Omaha daily bee., 1884-05-23
BRAVE POLLY MARTIN.
"A Female Jehu With Grit and Mus.
Gle Who Fooled a High
way Sobbcr.
Attleboro (Mass.) Correspondence to The Bos
tnn Elnha

Attleboro Mass Correspondence to The Bos.
ton Globe.
evil you have a carriage, sirl'
The query come from the lips of tall,
muscular woman, who stood upon the
platform of the railway station in this vii.
lage. The salutation was an ordinary one
at such a place, but it sounded strangely
coming from the lips of a But
to residents of this village Polly Martin
hes for many years been a familiar figure
about the streets and at the railway sta
ton. The residents of other portions of
the town, too, have long been familiar
with her face and form.
''For how many years, Mrs. Martin,
have you followed your vocation2' was
asked by the reporter.
"Well 1 have been driving a carriage
now about six or eight years; | carried
the mail to South and West Attleboro,
you know, before that. l commenced to
drive the mail wagon, we'll, l don't know
just when, but it was before the war;
think in about 1860. l drove it sixteen
years and five months"
"You have had some strange expert
ences in that timer"
"Well, l had some adventures, that's
a fact. 1t seems like a long time to look
back on, and 1 wouldn't want to go
through it again. | was about in all
weathers, hot and cold wet and dry. 1t
was pretty tough sometimes in the winter
l can tell YOU"
"Did you ever meet with any trouble
by the way?'
Never bat once to amount to anything.
There was one time, about ten years ago
that a gang of men tried to stop me. ]
wasn't on my usual route that night. You
rec. it was a Thanksgiving night. Mr..
Anderson, the minister at the Methodist
church, was over to his sisters, in the
Read end Ide neighborhood, spending
Thanksgiving, and he wanted me to come
round that way with my mail and carry
him home. 1t was a pretty cold night
and dark as q pocket, but l was going
along all right, when / overlook a gang
of about five or six men standing by the
side of the road. One of them called
out and asked which of the roads led to
Hebronville. 1 pointed out the road to
him and went right en-. l had this same
little horse with me that l am driving
now; he is 81 or % years old. One of
the men stepped into the middle of the
road and called on me to stop.
81 had a whip in my hand madeof three
branches of apple-tree braided. 1t was
1t was stout and tough. | struck the
horse on the flank, and just then the
man gave a spring and grabbed the back
stray and the relns. j struck the horse
again, and he sprang forward, dragging
the man along. He chung to the harness
and the reins, and tried to pull them out
of nv hand, all the time trying to get
into the wagon. He got one foot on the
steps and went hopping along on the
other. / pounded HIM IN the face with
stick until the blood ran down, and every
time the stick struck p him it struck
the horse too; so heke t along at a
brisk trot, and / kept pounding the fell
lows face. By and by his foot caught
in the wheel and he fell on his back, and
the wheel ran over his legs"
HE didn't get into the wagon then2'
swell, l guess not, He had tackled
the wrong customer that time"
''That was quite an adventure. Is
that the only time you were troubled Z"
"That's the only time any one attempt
to to stop me. | have broken down a
| ROou many bililCb, Dub thdt Wub hObillIlR F.,
| could mend up easy enough. l have
been through pretty big snow drifts,
though. Many a time | have carried a
shovel and got out and dug the horse out
of the drifts. l remember once that |
got into a big drift which filed the road.
Besides the mail l had a number of
heavy exgress packages oA."
"You ran an express, too, then2"
sob, yes! have carried everything,
from a collar to an engine. But, as 1
was saying, when | struck that drift /
saw the horse couldn't drag that load
and me too. SO / got out and took to
the top Of the wall, The horse keptthe
road all right, and l walked on top of
the wall for a quarter of a mile or more,
until We got out of the drift"
"What was your route !"
81 took the mail at the Post Office
here and drove up through Farmet's, and
right through by the mill. passing.-the
graveyard, to South Attleboro. There
| left the bag and my express packages.
Then | drove up over Red Rock Hill To
Oldtown, where | left another mail al
a box. Then l drove round through Farm
er'slagain, and so home. 1t was about
eight miles In ALL"
"Did you carry telegraph messages
as well as the mail and express r.
"Yes, | have carried telegraph mes
sages aver since the telegraph office wa,
opened here, and / carry them now in
connection with my hack business. ]
! have carried a great deal of express mat
ter-some pretty heavy packages. Once
, | carried a corpse. 1t came by train il
, care of the sexton, and was to go to tn,
: graveyard at South Attleboro. TIL,
1 sexton went with me. The box wa
9 pretty long, and projected out of tn