The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-07-19
TURPINS OF THE PLAINS.

through. Foot hills all about us, deep
and narrow gulches in the road, not a
house or human being in sight for miles,
The curtains were all up on our side of
the coach, and were all down on the
opposite side. / was very weary from
long travelling, and / soon dropped away
into light g stage-coach" nap. [ tried
hard to keep awake, for knew we we're
within few miles of the Cheyenne
river, but couldn't. had slept about
half an hour, when / awoke and found
the coach standing still. I heard voices
outside, and in the first moments of
awakening, not fully realizing where I
was, put my head out of the window
Take in that head, or I'll put bullet
through it. Don't make such break as
that again. .aais
I got all OF myself inside the coach in
the quickest possible Time / knew then
we were in the hands of the highway
men of the Black Hills. It appeared
that, as the mules pulled the coach down
into a g1lch, about fifteen feet wide and
about six feet deep, and before they
could pull out, four men sprang out from
the side of the road. The mules baked,
and the coach stopped. The Captain Of
the gang was on our side of the coach /;
his three men on the other. The driver
and Keller were @ covered" with guns.
and we're told to "put up their hands"
which they didn't hesitate to do
The Captain said: "Driver, throw down
your gun"
The gun on the front Of the coach is
usually kept on the drivers seat. This
time it was down in the boot Keller
reached after it, but the robbers thought
he was the express messenger, and one
of the three men said to him: "None of
that. Make no break, or you are dead
man. Throw up your hands,"
The Captain then made the driver
reach down for his gun, bring it up muz-
zle foremost, and then throw it out upon
theground. The driver and Keller were
then made to descend from their seats.
The Custer box was taken out, broken
open and nothing of value found there
in. The work of removing the Dead
wood box from the coach was commenced.
The driver and Keeler were made to do
the work. All the tools they had to
work with were the stage wrench and a
broken stage bolt. The stage was stopped
at about $50 p. M, and, after they had
worked about an hour one of the gang
said: "These fellows are ID fools,
boys; | have been in the penitentiary
half dozen times with more iron than
that about me, and I got out every time. :"
So he lent helping hand, and, in half
an hour afterward, the box was out of the
boot and on the ground
While the removal of the box was pro-
crossing we were busy secreting what
valuables and cash we had. Mrs. Tom
slowed her property away in a safe place.
One passenger cut a seat open slightly
and hid his watch so that he wasn't able
to find it himself until daylight. An
other passenger put his watch ON the
floor of the coach, and he, too, could not
find it until morning. Two or three of
us slowed away what little cash we had
reserved for expenses in the upper lin
ing of the coach, but unfortunately the
nervousness Of one of the passengers
caused two packages of the money to fall
out OF the open window, where it was
lost.
The robbers were very jooose. They
told Mr.. Keller that they got $l3, 900
the night before. They sent word by
the driver to Luke Voorhees,, of Chey-
enne, Superintendent Of the stage line,
that he must send them up pair of
good scales. They had been dividing
up the gold dust with a spoon, supposed
to hold about six ounces, and they
couldn't make fair divide, SO they
wanted the gold scales. They told the
driver that he needn't be afraid They
didn't propose to bust him, so long as
he made no break. What they want
ed was the company's treasure. If he
(the driver) was discharged they would
not only take care of him, but they
would kill the driver who took his place.
They wanted Jack Gilner to come up
the road, they said, so that they could
make him get out and walk Always. They
didn't fear the soldiers they heard
were coming up the road. They were
fighting for big money; soldiers for q
few dollars per month there were four
teen of them, and in fight any one of
them would take his chances with the
fourteen rather than with the soldiers
They didn't want to disturb the mails, as
it was against the law. All they wanted
was gold dust and currency. Drafts,
ETC., they would put back in the boxes.
and leave them in the road where the
next up-coach could get them and take
them back to Deadwood.
The proposition had been made to go
through the pockets of the passengers
while the box was being forced of, but
the Captain said, emo, not now" In
the meantime, one Of the gang asked
particularly whether Mrs Tom was on
board: also, if DR.. Edwards was one Of
the passengers. After the box was taken
off one of the men who had been Watching
the road back Of the coach came up, and
said, 'FNow let's rob the women" The
Captain emphatically said ''Nol'' to that
proposition, and told the driver to drive
on. AS he did so, he said, '|Our gang
has divided up. There are two gangs
further down.. Three miles from here
Won NAV meet the second detachment