Blogs

Link to this note on FACEBOOK

“Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong”

- Thos. Jefferson

By TOM RUE

As municipal Historian for the Village Monticello, concerned parent, homeowner, taxpayer, and community activist, I have good news!

First, and most important, thanks to the united efforts of caring community members and parents, the Monticello Gymnastic Club will continue unabated. Controversy erupted last week when deputy manager John LeGreci's announced that village youth programs were being shut down because of an alleged lack of insurance coverage, when in fact full coverage existed all along.

Because I have not confined myself to a corner of musty books as our highly paid "managers" would wish, Village Manager John Barbite informed me tonight he plans on "dismissing" me from my unpaid, volunteer post as Village Historian.

I immediately thanked Mr. Barbarite for his public tirade against me and others by name during his report to the board. His objection to comments on the web supporting youth programs, open government, and simple honesty show his true character.

I will take this dismissal as the highest honor John Barbarite is capable of giving. It was sad to see how he lost it in public at tonight's meeting, screaming he would oust me from my unpaid job because he says I make him and the Village look bad for calling history in the making as I see it.

The only words I spoke during tonight's meeting were when I observed that "management" does not seem to be accepting direction from the Board of Trustees regarding a major Broadway economic development project, and the "special counsel" (the Trustees are denied a corporate Village Attorney) appears to take direction from management rather than the board.

Smiling, I reminded Mr. Barbarite that he knows I am not one likely to be enticed into silence by an honorary title. If, in the future, after he has been fired yet a third time, or when he retires, or shuffles off this mortal coil, should I survive him in this life, if the fates allow, I would be pleased to serve again as a municipal Historian.

Over my 25 years in public service, I have found countless satisfying ways to volunteer my free time without pay in government, human services, and matters of the spirit. However, when it comes to twisting my perspective of past or current events to fit someone else's selfish demands, my ethics will not permit this.

I have been pleased to serve Monticello as a volunteer in this capacity. But to be removed for advocating on behalf of the community, and for personally supporting my wife as an elected public official (whom Mr. Barbarite openly despises and repeatedly disrespects, despite her superior position to him both in hierarchy and intellect, seemingly in part due to her gender and ethnicity), is no disgrace. I base this on sworn depositions of multiple people, some of whom are suing Mr. Barbarite in Federal court for violation of civil rights, as well as on the heartfelt convictions of my wife, Carmen Rue.

It has been an honor to serve the Village of Monticello as Historian. I wish to acknowledge former Manager Zachary Kelson for entrusting me the appointment. Mr. Kelson served the Village well during his tenure and deserved far more thanks than he received. But should anyone be surprised at that, given who we are working with?

I have accomplished more than any other Monticello historian since Mr. and Mrs. Smith who served for decades as a husband-wife team. Still, I have kept extremely busy over the last year - responding to public inquiries (actually something that I have done for years anyway, due to the quantities of local historical material on my website (tomrue.net), hosted on my own server, at my own expense, which I will continue to do.

Family and Local History Studies was my undergraduate major for the first two years of my higher education. It has been and will remain my avocation. I have what a former Monticello Village Manager described, roughly 15 years ago, as an extraordinary "sense of place" and love for this community, especially as a non-native.

I have the greatest respect for the generosity of the good people of Monticello, and it is to these folks that I have dedicated my pictorial history, entitled "Monticello", now in production, slated to be released on November 1st. This book casts Monticello's past in a very positive light, and gives hope for a better future. I believe local sales of the book will be successful, and will benefit our community.

Sullivan County Soldiers and Sailors Monument, erected 1896, moved 1972. YNN TV.

"Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur..."

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean luctus ante in odio. Donec dolor magna, volutpat ut, placerat sollicitudin, semper eleifend, erat. Vestibulum tortor lectus, lobortis non, semper at, bibendum a, nulla. Phasellus lacus risus, fringilla vitae, dictum id, egestas at, lectus. Sed at massa eu nibh volutpat viverra. Nulla quam. Pellentesque pulvinar pellentesque metus. Phasellus sit amet tortor sit amet sem accumsan molestie. Pellentesque tristique, nulla a tempus interdum, magna urna iaculis lectus, id condimentum libero purus vel mi. Vestibulum quis dolor. Curabitur mollis. Nulla nulla augue, condimentum ut, rutrum at, dapibus id, ligula. Aliquam vulputate cursus libero.

"No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. "

Cras sed velit. Nulla facilisi. Nullam et mi. Donec vitae enim. In nec est. Donec posuere. Pellentesque et tellus. Etiam mi. Aenean tincidunt ligula vitae massa. Phasellus pretium, arcu at ornare feugiat, diam magna pharetra velit, ac cursus orci velit ac neque.

To: Monticello Village Manager, Mayor, Trustees, Attorney, Clerk, and Others Whom It May Concern:

Following is an historical summary of residency requirements placed on past appointed Village Managers. Historically, the last person prior to one recent brief occupant of the office who was fired at the end of December, to be “permanently” appointed by the Board of Trustees as Village Manager who lived inside Village limits at the time of his hiring as Manager was Robert Norris of Lake Street, some 21 years ago in 1998.

