a route agent for the Adams, in Tennessee; and being uncommonly intelligent, brisk, and accurate, as well as honest, was a rising man. Upon assuming his new position, he changed the headquarters of the western division to Canton, Miss.

In 1861, just prior to actual war operations in the south, an Adams Express messenger, named James Shuter, whose home was in Augusta, Ga., was made route agent, and only a few months later, had shown so much ability that he was appointed assistant superintendent.

A. B. Small was often inclined, in those days, to write his initials I. B., the advance of the Union army, and the hostile demonstrations by land and water, compelling him to hop off his stool so frequently, and occasionally to pick up his office and run. Of course, it was always for the south, and the worst of it was, he could not (like a trolling fisherman) draw his lines after him.

What ever became of the abandoned Express stations and stationery, and the agents (think of "an abandoned Express agent" just before pay-day, Asa !) as the advance of the Federal forces compelled the Confederates to retire nearer and nearer to the heart of Dixie, is a matter not recorded in the archives of either of the War Departments; but it is to be hoped that they were utilized by the Adams as fast as available, and with as little loss as possible to the employees, many of whom probably were quite reconciled to the restoration of their names on the old pay-roll. Indubitably their compulsory decimation as a branch of the solid old eastern institution made many a Yankee youth in the lost Southern Department of the Adams feel very sore; but such is the fortune of war. And what a horrible war it was!

At the close of it, Small's many shifts had drifted him as far as Macon, Ga., where (escaping even "Sherman's march to the sea") he at length found himself in quarters as permanent as Stone Mountain, and yet he was not happy; and consequently went to New Orleans, where, in consideration of his sound discretion and admitted ability as a superintendent, President Plant gave him the charge of the southwestern division. His line extended over the New Orleans, Jackson and Gulf Railroad to Humboldt, Tenn., and included the M. & O. R. R.

Subsequently, when the Texas Express business became the property of the Southern, Small was elected president and superintendent, but still retained his position in the Southern.

Another removal of location carried him to his new field, Texas, where he remained until his decease. He continued in high esteem to the last, and many, of no kin to him, mourned his loss.

66

Speaking of guns" (as Macklin would have said), reminds us of our quondam Philadelphia friend, J. J. McKeever, afterwards a noted expressman in Texas. He was sent from the Philadelphia office in 1859 or '60, to open an Adams office in Memphis, which he did; but not long afterwards he became agent in New Orleans, where he remained (I believe) until the close of the year 1864. Resigning about that time, he started what he called "THE COMMERCIAL EXPRESS," and created agencies in Louisiana and Texas. He was young, intelligent, ambitious, and fully "posted in Express;" which, by the way, is a very different thing from ordinary clerical or general business attainments.

"The Commercial" was independent of all connections and inter-express influences, and was in opposition generally.

In 1866, it was consolidated with the Texas Express Co., and McKeever was made superintendent.

Another Express enterprise in Texas, which we ought to mention, was that of Starr Jones (we used sometimes to call him in compliment, the Lone Starr), who started a money and freight transit between New Orleans and Galveston, Houston, Austin, &c., similar to the Expresses of Hoey & Co. and Stimson & Co., between New York and the south, some years earlier. He was a wide-awake, bustling fellow, and had good material in him; but his star set one day, or fell out of its orbit, and did not come to time again. Sic transit, &c. He deserved success.

There have been no other Express enterprises in Texas; but by and by I will give a little fuller statement (with some statistics perhaps), of the present prosperity of the Texas Express Co.

Before the close of 1860, Superintendent Plant had ex

tended the Adams southern operations to many remunerative points.

Its lines extended from Charleston to the north, coastwise, and to Columbia, S. C., and Charlotte, N. C., by the way of Augusta, Ga., through to Lynchburgh, and via Dalton, Ga., to Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., and thence by the Memphis and Ohio Railroad via Humboldt, Tenn., to Louisville, Ky.; and, from Jackson, Tenn., to New Orleans and Vicksburg; also to Montgomery, Ala., and Albany, Ga., nearly to the Florida line; the railway management throughout this large area harmonizing with the Adams Express service to the fullest degree, and affording it all the facilities desired.

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was used during the last year or two of the war by a competitor of the Southern, but in 1866 it was purchased of its controller, Luke Whitfield, by H. B. Plant, at a moderate price, inasmuch as thefts, and losses from other causes, had rendered it unprofitable.

