The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-07-31
INTO DEATHS JAWS.
Terrors of a Stage Ride in the
Mountains Of Colorado.
Dashing with Broken Brakes Along the
Narrow Shelf of Mountain Ravino
with the Momentum of q Thunder
bolt-A Frontier Story.

In q saloon in Denver one evening
notalong since several men were gath.
cred who were slipping various kinds Of
liquids, smoking cigars and pipes and
telling steriess-0n e-of- thems=awas a
swarthy man, Of some thirty-five years
of age, who sat with his feet, in huge
miners boots, resting on an adjoined
table. He wore large brimmed black
hat, and sat with closed eyes, as If
asleep or in profound thought.
A story had just been finished, and
there only remained the dark man who
had not been heard from. Some one
suggested that lodgings must be paid
for in advance, and then a young fellow
went over and slapped the apparent
sleeper on the shoulder, and asked
what time he would like to called for
breakfast and whether he had not best
take in his feet for fear of catching cold
The man took down his feet, pushed his
hat on the back of his7head, and said he
had not been asleep.
Come, them give us a story. It's
your turn"
All right boys"
And then he told them what follows:
In 1880 was in Denver and wished to
go back to Leadville, where had some
claims. At that time there were two
ways Of getting to that point from this
place; one was to take the railway from
here to Buena Vista and the stage UP
the Arkansas river. The other was the
stage from Denver across the mountains;
l had generally gone to Leadville by
the river road, and for the sake of va
riety concluded to take the all-stagc
route through the mountains.
We were off at daylight, one of my
acquaintance calling out to me as we
started:
Goodbye, old man, I'll never see
you again"
No? Why?"
you'll be smashed up 30 that even a
fine-toothed comb won't collect the
pieces.
With this ominous goodbye we rolled
away. The coach was one of the, old
Concord pattern and almost as large as
Noah's ark. Tt was swung on 1eathern
hinges so arranged that it was capable
of every conceivable form Of motion. it
would lursh, pitch, roll Ii lie ship. in
the trough Of the waves; it would rear,
kick and buck like a mustang, and had
the solid jolt Of dromedary.
Like all the other coaches used for
carrying passengers Over the mountains,
it had mechanical attachment within
the easy control of the driver by which
he could, in an instant, detach the
horses from the coach. 1t was to be used
to save the team in case the vehicle top
pied over precipice.
There were three seats inside, each
of which had three people, who were so
closely packed that in case of an over
turn there was no extrica ton, but all
must go over as one. There were two
seats on the top besides the drivers,
all Of which were filled, making total
of eighteen, including the man who
held the reins over the four-horse team.
j occupied the seat behind the driver
and on the right-hand side. In the front
/, seat was an Englishman and a young
woman; he, an agent Of some English
capitalists to inspect some mines, and
she, variety actress-as / afterward
learned-going to Leadvile to secure an
engagement.
The driver is always the most impor.
tant feature Of the outfit. The one
who had charge of us was mere boy in
appearance, not apparently more than
twenty years of age. lie, was rather
slender, very blonde as to'his hair, and
smoothly shaved save as, to mustachc
milky in its whiteness He wore an i'm
mense sombrero with round top, and
his hair was so long that the sAds lay on
his back and shoulders.
/ ] studied him with curiosity and some
thing of anxiety. He seemed to me tc
be very young for the responsible duty
Of holding the ribbons over four horses
on route that is regarded as the most
difficult and dangerous in the Rock,
les. ! found that this was his second
trip on this line, and. that before com
ing here he had been driving in the
San Luis Valley. This was not in his
favor, as the valley is almost dead
level and affords no training for mount
ain driving.
He was worry reticent unlike. the
average driver, and hence the passea
gers did not take to him. We tried tc
establish social relations with him, Blu,
he would only reply in surly monosylla
bles. He spoke only ence to the extent
\ Of more than one or two words. w,
were passing shanty on a bit Of table