ROB’T D. CARSON.
JACOB SHEARER.
BOND.
Know all men by these presents, That James Reeside, as principal, and Richard Morris and David Dorrance, as sureties, are held and firmly bound unto the Postmaster General of the United Statesof America, in the just and full sum of two thousand nine hundred dollars, value received, to be paid unto the Postmaster General or his successors in office, or to his or their assigns; to which payment, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents. Sealed with our seals, dated the seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
The condition of this obligation is such that whereas the above bounden James Reeside, by a certain contract bearing date the fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, covenanted with the said Postmaster General to carry the mail of the United States from Bedford to Washington (Pennsylvania), as per contract annexed, commencing the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and ending the thirty-first day of December, which will be in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
Now, if the said James Reeside shall well and truly perform the covenants in the said indenture expressed on his part to be performed, and shall account for all penalties, and shall promptly repay all balances that may at any time be found due from him, then this bond is to be void; otherwise to remain in full force.
Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of
(Signed.) R. C. WHITESIDE.
A true copy from the original on file in the General Postoffice.
MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, Secretary.
CLAIM FOR EXTRA ALLOWANCE.
Washington City, December 28, 1831.
Sir: For the four years which I have been your contractor for transporting the great Eastern mail from New York to Philadelphia, it has happened almost every week, and several times in a week, that arrivals from foreign countries have brought thousands of ship letters to the office of New York just before the time for my departure, and the importance of their being forwarded without delay to the Southern cities has required my detention from one to two hours beyond the ordinary time for me to leave New York. This detention I have been required to gain in speed, and that increased speed has required me always to keep on that route two extra teams of horses, at an extra expense of not less than one thousand dollars per year for each team. During the first year your predecessor made me an extra allowance for this expense, but during the last three years I have received nothing for it. I now submit the subject to you, in the expectation that you will allow the claim; it is certainly but just that I should be relieved, at least in part, of this burden, for the last three years it has subjected me to an expense of not less than six thousand dollars, which I hope you will direct to be paid to me, at least in part, if you do not think me entitled to the whole. I have also, within the same time, transported to New York all the large mail bags which are made in Philadelphia and sent to New York, not with mails, but to be used in New York, and to be sent from New York to other places. These within three years will amount to about five hundred pounds a week, as will appear from accounts of the manufacturers in your office. Wherever I could procure transportation for those bags in wagons, I have uniformly paid $2.50 per hundred pounds for carrying them, rather than overload my coaches in which we carry the great mail. For this service, I hope you will not consider my claim unreasonable, if I charge ten dollars per week for three years. All of which is submitted to your sense of justice for decision.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JAMES REESIDE.
Hon. Wm. T. Barry.
Endorsement—Allowed. Allow $4,500. The residue of the claim is reserved for future consideration. Allow the remaining $1,500.
COULDN’T AFFORD TO CARRY NEWSPAPERS.
Washington, July 12, 1832.
