Rural Train Passengers Should Be Reasonable

     Adams Run, South Carolina is not one off the major cities of the United States today and I suspect that in 1898 it was smaller, if that is possible.
     Yonges Island, South Carolina is about 15 road miles or 8 pelican miles from Adams Run, should such a creature choose to dine on pine forest beetles as opposed to low country sea food.
     Nevertheless, it appears that on or about March 6th, Mr. S.E. Barnwell was inconvenienced by the late or non arrival of a train from Yonges Island, operating on the Charleston and Savannah Railroad line.
     His complaint to the Office of the Railroad Commission of South Carolina offered the opinion that the "Railroad" didn't even pretend to keep to the schedule of service to the local stops on the line and further, that the poor people of the rural south were being neglected to the needs of the rich people of the north.
     The usual exchange of  "copy to" and "forwards"  occurred with a response finally coming from Mr. G. S. Gadsden, superintendent of the railroad.
     Gadsden forwarded a lengthy list and schedule of all "through" and "local" trains. He pointed out that there were 4 local service trains on the Charleston to Savannah run and 4 through service trains. He also listed in specific, train # 20 leaving Yonges Island at 8:36 AM arriving at Charleston at 10:38 AM (2 hours) and a return leaving at 3:55 PM and arriving back on the island at 4:20 PM (25 minutes).
     The letter then continued to to explain the effect that the hard winter and poor economy had had on railroad operations and schedules and yet how busy the through trains had been. He finished with a statement that the rural people should be reasonably satisfied with the service they were getting.
     I'm sure Dale Carnegie would have loved to have conducted a seminar in Charleston if he could have caught a train in time.