Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-12-05


pre- ty near getting into trouble with
lee. particularly when we came along
TO where the other fellow was. but
pac fled him after awhile by telling HIN
1t Was all our .ut. We ha Int ought
10 have >eparated. In those days there
were just as tough men inside of the
coach IS any you could recruit for the
outside, and anybody who got away
with them had to be a good one.
"Just after the war got information
to the effect that a number of the bows
were gong back to the States. an !. as
knew they had a good deal of dust,
made up my m nd that would have to
levy upon them. The night before
they tarted they 4 ank heavily, and
when they came to get aboar they
Were all in a hel pless condition. was
the first man to discover this peculiarity
of hom2ward- bound passengers. and it
stood me in good many hundreds of
dollars. You could always get away
with st 'ge Il good deal easier dur NJ
the first ten or twelve hours of its trip
than at any other tina. 1 made no
mistake rs to the coach l am speaking
of. binding ont when it would start, /
took a couule of friends and went out
on the road as far as we could get com
fortably. Toward evening we heard
her a-coming, and we laid low When
about near enough we jumped into the
road and covered the driver. He was
| tile bit heavy. like the rest of them,
but he was smarter than they were.
When he saw us he refined right up, ami
sat there perfectly still, while one of my
men kept watch of him and the other one
aud myself interviewed the passengers.
They were thoroughly surprised, and
those who were not too drowsy to resist
were too. sick. We got half a dozen
bags of dust, some watches and II few
bills. and then left them. There was
treasure box aboard, which we pried
of and undertook to carry away with
us. 1t was mighty heavy, and we
didn't make much progress with it be-
fore nightfall. Feeling rather tired, we
went to sleep, never dreaming of
harm; but at daylight when We awoke
we heard a racket IN the road, aud
looking out from behind the shrubbery
we saw the passengers whom we had
robbed the even ng before. They were
evidently on the war-path for us. was
Just mOtiOning to my men 10 keep still.
when one of them. a clumsy cuss, lost
his balance, and in trying to recover
himself made noise which attracted
the attention of the passengers. They
were after us in minute. We had to
abandon the treasure boz, and after
awhile they got so hot on our trail lat
we had to drop the bags of dust, too.
They fired about dozen shots after us;
but when they found the plunder they
SCENE to conclude that it wasn't
worth while following us any further
This little episode taught me another
important lesson in my business that
when you get anything from drunken
man that you want to keep you must
get out of his reach before he sobers up.
That was the case in the overland days,
anyhow.
ii came upon stage once that had
woman in it-a big boned red-faced
woman. The other inmates showed
fight. and it took shot or two from my
party to keep them quiet. We had got
ust about all there was to be had, and
had ordered the driver to 90 ahead,
VIII n the womOn threw herself out Oi
the vehicle, yell ng: I'm one of yoL.'
No you don't says l. 4 don't know
you, and maybe you amt what you
seem.' She then went on to tell me
all about herself, and in half an hou
she made ME believe she was a born
robber, who had been wishing ali her
life to 60 into the highway business
rather liked her style, and in day or
two l had cone to the conclusion that
she might be made useful in overhaul
ing stages. Sne and l were alone on
the road on, day. my two part lers
having fallen behind us a little, wen
she got to chatting me about shooting
at mark. She said she could shoot
better than I coLld. Just for fun |
pinned pii ce of paper on tree and
let her take one of my pistols. She
fired at The ma K, but didn't hit it.
Then l loaded her pistol again, and
handed it to her, and was ust go ng
to load mine, when she says: look
here She was pointing the wea ,on
at me. Sa,s L: Don't do that; it
might go off, Il know it, says she,
'and maybe 1 will want it to 90 off.
Stop loading that pistol. or this one
will 60 of, and | know it, thought
she was fooling for awhile, but when
she gave me the order to march knew.
I'D been nabbed. That there woman
run me into u risco, and l did three
years time on her account
i've been caught a good many
times, but never was rea IL ashamed
of myself except the last time. l got
into bad compl my, and ought to have
been lynched right on the spot. | had
Just got out, and had heard a good
deal about the fellows who are stopping
coaches now without any guns or any
thing OF that kind. found one of
them, and told him he was chump.
Then he said it was cowardly to use
firearms when moral suasiOn would do
just as well. He claimed that he could
put on look that would frighten the
passengers more than q dozen rifle
shots. / had never thought of it in
that light before, and. not wishing him
to think me a coward, accepted his
challenge to 60 upin the mountains near
the Oregon line for an experiment. We
had pistols. but we agreed that we were
not to load them. l was q little ner-
vous, but he seemed so confident that
begun to feel that perhaps stage rob-
bIng had been improved along with
many other things. We stopped a
coach, and driver smiled and kept still,
Just as my friend said they alwa, s did.
l was to keep him covered with my
empty pistol while the other fellow Or
dered the passengers out and stood
them up in row, preparatory to going
rough TEN. My friend had got
riy we'll down the line. and l was
admi ting to mysel that the science had
certainly made some progress since my
day, when one O. the victims hauled OH
ouiak and knocked my partner down,
jumped on him. took his empty revol-
yer away from him, and began snapp-
ing it at his ears. 1t didn't go Of, of
course, but in minute the others were
on him holding HIM fast, and the man
with the revolver levclled it at me with
the order. Throw up your hands" l
had always been used to loaded pistols
in my day, and, while was painfully
conscious that mine was empty, 1 for
got for moment that the other was
also. and up went my hands. Just then