Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1884 — Early Railroading. [ARTICLE]

Early Railroading.

’the following account ia taken from a paper published in England in 1832, and will be read with some c uriosity and amusement by the people of today: “Some time before the Liverpool Railway was i pened a contest took place on it between three different steam-coaches —the Rocket, constructed by Mr. Stevenson; the Sanspareil, by Mr. Hackworth; and the Novelty, by Messrs. Braithwait & Errason— for a prize of £SOO, offered by the directors to that which should accompl sh the greatest distance in the shortest time. On this occasion the Rocket, which gained the prize, went over the space of thirty miles in two hours six minutes and forty-nine seconds, being at the average of fourteen and a fifth miles per hour. But in the course of the journey it sometimes proceeded at the rate of above twenty-nine miles an hour, and its slowest mot.on was about eleven and a half miles in that time. In May last, Dr. Lardner saw the engine called the Victory draw on the same railroad the weight of ninety-two tons nineteen cwt. and one quarter, in twenty wagons, together with the tender containing fuel and water, from Liverpool to Manchester, a distance of thirty miles, in one hour ♦Arty-four minutes and forty-five se' .rads, besides ten minutes spent in taking in water. The speed on this occasion was in some places twenty-five and one-half miles an hour, and on level ground, where there was no wind, it was generally twenty miles an hour, On another day, the engine called the Samson drew fifty wagons, laden with merchand se, and, with itself, making a gross weight of idxive 233 tons, the same distance in twd hours and forty minutes, exclusive of delaj s upon the road for watering, etc., the rate of motion having varied from nine to sixteen miles per hour, and being on an average twelve miles per hour. The coke consumed in this journey was 1,762 pounds, or a quarter of a pound per ton per mile. . The attendance required is only an engineman and a fire-boy, the former of whom is paid 1 shilling and 6 pence for each trip, and the latter 1 shilling. The expense of the original construction of the engines, however, and of their wear and tear is very great, though not nearly so great on the latter account, Dr. Lardner assures us, as has been sometimes stated. The price of one of the most improved engines at first is about £SOO, and it will travel from 25,000 to 30,000 miles without oostingas much more for repairs. Notwithstanding many extra expenses which this undertaking, as the first of the kind, has had to bear, and from the experience purchased by which future speculators will profit, it has been perfectly successful in a commercial point of view. The profits on the capital invested have been from the first above 6 per cent, per annum; and during the latter six months of 1831, it was at the rate of above 8 per cent, per annum, and it has since probably exceeded that amount. The original £IOO shares already sell for above £2OO. On the otlwar hand the advantages to the public have been as great as to the proprietors. lullv 600,000 passengers now pass by the railroad in the course of the year between Liverpool and Manchester, or four times as many as used formerly to make the journey. The transference of merchandise is also effected both with infinitely greater speed, and at a vast reduction of expense."

In October, 1830, a parliamentary committee made the following report: “1. That carriages can be propelled by steam on common roads at an average rate of ten miles per hour. “2. That at this rate they have conveyed upward of fourteen passengers. “3. That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and attendants, may be under three ton. “4. That they can ascend and descend hills of cousiderable inclination with facility and safety. “5. That they are perfectly safe for passengers. “6. That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed) nuisances to the public. *7. That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of conveyance than carriages drawn by horses. “8. That, as they admit of greater breadth of tire than other carriages, and as the roads are not acted on so injuriously as by the feet of horses in common draught, such carriages will cause less wear of roads than coaches drawn by horses. “3. That rates of toll have been imposed on steam-carriages, which would prohibit their being used on several lines of road, were such charges permitted to remain unaltered.’* Romance of Crime. One Sabbath morning in the summer of 1833 the dead body of a burglar was found at the bottom of the hatchway of Kilgour & Taylor, a prominent wholesale house in Cincinnati. The circumstances of the case seemed to indicate that the movements of the burglar had awakened a clerk who slept in the store, and that the former, in endeavoring to make good his escape to the lower story, had missed his hold upon the rope and fell to the bottom, dashing out his brains by the fall. The features were so disfigured as to be unrecognizable, and an unceremonious funeral ended the matter,- as was then thought. A day or two subsequently there were ominous whisperings of the disappearance of a certain well-known citizen, and the putting together of the two circumstances occasioned something in the way of a sensation, The remains, upon being exhumed, proved to be those of the missing Citizen, and a scene of excitement supervened such as has very rarely been witnessed in any community. The man was known by the name of “Driftwood Johnson,” a sobriquet which he had earned by watching for and saving the fuel that floated down the Ohio, this being ostensibly his only occupation. He had for a residence a large brick mansion near the river bank in the heart of the business portion of the oity. The structure was a remarkable one in several respects. It had two more stories upon the river side tii an upon the street on which it fronted, while in every story were found rooms and recesses to which the entrances could not be detected except by

careful scrutiny. It is hardly necessary to add that these secret receptacles were found slocked with goods of almost interminable variety. For many successive days the house was thronged by countless visitors, some in quest of their property and still more from curiosity. Notwithstanding the nature of Johnson's apparent occupation, his family moved in very respectable circles, and not the least of the extraordinary phases of the affair consisted of the fact that the clerk whose watchfulness caused the death of the burglar was at the time engaged to the daughter of the latter. The engagement was ultimately canceled. —Detroit Free Press.