The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-10-14
OF THE
UNION DEPOT HEARING

of the union depot hearing where it
had to leave off yesterday.
Mr.. F. E. Harris followed. Like
a number of the other speakers. Mr..
Harris thanked the members Of the
commission for their presence He
said he did not know whether this
was an opportune time for the
building Of a depot, but he did
know that we wanted an union sta
ton and that he had worked for it
a long time and would continue. to
do so.
Mr.. George MacKay. president of
the board of trade, said there were
a few points he would like TO men,
ton. Some time since. the A. C. l..
commenced having their trains No.
80, southbound, and No. AT to
tHomosassa. meet out in the woods
on the north side of town, and
transfer passengers. baggage and ex-
press. This was partially brought
about on complaint of the public for.
the stencil that was created at the
passenger depot by express cars
loaded with fish standing there. He
thought neither depot of the city was
adequate to our needs, and the S. A.
l.. was not fit for side station. No
one would insist that the work be
done Immediately. but he wanted
the matter decided and ordered
Col R. F. Rogers, one of the
staunchest advocate for the union
depot, spoke. He said he asked the
commission to make the decision to-
day and order depot for Ocala He
congestion of freight and passenger
trains was something very danger
Gus to say nothing of its inconven-
! fences; that there was less than II
feet of space between the walls OF
the station and the first track, that
old or decrepit people, children and
women were in danger there at
many times in getting ON the trains
and getting off from them, and soon
er or later if conditions existed there
cur. He said another feature Of
the union depot was that the heavy
transfer of mails from one depot to
another would be obviated He said
he had counted the seats for white
people at the IA. G. l.. station and
there were 23-entireIy mad equate
at times. At the S. A L. the wait
ing room was simply not fit for a
person to wait in, to say notIling of
its limited size. Like all of the
other speakers, Col Rogers said he
was not asking that the work be or
dered done at once, but that the un-
in station be ordered now, to be
built at some time in the future He
referred to many places in the state
that enjoyed union stations, among
them Live Oak, Lake City, Plant
City, Lakeland, and some very
small places as Hampton, Lake But
Ter, Hawthorne, etc.
Mr.. Brand, superintendent of the
"A. G. l.. Ry.. was the first raflroad
man to be heard and for some time
he only called on others in the room
for their expression and Mr.. Thomas
Sexton and Mr.. j. w. Kea, travelling
men, both of whom are opposed to
union station and say it would cost
them quite a good deal more In the
course of year.
Mr.. ]. r. Dewey said he was OPP
posed to the union depot, not alone,
however, because he was interested
in business way or that it was per-
sonal with him, but that he thought
large percentage of the business
that came to OcaIa on the railroads
came over the a. C. l.. Ry., that he
and he thought we were better off
as we are than with the union sta
ton
1 Mr.. Meffert was called on by Mr..
Brand. as one of the minority sign
ers of the petition. He said he
thought the people ought to consider
! business reasons and not just insist
on union station whether or no.
| He wants better service on both
roads but he was not in favor of a
/ union station.
l Mr. r. L. Martin said he was one
/ of the minority. He said he Thought
V the station arrangement was very
D good and he liked to have people
j, stop over and linger with US as long
. as possible and wanted US to gel
: out of them all we could and MOI
n shoot them through the city like &
e bullet. He said the trading public
g have it very handy at the A. C. L
station now and a very large per
centage of the public travel over
: that road. He referred TO Chatta