David Blakely was an old wagoner and became a tavern keeper. He kept a

tavern in Washington in 1838, and subsequently in Wheeling. He was a

prominent man, well known all along the road. He was also an agent of

one of the transportation lines, and a very competent man for that

business.

John Smasher, an old wagoner, was noted as a nimble and expert dancer,

and had many opportunities to display his talent in this line on the old

road. It frequently happens that a good dancer makes a ready "smasher."

Major Jesse B. Gardner, of Uniontown, ex-jury commissioner and

ex-soldier of two wars, drove a team several trips on the old road for

Archibald Skiles, who kept a tavern at Monroe, and was a thorough pike

boy.

Huston McWilliams, Joseph Pixler and John Riley were old wagoners who

retired to farms in German township when the steam railway usurped the

functions of the old pike.

William Hankins, a well known farmer of North Union township, still

living, is an old wagoner, and made many a dollar on the road. He is

a son of James Hankins, who owned the farm at Frost's Station, and was

reputed to have a barrel of money. One Hook, P. U., merchant and

auctioneer of Uniontown, and member of the Legislature, was accustomed

to speak of ready cash as "Hankins' Castings," in allusion to the

Hankins barrel. He had a small store in an old frame house near the

store room and residence of the late Col. Ewing Brownfield, on which he

nailed a rough board for a sign, bearing the legend: "Hook and Hankins

versus Boyle and Rankin." Boyle and Rankin kept a rival store further up

town. Hook also frequently advertised his business under the firm name

of "Hook and Wife." He was well known and is well remembered by the old

citizens of Uniontown.

James Ambrose was a regular. He drove from Baltimore to Wheeling. He was

a strong driver, and well known on the road. He married the youngest

daughter of Robert Shaw, the old tavern keeper near Braddock's Grave.

After business ceased on the road, he engaged in mining coal in the

Connellsville coke district, and died near Vanderbilt, in January, 1892.

His wife survives him.

Isaac Hurst was a sharpshooter, and appeared on the road near the close

of its prosperous era. He hauled flour from his father's mill on

George's Creek, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, to Cumberland, and "loaded

back" with merchandise to Brownsville. His experience on the road as a

wagoner was confined between the points named. He subsequently became

first, Treasurer, and afterward, Commissioner of Fayette county,

Pennsylvania. He is still living in Uniontown, pursuing the calling of a

contractor, and taking an active interest in public affairs.

CHAPTER XX.

_Old Wagoners continued--An Exciting Incident of the Political

Campaign of 1840--All about a Petticoat--Neri Smith, Isaac Stuck,

John Short, William Orr, Ashael Willison--A Wagoner

Postmaster--Robert Douglas--A Trip to Tennessee--Abram Brown,

William Long, Samuel Weaver--A Quartet of Bell Teams--A Trio of

Swearing Men--A Peculiar Savings Bank--William C. McKean and a Long

List of other Old Wagoners--Graphic Description of Life on the Road

by Jesse J. Peirsol, an Old Wagoner--Origin of the Toby Cigar--The

Rubber--The Windup and Last Lay of the Old Wagoners._

The political campaign of 1840, as is well known, was one of the most

spirited and exciting contests ever witnessed in the United States. It

was a campaign made memorable by log cabins, hard cider, coon skins and

glee clubs. William Henry Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe, and

grandfather of the late chief executive, Benjamin Harrison, was the Whig

candidate for President, and John Tyler, of Virginia, was his running

mate, and the whole country resounded with shouts for "Tippecanoe and

Tyler too." Martin Van Buren was the Democratic candidate for President,

and his associate on the ticket was Col. Richard M. Johnston, of

Kentucky. Harrison and Tyler were triumphantly elected. One day during

this exciting campaign Neri Smith, an old wagoner, drove his big

six-horse team through Uniontown, exhibiting from the front of his wagon

a petticoat, in allusion to a partisan and groundless charge of

cowardice made against General Harrison, the Whig candidate. The coming

of the wagon with the petticoat was made known to the Whigs of Uniontown

before it reached the place, and a delegation met Smith a short distance

east of town and requested him to take down the offensive symbol, but he

stubbornly refused. Upon reaching Uniontown an attempt was made by some

of the muscular Whigs, led by John Harvey, to "tear down the dirty rag,"

but an equal number of muscular Democrats rallied to the support of the

old wagoner, and the attempt failed. The affair caused great excitement

in Uniontown, leading to violence and almost to the shedding of blood.

Isaac Stuck, now residing in Perryopolis, Fayette county, Pennsylvania,

in service on the extensive Fuller estate, near that place, was an old

wagoner, and is not forgotten and never will be forgotten by the old

pike boys. He drove a fine "bell team," which was notice to all the

world that he was on the road in earnest and to stay. The team belonged

to William Stone, the well remembered old farmer of Menallen, and tanner

of Uniontown.

[Illustration: ASHAEL WILLISON.]

John Short, an old wagoner, retired from the road at an early day and

took up his abode in Franklin township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania.

Before going on the road he learned the trade of a cooper, and upon

leaving it resumed work at his trade. He was a good mechanic, and made

most of the barrels used at Cook's and Sharples' mills, on Redstone

creek, for many years. His team on the road was a good one, and he owned

it. He met with an accident while working at his trade by cutting his

knee with an adze, which crippled him for life. He died in Franklin

township about eight years ago, aged nearly eighty. The old citizens of

Franklin township all knew and respected him.

William Orr, a well known old wagoner, died of cholera at Keyser's Ridge

in 1853. He left three sons. One of them died a soldier of the Northern

army in the late war, leaving a widow surviving him, now residing in

Cumberland and drawing a pension. Another son of the old wagoner is a

watchman at the rolling mill in Cumberland, and the third is on the

police force of that city.

Ashael Willison, another of the old wagoners, is still living in

Cumberland, and one of the most prominent citizens of that place. He was

postmaster at Cumberland during the first administration of President

Cleveland. From the saddle horse of a six-horse team on the old pike to

the control of a city postoffice is distinctively an American idea, and a

good one. The old wagoner made a capital postmaster. Mr. Willison is now

deputy collector of Internal Revenue for the State of Maryland.

Robert Douglas, father of the well known real estate dealer of

Uniontown, was an old wagoner. He owned his team and wagon, and hauled

between Baltimore and Wheeling at an early day. He resided near West

Newton, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and died there in 1861. He

was esteemed as an honest man, and was one of the few pike boys who

never took a drink of liquor.

In the year 1839 John Snider, Isaac Browning and Black Westley, made a

trip with their teams from Baltimore to Jonesboro, Tennessee, a distance

of six hundred miles. They were loaded with goods for Jonesboro

merchants, and were paid six dollars a hundred for hauling them. On

their return they drove with empty wagons to Lynchburg, Virginia, a

distance of two hundred miles, where they loaded up with pig lead, and

got two dollars a hundred for hauling it to Baltimore.

Abram Brown, the wealthy land owner of the vicinity of Uniontown, was an

old wagoner, a "sharpshooter," and always lucky in avoiding losses while

pushing over the mountains. While on the road as a wagoner he formed the

acquaintance of the girl who subsequently became his wife. She was

Hannah, now deceased, the eldest daughter of Abel Colley, who kept the

old tavern a short distance west of Searights. His wife was a good

woman, and her seemingly premature death was much lamented by a wide

circle of friends.

William Long, an old wagoner, after quitting the road, went to Beaver

county, Pennsylvania, and died there; and Samuel Weaver, a well

remembered old wagoner, died about seven years ago in New Cumberland,

West Virginia.

John Galwix, Black Wesley, Wilse Clement and James Pelter used bells on

their teams. Galwix was called a "crack" wagoner, "swell," as it would

be termed at this day.

Stephen Golden, an old wagoner, drove a team for John Gribble, who for

many years kept the red tavern two miles east of Brownsville.

John Strong, one of the earliest regular wagoners, is still living in

Cumberland, and has been Coroner at that place for many years.

John Kelso, a steady old regular, well remembered and well liked, died

at Cumberland about two years ago.

Robert Nelson was run over by his wagon many years ago, and died from

injuries inflicted by the accident.

Col. James Gardner was an old wagoner and an old soldier. He was a

native of Winchester, Virginia, but spent the greater portion of his

life in Uniontown.

John Phillips, of Washington county, Pennsylvania, an old wagoner, was

noted for using the heaviest gears on the road. When in need of new ones

he ordered them an inch wider than the widest in use. The gear pole boys

at the old taverns groaned under the weight of Phillips' gears.

William C. McKean, nine years a deputy Sheriff of Fayette county,

Pennsylvania, was in early life a regular wagoner of the road. He was a

native of German township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and died in the

Sheriff's house, at Uniontown, in 1859. He was noted for his energy and

habit of pushing things. The prominent young attorney of Uniontown of

the same name is a nephew of the old wagoner.

Peter Skiles, an old wagoner of the vicinity of Uniontown, died in

Cumberland of typhoid fever, while at that place with his team and

wagon.

Christian Herr, an old wagoner, was a very profane man, going to show

that there is nothing in a name. He, Wilse Clement and Michael Teeters

were the hardest swearers on the road.

Wyney Hunter, still living, an octogenarian, and rich, was an old

wagoner. His residence is on the roadside five miles east of Hagerstown,

Maryland.

Charles Allum and James Brownlee drove for Leonard Vail, an old

pork-packer of the vicinity of Prosperity, Washington county,

Pennsylvania. Lott Lantz, of Willow Tree, Greene county, Pennsylvania,

had a pork-packing establishment in the olden time, and sent his produce

over the road to Baltimore by the regular broad wheeled wagons in charge

of hired drivers.

Isaac Browning, an old wagoner, at one time owned the "Browning farm,"

near Uniontown, whence its name is derived. This farm now belongs to

Robert Hogsett.

John Wright, an old wagoner, is still living in Salisbury, Somerset

county, Pennsylvania, and has passed the ninetieth mile-post of his age.

[Illustration: JACOB NEWCOMER.]

Capt. James Gilmore was a sharpshooter. He owned a little farm in

Menallen township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, which he sold long ago

and went West.

Noble McCormick, a regular old wagoner, was, while on the road, the

owner of the Semans farm, near Uniontown. He sold his farm to Thomas

Semans and went West. He is remembered as an habitual wearer of the

broad-rimmed, yellow, long-napped regulation hat.

John Christy, an old wagoner, was eccentric as to his apparel, and

careful of his money. He wore a full suit of buckskin, and improvised a

savings bank by boring holes in blocks in which he placed his money, and

secured it by plugging up the holes.

Charles Guttery, who recently died at an advanced age in Beallsville,

Washington county, Pennsylvania, was one of the best known and most

esteemed old wagoners of the road. After many years experience as a

wagoner, he devoted the remainder of his life to tavern keeping.

John Yardley, as the saying goes, was a natural born wagoner. He loved

the occupation, and was faithful in it, for many years. He was born in

Maryland, but lived a long time at Searights, where he died. He was the

father of William and Gus Yardley, of Uniontown.

David Newcomer, a farmer of German township, Fayette county,

Pennsylvania, who served a term as County Commissioner, belongs to the

long list of wagoners. His father, Jacob Newcomer, and Jacob F.

Longanecker went to Loudon, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in the year

1849, and each bought a new wagon and a new whip at that place. Jacob

Newcomer soon thereafter became afflicted with rheumatism, and turned

over his team and wagon to his son David, who traversed the road until

the close of its busy era. Jacob Newcomer died in 1866, on the farm now

owned and occupied by his son David.

John Ferren drove a six-horse team on the road many years for William

Searight, and is remembered as a careful and discreet driver and an

honest and industrious man. At the close of active business on the road,

and while yet under the influence of its ancient grandeur, he married a

daughter of "Wagoner Billy Shaw," and with his newly-wedded wife went to

Iowa to work out his destiny, where he has achieved success as a farmer.

James E. Kline, a driver for Jacob A. Hoover, was a soldier in the late

war between the States, and died in German township, Fayette county,

Pennsylvania, after the conflict ended.

Robert Hogsett, the millionaire farmer, stock dealer, manufacturer, and

coke operator of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, was a sharpshooter, and

hauled many a load of goods from Cumberland to Brownsville at

remunerative rates per hundred. His "down loads" consisted for the most

part of corn of his own raising, which he sold out through the mountains

at good prices.

Hiram Hackney, for many years a prosperous farmer of Menallen township,

Fayette county, Pennsylvania, now a retired resident of Uniontown, and a

director in the First National Bank of that place, was a sharpshooter

and a drover.

Samuel Flowers was one of the earliest wagoners on the road, and of the

regular order. He was a tall man, of quiet demeanor. His home was on Egg

Nog Hill, where he lived until called away by the last summons.

John Means, an old wagoner, was killed by an accident on the road near

Wheeling.

John Munce, of Washington, Pennsylvania, who became rich through the oil

development in the vicinity of that place, is an old wagoner. He is

still living.

John Olwine was an old wagoner, and by his union with the Widow Metzgar

became a tavern keeper. He died at Chalk Hill a few years ago.

John Neff, an old wagoner, subsequently became a member of the Maryland

Legislature, and played the role of statesmanship as gracefully as he

drove a six-horse team on the old pike.

Abner and David Peirt, brothers, were natives of Lancaster county,

Pennsylvania--steady-going straightforward, honest "Pennsylvania Dutch,"

and wagoners on the road with teams of the genuine Conestoga strain.

John McIlree, called "Broadhead," was an old wagoner and a native of

Adams county, Pennsylvania; and James Bell, William and Robert Hall were

natives also of Adams county.

