USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 13
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"During the few years that Thayer was the division point it was quite a lively place. The railroad boys had 'shindigs' every Saturday night. Many of the workmen made headquarters there and men were constantly coming and going.
"Brother Patrick had a large, fine house. He was a pleasant, good- natured fellow, and took well with the people. Whenever the railroad officers came to Thayer, Patrick would entertain them. Mr. Robert Stewart, the promoter of the road, visited my house several times. That was before the war. I remember him distinctly. My husband, like his brother Patrick, was a great hand to entertain guests. I remember Mr. Stewart was a very good talker. When the road was started my husband was offered the position of paymaster.
"The first store operated in Brookfield was by my husband. It was south of the railroad. He didn't like the south side of the track as well and later on bought a lot on Boston street, back of the hotel, and afterwards moved to Main street. He continued in the merchandise business until he was burned out. When we first came to Brookfield it was a little frontier village, but it grew mighty fast. Most of the houses were but shanties, hurriedly put up for the use of the workmen on the road.
"The great amusement of those days was dances, which were held at the hotel. Everybody took part and they had a famous time. In fact, it was a period of sociability and good nature. Sometimes the railroad
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boys would have a little falling out, a few heads would be broken and some bloody noses, but they would make up and forget all about it in a day or two.
"Bishop Hogan was our first priest. For quite a while he had charge of a Catholic church here. He would come over from St. Joseph. Now he is bishop in Kansas City. The Catholics then had a larger membership than any other church here. You know, it was the Irishmen who built the Hannibal & St. Joe railroad. They were great, stout, brawny fellows, and they were pretty lively. I remember one big fight they had here on election day. The two voting places in the county were Wyandotte and Linneus. The boys went over to vote and on the way back they became hilarious and had a scrap. Brother Patrick finally made peace with them and stopped the fight.
"There was really nothing at all here at Brookfield when we first came. The only building was the boarding house on the south side. They used a little canoe to go back and forth to it.
"There is one thing about Thayer that I can never forget. There was a man there as chief dispatcher whose name was Charlie Davis. He was quite a hand to play practical jokes. Living back in the country a ways was a colored man who imagined that he had been called to preach. Charlie invited him to come to Thayer and talk to the boys. The darky was given a stand on a flat car and the railroaders all gath- ered around him very solemn and earnest-like. Just as the colored preacher got terribly worked up in his talk some of the boys gave the car a start and sent it kiting down hill. He was the most surprised negro you ever saw in your life when the car finally stopped with a bump against some ties that had been thrown across the track.
"Another game that Charles would play was on young fellows who would come in from the country and want a job on the railroad. About every other boy wanted to be a railroader in those days. Charlie would size an applicant up, look at him very solemnly, and then tell him that he would give him a job if he would go out and sweep off the platform. The boy, of course, would do as Charlie told him and then come in to see what was next. But that wouldn't be the end of his trouble. Charlie would go out and look very critically at each plank and if he would see a speck of dirt anywhere he would make the boy go out and sweep the whole platform over again. Most of them would get tired before they had taken the first lesson and would throw down their broom and go back to the farm.
"I could tell you a great many things about those old days, but I
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guess you wouldn't have room to print them all. They were good times, and we all lived happily and enjoyed life. It doesn't seem very long when one looks back over it, but when you see the tremendous change that has taken place since then in everything it seems like it might have been almost a century."
Bishop John J. Hogan recently observed his eighty-fourth birthday anniversary and is in the enjoyment of very good health. He takes an active interest in the affairs of his diocese, and while the burden of the work falls on the shoulders of his coadjutor, Right Rev. Thomas F. Lillis, Bishop Hogan is informed on every matter of interest going on in the diocese.
Bishop Hogan was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1829. He retains the least bit of brogue and his undimmed eyes shine with the humor of the "ould sod." He came to America in 1848 and was ordained a priest in St. Louis by Archbishop Kenrick in 1852. He was appointed the first bishop of the St. Joseph diocese in 1863, and in 1880, when the Kansas City diocese was formed, he was made first bishop of this diocese.
