History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 46

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 46

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On April 7, 1829. the following programme for the season was issued from the office of the Ohio Stage Company, at Columbus. Robert Neil, Secretary :

A daily line of Post coaches from Wheeling rie the National Road through Zanesville, Columbus, Springfield and Lebanon to Cincinnati in THREE DAYS, and by way of Dayton and the Miand Canal in three and a fourth days.

A triweekly line from Cincinnati ria Springfield, Columbus, Mount Vernon, Wooster, and Medina to Cleveland by way of Lebanon in four days ; and by Dayton in four and a fourth days

A line triweekly from Cincinnati through Springfield, Mount Vernon. Columbus, Mans- field, Norwalk and Milan to Portland by Lebanon, in four days ; and by Dayton in four and a fourth days.

The proprietors whose names were attached to this circular were: H. Moore & Co., of Wheeling : Jarvis Pike & W & R. Neil, of Columbus : Timothy Squier, of Dayton : William Werden, of Springfield ; A L Hunt. of Tymochtee : and Abner Root, of Portland.

As indicative of the progress which had by this time been made in the trans- mission of the mails, the following paragraph, which appeared in the Ohio State Journal of Friday, December 11, 1829. is significant :

Unparalleled Expedition. By the extraordinary exertions of the Ohio Stage Company, the President's message, which was delivered at Washington City at twelve o'clock, at noon, on Tuesday last, was received at our office at fifteen minutes before eleven in the evening of the following Wednesday, having travelled the whole distance between the two places - estimated at about four hundred and twenty miles -over excessively bad roads, in the space of thirtyfour hours and fortyfire minutes - a performance unparalleled in the annals of traveling in this section of the country.

While the mail service was being improved as rapidly as the road facilities would permit, the volume of travel by stage steadily increased. In 1831 over seventy coaches, all crowded, arrived at Columbus per week, their passenger lists compris. ing representatives from every State in the Union. Mong with this flush of husi- ness, dne. in part, to the building of the National Road and its tributary turnpikes. may be noted also a marked quickening of speed. In 1833 the mail from Washing ton City came through to Wheeling in fiftyfive hours, and from Wheeling to Columbus in twentyfour hours. The mail time between Cincinnati and Wheeling, ria Columbus, was fortyeight hours The time of the Northern Line, between Sandusky and Portsmouth. rid Columbus, was forty hours from terminus to termi- Between Cleveland and Columbus, rid Wooster and Mount Vernon, the time was twentysix hours.

343

IHISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

In 1831 Robert Neil sold his interest in the Ohio Stage lines to William Neil and retired. In 1834 the company was known by the firm name of Neil, Moore & Co., the principal partners being William Neil, of Columbus, and Henry Moore, of Wheeling. An index of the business of the firm at that period is found in one of its advertisements calling for " one hundred young men of good steady habits and morai character to be employed as stage drivers." The driving of a stage, indeed, was no ordinary trust, as this advertisement indicates. It was not merely drawing reins, and managing a fourhorse team, although that was no easy thing to do, par- ticularly in winter, on the slippery roads of the hill country in Eastern Ohio. Then and there, as indeed at all times and places, the fidelity and capacity of the driver had much to do with the safety of the mails and the comfort of the passen - gers. That teams should run away, coaches be upset, and limbs be broken, or lives lost, were accidents which could not be wholly avoided. Some distressing affairs of this kind, personally known to the writer, might be narrated. But considering the difficulties of the road, the number of passengers carried, and the number of miles traveled, such accidents were perhaps as infrequent as could be expected.

The drivers, as a class, were men of good, hard sense, steady and taciturn. They acquired a certain brusqueness of manner, as was natural, exposed, as they were, to the inclemencies of the elements, and obliged to deal every day with all the patience- trying traits of human nature; yet, like the coachmen of Paris, many of them were men of not only rare natural intelligence but fine education. If they were not also well versed in the waysof the world, it was not for lack of oppor- tunity to learn them. They were particularly noted, says a Columbus writer, for their " never failing civility and gallantry to women.""

