The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-10-14
THE STRANGE 1EAMS1ER.
A Wagner of Western North
Carolina Nearly a Gen.
fury Ago---The Filters
Grave.
For The Messenger.

The Messenger alIoNeo "ySNh
drift into "reminiscences over the
back country trade by canvas top
ped wagons. which made Feyetteviils'
for sixty years of the nineteenth cen
turv the great commercial inland n
trepot of North Carolina. In the
course OF my antiquarian researches
I have collected a mass OF matter IN
my notes. and Of course my drag net
has numbered itself with no little trash
Along with the golden grains is chan
that needs burning; as the fish flashes
his beautiful prismatic scales to the
sun when ne is drawn with a protest
from the water. SO the ugly, useless
tadpole sprawls himself on the bank
But there were some remarkable
types Of men guiding their teams and
cracking their whips in the
that toiIed over the red hills between
Fayetteville and the mountains in the
Fayetteville and the mountains in the
biography 1 was at no little trouble to
collect some years ago, has a history
which strikingly illustrates the apl,-
orism that truth is stranger than Gc-
ton"
About the year 1913 Fayetteville be-
gan to increase both in the extent Of
it's environs and in population, flourish
ing greatly in trade, and learning to
utilize its excellent water power in the
milling of flour and corn meal, while
it already enjoyed exceptional adVan-
tages as a tobacco, wholesale grocery
and dry goods market, dealing with the
transmoUntain country, clear on to Vir-
ginia and Tennessee. Some time before
this a wagner had begun to make eg-
ular tr:ps 20 the busy little mart on the
Cape Fear. hauling goods by contract
for the up-cOuntry merchants and far
mers with two fine wagons and teams.
one of which ne Wned and drove, n
the other he hired.
The ~singularity of this mans appear
ance and manner attracted no little
attention and awakened all kind OF
speculation and conjecture as to his
history and nationality. Although his
dress was the coarse jeans, heavy boots
and SLOUGH hat of the backwoodsman,
he offered a striking contrast to the Or
binary %uncOuth, awkward, unlettered
countryman. He spoke with a markell
foreign accent. wore his gray hair cut
short, and his face was always clean
shaven, except for a heavy, griZzled
mOustache and imperial. He must have
been at least sixty-five years of age
but he was tall. straight and muscu-
lar, bearing himself with almost al
air Of command and with a rugged dig
nifty that inspired respect.
John Stinson, as this remarkable
teamster was known, was very resery-
ed in demeanor. was seldom known TO
engage in conversation and was a man
OF few words, even in business, which
he transacted with strict integrity n
sCrupulOus care for the interests of mis-
employers. He was a keen land at q
bargain. and evinced excellent judG-
ment in the selection of goods.
On only one occasion was this strange
character known to break through the
reticence and taciturnity behind which
he always guardedly, entrenched him
Seif-a moment Of self abandonment
which gave a brief but startling revela-
ton of the inner man that was talked
about for many q day afterwards. Late
one afternoon in early fall. in one OF
the large wholesale stores on what is
now known as upper Hay street, tn :
labors of the day were nearly over, the
wagons were loaded for their homeward
trip the next morning, and the news Of
the time came up for discussion among
a group of loungers in the front part
of the store. The talk drifted from one
topic to another, until it reached upon
the great French Emperor and his
Leipsic campaign of that year, when
something was said in laudatiOn Of
Moreau, who deserted the French
cause. and was killed in the camp Of
the allies at Dresden, while there was
even a sneer at French military >gen-
JUS and French courage.
The effect was marvellous. StinSen,
VINO a been lying pack against a pile
of bagging Strengthened himself up.
and strobe into the very centre of the
group, his face flushed and his eyes
flashing fire. For five minutes he pour
ed forth a torrent of invective, culmi-
mating with an eloquent and impassion-
ed defence of Napoleon, evidencing
throughout an accurate knowledge OF
his military movements as well as an
intimate acquaintance with the history
of France. Then suddenly checking
his outburs with q gesture of imp2-
thence at his own excitement and I'M
pudence, he urned on his heel and
marched out of the store. hitched ms
team to the wagon, all ready for travel.
and drove out of town.
Concerning Stinson's coming TO North
Carolina it was known only that a few
years before that time he had made
his appearance in the western part Of
the state, had bought a small tract oil
land. with a rough but comfortable log
cabin, and had settled down, hiring a
white man of the n~eighborhoOd as a
laborer. He was no mean farmer, was
a very skillful gardener, and his hired
help, Andrew White, used to say that,
with a cabbage leaf and a piece OF ba-
con rind, he could make a soup fit for
a king. But John Stinson had an eye
as keen as a Yankees for the main
chance; he clearly saw that there was
money on the road and he speedily
equipped himself with good wagons and
teams with which he piled his profita-
BILE calling, leaving the small farm al
most entirely to the ear of White.
Time passed on, and Stinson contin-
ued to make his frequent wagon trips
to Fayetteville, but no provocation
could break down his wall of taciturEi-
ty a second time and he became. is