Arthur Wallace, an old wagoner devoted to the road, and esteemed for

many good qualities of head and heart, subsequently became a tavern

keeper. He was the father-in-law of Peter Frasher, the adamantine

Democrat of 1844, and up to the date of his death, in 1893. Charles

Wallace, a brother of Arthur, and an old wagoner, was killed by an

accident on Laurel Hill many years ago.

William Reynolds, mentioned under the head of old tavern keepers, was

likewise an old wagoner. He was on the road with a team as early as

1832. His son, John, present postmaster at Confluence, Somerset county,

Pennsylvania, was also a wagoner.

Samuel Trauger, an old wagoner, fell from his lazy board while

descending Laurel Hill, and was killed, the hind wheel of his wagon

running over him.

John Curtis, who drove for William King, was accounted one of the best

drivers on the road. His companions called him a "strong driver,"

meaning that he was skillful and careful. He followed the tide of

emigration, and became a stage driver west of the Ohio river.

James and Benjamin Paul, sons of Major William Paul, were old wagoners.

Joseph Doak, of Washington county, Pennsylvania, was an old wagoner,

subsequently a tavern keeper, and later a superintendent of the road.

[Illustration: JOHN FERREN.]

Martin Horn, a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, was known as

the "swift wagoner." He made the trip from Cumberland to Wheeling with

his six-horse team and a big load, in five days.

The following old wagoners were residents, when at home, and citizens of

Fayette county, Pennsylvania: Harvey Grove, Adam Yeast, Solomon Bird,

Louis Langley, James Paul, Joseph Wells, Isaiah Fouch, Ellis Campbell,

William Sullivan, George Miller, William Bird, Barney Neiman, Jesse

Hardin, John Hardin, James Marshall, Samuel Sidebottom, John Rutledge,

Robert Hogsett, Samuel Milligan, Thomas Cook, Benjamin Paul, Jeff Nixon,

George Miller, Moses Richer, John Rankin, Peter Fowler, William Ball,

James Henshaw, William McShane, Henry Frasher, Peter Frasher, Jacob

Wolf, West Jones, Daniel Turney, Eli Marlow, William Turney, William

Cooper, Dawson Marlow, Robert Henderson, John Ferren, Robinson Murphy,

Parker McDonald, William Betts, Rezin Lynch, Joseph Bixler, Moses

Husted, William Pastoris, John McClure, Thomas Cochran, William Peirsol,

Robert Lynch, Morgan Campbell, Martin Leighty, John Stentz, Philip D.

Stentz, William Bosley, Charles McLaughlin, J. Monroe Bute, John Canon,

Levi Springer, George Dearth, John McCurdy, Calvin Springer, Zachariah

Ball, Michael Cochran, Caleb Hibbs, Jacob Newcomer, John Rinehart,

Benjamin Goodwin, Harvey Sutton, Clark Hutchinson, James Ebbert, Mifflin

Jeffries, Jacob Vance, William Ullery, Abram Hall, George Tedrick,

Alexander Osborn, James Abel, Harper Walker, Jerry Fouch, Elias Freeman,

George Wilhelm, father of Sheriff Wilhelm, of Uniontown, Caleb Langly,

Jacob Wagoner, Oliver Tate, Jacob Strickler, George Shaffer, John

Newcomer, Jesse J. Peirsol, James Shaffer, Samuel Harris, Caleb Antrim,

William Cooper, Andrew Prentice, Ira Strong, William Gray, William

Kennedy, Samuel Hatfield, Bernard Dannels, Stewart Henderson, David

Dunbar, George Grace, Dicky Richardson, Reuben Woodward, John King, John

Williams, George McLaughlin, Darlington Jeffries, John Nelson, John

Moore, Bazil Sheets, Isaac Young, Jerry Strawn, Samuel Renshaw, Reuben

Parshall, Hiram Hackney, James Martin.

The following were of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and there were

many others from that county, as well as from Fayette and the other

counties mentioned, whose names, very much to the writer's regret, are

unascertainable: Eberon Hurton, James Bradley, Jerome Heck, James

Dennison, James Bard, Thomas Bailes, Charles Thurston, William Kirkman,

Otho Hartzell, Seldon King, William King, Zeph Riggle, John Guttery,

Samuel Charlton, George Hallam, Lewis Hallam, David Hill, Charles

Reddick, John Reddick, Joseph Arnold, Moses Kline, James Brownlee,

Elisha Brownlee, Charles Allen, Philip Slipe, John Valentine, Daniel

Valentine, John Quinter, Robert Magee, William Robinson, Arthur

Robinson, John Cook, William Darlington, Griffith Darlington, Joseph

Whisson, David Blakely, Samuel Boyd, Joseph King, Joseph Sopher, Nimrod

Sopher, Jack Sopher, Peter Shires, John Smith, James Smith, Thomas

Flack, James Blakely, William Darr, Robert Beggs, Josiah Brown, called

"Squire" Brown, James Arthur, George Munce, Joseph Lawson, Robert

Judson, John A. Smith, Elisha Ely, Charles Bower, William Dennison, John

Phillips, Joseph Doak, Moses Little, Samuel Guttery, William Shouse,

William Jones, Robert Sprowl, William Hastings, James Thompson, Robert

Doak, James Doak, Charles Allen, John Hastings (called Doc).

The following were of Allegheny county, Maryland: Isaac Browning, James

Browning, Michael Humbert, George McGruder, Peter Hager, Nathan Tracy,

Thomas Plumer, Richard Gray (colored), Ben Carter, James McCartney,

Joseph Brooks, John Carlisle, Joseph Turner, William Yeast, John Curtis,

Louis Smith, John Smith, Fred Shipley, Alex. Greer, John Keener, David

Swaggart, George Lehman, Andrew Lehman, William McClintock, Jacob

Albright, Thomas Ashbel, Charles McAleer, Caleb Madden, William Lowry,

Augustus Butler, John Sheeres, Edward Finch, James Clary, Daniel Barcus,

Ashael Willison, Hanson Willison, Joseph Strong, Thomas Plumer, Josiah

Porter, John Kelso, John Magraw, Ira Ryan, John Ryan, Moses McKenzie,

Moses Porter, Henry Porter, John Porter, George Huff, Lewis Lachbaus,

Neil Connor, John Long, George Long, Upton Long, William Dixon, Hanson

Clary, James Porter, Josiah McKenzie.

The following were of Washington county, Maryland: Abram Herr, Fred

Herr, David Herr, John Coffman, Samuel Kelly, William Jones, Joseph

Watt, John Brentlinger, James Ambrose, James Dowler, William Ford,

Robert Fowler, Peter Hawes, Samuel Emert, Michael Welty, John Duvall,

Andrew Arnett, John Reinhart, Hiram Sutton, John Thomas, William Thomas,

Barney Hitchin, Emanuel McGruder, William Orr, Emanuel Griffith, Michael

Miller, John Makel, John Neibert, Samuel Brewer, Henry Stickle, Ezra

Young, Joshua Johnson, Samuel Boyd, Joseph Myers, William Keefer, Peter

Urtz, Jonas Speelman, Thomas Flack, David Connor, Eli Smith, John

Galwix, Henry Urtz, Henry Puffenberger. John Snider, was born in

Washington county, Maryland.

The following were of Somerset county, Pennsylvania: Michael Deets,

Samuel Wable, Clem Engle, Samuel Thompson, John Livengood, Isaac Light,

John Sloan, Joseph Light, Abram Hileman, Joseph Hileman, William

Lenhart, Daniel Augustine, Andrew Hebner, James Klink, Andrew Bates,

Robert Duncan, Robert Allison, John Dunbar, Alex. Dunbar, Joseph Skelly,

James Irvin, John Fleck, William Moonshire, Thomas Collier, Frank

Bradfield, Samuel Shoaf, John Bradfield, Eli Marble, Henry Renger,

Michael Longstaff, John Mitchell, William McClintock, still living at

Salisbury, nearly ninety years old.

[Illustration: MORRIS MAULER.]

The following were from the State of Ohio: James Gregory, William

Hoover, David Hoover, Christian Hoover, Gov. Lucas, William Morely,

Philip Slife, Samuel Breakbill, John Carroll, William Lefevre, John

Lefevre, Alby Hall, Solomon Mercer, Jacob Breakbill, Joseph McNutt, John

Scroggins, William Archie, Elias Petticord, Harvey Hamilton, Pryn

Taylor, Alex. McGregor, Westley McBride, William George, Michael Neal,

Tim Taylor, Joseph Vaughn, William Whittle, Daniel Kildo, Marion

Gordon, Martin Kildo, George Clum, Oliver Mahon, William Chaney, Abner

Bailey, Matthias Meek, John A. Smith, George Zane, Samuel Paxon,

Benjamin McNutt, Knox Keyser, B. F. Dillon, Valentine Mann, Jacob Mann,

Benjamin Corts, John Whittle, John Johnson (Old Sandy), William

McDonald, John Moss, William Tracy, Joseph Watson, George Schaffer,

William Reynolds, not the old tavern keeper.

Ohio county, Virginia, contributed the following names to the list of

old wagoners: Wash. and Hiram Bennett, John Frasher, John Moss, John

Weyman, Joseph Watson, Michael Detuck, James Johnson, David Church,

William Brooks, Robert Boyce, Allen Davis, Thomas McDonald, James Jones,

Charles Prettyman, John Christy, John Curtis, William, Adam, and David

Barnhart, George Weddel, and William Tracy.

Greene county, Pennsylvania, contributed the following well remembered

veterans: Christian and Washington Adams, John Snyder (not the old

regular), Philip Snyder, George Miller, Samuel Milligan, Caldwell

Holsworth, Joseph Milligan, Joseph Craft, Jack Dunaway, Otho W. Core,

Thomas Chambers, Samuel Minor, Jacob Hart.

Frederic county, Maryland, contributed the following: John Crampton,

Joseph Crampton, Samuel Brewer, Ross Fink, Grafton Shawn, Henry Smith,

Jacob Wagoner, John Fink, John Miller, William Miller, and Henry

McGruder.

Jacob and James Tamon were of Baltimore.

James Walker, Daniel Keiser, John Keiser, and Sharp Walker were of

Franklin county, Pennsylvania.

The home of the regular wagoner was on the road, and a good home it was,

in so far as mere subsistence and stimulus to the senses were concerned,

and it is his nativity, that the author has endeavored to note. Regulars

and sharpshooters are listed herein indiscriminately, but a majority of

the names given as of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, are those of

sharpshooters. The residences and homes of the following old wagoners

could not be accurately ascertained, but they are familiar names, all

well remembered by old inhabitants of the roadside, viz: William Kieger

(a lively fellow, and a "regular"), James Dunbar, William Keefer, Rafe

Rutlege, Samuel Jackson, Benjamin Hunter, David Greenland, John

Strauser, Jacob Cox, Jonathan Whitton, Gus Mitchell, Samuel Dowly, James

Patton, Joseph Freeman, James Hall, William Purcell, Samuel Rogers, John

Nye, Israel Young, James Davis, Jacob Beem, Isaac Young, Martin Irwin,

James Parsons, James Kennedy, Isaac Shaffer, John Lynch, Michael

Longstaff, George Nouse, Peter Penner, James Shaffer, John McClure, John

Cox, William Cox, Joseph Cheney, Frank Mowdy, Caldwell Shobworth, James

Jolly, Andrew Sheverner, Jacob and James Layman, John Crampton, Henry

Smith, William Miller, John Miller, Henry McGruder, Elias McGruder,

Michael Miller, John Seibert, Henry Stickle, Ezra Young, Jonas Speelman,

David Connor, Eli Smith, Jacob Everson, Nathaniel Everson. Joseph Shaw,

James Irvin, John Chain, William Wiglington, Doug. Shearl, Marion

Ritchie, John Vandyke, John Alphen, Daniel Carlisle, George Burke,

Thomas Ogden, Michael Abbott, Charles Genewine, Herman Rolf, Isaac

Manning.

The following letters from Jesse J. Peirsol, now a prosperous farmer of

Franklin township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, of vigorous health and

unimpaired memory, furnish a graphic description of life on the road in

its palmy days:

December 3, 1892.

MR. T. B. SEARIGHT:

_Dear Sir_: I have stayed over night with William Sheets, on Nigger

mountain, when there would be thirty six-horse teams on the wagon yard,

one hundred Kentucky mules in an adjacent lot, one thousand hogs in

other enclosures, and as many fat cattle from Illinois in adjoining

fields. The music made by this large number of hogs, in eating corn on a

frosty night, I will never forget. After supper and attention to the

teams, the wagoners would gather in the bar room and listen to music on

the violin, furnished by one of their fellows, have a "Virginia

hoe-down," sing songs, tell anecdotes, and hear the experience of

drivers and drovers from all points on the road, and when it was all

over, unroll their beds, lay them down on the floor before the bar room

fire, side by side, and sleep, with their feet near the fire, as soundly

as under the paternal roof. Coming out from Cumberland in the winter of

1851 or 1852, we stopped one night with Hiram Sutton, at Sand Springs,

near Frostburg. The night was hazy, but not cold. We sat on our buckets,

turned bottom up, and listened to a hundred horses grinding corn. One of

our number got up in the night and complained that snow was falling on

his face. This aroused us all, and we got up, went to the door and

witnessed the most blinding snow storm I ever saw. Some of the horses

broke loose from the tongue, and we had difficulty in finding them. We

stayed up till morning, when the snow had risen to the hubs of the front

wheels. We hitched eight or ten horses to a wagon, pulled out to

Coonrod's tavern, one mile west, and returned to Sutton's for another

wagon, and in this way all reached Coonrod's. The next morning we pulled

out again, and on little Savage mountain found the snow deeper than

ever, and a gang of men engaged in shoveling it from the road. I got

stuck and had to be shoveled out. We reached Tom Johnson's that night,

making three miles in two days. The next day John Ullery, one of our

number upset at Peter Yeast's, and a barrel of Venetian Red rolled out

from his wagon, which painted the snow red for many miles, east and

west. We stayed with Yeast the third night after the storm. In the

winter of 1848 a gang of us went down, loaded with tobacco, bacon, lard,

cheese, flour, corn, oats and other products. One of our number was an

Ohio man, named McBride. His team consisted of seven horses, the seventh

being the leader. His load consisted of nine hogsheads of tobacco, five

standing upright in the bed of his wagon, and four resting crosswise on

top of the five. The hogsheads were each about four feet high and three

and a half feet in diameter at the bulge, and weighing from nine to

eleven hundred pounds each. This made a "top-heavy load," and on the

hill west of Somerfield, and near Tom Brown's tavern, the road icy,

McBride's load tumbled over, the tobacco in the ditches, and the horses

piled up in all shapes. The work of restoring the wreck was tedious, and

before we got through with it we had the aid of thirty or forty wagoners

not of our company. Of course the occasion brought to the ground a

supply of the pure old whisky of that day, which was used in moderation

and produced no bad effects. After we had righted up our unfortunate

fellow wagoner, we pushed on and rested over night at Dan Augustine's,

east of Petersburg.

