Evening Star Newspaper, August 18, 1935, Page 50

" F2 WHEN THE FIRST “IRON HORSE” RACED IN 100 YEARS AGO - S Aoy ey THE*: SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, i Great Crowds From W ashington, Georgetown, and Flags Flying, the Superstitious Scared. By John Clage!t Proctor|ported now, yet what it did say is|erally provided by the railroad com- UST 100 years ago next Sunday, the first railroad train to enter J Washington came puffing up to the depot at the northwest cor- ner of Second street and Pennsylvania avenue, then, and for 17 years after- branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road. It was a momentous occasion, hailed by some with delight, by others— somewhat skeptical of the so-called iron horse—with doubt and uncer- tainty; some with even fear. Indeed many people for years would not ride in a railroad train, preferring the old stagecoach, and many never did do 80, just as many persons today would rather walk to Philadelphia than take chances on getting there in an air- plane. But the locomotive engine came to stay, and today one rarely anticipates any danger when he boards a rail- road coach for a trip out of town, and if an accident should occur—unless it is an unusually severe one—it will pass by practically unnoticed. But a century ago, when railroading was in its infancy, it was naturally rather crude, and, as might be expected, accidents were of sufficiently frequent | cars, besides bringing back our own | occurrence to alarm most any timid | mayor and members of the corpora- | soul, and deter him from taking any unnecessary chances. But that, of course, was in the experimental stages, JFOR a lttle over a month prior to the coming of trains into the city, the cars stopped at Bladensburg and to and from this point passengers ‘were conveyed by stages from Gads: by's, Browns and Fuller's Hotels. Of these well-known early hostelries John Gadsby's is still standing and repre- sented by the National Hotel, Sixth street and Pennsylvania ave- nue. Brown's, which was more re- cently the Metropolitan, is almost en- tirely gone, and only the site upon which it once stood (Pennsylvania avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets), now occupied by a bus sta- tion, is there to remind us that here John Tyler was sworn in as President, and of the occurrence of many other historic events. Fuller's—known by several ether names in its time—then occupled the site of the present New ‘Willard. There was much rejoicing among ‘Washingtonians when the rallroad had reached as near the city as Bla- densburg, for it was realized it would take but a short while to complete the line to the city. Of this an early account says: “Bladensburg was reached July 20 and the stage route from the city terminated there. While that por- | tion of the road south was under construction interest increased, and when the city boundary was reached it was the objective point of many ‘Washingtonians and others who pa- tiently anticipated the entry into the city.” Naturally, the opening of the road fo Washington was one of the most historic events in the life of the city, and, though the Intellgencer of August 24, 1835, did not cover the subject as fully as such an event would be re- interesting reading and is here re- peated: “The Opening of the Baltimore & Washington Railroad. “Two cars will leave the ticket office, at the intersection of Second | street west and Pennsylvania avenue, more on Tuesday morning. “A car will leave Washington on Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock to convey the members of the corpora- | tions of Washington, Alexandria and | Georgeotwn to Bladensburg, to meet | the trains from Baltimore.” On August 26, the day following the opening, the Intelligencer says: [ “Opening of the Railroad. | “Yesterday was a great day on the | new railroad between Baltimore and Washington, being the first day of its | being opened for travel all the way from the depot at Baltimore to the foot at Capitol Hill in this city. “It was a glorious sight to see four | trains of cars, with each its engine, | extending altogether several hundred |yards in length, making their entry by this new route, to the delight of | thousands of spectators in the grounds | directly north of the Capitol. These | tion and city guests who went out to | meet them, brought about as many | ladies and gentlemen Saltimore as made up the whole n s of about a thousand persons ¢ 2d by the CArs. These, accompanied by two bands of music, after debarking, marched in procession to Gadsby’s and Brown's Hotels, at both of which _ | sumptuous and bounteous entertain- | ment was provided