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YALE UNIVEESITY LIBEART

FOKHED BY
James Abraham Hillhouse, B.A. 1749
James Hillhouse, B.A. 177 S
James AJbraham Hillhouse, B.A. 1808
James Hillhouse, B.A. 1875
Memoved 194:2 from the
Manor Souse itt Sachem's Wood
GIFT OF
GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUB

From the Hudson to the Ohio.
A Region of Historic, Romantic and Scenic
Interest, and otlier Sketches,
BY
WILLIAM BENDER WILSON,
AUTHOR OF
"History of the Pennsylvania Railroad," "Acts and Actors
in the Civil War," " Emmanuel Church,"
Etc. Etc.

KENSINGTON PRESS
1902.

COPYRIGHT, JANUARY 9, I9O2,
BY
WILLIAM BENDER WILSON.

CONTKNTS

Dedication 
From the Hudson to the Ohio 
Lights and Shadows 
An Evening in July; A Catastrophe; Flood and Charity; Village Life;
A Quaint Old Town ; The Great White City ; The Tale of Two Cemeteries.
The Telegraph in Peace and War 
Warfare 
Black Dick 
George Washington  
The Battle of Baltimore and the Star Spangled Banner . . .
The Oid and the New Way . . . 
An Early Snow Plow . ' 
''^The Transportation Panel in Broad Street Station . ,
Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company ....
The Secretary of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company . ...
Division Freight Agents  ... 
A Faithful Surgeon . . 
Freight Agencies . .  ... ...
In Memoriam : Edward Miller, Joseph D. Potts, John Clark Sims,
Edward Jefferies . . . ...
Peter Boughner's recollections . . .

DEDICATION.

To fllexarider J. Cassatt, ericourager arid
patrori of literature arid tl[e arts ; thie prorr^oter of
civics ; a rqari of affairs, "Whiose strerigthi is accorq-
pariied by tl^at rqodesty vi)hiichi is always iridica-
tive of true greatriess ; ar\d orie Wf\o'se actioris
l:\ave UriWaVeririgly hiad for tt^eir object th^e best
results, tfjis little WorX is dedicated by
THE HUTHOR

Holir\esburg, Pl\iladelpl:\ia, Jaquary 1, 1902,

A. J. CASSATT.

From the Hudson to the Ohio:
A Region of Historic, Romantic and Scenic Interest

BY
WiLLLAM Bender Wilson.

Leaving the majestic Hudson, whose waters are ever perturbed
by the unceasing swells of commerce, the traveller moving over the
Pennsylvania Railroad, crosses the Passaic, the Rahway and the
Raritan, and passes the historic fields of Monmouth, Princeton and
Trenton, so dear to the patriotic heart. Diverging at Trenton, the
wild and romantic scenery of the Upper Delaware is a source of
unending enjoyment and entrancement. Returning, and passing
through Morrisville, once the abode of Moreau and of Morris, and
proceeding westward, the more placid stream is everchanging in
its scenic effects, to which the waters and vallies of the Neshaminy.
the Poquessing and the Pennypack contribute. Historic German-
town, with its wealth of patriotic memories and relics, is close at
hand. Crossing the Schuylkill's tranc^uil waters, a glimpse is had
of Fairmount Park, wondrous in its numerous vistas and unsur
passed in natural beauty. A few minutes away is the renowned
Wissahickon, whose towering rocks, pools and water-falls George
Lippard wove into legendary lore. Now in the center of the city of
Brotherly Love, founded by Penn, graced by Washington and where
in the Declaration of Independence was made, the Constitution of the
United States was framed and Franklin lived. Repassing the
Schuylkill and by the many charming suburban towns and villas
which repose in contentment amid rural surroundings, like choice
and sparkling gems in rich and rare settings, through Paoli, whose
neighborhood is conspicuous by its revolutionary memories — Valley
Forge and the "Massacre" being ever fresh — the beautiful and

FROM THE HUDSON TO THE OHIO.
delicate colors, contribute such artistic effects that the eye never
palls gazing upon them. A little way down the river in former
days stood Mrs. Halbach's famous inn, with its catfish and waffles
served by the hands of blithe Katie ; and farther on, conspicuous
in a Calvinistic rigidity, the old white painted church, with its
green Venitian shutters, gave emphasis to Coxtown life. Close by
was Carson's cranberry bog, from whose weird surroundings and
mysterious depths the average boy shied off. The old canal lock
at Rockville, with its adjacent storehouse of boat supplies and group
of buildings, was in those days the center of gossip, and always had
a large number of visitors bent on obtaining news from the world
outside whenever the packet came in. The boy in the crowd look
ing upon the packet, and out from it into the great world beyond.
unconsciously absorbed ideas of transportation which bore good fruit
in after years. Crossing at Rockville to the right bank of the
river, the confluence of the Juniata soon comes into view and the
Juniata Valley, with its wealth of agriculture, hills, pellucid waters,
history, poetry, and romance, opens its treasures. From the time
the traveller crosses the Susquehanna until passing through the
deep gorge of the Juniata at Tyrone and traversing the Tuckahoe
Valley comes to the foot of the Alleghenies, he traverses a region
of melody and scenic grandeur. West of Mifflin, the weird and
gloomy passage of the "Narrows" between the Black Log and Shade
Mountains, with its full, deep solemnity, is changed to a scene of
joyous beauty, as, emerging from the shadow, the light of the
Kishacoquillas Valley is seen. That is the valley in which Lewis-
town is located, and with which Logan the celebrated Indian chief,
is identified. After Huntingdon county is reached, the scenery
breaks into rugged grandeur, which the bolder mountain ranges
produce. The whole region is a rare one for the lovers of the
beautiful and grand to visit and to transfer the soul-inspiring
scenery from Nature's pallette to that of the artist : —
"Here mountain on mountain exultingly throws
Through storm mist and snow its black crags to the skies ;
In their shadows the sweets of the vallies repose,
While streams gay with verdure and sunshine, steal by."
At Mount Union is Jack's Narrows, a wild and rugged gorge
formed by the river forcing its way through Jack's Mountain. The
sides of the mountain, in many places showing no vegetation,

FROM THE HUDSON TO THE OHIO.
expose masses of rock, which seem as if they were about to roll
down into the river below. Fuller, in singing of this mountain
and gorge, tells : —
"When vernal skies dispel the chill.
That wintry winds have brought,
And heal the wounds with piteous hands
Unfeeling frosts hath wrought,
Then woodland beauty hastens forth
Thy bleak defiles to hide.
And leaflets spring from tree to shrub,
And flow'rs on every side.
"If summer suns, with melting ray,
Make hills and valleys glow,
And fling their beaming radiance down.
Alike on friend, and foe.
With gentle breezes thou art fanned
With balmy zephyrs blgst.
Refreshing to the languid ones,
And to the weary, rest.
"So, too, when Autumn's mellow days
Begin their busy hours,
And hang their gorgeous drapings wide
O'er all thy sylvan bowers,
Then many a low and ladened bough
And many a stately tree
With gen'rous yield their fruits bestow,
A bounty rich and free.
"But when the storms of Winter come.
Thy solitudes to claim,
Old Boreas rides in wrathful mood,
O'er all thy bleak domain ;
He fiercely binds thy far-famed stream.
He madly seals it fast;
And sweeps athwart thy dark ravines
In raany a roaring blast."
Ascending the stream westward from the gorge, the water
flows as gently as if it were gliding through the castle of the fairies.
At Huntingdon an opportunity offers of observing some of the best
of mountain effects. Ascending the hill leading to the city of the
dead in Huntingdon, the visitor will be greeted at every footstep
by some new, attractive scene. Prodigal Nature lavish of the sur-

FROM THE HUDSON TO THE OHIO.
prises she loves to take from her inexhaustible storehouses, and with
charming coquetry bestow upon her lovers, at each advance places,
almost panoramically, for admiration some new scene of beauty.
Here a bit of color, there an exc[uisite piece of water, and over
yonder a precipitous cliff. In whichever direction the eye rests,
lofty trees and c[uiet vallies placed so as to produce harmony of
effect contribute to the formation of incomparable pictures. Foot
hill rises above foot-hill, and, clad in the various shades of green,
form the advance guard of the mountains which on the eastern slope
constitute the declining spur of the Alleghanies. Just east of Ceme
tery Hill, Stone Creek Mountain rises to a height of dignity from
its base — a base which abruptly springs out of the sparkling waters
of the creek as in merriment they hasten to join the Juniata's flow
in its serene journey to the ocean. There to the northwest andi
southwest looms up Tussey's Moimtain, grand in its ever-chang
ing shadows. Again, in the northwest, is Warrior Ridge, which
loses itself in the deep blue of the mountains beyond. The Juniata;
here and there, making wide gaps in the hills, and irrigating fertile
fields rich in their productiveness, winds its way in a willowy course^
through the valley. Below, in the deep basin, reposes Huntingdon.
Its spires, gilded into life by the morning sun, speak of a quiet
confidence as they silently emphasize the peacefulness of surround
ings. At irregular distances dark smoke from factory stacks blends
as it rises with t'he blue of the zenith and seems like sweet vapor
of burning incense ascending heavenward in recognition of the
prosperity of the neighborhood. Standing at the cemetery gate in
the midst of the solemnity and beauty of Nature and looking upon
the mountains, one feels that these are not the mountains of men
for their habitations and uses, but are the mountains of God, for
the revelation of his majesty, love and power.
Reaching the Little Juniata, and following it through a gorge
of Tussey's Mountain, Tyrone, with its disappearing and reappear
ing stream, is passed. Thence through the Tuckahoe Valley, lying
between the main range of the Alleghanies and the Brush Mountain,
to Altoona, and climbing the mountain sides, magnificent scenes of
landscape beauty enrapture the eye. At Kittanning Point the moun
tain scenery is incomparable. Dr. R. M. S. Jackson, the "Man of
the Mountain," thus describes it : —
"The poet and painter are presented with a boundless field, as
the element of beauty seems alone to have been recognized and

FROM THE HUDSON TO THE OHIO.
consulted in its creation. Immediately below reposes the range of
beautiful valleys at the southeast base of the Alleghenies, their,
northwest margins sloping up to the mountain in a range of round,
soft, billowy hills, as it were the gentle heavings of a summer sea,
breaking against the shore upon whose rocky heights the beholder
stands. It is also beautiful to perceive, that in the space between
the lines which represent the distance between the mountain summits ,
the tint, from the increased distance, becomes deeper and deeper,
until lost in the clear blue of ether. As the eye follows the azure
steps of this kingly portal to the skies, line rising above line, it can
scarcely be realized that within each of these tints of deeper blue,
there reposes a range of the richest and loveliest limestone valleys
of Pennsylvania. Often, with bars of clouds reposing on the hori
zon, it is impossible for the eye to distinguish the distant lines or
to fix where the earth ceases and the heavens commence." Through
the mountain and emerging at Gallitzin, named in honor of the
Russian nobleman who settled at Loretto, and in the capacity of a
Roman Catholic priest scattered his benevolence far and wide, a
height of nearly 2,200 feet above the level of the sea is attained.
"Now I gain the mountain's brow,
What a landscape lies below !
No clouds, no vapors, intervene,
But the gay, the open scene
Does the face of Nature show,
In all the hues of Heaven's bow !
And, swelling to embrace the light.
Spreads around beneath the sight."
Charles Dickens, in describing his trip over the Alleghanies
by way of the old Portage Railroad in 1842, said : "It was very
pretty travelling thus at a rapid rate along the heights of the moun
tain in a keen wind, to look down into the valley, full of light and
softness ; catching glimpses through the tree tops of scattered cabins ;
children running to the doors, dogs bursting out to bark whom we
could see without hearing; and terrified pigs scampering home
ward ; families sitting out in their rustic gardens ; cows gazing
upward with stupid indifference; men in their shirt-sleeves, looking
on at their unfinished houses, planning out to-morrow's work ; and
we riding high above them like a whirlwind. It was amusing, too,
when we had dined and rattled down a steep pass, having no other
moving power than the weight of the carriages themselves, to see

FROM THE HUDSON TO THE OHIO.
the engine, released long after us, come buzzing clown alone like a
great insect, its back of green and gold so shining in the sun that
if it had spread a pair of wings and soared away no one would
have had occasion, as I fancied, for the least surprise. But it
stopped short of us in a very business-like manner when we reached
the canal, and before we left the wharf, went panting up the hill
again with the passengers who had waited our arrival for the means
of traversing the road by which we had come." Another writer,
in describing his sensations in passing over the mountain in an
earlier day, said : "As the car rolls along on this giddy height, the
thought trembles in your mind that it may slip over the head of
the first descending plane, rush down the fearful steep and be
dashed into a thousand pieces at its foot."
In the early morning as the train moves westward from Altoona.
the sun, breaking through the mists, weaves hundreds of fantastic
and beautiful shapes on the mountain slopes and gilds with its brush
the distant peaks. The easy, graceful ascent, the triumph of en
gineering skill, is an unending source of pleasure and admiration to
the traveller ; and no matter how often he repeats it, he always
encounters something new in the scenery to delight him. And as he
descends the mountain he sees a glory lavishly spent by Nature, and
here and there the Conemaugh appearing as a mirrored surface, send
ing upward from below the beauties of the hillsides or the swiftness of
the passing train. The contemplation of the romance of the Cone
maugh is always saddened as there wells up in memory its great
tragedy ; when its swollen and angry waters laid desolate Johnstown
and its environs, forming the prosperous iron city of the Alleghenies ;
when the black pall of death enshrouded the valley, when- its stalwart
sons and beautiful daughters, its wise men and innocent children, its
maids and its matrons, its rich and its poor, while enjoying the full
ness of health, were suddenly clasped in the cold embrace of death.
There was a silver lining to the cloud, for when the stricken ones who
survived the ordeal through which they had passed mutely appealed in
their helplessness to the common brotherhood of man for the helping
hand to aid them in rising from their fallen condition, the vastness of
the flood that produced the disaster found its counterpart in the vast
ness of sweet charity's tide, which, flowing from all portions of the
habitable globe, bore aid and succor to the homeless, the heart
broken, the sick and the naked.
From the conception of a railway from the seaboard to the
13

FROM THE HUDSON TO THE OHIO.
Ohio, the Allegheny mountain was a formidable barrier; the quick
succession of mountain rising after mountain seemed insurmountable,
but, by utilizing the resources of Nature, the genius of man reclaimed
the mountain wildness, subdued the wild and fierce obstacles in moun
tain fastnesses, overcame mountain heights, bridged valleys and
streams, and supplanting the silence of solitude, made the glens and
gullies and hill-tops resound with the hum of industry and the notes
of moving traffic. But civilization's progress has not dulled the
beauties of the scenery of the Alleghanies. There may be mountain
scenery of far grander aspect ; loftier hills with snow-capped peaks ;
deeper gorges and gloomier canyons ; but none where sky, foliage
and verdure combine with hill and stream in so many effects to
produce the very poetry of mountain scenery !
Leaving Johnstown, the scenes change, as the gliding is down,
down, to the Ohio basin. Through the gaps of Laurel Hill, across
the valley of the Ligonier, penetrating the gorges of Chestnut Hill,
by rivulets and running streams, whose shimmering waters send
springs of sweetness through those valleys, the wild magnificence
of mountain sides receives its culmination in the Pack Saudle, a
formidable bluft" towering at a considerable height above the Cone
maugh flowing at its base. The superb beauty of this spot, once
seen becomes indelibly impressed upon memory. Soon the deep,
wild and romantic Conemaugh Valley is left behind, and the rolling
tableland of Westmoreland is passed over. The waters of the Loyal-
hanna come into play to add their effects to the scenery. Greens-
burg offers up for patriotic reverence the grave of the honorable
but unfortunate soldier. General Arthur St. Clair, and the Brush
and Turtle creeks lead on to Braddock's Field, where there springs
to memory the awful July day, more than a century ago, when savage
fury accompanied by extraordinary scenes of barbarism laid low the
choicest of the British military service ancl humbled the pride of the
British nation. On and on, along the Brush, the Turtle and the
Monongahela, through splendid agricultural and mineral lands, into
the city of Pittsburg, unsurpassed in all the elements of substantial
wealth, the very heart of American industrial life. 'Tis here the
united currents of the A..llegheny from the northeast and the Monon
gahela from the south rush into the Ohio, and the blended waters,
that were the origin artd generator of the commercial, social and
political progress of the country they irrigate, flow on until, in the
language of Jeremiah S. Black, they "sink into the sweet embraces
14

FROM THE HUDSON TO THE OHIO.
of the Mississippi, dying in delightful fellowship together in the
Gulf of Mexico." The Ohio — the beautiful river — whose waters
flowing with a smooth regularity make productive the renowned
and luxuriant valley which bears its name — the noble tributary
of the mighty Mississippi, that gladly carries on its buoyant breast
the opulence of industry wedded by the bands of steel to the majestic
Hudson and partially exhibiting its rich nuptial gifts of poetry,
history and scenic grace, modestly bows its head, and the curtain
drops.

15

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

My life has been an eventful one in peace and war. I could
relate the triumphs of the former and depict the horrors of the latter,
I could go from battle to battle, along march after march, to prison
and hospital, and recite heroic deeds of valor and tell tales of fatigue
bravely borne and sufferings manfully endured, speak in sympathetic
tones of widowed hearts and grief-stricken firesides — but all that
has been oft told, and the lurid colors of the panorama of war have
been softened by the tintings of time.
I will, therefore, take from the tablets of memory a few pictures
to illustrate how undeviatingly life in the ordinary is painted in light
and shade. Lights and shadows constantly float across life's pathway, scat
tering their gifts of joy and sorrow with a .free hand. They are
seen everywhere, in every relation of life, in every work, picture
and day dream. Without them, poetry would not be — the artist's
pencil would be idle, and the lessons of salvation unlearned. Re
cently, a cloud passed over the horizon of a home, casting a deep
shadow upon its happiness and obscuring the view of its chief charm ;
for a moment darkness prevailed, and all was sorrow ; then a balmy
south breeze sprung up, and parting the cloud, let into that home the
vision of a beautiful soul clothed in the robes of immortality, which,
filling every nook and corner with the radiance of its loveliness,
caused peace and contentment and warmth to enter — God is Love
whether in the storm or calm.
There is sadness and pathos in that picture, but the ret,rospec-
tive flash-light does not always throw upon the canvas of memory
sad and pathetic pictures. The subjects vary as do those in the
galleries of art. Here is one entitled

t5

AN EVENING IN JULY.
A suburb of a large city. Avenues lined with stately maples,
Picturesque dwellings surrounded by broad lawns, reposing on which
are Flora's choicest contributions. The weather has been sultry
and humanity sweltering. A thunder storm, and relief.
The hum of the factories and the endless noises and discomforts
i6

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
of the city had been left behind, and we were at home. Twilight
had passed. A delightful breeze, laden with the odor of flowers,
wafted by. A pensive moon, in a clear sky, floating its light through
an ideal atmosphere, casting the delicate tracery of the trees in
shadowy beauty upon the dark green of the lawn, distant music float
ing in through the open windows, and the ripple of innocent laughter
from sweet childhood soaring up. from the vine-covered porch.
The dark shadows of the day are behind us, and forgotten, whilst
the bright light of joy and hajipiness and love and contentment is
beaming upon and shining before us.
This picture is seen because we have turned our appreciative
eye towards those things of beauty and of love, with which a beni
ficent Creator surrounds us.
But there hangs a picture with the border of mourning skirting
its frame: —
A CATASTROPHY.
The hurrican passed, the floods had receded, the ruling days
of Sirius were over; a bright sun, a clear sky greeted the cheerful
workmen as they gathered around their work, high up in the air,
where a building for God's services in man's advancement was
majestically rearing its head. Not a cloud, not a ripple to mar the
serenity of the lovely August morning. Suddenly, without sign or
admonition, the scafl'olding parted, and three souls were dashed into
Eternity, whilst a quarter score were carried bleeding to its brink.
Out of the shadow of the terrible calamity that overtook these
men, comes the light showing the brittleness of the thread of life,
the necessity for constant preparation for the inevitable change, and
the leaning heavily and' reliantly on the upholding arm of the Al
mighty.
FLOOD AND CHARITY.
In recalling the Johnstown tragedy it will be remembered that
the flood's wrath was not confined to the romantic Conemaugh,
although its swiftest ancl most unmerciful fury was expanded there,
for in that wonderful, and prosperous valley which is irrigated by
the picturesque Susquehanna as it majestically flows from its source
in Western New York to the great bay within the borders of Mary
land and Virginia, its track was marked by the bodies of the dead,
the debris of ruined homes, the prostration of business and the de
struction of means of livelihood upon which thousands depended;
17

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
whilst along the usually peaceful and always beautiful Juniata from
Duncannon to Tyrone, the disaster was no less marked.
As the flood passed on, its work done, the subsiding waters.
disclosed the terrible stroke that had fallen upon Pennsylvania. In
its mountains, along its valleys, 'midst the forests and farms, its
towns and cities, where the mines gave forth their wealth, and where
the busy hum of industry had been heard, the cloud-burst, the storm-
and the rain cut a wide swath of death, desolation, want
and misery. Thousands of Pennsylvanians found death beneath
the waters. Millions of dollars worth of property were annihilated
and over one hundred thousand people, as good and true as the
world contained, were deprived of their ordinary means of support.
So too, how at a later and nearer period, the wild winds, with the
heated breath of the tropics, lashed the cruel waves of the Bay and
Gulf into murderous fury and beautiful Galveston was submerged
and its people and its wealth found death and destruction in the
overwhelming tides.
Dark shadows, like palls of gloom, hung over the Common
wealths. Turning from those shadows, we are charmed by the lights-
which come from the better impulses of man. A mighty throb
iTiOved the universe to deeds of kindness and loving help. - Charity
proved her claim to rank the virtues. That charity which is not
a mere impulse of our passions or feelings governed by suggestions-
of the moment, but that is a true attribute of our natures, and which
ever prom.pts us to assist one another along life's tortuous ways,
applied the soothing balm to the wounded hearts and aided the
stricken communities to rise again.
VILLAGE LIFE.
Philadelphia the imperial city— but stop ! Philadelphia is more
than that; an imperial city is founded upon pride, vain glory and
poverty, and is an admixture of palace and hovel, splendor and
squalor, sending forth tyranny, pollution, pestilence and crime, while
the birth-place of American independence, although an aggregation
of villages, is composed of homes, work-shops and churches, crowned'
with sweet domesticity, with indwelling peace, plenty and content
ment, and allows the whole world to taste of the fruits of its industry
and morality. My thoughts were dwelling upon the delights of suburban life
i8

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
within the boundaries of Philadelphia, whose villages are the pleasure
and wonder of travellers.
As life in general is governed by many and varied conditions
which can only be fully understood and appreciated by viewing it in
contrast, so is village life governed and so must it be viewed.
There is no common standard to build a village by. It is
usually a child of convenience, springing from the loins of necessity
at the call of man's herding inclinations, and its life is what its
environments make it.
Village life in suburban Philadelphia is so different from life
in the villages in the interior of the Commonwealth either singly or
collectively that its comforts and its beauties, its conveniences and
its pleasures are seen in their best light by bringing them in com
parison with it.
The country village is mostly an unincorporated community,
ordinarily the centre of the township, clustered around an inn, a
blacksmith shop, a cross-roads store and a meeting house, finding
its highest expression of political importance from being the resi
dence of a fourth-class postmaster, the township supervisor and
clerk and sometimes, but seldom, of that august specimen of the
minor judiciary, the "squire."
The population is made up principally of farmers and farm
hands, who pass their days less wearily by dwelling closer together
than is permissible by the territorial limits of farms. The great
events in these villages are mostly the arrival of the semi or tri
weekly mails at the post office, of a fresh invoice of goods at the
store and of incipient statesmen bearing the burdens of state at
the inn. These events bring the community together at one of the places
named to discuss whatever questions the arrivals might suggest
or to exchange gossip. Their pleasures are few and simple, the
checker board and card table furnishing the most of them, whilst
occasionally c[uoit throwing at the blacksmith shop and the spelling
bee and moot court at the school house varies the monotony of
their lives. "Let not ambition mock their useful toil, their homely
joys," for it is from just such villages as these that Hampdens rise
and in which Lincolns expand into greatness, reaching up to origin
ality of thought and expression by having nature for a tutor and by
being so surrounded that their education becomes something more
19

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
than the absorption of other men's written ideas, opinions and
conclusions. We turn from them to look at the village as a suburb of a city.
This latter, like its country contemporary, has many lights and
shadows varying in their character by location. North, South, East
and West producing each some differences, displaying some individ
uality. The city villages, however, are alike in this — they possess no
political autonomy, but are governed as dependencies by a central
power from which they are more or less isolated, and not as inde
pendent communities. To this fact must be attributed the absence
of many traits of village life. It deprives a community of that
homogeneousness that local self-government brings to a people and
the stimulus that spurs political ambition on. It produces a widened
dissimilarity but conduces to retiracy and personal independence.
It leaves the individual to pursue the even tenor of his way as his
own sweet will dictates and brings to him personal recognition.
Living in the metropolitan village, with the comforts of the
city, and the delights of the country, is one of the greatest boons
for the busy man to take advantage of. It is ever adding fresh
strength. As he pauses in the rush of business to watch the shadows
lengthen towards that hour whicli betokens the time for him to drop
his feverish cares and hie away to his village home, he takes on
fresh life and activity, for in that distant spot he knows that peace
and quiet await him. That peace and that quiet, with the evening
stroll or evening drive, along embowered roads, the pure air, crystal
waters, fragrant bloom of Flora, the kindly greetings and the
interchange of confidences and experiences within the charmed
family circle, creates an ideal life that brings man within sight of
the land of contentment. 'Tis this life that fills the veins and
arteries of the great city with the pure blood that keeps up its steady
pulsation. But all this is changing and villages of suburban Philadelphia,
which were bowers of rustic beauty and the abodes of health and
contentment, have passed or are rapidly passing away. Their doom
seems sounded. The rushing, dashing, flashing spirit of progressive-
ness which rules this age is the cause. Even now stately West
Philadelphia, exclusive Germantown and busy Frankford have
passed beyond the village condition and have put on metropolitan
garments, whilst those beautiful and charming spots. Fox Chase

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
Bustleton and Holmesburg, that give a rustic but romantic and
peaceful edging to the picture of Philadelphia life, are threatened
with the change. Already electric lights have deprived them of
the softened shadows so comforting to a perturbed spirit on a
moonlit night, and the tocsin has sounded announcing the approach
of the trolley roads, whose entree to those charming localities will
forever eliminate their c[uiet, dreamy, midday life.
The gas pipe, the water pipe and the electric light have invaded
the quiet village, the trolley line in. the foreground ancl sewers,
paved streets, curbed sidewalks, and the woodman's axe in the
perspective, admonish us that the view is changing, that the dreamy
village life will soon be o'er and the village lost in the stillness of
death which pervades the atmosphere of the so-called finished resi
dential parts of a great city.
Village life, when absorbed by city activities, becomes gilded
death. Walking through miles of coldly beautiful streets of a former
village, once so full of life and kindly neighborliness, the walk seems
like one through a finished cemetery well endowed. Elegant resi
dences, well-paved, well-kept streets, close cropped lawns and
well trimmed trees greet the eye, but life seems absent, the song
birds are unknown, bloom has the musty shell, of the hot house
around it, art has supplanted nature and even the combative
sparrow has sought other fields of action. City utilities have
absorbed the village and village life has become gilded death.
Whilst speaking of villages a picture of one in the Western
part of our country comes up in memory : —
A QUAINT OLD TOWN.
Isolated in Central Missouri is the quaint town of Arrow Rock,
Saline county, the connecting link of which with the effete civiliza
tion of the East is a "star route" mail line, whose equipment consists
of a dilapidated, paintless carry-all with dished wheels, drawn by
a pair of ancient horses, whose harness of leather and rope must
have done service in the days of the Spanish occupation. The
potentate who directs the movement of this line of transportation
and who has the responsibility of the United States resting upon his
shoulders, and who must have been a veteran when Boone was
young, and whose dress is a combination of the ancient Roman,
modern Greek and the peripatetic Coxeyite, is a fitting comparison

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
to the horses and vehicle. This line runs daily over an almost
bottomless road to Napton, a wayside station nine miles away on the
Calamity branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and is the short
line of communication with the outside world.
There is much to interest one there, although most of the in
teresting matter is retrospective. It is sad to contemplate the decay
of the river towns, of which this is a fair sample. Walking in
graveyards among tombstones may be interesting, but the walk is
always through an atmosphere of sadness. Like through the grave
yards, one walks there among the records of the "have beens."
Arrow Rock landing, from whence the village derives its name,
was one of the earliest and most prominent of the landings on the
Missouri river, and the clay has been when not less than 200 teams
have stood in line waiting to unload and load up on the levee. It was
a trading post of note when the French possessed the territory, and
continued of more or less commercial importance until it closed its
doors against the rapidly advancing locomotive. The name Arrow
Rock was derived from a large bluff of flint rock, out of and at
the foot of which the Indians made their arrow heads. Surrounded;
by their slaves the early families lived in a baronial manner and
vaunted an independence that would not brook restraint. As
emigration pursued its way up the "big muddy," prosperity
came to this locality. But with growth and prosperity came
a pride of independence in the possession of an interior water
way leading with cheapness to market and to wealth that caused
these land barons to spurn the railroad with its friendly, snorting
iron horse. From this pride came the fall, and Booneville, Marshall
and Slater, wooing the bands of iron, are now rejoicing in the
prosperity that once belonged to Arrow Rock. The river in which
the pride centred, with the irony of fate, has been receding until
the landing and village are now inland.
These "barons," confirmed in the long-practiced habit of watch
ing from the bluffs the majestic movements of the steamboats as they
turned the many graceful and picturesque bends in the river or,
exhilirated by the long columns of ascending smoke from the river
boats striving with one another to first secure the landing, could not
tolerate the thought of change. The cry of the bowsman, as he cast
the lead, of three feet — four — four and a half — six feet  ^twelve 
twain — mark twain— in those drawling, half-chanting peculiar tones
common to the Missouri rivermen of those days, was a music they

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
would not exchange for the locomotive's shrill whistle. The enter
tainment they derivedf rom witnessing the busy scenes when the boats
-came in — the roustabouts singing as they trotted to and from the
warehouses as they took off or put on cargo, and the hurry and bustle
•of travellers as they left or boarded the boat, accompanied as they
freciuently were by the wierd effects of burning pine-knot torches,
¦could not be compensated for by the unromantic railroad station.
Thus the change came, and to-day we are among the wreck of
values and decay of properties. Just across the way the ruins of
the blacksmith shop — a broken ploughshare, a rusty old horse shoe,
a shrivelled bellows in the last stage of atrophy, a shattered anvil —
"bear mute testimony to the rapidity of the decay. The tones of the
anvil which once rang out so merrily under the blows of the sledge
hammer sound to us now, as we hit the dethroned monarch of the
-smithy with our walking stick, like ghostly echoes come back to haunt
the solitude. Out on the bluff close to the old landing is the wreck of a dis
mantled mill, its machinery gone, the structure a pile of decayed
debris, the large boiler rusty but intact, too large for remunerative
removal, remaining to emphasize the desolation. As the boiler re
clines there amidst the ruin it reminds the beholder of a fallen steed
dead upon the field of battle.
There is some very interesting personal and national history as
sociated with the region. It was there that old Dr. Sappington, the
friend and companion of Daniel Boone, Andrew Jackson and Thomas
H. Benton, lived. He was that famous old physician who conquered
the ague in the river bottoms and made his name a household word
from the source to the mouth of the Missouri and up and down its
tributaries by prescribing his celebrated Tennessee remedy of whisky
and Peruvian bark.
The doctor had two sons-in-law and one grandson who went out
from Arrow Rock township to the State capital as Governors of the
State. The elder Governor Marmaduke married one of his daugh
ters, whose son, John S. Marmaduke, became a Major-General in the
Confederate service and subsequently Governor of the State. Clai
borne Jackson, who is known to history as the Rebel Governor of
Missouri, and who packed up his family and slaves and went into
exile and his death, was also from there, and three times a son-in-
law of Dr. Sappington, having married successively three of the
doctor's daughters. Colonel Will S. Jackson, the famous partisan
23

