USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections > Part 42
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June 27, 1837, at the annual meeting of the qualified citizens of the township, Thomas Wilcox, Julius Tozer, Jr., and Clark McCall were acting judges of election; J. F. Satterlee, clerk, Charles Comstock, elected trustee. July 10, 1837, a public meeting assembled for the purpose of effecting a division between the township and borough of the respective interests in the lot sales. A committee of five was appointed-three from the township and two from the borough-to make the settlement. Members of this committee : On part of town- ship-John Watkins, Robert Spalding and J. F. Satterlee; on part of borough-L. S. Ellsworth and George A. Perkins. The committee reported to an adjourned meeting Saturday, August 26. They preface this report by saying they had obtained the opinion of Hon. Judge Williston, and proceed as follows: "The patent from the Common- wealth vested the title to the land in Messrs. Franklin, Shepard and Satterlee as trustees for the township of Athens. No provision by law was made for the disposition of this land until the act of March 27, 1827." This law, they say, authorized the trustees to sell and convey. But no provision was made by law for the election of trustees to sup- ply vacancies, and the act was so defective that in 1835 an amending act was passed ; this act authorized the trustees to sell, except the pub- lic square.
Under the law, and the action of the people in 1815, it is supposed there is really nothing to-day to prevent the trustees from selling the public reserved lots and square.
The committee reported that, "first, the funds now in the hands of the trustees of said township be divided, the township to have two- thirds and the borough one-third ; second, that the two reserved lots, or Boardman lots, on the north side of the public lot, and also one-half of the four-acre lot on the front or west end, be sold and the proceeds divided as above; third, that the residue or one-half part of the four- acre lot, being the east half, be divided into two equal parts, the town- ship to have one-half and the borough the other ; fourth, that the debt, that has accrued in re-building and re-furnishing the acad- emy, ought in justice to be paid at present, as that debt bears hard and to the manifest injury of a few individuals, who in good faith and with a public spirit worthy of imitation, made advances necessary to complete the building, under a confident belief that their advances
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would be refunded by a liberal, generous public." * * " The com- pleting and furnishing the academy has resulted in great credit to the village and a benefit and convenience to the public generally, provid- ing a suitable building for all public meetings necessary for the town- ship and borough, as well as a convenient house for public worship, free to all denominations of professing Christians without molestation. From this view your committee consider that the township has a rela- tive interest in common with the borough in the academy, consequently ought, upon every principal of fair dealing, pay her proportional part of the expenses." The committee then recommended that the borough pay two-thirds and the township one-third of the academy debt, and conclude by recommending that the interest arising from the unsold land be specifically appropriated for the benefit of the district schools. The report was unanimously adopted and approved.
July 20, 1840, the books show total resources from lot sales, $3,234.27. Of this, $244.95 were paid for rebuilding academy, and $701.12 additional was paid to the borough. The township fund, from year to year, in 1846 amounted to $3,000. The interest on this is paid annually to the township school treasurer. Thus the township has carried out, and is carrying out the intention of the proprietors.
It is doubtful if the borough has kept a like faith, and no fixed fund can now be found that has come from the sale of the public land. The land where the new brick school-house stands, as well as the $2,000 appropriated by the State to the academy fund (in which the township had a common interest), a fund donated before Athens became a borough, and given exclusively in support of the academy school, and there is grave doubt if this fund is yet intact, and was not put into the high school building.
Postoffice .- The first postoffice established at Tioga Point was in 1800, William Prentice being first appointed, and his office was in Mathias Hollenback's store. After serving five years, he suddenly died. No appointment was made for two years, Col. Samuel Satterlee officiating pro tem; David Paine was then appointed postmaster, in 1808, and served until 1824, when he resigned and D. A. Saltmarsh was appointed ; in 1827, Ebenezer Backus; 1831, Lemuel Ellsworth ; 1840, John Judson; 1841, O. D. Satterlee; 1844, C. S. Park ; 1845, C. H. Herrick ; 1848, N. C. Harris ; 1853, W. Olmstead ; 1856, C. H. Herrick ; 1861, William Fritcher; 1864, S. B. Hoyt.
