The daily gazette., 1882-01-28
on The nIounsain Read.
A THRILLING EXPERIENCE IN A COL
oRADO STAGE COACH,

oRAD0 STAGE COACH.
ibid you ever meet with an upset on
these mountains roadspn asked Q pas.
senger Of Frank, motel stage driver.
"No; but bad terribly close call
near Grand Canyon year ago the 10th
Of August
Here Frank grasped the butt Of his
whip and curved the tip Of the lash over
tue leaderP heads. Tbs handle Of the
whip was highly ornamentsd. There
were about dozen silver bands on It..
On the broad band At the butt there
was an inscription ofseveraI lines.
II seldom handle this whip without
thinking Of that ride," said Frank.
Seeing that | was interested he contin-
ued
eve bad load Of nineteen passen-
gers inside and outside the coach, and
ten heavy trunks on the boot. We were
going from Silver Cliff TO Canyon City.
! had the best slx-horse outfit on the
line, and felt q pride In driving, al
though l knew the load was too heavy
for the coach In some places. AT my
side sat pretty young lady, and on the
end Of the seat was the wife of one of
our directors. The director sat behind
his wife. All went well unit we came
to Greenhorn Range. The drive down
the range for two miles aud half IL one
OF the most perllous' In the Rockies. In
places there is scarcely six inches TO
spare to keep you from going over the
precipice, and on the other side is
wall of rock. About half down is q
point called Cape Horn. The road has
been built out around this rocky point,
aud the turn is so sharp that when the
leaders Of six-horse, team have rounded
the rock they are ont Of the drivers sight.
This place 10 the dread OF all the drivers
aud teamsters on the road. The descent
8 about 260 feet to the mile, and when
you once start there is no stopping un-
til you reach the bottom.
"0f course ! felt q little anxious
when the leaders went over the range,
but my wheelers were powerful and
gamy, and trained to obey every
word of command and touch of the
whip, while the others we're steady
and fast enough to keep out OF harms
way. As the coach began the descent
] placed my foot on the brake with
firm hold. The heavy load required
extra pressure, and I gave 1t steadily.
We hadn't gone more than twenty
yards when the brake broke In an
instant the coach was on the wheel
ers and they were on their haunches,
snorting and using their foreIegs like
ploughs. II was no use. The lead
ers went into the air like wild horses,
and to save themselves from being
cIushed the wheelers eprang to their
feet and Joined in the race. One yell
came from the men on the coach,
pierced by simultaneous shrek frem
the women. After that they remained
as still a. death. The little woman
grasped me round the waist at the first
jump Of the horses, holding my arms
as IL in wise. For Gods sake,
woman l exclaimed, let go of me
and take hold OF the rods by your
side. Our only hope OF safety lies In
my being able to guide the horses
She unwound her arms, and handled
the reins as best could.
"Down we plunged, the coach
swinging and rocking like . toy.
There wasn't place wide enough to
zigzag, TO break the velocity of the
descent, l turned my head for an
instant toward the director. His wife
had tainted, and he had all he could
attend 70 Ia holding her In her seat.
There were places where the outer
edge of the roadway had been ground
of, and, in hugging the bank, the
wheelers nearly caused collision sew
eral times, fairly bouncing and bal
ancing the stage on two wheels. at
last the horses dashed around Cape
Horn, and there / gave up the stage
as lost. These stages are so built that
when they overtnrn pin drops out
that connects the pole end horses to
the coach, and the driver has chance
to save himself by being drawn off by
the horses. When the leaders were
out of sight around the rock 1t flashed
through me that might save the lit
tie woman. So ! took firmer grasp
on the lines with my right hand, and
was ready TO swing my left.arm around
her body. The stage swirled and ao-
tually made the turn on the two out
side wheels. Then, thank God, she
settled down again and went on bounc-
ing down the range. 1t seemed an
age before we reached the level, where
the horses ran two or three hundred
yards before i could stop them. When
l did finally get at their heads to
caress and encourage them for bring
ing us down safe, the perspiration was
pouring out of every pore of my body
although it was a cold day In the
mountains.
"When the director got in and re-
lated the incidents Of the ride to othel
members of the company, they asked
what shall we do for Frankf p GIVE
him check for $780, replied the di-
rector. They gave me the check, and
the passengers presented me with $16l
Ia cash and this whip, which l shal
always carry as long as drive"
4