The daily gazette., 1881-08-04
A DARING FooT.PAD.
How He CooIIy sswent Through"
Thfrteen BadIy.scared Men ON
! r Colorado Stage. ROute.


n Colorado stage. Route.
The Denver (CoI.) Republican rela! es
the following r..
a.. M. Burton, the alleged stage robber
who WAS q rested In Pueblo and brought
TO Denver, July l. had his preliminary
day. Burton is charged with Iobblng the
stage running between Del Norte and
Aiamosa about midnight on he nigh OF
June 49,. The robeery was one Vi the
way robbery, and links the name of The
perpetratOr with that Of Billy lie 10y.
The story ofthe deed is best TO d in the
wUrus Of ]. b. Mcmillan, of Del NorLe, one
oi the victims OF the robbery, and who
was the first and principal witness for
the pr. secution in the examination OF
yesterday. He said In substance -
''rhere were eight men and one woman
inside the coach and four men beside the
nyes er the wns dvsr 1ss Was sSSa
midnight, should think. and about
twenty miles from Del Norie, when we
were halted. 1t was very dark and we
were just turning bend in the road
when the word came to halt. There was
only one man Visible to the left, and
abo.i ten feet ahead OF The coach. The
robber was standing behind o piece of
canvas stretched alongside the road and
se II end the driver. He told us calmly
to deliver ourselves q d he would not
harm us, but that If we made q bad break
he YOU'D shoot.
and Immediately got down from my
seat followed by the uriver. After we
got down the rObber came from behind
The canvas and placed over our head q
cloth cap.which camejdown:to our shoul-
ders and completely blinded us. He then
ordered us 10 stand ct II and himself went
to the door ofthe stage and ordered the
occupants 10 come out one at time and
take their position In line alongside the
driver and myself. He told the passen-
gers not to make any unnecessary move
ments, as they were al covered by the
guns Of men In concealment and their
iives were in jeopardy. After the pas
sengers were All in, line he put caps SIM
liar 10 mine over their ,faces, tied their
hands behind their backs. and then pro-
ceeded W rifle their pockets. He took
nothing but money. Everything else
he would replace Just where he got 1t
from. do pot know how much M. ney
he got. From me he got about el40 which
he took from my pocket-book. replacing
the pocket book after taking the money
out. he had light burning In front u
the oanvas, behind which was Q reflector
which shed the rays directly in our faces.
'.He occupied about fifteen min utes in
the search. He then ordered us 70 kneel,
which we did. AL in row and he pro-
ceeded 10 rifle the mail bags. The WON
an. at his bidding held the light for him
sacks, believe, He kept us .kLeeliDg
about half an hour. He kept talking
. II the time, using good language. In
fact during he.whole time OF The rob-
berry he was. veiy gent!emanly. He had
a soft mellow voic He was Lot nervous
or quick but did the worK In q. .bu siness-
like manner. He was man nearly six
feet In height, smooth face. had heavy
light mouslache and won Id weigh per.
haps 1856 pounos. He had on dark hat
and coat. and was not disguised In any
way. Alter b had robbcd the mail he
skipped into the darkness. When we
found he had left we removed our G. ps,
united each others hands, picked up The
ed TO Alamosa. 1t Is my opinion now
thathe did the work alone, md that his
comrades being In the bush was al a
hoax"