Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-11-19
RORBING The STAGE.
The Queer Mark by Which the Leader OF
the Gang was Discovered.

The Queer Mark by Which the Leader of
the Gang was Discovered
Stage robbin" was almost a legiti.
mate business in early days Big mer-
chants in San Francisco and other cities
of the Pacific slope had a hand in it and
made a lot of money out of Wells, Far
go s. Co. There were lots of men whose
notions of right and wrong got queerly
twisted in the rough-and-tumble pio-
neer life, and they considered it no
stain on the character of gentleman
to go out and hold up stage when he
needed a stake.
merchant would say to one of these
men: Il am going to ship twenty thou
sand dollars by Wells-Fargo's to-mor-
row. You get it, and Well divide"
You see, the express company had to
make good the loss, and the shipper
would get his money back, with.
clean profit of ten thousand dollars. 1t
beat selling goods all hollow. The
road agent would go out and hold up
the stage, and if he happened to get
caught he was not in much danger of
doing time for it. Powerful influence
was used secretly in his behalf, and the
chances were that man or two would
be put on the jury to save him.
The express company lost great
deal of money in that way, and at last
James Cannon was sent up to Virginia
City to break up the business. He was
a shrewd man, and he devised more
schemes for outwitting the road agents
than you ever heard of. He sent treas
ure in sacks of potatoes, which were
loaded on prairie schooners, and even
the drivers never suspected that they
were carrying anything more valuable
than potatoes.
l have known him to drop a bar of
bullion into cask of molasses and send
it through safely when he knew that
the agents were watching for it. It
was Cannon who thought of sending
shotgun messengers on the stages, and
he made them carry their guns with
the muzzles resting on their toes, so
that they didn't dare to fall asleep. He
broke up stage robbing as branch of
the general mercantile business by
making it too risky.
While l was keeping saloon in Vir-
ginia City, Glen Lee and three other
fellows, whose names have slipped my
memory, came into the camp and start
ed big faro game close to my place.
They had twenty thousand dollars in
the drawer, and I think they got hold
of the coin by holding up a stage. They
did a big business and were making
plenty of money.
It was the custom then to close up
the games at twelve o'clock on Sunday
night Glenn and one of the partners
came to me and asked me to mix them
up two bottles of cocktails He want
ed them in champagne bottles, and had
the labels scratched off. 1 wondered
what all that meant, and found out later.
also noticed that Glenn Lee had bor-
rowed a light overcoat from Charlie
Dexter.
AS soon as their place was closed,
Glenn and his partners mounted their
horses on C street and rode out OF
| town. Glenn was riding horse that he
| had hired from the chief of police. All
| the animals were good, and as soon as
| they were out of town they had a
! chance to show their speed The four
horsemen spurred down the Geiger
| grade in the darkness at terrific rate.
If you have been over that road, you
| know what a gallop down the grade on
| a DARK nISuU IL ID a otCSP hLiSA
winding road through the mountains.
The turns are sharp, and where it runs
through Dead Mans gulch a slip over
the edge would send horse and rider
ito kingdom come" in no time.
The four gamblers flew over thu at
road to Washoe faster than anybody
| ever went before, and made the thirty
| four miles in less time than l would
dare to tell. At Washoe they had four
good horses stalzed out, and it did not
take them long to shift saddles, try my
cocktails, mount and start off again.
They knew what they were after and
| they did not miscalculate time or dis
| tance.
In those days the stage companies
had good stock, and when the Reno
stage came along six horses were max.
| ing it spin. Four men Sprang into the
road and one of them shouted to the
driver to stop. The driver could not
| pull up short, and the men had barely
time to spring aside and avoid the
| wheels.
| Glenn Lee leveled his revolver ano
| fred. and one of the leaders fell dead
The other horses tumbled over the one
that was down, and the stage wa:
stopped, but not before deputy sher
if on the box had pulled gun and sent
ball through Clem's partner, Dick.
The passengers were ordered out ant
ranged in line, the driver threw dowT
the box, and while the plumber was
being gathered up one of the robber
said to the disarmed deputy sheriff: :
think we ought to kill you, my friend.
Glenn Lee interfered, and said: mo
there's been enough bloodshed. lie
him alone" The stage was put t.
rights, every body got aboard, and /
was driven away. covered while in sigh
by the robbers guns.
The three gamblers buried thei
dead pal, but where they dug his grav
nobody knows. Then they mounte'
their horses. rode.at desperate spec
back to Washoe, changed horses Their
and pushed on up the Geiger grade t
Virginia City, where they arrived a
nine o'clock in the morning and wen
to bed. They felt pretty safe, as nc
body would suspect them of havin!
made such a trip in SO short time
They could not have made it without
relay of horses, and even then they ha
to ride like devils
But there was one little circumstanc
that was insignificant in appearance
and fatal in fact When Glenn LIE
. sprang aside to avoid the stage he raise
, his right arm and covered the drive
with his pistol. The forward wheel {
, the coach grazed the under side of h
, arm and ground into the sleeve a strea