Cayuta Mill .- " The old stone mill " is the outcome of the first mill in Bradford county, built in the other century by John Shepard, and was the beginning and gave the name of Milltown, now in the borough of Sayre. Its present owners are F. J. Philips and Levi Curtis. The old frame mill stands near the " stone mill," and lately was a plaster mill. The present mill is water-power, on Cayuta creek, has a capacity of about 1,700 bushels daily. The present firm has operated it the past twenty-two years. They purchased of Simon Morley. and Horace Shipman.
The Shingle and Planing Mill of Campbell Bros. is in North Athens.
Cayuta Axle Company .- President and general manager, H. B.
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.
Stimpson ; secretary and treasurer, B. F. Taylor; have thirty employees. Company incorporated in 1882.
Milltown was laid out by John Jenkins in 1786, also "under a grant from the Susquehanna company to Prince Bryant and fifty others." It lies " between said town (Athens) and the State line." These tracts were settled under the Pennsylvania title, as follows: Lot 1, Theodore Morgan, August 21, 1824; Lot 2, Reuben Hatch, September 2, 1824 ; Lot 3, Reuben Muzzy, August 21, 1824; No. 4, Silas C. Perry, March 16, 1825 ; No. 5, John Shepard, September 2, 1824; No. 6, school-house, same date; No. 8, Clement Paine, same date; No. 9, Reuben Muzzy, September 30, 1826; No. 10, Samuel Chapman, same date; No. 11, Judson Griswold, same ; No. 12, John Shepard, same; No. 13, James Elmstead, March 15, 1826; No. 14, Moses W. Wheelock, same; No. 15, George Haddock, October 20, 1829; No. 19, M. Shepherd's homestead; No. 20. W. B. Swain, May 20, 1825; No. 21, Samuel Warner, March 16, 1825; No. 22, Solomon Fuitts, September 7, 1825; No. 23, Adam Crause, 1816; No. 24 Wanton Rice, April 27, 1815; No. 25, William W. Rice, June 15, 1815 ; No. 26, Jere Adams, June 26, 1819; No. 27, Joseph Crocker, April 24, 1816; No. 28, Francis Snackenberger; No. 29, Daniel Elwell, April 23, 1816; No. 30, Ozias Spring; No. 31, Theodore Wilcox, 1800; No. 32, Dr. Ozias Spring ; No. 33, school lot; No. 34, Ozias Spring; No. 35, burying ground ; No. 36, Benj. Jacobs, March 31, 1816; No. 38, L. Hopkins; No. 39, L. Strait ; No. 40, Henry Welles. June 4, 1817, Then came Muzzy's, Griswold's and Elwell's lots, 1826 ; Dennis Fuller's, 1828; M. B. Wheelock's, 1827, and Samuel Wheelock's.
These lay along Mill creek on each side. Prince Bryant had built a mill on the creek on the east side, and this important improvement was the nucleus of Milltown. He sold to John Shepard and Nathaniel Shaw in January, 1788. Lot 1 was an island, just below the old mill. Tract No. 36 was sold by John Jenkins to John Shepard in June, 1790, and he sold to Benjamin Jacobs, March 21, 1816. The tract adjoining west of the last-named was sold by John Harris to Simon Spalding, September 13, 1828, and No. 38, just south of this, was owned by Charles D. Hopkins. The tract abutting this and fronting on the Tioga river originally belonged to Sybil Stephens, who sold to Elias Mathewson. The tract of John Harris, just north of this, was origin- ally S. Swift's, who came and occupied it in 1786 ; he was ejected by the Pennsylvania authorities in 1810, and it came into the possession of Alpheus Harris, June 19, 1811, and north of this to the State line was purchased by Samuel Harris, July 4, 1815. In this tract is Span- ish Hill. Across the river opposite Spanish Hill, is the John H. Avery tract ; he sold to Edward Herrick, April 26, 1826; adjoining this on the south was Levi Spalding's ; he sold to Francis Tyler, April 26, 1826. The next going south belonged to Daniel and Hugh McDuffie, who sold to Eben Dunham. Passing to the north-east corner of the township is the Adam Crause tract, No. 23, purchased in 1816; No. 22 is west of this, by Solomon Evits, September 7, 1825; Nos. 21 and 20 adjoin this on the south-west; the former owned by Samuel Warner in 1826, and the latter by William B. Swain, May 28, 1823; No. 19, John
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HISTORY, OF BRADFORD COUNTY.
