.r**
 
 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 OLD EXPRESSMAN. 
 
 Br T. W. TUCKER. 
 
 One Post shall run to meet another. 
 And one Messenger to meet another." 
 
 JEREMIAH 11. SI. 
 
 BOSTON 1891 
 LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 
 
 10 MILK STR8BT NEXT " THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSB " 
 
 NEW YORK CHAS. T. DILUNGIIAM 
 
 7<8 AND 720 UKJAUAAV 

 
 Entered, according to the Act of Congress, In the year 1872, 
 
 BY LEE AND SHEPAKD, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
 
 TO 
 
 ALVIN ADAMS, ESQ., 
 
 WHO, FKOM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, BY PEKSEVEBING TOIL, 
 
 AND WELL-DIRECTED ENTEKPRISE, EARNED FAME 
 
 AND WEALTH IN THIS VOCATION, 
 
 this little xlooh is gcbitattb 
 
 BY AN OLD EXPRESSMAN.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE vast business now transacted through the 
 medium of Expresses, affecting, as it does, nearly 
 every branch of trade .and every avenue of indus- 
 try, is one of the necessities of commercial pursuits, 
 and a department of useful activity called into 
 being by the vigorous demands of a go-ahead age. 
 Our fathers were satisfied, or rather pacified, with 
 the facilities afforded by the fast stage teams of 
 " y e ancient " days, for the transmission of moneys 
 and valuable packages, not dreaming, in their anti- 
 quated simplicity, of lightning despatches and rail- 
 road express trains. 
 
 The great changes brought about by the far- 
 seeing enterprise of a few individuals, who lived 
 and acted so much in advance of their fellows, 
 demand something more than a traditionary record 
 
 5
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 of the men who have brought about such stirring 
 results. 
 
 The author of this brief review having passed 
 the most valuable years of his life in the routine 
 of express business, commencing at the begin- 
 ning of the express enterprise, and having had, 
 from the nature of his position, unusual facilities 
 for obtaining correct and reliable information re- 
 garding the history and efforts of the individuals 
 mentioned in this brief record of expressmen, con- 
 fidently commends his jottings to the attention of 
 all who feel interested in tracing to its sources 
 a business of such present magnitude and im- 
 portance.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TITLE "EXPRESSMAN." 11 
 
 THE ANCIENT STAGE DRIVER 11 
 
 OLD STAGERS. ....13 
 
 TIIE OLD STAGE HOUSES 14 
 
 SOME OF THE OLD DRIVERS 16 
 
 STAGING AND EXPRESSING IN "Y 1 OLDEN" TIKES. . . 17 
 
 LIST OF DRIVERS, SADDLERS, &c., OP "Y* OLDEN" TIKES. 28 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MAGNITUDE OF THE EXPRESS BUSINESS 80 
 
 SCENES IN AN EXPRESS OFFICE 82 
 
 THE FIRST EXPRESSKAN . 33 
 
 W. F. HARNDEN 34 
 
 THE BURNING OF THE LEXINGTON. . . . 36 
 
 EARLY EMPLOYEES. 51 
 
 HARNDEN'S FOREIGN EXPRESS. ...... 52 
 
 THE PECUNIARY RESULTS -54 
 
 CHANGE OF PROPRIETORSHIP .54 
 
 THE PRESENT HARNDEN EXPRESS. 55 
 
 7
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY. "*.... 55 
 
 UP-HILL WORK , . 56 
 
 A FEARFUL STEAMBOAT DISASTER 60 
 
 OTHER EARLY EMPLOYEES OF ADAMS & COMPANY. . . 64 
 
 THE TIDE OP FORTUNE TURNS 66 
 
 CHAPTEB III. 
 
 BUSINESS DURING THE WAR 68 
 
 THE ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY. 70 
 
 THE AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANV 71 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY ROBBERIES. . . . ' . . . 72 
 
 SOME OP THE OLD EXPRESSES 74 
 
 "KISSING GOES BY FAVOR." 76 
 
 THE EASTERN EXPRESS COMPANY. 77 
 
 CHENEY & COMPANY 80 
 
 THE .LATE FIRM OF FISKE & COMPANY. . . . .81 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 VARIOUS EXPRESSES 82 
 
 THE FIRST EXPRESSMAN. 82 
 
 HUMORS OF EXPRESSMEN 83 
 
 ANOTHER EXPRESS AND RAILROAD VETERAN. ... 85 
 
 THE IRISHMAN AND BULL DOG 85 
 
 AN ECCENTRIC EXPRESSMAN 86 
 
 THE MAN THAT WAS SLEWED 87 
 
 ONE OF UNCLE SAM'S BLUNDERS .88 
 
 CURIOUS FOOD FOR AN INVALID. 90 
 
 ADVENTURE WITH A BOAR 91 
 
 THE BOY IN THE Box. 92
 
 CONTENTS. 9 
 
 A TRAGICAL AFFAIR. VITALITY OF AN EXPRESSMAN. . 96 
 
 THE "OLD Hoss" DEPARTMENT 101 
 
 " OLD Hoss " AUCTION SALE. 103 
 
 RATHER MIXED. . . 105 
 
 RoBUKRY PREVENTED BY A DOG 106 
 
 HINTS TO PERSONS DOING BUSINESS WITH EXPRESSMEN. . 108 
 
 C. O. D. . 109 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BAGGAGE EXPRESS 114 
 
 NEW YORK AND BOSTON EXPRESS. 115 
 
 NEW EXPRESSES MADE FROM OLD MATERIAL. . . . 117 
 
 EXPRESS TEAMS 119 
 
 A RAILROAD TUNNEL 120 
 
 A MOST REMARKABLE EXPRESS ROBBERY 121 
 
 SUCCESSFUL EXPRESSMEN. . . . , . . . . 124 
 
 SOME OF THE OLD EXPRESSES. .... . . . 125 
 
 ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY. 127 
 
 CHENEY & COMPANY. . . . * . . . .128 
 
 THE AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY 129 
 
 II A UN i > IN AND COMPANY. ' 129 
 
 THE EASTERN EXPRESS COMPANY 130 
 
 AT OTHER EXPRESS OFFICES. ...*.. 130 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LIST OF EXPRESSES, WITH THEIR MANAGERS AND PROPRIE- 
 TORS. . .... 133
 
 WAIFS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 WAY-BILLS OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ORIGIN OP THE TITLE " EXPRESSMAN." 
 
 THE title Expressman, now applied to a common 
 carrier, is of very recent origin, dating back only to 
 the year 1839, when the late W. F. Harnden com- 
 menced his active career. The business of express- 
 ing is, however, " old as the hills," having been carried 
 on by stage drivers from time immemorial. 
 
 THE ANCIENT STAGE DRIVER 
 
 was a very important personage in "y e olden time," 
 having, in addition to the care of his passengers, the 
 charge of divers packages, valuable and otherwise, 
 which were intrusted to him for safe delivery ; bun- 
 dles and parcels of merchandise, bottles of fluids, of 
 a temporal and spiritual character, and letters of a 
 business or amatory nature. The cabalistic letters 
 C. 0. D. did not then ornament boxes and bundles, 
 but bills were collected on delivery, nevertheless. 
 
 11
 
 12 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 " Pay or no take," was as well understood then as 
 now. Many drivers on routes from Boston to popu- 
 lous places, such as Providence, Worcester, Salem, 
 &c., were men of mark in their calling, and daily 
 transacted large amounts of business of an important 
 description, such as carrying , bank packages, money 
 parcels, &c., and paying notes and bills. The vener- 
 able and genial Sam Woodward, so long and well 
 known as the driver and freight manager for Adams 
 Express Company, was a fine sample of the old time 
 stage driver, and used frequently to remark to the 
 writer, when he appeared with an unusually small 
 freight on his wagon, " I used to carry a bigger load 
 when I drove stage." 
 
 The stage driver, like the present car conductor, 
 was always a favorite of the ladies, and all the pretty 
 girls were enraptured by a roguish wink of his merry 
 eye, or made supremely happy by a recognizing nod. 
 Holmes has graphically delineated the " Autocrat of 
 the Breakfast Table" how felicitously could he de- 
 scribe the Autocrat of the Tavern Stable ! The old 
 Sudbury Tavern has been immortalized by Longfellow, 
 but no reference was made by him to its most impor- 
 tant appendage, the bustling and important stage 
 driver. The Autocrat of all the Russias never as- 
 cended his imperial throne with half the airs the stage 
 autocrat assumed when mounting his throne the 
 stage box. Every look, every gesture, and every 
 oath impressed the gaping crowd of rustics with a 
 profound idea of his prodigious importance.
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 13 
 
 The village " squire " and tLe prosperous store- 
 keeper, although considered the leading men and the 
 great " I am's " of the places, did not disdain to mingle 
 with the miscellaneous crowd of tavern "bummers" 
 upon the " stoop," to witness the arrival or departure 
 of the stage. These obsequious attentions were 
 always vastly pleasing to the illustrious knight of the 
 whip, as with great pomp and flourish he gathered up 
 his " ribbons," and cracked his long whip over his 
 impatient team. 
 
 OLD STAGERS. 
 
 Some of the old stagers were greatly distinguished 
 for their skill in handling a team of four and six 
 horses, and it was an awe-inspiring sight, especially 
 to the juvenile community, to see the smoking, high- 
 mettled steeds dash up to the tavern door at full speed, 
 the reins so skilfully handled that the wheels, just 
 grazing the door-stone, would stop with the rapidity 
 of an electric shock at exactly the right spot. Some 
 of these veterans of the whip were remarkably expert 
 in exercising their lash. We well remember the feat 
 of a driver, noted for his dexterity, who wagered the 
 " drinks" it was customary in those days to imbibe 
 with a gentleman on the outside seat, that he would, 
 on passing the first flock of fowls within reach of his 
 lash, decapitate any bird the gentleman might select, 
 provided the gentleman would be answerable for all 
 damages ; the other conditions being, that the driver 
 should not relinquish his reins or seat, nor check the
 
 14 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 speed of his horses. His skill was soon put to the 
 test, for, on passing a farm house, a flock of hens, con- 
 voyed by a stately rooster, were approached. As the 
 coach passed at full speed, the driver was directed to 
 try his skill on the rooster. Quick as thought, the 
 unerring lash flashed through the air, and encircling 
 the neck of the hapless chanticleer, his glittering 
 head flew across the road, leaving his fluttering body 
 with the astonished hens ! 
 
 Many of the noted drivers who flourished before 
 the advent of railroads have arrived at eminent posi- 
 tions on various roads. Hon. Chester W. Chapin, of 
 Springfield, and Hon. Ginery Twichell, now Presi- 
 dent of the Boston and Albany Railroad corporation, 
 were noted for their remarkable skill as stage drivers, 
 and their driving qualities have procured for them 
 the highest positions in the power of mammoth cor- 
 porations to bestow. In the celebrated " Harrison 
 campaign" of 1840, Ginery Twichell particularly dis- 
 tinguished himself by his wonderful energy and 
 success in reporting election returns ; in collecting 
 and expressing election details for the Boston Atlas, 
 then under the management of the celebrated Rich- 
 ard Haughton, his astonishing feats of horsemanship 
 were marvels of speed and endurance. 
 
 THE OLD STAGE HOUSES. 
 
 What a rendezvous for stages was the short but 
 bustling Elm Street in those days ! The old No. 11, 
 kept by the Wildes, was the "head centre" of stage-
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 15 
 
 dom, although many other localities, 8uch as the 
 Eastern Stage House, kept by Rogers, iu Ann Street; 
 the City Tavern, kept by Doolittle, in Brattle Street; 
 the Earle Coffee House, kept by Hezekiah Earle, on 
 Hanover Street; the Marlboro' Hotel, kept by Bar- 
 ker, in Washington Street; Washington Coffee 
 House, near the Old South; and last, but not least, 
 the old Lamb Tavern, kept by Adams, on the site of 
 the present Adams House. There were also two or 
 three stage taverns of lesser note on Union Street. 
 The stranger was not " taken in " in the sharp sense 
 of the term in those old hostelries, but was gener- 
 ously warmed and fed upon terms approaching a 
 reasonable tariff. The hearty, good-humored landlord 
 was a different individual from the well-dressed, 
 haughty, and indifferent Boniface of the present day, 
 who is only approached by his patrons as a king is by 
 his courtiers, who, enthroned behind his marble coun- 
 ter, profoundly impressed with a sense of his im- 
 mense importance, hardly deigns a civil reply to 
 respectful questions, and without consulting your 
 taste or convenience, by an imperative wave of his 
 imperial hand consigns you to your seven by nine 
 den in the sixteenth story of his imposing mansion, 
 from which you emerge at an early hour the ensuing 
 morning, after an exhaustive night's conflict with 
 other claimants to your couch, to exercise your molars 
 on a tough steak or " ram chop," for which inestima- 
 ble privileges you are expected to contribute to the
 
 16 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 hotel exchequer your stamps at the reasonable rate 
 of four and five dollars per diem. 
 
 SOME OF THE OLD DRIVERS. 
 
 Many of our middle-aged citizens will remember 
 the portly form of Jones, of the Bridgewater stage, 
 from the Washington Coffee House. He was once 
 robbed of a large amount of bank money, which was 
 stolen from his stage box ; R. B. Kinsley, driver and 
 proprietor of the stage route to Newport, R. I., after- 
 wards an eminent expressman, and whose recent 
 death, at the age of seventy-three, has been exten- 
 sively noted ; Simon Gillett, proprietor and driver of 
 the Quincy stage, who occasionally indulged his love 
 for fun by asking an outside passenger to hold his hat 
 for a moment, in the crown of which would lie coiled 
 up a huge black snake ! Many of the old drivers 
 " still live," particularly a number who once flourished 
 on the Eastern route. Jackson and Akerman, of the 
 Portsmouth express ; Eben Page, of the Gloucester 
 express; and "Uncle" Niles, of the Dover express, 
 are still active, and daily run over their routes in the 
 cars. One of the largest express proprietors in Bos- 
 ton, Benjamin P. Cheney, of Court Square, was a 
 driver of " y e ancient " time, and subsequently a 
 stage agent at No. 11 Elm Street. He is one of the 
 youngest looking men in Boston for his age, and has 
 accumulated a handsome fortune in the express 
 business.
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 17 
 
 STAGING AND EXPRESSING IN " Y* OLDEN " TIMES. 
 
 In another paragraph we have remarked that run- 
 ning expresses is not a business feature of modern 
 date the name only is of recent origin. The old 
 stage drivers were all expressmen, only they didn't 
 know it. The drivers on long routes, to Providence, 
 New Haven, New York, <fec., were men especially se- 
 lected, for their ability and reliability, to carry and 
 deliver bank packages, remittances, and small parcels 
 of value ; also to collect notes, drafts, and bills, pre- 
 cisely as do the express messengers of the present 
 day. We are indebted to a Salem gentleman, William 
 H. Foster, Esq., for an interesting sketch of the old 
 drivers of that once famous company, the Salem and 
 Boston Stage Company. Mr. Foster was the clerk 
 and cashier of this old time institution, and com- 
 menced with the company at its beginning, in 1821. 
 Time has dealt lightly with Mr. Foster, who is yet an 
 active business man, and a fine specimen of the old 
 school gentleman. He informs us that the splendid 
 teams of that famed line, in connection with the boats 
 at New Haven, Conn., at which place the stage route 
 terminated, made the trip through to New York in 
 forty-eight hours, not bad travelling, that! Four 
 drivers were employed on a trip; the first driving 
 about forty miles, then getting off the box, and get- 
 ting into the coach, rode the rest of the way through 
 as passenger and expressman* 
 
 Q
 
 18 WAIFS FKOM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 These drivers were fine specimens of muscular 
 manhood, and perfect adepts in handling the reins 
 and whip. In the matter of politeness, they were 
 capable of giving lessons to many of the conductors 
 of the present day. Although proverbially good- 
 natured, they were men not to be trifled with by pre- 
 suming individuals. We well remember, when a lad, 
 of witnessing a set-to in the celebrated play of lt Tom 
 and Jerry ; or-, Lile in London," at the old Tremont 
 Theatre, Boston, between Hudson, a celebrated pro- 
 fessional boxer, and Noah Knox, one of the old Salem 
 drivers. Knox, who was a man of immense physical 
 power, was induced to put on the " mittens " for 
 " this occasion only " with Hudson. The latter was 
 one of the finest men physically in his profession, but 
 he had a very handsome face, which he was very 
 much afraid of disfiguring ; consequently he was a 
 little shy of rough customers. As Knox was sup- 
 posed to be perfectly green in scientific boxing, Hud- 
 son thought him, notwithstanding his apparent great 
 strength, an easy customer. But he was doomed to 
 disappointment on this occasion, for Knox not only 
 beat down his guard, but floored him repeatedly, 
 greatly to the disgust of " scientific " spectators. The 
 Salem driver proved himself worthy of his name, for 
 he showed himself to be a man of hard knocks. 
 
 We subjoin Mr. Foster's interesting sketch, confi- 
 dent that it will form one of the most readable chap- 
 ters in this volume :
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 19 
 
 " Reader, do you remember the days of stage 
 coaches, before the building of railroads, when Potter 
 (Jim) led off at 7 A. M., with his team of bays, on 
 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and dapple grays 
 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays ? Potter was 
 very punctual when he had a full freight of very par- 
 ticular kind of folks; but with a slim freight you 
 could overtake him before he passed Butfuni's Corner. 
 
 " Just before 8 A. M., Woodbury (Page) would be 
 seen coming round the Common with his pair of bays, 
 on the jump; he swung round and round the corners, 
 and around the big elm tree in the stable yard in 
 Union Street. In a trice the. bays were taken off, 
 and McMullen hitched on the four milk whites, and 
 Page was off. Charles Cross, afterwards Albert 
 Knight, and then Savory (Ben) brought nine o'clock, 
 often with a team of ' Old Rips ; ' this was not a fa- 
 vorite hour, but made a good return coach at 5 P. M. 
 
 "Ten o'clock was a good hour, and on Jklonday, 
 Wednesday, and Friday, Shaw (Mose) came in with the 
 Gloucester passengers, and Tuesday, Thursday, and 
 Saturday good-natured Albert Knight, and later, the 
 pleasant and accomplished Jacob Winchester. 
 
 "The stir of the old Sun Tavern was some at ten 
 o'clock, and Mr. Lankester or ' Sam ' Manning were 
 a little busy about this time ; at about ten they were 
 gone ; and then ' Sir ' William Manning would say, 
 ' Probably ' we shall send out at 10| o'clock. ' Sir 
 William' was then an oldish man, but now that some 
 seven or eight and thirty years have passed and
 
 20 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 gone, he is a young man, thus reversing the order of 
 nature. 
 
 ' There was a great inquiry in those days for the 
 Gloucester stage ; the very dry ones inquiring for it 
 before it arrived, and those not quite so dry inquiring 
 if it had gone. It was usual, however, for both sets 
 to take a drink. 
 
 " ' Lot ' (Peach) brought 1| P. M. At the time this 
 coach was put on there were but few passengers, but 
 it soon became quite popular. 
 
 " ' The Major ' (Shaw) went out at 3 P. M., and this 
 closed the regular outward or up trip for the day. 
 After the 'Major,' 'Pete' (Ray) drove this route. 
 Any number of extras were over the road at all 
 times, both day and night. The first coach in from 
 Boston was the 'Major,' at 11 o'clock; the Glouces- 
 ter at 11 P. M., Potter at 5, Page at 6, Savory at 7, 
 and Peach at 8 P. M. 
 
 " Potter always had a fine team, and the best coach 
 on the road ; being the first out in the morning, he 
 had a good deal of what was termed 'business' 
 the accumulation over night of all the letters, bun- 
 dles, orders, bank books, <fec. He always bragged 
 r.bout his business ; and although all the drivers had 
 more or less, yet he generally led, and paid in the 
 most money. On a cold frosty morning, or in return- 
 ing in the afternoon against a cold, raw east wind, 
 the way he put hia team over the road was a caution 
 to old folks. 
 
 " To him was assigned the honor of driving Lafayette
 
 OF AX OLD rxmr.ssMAX. 21 
 
 on his visit here in 1824. Potter hud on this occasion 
 an open barouche and a team of splendid horses, and 
 drove him through to Newburyport. The next day 
 his younger brother, Joseph, was sent down to Now- 
 buryport to drive home the team. When he reached 
 Ipswich, Mr. Tread well, the proprietor of the old 
 Stage and Half-Way House, between Salem and New- 
 buryport, advised Joseph to have his team unhitched 
 and his horses groomed. When the team was hitched 
 on, Mr. Treadwell said to Joseph, ' Now throw back 
 the head of the barouche, and I will take the back 
 seat and ride to Salem with you, and I will personate 
 Lafayette.' To those who may remember Mr. Tread- 
 well, I need not say that he was a splendid . looking 
 man, always elegantly dressed, and his air and man- 
 ners were of the most refined of the old school ; and 
 one of Mr. Treadwell's greetings and bows, as he 
 ushered in his guests from a stage coach, not forget- 
 ting the elderly lady who was the last to leave the 
 stage, on his leave-taking as a coach load departed, 
 will never be erased from the memory of those who 
 ever witnessed them. On the road he gave orders, as 
 he was nearing a school-house, ' Drive slow, Joseph ; ' 
 and on passing, he was bowing to the right and left. 
 The boys all knew the team, hallooing, ' Here is 
 Lafayette back again ! ' and the men left their work in 
 the fields, and the women left theirs in the house, and 
 ran to the doors and windows; and he would say, 
 Faster, Joseph,' until he had cleared from the crowd, 
 and was ready at the next cluster of houses to resume
 
 22 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 his bowing. Of my own knowledge I could not state, 
 but that some of the humans now living on the road 
 still think they saw Lafayette return. 
 
 " Page went more by jumps ; he would scale the 
 hollows, and by the time he was half way up the hill, 
 his team would be down in a slow walk. 
 
 " When Hon. Henry Clay made his visit here, Page 
 and his team of milk whites were in attendance. 
 When Mr. Clay left, it was from the residence of Hon. 
 Nathaniel Silsbee, on Pleasant Street. Page and his 
 team were at the door. As Mr. Clay, with the com- 
 mittee, came down the steps, he said to Page, 'I 
 have heard a good deal of your superior roads, and 
 of your. fast teams, but as yet I have seen none of it; 
 I have now (looking at his watch) just one hour to 
 meet an engagement in Boston. How long will it 
 take you, Mr. Page, to put us in Boston?' Page re- 
 plied, ' We will do our best, sir ; but jump in if you 
 have only one hour.' In sixty minutes from the time 
 they started they were at the door of the Tremont 
 House in Boston, and when leaving the coach he 
 owned up to Mr. Page that he never rode before. 
 
 " ' Mose ' had good teams, although he always grum- 
 bled about them ; and his own expression was, ' he 
 used to let them rip.' 
 
 " ' Albert ' never had any trouble ; his teams always 
 went well and came well. 
 
 "'Jacob' was a genteel driver, and no lady could 
 pass over the road from Gloucester so pleasantly with 
 any one else as with Jacob.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 23 
 
 " ' Lot ' was a splendid reinsman, and his team used 
 to perform as well as any others. 
 
