The Coolidge examiner., 1932-01-01
/ STAGE COACH
J TALES
3 y E. c.. AYLOR
Zachary TAYLOR Skids

American army that chased Santa
Anna through northern Mexico in
the war with Mexico, ignored the
] dangers of travel by stage coach
over the old National pike while lie
reveled in the beauties of the
scenery.
With party of statesmen, politi-
clans and ollice-seekers. President
Taylor rode over the road in 1S49.
between Cumberland and the Ohio
river.
The party rode in many specially
/ chartered coaches. The identity Of
their drivers has never been clearly
established, but they were the pick
of the drivers then operating on the
road west of Cumberland. and prob
ably included such famous rensmen
as Henry Farwell, Archie Mcneil
and Alfred Wolf.
The Presidential party was under
the marshalship of Thomas Shriver
of Cumberland, that ardent Whig.
Included in the party was Colonel
Bullet, famous editor of New Or
leans, who was the Colonel House"
of the Taylor administration.
The road was a glare of ice;
everything above ground was heav-
lily coated with sleet that had been
falling for hours before President
Taylor and his party left Cumber-
land.
To sOutherner like President
1 Taylor, who had never seen the like,
il was phenomenon.
Going down a spur of the road
from Meadow mountain, the Presi-
dental coach, along with all the
others, danced and waltzed on the
polished road. first to one side and
then to the other, every moment
threatening to overturn. But 1t re-
mained upright under the capable
handling of the driver.
Shriver was in one Of the rear
coaches. and was greatly in fear for
the safety of the President AS the
coaches careened down each hill
and mountain his bare head could
be seen protruding through the win
dow of his coach to discover If the
Presidents coach was still upon it's
wheels.
The iron-gray head of Zachary
Taylor with almost the same fire.
quency could be seen outside the
window of the Presidential coach.
But Zachary Taylor was not trying
to see after anybOdy's safety. He
was enjoying what seemed to him
an Arctic panorama.
After the party had skidded and
! lurched along many miles and down
many slopes, and everything was
safe. they finally reached the Mar
rows, two miles west of Cumber-
land. at twilight.
At the Narrows is one of the most
sublime views along the Atlantic
coast. There Zachary Taylor as
sumed command and ordered halt.
He got out in the snow and sleet
heights on both sides of Wills creek,
every twig of vegetation and every
inch of ground covered with glisten-
ing ice.
He had beheld nothing like it in
his life before. not even in the beau
tiful mountains of northern Mexico
when he was on the trail of the elu-
sive Santa Anna.
1t was more than an hour before
the President would permit Shriver
and the rest of the frightened party
to proceed on their journey.
1t was known along the road that
the President and his retinue of
dignitaries were making the trip,
and great alarm was felt when they
failed to reach Cumberland at the
time they were due. Every precau-
tion had been taken, of course to
insure the Presidents safety. but
the people of Cumberland stood
about awaiting "Old Zach" with
many misgivings.
When President Taylor and his
party finally pulled into Cumber-
land they were rendered huge re-
ception and the unperturbed gen.
eral and his shaken companions
dined, rested, and sen out the next
morning to continue their journey
to Washington.
President Taylor was only one of
the nations leaders who travelled
over the famous old pike before the
railroads had pushed across the
Alleghenies.
Jackson, Van Buren, Monroe, Har-
rison, Polk and Tyler were other
Chief Executives who rode the stage
coaches over the old National road.
Others were Henry Clay, cham
pion of the road in congress, and
great favOrite with all the stage
coach drivers; Benton and Cass. La.
fayette, the Mexican general, Santa
Anna, the Indian chief Black Hawk
John Quincy Adams, P. T. Barnum,
and Jenny Lind, who returned from
her first tour of the West by stage
coaches from the Ohio river to the