USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 26
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1 Not to be confused with the great blizzard of March 11-14, 1888, by which all others are judged.
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Finally at a town meeting on April 4, 1881 the special committee, consisting of Varnum Mead, James Billings, and Daniel Wetherbee, that had been in charge of the bounty payments in 1864, made its routine report of expenditures. The sum involved was $4477.67 and concerned the enlistment of twenty two men. Immediately there was lively debate which ended in the passage of a vote to spend not in excess of two hundred dollars for legal fees to investigate the validity of the bill. This was clearly indicative of the temper of the citizenry on the whole issue. Some were opposed to bounties in any form at any time; others were against taxes of any form under any circum- stances; certain of the soldiers who had enlisted early in the war, as well as their relatives felt abused that after fifteen years they should be expected to assist in doles to men who never fired a gun. Before the meeting adjourned, however, the friction abated and it was voted to pay the bill.
Nevertheless not all was harmony. By November another meeting was convened at which by a vote of 109 to 81 it was decided to pay those veterans who enlisted in the 26th Massachusetts and were credited to Acton one hundred and twenty five dollars. It was also voted to appoint a committee to go before the legislature and pro- cure if possible the passage of a bill legalizing the levying of such a tax.
The considerable negative vote indicates the pitch to which interest had been aroused. The bounty question had become political dynamite. As a result there was an article in the warrant for the March meeting of 1882 desiring the appointment of an auditing com- mittee to see why $4477 was spent for recruiting twenty two men as shown by the reports of 1864 and 1865. The opposition was out for blood and was combing the records for any ammunition, either recent or otherwise, to embarrass the proponents of the bounty. When the meeting convened it was agreed after protracted debate to permit Mr. James Billings to speak at length upon the matter. At the conclusion of his remarks the meeting voted not to appoint an auditing committee.
The details of Mr. Billings' speech are not officially recorded but their gist is preserved in a badly mutilated newspaper article by Mr. Daniel Wetherbee, apparently printed during the ensuing week, in answer to two previous communications sent to the paper by private citizens. Mr. Wetherbee makes the observation that these letters impugn the honesty of the committee in carrying out its duties in 1864-65 and hence his personal integrity. A short quotation from the article will explain his position with a minimum of verbosity.
"Sometime in the last of November, 1864, it was thought
by quite a number of citizens that Acton ought immediately
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to add more men to her quota, as the prospect seemed to be that the price of recruits in the near future would be much higher than it then was. That there might be the least pos- sible delay quite a number of citizens assembled at the town hall one evening at about the above mentioned date and put their names to a paper guaranteeing to the recruiting committee, James E. Billings, Varnum Mead, and myself, what we should think it best to pay out in the enlistment of not more than fifty men to the credit of Acton.
Supported by this paper, which we still have, we went on without waiting for a town meeting and enlisted quite a large number of men and had them placed to our credit.
That we might make no mistake in the matter and pay for men not mustered into service or placed to our credit we went to the Adjutant General's office and received in- structions as to whom we could transact our business with so as to be perfectly safe, and we acted strictly by those instructions. Mr Billings drew and paid out all the money and never paid out a cent excepting upon properly attested certificates.
After the close of the war Mr. Billings handed in to the town clerk the names of these men as they appeared upon the certificates, and those names were read at the town meeting Monday.
If the proper number of names does not appear on the Adjutant General's books at the state house we cannot help it. We claim that we used due care in the premises and upon that claim, in view of all the presumption in our favor, we are willing to rest our case."
Following this, but too badly mutilated to be trusted as a record, there appears in fine print some three inches of names of those who signed the paper mentioned by Mr. Wetherbee. The names of John Fletcher, who drew up the document, Luke Tuttle, James E. Billings, J. K. W. Wetherbee, John Conant, Luther Forbush, Ai Robbins, Luke J. Robbins, George Colman, Stevens Hayward, and Cyrus Hosmer are readily decipherable and give a clear idea of the type of men who stood behind the committee.