Sir: When we entered into contract with you to run two daily mails between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, one with unexampled rapidity, and the other in three and one-half days, we had no idea whatever of carrying the newspaper mail in our most rapid line, nor do we suppose it was ever contemplated by the department. It was our intention and we so expressed it in all our conversation with you, and with the superintendent of mail contracts, to carry the principal letter mail only in the most rapid line, not believing it practicable to carry the heavy load of newspapers sent to the West with sufficient rapidity to reach Pittsburg in the shortest time specified. Indeed, if we could have supposed that it would ever become necessary to carry the newspapers with that rapidity, we should not have undertaken it for less that fifteen thousand dollars a year beyond what we now receive; but experience soon taught us that great complaints were made against the department and ourselves when the newspapers were not received as soon as the letters, and that these complaints were not confined to Pittsburg, but extended all over the West. To satisfy the public, and sustain the credit of both the department and ourselves as its servant, we made the experiment of trying to carry the newspapers with our most rapid line. We have partially succeeded, but with very great loss. For three days in the week we arecompelled to exclude all passengers, to the loss of not less than one hundred dollars a day. We are willing to perform our contract to the full extent of its meaning, but we must relinquish carrying the newspaper mails by our most rapid line, unless we can in part be remunerated for it. If, however, the Postmaster General is willing to silence the public clamor, which is so great when we carry them in our slow line, we will carry all the newspaper mails, together with the letter mail, in our most rapid line to Pittsburg and Wheeling, in the shortest time specified in our contract, and so arrange the connection of the Baltimore mail at Chambersburg with our swift line, as to carry the newspapers as well as letter mail, from Baltimore to Pittsburg in two days, for the additional allowance of ten thousand dollars per year, from the first of April last. The increased expense to us will not be less than fifteen thousand dollars a year, and for our own credit and for the credit of the department, we will make one-third of the sacrifice and perform the service for ten thousand dollars a year. We would gladly do it for a less sum if we could afford it, but we cannot, and at that rate our sacrifice will be as much as we can bear. It would be much more gratifying to us if the public would be satisfied without it, but they will not, and our own feelings will not suffer us to perform a service in which we cannot give satisfaction to the public.
Very respectfully, your obedient servants,
JAS. REESIDE,SAM’L R. SLAYMAKER.
To theHon. W. T. Barry,Postmaster General.
A true copy from the original on file in the General Postoffice.
(The above letter is marked “Granted.”)
MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, Secretary.
MR. REESIDE DEFIES ALL COMPETITORS.
Philadelphia, January 25, 1833.
Dear Sir: Your favor dated the 22d inst. has just come to hand, which I have examined with much care, but must confess myself at a loss to come to the exact meaning it is extended to convey.
That there is at present, and has been for some time back, an express carried on horseback between this city and New York, is a fact which is well known, and which is publicly acknowledged by the newspapers in New York. That it is impossible to carry the whole of the great Eastern mail through in coaches or otherwise with the same speed as a small package can be carried through on horseback is a fact that requires no comment.
Not having pointed out this matter clearly in your letter whether it was the wish of the department that a certain portion of mailsshould be sent by express to New York at an earlier hour than it now does.
Should it be the latter, I would at once assure the department of the impossibility of having it carried through in as short a time as it is now carried by express on horseback.
In either case the department may rest assured 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,
Washington, 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 Washington.
The Government express from Philadelphia, after the arrival of the steamship, 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 pass current is for you to determine. I have just received a letter from Mr. Washington 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’clockP. 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.
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 Canal 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.
Footnotes[A]Benjamin Freeman kept a tavern on the old Braddock Road, a short distance south of Mt. Washington. Locating his house on Laurel Hill, was an error of Mr. Clay, but of little consequence, and readily made under the circumstances. A monument was erected, and is still standing, on the roadside near Wheeling, commemorative of the services of Mr. Clay in behalf of the road.[B]The following is the communication referred to by President Jackson:SPECIAL MESSAGE.May 30, 1830.To the Senate of the United States:Gentlemen: I have approved and signed the bill entitled “An act making appropriations for examinations and surveys, and also for certain works of internal improvement,” but as the phraseology of the section, which appropriates the sum of eight thousand dollars for the road from Detroit to Chicago, may be construed to authorize the application of the appropriation for the continuance of the road beyond the limits of the territory of Michigan, I desire to be understood as having approved this bill with the understanding that the road, authorized by this section, is not to be extended beyond the limits of the said territory.ANDREW JACKSON.[C]Died in Iowa in 1892.[D]Deceased.[E]Died recently.[F]Died July 27th, 1893.[G]Died December 12, 1893.[H]Died in 1892.[I]Now deceased.[J]Both now dead.[K]Now dead.[L]Since deceased.[M]Now dead.[N]Since deceased.[O]Now dead.[P]Deceased.[Q]Deceased.[R]Now dead.[S]All now dead.[T]Now dead.[U]Now deceased.[V]Deceased.[W]Deceased.[X]Now dead.[Y]Deceased.