and liberally par- taken of. before 1 o'clock, and at 4 our friends | from Baltimore re-embarked and re- |turned to their homes without, we | trust, any accident or other inconven- than what was occasioned by the | tence | dust on the roads and streets.” AT THE close of this item we are told by the editors that a further | account will later appear by one of its confributors, and the following, printed on August 27, is most likely the one referred to: “At 10 o'clock in the forenoon on Tuesday the corporate of Washington, the mayor of Georgetown and & num- ber of the members of the corpora- tions of Georgetown and Alexandria, with the Marine Band, proceeded in two capacious cars to the late depot, five miles from the city, where at a little after 12 o'clock they were met | by the several trains from Baltimore bringing the directors of the railroad company, the Governor of the State |of Maryland and some hundreds of ladies and gentlemen, with a band of music. A great portion of the com- pany from both cities left their re- spective cars and spent some time in mutual welcome and congratulations, under the inspiring music of the two fine bands, after which the mayor of Washington, in the presence of a large concourse, addressed to the pres- ident of the railroad company * * * “The company, having reascended the cars, proceeded on to this city, as already stated, and after spending & few hours in taking refreshments lib- 2 The cars arrived at a little | pany, visiting the Capitol and other points of attraction about the city, our visitors took their departure on their return to Baltimore, in excellent hu- | mor and without (as far as we know) | the slightest accident. To doubt their ! admiration and due appreciation of | ward, the terminus of the Washington | this day (Monday) at 4 o'clock p.m., |the great work over which they tra-| to convey the invited guests to Balti- | versed would be to betray an ignorance | | more, to join the train from Balti- of the public spirit which has always | distinguished the inhabitants of the Monumental City.” A SIGNIFICANT fact in connection | with the running of the first train | of cars into Washington, is that rail- roading in the United States was then quite new, the beginning having been made in 1826, when a short line of three miles was begun to transport granite from quarries in Quincy, Mass., to the Neponset River. This line was | completed the following year, or just one year before the corner stone of | the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was |laid in a field 2Y4 miles from Balti- more on July 4, 1828, by the Masonic Grand Lodge of Maryland, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the | | acts of my life, second only to my signing the Declaration of Independ- ence, even if it be second to that.” The first line of the Baltimore & | Ohio Railroad ran only as far as Elli- | cott’s Mills, 13 miles from Baltimore, and the first cars to travel over this | road, propelled by steam, did so on August 30, 1830. Then came the line to Prederick, Md., 61 miles from Bal- | timore, opened December 1, 1831, fol- lowed the next year by the line to | Point of Rocks. The road to Harpers Ferry was opened in 1834, and a year later the line to Washington was com- pleted—making the Federal Capital one of the first cities to be connected with a steam railroad line. Of course, this early road to Wash- ington lacieed perfection, and was probably about as comfortable as rid- ing in a St. Marys County ox cart. But who would expect it to be otherwise? Joseph Gales, jr., one of the editors of the National Intelligencer, for awhile, at least, was pessimistically in- clined toward the steam raflroad train. ‘When the line to Ellicott City—the more recent name for Ellicott’s Mills— Was first opened on May 24, 1830, the cars were drawn for the first three months by horses and mules, and for brief periods subsequent to this the same power was occasionally used, as indicated in an account by Mr. Gales in the Intelligencer of October 1, 1831, where he says: “At length we have had an oppor- tunity of paying our long-desired to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad . “After what we have seen no doubt remains in our mind that, for celerity of transportation of persons, the rail- road possesses advantages over every other mode; nor that, wherever the cost of a railroad can be borne, it will supersede all other modes of travel- ing. We experienced in a very slight degree the jarring which we have heard spoken of in the motion of the cars, or the other inconveniences which we had apprehended. It will require care, to be sure, to guard against