Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1906-09-05

to Roseburg, writing from Portland,
Aug. 25:
/ am here at the Hotel Portland
resting up for day on my way to
attend the National Irrigation con-
gress at Boise. My trip out from
Coos Bay was one of the most thrill
| ling of my twenty-five years of ad-
venturious life in the west. And yet
after all it may have been tame. l
will tell you about it and you can
judge for yourself, making allowance
for any exaggeration to which. we all
are prone.
We arrived in Roseburg twelve
hours late. We left one man out IS
miles badly injured, how badly we
could not tell. We were once cut off
by forest fires. We lost the we'll ira
veled stage road and our driver went
five miles out of his way. We lost
the U. S. mail. We lost Johnsons
way station. We lost two trunks an
overcoat and a seat cushion. lost
my dinner, being dreadfully seasick.
l also lost my gold watch with a
Wood Brothers fob to it. the stage
jolting it out of my vest pocket. And
above all the passengers lost their
temper and it is an actual fact that
they seriously considered lynching the
driver. If that isn't going some even
| in the rapid west l don't want a
cent. Mr.. Dana said it was the most
thrilling experience of his life, but
| he let the stage run over him.
don't know. For a time 1t satisfied
my highest ambition for a story, but
/ was too sick to enjoy it / have
seen other accidents where the stage
rolled a thousand feet down the
mountain, killed the horses and
broke up the passengers. And after
all this trip to Roseburg over the
Fenton stage line was little thing
and Judging from what o. r. Ball,
manager of the American Type
Founders company, tells me OF what
happened when he came out, it is an
every day occurance. / arrived in
Portland 60 hours without sleep and
every inch of my body sore like
boil from the jolting. What great
er Joy can a newspaper man have
than an experience like this? If they
had only killed the passenger instead
of naming him or If they had hung
the driver instead of forgiving and
putting the blame on to Fenton 1t
would have been worth four or five
columns more. / have staged 5000
miles in Oregon and this is the first
time | ever got the worth of my six
dollars.
| The trouble commenced with me
even before / left Coos Bay. sat
up all Tuesday night so as to be sure
and catch the stage at 8 next morn
ing, / wanted to go out by way OF
Drain. / made a trip to Marshfield
Monday especially to engage pass
age. Again Tuesday evening called
up the agents to make sure that the
boat would stop for me next morn
ing. Once before they had left me
behind and let me stand on the
wooden mill dock most of the night.
This time l wanted to make sure.
In spite of all my precautions the
Gasgo sailed by next morning with
out stopping at North. Bend. l
waved my maps and arms frantically
and yelled a lung out but could not
attract their attention. ] rather pre-
fer the Drain route for the stage
MANAGEMENT is usually kind to edi-
tors and does not charge them any
more than it does other peple. But
for excitement give me the old Coos
Raw wagon road every time. There
I was on the wooden mill dock. a
heavy grip by my side and the Gasgo
Tout of sight. ! bribed a fellow with
no license to carry passengers to
take me to Marshheld to catch the
lRoseburg stage. The new clerk at
the Blanco kept on insisting on tax
ling me for a commercial traveller i
suppose he meant to natter me.
Clarence Harris was there with
the curlew and we made a safe trip
to Sumner up Catching inlet ana
over the Southern oregon company
narrow guage railroad. II the TRIP
had been like this all the way there
would be nothing to write about
On the stage that morning were
the following passengers: c. Z. Gil
man, OF Sacramento. Frank L. Dana
of Houston. Texas. Mr.. ana MIS-
Frank NJ. Davis. OF Piedmont, south
Dakota. ]. II. Koltes. OF San Diego