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
ranger, as his friends delighted to call him, or the infamous bush-
wacker, as his enemies styled him, was a farailiar rider over those
roads in days gone by. The fun of the James gang or the Younger
boys and their posse as they took charge of the village streets and
made the tenderfoot dance to the music of rifle or pistol balls has
sunk into the grave of long ago.
Shingles are turning their edges with the.gray beards of age to
the warm side of the sun, nails are protruding from clap boards,
sidewalks are disappearing in the gullies by their side, and yet there
is a solemnity in all this. The sublime grandeur of the solitude
amid such surroundings on a bright warm afternoon, with its breeze
of balmy freshness as it comes from beyond the waters, opens up a
scene for thought and thoughtful meditation.
THE GREAT WHITE CITY.
A day's ride from Arrow Rock will land the traveller in
Chicago. I can never think of that city without recalling the Great
White City which rose as if at the touch of the magician's wand and
suddenly disappeared as if under the witch's spell.
Leaving guide-book and note-book at home, I entered the Fair
Grounds like a feather, without plan or design, to be wafted hither
and thither at the sweet pleasure of the breeze of the moment, yield
ing myself a willing slave to the influences of inspiration, and devot
ing my time to enjoying the beauty ancl magnificence of the Exposi
tion as a whole, bringing to my mind a realizing sense of the progress
the splendor and luxury of the age in which we are living.
With the exception of Krupp's, single exhibits were dwarfed by
the magnitude of the scale upon which the Exposition was based.
Out of this dwarfing of achievement the stimulus for greater
endeavor has grown.
That panorama of humanity, the Midway, fringed with odd and
quaint manners and customs of other races and climes, was a place
for a restful hour in which to divert the mind from the glut of
splendor. There was one thing prominent by its absence. In all those
bustling crowds, amidst Oriental splendor and Western utility, by the
greatest achievements in art, science, music, poetry, manufactures,
commerce, and agriculture, domesticity's sweetest, greatest charm
was absent. Go where you would, along the Court of Honor, at the

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
Peristyle, around Macmonnies Fountain, on the broad avenues, pick
ing }-our way through the paths of Woody Island, lingering around
exhibits here, there, and everywhere, the baby carriage with its
occupant, the autocrat of the household, was not to be seen.
The autocrat was there, however. Like the parcel in the parcel-
room at the railway station he was properly checked and packed
away, to be called for, and only given up to his claimant upon the
surrender of the check and the payment of so much per hour. What
risks ! Lose the check and shrink from contemplating the possibili
ties. The highest achievement aimed at was in the architectural effect
and artistic groupings of the buildings. The greatest pleasure
emanated from contemplating those effects and groupings. Time
and place was evening and the Lagoon. On the edge of evening,
as the shadows of the buildings sported on the waters, and the declin
ing sun reflected its glitter from the domes, the scene became one of
enchantment, as in the noiseless electric launch one glided from
building to building, sipping, like the honey bee, the hidden sweetness
whilst listening to the dip of the oar as the gondola skipped by ; the
eye, heart, and soul drinking in a heavenly peace, haloed with beauty
and love and contentment, the products of the blending of propor
tions, designs, and colors.
THE TALE OF TWO CEMETERIES.
I have been deeply impressed in travelling with the ease with
which the mental store-house can be filled, no matter how prosaic,
mournful or disturbing the object of the journey, if a person but uses
the resources within himself or herself and utilizes the fragments of
time that come to everyone. In illustration, permit me to narrate the
incidents of two short journeys I made in quest of information rela
tive to the firsi rector of the parish with which I am connected. The
impressions left upon my mind in their Lights and Shadows cannot
be effaced. I will not dwell upon the difificulties I encountered in obtaining
reliable data, either abroad or at home, in Great Britain or the United
States, in Holmesburg, his first, or in Huntingdon, his second and
last parish, relative to the rector's personal history. It seemed
strange that a man of his evident learning and his acceptableness as
rector of two parishes in the great Diocese of Pennsylvania should
25

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
have died, leaving so little of written record behind him. The expla
nation came, however, when in pursuit of his record, I visited his
place of burial. After a night's ride of over two hundred miles I
reached Huntingdon in the early morning of a beautiful August
day. In the city the day preceding, a dense humidity and a high
temperature prevailed, producing a listless effect upon humanity, and
made living almost burdensome. All know the condition — a burning
sun — dusty roads — parched appearance of everything the eye rests
upon — the skin clammy — the mind ill at ease and the insects virulent
and voracious — and will appreciate the change I encountered upon
disembarking from the train. As I did so, the experience was most
delightful. A genial sun, clear sky and a cool and invigorating air
fanned by a softened breeze, reminding one of an early winter morn
ing in the South Atlantic, greeted me, and made the steep ascent of
the hillside road leading to the cemetery one of pleasure.
(See description on pages lo and ii.)
'Twas there, amongst such environments, on the sloping hillside,
clustered in a bed of ivy, I found the marble tablets which revealed
to me the last earthly resting place of the rector and his two little
Doys, and which brought my search to an end by indicating where his
record could be obtained. A plain marble slab marks the spot
where he lies. Brushing the ivy to one side I read from the inscrip
tion on the stone, "His record is on high."
Later on in the year, on a quiet Sabbath afternoon in mid-Ad
vent, I entered All Saints, Lower Dublin, Church-yard — another city
of the dead, over two hundred miles nearer lo the rising sun than the
one just spoken of. Beyond the busy marts of men and society's
dizzy Vv^hirl, the quietness was oppressive. Nothing seemed to ani
mate nature except now and then the thunder of the troUev car as it
swept by on the wings of the lightning. The day was bleak and
cheerless, and gloom dropped everywhere from the deepened gray of
the sky, causing even the pallor of the tombstones to increase. The
summer's blanket of green had been folded up, and the stubble of the
golden corn in the dark earth of the fields around emphasized death's
surroundings. Over yonder, hidden from sight by a piece of woods,
the shivering remnant of a once noble forest, was the Delaware
River, upon whose clear bosom the December chill was forming an
icy scum. Moving among the graves, I came to that of the rector's
wife m rhe midst of a long line of kinfolk, with her two little daugh
ters, one on each side, resting by her. Right in front rose a beautiful
26

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
cedar, whose green boughs were in strong contrast to the many leaf
less trees standing around in the full grandeur and grace of their
denuded limbs. As I stood there, my mind feehng the influence of
the pathos that the two cemeteries and their occupants suggested,
and thinking how strange it all seemed, my eyes fell upon the tomb
stone of one of the little girls, and I read, "It is well." It seemed
to me like an addition to the inscription on her father's tomb, or the
connecting link that bound together the separated graves of father
and sons, mother and daughters : — "His record is on. high. It is
well." This story of the two rivers, the Juniata and the Delaware, but
illustrates the fact that shadows but show the progress of the light
behind them and like them,
"All things journey: sun and moon,
Morning, noon and afternoon.
Night and all her stars ;
Twixt the east and western bars
Round they journey,
Come and go !
We go with them !"
and progress is eternal, its car going on forever, carrying with it the
hopes, aspirations and ambitions of men. It is well, therefore, that
all look into the future through the light of the present. Christian
ity came into the world, out of the door of a stable, directed by the
hand of a divine infant, and through the centuries which have since
elapsed it has grown into a mighty force, ruling and controlling the
destinies of mankind. It advances men step by step to the goal of
eternal happiness. Without it humanity instead of advancing
towards divinity would retrograde to brutishness and savagery.
Success in every undertaking having worldly or heavenly objects in
view depends upon it, as it is the one royal road. To travel that
road cooled by the refreshing breezes of Faith, Hope and Charity,
Chastity, Obedience and Poverty, duty to God, to man, to self, must
ever be the ruling motive of one's journey. A man who travels thus
need not fear the twaddle of the idle, slothful or vicious emissaries of
evil who go forth to breed and feed hatred, selfishness and infidelity.
Lights and shadows will accompany us throughout our lives.
Whilst we enjoy the former, we must not shrink from the latter as
they cross our pathways. Do all things well, and all things will
27

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
come to us, and then, when the haven is reached — that charming
land of delight, where the tents are more precious than the sparkling
diamond, the streets more valuable than the glittering gold, whose
waters reflect greater beauty than the crystal glass or shining silver,
and where the sprays from God's fountain of love spread out refresh
ingly and unceasingly — we will be greeted with love's incense, sweet
music, enraptured smiles, the songs of birds, delicate flowers, deli
cious fruits, cooling waters, gentle breezes and God's all important
approval.

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.

In the summer of 1852, whilst standing on the banks of the
Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, watching the ever-changing pan
orama of flying cloud and moving tree that was being mirrored in the
crystal waters of that incomparable stream, and wondering upon
what tide leading to the harbor of success my boat of life-work would
be launched, fate determined what my mind could not.
Just as a laughing ripple dashed over a protruding rock, chasing
a silvery finned fish that had made a mad leap out from its limpid
element, I was aroused from my reveries by feeling a hand upon my
arm and hearing a voice inquiring if I wanted employment in the
telegraph office.
Seeing an opportunity to connect myself with the thought of the
great world which pulsated over the iron threads, I impulsively re
plied in the affirmative, and as impulsively accepted the position of ¦
messenger boy for the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company, at a
salary of eight dollars a month. Following the gentleman who em
ployed me, I entered the office on North Third Street, and was
installed in my new position.
I can )'et see the elevated tables holding the instruments, the high
stools on which with haughty mien and wrinkled brow sat the mighty
operator; the large square boxes containing the paper tape where
upon the messages were recorded in telegraphic characters, ancl over
in the corner the bench intended for the throne of that monarch —
the messenger boy.
'Twas from that bench that I looked forward to a telegraphic
career and began my study of the mystic art, and now, looking
backward over the intervening space of time and relating some of
my observations and experiences in connection with telegraphy, my
eye rests upon the old bench in the corner.
A messenger boy in those days had duties to perform, and his
position was in no sense a sinecure. He was expected to have the
office swept out, the Grove batteries cleaned and made up, the instru-
29

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
ment paper nicely wound on the reels, and everything in readiness
for business by six o'clock in the morning. Delivering messages,
running errands for the operators, changing the paper boxes, and
stealing the trade (for operators did not like teaching boys in those
days any better than they do to-day) ordinarily filled up the time until
9 and lo o'clock at night. On occasions when the line men were not
about, breaks in the line occurring, the messenger was sent out with
wire and plyers to mend them, ancl many times facing an almost
blinding storm in doing it. When he succeeded in mastering the
science so as to enable him to answer calls and send 'messages, he
was utilized for that purpose by the operators, who took advantage
of the opportunity to read novels or have a game of checkers. The
heat ancl burdens of the offiice were thrown upon the boy, but it was
his school of discipline and learning, so that when the nation became
imperilled, it was the messenger boys of the 50's who made the mili
tary telegraphers of the 6o's, and to whose patience, endurance and
discretion the Government of the United States was indebted for the
best courier field service ever connected with any army.
Have you ever observed that communication by telegraph has
become such an everyday matter of fact that in reading or inditing
telegrams no heed is given to the magic fluid which so promptly re
sponds to our commands, or the great length of time it was appealing
to men to utilize it in the direction of messenger service? Glimpses
of it were seen by the ancients, and God, speaking out of the whirl
wind in challenge to Job, clearly foreshadowed the electric telegraph
when he said, "Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say
unto thee, here we are ?"
Without running down the ages and marking each successive
step of scientific groping in the evolution of the telegraph as perfected
to-day to show how God's words to Job left their impress on the
minds of men, we find that the idea of applying electricity to tele
graphic purposes obtained in the early years of the eighteenth
century, and that each succeeding decade witnessed its growth in
more or less brilliancy until it reached its culmination in Morse's
wonderful invention in 1832. It should be understood that Morse
was an inventor, not a discoverer. He invented a machine. He
did not discover any law of electricity. There is no doubt that the
discoveries and experiments of Watson, Franklin, Galvani, Volta,
Oersted and Henry, led up to the invention, but Morse is yet none
30

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
the less to be called a benefactor of his race. His invention flashed
upon the world, and in the language of one of his poetic friends :
"Then the brotherhood lost on Shinar's plain
Came back to the peoples of earth again.
"Be one,'' sighed the Mountain and shrunk away;
"Be one," murmured Ocean, in dashes of spray;
"Be one,'' said Space, "I forbid no more,"
"Be one," echoed Time, "till my years are o'er."
"We are one,'' said the Nations, and hand met hand,
In a thrill electric from land to land."
After encountering opposition and nearly endless obstacles,
Professor Morse, when hope had almost deserted him and poverty
, stared him in the face, received Governmental aid for the construc
tion of an experimental line.
Then, as the lamented Blaine so eloquently said :
"The little thread of wire placed as a timid experiment between
the National Capital and a neighboring city grew and lengthened
and multiplied with almost the rapidity of the electric current that
darted along its iron nerves, until within his own lifetime continent
was bound unto continent, hemisphere answered through ocean's
depths unto hemisphere, and an encircled globe flashed forth his
eulogy in the unmatched eloquence of a grand achievement.
The first fruit of that experiment's success was a line built be
tween Harrisburg and Lancaster, alongside the tracks of the Harris
burg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy and Lancaster Railroad Company.
No sooner had the practicability of Morse's invention been
proven than the patentees made numerous contracts for the construc
tion of lines throughout the country, and the most valuable, important
and generous of them was given to Henry O'Reilly, of Rochester,
N.Y.
L%der his contract it became necessary to construct a line be
tween Lancaster and Harrisburg on or before January i, 1846, to con-'
nect at Lancaster with a line to be constructed by the Magnetic Com
pany between Baltimore and New York, on the route via York,
Columbia, Lancaster and Philadelphia. The route of this latter line,
however, was changed so as to cross the Susquehanna at Port Deposit
instead of Columbia, and O'Reilly subsequently connected his western
line with it at Philadelphia. He did not lose any time in performing
his part of the contract, but with the aid of Bernard O'Connor, of
31

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
Lancaster, completed the line to Harrisburg on the 24th of November,
1845. It was a primitive affair. Small, unbarked chestnut poles
were planted about one hundred yards apart so as to make eighten
poles to the mile. Through the top of each pole was inserted a
turned black walnut cross-arm, the ends of which were covered with
gummed cloth. The conductor was a number fourteen copper wire
attached to the poles by giving it a double twist around the gummed
cloth ends of the cross-arms. The gummed cloth not proving sats-
factory as an insulator, insulation was somewhat improved by
replacing it with a cotton cloth dipped in molten beeswax.
There was a great deal of enjoyment among the builders, not
withstanding the difficulties with which they were surrounded. They
planted poles whilst singing this refrain : —
"Sink the poles, boys, firm and strong,
Short and close together;
Solder the joints of the mystic thong.
And let it stand forever !"
The instruments arrived about January i, 1846, and were placed
in circuit by James D. Reid, who possessed some telegraphic knowl
edge obtained from his friendship with Professor Morse and by his-
experience on the experimental line. The relays enclosed in large
walnut boxes required the strength of two men to lift them on to a
table. The reason for this heavy weight grew out of the theory of
Professor Morse and Alfred Vail that the wire of the relay should
be of the same size as that of the line ancl consequently they covered
their's with a number fourteen copper wire wound with cotton.
After the instruments had been put in circuit and the battery
located at Harrisburg, the operators, David Brooks and Henry C,
Hepburn, at Lancaster, and James D.' Reid and H. Courtney Hughes,
at Harrisburg, settled down to hard work in their efforts to open up
communication between the two offices. With the exception of Reid,
none of the party could read or write the telegraphic alphabet with
out constant consultation with a copy of it printed in a little book of
instructions by Alfred Vail, which they kept open before them.
For a week they pounded and adjusted, adjusted and pounded,
without any intelligible signals reaching either office. At last, how
ever, on the Sth of January, 1846, just as despair was on the point of
supplanting patient endeavor, whilst practicing writing the alphabet
by pressing the fi.nger against the armature of the relay, and Hepburn
32

NORTH AMERICAN HOTEL, LANCASTER, PA., AS IT APPEARED IN 1846, WHEN THE FIRST
COMMERCIAL TELEGRAPH OFFICE WAS OPENED IN IT.

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
was drumming on the key. Brooks made the startling discovery that
the armature of the relay had, under certain conditions, a motion
-corresponding to that made on the key. Turning to Hepburn, he
made known his discovery and told him to wait a moment, and he
would so adjust the armature that writing upon the register could be
done by simply manipulating the key. Brooks made the adjustment,
when the armature began to work apparently of its own volition
-and the pen lever of the register responded. Starting the paper to
see what marks or impressions would be made on it, they had the
great satisfaction, after comparing the marks with their copy of the
alphabet, to read, after a long line of dots, the following words : —
"Why don't you write, you rascals ?" These few words, written by
James D. Reid on that Jacksonian anniversary, formed the first
intelligible message ever sent upon a line in Pennsylvania, and gave
to the line itself the distinction of being the first in operation after the
Washington-Baltimore experimental line of Professor Morse.
There was great rejoicing in Harrisburg when it was found that
instantaneous communication could be had with Lancaster. People
flocked to the offices to see the wonder of the age, but made no mate
rial use of the line, the patronage being confined to writing names
in telegraphic characters on the paper ribbon with written letters
underneath in explanation. Such was the only source of revenue.
The revenue, as will be readily perceived, was small, even from that
source, for the first day's receipts at Harrisburg were lo cents, and
at Lancaster 6}4 cents. In 1852, James D. Reid, in speaking of the
line, said : "The first day's receipts of the great national office in
Washington were one cent, but Harrisburg, brighter than Washing
ton, saw the clear visage of a dime, whilst sober-sided Lancaster
gloried in the possession of a'fip.' "
Although the line was not a financial success, it furnished
additional proof of the value of Professor Morse's invention. The
relays were difficult of adjustment, and would not remain adjusted
for the period of five minutes.
The line itself worked only in clear, cold weather, and then
-very irregularly. Breaks were of daily occurrence, and so certain
were they to happen that Brooks went to the Lancaster office at
half-past four every morning to test for current, and it was the
¦exception when he found it. Finding no current he would shoulder
a bundle of copper wire and start out to find and repair the "break,"
taking passage on the night line, a train which passed Lancaster at
35

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
5 o'clock in the morning on its way from Philadelphia to Harrisburg.
This train, climbing over the Conewago hills, made the distance from
Lancaster to Harrisburg, thirty-seven miles, in from four and a-half
to five hours.
Reid and Hepburn left the line in February, 1846. James M,
Lindsay was sent from Baltimore to succeed Reid, and he at Harris
burg and Brooks at Lancaster, continued for a few weeks to operate
the line. As narrated before, the only revenue accruing to the line
was derived from sending the names of the curious over it. The
novelty of that patronage wearing off, patrons ceased to materialize,
and cash receipts failed to appear. There being no other available
revenue, and the line constantly breaking, O'Reilly ordered Lindsay
to Philadelphia and Brooks to take down the wire, sell it for old
copper, and apply the proceeds to paying the operators' boarding and
washing bills, which were in arrears and had been accruing from the
time of their arrival. By March i, 1846, this initial commercial line
had passed into history. The money for its construction was fur
nished by a Rochester, N. Y. company, known as "The Atlantic,.
Lake and Mississippi Valley Telegraph Company."
The line formed the link in the great chain of projected tele
graphs, which in less than twenty years from the time of its comple
tion was to bind in indissoluble bonds the Atlantic to the Pacific and
in less than thirty years was to unite four of the grand divisions or
continents of the world together, bringing all languages to a common.
centre, benefitting commerce, trade, science, art, invention, agricul
ture and literature, and proving itself an invaluable factor in produc
ing the remarkable and progressive age in which we live and which-
marked the closing hours of the nineteenth century with ineffaceat^e
distinctness as civilization's most advanced period since the opening
of the Christian era.
During the short life of the line it created quite a stir in the
sister counties of Dauphin and Lancaster. The copper wire conduc
tor, stretched tightly between poles, gave the wintry blasts the
opportunity of producing somewhat musical, weird and fantastic
sounds that could be heard for some distance, to the great discomfort'
of the rustics. The public mind haying somewhat of a superstitious
bend, many people in the neighborhood of the line, alarmed by the
sounds proceeding from the wire as the winds swept over it, would
walk a very considerable distance out of their way, often placing
themselves at great inconvenience, particularly after sundown, to:
36

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
-avoid passing under or near it. Many dismal stories were told of its
supernatural powers, and one woman actually fenced in a pole to
prevent her cow rubbing against it, fearing that the milk might ba
spoiled !
One Saturday afternoon, shortly after the line was in operation,
a gathering assembled at the "store" in one of the villages, and the
all-absorbing topic of conversation was the "telegraph." The "big
man" of the vicinity was there. For two terms he had represented
his district in the lower house of the Legislature, and he now felt
it his duty to express his opinion on the subject, which he did by
saying : "This telegraph is a great thing. When I had the honor of
representing you in the Legislature, I often thought about it, and
having turned the subject over in my mind, the conclusion reached
by me in regard to it is that it will do well enough for carrying letters
and small packages, but it will never do for carrying large bundles
and bale boxes."
David Lechler, a well-kept and humorous man, was the proprie
tor of the North American Hotel, where the office in Lancaster was
located, and made the telegraph the basis for playing pranks upon
the public. At this day few can credit the curiosity and credulity
which characterized the people in connection with the telegraph, and
how few had even an idea of the principles governing it. Lechler,
discerning the trend of the mind of the people, turned it to advantage
in fun-makng, and undertook to unfold the mystery to those who
visited his house. It was his great delight on market mornings to
gather a crowd of countrymen and women in the bar-room, and then
explain to them in Pennsylvania Dutch the wonders of the great
invention. There was no story that he could invent or apply or that
credulity would accept in connection with the telegraph that he did
not relate. As soon as his harangue had raised the curiosity of his
hearers to the highest notch, he would hurriedly enter the room
where the telegraph office was located, and immediately returning,
would show a pair of hose, a handkerchief or a newspaper which he
had previously punctured with holes, as specimens of the telegraph's
possibilities, at the same time gravely saying: "I received them in
just forty seconds from Philadelphia." There was none to doubt
Lechler's word or to take into consideration that the line did noS
extend to Philadelphia, but all, with open-eyed wonder, tried to
account for the articles passing over and around the cross-arms,
37

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
They were satisfied, however, with Lechler's explanation that that
process was the inventor's secret, he dared not divulge.
In the* reminiscences of the early lines of telegraph, I recall the
fact that in those days it was supposed that if a wire was covered
with a coat of tar, it would be preserved from rusting. One day
it was ordered that the wire of theSouthern route from Philadelphia
should be treated that way, and Mr. James D. Reid was sent out from
Wilmington, Del., with a tar bucket and sponge to coat the wire.
His experience was interesting. He had left the tar bucket on top
of a pole. On his climbing down, the bucket upset, scattering the
contents all over him. He was a sorry subject when he reached his
boarding house. After cleaning up, he sat down to a table and com
posed the following : —
"There is not a heart however rude.
But hath some little flower
To brighten up its solitude.
And scent the evening hour.
"There's not a heart, however cast.
By .grief and sorrow down,
But hath some memory of the past
To love and call its own.
"Ah ! yes, ours was a tarry pot,
Of fragrance rich and rare.
That brought dark memories back again.
Upon less fragrant air.
"Oh! in this heart, though rough and rude,
Come with thy former power.
To brighten up our solitude,
And scent the evening hour."
At this time the following advertisement appeared in the Phil
adelphia papers : —
"The Harrisburg train leaves for Lancaster at i o'clock, arrives at
Lancaster at 4.— News may be telegraphed from Harrisburg to Lancaster up
to half-past 3, and be brought to Philadelphia by Railroad."
It does not appear, however, that there was any one of sufficient
enterprise to avail themselves of the brilliant opportunity. Whilst
the line was building to Lancaster there was also one under construc
tion by the INIagnetic Telegraph Company between Philadelphia
38

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
and New York. Application had been made to the New Jersey
Railroad Company to erect the poles alongside the tracks of that
company. The application was refused on the ground that the tele-«
graph was in opposition to the railroad's best interests, inasmuch
as it would permit persons to transact their business speedily with
distant points and remain at home, thus doing away with the neces
sity for railroad travel. The line was completed along the old stage
road via Norristown and New Hope, Pa., and Somerville and New
ark, N. J. Notwithstanding this, the first and only railroad opposi
tion, Morse's electric telegraph moved in construction with the
railroad, and became the latter's most valuable servant in promoting
the economies of operating. And it was not long after its worth was
established that the various railroad companies erected lines of their
own. Ten years after the disappearance of the Harrisburg-Lancas-
ter line, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had completed its line
of railroad from Harrisburg- to Pittsburgh, and constructed its own
line of telegraph through to Philadelphia. Prior to 1855 the Com
pany used the wires of the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company,
but on the first of January of that year it had constructed and put
in operation the first division of its independent line between Pitts
burgh and Altoona. The second division, between Altoona and
Harrisburg, was completed by January i, and the last, from Harris
burg to Philadelphia, April i, 1856. It consisted of a line of poles
with double cross-arms, an iron-bound paraffine-covered glass insula
tor, and a single No. 9 galvanized wire. Its total cost was $45,198.03,
or about $128 per mile.
The telegraph department of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany started right, with clear and concise rules for its government,
which were prepared by Mr. Robert Pitcairn, and has steadily
advanced under their inspiration until to-day its movement is as true
as that of the best chronometer. From its school of the telegraph
the Company has drawn some of its most thorough and efficient offi
cials ; and out from that school, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, went
the first military telegraph operators at the call of the Government.
On April 17, 1861, 1 went with Thomas A .Scott to Governor Curtin's
office at Harrisburg, and there, with a relay magnet and a key placed
on a window sill, opened the first military telegraph ofiice on this
continent. In the same office, on the 25th of April, 1861, on the call
of Mr. Scott, there reported for orders David Strouse from Mifflin,
D. Homer Bates from Altoona, Richard O'Brien from Greensburg,
39

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
and Samuel Brown from Pittsburgh, four of the best operators on
the line. They received their instructions and started by a circuitous
route for Washington, which they reached on the 27th, and became
the first telegraph operators to be regularly employed in the United
¦States Government telegraph organization. Numbers of others off
the line followed, and aided in forming a Military Telegraph Corps
snch as had never before followed the fortunes of war. Mr. Strouse
was selected as Superintendent. He was one of the earliest operators
on the Company's lines, unusually bright, devoted to duty and liter
ature, and possessed of a generous nature that won for him the love
of all with whom he came in contact. Of frail constitution, he soon
yielded to the malarial influences of the Potomac, and was compelled
in the early fall to return to his home on the Juniata River. He died
of consumption at the age of 23, in November, 1861. A short time
before his death, he composed these touching verses on his departure :
"Gentle river, ever flowing.
Where my early days were passed.
Like your waters, I am going
Sadly to the sea at last.
"To that ocean, dark and dreary.
Whence no traveler comes again.
Where the spirit, worn and weary.
Finds repose from grief and pain.
"O'er the world I long have wandered;
Now, a stranger, I return ;
Hope, health and manhood squandered,
Life's last lesson here to learn.
"Calmly on the banks reposing,
I am waiting for the day
When calm twilight, softly closing.
Bears the trembling soul away."
Out of the nucleus formed by the little band of Pennsylvania
Railroad telegraph operators grew the wondrous Military Telegraph
Corps, in which were enrolled during the war twelve hundred young
men— telegraph operators— whose ages ranged from sixteen to
twenty-two years — boys in years and stature, but giants in loyalty
and in the amount of work they performed for their country. They
did not plan campaigns nor fight battles, but amid the roar of conflict,
were found coolly advising the commanding general of the battle's
40

THE telegraph; in peace AND WAR.
progress. They formed the corps that was the very nerves of the
army during the war, and so considered by all those who came in
contact with it, and yet it was not recognized as an integral part of
that army.
Their position in the army was a peculiar one, whether enlisted
men or volunteers — and there were both classes in the service —
they were not subject to the orders of its active officers, but came
under the immediate direction of President Lincoln as Commander-
in-Chief, through the Secretary of War. They were in effect field
couriers, with enlarged responsibilities. The secrets of the Nation
were entrusted to them, and the countersign of the army was often
in their possession a week or more in advance of its promulgation.
All the movements of the army, all the confidence of the comman
ders were entrusted to them, and yet not one was ever known to
betray that knowledge and confidence in the most remote degree.
Richard O'Brien was offered at one time $20,000 in gold to be
tray his trust, under these circumstances : Dr. Wright, the most
prominent physician of Norfolk, had been drawn by lot to kill the
commander of the first detachment of negro troops who might enter
the city. Lieutenant Sanborn, a brave New England soldier, had
the misfortune to be that commander, and fell under the bullet of
the assassin. Wright was captured, tried by court martial and sen
tenced to be hung. His friends brought powerful influences to bear
upon President Lincoln for a reprieve, which up to the last moment
of the execution, they hoped might be wired. As the minutes flew
feverishly by and the reprieve came not, his friends, as a last resort,
offered O'Brien $20,000 to forge a telegram ordering Wright's
release. With the offer, was the further one of the freedom of the
Confederacy and passage on a blockade runner to Europe. He could
have yielded to the temptation, so far as personal safety was con
cerned, but his stern faithfulness made him refuse the offer with
indignation and contempt, and Wright paid the penalty of his crime.
As the war progressed, the corps developed, and equipment for
field work was perfected. General Grant, in writing of the latter,
gives the following description :
"Nothing could be more complete than the organization of this
body of brave and intelligent men. Insulated wires, insulated so
they could transmit messages in a storm, on the ground or under
water, were wound upon reels, making about 200 pounds weight of
wire to each reel, two men and one mule were detailed to each reel.

