The wheels of justice operate in most cases—but often slowly. A tale from St. Francois County illustrates exactly how slowly. Moses Pendergrass was a poor but honest man who had moved his family from Tennessee to the area of Knob Lick between 1870 and 1880. His wife died young, leaving him with two daughters. Moses wished to supplement farming income, so when the Post Office Department issued a request for bids to run Route Number 28,630, he responded. Moses was illiterate, so he sought the help of the Postmaster of Knob Lick, who was also a Justice of the Peace, to prepare the bid. Moses signed the bid with his mark, two local men functioned as sureties, and he submitted the bid. His was the low bid, so he began delivering the mail on July 1, 1887.
Route 28,630 ran from Knob Lick by way of Libertyville and Avon to Coffman and back three times weekly, a round trip of 30 miles. The route also included six trips weekly to Libertyville and back, 12 miles round trip. The Department had ordered the increase of trips to Coffman to six per week and prorated the payment. Moses received his first quarterly payment on September 30 and was shocked to receive $1.43. This was for 78 round trips of 30 miles, totaling 2,430 miles over country roads in Iron Mountain country in all sorts of weather.
With assistance, Moses questioned the amount, which ignited a fury of official correspondence between Washington, D.C., and Knob Lick. The problem, as it turned out, was that the Postmaster at Knob Lick had thought he wrote a bid of $400 for the contract, which was Pendergrass’s intention. He and the bondsmen knew full well the bid was to be $400, but somehow the Postmaster wrote “four” instead of “four hundred” for the bid and in the contract and bond.
The Postmaster wrote back to the Third Assistant Postmaster General: “There is certainly some great mistake somewhere. Anyone knows that the mail could not be carried 15 miles and back six times a week for $4 per year. I made the papers for Mr. Pendergrass, and $400 was his bid.”
However, the Post Office Department failed to budge. Moses continued to carry the mail but finally took the suggestion that the only way to cut through the red tape was to quit. The Department hired a substitute at full rate but eventually declared that Moses was in default of his contract and held him responsible for $1,459.85 for the default. Additional wrangling resulted in the Post Office Department requiring Pendergrass to remit $1 for the government’s trouble.
However, Moses still failed to receive just compensation for this work. His congressman filed a bill in 1893 to pay him for nine month's work at the rate of the next lowest bid. The bill came out of committee but failed to pass. This situation continued through three more sessions of Congress. Finally in the 1898-1899 session, Missouri Senator Francis M. Cockrell championed the bill and spoke for passage. California Representative Eugene F. Loud, a notable opponent of private claims against the U. S. Treasury, demanded a reading of the report underlying the bill for Pendergrass’s relief so he could fight it. Upon hearing the contents, he bowed his head and admitted the claim was just. The bill passed both houses, and President McKinley signed it. Moses Pendergrass finally got just compensation—11 years and six sessions of Congress after he submitted his bid.
