Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-02-20
A Trap for Seven.
Detroit Free Press.

n 1rap 1Or seven.
Detroit Free Press.
Catch raj in trap and he will Fl gbt
Trap man and-well, you can't rely
on him. 1t is according to the trap
In the heavy stege-coacn, as We roll
out OF l. 9adv!lie, are seven men. One
is an Army officer who has half q
dozen scars TO prove his bravery. Cut
off from his command on the plains
last summer by score Of Indians. be
entreDched himself and fought the
band off until help arrived. Two of
the others are deAperadoes, who have
killed their meD. Three of the others
are stalwart miners, each armed with
two revolvers, and they look as if they
would prove ugly Gust ,mers in row.
The seventh man might do som ,
shooting on pincn, but he hopes there
will be no pinch. In the crowd are
ten revolvers. two derringers, three
repeating riff "a, aud four or five bowie
knives. and there is perfect good feel
ing as the stage rolls along. IL is tacit~
ly underst ,od that the Army captain il
| 20 assume com mand ia Case the coach
is attacked, and that all are to keep
cool and Fl re to kill.
lie is 10 O'Clock in the morning. The
| windows are down, and the pass. myers
are smoking and talking, and seeking
| for comfortable pOsitious. The coacu
has just reached the top OF the hill,
when every horse is suddenly pulled
up.
IF it's bar, we'll have some fnp,'
grOwied one of the miners, as he put
MS mead out of the window.
Il i,'5 a robber gin me the fust pop
a. BIN ?" whispered one Of the des-
pc ADDE'S.
No one could say what the trouble
was, when wiry Ii tie chap, about
five feet six inches tail, with black
eyes aud hair, clean face aud thin lips,
appeared at the lie hand door, with 3
cooked revolver in either hand, and
said:
Gents, I'm sorry to disturb you,
but I've got 10 make a raise this morn
ing. Please leave your shooters and
climb down here one at q time!'
1t was sudden. l. was 80 sudden
that it took ten seconds to understand
the drift OF his remarks. Then every
eye turned to the right-hand door, and
the two reviewers held by a second
rObber were seen at the open window.
1t was trap. The rats were caught,
aud would they fight?
'Gents, I'm growing leetle impa-
tien',' continued the fret robber, land
want to see toe procession begin TO
move ~
Let's see. The captain was to lead
US, and We were to be cool and Fl e to
Kill. But the c4It4in was growing
white around the mouth. and nobody
had h weapon ia hand. The rat were
not goiug 10 fight. One CT the minrr-
opened the door and descended, and
tue other elk humbly followed. The
seven were drawn up in line across
the road. and while the robDer held
hl4 shooter On the line he cOOliy or
served TO his partner
Now, William, you remove the
Weapons from thu coach and then
search these gentIemen."
AS William Obeyed every victim
was ordered to hold his hands above
his head, and what yer plumber was
taken from his pocstts WAS dropped
into Williams ha'. -Four gold watch
es, two diamond pins, g. telescope, a
diamond ring, gold badge, and
81, 200 cash changed hands in
ten minutes. Not man had a word
to say. The driver of the coach did
nor ieaNe MS seat ana was DOt lDt r.
fred with. When the last man had
been plundered the genIeel Dick TOR,
pin kindly ob-ervef
"You are The most decent set Of men
| ever robbed, and if times weren't go
blasted hard I'd make each of you a
present of SO. Now, then, climb
back 10 your places and the coach viii!
go oD.n
The crowd "ciumb," aud the vehicle
resumed its j0u ney. Not weapon,
or imepiece, or "a dollar had been
saved. Seven weIl-armed men had
h@en cleaned ont by Two aud not shot
firrd or wound given. E4ch man
took his sect without word. Mile
after mile was passed in silence, and
finally the seventh man, the one who
might fight on pinch, but didn't,
plainuvely suggested:
Cant some OF you gentlemen think
OF few remarks which would be sp-
ropos to the occasion?n
No one could, and the silence was
renewed