Shepard's, who moved into his new house on this tract in 1817. Just north of Prince Bryant's mill were the houses of William Rice and Dr. Amos Prentice, and Prentice's tannery. As already stated, Prince Bryant sold his mill to Shepard and Shaw in January, 1788. This John Shepard came to this country a clerk for Hollenback. He was a nephew of Capt. Simon Spalding, and came with him to the new country soon after the war, when eighteen years old, first stopping in Sheshequin. After much experience in trading with the Indians, he purchased Bryant's mill-a saw and grist mill and two dwelling houses, purchased under the Connecticut title ; the land embraced both sides of Cayuta creek, or Shepard's or Mill creek, and included about all that eventually became Milltown-600 acres. The gristmill was the only one within a range of fifty miles. John Shepard mar- ried Anna, daughter of Judge Gore of Sheshequin, and made his per- manent settlement on his Milltown property. He bought of John Jenkins three hundred and forty acres opposite his mills, across the creek. He was a large land buyer, and at one time owned all the land on which is Waverly. The first interment in the Milltown cemetery was a youth of eighteen, Chester, a son of Josiah Pierce, who had been thrown from his horse and dragged to death. In December, 1798, Shepard's gristmill burned, and with difficulty the sawmill was saved. The whole population turned out and helped rebuild it; in the meantime the people had to go to Wilkes-Barre, one hundred miles, to mill. About the beginning of this century Mr. Shepard had a grist- mill, sawmill, fulling-mill, oilmill and a distillery, and was one of the leading business men of northern Pennsylvania. An entry in his diary in 1804 says : " Began to build my large house in Milltown, and made preparations to build my new mill near the river." Under date of September 7, 1805, he says : "The wife of my youth was taken from me by death, by a fall from a carriage." The preceding February 7, his first-born son, Prentice, died, and August following his uncle and next-door neighbor, Dr. Amos Prentice, died. In 1809 Mr. Shepard sold his old mill to Samuel Naglee, of Philadelphia. That year he sent to Stonington, Conn., for his sister, Mrs. Grant, and two daugh- ters, to come and keep house for him. These daughters became Mrs. Stephens and Mrs. Howard. In 1809 Mr. Shepard received the first commission from Gov. Simon Snyder, as justice.
The Wolf Invasion .- Mr. Shepard's diary, 1814, says : "This year there was heavy snow and a hard winter. The wolves were driven down from the mountains in search of food, and many sheep were devoured by them. They could be heard howling at all times of the night ; the inhabitants were much in fear of them and were afraid to pass from Milltown to Athens, even in the day time. There was no traveling after dark, so great was the fear and danger. The sheep were often called into the door-yard and lights, were kept burning for their protection. Bears and panthers were sometimes seen between the rivers."
ATHENS BOROUGH.
Athens Borough was incorporated March 27, 1831, and David Paine was elected first burgess. It was still but little more than the hum-
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.
blest hamlet, but its people had ambitious ideas for both their country and their " Tioga" town. When men first sent letters here by private hand they directed them to Tioga Point, and even its circle of juris- diction extended far into New York. After a time letters for this place were directed to Ulster, and this went on some years, and then some classical turned mind insisted on Athens as the baptismal name for the young "future great." These high-sounding classical names for back stations and places, possessed of more ambition than popula- tion or wealth, often remind one of a family, who knew something of Bonaparte and named their favorite first-born "Napoleon Bonaparte," and when he was nearly grown and was attending the cabin school, he was only known as " Boney," he was so thin and meager, and during all his school-life he never mastered the alphabet, so it was supposed he had taken his name among the other children from his mental and physical conditions, and in that view there was great fitness in the boy and name. The original boundary lines included all the land between the rivers from the north line of the Public Land, now Ferry and Paine streets, and the north line of what was the late Henry Welles's, now J. O. Ward farm. The limits were first extended southerly, taking in the Welles or Ward farm between the rivers; it was extended afterward northerly, including all the land between the rivers as far north as the north line of old Ulster, known now as the south line of the Guy M. Tozer homestead, and the late E. C. Herrick's farm. The third exten- sion took in all the land north of the south line of J. F. Ovenshire's farm, and from the Susquehanna river west to the east line aforesaid of Herrick's farm.
