140 



company, during the period he was in the office of the 

 company. The scenes and incidents at the stables on 

 Union Street, and at the Old Sun Tavern then located 

 on the site of the present Bowker Building on Essex 

 Street, were very graphically described, alluding espe- 

 cially to the bustle, activity and stir attending the arrival 

 and departure of the coaches, the great events of the day. 

 Anecdotes and short notices of the drivers and other em- 

 ployes were interspersed, portraying vividly the characters 

 of those who were attached to the establishment. These 

 incidents occurred some forty-five or fifty years since, when 

 the turnpikes and the stage coaches were in the ascen- 

 dancy and had made great advance over the previous modes 

 of travel, displacing to a considerable extent private con- 

 veyances and the little wayside inns. A few years elapsed 

 and these in turn retreated before the advent of railroads, 

 which have now connected the whole country with a net- 

 work of iron bands and have contributed so much to the 

 rapid transportation of passengers and merchandise. At 

 that period this company was a great establishment, and 

 not inferior to any other line in the United States, in the 

 character of its agents and drivers, and in the superiority 

 of its teams and coaches; and perhaps in advance of 

 them, being the first to introduce the swing rack and foot 

 board, as it was termed; and after these the splendid 

 steel spring coaches. These coaches were mostly built 

 under its own supervision, in its own shops, and by its 

 own mechanics. 



There were Stephen Daniels and Benjamin Bray, coach- 

 body makers ; Smith and Osgood Bradley, wheelwrights 

 (Bradley is now a ear builder) ; John McGlue and David 

 Harding, and a half a score of others, blacksmiths ; John 

 Chipman, John Mackie and John Frye, saddlers and car- 

 riage trimmers; Joseph D. Saddler and Daniel C. Man- 



