Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
If you need a good belly laugh, this may be the post you want to read. Horace Hervey Buell was the father of scenic artist Mable Buell and husband of scenic artist Nina Giles Buell.
Born in New York in 1857, Horace was one of four boys. He had an older brother that was three years his senior (George K.), and two twin brothers that were his junior by two years (Walter and Warren Cyrus). Remember the name W.C. Cyrus when you get to the second newspaper article.
When he was quite young, his father (Cyrus Augustus Buell) left to fight in the Civil War. A hatter by trade, he returned to civilian life to run a hat shop in Albion, New York. In 1870, the Buell family moved to Wabaunsee, Kansas. The 1870 census listed Cyrus as a farmer, but he soon returned to his former profession as a hat merchant. By 1875, Horace was sent to live with his uncle in Brooklyn, New York, working as a barber. Five years later in 1875, Horace returned west, still working as a barber and living with his family in Manhattan, Kansas. By the early 1880s, Horace opened an art store in Topeka. After experiencing only mediocre returns, he set his sights on better opportunities in Chicago. By 1882, he was married to Miss Nina Giles. Two years later, Horace made headlines in newspapers across the country – not for his art, but for his antics.
In 1884, he is low on funds and decides to save eight dollars by mailing himself in a wooden crate, C.O.D. This story is published and republished at the time. Over the decades the story of Horace H. Buell continues to pop up in newspapers here and there; the tale outlives the memory of Buell as a scenic artist. It is well worth reading.
Here is one version published in the “The Garnett Republican (30 May 1884, page 8):
“A Strange Journey.
Truth is often stranger than fiction, and the following proves the saying: Residents of Topeka will remember that a few years ago a young man named Horace H. Buell arrived in Topeka and opened an art studio, but finding that his efforts to gain a reputation and a living were not as successful as he wished, he left the city and went to Chicago. There he became a Pullman car conductor and eventually married, our informant thinks, a relative of the Pullmans. At any rate he was in Chicago last Thursday and wanted to go to Manhattan, but didn’t have the funds to pay for a ticket. He at length determined to go as express matter, and with this in view, arranged a box in which he could sit quite comfortably, and he could, if necessary, release himself. He then went to the express office and left an order for a wagon to call at a certain address and get a box which he billed as from H. H. Buell to Horace Buell, Manhattan, Kas., and directed that it should be sent and the charges collected at Manhattan. His scheme worked perfectly. The box was taken to the depot, weighed and put abroad the cars, and then the adventurous Kansan was so en rout to his old home by the Blue. Once an express messenger suspicioned that something was wrong and said he was going through the box, but he changed his mind. The box weighed 247 pounds, and at Kansas City Buell heard a voice say, ‘I believe I’ll let this box lay over.’ But fortunately the strange freight was re-loaded, and at 1:27 o’clock Saturday morning was thumped out on the platform at Manhattan. All had gone well so far, and Buell was congratulating himself o the success of his scheme, but when the last jolt of the box was over, and he was ready to take an active part in the strange journey, he discovered that the box was lying bottom side up, or so it was impossible to work the release. He therefore waited a more favorable opportunity, expecting it would come when he had been tumbled into the express office. Fate was dead against him, though, for when the box was placed in its position to remain until delivered in the morning, the occupant found himself standing on his head and unable to assume any other position. The express agent, having all his goods in the room, then proceeded to ‘check up’ and used the box for a table. The unfortunate victim of his own ingenuity was forced to listen to the satisfactory ejaculations of the agent, who seemed to require a long time to complete his work. At length, being unable to bear it any longer, Buell yelled, ‘How much longer is it going to take you to check up?’ The agent was frightened and fled to another room, but soon reappeared with a friend, and two revolvers were leveled at the offending box. The agent supposed a robber was hidden in it, announced his intention of perforating it, whereupon Buell begged to be released, when he promised to explain all. The men at length consented, and a sorry looking individual, a satchel and the remains of a lunch, were polled out on the floor. Buell paid the express charges, $9.25, and thinks he succeeded fairly well – in saving the difference between that amount and the fare, which was $17.55. [To put this in perspective, today’s equivalent of $17.55 is about $450 today]. Buell organized a company under the name of the Topeka Zuoaves, and was quite well known here. At one of the masquerades given in the skating rink he took first prize for the best character.”
A few months after the incident, Buell explains himself in the “Holton Recorder” (12 July 1884, page 1). Under the title “New Way of Travel,” the article reports, “My name is Horace Buell, and I have relatives living in Manhattan. From my earliest youth I have displayed wonderful talent for art. Believing that there was a field open for me in the larger cities I sought a situation, and for a time was successful, but I lost my health, and being severely distressed and in need, resolved to return home. Too proud to write for means to defray my expenses, I hit upon the plan which has landed me to-night, thirty-six hours from Chicago. The way I managed to get billed out of the city was very easy. I called t the main office and told them I had a box which I wished to ship to Manhattan, giving instructions where it could be found, I then packed myself in it and was soon speeding westward. Once I was left in the car for some time alone, and had a chance to stretch myself. Before entering the box I supplied myself with sufficient crackers and cheese to sustain me for fours days, and suffered only for water. I don’t feel much worse for the trip, it was an easy matter to brace myself in the box so I would not be injured.”
There is only one question that I would like to ask Buell: “Did you tell your wife?”
To be continued…