 "' The Major' took all the ladies and children, and, 
 as he used to say, ' If you will believe it, Mrs. or 
 Miss won't go unless she can go with me.' 
 
 " With ' Pete ' the ladies began to ride outside ; as 
 at that time the coaches made after the English style, 
 on steel springs, and a dicky behind, gave a very 
 superior seat for the driver, over the Jack coaches, 
 and ' Pete ' had a way of amusing the ladies that 
 was irresistible. He was rich, and owned houses and 
 farms, and drove only because he had the company 
 of the ladies. He could build castles in the air 
 with such a plausibility that no one ever attempted 
 to doubt. 
 
 " Besides them, there was a coach driven by 
 Thompson to and from Marblehead ; and three times 
 a week to Haverhill, driven by David Sanderson, after- 
 wards by Pinkhain. David Sanderson had a new way 
 of driving walk his team down hill and run up ! 
 
 ". At the time we write about, the Salem and Bos- 
 ton Stage Company was a great concern, and was up 
 with any other line in the United States, and in the 
 character of their agents and drivers, and in the su- 
 periority of their teams and coaches, and, perhaps, in 
 advance of them all, as they were the first to intro- 
 duce the swing-rack and foot-board, as it was termed, 
 and after these the splendid steel spring coaches. 
 These were mostly built under their own supervision, 
 in their own shops, and by their own mechanics.
 
 24 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 " There were Stephen Daniels and Benjamin Bray, 
 coach-body makers ; Joseph Smith and Osgood Brad- 
 ley, as wheelwrights (Bradley is now a car builder) ; 
 John McGlue and David Harding, and a half score of 
 others, as blacksmiths ; John Chipman, John Mackie, 
 and John Frye, as saddlers and carriage trimmers ; 
 Joseph D. Sadler and Daniel C. Manning, as painters ; 
 and the gigs and coaches got up by the company, 
 from 1821 (when it was incorporated) to 1834, '5, and '6, 
 were beyond, in strength and finish, any to be seen at 
 the present time. 
 
 " ' Sir William ' Manning was captain general ; old 
 Henry (Cross) was the agent at Boston ; ' Sam ' had 
 charge of the stable at the ' Marlborough,' in Boston, 
 and afterwards fitted out the stages from Salem with 
 Mr. Lankester, ran the expresses to overtake the 
 stages, &c. 
 
 " There were also a host of extra drivers among 
 them : William D. Winchester, Joshua Butman, Joseph 
 Potter, Benjamin Leavitt, < Tom ' Dodge, Alden Har- 
 ris, Daniel Moore, and others. 
 
 " In summer, some of the regular and extra drivers 
 were away on journeys. Page went with the Bev- 
 erly parties; Jacob was the favorite driver for all 
 bridal parties, and for special journeys to New York 
 for specie. 
 
 " There were between fifty and sixty men on the 
 pay-roll of the company, all good, sound, and reliable. 
 
 " On a Sunday evening some ten or fifteen accident- 
 ally met at the office ; they were all dressed up in
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 25 
 
 their Sunday go-to-meeting clothes. Mr. Manning 
 came out of the house, and finding the office full, was 
 quite surprised. ' Why, dear me,' said he, ' I did not 
 know that I had so fine a set of men ; I think some 
 day I will form you in a line in Union Street, and 
 show you up, as the best looking men about, as I can 
 probably beat any of the military companies.' 
 
 " Mr. Samuel Manning and Mr. Lankester were 
 famous for attaching extra tails ; they always had on 
 hand a number of long, flowing tails. There was a 
 splendid horse in the stable called ' Hunter.' One day 
 Hunter was taken out, and his tail was ' extended ; ' a 
 man was put on him, to show him off around the Com- 
 mon. Mr. Manning, in passing, saw the splendid ani- 
 mal with his tail sweeping the ground. He very much 
 admired him, but was not aware at the time that it 
 was one of the stock with an ' extension.' 
 
 " Mr. Daniel C. Manning first entered the service of 
 the company, in 1823, as an office boy, and carried 
 round the letters and bundles on the arrival of the 
 stages. For the small packages a horse and gig was 
 always ready on the arrival of each coach, and here 
 began the first eocpress business of this country. From 
 here Daniel went into the company's paint shop, then 
 in charge of Joseph D. Sadler, where he served a 
 regular apprenticeship, and became a first-class car- 
 riage painter, in which business he continued for some 
 years, combining with it the letting of a few horses. 
 The paint shop was then abandoned, and he went very
 
 26 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 extensively into the livery business with Mr. Joseph 
 Smith.* 
 
 " At the time of re-writing these reminiscences 
 (1870) we find him a true Manning ; as he grows 
 older in years he becomes young; and not to be out- 
 done by Potter or Page, we see him driving, in that 
 fearful storm of the 8th of February, 1870, Prince 
 Arthur to the Peabody funeral, and for eight consecu- 
 tive hours not leaving his box. Like Mr. Peabody, he 
 started a poor boy ; but by his untiring industry, and 
 his natural resources, he is now rated among the self- 
 made capitalists. He also had the honor of driving 
 (or running), with a team of eight horses, President 
 Polk through the city, on the occasion of his visit here 
 in 1847 or 1848. 
 
 " Before the incorporation of the Salem and Boston 
 Stage Company, in 1821, a line of stages had been 
 run by Mr. Richard Manning, and afterwards by his 
 sons, William, Robert, and Samuel; and in 1810 or 
 1811 the Mannings bought out the old Burrill line of 
 stages. Their stables were in the rear of Court 
 
 * Joseph Smith, who has been in the livery business all his life 
 long, was employed by the Committee of Reception during General 
 Jackson's visit here in 1833. He used on the occasion an open ba- 
 rouche, and had a team of four black horses, one of which belonged 
 tq the Hon. Joseph S. Cabot, who was on the committee that re- 
 ceived President Jackson. It will be recollected by many that the 
 President was taken unwell, and that Smith drove him through the 
 crowd on the run to the Mansion House. The next day he drove 
 him around the city, and then to Andover, where the committee 
 from New Hampshire were in waiting for him.
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 27 
 
 (DOW Washington) Street, and their office was in the 
 rear of where now stands Nourse's fruit store. 
 
 "In 1815 or 1816 a company was formed of the 
 Messrs. Manning, Henry Cross, and others. Holten 
 Dale, who will be remembered by many as the great- 
 est whip in the county, drove the first coach out at 
 7 o'clock. A. M., and Willis, a large and splendid look- 
 ing man, drove the first coach in from Boston, and after- 
 wards Carpenter. Dale always had elegant horses, 
 his team of sorrels were square-backed, and always 
 trimmed and combed to a hair, and very few ladies 
 in those days spent as much time in dressing as was 
 spent on those horses ; his coach was always in order, 
 and ran very still, as about every morning he went 
 over it himself, and screwed up all the nuts. 
 
 "Those who were in college from 1810 to 1816 will 
 remember Dale, as he claimed as a right the privilege 
 of driving home the students at the vacations. In- 
 stead of his coach, he sometimes used an open basket 
 carriage, which would hold about fifteen or eighteen; 
 but as there was no convenience for baggage, that 
 had to be sent by another team. With the light bas- 
 ket carriage he could spin off ten or twelve miles an 
 hour, and land his passengers from Cambridge, say 
 seventeen or eighteen miles, in one hour and thirty or 
 forty minutes. Once, about Christmas time, after he 
 had starred, there came up a furious snow storm, and 
 by the time they reached Salem the basket was full 
 of snow, and the students closely packed together. 
 
 "But those reminiscences are so far extended that
 
 28 
 
 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 I will close. Many of the actors have paid the last 
 debt of nature, and those who are left are getting to 
 be among the old folks. 
 
 " I add a list of the employees, so far as I can re- 
 call them: 
 
 DRIVERS. 
 
 Holten Dale. 
 
 Willis, 
 
 Carpenter, 
 
 James Potter, 
 Wood bury Page, 
 Samuel Shaw, 
 Moses Shaw, 
 Albert. Knight, 
 J. B. Winchester, 
 William Winchester, 
 Peter W. Ray, 
 Benjamin Savory, 
 Lot Peach, 
 Charles Cross, 
 William Cross, 
 Daniel Moore, 
 John Hathaway, 
 Alden Harris, 
 John Lane, 
 
 J. C. Trask, 
 Joseph Trask, 
 Addison Center, 
 Charles Sargent, 
 John Miller, 
 Jonathan Cass, 
 Benjamin Thompson, 
 Charles Dearborn, 
 Thomas Adams, 
 Joshua Butman, 
 Joseph Potter, 
 Daniel Sanderson, 
 Thomas Dodge, 
 Benjamin Leavitt, 
 Isaac Pinkham, 
 Peter Stevens, 
 Col. Thomas Adams, 
 J. B. Wheelock, 
 Noah Knox. 
 
 SADDLERS. 
 
 Joseph Hathorne, John Mackie, 
 
 John Chipman, John Frye.
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 2'J 
 
 BLACKSMITHS. 
 
 John McGlue, Peter McDermot*. 
 
 David Harding, 
 
 WHEELWRIGHTS. 
 
 Joseph Smith, Osgood Bradley. 
 
 CARRIAGE-BODY MAKERS. 
 
 Stephen Daniels, Benjamin Bray. 
 
 PAINTERS. 
 
 Joseph D. Sadler, Daniel C. Manning. 
 
 CLERKS. 
 
 Henry Cross, Daniel S. Proctor, 
 
 D. M. Lankester, William H. Foster. 
 
 ' Should auld acquaintance be forgot,' <fec."
 
 30 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MAGNITUDE OF THE EXPRESS BUSINESS. 
 
 VERY few, even of our business men, are aware of 
 the immense amount of valuable business daily trans- 
 acted by a first-class express company. The piles of 
 bank packages, representing often many times the 
 capital of a large banking institution, are handled 
 about by the messengers and clerks with a seeming 
 carelessness, but in reality with a perfect system of 
 careful management. Each package being receipted 
 for to the bank official, is then entered at the express 
 office, each parcel checked when called off to the 
 entry clerk, and then again checked by the messenger 
 when placed in his safe. Losses of large packages 
 seldom occur unless the messenger is forcibly robbed, 
 or his safe imperilled by the dangers of steamboat 
 navigation. In another portion of this history several 
 remarkable cases of loss by robbery, and otherwise, 
 will be alluded to. Everything movable is sent by 
 express, from a box of pills to a locomotive engine ! 
 Men, women, dogs, cats, and nearly all members of 
 the feathered creation are intrusted to the care of 
 the indefatigable expressman.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 31 
 
 The interior of the express office is sometimes a 
 lively place on account of the somewhat mixed char- 
 acter of the freight deposited there. Sitting and 
 lying about on boxes and trunks may be seen an in- 
 teresting family group, fresh from the bogs of auld 
 Ireland ; the " old man " sucking away at an old 
 " dudheen," whose intolerable fumes serve to choke 
 off more disagreeable smells ; the " old woman " 
 dealing out rations of black and unsavory crusts to the 
 unwashed and hungry " childer," and occasionally di- 
 versifying the entertainment by an indiscriminate 
 " slaughter of the innocents " which swarm on the 
 juvenile heads of the said " ehilder." 
 
 In another portion of the office is deposited an im- 
 mense coop of fowls, the odor from which is decidedly 
 foid, comprising cocks, hens, and turkeys, the prop- 
 erty of some itinerant dealer, who may call for them 
 in a day or two, perhaps in a week or fortnight. The 
 crowing of the cocks, the cackle of the hens, and 
 gobble of the turkeys, combined with the unearthly 
 howl of a hungry and forsaken dog confined in an 
 odious smelling box, and the wailing of a Hibernian 
 baby in the arms of the old woman, make, together, a 
 miscellaneous concert. Add to this confusion of 
 sounds the hoarse voice of the driver calling off hid 
 freight, the undercurrents of talk from customers at 
 the counter, the crash of overturned boxes and con- 
 tinuous slam of doors, and the express office may 
 justly be considered a pretty " lively place."
 
 32 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 SCENES IN AN EXPRESS OFFICE. 
 
 Some ludicrous scenes often occur in an express 
 office, of which the following is a sample : 
 
 Enters a tall, gaunt, red-headed individual, with a 
 cadaverous and elongated visage, and most woe-begone 
 expression, who solemnly marches up to the counter, 
 and addresses the clerk with, 
 
 " I say, dew yew run tew Kennebunk? " 
 
 Clerk. " The express does, sir." 
 
 Stranger. " Well, what dew yew charge tew send 
 a purty good sized box down ? I want tew git it 
 threw purty quick." 
 
 Clerk. "I could tell better if I saw the box. What 
 does it contain?" 
 
 Stranger. " Somethin' I was afeard might spile ; 
 so I thought I wouldn't resk it by freight train, 
 although 'tain't worth much to me." 
 
 Clerk. (Impatiently.) " Well, what does the box 
 contain ? " 
 
 Stranger. " My wife ! " 
 
 Sometimes incidents of a touching character will 
 transpire in the precincts of the unsentimental ex- 
 press office. For instance : An expressman, upon 
 reaching his office early one cold morning in January, 
 observed on the sidewalk a long, heavy box, which 
 his practised eye at once identified as containing a 
 corpse. Upon one end of the box, shivering with the 
 cold, sat a little half-clad boy, about seven or eight 
 years of age. Addressing him kindly, he said,
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 33 
 
 "My lad, don't sit there ; you will freeze; come in 
 and sit by the stove." 
 
 Bursting into tears, the little fellow replied, " No, 
 I can't come in ; my mother is in this box, and I 
 promised her I would never leave her until we got 
 home." 
 
 Deeply affected with the touching devotion of this 
 brave little fellow, ho finally succeeded in convincing 
 him of the entire safety of his precious charge, and 
 taking him over to a neighboring restaurant, gave 
 him a warm breakfast, and learned the particulars of 
 his sad story. His father died about a year previous- 
 ly, in a remote village in Minnesota, leaving his mother 
 in poor health, and nearly destitute. She died but a 
 few days before the boy's sad journey, charging the 
 little hero with the duty of conveying her remains to 
 her friends in a distant state, and furnishing him with 
 (all she had) a sum of money barely sufficient to carry 
 them both by freight cars to their destination. The 
 little fellow had actually ridden night and day in a 
 freight car with his melancholy trust, never for a mo- 
 ment losing sight of it. 
 
 THE FIRST EXPRESSMAN. 
 
 The credit of establishing the first express was due 
 to the late W. F. Harnden. Many have supposed that 
 the Adams Express Company was the first institution 
 of this kind, on account of its great prominence before 
 the public for the past twenty years. Mr. Adams did 
 oot commence business until two years after the ad- 
 3
 
 34 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 vent of Harnden. Several parties did a regular ex- 
 press business before Harnden, but were not known 
 by the title of expressmen. Mr. William C. Gray, of 
 Lowell, and still living in that place, ran over the 
 road between Boston and Lowell, with money pack- 
 ages and freight, as early as 1836, three years before 
 Harnden. Dean & Davenport (now Davenport & 
 Mason) carried freight and packages between Boston 
 and Taunton in 1836 and 1837, Mr. Mason, of the 
 present firm of D. & M., running as messenger. But 
 W. F. Harnden was the first to adopt the name Ex- 
 pressman. 
 
 W. F. HARNDEN 
 
 was born in Reading, Mass., in 1812. His father was 
 a house painter, in moderate circumstances, and gave 
 his son a fair common school education. He (the son) 
 was of slight figure and fragile constitution, but of 
 great courage and energy. He was employed as 
 ticket master at the Boston and Worcester Railroad 
 depot as early as 1835 and 1836, but the sedentary 
 nature of his employment, and the close application 
 required, gradually undermined his health, and he 
 cast about him for other and more active employment. 
 This he did not find until the early part of the year 
 1839, when he commenced an experimental trip to 
 New York, via steamer from Providence, carrying 
 only a valise, and paying passenger fare. This was 
 indeed the day of small things, and his encourage- 
 ment for a time was not great. He, however, kept up
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 35 
 
 good courage, and after a short season, by dint of 
 sheer hard work and earnest endeavor to please his 
 few patrons, his business so increased that he made 
 arrangements with the Stonington route to run a mes- 
 senger on that line. He now arranged with Mr. Luke 
 Damon, and his younger brother, Adolphus Harnden, 
 to run each way on alternate nights. 
 
 Mr. Damon was in his employ for several years, and 
 was afterwards employed by Kinsley & Co. as their 
 Boston agent. He has now retired from the ex- 
 press business, after a service of nearly thirty years, 
 and resides in California. Mr. Damon is extensively 
 known, and is justly regarded as an accomplished ex- 
 pressman and an honorable gentleman in every sense 
 of the word. He has many warm friends, who sin- 
 cerely regret his departure to a distant sphere of 
 usefulness. Mr. Adolphus Harnden was an active, 
 energetic young fellow, and bade fair to become emi- 
 nent in his profession. He continued to act as mes- 
 senger for his brother until the awful burning of the 
 steamer Lexington, on the fearful night of January 
 13, 1840, when he perished in that dreadful catastro- 
 phe. In addition to the affliction caused by the loss 
 of a dearly beloved brother by the burning of the 
 Lexington, Mr. Harnden's loss of property was ruin- 
 ous to a man of his limited capital ; but he was not 
 called upon to make good any portion of the property 
 belonging to other parties which was intrusted to his 
 charge. The most serious loss on this occasion was
 
 36 WAIF? FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 that of thirty thousand dollars in specie consigned to 
 
 the Merchants Bank of Boston. 
 
 i 
 
 THE BURNING OF THE LEXINGTON. 
 
 In these days of terrific railroad collisions and 
 steamboat burnings, through which fearful agencies 
 thousands of hapless passengers are annual !y killed, 
 mangled, and maimed, the almost daily announcement 
 of an awful catastrophe, involving the destruction by 
 the score and hundred of hapless men, women, and 
 children, excites hardly a passing remark beyond the 
 circle from which a member has been ruthlessly torn. 
 Very few of the readers of these harrowing details 
 at the present day can realize the thrill of horror 
 which ran through our community on the morning of 
 the 15th of January, 1840, when news was received 
 in the city of the burning of the steamer Lexington, 
 on Long Island Sound, by which dreadful calamity 
 one hundred and fifty-fix persons, many of them well 
 known and valued members of this community, were 
 burned and drowned. Among the prominent victims 
 sacrificed on that fearful night were many well-re- 
 membered citizens. Prominent among them were, 
 Professor Follen, of Harvard University; Henry J. 
 Finn, the great comedian ; Abraham Howard, firm of 
 Howard & Merry, an eminent mercantile house ; John 
 Brown, head of the large house of John Brown & Co., 
 Commercial Wharf; Isaac Davis, a well-known dealer 
 in fancy goods, 28 Washington Street; J. Everett, 
 Jr., firm of Everett & Searle, 51 India Street; George
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 37 
 
 Lemist, an old and wealthy merchant of Roxbury ; 
 Eberle, the actor; A. Harnden, the expressman; and 
 many other citizens less known to the public. In- 
 tense feeling was caused by the agonizing details of 
 their horrible deaths. Only four persons survived 
 that awful night, and of the miraculous escape of one 
 member of that little party we propose to give some 
 account. This man was David Crowley, mate of the 
 steamer, whose wonderful escape and almost super- 
 human endurance were and are without a parallel in 
 the history of struggles for life. We had, on a recent 
 trip from New York, an account from the lips of 
 Mr. Crowley of his experience on that dreadful night. 
 He says the recollection of the harrowing scenes 
 then passed through ever continues to haunt his 
 dreams. 
 
 The steamer Lexington left New York on the even- 
 ing of January 13, 1840, with a full complement of 
 passengers, and with a fair prospect of a safe and 
 pleasant trip, although the night was intensely cold. 
 
 The Lexington was ft comparatively new boat, and 
 was considered the handsomest and fastest on the 
 Sound. Compared with the present floating palaces, 
 she was a most ordinary craft, but in those times a 
 model of beauty. She was commanded by Captain 
 Child, an experienced captain, and was noted for her 
 speed. She made good time for three hours out of 
 New York, and had passed Huntington Light, about 
 forty miles from New York, some four miles, when 
 fire broke out in the engine-room from some cause
 
 38 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 which has never been fully explained, and the doomed 
 boat was soon all on fire amid-ships. The flames 
 spread rapidly on account of the combustible na- 
 ture of her deck load, consisting of cotton bales. 
 In the sudden effort to head her for the shore in a 
 rough sea, the hide tiller rope on the larboard side 
 parted, and the boat was at the mercy of the waves. 
 
 The scene that now ensued amongst the ill-fated 
 passengers and crew was fearful. Mr. Crowley, upon 
 the first alarm, was about " turning in," until his 
 " watch " was called. His berth was in the lower cabin : 
 and not knowing the extent of the danger, he rushed 
 upon deck, clad only in his woollen drawers, woollen 
 shirt, stockings, and boots. He was bareheaded and 
 nearly barefooted, as his stockings were cotton, and 
 boots thin, rather a meagre outfit for the perilous 
 voyage on which in a few moments he embarked. As 
 the flames rapidly enveloped the deck, the doomed 
 passengers and crew wildly rushed to the windward 
 of the fire, some frantically praying and crying, or 
 rather shrieking, whilst others were stoically resigned 
 to their fate. Mr. Crowley well remembers the ap- 
 pearance of the lamented Follen, who alone appeared 
 composed amidst the harrowing scene. The most affect- 
 ing sight he witnessed," which can never be effaced 
 from his memory, was the conduct of two gentlemen, 
 merchants of Boston, who, standing upon the narrow 
 space between the raging flames and the seething 
 waters, commended their families to the care of God, 
 in fervent supplication, and in tones which were heard
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 39 
 
 above the crackling flames and roaring waters bade 
 good by to wives and children, and then disappeared 
 beneath the boiling waters. 
 
 The only boat belonging to the steamer was a yawl 
 boat, about twelve or fourteen feet in length, which, in 
 the hurry of launching, was partially crushed under the 
 paddles, so as to disable it from floating with any one 
 on board. This wreck floated on shore, and was the 
 means of informing the inhabitants of the vicinity 
 where it landed of the name of the steamer burned, 
 as it contained the overcoat of Captain Child, and in 
 the pockets were found several letters addressed to 
 its unfortunate owner. 
 
 Mr. Crowley, when he took to the water, was fortu- 
 nate enough to secure a floating bale of cotton, on 
 which he committed himself to God, the wind, and 
 the tide. What a prospect before him I with hardly 
 sufficient clothing for a July night, no foothold, no 
 object to grasp but the tightly fitting ropes which 
 held the bale together, useless to his stiffened fin- 
 gers, the bale continually rolling and bobbing in 
 the rough sea, which ever and anon broke over him, 
 the thermometer below zero, and the pitiless wintry 
 blast howling like a demon over his almost denuded 
 person. How long would an ordinary person survive 
 such exposure? We opine that few men could be 
 found capable of withstanding such a trial for a few 
 hours, or perhaps minutes. Mis Crowley survived it' 
 from nine o'clock Monday evening to Wednesday 
 evening at nine o'clock, forty-eight hours, during
 
 40 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 which time he drifted fifty-three miles, maintaining his 
 position on the bale notwithstanding he indulged in 
 several short naps ! Pie took to his bale about nine 
 o'clock in the evening, and left it for the shore on the 
 following evening at about the same hour. He landed 
 at a place called Old Friar's Head, a bluff adjoining 
 the town of River Head, Long Island, on the opposite 
 shore from New Haven, the widest portion of the 
 Sound. 
 
