Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-03-18
a NEW CODE.


Highwaymen Reveal Some of Their
Tricks of Trade.
perpetrators of the stage robber
les In this vicinity, writes aCloverdale,
CAL, correspondent to the New York
Sun, have been discovered In the per-
sons of two young men, less than 20
years of age, who embarked In the
business early in the summer with the
intention of living we'll in the large
cities of thecountry during the winter.
They are strangers here, one of them,
Billy Corbett, claiming to live in San
Francisco, and the other, John Dwyer,
hailing from the East. When the
Wells-Fargo men overhauled them
they were preparing for one more raid,
which they had agreed should be their
last
''That's what we said about every
one, though" said Corbett, latter
September /. The fact is, we did a
coed deal better than we expected
and every time we would get a good
sum we would say, Now we will quit,
but before we got packed up we would
agree to try it just once more. Now
look at us. If we had only choked
ourselves off we would have been in
shape now for fun
The detectives, who had worked up
a clear case against the boys, learned
from them the place where they had
hid their plumber, and, after a careful
search in the mountains, unearthed
about 81, 900 in gold and several hun
dred dollars in bills. Besides this there
was much valuable jewelry, and the
boys had a good deal of currency on
their persons. Before leaving here the
detectives got a long story out of their
prisoners, who regard themselves as
very clever thieves Having made up
their minds that they will have to
serve out a long sentence, and that
nothing will avail them as a defense,
they are making merry over a bad
job.
''The way Of it was just this" OBJ
served Corbett. ''My partner here
and | met in San Francisco last May,
and we agreed on this little enterprise.
We saw by the papers that stages were
being held up in all parts Of the state,
and we concluded to try it. The first
one we tackled was down In the mount
aims. q hundred miles south of here,
and we got nothing but a little silver
from the driver, and some good ad-
vice. He says: See here, you fellers.
You're green at the business, and |
know it. When you order up 81 stage
lust you remember also to call for 'em
to throw off the box The box is the
thing that got the dust in. [ dom
happen to have any just now, but
that's what you're after We tried it
next time on the Oroville line, but it
so happened that the driver didn' t
have any box, and we had to stand
the passengers up.
1--WE made a great reputation that
time In fact that is what we were
trying to do everywhere. The papers
got it all in about our being courteous
and gallant. No one ever tried harder
in that line than we did. Down near
Mendocino once, when a big fellow hit
me across the mouth with walking
stick as big as my wrist, I didn't say
anything. We simply robbed him a
little more thoroughly, taking his coat,
vest, and hat. I've got them on now.
After we got our hand in we found
things worked a good deal better. We
got so we could do up stage in four
minutes fromthe first yell, andifthey' d
let us alone, we would have
lowered that record q little There's
an awful lot to learn In the bust
ness. 1t makes me mad to think
that some butcher will be agoing over
the route next summer, making bad
breaks What we intend to do was
to get away from here this week and
90 East for the winter Then next
summer we intended to come back
again, unless we struck something"
DIVER assented to all that was said
observing that his luck had always been
bad. When his partner ceased talking he
said: ''There is something III the all
OF California that makes a travelling
man chump. It's just as my partner
says. You have got an awful sight to
learn. | am thinking some OF writing
a book on the staging business. ]
could give some Of these fel lows points
There ought to be some authority
which the young might use as a guide
All the old road agents are gone
and the only way a new conner can get
along IS to learn by experience. Now
as it will be a good while before | have
any use for stage coaches again, will
give you a few precepts.
''In the first place, never appear to
be in a hurry-that is in a nervous
hurry Just keep busting about as
though it was very disagreeable duty
that must be attended to- Second
never get scared at all There is nc
danger Just keep your weapons
handy and don't take your eye of
your victims. Third, remember that
the big haul sgenerally in the treasure
box or the mail-sack, and that neither
the driver nor the passengers care fol
either of them. They Will not make
themselves obnoxious about them