Show STAGE COACH TALES by E C TAYLOR from stage driver to railroad president T THE HE non hon ginery twitchell rose from obscurity to become one of the leading figures of the era ot of stage coach transportation then the n president of the railroad that put his stage lines out ot of business and then a member of congress many a new england child hearing bearing the cry of gineros Gl Gi nerys coining gineros Gi nerys coming 1 and probably wondering what a ginery gl nery was watched with delight as a great stage coach with six prancing g reeking ng foaming horses came to a stop in front ot of the Bay state house in boston or the taverns of worcester mass or brattleboro Bratt leboro vt VL seated atop the magnificent vehicle was a dignified solf self contented man ruddy of face ills his stout body swathed in a heavy greatcoat and on his head a tall silk hat bat ginory twitchell would sit erect on the coachmans coach mans seat gather the reins well in hand and suddenly be off with a great rattle of wheels and blowing of horns ginery twitchell was called honorable even then probably it was because of his bis vast reputation for integrity and probably atso also because he was an inveterate politician and always had a finger in the political and of his part ot of new england his stage coach was one ot of the most famous that ever rolled over the rough roads of the early days of the united states it was built in 1837 by henry T breck ot of worcester and never was repaired beyond occasionally getting a new coat of varnish in 1840 at the request of the citizens of barre vt seats were added to the top so BO that ille the great coach carried 32 persons 12 inside and 20 outside it once carried 02 62 young women from worcester on a blackberry excursion cur sion with eight horses drawing this record load during the presidential campaign of 1340 it carried the political leaders to and from meetings around quinsigamond gamond his last driver henry S miner allner narrates that twitchell before the days of the railroad collected election votes on horseback and once road from greenfield mass to worcester a distance of 54 miles in four and a halt half hours he had bad relays of fresh horses every six sis or ten miles and made tile the ride at night in the days when he be was a post rider before he had accumulated sufficient funds to buy an interest in a stage corach coach line he once slept to in ills his clothes including buckskin underwear in the american house in worcester for a week waiting for dispatches des patches from british steamers ue lie also had men and fresh horses waiting the entire week along the road to norwich conn when the boats arrived twitchell mounted his horse and started tor for Nor norwich ue he met the boat and delivered the dispatches des patches in new Y york rk hours ahead of any other post 11 line ne ginery twitchell was a great favorite with those who rode with him and the seat beside tile the driver was eagerly vied tor for even in bad weather ile he had an inexhaustible fund of racy anecdotes with which he regaled ills his acquaintances the people along its his post and stage routes trusted him with their business commissions and he performed a service similar to that of the express companies of today after a long period of self denial in his early days he bought a stage coach and two horses from a mr stockwell and established a stage line between brattleboro Bratt leboro and anc worcester in 1843 he owned and anc operated a line between barre and worcester and later established a stage line from greenfield Green Geld to brat tle boro in that year the postmaster general nt it washington advertised for contracts to carry the mail and Twi twitchell instead of bidding for one route went to washington and obtained several within a short time he was the largest stage operator in new england owning a large number of fine stage lines and coaches one of his feats was driving a coach from worcester mass to hartford Uart ford conn a distance of GO 60 miles in 3 hours and 20 minutes through deep snow that was on january 23 1840 when the railroads came twitchell turned to the new mode of transportation por tation tatton and become became first prest lent dent of the boston western railroad ne 0 1331 1931 western Now newspaper avaner union |