The Delaware farmer., 1883-11-30


the sierra Valley-Laughing Over Them
A Recipe for Making Bold a RObber.
The popular belief that it takes
brave man to rob stage is rudely dis
PEELED by John Marshall, highwayman
now in jail in Reno, awaiting trial for
stopping the Sierra Valley stage and
compelling the passengers to give up
their vaIuables. Marshall is not
formidable-looking man, but he has
nevertheless reckless air about him
that makes man whom he threatens to
shoot feel that he is likely to keep his
word. Since his arrest, being reason-
ably certain that he will pass the next
ten or twenty years in some prison,
provided always that his career is not
cut short by lynchers, he has devoted
much of his time to "reminiscences OF
his adventures on the road. 1t Is sus-
pected, now that he is at bay, that he
takes some delight in casting ridicule
upon his numerous victims, but the
opinion also prevails that there is some
ground for it. Every man who has had
experience with stage or train robbers
shows the effects of his fight for years
afterward.
''Talking about brave men," Stage
Robber Marshall said one night in jail,
'.the idea that it takes a man of great
nerve and daring to rob astage is great
mistake. I can take the sOftest tender
foot you ever saw, and after fixing him
up in the right style so the people in
the stage will know his profession the
minute they set their eyes on him, I'll
bet I can scare the life out of the best
concord load you ever see. This notion
that we hurt people OF threaten to hurt
them, and that we are rough and all that,
is all nonsense. We just lay for the
stage in a lonely place, and when the
leaders heave in sight we level our guns
and maybe fire shot or two in the air
to make the horses jump and rattle the
driver little Then when all hands are
looking out of the windows, with their
eyes popping out of their sockets, we
veil. Hands upp Nine times out OF ten
that's all we have to say or do. The
fellers in the coach get out of their own
accord, and we Just stand them up in
row, and while one of us holds a pistol
the others go through their pockets and
take what few little keepsakes they hap
pen to have handy"
"Why, I've been in moren a dozen
hold-ups, and in only one case were
there moren two of us. When the
things got into thepapers, though, itwas
alway said there were a dozen fierce
highwaymen, all armed to the teeth, and
that they shot the stage and the pas
sengers' clothes all full Of holes. Why,
a year ago last winter my pard and 1 was
walking along the mountain road, not
thinking of anything in particular, when
along came couple of tenderfeet IN a
carriage. Before we could catch our
breath, one of them threw up both hands,
knocking the others hat of, and hollered,
For Gods sake: don't shoot
''Well, now, we hadn't any idea OF
shooting at all, and didn't know those
fellers were in those parts; but when
thew sort O. reminded us of our business
by commencing to unbuckle their watches
and weasels, why, we just took them in
charge, Of course, and told the tenderfeet
never to let us catch them on that road
again for it was our'n. They thanked
us so warmly for sparing their lives that
I felt little uneasy about it.
''I and my pard had robbed the Sierra
valley stage three times now at the same
place. I'll tell yon how it was done.
Pard had Winchester and I had pair
of Colts in my belt, but the job was done
every time with an old powder and ball
pistol that had no load in it, and wouldn't
have gone off if there had been one, for
I didn't have any caps. Pard would fire
his Winchester as close to the ears Of
the horses as he could without dropping
them, and would swing the old blum
derbuss in the air and holler. Every
time it happened just the same. The
chaps climbed out, begging that there
should be no bloodshed, and we wouldsay
there wouldn't be any if the yield was
good. but that we would have to kill
somebody if we didn't get enough topay
for our trouble. Every mothers son of
them would give up things that we'd
never have thought of looking for or de-
manding. There was only just my pard
and I, but the passengers would think
they could see some of our men behind
every tree, and we d holler once in a while