Norwich bulletin., 1919-04-29
WESTERLY

pr1ated the sum of $1.000 to defray the expenses of celebrating the two hun dred and flftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, the 18th of May. A committee of the board of trade was appointed to take the initial step and the result was the appoint ment of a joint committee of the Westerly town council No con- structive work has been done. conse- quently there will be no formal cele- bration on that date. The Westerly Historical society has arranged for the publication of Memorial Volume, on history of the town. but this will not be ready before September. A move ment has been started by citizens, in- dependent of the inactive committee, and an effort will be made to arrange q for an Old Home Week, in celebration of the anniversary in August next. It is therefore probable that there will be a delayed celebration of the big event, which will include welcome home to soldiers and sailors for which the town has appropriated s2,080
 Westerly was founded ip 1861, and l incorporated May 14, 1869. the town i ship from the geographical position re- ceied the name of Westerly. It was 1 the first township organized under the new colonial charter given in 1863, and 1 the fifth organized in the state. Prov idence was founded in 1636; Newport 1 in 1e3S; New London in 1646; Stonins- l ton in 1649 and Westerly in 1861.
 Originally the name was Misquami- l cutt, incorporated as Westerly, chang 1 ed to Haversham in 1886, and restored | in 1889. A Aecordins to to tn etown records, 'the
 Free Inhabitants of the Town of Westerle, May 18th, 1869 1 were: John Crandall, Edward 1 Larkin, Stephen Wilcox, John l strong, John Maxson, Jefree Champion, l
 Sen. John Fairfield, Daniel Cromb, !
 Nicholas Cottrell. Shuabel Painter,
 Tobias Saunders. Robert Burdick, John
 Randall, John Malkoon, John Sharp, Daniel Stanton, James Bahcock, Sen, i Thomas Painter. James Babcock. Jun, John Babcocll, Job Babcock, Josiah Clark" The colony immediately appointed John CrandaH, and Tobias Saunders. 1 'conservators of his majesty's peace," with power to summon juries and hold courts. To the twenty four men was committed the guardianship of a 1 territory twenty miles in length and taten wide. mostly 8 dense forest. tray ersed only by trails. Soon after ineor- poration these scattered settlers be- sides the vacations arising from dis
 prted boundaries suffered disturb
 ances and violence from the Indians Then came the King Philip war, and the pioneer settlers were obliged to 1 take shelter in Newport No deplt- 1 ties from the town were in the general
 assembly for five years. Ninigret re- i fused to join Philip in the conspiracy
 for the extermination of the colon 1 ists.
 Frederick Denison, in Westerly and Its Witnesses. in 1878. writes: After i ne down fall of Philip and the subst 1 dence of the savage uprising, inter 1 course was reopened between Wester- 1 ly and Newport and Providence Per sons and families began to return to
 their wilderness homes. and the for ests once more resounded to the hope- 1 ful settlers axe. Faith and courage 1 triumphed over fear and poverty. But , roads being uncut and rivers being 1 unbridged, the pioneers labored un- der great difficulties and provations
 Communications with their friends | were rare. and wild beasts howled l around their cabins. At first they could have neither schoolhouses nor n1eetinghouses. and but few and small assemblies. Their log and block lous-
 es were their castles, their school rooms their sanctuaries, till nearly the close of the cenury. In those days men were famous according as they lifted axes upon thick trees, and war
 red with foxes wolves and bears; and ] women were renowned as they yielded
 the ristaff and sped the loom. 4 true picture Of the domestic life of the i times would be to the present as | strange as a novel"
 When the Victory loan drive was re-
 stunned in Westerly Monday morning the town stood twenty second in the l percentage of quotas subscribed, being credited with four per cent. The sub
 scriptions of other towns in this sec tion were: East Greenwich As: Mar ragansett 16.7; North Kingston 1o.f:
 South Kingston 6,4: Hopkinton e.l;
 Charlestow-n 5.S and Richmond 4.9. I East Greenwich heads the list of cities
 and towns of the state. The total
 amount subscribed in Rhode Island
 was s4,2S2. 150 or 11.4 of it's s37, ,5t0, coo. Active soliciting began throughout tl7e
 state on Monday and there will be
 meetings and attractions to stimulate
 interest in hte drive.
 l Richard Parkinson, of Westerly. and three other privates of the Fourteenth Light Railway Engineers, Thomas L.
 Arbuckle, of Skowhegan, Me, Arthur
 P. Terrell of Atlantic. and Ray Rick
 etts, of Albany, N. Y, were among the i, soldiers who arrived in Boston on
 the transport Dakota, Sunday. The louf SoIUleTS named were awarded the .1 British War Medal for saving an am intuition train south of -Arras A train of five cars was set on fire by a shell. The engineers ran it to a water at the risk of being blown to death and extinguished the blaze.
 The Fourteenth Engineers trained at Salem, N. H., in the early summer of 1917 and arrived in England in Att gust. They were sent to France and ] went to the front on August 2. They served with the British army un6I August, 1918, when they were trans ferred to the American army and were at Ferdun when the armistice was signed.
 With Three bill boards available ir Westerly's civic centre. not twenty feet apart, fourth board has beer 4 erected between the marble pillars ot the post office, directly back of an( above, an unused bill board in from of the post office. This fourth board is utilized in connection with the Vic tory loan drive. a most commendabl. purpose The board. however cozft s readily have been placed in any ont of the other three bill boards that ar, not used for any, purpose and have HI long since s-ecorle publir eyesores s At present there are four bill board