 When the bale struck the ice. some few hundred 
 yards from the shore, he felt, although slightly delir- 
 ious at intervals from the intensity of his sufferings, 
 that he was saved, and immediately commenced a 
 struggle to gain the shore. Covered with ice, with 
 no sensation in his frozen limbs, the instinct of self- 
 preservation urged him to effort, and slowly and pain- 
 fully crawling over the rough and slippery surface, 
 he at length managed to reach the shore. But what a 
 prospect before him ! a steep, icy bluff to be sur- 
 mounted, the whole landscape enshrouded in thick 
 darkness. 
 
 After a season of incredible exertion he at length 
 surmounted the formidable bluff, and O, joy ! he dis- 
 covered in the dim distance the faint glimmer of a 
 light. With that indomitable will which characterizes 
 Mr. Crowley, and to which he owes his preservation, 
 he at once hobbled and crawled in its direction. The 
 distance from his landing was one and a half milos ; 
 arid he succeeded in reaching the house about ten 
 o'clock, P. M. The family fortunately happened to be
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 41 
 
 up much beyond their usual hour on account of the 
 arrival of a son from New York city. This son, 
 Samuel Hutchinson, Esq., now a well known merchant 
 of New York, had but a few moments before arrived, 
 bringing news of the kexington's loss, which had 
 boon communicated to him by the stage driver who 
 brought him over. When Mr. Crowley knocked at 
 the door, it was opened by a lad who started back in 
 affright at the strange apparition which met his view. 
 And well he might have been startled, for Mr. Crow- 
 ley presented a figure shocking to behold. Bare- 
 headed, his hair matted with ice, his woollen shirt and 
 drawers covered with the same material, his eyes 
 wild with delirium, his haggard appearance would 
 have frightened the boldest. 
 
 Young Mr. Hutchinson comprehended the case at 
 once, and approaching Mr. Crowley, as he stood trem- 
 bling at the threshold, asked him if he was from the 
 wrecked steamer. Mr. C. replied that he was, and he 
 was immediately assisted into the house, and properly 
 nursed and cared for. He was confined to the house 
 until the following April, when he returned to his 
 home in the city of Providence. He escaped with 
 the loss of two toes on each foot, but experienced no 
 permanent ill effects from his unparalleled exposure, 
 and to this day has never experienced a day's 
 illness. 
 
 Mr. Crowley is now in his fifty-third year, but does 
 not appear a year more than forty. Although not an 
 athletic man in appearance, he is very compactly
 
 42 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 built, of hardly medium height, but remarkably wiry 
 and active. With the exception of a few years' 
 steamboating in California, he has always been con- 
 nected as an officer with some of the Sound steamers. 
 A few years since he distinguished himself by saving 
 ten lives from the burning steamer City of Norwich 
 and on one occasion saved several lives from a 
 schooner which was run down by a Sound steamer. 
 He is now in the employ of the New York Express 
 Company, No. 24 Summer Street, and is an active, 
 genial, and intelligent man. Mr. Crowley says that 
 the engraving of the burning of steamer Lexington, 
 in the possession of Mr. Wait, who keeps the cigar 
 store at the corner of Washington and Water Streets, 
 is a good representation of the boat and of her ap- 
 pearance on the night of the calamity. 
 
 The bodies of many victims, were washed ashore 
 near the scene of the disaster, and presented a truly 
 melancholy spectacle. Many were scorched by the 
 cruel flames, but not sufficiently to indicate that death 
 ensued from burning. It was evident that the suffer- 
 ers were driven in their extremity to the dread al- 
 ternative of death by fire or water, and chose the 
 latter as the most merciful. Upon the breaking up 
 of the ice during the spring months several bodies 
 were exposed. These being in a fair state of preser- 
 vation, were examined, and efforts made to identify 
 them. One, that of Mr. J. Everett, Jr., of Boston, 
 was found, and Mr. Crowley was sent for, with the 
 hope that he might possibly give some clew to his
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 43 
 
 identity, as his features we.e well preserved. A sil- 
 ver watch was found in his pocket, but no papers. 
 Mr. Crowley recommended taking off his boots, which 
 v/as done, and the maker's name, Harrington, Boston, 
 with the number, was found written in the inner leg. 
 By referring to Mr. Harrington, the name of the own- 
 er was discovered, and the body delivered to his 
 relatives. 
 
 Mr. Adolphus Harnden, who was lost, was brother 
 to William F. Harnden, the pioneer of expressing. 
 He was, like his lamented brother, an active, ener- 
 getic fellow, and perished after a protracted struggle 
 to save himself and preserve the valuables committed 
 to his charge. The only expressman living who was 
 on the Sound that night, was Luke Damon, who was 
 for many years the faithful agent of Kinsley & Co.'e 
 Express, but then in the employ of Harnden. He is 
 now in California He was on board the boat bound 
 for New York, and passed over some hours later the 
 spot where the Lexington was burned, but was ig- 
 norant of the disaster until after his return trip. 
 
 A reference to the files of the Boston papers for 
 the early months of 1840 shows how deep and univer- 
 sal was the interest excited by this dreadful calamity. 
 Every issue of the Post in the month of January, 
 after the 16th, contained some allusion to the LexingA 
 ton. It took a long time in those days to get the 
 whole story of an event like this before the public. 
 The first publication concerning the disaster was in 
 the Post of January 17. A very meagre account of
 
 44 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 it, about a third of a column long, was prefaced by 
 the following remarks : 
 
 " The news of the loss of the steamer Lexington and nearly two 
 hundred lives, which reached here yesterday, produced a sensation 
 of distress and melancholy in our community that we never saw 
 equalled. Large groups of people collected at every corner, inquir- 
 ing with feverish anxiety the particulars, and trembling as each cir- 
 cumstance was related, lest it should expose the death of some 
 relative or friend." 
 
 The particulars which followed were wholly de- 
 rived from the journals of Bridgeport, Conn., and 
 New York, and furnished only a mere statement of 
 the burning of the steamer, and brief narratives of 
 two survivors. The Post of the next day, the 18th, 
 contained an incomplete list of the passengers. 
 
 Public sympathy found expression in a meeting at 
 Faneuil Hall, at which Mayor Jonathan Chapman pre- 
 sided, and which was addressed by several prominent 
 citizens. George S. Hillard introduced in a speech 
 of great eloquence a series of resolutions conveying 
 sympathy with the bereaved friends of the lost, se- 
 verely censuring the owners of the Lexington, 
 denouncing the carriage of cotton on passenger 
 steamers, and urging the legislature of the state to 
 address Congress upon the necessity of more strin- 
 gent legislation for the preservation of human life on 
 steamboats. As is stated above, two eminent actors 
 perished in the Lexington Henry J. Finn and 
 Charles L. Eherle. Benefits were given at the thea- 
 tres for the families of these gentlemen, and feeling
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 45 
 
 eulogies were pronounced on them in the newspapers. 
 A Boston bookseller exhibited a print representing 
 the Lexington in flames, in his store window, and was 
 sternly reprimanded therefor by the Courier, which 
 regarded the exhibition as an unfeeling advertise- 
 ment. 
 
 This awful calamity more awful thirty years ago 
 than it would be to-day, when the public has become 
 hardened to such horrors drew out manifestations 
 of sorrow and pity from all sections of the country, 
 and proved that Christian charity is not so rare, after 
 all. One incident specially deserves mention. The 
 papers of New York and Boston, soon after the dis- 
 aster, were crowded with advertisements offering re- 
 wards for the recovery of the bodies of the victims. 
 Many of the lost were of wealthy families, and the 
 rewards offered were very large. Among them ap- 
 peared the advertisement of a poor widow, tendering 
 five dollars all she had for the privilege of looking 
 once again on the body of her husband, and giving it 
 Christian burial. Her offer attracted attention, arid 
 the next issue of the paper following its publication 
 contained the announcement that the sum of one 
 hundred and eighty-one dollars had been contributed 
 for the widow's benefit. 
 
 The fire which worked such terrible havoc was due 
 to the fact that the machinery and woodwork were 
 insufficiently protected against the intense heat of 
 the coal fires. The boat had been built to burn wood. 
 At the beginning of her last voyage a passenger, no-
 
 46 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 ticing this lack of protection, remarked upon it to a 
 fireman. The latter replied, " 0, we expect all to be 
 burned up some day." The Lexington had been 
 thoroughly overhauled and repaired only two months 
 before, and was in first-rate order. She was valued 
 at fifty thousand dollars. But she was a mud-scow 
 compared with the steamers of the present day. 
 
 If a steamboat built forty years ago could be ex- 
 hibited to-day in our harbor, what a sensation it would 
 create ! The little, insignificant contrivance would 
 hardly be pronounced safe or comfortable for a harbor 
 excursion. The boats of those days were open-decked 
 from the smoke-stacks forward, and in a heavy sea 
 were liable to be washed from one gangway to an- 
 other. The guards were " sponded " up from stem to 
 stern, and the full force of the sea striking them under- 
 neath made the steamer shake like an aspen leaf. The 
 few state-rooms on the after-deck were small, cold, 
 and uncomfortable, and the unventilated cabin below 
 was but a slight improvement upon the hold of a 
 ship. The want of fresh air, the numerous oil lamps 
 and chandeliers, with the odoriferous exhalations 
 from the inevitable " darky " waiters, all combined to 
 produce odors somewhat different in quality irom those 
 " spicy breezes " which " blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle." 
 
 Among the first " splendid " boats were those run- 
 ning from Providence, called the Benjamin Franklin, 
 Chancellor Livingston, President, Providence, &c. 
 The Lexington was built to eclipse these in beauty and 
 speed, and was then considered a ' : thing of beauty;"
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 47 
 
 We give below a partial list of the passengers on 
 board the Lexington on this last and fatal voyage: 
 
 Isaac Davis, of Boston ; Charles W. Woolsey, of 
 Boston ; Robert Blake, of Wrentham. President Wren- 
 tham Bank ; W. A. Greene, of Allen & Greene, Provi- 
 dence; Adolphus Harnden, Superintendent of Harn- 
 den's Express, who had in charge twenty thousand 
 dollars in specie for the Massachusetts Bank, F:ston, 
 and from forty to fifty thousand dollars in bank notes ; 
 Nathaniel Hobart, of Boston ; John Corey, of Fox- 
 boro' ; John Brown, of Boston ; Abraham Howard, of 
 Howard & Merry; H. C. Craig, of Maitland, Kennedy, 
 & Co., of New York ; Robert Schultz, of New York ; 
 Captain J. D. Carver, of bark Brontes, of Plymouth; 
 Alphonso Mason, of Gloucester; Charles Brackett, of 
 New York; Captain Poster, of the John Gilpin, 
 Providence ; Jesse Comstock ; Samuel Henry, of A. <fe 
 S. Henry, Manchester, England ; R. W. Dow, of Dow 
 <fe Co., New York; C. H. Phelps, Stonington; 
 Mrs. H. A. Winslow, New York; John Winslow, 
 Providence; William Winslow, Providence (the 
 three last mentioned were returning to Providence 
 with the body of H. A. Winslow, who had died a lew 
 days previously) ; Rev. Dr. Follen, of Boston ; Mr. 
 White, of Boston ; Mr. Pierce, of Portland, mate of 
 the Brontes; Captain E. J. Kimball; Captain B. T. 
 Foster (these captains had recently returned after 
 several years' absence, and were on their way to visit 
 their families at the east); Mr. Everett, Boston; 
 Royal T. Church, Baltimore ; Richard Picket, New-
 
 48 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 buryport ; Captain Low, agent of the Boston Under- 
 writers; Mr. Ballou, or Bullard, of New York; Cap- 
 tain Theophilus Smith, Dartmouth, Mass. ; Charles S. 
 Noyes, New York; J. L. Sheafe, New York; A. E. 
 Harding, of Harding & Co., New York; John Hoyt, 
 mail contractor ; Henry J. Finn, actor ; Mrs. Russell 
 Jarvis, New York, and two children ; J. W. Kerle, 
 Baltimore ; Mr. Weston, of Weston & Pendexter, Bal- 
 timore ; James G. Brown, of Shale & Brown, New 
 Orleans ; Mr. Walker, Baltimore ; Stephen Waterbury, 
 of Mead & Waterbury, New York ; Mr. Woodward, 
 Philadelphia; J. A. Leach, Boston; E. B. Patten, 
 New York ; Mr. Warner, of Warner, Loop & Bliss, 
 New York ; N. F. Dyer, Pittsburg, formerly of Brain- 
 tree ; H. C. Bradford, Boston; Charles Lee, Boston ; 
 John G. Stone, Boston; John Lemist, Treasurer Bos- 
 ton Leather Company ; Jonathan Lintield, Stoughton ; 
 Mr. Van Cott, Stouington ; Philo Upton, Egremont, 
 Mass. ; Mr. Stuy vesant, Boston ; Captain Mattison ; 
 Robert- Williams, Cold Spring, N. Y. ; C. L. Eberle, 
 actor, Boston ; Captain Child, brother of the captain 
 of the boat ; Mr. Dorr, New York ; Mr. Taylor, New 
 York ; P. O. Swaine, Mr. Lawrence, P. McKean, and 
 C. Biswell, New York ; John Walker, Cambridge ; J. 
 Howes, Cambridge ; George B. Smith, Brookline. 
 
 BoaVs Company, viz. : Captain George Child ; 
 E. Thurber, first mate ; J. R. Newman, steward ; J. 
 Sands, head waiter ; C. Hempsted, first engineer ; 
 Captain Manchester, pilot ; W. Quimby, second do. ; 
 M. Johnson, wheelman ; R. B. Shultz, B. Cox, Charles
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 49 
 
 Smith, George , firemen ; five colored waiters : 
 
 Susan C. Hulcomb, chambermaid ; J. Robinson, 0. 
 Howell, R. Peters, cooks ; nine deck hands ; two wood 
 passers ; barkeeper. Total number lost, one hundred 
 and forty. 
 
 Saved. Captain Chester Hillard, passenger ; Cap- 
 tain Manchester, pilot; David Crowley, mate ; John 
 Smith, fireman. 
 
 Shortly after the commencement of Harnden's 
 enterprise, he engaged, as clerk and general as- 
 sistant, Mr. Dexter Brigham, Jr., a young man from 
 Westboro', Mass., and a brother of the late lamented 
 E. D. Brigham, President of the Metropolitan Railroad 
 Company. Young Brigham possessed remarkable 
 business talents, and was well appreciated by Mr. 
 Harnden. He afterwards became, upon the decease 
 of Harnden, the leading proprietor of the express. 
 Mr. Harnden's struggles for success were now unceas- 
 ing ; but it was " up-hill work," and his almost in- 
 credible exertions were poorly rewarded. Business 
 men, although convinced of its utility, gave his ex- 
 press but indifferent patronage it was an experi- 
 ment, and the " solid men of Boston " are proverbially 
 shy of experiments. In these his days of almost 
 unrewarded effort, he toiled incessantly ; and his con- 
 Btitution, naturally feeble, received so great a strain 
 that his health became permanently undermined, and 
 he often expressed the opinion to his friends that he 
 should never live to reap the results of his labors. 
 4
 
 50 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 Alas! his fears proved to be but too well founded. 
 Notwithstanding his foiling health, he was ever on the 
 alert, and never paused for the rest he so much 
 needed. 
 
 About the period of his severest struggles, an un- 
 looked-for assistance appeared. The line of Cunard 
 steamers went into operation, and the consequent 
 great increase of foreign packages to be delivered in 
 New York gave a new impetus to his business. Harn- 
 den was wide awake to avail himself of the opportu- 
 nities now offered, and his little Court Street office on 
 steamer days presented a lively and bustling scene. 
 We can well recall the appearance of Harnden as the 
 well-filled wagon, driven by the now veteran driver, 
 Levi Hodgkins, rolled up to the door, the famous old 
 bull dog " Dan " occupying the seat with Levi. 
 
 By the way, that same old dog was a remarkable 
 brute. His quick eye would instantly detect suspicious- 
 looking individuals, and such persons he always fol- 
 lowed closely about the office with a " watchful " eye 
 upon their every motion. Harnden, with the inevitable 
 cigar always between his lips, was " himself" on 
 these occasions. Although cool, reserved, and chary 
 of words, he w^s full of energy and impulse, always 
 reticent, but absorbed in the work before him. Elated 
 with the brilliant prospects now opening up, he con- 
 ceived the idea of ornamenting his office with a grand 
 scenic painting, representing the Cunard Wharf at 
 East Boston, the steamer lying in the dock, and his 
 express wagons loading up from the gangway. This
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 51 
 
 painting, which is remarkably well executed, and in 
 size about fifteen feet in length by six feet in width, 
 gives a very accurate representation of East Boston 
 in 1840, and is really quite an object of curiosity, as 
 it illustrates in a very marked manner, by comparison, 
 the wonderful growth of our island ward. The 
 painting is still in possession of the Harnden Express 
 Company, at 98 Washington Street, arid the associa- 
 tions connected with it render it an object of interest, 
 particularly to railroad and expressmen. 
 
 EARLY EMPLOYEES. 
 
 Among the earlier clerks and employees of William 
 F. Harnden, several have risen to eminent positions in 
 the business world. Several of them are particularly 
 worthy of mention. J. L. Stone, now of the banking 
 firm of Stone & Downer, was an efficient clerk -for 
 Harnden as early as 1839. Mr. Stone, and his worthy 
 partner, Mr. Downer, also an expressman of the olden 
 time, have achieved success in their present vocation 
 a success which they abundantly merit, for two 
 more honest, upright, and genial men never trod the 
 sidewalks of State Street. 
 
 M. M. Ballou, the successful publisher, James M. 
 Thompson, the Springfield millionnaire, J. W. Law- 
 rence, now Lawrence & Ryan, Oliver C. Wyman, Esq., 
 noted as a successful dramatic and humorous writer, 
 W. N. Melcher, now proprietor of the American Ex- 
 press Company, and many other well-known" individu- 
 als, were connected with him. James Gay, now de-
 
 52 WAIES FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 ceased, was an efficient messenger for Harnden. He 
 afterwards founded the noted firm of Gay, Kinsley, & 
 Co., whicfr lias recently become absorbed in the 
 Adams Express Company. Of all the original em- 
 ployees of Harnden & Co., none are now connected 
 with that express. Eben Cain, who commenced as 
 driver shortly after Harnden's decease, "still lives/' 
 and is now the oldest express driver in the business. 
 Levi Hodgkins, the original driver for Harnden, now 
 drives a job wagon, employed principally in business 
 connected with the Custom House. Among the val- 
 ued and confidential employees of Harnden, none 
 stand higher in his esteem than Mr. J. W. Lawrence, 
 now of the well-known firm of Lawrence & Ryan, 
 Passenger Agents, No. 10 Broad Street, Boston. Mr. 
 L. has many letters of Harnden's, which he values 
 very highly. The bold, free style of his penmanship 
 is characteristic of the man. 
 
 HARNDEN'S FOREIGN EXPRESS. 
 
 The great impetus given Harnden's business by 
 the advent of the Cunard steamers aroused in his 
 breast the most ambitious aspirations, and he began 
 to feel quite dissatisfied with the limited field of his 
 operations. In 1841 he established his Boston and 
 Albany Express over the Western Railroad. This 
 was a move in the right direction, and had he con- 
 tinued pushing his business over that road and its 
 connections, a princely fortune would have been the 
 result ; but he became infatuated with the idea tliat
 
 OP AN OLD rXPnniRMAN. 53 
 
 a European express was the one thing needful and 
 desirable. In August, 1811, lie sent out to Liverpool 
 Dexter Briglmm, Jr., and J. L. Stone, to establish ex- 
 presses in Liverpool, London, and Paris. They were 
 successful in procuring good agents in these cities, 
 and for two or three years the " English and Conti- 
 nental Express " was an apparent success ; but the 
 great expense of establishing and running it left no 
 margin for dividends. This enterprise was the great 
 mistake of Harnden's life. In addition to the ruinous 
 outlay without equivalent returns, he concentrated 
 his energies upon this hobby, to the great detriment 
 of his domestic expresses. The now great and 
 important Western route, which has made impe- 
 rial fortunes for the present proprietors, was dis- 
 posed of for a more song to J. M. Thompson, a clerk 
 in his Boston office, and R. L. Johnson, of Albany. 
 This magnificent route was literally thrown away by 
 Harnden, causing him, even before his death, many 
 regrets for the infatuation, which, like many of the 
 remote missionary enterprises of the present day, 
 ignore a field of home usefulness for possible and 
 problematical results in a distant quarter. 
 
 Harnden's health now began rapidly to fail, and 
 during the fall of 1844 it was very evident that the 
 "sands of his glass " were nearly runout. On the 
 14th day of January, 1845, he bade adieu to earthly 
 scenes, at the early age of thirty-three. His remains 
 were consigned to Mount Auburn, where a marble 
 monument was erected to his memory.
 
 54 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 THE PECUNIARY RESULTS 
 
 of Harnden's hard labor for so many years of unre- 
 mitting toil and mental anxiety were very small; in 
 fact, be died poor, and left nothing but the inheritance 
 of a good name to his wife and young family. The 
 great outlay required for his European business had 
 exhausted all his pecuniary resources, and his really 
 paying routes had, as I have before mentioned, been 
 disposed of for a mere pittance. He was a large- 
 hearted man, of a hospitable nature, and, under the 
 most favoring pecuniary circumstances, could not 
 have accumulated a fortune. 
 
 CHANGE OF PROPRIETORSHIP. 
 
 After his death, his surviving partner, Dexter 
 Brigham, Jr., formed a copartnership with Robert 
 Osgood, J. C. Kendall, and John W. Fenno. The lat- 
 ter gentleman was formerly a State Street banker, of 
 the celebrated firm of Dana, Fenno, and Henshaw. 
 For a year or more after Harnden's death, the busi- 
 ness of the new concern perceptibly declined, and it 
 was quite evident that the "beginning of the end" 
 had commenced. Several changes in the style of the 
 firm rapidly took place, and in 1850 the Harnden Ex- 
 press became the property of several individuals, 
 under the style of Thompson, Livingston, & Co.; but 
 they still retained the name of Harnden's Express. 
 This change refers only to the New York apd Phila- 
 delphia Express, as Brigham, Fenno, and Osgood con-
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 55 
 
 tinned the foreign express until 1851, when they 
 caved in, with a tremendous crash, leaving a host of 
 mourners in the shape of bills of exchange holders, 
 which bills were more " honored in the breach than 
 in the observance." 
 
