T. IRWIN.
These amounts were taken from the property lists in the Commissioners Office of Fayette county, Pa. Abraham Brown, $3,400; Benjamin Brown, $4,050; Emanuel Brown, $2,925; Benjamin Brownfield, $6,869; Michael Franks, $1,400; Henry Smith, $2,272; Andrew McClelland, $1,170; Peter Humbert, $1,200; Isaac Hague, $3,170; Isaac Brown, $3,552; *Hugh Graham, $3,868; Samuel Hatfield, $4,500; Thomas Moxley, $2,000; *David Chipps, $200. Names marked witha star, are already security for Hugh Keys, Canal Commissioner, with Wm. Searight, for $50,000, and also on the bond of Thompson McKean, late Road Commissioner, for a large amount.
POINTS RAISED BEFORE THE COMMITTING MAGISTRATE:
Quere.—Can bail be given on any other species of property than real estate?
Quere.—Are not these persons indemnified? If so, how? Would it be policy to recognize them as witnesses on the part of the United States?
Quere.—The order is that two sureties in $25,000 each should be furnished—will any other members be taken?
The United States vs. John F. Braddee.
In the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, for the Western District of Pennsylvania, charged with the larceny of the U. S. mail or mails and stealing therefrom. Hugh Graham, Benjamin Brownfield, Isaac Hague, Henry Smith, Robert Laughlin, Emanuel Brown, Daniel Diamond, Thomas Moxley, Michael Franks, Abraham White, Jacob Humbert, Peter Humbert, Andrew McClelland, Lewis Williams, James McLean, David Chipps, James Douglass, John Hague, Abraham Brown, Daniel Franks, John McClelland and William Hague acknowledge themselves to be held and firmly bound unto the United States in the sum of sixty thousand dollars each, lawful money of the United States, to be levied of your goods and chattels, lauds and tenements, upon condition that the said John F. Braddee be and appear at a session of the Circuit Court of the United States to be held at the city of Pittsburg the third Monday in May next, to answer the said charges, and such other matters as shall then and there be preferred against him, and that he shall not depart the court without leave. Taken and acknowledged.Coram.
T. IRWIN,District Judge.January 28, 1841.
T. IRWIN,
District Judge.
January 28, 1841.
THE INDICTMENT.
In the Circuit Court of the United States of America, holden in and for the Western District of Pennsylvania, at May sessions, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-one. Western District of Pennsylvania, to-wit:
The grand inquest of the United States of America, inquiring for the Western District of Pennsylvania, upon their oaths and affirmations respectively do present and say: That John F. Braddee, late of said Western District of Pennsylvania, a practitioner of medicine, did on the twenty-fifth day of January, in the year eighteen hundred and forty, at Uniontown, in the said Western District of Pennsylvania, procure, advise and assist Peter Mills Strayer to steal, take and carry away the mail of the United States of America, then in progress of transmission from the postoffice in Washington City, in the District of Columbia, to the postoffice at Wheeling, in the Western District of Virginia, contrary to the form of the act of Congress of the United States, in such case made and provided, and against the peace, government and dignity of the United States.
C. DARRAGH,U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.True bill—James Riddle, Foreman.
May 24th, 1841.—The Grand Jury came into court and presented a bill of indictment against Wm. Purnell for stealing a letter from the mail and other offenses. Same day John F. Braddee by his bail, Hugh Graham, is surrendered into Court and Hugh Graham discharged from his recognizance. Same day, on the motion of Mr. Austin, and affidavit of John M. Austin, filed, habeas corpus ad satisfaciendum, issued to the jailor and Sheriff of Fayette county for the body of William Collins. United States vs. John F. Braddee, No. 3 of May Term, 1841. Stealing from the United States mails. And now, to-wit: May 25th, 1841, a jury being called came, to-wit: George Fortune, William Plummer, Samuel Cooper, William Raymond, Edward A. Reynolds, Arnold Eichbaum, James Stewart, John Clemens, Joseph Alexander, Thomas F. Mitchell, Thomas S. Cunningham and Samuel A. Roberts, twelve good and lawful men, duly sworn, summoned and balloted for, and sworn and affirmed, do say on their oaths and affirmations that the defendant is guilty on the first, second and fourth counts in the indictment, and not guilty on the third count. Verdict given on the 4th day of June, 1841. The jury was polled at the instance of defendant’s counsel.
