Show I STAGE COACH TALES By E E. E C. C TAYLOR From Stage Driver to Railroad Railroad Rail Rail- road President T THE HE Hon Bon GInery Twitchell rose from obscurity to become one of the lea leading fi figures ures of ot the era ern of ot stage coach conch transportation then p president of the railroad that put his stage lines out of business and then tilen a member of congress Many a N New w England child hearing hearing hear hear- ing the cry of coining coming I 1 Ginery's GIn crys cry's coming coning 1 I and rind probably wondering what a was watched with delight as ns a great stage coach with six prancing reekIng reekIng reek reek- Ing foaming horses came to a stop In front of the house bouse In Boston or the taverns of ot Worcester ter Mass or Brattleboro Vt Seated atop the magnificent vehicle ve ye- bide hicle was a n dignified man ruddy of face his stout stoul body swathed In a heavy greatcoat and andon andon on his Ills head bead a tall tail silk sUk hat bat GInery Twitchell Twitchell- would sIt Bit erect on the coachmans coachman's scat seat gather the reins well In hand and suddenly be off oft with a great rattle of wheels and blowing of ot horns GInery Twitchell was called Honorable even eyen then Probably It was because of ot his vast reputation reputation tion for Integrity and probably also also al nl so because he was an nn Inveterate politician and alwn always s 's had bad a finger In the time political maneuverIngs and of ot his mils part of New Eng Eng- land ills His stage coach was one of the most famous that Sever rolled over the rough roads of the early days of tb the United States It was built In 1837 by Henry T T. nr Breck ck of Worcester and never ne was repaired beyond occasionally getting a new coat of varnish In 1840 1810 at nt the request of the citizens of Barre Vt seats were were added to the top so that the great coach conch carried 32 persons 12 Inside and 20 outside It once carried 62 young women from Worcester on a n blackberry excursion excursion ex ex- ex with eight horses drawing this tills record load During the Presidential Presidential campaign of 1840 It carried the political leaders to and from meetings around Quinsigamond His last driver Henry S. S Miner narrates that Twitchell before the days of the railroad collected election election election elec elec- tion votes on horseback and anel once road rond from Greenfield Mass to Worcester a distance of 54 miles In four and a half hours He lIe had relays of fresh horses every six or ten miles and made the ride at nt night In the days when he was a post rider before he had accumulated sufficient funds to buy an Interest In a stage coach line he once slept In his clothes Including buckskin underwear In the American House HouseIn In Worcester for a week waiting for tor from frOlD British steamers steam steam- ers He also had men and fresh horses waiting the entire week along the road to Norwich Conn When the boats arrived Twitch ell eJI mounted his horse and started for Norwich He lie met the boat and delivered the In NewYork NewYork New NewYork York hours nhe ahead d of any other post line Une GInery Twitchell was wasn a great favorite with those who rode with him and the seat beside th the driver was eagerly vied for even eyen In bad er ere He had an nn Inexhaustible fund of racy with which he regaled regaled regaled re re- re- re his acquaintances The people people peo pee along his post and stage routes trusted him wIth Ith their business commissions and he be performed a service sh similar to that of the tile ex et ex- ex press companies of today After a long period of self denial In his early days he bought a stage stagecoach stagecoach stagecoach coach and two horses from a 8 Mr Stockwell Stocks ell and established a stage line between Brattleboro and Worcester In 1843 18 he owned and operated a line Une b between Barre and Worcester and later established a stage line from Greenfield to Brat Brat- In that year the postmaster general general gen gen- eral at nt Washington advertised for contracts to carry the mall mail and andT T Instead of bidding for one route went to Washington and obtained ob tamed several Within a n short time he lie was the time largest stage operator In New England own owning ng a n large number of fine stage lines and coaches One of his feats was driving a n. acoach acoach coach from Worcester Mass to Hartford Conn a distance of 60 GO miles in 8 3 hours and ond 20 minutes through deep snow That was on January 23 1840 When the railroads came Twitch ell turned to the new mode of transportation trans and became first president president dent of the Boston Western rail rail- roat road g 1931 Western Newspaper Ne Union |