The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-08-28

by Doc Holiday and other people of that
sort. The Earps managed to hold things
level in Tom bstone, but the road agents
bossed the highway, and in Benson man
was liable to be held up at noon on the
| station platform while waiting for train.
| Budd Philpot, brother-tn-law of Charlie
/ Foss, the king of stage drivers, was driving
! the Benson and Tom Sstone stage, and one
night somebody tried to hold him up not
many miles from Tombstone. Philpot had
/ had experience with road agents, and when
! he heard the order to halt come from the
darkness a little behind the off fore wheel he
concluded that the robber was a green hand
at the business, and instead of putting on
the brake he gave the horses the silk and
sent them ahead on the run.
In nine cases out of ten the trick would
have won, as the robber would have
thought it hardly worth while to fire at a
rapidly escaping stage, and the darkness
would have spoiled his aim if he did fire.
But the crack of Philpot's lash was an
swered by the crack of a Winchester, and
Philpot half sprung to his feet, dropped
back with a moan and swayed in his seat
The messenger who sat beside him threw
his right arm around the driver, and with
LIE lSlb S6lLC0 abllO AllCS oS OAAOJ ASAA AAOAA
Philpot's relaxed fingers.
The Winchester cracked again and
again, and a cry from the inside of the
coach told that one of the passengers had
been hit The frightened horses few over
the road. The messenger held the dying
driver with one arm, and with the left
hand tried to arrange the tangled lines,
while the bullets whistled by in the dark.
He got the stage into Tombstone with the
express box safe, but two dead men were
taken from the coach.
That was not the work of a professional
road agent. The main purpose of the rob-
Der is to secure plumber, and if he does any
killing it is either to prevent somebody
from killing him or to insure the success
of the robbery.
A man who understands the art of high
way robbery can hold up any stage with
out firing shot, unless fighting shotgun
messenger happens to be on the box, in
which case he may get into trouble and
miss the trick The expert professional
never fools with stage on open ground or
a steep down grade. He selects his ground
with care and Judgment, choosing place
where the stage must be driven slowly,
and taking such position that he cannot
be seen until he has the driver covered
with his shotgun. He uses a shotgun
rather than the rife 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, although it
is singular fact that under such circum-
stances a 22-caliber rifle barrel is likely to
be mistaken for the mouth Of the Sutro
tunnel On the line of every old stage
road in California is pointed out some spot
that is favorite stand for robbers 1t is
usually in sharp re-entering angle, where
the horses must be brought down to a
walk, and the rocky bank or a tree affords
a hiding place for the robber. 1t does not
matter if the driver knows that he is liable
to be held up at that spot and is on the alert.