Slow News Day 1906

 BOAT KILLED 

BIG PORPOISE

Trustful Cetacean Victim of York River Steamer's Rudder- Died Game. 

An immense porpoise followed the steamer Charlotte, of the York River Line, to West Point yesterday. While the boat was making its landing the rudder dealt a blow which crippled the fish. It managed to make Its way to the opposite side of the river, near Plum Point, where it was caught. It took four to lift the porpoise into a boat. It was put on exhibition on the King William pier at Beach Park.

-Richmond Evening Journal, 1 August 1906

Safe Blown Open!!- 1916

 

YEGGMEN LOOT STORE 

Providence Forge Establishment Entered—Several                                                Thousand Stolen 

SAFE IS BLOWN OPEN

Work Apparently That of Export Thieves—Bloodhounds From State Farm on Trail 

Bloodhounds were this morning brought from the state farm and put on the trail of the thieves who last night broke into and looted a store at Providence Forge in New Kent county, blowing open the safe and making away with several thousand dollars in cash and merchandise.

Early this morning Sheriff Sydnor¹, of Henrico county, received a long distance phone call from J.B. Richardson, of Providence Forge. apprising him of the robbery. Mr. Sydnor at once got into touch with Luther Scherer, of the Chesapeake & Ohio, and made arrangement for bringing the bloodhounds from the State farm to this city.

It is the hope of the police that with a fresh scent to work on the dogs may be able to locate the thieves in a short time. The police are of the opinion that the robbery was perpetrated by experienced yeggmen on account of the apparent ease with which they accomplished the entry to the safe and the fact that they got away with a large quantity of merchandise. That a large amount of merchandise was taken away leads the police to believe that a wagon was used to haul It. How the thieves managed to elude discovery on this account Is not known and this fact indicates unusual daring and ingenuity on their part. It is thought that there were several of them, as it is not believed one man could have accomplished the entry of the store, the breaking of the safe and the making away with & large quantity of goods by himself. Encumbered with the goods it is not thought that they could get far, and for this reason the police hope to nab them early. Arriving at Providence Forge the dogs were immediately put on the trail and will be kept on it until tonight if the thieves are not captured before then. Sheriff Sydnor issued orders for a sharp lookout to he kept for suspicious characters in Henrico county, as it is said that the thieves made their way in this direction.

-Evening Journal (Richmond) 13 July 1916

"Yeggman" was an early 20th century word meaning safecracker.

¹ William Webb Sydnor

One Hundred Years Ago

 

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1922. 

QUINTON 

“The snow, the snow, the beautiful snow”—that is to the beaux and belles as they speed over it as only lovers can, while the sleigh bells give music to the occasion. It makes one who has passed courting days sigh for the days of his youth, but the mill can never grind with the water that has passed. We have had our pleasures and our sorrows, and so it will be with all. 

This is one of the worst snow storms for many years. The poor dumb creatures suffer, both the domestic animals and the wild game of the forest. Beautiful partridges are coming from the woods where they have been hiding from the huntsmen. The farmers are feeding them. 

Young Whit Tunstall*, who is a fine farmer and good sportsman in season, says he has put away his gun. He has killed this season twelve wild turkeys, seven deer, and no telling how many squirrels and rabbits. Returns from a shipment of fur caught this season amounted to $194. He now has more to sell. He is an expert trapper. Now he is knitting a shad seine that will be ready when the fish begin to run. All this will be over in time for farming. He has the prettiest fields of wheat and oats to be found and over 500 bushels of Irish potatoes ready for market. There are many other young men who are making money by farming.

There was general sorrow all through New Kent when it was reported that Dr. C. L. Bailey† had sold his- beautiful farm to Mr. Richard McCormick near Quinton. Dr. Bailey has been here twenty years—one of the most beloved and successful doctors we ever had. He is going to locate at Highland Springs. He says he cannot stand the terrible roads in New Kent. He is quite a young man and has only his wife. He could have retired from practice years ago and lived at ease the rest of his life. He will have a fine field to work and fine roads.

Mr. C. W. Bowry¹is building a fine dwelling on the farm bought some time ago. Will move in the spring to his new home. 

Johnson Miller will soon move into his new dwelling near Quinton.

Mr. Riley, of Gloucester, who bought several large tracts of timber near Quinton will soon finish cutting the timber. Mr. Walker, his brother-in-law, is general manager. 

Our faithful rural mail carrier is having a hard time as only a half of the route from Quinton can be made in one day. No one complains, though we certainly miss our mail, especially as we can do nothing this weather but keep fires, feed the stock, and read our paper all day and our Bible at night. The school teachers and children are having a difficult time getting to school. 

Hens have struck. Say they will not lay until the weather breaks up. Now for 75c eggs again!      

                                                                  Truthful Jeems.

- West Point News,  3 February 1922

*Whitmel Pearson Tunstall Jr.,(Jan 13 1890-April  28 1979). W. P. Tunstall Jr. lived at White Hall.

† Dr. Charles Llewellyn Bailey (May 14 1876- Aug 1 1929)

¹ Charles W. Bowery, (Sep 9 1866- Dec 23 1951), The property date fits the house on Henpeck Road.

