Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-26
TALES OF A STAGE ROBBER.
He RudeIy DispeIs Some Popular West
ern Notions.

He Rudely DispeIs Some Popular West
ern Notions
Reno (NeD) cor. Nelo York Sun.
The popular belief that it takes brave
man to rob a stage is rudely dispelled by
John Marshall, a highwayman now in
1 Jail here awaiting trial for stopping the
/ Sierra Valley stage a few weeks ago and
/ compelling the passengers to give up
/ their Yaluables. Marshall is not a fOrmi-
+ dable-lOOking man, but he has neverthe-
/ less a reckless air about him that
/ makes a man whom he threat
/ ems to shoot feel that he is likely to
/ keep his word. Since his arrest, being
reasonably 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 adven-
lures on the road. 1t is suspected, now
that he is at bay, that he takes some de-
light in casting ridicule upon his numer-
GUS 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
fright for years afterward.
Talking about brave men," Stage Rob
Der Marshall said one night in jail, ''the
idea that it takes a man of great nerve
and daring to rob stage is a great mis-
take. l can take the sOftest tenderf0ot
+ YOU ever saw, and after fixing him ND 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 | can scare
the life out Of the best concord load you
/ ever see. This notion that we hurt peO-
/ pie or threaten to hurt them, and that
we are rough and all that, is all non
sense. We just lay for the stage in a
/ lonely place, and when the lead
I ha1va in SIGHT Hx-a Iavnl olIr nd
may be fire a shot or two in the air TO make
/ the horses jump and rattle the driver a
! little. Then when all hands are looking
out of the windows, with their eyes pop
ping out of their sockets, we yell, Hands
upv 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 pistol, the others 90 through
their pockets and take what few little
keepSakcs they happen to have handy"
Marshall whitfield off an enormous piece
/ of plug tobacco, and, after locating it sat
/ isfactOrily, resumed: ''Why, I've been in
mOre'n a dozen hOld-ups, and IN only one
case were there mOre'n two of us. When
/ the things got into the papers, though, it
/ was always said that there were dozen
/ fierce highwaymeu, all armed to the teeth,
/ and that they shot the stage and the pas
I scngers' clothes all full of holes. 1t was
/ all lie, of course. The trouble of the
people of this country is, they rather like
\ to be robbed, l guess. It's EASTERN falling
/ off a lOg. Why, 4 year ago last winter my
pard and was walking along the noun
/ tain road, not thinking of anything in par
I ticular, when along came couple of ten
derfeet in a carriage. Before we could
catch our breath one Of them threw up
/ both hands, knocking the others hat off,
i and hOllered. For Gods sake don't shoot
"Well, now, we hadn't any idea of
/ shooting at all, and didn't know those
/ fellows were in those parts; but when
I they sort o. reminded us of our business
/ by commencing to unbuckle their
/ watches and weasels, why, we Just took
I them in charge, Of course, and told the
] tenderfeet never to let us catch them on
I that road again, for il was Our'n. They
/ thanked us so warmly for sparing their
I lives that | felt little uneasy about it.
In fact, l was half tempted after we'd let
/ them 90 10 fOller them up and kill one or
! both of them, for somehow they gave me
I the impression that hadn't done my fun
+ duty"
] He smiled grimly for a mOment, and add
/ ed: snow, what on earth could L do
1 under such circumstances? | didn't rob
! those fellows. They made us presents of
( what they had. Yet, when they got to
! WadswOrth, they told the people they had
{ had an ali day fight with road agents;
/ that the woods was full of them, and that
/ they had surrendered their valuables only
/ at the last moment, finding themselves
/ overwhelmed. These things are all be-
/ lieyed, too, even by the old timers, men
/ who ought to know better. l and
my pard have robbed the Sierra
/ Valley stage three times now at
/ the same place. I'll tell you
/ how it was done. Pard had a Winchester
and had pair of Colts in my belt, but
/ the job was done every time with an old
I powder and ball pistol that had no load in
/ il. and wouldn't have gone off if there had
I been one, for / 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
/ blunderbuss in the air and hOller. Every
/ time it happened just the same. The
/ chaps climbed out, begging that there
/ should be no blood shed. and he
/ would say there wouldn't be any if the
/ yield was good, but that he would have to
| kill somebody if we didn't get enough pay
I for our trouble. Every mothers son of
I them would give up things that we'd
never have thought of looking for or de-
manding. There was only just my pard
and /, but the passengers would think
they could see some of our men behind
every tree. and we'd hOller every once in a
while some command to the boys in the
woods TO be sure and hit the right ones if
they fired.
''Oh, Lord!" Marshall said, with pro-
digious laugh; sit breaks me up when
/ think of one Teller who tainted dead away
once. We'd just got them in row good
when this feller's knees commenced to
knock together, and he kept getting out
of line. | finally thought I'd scare him
| and the rest of them a little, so l hollered,
pretending TO be giving orders TO the boys
hidden behind the rocks and trees:
Boys, bore a hole in this galoot with
/ the light OYercOat on if he moves an inch,
or any of the rest of Them
Just then big Teller, the second one
from the limber-legged chap, had a chill
/ like and his teeth came together with
/ such a noise that the other fellow thought
somebody was cooking a rifle, and with a
wild whOOp he dropped in a dead faint.
The rest OF them thought he had been
shot dead. They were too scared to no.
! ticc that there had been no report of a
gun. Well, we came pretty near over
doing the thing that time. They all got
so faint and sick that it was hard work to
find their yaluables. 1t is a great con-
yenience TO a stage rObber to have the
passenger hand their stuff right out.
speaking of weapons. why, | have
robbed stages up in California and over
| in Utah without any weapon at all. You
! don't need any. III bet a tenner that
| can take an Old-fashiOned tin candlestlcK
aud hold up the best stage load that ever
came over the mountains. The driver is
/ generally as badly frightened as any OF
l them. He is always looking out Tor
/ agents, and he sees them behind every
! bush. l have robbed stages all alone, and
made the driver and passengers give up
/ their arms. their watches and monpV and