[A]Benjamin Freeman kept a tavern on the old Braddock Road, a short distance south of Mt. Washington. Locating his house on Laurel Hill, was an error of Mr. Clay, but of little consequence, and readily made under the circumstances. A monument was erected, and is still standing, on the roadside near Wheeling, commemorative of the services of Mr. Clay in behalf of the road.[B]The following is the communication referred to by President Jackson:SPECIAL MESSAGE.May 30, 1830.To the Senate of the United States:Gentlemen: I have approved and signed the bill entitled “An act making appropriations for examinations and surveys, and also for certain works of internal improvement,” but as the phraseology of the section, which appropriates the sum of eight thousand dollars for the road from Detroit to Chicago, may be construed to authorize the application of the appropriation for the continuance of the road beyond the limits of the territory of Michigan, I desire to be understood as having approved this bill with the understanding that the road, authorized by this section, is not to be extended beyond the limits of the said territory.ANDREW JACKSON.[C]Died in Iowa in 1892.[D]Deceased.[E]Died recently.[F]Died July 27th, 1893.[G]Died December 12, 1893.[H]Died in 1892.[I]Now deceased.[J]Both now dead.[K]Now dead.[L]Since deceased.[M]Now dead.[N]Since deceased.[O]Now dead.[P]Deceased.[Q]Deceased.[R]Now dead.[S]All now dead.[T]Now dead.[U]Now deceased.[V]Deceased.[W]Deceased.[X]Now dead.[Y]Deceased.
[A]Benjamin Freeman kept a tavern on the old Braddock Road, a short distance south of Mt. Washington. Locating his house on Laurel Hill, was an error of Mr. Clay, but of little consequence, and readily made under the circumstances. A monument was erected, and is still standing, on the roadside near Wheeling, commemorative of the services of Mr. Clay in behalf of the road.
[B]The following is the communication referred to by President Jackson:
SPECIAL MESSAGE.
To the Senate of the United States:
Gentlemen: I have approved and signed the bill entitled “An act making appropriations for examinations and surveys, and also for certain works of internal improvement,” but as the phraseology of the section, which appropriates the sum of eight thousand dollars for the road from Detroit to Chicago, may be construed to authorize the application of the appropriation for the continuance of the road beyond the limits of the territory of Michigan, I desire to be understood as having approved this bill with the understanding that the road, authorized by this section, is not to be extended beyond the limits of the said territory.
[C]Died in Iowa in 1892.
[D]Deceased.
[E]Died recently.
[F]Died July 27th, 1893.
[G]Died December 12, 1893.
[H]Died in 1892.
[I]Now deceased.
[J]Both now dead.
[K]Now dead.
[L]Since deceased.
[M]Now dead.
[N]Since deceased.
[O]Now dead.
[P]Deceased.
[Q]Deceased.
[R]Now dead.
[S]All now dead.
[T]Now dead.
[U]Now deceased.
[V]Deceased.
[W]Deceased.
[X]Now dead.
[Y]Deceased.
Transcriber’s End NotesSeveral illustrations (“ROAD WAGON” and “STAGE COACH”) appear in the table of illustrations but do not have captions in the images themselves. These have been added. The table of illustrations 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.The spelling of place names vary locally, e.g., Allegany / Allegheny.The word “phæton” appears both with and without the æ ligature, and are retained as printed.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, XXXII, 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) Butting, (333), beleagured, (349) empanneled.Punctuation and spacing errors have been corrected to follow usage elsewhere in the text.
Several illustrations (“ROAD WAGON” and “STAGE COACH”) appear in the table of illustrations but do not have captions in the images themselves. These have been added. The table of illustrations 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.
The spelling of place names vary locally, e.g., Allegany / Allegheny.
The word “phæton” appears both with and without the æ ligature, and are retained as printed.
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, XXXII, 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) Butting, (333), beleagured, (349) empanneled.
Punctuation and spacing errors have been corrected to follow usage elsewhere in the text.