Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1878-11-21
STAGE ROBBING IN TEXAS.
1t Is Not an Improbable Occupation.

.. Galveston (Texas) News.
The robbing of stages and mails beyond
Fort Worth had become amusingly monot-
onous, If such a state of mind is possible,
when slight shock Was given to the ,monot-
ony by the recent casual shooting of one of
the highwaymen 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, and serene
impunity for stage and mail rifing, inter
rupted 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 systematically robbed. OF course, on
each repetition of the performance there is
new set of passengers, a new and deeply
interested audience, so to speak, but the
programme and the. actors in these popular
open air theatrical entertainments appear
to undergo little or no change. However,
it is early in the season yet, and possibly the
managers and the scenic artists may have
some novelty in store. Meanwhile, let us
glance at a skeleton Of the performance which
has SO long been on the boards, or rather on
tho wayside and the road, for run of ap-
parently unlimited duration.
At the usual hour the stage reaches Rob
bers Hollow, twelve miles west OF Fort
Worth. The two well-known villains in the
play rush from behind their favorite old
bush, down the we'll beaten path, to the spot
where the robbery is to take place. They do
not need to shake their pistols sternly at the
stage-drvier TO secure his attention, for the
horses, Intelligent brutes, stop of their own
accord, as does the propelling power at
tached to a milk-wagon in front of a house
of a regular customer. 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 .indelicate
for him to intrude without a special invita-
ton. AS soon as they can do so with safety
the passengers file out Of the vehicle, fall
into line, and hold up their hands. It is only
a wonder that there is no photographer
present to take picture of the group for
publication in some Northern illustrated
journal, as an inducement to stay away from
Texas.
The passengers contribute watches, jew
elry, pistols, and even money, to the general
fund, with premptness which suggests that
they had been drilled for the occasion, or
felt that they were likely to be drilled in
case they were slow in their movements. Ow-
ing to the failure of the post Office de-
partment to furnish the driver with dupli-
cate key to the mail bags, the robbers are
obliged to cut them open and relieve the de-
partment of the responsibility of delivering
to their proper address the registered pack
ages. Everything goes on as regularly as
clock-work. Occasionally the driver may
urge haste, as he may be behind time; but
usually before the horses are fairly rested,
the heavily-laden robbers retrace their steps
to their ancestral castle on the
brow of the distant hill, just as we see them
do in the theaters. Doubtless some persons
will object that the foregoing is exaggerated
and overdrawn. Be- this as it may, unless
more in done in the 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
of the recognized industries of the country,
and the favorite school for the graduation of
the heavy villains in the criminal drama.