Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-14
AULD LANG SYNE,
When Fort Worth was a Mere
Frontier Village,
A ROARING, HURRAH TOWN.
"Reminiscences Awakened by the Death of
Col John T. Chidester. Who
Was an Early Boomer
. in the 70'E

Col John T. Chidester 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 a Juror of excitement one bright
morning when the portly colonel-he was a
fne-iooEug man-stood on the public
square surrounded by our principal citi-
zens and gave orders 10 the driver and
guards mounted on a brand new, elegant
stage coach, the first one to leave on the
Fsf0nous Star route, 1860 miles long from
Fort Worth to Fort Yuma. Among those
gathered on the square were Maj. c. Z.
Fairfax. proprietor of the Transcontinental
hotel which stood on the ground now vacant
just west of the jail. S. T. Bib was there,
zHsfhg last pleasant word TO the passen-
gers for the far west. Capt Paddock was
there. T. w. Powell, G.. G. Hyde, L. H
Ssein, Alex Canto, Uncle Bob .Winders, the
inimitable Pete Johnson and others-some
now on the other side of the river and
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
eboints beyond, aud 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
esefse one of Childester's stages and travel
right through TO Yuma, 1860 miles without
a break. When the elegant Concord coach
reached Weatherford 1t 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 vieissitudes of the men
who drove the stage coaches on that line.
The Fort Worth citizen was never sur
prised when he learned at or O'Clock in
the morning that Chidester's stage had
been held up while passing through the
sbDttom west of town, or to hear later in the
day that the same old gang had robbed the
stage at Mary's creek After the stages
COR farther out 1t was no rare thing for the
driver to be killed by the Indians still ma
raudiug 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.
Col Chi6ester spent tens of thousands of
dollars in this city. He bought horses here
aud kept a 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 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. Chidester, man of national
reputation, died at his residence in this
city this morning at lis O'Clock. Death
was a result of a complication of diseases.
abetted by old age. Col. Chidester was
seventy-tive years of age.
{ Col. Chidester was several years ago
prominent throughout the South and West.
Born in New York city in December l,
1877 and at an early age he removed to
Georgia and engaged in the carrying of the
mail overland. He made the business
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,
Alabama 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 a 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 and 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 a stipend
Gus contract, viz, 4 continuous stage line |
1860 miles in length, from Fort Worth, !
Tex, to Fort Yuma, A. T, the major por |
Son OF the route being laid through a 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- |
aled Jack Halliday's famous overland route, |
by Mark Twain, this one re-
quiring the services of 300 men, 1000 |
horses, sixty Concord coaches and de- |
of the regular army. OF this |
company, the gentleman whose body is now |
lying in state, was the president and gen.
eral manager. In all, the line was operated |
three years, until the encroachments of the |
Texas and Pacific railway made the route
no longer practicable.
Out of the operating Of this line and |
others of lesser Importance grew the cele-
brated Star Route cases, which attracted
widespread attention. Col. Chidester's
connection, however, with the trials was
not the least embarrassing, as in the con-
tracts he only appeared to the extent OF one
who, by reason of his long years of ex-
could be entrusted with the man.
agement OF the lines.
OF late years he had spent his time with
his family and in enjoying the society of
friends made in years past and in the pres
ent. A wife and five children, all boys, |
residents of this city, survive him.