EXCEPTIONS.
The Court referred to the trial of Robinson, which had taken place at the present term, and in which some of the jurors now empanneled had rendered a verdict of guilty. It was not pretended that this trial had the remotest connection with the mail robbery at Uniontown, or that the case of Robinson involved any principle of evidence, or consideration as to the credibility of witnesses, analogous to the case under consideration; yet the Court asked the jury to reflect how it would look, out of doors, after the conviction of a poor friendless boy like Robinson, to acquit such a prisoner as was then on trial; that it might countenance the reproach which had been cast upon the law of permitting big fish to escape while little ones were caught, and that the Court would be deeply mortified at such an appearance. These remarks, which could afford no possible grounds for salutary reflection, were calculated to make the juryforget their oaths; to lead them away from a conscientious and fearless examination of the testimony to calculations upon the probable opinions of others, founded not upon oath or upon a full hearing of the testimony. This, too, in a case where it had been made to appear that the most infamous attempts were resorted to for the purpose of inflaming the public mind by falsehoods through the press. The jury to reflect that if they took a course unpopular at the moment, the whole odium must rest upon them, and that their characters, motives and conduct would be placed in striking contrast with the more popular tone of the Court.
2. That the Court whilst forbearing altogether to notice, or noticing very slightly, the considerations which took all weight from the testimony of Corman and Strayer (witnesses for the prosecution), told the jury it would be a farce to pay any attention to the testimony of Collins and Owens, witnesses for the accused, although the latter stood infinitely fairer before the jury, and had no such powerful inducements as Corman and Strayer to give false testimony.
3. The offense, if any, established against the prisoner, was that of taking the mail with the consent of the person having charge thereof. Yet the Court declined to give the prisoner the benefit of this discrimination.
4. The charge of the Court that the testimony of Turk, as to the non-arrival of the mail at New York, derived from the register, was sufficient, without the production of the register or any copy thereof, or extract therefrom.
United Statesvs.Braddee. Reasons in arrest of judgment.
1. The indictment did not pursue the language of the Act of Congress, but mingles together words which in the act are intended to describe different offences. The accused is consequently not apprised of the clause under which he is indicted, and the especial character of the offence which he must prepare himself to meet. These crimes being statutory, must turn altogether on the language of the Act of Congress. Suppose the same count had charged the accused with robbing, stealing and taking?
The indictment does not allege that the mail stolen or taken contained any valuable thing.
Overruled.
THE SENTENCE.
United States vs. John F. Braddee. May sessions, 1841. Sentence on the first count of the indictment: That you, John F. Braddee, be imprisoned in the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, at hard labor, for and during the term of ten years, and in all respects be subject to the same discipline and treatment as convicts sentenced by the Courts of the State; and that you pay the costs of this prosecution, and stand committed until this sentence be complied with. And while so confined therein you shall be exclusively under the constraint of the officers having charge of said Penitentiary.
DOCKET ENTRIES.