Yours truly,

JESSE J. PEIRSOL.

ANOTHER LETTER FROM THE SAME PERSON ON THE SAME SUBJECT.

February 2, 1893.

In September, 1844 or 5, my father came home from Uniontown late at

night, and woke me up to tell me that there had been a big break in the

Pennsylvania Canal, and that all western freights were coming out over

the National Road in wagons. The stage coaches brought out posters

soliciting teams. By sunrise next morning, I was in Brownsville with my

team, and loaded up at Cass's warehouse with tobacco, bacon, and wool,

and whipped off for Cumberland. I drove to Hopwood the first day and

stayed over night with John Wallace. That night Thomas Snyder, a

Virginia wagoner, came into Hopwood with a load of flour from a back

country mill. When we got beyond Laurel Hill, Snyder retailed his flour

by the barrel to the tavern keepers, and was all sold out when we

reached Coonrod's tavern, on Big Savage. I was a mere boy, and Snyder

was especially kind and attentive to me. After we pulled on to Coonrod's

yard Snyder told me to unhitch and feed, but leave the harness on. At

midnight we rose, hitched up, Snyder lending me two horses, making me a

team of eight, pulled out, and reached Cumberland that night. On leaving

Coonrod's the night was dark, and I shall never forget the sounds of

crunching stones under the wheels of my wagon, and the streaks of fire

rolling out from the horses' feet. In Cumberland, we found the

commission houses, and the cars on sidings filled with goods, and men

cursing loudly because the latter were not unloaded. Large boxes of

valuable goods were likewise on the platform of the station, protected

by armed guards. After unloading my down load I re-loaded at McKaig &

Maguire's commission house for Brownsville, at one dollar and

twenty-five cents a hundred. We reached Brownsville without incident or

accident, made a little money, and loaded back again for Cumberland. On

my return I found plenty of goods for shipment, and loaded up at

Tuttle's house for Wheeling, at two dollars and twenty-five cents a

hundred. In coming back, it looked as if the whole earth was on the

road; wagons, stages, horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, and turkeys without

number. Teams of every description appeared in view, from the massive

outfit of Governor Lucas down to the old bates hitched to a chicken

coop. The commission merchants, seeing the multitude of wagons, sought

to reduce prices, whereupon the old wagoners called a meeting and made a

vigorous kick against the proposed reduction. It was the first strike I

ever heard of. Nothing worried a sharpshooter more than lying at expense

in Cumberland waiting for a load. Two of the "sharps," unwilling to

endure the delay caused by the strike, drove their four-horse rigs to a

warehouse to load at the reduction. This excited the "regulars," and

they massed with horns, tin buckets, oyster-cans and the like, and made

a descent upon the "sharps," pelting and guying them unmercifully. An

old wagoner named Butler commanded the striking regulars with a pine

sword, and marched them back and forth through the streets. Finally the

police quelled the disturbance, and the "sharps" loaded up and drove out

sixteen miles, to find their harness cut and their axles sawed off in

the morning. In this dilemma an old regular, going down empty for a

load, took the contract of the "sharps," and made them promise to never

return on the road, a promise they faithfully kept.

Yours truly,

JESSE J. PEIRSOL.

Many old wagoners wore a curious garment called a hunting shirt. It was

of woolen stuff, after the style of "blue jeans," with a large cape

trimmed with red. It was called a hunting shirt because first used by

hunters in the mountains.

The origin of Pennsylvania tobies is worth recording, and pertinent to

the history of the old wagoners. The author is indebted to J. V.

Thompson, esq., president of the First National bank of Uniontown, for

the following clipping from a Philadelphia paper concerning the "toby:"

"It appears that in the old days the drivers of the Conestoga wagons, so

common years ago on our National Road, used to buy very cheap cigars. To

meet this demand a small cigar manufacturer in Washington, Pennsylvania,

whose name is lost to fame, started in to make a cheap 'roll-up' for

them at four for a cent. They became very popular with the drivers, and

were at first called Conestoga cigars; since, by usage, corrupted into

'stogies' and 'tobies.' It is now estimated that Pennsylvania and West

Virginia produce about 200,000,000 tobies yearly, probably all for home

consumption."

[Illustration: JAMES SMITH, OF HENRY.]

It is probable that the manufacturer referred to in the above was George

Black, as that gentleman made "tobies" in Washington at an early day,

and continued in the business for many years, and until he became quite

wealthy. In his later days his trade was very large and profitable. Old

wagoners hauled his "tobies" over the road in large quantities, as they

did subsequently the Wheeling "tobies," which were, and continued to be,

a favorite brand. Many habitual smokers prefer a Washington or a

Wheeling "toby" to an alleged fine, high priced cigar, and the writer

of these lines is one of them. As has been noted, the "rubber," called

brake at this day, was not in use when the National Road was first

thrown open for trade and travel. Instead, as related by John Deets,

sapplings, cut at the summit of the hills, were shaped and fashioned to

answer the ends of the "rubber," and at the foot of the hills taken off

and left on the roadside. E. B. Dawson, esq., the well known, well

posted and accurate antiquarian of Uniontown, and, by the way, deeply

interested in the history of the National Road, is authority for the

statement that one Jones, of Bridgeport, Fayette county, Pennsylvania,

claimed to be the inventor of the "rubber." He, however, never succeeded

in obtaining letters patent, if, indeed, he ever applied. There were

other claimants, among them the Slifers, of Maryland, mentioned

elsewhere in these pages. The real and true inventor seems to be

unknown, and yet it is an invention of vast importance, and with legal

protection would have yielded the inventor an immense fortune.

Old wagoners, as a class, were robust, hardy, honest and jovial. But one

of the long list is remembered as a criminal. His name was Ben Pratt,

and he belonged to Philadelphia. He turned out to be a counterfeiter of

coin and currency, and suffered the punishment that all counterfeiters

deserve. Many old wagoners were fond of fun and frolic, but very few of

them were intemperate, although they had the readiest opportunities for

unrestrained drinking. Every old tavern had its odd shaped little bar,

ornamented in many instances with fancy lattice work, and well stocked

with whiskey of the purest distillation, almost as cheap as water. In

fact all kinds of liquors were kept at the old taverns of the National

Road, except the impure stuff of the present day. The bottles used were

of plain glass, each marked in large letters with the name of the liquor

it contained, and the old landlord would place these bottles on the

narrow counter of the little bar, in the presence of a room filled with

wagoners, so that all could have free access to them. None of the old

tavern keepers made profit from the sales of liquor. They kept it more

for the accommodation of their guests, than for money making purposes.

There was probably a tavern on every mile of the road, between

Cumberland and Wheeling, and all combined did not realize as much profit

from the sales of liquor in a year as is realized in that time by one

licensed hotel keeper of Uniontown, at the present day.

When, at last, the Conestoga horse yielded up the palm to the Iron

horse, and it became manifest that the glory of the old road was

departing, never to return, the old wagoners, many of whom had spent

their best days on the road, sang in chorus the following lament:

"Now all ye jolly wagoners, who have got good wives,

Go home to your farms, and there spend your lives.

When your corn is all cribbed, and your small grain is good,

You'll have nothing to do but curse the railroad."

CHAPTER XXI.

_Stage Drivers, Stage Lines and Stage Coaches--The Postilion--Changing

Horses--He comes, the Herald of a Noisy World--Pioneer

Proprietors--Peter Burdine and his Little Rhyme--Anecdote of Thomas

Corwin--Johny Ritter--Daniel Brown, his sad Ending--Soldier

Drivers--Redding Bunting--Joseph and William Woolley--Andrew J.

Wable--James Burr._

"My uncle rested his head upon his hands and thought of the busy

bustling people who had rattled about, years before, in the old

coaches, and were now as silent and changed; he thought of the

numbers of people to whom once, those crazy, mouldering vehicles

had borne, night after night, for many years, and through all

weathers, the anxiously expected intelligence, the eagerly looked

for remittance, the promised assurances of health and safety, the

sudden announcement of sickness and death. The merchant, the lover,

the wife, the widow, the mother, the school boy, the very child who

tottered to the door at the postman's knock--how had they all

looked forward to the arrival of the old coach! And where were they

all now?"--_Charles Dickens._

[Illustration: STAGE COACH]

Stage drivers as a class did not rank as high morally as wagoners, but

despite this there were among them men of good sense, honest intentions

and steady habits. As typical of the better class, the reader who is

familiar with the old road will readily recall Redding Bunting, Samuel

Luman, Elliott Seaburn, Watty Noble, James Carroll, Aquila and Nat

Smith, William Scott, David Gordon, James Burr, William Robinson, John

Huhn, David Bell, John Guttery, John Ritter, Joseph Henderson and Peter

Null. Others will be instantly recognized as their names shall appear on

these pages. It is the sincere belief of all old pike boys that the

stage lines of the National Road were never equalled in spirit and dash

on any road, in any age or country. The chariots of the Appian Way,

drawn by the fastest horses of ancient Italy, formed a dismal cortege in

comparison with the sprightly procession of stage coaches on the old

American highway. The grandeur of the old mail coach is riveted forever

in the memory of the pike boy. To see it ascending a long hill,

increasing speed, when nearing the summit, then moving rapidly over the

intervening level to the top of the next hill, and dashing down it, a

driver like the stately Redding Bunting wielding the whip and handling

the reins, revealed a scene that will never be forgotten. And there was

another feature of the old stage lines that left a lasting mark on

memory's tablet. It was the "Postilion." A groom with two horses was

stationed at the foot of many of the long hills, and added to the

ordinary team of four horses to aid in making the ascent. The summit

gained, the extra horses were quickly detached and returned to await and

aid the next coming coach, and this was the "Postilion." Nathan Hutton

is a well remembered old postilion. He was a tall, spare man, and lived

in a small log house on the roadside, a short distance west of the old

Johnson tavern, and four and a half miles east of Brownsville. At the

foot of the hill below his house, he re-enforced the coaches with his

postilion both ways, east and west, up Colley's hill, going west, and

the equally long hill, coming east from that point. When he wanted a man

or horse to be faithful to duty he exhorted him to "stand by his 'tarnal

integrity." The old postilion bade adieu to the scenes of earth long

ago, and nothing is left to indicate the spot where his lowly dwelling

stood except a few perishing quince bushes.

Hanson Willison, of Cumberland, when a boy rode postilion for Samuel

Luman, and for Alfred Bailes. John Evans and Jacob Hoblitzell rode

postilion through the mountains, east of Keyser's Ridge. Martin Massey

rode out from Brownsville, and Thomas M. Fee, now crier of the courts of

Fayette county, Pennsylvania, rode out from Uniontown, over Laurel Hill.

Excitement followed in the wake of the coaches all along the road. Their

arrival in the towns was the leading event of each day, and they were so

regular in transit that farmers along the road knew the exact hour by

their coming, without the aid of watch or clock. They ran night and day

alike. Relays of fresh horses were placed at intervals of twelve miles,

as nearly as practicable. Ordinarily a driver had charge of one team

only, which he drove and cared for. Mail drivers, however, in many

instances, drove three or four teams and more, which were cared for by

grooms at the stations. Teams were changed almost in the twinkling of an

eye. The coach was driven rapidly to the station, where a fresh team

stood ready harnessed and waiting on the roadside. The moment the team

came to a halt the driver threw down the reins, and almost instantly the

incoming team was detached, the fresh one attached, the reins thrown

back to the driver, who did not leave his seat, and away again went the

coach at full speed, the usual group of loafers, meanwhile, looking on

and enjoying the exciting scene. The horses used were showy and superb,

the admiration of all who beheld them. Mr. Stockton had a strain called

the "Murat," and another known as the "Winflower," which have become

extinct, but many expert horsemen contend that they have not, in later

days, been surpassed for nerve, beauty or speed. A peculiar affliction

came upon many of the "wheel horses," expressed by the phrase "sprung in

the knees." It is said to have been produced by the efforts of the

horses in "holding back," while descending the long and steep hills.

There was one mail coach that was especially imposing. On its gilded

sides appeared the picture of a post boy, with flying horse and horn,

and beneath it in gilt letters this awe inspiring inscription:

"He comes, the herald of a noisy world,

News from all nations lumbering at his back."

