The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-08-02
HOW TO ROB ASTAGE COACH.
PRINCIPLES or THE ART DEDCCED
FROM THE PRACTICE OF EXPERTS.
The Main Thing IL 10 Get the Drop on tho
Messenger Easy Erough Then TO Get
the Express nox-rhc Lone Highway
man of shnsta nnd Hts Barley Sacks
The Drivcr Rugged Gun In Ills Boot.

til. Exprcs. nox-rnc Lone Highway
man of sshnstn ind HI. BARLEY Sacks
The nrivcr Rugged Gun In MS boot.
From n. san iv,ace.o Examiner
In 1891 tho stage road between Benson ana
| Tombstone was u bad ronto 70 tinvel Dy m,Gh ,.
rustlers and tQ.nghs and T9mbstone was in;
! fpsiei by loo Holladav and ether pcolie ui
! level in Tombstone, but The, road agents
bossel the highway, a.! Ia Benson a man nv,
| ltuid rhilpot. parliamentary OF Charlie
! loss, the k,ng OF sage ,riyers' was dri =,
nVd ouo night somebody ,rio!i to hold
him UP NOT many miles from u"mD Uso.
iron ,ho Gartness, u, little behind he OIL fore.
green hand ut the, business, and ins,rni Q:
! putting on the brake he saye lhe horses the
SIX ann ssnt .hS ten e i Would havo
won, as tho rohber would have thought it
hardly worth while to ire at rdrIiy s ssSnp
! his aim il he did rro. But tho crack Of Ihil-
| pot lash was answered Iy the crack OF a Mn
dropped back with moan. and swaycd in his
neat, The mess nsel, who 81, nr sids. MIN nm;
! with MS left seized tho liues II, they fell from
| rhiluot's relaEcd fingers.
ana Ia cry on the n ts ,he @at
ons Of the pt,aensors had been MT ne light
esd h aG5'Oi yn INV r" Nth and
| with tho left hand tried to arrange tho tangled
lines while the bullets Wn'Stem ~ or IN vine anS
the oxpross box safe. but two dead mon were
taken from tho coach.
ngont The main purpose OF tho r,oh!er !. to
secure plumber. and il he does any killing it is
"rto Insu r'I tho susc's Of tho ohIery. Iho
alta X unon the Tombstone stage was tho
work DIN man killer. who mad turned road ,,i
| f. might only and Tor tlut anu
other good reasons lilo lob was eencra!,v At
Spted 10 Doc oaavy man Go la
bctwe N the MisS-sinn nna tho - ssrr%s
robbery can hold MI any stage without ilrinE n
huppens TO be on, Tho box, in which ease no
expert professional never fools with nstage on
onen ground ra s'ccp down rradc. lie selects
Sace Mhe M, the est stag mus. Sc Hr!vcn slowly
and taking such position that he cannot 10
shotgun. lio uses a shotgun rather than tho
ritlo or revolver. because the shotgun is the
most formidable weapon a. shori rang Its en-
pncity for scattering lire being VOL known ana
duly respected by drivers,
III" bigger the bore OF tho gun the more tor
riiynE It is T. passengers. III houEh Il l. n sin
| Euiar iact that under such circumstances q
cHlibre rile barrel i Likely to DO mist aiken Tor
the mouth of the Sutro tunnel. on the line Of
every Old stage road in California is pointed
out some srot that IS n iarorite stand Tor ron-
Where s he horses saui must be- brought down to
| walk and tho rocky hank or II tree affords II
the a PiSG Kno ss iha, he is liable be held
IN Mt that SPOT and is IN the alert, lie cannot
make tho iurn at high -fced, and he must give
his attention 10 his team to avoid an upset
Just a the coach swings INFO the gully and
the driver is Al out to re the leaders out iron
and. without turning to see. he knows that IL
shotgun is pointed at his head from behind the
tree. Tho stage driver. being commonly man
OF sense and good judgment. puts on the brake
and stops instantly.
Throw down the box" is the next ordor.
Sometimes the man behind the tree wants the
mail sacks. too, and. II he is very greedy and
empty their pockets. Usually the InssenGeis
tumble over one another IL ,her haste to JbSy
Ii The .robbor is alone nobody need lose much
wealth in hoy IG' op6s5 T tha
ness to keep them covered with his gun.
Them to give up what he would not search
for. 1t requires an artistic operator and ono
stag load Of peorie and c.ean thin out 10
the ultimate nicke! but california can proud
other ro6bcr is concealed in the brush close by.
1 60 through ON, remarks the roai agent. in
a cool. matter-of-fact way. after lo has ranged
nbove hsr IN tsn VIE tn
through them without undue haste. making
faCetious Remarks rs he brings ~ the pl under.
CAPTURED recently had very neat method Of
taking care Of passengers when they were
outfit consisted "fa six-shooter and n bundle
OF barley sacks. He stonped the inward. bound
put Satiov sack 'o over the lead Of every nam
IN tho crowd. JUS: rs he finished that part Of
ana ana he ;,oprsG that and baGgsd the leads Of
oil hands Then II farmer happened along:
H.d ne was trcaa s%ia citizen ,hfe Of
trap and joinel the baTley-saek Brigade. and
then came the schoolmarm 3{ the district.
which She did. Tho lone robber explored the
pockets OF the crowd broke ,open the express
WOOD WOOD ana md tn gagged Victims iiin't dar, l."
move until the schoomarm began to laugh at
their r,hiculous aspect and told lhem the rob.
Der had gone.
In tho hands OF n ronl agent entirely g eat
fence picket Is Hs mighty as tw9,sh"t scat
long hill at dusk some years ago when Tho
driver saw, something white flutterinG just
rope
r"ad: ha1Jkerchief vas lutte, from TIC
ut The side, OF tic road told hin to throw down
the box. lie glanced toward the person who
thing ut him. He threw down tho box; the
masked man cur tho rore and told him 70 drive
DAY tue o!Isers found the brok oxprsss box
the rop@, and an oil trn'e picket in the rond,
! Dut tney HcNeT Ipu'iu tHS nllSkcI man.
Tho express box 10 tho main attraction for
the road agent aud some,nest It is an aiilic,,
things II ought to contnin wealth. but tho
| heartloss express companies sometimes load
1t with bricks and cause grent loss OF llms nnd
anguish Of spirit TO m industrious and PAINS
tnk ing robber. When robbrres wers tho ru 10
and safe trips tho exception in California tn"
express companies invented tho dummy box
md wosG9d b It Of !r"Hnsnty On tie
agent ACQUIRED the habit u bnrstiug tue b., box
profnnely requesting him to hand ont the
1thor box, and no BANKED rsa foo' lis ness
they discouraged tho use OF ,tno dummy
box. and 1t was abandoned by oil ,well-regu-
lated lines, although 1t was worked in occa-
slonally on some amateur robbrr. When Budd
Ihirot was driving the inkeport stage a OBJ
Der held him up md Budd cheery tossed out
an empty box belonging 70 the Grent Western
mine, and drove along with tho Wells-Fargo's
| box safely slowed under his feet
Tho ;,cheme Of building an iron box into tho
| BODY OF tho coach worked Tor u time, hut the
> driver AID Messengers along the road nioot