George H. Davis, recently retired from the service of the Burling- ton road, began his career on the construction of the Hannibal & St. Joseph and worked his way upward. At the time of his retirement he held the record for longest continuous service with the road. During the early operation he was roadmaster for the western division and it became his duty to prepare for the run of the Pony Express train in 1860. Mr. Davis related the story of that event as follows:
"The completion of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad at 7 o'clock on the morning of February 13, 1859, and the trial run of the pony express across the state, April 3, 1860, were two of the most exciting events that occurred in northern Missouri previous to the Civil War.
"The junction of the east and westward construction was made two miles east of Chillicothe, in a small cut in Mumpower's field. The day following several barrels of Mississippi river water were transported over the line from Hannibal and emptied into the Missouri river with imposing ceremonies, the event typifying the union of the two great water courses of the American continent. It was a gala day for St. Joseph, a town formerly known as 'Robidoux Landing.' The tremen- dous travel to the occident a decade before had been through that place and the goldseekers had left many dollars there, as it was the last outfitting point this side of the desert.
"There was a banquet at the Planter's House the evening of
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February 14, attended by all the road officials and prominent citizens of St. Joseph. Gen. Jeff Thompson, who a few years later became a noted Confederate leader, was one of the speakers. It was the birth of a great commercial era in the West and everybody was immensely optimistic.
"But the road had hardly been in operation before the war came on, and it was a mark for predatory bands of bushwhackers, who were constantly burning bridges and shooting into trains. I was roadmaster during the war and these troubles came right up against my depart- ment. We began putting steel on the sides of the cabs to protect the engineers and firemen. I saw one of the little locomotives roll into St. Joseph one day after having journeyed through an ambuscade and counted fifty-two bullet marks against the cab and boiler. You might imagine that under such circumstances it would be difficult to secure engineers to take trains out, but it is a curious fact that not an engineer flinched. Like soldiers they were proud of the dangers through which they ran almost daily. Add Clark, the man who made the test run with the Pony Express, was the nerviest engineer I ever saw in my life. If he was ordered to, I believe he would have run his locomotive right up to a battery that was firing at him.
" When the news came that our road was to be selected to carry the fast mail, under certain conditions, I sent orders to all the section foremen to spike down the switches. No trains were to be allowed on the line for an hour ahead of the fast train, which was called the Pony Express. Fuel agents at Macon, at Mooresville and at other places were notified to have a stock of cordwood on hand which could be emptied into the tender in less than no time. The 'Missouri'-all engines in Mis- souri in those days went by name instead of number-was selected to make the trial run, and Add Clark, one of the best engineers, was at the throttle. The track was carefully examined for days in advance to prevent the failure of the undertaking by accident. I had the thrilling- pleasure of journeying with the officials in the single coach that carried the mail across the state on that memorable occasion. The orders given to Engineer Clark were to make a speed record that would stand fifty years. As remarked, a half century has well nigh passed and the record of the Pony Express still stands, in spite of the heavier equip- ment and more powerful engines.
"Clark was not told to be careful; the only harm that could have happened to him would have been a failure to make time, and he under- stood it. He also understood the dangerous character of his dirt road-
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bed, but it didn't interfere with his purpose.
"The president of the road, Joshua Gentry, Superintendent J. T. K. Hayward, Assistant Superintendent O. N. Cutler and one or two others were in the car.
"The sawed-off train pulled out of Hannibal amid the waving of hats and the cheering of a mighty crowd. All the way across the state, at every station and cross-road, it was greeted by assemblies of men, women and children, many of whom had arisen in the early morning hours and journeyed a long distance to see the greatest sight of the times. As the Pony Express shot by the station, rocking like a kite in a gale, we could see the agents pushing the crowds back from the platforms and showing their sense of importance in their connection with the mighty event.
" All the way out of town it was like some grand ovation to a con- quering army. There was inspiration enough to make Engineer Clark perform miracles with his little wood-burner machine.
" At Brookfield, the division, there was a very brief stop for a bite to eat. Someone brought Engineer Clark a plate of nice cake. The hero, however, had other things on his mind.
"' 'No-no cake, thank you-no cake today,' he said.