41

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
The pack-saddle on which this was carried was provided with a rack.
like a saw-buck placed cross-wise of the saddle and raised above it
so that the reel with its wire would revolve freely. There was a
wagon supplied with a telegraph operator, battery and telegraph
instruments to each division, each corps, each army, and one for my
headquarters. There were wagons, also, loaded with light poles,
about the size and length of a wall tent pole, supplied with an iron
spike in one end, used to hold the wires up when laid, so that wagons
and artillery would not run over them. The mules, thus loaded,.
were assigned to brigades and always kept to the command they were
assigned to. The operators were also assigned to particular head
quarters, and never changed, except by special orders. The moment
the troops were put into position to go into camp, the men connected
with this branch of the service would proceed to put up their wires.
A mule with a coil of wire would be led to the rear of the nearest
flank of the brigade he belonged to, and would be led in a line parallel
thereto, while one man would hold an end of the wire, and uncoil it
as the mule was led off. When he had walked the length of the
wire, the whole of it would be on the ground. This would be done
in the rear of every brigade at the same time. The ends of the wire
would then be joined, making a continuous wire in the rear of the
whole army. The men attached to brigades or divisions would all
commence at once raising the wires with their telegraph poles. This
was clone by making a loop in the wire, putting it over the spike and
raising the pole to a perpendicular position. At intervals the wire
would be attached to trees or some other permanent object, so that one
pole was sufificient at a place. In the absence of such a support, two
poles would have to be used at intervals placed at an angle, so as to---
hold the wire firmly placed. While this was being done, the telegraph
wagons would take their positions near where the headquarters they
belonged to were established, and would connect with the wires.
Thus, in a few minutes longer than it took a mule to walk the length
of its coil telegraphic communication would be established between
all the headquarters of the army. No orders ever had to be given
to establish the telegraph."
It was not only in following up the army that the Telegraph
Corps was of great utility, but in the very forefront of the battle did
the Corps at times work the lines under the direct fire of the enemy,
and many a secret scout was made within his lines to tap his wires ancT
ascertain his movements, and just as secret a return and speedy report
42

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
in person or cipher to the commanding general. As an illustration
of the value of that service, two telegraph operators with General
Rosecrans' army were in the enemy's country between Chattanooga
and Richmond for thirty-three days tapping wires, and after repeated
narrow escapes, returned to Nashville and reported. In the Depart
ment of the Gulf, army telegraphers blew two sunken gunboats and
two other vessels out of the waters of the Bayou Tache; and the
success of Major-General Stoneman's raid into Western Virginia in
December, 1864, was acknowledged by him to be "attributable in rJ
great degree to the information derived by his operator, E. T. Chap
man, from the rebel telegraph lines."
General G. K. Warren in a letter wrote as follows :
"I was intimately connected with the telegraph operators, and
felt a kind interest in their faithful work and long vigils at their
posts. I often talk with those who were with me of the operator
who, in the first of our attacks on Petersburg, brought his wire to
the front mider musket range of the enemy, and operated it behind a
tree that proved to be hollow, and which any one of the cannon shot,
which were at close range flying fast, would have gone clear through
with little loss of force; and again, one on the Weldon Railroad on
the Sunday morning we were shelled out of it, both from the north
and west, and who worked his recorder in the southeast angle and
outside under the musketry fire that by its sound so near and the
patterings of the balls around confused the records of his sounder ;
and many others on many other occasions. I have always felt a
great deal of regard for their heroism."
Among the many tributes, none finer have been paid the Corps
and those of General Stager and the Compte-de-Paris, the former
saying :
".Follow the army where you will, there you will find the telegraph
exercising its vigilance and its protection over the surrounding camp ;
at the foremost pickets, in the rifle pits, and in the advance parallels,
at any hour of the day or night, you can listen to the mysterious yet
intellectual click of the telegraph instrument; amidst the strife of
battle and the whistling of bullets, its swift, silent messages pass un
seen and unharmed." And the latter, in his History, recording r
"Suft'erings and clangers were not spared these men, whose merit
was the greater in that it was less conspicuous. More than one
amongst them, shivering with fever in an unhealthy station, lay down
with his ear against the instrument to write with a trembling hand,
43

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
under dictation, some important dispatches, whose secret he would
confide to no one. Many paid with their lives for their boldness in
setting up their instruments under the very fire of the enemy, and
one fact, almost incredible, bears testimony to the dangers to whicll
they were exposed. During the siege of Charleston, the wire whicb
connected the besieging batteries ran so close to the rifle pits of the
Confederate skirmishers that it was frequently cut by their balls."
The Military Telegraph eventually assumed colossal proportions.
and penetrating every portion of the Union where a Union soldier
could be found, caused its delicate, yet potent power to be felt and
appreciated by every department of the Government.
The boys constructed and operated within the lines of the army
15,389 miles of telegraph and transmitted over 6,000,000 military
telegrams. A large proportion of the latter was in secret cipher of
the Government, the keys of which were solely in the possession of
the operators. In the advance when the army was advancing, in the midst of
battle and bringing up the rear in the army's retreat, the Corps left
upon the battlefield, in the hospitals and war prisons, hundreds of its
members, who were never restored to family, home and friends.
Beginning at Yorktown, where poor Lathrop was killed by one
of Magruder's buried torpedoes, from East to West, and from North
to South, as our armies marched and fought, until the Nation's cause
was won at Appomattox, almost every field, almost every march,
numbered one of the telegraph boys among the fallen.
A hundred nameless graves throughout the battlefields of the
Union, attest their devotion unto death to the sviblime cause in
which they were engaged, ancl yet the government they loved and
labored for never as much as thanked them for their services !
Every nation, ours among the number, operates a Military Tele
graph, and yet, before the Civil War in the United States, such an
arm of the service was practically unknown. It was reserved for
mere boys — American boys — to inaugurate that arm of the service,
demonstrate its value in actual war, and for so doing become the
recipients of the monumental ingratitude of the Nineteenth century !
My own experience as a military telegrapher was varied. After
organizing the telegraph service at Harrisburg, I joined Colonel
Scott in Washington on the 3rd of May, and became Manager of the
Military Telegraph office in the War Department, from which vantage
ground many of the innermost secrets and actions of the Administra-
44

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
tion of public affairs, both civil and military, became known to me,
Mr. Lincoln was a constant visitor to the office both during the hours
of the day and night, keeping the finger of one hand on the pulse of
the country, whilst with the forefinger of the other he pointed out the
roads for the army to take. I saw him on many occasions when the
skies were overcast and many friends of the country were yielding to
despair. I was with him at the time the "Harriet Lane'' ran the
enemy's batteries on the lower Potomac, during the first battle of Bull
Run, the disaster at Ball's Bluff, the capture of Mason and Slidell,
and other trying periods in those days of blood. One of the most
trying was on Sunday, the 9th of March, 1862. News of the rebel
ram "Merrimac" having come out of the James river, sunk the "Cum
berland," burnt the "Congress" and grounded the "Minnesota," "St,
Lawrence" and "Roanoke" reached us via boat from Fortress
Monroe to Cape Charles, thence by wire. In person I apprised the
President and Secretary of the Navy Welles of the disaster. Imme-*
diately they came to the War Department Telegraph Office, which
was then located on the entresol off the landing separating two flights
of stairs between the first and second stories in the old War Depart
ment building. It was an anxious morning. The supposition was
that the victorious "Merrimac," having nothing to oppose it, would
reduce Fortress Monroe, make its way up the Potomac, ancl bombard
Washington. Captain Dahlgren, then Commandant at the Navy
Yard, was sent for and brought into consultation. He advised load
ing canal boats with stone and sinking them in the shallowest part of
the Potomac channel, which was at Cuttle Fish Shoals. His sugges
tions were being carried into execution when the glorious achieve
ment of the "Monitor" was flashed over the wires, relieving the
tension and turning gloom into joy. Mr. Lincoln, throughout that
whole trying day, when the loss of the capital seemed reasonably sure,
lost not a particle of faith in the cause and its ultimate success, but
remained the cool, clear-headed adviser he always was when thg
clouds were the darkest.
This sea fight recalls the bravery of an operator by the name of
George D. Cowlam, a detailed member of "Ellsworth's Fire
Zouaves," who was operator at Newport News. During the first
day's conflict he gave momentary reports as to its progress to General
Wool, at Fortress Monroe, where little John E. O'Brien, then only
fourteen years of age, was military operator. Cowlam described
each phase of the conflict, whilst shells whistled all around him, two
45

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
tearing through his office, and yet his nerve never forsook him, and
he remained faithful at the key, keeping the authorities advised.
Right here memory calls up a side view of Mr. Lincoln rarely seen,
An alarm from one of the border State Governors, probably Morton,
of Indiana, sent me hurriedly to the Executive Mansion to convey
its substance to the President. He did not seem to be at all disturbecj
by it, possibly from the fact that border alarms, or, as he quaintly
terraed thera, "border skeers," were so frequent that the keen edge
of the anxiety produced by them had long since been worn off. The
one in question he considered of sufficient importance to cause him
to return with me to the War Department for the purpose of having
a "wire talk" with the perturbed Governor. Calling one of his two
younger boys to join him we three started from the White House,
between stately trees along a gravel path, which led to the rear of the
old War Department building. It was a warm day and Mr. Lincoln
wore as part of his costume a faded gray linen duster which hung
loosely around his long gaunt frame ; his kindly eye was beaming
with good nature and his ever thoughtful brow was unruffled. Wg
had barely reached the gravel walk before he stooped over, picked up
a round, smooth pebble and shooting it off his thumb, challenged us
to a game of "followings," which we accepted. Each in turn tried to
hit the outlying stone which was constantly being projected onward
by the President. The game was short but exciting ; the cheerfulness
of childhood, the ambition of young manhood and the gravity of the
statesman were all injected into it. The game was not won until
the steps of the War Department were reached. Every inch of pro
gression was toughly contested and when the President was declared
victor it was only by a hand span. He appeared to be as much
pleased as if he had won a battle, and softened the defeat of the van
quished by attributing his success to his greater height of person and
longer reach of arm.
An occurrence in the Secretary of War's office during the Mason
and Slidell incident illustrates the intensity of the feeling in the
country relative to the seizure of those gentlemen. When the tele
gram reciting the action of Captain Wilkes was handed to the
Secretary of War a number of prominent men were with him. The
reading of the dispatch called forth loud, boisterous and prolonged
applause from all present with the exception of a calm, dignified
Senator. When the noise had subsided sufficiently for him to be
heard, he said quietly : "Gentlemen, this means an apology and repa-
46

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
ration to Great Britain or war with that country. We have one
war on our hands and cannot undertake another at this time." Tc
which the Secretary warmly responded : "Hang Mason and Slidell
first and apologize to Great Britain afterwards." The Secretary re
flected the prevalent unreasoning public sentiment of the time, but
Mr. Lincoln's cool judgment being along the lines of the Senator's
thought he pursued the policy he had determined upon from the first
as the right one to pursue and surrendered the prisoners. Mason
and Slidell were only dangerous in confinement under the circum
stances for as soon as they were freed they became perfectly harm
less. The creation of a public sentiment abroad through the foreign
press was entrusted to some of the ablest and most astute American
writers. Mr. Sam Wilkinson of the "New York Tribune" was one
of the chief of these. Among his duties was rounding up the whole
foreign news correspondence by placing the last budget containing
the latest semi-official news from Washington on the outgoing
steamers. After the steamers had left port with their mails, con
taining advices from our Government to its European representa
tives, from the resident foreign representatives to their home govern
ments, with newspaper, commercial and social correspondence made
.up to the last moment, Mr. Wilkinson would be made aware of the
fact and then he would repair to the War Department telegraph and
prepare his budget. Mr. Seward, or some other cabinet official,
would occasionally drop in on him and now and then throw out
suggestions to him as he wrote. These dispatches were made up to
shade reports of events already mailed, or give a new interpretation
to thera, and were telegraphed to a dispatch boat by which they were
conveyed to the steamer when off Cape Race and became on the other
side the "Latest Intelligence from the United States."
In the summer of 1862 I returned to Harrisburg, and resumed
my position on the Pennsylvania Railroad as its General Lost' Car
Agent. _ After the defeat of Pope under the walls of Washington,
Pennsylvania was left open to invasion, and the Pennsylvania Rail
road to attack. I re-entered the field. With a pocket relay and a
coil of fine helix wire for opening up telegraphic communication
whenever convenient and practicable, I joined Captain William J,
Palmer (also a Pennsylvania Railroad man) in a scouting expedition
down the Cumberland Valley, entering the enemy's lines, moving on
his flanks, ascertaining his numbers, and reporting frequently to the
47

- THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
authorities. My ofiices as opened, were improvised from fence rails,
tree stumps or crevices in decayed trees; from these, however, I
was able to give the Government officials the first information
relative to the fall of Harper's Ferry, the fight at Boonsboro Pass of
the South Mountain and the evacuation of Hagerstown by Long-
street. The enemy threatened Greencastle, and the few troops we
had there departed, leaving me with two scouts as the sole garrison.
Taking position on a hand-car, I put my instrument in circuit and
flying the American flag over the town, I bid defiance to the enemy,
and from my unique office kept the authorities advised of his move
ments. The combination of Palmer and myself was the medium
of information which enabled Governor Curtin to guide McClellan's
army in the Antietam carapaign. In the Gettysburg campaign, Ear
ly's raid, and at the time Chambersburg was burned, I did service of
a similar character. Frequently in the Valley the enemy passed
northward around me whilst I was concealed in the woods, with
my instrument in circuit. I kept up communication by apparently
tearing down the telegraph line for some distance, but being carefui
to keep it from contact with the ground, and running my fine silk-
covered wire through the grass to a hiding place among the trees.
Harrisburg was my headquarters, where I kept myself ready to
respond to all calls made upon me by Mr. Scott. The slightest dust
raised by the enemy in the Shenandoah Valley would be met by an
order from him to rae to proceed to the Potoraac and keep him
advised of all movements. Many and raany a tirae in the dark hours
of the night I have been awakened from my sleep and ordered
"down the valley," and taking a locomotive, made the echoes ring
with its speedy run to Hagerstown. From there I would send out
my trusted scouts, and by daylight have Mr. Scott advised of the
situation. Sometimes the enemy would drive me out of the town.
and then would ensue an interesting race between an operator on a
hand-car and a soldier on a horse, in which bullets, oaths, hopes and
fears seemed to mix in great confusion.
Again, the enemy would appear before I could arrange my toilet
for leaving, and I would be compelled to remain and enjoy his com
pany as best I could, never forgetting, however, to make notes on
ray mental tablets of such things as I thought would prove interesting
to Colonel Scott. Once, General Jenkins' cavalry drove me out of
Mechanicsburg, and pursued me as long as the common road was
close to the railroad, and whilst the bullets came uncomfortably
48

THE TELEGRAPH IN PEACE AND WAR.
near and imbedded theraselves in my hand-car, I passed on unharmed.
On another occasion. General Fitz Hugh Lee broke up my office,
located in a fence corner about a mile north of Carlisle, causing me
to draw into that ancient borough and enjoy, with General William
F. Smith, the sensations of a bombardment. With the ground or a
friendly hayrick for a couch, sleep irapossible, hunger gnawing,
danger of capture always irarainent, and death ever present, the
service was never an easy or agreeable one, and its perforraance was
only sustained by the consciousness that it was right.
This personal narration is given to show what kind of service
some telegraph operators were called upon to perform during the
Civil War. There is a charra to rae in looking back upon the days
of my telegraphic career and calling to meraory the coraradeship
of those who manipulated the key. The telegraph operator of the
6o's was a force in the community. He was proud of himself, proud
of his profession, and to use the language of my old friend. Lew
Somers, of Cleveland :
"There was an esprit de corps which held him up to a high
standard, lest he bring dishonor on the good name of the profession,
ancl upon his compeers whose good opinion he valued.. There was
a bond of brotherhood which required no vows to make it strong.
The mystic chord which bound them so closely together in good fel
lowship perhaps had its birth in the mystic and subtle fluid which
brings those afar off into close personal touch. Its subtle charm is
felt now as it was then, and will ever hold in closest fellowship the
true brotherhood of telegraphers."
"What hath God wrought ?"

49

WARFARE.

Warfare is not confined to contending forces going forth armed
with guns to kill and to conquer. There are other armies, who, with
more peaceful weapons, march to succor and to save. In this latter
class is the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's Grand Division of
America's splendid Army of Railroad Men, which, in the memorable
period from the nth to the i6th of February, 1898, marched with
unexcelled fortitude and battled with heroic spirit intent on conquer
ing the terrible foe which Nature, in one of her angry moods, had
hurled at this part of the earth. The avalanche of snow that tumbled
from the mountains of the sky, fanned by the wild and icy winds,
fell athwart the lines of coraraunication over which multitudes of
people drew their daily supplies, and challenged the stoutest hearts.
of man to combat. The Pennsylvania Railroad forces did not hesi
tate a moment in picking up the gauntlet, and with their lives in peril,
in going forth to meet the foe. With limbs benumbed and blood
chilled by the zero weather, the winds at times almost prostrating
them, but with the knowlege that the supplying of food to sustain the
lives of hundreds of thousands of their fellow-men depended upon
their exertions, they dauntlessly presented a bold,brave and united
front, and went into the strife determined to win. Hundreds of miles
of huge snow fortifications, with their outlying works drifted into
frozen masses were gallantly assaulted and heroically carried — the
army advancing, never retreating, until the last obstacle to its succes ;-
ful raarch was razed, and the day had been won.
The storm and its results, which these men combatted and con
quered, was declared by the Weather Bureau at Washington to be
"the greatest in the history of the Atlantic Coast States," and yet
the people who were succored frora its terrors never thought of mak
ing the day upon which the conquering heroes returned a gala day.
Business quarters were not decorated with gaily colored bunting,.
banners were not thrown to the breeze, cities were ncrt illuminated
to add brilliancy to the rejoicings of the night; leagues, clubs and
societies thought not of banquets, speeches, swords and medals tec
commemorate brave deeds ; legislative halls did not resound with ora-
50

W.A.RFARE.
tory over the achieveraents of the returned heroes. It is a singular
trait in human nature that such evidences of appreciation should be
reserved for the men of blood, for surely the more honors granted
to the heroes of peace would supply less inspiration to create those
of bloodshed. It is an inspiring thought that the Storm King who
had defeated Napoleon's Imperial Army of France, was defeated by
the Army of the Pennsylvania Railroad when he turned his wrath
upon the pursuits of peace. To which army should the greater
honor be accorded is a cjuestion which requires no discussion to de
cide in favor of the latter. The one, created to destroy, failed ; the
other, organized to build up, succeeded.
Citizens of the United States rightly honor the raanhood which,
under the scorching rays of the tropical sun, conquered the proud
Spanish nation ; but it is not to their credit to allow deeds of as
sterling a manhood as ever stood behind a gun to pass by unnoticed.
The "men behind the guns" when engaged in a righteous cause are
patriotic figures to praise and appreciate, but they are not raore
heroic and do not exhibit a higher standard of citizenship than the
men behind the shovels and the throttle levers, or the men at the
brakes and on the footboards, platforms and bridges. These railroad
men, when the action was over, quietly returned to their homes, rich
in their consciousness of duty well performed, and the approval and
appreciation of the railroad management. Around their firesides,
as they dwelt in retrospection on the experiences they had had, the
dangers and fatigues encountered, they did not have occasion to blush
for any discordant sounds of discontent or unmanly clamor for un
attainable fleshpots, for none were heard during the carapaign and
subsequently, as they viewed the aftermath, no panorama of courts-^,
martial, heart-burnings, jealousies, intrigues, crimes and scandals
passed before their eyes, for the scene was a placid one of renewed
prosperity, due to open communications restored by their labors.

51

BLACK DICK

? ?

Judystown, at the corner of Third street and Meadow lane,
Harrisburg, just where the Cumberland Valley Railroad leaves
Mulberry street by a graceful curve, was a colored quarter over
whose destinies Edward, otherwise "King," Bennett presided. The
"King" was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, a close reader,
and a clear debator. He was a raan of splendid physique, indomi
table will and autocratic rule. In this autocracy, in a little cabii^
dwelt Rosa Smith and her son Richard. Day by day through
cracked and griray windows the child watched the railroad trains
as they passed in front of the cabin door. It was his one occupation
and entertainment, and his mind being intently bent in that direction
a love for the locomotive as sincere and as ardent as that for an

52

BLACK DICK.
individual soon developed within and took possession of him. Men
tally clothing the machine with human attributes, he sought its closest
acquaintance, and one morning in 1856 emerging from the cabin,
cautiously crossing the Cumberland Valley, and then the Harrisburg
and Lancaster tracks, he made his way to the half roundhouse and
machine shop, which was situated between the Mulberry street
bridge and the present Pennsylvania Railroad Storage House, to
see how his new friends lived at home.
From that moment visiting the round house and locomotives
became a passion with hira, and no power could keep him away from
them. He made the close acquaintance of all the locomotives run
ning in and out of Harrisburg, became their self-appointed guardian,
crooned to them, patted, petted, commended and scolded them.
When an engine left the shop upon being repaired Dick would

DICK'S WHISTLE.
compliment it on its appearance, and admonish it to take good care
of itself and not get dirty or broken. He acquired such an intimate
knowledge of his friends that he could distinguish them by their
whistles or bells. He would scold the engineers and firemen in charge
if they were not kept clean and in good condition, and he seeraed
to know intuitively when a nut was loose or a bolt missing. This
demand for cleanliness in the locomotive was not a freakish sug
gestion, for cleanliness was a religion with him from which he never
departed. As applied to himself in practice he took a bath daily
either in the canal or river, breaking the ice in winter to take it. It
was this habit which eventually caused his death. The building of
the new shops and roundhouse in the western part of Harrisburg,
and the tearing down of the old ones, was the cause of the keenest
grief to Dick. He thought it was a practical divorce of him and his
beloved locomotives and some days passed before he became recon
ciled to the change. When he did, he changed his visiting place

S3

BLACK DICK.
from the shops to the passenger station, at which point he thereafter
received his locomotives on their inbound trips, or sent them out
bound- with a cheery God-speed. His field now broadened, and he
became acquainted with the Cumberland Valley Railroad and North
ern Central Railway engines. There was one peculiarity he dis-
¦ played in connection with some of the latter — no money could tempt
him to board one destined to Baltimore, for he asserted that if he did
so he would be carried into slaverv. Running in and out of the

DICK cXearing the track.
passenger station alongside of the locomotives opened up to
him a humane field for his activities, and he becarae a self-ap
pointed life saver. The railroad situation at Harrisburg was more
or less dangerous. The Penrs)dvania Railroad station was on
Meadow lane, the front facing west was about 150 feet east of Market
street ; the station extending to Chestnut street. Some of the Penn
sylvania Railroad trains ran in and out of the station, whilst others
received and discharged their passengers on the track on the south
side of the building; the Northern Central used the street tracks at

54

BLACK DICK.
and near Fifth street, and the Cumberland Valley those closer to
Chestnut street. At noon time the bustle was greatest, the coming
and going of trains, the interchange of passengers and baggage, the
crossing of tracks by the multitude, the narrow escapes and the
general hurry scurry caused wide confusion whereby trains were
missed, and the timid almost thrown into convulsions. It was this
confusion that suggested to Dick that some one should see to the
safety of the public in crossing the tracks, and he imraediately con
secrated himself to the task, and then above the din of the hurrying
crowd, the clanging bell and rumbling train, his warning call was
heard, as, with body thrown forward, his long arms waving in the
air like the wings of a windmill, he ran along the ties but a few feet
in advance of the locomotive keeping the tracks clear of all human
obstacles. For years he did this, never tiring, never faltering in
his labor of love. It seemed every instant as he ran as if he raust
trip and fall to be ground to pieces under the fast moving train.
Thousands upon thousands of travellers knew him and looked upon
him as a public benefactor, and hundreds were saved from maiming
or death by his watchful care. James Richardson, in his sketch
"Travelling by Telegraph," which appeared in Scribner for May,
1872, described him "as a wild looking son of Ham sweeping down
the track, hustling men and women right and left, clearing the way.
for the locomotive, now dashing forward to shoulder from the rails
some heedless loiterer, now falling into a reckless dog trot scarcely
a foot ahead of the cow catcher." Frora the time he began this duty
he absented himself but once, and then he was prevailed upon to
accompany the Friendship Fire Company, of Harrisburg, to join in
a fireman's parade at Altoona. During his absence a little child was
killed at the Market street crossing, and he never ceased charging his
absence with -the catastrophe, ancl lamenting that he had perraitted
himself to be overpersuaded. He had no companions, no intiraates.
The influences of an approaching train arousing him into splendid
activity would impel him enthusiastically to the spot of greatest
danger. The moment the train had passed his care would pass with
it, and he becoming indifferent to his surroundings would shuffle
along seemingly lost in his whistle. Mr. Richard L. Head, Chief
Clerk in the Superintendent's office,- looked after his interests, saw
that he was properly clothed, and that no one abused him; whilst
Mr. John W. Hutchison, proprietor of the Station Cafe, fed him.
His brief, brave and glorious career, during which with a sublime
55

BLACK DICK.
faith he perilled his own life to succor others, came suddenly to a
close at lo o'clock on Saturday morning, July 6, 1872. The day was
very warm, and he had been more than usually active. As was hi,=!
custom, he made his daily plunge in the canal. The heat of the day
and the sudden plunge was too rauch even for his robust constitu
tion, and he only reached the station platform to die from shock. .His
death was mourned wherever he was known, for this child of n.iture,
homely, awkward and untutored, by his unselfish love for mankind
had won man's love and appreciation.
His obsec[uies took place on Sunday afternoon, July 7. at 5
o'clock. The body, clad in a suit of black clothes, placed in a hand
some walnut coffin, laid in state in the station in the rear of the
baggage roora, guarded by a colored military company — "fhe Blue
Mountain Sharpshooters," Captain Thomas Hyers. The .services
were conducted by the Rev. C. J. Carter, of the Wesley Union
Methodist Church. He delivered his eulogy from the little b.'ilcony
just off from the Superintendent's office, inside the station. It was
impassioned, touching ancl eloquent. After the services the cofP.n
was closed and placed in the hearse and taken to the colored cemetcrv
for interment. The railroad officials at Harrisburg in a nuraber of
carriages and omnibusses followed the reraains to their final resting
place, whilst a concourse of people, estimated at 5,000, showed the
same respect by following on foot.
James A. Wilson, then a clerk in the office of the General Super
intendent, Northern Central Railway, Harrisburg, gave expression
of his and his fellow railroad men's appreciation of Dick's life and
character in the following : —
"DICK."

"There she comes look out here now,"
And the voice rings loud and clear,
As down the track a figure comes
Shapeless and void of fear.
His restless eye sees every form ;
.Be woman, man or waif.
And seeks a noble work to do,
To render travelers safe.
He grasps a trembling woman's arm.
And saves her from a fate

56

BLACK DICK.
Far worse than death's cold, clammy grasp.
Or Satan's dreaded hate.
A tottering form of hoary age
Is rescued by his arm;
And off he starts e'er thanks be said,
To others save from harm.
The old, the young, the rich and poor.
All know his value when
Before a swiftly passing train
He proves a safeguard then.
IL
But now his voice is stilled in death.
Freed, too, his form from pain.
The ear is dead to all around.
And every passing train.
Then lay him down, and gently, too,
For the good of his simple life
So full of acts and noble deeds,
As wrought of dangers rife.
His work is done, and nobly, too;
God bless that simple heart.
That proved a friend to man and beast,
And nobly played his part.
God. bless you, Dick, we each one say.
While the soul its echo cries.
And take the wearied spirit home.
Yea, home beyond the skies.
Without escutcheon or family tree, reared in no palace, tutored
in no university, thus lived and died one of nature's noblemen. He
did his duty to his fellow-man, commanding respect in life, and
sincere mourning in death.

57

GEORGE WASHINGTON,

The twenty-second of February is observed as the anniversary
of the birth of one whom Edward Everett said was, "the greatest:
of good men and the best of great men," and upon whose death at
the close of the i8th century the whole world sincerely mourned,
English admiration almost equalling American love in the strength
of its expression of sorrow. The military prowess and political
wisdom of Washington were the qualities which called forth the
universal regret at his demise, and it is not singulai' that we of this
generation in our moments of hero worship or patriotic inspiration
look for him in the uniform of the soldier or the garb of the states
man. And yet there is a greater Washington — and one to be found
in the biographies of the man, citizen, neighbor and Christian. None
should attempt to lessen the glories of his public achievements, for
in their mirror is reflected the liberties of the people, but at the same
time all should study his character as displayed in private life to see
those grander qualities based upon Faith, Hope and Charity which
emphasized his unofficial career.
To stay the populace which was gathering in the Mississippi
Valley frora bowing before the blandishraent of European govern
ments, and to bind it to the Republic on the Atlantic seaboard, and
to open up and foster an internal coramerce for the benefit of his
neighbors, he advocated strongly a series of public iraprovement^
to unite the Ohio River to the Chesapeake Bay. Knowing and
feeling that the easier the means of communication between far
separated sections the greater would be the advancement of religion
and virtue, and consequently that of a pure democracy, he also
projected canals for the development of Virginia and led the way to
the wonderful internal improvements whose advantages and facilities ,
are being enjoyed to-day by a people brave, proud, rich and intelli
gent, the fruitage from the liberty tree he planted and nourished.
Washington, thoughtful of and for others, while maintaining
a military reserve, was ever kindly. With an abundance of means
he was extremely careful of the small expenditures, putting daily
into practice the familiar aphorism, "Take care of the pence and
58

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.
the pounds will take care of themselves." He was his own almoner
in the county in which he lived, and bestowed his charities with
extreme judiciousness. To the appeals of the poor who called upon
him for aid he never turned a deaf ear, and to more readily dis
pense his charities, so that none should go away from his doors
empty-handed, he kept upon his estate a large granary filled with
corn, a smoke house with meat, and boats to reach his fisheries.
Exact in all things, he was extremely so in his religious de
votions, habitually opening and closing the day with prayer in his
closet. Among the many valuable writings from his pen that have
come down to us, and act as guides to our actions now, none are
more precious than the forms of prayer he wrote for his own use.
Among them is his daily sacrifice for ' Sunday raorning, as fol
lows : —
"Almighty God and most merciful father, who didst command
the children of Israel to offer a daily sacrifice to thee, that thereby
they raight glorify and praise thee for thy protection both night and
day ; receive O Lord, ray morning sacrifice which I now offer up to
thee. I yield thee humble and hearty thanks that thou has preserved
me from the dangers of the night past, and brought me to the light
of this day and the comforts thereof, a day which is consecrated to
thine own service and for thine own honour. Let my heart, there
fore, gracious God, be so affected with the glory and majesty of it
that I may not do mine own works, but wait on thee, and dis
charge those weighty duties thou require of me ; and since thou art
a God of pure eyes, and wilt be sanctified in all who draw near unto
thee, who dost not regard the sacrifice of fools nor hear sinners who
tread in thy courts, pardon, I beseech thee, my sins, remove them
frora thy presence as far as the east is from the west, and accept of
me, for the merits of thy son, Jesus Christ, that when I come into
thy temple, and compass thine altar, my prayer may corae before
thee as incense. And as I desire thou wouldst hear me calling upon
thee in my prayers, so give me grace to hear thee calling on me in thy
word, that it may be wisdom, righteousness, reconciliation & peace
to the saving of my soul in the day of the Lord Jesus. Grant that
I may hear it with reverence, receive it with meekness, mingle it
with faith, and that it may accomplish in me. Gracious God, the
good work for which thou has sent it. Bless my family, kindred,
friends and country, be our God & guide this day and forever for
6t

GEORGE WASHINGTON.
his sake who lay down in the grave and arose again for us, Jesus
Christ, our Lord, Amen."
That is a fervent prayer of a righteous raan, and no matter what
faults he may have had, what sins of omission or commission can be
laid at his door, it shows more than any of his writings or his acts^
the strength and depth of his rehgion, and his reliance upon the
Almighty. At the same time it unfolds the true secret of his great
ness and success, ancl accounts for his never-ending growth in the
loving admiration of the human family.
General Washington at Trenton ancl Yorktown appeals to our
chivalry and martial spirit; President Washington in the vestments
of office to our patriotism; Mr. Washington at home to our pride
of citizenship; but George Washington on bended knee in prayer
to Almighty God is an inspiration to high and holy things !

62

BALTIMORE

From an old engraving by W. Wellstopd,

BATTLE OF BALTIMORE AND THE
STAR SPANGLED BANNER.