No boy who beheld that old coach will ever forget it. The coaches were

all handsomely and artistically painted and ornamented, lined inside

with soft silk plush. There were three seats furnished with luxurious

cushions, and three persons could sit comfortably on each, so that nine

passengers made a full load as far as the interior was concerned. A seat

by the side of the driver was more coveted in fair weather than a seat

within. During the prosperous era of the road it was not uncommon to see

as many as fifteen coaches in continuous procession, and both ways, east

and west, there would be thirty each day.

James Kinkead, Jacob Sides and Abraham Russell put on the first line of

passenger coaches west of Cumberland, and as early as 1818 John and

Andrew Shaffer, Garrett Clark, Aaron Wyatt, Morris Mauler, John Farrell,

Quill and Nathan Smith, and Peter Null, were drivers on this line. The

Smiths and Null drove in and out from Uniontown. One of the Smiths

subsequently became the agent of a stage line in Ohio. James Kinkead,

above mentioned, was the senior member of the firm of Kinkead, Beck and

Evans, who built most of the large stone bridges on the line of the

road. This early line of stages was owned and operated in sections.

Kinkead owned the line from Brownsville to Somerfield; Sides, from

Somerfield to the Little Crossings, and thence to Cumberland Russell was

the proprietor. Kinkead sold his section to George Dawson, of

Brownsville, and Alpheus Beall, of Cumberland, bought out Russell's

interest. This line was subsequently purchased by, and merged in, the

National Road Stage Company, the principal and most active member of

which was Lucius W. Stockton. The other members of this company were

Daniel Moore, of Washington, Pennsylvania, Richard Stokes and Moore N.

Falls, of Baltimore, and Dr. Howard Kennedy, of Hagerstown, Maryland.

After the death of Mr. Stockton, in 1844, Dr. Kennedy and Mr. Acheson

were the active members of the firm. John W. Weaver put a line of stages

on the road at an early day, known as the People's Line. After a short

run it was withdrawn from the road east of Wheeling, and transferred to

the Ohio division. Previous to 1840, James Reeside put on a line which

Mr. Stockton nick-named the "June Bug," for the reason, as he alleged,

it would not survive the coming of the June bugs. Mr. Stockton

subsequently bought out this line and consolidated it with his own.

There was a line of stages on the road called the "Good Intent," which

came to stay, and did stay until driven off by the irresistible force of

the Steam King. This line was owned by Shriver, Steele & Company, and

was equal in vim, vigor and general equipment to the Stockton line. The

headquarters of the Good Intent line at Uniontown was the McClelland

house. There passengers took their meals, and the horses were kept in

the stables appurtenant. The "old line" (Stockton's) had its

headquarters at the National house, on Morgantown street, now the

private residence of that worthy and well known citizen, Thomas Batton.

This little _bon mot_ is one among a thousand, illustrative of the

spirit of the competition between these rival lines. There was one Peter

Burdine, a driver on the Good Intent line, noted for his dashing

qualities, who was accustomed to give vent to his fidelity to his

employers, and his confidence in himself in these words:

"If you take a seat in Stockton's line,

You are sure to be passed by Pete Burdine."

And this became a popular ditty all along the road.

On authority of Hanson Willison, the old stage driver of Cumberland, the

first line of stages put on the road east of Cumberland, in opposition

to the Stockton line, was owned, from Frederic to Hagerstown, by

Hutchinson and Wirt; from Hagerstown to Piney Plains, by William F.

Steele; from Piney Plains to Cumberland, by Thomas Shriver.

Thomas Corwin, the famous Ohio statesman and popular orator of the olden

time, was not a stage driver, but he was a wagoner, and one of the

rallying cries of his friends, in the campaign that resulted in his

election as governor, was: "Hurrah for Tom Corwin, the wagoner boy."

The introduction of his name, in connection with stages and stage

drivers, becomes pertinent in view of the following anecdote: Corwin was

of very dark complexion, and among strangers, and in his time, when race

distinction was more pronounced than now, often taken for a negro. On

one occasion, while he was a member of Congress, he passed over the road

in a "chartered coach," in company with Henry Clay, a popular favorite

all along the road, and other distinguished gentlemen, en route for the

capital. A chartered coach was one belonging to the regular line, but

hired for a trip, and controlled by the parties engaging it. The party

stopped one day for dinner at an old "stage tavern," kept by Samuel

Cessna, at the foot of "Town Hill," also known as "Snib Hollow,"

twenty-five miles east of Cumberland. Cessna was fond of entertaining

guests, and particularly ardent in catering to distinguished travelers.

He was, therefore, delighted when this party entered his house. He had

seen Mr. Clay before, and knew him. The tall form of Mr. Corwin

attracted his attention, and he noted specially his swarthy complexion,

heard his traveling companions call him "Tom," and supposed he was the

servant of the party. The first thing after the order for dinner was a

suggestion of something to relieve the tedium of travel, and excite the

appetite for the anticipated dinner, and it was brandy, genuine old

cogniac, which was promptly brought to view by the zealous old landlord.

Brandy was the "tony" drink of the old pike--brandy and loaf sugar, and

it was often lighted by a taper and burnt, under the influence of a

popular tradition that "if burnt brandy couldn't save a man" in need of

physical tension, his case was hopeless. When the brandy was produced,

the party, with the exception of Corwin, stepped up to the bar and each

took a glass. Corwin, to encourage the illusion of the old landlord,

stood back. In a patronizing way the landlord proffered a glass to

Corwin, saying: "Tom, you take a drink." Corwin drank off the glass, and

in an humble manner returned it to the landlord with modest thanks.

Dinner was next announced, and when the party entered the dining room, a

side table was observed for use of the servant, as was the custom at all

old taverns on the road at that time. Corwin, at once recognizing the

situation, sat down alone at the side table, while the other gentlemen

occupied the main table. The dinner was excellent, as all were at the

old taverns on the National Road, and while undergoing discussion, Mr.

Clay occasionally called out to the lone occupant of the side table:

"How are you getting on, Tom?" to which the modest response was, "Very

well." After dinner the old landlord produced a box of fine cigars, and

first serving the distinguished guests, took one from the box and in his

hand proffered it to Mr. Corwin, with the remark: "Take a cigar, Tom?"

When it was announced that the coach was in readiness to proceed on the

journey, Mr. Clay took Corwin's arm, and, approaching the old landlord,

said: "Mr. Cessna, permit me to introduce the Hon. Thomas Corwin, of

Ohio." Cessna was thunder-struck. His mortification know no bounds.

Observing his mental agony, Mr. Corwin restored him to equanimity by

saying: "It was all a joke, Mr. Cessna; do not, I beg you, indulge in

the slightest feeling of mortification. I expect to be back this way

before long, and will call again to renew acquaintance, and take another

good dinner with you."

John Ritter, affectionately and invariably, by his acquaintances, called

"Johnny," was noted for his honesty and steady habits. For many years

after staging ceased on the road, he was a familiar figure about

Washington, Pennsylvania. He assisted Major Hammond for thirty years in

conducting the Valentine house, and acted as agent for Brimmer's line of

mail hacks, and other similar lines, after the great mail and passenger

lines were withdrawn. He was a bachelor, and a soldier of 1812, and drew

a small pension. He died at the Valentine house, in Washington, on

January 28th, 1879, in the eightieth year of his age, leaving behind him

a good name and many friends.

The first line of passenger coaches put on the road between Brownsville

and Wheeling was owned, organized and operated by Stephen Hill and Simms

and Pemberton. This was in 1818, and a continuation of the early line

before mentioned from Cumberland to Brownsville. Stephen Hill, while a

stage proprietor, was also a tavern keeper in Hillsboro, Washington

county, a small town, but an old town, which probably derived its name

from his family. Under the inspiration of modern reformation, so called,

the name of this old town has been changed and languishes now under the

romantic appellation of Scenery Hill. When it was Hillsboro, and a stage

station of the old pike, it was a lively little town. Under its

present picturesque name it remains a little town, but not a lively one.

The change of name, however, has not yet penetrated the thinned ranks of

the old pike boys, and they still refer to it as Hillsboro.

[Illustration: WILLIAM WHALEY.]

The next station west of Hillsboro, where stage horses were changed,

twelve miles distant, was Washington, where passengers also took meals.

The Good Intent line stopped at the Mansion house, situate at the upper

end of the town, and the "Old Line" stopped at the National, in the

lower end. The next changing place west of Washington was Claysville,

the next Roneys Point, and thence to Wheeling. About the year 1846 the

Good Intent line stopped its coaches, or a portion of them, at the

Greene house in Washington, kept by Daniel Brown, who, previous to that

date, had, for a time, been a road agent of that line. Of all the good

taverns on the road there were none better than Brown's. He had his

peculiarities, as most men have, but he knew how to keep a hotel. He

enjoyed the occupation of entertaining guests, and glowed with good

feeling while listening to the praises bestowed upon his savory spreads.

This popular old landlord came to a sad and untimely end by being cut to

pieces in a mill by a buzz saw, on what was once called the plank road,

leading from Washington through Monongahela City, West Newton, Mt.

Pleasant, Somerset and Bedford to Cumberland. Stages ran on that road,

and at the time of the accident, Mr. Brown was in the service of a stage

company and at the saw mill to urge forward the work of getting out

plank for the road.

David Sibley, an old driver on Stockton's line, went with the Fayette

county "boys in blue" to Mexico in 1847, a member of Co. H, 2d regiment

of Pennsylvania volunteers. He participated in the engagement at Cerro

Gordo, emerged from that conflict unscathed, but died soon after at

Pueblo from ailments incident to an inhospitable climate.

William Whaley, a soldier of the war between the States, and a son of

Capt. James Whaley, a soldier of 1812, was an old stage driver. He was

born in Connellsville, but spent the prime of his life in Uniontown, and

on the road. He used to tell the boys that one of the horses of his team

died coming down Laurel Hill, but that he held him up until he reached

the McClelland house in Uniontown. Whaley drove for a time on the

Morgantown route from Uniontown, and died in the latter place twenty

years and more ago.

James Turner, a Somerset county man, an old stage driver, also

volunteered as a soldier in the Mexican war, and started out a member of

Co. H, above mentioned. In crossing the Gulf he fell down a hatchway of

the vessel and was killed, and the mortal remains of the old driver were

buried in the deep sea.

James Gordon, a well remembered old stage driver, went with Co. H to

Mexico, and died in the capital city of that Republic. He was the

father-in-law of Peter Heck, a former postmaster of Uniontown.

Samuel Sibley, probably a brother of David, before mentioned, was a

well-known driver. He was small in stature, but alert in movement. It

was he who drove the coach that upset on a stone pile in the main street

of Uniontown with Henry Clay as a passenger, the details of which have

elsewhere been given.

Ben Showalter is remembered as an old driver, who sang little songs and

performed little tricks of legerdemain for the amusement of the boys. He

went to the war between the States as a private in Major West's cavalry

of Uniontown, and died in the service.

[Illustration: REDDING BUNTING.]

Redding Bunting, mentioned before, was probably more widely known and

had more friends than any other old stage driver on the road. His entire

service on the road, covering many years, was in connection with the

"old Line." He was a great favorite of Mr. Stockton, the leading

proprietor of that line. His commanding appearance is impressed upon the

memories of all who knew him. He stood six feet six inches high in his

stockings, and straight as an arrow, without any redundant flesh. His

complexion was of a reddish hue and his features pronounced and

striking. His voice was of the baritone order, deep and sonorous, but he

was not loquacious and had a habit of munching. He was endowed with

strong common sense, which the pike boys called "horse sense," to

emphasize its excellence. He was affable, companionable and convivial.

He was a native of Fayette county, Pa., and born in Menallen township.

He was not only a stage driver, but a trusted stage agent, stage

proprietor, and also a tavern keeper. He once owned the property now

known as the "Central Hotel," in Uniontown, and if he had retained it

would have died a rich man. Despondency and depression of spirits seemed

to have encompassed him, when business ceased on the road, and he

appeared as one longing for the return of other and better days. During

the presidency of Mr. Van Buren, it was deemed desirable by the

authorities that one of his special messages should be speedily spread

before the people. Accordingly arrangements were made by the Stockton

line, which had the contract for carrying the mails, to transmit the

message of the President with more than ordinary celerity. The Baltimore

and Ohio railroad at the time was not in operation west of Frederic

City, Maryland. Mr. Bunting, as agent of the company, repaired to that

point to receive the coming document and convey it to Wheeling. He sat

by the side of the driver the entire distance from Frederic to Wheeling

to superintend the mission and urge up the speed. The distance between

the points named is two hundred and twenty-two miles, and was covered in

twenty-three hours and thirty minutes. Changes of teams and drivers were

made at the usual relays, and the driver who brought the flying coach

from Farmington to Uniontown was Joseph Woolley, who made the sparks fly

at every step, as he dashed down the long western slope of Laurel Hill.

Homer Westover drove the coach from Uniontown to Brownsville, covering

the intervening distance of twelve miles in the almost incredible

compass of forty-four minutes. The coach used on this occasion was

called the "Industry," one of the early mail coaches with "monkey box"

attachment, and it literally woke up the echoes in its rapid transit

over the road. The Pittsburg _Gazette_ had arranged for an early copy of

the important message and agreed to pay Robert L. Barry and Joseph P.