The record book of the borough of 1862 opens with the following :
At the burning of Patrick's first brick block, June 10, 1862, all boro records and papers that were then in the office of J. B. Reeve and in his care, were lost; or in plain facts, burned up. In 1866 a copy of boro charter was received from Harrisburg through the hands of H. W. Patrick, Esq.
May 14, 1874, it was decreed by the court of Quarter Sessions of Bradford county, that the borough of Athens be subject to the restrictions and possess the power and privileges conferred upon boroughs by the act of April 3, 1851, and that the provisions of the charters be amended so far as they are in conflict with said acl. The name and style shall be " The Burgess and Council of the Borough of Athens."
The burgesses that can now be recalled by the oldest inhabitant or rather the best memory, which it is conceded is that of Attorney H. C. Baird, were : Aaron Tibbits, Richard Durbin, Geo, A. Perkins, Mr. Conklin, H. C. Baird (1848), Geo. Merrill, C. H. Herrick and E. H. Perkins [? ].
The records from June, 1862, are complete and full, and the offi- cials in their order were as follows :
1862-Burgess, E. White; council: C. Comstock, J. B. Reeve, J. A. Bristol, H. W. Patrick, C. C. Brooks.
1863-Burgess, George Merrill; council: Charles Comstock, C. O. Huntington, J. B. Reeve, John Drake, C. Hunsicker.
1864-Burgess, James A. Bristol; council: J. L. Drake, J. L. Corbin, H. W. Rockwell, H. Williston, Ed. White.
1865-Burgess, S. W. Blood; council: H. Williston, C. W. Clapp, L. McMillan, John Drake, D. F. Park.
1866-Burgess, S. N. Blood; council: A. H. Spalding, C. W. Clapp, J. D. Hill, G. H. Welles, G. M. Angier.
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.
1867-Burgess, John Saltmarsh; council: William Hancock, E. S. Herrick, George Merrill, A. O. Snell, William Durrant.
1868-Burgess, E. Herrick; council: H. Williston, Squire Northrup, John P. Blood, George Merrill, George H. Voorhis.
1869-Burgess, E. Herrick; council: A. A. Kinner, M. Foley, A. O. Snell, James Bristol, J. S. Middaugh.
1870-Burgess, C. Hunsicker; council: William Hancock, H. C. Smith, T. P. McEvoy, William Kiff, Edwin Drake.
1871-Burgess, C. Hunsicker; council: William Hancock, H. C. Smith, C. T. Hull, William Kiff, Edwin Drake.
1872-Burgess, F. R. Pike; council: G. M. Angier, Charles Kellogg, E. N. Mer- rill, J. W. Comstock, Joseph M. Ely, Jr., Michael Foley.
1873-Burgess, Charles T. Hull; council: Charles Kellogg, D. F. Park, J. B. Reeve, Artemus Weller, Thomas McEvoy, Isaac Gregory.
1874-Burgess, A. A. Prince; council: John Carroll, E. D. Peck, F. T. Page, George H. Mead, George Jordan, F. B. Welch.
1875-Burgess, D. F. Park; council: F. A. Allen, J. M. Pike, George H. Mead, J. S. Middaugh, F. T. Page, H. C. Smith.
1876-Burgess, Edward Herrick; council: J. M. Pike, E. G. Fitch, I. N. Evans, F. T. Page, G. F. Sawyer, J. M. Ely, Jr.
1877-Burgess, J. Leroy Corbin; council: J. M. Ely, C. S. Maurice, I. N. Evans, George Pendleton, Fred. B. Welch, Ed. H. Perkins.
1878-Burgess, T. D. Woolcot; council: F. M. Welles, John Carroll, M. R. Heath, James Bristol, C. S. Maurice, J. M. Ely, Jr.
