Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-01-11
Mrs. FELTON, on an Early Trip
BY JOHN T. BOIFEUILLET

! n
liam H. Feltons shrine of wisdom,
patriotism and noble womanhodd.
was delighted when her remarkable life was
so deservedly crowned with a United States
senatorship She will live in history one
of Americas most notable women. Long aft
er she has gone as "a sunbeam to revisit her
native Skies and among the angels dwells
lin form so pure that she appears living
star" her benign influence will live here be-
low and will be felt upon the moral, intellec-
; tual and social progress of the times.
| read with decided pleasure and pride her
recent communication in The Atlanta Jour
nal in which she honored with her high
commentator of my newspaper contribu-
tions, her appreciated comments having been
occasioned by an article by me on the
Charleston and Hamburg railroad. l noted
with keen interest what she said regarding a
trip she made over this line with her father
when she was girl about twelve years old,
and the ride they had on the historic and
crude inclined plane" at Aiken, which was
a curious part of this the second railroad
built in America, and the fourth in the
world, to carry passengers.
A Tribute of the People
Little did she dream, when wee traveller
on this road seventy-1ve years ago, that she
would become the wife of an eloquent and
distinguished Georgian who would win dis
tinctive popularity and fame as the fearless
champion of the people of Georgia in the pro-
lection of their rights in con lection with the
Western E. Atlantic railroad (the state road) =,
and that it would be largely due to his pow
erful oratorical ability, ardent patriotism,
and fearlessness that the Railroad Commits
sion of Georgia was preserved and the rail-
ways of the state kept under it's authority
and jurisdiction.
Doctor Feltons defense and protection Of
the people in these two particular matters
occurred while he was a member of the legis-
lature, back in 1SS4-85, nearly fortv years
IIo hat viii
erful railroad and political influences, but he
waved his triumphant banner over the field
Of contest. That sterling patriot and SPLEEN
did Georgian, Major Campbell Wallace, who
was a member of the Railroad Commission
a. the time when unfriendly forces were en-
deavoring to destroy it, remarked to Legis-
latOr FELTON,: Doctor, you certainly saved
the Railroad Commission"
Mrs. FELTON,, a young child pas
senger on the Charleston and Hamburg rail
road, and its inclined plane" several years
prior to the completion of the Western and
Atlantic railroad, from Atlanta to Chatta-
nooga, and for the protection of whose inter
ests her husband strongly and boldly con-
tended, so many long years afterwards.
While she, in childish wonder, was being
lowered in a over tho inclined plane she
never could have supposed, even in the wild
est imaginings, that she would be the first
woman on the American continent to occupy
a seat in the United States senate
When Mrs. FELTON, riding over the
Charleston and Hamburg railroad three quar-
ters of a century ago, / wonder If anyone told
her of the peculiar explosion of the boiler of
the Best Friend" the second American
built engine, constructed especially for use
on the South Carolina line?
According to the printed narrative, one day
in the summer of 1881, the BEST Friend"
was performing its work on the Charleston
and Hamburg railroad when the negro who
aotn cd hTpO he ina od hU hp
unpleasant noise # the steam escaping
through the safety valve, ventured on the ex-
pedient of combining it by pressing the weight
of his body on the lever gauge of the safety
valve, which experiment resulted in the ex-
plosion Of the boiler
History has been inconsiderate enough not
to tell what became of the negro.
The Best Friend" was repaired, e. new
boiler installed, and the reconstructed en-
CINE was given the name of The Phoenix
risen in freshness, as it were, from it's own
explosion, fire or asnes. [ should have
thought that sentiment would have prompted
the railroad authorities to retain the name
Of Best Friend"
Farmer Couldn't Hold On
Professor Phillips ~eproduces in his highly
Interesting an dinforming volume, History
OF Transportation in the Eastern Cotton
Belt an anecdote published IN the Augusta
Constituencies, March 20, 1882, on the eff
feet the engine Best Friend" or The
Phoenix in motion had upon the native rus
tics. 1t is related that farmer from the up
country who had never heard of steam en-
gineS happened to be driving his team near
the track when the train came along on full
steam. The mules ran away and destroyed
the wagon and contents When picked up
the WAGNER was asked why he hadn't held
to his team.
Hold on" said Hodge, How the HI
could you expect me to hold on, when | saw
III IA harness coming down on me-"
/ have read in Phillips "History of Trans
pc --->.vn lone puDl1sheu account by 4 north
erner of his observations while travelling over
the Charleston and Hamburg railroad, in
October, 1888, the first month of the lines
full operation Regarding the inclined plane
to which Mrs. FELTON, referred, he said:
The Historic "Incltned Plane"
eve reached Aiken, 123 miles from
Charleston, where the car stopped and our
baggage was taken out and put into another
car to go down to inclined plane The old
carimmediately returned to Charleston. The
new one was let down the inclined plane by
negroes It's perpendicular descent might
have been two hundred feet, in a horizontal
distance of twelve hundred On either side
was a stand with ratings. Two negroes on
each stand turned crank in its center. We
soon began to go about five - six miles an
hour. The country became more hilly in our
cruise. At p. M, the stopped at Ham
burg, 1876 miles from Charleston. Having
been appraised of the fare, seventy-fve cents
each, demanded by the stage for carrying
passengers across the Augusta bridge,
slipped a quarter into negro's hands and
walked on out while he lugged my baggage to
the U. S. Hotel in Augusta. The stage driver
seemed chagrined."
| Some nine or ten months after the fore
| going account written and the equip
ment OF the inclined plane had been COM