518 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



The strength of the brigade is 122 commissioned 

 officers und 1,176 enlisted men, an au'i: regale of 1,298, 

 being 8 commissioned officers and :;.v.i enlisted ineii 

 less than the maximum mimlu-r provided by law. 

 The artillery and cavalry have all the men allowed 

 them and could easily enlist more. One of the most 

 serious obstacles that company commanders in the 

 New Hampshire National (iuard have to meet in 

 their eltorts to have their commands maintain a high 

 degree of efficiency is the impossibility of securing 

 suitable armories. There is little hope that the State 

 will ever do anything in the way of building ar- 

 mories, even in the larger cities, and the. present con- 

 ditions must continue until, as in Nashua and Kecne, 

 armories can be built by private enterprise. 



The Society of the Army of the Potomac held 

 its twenty-fifth annual reunion in Concord in 

 June. About GOO veterans were present. 



The Grand Army of the Republic of the State 

 dedicated, Aug. 30, a fountain at the Weirs, 

 built in honor of Loami Bean, a soldier of the 

 Eighth Regiment, by his daughter. 



Agriculture. The State Grange, in session 

 at Concord in December, passed a resolution 

 pledging its efforts to induce the management 

 of the State Agricultural College to make in- 

 struction in farming its leading feature, accord- 

 ing to the intent of Mr. Thompson, who endowed 

 it, and to oppose further legislative appropria- 

 tions till a change is made in that direction. 

 Resolutions were also passed in favor of intro- 

 ducing agricultural instruction in the primary 

 schools, and in favor of better schools. A report 

 was adopted recommending that, in cases where 

 cattle supposed to be diseased are killed by order 

 of the commissioner, two thirds the value 'of ani- 

 mals killed shall be paid when the cattle com- 

 missioner finds them to be diseased, and full 

 value if no disease is found the limit of the 

 State's liability to be $35 for grade stock and 

 $65 for registered animals, and no awards shall 

 be paid unless the premises shall be found in 

 good sanitary condition and the animal owned 

 within the State for six months preceding. 



Under the present law one half the value is 

 paid for diseased animals killed; 293 cattle 

 were killed in 1894, and 24 horses, by order of 

 the commissioner. 



The Boundary Line. Commissioners ap- 

 pointed to establish the true line between this 

 State and Massachusetts have made their report. 

 The Massachusetts commissioners conceded that 

 that State had been exercising jurisdiction since 

 1741 over a small amount of territory that be- 

 longs on the New Hampshire side, according to 

 the definitions of delimitation ; and the New 

 Hampshire commissioners conceded that their 

 State never had exerted jurisdiction over the 

 land in question. They agreed, for the purpose 

 of settling all disputes, that the line of present 

 occupancy should be the boundary line ; and di- 

 rections for finding and running this line were 

 made, the line to be as nearly straight as due re- 

 gard for long occupancy on either side will per- 

 mit, but varied whenever the line proposed would 

 affect the rights of landowners who have here- 

 tofore supposed that their real estate was in one 

 or the other of the States. The true location of 

 the line has been in dispute for about one hun- 

 dred and fifty years. 



Centennial Celebration. The town of Mil- 

 ford celebrated its one hundredth anniversary 



June 26. Ten thousand people were present. 

 The exercises consisted of a banquet, the reading 

 of a town history, speaking, and the dedication 

 of a memorial fountain. 



The North Pond Case. A suit involving the 

 right of private property in waters over 20 acres 

 in extent, stocked by the State commissioners, 

 has been dragging for eleven years. In 1882 the 

 Percy Summer Club bought the land around 

 North pond, in Stark, one of the best trout 

 ponds in New Hampshire, a small lake in ex- 

 tent. The deeds to the land were drawn with 

 special reference to the holding of the pond by 

 the club, and gave the title of the land under 

 the pond to them. Under these specially drawn 

 deeds the club claimed the pond as their prop- 

 erty, christened it Christine lake, and forbade 

 every person not a member of the club from 

 fishing in it, under penalty of the law. 



The pond had been stocked with trout and 

 landlocked salmon by the Fish Commissioners of 

 New Hampshire previous to the claim of own- 

 ership by the club, and had been free water. 

 Before the highways were built in the valley 

 of the Ammonoosuc river to Stark and to W^est 

 Milan all the travel from Northumberland, etc., 

 to Stark was by way of a road over the hills, via 

 the pond, around the pond in summer and 

 across it on the ice in winter, and by the same 

 road down the hill to Stark, now called Percy. 



J. W. Welch fished in the pond in 1883, be- 

 lieving he had a right to do so. The club brought 

 criminal suit against him, which was finally 

 brought before the Supreme Court, both parties 

 agreeing to abide by the court's decision. After 

 five years the court gave its decision that the 

 pond was public water for the purpose of taking 

 game and fish, and all ponds of over 20 acres 

 were the same. The club then threw up its or- 

 ganization in New Hampshire and reorganized 

 under the laws of New Jersey. 



Not only Mr. Welch but many other citizens 

 fished in the pond on the 1st of May thereafter. 

 relying on the decision of the court. About 30 

 suits for trespass were brought, and an injunc- 

 tion was issued to prohibit persons from tres- 

 passing pending the decision. Again Mr. Welch 

 caught trout in the pond, and was arrested for 

 violating the injunction. 



A hearing was had before a commissioner. 

 His findings were against Welch, and Judge- 

 Webb, of Portland, fined him $600. After the 

 fine was ordered, Welch claimed that he had 

 not violated the injunction, and asked a hearing 

 on his claim. One was ordered at Portland, and 

 Welch, with counsel, went there. The hearing 

 was refused, and the fine stood. 



The club made a proposition to him that tl 

 would stop all proceedings against him, free 

 cost to him, if he would give up all claims 

 any rights to fish in the pond, and consent to j 

 injunction being issued by the court perpetually 

 enjoining him from fishing in the pond or tres- 

 passing on their lands around it. During 

 ten days' truce the trespass case of the Isl of 

 May was called in the United States Court at 

 Concord, and Mr. Welch, not being represented 

 by counsel, was defaulted. He is not wealthy, 

 and had expended nearly $1,000 in fighting in 

 the courts against the club for what he consid- 

 ered to be his rights. He had no recourse but 



