Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-11-18
Lirs an ne Ezoaz---

Dr. TlrrOE- 0s tie United states
geological survey. was "st00d up bF
r0ad agents during rs rscsns trip out
west The real thing he saEs rs
nOs Ike what YOU rad about The
robbers were not all polite. They don c
walk Up 70 you with their hats in their
hands IN that ehivairOus way TOu read
about and tel you they are very sOFry
TO disturb YOU. etc. At least the ones
who took my gold watch and Al my
money out in the wildS Of Arizona did
not do anything OF that sort. They may
have been amateurs. They were in a
great hurry, and were very rough and
brutal, cursing and abusing US IN the
worst sort Of way while they robbed US.
l had sort of presentiment when We
started out that we would meet with
some adventure. When l asked the
driver if there was not danger of being
stopped and robbed, he laughed at the
idea, and assured me that was Just as
safe in his stage for that trip as il |
were in Washington This route was
never robbed he declared. But said
i. one Of the cowboys tells me you were
stood up about two years ago. He
lies, was the brusque reply. My revOl-
yer was safely slowed away in my
yalise. We were Just nearing two big
sandstone bOulde-s, and was saying,
We'll if We are stopped it will be at one
of two places. One is here, aud the
other
''At this point 1 was cut short. The
stage came TO a stop very abruptly be-
tween the two rocks. One man stood
with n Winchester repeating rifle COW
ering us while another covered the dri-
yer. Two others stood in the road one
in front and the other behind us, while
IL fifth was at some distance holding the
horses. They wore long yellow OllclOth
coats buttCued high about their necks
and coming almost to the ground, and
had broad white sombreros pulled down
over their eyes, and each had big red
handkerchief tied over his face so as to
cover all below the eyes. They cursed
us roundly, told us to- jump out and be
quick about 1t, which we did.
Then they stood US up in a line, and
made US hold our hands up. One kept
us covered with his Winchester, while
the other with a cooked revolver in his
hand, went through us for money and
yaluables. lie kept the pistol pointed
at the head of each as he searched,
using his left hand for the searching,
All the time they poured forth volley
of abuse, and made themselves alto
gether as disagTeeable as possible They
seemed to be very much excited, and
the fellows hand trembled so that held
the pistol that feared it would so off
accidentally. 1 called his attention to
this when he was searching me. Look,
here, my man, l said, there's no use
getting SO excited; that pistol might go
of. You have got the drop on US. We
aren't fools enough TO show fight.
There's our money and goods. Take
them, but be civil about it,
lie only cursed me for my advice
and said if didn't keep still he would
blow the--tOp of my--head off, and
l thought he would do so, so l kept
still They took all our money and
things of any value we had, besides the
mail-pOucb. Then they let us go.
After we got about four miles away
they changed their minds and came
after us again. l don't know what they
wanted, unless il was 10 kill US. But
we didn't care to walt TO find out. We
put Our mules on a dead run and raced
them for our lives. II was about rs
exciting race as | ever had. 1t was
very nervous business. They were gain
ing on US all the time, but we ran them
until our mules gave out. by that time
We had reached the top of a hill, IN
sight of a cattle ranch. AS the mules
dropped l jumped from the stage and
ran for the ranch, waving my hat over
my head in hope of attracting the at
tentiOn of some of the cowboys. The
robbers knew that assistance was at
haad, and were frightened off. Ny in
preston of them was that they were a
clustering, brutal set of fellows.