McClelland, of Uniontown, connected in various subordinate capacities

with the stage lines, the sum of fifty dollars for a speedy delivery of

the document at the office of that journal in Pittsburg. Brownsville was

then the distributing point for all mail matter sent west over the

National Road, consigned to Pittsburg, and Barry and McClelland went

down to Brownsville on the "Industry" to obtain the message there and

transmit it thence to Pittsburg by special convoy overland to the

_Gazette_; but when the mail was opened it was discovered that it did

not contain a package for the _Gazette_, and Barry and McClelland

returned home disappointed, while the _Gazette_ suffered still greater

disappointment in not being able to lay an early copy of the message

before its readers. The reader will bear in mind that at the time

referred to the telegraph was unknown as an agency for transmitting

news, and the railroad, as has been seen, had not advanced west of

Frederic City, Maryland.

In the year 1846, after the railroad was completed to Cumberland,

Redding Bunting rivaled, if he did not surpass, the feat of rapid

transit above described. He drove the great mail coach from Cumberland

to Wheeling, which carried the message of President Polk, officially

proclaiming that war existed between the United States and Mexico.

Leaving Cumberland at two o'clock in the morning, he reached Uniontown

at eight o'clock of the same morning, breakfasted there with his

passengers, at his own house (for he was then the proprietor of the

National), and after breakfast, which was soon disposed of, proceeded

with his charge, reaching Washington at eleven A. M. and Wheeling at two

P. M., covering a distance of one hundred and thirty-one miles in twelve

hours. He was not at that time an ordinary driver, but an agent of the

line, and took the reins in person for the avowed purpose of making the

highest speed attainable. Redding Bunting has been dead about ten years.

His wife, who was a daughter of Capt. Endsley, the old tavern keeper at

the Big Crossings, survived him about three years. He left two sons and

two daughters. One of his sons, Henry Clay, is at present postmaster of

Dunbar, Pa., and the other, William, is a printer, and at this writing

foreman of the composing force of the Pittsburg _Times_. One of the

daughters is the wife of Milton K. Frankenberry, a prominent citizen of

Fayette county, Pa., and the other is the wife of Armor Craig, a leading

merchant of Uniontown. The old driver has gone to his last home, but his

memory remains fresh and fragrant all along the road.

Joseph Woolley, above mentioned, had a brother, William, who was also a

well known stage driver. When the staging days on the road were ended,

and the exciting incidents thereof relegated to the domain of history,

Joseph and William Woolley sought and obtained employment in the service

of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company, and both ultimately became

competent and trustworthy locomotive engineers.

Andrew J. Wable commenced driving stage in 1840, and continued

uninterruptedly until 1851. He went to Illinois in 1867, and is still

living, in good health and spirits. He frequently visits his old home in

the mountains of Fayette county, where he was reared, and is there now,

or was very recently. He drove first on the "Shake Gut," which was not a

passenger line, but a line put on the road to carry light freights with

rapidity. He drove next on the "Good Intent" line, and subsequently on

the old, or Stockton line. He was a driver on the Good Intent line when

William Scott was its agent, and on the old line during the agencies of

Granger and Bunting. He drove on the Good Intent line from Somerfield to

Keyser's Ridge, and on the old line from Keyser's Ridge to Piney Grove.

He also drove between Washington and Wheeling, and from Uniontown to

Farmington. His recollections of the old road are vivid, and he is fond

of recounting incidents of its palmy days.

James Burr drove out westward from Washington. He was reputed to be a

man of great muscular power, but with it all, a man of quiet demeanor. A

Cincinnati man, name not given, had achieved the reputation of "licking"

everybody in and around Cincinnati, and like Alexander of old, sighed

for more victories. Hearing of Jim Burr, he resolved to encounter him,

and struck out for Claysville, where he had been informed Burr could be

found. He traveled by steamboat to Wheeling, thence by stage coach to

Claysville. The Cincinnati man "put up" at the tavern of William Kelley,

the stopping place of Burr's line at Claysville. Upon entering, the

stranger inquired for Jim Burr, and was politely informed by Mr. Kelley,

the old landlord, that Mr. Burr was at the stable looking after his

team, and would soon be in. In a little while Burr came in, and Mr.

Kelley remarked to the stranger, "this is Mr. Burr." The stranger, who

was a somewhat larger man than Burr, saluted him thus: "Burr, I have

been told that you are the best man in all this country, and I have come

all the way from Cincinnati to fight you, and lick you, if I can."

"Well," said Burr, "you have come a long distance for a job like that,

and besides I don't know you, and there is no reason why we should

fight." "But," rejoined the stranger, "you must fight me, I insist on

it, and will not leave here until you do." Burr persisted in declining

the proffered combat, and finally went upstairs to bed, and after a nap

of half an hour's duration, came down without a thought of again meeting

his aggressive visitor. To his utter surprise the Cincinnati bluffer met

him at the foot of the stairs, and again demanded a trial of strength.

This was more than Burr's good nature could withstand, and stepping

back, he drew up in the attitude of a striker, warning his assailant at

the same time to "look out," when with one blow of his fist, he felled

him stone dead on the floor. Burr then went to the water stand in a

rear room of the tavern, washed his face and hands, and upon returning

saw the victim of his deadly blow still lying prostrate upon the floor,

and exclaimed: "My God, has that man not got up yet?" But the vanquished

bully did, after a while, get up, and in rising discovered that he was a

wiser, if not a better man. News of this singular encounter spread

rapidly through the town of Claysville, and nearly every inhabitant

thereof rushed to the scene to learn how it happened, and all about it.

The facts were minutely and carefully made known to all inquirers by

William Kelley, the old landlord, and cheers went up and out for Jim

Burr, the hero of Claysville. At the time of this occurrence David

Gordon was also driving out westwardly from Washington. Tradition has it

that these two men had a reciprocal fear of each other, but they never

collided, and it is a mooted question as to which of them was the better

man in a physical sense. It is a long time since Burr and Gordon were

seen on the front boot of a handsome Concord coach, wielding the reins

and flourishing the whip over the backs of four dashing steeds with a

grace and dignity befitting a more pretentious calling; and presumably

they have answered the last summons, but living or dead, their names are

indelibly stamped on the history of the National Road.

David Gordon was sent out from the east by James Reeside, and drove

first on the "June Bug Line." Going out west from Claysville soon after

he commenced driving his team ran off, with a full load of passengers.

Discerning in a moment that the flying team could not be checked by

ordinary methods, he pulled it off the road and turned the coach over

against a high bank. The passengers were badly frightened, but none were

hurt, and attributed their escape from injury to the skillfulness of the

driver. After "righting up," the coach but little damaged, proceeded to

Roney's Point without further casualty. This incident, or rather

accident, gave Gordon a wide reputation as a cool and skillful driver,

and he rapidly advanced to the front rank of his calling. The "June Bug

Line" did not remain long on the road, and when it was withdrawn Gordon

took service in the Good Intent line, and continued with it until all

through lines of coaches were taken from the road. Gordon was a very

stout man, six feet in height, and weighing about two hundred pounds,

without any surplus flesh. It was said that he could fight, but was not

quarrelsome. His motto seemed to be "_non tangere mihi_." On one

occasion, as tradition has it, he was compelled to engage in a

knock-down, in self defense. It was at Triadelphia, Virginia. Three

"toughs" fell upon him at that place, with the intention, as they stated

it, of "doing him up," but they failed ignominously. Gordon repulsed and

routed them completely and decisively, and they never thereafter coveted

a rencounter with Gordon, and the example of their fate rendered others

with pugilistic proclivities a little shy about encountering him.

CHAPTER XXII.

_Stages and Stage Drivers continued--Character of Drivers

Defended--Styles of Driving--Classification of Drivers--Samuel

Luman, old mail driver--His thrilling encounter with

Robbers--George Fisher dashes into a Whig procession--Daniel

Leggett--Accident to Black Hawk--Tobias Banner, Jerry McMullin,

George McKenna, Paris Eaches, Jack Bailiss, Henry A. Wise, and

other familiar names._

Mr. A. J. Endsley, of Somerset, an intelligent, educated and observing

gentleman, who was born and reared on the National Road, gives it as his

judgment that old stage drivers, as a class, were better, morally, than

old wagoners. He says that while some of the stage drivers were given to

blaspheming and drinking, there were wagoners who would "discount them,

especially in the matter of profanity." He names, as types of orderly,

well behaved stage drivers, Thomas Grace, William and Alexander

Thompson, John Mills, Charley Howell, John High, William Robinson, Isaac

Frazee (still living in Markleysburg), Isaac Denny, Samuel Halsted,

William White, Samuel Jaco, Thomas Moore, James A. Carroll, William

Bishop and John Bunting. William Robinson and Pate Sides were expert

penmen.

John E. Reeside, a son of Commodore James Reeside, the old stage

proprietor, now residing in Baltimore, who had a general supervision of

his father's lines on the National Road, gives three styles of stage

driving, as follows, viz: (1) The Flat Rein (English); (2) the Top and

Bottom (Pennsylvania); (3) the Side Rein (Eastern). In the first style

Mr. Reeside says that John Bennett and Watty Noble excelled, and in the

second, Jack Bailiss, Frank Lawson and Joe Bowers carried off the palm.

He adds that the third mode was the one adopted by a majority of the

best drivers, and in this, Isaac Page, Luda Adams, Peyton R. Sides,

David Gordon, John Lanning, Abram Dedrick and David Johnson excelled all

other drivers.

Mr. Endsley, before mentioned, divides the old stage drivers in four

classes, as follows: "(1) Awkward, slovenly, careless drivers, such as

handled the whip and 'ribbons' so clumsily, and kept their teams so

unseemly together, up hill, down grades and on the level, that it was

painful to see them on the box. Typical of this class were Tom Frantz,

Dan Boyer, Pete Null and Abe Halderman. (2) Cruel men--their cruelty

amounting almost to brutality. This class seemed to take a fiendish

delight in whipping, lashing and gashing horses. Wash Alridge and a big,

burly driver by the name of Robinson, were types of the cruel class. (3)

Careful, easy-going, common, every day kind of drivers--men who never

made pretensions to fancy styles. They were such as John Bunting (Old

Judy), Jim Reynolds, James Carroll (Flaxey), Blanchard (Hatchet Face),

Billy Armor and Josh. Boyd. (4) Well dressed drivers, clean and neat in

person, and men who regarded sitting down to a meal in shirt sleeves as

_contra, bonos mores_. This class manipulated the whip and 'ribbons'

scientifically, and sat on the box in a way that showed they were

masters of the situation. Prominent in this class were John High, Pate

Sides, Peter Halderman, 'Yankee' Thompson, Sam Jerome, Jim Moore," &c.

In this latter class might be ranked David Gordon, James Burr, and

others of the western end of the road.

[Illustration: JOHN BUNTING.]

Samuel Luman, still living in Cumberland, and in good health, was one of

the best equipped stage drivers on the road. His experience covers many

of the most exciting and interesting events in the road's history. He

commenced his career as a stage driver in 1832, the same year that

Alfred Bailes began as a wagoner. He tells of a collision with

highwaymen in the mountains, which was attended by thrilling details. On

the 12th of August, 1834, he was on the road between Piney Grove and

Frostburg, with a mail and passenger coach going east. After nightfall,

and at a point studded by a thick growth of pine trees, he was

confronted by a party of foot-pads, five in number, and strange to

relate, one a woman, bent on felony. The outlook was alarming. Luman

carried no fire-arms, and there was but one weapon among his passengers,

a small, brass pistol, not brought into requisition, as the sequel

shows. The assailants had thrown across the road an obstruction like a

rude fence, made of logs, stumps and brush. As Luman's trusty leaders

approached the obstruction, one of the highwaymen stepped out from his

cover and seized a bridle, and the coach was stopped. The assailant

ordered Luman to descend from his seat and surrender his charge. This he

very politely, but very decidedly declined to do. "What do you want?"

queried Luman, with seeming innocency. "We are traders," was the

response. "Well," rejoined Luman, coolly, "I have nothing to trade; I am

satisfied with my trappings, and not desirous of exchanging them."

During this little parley the wood-be robber, who held a leader by the

bridle, cried out to a partner in crime, who was near at hand, though

under cover of darkness, to shoot the driver, and denounced him as a

coward for not firing. The party thus addressed then leveled a pistol at

Luman and pulled the trigger, but the result was nothing more than a

"snap," the night air being damp and the powder failing to explode.

These favorable surroundings, no doubt, saved Luman's life. The

foot-pads at the heads of the leaders had, in the confusion and

excitement of the moment, turned the horses squarely around, so that the

leaders faced west, while the wheel horses stood to the east. In this

conjuncture the party in charge of the leaders undertook to unhitch

them, and to guard against the movements of Luman, wrapped a driving

rein tightly around one of his arms. This was Luman's opportunity, and

summoning all his resources, he poured a volley of stinging lashes upon

his antagonist, smiting him on the face and arm, alternately, and most

vigorously. The bandit winced, and soon relinquished his grasp, when,

almost in the twinkling of an eye, the team under Luman's skillful hands

started up on a full run, leaping the improvised fence, and speeding on,

leaving the foot-pads behind to lament their discomfiture. Mr. Luman

relates that in crossing the improvised fence, he fairly trembled for

the fate of himself and passengers, as the coach was within an ace of

capsizing. He also states that the ruffian who seized his leader wore a

gown that covered his whole person, tied around the middle of his body

with a belt, and that another of his assailants wore a white vest, dark

pantaloons, and covered his face with a black mask. The other three kept

in the back ground during the attack, so that he is unable to recall

their appearance. Mr. Luman further relates that when the first assault

was made on him, he apprized his passengers of the impending danger and

besought their assistance, but they crouched in their seats and made no

effort to aid him or defend themselves. They were western merchants

going east to buy goods, and had among them as much as sixty thousand

dollars in cash. When the coach arrived safely at the Highland house,

Frostburg, George Evans at that time proprietor thereof, the grateful

passengers "took up" a collection for the benefit of their courageous

and faithful driver and deliverer, but Luman says the sum proffered was

so ludicrously small that he declined to receive it, and ever thereafter

regarded that lot of passengers as a "mean set." Samuel Luman drove four

teams between Cumberland and the Big Crossings. In 1839 he concluded to

give up stage driving and try tavern keeping. His first venture in this

line was at Piney Plains, east of Cumberland and near Cessna's old

stand. He approved himself a popular landlord, and was well patronized.