May 27th, 1841.—Test. for United States: J. H. Phillips, J. H. Dicus, Henry H. Beeson, Frederick Byrer, John Keffer, Samuel McLean, Peter Mills Strayer, Amos Jolliff, Samuel Costello, William Wagner. May 28th—Test. for Defendant: John Warner, Thomas Moxley, Adam George, John Hendricks, Uriah Hoke, Aaron Wyatt, James McLean, James Smith, Jacob F. Brant, Robert Carr, Thomas Rowland, Abraham White, Isaac Hague, Jacob Eckel, Decatur Wolfe. May 29th—Test. for Defendant: John Haney, William Collins, Francis Wilkinson, Jesse King, H. Mitchell, David Chipps, Wm. D. Swearingen, Henry Hally, Margaret Collins, William Purnell, John Imbre, John Campbell, John M. Crane, Alfred Core, Seth Holl, John Woodward, Henry Smith, Matthias C. Baker, James Marinder, Madison Mooney, James Owens. May 31st—Test. for Defendant: Jesse Jones, Wm. Hall, T. Shaw, William Ebert, Gideon John, Alexander I. Fowler, John F. Sangston, Benjamin Brownfield. June 1st—Test. for United States: Brown Snyder, George Meason, Robert L. Barry, John Keffer, Alfred McClelland, Ellis Baily, Isaac Nixon, William Nixon, Samuel Nixon, Geo. Rider, J. T. Williams, Jas. McGayen, Wm. Reddick.
June 1. Court took a recess for half an hour. Mr. Black (Col. S. W.), on behalf of the United States, addressed the Court and jury. Mr. William Austin, for defence, addressed the Court and jury. Mr. Darragh, district attorney, addressed the Court and jury. June 2. Mr. Darragh continued and concluded his address. Mr. McCandless, for defense, addressed the Court and jury; Court took a recess for half an hour. Mr. McCandless continued and concluded his address. Mr. Biddle, for the defense, commenced his address to the Court and jury. June 8. Mr. Biddle continued and concluded his address. Mr. Loomis, on behalf of the United States, commenced his address to the Court and jury. The jury, having been charged by Judge Baldwin, retired. Same day rendered a verdict as before mentioned. Mr. McCandless moved the Court in arrest of judgment and for a new trial.
June 5. Affidavits as to the ownership of a portion of the money in the hands of Messrs. Darragh and Kennedy filed. Mr. Finley for Edward H. Brags, moves to take the money out of Court found in the mail stolen, and identified by the affidavits filed. Same gentleman makes the same motion for John J. Young. Both motions referred by the Court to Messrs. Darragh and Kennedy as auditors. Amos Jolliff discharged from his recognizance to attend as a witness. The following report was made to the Court by Messrs. Darragh and Kennedy viz: Pittsburg, June 5, 1841. The undersigned beg leave to report that they have paid out on affidavits to individuals claiming, or their order, the following sums from the money recovered on the premises of John F. Braddee: E. H. Pandell, $250; Timothy Goodman, $1,060; Silas D. Force, $100; James Sproul, $690; H. S. Abbott, $647.10; Sibbett & Jones, $1,127; Haney St. John, $1,455; B. S. Williams, $30; G. G. Moore, $170; A. H. Bangs, $934.90; John S. Young, $190; Chas. S. Bradford, $300; in all $7,154.60. Wholeamount recovered, $10,398.60, leaving $3,244 undistributed. Report of auditors confirmed, and claimants who have been paid are directed to give receipts, and the balance unclaimed be deposited in the Bank of Pittsburg to abide the further order of the Court.
United States vs. William Purnell. Wm. Freeman, James McCune, O. T. Moore, H. H. Turk, A. McClelland and William Crawford each bound in a recognizance of $500 to appear at the next term of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania, on the 3d Monday of November next, to testify in the above case. J. M. Austin moves the Court to direct the Marshal to pay the witnesses subpœnaed on the part of the defendant in the case of the United Statesvs.John F. Braddee. Court refused, and ordered that the expenses of compulsory process be paid to the officers by the United States.
United Statesvs.William Purnell. Defendant tent in $4,000 on condition that he be and appear at the next term of the Circuit Court of the United States, to be held in the city of Pittsburg, on the first Monday of November, next. James L. Bugh, Benjamin Watson and John Hendricks each tent in $1,000 on condition that defendant be and appear as aforesaid.
June 7. The Court overruled the motion for a new trial in the case of the United Statesvs. Braddee, and also a motion by John M. Austin, esq., to postpone sentence, and the Court sentenced the defendant as before mentioned.
