for an amendment to it's
| charter, providing for crossing the New
Haven tracks at grade, an agreement be-
tween the two railroads was Indicated
1t is believed that an agreement over the
| Providence situation would help ma
| terially in bringing obout an agreement
over the situation here. although the
moving party here now is the railroad
| committee, representing the citizens of
| the community, rather than the Boston
& Maine railroad, and they are not con-
| cerned with the Providence affair
| Mr.. FitZhugh was seen by a member
| of the Brattleboro committee in Burling-
| ton Friday night. He was not disposed
| to make any concessions and did not
| appear to welcome any more confer
ences, but he did finally say that he
would meet the Governor and Mr.. Mel
| len on his return from Chicago May g.
| He was in communication with Governor
| Mead over the telephone that night and
| Governor Mead tried to arrange for a
| conference today, but Mr.. Fitzhugh had
planned Chicago trip and felt that ne
| must carry out his arrangements. \
| representative of the Montpelier Jour-
| nal in St. Adams asked General Man
| ager Jones for his opinion of the latest
plan for the Boston & Maine line and
| Mr.. Jones said: I'VE are now and have
been willing to consider any PROPOSE
ton made by the Boston & Maine and
| New Haven roads"
Up to noon today Chief Engineer
George NJ. Tompson had received seven
| bids for the construction of the road
| from South Vernon to BrattlebOro as
surveyed on the New Hampshire side Of
the river and the bids closed at that
| time. They were made by J. j. O'Brien
& Co. of New York, Holbrook, Cabot &
Rollins of Boston. the Lahey- Fletcher
Co of Boston, y. G. Tomasello of Bos-
| ton, Coughlin & Shields of Boston, the
Henry Spear Co. Ltd of New York and
j. *. Ryan of New York. The contract
| probably will be awarded conditioned
upon the result of the efforts to secure
! the construction of the road on the Yer
mont side. Mr. Holbrook of the firm
| of Holbrook, Cabot & Rollins was here
Wednesday and went over the New
| Hampshire route with Engineer Tomp-
| son. He is a grandson of the late eX-
| Gov. Frederick Holbrook of this town
and son of Franklin f. Holbrook of Bos-
ton. Mr.. Cabot is William b. Cabot, son
| of Norman f. Cabot of this town and
brother-in-law of his partner, Mr.. Hol-
| brook.
The preliminary survey for the pro-
jected Boston & Maine line between
Brattleboro and Walpole on the New
| Hampshire side was completed Tuesday.
| 1t will require about three months to To-
gineers and assistants drives from this
town to some point on the proposed line
every morning. Chief Engineer Tomp-
son sent a new crew of engineers by
special train from here Wednesday night
to complete the survey of the proposed
link from Cornish, opposite Windsor, to
Lebanon, opposite White River June
ton That link has been located. but
the road will not be built at present.
John II. Albin of Concord, president of
the Sullivan County branch. has filed a
petition with the New Hampshire SUI
preme court for permission to build the
road The petition states that the pro-
posed extension would be n double
track line, with bridges and culverts of
steel, concrete or granite. 1t would be
l46) miles long, running through parts
Of the towns of Cornish, Planheld and
Lebanon. The estimated cost of its con-
structon Is $2,5O0,0OO. Chief Justice Par
sons has issued an order for hearing
on the first Tuesday in June, following
which the matter will be referred to
referees or to the public service commits
sion.