From Piney Plains he went to Frostburg, and took charge of the Franklin

House. His next and last experience in tavern keeping was at the

National House, in Cumberland. Luman interested himself in the detection

and punishment of mail robbers, which drew upon him the animosity of

suspected persons, and Mr. Stockton, fearing that the suspected ones

might waylay and murder him, advised him to take service east of

Cumberland, which he did. He is altogether one of the most interesting

characters of the road.

[Illustration: SAMUEL LUMAN.]

George Fisher was a stage driver, who left his footprints very plainly

on the limestone dust of the road. He was noted for his daring in the

manipulation of fiery steeds. A fractious team was stationed at

Claysville, which was the terror of all the drivers on that section of

the road. It "ran off" several times, once killing a passenger outright,

and seriously injuring others. This occurred on Caldwell's Hill, seven

miles west of Washington, Pennsylvania. George Fisher was sent down from

Washington to take charge of this team, and soon had it under complete

control. He drove it many years without an accident. Fisher was a large,

well proportioned, and fine looking man. He was driving the team

mentioned in 1844, the year in which the celebrated political contest

occurred, wherein James K. Polk and Henry Clay were opposing

candidates for the presidency. Fisher was an ardent supporter of Polk,

and quite bitter in his enmity against the Whigs. On the day of a large

Whig meeting in Washington, an extra coach, not on regular time, but

filled with passengers, passed over the road, going west. It fell to

Fisher's lot to haul this coach from Claysville to Roney's Point, a

relay beyond the State line, in Virginia. A delegation of Whigs, with

banners and music, from West Alexander and vicinity, went up to

Washington to attend the meeting, and on their return homeward in the

evening, were overhauled by Fisher, who ran his team and coach into the

Whig procession at several points, doing damage to buggies, carriages,

and light wagons, and inflicting some quite serious personal injuries.

Colin Wilson, a prominent citizen of Washington county at that date, was

one of the persons injured by Fisher's inroad, and was seriously hurt.

Fisher, in extenuation of his apparently criminal conduct, pleaded the

irritability of his team, that it became frightened by the banners and

music, was unmanageable, and the injuries inflicted were not intentional

on his part, but purely accidental. The reputation of the team for

pettishness was well known in the neighborhood of the occurrence, and

served as a plausible excuse, and really saved Fisher from prosecution,

and probably consequent punishment, but all the Whigs of that

neighborhood went to their graves under the solemn belief that Fisher

"did it a purpose." The following account of an accident, furnished by

John Thompson, the old wagoner, no doubt relates to Fisher's team

previous to the date at which he took charge of it: In the month of

October, 1843, a stage team started to run from the locust tree near

Caldwell's tavern. The driver lost control, and the team dashed down the

long hill at a terrific gait. They kept in the road until Wickert's

bridge was reached, at which point the coach, team, passengers, driver

and all were violently thrown over the bridge. A Mr. Moses, a Kentucky

merchant, and his nephew, were sitting by the side of the driver, and

all remained firmly in their seats until the collapse occurred. The

Kentucky merchant had a leg badly crushed, and in two days after the

accident died, and was buried in the old graveyard at Washington.

Doctors Stevens and Lane, of Washington, were promptly summoned and did

all that medical and surgical skill could devise to aid the unfortunate

sufferer, but gangrene ensued and baffled it all. The driver was

severely hurt, and nursed at the Caldwell House until the spring of

1844, when he recovered. The nephew of Mr. Moses and all the other

passengers escaped without injury. The remains of Mr. Moses were

subsequently removed from Washington by his relatives, and interred near

his home in Kentucky. Wickert's bridge is so called because a man of

that name was murdered many years ago near it, and for a long time

thereafter, according to neighborhood superstition, returned to haunt

the bridge.

Daniel Leggett was an old stage driver, well known, and will be long

remembered. He once had the distinction of hauling the celebrated

Indian chief, Black Hawk, and his _suite_. The party ascended the Ohio

river by steamboat, and took stage at Wheeling. Upon entering the coach

at that point, Black Hawk showed shyness, fancying it might be a trap

set for him by his pale faced enemies, and it required some persuasion

by an interpreter, who accompanied his party, to induce him to enter and

take a seat. The coach passed over the road without unusual incident

until it reached Washington, Pennsylvania. Going down the main street of

Washington, from the postoffice, which was in the neighborhood of the

court house, the breast strap of one of the wheel horses broke, causing

a precipitation of the coach upon the leaders, and the team becoming

frightened, dashed down the street at fearful speed. One of the party of

Indians was seated by the driver, and thrown off, carrying down with him

the driver. The team, thus left without a driver, rushed headlong for

the stable of the National House, and at the corner of Main and Maiden

streets, the coach upset. It contained nine passengers, eight Indians

and one half-breed. The first one to show up from the wreck was Black

Hawk, who stood upright in the middle of the street, disclosing a single

drop of blood on his forehead, and manifesting much excitement and

indignation, as he uttered "Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!" The interpreter had an arm

broken, which was the only serious casualty attending the accident.

Black Hawk now became almost wholly irreconcilable. The interpreter

tried to explain to him the true situation, and to assure him that no

harm was aimed at him, but the dusky warrior repelled the approaches of

the friendly mediator, and refused to be reconciled. He was now certain

that the white men intended to kill him. After a little while the

excitement abated, and with it the temper of the unfortunate Indian

chieftain. He was persuaded to enter the tavern, and observing that the

surroundings were not hostile, threw off his sullenness, and became

somewhat sensible of the situation, and apparently reconciled to it.

Another coach of the line was provided, and the party proceeded on their

journey to parley with the Great Father of the White House. The occasion

marked an era in the life and career of the old driver, Daniel Leggett,

which he referred to with intense interest on frequent occasions

throughout the remainder of his life. The Black Hawk incident occurred

in 1837, when Van Buren was president.

Tobias Banner, as if to do justice to his name, was an imposing driver.

He was a chum of Jerry McMullin, another old driver, and the two

together enjoyed many a game of bluff, while their teams were quietly

resting in the well furnished old stables. They were both mail drivers

in and out from Washington. McMullin at one time to vary the monotony of

stage life, made a trip to Stockton's lane, in Greene county, to see the

races, which occurred at regular periods at that place in that day. He

engaged in a game of seven up, with a stalwart native of Greene county,

for five dollars a side, and while he really won the game, his overgrown

adversary claimed the stakes on an allegation of foul play. A quarrel

and a fight ensued, and Jerry McMullin returned to Washington with a

blackened eye and diminished purse, vowing that he would never venture

upon mud roads again.

George McKenna drove first on the Oyster line and afterwards a stage

team. He was a Greene county man, and brother-in-law of Morgan R. Wise.

After he quit driving he set up an oyster saloon in Waynesburg, and

finally engaged with a travelling menagerie and lost his life in a

railroad accident between New York and Philadelphia.

Paris Eaches, a strangely sounding name now, but once familiar to the

ear of every pike boy, was a well known and well liked driver. He

radiated from Washington, Pennsylvania, but left his mark all along the

line. He was a jolly fellow and enjoyed the excitement of the road. He

was always a favorite at social parties of young folks, and entertained

them with songs. He had a good voice and sang well. "I have left

Alabama," was one of his best songs, and he always sang it to the

delight of his hearers.

Jack Bailiss was a widely known and popular driver, a married man, and a

resident of Washington, Pennsylvania. He was accounted a reckless

driver, and delighted in exciting the apprehension of his passengers,

often filling them with terror by specimens of what they considered

reckless driving. He knew the danger line however, and always kept

within it. He drove the coach from Claysville to Washington,

Pennsylvania, in which Gen. Taylor traveled on his way to the Capital to

assume the Presidency.

Henry A. Wise, an old driver, is well remembered by the old people of

the road on account of the quaintness of his character. He was not a

driver on the National Road, but drove the mail coach from Uniontown to

Morgantown, Virginia. Mr. Stockton had the contract for carrying the

mail between these points, and Wise was his chief driver, and pursued

this calling for many years. His headquarters in Uniontown were at the

Old Hart tavern, Jackson's favorite stopping place, now the Hotel

Brunswick. He was driving on this route as early as 1836. He was an odd

genius, as Mr. John E. Reeside says of him, a "typical tide water

Virginian." He claimed to be descended from blue blood, and simply drove

stage for amusement. He always had plenty of slack in his reins, and as

a consequence rarely kept his team straight in the road. It is said that

on one occasion, while half asleep on the box, his team turned from the

road through an open gap into a field, and commenced eagerly to graze on

the growing clover. Wise was tall and spare, and habitually wore a high

silk hat.

John Huhn was a driver west of Washington, Pennsylvania. He married a

daughter of John McCrackin, a well known and prosperous farmer of the

vicinity of Claysville. When stage lines dissolved and stage coaches no

longer rattled over the old pike, John Huhn engaged in the tanning

business at Claysville, and was successful.

Peter Payne, an old driver east and west from Keyser's Ridge, was noted

as an expert hand at a game of poker. He was usually a winner, and being

a man of economic habits, saved his small accumulations from time to

time and ultimately became rich. He often sat down to a game with Joseph

Dilly, an old blacksmith of the mountain division of the road, a

skillfull player, who, like Payne, also grew rich.

Frank Lawson, who subsequently kept tavern in Triadelphia, was a stage

driver. He first drove on Weaver's Ohio line, next on a line in

Kentucky, where he upset a coach causing the death of one or more of his

passengers, and afterward came to the National Road and drove between

Wheeling and Washington. He is mentioned by Mr. Reeside as an expert

driver of the "Top and Bottom," or Pennsylvania mode of driving.

John Stotler was among the drivers on the first line of stages. He was

stoutly built, a good reinsman and a popular driver. He drove out east

and west from Cumberland. John Whitney, an Englishman, was an early

driver, and noted for his caution in handling his team and caring for

the comfort and safety of passengers.

Joseph Whisson drove from Washington to Claysville, and is well

remembered and highly spoken of by all old citizens living on that

section of the road. He is still living at Triadelphia, West Virginia.

Jason Eddy was one of the many drivers sent out on the road in an early

day from New Jersey by "Commodore" Reeside, as James, the old stage

proprietor, was frequently called. Eddy was an expert driver, and it was

said of him that "he could turn his team and coach on a silver dollar."

He was likewise a good musician, and played well on the bugle. He often

entertained his passengers with stirring bugle blasts.

William Walker was a careful old driver, and so economical that he

acquired property from the savings of his scanty wages.

William Craver, Edward Hays and the two Welches were old stage drivers,

whose names were familiar along the road in its early history.

Isaac Page, first named by Mr. Reeside as a good driver in the Eastern

style, was a Uniontown man, and died in that place before the glories of

the old road had waned. He left a widow and a son, Charles, who went to

New York, where the son engaged in business, prospered and became rich.

His mother was highly esteemed by all who knew her, and to her example

is attributed the success of the son.

Dr. Thayer, who subsequently became a circus proprietor, commenced

driving stage on the National Road when eighteen years of age. He drove

from Uniontown to Farmington on the "old line" previous to 1840. He was

a skillful driver, and subsequently achieved success as a circus owner.

Gideon Bolton (nicknamed "Hoop-pole," from the circumstance of his

coming from a hoop-pole region in Preston county, West Virginia), drove

many years on the mountain division of the road, and is well

remembered.

[Illustration: JOSEPH WHISSON.]

James McCauley, an old driver, before reaching the dignity of the box,

was a "postilion" for Redding Bunting on the mail coaches from

Somerfield to Woodcock Hill, and to Winding ridge.

Jack Lee was a spirited driver, and would have been called a "dude" if

he had not died before that term was applied to persons of fanciful and

fashionable apparel. He drove in and out from Cumberland and was

contemporaneous with Whitney.

David Bell, an old stage driver, subsequently kept a tavern in

Claysville. His daughter became the wife of Calvin King, an officer of

one of the Claysville banks.

William Corman, an old stage driver, is remembered as a _pal_ of Dr.

John F. Braddee in the celebrated mail robberies of 1840, at Uniontown.

Braddee's office adjoined Stockton's stage yard. Corman drove the mail

coach, and handed over the mail bags to Braddee, who rifled them. A full

account of these mail robberies is given elsewhere in this volume.

John Bennett and James and John Bailiss drove out west from Washington,

Pennsylvania, for many years, and were among the most careful and

skillful drivers. Bennett died in Hillsboro.

Joshua Johnson, a Canadian, and an old stage driver, married a Miss

Slicer, of Flintstone, Maryland, and subsequently kept a tavern in

Cumberland.

CHAPTER XXIII.

_The first Mail Coaches--The stage yard at Uniontown--Employees

therein--Mr. Stockton goes back on John Tyler--Names of

Coaches--Henry Clay and the drivers--Anecdote of Clay, and Humes,

of Claysville--Jenny Lind and Phineas T. Barnum on the

road--Exciting race between an old liner and a Good Intent

driver--Old Mount, the Giant of the road--Sim Houser, Archie

McNeil, Watty Noble, the Nestor of stage drivers, and other

familiar names._

The first mail coaches were arranged to carry but three passengers,

in addition to the mail pouches, upon a model furnished by the

postoffice department. Drivers and residents along the road called

the passenger compartment of the early mail coach a "monkey box."