 THE PRESENT HARNDEN EXPRESS 
 
 exists only in name. The great cormorant, the Adams 
 Express Company, has " gobbled up" Harnden <fc Co., 
 Kinsley & Co., Earle & Co., Leonard & Co., and last, 
 but not least, the Merchants' Union Express Company. 
 The present office, which does business under the style 
 of Harnden & Co., is under the superintendence of 
 Freeman Cobb, Esq., a gentleman who has few equals, 
 and no superiors, as an express manager. Mr. Cobb, 
 who is a Cape Cod boy, is a fair sample of the intelli- 
 gent and enterprising sons of that barren region, 
 prolific only in men and women remarkable the world 
 over for intelligence and enterprise. He commenced 
 as clerk for Adams & Co. in 1850, but subsequently 
 went to Australia, where he accumulated a handsome 
 fortune in staging and expressing. Having given a 
 brief, but accurate, account of the Harnden Express 
 froja its inception, in 1839, up to its absorption by the 
 Adams Express Company, the next great express en- 
 terprise in point of age, but not next in magnitude, 
 claims the attention of our readers.
 
 56 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 THE ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY, 
 
 which has acquired a world-wide renown for the mag- 
 nitude of its transactions, realizing millions of dollars 
 for its fortunate proprietors, and making fortunes for 
 scores of enterprising men, commenced its career 
 under circumstances of a very humble character. 
 The extraordinary success of this great corporation 
 could never have been foreseen by its senior proprie- 
 tor, Alvin Adams, Esq., when he commenced in the 
 year 1840, in connection with Mr. P. B. Burke, a 
 humble opposition to William F. Harnden. Mr. Adams 
 is a native of Vermont, and a good specimen of the 
 physical productions of the Green Mountain State. 
 He had no capital or influential friends, and for sev- 
 eral years the path of life was a " hard road to travel." 
 He was engaged first as an assistant at the Lafayette 
 Hotel, opposite Boylston Market, and afterwards in 
 the produce business, which did not prove remunera- 
 tive ; his business talent was reserved for something 
 better adapted to his peculiar faculties. The plodding 
 occupation of a retail produce dealer was every way 
 unsuited to a brain capable of great combinations," and 
 ho was ever on the alert for something of a progres- 
 sive character. He had the foresight to perceive that 
 the express business inaugurated by Harnden would, 
 in process of time, become a necessity to the mercan- 
 tile community, and he fully made up his mind to 
 start in the competitive race.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 57 
 
 UP-HILL WORK. 
 
 The first few months of his undertaking were truly 
 a season of " up-hill " work. Mr. Burke, after six 
 months' experience, retired in disgust, a disheartened 
 man ; but Alvin Adams, notwithstanding the unprom- 
 ising aspect of affairs, kept bravely at work. Many 
 business men considered him an interloper upon the 
 domains of Harnden, although he entered the field as 
 an honorable competitor in a perfectly legitimate man- 
 ner, because he was an opposition expressman. Mr. 
 Adams very properly estimated these merely technical 
 objections at their proper value, and " pushed things " 
 with characteristic energy and courage. For a long 
 time he acted as messenger, clerk, and boy ; the busi- 
 ness did not pay enough to employ wagon and driver. 
 Mr. E. H. Brainard, the now celebrated wagon builder 
 of South Boston, did the first wagon business for 
 Adams. Leonard's Worcester Express, occupying 
 the same room with Adams at 9 Court Street, had 
 arranged with Brainard to deliver their freight, and 
 Adams " improved the opportunity " to arrange with 
 u Ned " to do his work. It was not a very " paying " 
 business for Brainard ; but he is one of those good- 
 hearted, generous souls, who cannot help doing a 
 good turn whenever the occasion offers, and he gen- 
 erously assisted Adams by every means in his power. 
 Mr. Hall, a brother-in-law of Adams, entered the Bos- 
 ton office as clerk, and W. B. Dinsmoro, a Boston boy, 
 assumed the agency at New York. Dinsmore pos
 
 58 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 sessed many good qualities for his position. Ho was 
 active, energetic, and industrious, of a chatty, sociable 
 nature, and made many friends and customers. 
 
 The first three years of Adams & Co.'s Express 
 were years of hard sledding; nor did their business 
 improve to any extent until Harnden & Co. became so 
 absorbed in their foreign operations that their home 
 express suffered considerably by want of attention to 
 its details. Adams, ever on the alert to improve his 
 opportunities, took advantage of this state of things, 
 and redoubled his efforts to secure patronage. As a 
 natural consequence, he began gradually to prosper. 
 He had also the sagacity to secure good, capable em- 
 ployees. " Uncle " Woodward, formerly a New Hamp- 
 shire stage driver, was engaged to drive and collect 
 freight. Woodward proved himself a valuable acqui- 
 sition, his industry, faithfulness, and affable manner* 
 combining to make him a profitable and popular em- 
 ployee. " Uncle " Woodward, after an active career 
 as stage and express driver for more than forty years, 
 retired from the business about five years ago, and 
 with the hard-earned proceeds of his useful toil pur- 
 chased a small farm out West, and is living, we hope, 
 in a state of comparative ease. Among the early 
 employees of Adams, mention should be made of 
 Charles H. Brainard, Esq., now a popular lecturer, 
 and one of the best elocutionists extant. He is a 
 most ardent admirer of Whittier, and recites his beau- 
 tiful poem, ' Maud Muller," in a style this unequalled 
 production demands for the delectation of fastidious
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 59 
 
 ears. Thomas 0. Goold, one of tho curly messengers 
 of Adams, was an energetic, capable man, and greatly 
 distinguished himself by his efforts to save their 
 property when the ill-fated steamer Atlantic was 
 wrecked on Fisher's Island, on. the night of Novem- 
 ber 25, 1846. 
 
 This fearful disaster, which involved the loss of so 
 much life and property, happened a few miles 
 put of New London, when battling with the furi- 
 ous gale, she broke some portion of her machinery, 
 and soon became unmanageable. She began to 
 drift, and after an unequal contest with the howling 
 gale, struck upon the rocks of Fisher's Island, and in 
 a few hours went to pieces. 
 
 Most of the boat hands and the passengers of ex- 
 perience in steamboat travel escaped safely by jump- 
 ing from the leeward as each wave ran out, but 
 others, in their fright and ignorance, jumped over- 
 board from the windward side into deep water, and 
 were immediately drowned. 
 
 Mr. Goold succeeded in saving the money and valu- 
 ables of Adams & Co., and was instrumental in saving 
 the lives of twenty individuals. For his gallantry on 
 this occasion he received a splendid gold watch and 
 chain 1'rom Adams & Co., and a medal from the Bos- 
 ton Humane Society. 
 
 Wo add to tho above brief mention of a great disas- 
 ter, tho following account, written for another publica- 
 tion, by " An Old Expressman."
 
 60 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 A FEARFUL STEAMBOAT DISASTER. 
 
 Two Heroes; Thomas 0. Qoold and Captain J. K. Dustan. 
 
 The loss of steamer Atlantic near Fisher's Island, 
 Long Island Sound, on Thursday night, Dec. 25, 1846, 
 has been alluded to in another chapter. A mention 
 of this heart-rending disaster will, in many families, 
 call up painful recollections of a calamity which de- 
 prived them of a cherished member. One instance 
 we especially recall to mind was that of Mr. Andrew 
 Collamore, a young business man of this city, who was 
 widely known and esteemed in business and social 
 circles, who was journeying to New York to be mar- 
 ried on Thanksgiving evening. On that fearful night 
 the cold, icy waves of Long Island Sound embraced 
 the ardent young lover, and shrouded in grief the life 
 of a beautiful and devoted young lady. 
 
 The steamer Atlantic, a new and elegant steamer, the 
 costliest and stanchest boat which had up to that time 
 floated on the Sound, was totally lost, with upwards of 
 fifty passengers, on a reef of rock, oft' Fisher's Island, a 
 few miles out of New London, in the fearful gale of 
 December 25 and 26, 1846. The 25th was Wednes- 
 day, the day before Thanksgiving. The weather had 
 been threatening all day, but towards night the wind 
 increased to a gale, accompanied by snow. Captain 
 Dustan, who was an able and experienced captain, had 
 some misgivings about putting out on such an un- 
 promising night, but two reasons induced him to ven- 
 ture. One was, the anxiety of his passengers to
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. Gl 
 
 arrive in Now York and spend Thanksgiving with 
 their friends and relatives, and the other, his great 
 confidence in the strength and sea-going qualities of 
 his new, but untried, steamer. JTe had been wishing 
 for a rough trip, in order to give her a good test. 
 Unfortunately this wish was met on this occasion. 
 
 Had it not been" for an unforeseen accident, there 
 was good reason for belief that the captain's splendid 
 seamanship, and the stanch qualities of the boat, 
 would have carried her safely through. When off 
 Fisher's Island, and in the teeth of the gale, her steam 
 chest burst, und she became unmanageable. To keep 
 her head to the wind, the bow anchor was dropped ; 
 but this did not prevent dragging. Another, but 
 smaller, anchor was got out, and she rode through the 
 dreadful night, but slowly and surely dragged towards 
 the reef. With the advent of morning the gale in- 
 creased in fury, and soon it became evident that 
 going ashore was only a question of time. Through- 
 out that dreadful Thanksgiving day she slowly drifted 
 towards the cruel rocks, finally striking about six 
 o'clock P. M. ' 
 
 Thou followed a scene of distress and terror which 
 can hardly be imagined. The wretched passengers, 
 some praying, and others rushing frantically about, 
 saw no chance of escape through the boiling surf to 
 the rocky shore, over which the heavy seas dashed 
 with fearful violence. In this scene of peril, Captain 
 Dustau behaved with great coolness and courage, 
 going about among the despairing passengers, and
 
 62 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 speaking words of encouragement. The steamship 
 finally wore round by the force of the wind, and 
 her stern struck the shore, leaving that portion of the 
 vessel, when the waves receded, in quite shoal water. 
 A few individuals, blessed with coolness and presence 
 of mind, here saw a possible chance of escape, and, 
 jumping from the stern, rushed through the shallow 
 waters arid gained the shore. Among them waa 
 Thomas 0. Goold, who not only saved the bulk of 
 Adams & Co.'s valuable packages, but, by his almost 
 incredible exertions, saved the lives of more than 
 twenty passengers, he rushing through the surf and 
 assisting them to the shore. Had they all possessed 
 his nerve and courage, few lives would have been lost ; 
 but timidity and hesitation sealed their fate, for the 
 tremendous sea soon stove in pieces her upper works, 
 and the hapless passengers were sent struggling into 
 the remorseless waves. About fifty perished in the 
 surf and among the rocks, while many were dashed, 
 stunned and mutilated, upon the shore. Captain Dus- 
 tan, who had heroically refused to avail himself of the 
 only practicable means of escape, saying that he would 
 be the last to leave his steamer, was thrown among 
 the breakers, and is supposed to have been stunned by 
 contact with the rocks, for he immediately sunk. 
 His body was recovered at low water. Mr. Goold, for 
 his courageous conduct, received a gold medal from 
 the Humane Society, and a valuable gold watch suit- 
 ably inscribed from Adams & Co.'s Express. The 
 untimely death of Captain Dustan caused universal
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 63 
 
 sorrow, for he was popular as well as brave. The 
 following thrilling story, whicli we copy 1'roin the Bos- 
 ton Evening Transcript of January 2, 1847, will be 
 read with interest. It well illustrates the daring in- 
 trepidity of the man. It originally appeared in the 
 New York Herald. 
 
 "A few years since and the circumstance is still 
 fresh in the memory of our readers he commanded the 
 ill-fated Lexington. On her passage to this city from 
 Providence, with some two hundred passengers, a 
 terrible storm overtook her, such, perhaps, as was 
 witnessed in the loss of the Atlantic. After beating 
 about and struggling for a long time, and when the 
 gale was at its height, she unshipped her rudder ! A 
 fearful cry went up from all on board, and all was 
 given up for lost. The boat beat about, and the wind 
 was fast driving her to the shore, where in a short 
 time she would have been dashed into pieces, and 
 every soul on board have perished. Captain Pustan 
 called on his men, and asked which of them would 
 jump into the sea and lash a rope to the rudder, that 
 it might be re-shipped. No one had the courage to 
 do it. Five hundred dollars was then offered as an 
 inducement, but it was not accepted. Fifteen min- 
 utes more and the boat would be dashed in pieces 
 the breakers were almost within reach. A thousand 
 dollars was then offered the passengers clung round 
 the captain in fearful suspense, and waiting with 
 dreadful anxiety to hear some one accept the offer ; 
 but the risk was too great, the fate too terrible to at-
 
 64 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 tempt. No one, either among the passengers or crew, 
 dared accept it a thousand dollars was no consider- 
 ation for such a fearful risk. Captain Dustan with- 
 drew, and the passengers gave themselves up to 
 hopeless despair. A few minutes of awful, horrible 
 reflection ensued, when a cry was heard ' A man 
 overboard ! a man overboard ! It ran like an 
 electric shock through the chilled and frightened 
 multitude, as an omen of the fate which momentarily 
 awaited them. But still greater was the shock when the 
 cry was heard ' IT is CAPTAIN DUSTAN! IT is 
 CAPTAIN DUSTAN ! ' 
 
 " It was Captain Dustan he had tied a rope round 
 his body, stationed two or three of his men at the 
 sternpost, and leaped into the sea. Manfully he buf- 
 feted the waves, now seen riding at the top of the 
 highest wave, and now swallowed up in the trough of 
 the sea, tossing, struggling, and working his way to tho 
 loose rudder. At length he gained it ; he lashed the 
 rope to it, and in ten minutes he was dragged on 
 board the boat the rudder was hung, and two hun- 
 dred lives saved by his daring intrepidity." 
 
 OTHER EARLY EMPLOYEES OF ADAMS & Co. 
 
 Two of the most efficient men ever employed by 
 Adams & Co. were Charles and D. H. Haskell, two 
 brothers. They were both prompt, active, and thor- 
 oughly efficient business men, popular with customers, 
 and by their successful exertions Adams & Co.'s Ex- 
 press gained much of its early renown. Charles
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 65 
 
 Haskell has resided at the South for a number of 
 years, and D. H. Haskell is in California. To the 
 latter individual Adams & Co. arc indebted for the 
 foundation of their present prosperity. 
 
 The company, although gradually increasing its 
 business, and beginning to make its mark in the mer- 
 cantile community, did not accumulate anything to its 
 capital, as the running expenses often exceeded the 
 receipts. To any one familiar with express business, 
 it is hardly necessary to say, that it takes a host of 
 packages daily, at twenty-five cents and upwards in 
 each package, to pay office rent, the salary of clerks, 
 the board of horses, the wear and tear of teams, har- 
 nesses, &c., and the actual living, which the proprietors 
 must- have. 
 
 Express messengers are for the most part a hard- 
 working and estimable class, deserving encourage- 
 ment from the public, and toleration for the few faults 
 they commit. Their vocation is often a laborious and 
 difficult one, and the responsibilities which devolve 
 upon them, and which are seldom abused, should be 
 considered when they come to be paid, and should 
 excuse a little tardiness or other trifling error. When 
 the temptation which is constantly before them is con- 
 sidered, and the rareness with which the messengers 
 yield to it, we see that no other class is more generally 
 honorable, or more deserving of commendation. 
 5
 
 66 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 THE TIDE OF FORTUNE TURNS. 
 
 The great event in the history of Adams & Co.'s 
 Express, which turned the tide of fortune in their 
 favor, was the establishment of the California Express, 
 in September, 1849. This great enterprise was 
 given in charge of D. Hale Haskell. He secured 
 a small building at San Francisco, and at once com- 
 menced vigorous operations. The enterprise was a 
 success from the start, and the little office was daily 
 thronged by an eager crowd of miners, armed with 
 their bags of precious dust, each one anxious to be 
 the first served. 
 
 The rapidly increasing business soon demanded 
 larger accommodations, and the small building was 
 enlarged to double its former dimensions. More help 
 in the clerical department was imperatively demand- 
 ed, and the force was increased from time to time by 
 able and experienced express clerks. Among them 
 were John M. Freeman and William H. Hall. Mr. 
 Hall was formerly in the employ of his brother, John 
 R. Hall, Superintendent of the Eastern Express, in Bos- 
 ton. He was in the office of Adams & Co., at San 
 Francisco, for several years, and finally, upon the re- 
 tirement of Adams and Dinsmore, in 1854, with D. H. 
 Haskell and J. C. Woods, assumed the proprietorship 
 of the express, but still retained the name of Adams 
 & Co., which retention afterwards, upon the failure of 
 the new concern, involved Mr. Adams in vexatious and 
 expensive litigation.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 67 
 
 The extensive operations of Adams & Co., in con- 
 nection with their California Express, gave them u 
 notoriety the world over, adding to their renown fame 
 of a profitable character, and solid pecuniary results. 
 Their great success induced otherenterprising express- 
 men to enter the promising field, and the present well- 
 known firm of Wells, Fargo, & Co. commenced opera- 
 tions. This concern has met with some reverses, and 
 has suffered from many robberies, but has always 
 maintained its standing and integrity. The great 
 source of the Adams Express Company's immense 
 wealth was the vast and profitable business during 
 the war.
 
 G8 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BUSINESS DURING THE WAR. 
 
 No person outside of the express business can con- 
 ceive of the magnitude of the Adams Express Co.'s 
 transactions during the war. On the nearest and 
 most remote fields of our army's operations, the 
 agents and employees of this great company were ever 
 on the alert, venturing often where a picket guard 
 would hardly venture, collecting of the hardy soldiers 
 moneys, letters, lockets, watches, and other valuables 
 for transmission to the " loved ones at home." Upon 
 the paying off of a regiment, the express agents gath- 
 ered an immense harvest of these packages. But the 
 most melancholy duty devolving upon the agents and 
 messengers was the transmission, after an engage- 
 ment, of the bodies of the killed to their friends. 
 Many a painful scene has an " old expressman " wit- 
 nessed at the home office, when the corpse of a poor 
 soldier has been delivered to a weeping and heart- 
 broken wife, child, or parent. 
 
 Sometimes a soldier on a distant, southern field sends 
 a " confiscated " article of property to his family as a 
 trophy of war.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 69 
 
 These trophies varied in bulk and value, from a 
 horse to a poodle dog from a piano-forte to ajews- 
 harp ! Many of the soldiers, particularly those from 
 the State of Maine, were apparently brought up to 
 habits of rigid economy, and were exceedingly careful 
 of their old clothes. After a new fit-out was furnished 
 a regiment, the ragged, filthy, and worthless duds 
 were packed in boxes and sent home to their fi iends 
 from sadly mistaken motives of economy thousands 
 of these boxes constantly arriving per express to their 
 destination, often from remote regions of the West 
 and South, a large proportion of them freight unpaid, 
 at burdensome charges to the almost destitute families. 
 Hundreds and probably thousands of these boxes have 
 passed under the inspection of the writer, with charges 
 varying from five to twenty-five dollars and upwards, 
 the contents of which were utterly worthless unless 
 as paper stock. This species of freight, although of 
 little intrinsic value, coined money for the expresses, 
 as full rates were charged and exacted. 
 
 The money-package portion of the business proved 
 immensely profitable, the risk being small, the charges 
 high, and the number of packages almost innumerable. 
 During the war, the Adarns Express Co. made big 
 dividends to the stockholders, and at one period the 
 stock rose to the enormous price of five hundred dol- 
 lars per share the par value being one hundred. 
 These were harvest days for all the large express 
 companies days which will ''never come again."
 
 70 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 THE ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY 
 
 of to-day is a mammoth affair growing great by its 
 legitimate growth, but continually swelling its huge 
 proportions by swallowing its competitors, be they of 
 great or small dimensions. Into its capacious maw 
 have disappeared some dozen or more expresses noted 
 in their day and generation, representing capital and 
 business to an immense amount. The great moneyed 
 resources of the Adams Express Co. make it a formida- 
 ble opponent to ambitious competitors, and the solid, 
 substantial character of the company, ever able to 
 meet any loss which it may incur, gives it a power 
 and influence in the business community which a 
 weaker organization can never command. 
 
 The present " Head Centre " of the company, No. 
 57 Court Street, is one of the notable places of Boston. 
 The iron front building, which is an ornament to Court 
 Street, occupies, in part, the site of the celebrated 
 Brattle Street parsonage, a building of historical re- 
 nown. Alvin Adams, Esq., the respected founder of 
 this great company, can daily be seen at his desk, his 
 energy unabated by the care and toil of years, and his 
 thoughtful countenance ever reflecting through genial 
 smiles the goodness of his heart. 
 
 He has a corps of able workers in every depart- 
 ment of the extensive concern. His sons, Waldo and 
 Edwin Adams, having received a thorough express 
 education, are fully competent to supervise the im- 
 mense business daily transacted ; and they take a pro-
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 71 
 
 fessional pride in carrying out the liberal ideas of the 
 senior proprietor. Messrs. Lovering, Dow, and War- 
 iier are valuable men in their several departments, and 
 contribute greatly by their active exertions to facilitate 
 the transactions of this great and popular company. 
 
 As an illustration of the present magnitude of 
 the Adams Express Co.'s business, it will be interest- 
 ing to glance at the following statistics taken from the 
 company's books, January 1, 1872: 
 
 Number of men employed, 3,598 
 
 horses, 839 
 
 ' wagons, 633 
 
 " safes, 1,236 
 
 Number of miles travelled daily, . . . 55,201 
 " " yearly, . 16,118,255 
 
 THE AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY. 
 
 The next express in point of magnitude, but not in 
 age, is the great American Express Co. It was com- 
 menced by Henry Wells, Esq., now its president. 
 Mr. Wells, previous to embarking in the express busi- 
 ness, was engaged at Albany in the freight and pas- 
 senger business, as a forwarding agent. He was 
 early distinguished for his great energy and intelli- 
 gence. By his good judgment in the selection of the 
 right sort of men as associates in his enterprise, his 
 success from the start was an assured fact. His first 
 partners were George Pomeroy and Crawford Living- 
 ston, both men of first-class ability. William G. Fargo,
 
 72 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 John Buttcrfield, and other persons of acknowledged 
 business talent were subsequently connected with the 
 company, and in the course of a few years it became a 
 " power in the land." One of the most 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY ROBBERIES 
 
 ever recorded in the annals of crime is associated with 
 the early history of this express. In September, 1 855, 
 the United States receiver at Dubuque, Iowa, delivered 
 the agent of the American Express Co. at that place two 
 small hard wood boxes purporting to contain twenty- 
 five thousand dollars, each, in gold coin, principally 
 twenty dollar pieces. The boxes were directed to the 
 assistant treasurer, New York. They were not sub- 
 jected to any detention on the road, but were delivered 
 from one messenger to another at different points, ap- 
 parently in good order, until they passed into the hands 
 of the messenger from Albany to New York, when he 
 discovered on the route that one of the boxes had, to 
 all appearance, been tampered with, as the cover 
 was not screwed down tight. On looking closely, he 
 thought he discovered something like lead inside, but 
 concluded to keep quiet about the matter until arriv- 
 ing in New York. As soon as possible after his 
 arrival, he placed the boxes upon the wagon in wait- 
 ing, and rapidly drove to the assistant treasurer's 
 office. They were immediately opened, and found to 
 contain, instead of the precious metal, bullets and 
 sheet lead. 
 
