The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-05-19
The Unified States Mail Coach and Five
Other Vehicles Halted and Robbed
Between Dallas and Fort
Worth Over $4,000
We're Taken,
A IIot Attack and pursuit AoD""S
ElIied-The Mail moi no'e-''n'


IN this morning.
Mr. Frank Slnnimon, drIyerof Works
mex, who arrived here about nine
,iclock, makes the following STATE
nent.
Thn morning about twelve olclocN
ak miles This side Of JOhnson's SIa-
ion, M was driving along the roan
ono Of Captain Works hacks, WIN
wo passengers, Mr.. Belcher ana ms
friend ranGhnap from Corpus Chrlsti,
,bout eight hundred yards In rear OF
our horse hack, private, ! THINK, rs
nave not scon II before on the ROAD the
first thing saw was three men riulhB
nt "A run toward this hack right uoWp
Inc main road. One OF them was oha
grey horse, one on II sortel morse, anu
one on II dark bay or brown lhey
dnsLed mp to the hack, stuck tl'eii
right In the hack. we AL
i'm our hack exclaimed, "lhey are
robbers I" one gentleman, Mr.. bel
chers friend, said, "Let w get hWhy
while they ARE robbIng that otler
hnck.u By the move that the roboers
made we supposed that they Lad as
armed, but not M yet robbed the hacN
In trout. When they saw us TURN, Ihey
left one man to guard the capture"
huck, and the man Oh the sorrel morse
nnd the one on the grey followed US,
we having turned round ana driver,
RAPIDLY bnclS down the road. we lhu
driven about My yards when thtI
drove up IN ahOus sixty yards, ana INV
man on the grey horse ordered us 10
halt, aud fred his pistol IA Iroht OF
the horses, one OF them was III
his shirt sleeves and had on
"A pair of brown ovcrhauls,
We stopped. Belcher and his iriehd
backed out Of the hack, pistols in mana
and walked to the rear OF the hack
when the man on the s0rrel horse or
dered them to drop their pistols when
they didn't do. The man on the sor-
rel horse then fired. Then the roO6er
on the grey hsrse fired aud hit one OF
the horses IN the shoulder. The horses
got 80 unruly | couldn't manage thehl'
Belcher and his friend got In the hack
and put whip to the horses. When
we started TO run they fired II pistol
shot or two after US striking the hack
twice. The robber on the sorrel horse
deliberately got down and taking rest
fired with II rifle ut Belcher's friend,
the ball passing through the rear gate
over him. He threw himself III the
bottom of the hack after watching the
rObber II moment.
The ball passed through the end OF
NY trousers, just above my heel, ana
out the front of the hack. We Kept on
II full run, the wounded horse bleeding
badly. The robbers then turned and
started back, and In few minutes
turned and came for us again, followed
us u little way, aud then stopped and
went back TO the captured hack, II
which was the United States Marshal
to whom he remarked, in reference tC
Belcher's freud, 81 had to Kill the
United States Marshal In that Other
hack ; he would not give up.n There
was lady IN the captured hack whom
the robbers told she need not BIT
alarmed, aud gave her watch anC
money back.
We went back to two stores two
miles and half this side OF Johnson
Station, and tried to raise n crowd L
pursue the robbers, but did not succeed
met the six-horse mail coach will
one passenger IA gentlemen) and turn
ed 1t round about four miles this side
OF Johnson's Station. | laid ovel
there until half-past three, and dis
patch was sent from there to For
Worth for mail guard. A party o
seven or eight men started IN
pursuit of the robbers, who wenl
northward, and when they went into
the bottom they were about twenty
minutes behind them.
Before all this had occurred, the rob.
bers had robbed two hat ks that were
going west and the I'll Paso mail coach,
which left Eagle Ford yesterday morn.
ing, Mr.. Fairfax, proprietor of the
Transcontinental Hotel, at Fort
Worth, and his little son Frank, aged
about six years, and five other passen-
gers. The robbers were in the hollow
when the mail coach came over the
brow of the hill, waiting for it and
pulled down on the driver with their
six-shooters and ordered him to halt.
They then demanded the money of the
passengers and told he driver TO stand
still and he wouldn't be hurt. They
took $3.50 and u gold watch from Mr..
Fairfax and - from little Frank, and
$3.50 and.a watch from another gentle
man, and small sums from the others,
all they had. There was n poor man
who was n cripple whom they did not
disturb. They ordered the driver to
throw out the mail. They remarked
that they "didn't want to rob the mail,
that the robbers who have been rob-
bling so much lately had robbed about
as much rs the Government could
stand" and they did not modest the
mail bags at all. One old gentleman
who had three or four hundred
dollars and his watch and
chain taken. He had TO get his din
ner on the road on credit.
Everybody being robbed, the rob-
bers then shot down their own horses,
and then saddled two of the stage
horses. They then left taking an ex-
ira horse and another one that they
overlook, which was being led behind
a single horse buggy, in which were
two men. On coming up with the
buggy, they asked the men how much
money they had. "Fifty cents,n said
one; "four dollars,n said the other,
keep it,p said the robbers, "and we
will just relieve you OF the horse YOU
are leading" . ....
The robbers got out of the five vehi-
cles, including the stage, about two
thousand dollars in money and jewel.
ry. | heard some men speak Of hav-
ing lost checks, how much can't say,
The only clue to them known is this:
Wednesday evening three men, armed
with pistols and Winchester rifles,
were seen three miles north OF John.
sons Station, who said they were lust
out hunting, fishing, etc.
When the robbers first started after
the hack l was driving, they remarked,
II seems, to the man whom they left
to guard the hack they had lust cap
lured, "You mind this hack, and we
will go for the other.n /" You will have
hot time Of 1t II you do, for these
men are well armed,n said he, which |
makes me believe that they were
posted about Mr., Belcher and Mr.