Omaha daily bee., 1884-02-05
COLLINS CHOKED.
Banker Cummings Murderer Executed
at Nevada City. Cal.
The Robbery of the Eureka Stage
Trailing the Road Agents
Story of the Crime.

NEVADA CRY, CAL, February l.-JohI
G. Il. Collins, alias Patterson, was exc
cuted here to-day for the murder of Bank
or Cummings, in 1879, The hanging tool
place in the Jail yard, in the presence o.
a large crowd, during a heavy rain.storm
Collins was game to the end, and per
sisted in declaring his innocence of the
crime for which he suffered the deatl
penalty. His pulse beat only IL min.
utes after the drop fell.
THE STORY OF IL CRIME.
The crime for which Collins suffered
the death penalty to-day was committed
on September l, 1879. On that day the
Eureka stage, which ran from Moore's
Flat to Nevada City, Cal, was stopped
by two masked men at a lonely part of
the road about three miles from Nevada
City. There was a full complement of
passengers. On the box.seat with tho
driver was William +. Cummings, a bank
er of Moore's Flat, and n female school
teacher. Inside there we're three men,
a women with her three children, and a
Chinaman. All those on the stage, Ok
cept the driver and the school teacher,
were made to come down in the middle
of the road and stand in u row with their
hands up. One of the highwaymen, who
was afterward proved to BIO Dorsey, now
serving a life term in San Quentin,
searched the passengers, while the other
Patterson, alias Collins-stood guard
with a double barreled shotgun. The
passengers made no resistance, but the
banker Cummings was not searched.
Then the h~ighwaymen went for the mail
and express matter. The last thing he
hauled out of the stage boat was a heavy
valise.
II MURDER OF CUMMINGS.
When Cummings caught sight of this,
which was his own ~valise, and contained
two large gold bars valued at $1,000, he
sprang forward, clutched it and said:
"You wouldn't take all that a man has
in the world, would you2" The stage.
robber made no response, but took a
frmer hold on the valuable prize. Cum
mings was a powerful man, and the strug-
gle between the two was desperate, the
self cooking revolver in the robbers hand
being twice discharged. Meanwhile the
three men stood in the road like so many
statues, and offered no help. At the
second shot Cummings cried out despair
ingly, "Have I no friends herel" and fell,
the robber be NJ on top. Cumming &
tried to draw his revolver, but the robber
got hold of it Then, making a last effort,
the wounded man rose to his feet, grasped
the weapon of his assailant and was evid-
emily geating the better of him, when
the second h~ighwayman coolly stepped
around from his previous position, took
him at Cummings and fired. The heavy
charge of the shotgun passed into the
neck of the unfortunate man, killing him
instantly.
The robbers then went on with their
work of plumber. They got the two gold
bars and about $500 in loose coin. They
forced thepassengers to get intothe stage,
and were last seen standing by the body
of the murdered man.
ON THE ROBBERS TRAIL.
Rewards amounting to So, 200 were of
fered for the capture of the stage-robbers,
but it was many months before any clew
was obtained, 30 skillfully had the high
waymen covered THAR tracks. The first
clew was gained from a young woman
who was staying at Niger Tent, a noto-
rious resort for outlaws in Nevada county,
not far from the scene of the crime. This
was two months after the murder. She
described the appearance of two men who
came to the place On the night of Septem-
l, and were taken in and fed by the
hostess, an old woman named Romargie.
From the descriptions Detective Hume,
of Wells, Fargo e. Co., and Capt. Aull,
of San Francisco, decided that the men
must be Charles Dorsey and John @.
Patterson, both ~e1-convicts. Dorsey had
been a guerilla in the war in Missouri and
Kentucky, and was regarded as the most
desperate man in State Prison at the time
he was serving his sentence. Patterson
was his chum in prison, and their in
timacy led tn the suspicion that it was
they who had committed the robbery and
murder.
With these clews the detectives inter
viewed all the ex-convicts they could
reach; photographs of the two men were
scattered broadcast over the country,
with descriptions of the men and the
royal rewards offered, but no trace of the
fugitives was gained for a long lime.
Finally the detectives heard of them in
Tombstone and other quarters of Arizona
spending money in lavish style, but there
all clews vanished.
FOUND IN ST. LOUIS.
The murder mystery remained un,
solved until June 20. 1882, when Detec
tive Hume received a letter from the
chief of police of st. Louis, saying he hat
Patterson in custody there on a charge O
burglary. Capt. Aull, with Capt. Lees
of the detective force of this city. went OF
INTO st. Louis and brought him out here
He wal readily identified by two of tn,
passengers in the coach as the robbie
who did the fatal shooting soon after hi
capture and ~extradition. Dorsey wa
caught.in Union City, Ind. 1t seems h,
was serving out a minor sentence there
and in a burst of confidence one day toll,
a fellow-prisoner the story of the stag
robbery. This fellow peeched on hin
and he was brought out to California
Here he made a clean breast of the who'll
| matter. turning state's eyidenca In nav