The Waco evening news. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 1891-1894, 1894-04-04
NOSES AID HIS -FOUR DOLLAR CONTRACT

usuollJ dliu lie0i "U"io VI WV
committee rooms. 1t tells how
Moses Pendergrasss, of Knob Lick,
Mo-, has been tied up for seven
years along with the government OF
the United States in tange of
official red tape; and it is worth
reading even for those who never
have been in Knob Lick, and never
have heard of Moses.
MIR. Pendergrass is a respectable
citizen who can neither read nor
write. When we call him respecta-
BILE we mean what we say, for his
moral qualities have come out
strong in the trouble in which he
finds himself, through no fault of
hisown. Back lin Cleveland's first
term, when Villas was postmaster
general, the department advertised
for proposals for carrying the mails
three times a week over Star Route
No. %, $50; that is to say from
Knob Lick by way of Libertyville
and Avon to Ct ffman and back, 80
miles each round trip; and six times
a week to Libertyville and back,
twelve miles the round trip. For
this service there were opened at
Washington twenty five bids. rang.
ing from $500 year, the highest.
down to - year, the lowest. The
"a bid was Moses Pendergrass', ,
and he therefore got the contract.
On July |, 1887, Moses began to
carry the mails, having duly quail.
fed and put in his bond, with his
neighbors, Presnell and Blal ks as
sureties thereon. Being unable to
read or write, Moses was obliged to
depend upon Postmaster Rudy of
Knob Lick, who was also a justice
of the peace, for assistance in the
formalities and technicalities of the
business. The postmaster prepared
the papers, and Moses signed by
making his mark. Before he began
the service the department ordered
the increase of trips all the way to
Coffman from three to six times a
week, with additional pay, pro rata,
to the contractor. SO when the
first quarter ended on Sept. 80,
Moses had made seventy. eight
round trips of thirty miles each,
riding altogether 2,34o miles over
Iron Mountain country roads in
ali sorts of weather, and delivering
the mails at Liberty vile. Avon and
Coffman with fidelity, punctuality
and great cheerfulness of manner.
If he had travelled the same dis
lance in continuous journey south,
he would have gone about as far as
to Blue fields, on the Mosquito
coast in Nicaragua; if nor.b, he
would have reached the magnetic
pole, and gone two or three hundred
miles beyond it.
Moses Pendergrass wss astounded
when for this arduous service to the
government he received at the end
of the first quarter warrant or
treasury check for 81 AZ, all of the
increased compensation included
Then, after a good deal of fficial
correspondence between Washington
and Knob Lick, it was discovered
that although Moses Pendergrass
had intended to bid $4oO for the
contract, and had so told Postmas
ter Rudy, who drew the papers for
him, and although Rudy and the
bondsmen had understood that the
bid was 1900, by incomprehensible
carelessness or in some strange fit of
heterography, Mr.. Rudy had writ.
ten "four" instead of "four hun.
dred," both in the csal blank
and afterward in the blank contract
and blank bond. There is no sus-
picion of bad faith on Rudy's part
he is merely responsible for an act of
negligence which has made seven
years of trouble for Moses. When
the remittance of $l.43 was received,
the Knob Lick postmaster promptly
sent to the department the following
communication:
"Third Assistant Postmaster
General: Moses Pendergrass' bid
on route 2s. $50 was $400 per year.
There is certainly some great mis-
take somewhere. Any one know.
that the mail could not be carried
fifteen miles and back six times s