Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1S86. 465
it from the hill to the centre of the village, and changed the name to
the "Hampden Post." During the nine years that it was under the
management of Mr. Beach, the "• Post" grew in importance and influ-
ence as the mouthpiece of the democracy for this section of the
country.
Mr. Beach was a frequent candidate for local and State offices, but
not until 1850 did he score an important victory. This was in the
memorable campaign when the whigs were beaten by a combination
of the democrats with the free-soilers. The coalition did uot care
so much for the governor as for the Legislature, and after Mr.
Beach's election to the Senate he challenged much personal vitupera-
tion by refusing to go with other democrats into the free-soil camp
and place Charles Sumner in the United States Senate. Day after
day he, with a handful of irrepressible democrats, repulsed every
effort to whip them into the Sumner column, and it may be said that
this party devotion prevailed with ]Mr. Beach to the end of his career.
He strikingly resembled George Ashmun in personal appearance, and
was frequently mistaken for the latter upon the streets. They were
occasionally pitted against each other, and while it was not a case of
the two Dromios in a court-room, it would indeed have been a re-
markable jury that Avould not have been confused by the suavity- of
one, the legal finesse of the other, and the personal magnetism of
both.
Mr. Beach at one time Avas captain of the Springfield Home
Guards, and by a curious coincidence he appeared at the head of
this noted organization to do escort duty at a Fourth of July cele-
bration, while his law partner, Ephraim Bond, headed the Light In-
fantry, which Colonel Thompson had long commanded. This legal
firm made a fine appearance as leaders of Springtield's crack com-
panies, and they were the subject of man}'^ humorous remarks.
When a loan of $2,000,000 was proposed, in 1851, for the purpose
of tiumelling the Hoosac mountain, jMr. Beach made a very thorouijh
calculation, and showed how small was the amount for the proi)osed