Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1881-08-06
THE MULE GUARD.
How q Nevada Stage.Driver Protec.
s. ted the Cashier.
San Erancisco Chronicle.

gang Of road agents as knows their
business tackles stage-coach," re-
marked Long Bill to a Chronicle repor-
ter. "A party The :aen standing on the
ground with everything ready, no horses
to tend to, and nothing to do but to sight
their shooting irons and pleasantly sug-
gest to the driver to hand down the
cash-box, has big edge in the game.
The driver and guards, or'shot-gun mes
sengers,' as we call them in the noun
tains, can't help being taken more or less
by surprise; and / may remark right
here that until You have been suddenly
called upon to down the opening Of
double-barreled shotgun, which has q
road-agent with his hand on the trigger
at the otherend, you can have no idea
how surprised you are capable Of beng.
have'been thar, / have had a seven-s
shooter pulled on me across q faro table;
have proved that the hilt of dirk
can't go between my ribs; ! have seen
four aces beaten by a royal flush; but /
was never really surprised until looked
down the muzzle Of a double-barrelcd
shotgun in the hands of road-agent.
Why, my friend, the mouth Of the Sutro
/ tunnel is like nail-hole in the Pacific
hotel compared to a shotgun, from a
certain point of view. But this is all
misdeal | was going to tell you about
the time did see couple ofroad-agents
left. In '63 there WASH plucky little
stage-driver running out Of Aurora who
had been stopped three times on the
road, but still driving, though after
man is stopped twice the company gem
orally lets him do something else for a
living, without intimating that he is any
friend of the robbers
"Well, this driver / speak Of Dutch
Jake, we called him-had workedsfoy
the company for a long time, and they
knew him to be a dead square man.
Jake felt dreadful bad about having
been stopped three times and cleaned
out each time, and sworc the shotgun
messengers he took along for guards
We're a lot of cowardly blowhards. The
next time Jake had consignment Of
bullion in his box he begged hard not to
have to take along any messengers with
him. At that time You could almost
count on an attempt being made to rob
every stage with bullion on board. The
Aurora bullion was just the kind the
road-agents liked. 1t was run in small
bars, and so rich in gold that it had the
yellow color, not like the 'heayy white
bricks you see on the Comstock now.
Jake declared solemnly he had scheme
to fool dose tam goat-agents,' so the
road manager agreed not to send any
guards with him. When the time came
to hitch up for the trip to Wellington's
on the Carson road, Jake went down to
the stable and insisted upon having the
ugliest pair of mules that ever winked-
death with a hind leg put in as lead
mules. sPll show how. a mule vas
more shmart as a guard, and Jake, said
confidently, as he whipped up out of
town, with myself as the only outside
passenger. IF we gets call tonight,
Phil, shust you drop down in tie boot,
cause me ant dose mules vas goin to
hat some fun. noticed that Jake had
q shotgun. cooked and pointed straight
ahead, and told him if he was stopped
and attempted to raise the shotgun hs
would get shot sure. He said he~aid
not propose to make such fool Of HIM
self, and when asked him if he thought
the robbers would carefully place them
selves in line of the gun, which appear
Oti w NC pOiupcl sbU tIic lcdtl lIuItS .EafS
he said
"Nefer you mind, Phil; knows dose
mules. five gets call you drop into
de boot. dots ALL Well. sure enough
we got call. We werej eging along
over an easy bit Of road, when, about
9o'clock, a couple OF road-agents sprang
out from some chaparal. One grabbed
the bits Of the lead mules and the other
walked toward the coach with his gun
leveled, and said, Throw ont that box
just as he got opposite the hind legs Of
the lead team Jake's shotgun went off,
and we both dropped into the boot.
Thought every bone in my body would
be splintered before Jake crawled ont,
gatherednps the reins, and finally got
the team Quoted down. At the pop OF
Jake's gun tho mules and horses had
started off in mad run, and we must
have bumped, ratified, and dragged over
ten miles Of road before Jake took the
reins again. The only damage done
was to the mules. Jake had shot away
| the inside ear of each mule"
s.But what became of the two robbeess
/. oo1,oI tho ropnrtor on o,,..