On those September clays in 1814, when Baltiraore was threat
ened by a foreign foe, the sons of Maryland and Pennsylvania, freshly
gathered from the fields, workshops and counting houses, by their
sturdy valor won from the Nations inured to arms a high and unre
served respect for the citizen soldiers of America. The lessons
taught by the Revolution had been so badly learned abroad that the
soldiers of Europe looked upon the American arms as being vastly
inferior to their own. It required the defence • of Baltiraore to
undeceive them and to make them realize that an independent Nation
of freemen were able to maintain their rights, whether in peace or
war. A century has almost -elapsed since those days, yet the scenes
then enacted upon the Patapsco continue to inspire emotions of
patriotism and National pride in the American heart. The work
so well begun at Baltimore was fittingly completed at New Orleans
with the pride of Wellington humbled.
The story of the British repulse at Baltimore can never become
old so long as "The Star Spangled Banner" is sung. That National
ballad, however, tells only one part of the story, Francis Scott Key,
its author, was so circumstanced that he could only see the defence
of Fort McHenry, the heroic movements of the military on land
being obscured from his view. Those movements were well or
dered, and fruitful of results, as will be seen as a hasty glimpse is
taken of them.
After the British had committed their vandalism at Washington,
and conducted their unchallenged carapaign of pillage and arson in
the Potoraac and Patuxent regions, they set sail for Baltimore on
the nth of September, 1814. The defence of that city was being
ably looked after by Major-General Samuel Smith, who had gathered
an army of citizen soldiery to resist the invasion. Upon September
II, 1814, the Sunday that the enemy set sail for the city, General
Smith marched his advanced corps to meet and engage him in case
of his landing. That corps, under John Strieker, Brigadier General
commanding the Third Brigade of Maryland Militia, consisted of
65

THE BATTLE OF BALTIMORE.
3,150 men, and was composed of the Sth, 6th, 27th, 39th and 5 ist
Maryland regiments, 150 rifle-men under Captain Dyer, 140 cav
alry under Lieutenant-Colonel Biays, and the Union Artillery, 75
men, and six four-pounders under Captain Montgomery. These
men were all citizen soldiers of Baltimore, with the exception of
the corapany of York, Penna., Volunteers, tinder Captain Michael
H. Spangler, attached to the 5th, the Hanover, Penna., and the
Hagerstown, Maryland, Volunteers, attached to the 39th Maryland.
His line of march was out the raain North Point Road. He halted
at 8 p. m. at a point seven miles beyond the city, near the head of
Bear Creek. He then pushed his rifle-men two miles, and his
cavalry three miles in advance. During the night the British arrived
off the mouth of the Patapsco, within two miles of shore, and on the
morning of the 12th, at three o'clock, began to land at North Point.
Their forces were all on shore by 7 a. ra., at which hour they began
their line of march. General Strieker was advised of the enemy's
debarkation ancl movement, and immediately made dispositions to
meet him. The 5th and 27th regiments of infantry and the artillery
were moved forward to the head of Longlog Lane, the Sth resting its
right on the head of a branch of Bear Creek, and its left on the main
North Point Road. The 27th was posted on the opposite side of the
road in line with the 5th, its left extending towards a branch of Back
River, and the artillery was placed in position at the head of the lane,
in the interval between the 5th and 27th. The 39th covered the 27th,
and the 51st the 5th, three hundred yards in the rear, whilst the 6th
was held in reserve a half mile behind the second line.
The British column, under the command of General Ross, con
sisted of 4,000 troops of all arms, with 1,000 marines and sailors,
in a naval battalion added. They carried three days' cooked pro
visions, and eighty rounds of ammunition. Their personal baggage
was reduced to a blanket, an extra shirt ancl an extra pair of shoes,
as it was the intention of General Ross to carry the city by a coup
de main. The advance was led by the Light Brigade under Major
Jones, who was supported by six field pieces and two howitzers, all
drawn by horses. Then followed the Second Brigade, and the
Naval Battalion, the Third Brigade bringing up the rear. About
8 o'clock the advance halted at a partly completed breastwork,
hastily thrown up by the Araerican cavalry picket, and remained
inactive until about nine o'clock, when the balance of the command
having been brought up, the march was resumed. They had only
66

THE BATTLE OF BALTIMORE.
proceeded a mile when they encountered a reconnoitering party
thrown out by General Strieker. This party, numbering 370 raen,
was under the command of Major Heath of the 5th Maryland Vol-
vmteers, and was composed of Levering's and Howard's companies
of that regiment, A.squith's and a few other riflemen, the cavalry
and one four-pounder, under Lieutenant Stiles. A skirmish took
place, during which the British commander. General Ross; lost his
life. The unexpected stiffness of the American resistance was a
complete surprise to their opponents, who halted for several hours
before they recovered sufficiently to resume their march. About
half-past two o'clock, they came upon Strieker's line of battle, and
an engagement immediately ensued.
The American position was well wooded, covered by a neck
¦of land and flanked on each side by ponds of water. As soon as the
British came in range a galling fire with telling effect was poured
upon them, under which they moved into line of battle, with the
8sth regiment, the light corapanies and the other corps extended
over the whole American front, the 44th regiraent, and the naval
battalion supporting. The 4th regiraent was deployed to the right
to turn the American left, whilst the 21st regiraent reraained in col
umn on the road. Whilst the forraation was being raade a brisk
cannonade was kept up by the Americans with two light field pieces,
doing- considerable execution upon the 21st regiment and the sailors,
whilst three other light pieces, directed against the artillery, and
the balance of the American artillery upon the 85th regiment, did
considerable execution. The Americans deployed their infantry with
great skill, and concentrated its left, right or centre as the exigencies
of battle demanded. The 4th regiment having reached the position
from which it was to turn the American left, the whole British force
made a charge upon the American position. They were met with an
artillery fire until within 100 yards of the American line, when a
brisk musketry fire was opened upon thera, volley succeeding volley
with deadly effect. The 21st regiment was advanced on the extreme
left, and was met with such a gallant resistance by the 27th and
part of the 39th Maryland that it was driven back. General
Strieker fought his ground stubbornly for an hour and twenty
minutes, when the 51st regiraent having given way and exposed
his left flank, he fell back on his reserves, and reformed his lines.
The enemy not following, he again fell back to Worthington's Mill,
.a half-raile in advance of Major-General Sraith's intrenchments,
67

THE BATTLE OF BALTIMORE.
and to their left. The loss of the day was : Americans, 21 killed and
189 wounded and prisoners ; British, 40 killed, 229 wounded.
The British slept upon the field. About midnight a heavy rain
came up, drenching both arraies and raaking the roads almost impas
sable. Just as day was about to dawn on the 13th, the British force
raoved to the road and took up their order of march towards the
city. It was slow, cautious, alraost tiraorous. Trees had been felled
across the roads for a distance of several miles, which greatly re
tarded their advance. When they came upon the main body of the
Americans entrenched, they paused, and after studying the position,
saw that defeat stared them in the face if they atterapted to attack
without the assistance of the fieet. The fleet had not been inactive,
but Fort McHenry, aided by the land batteries, proved too formidable.
The fleet, under Admiral Cockburn, had gathered on the morning.
of the 13th and formed a half circle around Fort McHenry and out
of range of its guns. It kept up a continuous bombardment from
6 a. m to 3 p. m., after which it drew nearer the fort for more
effectual work, but coming within reach of the American guns.
Major Armistead, in command of the fort, opened up such a destruc
tive fire upon it, that it withdrew to a safe distance and continued
its attack at its previous range. At midnight Admiral Cockburn
sent out a barge expedition with 1,200 men, to make its way tip the
cove for the purpose of landing the force in the rear of the fort and
carrying it by assault. The guns from the fort and the land batteries-
repulsed the expedition, causing it to retreat under the cover of dark
ness and rejoin the fleet. The fleet continued to bombard the fort
until six o'clock on the morning of the 14th, when it retired. When.
it was seen that the fleet could not aid the land forces in their effort
to reach the city and its booty, a council of war was held, at which
it was decided that safety alone lay in withdrawal. It was deemed
prudent to hasten the withdrawal of the troops and to return to the
shipping. The retreat began at three o'clock on the morning of
the 14th, under cover of the fleet's final bombardment of the fort,
and continued until the early morning of the 15th, at which time'
. they had reached their shipping, and began their re-embarkation.
Thus closed one of the most momentous incidents in American
history, wherein citizen soldiery, inspired by love of country and
the defense of their firesides, proved able to compete with and practi
cally overcome veteran troops and sailors trained ta war in the
severe European schools of experience-. 68

THE BATTLE OF BALTIMORE.
Whilst the British fleet was in the Potomac, Francis Scott Key
w^ent on board under a flag of truce, in an endeavor to secure the re
lease by exchange of some American civilians held as prisoners of
war. His request was coraplied with by General Ross, but as the
latter was about sailing to attack Baltimore, he deemed it prudent to
detain Key until after the event should have occurred. The little
vessel in which Key was sailing was, therefore, convoyed to the
mouth of the Patapsco and during the bombardment of Fort
McHenr)'- held under comraand of the guns of a British frigate.
During the engageraent throughout that dark and storray night he
anxiously awaited the result. The great suspense he was under
found vent in the soul-stirring lyric which all Americans love to sing.

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER.
O, say can you see, by the dawn's early light.
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars , through the perilous flight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air.
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ;
O, say, does that Star-spangled Banner yet wave.
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep.
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes.
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam.
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream :
'Tis the Star-spangled Banner ; O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave !

And where is that band, who so vauntingly, swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave.
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave ;
And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph doth wave.
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave !

69

THE BATTLE OF BALTIMORE.
O, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand.
Between their lov'd homes and the war's-^esolation ;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heaven- rescu'd land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation !
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just.
And this be our motto — "In God is our trust;"
And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
In the history of the lyric it is worthy to note the author of the
music to which it was set and the occasion upon which it was sung.
Alfred Sanderson, the veteran editor and correspondent of Pennsyl
vania, a most careful recorder and critic of events in American
History, in an interesting Fourth of July article has this to say in
regard to those two facts :
"I have been much annoyed at the attempt made by several
papers and magazines to tell how The Star-Spangled Banner was set
to music and where it was first sung. Fortunately the correct infor
mation on this matter is to be had in the city of Harrisburg. Among
the men who enlisted and marched from Harrisburg to the seat of
war, in the company of Captain Thomas Walker, were two brothers,
Ferdinand and Charles Durang, both Pennsylvanians, and merabers
of a theatrical corapany. Ferdinand was a composer of music, and
Charles had a fine voice ancl was a good musician. While the First
Pennsylvania Brigade lay at Baltimore the song was written by Mr.
Key, but was without music. Mr. Ferdinand Durang was urged
to set it to music, and have it sung by his brother. After looking
over all the music he had or knew of to find something suitable, the
present National Air was adapted. After trying it over to the
delight of his friends in the brigade, Charles introduced it on the
boards of the theatre in the evening unexpectedly, and, according to
an eye-witness of the event, 'the audience fairly raised the roof with
their applause.' Its popularity as our National Anthem has never
since ceased."

70

AN EARLY SNOW PLOW.

JOHN KBUBR.
The late John Keller, of Lancaster, spent his long life along
the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and mostly in its
service, and his constructive handiwork is seen on every division of
the road in bridge, embankraent and raasonry, all standing as monu
ments to his skill and integrity. He began his service on the Harris
burg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy and Lancaster Railroad, in the middle
40's, and it was at that early period he perforraed his part of the
incident about to be related :
Early in the nineteenth century the restless spirit of American
progress and adventure, not quieted by extending through the Louisi
ana purchase the boundaries of the United States across the Missis
sippi, cast its eyes beyond the Sabine and toward territorial expansion
in the land of the Aztec, with its wealth of precious stones and
metals. Imperial expansion with imperial power and luxury was an
ever-present dream with the highly cultivated people, scions of

71

AN EARLY SNOW PLOW.
aristocratic stocks, in the Southern States of the Union, and it is not
surprising that the emigration to that part of Mexico now known aa
Texas was largely made up of educated emigrants from that section,
nor that those emigrants should at an early day throw off their alle
giance to the unstable government of Mexico and establish a govern
ment of their own. Without sufficient strength to establish a strong
centralized government on an aristocratic basis, there was nothing
left the people of Texas after the independence of that Republic was
acknowledged and established but to favor annexation to the United
States. Annexation was consummated on the 29th of December,
1845. General Taylor, in command of a small American array, left
New Orleans in July, 1845, to occupy Texas. On the Sth of March,
1846, he crossed the Neuces and marched toward the Rio Grande.
occupying the disputed territory between those rivers. That occupa
tion brought on the Mexican War. Whilst General Taylor was wait
ing for the orders from Washington to begin his march, reinforce
ments were being pressed forward to hira. In the winter of 1845 3-*id
1846 part of these reinforcements passed westward from Philadel
phia via the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. They reached
Dillerville in comparatively good time in two trains, drawn by the
"David R. Porter" and the "Henry Clay," two eleven-ton engines.
As the trains left Dillerville to pass over the Harrisburg and Lancas
ter Railroad enroute to Harrisburg, a snow storm came up, and soon
the rails were covered with snow an inch or two in depth and suffi
cient to stall the trains. That was an unexpected and consequently
not provided for dilemma. 'Tis true that the hickory brooms
placed in front of the truck of the locomotive for the purpose of
removing obstacles from the rails were in position, but they only
tended to pack the snow harder. At this point Araerican ingenuity
and American pluck came to the front and improvised a snow plow
to throw the snow from the track as the engine proceeded. This
improvised plow consisted of plain boards held in the hand by two
men sitting on the bumper. The boards were used to push the snow
to one side, and were raised and lowered whenever they came in con
tact with broken joints. Practically, it was shoving the snow off
the track. John Keller was one of the two men thus engaged, and
in the fourteen hours that it took these trains to reach Harrisburg
from Dillerville he stuck to his post, displaying those powers of
endurance and loyalty to duty that characterized his career and made
it successful.

72

THB OLD WAY BY I,AND.

THE OLD AND THE NEW WAY.

The three engravings presented herewith, illustrative of earlier
and present modes of transportation, are of the valuable paintings
belonging to the estate of the late Mr. Henry H. Houston, and from
the pencil and easel of Mr. N. H. Trotter.
The first one brings into bold relief the Conestoga wagon drawn
by six sturdy horses upon whose necks are seen the bows in which
were suspended finely toned bells, that jingled with every motion of
the animals — the faithful dog is seen trotting by the wagon side,
whilst close at hand is the wayside inn where refreshment was to be
obtained for man and beast. The construction of the wagon is
plainly shown, the centre bending down in the bottom so that the con
tents would not pitch forward as a hill was descended, nor pitch back
ward as one was ascended; the flared front and back and canvas
covers were designed for protection of the goods against the weather
or assauhs of thieves. These wagons derived their narae from the
thrifty region of I.,ancaster county, always famous for its live stock
and substantial vehicles. . The splendid . draft horses raised in that

73

THB OLD WAY BY WATBR.

Thb prbsent way.

THE OLD AND THE NEW WAY.
county in those days were known to the market as "Conestogas,"
and it was but natural that the name of the horse should attach
itself to the wagon which it drew. When emigration developed
trade, the thrifty farmer developed into a common carrier and the
Conestoga wagon became a famous transportation vehicle.
In the second picture is shown the packet and freight canal boats
and their connection, the inclined plane on the Allegheny Portage
Railroad. Charles Dickens, travelling between Harrisburg and
.Pittsburgh, in his "American Notes" has something to say about
both the packet and the plane : "Nor was the sight of this canal
boat, in which we were to spend three or four days, by any means a
cheerful one, as it involved some uneasy speculations concerning the
disposal of the passengers at night, and opened up a wide field of
inquiry touching the other domestic arrangeraents of the establish-
raent, which was sufficiently disconcerting.
"However, there it was — a barge with a little house on it,
viewed from the outside ; and a caravan at a fair, viewed from
within ; the gentlemen being accoraraodated as the spectators usually
are in one of those locomotive museums of penny wonders ; and
the ladies being partitioned off by a red curtain after the manner of
the dwarf ancl giants in the same establishrnents, whose private lives
are passed in rather close exclusiveness." After describing the
scenes and incidents of canal boat travelling, he continues : "And
yet despite these oddities — and even they had, for me at least, a
humor of their own — there was much in this mode of travelling
which I heartily enjoyed at the time, and looked back upon with
great pleasure. Even the running up, bare necked, at five o'clock
in the morning, from the tainted cabin to the dirty deck; scooping
up the icy water, plunging one's head into it, and drawing it out, all
fresh and glowing with the cold, was a good thing. The fast brisk
walk upon the towing path, between that time and breakfast,
when every vein and artery seemed to tingle with health ; the exqui-
beauty of the opening day, when the light came gleaming
off frora everything ; the lazy raotion of the boat, when one lay idly
on the deck, looking through, rather than at, the deep blue sky ; the
gliding on at night, so noiselessly, past frowning hills, sullen with
dark trees, and soraetiraes angry in one red burning spot high
up, where unseen men lay crouching round a fire ; the shining out of
the bright stars undisturbed by noise of wheels or steam or any other
sound than the Hmpid rippling of the water as the boat went on ; all
75

THE OLD AND THE NEW WAY.
these were pure delights." The means of crossing the mountains he
describes as follows : —
"We left Harrisburg on Friday. On Sunday we arrived at the
foot of the mountain, which is crossed by railroad. There are ten
inclined planes : five ascending and five descending ; the carriages
are dragged up the former, and let slowly down the latter, by means
of stationary engines ; the comparatively level spaces between being
traversed, sometiraes by horse, ancl soraetimes by engine power, as
the case deraands. Occasionally the rails are laid upon the extreme
verge of a giddy precipice ; and looking down from the carriage win
dow, the traveller gazes sheer down, without a stone or scrap of
fence between, into the mountain depths below. The journey is
very carefully made, however ; only two carriages travelling together ;
ancl while proper precautions are taken, is not to be dreaded for its
dangers." The third picture shows the modern way. The raagnificent
bridge which spanned the Susciuehanna river frora the foot-hills of
the Kittatinny to those of the declining spurs of the anthracite coal
mountains, and where that stream, breaking boldly through the
mountains, forms the mirror from which is reflected wild, romantic
and picturesque scenery rarely witnessed ; the bridge bearing upon its
deck or ready to receive the majestic trains of the Pennsylvania
Railroad.

76

TRANSPORTATION PANELS IN THE BROAD
STREET STATION.

These panels are the work of Karl Bitter, the famous Austrian
sculptor. The one at the head of the grand staircase attracts univer
sal admiration. It is finished in imitation of old ivory, and is a
beautiful work of art, of which the picture printed herewith gives
but a small conception. The aim of the sculptor was to portray
"Transportation and the Progress of Transportation," and to that
end he has embodied the genius or spirit of transportation in the
shape of a female figure, seated on a. car or chariot, forming part
of a triumphal procession. This figure is in the act of uniting two
groups representing the East and the West, the former being depicted
by an old and infirra Arab and a sprightly Japanese girl, while the
West is portrayed by a youth in Puritan garb, typifying the North,
and a woman in Spanish costume, carrying fruits and flowers, the
South. A young girl in the costume of our present time, symbolizing
America, guides the four spirited horses that draw the chariot on
which the figure of transportation is seated, and in front of the
horses, forming the advance of the procession, is a group of children
— one of them carrying the model of a locomotive, another a model
of a steamboat, while the smallest and youngest child runs ahead

77

TRANSPORTATION PANELS.
with a model of an airship, indicating a future method of transporta
tion. Following the North and the South, as depicted by the Puritan
lad and the Spanish woraan, is a figure on horseback, in Spanish
costurae, who holds up a model of the "Santa Maria," the first
transport which came to this country; while following him, and
bringing up the rear of the procession, are the early pioneer and the
Indian, together with the emigrant wagon drawn by oxen and driven
by the early settlers.
The large terra-cotta panel on the south end of the Fifteenth
street arch of the great station is a remarkable piece of work, for
besides its artistic merits it has the distinction of being the largest
piece of terra-cotta work ever fired. It contains no less than ten
figures of heroic proportions, and extends across the entire street,
measuring 50 feet in length and 10 feet 6 inches in extrerae height.
The artist thus describes it :
"In the choice of a subject for this pediment of the Pennsylvania
Railroad Station, I have been influenced by a desire to depart from
the traditional use and wont in such cases, where, so far as my expe
rience goes, a suggestion of arrival or of departure, conveyed by
simple figures at rest, or by negroes engaged in the transportation
of bales of merchandise, has been all that the artist has aimed at,
except, perhaps, in very modern instances where invention has
soared to the representation of an express train, or of the interior
of a Pullman palace car. The purpose I have pursued in the design
has been to portray steam power, and I have tried to do this symboli
cally, by representing Man engaged in yoking to a chariot the two
-demons. Fire and Water, having previously bound them together,
the former represented by a male figure, furious in expression,
clad in lion's skin, the latter by a female with loosened hair sur
round by reeds and marsh grass. I have arranged this subject in two
groups, which I have endeavored to model in a spirited manner, one
•on each side of the centre of the pediment.
"In my humble apprehension, which is naturally that of an artist,
the Pennsylvania Railroad stands out clear and distinguished as a
typical Araerican railroad in contrast to foreign roads. The Euro
pean roads are often planned for strategic reasons ,or at the nod
of a ruler. The Pennsylvania systera stands emphatically for the
interest of the people. Following the pioneer, it is an essential
.auxiliary of trade and commerce — a promoter of intercourse be-
78

TRANSPORTATION PANELS.
tween the sections of country which it crosses. It insures the growth
of art, industry and science, and is at once a proraoter and conser
vator of Araerican civilization.
"Therefore, at the centre of the pediment is placed Mercury,
the mythological messenger and guide of wealth and commerce,
standing in the chariot, directing, with outstretched hand, the course
of element-compelling man ; while seated in the chariot is Minerva,
entitled by Homer, founder of cities, surrounded by implements of
art and industry, showing how towns and cities have arisen in the
wake of the great railroad.
"In the right hand corner of the pediraent is placed a youth,
symbolizing the Pennsylvana Railroad. His well-developed limbs
betoken manly vigor and determination ; he leans against an anvil,
while beside him a bo]/ decorates with a spray of laurel a shield bear
ing the initials of the railroad. Car wheels and various tools and
implements illustrate the significance of this group.
"In the left-hand corner is symbolized the city of Philadelphia,
represented by a female decorating a bust of William Penn, while a
child crowns the city's coat of arms. Books, impleraents of art,
and the Bird of Wisdora indicate the culture which Philadelphia
has attained." The panels in the pinnacles along the Market street side of the
station represent historic incidents connected with the founding of
the principal cities of the United States which are touched by the
great system of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The panels are each
about five feet wide and ten feet high, in the form of a pointed
trefoil arch, and the figures, in high relief, are nearly life size. The
cities represented are Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington,
Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and San Fran
cisco. The incident frora which the subject of Philadelphia is taken is
Penn's treaty with the Indians, which took place in the year 1682.
William Penn arrived in this country in his ship Welcome, sailed up
the Delaware river and landed at the present site of Philadelphia.
The panel represents William Penn treating with a group of Indians.
The panel representing New York shows Peter Minuet, who
landed some time between the years 1609 and 1615 on Manhattan
Island, buying the land from the Indians and founding a colony,
calling it the colony of the New Netherlands, afterwards New York.
On the panel representing Boston is seen Blackstone inviting

79

TRANSPORTATION PANELS.
Winthrop and his people to pitch their tents at his spring of fresh
water, which welled out of the ground of what is now the Common
in Boston. The panel of Washington shows Jefferson, Madison and Wash
ington choosing the site for the new capital in the year 1790.
The incident from which the subject of Baltimore is taken is
Father White, who was with the first colonists who founj^ed Balti
more, landing on its present site. Father White fitted up an Indian
wigwam as a temporary chapel i6r holding services therein. Thei
panel shows Father White holding service in the wigwam.
Chicago is represented by John Kinzie, who settled on the site
of that city with his wife and infant son and stepdaughter in 1804.
On the panel of St. Louis is shown Laclede, the trapper, blazing
the trees to mark out the site for the city of St. Louis in the year
1763. The subject of the panel of Cincinnati is Mr. Denman and Mr*
Tuttle, who in December, 1788, landed on the bank of the Ohio
river, where they founded the town of Losantiville, which afterwards
became the city of Cincinnati.
The incident represented in the Pittsburgh panel is a French
officer. Captain Coleron, taking possession of the country between
the Alleghenjr and Ohio rivers, which forms the present site of
Pittsburgh. To mark his claim he deposited in the ground at
different points leaden plates.
San Francisco is represented by two United States naval officers
of the man-of-war Portsmouth, which was lying in the harbor of San
Francisco in the year 1846. From this vessel and at this time sailors
were landed and the place which formerly belonged to Mexico was
taken without resistance.

80

THOMAS DE WITT CUYLER.

DIRECTORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD
COMPANY.

Since the publication of the "History of the Pennsylvania Rail
road Company" in 1899, death has caused some iraportant changes
in the Board, which tend not only to keep up the high and substantial
character of that body, but add strength by bringing into it addi
tional able men to meet the gigantic financial, commercial and indus
trial problems in the course of solution whicli mark these progressive
days. The new members of the Board are Thomas De Witt Cuyler,
Lincoln Godfrey and James McCrea, names which when spoken call
to mind men of the highest civic virtue, into whose hands any trust
can be placed with the full assurance that it will be faithfully admin
istered.
THOMAS DE WITT CUYLER.
At a meeting of the Board held May 10, 1899, Mr. Cuyler was
elected a Director to succeed the late Alexander Biddle. Colonel
Cuyler, who ranks among the foremost corporation lawyers of
Philadelphia, was born in that city on September 28, 1854. His
father was the late Theodore Cuyler, General Counsel of the Pennsyl
vania Railroad Corapany until the time of his death on April 5, 1876.
Colonel Cuyler received his prelifninary education in Philadel
phia; graduated from Yale University in 1874, and was admitted
to the Bar in his native city in 1876. Since then he has been en
gaged in the general practice of the law, making corporation law a
specialty, and is counsel for many large corporations in this and
other States. Araong others he is the General Counsel of the Adaras
Express Corapany and the Equitable Life Assurance Society; also
of the Guarantee Company of North America, the Buffalo Railway
Company ane} the Rochester Railway Company.
He has also taken an active interest in military matters, having
enlisted in the National Guard in 1874, and risen from the ranks
to be Judge Advocate General of the State, and is now on the retired
roll of officers after twenty years of service, with the rank of
Colonel. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church, and -for
S3

DIRECTORS OP THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD CO^IPANY.
many years has taken an active and prominent part in its aft'airs,
and also a Trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association of
Philadelphia.
LINCOLN GODFREY.
At a meeting of the Board on April ii, 1900, Mr. Godfrey was
elected a Director to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. B.
B. Comegys. Mr. Godfrey was born in Philadelphia, Pa., May, 1850, of New
England parents. FEis father's family settled in Rhode Island early
in the seventeenth century, his mother's family being the well-known
Lincoln family, which settled in this country in 1635, and the de
scendants of which still occupy the old homestead in Wareham, Mas
sachusetts. Mr. Godfrey finished his education at the Ury School,.
Fox Chase. Fie started into business with his father's firm, B. G.
Godfrey and Co., at that time one of the largest jobbers of dry goods-
in this country. He became a member of the firm in 1871, leaving it
in 1873 to raake up the partnership of William Simpson, Sons and
Co., to continue the business of William Simpson and Sons, manufac
turers of cotton goods. He has continued with that firni and the-
Eddystone Manufacturing Company, organized in 1876, until now,
being at the present time senior member of the firm of William-
Simpson, Sons and Company, and President of the Eddystone Man
ufacturing Company, who are very largely engaged in the produc-
tioii of cotton printed fabrics. He was elected Director of the
Philadelphia National Bank, January 13, 1880, and on June 5, 1899,.
was elected its Vice-President. He is also a Director of the Phila
delphia Trust, Safe Deposit and Insurance Company, and a jNIanager
of the AVestern Saving Fund and the Merchants Fund Association..
He has always attended the Episcopal Church. He resides in Phila
delphia in the winter, and at his country horae at Radnor, on the
Pennsylvania Railroad., in summer.
Mr. Godfrey is one of the best known business men in Phila
delphia, and stands high with the merchants and financiers.
JAMES MC CREA.
Mr. McCrea was elected by the Board, June 9, 1899, to be a
Director to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Mr. Cassatt as-
President. 84

LINCOLN GODFREY.

JAMES McCREA.

DIRECTORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY.
Mr. McCrea was born in Philadelphia, May i, 1848. He re
ceived a general education at the school of Rev. John W. Fairies,
completing it at the Pennsylvania Polytechnic College. After his
preparatory education he entered the service of the Connellsville &
Southern Pennsylvania Railroad in June, 1865, as rodman. In
December, 1867, he left the employ of the road and entered that of
the Wilmington & Reading Railroad Company as rodraan in the
engineer corps engaged in constructing that line. He left that ser
vice in September, 1868, and engaged as assistant engineer in the
construction of the Bennett's Branch of the Allegheny . Valley Rail
road, where he remained until March i, 1871. In the various
operations which were assigned to his care during this course of
service he demonstrated his thoroughness and capability to such an
extent that he attracted the attention of higher railroad officials,
and, upon severing his connection with the Allegheny Valley Rail
road, entered the service of the then rapidly growing Pennsylvania
Railroad Company in its construction department. Here he held the
responsible position of Principal Assistant Engineer and was given
large opportunities of demonstrating his ability.
His advancement in the .Pennsylvania Railroad service was very
rapid. On August i, 1874, he was transferred to the position of
Assistant Engineer of the Philadelphia Division, continuing in that
office until January i, 1875, when he was made Superntendent of the
Middle Division, with headciuarters at Harrisburg. In October,
1878, he was transferred to the superintendency of the New York
Division with headquarters in Jerse}' Cit}'.
On May i, 1882, Mr. iMcCrea was appointed to the manage
ment of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway and the
Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad, and on October 10, 1885,
was advanced to the post of General Manager of all the Pennsylva
nia lines west of Pittsburgh. On November i, 1887, he was elected
Fourth Vice-President of the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburgh.
March i, 1890, he was advanced to the Second Vice-Presidency,
and on May i, 1891, after the death of J. N. McCuUough, First
Vice-President, Mr. McCrea v/as elected to succeed him, and this
position he now holds.
Mr. McCrea's railroad services for over a third of a century have
clothed him with practical experience in every branch of railroading,
which, added to his great energy and quick judgraent, ranks hira as
one of the best informed railroad men in the United States. His

DIRECTORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY
election to the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company brings into closer touch with the Board its great subor
dinate corpofation, the Pennsylvania Corapany, and a man whose
broad knowledge ancl tender sympathies have endeared him to thd
rank and file of the employes throughout the system, and one who
has won a high position in the confidence of the business world.

THE SECRETARY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA
RAILROAD COMPANY.

Lewis Neilson, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany, was born at Florence, N. J., on the 30th of September, i860;
he is the son of Thomas Neilson, President of the Elmira & Williams
port Railroad Company, and Sarah Claypoole Lewis, ancl is the
grandson of Robert Neilson, who was at one time Judge Advocate of
the West Indies by appointment of the Crown, and of William D.
Lewis, a prominent Philadelphia merchant, bank officer, and, from
1849 to 1853, Collector of Customs for the Port of Philadelphia, a
railroad officer in one of the first railroads of the country, and was
interested in the importation of the first locomotive brought to this
country. Mr. Neilson entered the University of Pennsylvania in
June, 1877, and was graduated from the College Department in
June, 1 88 1.
On the 20th of June, 1881, he entered the service of the Penn
sylvania Railroad Corapany as weighing clerk on Walnut Street
Wharf. Frora the first of October to the tenth of December, 1881,
was assistant receiving clerk, and from the latter date until the 23d
of October, 1882, he filled various positions in the Cashier's Depart
ment of that station. On October 23d, 1882, he was promoted to
be stenographer in the Trace and Claira Department of that agency,
and served as such until July 16, 1883, when he entered the office of
Mr. John P. Green, then Fourth Vice-President, as stenographer;
December, 1885, was promoted to Chief Clerk in that office, and con
tinued to occupy the position under Mr. Green's several promotions
to the First Vice-Presidency. During his long service in Mr.
Green's office he also perforraed work in the President's office, and
always acted in place of the latter's Secretary when the incumbent
was absent. On February 8, 1893, he married Miss Clara A.
Rosengarten, daughter of Mr. Harry B. Rosengarten, of the firm
of Rosengarten & Sons, of Philadelphia.
On May i, 1897, Mr. Neilson was appointed Chief Clerk to the
Secretary. On the 26th of the sarae month he was appointed As
sistant Secretary pro tera. on account of the illness of the Assistant
Secretary, and continued to fill that office, in addition to performing
91

SECRETARY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD CO^IPANY.
his duties as Chief Clerk, until June i, 1898, when he was appointed
Assistant Secretary of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and of
the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad Company. On
June 27, 1898, he was appointed to fill the same position with the
Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad Company, and on
June 3, 1898, was elected Secretary of the Manor Real Estate and
Trust Corapany. On January 23, 1901, he was elected Secretary of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and of the Philadelphia, Wil
mington & Baltimore Railroad Corapany, to succeed Mr. John C.
Sims, deceased.
In addition to his duties, which place him in the closest confiden
tial relations with the officers and the Board of Directors of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and many of its affiliated lines,
he is charged with the issue and transfer of the capital stock, and
of the Stock Transfer Offices in the cities of Philadelphia and
New York.
Mr. Neilson also has the entire supervision of the lighting, heat
ing, policing and care of the General Office Building of the Com
pany, with its two thousand occupants. He is also the division
officer of the Relief Department for the General Office.
He is a capable and efficient executive officer, with excellent
control over his subordinates ; a prompt and energetic worker ; a
strict and just diciplinarian, and noted for his consistent honesty of
purpose and fair dealing.
Mr; Neilson is an enthusastic follower of outdoor sports, being
a constant golfer; and has for many years been prominent in the
graduate councils of the University of Pennsylvania, having served
for several years, prior to 1894, as a Director and Treasurer and
Secretary' successively of the Athletic Association, and later, as a
member of the Board of Directors, and Executive Committee of the
General Alumni Society, as well as its Secretary and Treasurer.
He is an amateur musician of some attainment in vocal music,
and is a member of the Orpheus Club, and now its Treasurer and
a member of its Executive Committee.
His intelligence, good judgment, and thoroughness in business
organization and detail, have rendered his services of great value
in every position which he has filled with the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company and with the many societies and associations with which
he has been connected.
Following the appointment of Mr. Neilson to the Secretaryship,
92

LEWIS NEILSON.

