th imprisonment or death. One day one of Reeside's
coaches was stopped near Philadelphia by three armed men, who
ordered the nine passengers to alight and stand in a line. One of
the robbers then mounted guard, while the other two made the
terrified passengers deliver up their money and watches, and then
rifled the mail bags. They were soon afterward arrested, tried,
convicted, and one was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary,
while the other two were condemned to be hung. Fortunately for
one of the culprits, named Wilson, he had some years previously,
at a horse-race near Nashville, Tennessee, privately advised General
Jackson to withdraw his bets on a horse which he was backing, as
the jockey had been ordered to lose the race. The General was very
thankful for this information, which enabled him to escape a heavy
loss, and he promised his informant that he would befriend him
whenever an opportunity should offer. When reminded of this promise,
after Wilson had been sentenced to be hanged, Jackson promptly
commuted the sentence to ten years imprisonment in the penitentiary.

When Admiral Reeside was carrying the mails between New York and
Washington, there arose a formidable organization in opposition to
the Sunday mail service. The members of several religious
denominations were prominent in their demonstrations, and in
Philadelphia, chains, secured by padlocks, were stretched across
the streets on Sundays to prevent the passage of the mail-coaches.
The subject was taken up by politicians, and finally came before
the House of Representatives, where it was referred to the Committee
on Post-Roads, of which Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, was then
the chairman. The Rev. Obadiah B. Brown, who had meanwhile been
promoted in the Post-office Department, wrote a report on the
subject for Colonel Johnson, which gave "the killer of Tecumseh"
an extended reputation, and was the first step toward his election
as Vice-President, a few years later.

[Facsimile]
J. C. Calhoun
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN was born in South Carolina, March 18th, 1782:
was a Representative in Congress, 1811-1817; Secretary of War, 1817-
1825; Vice-President, 1825-1832; United States Senator, 1833-1843;
Secretary of State, 1844-1845; United States Senator from 1845
until his death at Washington City, March 31st, 1850.

CHAPTER VII.
THE KITCHEN CABINET.

When the Twenty-first Congress assembled, on the 7th of December,
1829, General