This was at the front end of the vehicle, and rested on springs, and

the mail pouches were placed behind it, on a lower plane, and in a

long, tight, wooden box or bed, resting on the axles of the wagon,

without springs. It made a loud noise when passing over the road,

was altogether a curious contrivance, and after a short term of usage

was abandoned, and the ordinary passenger coach substituted in its

stead. Mr. Stockton established a coach factory in Uniontown, where

many of the coaches of his line were made, and as necessity from time

to time existed, repaired. Blacksmith shops were also set up in connection

with this factory, where the stage horses of the Stockton line

were shod. It was called the "stage yard," and located on Morgantown

street, on the lot now covered by the residence and grounds of

the Hon. Nathaniel Ewing. Many mechanics in different lines of

work were employed in the "stage yard," and some of them still

linger on the shores of time, and in Uniontown. [E]Philip Bogardus is

probably the oldest of the surviving employees of the old stage yard,

and is a well known and respected citizen of Uniontown. He was

born in Dutchess county, New York, September 25, 1811, and came

to Uniontown in 1838. On his journey to that place he halted for a

season and worked at his trade, that of a coach trimmer, at Bloody

Run, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and there first met and formed

the acquaintance of Henry Nycum, the well remembered and respected

old blacksmith, who lived many years in Uniontown, and died there

about a year ago. Soon after his arrival in Uniontown, Bogardus

obtained employment in the stage yard. The foreman of the yard

at the time was William Gaddis.

[Footnote E: Died recently.]

[Illustration: MAJ. WILLIAM A. DONALDSON.]

Next in seniority, among the surviving employees of the stage yard, is

[F]Maj. William A. Donaldson, one of the best known citizens of

Uniontown. He is a painter. He was born in Emmettsburg, Frederic county,

Maryland, a village situate ten miles south of Gettysburg, on February

14, 1818, and came to Uniontown February 15, 1839. He located first at

Brownsville, and remained there a year and upwards before going to

Uniontown. His first engagement in Uniontown was with Col. William B.

Roberts, in whose service he continued about a year, after which he

entered the stage yard as a painter and ornamenter of coaches. He is not

only a skillful artisan, but a gentleman well read in history,

philosophy, theology, and politics, in short a good and useful citizen.

When Dr. Braddee was first lodged in the Uniontown jail for robbing the

mails, Maj. Donaldson called in the evening to see him. The accused was

placed in charge of a special police force, which consisted of Zadoc

Cracraft, George Martin, and Stewart Speers, who "stood guard" over the

noted prisoner. Soon after Maj. Donaldson entered the jail the guardsmen

informed him that they were very hungry, and desired to go down town to

get some oysters, and requested him to remain in charge of the prisoner

until they returned. To this Maj. Donaldson assented, provided the

hungry guardsmen would speedily return. They went out for oysters and

did not get back until one o'clock in the morning. The Major and the

Doctor, being old acquaintances, spent the intervening time as

pleasantly as circumstances would admit of, but it was not exactly the

thing the Major had bargained for. Mr. Stockton had one of his coaches

named John Tyler, in honor of the vice-president of the first Harrison

administration. When Tyler, by the death of Harrison, succeeded to the

presidency, and vetoed the United States bank bill, Mr. Stockton was

very much angered thereat, and going into the stage yard, soon after the

veto was announced, accosted Maj. Donaldson thus: "Donaldson, can't you

erase that name (pointing to the Tyler coach) and substitute another? I

won't have one of my coaches named for a traitor." "Certainly I can,"

replied Donaldson, "what shall the new name be?" "Call it Gen.

Harrison," said Stockton. "All right," said Donaldson, and the change

was made. Maj. Donaldson was a Democrat, and much amused by the

incident.

[Footnote F: Died July 27th, 1893.]

Robert L. Barry, the well remembered old merchant of Uniontown,

was, in his younger days, a painter in the old stage yard. Other

painters in the stage yard were William McQuilken, William McMullin,

William Crisfield, ---- Mathiot, Ebenezer Matthews, George Starr,

Alex. Fowler and Harrison Wiggins. Lewis Mobley was also a painter in

the stage yard. He subsequently moved to Luzerne township, Fayette

county, Pennsylvania, became a farmer and local politician. He had

many good points of character and many warm friends. He died in

Luzerne township a number of years ago. The Belfords, father and

three sons, were of the stage yard force, workers in wood. They came

from New Jersey, and were near relatives of the old and distinguished

Presbyterian preacher, Rev. A. G. Fairchild, D.D. The Belfords went

west, and in all probability have passed from earth to scenes beyond.

Armstrong Hadden, the old postmaster and banker, of Uniontown

worked a number of years in the stage yard on harness and

"thorough braces." He learned his trade with Westley Frost, of

Brownsville. Thorough braces were the leather springs, thick and

wide, upon which the coach body was placed. Alex. McLean, the

old clerk of the county commissioners, also worked on harness and

braces.

Charles Brower was a trimmer. He came from Baltimore, and

went from the stage yard in Uniontown to the State of Louisiana,

since which time he has made no sign so far as known.

Abram Rogers was a worker on "thorough braces." Other workers in wood

were Isaac and Simon Sampsell, Israel Hogue, and Frank Wilkinson. Among

the blacksmiths of the old stage yard were James Rush, who subsequently

went to Washington, Pennsylvania, where he lived many years, and until

his death, which occurred recently, Thomas Haymaker, and his son, Leroy,

Thomas Stewart, Michael Claybaugh, Jesse King, Thomas King, James

Keenan, Fred Reamer, Abram Haldeman, Seth White, Hugh Rogers, and Jacob,

Isaac and Robert Prettyman.

The inevitable company store was connected with the stage yard, but it

was not so odious then as now. It was located on Morgantown street, in

the building now occupied by the Ellis music store, and managed by John

Keffer, who is well remembered by all the old citizens of Uniontown.

George Martin was a clerk in the company store. Coaches were all named

after the manner of steamboats, and more recently, sleeping cars on the

leading railroads. The name of every State of the Union was utilized for

this purpose, and the realms of fancy were likewise explored. The coach

named for Pennsylvania bore the legend Keystone State; Ohio was honored

under the name Buckeye State, New Hampshire, the Granite State,

Massachusetts, the Bay State, and so on. Among the fancy names employed,

the old pike boy will readily recall the following: Fashion, Palmetto,

Central Route, Jewess, Beauty, Pathfinder, Samaratan, Highlander,

Ivanhoe, Herald, Industry, National, Republic, Protection, Brilliant,

Atlas, Sultana, Clarendon, Chancellor, Moravian, Miantonoma, Loch

Lomond. Warriors, statesmen and old stagers were remembered and honored

in the names following: Washington, Lafayette, General Wayne, General

St. Clair, General Jackson, General Harrison, Rough and Ready, meaning

General Taylor, General Worth, General Cass, Colonel Benton, Madison,

Monroe, Henry Clay, The President, James K. Polk, Purviance, Daniel

Moore, L. W. Stockton, General Moorehead, David Shriver, William H.

Stelle, James C. Acheson, Columbus, Pocahontas, Santa Anna. Countries

and cities were honored in the names that follow: Yucatan, Green Bay,

Oronoco, Tampico, Bangor, Mexico, Buena Vista, New Orleans, Erie,

Lexington, Vicksburg, Natchez, Trenton, San Francisco, Mobile, Troy,

Wyandott, Idaho, Ashland, Westmoreland, Allegany, Raritan,

Youghiogheny, Gautemala, Panama, Hungarian, Montgomery, Paoli,

Tuscaloosa. One coach took in a hemisphere, and was called America.

Another was named Queen Victoria in the old stage days, as now, the

reigning sovereign of England, while another rendered homage to dear old

Ireland, by bearing the legend, Erin Go Bragh. When Harrison, the first,

Polk and Taylor passed over the road to the capital, to be installed in

the presidential office, a splendid new coach was provided for each

occasion, called the President, in which the President-elect and his

immediate family were conveyed. The presidential parties did not travel

in the night time, but rested at stations along the road until morning.

At Uniontown, President Harrison and party stopped over night at the

Walker house, now called the Central. Polk lodged at the National and

Taylor at the Clinton. The Walker and Clinton were not stage houses, but

the distinguished passengers were quartered therein, respectively, for

the purpose, probably, of conciliating some local political influences.

Henry Clay knew many of the old stage drivers personally, and

would call them by name when he met them at different points along

the road. He not only made acquaintances and friends of the drivers, but

of the tavern keepers and persons in other employments on the road.

David Mahaney, now living in Dunbar, kept tavern at various points

on the mountain division of the road, and often entertained Mr. Clay,

and became well acquainted with him. One Humes, of Claysville,

was wont to boast of the familiarity with which he was recognized by

Mr. Clay. While the teams were being changed at stations, Mr. Clay

was in the habit of getting out of the coach and going in to the taverns.

On occasion of one of these short stops, Humes was introduced to Mr.

Clay. On the return trip, less than a year afterward, Humes heard

of his coming, and hastened to the station to greet him. The coach

was driven up and Mr. Clay got out, but before entering the tavern

espied Humes approaching, and when near enough to be heard, said:

"There comes my friend Humes," and gave him a cordial hand-shaking.

Humes was delighted, and never wearied in telling the story of

his acquaintance with Clay.

When Jennie Lind, the world renowned songstress, made her

first professional visit to the United States, she returned east from her

western tour by way of the National Road, in company with her

troupe, and in "chartered" coaches of the Stockton line. This was

at least forty years ago, probably a little more than that. P. T.

Barnum, the celebrated showman, was the great singer's manager,

and was with her on the occasion referred to. The party remained

over night at Boss Rush's tavern, twelve miles east of Uniontown.

The people along the road heard of the coming of the distinguished

travelers, and a number assembled at the tavern in the evening to

get a glimpse of them. William Shaffer drove the coach in which

Barnum was seated, and when he halted in front of the tavern one

of the curious called up to the driver on the box and inquired: "Which

is Barnum?" Shaffer answered gruffly: "I don't know Barnum

from the devil." Barnum, meanwhile, had emerged from the coach,

and standing by its side overheard the inquiry and the driver's reply,

and stepping up to the inquisitor said to him: "I am Barnum; the

driver is right, it is hard to distinguish me from the devil." The

party entered the good old tavern and were entertained and lodged

in the handsome style for which Boss Rush was greatly and justly

distinguished. Fresh trout were served for breakfast, which had been

taken the day before in a near by mountain stream by F. B. Titlow

and young Boss Rush, then a lad of sixteen. Titlow, now one of the

best known citizens of the vicinity of Uniontown, and still a lover

of fishing and hunting, was then an apprentice to the tailoring trade

at Farmington, under the guidance of John Hair. Young Boss,

grown gray, still lingers about the portals of his father's old tavern,

musing over the memories of the old pike.

William G. Beck, an old stage driver, still living in Fairfield,

Iowa, has vivid recollections of the road. In a letter he states

that, "if there is anything in the world that makes him, at the age of

seventy-four, jump up and crack his heels together and wish he was

a boy again, it is reading about the men and things of the National

Road." He is a son of James Beck, of the old bridge building firm,

and commenced to drive stage on the Old line when in his minority.

He was born in Uniontown in 1819, went to Iowa in 1847, and was

on the National Road as a stage driver as late as 1846. In his letter

he states that in 1846 the Old line and the Good Intent both carried

the mails. There was a "Lock mail" in leather pouches, and a "Canvass

mail," the latter very frequently called "the second mail," carried

in alternate months by the respective lines. In December, 1846, he

says the Old line carried the "Lock mail." The details of an exciting

race on the road he furnishes as follows: "A Good Intent coach was

driven by Jacob Cronch to the railway station, immediately upon the

arrival of the train at Cumberland, loaded up with the 'Canvass

mail,' and started off under full speed for the West. The 'Lock

mail,' which fell to me, was taken to the postoffice and overhauled,

causing a considerable detention. While waiting in front of the postoffice

for the mail bags, Jacob Shuck and other Good Intent drivers

chided me with the fact that the 'Canvass' had such a start that I

could not get near it. I made up my mind that if it was in the hides

of my two teams I would catch him, and pass him. It was after

nightfall, and in crossing a water way in Cumberland my lamps went

out, and what I deemed a calamity turned out in the end to be an

advantage. As soon as I crossed the Wills creek bridge, I put my

team in a full run and never pulled them up until I reached Rock

Hill, seven miles out of Cumberland. At that point, in the winding

of the road, I espied the lights on the coach of my rival, while he,

by reason of the going out of my lights, was unable to see me,

although, on the long stretches, he was constantly watching for a

glimpse of me. Much to his surprise I drew up along side of him,

and side by side we drove into Frostburg, lashing our tired teams at

every jump. The grooms at the Frostburg station had my second

team hitched to the coach by the time I was fairly stopped. A

friendly driver ran with the way mail to the Frostburg postoffice, while

another re-lit my lamps. I did not leave my seat. The reins over

the fresh team were thrown up to me, and I was off again in a full

run. The way mail bag was thrown into the front boot as I dashed

past the postoffice. At Sand Spring (foot of Big Savage) I passed

the 'Canvass' and held the lead, trotting my team every inch of the

road to Piney Grove, the end of my route, which I reached twenty-two

minutes in advance of my competitor. Lem Cross kept the tavern

where our line stopped at Piney Grove. I made my route of twenty-two

miles with two teams in two hours and ten minutes, fourteen

miles of the distance, to the top of Big Savage, being ascending

grade. James Reynolds relieved me at Piney Grove, and my competitor

was relieved at that point by Joshua Boyd."