 It was very evident that the original boxes had been
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 73 
 
 abducted, and the bogus ones substituted somewhere 
 on the route. The boxes were of the same size, 
 weight, and general appearance of those delivered by 
 tho receiver at Dubuque ; but how they could be 
 duplicated in their rapid transit seemed an unfathom- 
 able mystery ; indeed, it has never been explained^ 
 
 4 
 
 The express company were not only astonished, but 
 confounded. Their agents and messengers were men 
 of character and of apparent integrity. Their fidelity 
 was not questioned; but who were the robbers? 
 After several months of unavailing effort to discover 
 the perpetrators and their spoils, the company gave 
 up the search as fruitless, and paid into the sub-treas- 
 ury the fifty thousand dollars with interest. 
 
 Some months subsequent to this event, the com- 
 pany received information from Haverhill, Mass., that 
 two persons belonging in Lowell, and known to be 
 " soldiers of fortune/'' were, to the surprise of their 
 old acquaintances, quite "flush," one of them deposit- 
 ing a large amount of gold in the Haverhill Bank, and 
 both purchasing largely of real estate, paying for the 
 same in gold. One shrewd individual, bearing in 
 mind the robbery, and knowing that these parties 
 were intimately acquainted with Samuel C. White, 
 the messenger of the American Express Co. between 
 Chicago and Detroit, and that they were both in 
 Chicago at the date of the robbery, wrote to the com- 
 pany, detailing these facts. Mr. Wells, connecting 
 them with another suspicious circumstance, viz., the 
 resignation of White a few weeks after the robbery,
 
 74 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 on a plea that his salary was too small for his services, 
 a statement rather inconsistent with his profuse 
 expenditure of money, he concluded to employ a 
 detective to work up the case. The detective proved 
 more efficient than some who have " operated " in 
 Boston and New York of late, for he succeeded in 
 procuring evidence, though mainly circumstantial, 
 which was deemed so conclusive that the three bold 
 robbers were sentenced to a long imprisonment in the 
 State Prison. The company never recovered any por- 
 tion of their lost property. 
 
 SOME OF THE OLD EXPRESSES. 
 
 Many of the expresses established at the outset of 
 Harnden's Express " still live." One of the oldest, 
 Leonard's Express, has been absorbed by the Adams 
 Express Company. This express was established in 
 1840, by S. S. Leonard, and was run by himself and son, 
 Colonel S. H. Leonard, between Boston and Worces- 
 ter, for many years. Mr. Leonard, Senior, has been 
 greatly afflicted of late years by the failure of his eye- 
 sight. He resides now in Worcester, possessing a 
 comfortable competency. 
 
 Colonel Hatch, of the New Bedford Express, is an 
 " old stager." He is a somewhat peculiar individual, 
 and is rioted for his hatred of notoriety ; but he possesses 
 the bump of " goaheadativeriess " largely developed. 
 The colonel started his express in 1840, and, notwith- 
 standing considerable competition, has always ." held 
 his own." He is shrewd, as well as original, and
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 75 
 
 possesses a gift of oratory which would years ago 
 have given him a prominent position as a public 
 speaker, had his tu*tes run in that direction. 
 
 Earle & Co.'s Providence Express has also been 
 absorbed by the American Express Co. It was com- 
 menced in 1840, by Ben D. & L. B. Earle, and for a long 
 series of years transacted a large business between 
 Boston and Providence. Ben D. Earle died several 
 years ago, leaving a handsome property, amassed in 
 his well-managed business. 
 
 Niles & Co.'s Dover Express is an ancient institu- 
 tion. What express or railroad man does not know 
 " Uncle Niles " ? one of the veteran New Hampshire 
 stage drivers, and the jolliest, best natured man in the 
 business ; which is saying a great deal. " Uncle " 
 Niles is a joker of the first water, and some of his 
 stories are hard to beat. Happening, one day, in the 
 vicinity of Quincy Market, his attention was attracted 
 by a crowd surrounding a huge canvas-covered wagon, 
 on which was painted, in mammoth letters, " Great Curi- 
 osity : Behemoth hog, weighing 2000 pounds." One 
 of the market butchers, noticing Mr. Niles, exclaimed, 
 " Well, Uncle Niles, you can't raise such pork in New 
 Hampshire." "No," says -the veteran expressman. 
 " We don't deal in such small fry up there. One of 
 my neighbors killed a ' pig' last fall which weighed, 
 when dressed, thirteen thousand five hundred and 
 twenty-five pounds nine ounces ! His ' innards,' were 
 made into sausages, which, when filled, were laid 
 down on the highways by the county commissioners,
 
 76 WAIFS PROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 and reached one way from Dover to Concord, and the 
 other from Dover to Portsmouth, forming connecting 
 links between the three places!" The butcher 
 vamosed. 
 
 Favor's Eastport Express was at one time a favorite 
 with the public. His route was from Boston to East- 
 port and Calais. Maine, to St. John, N. B. Colonel 
 Favor was an unmitigated joker and a good fellow, 
 per se. Very few passengers having occasion to 
 travel on the old steamer Admiral, fifteen or twenty 
 years ago, will forget the colonel or his hospitality. 
 His state-room was the nightly resort of all the " good 
 fellows " on board, and his bottle of " Hennessy " 
 always honored the most exhaustive draughts. What 
 though the night was dark and tempestuous, the 
 briny waves dashing fore and aft over the stanch 
 Admiral, the gallant boat creaking and groaning under 
 the blows of the mighty billows of what account 
 was all this outside commotion to the unterrified 
 crowd in the colonel's snug room ? Songs were 
 sung, stories told, and joviality reigned supreme. On 
 those occasions Colonel Favor was in his element. A 
 good story of the colonel's ready wit is related by an 
 eye and ear witness. 
 
 " KISSING GOES BY FAVOR." 
 
 This old saying was nicely illustrated one morning 
 on the steamboat wharf at Eastport. The u last bell " 
 of the Admiral had been rung, and just as the " gang 
 planks" were about being hauled in, the gallant
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 77 
 
 colonel (who was always a prime favorite of the 
 ladies) was in the act of passing in his valise, when 
 his attention was arrested by the arrival of a buxora 
 lass, a first-rate specimen of rural beauty, who accost- 
 ed him with, " Colonel Favor, dear colonel, I want to 
 send a message by you to Boston." No galvanic 
 shock ever operated upon a " subject " with greater 
 force than the exclamation u dear colonel " upon the 
 susceptible expressman. 
 
 " What can I do for you, my dear? " exclaims the 
 gallant colonel. 
 
 " I want to send a sweet kiss to Jenny D ; how 
 
 shall I do it? " replied the lass. 
 
 " Do it ? " says the ardent expressman ; "why, kissing 
 always goes by favor ! " and turning his cheek to the 
 blooming damsel, he received a perfect bouncer. A 
 wag on board, observing the proceeding, quietly 
 remarked, " Thai kiss went by a smack." 
 
 THE EASTERN EXPRESS COMPANY. 
 
 This successful company is the only large express 
 concern (with one exception Cheney & Co.) doing 
 business without competition, and extending over an 
 extensive territory, exclusively on their " own hook '' 
 The business of this express is hardly second in 
 amount and importance to that of the Adams Express 
 Company. Their routes penetrate every portion of 
 the great State of Maine, and extend through every 
 part of the British Provinces, terminating at Halifax.
 
 78 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 They also connect with the Grand Trunk Road at 
 Portland, and share with the British and North 
 American Express Company the business from and 
 beyond the Canadas coming over the Grand Trunk 
 Road. The Eastern Express Company, like many other 
 extensive corporations, had a very humble origin. 
 
 John R. Hall, Esq., its present superintendent and 
 principal owner, is a native of Greenfield, Mass., and 
 came to Boston in 1840 to act as express clerk for his 
 uncle, P. C. Hale, of Hale & Forbes's Newburyport 
 Express, whose office was located ill the rear of Harn- 
 den's office, No. 8 Court Street. Mr. Hall is a born 
 expressman, and possesses a larger amount of practi- 
 cal ability than any other man in his business. He is 
 quiet and unassuming in manner, but clear-headed 
 and decisive in action. His intimate familiarity with 
 all the details of express business, and his daily per- 
 sonal attention to its management, are fully shown in 
 the success of the Eastern Express Company. 
 
 In 1841 or '2 Mr. George S. Carpenter commenced 
 running an express from the Kennebec River towns, 
 Augusta, North Gardiner, Hallowell, &c., and secured 
 the services of Mr. Hall as his agent. Jerome's Ex- 
 press, from Bangor and towns on the Penobscot 
 River, also employed Mr. Hall. Child & Co.'s Port- 
 land Express was soon added to his agency. The 
 accommodations at No. 8 began to prove rather small 
 for the rapidly increasing business, and Mr. HaW 
 gladly improved the opportunity to secure more spa- 
 cious and suitable accommodations in tho then new
 
 OP AX OLD EXPRESSMAN. 79 
 
 Museum Buildings, Court Square, which wore leased 
 by Mr. B. P. Cheney, of Cheney & Co.'s Express. 
 
 This was in 1847. The following year Mr. Benja- 
 min Longley, of Portland, succeeded Child & Co., and 
 taking Mr. Hall for a partner, the express became 
 Longley <fc Co. Mr. F. H. Hodgman, of Bangor, also 
 secured Mr. Hall as partner, and subsequently Mr. F. 
 W. Carr, of Bangor, and the express became Hodg- 
 man, Carr, & Co. Mr. Longley retired from the Port- 
 land Express in 1852, and J. N. Winslow, of Portland, ' 
 formed a copartnership with J. R. Hall, under the 
 style of Winslow & Co. 
 
 In 1856, the three express firms of Winslow & Co., 
 Hodgman, Carr, & Co., and Carpenter & Co., consoli- 
 dated under the style of the Eastern Express Co. 
 This company has met with great success, making 
 handsome fortunes for the proprietors. The profits 
 of their business during the war were enormous. Mr. 
 Horace Shaw has been in the employ of the Eastern 
 Express Co. for more than twenty years. Mr. James 
 F. Slater, the Portland messenger, has also been em- 
 ployed by Mr. Hall for more than eighteen years. 
 The company employs efficient men for every depart- 
 ment of the business, and its affairs are managed 
 shrewdly and successfully. 
 
 The freight department of the Eastern Express Co. 
 is under the supervision of Mr. George F. Averill, a 
 man of marked ability. Mr. Rice, Mr. Libby, and Mr. 
 Rea are very efficient employees of this prosperous 
 company.
 
 80 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 CHENEY & COMPANY. 
 
 This prosperous and well-established express com- 
 pany, fortunate in having, like the Eastern Express Co., 
 no competitors to divide the " spoils," originated with 
 Benjamin P. Cheney, who commenced his career as a 
 stage agent at the old office, No. 11 Elm Street, about 
 thirty-five years ago. This small brick building, which 
 stands " solitary and alone," adjoining the old Wildes 
 Hotel, No. 11 Elm Street, has a history. It was built 
 some forty-five years ago, to accommodate the agents 
 of various stage routes which centred in Elm Street, 
 and in its day was a place of popular resort for news, 
 <fec., equalling, in some characteristics, the present 
 Mechanics' Exchange, corner of Wilson's Lane and 
 State Street ; both institutions monopolizing the ad- 
 joining sidewalks for their exhibitions of " chin music " 
 and tobacco squirting. 
 
 Benjamin P. Cheney came from New Hampshire, 
 where he was for many years a popular stage driver. 
 No one, to look at him as he briskly steps into his 
 office, No. 39 Court Square, would imagine the dapper 
 youthful looking individual the veteran that he is. His 
 only equal for protracted and perennial youth is found 
 at No. 49 Long wharf, in the person of the renowned 
 " Acorn." He (Acorn) is indebted probably to the 
 preserving qualities of salt for his juvenile bloom. 
 Mr. Cheney commenced business as an expressman 
 about 1840, in a rear room of Hardnen's office, No. 8 
 Court Street. By diligence and application, his busi-
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN, 81 
 
 ness increased so rapidly that his quarters were 
 transferred, in 1847, to Railroad Exchange, Court 
 Square. He devotes but a small portion of his time 
 to the onerous details of office business, his able 
 assistants, Messrs. Gushing, Geer, and Hawley assum- 
 ing the superintendence of his large express trans- 
 actions. 
 
 THE LATE FIRM OF FISKE & COMPANY, 
 
 with which Mr. Cheney has long been associated, has 
 had great success. The route was established in 1850 
 by Liberty Bigelow, Esq., the present temporary and 
 accomplished active president of the Metropolitan 
 Railroad Co. Mr. Bigelow commenced on the Fitch- 
 burg Road when it opened, and ran the first expres via 
 that road. Mr. B. subsequently sold out to Phineas 
 S. Fiske and H. F. Rice. Mr. Fiske was formerly in 
 the dry goods trade, as partner with Henry Poor, Esq., 
 now in New York. Not succeeding in that line, he 
 tried the express business as an experiment, and 
 reaped a rich pecuniary reward. Mr. Fiske was a 
 man of splendid social qualities, of fine personal appear- 
 ance, and won troops of friends by his generous and 
 manly traits of character. His recent decease, in the 
 prime of life, is universally regretted. The express is 
 now absorbed by Cheney & Co., and is in every re- 
 spect a ' paying " institution. 
 6
 
 82 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 \ 
 
 VARIOUS EXPRESSES. 
 
 AN old expressman has given brief but accurate 
 accounts of all the principal express companies, and 
 will finish the catalogue by noticing a few of the 
 smaller expresses, as a detailed notice of the whole 
 would prove about as interesting to the general read- 
 er as a perusal of the chapters of the book of Gen- 
 esis, describing the genealogy of the patriarchs, 
 one express "begat" another, about as regularly as 
 the ancient worthies " begat " their successors. An 
 enormous business, in the aggregate, is transacted by 
 the almost innumerable host of smaller expresses, and 
 the importance of their operations to the business 
 community can hardly be estimated. 
 
 THE FIRST EXPRESSMAN. 
 
 In the first chapter it is stated that W. C. Gray, of 
 Lowell, ran the first express between that place and 
 Boston. Mr. A. S. Tyler, of Lowell, claims that his 
 father, Mr. Silas Tyler, ran an express over that road 
 prior to Mr. Gray. " An Old Expressman " has taken 
 pains to investigate the claim of Mr. Tyler,
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 83 
 
 and finds that, soou after the opening of the road, in 
 1835, Mr. Tyler ran a car over the road, partly in his 
 own and partly in the interest of the railroad com- 
 pany. This business he disposed of in 1836 to Mr. 
 W. C. Gray. Mr. Tyler is still living in Lowell at the 
 advanced age of seventy-five years. 
 
 Mr. Gray is still living in Lowell, but has had no 
 connection with the express business for several 
 years. With the ordinary express business he com- 
 bined that of running as bank messenger between 
 Lowell and Boston. He also added to the bank busi- 
 ness, carrying money packages for firms and individ- 
 uals, and forwarding small bundles, <fec. He drove 
 quite a brisk business before the advent of Harnden. 
 He was succeeded by Tuck, Sargent, and others. 
 The express business is now in the hands of the 
 Lowell and Nashua Railroad, who employ Penniman, 
 Colonel Jones, and others to supervise and manage. 
 
 Jackson and Akerman, of the Portsmouth Express, 
 are old stagers ; Jackson has run on the Portsmouth 
 route for nearly thirty years. Eben Page has made 
 his daily trips between Boston and Gloucester for the 
 same length of time. Both these expressmen were 
 stage drivers of " y e olden time." 
 
 HUMORS OP EXPRESSMEN. 
 
 It is doubtful if a more genial, humorous, or ready- 
 witted set of men can be " scared up" in any depart- 
 ment of business than among the proprietors' messen- 
 gers and drivers of expresses. The nature of their
 
 84 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 business brings them into contact with everything 
 and everybody, and they are usually very apt pupils, 
 always ready to pick up anything new, especially if 
 it partakes of a ludicrous character. Practical jokes 
 are not uncommon, and are generally appreciated, no 
 matter on what side the " laugh comes in." 
 
 An express agent at Portland, Me., a man of quiet 
 and grave demeanor, noted for his love of singing 
 birds, was, one evening, upon the arrival of the ex- 
 press from Boston, somewhat surprised and gratified 
 to receive a note from the Boston agent, informing 
 him that on the previous day, whilst visiting an emi- 
 grant ship at Lewis's Wharf, he had purchased for a 
 mere trifle a couple of magnificent singing birds, and 
 having no accommodations for them at his boarding- 
 house, had concluded to make his old friend a present 
 of the rare songsters, in return for many past favors. 
 Accompanying the note was a large cage, carefully 
 enveloped in wrapping paper, perforated by numerous 
 air holes. The cage bore a card marked in legible 
 characters, " Irish Linnet.; ; with great care." 
 
 The Portland agent, highly delighted, hurried 
 through with his evening duties, and carefully taking 
 up the cage, with its precious contents, started for the 
 " bosom of his family." Arriving at his house, he soon 
 notified the household of his good fortune, and assem- 
 bling the members in the parlor, he proceeded care- 
 fully to remove the wrappers, disclosing to view, to 
 the amazement of wife and children, and horror of 
 Bridget, a cage of bullfrogs ! " Irish linnets," indeed !
 
 OP AX OLD EXPRESSMAN. 85 
 
 ANOTHER EXPRESS AND RAILROAD VETERAN. 
 
 Major Jones, the enterprising and genial agent of 
 the Nashua and Lowell Railroad Express Company, lias 
 had a long f nd varied experience of "riding on a 
 rail." The major commenced operations as an opera- 
 tive on the Lowell Road when it was litid out, in 1833, 
 and made himself " generally useful " in a variety of 
 capacities. He ran the first train between Lowell 
 and Nashua, and has nearly ever since daily travelled 
 over the two roads. Railroading evidently agrees 
 with the major, as he pulls down the scales at three 
 hundred avoirdupois, always has the appetite and ca- 
 pacity for a good " square meal," and is ever ready to 
 greet his friends and patrons with a good old-fashioned 
 shake of the hand and a pleasant word. Major Jones 
 and ' Uncle Niles," both veterans, run from the same 
 offices, and are both jolly specimens of the veteran 
 expressmen. 
 
 THE IRISHMAN AND BULL DOG. 
 
 "Uncle Niles" tells the story of an Irishman taking 
 the train at Dover, N. H., for Boston, having for a 
 companion a huge bull dog. There was no room for 
 the ugly brute in any of the passenger cars, and the 
 baggage master positively refused admission to the 
 animal in the baggage car. In this dilemma the Irish- 
 man accepted the proposition of the conductor, who 
 was something of a wag, that the dog be fastened to 
 the rear car by means of a rope around his neck, and
 
 86 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 made to " work his passage." Patrick thought it 
 would be an aisy way to get the dog along ; so a rope 
 was procured, fastened around the neck of the brute 
 just behind the ears, and hitched to the rear plat- 
 form. Pat, satisfied that he had done a " big thing," 
 retired to the smoking car, lighted his " dudheen," and 
 did not leave his seat until the train, which was an ex- 
 s press train, had accomplished some twenty miles. Pass- 
 . ing out of the rear car, he gave a loud whistle, expecting 
 an immediate response from the " dorg." No answer- 
 ing whine, bark, or growl was heard in reply, and Pat, 
 apprehending some calamity, cast his "wishful eye" 
 over the platform only to behold the distorted fea- 
 tures of his canine friend bobbing up and down in a 
 most unaccountable manner. Upon investigation it 
 was found that the legs of the " dorg " had failed in 
 the early part of the way to " do their duty," and, as 
 a consequence, his body, legs, and tail had, by friction 
 with the rough, frozen earth, over which he had been 
 so rapidly hurried, worn off to just behind his ears, 
 leaving his ugly tl mug " dangling in the air to the 
 great astonishment of poor Pat. 
 
 AN ECCENTRIC EXPRESSMAN 
 
 was little Ross, who for a number of years ran an ex- 
 press between Worcester and Providence. His labels 
 and bill-heads always read, "Ross; xpress over the 
 beautiful Providence and Worcester Road." Ross was 
 a queer-looking little fellow, about four feet ten in 
 height, and weighing about one hundred pounds or
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 87 
 
 less. He was scrupulously ncnt in his dress, but the 
 style of his garments was unique and original, re- 
 markably so. He delighted in violent contrast in his 
 choice of colors, often appearing in a black swallow- 
 tail coat with crimson velvet collar, a vest of blue 
 plush, pants of a " stunning " plaid, boots turning up 
 in front like Dutch skates, with peaked toes, and a 
 funny little peaked hat. His countenance well matched 
 with his eccentric costume, and his little twinkling 
 gray eyes were full of merriment. He was, in fact, 
 what the " Bowery boys " would call a " gay little 
 rooster." His dwelling-house was in keeping with his 
 outfit in other respects. It was so constructed that 
 the doors, instead of opening as usual, dropped down 
 in grooves, and disappeared beneath the feet of the 
 person entering. The ceiling was carpeted instead 
 of the floor, and the furniture was of unique and origi- 
 nal construction, combining features more novel than 
 useful. Ross was very diligent in business, prompt, 
 attentive, and faithful, and as conspicuous for enter- 
 prise as for originality. 
 
 THE MAN THAT WAS SLEWED. 
 
 Eben Cain, the veteran driver of Harnden's Ex- 
 press, has been an express driver for more than twen- 
 ty years. Ebeu is not only active and capable, but is 
 a "fellow of infinite jest." One morning which suc- 
 ceeded a night of hilarity, the occasion being the 
 annual expressmen's sleigh ride, he was accosted
 
 00 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 by a fellow driver with, " Cain, were you the man 
 that slew Abel ? " 
 
 " No," says Eben : " I was the man that was 
 slewed ! " 
 
 ONE OF UNCLE SAM'S BLUNDERS. 
 
 " An Old Expressman " well remembers the ludi- 
 crous results of a blunder made by a clerk in one of 
 the government departments at Washington, in direct- 
 ing a valuable box of books. The box contained sev- 
 eral hundred volumes of scientific works, and was de- 
 signed for Harvard University, but was marked by 
 some blundering employee, " For the Cambridge 
 Lyceum, Cambridge, Me." The valuable box was 
 delivered to the Eastern Express Company, to forward 
 to destination. As Cambridge, Me., is an obscure 
 village in the interior of the state, and only accessible 
 by a stage route from the nearest railroad point, a 
 reasonable doubt was expressed by the agent of the 
 Eastern line as to the correctness of the direction. 
 However, it was decided to " obey orders if you 
 break owners," and the heavy box was started. The 
 express messenger who accompanied it over the rail- 
 road, and the astonished stage driver who laboriously 
 "toted" it over a rough road, some twenty miles, 
 more or less, both entertained grave doubts respect- 
 ing its destination, but it was their business to deliver 
 it as marked. 
 
 It arrived late in the evening, and was left at the 
 village tavern over night. The next morning the
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 89 
 
 quiet village of Cambridge was in a state of commo- 
 tion wonderful to witness. A crowd of gaping rustics 
 surrounded the mysterious box, and various were the 
 surmises as to its contents. A committee was chosen, 
 consisting of the minister, lawyer, storekeeper, justice 
 of the peace, fence-viewer, and hog-reeve, to decide 
 where it came from and to whom it belonged. The 
 ancient inscription on the Dighton Rock never puzzled 
 the learned savants as did the simple direction on this 
 unlooked-for arrival. The "first men " of the place,after 
 a critical examination of the collection of splendidly 
 bound volumes with which the box was filled, retired 
 for serious deliberation, and finally decided to call a 
 public meeting, and if possible solve the momentous 
 mystery. The next evening witnessed a miscella- 
 neous crowd, composed of men, women, and children, 
 in the hall over the tavern. Deacon S., Squire B., 
 and General F. ventilated their rustic elocution, and 
 offered many shrewd suggestions, but nothing said or 
 done served to explain why Uncle Sam indulged in 
 such an ebullition of generosity as donating to the vil- 
 lage of Cambridge so valuable a collection of books. 
 