SECRETARY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY.
the Board amended the organization for conducting the business of
the Company, so as to provide for three Assistant Secretaries ; two
of which are located at the General Office of the Company. Mr.
Robert H .Groff was already appointed Assistant Secretary in charge
of the Stock Transfer Office of the Company, in the city of New
York, and the two new Assistant Secretaries appointed were A. J.
County and K. S. Green.
Mr. County was also appointed Superintendent of the Employes'
Saving Fund, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. John C.
Sims. Mr. A. J. County was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, on
August I, 1871, and educated in that city. In July, 1885, he entered
the service of the Great Southern and Western Railway Company,
the largest railway company in Ireland, in its purchasing department,
and after a practical experience of five years, resigned his position in
search of a wider field for promotion. On November 7, 1890, he
arrived in the city of Philadelphia, and on the 20th day of the same
month entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
as a clerk in the Secretary's Department. He has been continuously
connected with that department; serving under Mr. John C. Sims,
Mr. D. S. Newhall and Mr. Lewis Neilson.
In June, 1898, upon the promotion of Mr. D. S. Newhall as
Purchasing Agent of the Company, and the advancement of Mr.
Lewis Neilson to be Assistant Secretary of the Company, he was
appointed Chief Clerk. On November i, 1900, he was elected As
sistant Secretary of the Manor Real Estate and Trust Corapany.
On December i, 1900, Assistant to the Secretary of the Pennsylvania
Railroad and the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad
Companies, and on January 23, 1901, Assistant Secretary of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and the Philadelphia, Wilmington
& Baltimore Railroad Company, and Superintendent of the Pennsyl
vania Railroad Eraployes' Saving Fund.
Mr. Kane Stovell Green was born in the city of Philadelphia,
January 27, 1874. He was graduated from Mr. George F. Martin's
school for boys in West Philadelphia in June, 1890, and from Hav-
erford College in June, 1894. He entered the railroad service on
October i, 1894, with the Allegheny Valley Railway Corapany at
Pittsburgh and Reynoldsville, serving there until July 31, 1895.
He entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in
September, 1895, in the Accounting Department, where he remained
97

DIVISION FREIGHT AGENTS.
until December, 1896, when he was transferred to the Secretary's
office. In May, 1897, he entered the First Vice-President's office,
and on February i, 1901, was appointed to be an Assistant Secretary
of the Company.

DIVISION FREIGHT AGENTS.

GEORGE D. OGDEN.

George D. Ogden, Division Freight Agent, Pennsylvania Rail
road, with headquarters at Altoona, Pa., who is one of the sterling
young men of the service, with a bright future before him, was born at
Homer City, Indiana County, Pa., May 16, 1868. His education
was obtained in the public schools of that place and the Indiana State
Normal School, Indiana, Pa., subsequent to whicli he entered Wash
ington and Jefferson College, Pa., Class of '90. His father had been
passenger, baggage and second-class freight agent at Homer for
many years, ancl upon the changing of the agency from second to
first-class freight, George left college to succeed his father as opera
tor, agent and operator, June i, 1887. Transferred to Yard Master's
office, Allegheny City Yard, August i, 1890; clerk in Superintend
ent's ofiice. West Penn Division, October i, 1890; Agent, Butler,
Pa., May 11, 1891 ; Freight Agent, McKeesport, Pa., February 11,
1895; Freight Agent, Harrisburg, Pa., January i, 1898; and Divi
sion Freight Agent at Altoona, January 14, 1901.
ROBERT C. WRIGHT.
Robert Clinton Wright was born in Brazil, South America,
December 5, 1869; was brought to Baltimore in 1871, and educated
in the public schools of that city and graduated from the City College
in 1887. He is a grandson of the late Robert Clinton Wright, one

G. D. OGDEN.

R. C. WRIGHT.

DIVISION FREIGHT AGENTS.

of the early Presidents of the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad
Company, which was later merged into and forms a part of the
present Northern Central Railway Corapany. Iramediately after
leaving school he was employed in the office of C. Morton Stewart
& Co., leaving that firm in 1888 to enter the service of this Company
as messenger at Patterson's Wharf, March 18; he served as messen
ger and clerk at that station until July 30, 1889, when he was trans
ferred to the office of the General Agent as clerk.
He continued as such until June i, 1897, when he was appointed
Freight Solicitor for Baltiraore. On January i, 1899, he was pro
moted to be Special A. gent. Transportation Department, in the office
of the General Superintendent of Transportation, Philadelphia;
served as such until May i, 1899, when he was promoted to be Divi
sion Freight Agent at Altoona; and on January 14, 1901, to be
Division Freight Agent at Harrisburg.

103

A FAITHFUL SURGEON.

Dk. WILLIAM R. BLAKESLEE.
Among the many long time employes of the Pennsylvania Rail
road Company, there is no one who commands more respect from
the officers and men, than Doctor William R. Blakeslee, of Coates-
ville, Chester county. Pa., who for a third of a century has rendered
exceptional service as Company Surgeon. The Doctor was born in
Susquehanna county. Pa., September 20, 1822, and was graduated
frora the Franklin Medical College, Philadelphia, with the degree of
M. D., February 15, 1848. His raarriage took place the next day,
and on the following day he located in Guthrieville, Chester county.
Pa., and began the practice of his profession with instant success.
Since then his life has been one continued round of well doing, sym
pathizing with distress, alleviating suffering, consoling the afflicted
and comforting the dying. But in other scenes than those of pathos,
despair, sorrow, suffering and grief he has been a factor ; as a citizen,
parent, friend, he has filled the full measure of a useful Hfe, and the
community in which he lives rightly esteems him very highly.

104

A FAITHFUL SURGEON.
In the spring of 1852, the Doctor moved to Philadelphia and
became physician for the Southwest District of the Blockley Alms
house. Desiring to better quaHfy himself for the practice of his
profession, he matriculated in the Medical Department of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, from which he received his diploma in
March, 1853, and in June of that year settled in CoatesviUe. In
1854 he was physician at the Chester County Almshouse, rendering
good service during the cholera epidemic of that year.
On October 29, 1861, he was mustered into the United States
Army, and assigned as surgeon to the 115th Pennsylvania Volunteer
Regiment, and served with it in the Army of the Potomac until
March 26, 1863. In July, 1863, he was assigned to duty with the
48th Pennsylvania during the emergency caused by the Gettysburg
carapaign. In 1864, he was on duty as surgeon at Hammond Gen
eral Hospital and General Depot for Prisoners of War, at Point
Lookout, Md., from whence he was cahed severally to the McClellan
General Hospital, at Philadelphia ; to administer to a detachraent of
the 3d Regiraent Veteran Reserve Corps at Scranton, Pa., and to the
White Hall United States General Hospital, near Bristol, Pa. He
remained at the latter until the close of the Rebellion. On the Sth
of May, 1865, having been relieved from further service, he returned
to CoatesviUe, having served with the army an aggregate of two
and one-half years in the various departments. Some faint idea of
an army surgeon's arduous work, and serious responsibility, may be
gleaned from the statement that after the battle of the Wilderness,
over 40,000 wounded raen were sent to the hospitals in Washington
alone, all of whom had to be prepared for transportation by the
Field Surgeons. It was no small honor to belong to that noble band
of professional men, who 'mid the din and carnage of battle bound
up the wounds of the suffering.
In 1865, Dr. Blakeslee was chosen Company Surgeon, and has
faithfully served ever since. During that period he served in addi
tion, 1878 to 1883, as Company Surgeon for the Wilmington &
Northern Railroad Company.
His skill as a diagnosian, coupled to a sound judgment, called
him into frequent consultation with other physicians, whilst his ripe
experience and personal integrity, made him a much sought after
counsellor. Now as his sun is setting, a halo of love and esteem
from his fellow-men softens the retiring light.

105

FREIGHT AGENCIES.

The article on "Traffic Departments" to be found in Ringwalt's
"Development of Transportation Systems in the United States"
contains this paragraph : —
"The moving of all the freight and passengers that are now
raoved on American railways with the degree of safety and certainty
that has been attained at the prevailing low rate of average charges
is the greatest task ever performed by any combination of agencies,
and the traffic departments deserve a liberal share of the credit of
the wonderful achievements that are constantly being repeated."
Heartily affirming the sentiments and conclusions contained in
that paragraph, and bearing testimony to the great work and suc
cesses of the managers of the traffic departments of railways, to
their unwearying and indomitable quest for traffic, their wonderful
development of business methods, and in the face of serious obsta
cles in securing or creating for their lines a paying trade, I cannot
forbear claiming for the freight or station agents the position of
invaluable auxiliaries in the achievement of the successes.
It is a popular error that the business of a great line is exclu
sively secured by solicitation. The manner of conducting the busi
ness by the local agent and the facilities he has wherewith to handle
it, is no incoiisec[uent factor in obtaining it. Transportation, when
bought or sold in large quantities is usually a subject of contract
by the heads of the traffic department, and it is not uncommon that
the well advised freight agent is the first mover in the negotiations
which lead to the contract.
Unless he has filled the office of freight agent, no person can
fully appreciate the vast amount of labor inseparable from the posi
tion or allot the proper raeasure of credit due the incumbent. The
details of that labor are so multitudinous, and their diversity so
great, that a novice is bewildered when he comes in contact with
them. As their years of service accuraulate, education and knowl
edge acquired by the freight agents keep pace with the accumulation.
It is a rare instance where one is seen, who, having reached the
prime of life, is not well versed in a wide range of literature, who is
not active in the line of his business, and who does not take an intelli-
io5

E. E. ZEIGLER.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
gent interest in all matters pertaining to the public good. The rail
road is a University of its own, and as a class in that school of learn
ing, the freight agents represent a true Araerican citizenship and a
high standard of personal morality and business proficiency.
The freight agents are the most carefully supervised of all the
employes of a railroad company by reason of the fact that not less
than seventy per cent, of the revenues passing into the corporation's
treasury is collected by them. Selection is, therefore, an important
element in their appointment. On the Pennsylvania Railroad the
nominating power vests in the officials of the Transportation De
partment, to whom the agents are responsible for the administration
and discipline of their agencies. The agents are also repuired to
conform to the instructions of the General Freight Department in
relation to classification, rates and other matters connected with the
securing of traffic; to those from the Treasurer, pertaining to the
disposition of the money collected by thera ; and to such as originate
in the Accounting Department in connection with the accuracy of
their accounts.
A man above the average is necessary to fill the requirements
of the position. He must possess education and good moral fibre;
be urbane in his intercourse with the officials and the patrons of the
road and ever ready to meet the exigencies which are constantly
arising in the mutations of trade. Up early and late, he must be in
touch with the social, industrial and mercantile interests by which
he is environed ; alive to all public questions, which may effect rail
road conditions in the locality in which he is stationed, and by his
administration of his office in its contact with the public attract traffic
to his line. He is, in fact, the local representative of the corporation
he serves, and by a wise and judicious course of conduct an important
personage in securing traffic ; in that sense he is the pulse of the com
mercial system of the Company, and by his keen insight into local
requirements and with extended geographical knowledge, enabled to
keep his superiors advised of the trend of trade, and the transporta
tion needs of the people.
The study of rates and classifications and their application anala-
gously to unnamed articles offered for shipment requires a mind of
almost legal acumen. Any untrained person who contemplates the
volumes of rates, classifications, excerpts from law and official ruhngs
that the Interstate Commerce law requires to be posted for public
use and inspection in every station from Jones' Cross Roads to
109

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
greater New York, will turn away dazed and amazed by this attempt
to understand what it all means, and form an elevated opinion of the
agent who must understand and apply thera.
Being the one coming most generally in personal contact with the
patrons of the Company, the agent raust ever be ready to serve them,
to listen to and correct complaints, sift suggestions for the improve
ment of the volume of traffic, and be familiar with the requirements of
the law, not only as to interstate commerce, but also as to license, in
ternal revenue, cruelty to animals and a host of other subjects em
braced in local laws and ordinances. Not only must he keep his eyes
upon the traffic to and from his station, but he must direct them to
that of the competing line, so that the latter may not receive more
than its fair portion without the cause becoming known. Then,
too, the direction of his subordinates is no sraall responsibility,
for it is through them that the successful handling of goods
entrusted to his care for shipment or delivery must be con
summated. Economy in the current expenses of his station and
in the use of cars consistent wth prompt movement must always
be in his mind and vigorously practiced, a voluminous corre
spondence relative to rates, claims, delays, and discipline with the
officials, and to inquiries or complaints from the public, constantly
demand his attention. These with the keeping and preservation of
records, making statements, reports, bills for charges, way-bills, bills
of lading and receipts for delivery, which must be done under his
supervision, makes the clerical part of the duties, for the faithful
performance of which he is responsible, one of such magnitud-o that
any other than a well-trained, v/ell-selected agent v/ould fail under.
That the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in its selection of men
fully up to the requirements necessary to fill the position of freight
agent has been unerringly successful, is to be found in the e:';cep-
tional superb corps they have installed on their lines east of Pitts
burgh and Erie. Many of those agents have served for more than
a lifetime of a generation, and have won for themselves unexcelled
reputations for probity, integrity and fidelity. The greatest praise that
can be given the agents is the statement that since the organization of
the company over a thousand millions of dollars have been collected by
them and yet the percentage of revenues lost bv carelessness, robbery,
or erabezzleraent has been so infinitesiraal that it is scarcely com
putable. The dignity and importance of the freight agency in the
combination of forces that make a railroad corporation successful

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
can not be exaggerated. And it is a wise policy that strengthens the
hands of those who fill them. In this connection, it is but proper to
give glimpses of typical agents at various points along the line, be
ginning with the one located at the western terminal of the Penn
sylvania Railroad : —
PITTSBURGH.
"E. E. ZEIGLER.
Pittsburgh and its environs being the greatest of all the cities
on this continent as a producer of tonnage for transportation as well
as the centre of the keenest and most active competition for the con
trol of traffic, requires a strong, broad, comprehensive and coura
geous raan to act as freight agent in its raidst. A weak, uncertain
person would soon be swept away by the whirlpool of commercial
activity which exists there. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company
is well represented in -the person of Colonel Edwin Elmer Zeigler,
who, whether as a mechanic, a soldier, a railroad official, or as a
citizen, has always been equal to any responsibility laid upon him.
He is a raan of splendid physiciue, calm temperaraent and phil
osophic trend of mind, and has acquired, through life's expe
riences, a fund of business and general knowledge, which,
combined with great ability for order and discipline, has
made hira a fitting person for the responsible position he occupies.
Mr. Zeigler was born at Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Noveraber
24, 1842, and attended the public schools and academy at that
place. At fourteen years of age he left school to learn a
trade. Upon the opening of the Civil War he was working in a
machine shop, and was a meraber of a local railitary corapany named
the "Logan Guards." When Governor Curtin made an appeal for
volunteers under the President's call he, in face of parental protest,
marched to the front with his company. The "Logan Guards" was
one of the five Pennsylvania companies who were the first troops to
arrive at Washington in defense of the Government. Frora the day
he took up his raarch until the close of the war, he was a true soldier
of the Republic, rising by ability and merit frora the rank of private
to that of Lieutenant Colonel. On August 18, 1861, his term of prior
enlistment having expired August i, 1861, he re-entered the service
as second lieutenant of Company E, 49th Pennsylvania Volunteers,
attached to General Winfield Scott Hancock's Brigade of General
William F. Smith's Division. The second term of enlistment having

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
expired November 26, 1861, he again, on March 7, 1862, re-entered
the army as second lieutenant of the 107th Pennsylvania Volunteers,
attached to Fir.st Brigade, Second Division of the Fifth Army Corps,
serving under Generals Duryee, Paul Crawford, Ricketts, Gibbon,
Newton, McDowell, Hooker and Reynolds, and after consolidation,
with the Fifth Array Corps, under Generals Robinson, Griffin and
Warren. By efficiency and gallantry, he was successively promoted
to be Captain, Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel. Holding the
latter rank he was discharged July 13, 1865, after being in active
service for 3 years, 10 months and 28 days, and havng participated
in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Bull Run, Chantilly, South Moun
tain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine
Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Front of Petersburg,
Weldon Ralroad, etc., and in the raarches and skirmishes incident to
the service with the Array of the Potomac. He is a member of the
Union Veteran Legion, the Loyal Legion and society of the Army of
the Potomac. His duties in the field had hardly closed when he
adapted himself to the requirements of civil life and entered the ser
vice of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. On July 13, 1865,
he assumed the duties of a clerk in the freight office at Huntingdon,
then, as now, under the management of Alexander Elliott. Decem
ber 15, 1866, he was appointed Freight Agent at Allegheny City,
and May 23, 1892, Freight Agent at Duquesne Station, Pittsburgh,
perforraing the duties of his several positions with an efficiency
which characterizes all his movements. He resides in Sharpsburg
and has always taken a deep interest in the affairs of that borough,
having served three terms as Burgess and many years as a member
of the School Board, of which for several terms he was President.
He attends with great regularity the services of the Methodist
Church, and although not a member, is always to be found advancing
its activities.
WILMERDING E. R. STEWART .
Wilmerding, an important artery to the heart of the Iron King-
dora, is situated on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
fourteen miles east of Pittsburgh. In the centre of the famous Turtle
Creek Valley and surrounded by wooded hills, with a resident popu
lation of 5,000, daily increased from McKeesport, four miles to the
south, and from Pitcairn, one mile to the east, by people on business,.

EDWIN R. STEWART.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
it is one of the most interesting and prosperous communities in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 1887 its site was a lonely
valley with a single cabin erected in it, and its transformation is due to
the establishment there of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company's
works — works famous the world over for the quality and quantity of
their output, the content of their eraployes and the perfectness and
justness of their management. The town is a model one. The
hillsides are dotted with cottages owned by the men who work in the
shops. These cottages were built by the company and sold to the
men at cost on easy payments. The architecture and workmanship
of these homes is of a superior character, and whilst their construc
tion and sale possessed benevolent features, their owners' indepen
dence and individuality was, and is strictly observed. It is the
terminus of the electric lines running from Pittsburgh and McKees
port, and has a daily service of eighty-six passenger trains. A
splendid school house, several churches and an elegant bank and
hotel are marked features of the town, whicli is well lighted by elec
tricity and supplied with natural gas, city water, fire hydrants and
sewerage. The principal industry is that of the Westinghouse
Company, whose plant gives employment to over 2,000 men, and
furnishes ninety per cent, of all the air brakes used. Only one
mile west is located the W^estinghouse Electric and Manufacturing
Company's plant, employing in the neighborhood of 4,000 people.
It is claimed that Wilmerding enjoys the distinction of having the
finest general office building in the United States, the lower portion
being used by the Young Men's Christian Association, and the upper
by the Westinghouse officials. The important freight traffic to and
from Wilmerding is under the very efficient charge of Edwin R.
Stewart, the Pennsylvania Railroad Agent.
Mr. Stewart is the son of Judge Robert and Elizabeth A.
(Patton) Stewart and was born on the Stewart homestead farm in
Blair county. Pa, February 18 1862. He attended the public
schools of Williarasburg in his native county until February, 1878,
when he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
in the Transportation Department, under John Reilly, at Altoona,
where he remained until March, 1881, when this departraent having
been removed to Philadelphia, he was transferred to the Motive
Power Department, reraaining there one year. On May 30, 1882,
he was sent to Conemaugh and placed in charge of the agency and
shop work, continuing in charge until December 31, 1897, when he

115

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
was transferred to Wilmerding, and placed in charge of the agency
there. Mr. Stewart is a member of the Presbyterian Church and
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Young Men's Christian Association.
He has always taken an active part in all matters affecting the inter
ests of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. A great deal of credit
is due him for the success of the Pennsylvania Railroad Young
Men's Christian Asociation at Conemaugh, and of the Employes'
Saving Fund on the western part of the main line. He sent the
first word of the terrible Johnstown flood to J. B. Hutchinson, then
acting General Superintendent at Altoona, by dispatching a man
overland to Ebensburg on horseback and took an active part in the
rebuilding of the road after the disaster.
JOHNSTOWN, PA.
F. S. DECKERT.
Johnstown, for nearly seventy years, has been a noted trans
portation point. Its location in the State system of railroads and
canals made it a connection point for the transshipment of passengers
and merchandise interchanging between the East and the West.
That fact, added to the inexhaustible mineral wealth in its surround
ing hills, developed it into a manufacturing town of large proportion.
It derives its name from Joseph Yahns, or Johns, pioneer German,
who settled there in 1791. It might be well to add that there is a
claim that the name was derived from John Holliday, born December
18, 1780, and a son of Adam Holliday, after whom the town of
HoUidaysburg was named. The claim is that John Holliday, about
1808, crossed the Allegheny Mountains and purchased of Samuel An
derson, of Bedford, a 400-acre tract of land on the Conemaugh, at
the mouth of Stony Creek, and located there; and this place was
called John's place; that he built a grist mill, which his father and
friends called "John's mill;" and he svibsecjuently staked off a
town which was called "John's" town. The records of the county,
however, do not furnish any evidence upon which this claira can be
based. Joseph Johns laid out the town in 1800, and called it Cone
maugh, by which name it was known until 1831, when its corporate
title was changed to Johnstown in honor of the founder. The chain
of title to the land is as follows : The Commonwealth to Charles
Campbell, the warrantee, April 3, 1769, No. 1683 ; CampbeU to
James Wilkins, February i, 1780; Wilkins to John Johnson, Octo-
116

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
ber 31, 1781 ; Johnson to James McLanahan, September 24, 1782.
The Commonwealth issued a patent to McLatiahan, April 26, 1788,
containing 249 acres, and an allowance of six per cent, for roads.
The tract was called "Conemaugh Old Town Tract." McLanahan
sold to Joseph Johns, September 30, 1792. The original title deeds
to many lots in the town were raade out in his name. Johns laid out
a town upon it in 1800, and sold lots in it until May 2, 1807, when he
sold the tract to John Anderson and William Hartley, of Bedford.
Anderson and Hartley sold to John Hofliday, March 30, 1808, and
he sold to Peter Levergood, June 21, 181 1. From this it will be seen
that Johns had laid out the town eight years before Holliday became
possessed of the tract.
Johnstown as a producer of traffic for transportation, assumes
a high position ; the works of the Cambria Steel Company and kin
dred manufacturers, with the tanneries and mines, make it a point of
great activity in railroad business. The Pennsylvania Railroad
Corapany alone handles there annually over one hundred thousand
carloads of freight, producing over two miUion dollars of revenue.
To look after its interests in this direction it had for a nuraber of
years as its agent there, F. S. Deckert, who was born in Waynesboro,
Franklin county. Pa., February 8, 1839. His parents raoved to
Blairsville in 1850. At that place he received his education in the
public schools. In 1859 he went to Pittsburgh to learn the tinning
trade, at which he worked until August, 1862, when he enlisted for
three years in Corapany E, 139th Pennsylvania Volunteers, attached
to 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 6th Corps, Army of the Potomac. The
first unpleasant army duties he was called upon to perform were
the sad ones of burying the dead, after the second battle of Bull Run.
He engaged in the battles and skirmishes of the Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns. After the latter he was
taken sick, and being unable to perform field duty, was detailed as a
clerk in the governraent storehouse at Frederick, Maryland, and con
tinued there as such until the close of the war. On September i,
1865, Mr.'Deckert was appointed an assistant to the agent at Blairs-
viHe; in 1867, was made agent at Natrona, and in September, 1868,
agent at Johnstown. On May 20, 1901, he laid down the duties of
Freight Agent and assuraed those of Passenger Agent. Thirty-
seven years of continuous service have found him undeviatingly
faithful to the best interests of his employers and proven him a
man of the highest reliability and integrity.

119

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
EBENSBURG, PA.
.VBEL LLOYD.
Ebensburg is one of the most delightful places in the mountain
regions of Pennsylvania, and a favorite resort for the summer seek
ers after health and quiet pleasure. It was founded by the Welsh,
the Rev. Rees Lloyd, who had settled there, organized on April 7,
1797, a Congregational church, which became the nucleus of the
town. Mr. Lloyd, two years before, had been ordained to the minis
try at Ebenezer, Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales, where he had
been preaching some time, and thus Ebenezer, in Wales, became the
sponsor in naming the town in Pennsylvania as well as his eldest
son Eben. It is located in the exact centre of Cambria county, be
came the county seat, March 29, 1805 ,and was incorporated into a
borough in 1825. Before the clays of railroads it was a town of
importance, the northern Pennsylvania route passing through it.
Lumber was its important commercial feature, as it is to-day.
Whilst hemlock for building purposes led the manufacture of lum
ber, ash, maple, cherry, poplar and cucumber in large c[uantities have
been manufactured for shipment to markets east and west. The
extensive shook business carried on there has its market principally
in the West Indies. It is noted for its good butter, which finds
prompt sales in the larger towns and cities. The Pennsylvania
Railroad agent at Ebensburg, up to January i, 1900, when he was
retired on pension by reason of having reached the age limit, was
Mr. Abel Lloyd. Mr. Lloyd was born at Ebensburg, June 22, 1824.
His father, John Lloyd, the son of the Rev. Rees Lloyd, the founder
of the town, was born in 1782, and was Ebensburg's first postmaster.
Abel Lloyd was educated at the Ebensburg Academy, but his father
dying when he was 14 years of age, and his mother when he was
17, closed his school career, and he entered his apprenticeship to
the cabinet-maker trade in which he served for three years, never,
however, working at it after that time had expired. He then went
to rafting on the Susquehanna. His first experience was a thrilling
one, as the raft upon which he was floating went to pieces on the;
rocks at Chest Falls, and he narrowly escaped being drowned. This,
however, did not deter hira, but he went to it again, continuing at
it until the rafting season was over. The following winter (1845)
he taught school in Cambria township. When the school terra ended,
he engaged as clerk in a store for one year, and then contracted to

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
manage a store for O'Neill & Rhey at foot of Plane No. 4 on the
Allegheny Portage Railroad, and opened the first post-office, which
was named Hemlock, at that point. Upon the expiration of the
contract, which was only for one year, he sold out the store and
started to go South. He went West as far as Pittsbtirgh, when,
being offered a position in the wholesale commission and for
warding house of Rhey & Matthews, of that city, he gave up his
southern trip and accepted it. The firm subsecjuently sent him to
Johnstown to superintend for them the Johnstown and Conemaugh
Furnaces. He moved into Cambria township in 1857, s-i^^ was elected
Justice of the Peace. The following year he was elected County
Commissioner, in which office he served during the years 1858, 1859
and i860. In 1858 he started the Ebensburg and Cresson Railroad,
which was incorporated in 1859, when he became Chairman of Ac
counts, and afterwards Secretary of the Company. The latter
positon he continued to hold until May 8, 1891, when the property
and franchises of the company were sold under foreclosure of mort
gage. In the meantime he had moved to Ebensburg, and was elected
Burgess of the borough. This election was an exciting one, the
political atmosphere being heated by the burning question of hogs
being allowed to perambulate the streets of their own free will.
"Flogs in," "Hogs out," became the rallying cries, and agitated the
minds of the local statesmen until the election was over, and Squire
Lloyd decreed that hogs must be restrained from pedestrian rights
on the public thoroughfares. In 1861, Mr. Lloyd becarae the agent
at Ebensburg, and continued to fill the position until January i, 1900,
when, under the pension rules of the Pennsylvariia Railroad Com
pany, he was retired. As cabinet-raaker's apprentice, raftsman,
school teacher, store clerk, furnace manager, trader, "Squire," Com
missioner, Burgess and railroad official, Abel Lloyd has always held
and maintained the respect and confidence of all those who have
known or had any dealings with him.
ALTOONA.
a. t. heintzelm.vn.
Although but fifty years old, Altoona is a city of no small pro
portions, and teems with industrial and commercial life. The great
shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company are located there, and
supplemented with kindred works, give the main employment which

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
sustains fifty thousand people in comfortable and luxurious homes.
Splendid stores, churches, hotels, schools and private residences
adorn the streets ; its trolley extends to various parts of Blair county.
The general superintendence of the main line and branches of the-
Pennsylvania Railroad has its home there. In that home are to be
found the motive power and machinery and scientific experts whose
work has become famous and known the world over. There is but
one "Mountain City" in the United States, in the sense implied by the
term city, and that one is Altoona ; and it is, therefore, no small honor
to be the comraercial representative of a great corporation within its
liraits. Such has been accorded Mr. A. T. Heintzelman, Freight,
Transfer and Scale Agent. Mr. Heintzelman was born near Manor
Station, Westmoreland county. Pa., October 13, 1857. After at
tending the public schools he took up the study of telegraphy. He
entered "AK" tower at Penn Station as a student, March, 1875, and
mastering the profession, he served as an extra operator on the
Pittsburgh Division unil July, 1876, when he was transferred to
Philadelphia, and employed as an operator in Belmont switch tower
until the close of the Centennial Exhibition. All the switches on
tracks leading in and out of the Centennial station were controlled
from that tower. It was about the first real practical demonstration
bf the utility of the interlocking system of switches now so generally
lised on railroads in this country. At the close of the Centennial
Exhibition, Mr. Heintzelman returned to the Pittsburgh Division,
carrying with him the following letter, which he prizes very highly,
having won it when yet quite yoiuig in the service.

