The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-03
A QUAINT CHARACTER OF
THE DAYS THAT ARE GONE
Old Jess and His Tramp of Months to Deliver a
Letter. Shouting at a Trial.
A Sensation.
A Sensation.


position-no condition-superior 20 that of
driving a four horse stage and blowing
IL tin Dugle.
In these latter days / have seen mag
nticent trains, running at the rate of a
mile minute, and have had the priv
lege of giving my ticket or paying my
money to conductors who put on the airs
OF Major Generals; yet the magnificent
trans and the uniformed, brass buttoned
conductors are not circumstance to the
old time stage and that man of conse-
quence, with reins and whip in hand,
sitting on the box, driving at the rate Of
six miles an hour. / suppose that the
man who writes "reminiscences of these
days, when, in the time to come, balloons
have taken the places of vestibuled trains
and palatial steamers, will look down
from his balloon window as his airship
makes it's thousand miles an hour, and
sigh as he thinks of the good old times,
when, as boy, he could take his time
along through life at the snaiis pace of
a hundred miles an hour. Lest l should
do injustice to the balloon business, that
is to supercede other modes OF travel,
when aerial navigation has been MADE
a success, l will drop the subject, and
come down to terra tirma, and relate a
few incidents which will serve to give
the reader a few moments OF pleasure, 1
trust.
Talking about travelling I am reminded
of character who, fifty years ago, was
known to almost every body between
Raleigh and Fayetteville. L allude to an
idiotic old man by the name of Jesse
Osborn, better known as Little Jess.
He was all the time on the go, and cut
figure when he went, for his dress was
often very much in keeping with the IAN
cies of an idiotic taste. Sometimes he
dressed as man, sometimes as woman.
Sometimes he was very much overdressec,
but at other times quite as much under
dressed. You would see him one time
dressed in full uniform travelling under
the title of captain, major or colonel;
but, the next time you met him he would,
perhaps, have on woman's dress, bonnet
and veil, but always barefooted. There
were certain places along the road he
made headquarters, and at these he would
tarry day or two; but, when the people
began to tire of his company they would
get him off by suggesting little work
for him to do. At the mention OF work
he would say: II must be guine;" and off
he'd go. He annoyed a certain family
so much they thought they would get
rio of him. The gentleman had a married
daughter in west Tennessee, whom Jess
haG known, and of whom, when she was
young lady, he was very fond. The
gentleman said to Jess one day, that
he would like to send letter to that
daughter and asked Jess" if he would
take it to her and bring him an answer
back. He said he would for twenty-five
cents. So the letter was written and
folded in piece of cloth to keep it from
wearing out by much handling, and Jess"
took it and started for Henry county
Tennessee. He sauntered off down the
road and soon was lost to sight, when
the gentleman and his family congratu-
lated themselves upon the fact that
Jess would never trouble them again,
the bargain being that he was not to
come back there nor receive his pay
until he had delivered the letter to the
daughter in Tennessee, and brought ore
from her. When the people heard how
Jess had been gotten rid of it was con-
s.oered the best joke of the times, and
vote of thanks could not have been
more unanimously given than were the
expressions of relief heard on all sides
Jess had gone, and, after awhile the
people ceased to talk about him. The
prevailing opinion of those who thought
or spoke of him was that he had wander
ed off and died; IN fact, the report gained
currency that he was dead. About a
year after he started off with a letter,
the gentleman who sent him was sitting
on his porch, one day, nodding over q
newspaper, Just after eating his dinner,
when some one shook him rudely by the
shoulder, saying: Here's a letter from
your gal, give me that quarter you owe
mel"
A ghost from the grave could not have
frightened him any worse, for a moment,
as he opened his eyes and beheld what
looked like an apparition.
Here's your letter." Jess repeated,
"And 1 want my twenty five cents"
Sure enough, he had letter from the
mans daughter, which had been written
about six months. She told how long,
after "Jess'' left her fathers house, be-
fore he handed her the letter, and it was
about six months. He made the round
trip in a year; carried and brought
letter for twenty-five cents, and resumed
business on the road between Raleigh
and Fayetteville, as if there had been
no suspension.
When the county of Harnett was first
formed the county site was Summerville,
and Jess" was a regular attendant upon
the courts held there, and imagined that
he was a deputy sheriff; carrying pair
of saddle bags on his arm, filed with
imaginary writs he stopped every man
he met court week to serve paper on
him. The people humored his whims, ard
sometimes a man would allow Jess to
arrest him, while he would make out like
he was in great distress.
On one occasion Col. Malcolm J. Nc
Duffie, a Fayetteville lawyer, had a very
bad case in court at Summerville-a case
IN which the law and the evidence were
against him; So his only hope was to
make an emotional, semi-religious talk,
Oh the line of the golden rule, to the
jury, and emphasize doing unto others
as Tin similar circumstances you would
have others do unto you" He soon got
the jury well in hand, and his Scotch
blood running up like the mercury in a
thermometer, to burning heat, he poured
forth volleys of red hot eloquence which
melted the hearts of twelve jurymen, as