1879-Burgess, F. T. Page; council: John King, D. T. Park, Joseph Hines, G. .
A. Kinney, J. L. Middaugh, J. A. Bristol.
1880-Burgess, F. T. Page; council: Joseph Hines, T. P. McEvoy, F. M. Welles, D. F. Park, W. Osborne, J. A. Bristol.
1881-Burgess, A. A. Prince ; council: John Carroll, M. P. Murray, John King, F. B. Welsh, E. M. Frost, D. F. Park.
1882-Burgess, A. A. Prince; council: E. C. Spalding, M. R. Heath, M. P. Murray, George Vail, F. A. Gillett, Mark Thompson.
1883-Burgess, C. S. Maurice ; council: J. L. Elsbree, F. A. Gillett, Mark Thomp- son'.Cornelius Knibbs, H. F. Maynard, G. T. Ercanbrank.
1884-Burgess, C. S. Maurice ; council : E. T. Fitch, Joseph Hincs, C. Knibbs, H. F. Maynard, E. W. Kellogg, M. P. Murray.
1885-Burgess, E. M. Frost ; council : M. P. Murray (three years), J. W. Carroll (Fitch's unexpired term), Joseph Hines, W. G. Demiston (three years), C. Knibbs, (two years), E. W. Kellogg (one year).
1886-Burgess, George E. Davis; council : M. P. Murray, N. J. Knarlesboro, W. T. Demiston. E. W. Kellogg, C. Knibbs, J. W. Carroll. The latter resigned in March, and G. F. Ercanbrank was elected to fill vacancy.
1887-Burgess, George E. Davis ; councilmen elect: Mark Thompson, C. Knibbs, A. C. McCaslin.
1888-Burgess, George A. Kinney; councilmen elect: D. W. Tripp, C. W. Prince, C. Knibbs, M. P. Murray.
1889-Burgess, George A. Kinney; council : M. W. Nevins (three years), James Lowman (three years).
1890-Burgess, Geo. A Kinney; council (city now divided into three wards) : J. E. Sivzers, C. W. Bullard, John H. Alberts, Jas. Lowman, M. P. Murray, M. W. Nevins.
In addition to these councilmen, the officers elected at the February election, 1890, are the following: High constable, James Bennett ; auditor, J. F. Mckean ; tax collector. James Bennett; Second Ward, school director, H. L. Towner; Third Ward, school director, John Sim- mons. Judge of elections, First Ward, E. Mills ; inspectors, W. K. Park and Jesse Barber ; constable, First Ward, A. C. McCaslin. Sec- ond Ward, judge of election, George Pendleton ; inspectors, J. T. Corbin, E. W. Campion ; constable, Charles Fitzgerald. Third Ward, judge of election, John McNamara; inspectors, W. H. French, A. Kirkpatrick ; constable, A. Groat.
At the June meeting, 1876, on motion of J. M. Ely, it was unani
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mously resolved that the borough would subscribe $1,000, provided the citizens would subscribe $500, and would pay $900 of this amount to the Chemung Bridge Company in full for their bridge, and make the same a free bridge. The people were clamorous for free bridges.
In the early spring of 1890 an electric company sent an agent to the borough to arrange for electric lighting. His propositions were accepted and all conditions fulfilled ; but he "disappeared," as the minutes put it, and now the good people are waiting for " next." They will not have to wait long.
In connection with Sayre, an active movement is on foot to build electric street railways to pass from Athens to South Waverly, and by the early part of 1892, it is confidently expected, this improvement will be in full operation.
Fire Department .- A record of nearly fifty years is that of the Athens Fire Department. Like all or most of the efficient institutions of men, it had its early small beginning. and its time of trial and days of cloud, but has struggled, lived and now, at all events, flourishes. About the first fire in Athens, whether it was the one that suggested organizing a fire company or not, was that of an incen- diary Indian, who playfully entered a habitation, kindled a fire in the hall, and stood over it until the building was in flames, the family looking on in silent fear. When these noble red fire-bugs were driven out of the country, there was more of a show for insurance and fire companies.
