Daily globe., 1878-09-02

Davis, he would promptly answer
1t and give bond, and use his influence
to correct the ways of his neighborhcod, and
this should be his last shot, and he would
make friends, and requested that his men be
allowed to pass the road on tie way home.
This proposition was readily acceded to.
Morgan and his men went home, and we to
Cockville. We were told that young man
named Gentry, of Morgan's men, had been
killed, and several others of his party
wounded.
FOUR THOUSAND MILE, BY WAGON.
IN Old Couples Journey From Teras to
NcD Jersey in Prairie Schooner.
philadelphia Times, Aug. 22.l
Robert Elder and his wife who reside near
Brazoris, Texas, a town about sixty miles
west of Galveston, decided that they would
pay a visit to friends residing in Norr1stown,
Pa. Years ago, when Elder was young, he
and his wife travelled in wagon from
Shreveport, La, to the place in Texas where
they settled, and since then, having no occa-
sion to move, the uses of railroads and Pull
man cars remained unknown to them, while
the possibilities for "prairie schooner
(canvas-covered wagon was bright memo
ry. They recognized in it all that
was necessary to pleasantly journey 1000
miles from home and back, and accordingly
they hitched up sorrel team, and on the
10th of January last they left Brazoria, and
on the I'd of August they arrived in Phila-
delphia. Yesterday they started on their
long journey home, drawn by the same
sorrel team and riding in the identical
"prairie schooner in which they left the
Lone Star State. Their friends had moved
from Norristown and the main object of
their journey was not accomplished. Never
theless they had good time and drove down
to Absecom and from there rode over to At
lantic City in the cars, their first railroad ex-
perience, to see the ocean. They spent day
there and drove back to Camden and en-
camped at the foot of Spruce street for
few days, having the wagon repaired and
laying in supplies. They were just 200 days
on their trip, averaging ten miles
day on he road. If they make the
same time back the sorrel team will draw up
at Brazoria on the 10th of next March and
the travellers will have been gone just four
teen months. 1t is not many years since
prairie schooners in fleets spotted the plains
west of the Missouri, and in the far West
there is many family that journeyed across
But the completion of the Central and Union
Pacific railroads throttled the prosperity of
the prairie schooner and as an institution it
ceased to exist, although it is still used to
limited extent. Two lines of railroads stretch
from st. Louis to the Gulf and steamships
ply between ports on the Texan coast and
New Orleans and New York, so that Robert
Elders method of coming north was evi-
IDENTIFY chosen not out of necessity.
s'My friends at home,' he relates, tried to
dissuade me from goin' IN wagon, but 1
knowed what comfort is, and l reckoned on
havin' good time, not only when we got here,
but on the road. too. Well, we've had it. You
see am paralyzed in the right side and can't
do much, and the old woman she knows how to
take of hosses, and she bein' right keen to
come, says to her, says /, Well do it. We
fitted up the wagon with q stove and cookin'
things, got the bedding, new harness for the
hosses and the boys gave us a send-off. We
left our two sons and a da'ter to run the place,
old man tells his story with many a
deviation from the necessary line of
narrative. So, blowing away the chaff Of his
relation, the story of the trip may be put in
this condensed form: The line of route was
north 200 miles to Dallas, on the line of the
Texas Pacific railroad, and thence east to
Shreveport, La, where they crossed the Red
River on the first of March. The first part of
the journey was made in easy stages. The
first day eleven miles was accomplished, and
during the entire trip the most ground COW
cred in one day seventeen miles. The
start was usually made early in the morning,
and the six midday hours were spent in the
shade, where the horses could forage
When the shadows grew long
they hitched the sorrels and prairie schooner to-
gether again and logged along. When it was
necessary to reach good camping ground, where
there was water, pasture and fuel, they fre-
quently drove the task of one day without
stopping, and, with the exception of the 9TH of
April, when they rested twenty-four hours and
had their wagon repaired at Chattanooga, they
shifted ground daily. Elder is not exactly
clear as to his dates, and he only remembers
the day when some of the 1920 he started with
was expended. Such occasions he has q vivid
recollection of.
From Shreveport the route was across the
northern part of Louisiana, over bad roads, to
Vicksburg, at which point the Mississippi river
was crossed thence to Jackson and the north
to the State line of Tennessee and Mississippi
near Corinth, where they entered the valley of
windings through Huntsville, Ala; Chatta-
nooga, Knoxville, Tenn; Bristol Lynchburg,
Va, striking the Potomac at Alexandria. They
stopped at Washington a few hours and visited
the Capitol, and thence through Baltimore,
Havre de Grace and Wilmington.
Ou tuc way DICK we LQ1uk We Will go DY
way of Baltimore, and over the old national
turnpike to Wheeling and Cincinnati through
st. Louis, Little Rock, Ark, to Shreveport,
| and down to the mouth of the Brazos, where l
| reckon the people will all turn out to see us;
| that is, if we ever get thar, and I don't see
| why we shouldn't. We reckon we'll get into
| the Ohio valley before cold weather, and get
| out of Missouri before winter breaks So the
| reads will be all right. We will be on the
| turnpike during the fall, but we can keep
| warm in the wagon. Oh! I've figured it all
| out on this map
| Elder displayed thoroughly wrecked
| sheet of paper cut from an old atlas. It was
a map of all the States, with the principal
towns given, and beyond the answers to per-
| sonal inquiries it was the only guide the
| sailors and passengers of the "prairie
| schooner have had.
Says 1t Is Malicious.
BEAVER FALLS, Aug. 26, 1S78.-As serious