Philadelphia, November i, 1876.
Mr. John Suter, Division Operator, Pittsburgh Division, Pitts
burgh, Pa.
Dear Sir: — Before the business in connection with the Cen
tennial Exhibition had assumed any large proportions you kindly
loaned to this Division the services of the bearer, A. T. Heintzelman,
operator. As the Centennial Exhibition is now closed, and his ser
vices at an end in the position he held in Belmont tower, he returns
to you with an enviable record. He has performed his duties in a
taost important locality faithfully and successfully, ever evincing

A. T. HEINTZELMAN.

W. B. HUMES.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
-a spirit of interest in the immense work which has been accomplished.
With many thanks for his services, I remain
Yours truly,
(Signed) Chas. E. Pugh,
General Agent.
After his return to the Pittsburgh Division he was again em
ployed as extra telegraph operator, and for a time filled the position
of Night Yardmaster and Weighmaster at East Greensburg.
In April, 1879, he was appointed Freight and Passenger Agent
at Ore Flill, on the Bloomfield Branch of the Penns)dvania Railroad.
On October i, 1881, he was offered and accepted the position of
Chief Clerk to Mr. John C. Boggs, Freight Agent at Altoona, hold
ing that position until December i, 1881, when he was appointed
Agent and Yardmaster at HoUidaysburg.
In November, 1882, Mr. Boggs having been given a leave of
absence on account of ill-health, Mr. Heintzelman took charge of
the Altoona agency in addition to his duties at HoUidaysburg. He
continued in the dual position until May, 1884, when he was relieved
of the HoUidaysburg agency, being succeeded by Mr. Richard Roe-
lofs. In AprU, 1890, the 4th Street Scale was placed under his
charge as Weighmaster.
He StiU holds the position of Freight Agent and Weighmaster
(4th Street Scales) at Altoona. The growth of business at this sta
tion since his incurabency has been remarkable, developing from
rather an insignificant local station into one of the most iraportant
on the line. Recently, his duties have been considerably enlarged
by the opening of a transfer station, which is operated both day and
night.
BELLWOOD.
\\'. B. HUMES.
Six miles east of Altoona, snugly nestling in the Logan valley,
is the beautiful village of Bellwood, with its wealth of pure air,
pure water and delightful scenery. It is the junction point whereat
the interchange of traffic between the Pennsylvania and Pennsyl
vania and Northwestern Railroads is effected. The freight agent
at this point is WiUiam B. Flumes, who was born in Philadelphia
on November 6, 1841. Mr. Humes attended the public schools
of his native city until July, 1857, when he entered the employment
125

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
of T. W. & J. A. Yost, manufacturers of children's carriages at
214 Dock street. From there he entered the army, enlisting in
Company C, 71st Pennsylvania Volunteers, better known to history
and fame as Colonel E. D. Baker's ist California Regiment. Mr.
Humes participated with the regiment in the ill-starred expedition
which culminated in the disaster at Ball's Bluff, Va., on October
21, 1861. With some two hundred members of the regiment he was
made prisoner and taken to Richmond, where he remained incar
cerated in Mayo's Tobacco Warehouse until February 22, 1862,
when he was released. By reason of disability he was honorably
discharged April 19, 1862. He subsec[uently engaged in business
with J. H. Schenck & Son. On August 25, 1875, he entered the
service of the Pennsylvania RaUroad Corapany as a passenger brake-
man on the New York Division. February 20, 1876, he was
appointed a train agent and assigned to duty on the Middle Divi
sion with headquarters at Harrisburg. He served in that capacity
until June 30, 1877, when the necessity for the train agencies
having passed, the office was discontinued. July i, 1877, he was
appointed passenger brakeman on the Middle Division and ran
until April 20, 1878, when he entered the freight office at Hunting
don as a clerk. October i, 1885, he was appointed to his present
position as Freight Agent at Bellwood.
w. h. lovell.*
On January i, 1900, there was placed on the retired list of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company one of its oldest employes, in point
of service as well as of years, in the person of William Harrison
Loveil. Not only was he a senior in the railroad service, but he is
one of the few surviving raen whose identification with the trans
portation business of the Commonwealth was co-incident with the
opening of the public works. Mr. LoveU was born in German
valley, near Newton Hamilton, Pa., Sepember 20, 1820 and re
ceived his name from William Henry Harrison, President, who was
a full cousin of his mother.
When about twelve years old he began to drive mules on the
canal, and at twenty- one was captain of the canal boat "Wyoming,"
a Penns^dvania and Ohio Line boat, running between HoUidays
burg and Columbia.
*Mr. LoveU died at Altoona, June 3 1902. 126

W. H. LOVELL.
Fie left the canal in the faU of 1849 ^n-d entered the service of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as time-keeper at Mifflin Shops,
under Mr. Enoch Lewis. He remained at Mifflin until October,
1852, when he went to Duncansville, Pa., where he was clerk to Mr.
E. M. Jones, the agent. Later, when Mr. Jones was transferred
to the agency at HoUidaysburg, Mr. LoveU succeeded him as agent
at Duncansville. He reraained at Duncansville until the comple
tion of the Newry Branch, when he was transferred to Newry
as agent, remaining at Newry until the fall of 1870, when he was
transferred to Blairsville, succeeding Mr. Jacob Zimmers as agent.
He reraained there until the spring of 1871, at which time the
Butler Branch was completed to Butler, Pa., to which point he was
tr.ansferred as agent by the late Robert Neilson, who was then
superintendent of the West Penn Division. He remained at Butler
until 1876, when he was transferred to Altoona ticket office, and
thence to the Altoona freight station, where he remained until re
tired by pensioning, January i, 1900, having completed more than
fifty years' service with .the Company. While at Duncansville,

127.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
he was associated with Thomas A. Scott, Herman J. Lombaert
and Robert Pitcairn, the latter being telegraph operator. Mr.
Loveil has for many years been a member of the Presbyterian
Church.
HUNTINGDON.
a. ELLIOTT.
Huntingdon is the county seat of the county of the same name
whose rich river bottoms and fertile valleys have made it one of
the most prosperous counties of the State. The town is beauti
fully situated at the confluence of Standing Stone Creek and the
Juniata River, the hills adjacent commanding views of superlative
grandeur. The enterprise and energies of its people have made
it in traffic importance on the Middle Division of the Pennsylvania,
Railroad second only to Harrisburg; added to that, it is the trans
fer point of the traffic coming to and from the Huntingdon and
Broad Top Railroad. The latter road not only covers the extensive
coal fields of the Broad Top region, but, connecting with the Bed
ford Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Mount Dallas, pen
etrates the Maryland coal fields at Cumberland. The interchange
of freight at this point with the large local trade makes the freight
agency a very active and busy one. The Pennsylvania Railroad
Company's representative is Alexander EUiott. Mr. Elliott was
born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, November 25, 1835. His
ancestors came from England during the eighteenth century, his
paternal grandfather settling in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where
his father, Benjamin EUiott, was born in 1790, and from where he
enhsted and served in the War of 1812.
The early years of Alexander EUiott were spent in Indiana
county. He was educated in the common schools of that county,
and at the Academy of New Castle, Pennsylvania. After spending
two years as a salesman in a general store in Westmoreland county
he, in October, 1856, entered the service of the Pennsylvania Rail
road Company as an assistant in the freight office at Indiana station
by appointment of the late Col. Thomas A. Scott. In January,
1859, he was transferred (also by Mr. Scott, who was then the
General Superintendent) to Manor Station as Freight and Pas
senger Agent, and on June i, 1865, to Huntingdon, as Freight
Agent. Since the latter date he has been a continuous resident of
the borough, efficiently performing the duties of his office. Mr.
128

A, ELLIOTT.

W. W. FULLER,

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
EUiott has always taken an active and influential part in local affairs,
working for the welfare and improvement of the borough, in which
he is deeply interested as one of its most extensive property owners.
He has been elected at various times to borough offices, having
served as Chief Burgess, Councilman and School Director, and
also acted as Treasurer of a nuraber of associations and organiza
tions, especially designed to promote public iraproveraent. He has
for thirty years been prominently connected with the Masonic
fraternity, being a Past Master, Past High Priest, Past Eminent
Coraraander of Knights Templar, and for the past eleven years,
has held the ofiice of District Deputy Grand ]\Iaster of the Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania for the counties of Huntingdon and Bed
ford, and part of Blair. He has been a member of the Presbyte
rian Church for over forty years.
MOUNT UNION.
W. W. FULLER.
Mount Union is the second town in population in Hunting
don county. It is located at the east end of the main gate to the
Alleghenies, and whilst surrounded by mountains and hills, is the
seat of considerable manufacture. The products of its chair fac
tory and tanneries are eagerly sought after, and its flour has a com
manding place in the market. The East Broad Top narrow gauge
railroad reaching out to the important town of Shirleysburg, the
twin towns of Rockhill and Orbisonia, and the towns of Three
Springs, Saltillo, Robertsdale and Shade Gap, all in Huntingdon
county, has its terminus there, and frora those points throws on to
the Pennsylvania Railroad a paying traffic of the products of mines,
mills and factories. At this station, William W. Fuller is the
Agent of the Pennsylvania RaUroad. Mr. Fuller was born near
Ickesville, Saville township. Perry county, Pennsylvania, Novem
ber 6, 1837. He was unfortunate in the loss of his parents before
he had reached his first birthday, and was left without even the
tender interest which an elder brother or sister might have displayed
had he possessed them. He was, however, brought up on a farm
among relations, under the care of a kind and considerate uncle.
Having previously acquired what was then caUed a "Free School"
education, that is, a knowledge of the lower branches, with a smat
tering of geography and grammar, he was, upon attaining his
131

.FREIGHT AGENCIES.
seventeenth year, sent to the Central Academy, Airy View, near
Port Royal, Juniata county, Pennsylvania. That institution was
then a -popular and flourishing boarding school, enjoying a noted
patronage from this State, as well as raany other States of the
Republic. It was under the tutorship of Dr. David Wilson, sup
ported by a strong faculty, whose reputations as instructors were
known far and wide. In the spring of 1856, he returned to his
old home and entered a select school established there, and under the
tutorship of a young graduate of Jefferson College. In the fall of
the sarae year, and when but nineteen years old, he secured the
position of Principal of the Port Royal schools. Thereafter, by
alternating between teaching and going to school, he was enabled
to further educate himself by attending "Markleville Normal Insti
tute" at Markleville, and "Mt. Dempsey Academy," at Landisburg.
Both schools were in Perry county. He closed his school days
at the Millersville State Normal School. For nearly nine years
he engaged in teaching, being successively Principal of the Port
Royal, Duncannon, Thompsontown and Millerstown Public Schools.
During the summer months of two of those years he was engaged
in teaching select schools at his horae ancl at Newport. On March
5, 1865, he gave up teaching, and two clays later entered the service
of the Pennsyhrania Railroad Company, as assistant to W. J. Jones,
Agent at Millerstown Station. He developed so rapidly in his new
line of business that he was, on Deceraber i, 1866, appointed Freight
ancl Passenger Agent at Thompsontown, in which position he con
tinued until April i, 1876, when he was promoted to be Freight
Agent at Mo.unt Union. On April i, 1885, the duties of Passenger
Agent at that station were combined with those of Freight Agent,
and laid upon him For over a third of a century his railroad ser
vice has been faithfully performed to the advantage of the Company
and credit to himself. In all that period he has enjoyed but four
vacations of one week each, with an occasional day off, and has
enjoyed the unbroken confidence of his superiors and fellow em
ployes. Although he keeps a close watch on all the minutse of the
agency and attends specially to all the accounts, yet he can be found
almost daily assisting in handling all freight work. He takes per-
missable pride in saying that he "can clo with a freight truck as much
as the Irishman who said he could do anything with his spade but
shave a man."
His calling as a teacher gave a very agreeable bias to his mind,
132

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
and has made him the life-long friend of the teacher, the educator
and the lover of literature, many of his most cherished friends
belonging to those classes. In all his busy years of railroad life
he has never departed from adding to his intellectual advancement.
For forty-two years he has courted the Muses, and in the frag
ments of time has produced some sweet verse. He has deservedly
been crowned with the name of "The Poet of the Juniata VaUey."
'Among the more notable of his poems which have attracted atten
tion are: "The Eighth Wonder of the World;" "Jack's Narrows;"
"The Horse Shoe Bend;" "The Limited;" "The Youths of Fair
Saville;" "The Fox Chase on Sunday;" "The Vale of the Juniata;"
"At Nicaragua's Shores;" "Hazel;" "The Boatraan;" "The Maine;"
and "Our Elms.'' His style of writing is correct, and on classical
lines. Fie seems to derive great pleasure in singing the praises of
the great corporation with which he has been so long and honor
ably connected.
HARRISBURG, PA.
THOMAS L. WALLACE.
W. L. FRY.
Harrisburg coraprises the centre of iron manufacture on the
lower Susquehanna. This, together with kindred and other indus
tries, located within its borders, the agricultural and mining_ wealth
of Dauphin count}', the rich products of Cumberland, York and
Lebanon counties, seeking its markets and the political activity of
a capital, makes its mercantile life a busy one, and its railroad trans
portation interests of great importance. Lying, as the city does,
across the pathways of the great valleys reaching from New York
to New Orleans, railroads constructed on the north and south lines
intersect the great Pennsylvania line from East to West, causing
an interchange of traffic of large dimensions. Competition in trans
portation is very acute, and the shrewdest men are required to
enter into it. The business of the Pennsylvania RaUroad Company
for many years was conducted by Thomas L. Wallace.
On January i, 1898, Mr. Wallace laid down the Agency with
its unceasing cares and great responsibilities, and assumed quieter
and less wearing duties with the Division Freight Agent's Depart
ment. The retiracy of Mr. Wallace from the Harrisburg agency
after forty years in the freight service of the Company, thirty-
133

THOMAS L. WALLACE.
eight years of which he served as Agent, is an occurrence to be
noted ; for such a service for such a length of time points to fidel
ity, faithfulness, intelligence and confidence as eminently necessary
qualities to achieve success. Mr. Wallace having been born in
Clearfield, Pa., September 8, 1837, was not quite twenty years of age
when he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at
HoUidaysburg in August, 1857. In May, 1859, he was transferred
to the Freight Office at Harrisburg as a clerk to John A. Cannon,
and when Mr. Cannon resigned as Agent in November of that yea-'
Mr. W^allace, although but a little over twenty-two years of age, was
appointed to the vacancy. From thence every moveraent for the
advancement of the freight interests of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company and its controlled and operated lines in Harrisburg and
vicinity either originated with him or had his most hearty co-opera
tion. The business that grew up under his hands and eyes was in
tricate in character, rec[uiring constant watching and delicate hand
ling. During the war the vast stores of the Government, including

134

W. L. FRY.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
cattle, horses, grain, hay and feed, that had to be handled at Harris
burg threw a volume of business upon his care which cannot be
appreciated to-day. The direction of the operations of the Freight
Department had not then, nor for many years afterward, been
concentrated as it is to-day, and in conseciuence there was a large
latitude and a broad discretion allowed the Agent. In the wise use
of that latitude and discretion Mr. WaUace so conducted the busi
ness of his station that hundreds of thousands of dollars which
otherwise would have been lost to the Company flowed into its coffers.
Polite, kind, energetic, his soul seemed wrapped up in his desires
to earn raoney for his eraployers, and that he accomplished it in
no small degree is so well known that repetition of the fact is
hardly necessary. The interchange with other roads and lines dur
ing his administration grew to enormous proportions. The iron,
coal, live stock and lumber which passed in interchange with the
"Reading" system was very heavy, and recjuired the closest watch
on rates and charges to secure the best results. For years he
collected all the charges on the live stock frora the West destined
to New York, and all on the bituminous coal for manufacturing
purposes in the valley of the Schuylkill. At the same time the inter
ests of the merchants and raanufacturers which were being devel
oped around hira were receiving his closest attention. It is impos
sible to give in detail the business which he managed so well, but
when it is told that he collected and accounted for a 'sum of money'
approximating seventy-five millions of dollars, without entailing
the loss of one cent to anyone, some faint understanding can be had
of what he was doing those many years.
Throughout those years he was characterized by his kindly and
gentle manners, and Christian virtues. His charity was boundless,
and his confidence in his fellow man unfaltering. He never lost
patience with the most trying customer, or turned down a wayward
employe. His whole life seemed to be uplifting. For sixteen years
I sat by him in the office and never once heard an impatient or
improper word from his mouth, or saw hira act but in full accord
ance with morality, sobriety, honesty and truth. His fidelity to the
interests intrusted to his care was a religion with him, and was a
splendid guide to the young men who served under him, and who
by reason of that training have since been advanced in the service.
Mr. Wallace was succeeded by Mr. George D. Ogden, who
conducted the business with such marked ability that he was pro-
137

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
moted January 14, 1901, to be Division Freight Agent. Mr,
Ogden was succeeded by W. L. Fry.
.- Among the many men who have won promotion on the Penn
sylvania Railroad by faithful, conscientious and inteUigent service,
none stand higher in the esteem of the management than Mr. Fry.
He was born at Coburn, Centre county. Pa., September 19, 185 1.
His elementary education was received in the public schools of his
native count}', after receiving which he entered Bucknell Univer-
sitv, at Lewisburg, Pa., from which he was graduated. He entered
the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company on AprU i, 1873,
as a clerk in the Freight Station at Sunbury, Pa. In 1874, he was
transferred to the position of assistant weighmaster at Nanticoke,
Pa. From that tirae until 1885 he served successively as clerk a*
the Shamokin scales, where he inaugurated the way-biUing of coal
direct frora the mines, and Chief Clerk at the Sunbury Agency. On
January i, 1885 he was promoted to be Agent at Lewisburg, Pa., and
on July 23, 1893, to be Freight Agent at WiUiarasport, Pa. The
vast lumber and large manufacturing interests of the latter city
in their relations to transportation were handled with such ability
and tact by Mr. Fry that when the more important post of Freight
Agent at Harrisburg was to be filled the selection naturally settleCr
upon him, and he was promoted to it, entering upon his duties
there on January 14, 1901.
BUFFALO.
ROBERT S. BEATTY.
Buffalo is one of the most important cities in the United States.
Its wonderful power, derived from Niagara Falls; its great steel
plant ; its elevators and coal docks ; its splendid harbor and central
position; its strong banks, superb parks and the incomparable
Niagara River, have made it a potential factor in the industrial
and social development of the country. Thirty railroads enter the
city, and these, with the lake transportation companies, have been
developing the city until at the present time there is possibly no
other section of the United States which shows so steady and
rapid advancement on lines of permanent prosperity.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has taken a strong posi
tion in Buffalo, and is rapidly increasing its already large facilities.
Its freight interests are looked after by Mr. Robert S. Beatty.
138

ROBERT S. BEATTY.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
The career of Mr. Beatty has not been meteoric, flashing brU-
liantly across the business skies only to be lost in the mysterious
depths, but has been steachly a forward one; slow, perhaps, but
sure, and its successes must find their origin in both strain and
temperament. How much difference of opinion there may be re
garding the theological correctness of the religious views of the
blended sons of Scottish heights and Irish heather, there can be no
cjuestion that the Araerican scion of Scotch-Irish stock is painstak
ing, tenacious and conscientious. 'Twas frora that stock he sprung.
He was born at Arraagh; Indiana county, Pennsylvania, February
24, 1855, and was educated in the country schools of that vicinity
and at Jefferson Academy at Steubenville, Ohio. He entered the
service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in March, i'875, as
a clerk at Derry Station on the Pittsburgh Division, from whence
he was transferred to Pittsburgh as shop clerk, and subseciuently
to Pittsburgh Transfer as general clerk; in June, 1885, sent to
Mantua Transfer as general clerk, and in September, 1887, appointed
Agent at Engelside. In 1894, when all the stations on the New
York Division between the Zoological Garden and Frankford Junc
tion were placed within the jurisdiction of the agency at Ger
mantown Junction, he was appointed agent to supervise thera. Sub
sequently, all the agencies on the Chestnut Hill and Cresheim
Branches were added to his jurisdiction, supervision and care. On
January 14, 1901, he was appointed Freight Agent at Buffalo, N.
Y. He was Third Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Departraent of the Young ' Men's Christian Association of Phila
delphia, and always ready, willing and enthusiastic in promoting the
work of the Department. His tireless energy, together with his
sunny nature and overflowing charity, were no small factors in bring
ing it to the high standard of success which it has attained.
The personality of Mr. Beatty is attractive. He is nearly six
feet two inches tall, weighs about 240 pounds, and his appearance
is commanding. Gentle of speech, kind of heart ancl charitable of
disposition, makes him a charming person, whether in the pursuit of
business or of pleasure, and always a welcome guest in the social
circle. Withal, he is possessed of a modesty — some call it diffi
dence — which makes him shrink from public attention, public
prominence, or applause. This latter equality, however, is not the
result of any weakness of character, or a desire to shrink from
assuming proper responsibilities or the perforraance of proper duties,
141

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
for, when occasion demands it, he is fearlessly aggressive and un
movable in his stand, in whatever direction he raay consider to be
the right one. Though generous to a fault, he has none of the
elements of profligacy in him. With deep religious convictions he
is not intolerant. In his devotion to his Company's interests he
so- conducts its affairs that he makes no enemies and is always care
ful not to magnify its competitors' importance by denunciation or
detraction. On the contrary, he recognizes that his is the important
business ancl, in consequence, has no tirae to spare to detract from
its successful pursuit by talking, good or bad, about that of any
one else.
COLUMBIA.
C. S. MURRAY.
Columbia, situated on the left bank of the Susc[uehanna river,
about 29 miles below Harrisburg, although a minor city of Pennsyl
vania, is a point of more than average importance in its relation to
internal travel and commerce. Prior to the construction of th« dam
for supplying the Susc[uehanna canal with water, the river scenery
thereabouts was of noble grandeur in its wild picturesc[ueness.
The completion and raaintenance of the barrier in the streara, how
ever, did not eliminate that feature of the locality's beauty for it
formed a placid lake, which, viewed as a part of the splendid per
spective to be had from "Chicjues' Rock," a rugged cliff rising
almost perpendicularly from the river at the western limits of the
town, adds an artistic touch to nature's canvas. The incomparable
scenery of the Susquehanna finds in the view from that cliff" it.s
best expression, and brings the visitor, as he stands there and
gazes in contemplation on Columbia ancl its gem-like settings, into
close touch with the inspiration which caused the Poet CampbeU,
in describing another spot higher up the stream, to sing : —
"A valley from the river shore -withdra-wn
Was Albert's home, t-wo quiet -woods between.
Whose lofty verdure overlooked his la-wn;
And "waters to their resting-place serene
Came fresh'ning and reflecting all the scene ;
(A mirror in the depths of flo-wery shelves) ;
So s-weet a spot of earth, I -ween,
Have guessed some congregaton of the elves
To sport by smnnier moons, had shaped it for themselves.''
142

C. S. MURRAY.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
Jacob L. Gossler, in his delightful monograph entitled "An
Old Turnpike Road," published by him in 1888 for private distri
bution, speaks thus of the town : "My native town, Columbia, to
which I have so often alluded, is charmingly situated on the eastern
bank of the Susquehanna, here broadening to over a mile in width,
and assuming a lake-like appearance. There are high hills once
crowned with luxuriant woods, at either extremity, between which
the town securely nestles, extending back frora the river, and grad
ually ascending to a broad table-land studded with fine and well-
tiUed farms, comfortable dwellings ,and the immense barns so
common throughout Lancaster county; a rich agricultural country,
occupied by well-to-do and inteUigent farmers, with here and there
a white spire and a pretty village."
But it is not to the scenic, poetic or romantic, combined or
alone, that Columbia is indebted for the place it occupies in the
Coramonwealth it adorns. Nature, so prodigal in the bestowal
of scenic effects, was none the less so in the distribution of raaterial
for prosaic prosperity. Gossler shows the results in 1888 when
he describes the town "as fliourishing with upwards of ten thousand
inhabitants, a railway centre and the terrainus of two canals ; has
numerous furnaces, rolling-mills and factories within its limits ;
fine stores, pure water, good streets, gas and electric lights, three
newspapers, many churches, excellent schools and all the modern
improvements." The town has advanced along those lines with
the passenger trolley, telephone and automobile added. The pop
ulation is now over 13,000. Iri the early days of Pennsylvania the
best crossing of the Susc[uehanna river in the line of coraraunication
between the North and the South was found there. It has ever
since been a prominent station on the thoroughfare of American
advancement. At the close of the Revolutionary War, and before the
records of the eighteenth century had passed into the history oJ
the ages, the tide of emigration which set in frora the seaboard to
the Carolinas and Virginia and its western territory, crossed the
river at that point. When the nineteenth century opened it found
that "Wright's Ferry," which had been established in 1730, and
known the wide world over, was inadequate to the deraands upon
it, and that its terrainii had dropped its narae the one on the right
bank of the river becoming Wrightsville, the other, on the left
bank, Columbia, as they had grown by that tirae into settlements
of note. Emigrants at times would reach the Ferry in such num-
145

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
hers that it would require several days to pass them and their
belongings over the river. The PhUadelphia and Lancaster Turn
pike Road, the first road of that character of any length made in
America, completed in 1794, was extended to Columbia by the
Lancaster and Susquehanna Turnpike Corapany in 1803. The
travel over these roads made it necessary for the erection of the
Columbia Bridge, which was completed in 1814, to take care of it.
The situation of Columbia and its rich agricultural and mineral
surroundings, commanded . the attention of the home seekers and
it soon became a popular and populous settlement, whilst the dis-
coverv of the great deposit of hematite ore in the neighborhood
created a manufacturing centre of great value. These natural ad
vantages, garnered by an intelligent and industrious population,
made the trade of the locality one to be sought for by transporters.
The rapid developmeiit of the country deraonstrating the inadequtacy
of the then existing methods of transportation, the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, in order to retain the flow of trade ancl travel
within and through its territorial limits, adopted a system of rail
roads and canals ancl made Columbia the converging point, which
becarae and continued for many years to be the most iraportant trans
portation point in the State for interchange ancl transshipment.
The entree of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in 1834 wasr
followed by the York and Wrightsville in 1840, and the Columbia
Branch of the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy and Lancaster in
185 1. A few years subsequent to the latter date the Columbia and
Port Deposit was added to the rail facilities of the town, and in 1857,
through its leases and purchases the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany became the sole transportation factor in its prosperity. As
Columbia leads all other towns in Lancaster county as a railroad
centre, so it does in the manufacture of iron and its products.
Before the State was gridironed with railroads Columbia was rec
ognized as a mart of value. The traffic of the Susquehanna river,
consisting of millions of feet of lumber and thousands of tons oi
produce, grain, flour and whisky, concentrated there, and thence
distributed to the eastern seaboard through the cities of Philadelphia
and Baltiraore. The completion of the canals and railroads increased
the volume of the business. Stage coaches, Conestoga wagons,
canal boats, packets, river rafts and arks threw a floating popula
tion into the town, which caused a restless activity in its streets-
and along its levees and wharves. The busy scenes at the basin,.
i46

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
where hundreds of canal boats concentrated preparatory to passing
through the outlet lock or to unload or transship their lading, or
in the inn yards, as the caravans of Conestoga wagon teams drove
in, or the raftsmen congregated to assort their kits, have been shifted
to the tracks and great yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad, over
and through which the traffic of a continent is handled. A gliraps*
of the magnitude of the traffic can be had in viewing the number of
cars which passed through these yards east and west on the main line
and to and from the branches, during the year 1898, the aggregate
being 879,991 cars.
The locai business is made up principally of coal, iron, silk and
lace, the coal being brought to Columbia in large quantities by
canal and stored and later loaded on cars and distributed to points
east and west. The iron business is now confined to the manufac
ture of skelp and merchant bar iron. ]Most of the furnaces which
made the Columbia district famous, and at one time numbered thir
teen, are things of the past, but four reraaining, — one at Wrights
ville, two at Chickies and one at Watts.
The four rolling raills employ 1,000 hands, the silk mills 1,000,
the lace mill 200, and there is in the employ of the Pennsylvania
Railroad about 1,000 men. Other principal industries are the man
ufacture of stoves, . employing 200, and the Grey Iron Novelty
Works, employing 100 hands, respectively.
Mr. Charles S. Murray, the Pennsylvania RaUroad Company's
Agent, is well adapted to look after his employers' interests at that
point. He is a gentleman of marked intelligence and affability, and
infused with the spirit of progress which distinguishes the employes
of the Company, his tirae, energies ancl abilities have been devoted to
his duties. Mr. ilurray was born at Carlisle, Pa., October 15, 1839,
and received his education from private tutors and in the public
schools of that town. After leaving school, he took up the study
of dentistry, but before completing it he entered the service of the
Adams Express Company at Philadelphia. Acquiring a taste for
the transportation business, he lost much interest in his selected
profession, but after remaining some time with the express com
pany, he resigned, and returned to the study of dentistry. In 1855;
he established an office in Newport, Pa., where he practiced his
profession for a number of years. In 1869, a Western fever carried
him to Mexico, Missouri, but cHscovering that his eraigration wa3
a mistake, he returned east before the close of the year. The desire
147

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
to enter railroad life took possession of him again, and applying fo^
a position on the Pennsylvania Railroad, he was appointed to the
Agency at Christiana and entered upon his duties February i, 1870.
On June i, 1872 ,he was advanced by transfer to the agency ai
Middletown, and on March i, 1880, was promoted to the agency
at Columbia.
LANCASTER, PA.
E. K. DAVIS.
Lancaster City has a strong individuality. Its wealth is gener
ously distributed among its people, who excel in intellectual force
and form a hospitable and hearty democracy wherein capital and
labor march with unanimity of purpose side by side in perfect
harmony. It is the county seat of a district, the- agricultural
development of which reaching the highest point yet attainable
yields a productiveness rarely equalled. The doraestic leaf tobacco
trade of the United States has its chief depot there and the re-
quireraents of its agricultural surroundings .have created a large and
prosperous live stock market within its limits. Diversified and
successful manufacturing establishments are nuraerous. Beautiful
and substantial homes abound and the mercantUe houses are raany in
nuraber, large in the extent of their dealings, and rival in the spirit
of coraraercial enterprise those of the larger cities. Two hundred
thousand people having their wants supplied through the raediura-
ship of those places of business activity raakes rail transportation
both safe and profitable and the carrying companies doing business
in the city have kept pace with the latter's progressive spirit in
supplying facilities and representatives to raeet the wants. In the
Freight Agency of the Pennsylvania Railroad E. K. Davis is in
stalled as Freight Agent, fitting to a nicety the requireraents of the
position. Mr. Davis was born near Intercourse, Lancaster county,
j^ennsylvania, October 11, 1836, and was educated in the pubHc
schools of that county. He entered business -in 1852, and was en
gaged in clerical, mercantile and other pursuits until July i, 1869,
v.dien he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
as Freight and Ticket Agent at Christiana. On December i, 1869,
he was transferred to CoatesviUe as Freight Agent, and on July i,
1871, was appointed combined Ticket and Freight Agent at that
148

E. K. DAVIS.
station, where he continued to fill the duties with satisfaction to the
(Company ancl its patrons until September i, 1891, when he was
proraoted to be Freight Agent at Lancsater.
PHILADELPHIA.
F. H. MEYERS.
The Philadelphia Freight Agency of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company is the largest and most important single one in the world
as to territorial extent, amount of charges collected and the great
variety of commercial interests vvith which it is in contact. The
territory covered by it is practically all the city south of Vine street
149

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
from river to river, and west of the river to Fifty-third street, in
cluding the territory operated by the PhUadelphia, Wilmington and
Baltimore Railroad Company. All of the freight stations and em
ployes in that area come within its jurisdiction. Some estiraate of
the' extent of the business transacted in the agency raay be gleaned
from the facts that the average number of cars handled monthly is,
m round numbers, 50,000, containing 800,000 tons of freight, whilst
the average monthly collections exceed one million of dollars.
Frank H. Meyers was appointed Agent to succeed L. N.
Walton, deceased. This was a well earned proraotion and a raer-
i'cd recognition of the services of a gentleman weU equipped to
perforra the vast responsibilities of the position. For over 30 years
Mr. Meyers has been in charge of the vast freighting interests, both
foreign and domestic, of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in
the Washington Avenue Wharf District. The export and impoit
trade of the Port of Philadelphia, handled in connection whh Penn-
s}-lvania Railroad Corapany's lines, passed und'er his eyes and to a
great extent his direction. So thoroughly conversant is he with
aii the intricacies of that service that problems in connection there
with difficult of solution have been invariably sent him lo solve,
v/ith unfailing satisfactory results. With the large manufacturing
interests in the district in their relation to transportation he is eqiially
well advised. His services to the Company have not, hoAvever,
been confined to the duties of the position. During the Centennial
year, Mr, Meyers rendered valuable service in handling the foreign
exhibits to and from the Exhibition without any delay to them or
the regular business of the district, and without increasing his
office expenses. His work in that direction entered largely into the
success of that historic event. He has been appointed on many
general committees to solve special transportation subjects, and was
a member of that one having in charge the subject of establishing a
transfer station between Philadelphia and New York, and which
resulted in the construction and organization of Mantua Transfer.
Mr. Meyers was born in the old district of Spring Garden,
Philadelphia, February 6, 1844, and educated in the public schools.
In i860 he was advanced from the Hancock Grammar School to
the Fligh School. After one term of study in the latter he entered
comraercial life as a bookkeeper. On April i, 1863, he entered the
service at Washington Avenue Wharf as manifest clerk in Leech
150

F. H. MEYERS.

WILLIAM HA.WMERSLEY.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
& Co.'s office, having as contemporaries in the oifice, Robert W.
Smith, now Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Railroad Corapany,
James S. Swartz, present Treasurer of the International Navigation
Company, and the late John Whittaker. After filling various posi
tions in the office, Mr. Meyers, on June i, 1867, when Leech & Co.'s
transfer station at that point was abandoned, was placed in charge
of the west-bound business, and on May i, 1870, placed in chargo of
the district, which has grown in extent and value with the passing
years. July 19, 1900, promoted to be Agent at PhUadeljilua, and on
October i, 1901, he was appointed to the additional a.gencv of ihe
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company at
Broad and Washington Avenue. Mr. Meyers is an influential
member of the Pennsylvania Railroad Departraent of the '^''oung
Men's Christian Association of Philadelphia.
BROAD AND WASHINGTON AVENUE DISTRICT.
WILLIAM HAMMERSLEY.
WUliam Hamraersley, the Chief Clerk in charge of thc Broad
and Washington Avenue District, is well adapted for the very trying-
position which he fills with so rauch credit and g"-ace. Keenness
of perception, suavity of raanner, and sraoothness of speech enable
him to meet daily the hundreds who seek the office and supply him
the force for rapidly transacting the many-sided business which
environs him. He was* born on the 12th of July, i860, and educated
in the comraon schools of Philadelphia. On May 10, 1873, he
entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as mes
senger boy in the freight office at Thirteenth and Market stiets,
Philadelphia. On August 14, 1874, he was transferred to the Wash
ington Avenue Wharf station and served in the district through all
the positions of a freight agency frora messenger boy to chief clerk-
in charge of Federal street station.. On July i, 1883, he was selectcl
frora the latter position by Mr. William J. Latta, General Agent,
as his Chief Clerk. Fie served in that capacity with marked ability
until November 8, 1899, when Mr. Latta having resigned, the Gen
eral Agency was largely absorbed by the Philadelphia Terminal
Division. From then until July 19, 1900, he acted as Special Agent
for Mr. D. H. LoveU, Superintendent of that Division. Upon the
latter date he was proraoted to be Chief Clerk, Philadelphia Agency,
155

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
under Mr. F. H. Meyers, at No. 8 Walnut street. On October i.
.1901, he was appointed Chief Clerk in charge of the Broad and
Washington .A. venue District.'
He was a school director in the Twenty-fourth Section of the
First District of Pennsylvania, Chairman of the Committee in charge
of the largest school in the section, and ranked among the prominent
directors of the district. Mr. Hamraersley takes a deep interest in
the Pennsylvania Railroad Department, Young Men's Christ-.an
Association of Philadelphia, and is Chairman of its Library Com
mittee. To him is largely due the securing of the splendid library
attached to that institution, and with the aid of the librarian, the
success of its administration.
WASHINGTON AVENUE WHARF DISTRICT.
CHARLES C. KINNEY.
Charles Clinton Kinney, Chief Clerk in charge of the Wash
ington Avenue Wharf District, was born at Circleville, Pickaway
county, Ohio, November 8, i860. In 1865, the family moved to
Harrisburg, Pa., where i\tr. Kinney entered the public schools,
which he attended until he was fourteen years of age. At the end
of that time, he obtained employment in the insurance office of John
F. Eaton and subsec|uently located himself in the book store of
George Bergner. On the ist of January, 1878, he entered the office
of the "Flarrisburg Telegraph'' as a printer's apprentice and served
four years learning the trade. He finished his trade on the 21st of
January, 1882, commended by his employers as one of the best
"jours" that ever graduated from the office. On January 23, 1882;
he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at
the Lancaster freight station as a clerk. Passing through all the
grades of the service in that office, he reached the Chief Clerkship
March 24, 1884. On May i, 1884, he was promoted to be Chief
Clerk, Kensington District, Philadelphia. On July 6, 1892, as As-
.sistarit Superintendent, Mantua Transfer. On January 15, 1902, he
was appointed to his present position.
He has acquired a mastery of the many and varied transporta
tion problems that of necessity presented themselves in the positions
in which he has been employed. He is a very active member ot
the Pennsylvania Railroad Department of the Young Men's Chris
tian Association, and to him is due the credit for the high order of
156

CHARLES C. KINNEY.