In 1836 some socalled "opposition" lines sprang up, whereupon staging be- came a lively business, indeed. An old citizen informs the writer that he has seen the rival coaches come into town side by side at full speed. From a spirited sketch of one of these races, by a Columbus authoress, the following sentences are taken : 10

As the capital drew near, our restlessness and impatience became intolerable; and when a coach came up beside us, Beecher called to the drivers, who were engaged in conversation, " Let's try your mettle, boys. We will make np a purse for the man that first enters the town." There were several passengers in the other coach, who joined heartily in Beecher's proposal. Crack ! crack! went the whips -away we dashed, the passengers urging their respective drivers by cries of bravo, waving of handkerchiefs, and peals of laughter. The mud flew in great heaps, and louder and louder lashed the whips, while the drivers fairly shrieked as they urged their foaming horses to greater speed. Soon the fine farms bordering the Scioto were lost in the distance, and in a shorter time than it takes to tell you, we galloped into the bustling town of Columbus. Reining up at the Old National Hotel, on the present site of the Neil House, the wager was unanimously awarded to " Yankee " Cook.

Some other phases of stage adventure are seen through the lines of the follow- ing narrative of Mr. Reuben E. Champion : 11

That old diary of mine notes that, on the evening of January 27, 1849, a wagonload of specie came in from Chillicothe, Ohio. It was consigned to Beebe & Co., New York, and should have arrived several hours earlier in time to go out on our regular stage run for Spring. field, where we made connections with the Mad River Railroad to Sandusky, thence via Lake to Buffalo and the East.

319

MAIL, AND STAGECOACH.

For good reasons it was not deemed safe to hold this money over until the next night ; so an extra stage coach was chartered from Neil, Moore & Co., and I was detailed as messen- ger to take charge. The specie was loaded into the coach, the back seat being left vacant for the messenger. Just before we departed, a stage drove np loaded down with schoolgirls from the Granville Female Seminary. Among them was a young lady who was exceedingly anx- ious to reach her home at Springfieldl, and did not wish to wait twentyfour hours, or until the regular stage would leave.

There was room on the back seat for her, and for the messenger, and we consented to carry her. She was loaded in ere I put in an appearance. The night was dark and stormy (no gas in those days) and I could not see whether my companion was black or white, six - teen or sixty, but, as we passed Cadwallader's Tavern, on Broad Street, near the bridge, the lamps in front of that hotel enabled me to see that she was young and fair, and I immediately made up my mind to see my valuable eargo through in good shape. It was an awful cokl night, and I was compelled to loan my charge a piece of my buffalo rohe. She became very sleepy - no pillows in that vicinity - and involuntarily she took charge of my left shoulder, and so slept the weary hours away.

The experience must have been of an opposite character to this which inspired a newspaper muse of the fifties with the following strain of parody : 12

Jolting through the valley, Winding up the hill, Splashing through the " branches,". Rumbling by the mill ; Putting nervous "gemmen " In a towering rage ; What is so provoking As riding in a stage.

Feet are interlacing, Heads severely bumped. Friend and foe together Giet their noses thumped ; Dresses act as carpets - Listen to the sage - " Life's a rugged journey Taken in a stage."

Spinsters fair and forty, Maids in youthful charms Suddenly are cast in - To their neighbors' arms! Children shoot like squirrels Darting through a cage : Isn't it delightful, Riding in a stage.

Jolted, thumped, distracted, Racked, and quite forlorn, "Oh." eries one, "what duties Now are laid on corn !" Mad, disgusted, weary, In a sweating rage, 'Tis the very mischief, Riding in a stage.

350

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

In Jannary, 1836, J. C. Acheson, agent of Neil, Moore & Co., announced the following winter arrangement :

Mail Pilot Line, daily to Wheeling ria Zanesville and St. Clairsville, through in twenty- four hours.

Good Intent Line, daily to Wheeling by the same route; through in twenty hours. Connects with stages for Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Mail Pilot Line daily to Cincinnati, through in thirtysix hours, allowing six hours for repose at Springfield.

Eagle Line, every other day to Cleveland, through in forty hours rin Mount Vernon and Wooster.

Telegraph Line for Sandusky City every other day, through in two days, allowing rest at Marion, and connecting there with the line to Detroit ria Lower Sandusky.

Phoenix Line, every other day to Huren via Mount Vernon and Norwalk, through in fortyeight hours.

Daily line to Chillicothe, connecting there with the line to Portsmouth and Maysville, Kentucky.

The starting point of the coaches of these lines was their office next door to Colonel Noble's National Hotel.

