Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-11-06
A NIGHT In A STAGE COACH.

.ng agent | visited Council Bluffs, Ia,
railroad had not penetrated further
west than Marshalltown, and Dies
Moines was yet looking a%nxiously to-
wards the east, watching for the first
rail to enter that then small city in the
s'Far West" Few of the young folks
of this generation ever saw "A stage
coach, and fewer still can tell, by OK
pekienee, what a perfect engine of tor
dure that ancient institution is for max
ing every inch of its victims-those who
were compelled TO travel in it-ache,
yet stage coaches were the only means
of travelling in the western country
twenty years ago. Indeed | often
think it must be the guardian angel of
travelling agents that invented the
sleeping car.
True, a thorough bred travelling
agent can witness the most outrageous
freaks of mother earth. in field, flood,
storm or railway, with an exalted phil
osophy that amount to patience. Still
when | scrutinize them as n class, par
ticularly their piety, and see how much
the past generation rave abused them,
in compelling them to travel on stage
coaches, then | nm reluctantly forced
to recognize the hand of Heaven in
bringing forth the palace car for the
special convenience of those children
of sanctity!
p. S.-Modesty is a prominent trait
in travelling men, distance and nom de
lie plume hide my bushes.
Council Bluffs at the time | write
was a struggling little town of one
street. The particular period of my
visit was on q fair week, the hotels
were crowded, and every travelling
man knows that on such occasions it is
useless TO attempt TO sell goods. store
keepers are too busy. So | determined
10 Ssa down to St. Joe. transact my
business there, return when the fair
was over and finish my business in
Council Bluffs.
The stage was to start after supper;
The one ! rode in was full. containing
seven men and one woman, entirely
unknown TO each other,
The sun was just dipping below the
horizon as we rolled out on the pral-
Tie road leading to st. Joe. Nature
seemed to be taking a rest, So calm did
all things appear. Nothing broke the
quiet harmony of the scene, made still
more attractive by a western sunset,
except once in a while the 'gee up" of
the driver, and the crack Of his long
whip which caused the horses to Jump
forward and add increased torture to
the passengers by reason of the sudden
jerk of the coach, arouse n few prairie
chickens who whirled past us, one of
them perhaps "A mother who just left
its brood, to meet its death by coming
in contact with n telegraph wire.
sometimes have thought that stage
coaches were a materialized ofi-shoot
of the southern plague called backbone
fever. and that the aches and paius
that resulted from Il nights ride on one
was but the necessary ordeal TO reduce
an men to perfect equality, so as to
produce the social good-fellowship
which cannot be equaled in any sphere
of misery. Indeed to ride in a stage
coach is to get n most friendly ac-
q~uaintance with its occupants, so that
it did not take us long, on this occa-
sion, to be in perfect good standing
with one another.
As we had an all night ride before
us. sleep being out of the question, il
was mutually agreed that each one
would, to while away the hours, tell a
story. | was called upon to meta
phorically preside over the meeting"
and preserve order, with the privilege
of calling on who should amusc the
audience" In the further corner of
the stage from where | sat, was a dark
FlSdSCa HtdH dDoub Viii y-hNt yttIS VI
age; his hair was long and black. his
eyes were keen, dark and penetrating,
de wore a long southern goatee, and
would he considered a remarkable man
in any company, but m who by his
silence, far-away look and indifference
to what vas going on about hun, gave
evidence OF some mysterious event in
his life over which he was brooding,
this influenced me in calling upon our
romantic-looking companion for the
first story.
After some hesitancy and complaint.
on being the first to be called on, he
related the following, which | desig-
nate
THE MURDERER'S WIFE.
Nellie McNab was a beautiful Great
IRE who lived in the interior town of
F, Galloway county. Mo, just pre-
vious to the late war. She was a ma
tive of the place: young, innocent, and
with but little worldly experience, she
felt non Of the excitement that 40 tat
ed tnat section of the c|ouxtry al the
~~.us-I -E.DI A.. -