o start it, but it proved the
principle. The following day a public exhibition was given. Forty men
and one woman responded to the request for volunteers to ride. They rode
on the engine and in a big coach attached behind. They covered the top
of the coach and clung to the sides. A dozen men got hold and gave a
good push and they were off.

The road was just thirteen miles long. The distance was made in one hour
and twelve minutes. The fire was then drawn and the boiler refilled.
Also, all the passengers refilled, for whisky flowed free.

Peter Cooper was ready to start back. He ordered every man to hold on to
his hat. A push and a pull, all together, and they were off. They ran
the thirteen miles back in just fifty-eight minutes. The engine was a
success beyond the fondest hopes of Peter. There were difficulties in
the way, however. One was that the pulling only on one side caused a
cramping of the flange on the other side against the rail. This was
remedied by putting a wheel on both sides and running a chain on the two
projecting hubs.

The pulling by hand to start was also criticized. Next, the fact that
the engine had to be shut down every hour for water was noted. Peter
Cooper stopped the mouths of the carpers by calling attention to the
fact that even a horse had to be watered. And as for giving a push on
starting, it was a passenger's duty to collaborate with the engineer.
Besides that, passengers get thirsty and hungry as well as horses, and
want a little change. Peter Cooper assured the critics that the boiler
could be refilled while a man was getting a drink and stretching his
legs.

The people who owned the stagecoach-line that ran parallel with the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad made a lot of fun of Peter Cooper's
teakettle. On one occasion they loosened a rail, so the thing ran into
the ditch. For a time this sort of discouraged traffic, but there were
others who prophesied that in a few years horses could not be given
away.

Finally, the owner of the stagecoach-line challenged the railroad folks
to race from Riley's Tavern to Baltimore, a distance of nine miles. The
race was between a noted gray horse, famed for speed and endurance, and
the teakettle. The road ran right alongside of the wagon route. In
truth, it took up a part of the roadway, which was one cause of
opposition. The race occurred on September Eighteenth, Eighteen Hundred
Thirty. Thousands of dollars were bet, and a throng of people lined