1841 ALBANY NY STAMPLESS FOLDED LETTER TO NORWALK OH GREAT CONTENT SHIPPING WAR

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1841 ALBANY NY STAMPLESS FOLDED LETTER TO NORWALK OH GREAT CONTENT SHIPPING WAR:
$8.99

1841 stampless folded letter with red \"ALBANY/N.Y.\" cds and manuscript \"25\" rate, addressed to J. Gardiner, at Norwalk, Ohio.

Lengthy, 2 pg. letterdated at Albany, NY, Aug. 19th, 1841, from Noyes & Prosser, with great content about the cut-throat business of shipping goods to the \"West\". Noyes & Prosser were part owners of the Western Transportation Company, which shipped goods on the Erie & Ohio Canals, as well as the Great Lakes. In this letter, they write of a shipment of goods intended for Mr. Gardiner at Norwalk, Ohio, which arrived in New York City, and wassupposed to be delivered to their Tow Boat Line to take the goods to them via the Hudson, was instead, delivered to their competitor\'s tow boat line, and on arrival in Albany, had exorbitant freight charges tacked on, which they refused to pay.They note that this may have been an intentional act on the part of their competitor in Albany.

The letter reads:

\"Sir,

Some of your goods intended to have been forwarded by our Line from New York about the 2d inst., by accident or deception on the part of one of the Albany New York Lines of Tow Boats, of which Olmsted & Co. are the agents at this city, were not delivered to us at N.Y., but to said Tow Boat line, & on their arrival at this place, we rec\'d notice that unless we paid them before delivery Forty five per cent more than the customary rate of river freight, the goods would be put in store. Having repeatedly requested said Line for the past 3 months not to receive goods at N.Y. on their boats marked on the packages for us, as we had boats of our own there, & having a conspicuous sign at our office in N. York directing where to find our boats, we feel unwilling to pay any river freight on goods that should have been delivered to us at N.Y., & are fully advised, we are not bound to do so, Olmsted & Co. declined giving us a statement of the packages. Hence we could not replevin. In many cases, however, we obtained a list of packages & replevined, without paying freight, & sent on the goods. Yours have been forwarded by some other line from this place to destination & may reach you overcharged. We could not get them without suffering too great an imposition & could not replevin without a full statement of the articles. We suppose that Olmsted & Co. take this course to injure us, simply because we are running boats to N. York & come in competition with them. We very much regret that any of our customers should suffer from such acts. All that is necessary to prevent a recurrence of this trouble is,that goods intended for us, should be delivered to our boats at N.Y., then if they are lost, damaged or delayed, there is no trouble in establishing where the blame rests & in obtainingremuneration. Notwithstanding we believed ourselves not liable to pay any river freighton your goods in question, still, rather than allow them to be detained here, we offered to pay the usual price & as high a price as charged by any of the Tow Boat Companies to anyone else, still we could not obtain the goods. Believing with the explanation herein you will exonerate us from all dereliction of duty, & that future shipments of yours, will be so made as to avoid a recurrence of like difficulty, we are with much respect,

Your Obdt. Servts.,

Noyes & Prosser\"

Very Fine.

COMBINED SHIPPING FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS.