Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-06-03
THE BOLD HIGHWAYMEN.
How = stage Coach In Texas was Rsbbc'
"a Passenger Tells she hssry.


How = stage Coach II Texas was Robbed
"a Passenger Tells she Story.
When we read stories OF tho diligence
attacked by highwaymen in Mexico, In
Spain or in Italy, we feel sort OF dis
gust for the backward civilization OF q
country that will allow such things TO
exist. When the thing comes home
to us we do not feel that contempt. Re-
Gently stage coach was stopped in
Texas and the passengers robbed. One
passenger tells the story Of tho affair a.
follows:
We lef. San Antonio early in the
morning for Suling, the present ter
minus OF the Peirle railroad. The stage
was full OF passengers, there being eight
men and two ladies' in it. When about
twenty-fv miles from San Antonio,
while the stage was slowing ascending
q long hill in the prairie, man on a
fine gray horse rode up to the stage
from the front and asked the driver il
he had seen horse on the road drag
ging rope. The driver told him he
had not. ! noticed that this man looked
into the coach closely while talking to
the driver. He was a tall, powerful
man, with light beard and hair, rosy and
healthy looking, and was about thirty
five years of age, l should think. He
Immediately rode off rapidly, as il in
pursuit of the horse dragging the rope.
As the stage moved on, few minutes
later, this man was seen at the top of
the hill with two other men on the road
side, one of them mounted on sorrel
horse and the other on foot. AS the
stage approached the man on tho gray
horse rode off into the mesquite clap
paral, which was very dense.
When within few yards of them tho
man on foot stepped in front of the
stage and, pointing double barreled
shotgun, both barrels cooked and his
finger on the trigger, at the driver, Or
dered him to halt. The driver, in
amazement, obeyed. The other man on
horseback rode Immediately up to the
coach and presented a shooter,
cooked, almost in the faces Of the pas
sengers, and said /: Raise an alarm, if
you dare!" or something of that sort.
The man on the gray horse came up at
this moment and also stuck his six
shooter at the passengers. All three Of
these men wore masks on their faces at
this time-simply handkerchief tied
around their faces, with holes for their
eyes. They ordered us to get out Ct
the stage. We all obeyed. One of
them proceeded to search our pockets
and other portions of the clothing, while
the other two stood over us with cooked
weapons.
Miss Ogden, handsome young
lady, refused 10 be searched. She told
them she had no money and that she
would die before they should touch
her. One Of the scoundrels threatened
to take her into the brush, but she still
refused and they finally let her alone.
After getting through with the passen-
gers they made George billiard rip open
the mail bags.
One OF them opened every letter and
package, and l saw that they got good
deal Of money out of them. Mr.. Moore,
of California, had 1920 in gold on his
person and some $40 or $50 in green
backs, all of which they took. George
billiard had $104, which they got, too.
The other passengers, except Miss
Ogden, had but small amounts of money
with them, but the highwaymen got all
they had. think in all they got about
q thousand dollars.
Miss Ogden had over $500 on her, and
she is the only one of the passengers
who came out of the affair with single
cent. DR.. Chace had fine gold watch,
which they took. He appeared to feel
this loss very much, as he seemed to
prize the watch for something outside of
its money value. Some of the other
passengers also had watches, which were
taken from them. AS for myself, came
out easy, having only So or $40 about
me at the time.
Corrcspondent-"Did none of you
have arms ?"
Passenger-"There were two splendid
rifles in the company, and also one or
two pistols; but the thing occurred so
quickly and suddenly there was no
chance to draw them. If we had made
fight the highwaymen would certainly
have fired upon us, and some of the
ladies would no doubt have been killed.
To resist under the circumstances was
out of the question"
Correspondent-"Did they handle
you roughly9"
Passenger-"No; they were rather
polite. So were we all, except Miss o.
den, who showed them no complaisance.
Had we been otherwise I suppose they
would have handled us pretty roughly.
The whole job was over in twenty min
utes or less. The robbers then rode off
and disappeared in the chapparal. We
proceeded on our journey and reached
Seguin in an hour"
Correspondent-"Didn no one pass on
the road while this was going ona"
Passenger" No one. There were no
houses anywhere near. and the point
was splendid one for the robbers to
make this attempt. From the top of
the hill they could see any one ap-
preaching at long distance"