November 16, 1841. The United States vs. Margaret Collins. Stealing from the United States mails. Witnesses sworn before the grand jury: E. S. Harris, Johnze Dicus, A. McClelland, D. H. Phillips, William Ebert, John P. Sturgis, Henry H. Beeson, Abraham Alexander and Dr. Howard Kennedy.
Samevs.Same. Charged with receiving a $500 Treasury note, stolen from the mail, knowing the same to have been stolen.
November 17. Recognizance of William Purnell and his sureties called and forfeited, and the witnesses in this case discharged from their recognizances. The grand jury came into Court and presented true bills of indictment against Margaret Collins.
November 22. Defendant pleads not guilty. Tried and jury could not agree, and were discharged. Margaret Collins was Braddee’s mother-in-law. Purnell and Corman were pardoned by the President before trial.
Thus ended the great Braddee trial; an affair that caused more excitement than any local event that ever interested the people of Uniontown. The actors are all dead. Judges Baldwin and Irwin, who heard the cause, are both dead. All the lawyers who were concerned are dead; some of the witnesses are still living. The bondsmen are all dead. Braddee died in the penitentiary about ten years after his incarceration. Many persons believe that he did not die in the penitentiary, but in some manner escaped therefrom. There can be no doubt, however, that he died in the penitentiary.
THE GERMAN D. HAIR HOUSE.
THE GERMAN D. HAIR HOUSE.
John Quincy Adams visits Uniontown—He is Welcomed by Dr. Hugh Campbell—The National Road a Monument of a Past Age—A Comparison Between the National Road and the Appian Way.
“We hear no more of the clanging hoof,And the stage coach, rattling by;For the steam king rules the traveled world,And the old pike’s left to die.”
“We hear no more of the clanging hoof,And the stage coach, rattling by;For the steam king rules the traveled world,And the old pike’s left to die.”
“We hear no more of the clanging hoof,
And the stage coach, rattling by;
For the steam king rules the traveled world,
And the old pike’s left to die.”
The foregoing lines were written by one who mourned the departing glories of the old road. When they were written the steam car had taken the place of the four-horse coach, and the writer was giving vent to his grief over the change. Steam has since encountered a formidable competitor in the shape of electricity, and the time is coming when the steam car will follow in the wake of the old stage coach. Progress is the inspiring watchword of the hour, and while there may be nothing new under the sun, old things are certainly presented in a new light, and old agencies applied to new work.
No sound greets the ear of the pike boy now, like the clink of other days. The glory of the old road has departed, but the memory of its better days fades not away. The old tavern has gone with all the rest. The incidents and anecdotes, accidents and episodes of the road have all passed to the domain of history.
In the month of May, 1837, John Quincy Adams visited Uniontown, on his return from Cincinnati, where he had gone to participate in the inauguration of the observatory on Mount Adams, near that city. Dr. Hugh Campbell was appointed to deliver the address of welcome to Mr. Adams on his arrival at Uniontown. The following opening sentences are quoted from Dr. Campbell’s address:
“Venerable Sir: I have the honor of being the organ of this community to express for them and myself our hearty welcome of you among us. You see here, sir, an assembly of people of every political faith, come together spontaneously as one man to express their respect and veneration for one who has filled so large and distinguished, and I may add, beneficial space in the history and councils of this nation. We stand here, sir, upon theCumberland Road, which has, to some extent, broken down the great wall of the Appallachian mountains, which served to form so natural a barrier between what might have been two great rival nations. This road constitutes we trust, an indissoluble chain of Union, connecting forever as one,the East and the West. As a people directly interested in this great national work, we are glad to have the opportunity of expressing our acknowledgments to you in person. It is a part of that great system which has always received your support, known as the American System, the happy influence of which you have recently had the pleasure of witnessing in the rapid and extraordinary development of the resources of the West.”
Dr. Campbell proceeded at some length in a well conceived and happily expressed address, and concluded as follows:
“Again, sir, I bid you welcome to the hospitalities of our town, and may the God of all grace prolong your existence, and finally receive you to himself.”