Almost simultaneously with the publication of the foregoing schedule, the "Opposition Defiance Fast Line of Mail Coaches," between Cincinnati and Wheel- ing, was announced. The advertised proprietors of this line were John W. Weaver and Co., George W. Manypenny and John Youtz from Wheeling to Columbus ; and James H. Bacon, William Rianhard, F. M. Wright and William H. Fife from Co- lumbus to Cincinnati. George W. Manypenny was the company's agent. The coaches of the line started daily from Russell's Globe Inn.

On July 1,.1837, Neil, Moore & Co. resumed the transportation of the mails between Cincinnati and Wheeling, and about the same time announced the follow- ing reduced passenger rates from Columbus: to Zanesville, 82; Wheeling, 85; Springfield, 82; Dayton, $3.50; Cincinnati, 85; intermediate points, five cents per mile. A reduction of the fare to Cincinnati was made by the company during the ensuing October.

During the midsummer of 1837 an " Express Mail " from Baltimore through to Cincinnati, via Frederick and Cumberland, Maryland, Uniontown, Pennsyl- vania, Wheeling, Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio, in sixty hours was established.13 The time in which this mail covered the distance between Baltimore and Columbus was fortyfour hours and a half. A stoppage of half an hour was made at each of six principal points on the line, and of one hour at Wheeling. Letters intended for this line were marked Erpress Mail, and were charged triple postage. Money let- ters were excluded. Newspaper slips of not over two columns of printed matter, intended as exchanges between publishers, were carried free. Simultaneously with this arrangement, the time of the regular mail between Wheeling and Columbus was reduced to nineteen and onehalf hours, and to twentyfour and onehalf hours between Columbus and Cincinnati. The Express Mail was carried on horseback, at great speed, from one station to another, and was independent of the control of the stage companies. In harmony with these increased facilities for through mails, the Columbus Postoffice became, in 1838, an office of general distribution, employing the remarkable number, as it was then deemed, of twelve or fifteen persons.

351

MAIL, AND STAGECONCIL.

A daily line of stages between Columbus and Cleveland was first established in the autumn of 1839. About the same time Neil, Moore & Co. announced an "im- portant improvement," as it was called, to their Pilot Line of coaches, by employ- ing for each coach a " guard " whose duty it was to protect the baggage, look after the comfort of the passengers, see that the changes of horses were made promptly and the time schedule kept, and to require of the drivers the faithful performance of their duty " both to the passengers and the proprietors." The time allowed for changing teams at the relay stations was about five minutes. The watering of teams on the road was disallowed.

Robberies of the mails carried by the stages sometimes occurred. During the night of September 19, 1837, the Great Western Mail, as it was called, bound east- ward, was taken from the coach between Columbus and Springfield, and plundered of all the letters it contained. The night of March 9, 1840, was chosen for a simi- lar exploit by two villains who stopped the mail coach bound for Columbus abont three miles east of Springfield, pointed their pistols at the driver, who was alone, and made him surrender the Cincinnati mailbag, which they left by the wayside after taking out its contents. In 1841 robberies of the stage mails were very fre- quent, and were announced from all directions. In 1842 we find the record of an unsuccessful attempt to rob the northwardgoing mail near Sunbury, in Delaware County.

During the winter of 1839-40 frequent interruptions and delays in the delivery of the eastern mails were caused by heavy snowstorms in the Alleghanies, and floating ice in the Ohio River. From these causes the President's Message, sent to Congress in December, 1839, was not received at Columbus until January 2, 1840. For eight days next preceding that date, the mail communication with Washing- ton was entirely broken off. All through the forties, until the opening of the tele- graph in 1847, irregularities in the transportation and delivery of the mails were sub- jects of intermittent complaint. After commercial interests and the press had fairly begun to experience the advantages of prompt and rapid mail communication, the least interruption of it was keenly felt, and the multiplied accidents to which the stage service was exposed were not always appreciated. It should be observed, however, that instances of particularly rapid transmission always evoked hearty plaudits. In December, 1841, the President's Message was brought through to Columbus in thirtysix hours and twenty minutes after its delivery at the Capitol, which was considered extraordinary speed. The mail contractors were lavishly applauded for this manifestation of enterprise. In March, 1845, Neil, Moore & Co.'s express brought President Polk's Inaugural through from Washington to Columbus in thirtyfour hours and two minutes. The time from Wheeling was nine hours and fortyfive minutes, which was then unprecedented. Such rapidity, remarks the Ohio Statesman, " can scarcely be believed . . . and speaks volumes for the enter- prise of the nge." From Cumberland to Cincinnati the transmission was made on horseback. But still greater things were in store, as witness the following announcement under date of December 11, 1846, under the caption " Unparalleled Speed :"14