One would think that the controversy would have ended here, particularly since the town agreed to pay the bill. As a matter of fact, however, the whole affair was just about to explode in a quite new direction which was to obscure in great part the original issues. This may well be called phase two since there is yet another to follow. Some of the minority party began to really concentrate upon the matter and anyone familiar with New England rural politics knows
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that every community contains a coterie of inimitable characters who, although they may sit and whittle and appear to do nothing of importance, can, particularly under pecuniary incentive, shuck out an idea of sufficient adroitness to confound an international chess champion. Shortly it began to be bruited about that if the town were so affluent that it could toss off several thousand dollars to short term soldiers in the latter part of the war then the wives and heirs of these same soldiers, either killed in action or deceased in the interim, also had a claim on the bounty these men would have received had they lived until 1882.
Needless to say, the controversey which had up to this time been warm, was now red hot. Any semblance of decorum that formerly existed vanished precipitately. The local stores were hot beds of discussion. Forthright terms of abuse were freely exchanged with accompanying fisticuffs as tempers escaped control. Approximately half the adult population ceased to be on speaking terms with the remainder. Numerous citizens who had thought well of themselves for years suddenly discovered exactly where they stood in the estimation of their neighbors.
Many who were heartily in favor of the soldier bounty felt outraged that persons who had in no wise risked themselves and were not even dependents of men who had done so were to be the beneficiaries of taxes levied in part upon veterans in frugal circum- stances or even in some cases maimed or ill. In particular were the relatives and friends of the actual gunpowder soldiers who, because they enlisted early in the conflict, were not eligible for the bounty, resolved to tear the town apart before they gave in. In general they were backed by the patriotic citizens who felt ashamed of the whole sordid business. There was justification in this attitude since the matter had gone far beyond the confines of Acton. A letter in the public press from a writer in Fall River was not a thing to induce pride.1
Before long the contest, while for the common folk it remained one of principle, became for the more influential citizens a battle to see who was to "run the town". All sorts of pressures were brought to bear, jobs were threatened, business agreements cancelled, and churches split into schisms. That actual cash changed hands between town meetings is certain but not now provable. According to one wit- ness a young man, not a native of Acton, whose birthday fell one day too soon, was forced to perjure himself as to his age and vote anyway. In a fit of resentment he cast his ballot contrary to the parental wishes, thoroughly whipped his father in the resulting brawl, and left Acton for good. Seasonal workers whose sojourn in Acton was
1 James Brady, Collector of Customs, Fall River.
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not to exceed a few months were induced by devious means to claim residence in order to vote.
With the public mind in this posture the town meeting of April 3, 1882 was without precedent. The glowering partisans congregated on either side of the center aisle. The voting desk was set up at the front of the hall and before the balloting it was agreed that all the area around it was to be kept cleared. Acton had at this time a population of 1797 but even so, with only males exercising the sufferage, over four hundred and thirty ballots were cast. The lame, the halt, the blind, the simple minded were all there. Even those moderately ill were in some cases carried to the ballot box.
The specific question at issue was
"To see if the town, voting by ballot, will pay a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each soldier and the legal representative of each deceased soldier who re- enlisted as a veteran in the 26th Massachusetts Volunteers under the call of the President October 17, 1863 who was credited to the town and never has received any bounty therefrom for such re-enlistment, and raise by taxation the sum of four thousand dollars for, and appropriate the same to, the payment of said bounties".
When the ballots were counted it was found that the article had prevailed temporarily at least, by a vote of 219 to 215.
It certainly appeared that the bounty was assured but with the electorate so evenly divided anyone conversant with local politics would suspect that merely one more round was finished. Quite apart from exalted questions of ethics there were plenty on the losing side who could view the matter from the money angle too. The frugal farmer, possibly a veteran of heavy campaigning, who saw only five or six hundred dollars a year in cash was in no mood to contribute to his wealthier neighbor - he would just town meeting the whole issue to exhaustion. There would be no dearth of signers for a meeting to reconsider.