[Illustration: WILLIAM G. BECK.]

Among old stage drivers there was one conspicuous above all others, on

account of his immense size. It was Montgomery Demmings, known as "Old

Mount." He was six feet and upward in height, and his average weight was

four hundred and sixty-five. It was a common remark, in the days of

staging on the National Road, that "Old Mount on the front boot of a

coach balanced all the trunks that could be put in the rear boot." As he

grew old his weight increased, and at his death, upon authority of his

widow, who is still living, was six hundred and fifty pounds. He was

born and reared in Allentown, New Jersey, and was sent out on the road

in 1836 by James Reeside. His first service was on the "June Bug Line,"

a line of brief existence, but full of dash and spirit. "Old Mount"

married the widow of Joseph Magee, on May 3, 1839. The clergyman who

performed the marriage ceremony was the Rev. John W. Phillips, of

Uniontown. Joseph Magee was a blacksmith. His residence and shop were on

the roadside, at the west end of Uniontown, near the present toll house.

He owned sixteen acres of land on the northeast side of the road, which

now forms a part of the Gilmore tract, and his widow, who is also the

widow of "Old Mount," is still living with a third husband, one Thomas,

of Wales. Her present home is in Allegheny City, Pa., and she continues

to draw a dower interest from the land owned by her first husband, above

mentioned. "Old Mount" has a son, Amos Frisbie Demmings, living near his

mother, named after Amos Frisbie, who lived in Uniontown many years ago,

and carried on the business of stove making. After driving a stage for a

number of years, "Old Mount" relinquished his connection with the

passenger coaches, and became a driver on the express line. This line

carried small packages of light goods, and oysters, known as fast

freight, and the people along the road, by way of derision, called it

"The Shake Gut Line." The vehicles of this line were long and strong

box-shaped wagons, something like the wagons used for transporting a

menagerie. They were drawn by four horses, with relays at established

points, driven by check reins or lines, as stage teams were driven. The

speed of the express wagons was almost equal to that of the coaches of

the stage lines. They made a great noise in their rapid passage over the

road, and coming down some of the long hills, could be heard for miles.

By the side of the drivers frequently sat one or more way-goers whose

necessities impelled them to seek cheap transportation. What proportion

of their meagre fares went to the driver, and what to the owners of the

line, has never been definitely ascertained. "Old Mount" stuck to the

road until its glory began to fade, and in April, 1851, left Uniontown

and removed with his family to Brownsville, where he remained about

eighteen months. While residing at Brownsville, he was engaged in

hauling goods from the steamboat landing at that place to points in

western Virginia, along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad,

then undergoing construction. He owned the team he drove in this

employment. From Brownsville he went to South Side Pittsburg, then a

separate municipality, called Birmingham. From that point he continued

the hauling of goods to western Virginia, and also kept a boarding

house. He did not remain in Birmingham longer than two years, probably

not that long, and moved from there to McKeesport, where he engaged in

the hotel business, having previously leased the Eagle House at that

place. He died at McKeesport on March 4, 1855, and was buried there. His

death occurred in less than a year after he went to McKeesport, and thus

terminated the career of one whose name, half a century ago, was

familiarly spoken in every town, tavern and wayside cabin, from

Baltimore to Wheeling.

Simeon Houser was a stage driver. When stages left the road Simeon went

to tavern keeping. He kept the old house which stood on the lot now

occupied by the residence of Dr. Ewing, in Uniontown. It was called the

"Buzzard's Roost," not by reason of any bad fame of Simeon Houser, for

it had that name before he got there. Simeon was a very tall man, and

raw boned, with strongly marked face and features. He served a number of

years as constable of Uniontown. In 1851 William Bigler and William F.

Johnson, rival candidates for governor, visited Uniontown. Bigler took

in Greene county on his tour, and coming over to Fayette, struck the

National Road at Searight's, where he met a popular ovation. His friends

in that vicinity made a large raft of logs, which they placed on a

strong wagon, and with a team of six white horses hauled to Uniontown,

the Brownsville brass band seated on the raft and discoursing music, as

the procession moved along the road. Bigler, in his early days, had been

employed in constructing and running rafts on the Susquehanna river, and

his supporters stirred up enthusiasm for him by calling him "The

Raftsman of the Susquehanna." He was elected, not because he was a

raftsman, but because the Democrats of that day outnumbered the Whigs.

Johnston, his competitor, was a Whig. The present Republican party was

not then in existence. Simeon Houser, aforesaid, drove the big white

team that hauled the raft, and this is why allusion is made to the

incident. It was a grand day for Simeon. Mr. Bigler spoke from the

raft in Bierer's woods, west of Uniontown, to a great multitude, and Dr.

Smith Fuller, standing on the same raft, made the speech of welcome.

Simeon Houser, like hundreds of old pike boys, yielded up his life in

defense of the Stars and Stripes.

[Illustration: HENRY FARWELL.]

Henry Farwell, father of the Broadway printer, was an old stage driver.

He came to Uniontown in 1839, "the winter of the deep snow." He came on

the Oyster Line from Little Crossings, working his way through the snow,

which averaged a depth of four feet on the level, and was three days on

the way. The oyster boxes were placed on a sled, drawn by six horses,

and the Oyster Line made as good time as the stage lines while the deep

snow lasted, and passenger coaches, like oyster boxes, were moved on

sleds. Farwell came to Uniontown in obedience to an order of one of the

stage lines, to take charge of a team at that place. He drove stage for

ten years, one-half of the time in Ohio. When the staging days were over

on the old road, Farwell located in Uniontown, and carried on the trade

of shoemaking, which he learned before he took to stage driving. He

owned the lot on which the National Bank of Fayette county now stands.

He has been dead several years, and is well remembered by the older

citizens of Uniontown.

Archie McNeil was of the class of merry stage drivers, and enlivened the

road with his quaint tricks and humorous jokes. His service as a driver

was confined for the most part to the western end of the road, between

Brownsville and Wheeling. An unsophisticated youth from the back

country, of ungainly form and manners, near the close of the forties,

sauntered into Washington, Pennsylvania, to seek employment, with an

ambition not uncommon among young men of that period, to become a stage

driver. In his wanderings about the town he halted at the National

House, then kept by Edward Lane, where he fell in with Archie McNeil,

and to him made known the object of his visit. Archie, ever ready to

perpetrate a joke, encouraged the aspirations of the young "greenhorn,"

and questioned him concerning his experience in driving horses and

divers other matters and things pertaining to the work he proposed to

engage in. Opposite the National House, on the Maiden street front,

there was a long wooden shed, into which empty coaches were run for

shelter, the tongues thereof protruding toward the street. McNeil

proposed to the supplicating youth that he furnish a practical

illustration of his talent as a driver, to which he readily assented,

and crossing the street to the shed where the coaches were, he was

commanded to climb up on the driver's seat, which he promptly did.

McNeil then fastened a full set of reins used for driving, to the end of

the coach tongue, and handed them up to the young man. He next placed in

his hands a driver's whip, and told him to show what he could do. The

coach bodies, it will be remembered, were placed on long, wide, and

stout leather springs, which caused a gentle rocking when in motion. The

young weakling, fully equipped as a driver, swayed himself back and

forth, cracked the whip first on one side, and then on the other of the

tongue, rocked the coach vehemently, manipulated the reins in various

forms and with great pomp, and continued exercising himself in this

manner for a considerable time, without evincing the slightest

consciousness that he was the victim of a joke. A number of persons, the

writer included, witnessed this ludicrous scene, and heartily enjoyed

the fun. Among the spectators was James G. Blaine, then a student at

Washington college. McNeil was a son-in-law of Jack Bailiss, the old

driver before mentioned, and when stage lines were withdrawn from the

road he moved with his family to Iowa, and settled in Oskaloosa.

Watty Noble might well be esteemed the Nestor of stage drivers. He

commenced his career as a driver on the Bedford and Chambersburg pike.

His route on that road was between Reamer's and the Juniata Crossings,

_via_ Lilly's and Ray's Hills, a distance of ten miles, and his average

time between the points named, was one hour and thirty minutes. He drove

one team on this route for a period of ten years without losing or

exchanging a horse. He subsequently drove for five consecutive years on

the National Road, between Brownsville and Hillsboro, and, as the old

pike boys were accustomed to say, "leveled the road." When he "got the

start," no other driver could pass him, unless in case of accident. He

was not a showy reinsman, but noted for keeping his team well and long

together. In personal habits he was quiet and steady, and no man ever

impeached his honesty or fidelity. Jim Burr, the famous old driver

elsewhere mentioned, was a son-in-law of Watty Noble.

Charley Bostick, a stage driver who lived in Uniontown, gained a

somewhat unsavory reputation as one of the principals in a social

scandal, involving the name of a prominent old Uniontown merchant. The

incident produced great agitation in Uniontown society at the time, and

its disagreeable details are stored away in the memories of all the

older citizens of that place, but it is doubtful if three-fourths of its

present inhabitants ever heard of it. On the night of the occurrence it

fell to Bostick's lot in the rounds of his regular service as a driver,

to take a coach from Uniontown to Farmington, but he was so prominently

and closely identified with the event referred to that he deemed it

expedient to employ a substitute, which he procured in the person of

"Dumb Ike," competent for the service and the occasion, and ever ready

for such exigencies.

Alfred Wolf, an old stage driver, is remembered as a large, fine looking

and blustering sort of a man. His wife was a sister of Watson and

Robinson Murphy, two well known, thrifty and highly esteemed farmers of

Fayette county, Pennsylvania. The marriage ceremony that made Miss

Martha Murphy the lawful wife of Alfred Wolf was performed by the late

Hon. William Hatfield, when that gentleman was an acting Justice of the

Peace for Redstone township, and the writer hereof was present at the

wedding. When stage drivers were no longer required on the National

Road, Alfred Wolf engaged in the business of tavern keeping, and for a

number of years kept a public house in McClellandtown; and when the

strife between the States culminated in actual hostilities, he enlisted

as a Union soldier and perished in the cause. His widow went to Ohio,

re-married, and is still living in that State.

Henry G. Marcy, called Governor, because of his near kinship to the old

time, distinguished New York statesman of that name, who was at the head

of the War Department during the conflict with Mexico, was a stage

driver and lived in Uniontown. He was a small man in stature, but had a

bright and clear intellect. He died in Uniontown a number of years ago

at an advanced age, leaving a widow, still surviving, but quite feeble by

reason of her great age. George E. Marcy, also called Governor, a well

known and active Democratic politician of Uniontown, is a son of the old

driver.

Joseph Hughes, an old stage driver, is still living in Washington,

Pennsylvania, vivacious and sprightly despite the weight of years piled

upon his back. He was an expert and trusty driver, well known along the

road, and cherishes the memory of the stirring times, when the road was

the great highway of the Nation and he and his fellow drivers rode on

the top wave of the excitement incident thereto.

James Bradley, an old stage driver, worked sometimes at repairs on the

road. He made a breaker of unusual height on the hill east of

Washington, Pennsylvania, and upon being questioned as to his motive for

making it so high, replied that "he wanted to give some of the boys a

lofty toss." A few days thereafter, he was in service as a driver

himself, and going down the hill mentioned at a rapid rate, to "scoot

the hollow," as he termed it, his coach struck the high breaker and he

got the "lofty toss" himself, having been thrown from the box, a

distance of nearly two rods, causing him a broken arm and other less

serious injuries. He said, after this accident, that he would never

again make high breakers on the road, or advise others to do so.

John Teed, husband of Mrs. Teed, who keeps the popular and prosperous

boarding house on Morgantown street, Uniontown, was an old stage driver.

His first engagement as a driver on the road was with the Express line,

called derisively "The Shake Gut." After driving a short time on the

Express, he was given a team on one of the regular coach lines. He was

an approved driver and promoted to the office of guardsman. The

guardsman was a person sent with the coach to superintend its progress,

and aid in protecting it from the incursions of robbers, which were not

uncommon in the night time on the mountainous sections of the road.

Thomas Poland was in every essential a stage driver, and zealously

devoted to his calling. He drove out from Uniontown, east and west, as

occasion required. He was a man rather below the average stature, but

stoutly built and of swarthy complexion. Many old drivers were moved to

grief when business ceased on the road, but no one felt the change more

keenly than Thomas Poland.

John Guttery, of Washington, Pennsylvania, was one of the early stage

drivers of the road, and a good and trusty one. He was a tall man,

rounded out proportionately to his height, and closely resembled the

renowned old driver, Redding Bunting. He was a brother of Charles

Guttery, the old wagoner and tavern keeper mentioned in another chapter

of this volume. John Guttery, after driving stage a number of years,

gave up that exciting occupation and established a livery stable in

Washington, which he conducted successfully until his death in that

place a number of years ago.

CHAPTER XXIV.

_Stages and Stage Drivers continued--Gen. Taylor approaching

Cumberland--Early Coaches--The first Troy Coach on the Road--Mr.

Reeside and Gen. Jackson--John Buck--Accidents--Kangaroo and

Bob-tail Teams--John Mills and William Bishop--Celebration at

Cumberland--David Bonebraker, Hanson Willison, and a long list of

other old drivers--Billy Willis and Peter Burdine--Fare Rates--The

Way Bill--The Landlords--Pilot and Pioneer Lines--Compensation of

Stage Drivers--Hopwood's Row--Withdrawal of the lines--The dignity

of stage drivers, estimated by an old pike boy._

Scharts' history of Western Maryland gives the following account of

President Taylor's ride over the mountain division of the road, when on

his way to Washington to be inaugurated: