Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-03-11
RECORD VOTESAT
ANNUAL TO " N
MEET, RANDOLPH

| Amidst the greatest excitement
that the town OF Randolph has ever
| known, and with the record vote in
the history of the town being cast,
| at the annual town meeting, the
! tickets put up by the Mems Club of
! the Randolph NJ. l.. Church was
elected straight through. every Off
! cial elected from Moderator down to
! Street Commissioner having the sup
port OF this organization. The meet
| ing was called ut nine o'clock in
/ Perry's Hall. and it was evident
from the start that feeling was at
| the highest pitch and that there
would be trouble in maintaining or
! der as the two factions were there
! In full strength.
The whole affair had all the ear
marks of an old time town meeting
when every position was hotly con-
tested for. but perhaps. the most
,, pleasing feature of the day. was that
different from the olden days, there
were no cases of intoxication. The
meeting had hardly begun when 1t
was announced that the hall was
dangerous as tho floor was settling
on account of the unusually large
crowd. The cry was then put up
that this was but n trick to get the
voters out of the way. and ii was
with considerable pickering that the
removal to Shaws Garage was eff
fectod.
The warrant containing thirty
seven articles was then read by the
Town Clerk. l.. f. Perry. and a mo-
ton was made and carried to vote by
check list. Polling began at 1015.
and continued until 1850. Fred Garlic
ton. Senior. was elected Moderator
over Fred Aver by a vote of 214 to
100, and from this first victory the
outcome was evident. Immediately
after the newly elected Moderator
had taken the chair. he called upon
the Rev. a. F.. leigh to invoke a
blessing. Rev. Mr.. Leigh was inter-
rupted by members of the crowd, ana
chided the offenders for insulting the
name OF the Deity. After the con-
clusion of the prayer, 1t was moved
and carried that the meeting be ad-
journed until one o'clock. A record
was certainly established here, in
that the meeting began at nine
o'clock, and 1t was after twelve be-
fore the Moderator was selected.
Shortly after one o'clock, the meet
ing was again called to order and
the first motion was favored by all:
,, This was to appoint n committee
| consisting of Wallace Libby, Walter
| Goodwin. Walter Jones and Herbert
Sherman to inspect voters, thus saw
ing time by doing away with the
check list method. The vote was
much closer on the first ofIicde as
Fred Dunning was elected Town
Clerk over l.. f. Perry by a vote Of
! 190-1S5. George Hartman was elect
ed to the office of First Selectman,
over F. A. Aver. by the vote. 222 to
165. A motion was then carried for
| the salaries OF the town officials to
be fixed and they were named as fol-
| lows: LIST selectmen. $3.50; End, $50;
Srd. 500: town Treasurer, 800:
Town Clerk. $50: Moderator, $3.50:
Pcrley Butterf1eld was the elected
Second Selectman, over w. J. Gro
der. by vote of els to 1873. and H.
l.. Strom was elected to the office Of
Third over w. E. Moody by the vote
rs to los.
Fred Dunning was named as town
clerk as it is customary to combine
the offices of town clerk and town
treasurer. The selectmen were elect
| ed to act as town agent.
With the total number of votes
cast dropping from 404 to 3s1, Ward
Morrow was elected to the school
board for three years. over Miss
Mary Cummings. by the vote 215-Il6
The first and second selectmen were
elected to act as q bridge commit
tee. F. A. Carleton. Jr., was then
elected as town auditor over H. A.