The President's Message was delivered and left Washington City at meridian on Tues- day ; was conveyed thenee to Cumberland by regular mail, in six and a half hours; left

352

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

Cumberland at 6:45 Wednesday evening, reaching Wheeling at a quarter past eleven Thurs- day morning. It was received on the western bank of the Ohio River, opposite Wheeling. by the Ohio Stage Company, at thirtyfive minutes past one o'clock P. M., on Thursday, and was delivered at Columbus at ten minutes past eight o'clock the same evening, having been conveyed from Wheeling to Columbus - 135 miles - in the unparalleled short space of sir hours and a half ! Much credit is ascribed for this achievement to Messrs. Hooker and Terry, the efficient agents of the Stage Company who managed the Express.

This was the culminating and last exploit of horseflesh in the rapid transmis- sion of the President's Message to Columbus. Before an opportunity for its repeti- tion arrived the express post had been superseded by the electric telegraph.

During the forties, the credit system in the administration of the Postoffice was still in vogue. In February, 1840, Postmaster Bela Latham gives notice that " letters will be delivered to no one who has not a book account, without the post- age being paid at the time of their receipt. Frequent losses," continnes the Post- master, "compel him to pursue this course. Book account may be opened by making a deposit, the account to be balanced each month."

On December 3, 1846, Postmaster Jacob Medary gave notice that, as required by aet of Congress,

On the first day of January, 1847, and thereafter, all duties, taxes, sales of public lands, debts and sums of money accrning or hecoming due to the United States, and also all sums dne for postages, or otherwise, to the General Postoffice Department, shall be paid in gold and silver coin only, or in Treasury notes issued under the authority of the United States.

This requirement, to which the people had not been accustomed, caused, for a time, much harsh criticism, mostly of a partisan nature.

An act of Congress, approved March 3, 1847, having provided for the use of stamps in the payment of postage, the Postmaster at Columbus gave notice August 18, 1847, that he had received a supply of stamps of the denominations of five and ten cents, with the following instructions :

The stamps sent you are intended for the supply of the postmasters in your vicinity, as well as the customers of your office, and in all cases, whether the postmasters or other persons, they are to be sold only for cash.

The stage lines continued to hold important relations with the through mails until the opening of the Columbus & Xenia Railway in February, 1850, of the Bee Line to Cleveland a year later, and of the Central Ohio Railway, November, 1854, between Columbus and Wheeling. The remaining record of staging down to the dawn of this important era in the Ohio annals of transportation may now be briefly summarized.

In December, 1842, the National Road Stage Company, L. W. Stocktou Presi- dent, and J. C. Atcheson Secretary, was announced. This company's stages carried the mails, and covered the distance between Wheeling and Cumberland, 309 miles, in thirtythree hours. At Cumberland they made connection with the trains on the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, then completed from Baltimore to that point. Reduced fares to Baltimore and Philadelphia were scheduled. As numerous accidents had occurred through the negligence of drivers while halting their teams, unhitched, at the wayside taverns, the company's advertisement con- tained this reassuring elause :

R. E. Vais

353

MAIL. AND STAGECOACH.

No driver on any of our lines is permitted, under penalty of five dollars, to stop on the road and water his team, or leave his box from the time he starts from his stand until he reaches the end of his route.

In February, 1843, the company reduced its fares from Wheeling to Baltimore and Philadelphia, respectively, to ten and thirteen dollars.

In February, 1843, Neil, Moore & Co. published the following " notice : "

General O. Hinton having sold out all his stock and interest in the firm of Neil, Moore & Co., on the first day of January, instant, it is important that the business of the firm should be finally closed up to that dlate.

This announcement, signed by William Neil, President, and Henry Moore, Secretary, was one of considerable importance both to the company and the public as will be seen further on.

