Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1881-08-02
THE MULE GUARD.
How Nevada stsEe.Driver Prstee-
ted the Cash.Bex.
San F,ancisco Chronicle.

rant no nSe Trying OIuAualhy w
save anything but your lives when =
gang Of road agents as knows thelr
business tackles q stage-coach," re-
marked Long Bill to a Chronicle repor-
ter. "A party the men 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 shotgun mes
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 other end, you can have no idea
how surprised You arc capable Of beng.
have been thar, have had seven-
shooter pulled on me across a faro table;
Ihave proved that the hilt Of dirk
can't 90 between my ribs; | have seen
four aces beaten by royal flush; but
was never really surprised until Hooked
down the muzzle Of q double-barreled !
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 shotgun, from ?
certain point of view. But this is all q
misdeal. / was going to tell you about
the time / did see a couple ofroad-agents
left. In '63 there was 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 tho company gen.
orally lets him do something else for q
living, without intimating that he is any
friend Of the robbers.
"Well, this driver speak Of Dutch
Jake, we called hiIn-had worked for
the company for a long time, and they
knew him to be q dead square man.
Jake felt dreadful bad about having
been stopped three times and cleaned
ont each time, and sworc the shotgun
messengers he took along for guards
were 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 withbullion 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 heavy white
bricks you see on the ComstOck now.
Jake declared solemnly he had scheme
to fool dose tam roat-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 q hind leg put in as lead
!, mules. "Tll show how mule vas
more sbmart as guard and Jake, said
confidently, as he whipped up out Of
: town, with myself as the only outside
passenger. If we getsa call tonight,
> Phil shust you drop down in tie boot,
| cause me ant dose mules vas goin to
f hat some fun. noticed that Jake had
: a shotgun, cooked and pointed straight
| ahead, and told him if he was stopped
b and attempted to raise the shotgun he
would get shot sure. He said he did
not propose to make such fool of him
d self. and when asked hirnif he thought
o the robbers would carefully place them.
p selves in line Of the gun, which appear
Q ed to be pointed at the lead mules' ears
y he said:
d "Nefer you mind, Phil; l knows dos'
Q mules. IF we gets a call you drop int
>. de boot, dots ALL Well, sure enough
d we got call. We were jogging alons
: over an easy biz of a road, when, abon
l. 9 O'Clock, a couple OF road-agents spran:
10 out from some chaparal. One grabbe,
% the bits Of the lead mules and the othe
n walked toward the coach with his gul
N leveled, and said, Throw ont that box
re just as be got opposite the hind legs 0
y the lead team Jake's shotgun went of
y and we both dropped into the boot
~ thought every bone in my body worl'
be splintered before Jake crawled oul
70 gathered up the reins, and finally 60
Id the team Quoted down. At the pop {
IS Jake's gun the. mules and horses ha
y, started off in mad run, and we mus
" have bumped, ratified, and dragged Owe
I'm po;loo of rna1 hpfnrp lake tOol th