Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-17
AULD LANG SYNE,
When Fort Worth was a Mere
Frontier Village,
A ROARING, HURRAH TOWN.
"Reminiscences Awakened by the Death of
Col John I. ChIdester, Who
Was an Early Boomer
in the 7o's.

Col John i. Chichester is dead. That
| may not signify much, but the mention Of
that name will bring back to the old-timers
in Fort Worth scenes and events that have
long since been forgotten. Col Chidester
lived in Fort Worth in 1878, and this city
was IN Juror of excitement one bright
morning when the portly colouel--he was a
| fine-lookiug man--stood on the public
! square surrounded by our principal cit:-
| Zens and gave orders TO the driver and
| guards mounted on a brand new, elegant
! stage coacn, the first one to leave on tho
/ famous Star route, 1850 miles long from
| Fort Worth to Fort Yuma Among those
| gathered on the square were Mai. c. Il.
Fairfax. proprietor of the Transcontinental
hotel which stood on the ground now vacant
just west OF the Jail. S. r. Bibb was there,
saying last pleasant word to the passen-
gers for the far west Capt Paddock was
there, T. W. Powell, G. @. Hyde, l.. II.
Stein. Alex Canto, Uncle Bob Winders, the
inimitable Pete johnson and others-some
now on the other side of tho river aud
those still living scattered far and wide
The starting of that first stage coach on the
line was the marking of an epoch in Fort
Worth. True there had been stages west
of Fort Worth before that time. but they
were private affairs on a small scale,
running to Weatherford or Granbury, and
there connecting with other stages for
points beyond, and when Concho was
reached that ended the stage business.
But this was a stage line indee d. Army
officers, distinguished men from all over
the country, would come to Fort Worth to
take one Of Childester's stages and travel
right through to Yuma, 1860 miles without
a break. When the elegant Concord coach
reached Weatherford it would meet another
coach, not so elegant, but still fine, which
would carry the passengers and the mails
another twenty-five to forty miles, Coaches
ran as far as Concho at this end. When
Concho was reached the blackboard took
the place of the Concord.
Many were the vicissitudes of the men
who drove the stage coaches on that line.
The Fort Worth citizen was never sur
prised when he learned at S or O'Clock in
the morning that Chidester's stage had
been held up while passing through the
bottom west of town, or to hear later in the. !
day that the same old gang had robbed theF
stage at Mary's creek. After the stages |
gor farther out It was no rare thing for tfe I
driver to be Killed by the Indians still ma
rauding through all of West and Southwest |
Texas. The horses were stolen, the buck |
boards burned and Uncle Sans mail scat !
tered to the four winds N
Col. Chidester spent tens Of thousandSsof 1
dollars in this city. He bought horses here
aud kept q stable full of them in this city. |
A portion Of the company's supplies were |
bought here and he footed many board |
bill. He was a generous liver and had many |
friends
A telegram from Camden, Ark, to the |
Memphis Appeal-Avalanche has this to say
of Chidester and his stage line:
Col. John 7, Chichester, man of national |
reputation, died at his residence in this
city this morning at Ills o'clock Death
was result of a complication of diseases.
Allotted by old age. Col. Chidester was
seventy-five years of age.
Col. Chichester was several years ago
prominent throughout the South and West.
Born in New York city in December l,
1917, and at an early age he removed to
Georgia and engaged in the carrying of the
mail overland. He made the business s
calling, and later was brought into national
prominence as a carrier of Uncle Sans
burdens from seabord to seaboard. He
respectively operated stage lines in Georgia,
and Mississippi and in 1857 he ex-
tended his lines further into the South
west, moving to Camden. From Camden
he directed his affairs, but his enterprises
required great deal Of his time in Wash
ington. He became well known to Clay
Webster, Calhoun and other statesmen of
the ante bellum period
During aud after the war between the
states he carried on his business. but it re-
manned for the year 1878 to witness the
on the part of the government
and him, and his associates, of stipend
Gus contract, viz, a continuous stage line
1860 miles in length, from Fort Worth,
Tex, to Fort Yuma, A. T., the major pOr-
ton OF the route being laid through coun-
try totally unciviliZed. Indians greasers
and renegade white men composed the in
habitants along the line penetrated by the
stages of the Arkansas, Texas and Pacific
mail company, an enterprise that outriv-
lled Jack Halliday's famous overland route,
mmortalized by Mark Twain, this one re-
luiring the services of 800 men, 1000
horses, sixty Concord coaches and a de-
-achment of the regular army. OF this
company, the gentleman whose body is now
ying in state, was the president and gen.
sral manager. In all, the line was operated
ihree years, until the eneroachments of the
Texas and Pacific railway made the routa
40 longer practicable
Out of the operating Of this line and
others Of lesser Importance grew the cele-
Jrated Star Route cases. which attracted
widespread attention. Col. Chidester's
however, with the trials was
lot the least embarrassing, as in the con-
racts he only appeared to the extent of one
Who, by reason of his long years of ex-
could be entrusted with the man
cement of the lines.
OF late years he had spent his time with
lis family and in enjoying the society of
friends made in years past and in the pres
mt. A wife and five children, all boys,
esidents Of this city, survive him.