accidents in this mode of con- veyance; but that will be the ecase % with every description of rapid loco- motion. For ourselves, we met with no accident of any sort; nor had any | just reason to apprehend any, during Alexandria, and Way Stations Welcomed the First Locomotive Here, Bands Playing, Sparks, our jaunt. One of the cows, indeed, which we overtook strolling or grazing along the edge of the road, cast a suspicious glance with a momentary alarm, lest she should attempt to cross our path; but, luckily, she forthwith took a direction from the road instead of crossing it, and we were let off for the fright. WE TRAVELED in s large car, drawn by one horse, carrying | 8 or 10 persons, and capable, we sup- Ppose, of carrying 30 or 40. Indeed the car was drawn with so much ease that we do not believe that, had it been loaded, its progress would have been at all retarded by the additional weight of the load. In the distance between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills the horse was changed once, going and coming. In going, we did not accurately reckon the time. But, in returning, the whole distance of 13 miles was performed in 59 minutes, the limit to the speed being the capac- ity of the horse in trotting, rather than the labor he was tasked to per- form. The locomotive steam-machine, in the train of which cars loaded with persons are occasionally drawn as well as those loaded with the materials of commerce, is propelled at about the same rate, and might be propelled much more rapidly if it were desirable. But, for our part, we have no desire to be carried by any mode of convey- ance more rapidly than at the rate of 13 miles an hour * = *.” Mr. Gales became mayor of Wash- ington in 1827 and died in 1860. Just what he would think of the speed demons of today, were he alive and one of our city fathers, it is hard to say. It is, however, more than probable that he would not hold fast to 13 miles an hour or less. Naturally, from the first there was much rivalry between the owners and drivers of the stage coaches and the promoters of the new railroad, and one event in particular, as related by B. H. Latrobe and printed in The Star of April 6, 1889, is worth repeating here. The “Tom Thumb,” it seems, was being given its experimental trial and was on its return trip to Balti- more when, at the Relay House, the passengers found awaiting them, on the opposite track, a car to which was hitched a fine gray horse furnished by Stockton & Stokes, well-known stage line proprietors of that day, whose object was to demonstrate the superi- ority of the horse over the locomotive engine. And the race was a spirited one. “At first,” it is said, “the gray horse had the best of it, for his steam could be applied to the greatest advantage on the instant, while the engine had to wait until the rotation of the wheels set the blower to work. The horse was perhaps a quarter of a mile ahead when the safety valve of the engine lifted and the thin blue vapor issuing from it showed an excess of steam, “The blower whistled, the steam blew off in vapory clouds, the pace increased, the passengers shouted, the engine gained on the horse, soon it lapped him, the silk was applied, the race was neck and neck, nose and nose, then the engine passed t | the horse and a great hurrah hailed the victory. But it was not repeated, for just at this time, when the gray’s master was about giving up, the band which drove the. pulley which moved the blower slipped from the drum, the safety valve ceased to scream and the engine, for want of breath, began to wheeze and pant. In vain Mr. Cooper, who was his own engineer and fireman, lacerated his hands in attempting to replace the band upon the wheel; in vain he tried to urge the fire with light wood; the horse gained on the machine and passed it, and, although the band was Dresently replaced, the steam again ¢ | dred years ago. | Adams, ot A RTINS sl S did its best, the horse was too far ahead to be overtaken and came in the winner of the race. | BUT the real victory was with Mr. Cooper, notwithstanding. He had held fast to the faith that was| in him and had demonstrated its truth beyond peradventure. All honor to his name! | “In a patent case tried many years | afterward the bofler of Mr. Cooper's engine became, in some connection which has been forgotten, important as a piece of evidence. It was hunted or and found among some rubbish t Mount Clare. It was difficult to | imagine that it had ever generated steam enough to drive a coffee mill, much less that it had performed the feats here narrated.” There will probably mot be any celebration a week hence over the linking