D. R. RICHARDSON.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
entertainments which, for the past eight years, have been a very
attractive feature of Philadelphia's winter amusements. On his
shoulders has devolved the labor of providing a weekly bill of high-
class amusement fare, for the winter raonths, at once uncostly, clean,
wholesome and easily digested. The work has been well done, and
he has displayed an ability as an arauseraent purveyor to be envied
by anyone. As Chairman of the Base Ball Committee of the De
partment, he has developed one of the best, if not the best, strictly
amateur teams in the State, and has given the patrons of the grounds
at Fifty-second street as fine exhibitions of that sport as could be de
sired. Temperate in his life, modt:Nt in his deportment, conscientious
in the discharge of his duty, earnest and faithful almost to a fault, he
has gone forward from one position to another, until to-day he ranks
in the knowledge of practical railroad work with the very best of the
younger men in the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
KENSINGTON DISTRICT.
D. R. RICHARDSON.
The Kensington District practically covers all the territory
north of Vine street to the mouth of Frankford creek, west from the
river Delaware to Eighth street, thence Out Eighth street to the
line of the Connecting Railroad. It embraces the River Front
Railroad with Canal and Commerce Street Branches, the Kensington
Branch, the Westmoreland Street Branch, the Kensington and Tioga
RaUroad, the Frankford Creek Branch and Fairhill Railroad. Large
and commodious stations are scattered throughout the District and
named Kensington, Shackaraaxon, Commerce Street, Somerset Street,
Tioga and Richmond Street, and Fairhill. The District is the great
manufacturing territory of Philadelphia, producing a million tons
of freight annually to the Pennsylvania Railroad. David R. Rich
ardson was appointed to the Agency April 7, 1900, succeeding Ham
ilton Markley, deceased.
Mr. Richardson was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1855, and
attended the public schools in that city, the University of West Vir
ginia at Morgantown for two years, and finally was graduated in
the commercial department of the Pittsburgh Central High School
in the class of 1877. He entered the service of the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company at Walnut Street Freight Station, July, 1877,
161

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
and after serving in various clerical positions was proraoted to bc
Chief Clerk to Mr. L. N. WaUon, Freight Agent, July, 1892. Mr.
Richardson is an affable gentleman, wide-awake to the commercial
necessities of his new position and having all the eleraents within
himself to do so, bids fair to make a higher mark in the service of
the Corapany.
GERMANTOWN JUNCTION.
ROBERT L. FRANKLIN.
The importance of Germantown Junction as a growing cs'itre
for handling a valuable part of the ever increasing freight traffic
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the city of Philadelpbi.i
is generally recognized. Such growth is due to the industrial aud
commercial conditions which have brought that locality into such
prominence. For years the tendency of manufacture and trade has
been to develop in that direction, until at the present time there is
possibly no other section of the city of Philadelphia which shows
so steady and rapid advancement, on lines of permanent prosperity.
It must be understood that Germantown Junction is the headquarter .s
of that district, so important to transportation interests, that is
bounded by a line beginning at Girard avenue and the Schuylkill
river, thence along that river to the Wissahickon creek, to the
Montgomery county line, to Tacony creek, to Frankford creek, to
Kensington avenue, to Front street, to Susquehanna a\euue, to
Broad street, to Girard avenue, thence to the SchuylkiU river. Ter
ritorially, it comprises more than one-fourth the area of die city of
Philadelphia. It embraces Engelside, Ridge x\yenue. Diamond
Street, Germantown Junction and North Penn Junction, stations on
the New York Division, and all the stations on the Chestnut Hill
and Cresheim Branches. It was but a few years ago when the
freight traffic offering or being handled within that area was incoii-
seciuential. To-day, however, the principal lumber, coal and domes
tic grain business in the city is being done there. Larg? industrial
establishments for the making of alra.ost all the varied articles of
manufacturing product have grown up, as if by magic; the great
brewing interests of the city are located there and have developed
to so great an extent that an internal railroad system has become a
vital part of the facilities for handling the traffic at Engelside.
162

R. L. FRANKLIN.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
The rapid buUcHng up of property, both along residential and indus
trial lines on the Chestnut HUl and Cresheim Branches has also
caused a large and valuable freight traffic to be established.
The Freight Agent in the District is Robert Leighton Frank
lin, who was born in Lancaster, Pa., October 31, 1862. He is a son
of the late Hon. Thomas Emlen Franklin, a leading member of the
Bar, and Attorney General of Pennsylvania, under Governor John
ston. His grandfather, Walter Franklin, was a prominent jurist
of the same State, and its Attorney General under Governor Snyder,
from July 9, 1809, to October 2, 1810. Mr., Franklin was educated
along collegiate lines. Upon leaving school he chose the railroad
business for his life's work, and although surrounded by elegance
and refinement in his home ancl social life, he turned from more
fascinating lines of endeavor, ancl entered the Pennsylvania Rail
road service as an ordinary warehouseman at the Lancaster Freight
Agency in the summer of 1882. Diligently, day by day, for eleven
months he trundled a truck and assisted in loading and unloading
freight cars, thus acquiring by actual experience, the foundation
of railroad knowledge on commercial lines. In 1883 he was sent
by William J. Latta to the way-bill room at Seventeenth and Market
streets, Philadelphia, to learn classification, rates ancl way-billing.
In 1884 he was transferred to the Kensington Agency as general
clerk, schooling himself in accounting and the administrative details
of a large agency. On September i, 1885, he was promoted to the
chief clerkship of Shackaraaxon Freight Station, one of the raore
important sub-agencies in Philadelphia, and placed in charge of its
large less-than-carload traffic and carload deliveries in yard and on
numerous private sidings located on the River Front RaUroad and
Canal Street Branch. He conducted the business with so much
credit to hiraself and satisfaction to the management, that when it
becarae necessary to reorganize and elevate the standard of the
freight business of Washington, he was selected as the Freight Agent
of that place, entering upon his duties June i, 1893. The high
standard to which that station has advanced, and the estiraation in
which it is held by the community and the Company, is alraost wholly
due to his unrelaxing efforts. His successful management of that
station won him his promotion to the more iraportant position at
Germantown Junction, and he entered upon his duties January 14,
1901. 165

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
PIER i6, NEW YORK.
JOHN T. ROBB.
Pier 1 6, North River, New York, is one of the most important
freight stations in the Pennsylvania Railroad's system in the me
tropolis. Adjoining the Corapany's most iraportant ferry at Court-
landt street, it occupies a prorainent position in its relation to the
coramercial interests of the city. At this Pier freights are received
from New York Division, Walnut Street Wharf and the Kensington
District, Philadelphia, a few points on the Amboy Division, in car
loads, Gray's Ferry, on the Philadelphia, WUmington and Baltimore
Railroad, and frora points on the New York and Long Branch Rail
road. Freights are forwarded from it to the sarae territory with the'
addition of that of the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad and
Baltimore on the P. W. & B. Railroad. The largest and most
valuable of its receipts are the products of the mills in the Kensing
ton District, and consists principally of textiles, many car loads of
which arrive daily hot from the looms. The Pier is in charge of
John T. Robb as Freight Agent. His love and aptitude for the
business is inherited, his father having become connected with the
old New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company in the trans
portation of freight between New York and Jersey City by trucks as
early as 1838. Mr. Robb was born in Newark, N. J., November 13,
1839, and his school career was limited to an education in the
Academy of that city. In 1857 he became associated with his father
and continued with him until 1865, when, upon the introduction of
the float system and the retiracy of the elder from business, he be
came Freight Agent at Pier 16. During the 37 years he has occu
pied that position, he has by his careful and constant attention to
the business of the Pier in all its details, his consistent and persistent
economy of administration within the line of good service carved for
himself a place in the highest rank of efficient and invaluable
Freisfht Agfents.

"^ti"-

WASHINGTON, D. C.
W. W. BOWIE.
Washington City, with its imposing pubhc buUdings, its wide
and well shaded streets and avenues, beautiful parks, splendid resi-
166

JOHN T. ROBB.

W. W. BOWIE.

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
dences and temperate climate, is the pride of the American patriot,
and the delight of the foreign visitor. In perfect harmony, the
historic Potomac flowing by, the Virginia .hills overlooking, and
Maryland's fertile fields surrovinding, form a frieze to the picture.
Within its boundaries dwell the Executive, Legislative and Judicial
dignitaries of the central government, the representatives of the
various countries of the world, and the largest aggregation in any
American city, according to population, of wealth and fashion seek
ing social prominence. Laid out for governraental purposes and
with a view to defense against an eneray, it is not intended to
become a commercial city in the sense of a trade and industrial
centre; for that reason, it is not gridironed with a ramification of
intricate tracks, . turnouts and sidings. Its commerce is, therefore,
almost wholly confined to supplies for the various branches of the
government and for the doraestic consumption of the residents.
The consequence is, that while the freight agent has a large clientele,
in national officials and in the city merchants, he also comes in direct
contact with the domestic life of a large part of the population.
This makes his platforms and warehouses the receptacle of the
greatest number of separate consignments for direct delivery at any
one single station. The service enters the hommes or business places
of over one thousand people daily, and as that service is constantly
changing, not less than twenty-five thousand persons receive it
annually. Ladies and gentlemen, merchants, diplomats, cabinet offi
cers and government officials are frequent visitors on business to the
station. Their character, standing, infiuence, and many-sided per
sonality makes it necessary for the agent to be a man of widely
diversified abilities, possessed of refinement, delicacy, diplomacy,
zeal and arabition, added to a careful training in and full knowledge
of the business methods so necessary for the conduct of the com
mercial part of transportation which now prevail. The Pennsylvania
Railroad Corapany in furtherance of its policy ot selection has placed
in charge of the Washington Freight Agency, Walter Worthington
Bowie, who comes from a well-known family of Maryland. His
father. Major Thomas F. Bowie, served on Confederate General
Fitz Hugh Lee's staff during the Civil War. His grandfather was
General Thomas F. Bowie, one of the incorporators of -the Baltimore
and Potomac Railroad Company. Mr. Bowie was born April 22,
1858, near Nottingham, Prince George county, Md. He attended
171

FREIGHT AGENCIES.
the public schools in Nottingham, and later at the Academy at
Upper Marlborough, Md. He, however, owes the best part of his
education to his mother, who was a highly educated woman. After
leaving school he undertook farming on the ancestral plantation, and
pursued it for several years, but being ambitious for a' greater
remuneration for his services than he could obtain in agricultural
pursuits, he entered the employment of Blanford & Co., tobacco
and grain merchants, in Baltiraore, and reraained there two years.
On July 17, 1883, he entered the railroad service as a clerk in the
Freight Agency, Washington, D. C, under George F. Gilbert, and
after passing through the various grades — warehouse clerk, bill
clerk, manifest clerk, etc., early in 1890, he was appointed Chief
Clerk at the station, being the first and only chief clerk that the
agency has had since its organization up to the present time, and it
was his faithful service in that position that won him promotion to
the agency. Mr. Bowie is a man of literary tastes, and has published a very
creditable book on the genealogy of the Bowie family. This book
in its knowledge and completeness is a model of its kind, and
reflects great credit upon its author, who made the most careful
researches for and compiled it in his leisure hours.

172

EDWARD MILLER.

IN MEMORIAM.

EDWARD MILLER.

In the year 1847, when John Edgar Thomson assuraed the
Chief Engineership of the Penns}'lvania Railroad and began the
surveys and construction of that great national highway, he had for
his Associate Engineers, William B. Foster, Jr., and Edward Miller.
The former was in immediate charge of the Eastern, and the latter
the Western Division of the line. The Eastern Division extended
from Harrisburg to the crest of the mountain, and the latter from
that point to Pittsburgh. Subsequently, the line between Altoona
and Johnstown was set apart as the Mountain Division, and came
under the supervision of Mr. J\Iiller. The student of the railroad
history of Pennsylvania will find indelibly impressed upon its pages
the names of these three men, all of whom have long since passed
away, leaving behind them clear records of grandly accomplished
work. Upon the tablets which record their achievements and those
of other prominent Pennsylvanians in the construction of great
public works, Mr. Miller's narae stands out like a clear cut cameo.
He was distinguished as an engineer, contractor and citizen, and
beloved by all who knew him. He left as a sure guide to genera
tions of men to follow, and as a rich inheritance to his children, a
long record of what he had accomplished during his useful and
pure life.
Mr. Miller, who was born in the city of Philadelphia, January
6, 181 1, was graduated frora the University of Pennsylvania with
the Mathematical Honor when he was but 17 years of age. He
immediately joined the engineer corps on the Lehigh canal as rod-
man under Chief Engineer Canvass White. In that corps were
some of the best, and best known men in the engineering profession
of the day, and sorae of whom were developing that high standard
of ability which afterwards characterized them. Among these were
Sylvester and Ashbel Welch, W'. Milnor Roberts, Solomon W.
Roberts, Anthony B. Warford and George E. Hoffman. With such
companions Mr. Miller's strong character and natural abilities ad
vanced, and he at once took his place in his profession as one
175

IN MEMORIAM.
destined to become a master. Upon the completion of the Lehigh
Canal in 1829, Mr. MiUer entered the service of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania as Assistant Engineer and was assigned to duty on
the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, then being con
structed under the direction of Sylvester Welch as Principal Engi
neer. That work being completed in December, 1830, Mr. Miller
was transferred to the surveys on the Allegheny Portage Railroad.
On the 30th of March, 1831, Sylvester Welch, with whom Mr. Miller
had been associated from the time he entered professional life, became
Principal Engineer, with Moncure Robinson as Consulting Engineer.
As a system of inclined planes had been adopted as a necessary
provision for a portage over the mountains to connect the eastern
and western divisions of the canal, the proper machinery for oper
ating the planes became a subject of great importance. Careful
ancl intelligent investigation of the subject being necessary, Mr.
Miller was selected to go to Europe and examine the machinery
used in operating the railroads there. He sailed in the spring of
183 1, and spent the greater part of the summer and fall of that
year in England and Scotland, where, among others, he carefully-
examined the Liverpool and Manchester and the Cromford and High
Peak Railways, and acquired a large amount of professional and
mechanical information. Upon his return to this country he was-
advanced to be Principal Assistant Engineer under Mr. Welch,
and on June 28, 1832, when but a few months over his majority,
was placed as Superintendent in charge of machinery on and for
the Portage Railroad. In that position he designed and superin
tended the construction of all the machinery for that road. When
the road was corapleted and opened for use, March 18, 1834, Mr.
Miller had ten of his stationary engines in successful operation at
the planes, and ten others contracted for to be used in case of acci
dent, or to increase the power of the road, should increased business
demand. The machinery proved superior to any in use elsewhere,.
and its success added to the high appreciation already held of Mr.
Miller as a civil and mechanical engineer. Before the close of 183 s
Mr. Welch and his associates completed the "Old Portage Road."
It was the finished product of their toil and brain, and was looked
upon as one of the grandest achievements of the age, and as an
evidence of the progressiveness of the Commonwealth. A writer
of the day, in speaking of Mr. Welch, said : "He has raised a monu-
176

IN MEMORIAM.
ment to the intelligence, enterprise and public spirit of Pennsylvania
more honorable than the temples and pyramids of Egypt, or the
triumphal arches and columns of Rome." Mr. Miller, fo.' the
signal part he had taken in producing the result, deservedly recci'.ed
a large share of public appreciation. When Mr. Miller first
went to the Allegheny raountain, its topographical features were
comparatively unknown. As an accomplished geologist and scien
tific engineer, he made personal observations and explorations ;
these, joined to his accurate instrumental work and con.scienti >iis
study, enabled him to become an important factor in reducing t iC
obstacles which the rugged region offered in railroad c.nstruction.
In 1836 he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Cat-?wissa Railroad
and the Morris and Essex Canal. On his work on the Catawissa
Railroad, Solomon W. Roberts, a recognized authority, said in 1872 :
"The Catawissa Railroad has a suivmit tunnel of about 1,200 feet
long, excavated through rock. The rise from the Susquehanna, at
-Catawissa, to the tunnel on the head waters of the Little Schuylkill,
is very nearly 1,000 feet in about 33 miles. Mr. Miller fitted his line
to the ground with very great care, and in such a way that the road
has no grade exceeding thirty-three feet in a mile, so as to encourage
locomotive power to the greatest possible extent. This necessitated
the building of several very high bridges to carry the grade across
lateral ravines entering the main valley. The location was a very
bold one, nothing like it having been attempted in the country be
fore, and it showed a considerable degree of originality and self-
reliance on the part of the young engineer who made it." Mr. Miller
left the Catawissa road before its construction was completed and
became Chief Engineer of the Sunbury and Erie Railroad, a pro
jected line which lay principally through an almost trackless wil
derness. During the years 1838 and 1839 he made surveys of the
whole line, and on March i, 1840, he made a full report to the
Board, describing the routes of the various surveys in a clear and
•comprehensive manner. The construction of the road was post
poned by reason of financial conditions which had brought distress
to the people and disaster and failure to many similar enterprises,
but when the road was built more than a C[uarter of a century after
wards, it was along the general lines designated by Mr. Miller. In
1840 Mr. Miller became, first, Consulting, and then. Chief Engineer
of the New York and Erie Railroad, a road designed to ex-
177

IN MEMORIAM.
tend from the Hudson river to Lake Erie as a competitor
of the Erie Canal. For three years he devoted his time and
skill in pushing forward that work, completing and opening
for public use its first division. Work on the line being
suspended in 1843, he accepted the Presidency of the Har
risburg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy and Lancaster Railroad Company,
a position he occupied for two years, during a part of which period
he visited Europe in the financial interests of the Company. In
1845, he became Chief Engineer of the Schuylkill Navigation Com
pany and enlarged its canal so as to double its tonnage capacity.
In April, 1847, he was called to the Associate Engineership of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and continued in that position until the
spring of 1852, when he succeeded John Edgar Thomson as Chief
Engineer. At the close of 1852 the Western Division of the Penn
sylvania Railroad from Pittsburgh to the Conemaugh Viaduct was
completed, and the Mountain Division between the latter point and
Altoona was rapidly approaching completion. All of that part of
the gigantic work had been done under the personal supervision and
direction of Mr. Miller, and it stands to-day as the greatest monu
ment to his professional ability. He was deeply devoted to the
Pennsylvania Railroad enterprise, and to the city of Philadelphia,
as is evidenced in his annual report as Chief Engineer of the road,
dated January 31, 1853. Having notified the Board previously of
his intention of resigning from the service, he says in conclusion r
"I pray that God may speed you in the noble work which now
rapidly approaches completion, and already begins to afford some
earnest of its future success. I feel no doubt that it will, when com
pleted, afford the best reward to those who have labored so long in
its construction by pouring a tide of wealth in the lap of the fair
city which we all love, 'Dear old Philadelphia.' " Mr. MiUer was-
a close friend of and confidential adviser with President Thomson,
and in hearty accord with that distinguished officer's policy in the
furtherance of the interests of the Pennsylvania Railroad. After
leaving the Company's service and having been asked by the latter
for his opinion in reference to assistance given and to be given
Western connections, which have since become part of the Com
pany's system west of Pittsburgh, he replied under date of January
4, 1854 : "In my report a year since to the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, on the subject of Western extensions, I endeavored to>
178

IN MEMORIAM.
show that there were required to develop the resources and capa
bilities of our great Central Road, — the Ohio and Pennsylvania
Road with its prolongations to Chicago; the Cincinnati and Mari
etta, to Southern Ohio and Kentucky ; and a central line to Colum-
btis, Indianapolis and St. Louis. The two first are now secured
through the concessions granted by your Corapany. The Central
Line remains, and needs and deserves your patronage. I believe
the future history of the Pennsylvania Railroad Corapany will be a
very bright one, and that its stockholders will never regret the
assistance they rendered to their Ohio friends."
When JNlr. Miller resigned from the Pennsylvania Railroad,
the engineers of his corps presented him with a large and very
handsome silver pitcher. It was heavy, richly chased and artisti
cally designed, and bore the inscription: "Presented to Edward
MUler, Esquire, by the Principal and Junior Assistants of his Corps
on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Testimonial of Respect and Esteem
for him as their Chief Engineer and of the Remembrance they will
ever cherish of him as a kind ancl considerate Gentleraan. 1853."
This pitcher was left to his daughter, Mrs. Jefferys, in Mr. Miller's
will, ancl is prized by her as her raost precious possession.
In 1853, Mr. MiUer was chosen Chief Engineer and afterwards
elected President of the North Pennsylvania Railroad. Retiring
from that service he was, in 1856, appointed Chief Engineer at St.
Louis of the Pacific Railroad of Missouri. In 1862, the Pennsyl
vania Railroad Company having assumed the control of the Phila
delphia and Erie Railroad, Mr. MiUer, having completed his er.-
gagements in the West, moved to Phlladeiphia, and entered into a
contract for the completion of the unfinished portions of that road.
He prosecuted the work with such success that the road was com
pleted and in operation on the 17th of October, 1864. In the winter
of 1865-66, he constructed under contract the Warren and Franklin
Railroad from the Brokenstraw at Irvineton down the Allegheny
river to Oil creek. He then, as a member of the firm of Shoemaker,
Miller & Co., became interested in the construction of the Eastern
Division of the Kansas Pacific RaUroad, in the Western Division of
which road he had money invested. Mr. Miller died at his residence
in Philadelphia, Thursday, February i, 1872, and was buried, Feb
ruary 5, in Woodlands Cemetery. Mr. Miller was upwards of six
feet in height, and was a man of the highest grade of moral and
179

IN MEMORIAM.
intellectual culture; of finely cultivated literary and artistic tastes.
He was possessed of a high sense of honor and the purest integrity.
Soloraon W. Roberts, previously quoted, whose intimate acquaint
ance with him extended over forty years, bore this testimony of
him : "Although many miUions of dollars have been disbursed under
his direction, on various jDublic works, his accumulations after raany
years of professional labor, had not been large. He was proud of
his profession; looking upon it as the art of directing the great
sources of power in nature to the use and benefit of man; and he
considered the civil engineer to be, not only the interpreter between
the man of science and the mechanic, but also a captain of industry,
bound in honor to set a good example to those working under him
of all uprightness and integrity." Mr. Miller was religiously edu
cated, and in 1843 connected himself with the Presbyterian Church,
ancl his church relations were always of the closest character. His
religious faith was strong, his honesty proverbial, his generosity
large-hearted and open-handed; his manners sympathetic, kind and
cordial. In the language of Josiah Copley, in the "Presbyterian
Banner," "He corabined, as is rarely seen corabined, strong native
talent, fine scholarship and profound practical science, with the
buoyant simplicity of boyhood, with a fresh and rich facetiousness,
and with the faith, and hope, and charity of the Christian. The
faith and piety of such a man, it may be well supposed, would be
¦clear, bright and joyous, — and so it was." Edward MiUer was an
honor to his times as well as an honor to his country, and his life
and life's work occupies an unblemished page in the history of
Pennsylvania. The illustration of his influence upon character finds
its best expression in the lives of his chUdren, who survive him.
His eldest son, J. Imbrie Miller, is a chstinguished civil engineer,
at present engaged as Chief Engineer in charge of the Nicaragua
survey under the Isthmian Canal Commission ; another son, the Rev.
E. Rothesay Miller, is a missionary stationed at Morioka, Japan;
a third is the Rev. WiUiam Hamilton Miller, D. D., pastor in charge
of the Presbyterian Church at Bryn Mawr, Pa. ; a fourth is John
Craig Miller, M. D., Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, etc., in
Lincoln University, Pa. ; whilst three daughters, Mrs. Charles P. B.
Jefferys, of West Philadelphia, and the Misses Matilda CampbeU
and Mary Virginia Miller, of Bryn Mawr, are very earnest in their
devotion to good works. 180

JOSEPH D. POTTS.

IN MEMORIAM.
COLONEL JOSEPH D. POTTS.
Any bio.graphical history of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany would be incomplete that did not contain a sketch of Colonel
Joseph D. Potts. Colonel Potts was a man of unusual ability; con
spicuous for originality of thought, comprehensiveness of mental
grasp, clearness of perception; precision of statement; accuracy in
the use of language ; thoroughness in the study of detail or in what
ever he undertook to perform ; wonderful self control under the most
trying provocation ; and quiet but strong influence over his asso
ciates and subordinates.
Mr. Potts was born at Springton Forge, Chester county. Pa.,
December 4, 1829, and was the son of David Potts and Rebecca
(Speakman) Potts. He was a descendant in the sixth generation
of Thoraas Potts, who was the pioneer ironmaster of the Schuylkill
region. His great-great-grandfather, John Potts, was the founder
of Pottstown, Montgoraery county. Pa., and his grandfather, Joseph
Potts, was the owner of Glasgow Forge and Valley Forge, near the
former of which ancient iron establishments, his father, David Potts,
was born. The subject of this biography did not follow the occupation
with which his family had been identified for so many years, but
turned his attention to civil engineering. In 1852 he was appointed
on the Engineeer Corps of the Sunbury and Erie Railroad. Subse
quently he became Vice-President of the Steubenville (Ohio) and
Indiana Railroad Company, and in February, 1858, he was appointed
Superintendent of the Western or Pittsburgh Division of the Penn
sylvania RailrOcid, which position he held until November, 1859.
Upon the breaking out of the Civil War, Governor Curtin, of
Pennsylvania, recognizing Mr. Potts' great abilities and executive
energy, appointed him as Lieutenant-Colonel upon his active staff,
and the Chief of the Transportation and Telegraph Department of
the State. This position he held until December, 1861, at which
time the Department was transferred from the State to the Federal
Government. In 1862, while serving with the railitia of the State,
called out in consequence of Lee's invasion, Mr. Potts was detailed
by General Reynolds as Military Superintendent of the Franklin
Railroad, extending from Chambersburg to Hagerstown, and per
formed prompt and valuable service in that capacity.
183

IN MEMORIAM.
In February, 1862, he was appointed by the Pennsylvania Rail
road Company, lessee, to the very responsible position of General
Manager of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, from which he
resigned in 1865.
From 1865 to 1877 he was President of the Empire Transpor
tation Company, and on February 20, 1869, was elected President
of the Erie and Western Transportation Company.
During his Presidency of the Empire Transportation Company
that Company became the most extended and efficient corporation
engaged in the through freight carrying business, its traffic arrange
raents covering over 25,000 miles of railroads. It owned and oper
ated through its auxiliary companies over 500 railes of pipe line, for
gathering the crude petroleum for shipment to the refineries in its
bulk tank cars, it being the originator of this method of transporting
oil. It also operated through the Erie and Western Transporta
tion Company, a large fleet of freight and passenger steamers on
the Great Lakes; together with the docks, warehouses and grain
elevators required by this branch of its business ; a fleet of steam
canal boats and barges operated on the Erie canal, in connection
with the Lake Fleet.
All of this widely extended business, erabracing almost every
known method of transportation, was created and developed under
the direct guidance of Mr. Potts. He held the Presidency of the
Empire Transportation Company from its inception in 1865 until
1877, when it sold its entire equipment, plant and good will, and
closed its existence, he continuing as its President until the final dis
solution and the complete and satisfactory division of its assets
among its shareholders.
Mr. Potts continued to hold the position of President of the
Erie and Western Transportation Company until June 7, 1891.
At this time his other investments having become so varied and
his tirae and energies so taxed, he decided to resign, thus obtaining
relief from the cares and responsibilities which the holding of this
position entailed. The directors and stockholders accepted his res
ignation very reluctantly, and gave expression to their feelings of
appreciation of their President's splendid service, and the loss which
they sustained in his withdrawal.
A special committee of the former body, consisting of William
Thaw, Henry H. Houston, William H. Barnes and George B.
184

/

IN MEMORIAM.
Bonnell, to whom his letter of resignation was referred, reported
as follows :
"Mr. Potts' proposed retirement will sever relations which have
existed between him and this Company since the beginning of its
operations. Uuder his fostering care the Company has so grown
that it is to-day prosperous, substantial, strong and healthy, finan
cially and otherwise. So highly appreciated are his services that
the Committee feel they are speaking, not only for the Board of
Directors, but for the whole body of stockholders, in saying that to
him is due in the largest measure this excellent condition of affairs ;
that without his foresight, his unfailing power of resource, and his
untiring energy, no such result could have been obtained."
While putting aside raany of the cares involved in holding ex
ecutive positions in connection with his transportation interests, Mr.
Potts retained a Directorship in most of these companies until the
time of his death, and in addition to these duties he became largely
interested in the iron and oil industries.
In 1874 he became Managing Director of the National Storage
Company, and in 1879 President of the National Docks Railroad
Company, both being New Jersey corporations. These positions
he held unil 1884, when he resigned them both, though retaining a
directorship in the companies.
For some years prior to 1885 he was President of the Girard
Point Storage Company of Philadelphia, and was Director in the
sarae at the time of his death. He was also, from its inception, a
large owner and Director in the International Navigation Company,
which operates the American and Red Star Lines of ocean steamers,
and also a Director of the Inman and International Lines of ocean
steamers. At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the International
Navigation Company, held in Philadelphia, December 4, 1893, the
President announced to the Board the death of Colonel Potts;
whereupon, on motion, the following minute was adopted ; and the
Secretary instructed to send a copy to Mrs. Potts and family :
"The members of the Board have learned of the death of their
late fellow member and associate, Joseph D. Potts, with profound
grief. "The relations of Mr. Potts to the affairs of this Company
were most intimate and constant ; he belonged to its whole existence
185

