The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-06-24
Special to The Farmer)

Newtown, June 24-The town in meeting assembled, Saturday evening, refused to accept a compromise offer of $500 to settle its grade crossing dis pute with the New Haven railroad. the great corporation received bast. ing which nearly everybody regarded as well deserved.
 Party lines were thrown down and Democrats and Republicans united in demanding the rights of the town The matter will be further discussed at a town meeting two weeks hence, the postponement being had upon mo- tion by T. J. Corbett
 Aided and abetted by past town of ficials, bank authorities and others, The New York; New Haven and Hart ford railroad is attempting what is al- isged ,g by by some to De 2 pure steal. sturdy fighters who want to uphold the integrity and rights of the town. blocked an attempt made in special town meeting Saturday, to push the
 'steaP'. across.
 lectmen upon the initiative of w. c. Johnson. first selectman. for the pur- pose of deciding whether the town should accept $500 that has been of fered by the railroad to cover all damages to the state highway which have resulted from the grade cross ing work near the Newtown railroad station, or whether to reject the of fer and carry the case into the courts.
 The grade crossing work was au- thorized by the old board of Railroad commissioners in May 1910 and the that the work had been completed so far as the orders of the railroad com- missioners were concerned. During the work the town suffered all pos- sible inconveniences because of floods from the heavy watersheds and the plastic mud of the operation. One hundred high school children were ob- liged to travel the road twice daily. The executive officers of the town. claiming that it being g. state road ed inactive until finally the board of Education and other organizations such as the Business Mems associa- tion brought pressure to bear and a plank walk was laid across the rail- road station leading to the schoool. This however was of little use to the general public ai-
 < Up to the time the grade crossing work was started all of the surface water of the watersheds, passed along the north side of the state roadway to the he railroad property; ,,a then in ,aa across the railroad property under the track near the railroad station, north of the highway, % feet, and discharg- ed into private property The grad-1 ing brought the roadbed six feet low CT than this bex and the railroad conn pAny in making the grade acrossing changes, diverted the water onto the road and sought to cOnfine it in a box sluice of one quarter of the ca pacfty of the other.
 1n %hAv, hoep 2%a spring floods rushed and roared through this hidden canyon with. a very severe force. In fact the force at the mouth of the box sluice which carried the drain only to the edge of the railroad property. was so great as to absolutely destroy one half of the roadbed for a distance of 750 feet and then spread out over private property.
 Subsequent to the trouble after the spring freshets MT. Johnson and the second selectman T. F. Brew corre- sponded with the railroad people to have the conditions remedied. In this correspondence the railroad company offered $500 to the town to have the trouble so far as the railroad is con- of any damage in the future or any expense which may occur in any way, from damages to private property and so forth.
 The SeleCLmou, OooIuluR LQlS O1I6r a. matter to go before the town called meeting of the town at which it was voted to appeal to the Public Utilities commission, which had suc- ceeded to all the powers and duties of the railroad commission.
 At this hearing, Attorney William J. Beecher appeared for the town and fought valiently for the rights of the town. The decision from the commits sion however was adverse to the town and recommended the accept- ance of the $500 and holding the Rail- subject Of drainage was not referred to in any orders from the railroad commissioners in the prosecution of the work This contention on the part of the Utilities commission that the railroad was not responsible because no provision for drainage had been made in the original orders is fal- laciOus because it was impossible for any one to determine what disposition to make of the water which was di- verted until after the work was com p1eted.
 The hearing of the Public Utilities commission was held late this spring. Since it's decision there has been much talk and some activities of a political nature which would indicate that the conservative element favors the ae- ceptance of the offer of the road. The common rank and file of the people regard the matter as nothing less than a s'stea1'' on the part of the raiI- road, aided by the Utilities commission and abbetted by the old regime and local bankers who have financial in terests connected with the railroad. These represent the conservative ele- ment. The ordinary farmer has his hands full just now looking after his planting and the prospective hay crops and consequently but few were present at the meeting Satur. day.
 These few however succeeded in l sidetracking the scheme to get the 1 town 60 acce9t the proposition of the l railroad and voted after much dis. cussion to postpone the meeting for two weeks and find out the relative rights of the town and state. State 1 Highway Commissioner James H. Macdonald will be communicated with in this connection and an effort made 1 to"smoke him out" He has already failed to meet the repeated requests of the selectmen to define just what his and the towns rights are over the road bed and as one farmer at the meeting said there is some question l as to whether he can be smoked out l in two weeks' His reelection as l state highway commissioner in the general assembly last December, was opposed by First Selectman Johnson, | who was one of the representatives l from the town This is regarded as having had something to do with l