The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-09
THE END OF A STAGE COACH
TRAGEDY.

/ was travelling agent for large firm
and IN the co lrse of business visited tn,
fourishing little town of BeIlair, whsr,
our people had many customers. 1t wa,
about the middle of August, and on tn,
very night of my arrival that usually
quiet and sober place was thrown into 6
state of CONSERVATION by the occurrence
of very unusual circumstance. The
stage coach was accustomed to arrive
about o'clock, but ON the day in ques.
ton that hour passed and the stage did
not come in.
The timekeeper was in state of great
agitation, walking to and fro, and won.
dering what had become of the coach.
1t was at last supposed that some acci-
dent must have befallen the coach, and
assistance was being prepared in the
shape of horsemen to search the road.
These were nearly ready, but when Just
upon the point of starting the loud
blast of the coachman's horn was heard,
and anxiety as to the safety of the stage
was exchanged for wonder as to the
cause of its delay. A few moments later
it drove up In due form before the office,
and little crowd gathered to investi-
gate the origin of such an unusual cir
cumstance.
Thecoachman, upon being questioned,
gave q very clear and simple explain
alton of the affair. A passenger, he said,
had suddenly insisted on alighting, and
had banged the door so violently that
one of the horses had taken fright. This
had started the other horse, and the two
had at once galloped madly away, nearly
demolishing the coach, and were not
brought to until one of them fortunately
stumbled and hurt his fore leg severely,
causing considerable delay. The appear
ance of the horse witnessed to the truth
of this statement. Every one was for
the moment satisfied with this account
of the delay, but only for moment, for
the next instant a much more exciting
and horrible discovery than the delay of
the coach was made.
One OF the porters lounging about very
naturally opened the coach door and
prepared to assist the passengers to
alight But no one stirred within. Il
was too dark to see, but the porter,
putting his hand in, felt the person of a
human being, as he thought, very wet,
and who must, from his insensibility,
either be sleeping, or else was perhaps
stunned by the accident on the road.
"Hallo, john" cried he, "who the
deuce have you got heref The old
gemmen's either deadly asleep or else
he's tainted when the horses ran off 70
The coachman, whose name, it may
here be stated, was John Rush, replied
very calmly:
"Oh, he's all right, Bill. Him and
his pal had tiff, but fancy they'd been
drinkin'. and now he's got asleep"
Saying so. he brought forward Ian
tern, the light of which Bill afterward
thought made him deadly pale. They,
however, cast the light into the coach
upon the sleeping gentleman, but the
next second they drew back With a shout
OF horror. Bill saw by the light that it
was not the rain which had damped his
hands ; the stain upon them could not
be mistaken. " It's blood It's blood I"
he cried, shaking the thick crimson
drops from his fingers.
An for poor Rush, the coachman, he
looked ON in blank amazement, like
a man stricken dumb. The noise which
Bill made attracted the attention of all
around, who were now only just begin
ming to guess at the cause OF the delay.
A scene of terrible excitement followed.
The whole street was in confusion. 1t
was discovered that the coach con-
tanned only one passenger, or rather his
corpse, for he lay in q pool of blood
quite dead, and it was evident that he
had been most foully murdered. Ex-
animation showed that he was a man in
the prime of life, well dressed and of gen.
tlemanly appearance, but without purse,
pocketbook, papers, or any other article
by which he could be identified, except
ing small envelope with two cards In
it-supposed to be his owc-and bear
ing the name of Samuel Robinson. II
was evident that he had been stabbed
suddenly In the neck. and death must
have been almost instantaneous.
The excitement at Bellair was very
great The proper officials were sent
for and an Investigation made. Every
ono was questioned as to who the muir
derer could be and what steps could be
taken to effect his capture. As might
be expected, all eyes were turned to
Rush, the coachman, who was naturally
supposed to be likely to know something
about the matter. In fact, some people
even suggested that he might possibly
know more than he cared to tell; but
this was only scandal. He was very
calm and collected, and, stating to the
police authorities that he thought he
could give valuable information, he ac.
cumpenied them to the station.
There he made the following impor.
tant statement He had started, he said
nom Woodley in the morning, with five
passengern- This, of course, could be
vuEi6ed by reference to the officials
thsa. At various places. 80 he said, be
had set down five passengers. He
hnd also taken up two. but did not 70.