Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1860-08-29
MISCELLANEOUS.
A STAGE DRIVERS ADvExrURB

/ tOurteen years ago urOVe stage from Ddu
bury to iittleton, distance of forty-tw,
miles, and as l had to wait for the arrival oi
/ two other coaches, did not start till afte
dinner; SO very often had good distance
to drive after dark. 1t was in the dead o
win ~ and the season had been tough one
| A gfeat deal of snow had fallen, and tht
df1ss wefe plenty and deep. The mail tha
| carried was due to Littleton until one O'Clock
in the morning; but that winter the postmas
ter was very often obliged to sit up little
later than that for me.
One day in January when L drove up for
my mail at Danbury, the postmaster called
me into his office.
''Pete. said be, with an important, Sc
rious look, there's some pretty heavy money
packages in that bag" and he pointed to the
mail bag as be spoke. He said the money
was from Boston to some land agents up near
the Canada line Then he asked me if I'd
got any passengers who were going through
to Littleton | told him did not know, ''but
suppose havn't' says L.
Why" said he, ''the agent of the lower
route came in to-day, and Ie says that there
have been two suspicious characters on the
stage that came up last night, and he sus-
poets that they have an eye on this mail. so
thatit will stand you in hand to be little
careful"
He said the agent had described one of
them a short, thick set fellow, about forty
years of age with long hair, and thick,
heavy clump beard under his chin, but none
on the side of his face. He didn't know
anything about the other [ told the old
fellow guessed there wasn't much danger.
''Oh no; not if you have got passengers for
the whole trip; but L only told you of this so
that you might look out for the mail, and
look out for /: when you stop to change hor
ses.''
[ answered that l should do SO and then
took the bag under my arm and left the Office.
L slowed the bag away under the seat little
more careful than usual, placing it SO that l
could keep my feet against it, but beyond this
L did not feel any concern. 1t was half past
one when started aud l had four passen-
gers, two of whom rode only to my stopping
place. | reached GOwan's mills at dark,
when We stopped for supper, and where my
other two passengers concluded to stop for
tie night.
At about six o'clock in the evening 1 left
Gowan's mills alone, having two horses and
an open pung. had seventeen miles to 60
and hard seventeen it was to. The night
was quite clear, but the wind was sharp aud
cold, the loose snow flying in all directions.
while the drifts were deep and closely packed.
1t was slow tedious work, and my horses soon
became leg weary and restive. At the dis
tance of six miles L came to little settle
ment called Bulls Corner, where | took fresh
horses. bad been two hours going that
distance. Just as | was going to start a man
came up and asked me if was going through
10 Littleton. [ TOLD him L should 90 throug h
if the thing could possibly be done. He
said he was very anxious to go, and as he
had no baggage 1 told him to jump on and
make himself comfortable as possible.
was gathering up the reins when the ostler
came out and asked me if | knew that one of
my horses had cut himself badly. I Jumped
out and went with him and found that one of
the animals had got deep cork cut on the
of fore foot. l gave such directions as |
thought were necessary, when the ostler re-
marked that he thought l came alone l told
him l did
said he
He just 60 in." answered.
Got in from where?"
Il don't know"
"Well, now," said the ostler. 'sthat's kind
of curious. There amt no such man been
at the house, and | know there hainr been
none at neighbor's
Lets have look at his face" said I.
''Do you go back with me; and as 1 get in
the puDg, just hold your lantern SO that the
light will shine in his face
He did as wished, and as 1 stepped into
the puDg, got fair view of such portions
of my passengers face as were not muffied
up. L saw short thick frame, full, hard
features, and l could also see that there was
heavy beard under the chin l thought of
the man whom the Postmaster had described
to me; but did not think seriously until [
had started. Perhaps L had gone half a mile
when noticed that the mail bag was not in
Its old place under my feet.
''Hallo!'' says L, holding up my horses a.
little, where's nay mail?"
My passenger sat on the seat behind me.
and as spoke turned towards him.
Here is bag of some kind, slipped back
under my feet" he said giving it kick as
though he had showed it forward
just at that moment my horses numbered
into deep snow drift, and [ was forced to
get out to tread down ahead of them and lead
them through it.
This took me all of fifteen minutes; when
L got on again, pulled the mail bag forward
and got my feet upon it. As l was doing
this L saw the man take something from his
lap and put 1t into his breast pocket. At first
thought it was small liquor flask, but upon
second thought L made up my mind that it
was pistol. l caught the CLEAN of the bar
rel in the starlight, and when had time to
reject knew could not be mistaken.
About this time began to think some
what seriously. From what had heard and
seen, soon made up my mind that the in
dividual behind me not only intended to rob
the mail, but he was prepared to rob me os
my life. If L resisted him he would shoot