In this state of mind the voters assembled in special meeting on August 21st and a motion to reconsider failed by 204 to 194 where- upon the meeting was adjourned sine die. Twelve days later the session reconvened and again the motion to rescind failed by 206 to 198. As the losers sat in grim silence and the victors cheered in jubilation one of those inexplicable quirks of circumstance that on rare occasions transpire to relieve the tenseness of a situation took place. In the center of the main aisle there was a large register about four feet in diameter. One voter on the winning side, cavorting in the excess of his glee, broke through and all but disappeared into the hot air duct. The whole assemblage, regardless of sides, burst
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into hilarity while the victim, according to one of his rescuers still living, expressed himself vehemently and volubly in no uncertain terms.1
It would be gratifying if it could be said that the whole con- troversey ended on this humorous note as every one went home with a chuckle. The dismal facts are, however, that phase three was about to begin; the most fantastic political episode in Acton's history. Since it appeared that the paying of the bounty was assured a small group of men began to scrutinize the wording of the original article and with avidity pounced upon the term "legal representative". These were men who had possessed sufficient means to hire sub- stitutes, who, in several instances, had perished in the conflict or had died previous to 1882. Hence these patriotic gentry claimed a right to the bounty and even went so far in one or two cases as to assert the right to a pension.
It requires but slight imagination to see that if the fight had been hot before it now became incandescent. Convinced that the public temper would contenance no such machinations the group took out an injunction against the town to prevent the payment of the bounty to anyone. Due to local influence they had some following but in general there was a considerable relignment of sentiment. Many persons formerly against the bounty on principle reversed themselves. They were in no state of mind to pay as much as a hundred and twenty five cents, to say nothing of dollars, to men who counted their income in thousands.
As a result of the injunction a town meeting was held on November 7, 1882. The debate was short and to the point. The town voted to defend itself and chose Luther Conant and Daniel Wetherbee as a committee to conduct the defense before the supreme court with authority to engage counsel. The injunction was removed where- upon it became necessary to see that the legislature pass the act enabling the town to assess the requisite taxes. Here the minority made their last stand. As has been pointed out earlier the original issues had been long since submerged in the death struggle to see who was to dominate the town politics. The group had sufficient influence so that the Governor vetoed the bill. When it came to a vote on the morning of the very last day of the session there were not sufficient votes to overide the veto. Certain Acton citizens who were on hand to watch proceedings immediately hurried home to spread the news and stage a noisy celebration.
1 Insult was added to injury when there appeared in the town warrant for the March meeting of 1883 an article seeking to make the victim pay for the register. The record does not make clear the final disposition of the matter, but an Acton citizen now living states that it never was enforced.
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For the sake of clarity the portion of the bill before the legislature that was in actual controversey and for which the injunction had been sought is given herewith.
"The town of Acton is authorized in the manner provided in section two of this act, to raise by taxation a sum of money not to exceed $4000.00 and appropriate the same to the payment of a bounty of $125.00 to each soldier and legal representative of each deceased soldier, who re-enlisted as a veteran in the 26th regiment of Massachusetts under the call of the president dated October 17, 1863, who was credited to said town and has never received therefrom any bounty for such re-enlistment; provided that said town shall not be reimbursed by the Commonwealth for any money paid under the authority of this act."
Section two mentioned above had to do with the method of present- ing the matter to the voters and stipulated that the question should appear in a town warrant and that the vote should be by ballot on a YES and NO proposition. Furthermore the act was to take effect immediately upon its passage.
Mr. Luther Conant and Mr. Wetherbee, however, were on the spot and interceded with influential members of the Senate, telling them the real inwardness of the matter. In consequence the Senate recom- sidered in the afternoon and as of March 20, 1882 the enabling act was passed over the governor's veto and became law since the lower house corroborated the decision without delay.
Then the shoe was decidedly on the other foot. Mr. John Hoar recalls how gleefully Mr. Delette Hall jumped off the evening train with both hands full of copies of the bill.
Thus ended the great bounty fight beside which all other Acton rows seem rather tame. The payments were made with reasonable promptness with one exception. For reasons not now discoverable George Pike had a petition in the warrant in three different years seeking his bounty. An affirmative vote finally came in 1891 but the delay remains a mystery.