"When the train pulled in and stopped amid the waiting thousands at the St. Joseph depot, Engineer Clark, pale, greasy and grand, stepped majestically from his iron horse, which stood panting like a blooded racer. He was the dazzling hero of the hour. He had covered the 206 miles from Hannibal to St. Joseph in a little over four hours, a performance which at the time was little short of miraculous, and which, even at this day, is mighty near the standard of the limited express trains of England.
"It was a big day for Engineer Clark and the Hannibal & St. Joseph road, which had secured a big mail contract by the day's work."
But there was another hero at St. Joseph on that noted occasion. His name has not come down like that of the gallant engineer, but he deserves mentioning. He was little, insignificant looking and thin- faced. He wore a peaked cap, riding boots, and held daintily in his right hand a small whip. Beside him was standing a bay pony, in front of the United States Express office. This other hero was the pony rider, waiting for the little pouches the mail train had toiled so hard to deliver. Blood, nerve and muscle took up the race where fire, steam and mechanical skill left off. With desperate haste the carrier rushed across with his mail pouches, the mail for the far West was
WILLIAM H. RUSSELL FATHER OF THE PONY EXPRESS
LOCOMOTIVE USED ON FIRST PONY EXPRESS RUN.
"THE PONY RIDER"
"THE MISSOURI" AND "PONY RIDER"
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sorted into little sacks and thrown across the pony. The rider mounted and lusty cheers went up for the little man who was to make the first dash into the great West. A ferry boat, steam up and ready to cast off, received horse and rider and was soon plowing across the river. Then the rider touched spurs to his horse and galloped out of sight. He formed one link in the chain of horses and riders that was to con- nect the East and the West and cover a distance of 1,900 miles. It was the birth of the Overland Mail, one of the most picturesque features in the development of the West. Fresh ponies waited the rider every ten miles; the rider's daily journey was sixty miles. His duty was to keep going. He stopped to pass the time of day with no man and if he was chased by Indians or outlaws he was to keep going without asking questions and dodge the best he could. Day and night the chain rolled on, carrying the news from the East to the far West and back home again. It brought to the gold miner tidings of loved ones and made life endurable. The letters were written on the thinnest of paper and the tariff on each was $5.
While Mr. P. H. Houlahan was trainmaster the fast passenger service between Chicago and Kansas City was established. In order to see that the "old" Hannibal & St. Joe division held up its end of the work, Mr. Houlahan went over his jurisdiction from Kansas City to Quincy and back in the engine cabs the night of the first run. As thorough precautions were taken for the success of the initial trip as were employed on the first run of the Pony Express. On the return trip, while rounding a curve near the old town of Carbon, in Macon county, the pilot of the hard-driven engine slid along the outer rail, causing a shower of sparks to fly. Later the curve was straightened and the outer rail lowered. The best engines on the division were put on this fast service, but they were small affairs compared with the mighty machines in use today.
Following is the schedule of the Missouri end of the first fast run of the Chicago-Kansas City service :
EASTBOUND
Left Kansas City 6:30 p. m., December 18, 1887
Arrived Brookfield 10:22 p. m., December 18, 1887
Left Brookfield 10:27 p. m., December 18, 1887
Arrived Macon 11:32 p. m., December 18, 1887
Arrived Quincy
1:45 a. m., December 19, 1887
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WESTBOUND
Left Quincy
2:06 a. m., December 19, 1887
Arrived Macon 4:13 a. m., December 19, 1887
Arrived Brookfield
5:15 a. m., December 19, 1887
Left Brookfield
5:20 a. m., December 19, 1887
Arrived Kansas City 9:15 a. m., December 19, 1887
The fast train was first called the "Eli," a name which clung to it for many years. Within recent years it has been officially designated as "The Chicago-Missouri Limited." On the time card it is referred to as 56 (eastbound) and 55 (westbound).
The train consists of from ten to twelve heavy sleeper, chair and express cars. It is hauled by a class S-2 simple engine, superheated ; 69-inch drivers; six drivers, four-wheeled truck forward, and trailer under cab, 12 wheels in all; weight of engine and loaded tender, 396,400 pounds. This type of locomotive can haul ten loaded coaches on the level at from sixty to seventy miles an hour. Its power is sufficient to cover heavy grades and maintain the schedule with ease.
Here are some figures from one of the runs showing the economy of this engine :
Train 56, Felix Allison, engineer; engine No. 2938, superheated; number of miles run, 204 (from Brookfield to Galesburg, Ill.) ; number of cars, 9; number of car miles, 1,836; number tons coal taken on run, none; tender started out with 9 tons; coal used per car mile, 10 pounds.
Some statistics from Brookfield division: Officers residing at Brookfield :
W. A. Chittenden, superintendent.
R. F. Ledford, assistant superintendent.
H. W. Johnson, master mechanic.
E. W. Muder, master carpenter.
R. Huber, roadmaster.
J. A. Cotter, roadmaster.
F. M. Veal, assistant roadmaster.
R. H. Allen, chief dispatcher. .
P. A. Weigner, night chief dispatcher.
Train Dispatchers-J. M. Walker, J. H. Findley, W. E. O'Neill, F. A. Young, A. G. Rodgers, J. W. Reed, F. D. Brown, T. H. Fox, A. W. Warinner, J. S. Shepherd, G. E. Slade.
Daily passenger trains out of Brookfield, 10.
Daily freight trains out of Brookfield, average, 30.
Weight of rails used on Brookfield division, from 85 to 90 pounds.
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Employes in all departments of road residing at Brookfield, 762.
Telephones were installed May 17, 1909, between Brookfield and Hannibal and Quincy for dispatching trains and for the handling of all messages, both railroad and Western Union, and all the telegraph instruments were removed in that territory. The telephones are very much of an improvement over the telegraph, especially in the handling of trains ; more work can be accomplished and they are more satisfactory in every way.
THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE
With the advent of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, Marceline sprang into existence and soon became one of the important railroad and mining centers of Linn county. The town was founded in 1888. It is the general division point between Kansas City and Fort Madison, and has the railroad shops, roundhouses and operating head- quarters for the division. The discovery of an inexhaustible bed of coal near the city gave the young town an impulse which soon placed it among the front ranks of the live towns of Missouri. The finding of coal was an important thing for the railroad, which takes an immense amount of the output.
Marceline now has a population of over 4,000, with all the con- veniences and improvements of a modern city. The Santa Fe Railroad has lately completed its second track, the first improvement of the sort in the state. When the road was constructed in the latter '80s, the bed and bridges were prepared for the second track. This gives the Santa Fe road splendid facilities for the handling of immense trains going and coming from the great commercial centers.
The construction contracts for the Santa Fe road were let in December, 1886, and the first train was run over the line January 1, 1888. The work was pushed with unusual rapidity, because it was the desire of the managers to get a through line into Chicago as soon as possible.
One of the largest contractors' suits ever before a Missouri court developed out of the construction of the Santa Fe railroad through this section of the state. As the work approached its completion it became evident that the engineers for the railroad and those employed by the contractors, Benezette Williams & Co., of Chicago, would never agree on the amount due on final estimates. The section in dispute started in the Grand River valley, in Chariton county, and continued to a point northeast of Ethel, in Macon county, a distance of forty miles. The contention was as to the character of the earth. It was insisted by the
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contractors that it was hardpan and that the company's engineers should classify it as such and allow for it.
The method of classifying the material, allowances for hauling and the alleged arbitrary change of grade at the Wabash road, and also the change in the line, were among the points at issue between the contractors and the railroad company. The plaintiffs claimed a balance due them on final estimates of $188,311.74. The railway engineers figured that the payment due the contractors was only $30,399.06.
The litigation was in court some ten years. It finally reached F. L. Schofield, a distinguished attorney of Hannibal, who was agreed upon as referee. It became his duty to listen to evidence concerning every foot of the road in dispute. It was a prodigious undertaking. The taking of testimony was begun in the United States Court room at Hannibal in February, 1894. This was after all the preliminary spar- ring in the Circuit Court and the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs were represented by John E. McKeighan, of St. Louis, George A. Mahan, of Hannibal. Gardner Lathrop, of Kansas City, and Ben Eli Guthrie, of Macon, appeared for the railroad company.
