The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-08-14
TRAVELLING IN 1900.

The stage-coach was little better
than hugo covered box mounted on
springs. 1t had neither glass win
dows, nor doors, nor steps, nor closed
sides. Tho roof was upheld by eight
posts which rose from the body Of the
vehicle, and the body was commonly
breast-high. From the top were hung
curtains Of leather, to be drawn mp
when the day was fine, and let down
and buttoned when rainy and cold.
Within were four seats. Without was
the baggage. Fourteen pounds Of lug
gage were allowed to be carried free
by each passenger. But II his port
manteau or his rass-nail-studded
hair-trunk weighed more, he paid for
1t at the same rate per mile as he paid
for himself. Under no circumstances,
however, could he be permitted to take
with him on the journey more than $50
pounds. When the baggage had all
been weighed and strapped on the
coach, when the horses had been at
tached and the way-bill made out, the
eleven passengers were summoned and,
clambering to their seats through the
front Of the stage, sat down with their
faces toward the drivers seat.
On routes where no competition ex-
listed progress was slow, and the trav-
elers were subjected to all manner of,
extortion and abuse. brutality, neg
ligence, and flching," says one, "are
as naturally expected by people &C
customed to travelling in America as O
mouth, a nose, and two eyes are look
ed for in mans face" Another set
out one day in March, 1896, to 60 from
Frenchtown to New Castle, on the
Delaware. Seventeen miles separated
the two towns, distance which, he
declares, good healthy man could
have passed over in four hours and
half. The stagc-coach took six. When
it finally reached New Castle 1t was
high noon, the tide was making, the
wind was fair, and the boat for Phila-
delphia was ready at the wharf. Yet
he was detained for an hour and q
half, 'that the inkeeper might scrub
the passengers out of the price of q
dinner" Dinner over, the boat set
sail and ran up the river to within two
miles of Glouchester point. There, the
wind and tide failing, the vessel drop
ped anchor for the night. Some pas
sengers, anxious to go on by land. were
forced to pay half dollar each to be
row0d to the shore. At one in the
morning the tide again turned. But
the master was then drunk, and, when
he could be made to understand what
was said, the tide was again ebbing,
and the boat aground. Evening came
before the craft reached Philadelphia.
The passengers were forty-eight hours
on board.
Another came from New York by
stage and water. He was almost ship
wrecked in the bay, lost some of his
baggage at Amboy, was nearly left by
the coach, and passed twenty hours
going sixteen miles on the Delaware.
The captain was drunk. The boat
three times collided with vessels go
ing up the river. A gentleman set out
In February to make the trip from
Philadelphia to Baltimore. Just be-
yond Havre dc Grace the axle broke.
A cart was hired and the passengers
driven to the next stage inn. There q
new coach was obtained, which, in the
evening, overset in the wood. Toward
daylight the whole party, in the midst
VI ~ 5uOWCk SuOWs
shelter and breakfast at q miserable
house three miles from Baltimore. But
the host would not suffer one of them
to dry his clothes by the kitchen stove.
When an editor in the town was asked
to publish an account of their trip he
refused. The owners of the coach line
might, he said, hinder the circulation
of his newspaper. To add to the vex-
alton of such delays. ''the apostolic as
sembly of the state of Delaware had
forbidden stage-coaches to cross their
''hand's breadth of territory on the
Sabbath. The worst bit of road in the
country seems to have been between
Elkton, in Maryland, and the Susque-
hanna ferry. There the ruts were so
deep that rs the wheels were about to
enter one, the driver would call upon
the passengers to lean out of the OPP
Hpee6 Siitl Being overturned. nT5@, g tae
tlemen," he would say, ''to the right"
''Now. gentlemen, to the left"
Yet another traveller had quilted
Philadelphia for New York. All went
smoothly till the coach drew near to
the town of Brunswick. There one of
q rival line was overtaken, and a race
began. At Elizabethtown young wo-
man, well mounted, rode up behind
the coach and attempted to pass. In
an instant half the men on the stage
began to revile her most shamefully,
raised great shout, frightened her
horse, and all but unseated her. One,
indeed, ventured to expostulate. But
he was quickly silenced by the ques-
ton: "Whatl suffer anybody to take
the road of usp' At New York three
of the passengers found lodgings in a
single room at an inn. The custom
was general one, and of all customs
was the most offensive to foreigners.
No such thing, it was said, was ever
seen in the British isles. There every
decent person not only had bed, but
even O room to himself, and, if he
were so minded, might lock his door.
In America, however, the traveller sat
down at the table of his landlord, slept
in the first bed he found empty, or, II
all were taken, lay down on one be-
side its occupant without so much as
asking leave, or caring who the sleep
er might be. If he demanded clean
sheets, he was looked upon as an aris-
tocrat, and charged well for the trouble
he gave; for the bedclothes were chang
cd at stated times, and not to suit the
whims of travellers. -McMaster's His
tory Of The People Of the United States.
-.