Autograph Letter, Signed, by James Denver as Commissioner of Indian Affairs to his Wife Louise Rombach Denver , Describing Crime on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and Referencing the Plug Uglies, 1857.
Washington: 1857. Autograph letter measuring 8 x 5 inches bifolium, with free franked stampless cover. Fine condition. Fine. Item #List2022
An interesting letter written by James W. Denver, written while he was serving as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, describing crime on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1857. He writes:
“We have great times on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. For a long time past, merchandise has been lost along the line, by being thrown out of the cars while under way, some of the confederates being ready to pitch them up and sell them. To put a stop to this, the Directors ordered the cars when loaded to be sealed up and not to be opened until they should arrive at the place of destination. The conductors took offense and said that this was a reflection on them, quit the trains and would not let anybody else take their places. In order to prevent this, they attacked the trains passing Ellicott’s Mills and succeeded in turning back all but one. Today it was rumored that the Plug Uglies had possession of the track between Baltimore and the Relay House, but this is hardly so as a train has, I am told, arrived here this evening. This is a very extraordinary affair as it is in fact an effort to give greater license to stealing, and from the way they have acted, there is not much doubt but the conductors were engaged in the plundering.”
The Plug Uglies first operated in Baltimore beginning in 1854. Several iterations of the Nativist gang eventually formed, all of which were referred to by the same name. They would be involved, a month later, in the Know Nothing Riot in Washington D.C. in June of 1857, the same month that Denver would gain his appointment as Secretary of Kansas Territory.
Full text follows:
My Dear Wife,
The cheerful tone of your letter of the 28th ult. pleases me very much. I hope and trust that will be ever thus. A light heart and cheerful disposition makes life a perennial springtime. There is nothing like it. Keep up your sprits ever thus and besides being the pride of my life, you will be my light also—the polar star of my existence.
O Lou! how lonely I feel here at times without you! Were we only together, how much more pleasantly would the time pass away. Still I have no great reason to complain of fortune, but ought rather to be thankful for the great boon she has vouchsafed to me in making you mine for life. To know this, it is easy to imagine a good angel always hovering near me, giving warning of besetting dangers and urging me on to greater usefulness, and then to dream of the bright approving smiles of her I love so well. And though distant, I doubt not but they are as sweet and as kind as though present and palpable to my vision. Well, well, what must be, I suppose, must be, and we must grin and bear it; but I wish you were here, and not the subject of mere dreams and imaginings.
We have great times on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. For a long time past, merchandise has been lost along the line, by being thrown out of the cars while under way, some of the confederates being ready to pitch them up and sell them. To put a stop to this, the Directors ordered the cars when loaded to be sealed up and not to be opened until they should arrive at the place of destination. The conductors took offense and said that this was a reflection on them, quit the trains and would not let anybody else take their places. In order to prevent this, they attacked the trains passing Ellicott’s Mills and succeeded in turning back all but one. Today it was rumored that the Plug Uglies had possession of the track between Baltimore and the Relay House, but this is hardly so as a train has, I am told, arrived here this evening. This is a very extraordinary affair as it is in fact an effort to give greater license to stealing, and from the way they have acted, there is not much doubt but the conductors were engaged in the plundering.
Judge [Stephen A.] Douglass intends leaving
here with his family tomorrow. Nat Cartmell was here on Friday. He said they were all well in Virginia except cousin John Lupton who was convalescing. Tell your father I will keep him posted, and tell your mother to keep you at work—if she can. My love to all. Goodnight. God bless you, my own dear Lou. Adieu. — Will.
Price: $450.00