It is noteworthy, because out of the ordinary line, that two of the ablest debaters and most popular public speakers of Western Pennsylvania, fifty years ago, were physicians—Dr. F. J. Lemoyne, of Washington, and Dr. Hugh Campbell, of Uniontown, the first named an Abolitionist and the other a Whig. Those who have heard them on the stump aver that they never heard better speakers. They were both highly educated, masters of logic, forceful in delivery, and in the modern phrase, “clean cut” in all their utterances.
In the latest map of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, there is a sketch of the National Road, written by the late Hon. James Veech, in which that able man said:
“It is a monument of a past age; but like all other monuments, it is interesting, as well as venerable. It carried thousands of population and millions of wealth into the West; and more than any other material structure in the land, served to harmonize and strengthen, if not to save, the Union.”
There was a popular belief, in the olden time, that the National Road was a bond of union between the States, and that it served to harmonize and bring together on friendly terms, people of remote sections, and of different pursuits. This will be seen by the quoted remarks of Dr. Campbell and Mr. Veech. The generation of to-day regards the affection of the old pike boy for the old road, as a mere memory, the recollection of the animated scenes of trade and transportation on the old highway. It is something more. The old pike boy sincerely and truly believes that the old pike was a bond of union, that for years it kept the peace between discordant interests, and prolonged the evil day when the outbreak of disunion came.
DR. HUGH CAMPBELL.
DR. HUGH CAMPBELL.
The Appian Way was a great road, and is invested with much classic and historic interest, but, unlike the National Road, it did not yield its place to greater lines of progress and improvement. The Appian Way was designed to gratify the pomp and vanity of consuls and pro-consuls, kings and princes, emperors and empires. The National Road was designed to meet the wants of a free and progressive people, and to aid in building up and strengthening a great and growing republic. The Appian Way had more vitality than the government that built it. It outlived its country. The National Roadserved its purpose grandly, was a complete success, the pride and glory of its day and generation, and when it lost its place as a national thoroughfare, the government that made it was all the stronger because it had been made. The average width of the Appian Way was from eighteen to twenty feet, so as to admit of two carriages passing each other, and the expense of constructing the first section of it was so great that it exhausted the public treasury of Rome. The National Road was sixty feet wide, and eight carriages could pass each other within its borders, while the cost of its construction, although a very large sum of money, made so light a draught upon the resources of the public treasury of the United States, in comparison with subsequent appropriations for other objects, as to be scarcely worthy of observation. The Appian Way derived its name from Appius, who was consul of Rome at the time of the undertaking. Its initial southern terminus was Capua, distant from Rome one hundred and twenty-five miles, very nearly the same as the distance from Cumberland to Wheeling. It was subsequently constructed as far as Beneventum, and ultimately to Brundisium, a seaport town of the Adriatic, distant from Rome three hundred and seventy-eight miles. We are informed by Anthon, an ancient classic author of high renown, that the city of Beneventum derived great importance from its position on the Appian Way, and the same can be truthfully said of the towns and cities which were so fortunate as to be located on the National Road.
Paul the apostle traveled over a portion of the Appian Way on his journey from Jerusalem to Rome to carry up his appeal from Agrippa to Cæsar. He intersected the Appian Way at Puteoli, where he remained seven days, and his brethren having learned that he had reached that point, came to meet him as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns. The Appii Forum was a station, and the Three Taverns a house for the entertainment of strangers and travelers on the Appian Way. The latter may have been three distinct houses moulded into one, as is sometimes done, or a cluster of taverns consisting of three. That they were taverns, or a tavern, is unquestionable. There was an old tavern on the Mountain division of the National Road, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, called the Three Cabins. The cabins were put up for boarding and lodging workmen engaged in the construction of the road, and when the work was finished, united and made one. This grotesque old tavern enjoyed a large patronage, and was a source of no little profit to its old-fashioned proprietor.
