The history of the first locomotives in America. From original ...

THE JUDGE'S FIRST EIDE. 191
the smoke and fire. They were found to he hut a momentary pro-
tection, for I think in the first mile the last one went overhoard,
all having their covers hurnt off from the frames, when a general
mMee took place among the deck-passengers, each whipping his
neighbor to put out the fire. They presented a very motley ap-
pearance on arriving at the first station. . There
rails were pro-
cured and lashed between the trucks, taking the slack out of the
coupling-chains, thereby affording us a more steady run to the top
of the inclined plane at Schenectady.
" The incidents off the train were quite as striking as those on
the train. A general notice having been given of the contem-
plated trip, excited not only the curiosity of those living along the
line of the road, but those living remote from it, causing a large
collection of people at all the intersecting roads along the line of
the route. Everybody, together with his wife and all his children,
came from a distance with all kinds of conveyances, being as ig-
norant of what was coming as their horses, drove up to the road
as near as they could get, only looking for the best position to get
a view of the train. As it approached, the horses took fright and
wheeled, upsetting buggies, carriages, and wagons, and leaving
for parts unknown to the passenger, if not to their owners, and it
is not now positively known if some of them have yet stopped.
Such is a hasty sketch of my recollection of my first ride after a
locomotive.
" Hoping that your contemplated history of early locomotives
in America may be appreciated by the reading public, and a pecu-
niary success to yourself,
" I remain truly yours,
"J. L. GiLLIS."
The writer of the foregoing letter, Judge Gillis, is a
native of the State of New York, and is now eighty
years of age. He served in the War of 1812, and was
wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane. He moved to
Eidgeway, Pennsylvania, in 1822, then in Jefferson
County, now the seat of justice of Elk County. He was
an active member of the Masonic fraternity in the State
of New York previous to his removal to Pennsylvania.
Four years later, in 1826, when political anti-masonry
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