Evening star., 1920-03-21
The Rambler Writes of Old Potomac Steamers


then being the regular" Mount Yer.
non boat. ]. NIGH. Hollingsworth was
the superintendent Of Mount Vernon
and Frank Hollingshead was captain
of the Arrow. Capt. Gregg seema to
have been soon succeeded In com.
mand of the Mary Washington by
Capt. Troth. and the the Rambler be.
lieves that Capt. Troth" was Jacob
Troth. ono Of the Woodlawn Quakers.
One of the very early "rambles"-
though they were not then called by
that name--was on the subject Of
Woodlawn Mansion, the great home
which George Washington presented
to his ward and adopted daughter,
Nellie Custis. at the time of her mar
riage to Washington's nephew, Law.
renee Lewis. in 1899. Loitering In the
garden OF Woodlawn, the mansion be.
ing at that time tenantless. he came
upon an old gentleman who lived on
a property adjoining Woodlawn. which
Is about two miles southwest Of Mount
Vernon mansion and on a ridge back
from the old road that leads to Ac-
cotink village. The name Of the man
was Jacob Troth, one of the Quaker
pioneers who came from Burlington
county. N. j., in the 40's and bought
large acreage Of the western lands Of
the Mount Vernon plantation, includ-
ing the Woodlawn property, which
they bought from Lorenso LEWIS. who
had inherited the place froH his par
snts. Lawrence and Nellie Eustis. The
Rambler made q picture Of Mr.. Troth
standing at the main doorway Of
Woodlawn and be believes he has that
picture yet. Az the Rambler recalls 1t.
Mr.. Troth said that he was going out to
Los Angeles to live and the memory
Of the>Ramb1er 10 that he died there.
About the time Of the Philadelphia
centenniaI-that is. in 1s76--the Mary
Washington came under the owner
ship of Capt L. L. Blake, and by
agreement with the Mount Vernon
regents the Mary Washington became
one OF the Mount Vernon steamboats,
the other being the Arrow, which was
still commanded by Frank Holdings.
head. Col Joseph c. McKibbin en-
tered into partnership with Capt.
Blake and they bought Marshall Hall,
and for some time the Mary Washing.
ton was the Mount Vernon and Mar
shall Hail steamboat. This continued
until 1873. when Blake and McKibbin
brought to the Potomac a new steam.
boat, which they named the W. W.
Corcoran, and which had been built
for them by the Quintard Iron Works
at New York at cost Of $4,000. Ehe
Corcoran was burned on the morning
Of Thursday, September .. 1891, and
this matter will be treated Of In q
subsequent ''rambIe."
The Mary Washington had become
ono Of the famous boats of the Poto.
mac when she was bought by Capt.
Ephraim 8. Randall In 1881. She raa
to Glymont, OccoQuan Falls and other
points on the river not far from
Washington. Following is ap adver'
tisement published in The Star during
July and August, 1884:
OccoquaA Falls, Masshall Hall and 0lyment.
The steamer Mary Washington will make ex'
cursion trips to the above places. To Occoquan
Falls every Wednesday, leaving 7th street
wharf at Q am. and returning at p.n.i fare,
Is cents. Marshall Hall every Saturday; fars,
16 cents round trip. Sunday excursion, Mar
shall Hall and Glymopt. Dancing on q 0ns
waved dancing deck down and back on all sr1pe
except Sunday. Fine brass band on Sunday.
d. B. Randall, Manager.
The Rambler has not used all his
notes relating to the Mary Washs
ingtdh and will resume the story
next Sunday.
Remarkable Lies.
A NAVAL offioer said at banquet
- in New York:
Some Of the war stories that hear
remind me Of Mark Twain. Mark. you
know. once sat In the smoking room
Of a steamer and listened for an hour
or two to some remarkable lies. Then
he drawled:
".Boys. these feats Of yours that
you've been telling about recall m ID.
venture Of my own In Hannibal There
was a fre In Hannibal one night ana
Old Man Hankinson got caught IN
the fourth story Of the burning house.
Il looked - if he was = goneT. None
Of the ladders was long enough TO
reach him. The crowd stared At one