 The difficulty of knowing what to do in such an 
 emergency was at last happily solved by the district 
 schoolmaster, who suggested that the munificent do- 
 nation was intended for the Cambridge Debating Club, 
 an association of embryo orators, formed for the pur- 
 pose of mutual improvement in u chin music." As the 
 young men composing the club represented every 
 family in the thinly settled but extensive district, the
 
 90 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 elaborately bound volumes were soon distributed far 
 und wide, adorning every mantel-piece and book-shelf 
 for miles around. 
 
 In the mean time the Cambridge Lyceum, not re- 
 ceiving their box of books as advised, sent to the 
 department at Washington to learn why the delay. 
 Adams's Express Company was consulted, and they 
 returned word, " Delivered according to directions." 
 The result was a "difference of opinion" between 
 the Department and the Adams Express Company, 
 which was only settled by the express company send- 
 ing a special messenger to Cambridge, Me., who re- 
 turned bearing, triumphantly, the cover of the box 
 with the original direction as issued from the Depart- 
 ment at Washington, the express company thus gain- 
 ing their case by exhibiting the cover of the same. 
 The Department lost the case of books, but the inhab- 
 itants of Cambridge, Me., have greatly added to their 
 stock of ornamental literature. 
 
 CURIOUS FOOD FOB AN INVALID. 
 
 Gushing, the genial and efficient agent of Cheney 
 & Co.'s Express, says he received an order from a 
 Vermont agent to procure and forward immediately, 
 for a very sick lady, the best and largest lobster to be 
 procured in the Boston market. She could eat " noth- 
 ing else " !
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 91 
 
 ADVENTURE WITH A BOAR. 
 
 Bores are a tormenting nuisance everywhere, but 
 they are particularly annoying to the busy employers 
 and clerks of express offices, where, at certain hours 
 of the day, every moment is precious. The railroad 
 train or the steamboat never waits for delinquent ex- 
 pressmen ; consequently the express office proves an 
 inhospitable retreat for loafers or bores, who find no 
 willing listeners to their gossiping twaddle. The bore 
 to which we now refer was a boar of another species 
 a member of the porcine family shipped by some 
 farmer in New York State by the American Express 
 Company, and consigned to a party in the neighbor- 
 hood of Boston. The day on which his boarship ar- 
 rived in Boston had been fearfully hot, and the poor 
 brute, after twenty hours' confinement in a close car, 
 without food or water, had become frantic from the 
 effects of his prolonged misery, so that when the 
 strong box which confined him had been lifted upon 
 the wagon to be transported to the office, his howls of 
 rage could be heard all about the vicinity of the depot, 
 attracting in a few moments a large crowd of curious 
 individuals. The infuriated brute now made desper- 
 ate attempts to break out of his box, to prevent which 
 three stout drivers protested with their united 
 strength. Their efforts were, however, unavailing, 
 for the powerful anim:il by a frantic effort burst the 
 strong slats of his prison-house, and jumped over the 
 Bide of the wagon directly into the midst of the
 
 02 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 crowd. Such a speedy adjournment of a mass meeting 
 was never before witnessed in the goodly city of 
 Boston. A " scrub race " for the nearest doorways 
 instantly took place ; not one " stood upon the order 
 of his going," but went at once. A loud cry of, 
 " Grizzly Bear ! Grizzly Bear ! " from one of the wag- 
 gish expressmen added to the general terror, and very 
 much to the speed of the flying fugitives, who mo- 
 mentarily expected a fraternal hug from the bristling 
 monster. The boar, however, had other objects in 
 view than the destruction of terrified men and boys. 
 Water, and plenty of it, was uppermost in his thoughts, 
 for, espying a large mud puddle, he "went for it," 
 and was soon rolling over in the dirty fluid, a happier 
 if not a cleaner hog. The expressmen now compre- 
 hending the situation, and understanding what should 
 have occurred to them before, that the beast was only 
 suffering from heat and thirst, quickly procured sev- 
 eral buckets of water, and dashing them over him, soon 
 reduced his fearful howls, so that he " roared as 
 gently " as a " sucking dove," and submitted to be 
 driven again into his box, to the great satisfaction of 
 all parties concerned. 
 
 THE BOY IN THE Box. 
 
 Mr. A. L. Stimson, a genial writer and first-rate fel- 
 low, once in the employ of the Adams Express Com- 
 pany, is the author of the following good story: 
 
 " In an express office not more than three hundred 
 miles from Boston, the watchman who slept in the
 
 OF AX OLD EXPRESSMAN. 93 
 
 building was advised that sundry articles of an eat- 
 able nature had been abstracted from the cellar. It 
 was supposed that some juvenile thief was in the 
 custom of crawling through the bars in one of the 
 cellar windows, though the space was so narrow that 
 it seemed incredible that any but a very small child 
 could get through it ; still, with all his vigilance, the 
 watchman found that the depredations were contin- 
 ued. To add to his aggravation, the express clerks 
 and drivers insisted that he must be in the habit of 
 sleeping with a " brick in his hat," and others insinu- 
 ated that he never went to sleep hungry. One night, 
 as he sat alone in the office, meditating somewhat im- 
 patiently upon these unjust suspicious, he thought he 
 heard a footfall on the cellar stairs. Quicker than 
 you can say " Jack Robinson" he reached the stair- 
 way ! He had forgotten to take a light, and could 
 see nothing, but heard footsteps retreat precipitately. 
 It was not a heavy sound, and it must be, he thought, 
 the suspected boy. Obtaining his lantern quickly, he 
 descended the stairs lickerty split, and rushed to the 
 window to prevent the young rascal's exit in that di- 
 rection. There was a sound at the other end of the 
 cellar, as if some rogue was seeking to screen himself 
 behind some of the casks, barrels, boxes, and other 
 freight in transitu. In a high state of virtuous indig- 
 nation and nervous excitement, the watchman pro- 
 ceeded to get at him. In a few moments he discov- 
 ered a corner of a garment sticking out of a long, 
 nurrow box, a few feet distant. Putting down his
 
 94 WAIFS PBOM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 lantern, he jerked away the loose cover, and discov- 
 ered what he supposed by the dim light to be the boy 
 in the box! Madder than sixty, he dennnciated a 
 curse upon his eyes, and pitched into him. Whack ! 
 whack ! whack ! one blow followed another ; the exas- 
 perated watchman meanwhile doing up some of the 
 tallest kind of profanity, mingled with such remarks 
 as the following : 
 
 " ' You d thief you ! I'll learn you to slip in and 
 steal our crackers ! This ain't the first time, nor the 
 second, nuther ! I know yer, yer little whelp of 
 Satan ! I know yer features ! I know yer mother, 
 yer little Irish son of a slut ! Bring an honest fellow 
 into disgrace, will yer?' the last reflection stinging 
 him with the remembrance of the slurs which had been 
 cast upon his fidelity, even by the greenest hand in 
 the office, on the score of the abstracted crackers. 
 The enraged watchman quit thumping the 'thief in 
 the stomach, and struck him on the head. His fist 
 sunk into the skull under the force of the blow, and 
 there was a crackling sound, like the breaking of a 
 bone. At this the watchman's fury evaporated in- 
 stantaneously, and his heart sank within him. 
 
 " ' Little boy ! ' said he, in a tremulous, anxious voice. 
 ' Little boy 1 ' There was no reply, and he turned pale 
 as death as the truth flashed upon him that life was 
 extinct. Almost ready to expire himself with the 
 dreadful reflection that he was a murderer, he stag- 
 gered backwards, very weak in the knees, and 
 obtaining his lantern, went back, sick at heart, to take
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 95 
 
 a better view of his victim. Unfortunately, in his 
 trepidation he tripped up over a bundle of Harper's 
 Weekly, and in his fall his light was extinguished. 
 Horribly discomfited, and groaning in spirit as he 
 wiped the cold sweat from his brow, the poor man 
 picked himself up, and groped his way up stairs, 
 where the gas was burning. His first impulse was to 
 run away ; but being an honest, law-abiding citizen, 
 he promptly decided to face the music. After many 
 painful reflections, not to say conflicting emotions, he 
 concluded to give himself up immediately to the 
 authorities. 
 
 " Before executing this intention, he went to a desk, 
 and taking from it a bottle of Schiedam Schnapps, ap- 
 plied it to his mouth, and turned the bottom up sol- 
 emnly towards the ceiling, then replaced the cork, 
 and sighed deeply as he put the bottle into the desk 
 again. He then proceeded to the nearest police sta- 
 tion. It was near two in the morning, but the captain 
 was on hand. 
 
 4< ' What are you here for, Mr. Lodge, at this time 
 o' night? ' said he, with a yawn. ' What's broke ? ' 
 
 " ' Ah, that's it 1 ' replied our pale friend ; ' it is 
 broke. I have fractured the skull ; there's no doubt 
 of it ; would that there was.' 
 
 " ' What ! ' ejaculated the amazed officer ; ' do yon 
 mean to say that ' 
 
 " ' Yes, sir, that's it. I've gone and done a murder, 
 and I've come to give myself up.' He then related 
 how he had unintentionally, by an unfortunate blow,
 
 96 WAIFS FEOM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 deprived the robber of life. l But come with me/ said 
 he, in conclusion, 'and I will show you all.' 
 
 " The officer followed him, and entering the express 
 office, they descended with a brace of lanterns to wit- 
 ness the bloody spectacle. Imagine their surprise, and 
 the mingled joy and shame of our friend, on discover- 
 ing the boy in the box to be only the wax figure of a 
 saint, intended for a church or convent in Louisiana. 
 Being a new importation, it had been opened by cus- 
 tom-house officers, and had not been nailed up again. 
 The footfall was probably caused by a big rat. 
 
 "' Say nothing about this ridiculous affair, captain,' 
 said the sold, when the other had done laughing, ' and 
 I will stand a bottle of champagne and a pair of 
 canvas-backs with you to-morrow at Parker's.' 
 
 " ' Agreed,' replied the officer ; and he kept the secret 
 faithfully from all but his wife" 
 
 A TRAGICAL AFFAIR. VITALITY OF AN EXPRESSMAN. 
 
 One of the most audacious robberies perpetrated 
 under circumstances of fiendish brutality that ever 
 occurred in this country, took place in Albany, N. Y., 
 on the night of January 6, 1871. The frightful nature 
 of the assault, the amount of property taken, and the 
 startling boldness of the act, caused at the time a vast 
 amount of excitement at Albany, where all the parties 
 were extensively known. On that night Mr. T. A. 
 Halpine, the trusty messenger of the American Union 
 Express Company, left the office as usual, and stepped 
 on board the express car for his nightly trip through to
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 97 
 
 Boston. In a few moments the train started, and Mr. 
 Halpine was assaulted and robbed, whilst the train 
 was moving over the bridge. The particulars of the 
 affair are from the pen of Mr. Halpine, who kindly fur- 
 nished them to the author of this volume. He is now 
 the agent of the American Merchants Union Express 
 Company, at North Adams, Mass., active, and in the 
 enjoyment of sound health, after receiving injuries, on 
 that fearful occasion, which would have instantly killed 
 a person possessing less vitality and tenacity of life. 
 
 The robber and would-be murderer, who committed 
 this daring act, was John Filkins. well known in 
 Albany, and upon the Western Railroad as " Yank " 
 Filkins. He was for a number of years in the employ 
 of the American Express Company, and was considered 
 a first-rate expressman active, energetic, and relia- 
 ble. He left the express business several years ago, 
 and purchased an interest in a bakery, which establish- 
 ment he carried on, but with indifferent success, at the 
 period of this robbery. His character was reputed 
 good, and he was a member in good standing of the 
 Methodist church. He had previous to this occurrence 
 experienced considerable pecuniary embarrassment, 
 which, as afterwards found, was caused by gambling 
 habits. That he possessed a disposition of fiendish cru- 
 elty, his cold-blooded and persistent attempts to murder 
 a defenceless man fully proves. Can anything more hor- 
 rible be imagined than the frightful coolness with which ; 
 as his helpless, speechless, but still conscious victim lay 
 cu the floor of the car with upturned, imploring face, 
 7
 
 98 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 he placed the muzzle of his pistol against poor Hal. 
 pine's ear, and fired another ball into his head. 
 
 He was discovered by his pistol, which was found 
 the following day upon the ice of the river, on which 
 he crossed after the robbery, although this clew was 
 not unravelled for some weeks afterwards. His sud- 
 denly manifested zeal in volunteering to hunt up 
 the robber, and his numerous suggestions volunta- 
 rily made to the officers as to the probable offender, 
 aroused suspicions in the minds of the detectives, which 
 were confirmed when they ascertained that he had 
 purchased a pistol several days previous to this event, 
 and his arrest and subsequent conviction rapidly fol- 
 lowed. Sing-Sing now claims him for a life inhabitant. 
 
 We will now give Mr. Halpine's account of the 
 affair : 
 
 " On the evening of January 6, 1871, I went to the 
 office and made my preparations for my usual trip. 
 It was a clear, bright, moonlight night, and I was 
 feeling unusually cheerful and happy, as this was the 
 last trip in the week, and the next was my week off. 
 My wife and myself had promised ourselves several 
 little pleasure trips during the coming week, and as I 
 left home that night, I said to her, " This is my last 
 trip, you know ; " little dreaming what was in store 
 for me. 
 
 "When I got into my car, I found the stove was 
 smoking ; so I opened both doors to let out the smoke, 
 and they remained open for several minutes. Just as 
 the train started from the depot, I heard a noise, and
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 99 
 
 looking up, discovered a man coming into my car 
 He said ' Hallo ! is that you ? ' At first I thought it 
 was Woodward, the other messenger on the route, 
 and I inquired, ' Where are you going, Woodward?' 
 He replied, ' O, just across the river.' I had not taken 
 a look at him until this reply, but the unfamiliar tone 
 of his voice caused me to look up again, when I saw 
 he was a stranger. Upon this I said, ' I do not know 
 you. I never saw you before. What is your name ? ' 
 'Jones,' said he, 'and I have run a great many trips 
 for this company.' Then he inquired, ' Where do you 
 make your first stop? ' 1 told him East Albany. He 
 remarked, ' You put off freight first at Chatham ? ' 
 ' No,' said I, ' at Pittsfield.' 
 
 " Thinking he was an old expressman, and a friend of 
 Woodward's only going across the river, and without 
 the remotest idea that anything was wrong about him, I 
 turned my head and commenced looking over my way- 
 bill, when bang ! went a pistol, and down I went. In 
 an instant 1 knew what ' Jones ' was, but it was too 
 late. I was down, and the blood spouting from my 
 mouth. My thoughts flew rapidly, and I knew that 
 in a few moments we should be in at the other depot, 
 and I thought if I could get hold of him, I could hold 
 on until we got there. I arose on my knees, and look- 
 ing up saw he was standing right over me with his 
 pistol pointed at my head. Instantly I saw the flash, 
 heard the report, and down I went again. While 
 lying on my back, he stooped over, and placing the 
 muzzle of the pistol close to my car, fired again.
 
 100 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 Tliat fixed me, and I was unconscious for a few min- 
 utes. When I came to, the train was standing still. 
 By a tremendous effort, I got upon my feet, walked 
 to the centre of the car, and seized the bell rope, 
 thinking to ring the bell on the engine, and attract 
 attention ; but I had not sufficient strength, and fell to 
 the floor. I, however, managed to crawl to the door, 
 which 'Jones' had left open when he jumped out. 
 
 " I tried to hallo, but could not. Just then Mr. 
 Crandall, the engineer, was getting upon his engine, 
 and looking back saw my head come out of the door. 
 He immediately came back to see what was the mat- 
 ter, and found me lying insensible. I knew that I 
 had been shot three times in the head, and the last 
 shot I thought had blown my head all to pieces ; the 
 remembrance of it is horrible. The first shot entered 
 on the right side, about three inches below the ear, 
 and middle of my neck. It passed through, and 
 lodged under the left jaw-bone. The second shot 
 entered my head just under my right eye, and has not 
 been seen since. The third shot entered my right 
 ear, and is still lodged somewhere in my head." 
 
 When Filkins was brought by the officers beside 
 the supposed death-bed of Halpine, to receive his 
 dying deposition as to the identity of the murderer, 
 he assumed an air of brazen effrontery, and confronted 
 the victim with a very confident manner ; but when 
 Halpine cast his eye upon the six men who were 
 ranged before his bed, he instantly recognized him, 
 and pointing, exclaimed, with emphasis, " That is the
 
 OP AN OLD rxriJKSRMAN. 101 
 
 man!" FilkioB wilted at once, and was takon away 
 by the officers in a very demoralized condition. The 
 express company only recovered a portion of the 
 money stolen on this occasion. 
 
 THE " OLD LToss " DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Every extensive express company devotes a por- 
 tion of its office to uncalled-for freight and packages. 
 This is not the least interesting department of an 
 express office, for here is found a miscellaneous collec- 
 tion of articles sufficient to stock an " old curiosity 
 shop." Sometimes the character of this freight is 
 very peculiar, to say the least. In one office a new 
 employee, who slept in a room adjoining the "old 
 boss " freight room, made complaint the next day, that 
 his sleep was disturbed by unpleasant dreams of 
 defunct individuals, whose grinning skeletons seemed 
 to hold ghostly vigils in the " old boss " room, and 
 that he heard noises resembling the rattling of dry 
 bones, in the dull hours of night. This complaint 
 attracted the attention of " Dan," one of the drivers, 
 a daring, reckless sort of a fellow, smart in his busi- 
 ness, but entertaining no serious prejudice to a " tod," 
 or to an occasional " shindy ; " BO Dan proposed the 
 next night, to the occupant of the lone room, an inves- 
 tigation of the mysterious noises. The offer was 
 thankfully accepted, and the two, after partaking of a 
 " little suthin' warmin'," retired to their apartment. 
 After an hour spent in a social smoke, both " turned
 
 102 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 in." The gas in one burner was always left slightly 
 burning, so that it could instantly be turned on in 
 case of late arrivals of messengers. On this occasion 
 it bnrned dimly, but gave a glimmer of light suffi- 
 cient to discover to the restless Dan, who was par- 
 tially awakened by rattling noises in the " old hoss " 
 room, a ghastly-looking countenance peering at him 
 through a pane of the window. Somewhat startled, 
 Dan jogged his friend, whispering, " Joe ! see that cuss 
 lookin' at us through the winder ! " Joe sleepily 
 turned over, exclaiming, u Why, Dan, that's the very 
 feller that was round here last night, makin' those 
 cussed noises." " Let's go for him," says Dan. "All 
 right," says Joe ; and turning on the gas, they made a 
 rush for the window, and discovered that the " skel- 
 eton cuss" was only an old oil portrait of an anti- 
 quated, sickly-looking gentleman from the " dead " 
 freight, which Joe's predecessor had stuck into the 
 window to fill the place of a broken pane. An hour 
 or so later, Dan and Joe found the rattling noise to 
 proceed from a long, narrow box in the " old hoss " 
 room, from which, as they approached, ran two large 
 rats. Getting a hammer, they removed the cover, 
 and were considerably astonished to discover a human 
 skeleton ! On looking at the cover, for Dan remem- 
 bered seeing the box before, it was found directed to 
 
 Dr. , Salem Street. Dan recollected that it was 
 
 carried there, but returned to the office on account 
 of the doctor's removal to some locality unknown to
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 103 
 
 the occupant of that number. Joe says he always 
 knew thatthe noises were never produced by a live man. 
 In the same office the clerks and employees were 
 considerably puzzled to account lor a smell, which in- 
 creased in intensity for two successive days, resem- 
 bling a combustion of something of an oily nature. 
 The vicinity of the stoves was thoroughly examined 
 above and below stairs, but nothing appeared to ac- 
 count for the burning odor. At length one of the 
 boys, who possessed an uncommonly keen olfactory 
 organ, announced a discovery in the " old hoss " de- 
 partment. A large case of goods, directed to a whole- 
 sale clothing house which had recently suspended busi- 
 ness, was lying there awaiting orders from the shippers. 
 Upon examination, it was found that smoke issued 
 from the cracks in the cover, and the box was so hot 
 that it could scarcely be touched. It was hastily 
 opened, and found to contain oiled clothing in a state 
 of spontaneous combustion, only requiring the aid of 
 air to burst out in flames. Of course, in a short time 
 the cover or sides would have burned through, and 
 caused a serious fire among the combustible surround- 
 ings, especially if occurring at night. 
 
 "OLD Hoss" AUCTION SALE. 
 
 One of the most stirring occasions in the routine of 
 express duties is the occasional sale by auction of the 
 " old hoss '* collection of freight, which accumulates 
 to a formidable catalogue in the office of a large ex- 
 press company after a lew seasons. Every method is
 
 104 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 employed by the company to notify owners before re- 
 sorting to a sale, yet, notwithstanding most persistent 
 efforts, the packages will accumulate. The assort- 
 ment of articles which make up the " old boss " list 
 is one of infinite variety from a box of pills to a 
 mowing machine. The sale of these articles in the 
 hands of a witty auctioneer (the late lamented D. F. 
 McGilvray, Esq., for example) is equal to a farce at 
 the Museum. They are sold for what they will bring, 
 without any reference to value, that being a mat- 
 ter of conjecture on the part of the buyer, as no pack- 
 age can be opened or examined. It is buying a " pig 
 in the poke." It is a curious study to watch the 
 countenances of bidders and spectators : some are 
 for-bidding, some fore-boding, and others expectant. 
 One purchaser bids high on a small, neat box, sup- 
 posed to contain jewelry. It is knocked off to him, 
 " Cash, five dollars." He pulls out his wallet, hands his 
 V to the cashier, and impatient to see his prize, he 
 opens it amid the curious crowd, and discovers a 
 set of false te-eth ! 
 
 Another box,, originally directed to a manufacturer 
 of musical instruments, but which he refused to re- 
 ceive and pay charges for, was marked, " Wind Instru- 
 ments ; with care." This was opened and found to 
 contain white beans! The fortunate purchaser of 
 this " old hoss " relic received the hearty congratu- 
 lations of the jolly auctioneer on his good luck. Some- 
 times a purchaser would receive as a reward for his 
 faith an, excellent bargain, but as a general rule, no
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 105 
 
 sudden acquisition of wealth resulted to purchasers 
 who invested in " old boss '* packages. 
 
 RATHER MIXED ! 
 