IN MEMORIAM.
and history. His high abilities and sterling character made him
a valued counsellor and co-worker.
"Ripe experence in railroad, lake and ocean transportation, and
also in manufacturing and commercial life, made him ever helpful
in advancing the affairs of this Company to successful results.
"The interest of Mr. Potts in this Company was marked by a
personal devotion amounting to an affection for the service.
"To his associates he was a loved friend, closely in touch with
the daily hfe of each. It is here the qualities of the man were best
shown; earnest, thoughtful, loving, loyal to every bond, helpful in
every need.
"We, his fellow members of this Board, his close personal asso
ciates, will deeply feel his loss. His life was part of ours; his
memory is our abiding reverence."
In the latter years of his life, Mr. Potts withdrew as far as pos
sible from the active and care-involving positions which he held,
encountering, however, that strong opposition from friends and
associates which is always called forth when men of great capability
seek to lay aside their business burdens.
His rest from the many cares and burdens of an unusually
active business life, had been well earned by years of faithful and
incessant toil, exercised in a number and variety of channels seldom
exceeded by one man, and calling for such brain vitality and energy
as few men are able to bring to bear upon their enterprises.
In 1879, Mr. Potts purchased a large interest in the Potts
Brothers Iron Company, Limited, Pottstown, Pa., which at that
time operated a rolling mill at Pottstown. In 1880 this Company
acquired control of the Chester Pipe and Tube Company, of Chester,
Pa., and operated the same in conjunction with their rolling mill.
In 1890, Mr. Potts purchased frora the Potts Brothers Iron Com
pany, Limited, their interest in the Chester Pipe and Tube Company,
and held the position of President of the latter Company at the
time of his death.
In 1880 he purchased the Isabella Furnace property in Chester
county. Pa., formerly owned by his father. This plant he entirely
remodeled, raaking it modern in all respects.
At the time of his death, Mr. Potts was President of the Enter
prise Transt Company, a company organized for the acquiring and
developing of oil and mineral lands. 186

IN MEMORIAM.
Mr. Potts was appointed and . elected to many positions of
trust and honor, among which may be mentioned the following:
Trustee of Western Saving Fund of Philadelphia; Trustee of the
University of Pennsylvania, and Member of the Board of Inspectors
of Prisons in Philadelphia county.
Notwithstanding his many duties, he took a deep interest in
everything connected in any way with the improvement of Philadel
phia, freely giving his time and energies, as well as his financial
aid, to all raoveraents having in view such improvements.
He was also a member of many organizations, the few herj
mentioned showing how wide a field his interests covered : American
Philosophical Society, American Society of Civil Engineers, Acad
emy of Natural Sciences of PhUadelphia, American Institute of
Mining Engineers, Philadelphia Board of Trade, Civil Service Re
form Association, Franklin Institute, Genealogical Society of Penn-*
sylvania. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Forestry
Association, Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity, Unioq
League, Manufacturers' Club, Art Club, Rittenhouse Club and the
Philadelphia Country Club.
On June 8, 1854, Mr. Potts married Mary, daughter of Dr.
William and Margaret (Pollock) McCleery, of Milton, Northum
berland county. Pa.
It was while on a visit to Milton in search of health that Mr.
Potts was stricken with paralysis, and after a brief illness, during
which he never recovered full consciousness, died there December
3, 1893, deeply mourned by all who knew him.
His widow and two sons, Williara M. and Francis L. Potts,
survive him.
Colonel Potts had no superior in the exhaustive analysis of
transportation problems. His conclusions were never those of im
pulse, but always represented thorough, careful study. He had a
substantial reason for each of his business acts, and had a confidence
in his own judgment that his careful raethods in arriving at his
conclusions fully justified.
In the Empire Transportation Company, and its allied inter
ests, which he originated, and whose organization he developed, there
was a true faraily feeling. Annual raeetings supplemented daily in
tercourse by mail, and brought the members of the official faraily
in close personal contact with each other and with their respected
187

IN MEMORIAM.
head. It is not too much to say that each man in the organization
commanded the aid and support of every other one ; and that all united
in an unbounded respect and affectionate regard for Colonel Potts,
More than twenty years have passed since the Empire Transporation
Company ceased to exist as an active corporation and became merely
a memory, but in loving memory it lives and will continue to live so
long as there reraains a single one of the old family who stood so
loyally together during its busy competitive life.
Colonel Potts was an eminently patient man. Although busi
ness responsibilities demanded his constant care, he unstintinglyi
allowed a portion of his valuable time to be occupied and his official
hours lengthened by people who had no claim whatever upon him, but
who found comfort in coming to hira for advice and counsel in their
business and other troubles. ,
While the quiet and retiring nature of Colonel Potts prevented
his abUity coraraanding the general and public recognition to which
it was entitled, he was well known and his merit fully recognized
araong the ruling spirits in the transportation world with whom his
business interests brought him into close and constant contact.
His power of quick and accurate comprehension of transporta
tion accounts was little short of marvelous. He was able to deter
mine their accuracy or error almost on sight, and by an unerring
instinct that was not the least valuable of his varied accomplishments.
His life was an industrious and useful one, and his early death
brought a deep personal affliction to many a heart in which there
will live a loving regard for the "Colonel" so long as that heart con
tinues to beat.
JOHN CLARK SIMS.
John Clark Sims, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany, died in Philadelphia, Sunday, January 6, 1901, of heart failure.
Mr. Sims was the son of John Clark and Emeline Marion Sims,
and was born in Philadelphia, September 12th, 1845. For three
generations back his ancestors were identified either with the military,
scientific, religious or commercial history of Pennsylvania, and the
city of his birth, and the traditions and honors of that ancestry re
ceived added lustre by his life. His elementary education was
obtained through private tutors and in private schools. After being
prepared in this raanner, he entered the University of Pennsylvania,

JOHN CLARK SIM;

IN MEMORIAI\I.
and was graduated from the Department of Arts, in June, 1865.
Upon leaving the University he registered as a law student with
Hon. Peter McCall. In October, 1868, after a three years' course
of study, he passed a creditable examination and was admitted to
practice at the Bar of Philadelphia. Shortly after his admission
he went abroad, devoting two years to travel and observation. On
January i, 1876, he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company as Assistant Secretary, which position he held until March
23, 1 88 1, when he was proraoted to the Secretaryship, upon the
resignation of Mr. Joseph Lesley. In AprU, 1881, he was elected as
Secretary of the Junction Railroad, and on March 21, 1889, Secretary
of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, and of
the Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad Companies. On
June 1st, 1898, to his duties as Secretary were added those of Su
perintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's Eraployes
Saving Fund.
His duties covered a wide range of subjects connected with
the adrainistrative and executive functions of the Corapany, and
placed him in the closest confidential relations with the officers and
Board of Directors in all their deliberations. The responsibilities
of the position, by reason of that fact, were very great, but not too
great for him to carry with graceful and unwavering fidelity. The
duties of his office, exacting though they were, did not occupy his
exclusive time, for he found the spare hours to devote to other
interests, and it is not surprising that he filled a nuraber of positions
of responsibility and trust that deraanded executive talents of a high
order. He was for nineteen years Accounting Warden of St. Paul's
Episcopal Church at Chestnut Flill, ancl at the time of his death was
a Lay Deputy to the Diocesan Convention of Pennsylvania, President
of the Chestnut Hill Academy, Trustee of the University of Penn
sylvania, meraber of the Board of Managers of the University
Hospital and the University Veterinary Hospital, and the Girard
Trust Corapany. j\Ir. Siras was active in the perforraance of social
functions and his hospitalities were always raost delightful. He
was an aknowledged French scholar, a good musician and a man of
fine literary tastes, which he held under high cultivation. Business,
arts, science and the proraotion of charitable institutions did not con
sume all the hours he had free from rest and social duties, for the
athletic sports found in hira a warm friend and generous advocate.
He was a member of the International Cricket Committee that had
191

IN MEMORIAM.
charge of some of the most important matches ever played in America
against foreigners, as well as of the Committee which sent to Eng
land the Philadelphia teams in 1884 and 1889. The Pennsylvania
Railroad Athletic Association, which is now merged into the Penn
sylvania Railroad Departraent, Young Men's Christian Association,
owed much to his energy and love of sport. He was first President
of the organization and was largely instrumental in securing for its
use the grounds at Fifty-second street, which forra now quite an
attractive feature of the latter Association. Fle was a meraber of
the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey, and of
the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution, the Germantown
Cricket, the Philadelphia, the University and the Penn Clubs.
Mr. Sims was a splendid specimen of the physical man, and
possessed a strong and amiable character. A man of education and
polish, gentle, obliging, courteous and sympathetic, he was both
alert and tactful, and always held his business matters under a proper
reserve. Universally popular, he was nowhere raore truly loved than
araong the officers and eraployes of all grades in the service of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and none will cherish his memory
with greater foundness.
On the 9th of January, 1901, at a meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company the President
announced the death of Mr. Sims.
Whereupon, on motion, the following minute was adopted :
"Mr. Sims was born in this city on the twelfth of September,
1845-, was graduated frora the University of Pennsylvania in the
class of 1865, and adraitted to the bar in 1868. He entered the
service of the Company as Assistant Secretary on the first of
January, 1876, and was elected Secretary on the 23d of March, 1881.
"He had therefore just completed his twenty-fifth year of faith
ful and efficient service, when a career which seemed to promise many
more years of useful activity was suddenly cut short, and the Com
pany deprived of a valued and most capable officer.
"Singularly adapted by nature and fitted by education and ex
perience for the performance of the important duties entrusted to
him, his conduct was actuated by a high sense of duty which won
for him the entire confidence of all his associates.
"To the members of this board, so long accustomed to his
hearty greeting, his unfailing courtesy, and his cheery voice, his
192

IN MEMORIAM.
untimely death has brought a feeling of profound sorrow and a
deep sense of personal loss.
"A lover of his feUows, he was in turn beloved by all sorts and
conditions of raen, and by his ever ready sympathy, his helping hand,
and cheering word, he had specially endeared himself to a wide
circle of devoted friends.
"In making this record, the Board gives but brief and inade
quate expression of their affectionate regard for hira during his long
association with the affairs of the Corapany."
A writer in the "Evening Bulletin" paid this truthful tribute to
Mr. Sims: —
"Most intelligent Philadelphians may in some measure under
stand the character and services of the late John Clark Sims, for pub
licly all know of his intense and careful devotion to civic interests.
His work for the Pennsylvania Railroad and for the University of
Pennsylvania stands out boldly and speaks for itself, so that 'he that
runs can read.' But it is not this side of his life that I desire to
mention. It is John Clark Sims at home, the man as he really was,
who is known to but a limited few of his sorrowing acquaintances.
It is well known that the true character of all men shines forth alone
in the home circle. As one of raany who have shared fully of his
bountiful friendship and warm sympathy and who have known him
in his home I experience some hesitancy in invading its portals and
speaking of the true beauty of the well ordered life which he led
therein as well as among men of affairs.
"But it is not overstepping the bounds of public tribute to say
that in John C. Sims raan or woman, young or old, had but to seek
assistance and advice to receive it up to the fullness of his power.
Busy beyond the usual ken of man, Mr. Sims was never too busy
to drop his work and lend an attentive and sympathetic ear to all
who came to him. He was ever ready to give his time in an effort
to smooth the path of the unfortunate and uplift their hearts and
inspire them with renewed courage. Personally I have knowledge
of many men who owe to his kindly and ready help their present
positions in life. To the young man, particularly, Mr. Sims was a
devoted friend. He had the uncommon faculty of raeeting young
men as one of their own years ; this ability was so marked that he
could mingle with them freely, take part in their conversation and
sport, be, indeed, as an elder brother in their countless interests.
"Unassuming, gentle, with a sympathy as great and tender as
193

IN MEMORIAM.
that of any woraan, warm-hearted, and big in his perfect spirit of
generosity and forgiveness, his friends will ever retain his memory
as a thing blessed and rare. Yet he never seemed to understand the
beauty,, of his life, or the rare character of his noble sympathy; in
fact, he was one of the few men who do right because it is right, who
love the truth for truth's own sake, who love their fellows because
it is right to love them, and who cUd all this as a natural duty. It
is given but to few of us to see life in the same beautiful truthfulness
and holy spirit as God in His infinite wisdora gave to John C. Sims.
"And it may be said without trespass upon the privacy of his
home, that with the prayers of his bereaved and afflicted ones, there
have gone forth also those of hundreds of grief-touched men, for
they, too, in some poor measure, knew hira, and loved him, and
honored and esteemed him, as only men can honor and esteem the
whole souled and true."
The "funeral took place on January 8th, and was largely attended.
The services, which were held in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chest
nut HiU, were conducted by Rev. Dr. J. A. Harris, Rector of the
parish, in accordance with the ritual of the Church, assisted by
the vested choir of fifty voices, who sang the processional and re
cessional hymns and chanted the responses. Interment was made
in St. Thomas' churchyard at Whitemarsh, Montgomery county.
During the committal service conducted by Dr. Harris, the Orpheus
Club, of which Mr. Sims was a member, sang, "Hark, Hark, My
Soul," and "Paradise, O Paradise," and after the benediction, "The
Long Day Closes." Thus has passed away a good man, whose every
duty in life was well done, and one who by his charming manners,
thoughtful kindness, cheerfulness, humor and unvarying courtesy
having endeared himself to all those with whom he came in contact,
will long be held in reverent and loving remembrance.
COLONEL EDWIN JEFFERIES.
The death of Colonel Edwin Jefferies at his home in German-
town, March 28, 1899, removed from the ranks of the living a person
who had been connected with the earlier stages of rail transportation
development in Pennsylvania, and one whose hfe reflected honor
upon himself and the coraraonwealth. He was a man of sterling
worth and high Christian character. Honorable, upright and just,
he adorned whatever station he was called upon to occupy, and being
194

IN ?vlEMORIAM.

COL. EDWIN JEFFERIES.
thorough in business, airaable in disposition, kindly in speech ancl
helpful of hand, was highly esteeraed wherever known. Colonel
Jefferies was born in Lancaster, Pa., June 20, 1815. He was the
son of Thonias Jefferies, a prominent citizen of that city, grandson
of Captain John Jefferies, and great grandson of Colonel Joseph
Jefferies. The two latter were active and distinguished officers
during the American Revolutionary War. Colonel Edwin
Jefferies was educated as a Civil Engineer, and as such as
sisted in laying out the Lancaster water-works. On February 14,
1839, he was appointed Motive Power Clerk, or Managler, at the
Parkesburg Shops, belonging to the State, and connected with the
Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Upon taking possession of
the shops, Mr. Jefferies found a good and competent set of mechanics
with whom he began advancing the standard of the work, and im
proving the machinery. With the exception of not making in the
rough the crank axle and iron castings, all the raotive power work,
except the building of a locomotive outright, was done in those

195

IN MEMORIAM.
primitive shops, under Mr. Jefferies' management. The improve
ment of the Gifford injector to pump hot as well as cold water into
the boilers ; in providing safety chains between the engine and tender,
and the' invention of the sand box are all credited to him. Mr.
Jefferies was also responsible for clearing up wrecks, which were
frequently occurring. In writing upon that part of the work, he
said : "Without telegraph or telephone, block signals or even head
lights to locomotives, it was at that early day of railroading a difficult
problem to care for the distressed trains. To enable us to render
succor, there was kept at each end of the road and at Parkesburg,
a wrecking car provided with all necessary appliances for such emer
gencies. Whenever informed of trouble by a raessenger on a farmer's
horse or at night, if the 'Night Line' was an hour behind time, the
watchman on duty should notify me of the fact I would then instruct
him to fire up the 'Night Owl' and call out the wrecking party.
When all was in readiness, we would start out in search of the
derelict. Fearing a train might be met with on the same track upon
which our train was moving, I placed two men, fleet of foot, on the
bumper of the engine to alternate in running curves with red lights.
I never missed one of the many hazardous expeditions, and always
took charge without any interference frora any source." The fore
going reminiscence shows the resourcefulness of the man, a re
sourcefulness which raised him to the foreraost rank araong the
railroad men of his day. He continued with the State until 1854,
advancing himself and improving the service. His efforts were
recognized, and Governor Bigler made him a member of his staff,
with the rank of Colonel. In 1854 he assumed the Superintendency
of the West Chester RaUroad and made marked improvements in its
management, putting the motive power and road-bed in better -con
dition, and enabled that Company to withstand the assaults by un
friendly restrictions on the part of the State Road officials, and the
friends of proposed corapetitors. When, in 1857, by reason of the
purchase of the Public Works the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
re-organized its transportation divisions, they tendered him the
position of Superintendent of the Middle. Division, but for reasons
highly creditable to his unselfish character he declined the appoint
ment. In 1858 he formed a partnership with the late J. Barlow
Moorehead and began the manufacture of iron at the Merion furnace
in Conshohocken, which he conducted successfully for fourteen years,
when he disposed of his iron interests, and retired, since which
196

IN MEMORIAM.
time he lived the life of a country gentleman, devoted to good works.
For twenty-five years he was an active member of Christ Church,
Germantown, a member of its Vestry, and one of its Lay Deputies
annually to the Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. He
was a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, and one
of the organizers of the Germantown Relief Society. The following
letter frora one who knew him well is a just tribute to his character:
"Emmanuel Rectory, Holmesburg, Philadelphia, April 5, 1899.
'GoLONEL Wm! B. Wilson :
"My Dear Sir:- Permit rae to thank you for the opportunity
which you so kindly have offered rae of paying ray hurable tribute
of respect to the meraory of Colonel Edwin Jefferies. It was frora a
long acquantance with Colonel Jefferies, as I saw him in the relations
which he sustained to the Church that I have formed an opinion of
his character and learned to adraire and appreciate the raany noble
qualities of his head and heart. My knowledge of him began with
my connection with Christ Church, Germantown, of which he was
the Accounting Warden for sorae time. In perforraing the duties of
that responsible position, he always showed himself to be a man of
the highest honor, probity and integrity of purpose, a loyal and de
voted Churchman, and a wise, experienced and efficient adviser and
director in all the financial affairs of the parish. Socially and per
sonally he was one of the most truly kind-hearted men whom it has
ever been my good furtune to meet. In all his intercourse with
others he was characterized by that genuine and unaffected cordiality
which, so different from that which is assuraed, always carries with
it the conviction of its sincerity. Colonel Jefferies was a raan whose
heart was so overflowing with a broad charity, a pure and disinter
ested benevolence, a spontaneous and natural kindness, that there
was no place in it for an unworthy raotive or an ungenerous trait.
As an active and faithful Churchraan, his death removes one who will
be deeply and sincerely missed. As a public-spirited citizen his
comraunity has sustained a loss which will be long and sorely felt.
As a man — true, loyal, upright, respected in every relationship in
life — his memory will always hold a sacred place in the minds and
the affections of a host of friends whom he leaves behind.
"Very sincerely yours,
"Arnold Harris Hord."

197

IN MEMORIAM.
The funeral services ,conducted in Christ Church, Germantown,
April I, by the Rev. Dr. Faulkner, were largely attended by repre
sentative commercial, railroad ancl professional people. The remains
were interred in West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

19S

PETER BOUGHNER.

PETER BOUGHNER'S REMINISCENCES.
CONTRIBUTED BY H. P. L.
Peter Boughner was born January 23, 18 16, at Snydertown,
Northumberland County, Pa., and is now living near Paxinos in the
same county. He is one of the few raen reraaining of those who
helped to build and operate the early railroads of this country.
His railroad career began in 1832 as a laborer upon the construction
of the Danville and Pottsville Railroad and continued throuh various
grades until 1867 when he resigned.
This railroad was chartered in 1826. The celebrated Stephen
Girard was one of its strong supporters. It was to begin at Danville
tunnel the Shamokin Hill just west of the present Reed's Station;
from there it was to run through Paxinos, Shamokin and Ashland
to the foot of the mountains where the Philadelphia and Reading

199

PETER BOUGFINER'S REMINISCENCES.
Railroad's Mahanoy Plane is noW, then up the mountains by one
plane and down the other side by three planes into Pottsville.
Coal was known to exist in the Shamokin region, and to get
this to market was the object of the promoters of the railroad. Con
struction began simultaneously at the eastern and western end of
the road, but for financial reasons the work of connecting them was
suspended and that part of the road between Shamokin and Ashland
was not built. At the western end instead of tunneling Shamokin
Hill and building into Danville a branch line was laid to Sunbury.
Of course every one expected the main line to Danville would be
built, and it was the chief topic of conversation. Young Boughner
and his friend Bill Farrow, who is still living at Snydertown, thought
they would have sorae fun out of this, so they painted "SHAMOKIN
CAR" in big letters on the sides of a store box, put it on a jumper
sled and drove over the proposed route into Danville. They created
much excitement, and the people flocked to see "the first car that
came to Danville." They were given their dinners, and their horses
were fed, and they returned horae much pleased with the result of
their trip. This was the first and last car that reached Danville over
the line of the Danville and Pottsville Railroad.
The railroad had its ups and downs, mostly downs. It was
divided into parts, and had its name changed several times, until at
last the western end became the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville
Railroad and was leased by the Northern Central Railway Company
and is now known as its Shamokin Division.
Young Boughner started to work upon the grading of the road
in 1832, and until 1835 he was sometimes engaged upon the eastern
end and sometimes on the western end of the road, but after that
date he became permanently fixed upon the western end where he
remained until he resigned in 1867.
The track consisted of a strap iron rail spiked along the inner
edge on top of a wooden rail or stringer which was supported about
every 5 feet by a sill or cross tie resting upon broken stone in a
trench dug into the roadbed. The roadbed was graded 22 feet wide
so as to accommodate two tracks with 5 feet between them. Only
one track, however, was buiU and that was upon the northern side of
the roadbed. Mr. Boughner was employed either as a laborer or as a foreman
upon all the different kinds of work connected with the construction
of the road, and had gained so much experience by the time it was

PETER BOUGHNER'S REMINISCENCES.
put into operation between Sunbury and Paxinos in 1834 that he
was given charge of the Maintenance of Way Department, and his
jurisdiction was extended to Shamokin in 1837, when the road was
corapleted to that place.
His duties were nmuerous. He was Track Foreman, Super
visor, Master Carpenter, Assistant Engineer and Contractor all at
once, and there is no knowing what else he might have become if
he had not resigned. His title was Supervisor.
The transportation of anthracite coal was then, as it is now,
the principle business of the road, but in those days it was loaded
into canal boats at Sunbury, and when cold weather closed the
canal, the road was stopped. The cars were "four tonners." They
looked like the mine cars now used at the coUieries. The motive
power was horses. Three or four were hitched tandem, and would
pull six or seven cars of coal. The hauling was done by contract,
the contractors furnishing their own horses. The raUroad company
owned no motive power until 1838, when it purchased two small
locomotives. These locomotives had one pair of driving wheels
and had an arrangement for using sand very much like modern
locomotives. They had whistles, but they did not have cabs to
protect the engineer and fireman, nor did they have bells. They
burned anthracite coal, soft coal cost too much; water was pumped
by hand for them. The first engineers were Frank Clark and
George Shipe. The locomotives were used two years and then
abandoned because they were too hard on the track, and horses were
again employed. Maintenance of Way men still find this trouble,
but they do not suggest this easy method of overcoming it.
Mr. Boughner's friend. Dr. Awl, of Sunbury, saw these loco
motives unloaded frora the canal boats and put together at Sunbury
and tells how the people talked about them, how they would surely
explode or something dreadful would happen, so when it became
known that they were to be started everybody went to see the
operation. The water was pumped into them, the fires were started,
all was excitement, fear was overcome by curiosity, one by one the
people drew nearer and nearer, and at last they surrounded the
wonderful machine and began to examine its parts in detail when
the engineer turned a spigot to let off some stearn, and then occurred
the second "Great Skedaddle" in the Susquehanna Valley. The
first was caused by the Indians, the second by the engines. Some
climbed fences and fell upon the opposite side with others on top of

PETER BOUGHNER'S REMINISCENCES.
thera. Many were hurt, but none seriously. One of the locomotives
was afterwards sent to Palo Alto yard near Pottsville, where it was
used for many years to shove cars over the scales. The other dis
appeared, no one seeras to know where. Mr .Boughner was upon
a train pulled by one of these locomotives from Sunbury to Shamokin
in forty-five minutes, a speed of about twenty-five miles per hour.
This was considered very fast.
At first there were no freight or passenger stations. Platforms
were built at the few places where regular stops were made, but
trains would stop anywhere to let passengers get on or off. Baggage
was not checked; each person took care of his own. .There were
no tickets ; if any one paid his fare he did it on the train, but very
few paid ; the friends and acquaintances of the employes and mana
gers were carried free, and, of course, everybody had a friend on the
road under such circumstances. The trains were run very much like
a farmer drives his wagon ; if he overtakes a friend, he gives him a
ride. The passenger car was attached to the rear of a freight train.
At first there were no turn-outs, all trains ran towards Sunbury
in the morning and in the opposite direction in the afternoon, and
they all ran close together so as to help one another in case of
accident or deraUraent. But after a little while this system of
running trains could not be maintained, and two turn-outs were
built — one at Paxinos, and the other at Snydertown, so that trains
could pass. If by chance they raet at other places, the train having
the lightest load had to back. While the sraall locomotives were in
use in 1838 and 1839, the engineer sent a man ahead around all
curves if he thought the other train might be met.
A taste for fast travel must have developed in the public
while these small locomotives were in use, for there was a demand
for greater expedition than was furnished by the freight service. To
meet this demand Solomon Martz, who died about two years ago
at his horae at Reed's Station, ran a train consisting of one car called
the "Black Hawk," exclusively for passengers and mail.
One luxury obtained, the public wanted more. Stations were
now demanded. By this time the railroad had some four-wheel box
cars. The bodies of a few of these were taken and made to supply
the want. The station at Sunbury was one of these box cars, and
it was continued in service until 1872 when the Philadelphia and
Erie Railroad Company built the present station at Third and
Arch streets.

PETER BOUGHNER'S REMINISCENCES.
There was not much need for freight stations in those days,
and perhaps there would not be now if freight was handled in
the same way. When a car of freight was received at Shamokin
it was allowed to stand until after working hours in the evening,
when enough men would get together, lift the car off the track,
attach a rope to it, and pull it through the streets to the stores where
the goods were unloaded.
All these arrangements were done away with in 1852. In that
year the second track was laid, iron rails were used, and the first
track, the strap rail track, was taken up. Horses were taken off,
and locomotives were put on, and have continued on ever since.

203

INDEX.

A catastrophe  17
A decaying village  23, 24
A Faithful Surgeon  104, 105
Agencies, Freight  106-172
Altoona  13, 121
An early snow plo-w-  71, 72
An evening in July  16, 17
A quaint old town  21-24
Arrow Rock  21-24
A primitive mail route  21-22
Baltimore, the battle of  6s-6g
Beatty, Robert S  138, 142
Bellwood  125
Black Dick, the life saver. ... 52, 57
Blakeslee, Dr. William. R. . . 104 105 .
Boughner's, Peter, Reminis
cences  '. . 199, 203
Bowie, "W. W  169, 171, 17J
Braddock's field  14
Broad and 'Washington Avenue
District  155, 156
Buchanan, James, place of burial, 8
Buffalo  138
Chicago Fair  24, 25
Chiques Rock  142
Columbia  142, 147
Conestoga wagon, origin of. .". .73-75
County, A. J  95, 97
Cowlams, George D., bravery, 45, 46
Cuyler, Tho--'as De Witt  81, 83
Davis, E. K  148, 149
Deckert, F. S  117, 119
Dickens, Charles, trip over the
Alleghenies  12, 13, 75, 76
Dick's whistle  S3
Division Freight Agents.... 98, 103
Ebensburg  120

Elliott, A  128, 131
First commercial telegraph line, 31-38
First Military Telegraph office. . 39
Flood and Charity  17, 18
Franklin, R. L  163, 165
Freight Agencies  106-172
Fry, William L  13S, 138
Fuller, William W...10, 129, 131 133
Fulton Robert, birth region of. . 8
Germantown Junction  162, 165
Godfrey, Lincoln  84, 86
Grant's, Gen'l U. S., description
of Military Telegraph. ... 41, 42
Green, Kane S  95, 97
Halbach's, Mrs., Inn  9
Flammersley, William  153, 15s
Harrisburg  133
Heintzelman, A. T  122, 125
Hudson to the Ohio  7-15
Humes, W. B  123, 125, 126
Huntingdon  10, 11, 26, 128
Huntingdon, scenery at  11
In Memoriam  175-198
Jack's Narrows  9, 10
Jefferies, Col. Edwin  194-198
Johnstown  13, 17, 18, 116-119
Juniata, scenery of  9
Keller, John  71
Kensington District  165
Kinney, Charles C  156, 157, 161
Lights and Shadows  16-28
Lincoln, Abraham, anecdote of . . 46
Lincoln, Abraham, constant visi -
tor at telegraph office  45, 46

205

INDEX.

Lloyd, Abel  117, 120, 121
Loveil, W. H  126, 128
McCrea,, James  84, 87-90
Mason and Slidell, capture of,
announced at War Dep't, 46, 47
Meyers, Frank H  150, 151. i55
Mifflin, James, place of burial. . 8
Miller, Edward  i73 i75-i8o
Monitor and Merrimac  45
Mountain scenery  11-14
Mount Union  9, 131
Murray, Charles S  i43. i47 148
Murray, Lindlay, birth region of, 8
Neilson, Lewis  91 94
North American Hotel, Lancas
ter.  33
O'Brien, Richard, refusal of
bribe  41
Ogden, George D  98-100
Ohio, The  14-15
Paris, Compte de, commendation
Military Telegraph  43, 44
Philadelphia and Lancaster
Turnpike  146
Philadelphia Freight Agency. ... 149
Pier 16, New York  166
Pittsburgh  14, in
Potts, Joseph D  181-188
Progress  27, 28
Reynolds, General John F., place
of burial  8
Richardson, D. R  159 161 162
Robb, John T  166, -67
Rockville, surrounding scenery, 8.' 9
St. Clair's, Gen. Arthur, grave. . 14
Sappington, Dr., friend of Boone,
Jackson and Benton  23
Stager's, Gen. Anson, commenda
tion of Military Telegraph. . 43
Sims, John Clark  188-194

Snow blockade cleared  50, 51
Stevens, Thaddeus, place of burial, 8
Stewart, Edwin R  113 ,IIS, 116
Strouse, David  39. 4°
Tale of two cemeteries  25, 27
Taylor, General Zachary, occu
pies Texas  72
Telegraph Department, Penn
sylvania Railroad  39
Telegraph, Military, development
of  41
Texas, annexation of  72
The City Village  20-22
The Country Village  19, 20
The Great White City  24, 25
The old and the new way of
transportation  73, 76
The Star Spangled Banner. ... 69, 70
The Telegraph in Peace and
War  29-49
Transportation panels in the
Broad Street Station  77-80
United States Military Telegraph
origin of  39-40
Village Life  18, 21
Wallace, Thonias L  133, 134, 137
Warfare  50, 51
Warren's, Gen. G. K, commenda-
ion of Military Telegraph, 43
Washington Avenue Wharf Dis
trict  156
Washington, D. C  166, 171
Washington, George, religious
life of  58-62
Wayne, Gen. Anthony, birth re
gion of  8
West, Benjamin, birth region of, 8
Wilmerding  112, 115
Wright's Ferry  145, 146
Wi-ight, Robert C  98, loi, 103
Zeigler, ' E. E  107, III, 112

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