The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1907-11-23
MADE INITIAL TRIP
NEW YORKER A PASSENGER ON
FIRST AMERICAN TRAIN.
Stephen Smith Dubois Still In Fine
Mental and Physical Vigor at
AGE Of 94-Remembers
the Ride Well.

AS an example Of mental and phys
lcal vigor at the age of "a, Stephen
Smith Dubois, who a few days ago
completed the task of cutting and
stacking the product of a %five-acre field
Of corn down at Norwood. Long Island,
is probably n Of the most remark
able old men in the country of whom
there is a record. He is the only
living man who rode on the first pas
Senger train run on a steam railroad
In A~merica-the Mohawk and Hudson
whose rails connected Albany and
Troy. Not only is Dubois the only
living link that connects the railroad
history of the past and present, but he
was one of the two passengers who
rode in the coach, drawn by an engine
called the Yankee. The other pas
senger was his uncle.
1t was the first official trip, and
with a foresight, which has not been
followed in later years, the inhabitants
of Troy insisted that the directors of
the road should assume the first risk,
for there was nobody willing to take
the chance of a ride behind a con
traption' that they believed was like
ly to blow up at any moment.
Il was born up in Cayuga county"
said the old gentleman, as he rested
for a moment from saving a thick
stick of timber, land came to New
York in 1S47. My wife died in 1S4S.
My youngest son, the baby of the
family, is So, and a very good boy.
That | am the only living mar who
rode on the first railroad train must
be true, because l was only a boy OF
Is at the time, and the directors l
rode with were grown men, some OF
them old men.
when | first came to New York the
northernmost house in the city was
on Twenty-siXth street, near Madison
avenue Beyond that was all green
fields. Corporal ~Thompson's cottage
was built a few years later, l think,
Or if 1t was built it was not used as 9
halfway house in 1S47. Over on the
east side there were only a few shan
ties above Twelfth street. You had
a clear view of the East river from
what is now Central park.
when I was a boy up in Cayuga,
Indians of the Seneca tribe-you
know Seneca county is close by
used to come into Waterloo, where
lived for a time, but we didn't pay
~-,oh attention tn thnn ThpV UQrS
always peaceable, and never harmed
ANYBODY so far as l know. l was "a
years old when | came to New York III
AT. and if l do say it myself, l would
MT give way to any man in any klnC
of a contest. When | was so years ole
| was as good as most men at rs.
II have lived the greater part of my
life in the open air, eaten and drums
everything that came along, and have
chewed tobacco for about rs years.
gave up smoking 80 or 40 years ago
and my guilds of chewing have become
smaller. Here is what l use now"
The old man took from his yes
pocket a tiny cube of tobacco. 1
could not have contained more thar
the sixteenth of a cubic inch.
Lost all my teeth something like
80 or 35 years ago." he continued, "st
l can't chew like I used to. A small
plug of tobacco will last me about sil
weeks. 1 don't sleep well at night:
now, but when l was young l used tt
take long maps. Sleep is a great thin.
better than food or drink"
The most remarkable physica
achievement Of the old man this yea
was cutting the corn from a fve-acr'
field. He piled this up in 200 "stonts,
and it is standing to-day as a monu
ment of his prowess. He cleared tn
same field a year ago, and then shelle'
the corn by hand, taking each ca
and scraping owe a bar laid across
bushel measure. When the measur'
was full he would empty it and begil
shelling it again. Early in the sprin;
of this year he dug up a big cherr,
tree by the roots and cut it into IRE
wood.