Express traffic throughout the south in the ante-war times was mainly in small packages of money and perishable commodities.

Under the regimé of the slave owners, the Express (which was then, as now, everybody's servant), was made useful in the transit of their chattels from place to place by railroad conveyance, the expressmen acting in the capacity of guardians, and the negroes as wards, in accordance with the local laws and police regulations.

Thank God, the need of such service, either by expressmen or anybody else, no longer exists, and the freedman as an Express customer is more profitable than as an Express item on a way-bill.

It would seem that the expressmen, from superintendents down to messengers, had treated these colored wards so kindly, and all parties so fairly, that when the war was over, the majority, both white and colored, elected Superintendent Bullock (as has already been mentioned), governor of the State of Georgia-a position for which his nobility of manner, executive ability, and strict integrity, well-fitted him.

Henry B. Plant is too well known as a man of consummate

sagacity and large business experience, to need any word of praise from any man. I will merely add, that his mental vigor is only equaled by his unfailing kindness of heart and cordial appreciation of the services of his assistants.

Chief of these at the present time is Michael J. O'Brien, general superintendent of the Southern Express Company; one of those encouraging instances so frequent in the Express service, as this History amply exemplifies, that talent, like water, will find its level.

Twenty years ago (1859), this polished gentleman was a driver of an Express wagon in the streets of Memphis, Tenn. Only a driver; but he drove well, and the wagon belonged to the Adams Express Company. After a short apprenticeship in that capacity (in which we can easily imagine that his native politeness, intelligence and good nature, subserved right well the company's popularity with its customers), O'Brien became messenger and way-bill clerk. Evincing uncommon quickness, mental and physical, coupled with a vivacious wit and genial good feeling, upon a foundation of strict probity, he was promoted to the cashiership of the New Orleans office.

Identified with the native-born southerners in local ties and political predilections, on the breaking out of the war he left the Express service and connected himself with the C. S. navy at that station.

Upon the surrender of New Orleans to the Union forces, O'Brien went to Richmond, Va., and soon after accepted a position with the Southern Express Co., at Montgomery, Ala.; subsequently was promoted to the Atlanta, Ga., office, and later, to the secretaryship in President Plant's office in Augusta, Ga.

Not long afterwards the company's general secretary, F. C. Whitehead, deceased, and the consequent vacancy was filled by the appointment of M. J. O'Brien. He also served at the same time as an assistant of Col. Robert Ould, chief of the Confederate State Bureau of Exchange of Prisoners, near Savannah and Charleston, towards the close of the war.

In February, 1868, he was appointed to the eminently useful and responsible position which he has now held for about twelve years, as the Southern's general superintendent. His headquarters are with President Plant in Augusta, Ga., where

the company's main office is located. He is now in the prime of life, as active and hardy as ever, and is held in high esteem both as a superintendent and gentleman.

That merry wag, the Savannah Yorick, Mat. O'Brien, in the same employ (a very practical and useful man, originally a messenger, and now agent), is a brother of his.

Many of us have a very pleasant recollection of George H. Tilley, general secretary of the Southern, a gentleman of exceedingly modest and quiet ways, yet genial, and (with intimate friends), agreeable in conversation. He was in the service of the Harnden, in Georgia, but, in 1866, was engaged by President Plant as stenographer and private secretary, and remained in that capacity until 1872, when he was elected to his present office.

I am under the impression that his recent (1879) connection with certain railroad interests in Georgia has not affected his continuance in that position.

To recur once more to the services of the Southern during the war. All contributions from the north, donated to Union prisoners in the south by their friends, were usually transferred by the Confederate authorities to that Express company for delivery to address. No communication whatever was had with the north except through the Exchange Bureau, the official channel for forwarding these comforts.

During the sickness of President Plant, James Shuter became acting president.

It had been regarded as an absolute necessity, prior to the war, if wire was wanted for telegraphs, to obtain it from the north, but the Southern Express Co. constructed their own telegraph lines of wire manufactured in the south.

In the course of conducting the Express it was, in numerous instances, "under difficulties," arising mostly from the changing lines of the armies, and destruction of railroads. This Express was under contract to carry large and bulky amounts of money. At one time a heavy amount was wanted at Richmond, Va. The Express carried it all regular as far as Danville, but at that point all railroad carriage had come to a sudden termination.