by rail of the Monumental City with the Pederal Capital a hun- But such was not the case on August 25, 1835, when Willlam A. Bradley was mayor of the city, for it was an important day for Washington, and there was a big turnout of the citizenry. Of course, the city did not have the population it has today, nor not even nearly so many people. Indeed, a con- servative approximate would place the population of Washington and George- town, about that time, at 32,580. But sometimes the smallest crowds make the largest noise and, from all ac- counts, the people did celebrate upon this occasion in great style, “About 10 o'clock am.” we are told, “that day, Mayor Bradley, with the officers and councils of the city, accompanied by the Marine Band, left in two cars to meet the visitors at the District line, and there awaited the arrival of the four trains. About noon they appeared, with about 800 persons. The trains were drawn by the George Washington, the John the Thomas Jefferson and the James Madison engines. “At the point mentioned all de- barked and the mayor welcomed President Thomas, the officers and directors of the road and others. Boarding the trains, the party soon reached the neighborhood of First and C streets, where a few thousand ‘Washingtonians were on hand to cheer. There was no crowding, for few houses were nearby. The visitors were escorted to the Indian Queen (now the Metropolitan) and Gadsby's National Hotels and entertained. The greater number returned to Baltimore within a few hours.” Of course, on the Baltimore end of the line there was as much ex- citement and ado when the trains left as there was in Washington when they arrived. Of the former the Bal- timore Patriot says: “A little after 9 o'clock (August 25) the invited guests, consisting of the executive of the State, members of the Legislature, the mayor and City Council of Baltimore, and a large concourse of ladies and gentlemen, took s¢ats In the elegant elghi- wheeled passenger cars, destined to Tun between the Monumental City and the Cepital of the Nation. “The cars proceeded to the upper depot, at the western edge of the city, each drawn by four elegant gray horses, and as the company passed up Pratt street the band struck up ‘Hail Columbia,’ while the street was thronged with delighted spec- tators. “As soon as the cars reached the Mount Clare Depot they were at- tached in squadrons of four and five each to the locomotive engines, manu- factured at the shops of the company and unrivaled in this country or Europe. “All things being in readiness, the whole proceeded in admirable order, D. C, AUGUST 18, 1935—PART FOUR. Upper, left: Traffic conditions along First street northwest about 1870, before the railroad tracks were removed. Upper, right: How Washington and Pennsylvania avenue appeared in 1835, when the first railway train entered the city. Looking west from the Capitol. Left, center: 1852. Second street and Pennsylvania avenue. Removed in 1869. Center: Original Baltimore & Ohio Railroad depot, 1835 Original Baltimore & Ohio freight station, which occupied the square bounded by First and Second streets, Constitution avenue and C street northwest. Removed in 1899. Right, center: Site of Baltimore & Ohio railroad depot, occupied by two corner houses to the right, at Second street and Pennsylvania avenue. Photograph taken in 1930. Lower, right: of the B. & O. Railroad. Jefferson and the fourth by the James Madison. “The road for two miles out was lined with spectators on either side, who waved their handkerchiefs and cheered the respective trains as they swept along the course.” THE first Baltimore & Ohio Depot, at Second street and Pennsyl- vania avenue, is no longer standing, and the old Tiber is personally re- called by only a few early Wash- ingtonians who are getting along in years. No one can hardly be old enough to remember the event of a hundred years ago. Back in 1930 the writer, in conversation with James F. Duhamel, learned that his mother, though only 6 years old at the time, recalled witnessing this great event, when, as she stated, everybody turned out to see the wonderful iron horse, she then being in charge of a nurse. Mrs. Duhamel, the wife of Dr. W. J. C. Duhamel, who died in 1921, at the age of 93 years, retained her faculties almost up to the day of her death. What impressed her most. she sald, regarding this notable event was the shiny black and brilliant Ted trimmings of the locomotives. She also recalled that upon this occasion the trains did not come across the Tiber to the west bank, where was the depot and ticket office building, as arrangements had not been quite completed then for