Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-22
4 NOTABLE JOURNEY.
President Folks Stage Coach Trip t
Washington To BE Inaugurated.

President Folks Stage Coach Trip to
Washington To BE Inaugurated.
''Yos, am going to the inauguration,
said Col. b. Frank Moore, of Harrodsburg,
says the C0urjer-JournaI, 20 circle of
friends at the Alexander Hotel, Lsuis-
vile, ''tO see what alterations have been
made in such ceremonies during the last
forty years"
''Did you witness an Inauguration that
long agoP asked one of the group.
Yes, saw James X. Polk indicted
into once in 1S45, and l have not wit
messed the ceremony since, and l want 10
see she Democratic party take up the reins
Of government again after much longer
outrage term than that preceding Poke
Inauguration"
''YOu must have been quite youth
then. er you are holding old age down re-
mark2blJ well" said another.
Il was only y schoolboy then. NY
father moved from Sumner county, Tenn,
to a plantation on the Mississippi river
above New Orleans when l was child.
and as there were no English schools down
there, be sent me to the Miami College, in
Ohio. After l had been there one term
Slidell, who, with Mason, started to Eng
land to represent the Confederate Gov
steamer on the high seas during the war,
was elected to Congress and told my father
that he would try to get me appointed as
cadet to the West Point Military Acad-
envy. l remained at home during that
winter to accompany him to Washington
and secure the appointment. We started
in February, 1915, and travelled from sew
Orleans to Cincinnati on one of the float
ing palaces Of that day, and there took a
DIT
q sudden change in the weather, such as
we have experienced recently, and before
we reached Wheeling the wheels of the
steamboat were broken to pieces by the
ice in the river. We went ashore there to
take the stage across the mountains on
the turnpike the government was build
ing from W ashingtOn to st. Louis. 1t was
after the middle of February and travel
to Washington was brisk, and when we
stopped at Wheeling we found a large
gathering of notables awaiting accommo-
datiOns to the Inauguration.
"AmOng them was James K. Polk,
President-eleet, on his way to Washing
ton, and the Western and Southern Con-
gressmen, and many politicians were
having fine opportunity to make their
demands upon him. There were two stage
| lines running from Wheeling to Cumber-
| land, Nd, and travellers had to take their
turns. First booked first taken, was the
motto and we had to wait two or three
days for seats in the stages. In the mean
time magnificent coach, upholstered In
red velvet and drawn by six horses, ar
rived to carry the President-eiect across
| the mountains. 1t had been constructed
especially for the occasion by the Demo-
Gratis OF Newark, n. j., and sent 10 meet
Mr.. Polk. 1t was in charge of a commit
tee of three, and they rendered MIR. Polk
q n Er,fc ov,A
than the committees Of to-day make use
OF in rendering hotel and parlor railway
coaches to Presidents. 1t so happened
that our party secured transportation Tor
the same morning that Mr.. Polk and the
committee were 10 start. Both stage lines
left at the same time and | will never for
get that start. One line had ten coaches
and the other six, making sixteen. besides
the Presidential coach, and we formed a
gay party as we rode out of Wheeling to
the music of the sixteen stage horns.
Each stage was drawn by six horses and
each passenger was as happy as a lark,
because we had the Pre sident-elect along.
sit took US three days and a half to
travel to Cumberland and there we struck
the railroad, but it wouldn't pass for a
railroad nowadays. The rails were SIM
ply fat iron bars spiked down to stringers
which rested on crOss-ties, and the great
est fear of accidents was caused by the
danger Of spikes in the ends Of the bars
getting loose and drawing out. The en-
gineers called them snake heads when
they stuck up three or four inches and
kept sharp lookout for them. We reached
Washington in safety during the latter
part OF February and waited for March 4.
1t came, and with it an immense crowd
Of people from all parts Of the country,
who witnessed and highly enjoyed the in
auguration ceremonies. 1t mas been 40
years since l witnessed such a sight, and
wouldn't miss seeing Cleveland inaugu-
rated for 81, 000.'
"Did you secure the appointment to
West Point?' asked an attentive listener.
ono. l waited three weeks and Slidell
worked very hard for me, and he had a
great many friends to accommodate, and
after the appointment had been postponed
two or three times l wrote to my father
telling him Of the obstacles in the way
and he wrote to me to go back to the Mi
ami College, and ] went back there an
other term. A young man named Barrow
got the cadetshIp and died shortly after
"a nrratTQtad -