The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-30
hank MONK.
Reeoilections of the Reckless Stage,
Driver of the Sierras.
E1ls Short DOubIe-BarreIed SHOTGUN
ga stage Run ON the RI"ycIe
PFIneIpIe-One Little
Romance.
JOAQUIN Millers Letter.1

JOAQUIN MillefS letter.
Long before Horace Greeley had made
him famous, this man Monk was hero
among heroes Of the Pacific coast. He was
perhaps the first man to use the short
double.barreled shotgun which Wells
Rargo's messengers made famous In their
bloody battles with stage-robbers. The
fast was, Hank Monk was such reckless
driver that, while everyone was proud OF
the honor of having once crossed the
sierras with him, no treasure messenger
vas willing to make regular thing of it.
For 1t was universally conceded that it
was sonly q question of time when Hank
stage, along with his six horses, would be
kumbled from the heights into one of the
snnumarable gorges that lay -yawninss 'un'
der his narrow span of road around the
mountain peaks And so the daring
driver had to sit on his box alone save
when the member of congress or judge
Of his circuit, in order to show his valol
and win votes, took possession of the per-
uous post. 1t was the ingenuity of Monk
that introduced the short, double barreled
shotgun. But he did not carry it under
his cloak with cock lifted and finger on
trigger Nothing of that sort. His hands
were too full of the ten or dozen reins
for that He simply had the gun pointed
down on the side of his leg with the muz-
gle just peeping through the sole Of his
heavy boots. And no one was permitted
20 know of the presence of this arm at all.
1t was known that he carried his bowie
knife down the back of his neck so as to
be In easy reach when he pushed back his
broad hat to get good look at his enemy;
but the now famous shotgun no one knew
anything about; no, not even after he had
twice been attacked and had thrice beaten
of the robbers.
IL hot fhn fret ff11an hn mead
this weapon he stopped the stage and was
slowly handing down the treasure box to
the leader, when, getting his leg in range,
he emptied load of buckshOt into the
robbers heart A second shot into the
crowd of surprised robbers, and he dashed
away with all his desperate speed down
the mountain. And even then no one
knew who fired the shots. The robbers
believed it was all the work of the passen-
gers inside the stage. A repetition of this
same feat drew some suspicion on Monk,
and his life was now IN great peril. Once
be handed in bill for new hat, saying
the one be had was so full of bullet-holes
that it wouldn't hold shucks. :" The
amount of gold that this man carried out
Of the mines mounted far up into the mill
Ionsi and never dollar in all his years or
service was lost. Counting the peril, the
peculiar opportunities he had to betray his
trust and escape suspicion by collision
with the robbers, and so on, the name OF
Hank Monk, particularly at this time,
ought to rank high.
Reckless and hard driving with him was
q passion. And yet there was nothing
reckless about it at all; and he was the
klndest Of masters to his horses. He loved
them and they loved him, and knew his
every tone and touch of the rein. His
team was literally part of himself.
Once some timid passengers complained
to Ben Holladay and told him that as the
stage whirled at railroad speed around q
precipitous point every last wheel was for
moment over the ledge Monk twisted
his broad hat about in his two hands as he
stood with uncovered head before the great
stage king, and at last said slowly, with
Wrinkle In his fine eyes, Governor, they
Nek only two of the wheels was over
There is no doubt however, that he
vas never quite so happy as when he
Gould hang his stage full OF passengers
over some deep precipice, as he Shed
down the Sierras, around some curve, and
stretched his six horses out under the
cracking of silk at full gallop. And yet, was
he really reckless? I think not; for
think l see something of an explanationOf
It all in the swift motion Of bicycles
through the air. The man merely unders
stood the properties of the air better than
others, and knew well, from long practice,
SA4Hb 80 11uk dS uC COu1O hCGpA1Lo DldSQ IL
sEift motion it could not upset, even If
"all the wheels were over the preeipice.
Never but once did he upset, !" and that
was on level ground and in his old age, as
he slowly turned about in the yard to take
In passengers. He handed in his whip
otter that, and would drive no more except
on rare occasions. Gen. ALDER Pike, who
rode with him in the last year of his life,
and who knew him well, speaks of him as
a man with well balanced head and great
good sense. There was one little ror ance
Ia his life, am told, which ought to make
drama. A young orphan girl who adj
fnired the old hero became his wiz and
he settled down, with his worn-out Tally
10, n the first of the famous stages of the
Sierras and with his favorite horses gath
cred about him, hoping to end his days in
peace. Only partition divided his horses
from his own little cabin home, and they
often put their heads in and ate bread from
his hand as he sat at table with his hostler,
q long, lank Dutchman, and his pretty lit
lie wife
But trouble came to the happy home
all too soon. The old hero of the road
was poor, and still had to be away at his
work. a handsome gambler, the professed
friend OF the conhding man, made all the
trouble. The temptation to drink as
sort of necessity in his perilous journeys
through snow and storm, then the murder
Of a low gambler lowering about the
camp, the accusation of the woman, the
assumption of the crime by Hank Monk
20 save the woman-that was the end, and
ahi well, it is hard to tell here where fact
leaves off and romance begins, for the old
miners of the Sierras are not without i'm
aginations, and are fond of ascribing great
things to this man they all admired, and
so I draw the line here.