Daily Kennebec journal., 1917-11-28

4 The Public Utilities COMMISSIONS
main room at its Offices at the State
House was comfortably we'll filled
Tuesday morning, when at 10 O'Clock
was begun the hearing, listed on the
commissions bulletin board as Pc
tition of the municipal officers Of Au
gUsta for approval Of the change Of
+ location of the track of the Lewiston,
Augusta & Watervile Street Railway
on State street Augusta, between the
State House and the car barn"
| Commissioners Cleavcs. SHELTON and
| Bunker were present, with Chief
| Clerk George i. Giddings and Stenog-
r&pher i. J. Connor in attendance.
I 7 ppearances were noted by Chairman
Cleaves as follows: NJ. +. SawtelIe,
! city solicitor of Augusta. for the Au-
guSta municipal officers 50 far as they
are concerned and Leroy l.. Hight Of
Augusta for the proponents: John +.
Nelson of Augusta and VIM. NJ. Brad
ley of Portland for the l.. \. & w
| A considerable amount Of testimony
was taken out in the forenoon and
in the afternoon oral arguments were
made by Attorneys Hight and Mel
| in which to file brief in the case and
Mr.. Nelson Will then have an additional
10 days from that date in which to
do the same
Mr.. Hight in opening the case re-
viewed the laws from the entrance Of
electric railroads into the business life
of the State to the present time and
the reason for the course of proceed
ing taken in this matter. lie then
stated that tho part Of the L. A. & W.
between the State House and the car
barn, especially at Scott street, was
danger to traffic and travel and the
condition should be rcmcdied The
track runs on the west side Of the
street and it is impossible to enter
state street from Scott street without
crossing the track The view is OBJ
structcd by houses and il seems i'm
possible to remedy it except by NOV
ing the track to the middle of the
street
The grade is steep and the cars are
run at excessive speed, daily endan-
gerinc lives and property with the
Danger of slippery rails. with cars so
run, the danger is very great The
peril j. admitted by the road and its
operatives by the constant blowing Of
Whistles at this point to warn people
% their danger The rails are in poor
c'sldltlon and the roadbed the same.
re bouncing and jouncing about Of
tne cars is annoying to the residents
OF that vicinity and even damage to
property has resulted from the lar and
JOYS OF the cars. The situation would
he helped if the track were moved to
tie center and the roadbed properly
built and ballastcd.
Edgar S. Turner
Edgar $ Turner, No 22S State
street, has lived there IS years. NV
doorstep perhaps Is feet from the rail.
Last Friday | counted III cars passing
II. both directions. Travel on Scott
street during summer is heavy. many
people going through Grove and onto
State via Scott, sometimes 200 autos
and teams. View of approaching cars
is difficult
Began observations of speed and
conditions and making protests when
late 7upt. Taylor was in charge. Kept
u up with SuptS. Dunn and Cole They
All promised TO try to prevent the
trouble but none did The cars would
run down that grade from 40 to so
miles an hour and Supt Cole said in
spite Of his orders and then the men
would wait sometimes half an hour at
the carbarn before proceeding The
constant whistling is very annoying,
but perhaps necessary, on account Of
the reckless driving. Freight cars
run at reckless speed, with their great
weight and heavy loads: Think a re-
moval to center of street would be a
move toward safety.
Condition Of the track Is a menace
The jar and shaking has broken a num-
ber of panes of glass in my windows
and the ceilings have been cracked by
the same cause.
BY Nelson-Knew the railroad was
there when J bought house and rebuilt
Locality has developed. Sidewalk runs
about 800 feet south Of nv house and