At the reorganizational meeting of the Village of Monticello Board of Trustees held on Monday, April 6, 2009, a relatively minor item of business was the appointment of Tom Rue as Village Historian. The last time a Village Historian was named was 2004, in an appointment made by then Village Manager Richard Sush. To the best of my knowledge, based on a review of minutes, the Village Historian position appears to have been vacant since 2005.

1/13/2009

I became curious a while back upon discovering that the back of the base of the Soldier and Sailor Monument on the lawn of the Lawrence H. Cooke Sullivan County Court House (under the soldier's feet) an inscription says, "To Sullivan County in memory of her Heroes from Pluma A. Niven".

THE HIDDEN WOMAN MYSTERY ENDURES

By John Conway

July 25, 2008 - It has often been said, and written on occasion in this column, that few stories in Sullivan County’s history are as fascinating as that of the hidden woman of Monticello. Perhaps no one has been as fascinated by the saga as Tom Rue.

Rue, who has for years accumulated historical tidbits on his website, including a tantalizing quiz about local history that is currently running, and who was recently appointed the official historian for the Sullivan Masonic District, is a dogged researcher who has managed to put together more information on Melvin H. Couch and Adelaide Branch-- the key characters in Monticello’s hidden woman saga-- than anyone ever has, and intends to eventually publish a booklet about the affair.

Rue’s extensive research has helped to clarify the role that best-selling author Upton Sinclair played in Miss Branch’s life following the death of Couch just before Christmas in 1913, when her fifteen year long affair with the former district attorney became public and changed her life forever.

It has long been known that Sinclair had taken an interest in the matter, or more specifically in Miss Branch herself, and some newspapers– the tabloids of the day had a field day with the story– even went so far as to report that he had played a role in her being secreted away from the Sullivan County jail in the dead of night.

Newly discovered information debunks that story, as Sinclair himself wrote that while both he and his wife had contacted Miss Branch with offers of assistance, she never acknowledged their overtures until after she had departed Sullivan County.

"On Sunday morning, while I was away from home, my wife was called up on the phone by Miss Branch, who announced that she had left the Sullivan County Jail and was now at the ferry in New York, with no idea what to do next," Sinclair wrote in an undated manuscript he entitled "The Hidden Woman of Monticello: A Study in Yellow Journalism." "My wife invited her to our home and sent word to me what she had done."

Sinclair goes on to write about his experiences trying to sell Miss Branch’s story to the tabloids– especially William Randolph Hearst’s Evening Journal– and the complete lack of ethics those tabloids employed in an attempt to avoid paying for the information.

He also writes that while the New York City dailies reported that Miss Branch had headed west to live with her brother, or that she had been admitted to a "sanitarium within ten miles of Monticello," none of them had the facts straight. Sinclair, however, never actually wrote where Miss Branch ended up. Rue now thinks he has an idea.

"One interesting detail that I discovered, which I have not seen published anywhere, concerns Adelaide Branch's presence in Bermuda less than a year after the events in Monticello," Rue discloses. "This is especially interesting in light of the fact that the Sinclairs reportedly left for Bermuda within days of her arrival at their residence in Manhattan, after she left the Sullivan County Jail. The public story, given by Upton Sinclair and his doctor friend on Long Island, is that Adelaide went to a sanitarium. However, I haven't been able to confirm this. Given Sinclair's well-founded cynicism about intrusions by the press, as well as Adelaide's strong desire for privacy, it seems possible the sanitarium story was fabricated for her benefit."

Indeed, Rue says he has discovered a mortgage document signed by Miss Branch while she was on Bermuda, and attested to by an official there. He has also discovered references to Miss Branch spending time in the country with the Sinclairs, indicating that their involvement with the mystery woman did not end with the newspaper world’s fascination with the story.

While Rue is the first to admit that his research doesn’t answer all the questions that have arisen about Miss Branch’s later life– for instance, when and where did she die– but it has shed much new light on a most fascinating tale. Through it all, he has developed a theory about why a woman who was by all accounts bright and well-read, attractive and well-bred, would confine herself to a six by ten-foot room for three years, seldom venturing outside.

"My impression of Adelaide Branch, based on descriptions by Sinclair, Dorothy Dix, and others, is that she was a very bright woman, non-traditional in many of her social attitudes, and probably suffered from Major Depression and PTSD," Rue says. "Her father hung himself and her mother died of cancer, both when she was a teenager. These losses undoubtedly impacted her greatly, and perhaps contributed to agoraphobic traits which sometimes accompany depression."

Whatever her motivation, the fact remains that Adelaide Branch willingly led a secret life for at least three years, serving as devoted mistress to the eccentric lawyer Couch, living in a partitioned room in his office, with little regard for her own well being. Her story was fodder for tabloids across the country until they found something newer and equally fascinating to write about, and no one has ever been quite sure what became of the woman who was alternately referred to as a love slave and a heart wife, a victim and a vixen.

Tom Rue hopes that his new booklet, when finally complete, will clear up a lot of the mystery, and bring to light once and for all, the true account of The Hidden Woman of Monticello.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. He lives in Barryville and can be reached at jconway52@hotmail.com.