In spite of the raging of the bounty fight the town did not expend its total energy in that direction It even found time to consider in a positive but rather ineffectual way what to do about fire protection. It voted to provide pails, ladders and fire hooks for each of the five villages and make arrangements for housing the same. In addition the town offered to meet half the expense for the purchase of hand force pumps, at five dollars each, for as many citizens as desired to avail themselves of the opportunity. Some of these pumps were still in existence as relics within the memory of the author. They were metal affairs with a wooden plunger. If set in a pail or a tub of
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water they would throw a stream perhaps half an inch in diameter several yards. For an incipient fire that had built up no heat they were better than nothing but that is all that can he said for them.
At the April meeting of 1883 the high school question again arose and to the gratification of many the decision was made to raise eight hundred dollars for the purpose. The school was to be in session for three terms of three months each. The first term of the year was to be in the spring at West Acton, the second term to be at the Centre in the autumn, and the third term as South Acton in the winter.1 Pursuant of this vote the summer was a busy one for the school authorities. Superintendant Frederick C. Nash makes the following comment in his annual report:2
"Established so unexpectedly, and not until several scholars had made arrangements to attend elsewhere, it did not im- mediately and wholly arrest that exodous to the schools of other towns which had done so much to weaken our schools, and it became necessary to admit scholars who had not regularly completed the grammar school course. But at the next term older scholars came in and during the year the school has numbered about forty eight different scholars."
He goes on to make clear that the committee and the superintendent must fix the standards for admittance to the high school, hold public written examinations for the candidates, and firmly adhere to the standards set. He outlines the prospective course of study as embrac- ing Book-keeping, Algebra, Geometry, Ancient and Modern History, English Literature, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, the Constitution and Government of the United States, together with French and Latin. These latter two, however, were not to be required for grad- uation but a special clause was to be inserted in the diplomas of those who took them. In short he recommended that the English course be required and that other languages be optional.
In view of the present mass influx into the colleges some interest attaches to Mr. Nash's further assertion that while he does not belittle the value of a college preparatory course the time is not ripe for it since "not one per cent of the people of Acton ever have or ever will go through college".
He must have been a man of wisdom as well as intelligence since he makes the point that the location of the high school is not of import- ance at that early stage but that if necessary a small sum can be
1 A recent newspaper article makes the erroneous assertion that the moving high school was on wheels. As mentioned above the school rotated term by term but the classes were held in the present buildings which, as has been previously pointed out, were erected some eleven years previous to the inception of the high school.
2 Town report for February 26, 1884, p. 29.
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appropriated for transportation until such time as a separate building is necessary.
Thus the first Acton high school began its career in the autumn of 1883 under the guidance of Mr. H. H. Williams as principal. His salary was eighty dollars a month and the school rotated term by term among the villages as had previously been voted.
By sheer good fortune it happens that there is in existence a com- plete list of the scholars attending this first session. Not only that but there is also a priceless record of their deportment based on the scale of 100 as denoting perfection.1 Among the group there are five who were entirely satisfactory, namely, Annie Lee, Ora Clough, William Kelley, David Kinsley, and Herbert Robbins. Due to the fact that certain younger scholars were at first admitted it is not sur- prising that they found the high school atmosphere a bit irksome. It is significant of the times that the ages vary from William Kelley2 who was twenty to Lutie Conant who was a youngster of eleven.3
This roll is so unique and interesting that it is herewith given in full.
