The Old Pike Part 47

In either case the department may rest a.s.sured of my willingness and determination to use every exertion in order to meet the views and wishes of the department. Should you desire it to be sent by express, I have no hesitation in saying that I can have it sent through in a shorter time than it can be done by any other individual in the country.

This will be handed to you by Mr. Ewing, whom I have sent on with directions to ascertain from you personally your views of this matter, and who will give you all the information respecting the express that has been sent from this place to New York alluded to in your letter.

With respect, your obedient servant, JAMES REESIDE.

N. B. I will say to a certainty I will go from this city to New York in six hours, or faster than any other one can do it.

JAMES REESIDE.

To Hon. O. B. BROWN, Superintendent of Mail Contracts, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

TEAMS READY FOR THE NATIONAL ROAD.

TRENTON, February 25, 1833.

_Dear Sir_: You will perceive by the enclosed that I have attended to your directions as far as practicable. It is their own exposition of the matter, and such as they gave me.

I neglected to mention to you in my letter of yesterday that the cause of the private express beating that of the Government alluded to in Mr.

Mumford's letter, was owing to but one cause.

Their express came through from Was.h.i.+ngton.

The Government express from Philadelphia, after the arrival of the steams.h.i.+p, giving the newspaper express the start of six hours in advance of that of the Government. The lateness of the succeeding arrivals originated from the cause mentioned in the enclosed letter. No mail having arrived from the South, they supposed, from the lateness of the arrival of the express the following night, that there would not be any more.

This was caused by the late arrival of the steamboat, and no preparation was made on the road for taking it on. This is their excuse; whether it will pa.s.s current is for you to determine. I have just received a letter from Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton on the subject. He attaches the blame to Thompson's bad horse, &c.

I think we shall be able to get the mail through in time to connect with the boat, should the roads not get worse than they now are.

The mail arrived in Philadelphia this morning at 6 o'clock. I have good reasons for believing that it will continue, unless a change should take place in the roads.

The mail has left Jersey City the last few days at a few minutes past three o'clock P. M., and will continue to leave at that hour unless you direct otherwise: that is three o'clock.

The teams intended for the National Road are here to-night, and start to-morrow for the West; they are twelve in number, Jersey stock.

Yours respectfully, D. EWING.

COLONEL JAMES REESIDE.

P. S. No opposition express for the last four days. Your express horses are in good order, with but two exceptions.

D. E.

COPY OF AN ACCOUNT AGAINST COL. JAMES REESIDE.

COL. JAMES REESIDE, TO HUTCHINSON & WEART, _Dr._

1833.

January 31.--To one horse on express $ 5 00 February 1. " two horses " 10 00 " 2. " two horses " 10 00 " 3. " two horses " 10 00 " 3. " horses and gig, Eastward, making arrangements for regular express 5 00 March 7.--To two horses on express 5 00 " 7. " running express one month and four days, from February 4 to this date, inclusive, between Trenton and New Brunswick 1,885 71 -------- $1,970 71

The above is a true copy from our books, so far as relates to expresses, and has been paid to us by Col. Reeside.

HUTCHINSON & WEART.

BEDFORD, PA., GETS A DAILY MAIL.

February 14, 1833.

_Sir_: The citizens of Bedford, Pennsylvania, desire that a daily mail be run between Bedford and Hollidaysburg. The latter being a place of great importance, being at the junction of the Pennsylvania Ca.n.a.l and Railroad, and an intercourse of communication very great between the two points, I will agree to perform the service for a pro rata allowance, and put the arrangement into effect in ten days.

Very respectfully, etc., JAMES REESIDE.

HON. W. T. BARRY, Postmaster General.

No. 1215, Pennsylvania. James Reeside proposes to run daily for pro rata; Postmaster General says within "granted;" James Reeside written to 25th February, 1833.

Transcriber's End Notes

Several ill.u.s.trations ("ROAD WAGON" and "STAGE COACH") appear in the table of ill.u.s.trations but do not have captions in the images themselves. These have been added. The table of ill.u.s.trations indicates that a portrait of Ellis B. Woodward was to appear after p. 119, where he is mentioned. In fact, the portrait was bound between pages 132 and 133. It has been placed in its intended position.

In Chapter XIV and in the Appendix, accounting reports include balances carried over to the following page. Since this text will not contain page breaks, these are superfluous, and they have been eliminated.

The spelling of place names vary locally, e.g., Allegany / Allegheny.

The word "phaeton" appears both with and without the "ae" ligature. In both cases, the spelling here is "phaeton".

Hyphenation can be variable and is retained as found. Where the sole instance of a hyphenated word occurs on a line break, modern usage is followed.

For Chapters XXIX, x.x.xII, the chapter summary fails to consistently use the conventional '--' separator between topics. These omissions have been corrected.

The following list contains typographical or spelling errors which were noted, by the original pagination: (29) excelerating, (145) sapplings, (155) ignominously, (157) wood-be robber, (166) Gautemala, (252) whatsomever, (269) germaine, (290) Abram, (297) from widow Goodings, (323) Tennesse, (327) mint julip, (328) b.u.t.ting, (333), beleagured, (349) empanneled.

Punctuation and s.p.a.cing errors have been corrected to follow usage elsewhere in the text.