moved with her family to San Francisco, Cal., where her eldest son, William H. Harnden, obtained a clerkship in the office of Wells, Fargo & Co., since which time the writer has known or heard but little about them, until receipt of the following brief, but sad intelligence from the son, in response to a letter written to Mrs. H. in reference to a new vignette of her husband, for this Express History.

MR. A. L. STIMSON.

San Francisco, Cal., Feb'y 17, 1880.

DEAR SIR-I received a letter from you a few days ago, addressed Mrs. W. F. Harnden, regarding a picture of my father, to be furnished for your new Express History, shortly to be published in your city. My mother, Mrs. Sarah W. Hastings, formerly Mrs. Wm. F. Harnden, died in Newton, Mass., on the 23d of November last, where she was visiting her brother. Yours respectfully,

W. H. HARNDEN.

Mary Jerome Stimson.

On January 4th, A. L. Stimson, author of "Stimson's Express History," met with an irreparable bereavement in the loss of his excellent wife, Mary Jerome Stimson, who died at their residence in Monmouth, Illinois, after a sudden attack of congestion, terminating in the bursting of a blood vessel. Taken ill immediately after a cheerful dinner, at 1 P. M., she breathed her last about the same hour in the morning, while lying by the side of her husband, who, supposing her to be resting easily, had fallen asleep, being quite exhausted by twelve hours' incessant attendance upon her. She had been his faithful companion, and the sharer of his many vicissitudes, for upward of thirty-six years, and they were tenderly attached to each other. Her age was sixty-two. She was a native of Syracuse, N. Y. They were married in New York city, but resided in Boston and its vicinity some seven years, before locating permanently in the great metropolis, where they afterward passed sixteen years-he an expressman.

THE EXPRESSMEN'S

MUTUAL AID AND INSURANCE SOCIETIES.

EXPRESSMEN'S MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION.

In January, 1869, "THE EXPRESSMEN'S MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION" was born at Elmira, N. Y., but acknowledged neither local limits nor company in intended operation. On the contrary, according to George Bingham, it was national in its character, and belonged no less to California and Oregon than to the Atlantic States, and alike to the employees of all the companies, if they should become members.

During that year (1874) according to the sixth annual report, made by S. DeWitt, grand secretary and treasurer, at a convention of delegates (in which forty divisions were represented), held in the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago, only 172 persons had forfeited their membership by failure to pay their dues.

The running expenses ought to have put the public life insurance companies to the blush, being all comprised in the two items-printing and stationery, $394 50; salary of secretary, $1,000; being only about 24 per cent. of the whole amount of the society's receipts for the year.

Its officers, George Bingham, Pittsburg, president; Charles Fargo, Chicago, vice-president; S. De Witt, Elmira, N. Y., secretary and treasurer, represented respectively the Adams, the American, and the United States Express Companies. Its executive committee were, J. Morrell, Jr., C. P. Thayer, E. G. Westcott, J. J. Valentine, W. G. Yates.

At the general convention in St. Louis, Mo., January, 1878, President George Bingham delivered his annual review of the past year's operations, by which it appeared that the whole number of death-payments was 32, out of 2,644 members, amounting in the aggregate to a trifle less than $70,000, being a death rate of only about one and one-fifth of one per cent. The total assessments paid by each member was short of $30.

Its main object was to insure the lives of those who joined it, or rather to assess every survivor on its roll a certain amount at the decease of a member, and to pay over the whole amount thus raised to the widow or legal claimants.

The amounts thus accruing to the bereaved were small, of course, at the outset, when the number of members was not large; but there was a steady accession of new ones, which enabled the managers to collect of the members, at the death of any one on their roll, a very handsome sum for the benefit of his heirs.

In an encouraging report made by Mr. Bingham in December, 1874, he says:

In 1869 we had 3 deaths; payments.

❝ 1871 66 26

$1,629

"1870 66 15 66

"1872 66

"1873 66 22

Making an average of nearly $2,000 paid on each death. At the close of the year 1874, the Expressmen's Mutual Benefit Association numbered, in all, 2,569 members, in 58 divisions, for the convenience of expressmen in numerous different localities, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. Each of

these divisions has a secretary of its own-a man of well-known integrity, and valued for his business ability as well as active sympathy with his Express brethren.

