Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-03-24


An Atchison Kansas) paper has the following reIa
tive to an attempt made by passenger in the Over
land California Coach to murder those with whom he
jOurneyed. We copy the following:
Beyond AlkaH the coach was occupied in the fol-
IR9wng Rg order: IIenshid, the assassin, McCaul and
barloW on the back seat Rice and Boyd on the mid
die seat. and Steitz and DeidShemer on the front
seat. with hlmball on the top Of the vehicle The
OF an hour before the opening of the tragedy The
ume was between two and three o'clock at night and
an excepting Henshild were sleeping. most of them
S3uholy Inc assassin, upon whose guilty conscience
tne weight OF previous crimes no doubt pressing
heaEy heard far to the rear, the clatter of horses
hoois. 1t was the two cavalry guardsmen, who ord-
narily accompany the overland coaches in their Jour
aeys. approaching from Alkali Station. His coward
coming at Barlows nstigaton to arrest him, and he
at once began his work of murder.
bs Mfh rnm the right hand h he DISCHARGED pistol the
the breast of Mr. Rice, killing him instantly. The
same bal! he expected would kill Mr. Steitz who sat
grazed the hand against which he was leaning his
head while sleeping; With the left. simultaneously.
armed passenger Mr.. McCaul II penetrated tho
apes OF three coats which the latter had on at the
moment nor en- and also his wascoat and coat wounding
Sitting next to the assassin, he comprehended the
situaIon OF affairs the moment he woke up. and in
sfanttiy grappled with him. Being incumbered with
clothing and his great coat being buttoned up, he
eoqd not draw his own pistol. but he resolutely
hela the arms OF his adversary that he was enabled
In the struggle. Henshild's pistol went off three
more tlmes one OF the balls went through the brain
two more passengers. All this was but the work of
an an instant The inmates. on being reused by the
excamations of Drive on" and Stop" impusively
uttered The DR. yer stopped and all pitched out the
body OF Rice falling out of the door at the
ment. Mr.. McCaul held on to the desperate while
longer. but Incumbered as he was and liable to be
oTerpGwered ne let go his antagonist and leaped out
after the others. The case was now fully under
Stood and the two soldiers called upon arrest
Henshild who had become sole tenant of the vehicle.
They declined to take the risk the ground their
duty was to protect the stages from outside attacks
only; The driver approached the door, when Hen
conference was then held at which Mr.. Steitz
suggested that he should be captured unharmed. as
he was perhaps crazy. Mr. s., however, had ridden
of facts of which his companions were cognizant that
proved the existence of method in tho ruffans mad
agreed with the others that Haushild should be
thoroughly disabled. A carbine was borrowed from
the guard for purpose, but it snapped on pulling
times through the side of the stage The fellow ex-
claimed. "Oh! you have shot me in three Places"
Barlow approached and took hold of his feet to pull
MN through the door when the latter rose and thrust
at hm with the knife with such effect that Barlow's
SIDE, face and cheek were awfully gashed and his
tongue and mouth split open. The assassin next pro-
eeeded to repel further attempts by whetting his
tents of his pistol but owing to the darkness the
effect was not fatal He thereon took the pistol of
which was lighted and held by Stez. he fired several
more shots with better aim.
The body still breathing, dragged out by the
roadside. and of the guards instructed to carry
word of the affair back to Alkaf Station. Hen
shllds knife and pistol were retained by McCaul,
but there was examination of his pockets or search
for papers. The travellers had seen enough of so
desperate and dangerous villain. Mr.. Rice's body
vas carefully placed on top of the stage and carried
forty miles ahead to Cottonwood Post, where Mr..
Boyd. (who was wounded in the hand by shot during
the bloody events of the night) remained to see to
its proper disposal. Messrs Deidshemer and Kim
ball escaped unhurt. Henshild, as if embued with
the desperation of resisting death ITSELF did not
expire until twelve hours afterwards-so the passen-
gers learned by telegraph sent from Aka to Cotton
wood
Col. Brown commanding the troops at Cottonwood
took the travellers into custody their arrival,
the faith OF a report which had reached him that
fatal fracas had tak ken place among them, but when
they gave him the facts he promptly released them,
and took their statement in writing for the nfOrma
ton of his military superiors. Barlow's wound was
dressed there, and he resumed his journey, but stop
ped off at Fort Kearney
The crime of HenshiId becomes the more heinous,
since the passengers treated him. previous his at
tempt upon their lives, with marked kindness gave
him cigars and luncheon frequently, and lent him
blan kets to shield him from the GOODNESS of the
weat ather. There are other gentlemen now in St.
Louis. who say he is q great scoundrel who ran n
career of crime in Idaho and Montana. and ran off