Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-11-21
sTAGE ROBBERIEs.
How Systematically Road Agents in
Texas Work.

The robbing of stages and mails,
says the Galveston News, beyond
Fort Worth had become amusingly
monotonous, if such a state of mind
is possible, when , slight shock was
given to the monotony by the recent
casual shooting of one of the highway
men in an unofficial interference with
the regular order of amusements in
Robbers Hollow. Doubtless the man
Ross, who fired the fatal shot, will
apologize to the State and Federal
authorities for his violent intrusion
upon the scene, aud serene immunity
for stage and mail rihing, interrupted
without their agency or sanction, will
soon be re-established on the road to
Fort Yuma. Doubtless, judging from
the past, it is safe to assume that the
stages and their contents, including
passengers, will continue to be system
~attically robbed. OF course, on each
repetition of the performance, there
is a new set of passengers, a new and
deeply interested audience, so tospeak;
but the programme aud the actors in
these popular open air theatrical en-
tertainments appear to undergo little
or no change. However, it is early in
the season yet, and possibly the mana
gers and the scenic artists may have
some novelty in store. Meanwhile
let us glance at a skeleton Of the per-
formance which has so long been on
the boards, or rather on the wayside
and the road. At the usual hour the
stage reaches Robbers Hollow, thir-
teen miles west of Fort Worth. The
two well known villains in the play
rush from behind their favorite old
bush, down the well beaten path, to
the spot where the robbery is to take
place. They do not need to shake
their pistols sternly at the stage
driver to secure his attention, for the
horses, intelligent brutes, stop Of their
own accord, as does the propelling
power attached to a milk wagon in
front of the house of a regular Gus
toner. The driver seems to regard
the subsequent proceedings in the light
Of a business transaction between the
robbers and the excursionists in the
stage, in which it would be indicate
for him to intrude without a special
invitation. As soon as they can do SO
with safety, the passengers file out of
the vehicle, fall into line and hold up
/, their hands. 1t is only a wonder there
Z is no photographer present to take a
|. picture of the group for publication in
f some Northern illustrated journals as
an inducement to immigrants to stay
away from Texas. The passengers CON
/, tribute watches, jewelry, pistols and
even money to the general fund with a
promptness which suggests that they
have been drilled for the occasion, or
felt that they were likely to be drilled
in case they were slow in their move
ments. Owing to the failure of the
= postofice department to furnish the
: driver with a duplicate key to the mail
r bags, the robbers were obliged to cut
c them open and relieve the department
q of the responsibility of delivering to
a their proper address the registered
i packages. Everything goes on as reg
r ular as clockwork. Occasionally the
G driver may urge haste, as he may be
: behind time but usually before the
n horses are fairly rested the heavily
d laden robbers retrace their steps to
their ancestral castle on the brow Of
the distant hill, just as we see them do
d in the theaters. Doubtless some per-
/, sons would object that the foregoing is
It exaggerated and overdrawn. Be this
C as it may, unless more is done in the
d future than has been done in the past
month, during which the stage has
been robbed three times, it will not be
long before stage robbing will be one
n of the recognized industries of the
n country, and the favorite school fol-
II the graduation of the heavy villains in
the criminal drama.