The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-09-03
MARBLE BLOCKS ARE
MUCH UNDERVALUED
Witness Says Pile Worth S1,191,624
Is Put In West Rutland Grand
List at $40, 900.

RUTLAND, Sept.3.-A huge pile OF
,,arbIe bIbeks. estimated by the state 5
first exueft witnesses to be valued at
q 1ol 624 and w4iell sis siR-sthe aiist AZ
son 200 Oh which the Vermont Marble
eompanv is paying taxes, was the. hrst
,pusual evidence introduced in the prose
cntion of the case of State against VII
liam r. Iwver, a lister of the town OF
Wet Rutland. in which he is charged by
states Attorney P. NJ. NJ. Phelps OF Fair
Haven with malfeasance of office. IL -
specifically charged that he understateo
the value sof this pile of marble blocks
with inteIt to defraud the town OF taxes
and in favor of the marble company:
1t is alleged that Mr.. Dwyer whlle
acting with the two other listers, L. Z.
Holt and Fred j. Lanthier, swore falseiy
as to the value of the personal properly
of the Vermont Marble company IN
West Rutland and also that he exempted
certain other property and the lime plant
of the same company from taxation
without the authority of the voters.
It developed yesterday that the states
attorney in his investigation OF the case
finds the town of West Rutland with a
strange grand list for the present year.
It is sworn to by only two listers and II
is said that one of these is disqualified.
In the wears 1915 and 1916 the county
prosecuting officer could find no official
records of the town meetings OF those
two wears and no official document Pur-
porting to. be the legal call for the town
meeting.
The first witness of the morning was
Town Clerk H. w. Humphreys and he
was on the stand for more than two
hours identifying certain records and
documents which the state has intro
duced to show that there was no author
ity of the voters to exempt the lime plant
or the village quarry which is also
known as the Westland quarry. Later
in the afternoon the state proceeded TO
show the actual value of the marble
blocks which are in the big pile near the
crane, easily seen from the electric and
steam roads.
The counsel for the respondent made
strenuous objection to the introduction
of any evidence which would tend to
show the value of the blocks claiming
that the standards used might differ from
those used by the listers when they as
sessed the blocks at $4,000. This was
apparent when one of the states experts
claimed the pile to be worth over $1,000
600. but the court admitted the evidence
under the exception of the defense.
1t appeared on cross examination that
on one or two occasions the voters voted
to exempt for 10 years any quarries,
mills or shops which would be started by
the Vermont Marble company during that
year for a period of 10 years. 1t also
developed that the company paid on
about half of the entire West Rutland
grand list.
The attorneys for the defense made
all sorts Of objections to the progress of
the states case, claiming at one time
that the oath of office taken by the re-
spondent was not according to statute
and that lie was not legally a lister. In
their opening statement counsel for the
respondent claimed that their defense
would be denial in toto of the charges
and the insistance on proof of wilfulness
of the respondent. If there was any
wrong done, the respondent claims it was
a mistake or possibly poor Judgment as
regards the assessed valuation.