Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-08-03
Battling Road Agents.
highly Of the Gentry Routed BY Forty Deputy
uarshals.


outlaws. But in reality it has been but a
very few years since some great battles were
fought between armed officers and the des-
peradoes whose sole aim was robbery, and
principally the robbery OF express and mail
on the stage lines of the Western States from
Colorado to California. Stage robberies ten
years ago were of daily occurrence through
out the estates and Territories of that section,
and many an express agent and driver met
death while doing his duty to the company
herepresented.
It required courage bravery and a thor
Ough knowledge of the use of firearms by the
a squad of road-agents, and there were brave
men needed when an ehOrt was made to cap
Uure band of outlaws. One of the latest
ald probably the most notable pture made
was that in Arizona in 1881. In that raid a
band Of eighty hard men was thoroughly
broken up by an armed posse of forty Deputy
United States Marshals formed in Tomb
stone. The speedy and fatal work done by
the law and order men in that attack struck
terror TO the hearts of the rObber element
and since that time there has been but little
holding up Of stages by large and thoroughly
organized road agent gangs.
AN OLD-TnGE EXPRESS AGENT.
A Denver Republican reporter met Mr.. G. A.
Bartholomew, the man who was in command
OF the posse of men here referred to.
The reporter approached him with a desire
agents and the robbery which lead to it.
w ell, this was one time, at least, that
was licked, said Mr.. Bartholomew, referring
to the hOld-up, but 1 got even finally. 1t
was the only battle had to fight during the
five years L was in the employ Of the Wells,
Fargo company, but it battle enough.
This was on the 9th Of January, 1881, and
some three months previous to that time
there had been a hOld-up on the Hubbard
stage-line, running from Tombstone to Bis
bee copper mines, in which a driver and
passenger were killed. ] was at that time
messenger for the Wells, Fargo Company on
the Kerns & Griffith line running from Yuma
to TuscOn. The company ordered me to the
TOmbstOne-Bisbee line, and during the three
months our stage had run along without any
attempt being made to hold Us up. We
usually had large treasure, but We had eX-
ceedingly good luck, and 1 had begun to
think should escape the road agents.
"ln December 1880, however, there Oc-
Cured a little trouble in Tombstone which
gave me some fears that it might be my
turn next. The three ClantOn boys and two
MacElrOys, whom / believed to be of this
gang Of eighty road agents, came into town
armed. There was town ordinance forbid
ding the carrying Of firearms. and when any
of this gang OF outlaws came into town they
We're quickly disarmed. Upon this occasion
the Sheriff told these fellows not to give up
their arms. Virg Earp-One of the carp
bUOthers-Was Town Marshal, and when he
needed deputies would call upon one or more
of his brothers or Doe Holiday. The Mar
shall knew that if he demanded the guns of
these men he would have to stand a fight.
He deputized his brothers, Wyatt and MOrg,
and Doc Holiday to assist him. The Clan
ton gang refused to surrender and a battle
resulted, in which the three carp brothers
We're wounded and Billy ClantOn and the two
MacElrOy boys and Ike ClantOn were killed.
'This band of road agents and all of the
rough gambling and thieving element in
Tom bstOne were enemies Ofthe carp brothers
for the reason that they stood in with and
assisted the law-and-order people Of the
town.
''The town was divided in the way that
frontier towns usually were in those days,
and still are at present. except that in Tomb
stone this division was probably more
marked than elsewhere One side of the main
street was occupied by rough saloons gam
bhng-hOuses and their accOmp nimenUs,
while on the other side the stores and better
class of people carried on their business. The
carp brothers and Holiday, and many @
that class of men who We're well behaved
sporting men, boarded at the Cosmopolitan
hotel, while the thieves and thugs made their
rendezvous at the Grand.
What had this fight and the enmity be-
tween the tOughs and the better class of men
to do with the hOlding-up Of your stage2'
asked the reporter.
"Well, it had this to do with it: The ac-
ton of these boys indicated that they were
opposed to the thieves and hold-ups, and
their talk was proof enough that they were
friends of the Wells-EargO company. These
Oul-dWS were utLtELlllltu TO eAltELlludIt ~ Oh
laday and the Earps if possible. A few weeks
after this fight they again shot and wounded
Nlrg carp while he was passing along the
street.
Il had been warned by good citizens that
would be attacked, and was urged to keep q
careful watch on the road. Many time, es-
pecially at Tucson, crowds Of men would
gather around the stage as we were ready to
start and make bets upon my coming back
alive or dead. On the 9th day of January,
when We had made about half of the thirty
eight miles to Bisbee / noticed the dust from
horses feet and also where their tracks ceased
to appear and appeared again in herOad. 1
remarked to the driver that 1 thought we
should catch it that day. We had passed
both stations, Charleston and Hereford and
were within eight miles of the end of our trip,
when five men rode out from the brush and
fired upon us. They did not command us to
halt, nor did they utter any words. 1 was
armed with a dOuble-barreled shotgun. fur
nished me by the company, and my own long
ranged rifle. turned loose with my shotgun
and the driver turned his leaders around to
go the opposite way. The horses were
wounded and limping and three of them fell
down before we had proceeded far, and after
wards died. While at distance exhausted
ali my rife cartridges except one. The vii
lains kept themselves hid by the brush, so
that L only got one Of them and killed one
THE firing ceased and the road agents
sent a Mexican to ask me to surrender. /
sent them word to go to the devil. He re-
turned and repeated ms request and gave
him the same reply. The driver and passen-
gers begged me to consider their lives, re-
minding me that I had only one rife car
fridge and that my shotgun would not reach
the attacking party, while they, being armed
with rifles, could remain where they were and
kill the driver and myself and then approach
and kill the passengers if they desired. I con
sidered the matter awhile and concluded it
would be better in the end to give up the
$4,000 in gold in the treasure-bOx than to
give up our lives to these numbering robbers.
felt satisfied that the result would be the
sending out of posse of men who could and
would clean up this whole band Of road
agents. 1 gave the driver the priv
lege of signaling them TO approach.
Ny determination to let them have
/ the treasure almost forsOok me when