II II Town Report

II II Town Report SUDBURY M A S S A C H U S E T T S' I I II THE OLD TRAMP HOUSE It's been almost forty years since this building housed the last guest in its small confining quarters, 1917, to be exact, when the Tramp House, situated as it was on _the 160 acre Town Poor Farm property, passed with the farm from Town of Sudbury ownership to the hands of one John Card. And, with this transfer, a colorful practice in town history ceased, that of feeding and sheltering those representatives of a tribe of foot-loose, bare pocketed, work-shy gentry, known commonly as tramps. The building still stands. Our cover artist shows it as it looked one snowy day around the turn of the century, with a guest approaching from over the fields to the south. A brother traveler awaits him in the doorway. Inside, tea brews in the teapot along side an iron skillet of sizzling farm sausage cooking on a battered, old wood-burning stove. Three tin platters on a rough plank table hold bread, country cheese and a slab of fresh churned butter. The curfew hour of four o'clock approaches. It was not charity alone that prompted this and other New England towns to feed and shelter the "weary willies" of the open roads. Barns had caught fire and burned, and the losses were blamed on the tramps wi!h their habits of smoking when bedded down in the barn haymows. To combat the. situation, towns built tramp houses, situating each a leisurely walking distance from the next. Laws were made, with workhouse penalties for the infractors, requiring all tramps within a given township to report in to the town tramp house by the hour of four o'clock in winter, and slx o'clock in the longer daylight summer months. Supper, breakfast and a straw pallet were furnished the ragged travelers, as was a three hour, morning period of exercise out back on the poor farm wood pile. Barred windows and a huge padlock on the. door insured their nightly privacy. A surprising number of tramps were lodged and fed at town expense each year. Two hundred and fifty was not unusual. The 1904 Sudbury Report lists 192 as fed and bedded for the year, and done so at an estimated thirty-eight dollars. Sudbury old timers may remember Lief Abbot, the tramp, who in his travels favored the town each year with a two week visit. Lief was a giited cabinet maker, and expert mechanic, and well educated. H~. credited liquor with his downfall and his vagrant way of life. When in the mood he lent his talents to appreciative housewives and farmers along his travels for a home cooked meal and a few coins in his pocket. Not all tramps were of his quality, however, and while tolerated, were seldom trusted, and even feared ,especially by the children, perhaps because frequently a child when misbehaving would be admonished or threatened ·vrith, "you'd better be good or a tramp may get you." Yes, the Tramp House, with its memories, still stands. To find it, you turn off Maynard Road, into Old Marlborough, and about a JY!.ile along the way on the left is what will look to you to be an old deserted, broken down out-building. And, such it is - the once well-painted, well-cared-for shelter for the indigent wayfarers, a derelict momenta to a by-gone age! ··~ ByLES HALL Cover by - Armitage 'Che 316th c:Annual c:Qeport OF THE SEVERAL OFFICIAL BOARDS For the Year Ending December Thirty-First 1955 70«#e ··-al s~ MASSACHUSETTS MUR~HY 8< SNDYER, INC. :: MAYNARD. MASS. 2 President of the United States of America DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER of Abilene, Kansas Vice President RICHARD M. NIXON of Whittier, California Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts CHRISTIAN A. HERTER of Boston Lieutenant Governor . Sumner G. VVhittier, Everett Secretary of the Commonwealth . Edward J. Cronin, Chelsea Treasurer and Receiver-General John F. Kennedy, Canton Auditor of the Commonwealth . Thomas J. Buckley, Boston Attorney General George Fingold, Concord Senators in Congress Leverett Saltonstall, Newton John F. Kennedy, Boston Representative in Congress 4th Congressional District Harold D. Donahue, Worcester Councillor, 3rd Councillor District Endicott Peabody, Cambridge Senator, 5th Middlesex Senatorial District . Richard I. Furbush, Waltham Representative in General Court lOth Middlesex Representative Dist. James DeNonnandie, Lincoln County Commissioners Thomas B. Brennan, Medford William G. Andrew, Cambridge H. Herbert Applin, Watertown Clerk of Courts, Middlesex County . Charles T. Hughes, Medford Register of Deeds, Middlesex- .South -District . William -B. Bailey, Somerville County Treasurer . Timothy J. Cronin, Somerville Register of Probate and Insolvency John Foley, Cambridge District Attorney Ephraim Martin,· Belmont County Sheriff Howard W. Fitzpatrick, Malden 3 TOWN OFFICERS With Date When Terms Expire MODERATOR L. Roy Hawes ................................................ Term expires 1956 TOWN CLERK Lawrence B. Tighe ...................................... Term expires 1956 SELECTMEN Harvey N. Fairbank .................................... Term expires 1956 Allan G. Bowry ............................................ Term expires 1957 , Arthur E. Fay, Sr....................................... Term expires 1958 ASSESSORS Paul H. C. Ecke ............................................ Term expires 1956 (../ Webster Cutting .......................................... Term expires 1957, Ralph E. Hawes ............................................ Term expires 1958 TREASURER William E. Downing .................................... Term expires 1956 •'-' COLLECTOR OF TAXES Louise E. Atkinson ...................................... Term expires 1958 BOARD OF PUBLIC WELFARE Alfred F. Bonazzoli ......................... : ............ Term expires 1956 / Beulah Stone .................................................. Term expires 195_7 '/ Louise F. Wynne .......................................... Term expires 1957 Roland R. Cutler .......................................... Term expires 1958 Richard Hill ............................................. , .... Term expires 1958 CONSTABLES Augustus V. E. Sharkey .............................. Term expires 1956 V John H. Whitworth ...................................... Term expires 1956 • Douglas R. Lewis .......................................... Term expires 1956 · Luther W. ~~~:~~~--~~-~-~~~~--~-~~~;::E~xpires 19p6/ Bertha W. Smith .......................................... Term expires 1957 Dene S. How .................................................. Term expires 1958 4 BOARD OF HEALTH Richard Maker .............................................. Term expires 1956 ./ Kate Alden G. Hough ................ : ................. Term expires 1957 y Frank A. Bautze ............................................ Term expires 1958 TREE WARDEN Michael Hriniak ............................................ Term expires 1956 PLANNING BOARD Robert E. Hadley ........................ Resigned- October 18, 1955 Russell Wood (To fill vacancy) .................. Term expires 1956 Frederick C. Tucker ........................ Resigned- December 195[' / William Hall (To fill vacancy) .................. Term expires 1956 ' David Chase .................................................. Term expires 1958 Abel Cutting .................................................. Term expires 1959 Arthur H. White .......................................... Term expires 1960 SCHOOL COMMITTEE ,Elizabeth B. Harding .................................. Term expires 1956 . / Lawrence W. Tighe ...................................... Term expires 1957 '1/ John A. Anderson, Jr................................... Term expires 1957 Robert P. Bowen .......................................... Term expires 1958 V .. Ellen Jane Siegars ........................................ Term expires 1958 MEMBER LINCOLN-SUDBURY REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT COMMITTEE Elizabeth B. Harding .................................... Term expires 1956 / Luther M. Child, Jr..................................... Term expires 1957 Howard W. Emmons .................................... Term expires 1958 HIGHWAY SURVEYOR ;' W. Gordon Hunter ........................................ Term expires 1956 FINANCE COMMITTEE Clarence Loud ................................................ Term expires 1956 William Hellmann ........................................ Term expires 1956 Edward F. Moynihan .................................. Term exp!res 1956 Tadeus W. Nurczynski .................................. Term expires 1957 Walter B. Warren ........................................ Term expires 1957 POLICE OFFICERS (Under Civil Service) John F. McGovern ................................................ Chief of Police Ernest A. Ryan ................................................................ Sergeant Augustus Sharkey Leonard Pike \ 5 Appointments b,y Selectmen CHIEF OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT Albert St. Germain BUILDING INSPECTOR WIRE INSPECTOR Albert St. Germain Albert St. Germain FOREST WARDEN Albert St. Germain PUBLIC WEIGHER POUND KEEPER Harvey N. Fairbank Richard C. Hill SURVEYOR OF LUMBER AND MEASURER OF WOOD Ralph H. Barton INSPECTOR OF ANIMALS Harry Rice FENCE VIEWERS Board of Selectmen MEMBER OF SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL COMMITTEE Allan G. Bowry SEALER OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Ernest A. Ryan TOWN AGENT FOR INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT BOARD Harvey N. Fairbank SUPERINTENDENT OF CEMETERIES F. Alvin Noyes GYPSY AND BROWN TAIL MOTH WORK SUPERINTENDENT Michael Hriniak VETERANS' AGENT Allan G. Bowry 6 MEMBER SUDBURY PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING ASSOCIATION Allan G. Bowry DIRECTOR OF VETERANS' SERVICES Leslie C. Hall CHIEF

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