taken in their own right. The rest should be deemed Forfeit. This is my private opinion made to none but you.

To Joseph Warren, Esq. President of the Provincial Congress for the Mass. Bay.

This letter as a whole will bear a great deal of careful study. Had he at that time had any occasion to suspect Col. Goldthwait's loyalty to his cause, he would have so stated it in a private letter to the President of the Provincial Congress. The writer will refer to him later.

The following petition was also referred to the Provincial Congress, of this same date. As it is headed by Thomas Goldthwait, and it expresses the strongest sentiments of loyalty to the cause, it would indicate just the reverse of Toryism or disaffection to the Province.

PETITION.

Gentm :

We the subscribers being appointed a Committee by the inhabitants on Penobscot River, the inhabitants of Belfast, Major bigwaduce & Benjamins River, to make representation to you of the difficulties & distress the said inhabitants are under, in respect to the scarcity of corn & ammunition occasioned by the interruption of vessels, which they depend upon for their supplies, & also in the impediments in exportations from the Seaport towns, &c.

We accordingly herewith send you the votes of the said inhabitants passed by them at a general meeting on Teusday the 6th day of June instant which we are to pray your consideration of, &c. &c.

We are further to assure you that the said inhabitants are ready with their lives & all yt they have to support the cause which their country is engaged in, in defence of their liberties & their priveledges, and will hold themselves in readiness for that purpose, &c.

We are in behalf of the said inhabitants, Gent",

Gentlemen :- The said Committee are also to inform you that it was represented at the said meeting that the establishment of Fort Pownall is nearly expired. That the Commander of the sa Fort in obedience to the command of the Govr delivered to his order the Artillery & spare arms belonging to sa Fort: that he also delivered to our inhabitants in the different parts of this vicinity, upon their own application, some spare arms & ammunition, reserving only a small quantity of each for the use of the soldiers belonging to said garrison, which occasions the said Fort at this time to be very bare of arms in those respects.

To the Hon. The Gentlemen at Cambridge to represent the Province in Provincial Congress. (Mass. Arch. 193: 328.)

It must be borne in mind that this petition and accompanying letter were written after the dismantlement of Fort Pownall and before it was destroyed. It was also written before the maltreatment of Col. Thomas Goldthwait: the mutilation of his portrait, and the indignities he and his family suffered in the dead of night July 21, 1775, when the lawless and turbulent spirits collected, under the name of militia, in command of Col. James Cargill, and burnt him out of house and home for having, as is set forth in the above petition :

In obedience to the command of the Governor delivered to his order the Artillery, &c.

The italics are mine. Could anything in the shape of loyalty to one's country be stronger, especially after the act of his, already so many times cited, than this petition over the signature of Thomas Goldthwait? Can anyone doubt of his sincere intentions toward sustaining the cause of the patriots? In the original, the petition looks as though it was drawn up by Thomas Goldthwait himself. It is my belief that it is his own handwriting. He would not even allow another to express his own language in the sentiments he wished to convey.

RAILROAD REMINISCENCES.

BY HON. JAMES W. BRADBURY.

Read before the Maine Historical Society, March 26, 1896.

I HAVE always felt great interest in the advance of the railroad system in my native state, especially as it so happened that it fell to my lot to aid in obtaining from the Legislature the charter of the first railroad of importance constructed within its limits. This was in 1837. While battling for this road I little thought that within my lifetime more than sixteen hundred miles of good substantial railroad would be in successful operation in the state.

In 1836 the petitioners for two contesting lines of railroad towards Boston were before the Legislature — the Shore Line to pass through Saco, Biddeford, Ken

nebunk and York, to Portsmouth, and the "Interior Line" through Gorham, Alfred, North Berwick and Berwick to Dover, New Hampshire. In the struggle between them the latter prevailed, and obtained a charter under another name than the Boston & Maine, which it afterwards received. But it did not proceed to build during the year.

When the Legislature assembled the next year, the petitioners for the "Shore Line" applied to me to assist them and take charge of their case before the legislative committee, and we were able to satisfy the committee and the Legislature that, as their contestants had neglected to do anything under their charter, the petitioners were entitled to have one for the Shore Line; and the act for the incorporation of the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth Railroad was passed and approved.

A year or two afterwards the company obtained an amendment, professedly to avoid a hill in York, in terms so general as to enable it to avoid Kennebunk and York Village and to go so far to the west as North Berwick, which was in the chartered line of the other road. With this I had nothing to do. Under its charter the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth was constructed prior to any other railroad in Maine, excepting only, the few miles of imperfect road from Bangor to Oldtown.

The Boston & Maine had built its road from Boston to Dover, New Hampshire, and thence to North Berwick, reaching that place in 1842. It found the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth operating its road in connec

tion with the Eastern, and thus forming a continuous line between Boston and Portland. Trouble soon arose between these rival lines. The Boston & Maine complained that the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth had unfairly got upon its chartered line, and was managing its road to monopolize the travel between Boston and Maine. It refused to connect, or to ticket over the other line; and it was said it would not stop at the station for the passengers if the cars were in sight on the other line, and that its hostile management was depriving the Boston & Maine of any share of the through travel. The Boston & Maine then made application to the Legislature for relief. Its agent called upon me to attend to their case before the Legislature. It was an important case as the life of the road depended upon the result. The battle before the railroad committee was a hard one. Among the eminent lawyers we had to contend with who were employed by our real opponent, the Eastern Railroad, that controlled the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth

was Gen. Fessenden, in the full maturity of his power. We asked that the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth should be required to connect and take our cars over its road upon the receipt of fare for the passengers that were in them. This was scouted at as a thing unknown, and as an unjust use of their property for the benefit of others, against their will. At the close of the argument, the committee voted to grant our petition and to give us a bill. I was directed to prepare the bill and present it at the next meeting of the committee. During the week after the adjournment our opponents