 Major Jones, Superintendent of the Boston, Lowell, 
 and Nashua Express Company, tells a good story, 
 which happened up in Nashua, which illustrates two 
 things, viz. : the importance of expressmen taking 
 receipts for goods and packages delivered, and the 
 easy facility with which blunders on the part of 
 traders are shouldered off upon expressmen : 
 
 " Last spring, when Barnum's great show visited 
 Nashua, a hat dealer of that place, thinking to take 
 .advantage of the influx of visitors to see the exhibi- 
 tion, ordered by express from a Boston house a case 
 of soft hats, anticipating quick sales. With the 
 promptness which characterizes this company, the 
 case of hats were the same night landed at the Nashua 
 store, and receipted for on the driver's book. Some- 
 thing like a month after this transaction, Major Jones 
 was somewhat surprised to receive a note from the 
 hat dealer, requesting him to call and settle for a miss- 
 ing case of hats sent from Boston by his express 
 company. The major promptly responded, taking 
 with him the driver's receipted book, and exhibited 
 to the astonished dealer his own signature for the 
 goods. There was his name, sure ! but where were 
 the goods? He had sold no entire case of goods; if 
 he had sold the hats, the case should be there. The 
 discussion attracted the notice of a gentleman present,
 
 106 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 who remarked that, one evening, a month or so previ- 
 ously, he had seen a hat case sold for twenty-five cents? 
 to a neighboring dealer ; might it not be possible that 
 this was the missing box? This suggestion was 
 scouted by the dealer as not only improbable, but 
 highly ridiculous. Not so did it strike Major Jones, 
 whose practical education in the express business 
 had taught him that many queer mistakes constantly 
 occur; so, making his way over to the purchaser of 
 the box, he questioned him about his purchase. He 
 admitted buying it, and stated that it was down in his 
 cellar, awaiting an occasion to make use of it. ' Let 
 us take a look at it,' said the major ; and getting per- 
 mission, he stepped down and soon found it. Finding 
 it nailed up, he procured mallet and chisel, and on re- 
 moving the cover, disclosed to the astonished pur- 
 chaser the case filled with hats, just as shipped from 
 the Boston house. It is almost needless to add that a 
 supper was partaken of at the expense of the hat 
 dealer." 
 
 ROBBERY PREVENTED BY A DOG. 
 
 Some twenty-five or Bix years ago a bold and ex- 
 tensive robbery took place in Boston. The watch 
 and jewelry establishment of Currier & Trott, on 
 Washington Street, was entered in the night time and 
 completely cleaned out. The magnitude of the trans- 
 action and the boldness of the robbers created quite 
 an excitement, for people were not then accus- 
 tomed to the wholesale stealing which characterizes
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 107 
 
 the present period. The robbery, as was afterward* 
 ascertained, was committed by two skillful and noto- 
 rious English burglars, who were arrested and tried 
 for their crime. Some weeks previous to the Currier 
 & Trott burglary an attempt was made on the office 
 of Thompson & Co.'s Western Express, at Springfield, 
 in the night time, by the same bold villains. The 
 office that night was in the charge of Homer Ashley 
 who was then, and is now, in the employ of Mr. J. 
 M. Thompson and another clerk. 
 
 As the vault of the office usually contained over 
 night large sums of money which were received from 
 the late expresses, and several large robberies having 
 recently occurred in neighboring towns, it was 
 thought expedient to procure the toughest and best 
 fighting dog that could be found, as an additional safe- 
 guard. After some outlay of time and money, the 
 desired animal was found, and his fighting qualities 
 proved so good that he was christened " Yankee Sul- 
 livan," after a noted pugilist of that period. 
 
 One night, about midnight, Mr. Ashley and his com- 
 panion having " turned in," a wrenching noise was 
 heard at the front door, which was shortly after burst 
 open, and two ruffians made their appearance. Com- 
 prehending the situation, Ashley unchained " Yankee," 
 and bade him " go for them." " Yankee " went, and 
 a terrific battle immediately ensued, not between the 
 dog and the burglars, but between " Yankee " and a 
 powerful dog which accompanied them. 
 
 Leaving the dogs to " fight it out on that line," tho
 
 108 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 burglars advanced upon the two employees, who, hav- 
 ing no weapons to fight against such odds, jumped 
 out of a window, shouting for help. The robbers 
 quickly followed them, one aiming a blow at Ashley 
 with a billy. The darkness preventing a good sight 
 at Ashley, he managed to dodge this and one or two 
 other blows, but felt that his time was almost up, and 
 started for a run, when several persons appeared on 
 the scene, attracted by the screams and noise of the 
 fighting dogs, and the two burglars disappeared in 
 the darkness. Upon striking a light, it was found 
 that " Yankee Sullivan " had so "chawed up " the bur- 
 glar dog that he was unable to " come to time," and a 
 few moments sufficed for him to " pass in his checks." 
 When the burglars were afterwards apprehended, 
 they stated that they would have had a sure thing but 
 for " Yankee." The dog which he defeated cost them 
 five hundred dollars. 
 
 HINTS TO PERSONS DOING BUSINESS WITH EXPRESSMEN. 
 
 1. Before you visit an express office with a package 
 or collection, ascertain, if possible, if you are visiting 
 the right office. " Uncle Samuel's " territory is very 
 extensive ; expresses are numerous, and they naturally 
 and of necessity run in different directions. Please 
 bear this in mind. 
 
 2. Do not infer, because an express clerk patiently 
 listens to a long-winded complaint or a tedious series 
 of interrogations, that his time is of little value. Re-
 
 OF AX OLD EXPRESSMAN. 109 
 
 member tluit the railroad train or the steamboat never 
 Awaits fur delayed way-bills or belated passengers. 
 
 3. Never vent your indignation upon the express- 
 man because he fails to collect a demand, and charges 
 you a reasonable fee for his trouble, especially when 
 such collection has defied all your previous efforts to 
 effect a settlement, and is only given to the express- 
 man as a dernier resort. 
 
 4. In sending a bill C. 0. D., always send the goods 
 with the bill, otherwise the cabalistic letters C. 0. D. 
 on a package are more ornamental than useful. Never 
 send fresh fish, lobsters, or ice cream C. 0. D. unless 
 you are prepared to receive and pay charges on the 
 unpleasant remains in case they are returned for non- 
 payment of bill. 
 
 5. Don't pack a demijohn in a trunk of dry goods 
 samples, and call on the expressman to liquidate the 
 bill for damages in case of breakage. This hint is es- 
 pecially intended for " commercial travellers." 
 
 6. Be careful in directing packages ; a package for 
 Springfield, Mass., directed Springfield, 111., involves a 
 pretty big bill of express charges. 
 
 7. Keep an "Express List" always posted in your 
 counting and delivery rooms. 
 
 C. 0. D. 
 
 These cabalistic letters, when years ago they were 
 first noticed upon sundry boxes, bales, and packages 
 in various express offices, excited much speculation
 
 110 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILL8 
 
 among tha uninitiated, and many were the opinions ex- 
 pressed as to the meaning of the mysterious charac- 
 ters. An " old expressman " well remembers an 
 amusing explanation given by a countryman to two 
 of his friends as they stood surveying a suspicious- 
 looking barrel standing on the sidewalk in Court 
 Square one morning. Quite a discussion arose, which 
 was finally settled by one " Bunsby " looking individ- 
 ual, who, with an air of oracular wisdom, remarked, 
 " That bar'l contains fish ; ef you don't believe it, just 
 walk up and take a smell codfish." His companions 
 walked away perfectly satisfied with this solution of 
 a great mystery. This plan of shortening the sen- 
 tence " collect on delivery " originated in the New 
 York office of the Adams Express Company, and has 
 saved a small ocean of ink besides an incalculable 
 amount of time. 
 
 The express companies hold on tight to the parcels 
 until the individual forks over the amount of the 
 charges ; and often parcels are sent to people with- 
 out their previous knowledge, perplexing them not a 
 little, and making them think a long while before 
 paying. Whether it is a hoax or not they can't tell ; 
 and it used sometimes to be the case that the express 
 companies found parcels on their hands which really 
 amounted to nothing at all, and were sent to the par- 
 ties to whom they were addressed as a " goak " 
 which said parties could not see in the light of paying
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. Ill 
 
 the charges, and which could Dot be returned because 
 the sender had vanished. 
 
 Nowadays the express companies are more cautious, 
 and will not receive parcels of any value or impor- 
 tance except from parties to whom they can look for 
 the pay. Sometimes the innocent parties of a practi- 
 cal joke would be fairly taken in, and, thinking the 
 parcel must be from Uncle Joe or Cousin Tom, and 
 intended as a surprise, would eagerly pay for it, and 
 impatiently open it before a curious crowd. If it 
 turned out to be a couple of bricks rolled up in a mass 
 of shavings, or a log of wood neatly done up with old 
 newspapers, the HarP' would be on him, and the 
 chances were that he would never get over it to his 
 dying day. 
 
 Of course a great time for the express companies is 
 in the neighborhood of Christmas. There is then no 
 end to the turkeys, chickens, and often other game 
 and fowl, which are sent by generous country cousins 
 to " the folks " in town ; while every variety of pres- 
 ents, from piano-fortes and silver table services to saw- 
 dust dolls, packages of candy, and bundles of firo 
 crackers, are crowded together, with strict method 
 and care, in the heaped-up vans occupied by the com- 
 panies on the railway trains. It need not be said that 
 the greatest pains are taken by the companies to 
 carry the packages, and especially those of a character 
 liable to be broken or spoiled by rough handling, in
 
 112 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 the most careful manner ; and especial care has to bo 
 taken at Christmas time, when so many fancy and 
 purely ornamental articles are transported. It is sel- 
 dom, therefore, that the delighted and anxious ex- 
 pectants of the Christmas gifts are disappointed by 
 the arrival of a broken present. 
 
 The collecting on delivery of goods forms a very 
 important and profitable portion of the business of the 
 large express companies, as two express charges are 
 realized the charge for freight to the buyer and 
 charge for return of money to the seller. Goods can 
 be sent in this way to parties of dubious credit, in- 
 volving no risk to the sender, as the express assumes 
 all liability. A huge negro arrived one day at one of 
 our prominent express offices, delivered by a New 
 York express. Suspended from his neck was a large 
 card marked " C. O. D., $16.25 for board bill," and the 
 further written instructions, " Water and grub the 
 darky." The grinning Ethiopian seemed to enjoy 
 the attention this novel placard attracted. 
 
 The most profitable portion of the express business 
 is the money package and collecting department. Small 
 packages, of which a great number can be packed in 
 trunks, pay well ; but large freight is comparatively 
 unprofitable, the high charges of the railroads, the 
 larger force required to handle it, and the wear and 
 tear of wagons combining to seriously diminish the 
 profits. The exorbitant terms now exacted by the lead- 
 ing railroads almost amount to prohibition of express
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 113 
 
 companies, and there is a rapidly growing tendency on 
 the part of these corporations to run off the expresses 
 and assume that department of business. Several 
 roads have already commenced, and the " beginning 
 of the end " has begun, which will in the course of 
 a few years end the occupation of many an old 
 expressman. 
 
 8
 
 114 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BAGGAGE EXPRESS. 
 
 ONE of the most useful express institutions is the 
 baggage express. What countless hosts of travellers, 
 tired and worn out with the fatigues of travel, " rise 
 up and bless " the baggage expressman, as he gra- 
 ciously relieves them of the perplexing care of their 
 numerous trunks, valises, and hat-boxes ! Everything, 
 from a carpet satchel to a Saratoga trunk, is taken in 
 charge by the enterprising agent, and promptly deliv- 
 ered at a reasonable charge in any portion of the city 
 or its suburbs. This great convenience is extensively 
 appreciated and patronized by the travelling public. 
 
 The credit of organizing this useful institution is 
 due to Warren Studley, for many years a messenger 
 between Boston and New York for Kinsley & Co.'s 
 Express. He had the sagacity to foresee the useful- 
 ness of this branch of the express business, and the 
 energy to put it into operation. He commenced by de- 
 livering baggage from the New Haven trains, but soon 
 extended the business to the other roads and to the 
 various steamboat routes with extraordinary success. 
 His example has been extensively copied through-
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 115 
 
 out the country, and the baggage expressman is every- 
 where seen. 
 
 NEW YORK AND BOSTON EXPRESS. 
 
 Among the expresses of recent date, no company 
 has been formed on such a scale of liberality in equip- 
 ments as the one started by James Fisk, Jr., and called 
 the New York and Boston Express. This express 
 commenced with the running of the Narraganset 
 Steamship Company's boats between New York and 
 Fall River, about three years since. The feasibility 
 of this route for a first-class express was very appar- 
 ent to Mr. Fisk, and he lost no time after the line 
 passed into his hands in carrying out his plans. The 
 enterprise has proved a great success, and under the 
 able management of Mr. G. A. Fuller, has given entire 
 satisfaction to the merchants and bankers, who are its 
 principal patrons, in New York, Boston, and else- 
 where. 
 
 The death of James Fisk, Jr., its principal proprie- 
 tor, while this work was in preparation for the press, 
 gives a fitting opportunity to say a few words respect- 
 ing this remarkable man. His history as a peddler, 
 salesman, merchant, broker, and railway manager is 
 familiar to everybody. His faults were better known 
 than his merits, for Fisk was no hypocrite, and did 
 openly what thousands of men standing high in the 
 world's esteem do privately, the world being no wiser 
 for their departures from the code of morality. He 
 was not insensible to ridicule, but he was certainly
 
 116 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 insensible to fear, and possessed a courage, energy, 
 and persistence of purpose truly wonderful. He was 
 born to command, and possessed the rare faculty of 
 inspiring others to almost impossible achievements. 
 His capacious brain grappled with projects of over- 
 whelming dimensions, and mastered them without ap- 
 parent effort. Operations involving immense outlays, 
 which an ordinary manager would require days and 
 weeks to digest, were decided and acted upon with 
 such rapidity that they excited distrust, arid seemed 
 to border upon recklessness ; yet results showed them 
 to be the shrewd combinations of a mathematical 
 brain, marvellously conceived and marvellously exe- 
 cuted. 
 
 An amusing instance of his promptness and auda- 
 city was once witnessed by the writer. One of the 
 large steamers of the Narraganset Company was just 
 leaving her dock in New York. The gangway planks 
 had been hauled in, and Fisk stood on the dock wav- 
 ing an adieu to some friends on board, when an indi- 
 vidual, valise in hand, rushed down to the landing, 
 exclaiming, " I must go ! I must go ! " " Go you 
 will," said Fisk, grasping him under the arms, and 
 giving him a toss towards the moving boat. " Look 
 out for him, boys," shouted Fisk, as the astonished 
 traveller alighted safely on board, followed by his 
 valise. This audacious transaction occupied but a 
 moment, yet it was characteristic of the cool operator, 
 who, during the affair, had not ceased to smoke hia
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 117 
 
 cigar, nor did a smile disturb tlic self-complacency of 
 his countenance. 
 
 As an evidence of his kindliness of heart and con- 
 sideration for the welfare of those in his employ, who 
 numbered a legion, it is sufficient to say that they all 
 realize that they have lost their best friend. Could 
 the disposition of the cowardly assassin Stokes be left 
 in their hands, there would be no occasion for the le- 
 gal farce of a protracted and expensive trial. 
 
 NEW EXPRESSES MADE FROM OLD MATERIAL. 
 
 A very extensive express company is that formed 
 from the old material of several old established Low- 
 ell and Nashua expresses, and now called the Boston, 
 Lowell, and Nashua Express Company. This large 
 company is under the proprietorship of the Lowell 
 and Nashua Railroad, and is superintended by Major 
 Peter W. Jones, a railroad and express manager of 
 large experience and great executive ability. Mr. 
 Jones has had the benefit of a thorough railroad edu- 
 cation, having at an early ago entered the service of 
 the Nashua Road, and filled a great variety of posi- 
 tions, from shovelling out a gravel bank and laying 
 rails to management of railroad affairs. The efficient 
 Boston agent of this company is Mr. Thomas Shepard, 
 a very capable and faithful man, of twenty years' ex- 
 perience in the express business. 
 
 Another extensive company is Earle & Prew's 
 Providence Express Company, which succeeds the
 
 118 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 old Earle Express, which was started by B. D. and L. 
 B. Earle, in 1840. Mr. Earle, of Earle & Prew, is a 
 son of L. B. Earle, and inherits his father's tact and 
 ability. Mr. Prew was formerly a messenger in the 
 Providence Express, but commenced running on his 
 " own hook " several years since, and succeeded, by 
 his indomitable energy, in building up an extensive 
 business. Since he joined Mr. Earle this business has 
 largely increased. In connection with their Boston 
 and Providence Express, Colonel 8. H. Leonard runs 
 the Providence and Worcester Express. Colonel 
 Leonard commenced running, with his father, on the 
 Boston and Worcester Express, in 1841, and is con- 
 sidered one of the ablest expressmen in the business. 
 
 The Kinsley Express Company succeed to the busi- 
 ness of the once famous R. B. Kinsley, one of the 
 oldest and largest stage, steamboat, and express pro- 
 prietors in the country. The proprietors are now 
 Harvey D. Mack, Frank D. Blake, and A. H. Palmer, 
 formerly clerks and messengers for R. B. Kinsley. 
 Their express runs to Fall River. Newport, and other 
 towns in the vicinity of these places. They are all 
 smart, energetic men, and are bound to flourish. 
 
 The Old Colony Express Company, under the super- 
 intendence of Mr. Charles Crummett, succeeds several 
 expresses running to various towns on the Dighton 
 branch of the Old Colony Railroad. The business of 
 this company is quite extensive and well managed.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 119 
 
 EXPRESS TEAMS. 
 
 That the express business " pays," the magnificent 
 horses and elegantly painted wagons of the principal 
 express companies fully attest. In the humble days 
 of Alvin Adams, when one wagon, driven by E. H. 
 Brainard, served to do the business of Adams, Leon- 
 ard, & Co., leaving plenty of spare time to the driver 
 to turn an honest penny by engaging in other work, 
 it probably never entered their heads that thousand 
 dollar horses would at some future day draw express 
 freight through the streets of Boston. Mr. Adams 
 always loved a good horse, and has an appreciative 
 eye for the good points of that noble animal. When 
 he began to prosper in worldly circumstances, he 
 indulged in the luxury of good horses, and set the 
 example of always having the best in the market. 
 Other well-to-do express proprietors, not wishing to 
 be thrown so entirely into the shade, gradually fol- 
 lowed suit. Wagons had to be built to correspond, 
 and for years there has been great rivalry between 
 the celebrated builders of Concord, N. H., and their 
 rivals in other places, to produce the handsomest and 
 strongest wagons. 
 
 Some of the teams belonging to the large express 
 companies cost money enough to purchase a comfort- 
 able farm, and the care of such valuable property is 
 no small item in the yearly expenses. Indeed, wo 
 are very sure that the sickness of a horse is consid
 
 120 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 ered by some proprietors as of vastly more conse- 
 quence than the illness of a hard-working employee? 
 with, perchance, a family depending for their daily 
 bread upon his exertions. A dead horse is a dead 
 loss, but a dead clerk can be easily replaced. 
 
 A RAILROAD TUNNEL. 
 
 It may not be inappropriate in this melange of ex- 
 press and railroad matters, to insert a graphic sketch 
 with the above title, written by A. L. Stimson, Esq., 
 an Ex-expressman. The scene is the long tunnel on 
 the Hudson River Railroad, at the Highlands. It 
 always casts upon the traveller a feeling of awe, not 
 umningled with terror, as the " lightning express 
 train " thunders along this arch through the mountain. 
 
 " Stop a few minutes, and let us look at yonder 
 mountain. Its majestic crown rises nearly to the 
 clouds, and its sides are covered with the evergreen, 
 hemlock and pine, the laural and the spruce. How 
 often has the painter tried to convey to his canvas 
 its beauties, and how often has he failed ! See you 
 that small, dark spot near its base ? It is the mouth 
 of a tunnel, which has been by human energy bored 
 through the solid rock for a long distance. Suddenly, 
 as if from the boundless depths of the earth, is heard 
 a roaring and shrieking, as though all the thunders of 
 the universe were combined in that one spot; and the 
 ground vibrates for miles around, as if shaken by an 
 earthquake. In wonder and amazement, you believe
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 121 
 
 that the volcanic fires, bound in the deep bowels of 
 the earth, are about to burst forth in all their violence 
 and terror. But ere the mind has time to recover 
 from this impression, you see issuing from that small, 
 dark spot upon the mountain-side two large, bright, 
 glaring eyes, followed by a coal-black iron steed, pro- 
 pelled by fiery steam, and rushing forward with an 
 impetuosity equal to the wind, it passes beside you, 
 and before you are aware of it, naught is seen save a 
 long thin stream of light vapor, shaking and curling in 
 the distance, like the tail of an enormous serpent 
 emerging from the bowels of the mountain, to scourge 
 and ravage the earth. 
 
 "The track of the railroad is laid through that tun- 
 nel, and the engine, with its train of cars loaded with 
 a living freight, has just passed you." 
 
 A MOST REMARKABLE EXPRESS ROBBERY. 
 
 One of the largest and most singular express rob- 
 beries that has ever occurred took place at an early 
 period in the history of expressing. We are indebted 
 for particulars to a volume of railroad and express 
 reminiscences, published by Mr. A. L. Stimson, some 
 fourteen years since. This was the robbery of Pnl- 
 len & Copp's Western Express, of a trunk belonging 
 to Pomeroy & Co.'s Express, which had been placed 
 in the care of Pullen <fe Copp, for transportation from 
 Albany to New York. This was in the year 1843, 
 before the building of the Hudson River Railroad,
 
 122 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 when the journey was made between the two cities 
 in the fall and winter seasons by stage and steamboat, 
 as the ice permitted. The messenger, on this occa- 
 sion, travelled by stage to within sixty miles or so of 
 New York, then took the steamboat for the balance 
 of the passage. He was excessively tired and worn 
 out by his tedious stage travel, but still kept a 
 " watchful eye " on the trunk, which he knew was 
 valuable, but he had not the remotest idea of the im- 
 mense value of the property it contained. Notwith- 
 standing his inclination to snatch a few moments for 
 sleep, he arrived safe with his charge at the dock in 
 New York. On arrival he was disappointed in not 
 finding the company's express wagon waiting for him, 
 as usual, and hastily concluded to go for it, after re- 
 questing the clerk to keep an eye on his trunk. Had 
 he surmised its enormous value no inducement would 
 have tempted him to leave it for a moment. What 
 was his horror and consternation on his return to dis- 
 cover that the trunk had disappeared ! No one could 
 give the distracted messenger any information con- 
 cerning it. He at once notified Pomeroy & Co. of 
 its losg appalling intelligence to them, as the trunk 
 contained bank nifes to the amount of sever I hundred 
 thousand dollars ! A large portion of the money be- 
 longed to the Union Bank, and some sixty thousand 
 dollars to the banking firm of Drew, Robinson & Co. 
 With the exception of a single five hundred dollar 
 note, no description of the money had been retained 
 by the bankers who sent it.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 123 
 
 Suspicion temporarily rested upon the unfortunate 
 messenger, and on two gentlemen, one belonging to 
 Syracuse, and the other to New York, both men of 
 property and good standing, in consequence of the 
 reported story of the l>oat hands that they had been 
 seen talking together several hours previous to the 
 boat's arrival in New York. On the strength of this 
 gossip the three men were arrested on suspicion of 
 the robbery. After the most searching investigation, 
 nothing appearing to criminate them, they were re- 
 leased, and for several weeks no traces of the robbers 
 were found. About one mouth after the loss, a teller 
 in one of the city banks discovered among the bills 
 deposited by a respectable German house, a five hun- 
 dred dollar note, corresponding to the description of 
 the missing one in Drew, Robinson & Co.'s sixty thou- 
 sand dollar package. Messrs. Pullen & Copp and 
 Pomeroy & Co. were immediately notified, and they 
 at once " interviewed " the German house. The 
 depositors stated that the note was received from a 
 German merchant, named Lachner, from Milwaukee. 
 Lachner was soon spotted and arrested by a police 
 officer, who found him in company with a modest and 
 pretty young woman, whom he had married since the 
 robbery. 
 