The following list will show who these secretaries were in November, 1874: Charles E. Keeler, Jersey City; J. K. Murdock, Waverly, N. Y.; E. W. Mitchell, Elmira, N. Y.; L. Atwood, Dunkirk, N. Y.; A. Casey, Corry, Pa.; C. D. Fullington, Galion, O.; Seymour DeWitt, New York; T. D. McClelland, Erie, Pa.; W. R. Bresie, Toledo, O.; W. W. Gould, Cleveland, O.; Saml. Gee, Crestline, O.; C. T. Gilbert, Detroit, Mich.; C. H. Damsell, Columbus, O.; James Scoville, Chicago; James Aiken, Rome, N. Y.; B. H. Sly, Albany, N. Y.; A. Mitchell, Lexington, Ky.; J. M. Thatcher, Nashville, Tenn.; W. H. Waters, Cincinnati, O.; J. L. Overmyer, Louisville, Ky.; R. J. Humphreys, Philadelphia; T. L. Wagenseller, State Line, M. & K.; E. L. Smith, Des Moines, Ia.; Ralph Johnson, Buffalo, N. Y.; W. H. Ashley, Rochester, N. Y.; J. A. Barker, Sandusky, O.; Sam. Mount, St. Louis; R. B. Poore, Columbus, O.; G. Fenno, Boston; J. M. Frazer, Hoboken, N. J.; W. H. Widner, Galion, O.; Jos. Seal, Allentown, Pa.; J. McCabe, Pittsburg, Pa.; L. A. Fuller, Springfield, Ill.; C. E. Goodrich, Milwaukee; A. W. Sterrett, Harrisburg, Pa.; W. J. Camnetz, Cincinnati; F. F. Coulter, Atlanta, Ga.; E. E. Kirkham, Tuscaloosa, Ala.; C. C. DeLong, Peoria, Ill.; C. A. Snyder, New Orleans; W. T. Munday, Hamilton, Ont.; W. S. Woodward, Knoxville, Tenn.; J. H. Simpson, Augusta, Ga.; C. B. Higgins, Indianapolis; C. C. Case, New Bedford, Mass.; W. B. Armstrong; A. D. Keener, Baltimore, Md.; John R. Floyd, Chicago; E. S. Keim, Clinton, Ia. ; C. L. Loop, Memphis, Tenn.; S. N. Knight, Winona, Minn.; H. W. Latham, Wilmington, N. C.; W. F. Beckel, Kansas City, Mo.; E. H. Orth, Ogden, Utah; D. Evans, Portland, O.; C. W. Banks, San Francisco, Cal.

EXPRESSMEN'S AID SOCIETY.

"THE EXPRESSMEN'S AID SOCIETY," was organized in Cincinnati, March 18th, 1874. Its officers were: Alfred Gaither, Cincinnati, president; H. B. Plant, Augusta, Ga., vice-president; C. L. Loop, Memphis, Tenn., treasurer; executive committe, L. C. Weir, W. Willis, C. T. Campbell, D. F. Jack, A. B. Small, Frank Clark, A. D. Ross, W. H. Waters.

Its secretary, C. W. Rhodes (since deceased), stated in September, 1866, that it had at that time 282 members, and 47 divisions, 38 of which were in the southern States. $448 had been paid to the widow of S. T. Maer, of Columbus, Miss., and $466 to the widow of Isaac Davis, of Corsicana, Tex. both deaths occurring in the summer of 1874. (At his own decease, a year or two later, this society had become so large, that Mr. Rhodes' widow was paid about $2,000.)

One of the most earnest friends of this excellent institution is its former president, Henry B. Plant, president of the Southern Express Co. He believes that the fullest possible sympathy with all worthy employees, no matter what their position, is not only benevolent, but the best policy for the conservation and advancement of Express interests; and this, he thinks, is materially strengthened by the paternal feeling resulting from the mutual aid and benefit associations. Let us look, now, at their vital statistics.

MORTALITY OF EXPRESS EMPLOYEES.

The following contribution to vital statistics by the editors of the Monthly, is a valuable one. It is from the ten years'

death-roll of the Mutual Benefit Association. It shows the two deadliest scourges to be the twin-brothers, pneumonia and consumption.

We have compiled from the annual reports the following causes of death of the two hundred and twenty-six persons for whom assessments have been made. The terms used are those given by the grand secretary. In some cases, the techni