Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-11-04

till they hear of a coach with a Wells,
Fargo 4 Co.'s box Of treasure. In a
narrow pass Of rocks or the depth of
the forest, the driver suddenly hears
from a man at the roadside, with q sack,
mask and arepeating rife, "Hollo, Char
leyl Stop a bit" Charley never car
ries arms, and reins up his long team at
nee. One rohber unfastens the traces,
and another cover the coach with his
gun, and another steps up to the coach
door. The leader has his revolvers at
his side and his Henry's rifle in one
hand, and he thoroughly knows his men
and merely opens the door, and troubles
the gentlemen passengers to step out a
moment. The ladies are not molested,
for the Californian is polite to women,
even in artieulo morris. The gentlemen
are arranged in a line, and then the
great object Of the hunt is dragged out
tho Wells 4 Fargo strong box. Axes
are brought or %gunpowder is applied,
and the safe is opened. The driver Of
fers q robber q &c chaw Of tobacco" and
the latter talks socially with him Of the
weather or other matters. No one
grumbles and no one ear If q good
haul is made from the strong box, the
passengers are allowed to 60 back to
their seats With q polite "good even
ing" from the highwaymen. But If not
much is found, they are required to
hand over any bullion or spare cash
they may have. They are not searched,
and manage frequently to conceal large
sums in the coach or on their persons.
One of my friends, robbed thus Of thirty
or forty dollars, represented that. he
would not have enough to get home,
and they restored him his money. An
other was found with but ten dollars,
and the thieves told him he would not
have enough to get down to the settle.
ments, and they presented him with
twenty-five
Two coaches last Autumn, near Vir-
ginia city, with some thirty passengers,
were thus robbed by only three or four
men.
Ny own experience may be interest
ing, rs illustrative Of California life. A
friend, in the usual hearty name OF
the country, had driven me over in his
own team from Virginia city to Lake
Tahoe, doing eighteen miles in an hour
and q half and the rest Of tho distance
at the rate of ten miles an hour.
The lake 10 one Of the gems of the
Sierrss-perhaps the widest and most
striking sheet Of water in America
broad, blue, sparkling lake, with water
clear as crystal, set in the midst Of
grand snow peaks and an outline Of
mountains almost as wild as the Alps
around Lake Lucerne, with forests of
pine growing down to the waters edge.
II is a wonder that the lake is not more
known and visited. At Fridays Station
I was to take the stage, and while wait
ing here exciting rumors began to arrive
through the teamsters, continually COM
ing in. Three men, who were believed
to be deserters from the army, began,
about seventy miles below, q regular
robbing raid. They entered houses,
stopped passengers, rifed teamsters,
and were plunderiug all along the way.
They laid by in the day in the sage
brush and at night resumed their thiev-
ing march. The people here reckonsd
that they travelled about fourteen miles
every night. "They were down at
Yank's night before last; they'll be, at
Osgood's tonight, and about here to-
morrow night Are you all ready, Jim2"
Jim replied that he was getting ready
his pistols and ~shotguns for them but
this robbing by regular stages on a
telegraph and coach road struck me as
highly characteristic. I asked them
why they did NOT turn out and hunt the
fellows down. hLet them darned fellers
as was robbed hunt 'em If they want.
i amt gcin' tol Besides, Watson and
Jim Hines is after EN-" As we drove
down the mountain at night, the driver
shouted before the houses occasionally :
"Heard anything Of tho robbcrs?" ono;
but we are gettin' ready for 'em." And
to an old black hostler, "I say, Cesar,
they'll clean you'll" "Wall," was the
reply, rather pitifully, al hain't got
nothin' but one billed shirt, and that's
bein washed"
Gradually we began to hear news Of
the thieves. An up-driver said he
passed the What Cheer House" down
below, and the landlord was in a great
trouble. He had put his head out Of
the window and asked the driver to stop
for Gods sake, for robbers were 10 the
house, and if ono Of the passengers had
a pistol, they and the driver might drive
them out. The driver said he "drovs
up to the end Of tho house, but therc
u woman and child inside the
coach, who commenced buekfng so, and
there amt none of them passengers as
ever have pistols, so l drove along"
Leaving the fate of the landlord of
the What Cheer in profound mystery,
to US the driver said, con6dingly /:
" They'll clean you out, sure" I had
fellow-passenger on the front seat, an
old Californian, who had thus far been
profoundly Indifferent to the robbing
he now looked lsnguidly up :
az say; Bill, have those robbers any.
thing with themfn "wall, / should
think they had two double-barreled
shotguns and . rife. l see 'sm last
night !" "Thsn, they may have all
I've got" said the other indiferently,
and turned over to sleep.
II was impossible for me to sleep.