The routes covered by the lines of Neil, Moore & Co. in 1843 were of an aggregate length of about fifteen hundred miles, and extended not only to nearly all parts of Ohio, but into the States of Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Michigan. Along the lake their stages, first put on the road from Erie to Buffalo in 1843, rau continuously from that city to Detroit. On the National Road they maintained a fast service of three daily lines between Cincinnati and Wheeling, going through from terminus to terminus in fortytwo hours. Their horses were robust selected animals, but this rapid travel on the flinty turnpike soon used them up, and obliged the company to relieve them by frequent transfers to the clay roads. The repair shops of the company in Columbus gave constant employment to about twenty workmen.

On July 1, 1844, W. T. Rowe & Co., J. W. Dryden, Agent, began carrying the mails between Zanesville and Columbus. This company ran what it called a People's Line of stages, at low fares, from Columbus cia West Jefferson, London, South Charleston, Xenia, Waynesville and Lebanon to Deerfield where it connected with the trains of the Little Miami Railway for Cincinnati. The company's ad- vertisement contains this significant statement :

Should an opposition be run upon the same route, the undersigned pledge themselves that under no circumstances which can possibly arise will racing on their part be permitted. Should the opposition overtake the mail coach, orders have been given to the drivers on this line immediately to take to the right hand of the road, as the law directs, and permit them to pass if they desire it.

In March, 1845, while one of Neil, Moore & Company's stages was descending a long hill east of St. Clairsville, the lever of the lock broke, precipitating the coach forward upon the horses, which at once took fright, and broke away at full speed. The stage was upset and smashed to pieces, and nearly all the passengers in it, of whom there were several, were seriously hurt. Among them was W. A. McCoy, of Columbus. In the same vicinity, near Lloydsville, Belmont County, another stage was upset in December, of the same year, owing to the icy condition of the turnpike. A third upset occurred about the same time near Cambridge. When it was overturned, this stage contained nine Pottawattomie Indians, some of whom were severely hurt. These illustrations will suffice to show that stage, as well as railway travel, was not without its perils.

354

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

In March, 1846, the Mansfield and Sandusky City and Little Miami Railway companies advertised for proposals from the stage companies to connect, from Columbus, with their trains at Mansfield and Springfield - a circumstance indica- tive of the progress of events. From different directions the railways were, by that time, steadily approaching the capital.

In 1849, a daily line of stages between Columbus and Pomeroy, via Lancaster, Logan and Athens was established. " The daily line of D. Tallmadge to Lan- caster," runs the announcement, "connects there with the line to Pomeroy newly established by Mr. Hoyt."

In August, 1850, Frederick Douglas delivered an address at Columbus, and on the following day undertook to pursue his journey castward in one of the Ohio Stage Company's vehicles, but after buying his ticket, and taking his place in the stage, was cjeeted from it on account of his color. So strong was the prejudice against the negro race at that time that the company felt obliged to make this concession to the predominating sentiment of the traveling public. From this affair some interesting legal proceedings resulted, an account of which will be else- where given.

This same year - 1850 - saw the advent of W. B. & J. A. Hawkes in the local stage business of Central Ohio. This firm obtained mail contracts to numerous points from the capital, and ran its principal line of stages between Columbus and Portsmouth. Nothwithstanding the opening of railway lines, the firm did a thriving business, which was much enlarged, in both profits and extent, during the Civil War period. One of its notable employés was George Patrick, who was in the stage service as driver for thirtythree years, and bonght a farm with his carnings.

Another event of 1850, already incidentally hinted at, deserves mention. On the twentyeighth of August, in that year, General Otho Hinton, of Delaware, Ohio, was arrested in Cleveland on the charge of repeated robberies of the mail extend- ing over a period of several years. Hinton was at that time an agent of the Ohio Stage Company, and had previously owned, but disposed of, an interest in the firm of Neil, Moore & Co., as we have already seen. He was a pretentious politician, of the most intolerant stripe, and had won his military renown by conspicuous service on the musterdays of the " cornstalk " militia. When the trouble with Mexico be- gan, he denounced the Mexicans as savagely as he had been abusing his fellow citizens of opposite politics, and made a vainglorious tender of his services to the President. As he had already begun to pilfer the mailbags entrusted to his keep- ing, this exhibition of military bravado was probably intended to divert suspicion.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 46

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1202

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202