stagecoach

1912 Republican National Convention was held at held at Chicago Coliseum Chicago, Cook County, Illinois June 18 to 22, 1912. politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1912/index.html

Love the stagecoach! Must have been a colorful anachronism for the California delegates to arrive at the hall in that contraption...

Stagecoaches in the 20th century? Trains and streetcars must have made them obsolete by then. Maybe staged for a New Hampshire western?

There were stages to towns not on the railway because they had mail contracts, a system that continued with autos. Four horses and a lot of parcels make me think it's a hotel stage. Pretty sure it's a Concord Coach- you can see a bit of the suspension above the front wheel.

Another LOC photo here shows the same scene from further back, captioned "Paul Sorg, E. Fownes driving". This article from the 24 April 1903 NY Times mentions an incident where some property of "Paul A. Sorg" young millionaire of Middletown Ohio, was seized by a Sheriff just before Sorg was about to leave for Europe. An English "whip" (coach driver?) named Charles A. Fownes is also mentioned. There is a famous Paul John Sorg, but he was born in 1840 died in 1902. That appears to have been the father of Paul A. Sorg, listed in the article as 1878-1913--see Middletown Library, gives some family history: Paul Arthur Sorg was the son of Paul J. and Susan Jennie Sorg. His family was very well off financially and Paul A. Sorg was placed in charge of the paper concerns that the family owned...spent much time in New York State and raised excellent horses Here is a photo of Paul Arthur Sorg--that looks like it could be the person in the photo here--though it looks like he grew a mustache. Paul Arthur Sorg died 4 (?) May 1913 in New York, aged 34, according to the NY Times obituary from 6 May 1913. Seems pretty clear "Sorg" is Paul Arthur Sorg (circa 1878-1913). He appears to be examining the coach, could this have been the incident described in the NY Times article?

Great research. The other Bain photos in this series are from the 1910s, so 1903 seems a bit early. But I'll bet you've got the right guy. I like that a lot of these are unposed. Photographic technology had only recently got to the point where candid photos were possible. Nice expressions on their faces.

Thanks! We'll add his first name to the source data and reload the description.

Jim Rees--that is a very good point about the date--it is probably not 1903, but later, in line with the rest of the Bain collection, and also in accord with your astute observations about the candid photography. I was referencing that incident more to connect the last names of Sorg and Fownes with some first names. Sorg died in 1913, so a date of 1912 or so is quite plausible, and very much agreeing with other dates in this series.

As confirmation that Sorg and Fownes were in coaching races in the 1910s, a NY Times article, Nov 15, 1912. p. 11, mentions that Paul A. Sorg's team won the Arrow Head Inn coaching race cup in 1910 and that Ernest Fownes, the London whip, is to drive in the 1912 race.