It is said by some elderly Athenians that they can remember when Dana Park and Squire H. C. Baird constituted the borough or village fire department-Dana with his ladder and Baird with his bucket, and to see them race at the first alarm tap was a sight indeed! The Athens Gazette has transmitted a striking wood cut, taken by an instantaneous camera, of this original company going to a fire. Dana is in the lead 'with his ladder under one arm and an ax on the other shoulder, and Baird is carrying his bucket as though it was full of milk and he had on his Sunday clothes-stately, sure and determined, with a " git there" expression on each face-"if it takes all summer !"
The first fire company originated with the Junction Iron Works in 1855. This important mannfactory was operated by C. W. Shipman and Col. C. F. Welles; the plant stood on the ground now occupied by Fitch & Kinney's store and John Merritt's house; their chief products were steam engines and fine machinery in iron, steel and brass; at the time this was the most important factory in the county. In the fall of 1855, Mr. Shipman purchased at a fair at Elmira a small fire engine he found there on exhibition, and brought it home with him; his entire idea was to have something to protect his iron works. The remains of this little old first engine in the county are to be seen yet at the rooms of Protection Company No. 1. There is a claim made by the Naiads, of Towanda, that they purchased their engine a little before this one arrived in Athens. When Mr. Shipman arrived with his pur- chase, immediate steps were taken to form a company. The first idea was to form one exclusively of the employes of the iron works. Alfred B. Couch was elected foreman in the machine shops; Daniel Bradbury,
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assistant foreman; Lucien McMillan, clerk, and George E. Lambert, treasurer. A committee on constitution and by-laws was appointed, who reported October 30, and it was resolved to restrict membership to the iron works employes. In 1856 a new rule was adopted, allow- ing others outside of the works to become members. Uniforms were procured, and the "laddies " would meet and take the "pet" out for a little exercise. A cistern was built in the rear of the machine shop, and now the exercises consisted in manning the brakes and forcing the water through the two hundred feet of rubber hose to the top of the works. When the boys had all in turn blistered their hands, a resolution was passed that the men in Wheeler & Overton's tin shop be allowed to join them, and the same privilege was extended to the men in Stevens' wagon-shop. They were now busy recruiting men; in November the ranks were full, and it was declared a public institu- tion for the equal protection of all, and the engine and hose were given over by Mr. Shipman to the company for the use of the borough. A. P. Stevens presented a hose jumper, a hose company was selected and the affair was now a complete borough fire company; the next move was the first fireman's ball-a great event. Time went on, and, fortu- nately, the winter passed with no alarm bell to call ont the boys. May 28, 1856, the first regular business meeting of the new organization took place, and the following officers were elected: Daniel P. Merriam, chief; Emmott Harder, foreman; Mark Bramhall, assistant; L. S. Keeler, treasurer; C. T. Hull, secretary, and L. A. Lewis, James Nolan, Edward Welch, J. T. Johnson, W. B. Hosford, T. M. Harder, W. W. Wilkinson and Hubert Corner, suction hosemen. The boys said they selected Daniel P. Merriam because he was the heaviest man in the crowd, weighing three hundred and upward, and was an Old-School Presbyterian, who always stood up at prayers.
As this was really the first organization, it was in order to give it a name, and the one selected was the "Protection Engine Company No. 1," and the boys resolved to parade on the coming Fourth of July in full uniform. A blue silk banner was secured, and the ladies embroidered on it in blazing letters : "Protection Engine Company, Athens, Pa .- Always ready," and a gala day it was in Athens "when the band began to play." Ike Snell carried the proud banner, and no prouder man ever went marching down the street. The Company, in their new uniforms, marched over the bridge, led by Jabez Stone's martial band, to where is now the Smull tannery, where they received their visitors, the Towanda companies, which came up on the canal packet boat "Gazelle" that had braved the perils of the raging canal. When the " Franklins " and " Naiads" had been thus received, all joined in procession, and marched back to the "Exchange Hotel," and at 10 A. M. the procession formed ; the town was gaily decorated and from every house and every window fluttered welcoming flags to those brave and scarred fire-fighters in their resplendent uniforms. The parade over, they marched to the foot of Ferry street, to test the engines.
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