Horace, as before intimated, was an occasional traveler on the Appian Way, not infrequently accompanied by Virgil, and apparently with no other object than the mere pleasure afforded by the jaunt. These illustrious authors of classic verse were, it is said, given to convivial habits, and we have the word of Horace himself that the wine on the Appian Way was “thick.” From some other things said by Horace, it is very evident that the taverns of the Appian Way were inferior to those of the National Road. As an instance, he saysthat “the bustling landlord of the inn at Beneventum almost burned himself in roasting some lean thrushes.” Lean thrushes never entered the well stored larders of the old taverns of the National Road. Fatness was the leading feature of flesh and fowl and bird of every kind that passed inspection of the old-time landlord of our National highway, and fatness distinguished all the surroundings of his overflowing hostelry. Nor was it the habit of our old tavern keepers to do the cooking and roasting of their establishments. All that pertained to the dominion of the landlady, who, as a rule, was tidy and robust, and felt a just pride in her calling. Horace also complained that at an inn at Canusium, on the Appian Way, he was served with “gritty bread.” Shades of John N. Dagg, Joseph Hallam, Daniel Brown, Charles Miller, James Workman, Alfred McClelland, Joshua Marsh and Boss Rush, defend us forever against the thought of gritty bread! Horace, in further deprecation of some things on the Appian Way, mentions a little town where “water is sold, though the worst in the world.” Generosity was a leading trait of the old tavern keepers of the National Road. There was an inexhaustible supply of water along its line, the best and purest in the world, and no man ever heard of a cup of it being sold for a price. One of the most attractive features of the National Road was the big water-trough that stood by the side of every tavern, filled with fresh, sparkling water, and absolutely free to all comers and goers.
THE BIG WATER-TROUGH ON LAUREL HILL.
THE BIG WATER-TROUGH ON LAUREL HILL.
A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, relating to the Cumberland Road—Unexpended Balances in Indiana—Accounts of Two Old Commissioners—Rates of Toll—Letters of Albert Gallatin, Ebenezer Finley and Thomas A. Wiley—Curiosities of the old Postal Service.
The following communications and statements show the unexpended balances in 1834 of appropriations made by Congress in preceding years, for constructing the road through the State of Indiana:
Washington, Jan. 20th, 1835.
Sir:—I have the honor to transmit herewith a report from the Chief Engineer respecting the unexpended balance of the appropriation for the Cumberland Road in Indiana, in answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 17th instant.
Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,MAHLON DICKERSON,Acting Secretary of War.To Hon. John Bell,Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Engineer Department, Jan. 19th, 1835.
Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War:
Sir:—In obedience to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th instant, I have the honor to hand you the enclosed statement, explaining the difference in the amount of unexpended appropriations on account of the National Road, in the State of Indiana, and furnishing the information called for therein. I beg leave to remark that it is often necessary to close the annual statement of the fiscal operations of the Engineer Department before the returns, &c., from all the work are received. The Department, therefore, can only act on the information before it. This was the case in the present instance, as well as some others included in the same statement.
I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant,C. GRATIOT, Chief Engineer.
In the tabular statement of the fiscal operations, under the Engineer Department for the year ending the 30th of September, 1834, the unexpended balance of former appropriations is thus stated, relating to the Cumberland Road in Indiana:
The following accounts of two of the old Commissioners are interesting as showing the amount of tolls received and disbursements made for repairs and maintenance at the dates covered, and disclosing the once familiar names of many who had contracts and were otherwise employed on the road:
ACCOUNT OF WILLIAM HOPKINS,
Commissioner of the Cumberland Road in Pennsylvania, from Nov. 10th, 1840, to Nov. 10th, 1841.
EASTERN DIVISION, EMBRACED IN FAYETTE AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, VIZ:
The foregoing items of expenditures were contracts made by Thompson McKean, Esq., late Commissioner, and paid on his certificate.
WESTERN DIVISION, LYING IN WASHINGTON COUNTY.
BY DISBURSEMENTS ON WESTERN DIVISION, VIZ:
The above items of expenditure were on contracts made by R. Quail, late Commissioner, and paid on his certificate.