News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-12-20
TALES OF A STAGE ROBBER.
HE RTDEIY DESPEI.S SpIgE POPULAR
WESTERN NOTIONS.
some OF His Adventures with TeHdcrfCeI in
the sierra VHIIey-I.nughiHg Over Them
4 Recipe for Making Bold II RGbber.


4 Recipe for Making Bold II Robber.
5 The popular belief that it takes
brave man to rob a stage is rudeIy di.
PEELED by john Marshall, highwayma
, now in jail in Reno, awaiting trial fo
stopping the Sierra Valley stage an
compelling the passengers to give u
their valuables. Marshall is not
formiduble-looking man, but he ha
nevertheless a reckless air about hin
that makes man whom he threatens t.
shoot feel that he is likely to keep hi
word. Since his arrest, being reason
ably certain that he will pass the mex
ten or twenty years IN some prison
provided always that his career is no
cut short by Iynchers, he has devoted
much of his time to "reminiscences o
his adventures on the road. 1t is sus
pected, now that he is at bay, that ht
takes some delight in casting ridicult
upon his numerous victims, but the
opinion also prevails that there is somt
ground for it. Every man who has hat
experience with stage or train robbers
shows the effects of lis fight for years
afterward.
Talking about brave men, Stage
Rcbber Marshall said one night in jail
''the idea that it takes man of great
nerve and daring to rob astage is a 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 [ can scare the life out Of the best
concord load you ever see. This notion
that we hurt people or threaten to hurt
is all nonsense. We just lay for the
stage in a lonely place, and when the
leaders heave i'll 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
yell, Hands upI 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 q pistol
the others go through their pockets and
take what few little keepsakes they hap
pen to have handy"
"Why, I've been in more'n n dozen
hOld-ups, and in only one case were
there moren two Of us. When the
things got into the papers. though, it was
alway said there were Il dozen fierce
all armed to the teeth, ana
hat they shot the stage and the pas
engers' clothes all full of holes. Why, |
year ago last winter my pard and | was /!
along the mountain road, not !
of anything in particular, when
along came a couple OF tenderieet in
carriage. Before We could catch Our
breath, one Of them threw mp both hands,
knocking the others hat off, and hollered,
For Gods sake: don't shoot =
"Weu, now, we hadn't any idea of
shooting at all, and didn't know those
fellers were in those parts; but when
they sort O. reminded us of our business
by commencing to unbuckle their watches
and weaseIs, why, we just took them in
charge, OF course, and told the tenderfcct
never to let us catch them on that road
again for it was cur'n. They thanked
us so warmly for sparing their lives that
I felt little uneasy about 1t.
81 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 a Winchester and / 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
[ didn't have any caps. 1 ard 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 bIoodshed, 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 III a while
some command to the boys in the woods
te be sure and hit the right ones if they
fired.
ooh, Lord :" Marshall said with a pro
digious laugh, cit breaks me up when
think of one feller who tainted dead away
once. We'd just got them in a row gooc
when this fellows knees commenced t
knock together, and he kept getting on
of line. [ finally thought ia scare hin
and the rest Of them little, so [ hollered
pretending to be giving orders to the
bows hidden behind rocks and trees:
% Boys, bore hole in this galoo
with the light overcoat on if he move
an inch, or any Of the rest Of them.
"Just then big feller, the second on
from the Iimbcr-legged chap, had chi
like. and his teeth came together will
such noise that the other fcller though
somebody was cooking rifle, and with
whoop he dropped i'll a dead faint. Tn
rest Of them thought he had been shO
dead. They were too scared to motto
that there had been no report of gun
Well. we came pretty near Overdon
the thing that time. They all got S
faint and sick that it was hard work t
find their vaIuables. 1t is a great con
venience to a stage robber to hav
the passengers hand their stuff righ
out
s'Speakiug about weapons, why,
hava robbed stages up in California al
over in Utah without any weapons &
all. Yoa don't need any. I'll bet
tcuuer that can take an old-fashionc
tin caudIe-trck and hold up the bes
stage load that ever came over til
mountains. The driver IS generally {
, badly frightened as any of them. He
always looking out for agents, and l
sees them behind every bush. | hay
+ robbed stages all alone, and made drivel
| and passengers give up their arms, the
watches and money, and then dance f,