crossing over, but stopped just to the east of the creek. She said that the more super- stitious of the white and colored people seemed much frightened at what to many was then a curiosity, or, rather, looked upon the locomo- tive in particular as coming right from the infernal region. The old depot has long since disap- peared from the Avenue, though it served its purpose well, until it was vacated in 1852, when the depot at New Jersey avenue and C street northwest, was occupied. Originally it was the home of a well known tailor, John Sinon, and $9,500 was paid by the rallroad company for the house and two lots. For the interest < | of a cabinetmaker, who held ad- Jjoining property, $400 was allowed. In 11869 it belonged to Matthew G | Emory, last mayor of Washington and in that year he removed the old building and erected in its place a more modern structure with pressed brick front, four stories in height, and a back building of three stories A few years ago this building was marked with a bronze tablet by the Permanent Committee on Marking Points of Historic Interest in the Dis- trict of Columbia, commemorating the great event which took place here, but when the building was razed, not long since, the marker disap- peared, T IS nice to have old friends, and | it is nice to make new friends, and the other day, when the writer was in quest of early railroad information, | Richard H. Johnston, librarian of the Bureau of Railway Economics, for Mr. Johnston did all he could. in the nicest way he could, to help him find what he wanted, and, of course, it was local color for his story. One of the pamphlets obtained at this bureau, which proved of special interest, was the report of the trans- tion department of the Baltimore portaf & Ohlo Rallroad for 1843 and in this book was a list of the employes of the Washington branch of that road, together with the nature of their service, salaries paid them, and in some instances, their length of serv- ice. Among those mentioned in the list were: Samuel Stettinius, general agent, who was then receiving $83.83 a month; John C. Kneller, clerk, $35 . W. F. Wilde, $58.33; W. B. Slack, $58.33; Edward Terry, $45; John Collins, brakeman; Robert W. Pywell, same; Barney McKee, same; James R. Beck, same; William Barnes, agent; Washington Shipley, passenger engineer; William B. Davis, same; Willlam Galloway, tonnage engineer, or what we now call freight engineer; Lloyd Hayes, fireman; Alexander Jef- fers, fireman; John Jacobs, fireman: depot laborers, Joseph Myers and Patrick Bishop; John Staggers, black- smith; Reuben Collins, Joseph Swi- he feels he made a new friend in| “The Arabian,” early type of locomotive employed on the Washington branch gast, watchman, and Peter Tingstrow, | porter. Of these, William Galloway was an original employe, coming into the service in 1835. Edward Ferry, pas- senger conductor, was employed at still an earlier date, entering the service in 1832 and, no doubt, coming to Washington in 1835, when the line was first inaugurated here. Thomas H. Parsons, agent, entered the service in 1847, and W. B. Slack, conductor, in 1836. The report of 1855, after the depot had been -moved to New Jersey avenue and C street, contains the following names: Thomas H. Parsons, agent, $83.35 a month; Peter DicKerson, | agent. $33.35 a month; J. A. Stephen- son, clerk, $50; G. F. Gilbert, clerk, | $50; O. T. Humphreys, conductor, | $62.50; E. E. Gilbert, collector, $41.65. THERS mentioned were: William | ™ Owens, John Collins, Benjamin Dore, Jacob Groff, Henry Duvall, Wil- | lam Arnold, James Bateman, S. 8. | Walstrom, J. 8. Scott, William Burton, John F. Brown, William Galloway, | Thomas Medcalf, James Goff, John Pilsors, William Flaxcomb, John Shickells, Reuben Zepp, M. Raysinger, J. W. Neer, Thomas kett, J. H. Bec] | Jenking, John Pilsons, John Russell, | George Smith, William Penn, Robert Sdpp. A. Galloway, G. W. Thomson, F. Hopkins, Thomas Jones, W. F. Grif- | fith, Jacob Foster, Samuel Stmpsoty, | J. C. Duvall, Dennis Howser,. John | Wollett, John Fairbanks, Thomas | Kenney, Philip Wollett, William | Coram, Charles McKnew, John Cla- gett, George Stymax, Bernard McKee (who, it is said, furnished his own | horse and wagon), T. Picken, Reuben | Collins, H. Campbell, T. Taff, J. Joa- | chim, J. Carroll, J. Hasten, N. Speaks, | D. Ryon, A. Galloway, C. Starks, John | Adolph, George Purp, Henry Roscum, | Thomas Demsey, Ely Lash, George | Smith, Robert Sapp, Daniel Ricely and Jacob Smith. In 1853, the business of the first depot was transferred to the depot which stood at New Jersey avenus and C street northwest (now a part of the Capitol grounds), 4