Della Barker
95
Sarah Hammond 98
Jennie Bean
95
Millie Handley 94
Susie Billings
99
Minnie Harris 99
Joseph Bird
85
Willie Hart
93
William Kelley
100
Lucius Hosmer
92
David Kinsley
100
Addie Houghton
95
George Lee
98
Hobart Mead
84
Annie Lee
100
Clesson Parker
93
Emery Clark
94
Martha Pratt
95
Ora Clough
100
Alberta Preston
98
Ella Cole
99
Bertie Reed
85
Elbridge Conant
99
Fred W. Reed
95
Lutie Conant
97
Mabel Richardson
99
Susie Conant
95
Herbert Robbins
100
Gertie Cutler
97
Sadie Sawyer
99
Arthur Davis
98
Lizzie Scofield
95
Hattie Davis
98
Carrie Shapley
97
Willie Davis
95
Martha Smith
98
Florence Dupee
99
Frank Teele
94
Florence Fletcher
36
Etta Tuttle
96
Harry Fletcher
99
Hattie Tuttle
92
Walter Gardner
88
Frank Whitcomb
85
Alice Guilford
96
Fred Whitcomb
97
Eugene Hall
95
Eugene White
95
1 Town Report of February 26, 1884, p. 35.
2 In later life the owner for many years of the Simon Hosmer homestead at what is now known as Kelley's Corner.
3 An elder brother of Mr. Agustine B. Conant, now resident in Cambridge.
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Of this group Luther Conant, Alice Guilford, Mildred Handley, Minnie Harris, Etta Tuttle, Willie Hart, Eugene Hall and George Burroughs (of Boxborough) were living in 1952.
It was at about this period that the various fraternal orders, par- ticularly those with insurance features, began to expand into the smaller towns. The first of these to become established locally was Acton Council No. 795 of the Royal Arcanum which was organized September 4, 1883 with sixteen charter members. The initial group of officers consisted of Lucien S. Hosmer, Regent; Theron F. Newton, Vice-Regent; Lorenzo E. Reed, Secretary; Loren C. Baldwin, Collec- tor; Charles B. Stone, Treasurer. For several years the meetings were held in the hall which at that time occupied the second story of the present post office building at South Acton. When subsequently the hall was pre-empted for school purposes the Arcanum held its meetings in the vestry of the Universalist Church. The Council dis- solved July 25, 1931 and the membership transferred to Concord Council which then became the Concord/Acton Council.
Our preoccupation with the bounty question, the schools and what- not has made it necessary that we by-pass temporarily some comment concerning two industries of South Acton that have played an impor- tant part in the story of the village.
In the early 1880's, Henry O. Lothrop invented and patented the offset for wound wire ferrules, thereby giving them a smooth finish where the wire began and ended. He manufactured these at his mill in South Boston until his retirement about 1898, when he sold the business to his nephew Frank B. Lothrop. He operated with a partner in Charlton City, Mass. for about five years. The partnership dis- solved and Mr. Lothrop built the present factory on the site of a mill privilege where he had worked as a boy. The demand for wound wire ferrules decreased as the demand for pressed, punched and stamped ferrules for all types of brushes increased. To compensate small lines of metal specialties were added from time to time, including timers for Ford cars. Mr. Lothrop sold out his interest in the business a few years before his death, although the plant still bears the family name.
On November 9, 1886 the piano stool factory burned. It was im- mediately rebuilt by Mr. Charles A. Harrington and outfitted with steam as well as water power. Mr. C. W. Chadwick was in charge and under his direction the business was prosperous and successful. Mr. Harrington came to Acton in 1867 after having married in 1866 Mary Jane Faulkner, the daughter of Col. Winthrop E. Faulkner. He rebuilt and enlarged the old Faulkner Mills and was actively instru- mental in imparting to South Acton a decided impetus toward pros- perity. He was a native of Shrewsbury, was for several years in the
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lumbering business in Potsdam, N. Y., in Wisconsin, and was a partner with Col. Faulkner in lumbering ventures in the South.
The modern phase of the piano stool business began when in 1888 Mr. C. W. Chadwick joined with Mr. Asaph Merriam under the firm name of Chadwick and Merriam. The factory was on the site of the present F. B. Lothrop Company. When Mr. Chadwick retired in 1891, Mr. Merriam bought the business and took in with him his two sons, Frank A. Merriam and William T. Merriam, thus forming the A. Merriam Company.
The factory burned December 27, 1895 so land and water privilege were acquired where the present factory is located. A suitable, well appointed plant for the manufacture of piano and organ stools was built and the business continued.
Mr. Asaph Merriam died at the age of seventy eight. He had begun manufacturing piano stools at twenty eight in Meriden, Con- necticut, coming to Acton a year after his factory there had burned. He had established his business on a quality basis which was adhered to during his long career. After his death the sons carried on and enlarged along the lines he had laid out.
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