Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-10-22
STAGING DAYS.
A Veteran Drivers Interesting Chat About
tho Days Preceding Railroads.

A Veteran Drivers Interesting Chat About
tho Days Preceding Railroads.
The men who drove stages in Canada
before the days of railways are be-
coming fewer as the time passes away.
There are several who live in or near
Toronto, and about the most ox-
perienced of them is man who began
driving in 1881 and is now sixty-siS
years of age, He was born in South
Carolina March %, 1920, and was
brought to Upper Canada by isparents
when he was ten years of age. lie is
best known in this city by the some
what suggestive name of Whisky Bill.
1t was not on account of his fondness
for liquor that he received this title,
for sober men were always selected rs
stage-drivcrs, but through Il little In
cidcnt which occurred at Posts Hotel,
on the Kingston road, twenty-five miles
from Toronto. early in his driving
career. At this then famous hosiery
some wagg sh fellows agreed one night
to ''put up n job on Bill. Whisky
was cheap, and so they all Clipped in
and bought forty-twO gallons at
eighteon cents per gallon. They
fastened the barrel containing the
liquor overhead in the bar-room, and
when Bill came in on his next trip -hcy
tilted the cask and drenched him with
its contents. Ever since then he has
been known far and near as whisky
Bill"
Bill recently rccounted some inter
esting "reminiscences of the old staging
days. Staging was done in the
winter" said Bill, lin common lumber
wagons with wooden springs, which
went inside the box and canvas covers.
In summer thoroughbred coaches,
as they were called, were used. They
had leather springs, and were covered
rs hacks are now. They were built to
carry twelve inside passengers AMI
two outside comfortably. tell you n
man could ride like leoch on one OF
them, We could make seventeen miles
in two and oae-half hours quite easily,
Each driver used to have u run OF
seventeen miles, and he always Pe-
NAMED with his horses Whenever they
stopped. In the spring it was very
hard to get along. | have seen Yonge
street so heavy that four horses could
not drag coach to Bloor street
under two hours. They would con-
stantly be in danger of getting mired.
drove on Yongc street to Richmond
Hill for two years, and then went on
the route from Haysville to Stratford
and from Preston to Haysville. | also
drove between Galtand Guelph. After
| left the West used to run on different
sections of the road between Toronto
and Bowmanville, and continued
there for eighteen years. have been
sixteen hours going from the Rogue to
Oshawa, distance of fifteen miles.
The Rogue is the name of creek
where we used to stop. Very often
when the roads were bad passenger,
have had to get out and walk most o.
the way with rails over their shoulders
to pry the coach out of the mud. Ii
winter the snow-banks were terror
| remmember once in 1851 we lost
mailbag on the Roseburg hills, between
old Bill Marsh's and Nowtonville, AM
it was never found until spring, whel
the snow had thawed away.
awe used to get S12 month an
board. In those days things wer
cheap. You could get eight drinks 70
York shilling, and n quarter Away
treated the whole bar. Whisky wa
only worth 20 to p cents gallon, an
some as low rs lScents. That was tn
stuff that man could get drunk o
and not have q head on him in I'll
morning. No one scarcely had the i
us in those days, and there was n
such thing as finding your stomac
loaded with drugs in the morning
Meals commonly were % cents, an
very tony hotels charged as high US j
cents. Beds were York shillin
wherever meals were % cents.
"ln staging days accidents some
times happened, and | have ofte
known people to get their arms an
legs broken. Passengers often &c
damages. too. for injuries sustained
One time driver upset a coach BE-
tween Newcastle and Newtonville, an
a man had an arm broken and tire
ribs as well. He got $1,000 damages
have known three or four drivers t
get frozen to death on the box. ! II
member once meeting driver nea
the English church at the Highlan
creek. | was going east and he Wa
coming toward Toronto. He only ha
two miles to go before he reache
} Gates | said This is a tough 'un
for it was terribly cold day. II
; answered me and said: You'd bette
believe it.. Well, when the coach q
to Gates he did not come down, an
they went to pull him off the box
fun, and asked him to come and hay
n drink. They found then that he W;
frozen stiff. with his eyes open and IL
reins in his hand. The secret OF dri'
ing is to keep moving. The hands an
feet should never be still for a mOmen
l came near freezing to death myse
on the Goderich road, between Doc
Mills and Aberdeen. I'd good de
sooner have the old times than Il
new. Who wouldn't, with flour at
barrel, pork 50 a hundred, as fast
you had a mind to buy it; potatoes |
, cents bushel; butter cents a poun
, firewood, 81 50a cord, and dece
house to live in. with three or TO
rooms, for 81 month. Tea was 81
pound, and sugar was dear, but almo
every thing else was cheap. | tell "
there was nothing like stage-drivil