Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1891-09-12

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The expert professional never fools
with a stage on open ground or a steep
down grade. He selects his ground
with care and Judgment, choosing A.
place where the stage must be driven
slowly, and taking suchtn position that
he cannot be seen until he has the
driver covered with his shotgun. He
uses a shotgun rather than the rifle or
revolver, because the. shotgun is the
most formidable weapon at short
range, its capacity for scattering fire
being well known and duly respected
by drivers
The bigger the bore of the gun the
more terrifying it is to passengers, al
though it is a singular fact that under
such circumstances twenty -two-cali-
ber rifle barrel is likely to be mistaken
for the mouth of the Sutro tunnel. On
the line of every old stage road in Cali
fornia is pointed out some spot that is
favorite stand for robbers. 1t is
usually in sharp reentering angle,
where the horses must be brought
down to walk, and the rocky bank or
a tree affords hiding place for the
robber. 1t does not matter if the
driver knows that he is liable to be
held up pat that spot and is on the alert.
He cannot make the turn ut high
speed, and he must give his attention
to his team to avoid an upset. Just as
the coach swings into the gully, and
the driver is about to rein the leaders
out from the bank, he hears the sharp
command to halt, and, without turning
to see, he knows that shotgun is
pointed at his head from behind the
tree. The stage driver, being common
ly a man of sense and good Judgment,
puts on the brake and stops instantly.
Throw down the box" is the next
order, and the driver tosses out the eX-
press box. Sometimes the man behind
the tree wants the mail sacks, too, and,
if he is very greedy and bold, he orders
the passengers to jump out and empty
their pockets. Usually the passengers
tumble over one another in their haste
to obey the orders of the man with the
gun, and he makes a good haul of
watches and loose change. III
If the robber is alone nobody need
| lose much wealth in u hold-up, howev-
er. The robber will not throw himself
off guard to search the pockets of a lot
of passengers. 1t is his business to
keep them covered with his gun, and
he depends upon their terror to induce
them to give upewhat he would not
search for. 1t requires an artistic OPP
orator and one with supreme audacity
to go through a whole stage load of
people and clean them out to the ulti-
mate nickel, but California can proud
ly boast of having produced such art
lists. One way of doing the trick is to
pretend that another robber is con-
cealed in the brush close by.
Jim, you keep these galoots covered
while go through 'em," remarks the
road agent, in a cool, matter-of-fact
way, after he has ranged the fright
ened passengers in a row with their
hands above their heads And then he
goes through them without undue
haste, making facetious remarks as he
brings up the plunder.
The lone highwayman. of Shasta,
who was captured recently, had a very
neat method. of taking care of passen-
gers when they We're numerous enough
to be troublesome. His outfit consist
ed of six-shooter ana bundle of
barley sacks. He stopped the inward
bound stage within the town limits of
Redding, and put a barley sack over
the head of every man in the crowd
Just as he had finished that part of the
| job the outward bound stage drove up,
| and he stopped that and bagged the
heads of all hands. Then farmer
happened along, and he was treated
similarly. A citizen of Redding, driv-
ing for doctor, fell into the trap and
| joined the barley-sack brigade, and
| then came the schoolmarm of the dis
trict, who was told to stop and sit still
in her buggy, which she did. The lone
robber explored the pockets of the
crowd, broke open the express boxes,
and quietly slipped away into the
woods and the bagged victims didn't
dare to move until the schoolmarm
began to laugh at their ridiculous as
pect, and told them the robber had
gone.
In the hands of road agent entirely
great fence picket is as mighty as a
two-shot scatter gun. The Gilroy stage
!, was toiling up long hill at dusk some
years ago when the driver saw some.
thing white fluttering just ahead, and
his leaders stopped with their breasts
against rope sire tched across the
road. A handkerchief was futtering
from the center of the rope. The
driver put on the brake, and then
somebody standing by tree at the
side of the road told him to throw
down the, box. He glanced toward
the person who spoke and saw a
masked man pointing something at
him. He threw down the box, the
masked man cut the rope and told him
to drive on, and the stage went on its
way. The next day the officers found
the broken express box, the rope, and
an old fence picket in the road, but they
never found the masked man.
The express box. is the main attrac-
tion for the road agent, and sometimes
it is an affliction to his soul. In the
natural order of things it ought to con-
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