Executive Order  No. 61: (1st Series) Authorizing Simplex Wire and Cable Co. to build an overhead bridge across Pacific Street in Cambridge

WHEREAS, the Signal Corps of the armed forces of the United States requires great quantities of Deep Sea Submarine Telegraph cable in connection with certain installations vital to the prosecutions of the war; and

WHEREAS, Simplex Wire and Cable Company, a Massachusetts corporation having a usual place of business in the city of Cambridge, is the sole manufacturer of such cable in the United States; and

WHEREAS, urgent immediate and future military installations by said Signal Corps vital to the prosecution of the war require that the production of such cable be increased and expedited; and

WHEREAS, the expansion in the facilities of the Simplex Wire and Cable Company necessary to meet the need of said Signal Corps for the increased and expedited production of such cable requires the construction of an overhead bridge across Pacific Street, a public highway in the city of Cambridge, connecting the buildings numbered 20 and 25 of said company on opposite sides of said street; and

WHEREAS, the Army Service Forces of the United States, acting through the Procurement and Distribution Service, have requested that permission be granted to said Simplex Wire and Cable Company to build and maintain such an overhead bridge in order that the production of such cable may be increased and expedited; and

WHEREAS, the city council of said Cambridge has expressed its approval of the granting by the proper public authority of permission for the construction of such a bridge; and

WHEREAS, the necessary authority to permit the building and maintenance of such a bridge over said Pacific Street cannot now be obtained from the General Court because said body is not now in session:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 7, as amended by Acts of 1943, chapter 3; Acts of 1942, chapter 13, sections 2 and 3, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

I.

Upon petition and after seven days' notice inserted in at least one news- paper published in the city of Cambridge, and a public hearing thereon, the city council of said city may by a two thirds vote, with the approval of the city manager, grant and issue a permit to Simplex Wire and Cable Company, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a Massachusetts corporation having a usual place of business in the city of Cambridge, its successors and assigns, to build and maintain temporarily a structure bridging Pacific Street in said city for the purpose of connecting the buildings numbered 20 and 25 of said company on opposite sides of said street, upon such conditions and subject to such restrictions as the said city council may prescribe. Any permit so issued may be revoked by a two third vote of said city council with the approval of the city manager. The right to maintain any such structure erected in pursuance of the authority granted by such a permit shall not extend beyond the date of prorogation of the regular session of the General Court next held after the effective date of this order.

II.

Any structure built under a permit granted as aforesaid shall be constructed and maintained in such manner that the bottom chord thereof shall be not less than 17 feet above the grade line of said street; said structure shall not be more than 3 1/2 feet in width, and no part of said structure or its support shall rest on the surface of the street, nor shall any such structure be erected or maintained over any portion of said street not owned in fee by said Simplex Wire and Cable Company, without written consent of the owner of such portions in each instance, filed with the said city council. Such consent of the city of Cambridge, if and when necessary, may be given by vote of the said city council with the approval of the city manager.

III.

If a traveler on the highway while in the exercise of due care sustains bodily injury or damages in his property, by reason of the construction or maintenance of said bridge, he may recover damages therefor in an action of tort brought in the superior court against said Simplex Wire and Cable Company or its successors or assigns, within one year after the date of such injury or damage; provided, that such notice of the time, place and cause of the said injury or damage be given to said Simplex Wire and Cable Company, or its successors or assigns, by, or on behalf of, the person sustaining the same as is, under the provisions of General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter eighty-four, as amended, valid and sufficient in cases of injury or damage sustained by reason of a defect or a want of repair in or upon a way, if such defect or want of repair is caused by or consists in part of snow or ice, or both. The remedy herein provided shall not be exclusive, but shall be in addition to any other remedy provided by law.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this 15th day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty- eighth.

By His Excellency the Governor
Leverett Saltonstall