The evidence was voluminous. One newspaper account said that the record "filled a freight car." It was hardly that bad, however. The witnesses went over the road on foot and dug down into the earth in order to testify as to its character. At one time there was an adjourn- ment to take the evidence of B. F. Booker, then living in Mexico City, in the Republic of Mexico. Booker had been assistant chief engineer for the railroad company during the construction period. At the time Referee Schofield's court adjourned to Mexico to take his deposition, Booker was dying of consumption. Not long afterwards he passed away. The Santa Fe road furnished a special car for the court, lawyers, stenographers and the parties at interest for the entire trip. On an- other occasion a journey was made to New Orleans to take the deposi- tion of E. E. Earl, who was the division engineer on the west end of the construction. One of the witnesses came all the way from Pales- tine, the Holy Land, to testify on the part of the plaintiffs.
The evidence all in, Referee Schofield began on his tremendous task of trying to find out what was justice between the railroad company and the contractors. He was aided in this by the attorneys, who argued from their respective view points for two weeks. The referee found that the balance due the contractors over the amount allowed them in the final estimates of the engineers was $83,505.77. The main part of this allowance was for hardpan. Exceptions were filed to the referee's report by the defendant railroad. There was another long argument
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before Judge Andrew Ellison at Macon. Judge Ellison handed down a written opinion in April, 1896. In this opinion he disallowed every item which the referee had credited to the plaintiffs. He found that the evidence had shown no fraud or misconstruction of contract by the railway engineers.
Judge Ellison held that the claim for hardpan having been called to the attention of the railway engineers during the construction, and they having passed upon the material, had decided that it was not hardpan, and that their decision could not now be set aside "and sub- stituted therefor a shadowy memory and recollection of eight years ago."
The defendant railway's exceptions to the referee's report were all sustained by Judge Ellison, except as to the lien and interest, which were overruled and judgment ordered for plaintiffs for $36,785.92. The tender of the railroad in the first place had been $30,399.06.
Judge Ellison's decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1900, and the case ended.
CHAPTER X
The Brunswick, Linneus and Milan Plank Road-First Publication of Receipts and Expenditures-County Court Decides War Tax Levy Unconstitutional-The Town of Thayer Vacated-Some New Townships-New County Jail-Linn County Agricultural and Mechanical Society-Common Pleas Court-Fight Over County Printing-Awarded to Paper that Paid One Dollar for It-Attempt to Remove County Seat Defeated.
William Sanders, who has been referred to before in connection with the courthouse, took the contract to build the county jail and com- pleted it August 1, 1854. It required about two and one half years to complete the building. J. W. Hardy was the first jailer. The session of the general assembly, in the winter of 1852-53, passed an act making the office of county treasurer an elective one. All such offices in the counties mentioned in the act were to be declared vacant on the first Monday in August, 1853, at which time the voters were to elect a treasurer. Ed Hoyle, who had been appointed to succeed David Prewitt, was elected.
The act referred to also ordered an election on the first Monday in August, 1854, and from that time on there was to be an election every two years. At the election in 1854 John G. Flournoy was elected treasurer.
In the same session of the legislature there was an act passed to incorporate the Brunswick, Linneus and Milan plank road company. The capital stock of this early day road improvement society was not to exceed $300,000, and it provided that when any sum in excess of $20,000 should be subscribed, the company should be authorized to organize. The Linn county members of the company were Jacob Smith, Jeremiah Phillips, Samuel Price, Edward Hoyle, John G. Flour- noy, Henry Wilkinson, Robert W. Menifee, Jacob E. Quick, Beverly Neece and William B. Woodruff.
Before much headway was made with the road, railroad talk had diverted the public mind to that method of travel and the plank road had been succeeded by a swifter rival.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
The Probate Court of Linn county was established at the same time these other acts were passed.
John R. Baker was granted the right to charge at his mill a toll of 1-6 for grinding instead of 1-8, as the price had been heretofore.
John W. Gentry was permitted to keep one store within the county without paying a license on stipulation that the said Gentry did not invest over $300 capital.
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