The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1884-09-26


that there had been trouble Il the road,
and dldn't care to make matters any
worse Just then. She was full OF men,
and thes all han guns. When the dust
had settled little and the noise died
out. | crept to the roadway and walked
along slowly for n nile and hail,
where found one of my partners with
about pound of lead in him. n little
further on 1 came uIon the other one
He wasn't hurt, but he was sea ed With
in an inch of his life. He d never been
on that road before. and As he said If
that was what called stopping ~ over
land he had had enou!h lie sa'd
there was no stop 10 them. He hadn
enlisted to fight man -of-war with
double gun deck and he wanted
me to understand it. Nell, he came
pretty near getting into t,ouble with
me, particularly when we came along
10 where the other fellow was. but
pac fed him after awhil. by telling him
1t was all our fault. We ha I'm ought
TO have separated. In those days there
We're just as tough m n inside of the
coach as any YOU could recruit for the
outside, and anybody who got away
..Just after the war got information
to the effect that a number of the boys
were gong back to the States. ami. as l
knew they bad good deal of dust, l
made up my mind that would have to
levy upon them. The night before
they started they d ank eavily, and
when they came to get aboarI they
We're all in a helpless condition | was
the first man to d'scoyert this popularity
of homewari bound passengers: and it
stood me in good many hundreds of
dollars. You could always get away
with n stage good deal easier dur no
the first ten or twelve hours of its trip
than at any other time. I made no
mistake as to the coach | am speaking
OF. binding out when it would start, /
| took a cou lie of friends and went out
| on the road as far as we could ret 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 a
tile bit heav.y, like the rest of them,
bat he was smarter than, they were
When he saw us he refined right up. anu
sat there perfectly still, while one of my
and myself interviewed the passengers.
They We're thoroughly surprised, and
those who were not too drowsy to resist
were too sick. We got half dozen
bags of dust, some watches and a few
bills. and then left them. There was a
treasure box aboard, which we pried
off 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, and
looking out from behind the shrubbery
We saw the passengers whom we had
robbed the even ng before. They were
evidently on the Mar-path for us. Twas
Just motiOning to my men 10 keep still.
when one OF them. Il clumsy cuss, lost
his balance, and in trying to recover
himself made n noise which attracted
the attention of the passengers. They
were after us in q minnie. We had TO
abandon the treasure boz. and after
awhile they got so hot on our trail iat
We had to drop the bags of dust, too.
They fired about q dozen shots after us:
but when they found the plumber they
seemel to conclude that it wasn't
worth while following rs any further.
This little episode taught me another |
important lesson in my business-that |
when you get any thing 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 a stage once that had |
a woman in it-a big boned, red faced |
woman. The other inmates showed
fight. and it.tooa a shot or two from my |
party to keep them quiet, We had cot |
ust about all there was TO be had, and |
had ordered the driver 10 go ahead,
when the women threw herself out of
the vehicle. yelling: I'm one of YOU.
No you don t. says |. i don know
you, and maybe you amt what you
SEEM. She then went on to tell me
all ABOUT herself, and in half an hour
she made me believe she was a born
robber, who had been wishing all her
life to go into the highway business. IL
rather liked her style, and in day or
two had cone to the conclusion that
she might be made useful in overhaul
ing stages. Sne and | were alone on
the road ons day, my two partners /
having fallen behind us a little, Wien
she got to chatting me about shooting
ut mark. She said she could shoot
better than I could. just for fun /
pinned piece of paper on a tree and
ct her take one of my pistols. She
lred at the ak, but didn't hit it,
Then 1 loaded her pistol again, and
handed it to her, and was nst go ng
. load mine. when she says: Look
here. She was pointfng the weapon
u me. Gays l: Don't do that; it
might 60 or 4 know it, says she,
and maybe Twill want it to 90 off.
stop loading that pistol. or this one
will go of. and know it. Thought
the was fooling for awhile, but when
he gave nue. the ordeE TO march knew
I'd been nabbed. That there woman
.un me into Frisco, and L did three
fears' time on her account
I've been caught good many
ines, but never was rea ls ashamed
4 myself except the last time. / got