The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-01-25

He remembers the aroma of the
oily old rye whiskey which the
landlord was won't tosproduce for
the delectation of his guests to
revive their tired bodies and give
tone to the appetite. "Why, you
could smell the blossom of the
rye-field," "quoth he; and he re-
counts the conversational pleas
antries and bon mots and socia-
bility which the meals and whis-
ey engendered, and sighs for the
past-the good old days when he
was young and vigorous, before
the country was ruined by rail
roads.
eyes, | was born in 1910, and
Judge Black was born the same
year. Well, he's dead now-three
or four years-and | must soon
follow. We must all go. 1t
comes sooner or later to all. The
Judge and | were born just thir-
ty miles apart, and in the same
year-he, in the glades of Somer-
set, farmer boy, and | in lit
tie old log house at the western
end of Bedford. Yes, this is the
first place | ever came to. l
stopped here when l came, just
seventy-eight years ago. We
both started pretty low down.
He got to be great Judge, and l
was only stage driver. But I'd
rather be stage driver than a
Judge 1t suited me better.
Well, I'll tell you how my team
ran off, and how | came near lick
ing Judge Black. remember it
well. 1t was the first time | ever
met him; but | didn't know him
then.
81 was driving a four-horse
coach on the Glade Pike-from
the White Horse Tavern, on the
top of the Allegheny, to Bedford.
[ had a double route; drove two
teams; changed at Metzgar's on
Dry Ridge. 1t was in 1842, when
the Judge came to Bedford to
hold court for the first time. /
had a full load-nine inside. A
big man was on the front boot be-
side me. We had no conversa-
ton until the runaway of my
team that I'm going to tell you
about. AS | came along by Sam
uel Stuckey's place, about nine
O'Clock at night, a sudden thun-
der storm came. | never had but
two teams to run away-one at
night and one IN daylight-in
the forty years | drove. There
was a flash and a crash that seem
ed to split the sky, and the hors-
es jumped and started, quick as
the Nightingale but. 1t was a
mighty good team. / was always
ready for them-two grays at
the lead and two appaluchees at
the wheels. The team belonged
to Jake Peters. They had hard
ly jumped till had a strong pull
on them. 1t was a beautiful star
light night till the storm came
up; very dark then; a heavy rain
for half an hour. | could only
see the road when the lightning
flashed. When they started, the
man beside me grabbed for the
lines. | told him with an oath
| could curse in them days-if
he touched line | would knock
him off the box with the wrench
that was in the boot. He never
spoke word. [ kept cursing
him and he kept grabbing at the
lines; but | didn't let him get
hold of them. | told him if he
caught line he would run me off
the road and upset me and kill
the passengers. BY that time we
came to George Stuckey's yard.
That was one mile they had run.
There it lightened and | saw the
house, and | pulled the leaders
up so that they ran against the
porch and it knocked them both
down. The wheel horses ran on
to them with their front feet, and
then we stopped. The big man
got down and went into the house
in hurry, and | saw no more of
him till | was ready to start, and
-