"Large, Strong, and One of the Finest Moving Horses I Have ever Seen"- 1833

 

 FORTY-FOUR—One of the most beautiful bay horses in Virginia, thorough bred and nearly 16 hands 1 high, great bone and muscle, will stand a second season in Charles City and New Kent, where he served to the satisfaction of every one, ninety-seven mares, and being greatly improved, will be again ready to do so by the — of March, at fifteen dollars the season, to he discharged by ten dollars cash, or a note for the same, on demand, by the first day of June—thirty dollars insurance, to be paid when the mare is ascertained to be in foal, or parted with-60 cents cash to the groom in every instance. Forty-Four was got by the celebrated Arab, his dam Lady Hamilton by Sir Arthur, he by Sir Archy, out of Green’s old Celar mare, the dam of the famous Little Billy, and other racers of celebrity. Lady Hamilton was the first of the distinguished progeny of my old mare Bet Bounce. Persons having young mares, will be afforded a fine and cheap opportunity to test their breeding powers, and to those who breed for dealt or the saddle, so great an opportunity has never been offered, he being large, strong, and one of the finest moving horses I have ever seen. Forty-Four was trained twice, and proving lame in the shoulder each time, was withdrawn from the turf. His colts are now appealing, having seen one of them, which, like the sire, is a beautiful large bay, without white, and highly valued by its owner at H. Ladd’s Store*, 15 miles from Richmond, within 1-4 of a mile from Turkey Island Bridge, lie will stand 3 days in every 9—at New Kent Court House, and at New Hope, near Charles City Court House. Mares to be left with the horse, will he fed at 25cts. per day—pasturage gratis in the neighborhood of each place. JNO. MINGE, Jr. 

P.S.—The season will expire the last day of June, yet the horse will be sent to Charles City and New Kent on their respective court days in July and August, and at any time within the year a mare may he put at Wyanoke. 

March 19                                                      103-w2w

 - Richmond Enquirer, 19 March 1833

* I believe now Adkin's Store

The "Jno. Minge Jr." in question was Dr. John Minge Jr of Weyanoke and Kittewan Creek-North Bend, (10 Sept 1796-23 Jan 1871).

Train Holdup 1907

 

George Speake, Who Obstructed the Track and Fired Upon a Freight Engine Near Providence Forge, is in Jail Here. 

 -George Speake, of Baltimore, was arrested yesterday morning at 9 o’clock at Providence Forge and brought to RICHMOND and lodged In the county jail.

 Speake attempted to hold up a Chesapeake and Ohio east-bound freight train yesterday morning as the train was nearing Providence Forge. The engineer noticed some obstructions on the track and later saw, after whistling for the brakes, that a man was standing in the middle of the track. As the engine approached the man raised his hand and began firing. Conductor Cobb and Brakeman Brenan caught the man and transferred him to a passenger train bound for RICHMOND.

-News Leader, May 6, 1907

The last "major" American train robbery was attempted on November 25, 1937, outside El Paso Texas against a passenger train of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The two would be robbers were overcome by passengers and badly beaten for their effort.

Flooding- 1948

             

                        Washed-Out Roads Keep Crews Busy 

RICHMOND, VA., May 27—(AP) —Crews of workmen today were busy restoring washed out rail and highway lanes over which traffic between here and Newport News had been halted.

 Heavy rainstorms in New Kent and Charles City Counties yesterday flooded to as much as eight feet sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and U.S. Highway 60 in the Windsor Shades area.

 Whether rail and highway traffic could be resumed over these two arterial lines sometime today had not been determined early this morning by C.& O. and State Highway Department Officials. A lot depended upon whether additional rainfall fell.

 A C.& O. spokesman said the railroad “hopes" to have one track open for resumption of train movements by this afternoon. As much as 250 feet of the railroad's main line fill had been undermined by the torrents.

 Trains had not moved between here and Newport News since train No. 45, The Sportsman, was halted about 2 p.m. yesterday at Providence Forge and has turned back in Richmond. 

 The Highway Department was routing traffic between here and Williamsburg over route 33. This road was covered with four to six inches of water for a while near New Kent Courthouse; but was clear by nightfall last night. 

 Where Route 60 paralleled the railroad east of Providence Forge, long stretches of highway were covered with water to depths up to eight feet late yesterday. 

-Suffolk News-Herald,  27 May 1948

Civil War Operations on the York River Railroad

 A note on the scale of the operations on the York River Railroad during the Peninsula Campaign.

                                                        “War Department

Washington City, D. C., May 17, 1862

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan,

Headquarters, Army of the Potomac

There have been forwarded from Baltimore to West Point five locomotives, eighty cars, 3 miles in length of railroad iron, 30,000 feet, board measure, of timber, one dozen frogs, one dozen switch irons, 1,200 chairs, with full supply of rail spikes, the last of which, it is expected, will reach the Peninsula on Monday.

P.H. Watson

Assistant Secretary of War

 

-Official Record, Series 1, Volume 11, (Part 3), p. 178

“March 14, 1862, General McClellan instructed me to have five locomotives and eighty cars loaded upon vessels in the harbor of Baltimore and held subject to his orders with a view to using them in his contemplated Peninsula campaign. They were purchased from Northern railroad companies, loaded as directed, and remained on the vessels until early May, when they were sent to White House, Va., and placed upon the Richmond and York River Railroad. Another engine was added in June to this number, and all employed in transporting supplies between White House and the front, which, toward the close of June, was twenty miles from White House and four miles from Richmond. Upon the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac to Harrison's Landing, June 28, all the rolling stock was destroyed or damaged as far as practicable to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy.”

       D. C. McCallum, Military Director & Superintendent of Railroads

 

-Official Record, Series 3, Volume 5, pp. 974-975.

citations found in  Rodney Lackey's article, "Civil War Logistics and Organization"