 Laclrher confessed that, suspecting the value of the 
 trunk from the vigilant care taken of it by the express 
 messenger, he had, during the brief absence of that 
 individual, hastily covered it with a buffalo robe, and
 
 124 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 conveyed it to his room in Delancy Street. Nearly 
 all the money was recovered, and Lachner was com- 
 mitted to the " Tombs," where he hung himself the 
 night of his committal. His youthful and unhappy 
 bride, so soon a widow, was an object of commisera- 
 tion. She soon left New York, a broken-hearted 
 woman, for Milwaukee. 
 
 During the past twenty years quite a number of 
 express robberies, some of them of considerable mag- 
 nitude, have occurred, but in a very few instances 
 have expressmen or their employees been implicated. 
 Considering the great temptations continually placed 
 before them, it is a matter of especial congratulation 
 to the fraternity that they are so uniformly honest. 
 Nearly all the extensive express robberies which have 
 occurred, have been planned and perpetrated by pro- 
 fessional thieves and burglars. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL EXPRESSMEN. 
 
 Not all the toilers in the field of express enter- 
 prise have succeeded in realizing the " stamps " to 
 any great extent. Some of the hardest workers 
 have, after years of wearisome toil, emerged from the 
 " little end of the horn," whilst others, with compara- 
 tively little effort, have now, and always have had, a 
 " soft thing " of it. The same fact is true in all 
 branches of active business ; it is also true that a live 
 expressman encounters, for a small pecuniary reward, 
 risks to life and limb that few men are willing to
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 125 
 
 encounter. The courageous and untiring express 
 messenger nightly hazards his life upon floating tinder 
 boxes, yclept steamboats, or takes his chances on the 
 night express train, over rotten bridges, and upon the 
 edges of yawning chasms, with a hardy indilference, 
 characteristic of the tried and genuine expressman. 
 But ho seldom gets rich. 
 
 SOME OF THE OLD EXPRESSES. 
 
 One of the oldest expressmen, not in years, but in 
 service, is Colonel S. H. Leonard. He commenced, 
 with his father, running between Boston and Worces- 
 ter, previous to 1840, or shortly after the advent of 
 Harnden. Colonel Leonard is a man of rare executive 
 ability, and has proved himself capable of running a 
 first-class express, or of training and disciplining a 
 military organization. His record during the late war, 
 as colonel of a Massachusetts regiment, sheds lustre 
 upon his military history. As in expressman he has 
 no superior. 
 
 Davenport & Mason's Taunton Express is one of 
 the oldest expresses run by the same partners in 
 Boston. Mr. Mason, who was formerly a messenger 
 for Mr. Davenport's father, run between Taunton and 
 Boston as long ago as 1836. Mr. C. F. Davenport, 
 his present partner, and son of his old employer, has 
 followed the vocation of expressman nearly thirty 
 years. They have acquired deserved wealth and 
 prosperity.
 
 126 WAIFS PROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 Colonel A. D. Hatch, of the New Bedford Express, 
 is an "old settler" in the business, commencing as 
 far back as 1840, and is still " tramp, tramp, tramp- 
 ing." If the restless colonel ever does " give up 
 the ghost," his soul will be " marching on " to all 
 eternity over an imaginary railroad track. Notwith- 
 standing the years that have passed over his head, 
 the gallant colonel still retains his modest and youth- 
 ful appearance. 
 
 Chris. C. Jackson, of the Portsmouth Express, 
 now Jackson & Ackerman, is one of the old liners. 
 He was formerly a stage driver, and commenced the 
 express about twenty-five years ago. Mr. Jackson is 
 a sterling man, and faithful, honest expressman. 
 
 Mr. James N. Winslow, now of the Eastern Express 
 Company, commenced running between Boston and 
 Portland in 1839, and for many years ran an express 
 on the Portland boats. He joined Mr. J. R. Hall in 
 running over the railroad route in 1852. He is a 
 successful man. 
 
 Among the employees of the various companies are 
 many men who have largely contributed to the suc- 
 cess of their employers by faithful service and untir- 
 ing vigilance, but who have failed to reap the fruits 
 of their arduous toil. The success of an express 
 company, although depending, in a measure, upon the 
 moneyed capital employed, is, to a great extent, due to 
 the faithfulness, industry, and integrity of clerks, man- 
 agers, and drivers, who are the individuals to come 
 into contact with the customers, who generally care
 
 OF AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 127 
 
 but little about the employer, provided he is re- 
 sponsible pecuniarily. Some old proprietors, who 
 assume airs of profound dignity, scarcely treat- 
 ing with ordinary courtesy their employees, would 
 make a sorry show if left to " work out their own sal- 
 vation." Considering the weighty responsibility 
 which devolves upon the express manager, the oner- 
 ous round of duty which characterizes the daily duties 
 of the express clerk, and the activity and promptness 
 expected of the express driver, it is a fact not credit- 
 able to the rich proprietors who give their men smaller 
 pay in proportion to the value of their services than 
 any other class of business men. 
 
 Some of the employees of our leading expresses 
 have filled positions of arduous responsibility for 
 many years. We give a few names of such indi- 
 viduals : 
 
 ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY. 
 
 Waldo Adams, superintendent, has been brought 
 up from a boy in his father's office. He has had a 
 largo experience, and is noted for his promptness and 
 energy. Daniel Lovering, Jr., has for many years oc- 
 cupied the position of inside manager, to the accept- 
 ance of his employers, and to the satisfaction of their 
 hosts of customers. Daniel has a large amount of 
 that valuable quality, " snap," in his composition. H. 
 W. Dow, the cashier, is a man of rare qualifications 
 for his position. Quiet and unassuming in deport- 
 ment, but thorough and correct in the performance of
 
 128 WAIFS PROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 his duties, he is appreciated by his employers, like- 
 wise by all who come into business contact with him. 
 A. B. Atherton has for the past twenty-five years, 
 more or less, filled a position of great importance to 
 the Adams Express Company. He is rarely seen in 
 the office, and is hardly known by the public gener- 
 ally. His duties are, and always have been, to attend 
 to the horses and teams buying new stock and 
 taking care of the old. 
 
 We mean no disrespect to Mr. Atherton when we 
 say that he is " all horse." He has been brought up 
 among horses, and " knows them like a book." His 
 judgment in regard to the value of horses, and his 
 practical knowledge of their proper treatment, has 
 been immensely valuable to an establishment of the 
 magnitude of the Adams Express Company. Mr. 
 Atherton is highly esteemed by his numerous 
 friends, and is a gentleman of genial and attractive 
 presence. 
 
 CHENEY & COMPANY 
 
 have many employees of " long standing." Messrs. 
 George F. Geer, A. S. Hawley, S. T. A. Gushing, C. 
 A. Evans, T. H. Tenney, have largely contributed, by 
 their integrity and industry, to the great success of 
 this wealthy and influential establishment. Mr. Che- 
 ney, unlike many express proprietors, appreciates de- 
 serving men, pays them liberally, and never parts 
 with a good man. His example in this respect is 
 worthy of imitation.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 129 
 
 THE AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY 
 
 has some " old stagers." Homer Ashley, managing 
 clerk, has been in the employ of this and its preceding 
 express companies for nearly twenty-five years. It is 
 not saying too much to assert that the careful and 
 judicious management of Mr. Ashley has contributed 
 more to the success of his employers than the efforts 
 of any other individual ever connected with them in 
 any capacity. Joseph King, now cashier of the 
 A. M. Express Company, is an accomplished express 
 clerk, and has had many years of experience. 
 
 HARNDEN AND COMPANY. 
 
 The express business carried on under thii aame, 
 at 98 Washington Street, employs a number ok expe- 
 rienced and accomplished men. Freeman Cobb, the 
 superintendent, is a man of executive ability, large 
 experience, and attractive manners. C. F. Russell, 
 the cashier, to us&a Westernism, " knows his biz," and 
 he does it. Eben Cain, a driver, dating back to the 
 old times of W. F. Harnden, is a "character" he is 
 essentially a " driving man." One of Eben's best 
 exploits in making quick time was on the occasion of 
 Daniel Webster's death at Marshfield. Ebeii was em- 
 ployed by the Boston friends of the lamented states- 
 man to run back and forth a special express, detailing 
 his daily condition, <fec. Eben secured a rolpy of 
 picked horses, stationed at various intervals alcng the 
 route, and mounting each in turn, made most c-xtraor- 
 9
 
 130 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 dinary time between Marshfield and Boston. Eben 
 was the first man to report in Boston the memorable 
 exclamation of the dying giant " I still live ! " 
 
 THE EASTERN EXPRESS COMPANY 
 
 retain the services of many valuable men. Horace 
 Shaw, the oldest (in point of service) of their em- 
 ployees, has been in the service of this company for 
 the past twenty years. Colonel Henderson, formerly 
 messenger on the " Wolf line," has had a long and 
 varied experience in the business ; his eyes are still 
 undimmed, and his natural force not abated. James 
 F. Slater has been a faithful messenger for twenty 
 years and upwards, and Moses B. Winslow, James and 
 George Tarbox, have " seen service " for the past 
 eighteen years. Messrs. Rice, Libbey, and Rea are 
 valued clerks of this company. 
 
 AT OTHER EXPRESS OFFICES 
 
 the management of business is intrusted to men wor- 
 thy of their vocation. At 35 Court Square, Mr. H. 
 A. Cook, son of an old time expressman, has the 
 agency of numerous expresses running to all 
 points. Mr. Cook was formerly in the employ of 
 Thompson & Co., and has had an experience of nearly 
 twenty years in the business. Harvey D. Mack, suc- 
 cessor of Kinsley & Co., is in the same office. Thomas 
 Shepard, an old and accomplished expressman, is at 
 33 Court Square, and is the efficient agent of the 
 Lowell and Nashua Railroad Express, Russell & Co.'s
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 131 
 
 Haverhill Express, Niles's Dover Express, <fec. Wal- 
 lace W. Russell is an old expressman, having served 
 many years with the Eastern Express Company. 
 William Gibbs, Jr., and Horatio Pollard, of 10 Court 
 Square, have been long in the business, Mr. Pollard 
 having commenced with Earle & Co.'s Providence 
 Express more than twenty years ago. R. R. Smith, 
 agent of the large express agency, corner of Liberty 
 Square and Kilby Street, is a very efficient man and 
 a popular manager. 
 
 There are many other expresses not mentioned in 
 this brief history, but they are of comparatively re- 
 cent origin, and their history is not familiar to " An 
 Old Expressman," who has aimed at giving sketches 
 only of the old institutions. Hoping his somewhat 
 desultory reminiscence may interest those who would 
 know something of a comparatively new but vastly 
 progressive business interest, the writer respectfully 
 submits "WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS OF AN OLD 
 EXPRESSMAN."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 IN order to give some adequate idea of the prog- 
 ress and present magnitude of the express business 
 in Boston alone/ we give, in the succeeding pages, an 
 accurate list of the various Expresses running out of 
 Boston, with their offices for business, and names of 
 managers. This record of live business men, who fill 
 an indispensable department of business life, may be 
 useful for reference, if not very entertaining as read- 
 ing matter. 
 
 GENERAL EXPRESS AGENCY, Nos. 8 AND 10 COURT 
 SQUARE. 
 
 William Gibbs, Manager. 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Earle & Prew, .... Providence. 
 
 Abbott, North Andover. 
 
 Bagley, Great Falls. 
 
 Benjamin & Vaughn, . . Maiden. 
 
 Blackemore, West Roxbury. 
 
 Brewer & Co., . . . '. Charlestown. 
 
 Collins & Chase, . . . Brook I inc. 
 
 Cooper, Lawrence. 
 
 133
 
 134 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Davis, Brighton. 
 
 Emerson, Watertown. 
 
 Fayerweather, .... Westboro'. 
 
 Fowler, Plymouth. 
 
 Goodwin & Co., . . . Salmon Falls, N. H. 
 
 Harris, Newton Upper Falls. 
 
 Johnson & Co., .... Andover. 
 
 Johnson, East Cambridge. 
 
 Kennerson, Hingham. 
 
 Lang, Reading. 
 
 Little, West Amesbury. 
 
 Mitchell, Bridgewater. 
 
 Morse, Sudbury. 
 
 New York and Boston. 
 
 Paulding, New Bedford. 
 
 Perkins, Exeter. 
 
 Potter, Salem. 
 
 Sargent & Co., .... Lowell. 
 
 Sawin, Cambridge. 
 
 Smith, Roxbury. 
 
 Tainter, Newton. 
 
 Trafton & Co., .... Portsmouth. 
 
 Walker & Watson, . . Jamaica Plains. 
 
 Wells, Amesbury. 
 
 White, South Boston. 
 
 B. F. Stone, Chelsea. 
 
 Hill & Co., Manchester, N. H. 
 
 Atlas Parcel Express, . (Foreign.) 
 
 Beal, Cohasset.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 135 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Brown & Bradbury, . . Aristook, Me. 
 
 Byam Canton. 
 
 Buck <fe Co., Stoneham and Woburn. 
 
 Coolidge & Holbrook, . East Boston. 
 
 Coverly, East Somerville. 
 
 J. M. Ellis & Co., . . . Melrose. 
 
 Fisher, Dedham. 
 
 Gibbs & Co., .... Waltham. 
 
 Gove, Randolph. 
 
 Hart & Co., Woburn. 
 
 Jenkins, Lynn. 
 
 Johnson, Nahant. 
 
 Josslyn, North Bridgewater. 
 
 Lathrop, Auburndale. 
 
 Linnell & Co., .... Wakefield. 
 
 Moody, Dorchester. 
 
 Murray, New Market, N. H. 
 
 Noyes & Wilcomb, . . Ipswich. 
 
 Pierce Bros., .... Everett. 
 
 Peters, Bolton. 
 
 Putnam, Danvers. 
 
 Sampson, E. and W. Bridgewater. 
 
 Shaw & Co., Newburyport. 
 
 Swift, Middletown. 
 
 Tilden&Co., .... Milford. 
 
 E. Tilden, Marshfield. 
 
 Webber, Concord, Mass. 
 
 Wheeler & Co., . . . Marlboro'. 
 
 Winn, Winchester.
 
 136 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 GENERAL EXPRESS AGENCY, No. 32 COURT SQUARE. 
 H. L. Jackson, Manager. 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Brooks & Davis, . . . New Ipswich, N. H. 
 
 Coggswell & Co., . . . Lawrence. 
 
 Gillett & Co., .... Newburyport. 
 
 Jackson & Co., .... Portsmouth. 
 
 Marshall & Moulton, . . Beverly. 
 
 J. M. Marshall, .... Essex. 
 
 Page, Gloucester. 
 
 Savory & Co., .... Salem. 
 
 Townsend, South Danvers. 
 
 Vinal, South Boston. 
 
 Canney & Co., .... Dover, N. H. 
 
 Decatur, Boston Highlands. 
 
 Hayes, Cambridge. 
 
 Locke, Charlestown. 
 
 Manson ...... Amesbury. 
 
 Parsons & Fears, . . . Rockport. 
 
 Smith, Manchester, Mass. 
 
 GENERAL EXPRESS AGENCY, No. 33 COURT SQUARE. 
 Thomas Shepard, Manager. 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Boston, Lowell & Nashua, & Lowell R. R. Express. 
 
 Andrews, City. 
 
 Jenness, Roxbury. 
 
 Niles & Co., Dover, N. H.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 137 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Odlin & Co., Exeter, N. H. 
 
 Russell & Co., .... HaverhilL. 
 S. P. Trott, City. 
 
 GENERAL EXPRESS AGENCY, 34 AND 35 COURT SQUARE. 
 H. A. Cook, Manager. 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Allen & Co., Easton. 
 
 Blake, Newton Centre. 
 
 Brooks & Co., .... Saxonville. 
 Cape Cod Railroad Express. 
 
 Crowell, Manchester, Mass. 
 
 J. H. Eaton, .... Wakefield. 
 
 Harwood, E. and W. Bridgewater. 
 
 Hobbs <fe Pratt, .. . . Chelsea. 
 
 Kinsley <fe Co., .... Fall River, <fec. 
 
 Maglathin, Lynn. 
 
 Osgood <fe Co., .... Worcester. 
 
 Pratt & Hartshorn, . . Neponset. 
 
 Stocker, East Saugus. 
 
 Weeks, Waltham. 
 
 Williams & Co., . . . Foxboro'. 
 
 G. H. Barker, .... Letter Express. 
 
 Bowditch, Quincy. 
 
 Burke, East Somerville. 
 
 Crummitt, Old Colony Railroad. 
 
 Dart & Co., Marlboro'. 
 
 Gilmore, Wrentham.
 
 138 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Hatch & Co., .... New Bedford. 
 
 Jenison, W. Newton & Aub'ndale. 
 
 London, Somerville and E. Camb. 
 
 Paine & Cobb, .... North Bridgewater. 
 
 Parker, Medfield. 
 
 Presson, Gloucester. 
 
 Trowbridge, .... Longwood. 
 
 Weston, Plymouth. 
 
 Withington Dorchester. 
 
 GENERAL EXPRESS AGENCY, No. 36 COURT SQUARE. 
 
 C. E. Sewell, Manager. 
 
 / 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Bradford,. ..... Plymouth. 
 
 Bridgham, Dorchester. 
 
 Davis & Co., .... Providence. 
 
 Elliott, Dedham, Mill Vill. 
 
 George & Co., .... Hudson. 
 
 Hurd, . Newton. 
 
 Magee, Revere. 
 
 Breed & Co., .... Lynn. 
 
 Cheney, . . . . . . Chelsea. 
 
 Davis, ....... Salem. 
 
 Driscoll, Brookline. 
 
 Ellis, Canton. 
 
 Harding, E. and W. Stoughton. 
 
 Henry, ...... Milton. 
 
 Peyser, Biddeford and Saco. 
 
 Smith & Co., .... Charlestnwn.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 139 
 
 GENERAL EXPRESS AGENCY, No. 3 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 H. Bobbins, Agent. A. FuUer, Clerk. 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Allen, Boston Highlands. 
 
 Adams & Mann, . . . Arlington. 
 
 Barrett, ...... Newtonville. 
 
 Bicknell, North Weymouth. 
 
 Clapp, Everett. 
 
 Coolidge & Holbrook, . East Boston. 
 
 Cummings, Reading. 
 
 Davis, Brighton. 
 
 Drew, . East Weymouth. 
 
 Eaton,. ...-.. Needham. 
 
 Garrity, Quincy. 
 
 Johnson, Holliston. 
 
 Mclntosh, Grantville. 
 
 Paine, Marblehead. 
 
 Parker, Lexington. 
 
 Powers, South Boston. 
 
 Simon, Salem. 
 
 Tracy, Dedham. 
 
 Whittemore, .... East Cambridge. 
 
 Wright, ^ Duxbury. 
 
 Dodge, Wenhara. 
 
 Taylor, Hingham. 
 
 Sawin, Cambridge. 
 
 Hurd, Newton. 
 
 Buck & Co., Stoneham.
 
 140 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Bancroft, N. Camb'ge & Som'ville. 
 
 Bell, Danvers. 
 
 Bourk, Weymouth. 
 
 Coverly, East Somerville. 
 
 Gushing, South Weymouth. 
 
 Gushing, South Hingham. 
 
 Eastman, Melrose. 
 
 Ford, Abington. 
 
 Gardiner, West Scituate. 
 
 Hancock, North Bridgewater. 
 
 Linnell & Co., .... Wakefield. 
 
 Muuroe, Arnold, & Co., . Peabody. 
 
 Parker & Co., .... Cambridgeport. 
 
 Penniman, South Abington. 
 
 Randall, N. and E. Abington. 
 
 Tainter, Medford. 
 
 Waterman, West Hanover. 
 
 Woodsum, South Braintree. 
 
 White, Jamaica Plains. 
 
 Pratt & Babb, .... Lynn. 
 
 Marshall & Moulton, . . Beverly. 
 
 Weeks & Co., .... Waltham. 
 
 Harwood, E. and W. Bridgewater.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 141 
 
 GENERAL EXPRESS AGENCY, AT 57 KILBY STREET. 
 
 R. JR. Smith, Manager. 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 Abbott, Randolph. 
 
 Allen, Roxbury. 
 
 Barnes, North Cohasset. 
 
 Brown, Ballardvale. 
 
 Buttrick, Melrose. 
 
 Chase, Cambridgeport. 
 
 Clark & Ruston, . . . Bedford and Lexington. 
 
 White, Jamaica Plains. 
 
 Curtis, N. and S. Braintree. 
 
 Gage & Richardson, . . Methuen. 
 
 Griffin, Somerville. 
 
 Hawkins, . . . . . Watertown. 
 
 Hilton & Sons, .... Lynn. 
 
 Howe & Co., .... Natick. 
 
 Jones, Newton Upper Falls. 
 
 Lovett, Newburyport. 
 
 Middleton, North Easton. 
 
 Moulton, North Weymouth. 
 
 Pickett, Georgetown. 
 
 Rollins, West Newbury. 
 
 Taylor, Hingham. 
 
 Whitney, Winchester. 
 
 Whall, Milton. 
 
 Alden, Bridgcwater. 
 
 Ayer, Haverhill.
 
 142 WAIFS FROM THE WAY-BILLS 
 
 Proprietors. Name of Express. 
 
 W. K. Baker, Weymouth. 
 
 Boynton, Ipswich. 
 
 Bryant, East Lexington. 
 
 Carpenter, Sharon. 
 
 H. Cook, Salem. 
 
 Currier, Gloucester. 
 
 Day & Robertson, . . . Medford. 
 
 Grace & Co., East Stoughton. 
 
 Hatch & Co., Cambridge. 
 
 Hawkins, Woburn. 
 
 Hollis & Co., ..... Medway. 
 Kennebec and Boston Express. 
 
 Messenger, Chelsea. 
 
 Morse, South Dedham. 
 
 Pierce, . Maiden. 
 
 Richardson, Stoneham. 
 
 Saunders, Lawrence. 
 
 Traders, Providence. 
 
 Wentworth, West Roxbury. 
 
 Swett, Portland.
 
 OP AN OLD EXPRESSMAN. 143 
 
 GENERAL EXPRESS AGENCY, No. 9 MILK STREET. 
 J. B. Tew, Agent. 
 
 Proprietors. Name or Express. 
 
 Brigham, Cambric! geport. 
 
 Hatch & Co., Cambridge. 
 
 Jones, Roxbury. 
 
 Prince & Co., Portland. 
 
 Lee, Quincy. 
 
 Davenport & Mason, . . Taunton. 
 
 Hanscom, South Boston. 
 
 Hatch <fe Co., New Bedford. 
 
 Trask, Gloucester.
 
 HE 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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 STAMPED BELOW.
 
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