St. Landry democrat., 1881-02-12
Daring Highway Robbery Of
a. s. Mail Coach On Aiexas~
slria and GpeiGusas Route.
ARREST OF TIE ROBBERS AND RECOVERY
OF THE mai.

On Trltoy morning, the 9Th, inst
our town vas thrown into c~onsiderabI
excitement. by the arrival Of the mai
stage from Alexandria minus the mai
bags, the driver stating that no ha,
been fred ut, mado to halt, and con,
pclied TO throw or. the mail bags q
about ten O'clock on the previous even
ing, between Chioot and Vile Plate
To be brief, VS. give to the public tn.
tale of tho mail driver, r. S. Ferguson
which was substantiatcd by the Rev. J
NJ. Johnson, the only passenger on TIL
stage. It WAS as follows: left Chico
2. O., at about 8 o'clock on TAursda,
night driving thcstase, my mail consist.
ing Of two locked mail bags, two empty
lock bags, and y lot of empty paper
sacks, and having L passenger with
me, the Rev. J. NJ. johnson, who had
gotin the stage at Chicot to go to Ope-
lOusas. After getting about four m;lea
from Cliicot, and while driving through
the "0yerton Swamp" the passenger
anu ~ SClL SCA ' u NIt% dt tliC tituS, /
heard some one from behind a tree Just
in front of me, call out in q loud and
gruif voice halt. Thinking it was
some n trying to play q joke on me, |
still continued to drive on il a walk,
the road being very bad at that point.
I then received another command to
shalt" but | would not notice it. A
third command to halt was given,
and, not being obeyed, 4 shot WAS fired
by the robber at u distance Of about ten
feet. then stopped and received an
order in the same cOarso and graif voice
to throw out those bags d--n YOU
Thinking to fool him, | threw out the
empty bags, but Immediately received
the order to throw ont the flock bag
which [ did by throwing out one Of the
mail bags. CD d--n you throw
out tie other lock bag, ! know you have
two came from the robber, and know
ing it would be useless to resist, | threw
out the last bag. / then received an or
der to drive on, and drive quickly,
which, did, as | can prove by the con-
dition Of my horses when ! stopped at
Vile Plate to change. The robber at
no time showed more than q portion Of
his head, and one arm, was tall, and
seemed to have a large brimmed black
hat, which was pulled over his face.
/ could without diff detect that
the voice of the fobber was disguised. I
saw but one a
On Friday az Soou az the proper ahi-
dayit was made out. Sheriff c. G. Dusop
dispatched a. P. Williams, Deputy
Sheriff, land also contractor on the mai!
route) and ). 0. Leblanc, Deputy Sher-
i'll, to the scene Of the robbery to inyes-
the same, aud with blank warrants to
nse as they might deem proper. They
were joined by c. NJ. Thompson who ac-
companied them to Chicot. On arriving
on the ground it was too dark to searcl.
the ground for traces, and besides, sew
eral parties having visited the place,
they could sec that the ground had been
trarnped over so that nothing could be
traced from the tracks. On arriving in
Chicot they learned that the empty mail
bags had been brought in early that
morning by a tramp who had discover
ed them lying in the road, and that la
ter in the day I, S, Baily, Deputy Sher-
if, on learning of the robbery had gone
to the ground and after making a strict
search had discovered the two lock
bags lying about one hundred yards
from the road in the woods, cut open
all the letters undisturbed, but
minus the registered packages. He
also took a measure of the tracks and
noted several other little things which
might assist in discovering the perpe-
or perpetrators Of same. Capt.
Sam Haas also a deputy sheriff had WIS.,
ted the ground, and from inspection
aad been convinced that from the
of the horses that there were two
men concerned in the robbery, and from
he direction they took through the
;wamp that they were men well ac-
With the country. Before
light o'clock Friday night enough in
ormation had been gathered to con-
'inee the officers who the robbers were;
tut the evidence was purely circum-
t%antiai, and not sufficient to warrant
he arrest of tho parties. Saturday was
aiken up in gathering together such
TENS of information as would assist in
onVicting the parties. and although
Sheriff Williams had already
lied in the names of parties in his war
ants, still he would not execute them
ntil Ie saw there Was no chance of any
light being thrown on the SUBJ
On Sunday morning Brewster
ameron, 20. Inspector of this division,
rived and took charge Of the case. /,
oolly and deliberately he listened to
lie evidence laid before him, and the
,spicions of the officers, and with a mas
hand he began putting together in +,
tape and form the facts. that had been !
,nnd, and what could be proved. He
innoWed the wheat from the chat,
altered each fragment and put it into 8
e order required. All day Sunday,
ded by the citizens and officers, he
aTked quietly in his room listening to {
Ieories advanced by others. asking :
lestiODs, and writing down answers. ;
gentleman Of culture and refinement,