The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-11-29

tifne an anguish OF spirit 70 an industrious
and palnstaking rObber.
hhen rooberies were the rule aud safe
trips exceptions in California. the exnress
companies invented the dummy box and
worried 1t OF frequently on the enterpris
ing agent, but tue joke didn't last long
Inc agent acquired the habit Of bursting
Tue oox In the presence Of the driver and
tnen profanely requesting him to hand ont
tue other box, and no banked fooishuess.
AS the drivers weren't hired to shoot thew
discouraged the use Of the dummy box. aid
it was abandoned by all well regulated
mes, although 1t was worked in OCCASION
any on some amateur robbsr. When Bud
fnllpot was driving the Lakeport stage q
roooer held him up, and Budd tossed out an
empty box belonging to the Great Western
niue ana drove along with the Wells
Fargo's box safely slowed under his feet
Inc scheme Of building an iron box into
the body Of the coach worked for a time.
put the road agents beat that game by send
lug the passengers along the road afoot
aud breaking into the box at their leisure
with cold chisels. As they usually cons
Guided the evenings entertainment by set
ting fire TO the coach and burning I'D 81 600
worth OF the company's property, besides
running away with the horses, the stage
men concluded that the iron box scheme
didn't pay.
Going through the mail sacks used to be a
tedious job for a road agent, and it didn't
otten pay for the time wasted. Besides, it
doubled the number of pursuers by setting
ali the United States marshals on the hunt
Ior the robbcr, and when caught it landed
him In the United States court and insured
heavy sentence. Nevertheless, q great
deal of money is sent by mail. and for the
convenience of road agents and other thieves
who may desire to take the chance of being
caught, Uncle Sam invented the registered
letter and its special pouch.
No other reason for the invention of the
registered-letter system can be imagined.
"A registered letter is not insured, and
Uncle Sam will not pay for 1t If it is lost or
stolen. The registered mail is put into a
little pouch, which is put inside Of the ordi-
nary mail sack. When the road agent gets
hold of mailsack he rips it open, either by
running his knife around the sack near the
bottom, or by making two slashes criss cross
on one side o. the sack. Thanks to Uncle
Sans kind consideration and foresight he
isn't obliged to ransack a thousand letters.
but finds all the valuable mail sorted out
and easily done up in an easily portable
pouch, which he takes along to open at his
leisure in the brush.
OF all the devices and inventions for the
protection of treasure and the circumven-
ton OF the road agent, the only one that has
stood the test of time and experience is "A
big, ugly tempered man with a sawed-off
shotgun on the box. OF course, when the
other fellow has the drop shotgun is of no
more use that piece of lead pipe; but the
lone road agent can't watch lot Of passen-
gers and a driver, and at the same time
keep the drop on a man who has been hired
to shoot him full of holes and only wants
half chance to do it. If the robber gets
the drop on the messenger and keeps it, and
cantents himself with ordering the driver
to throw out the box. he may win; but it is
the business of the man with the sawed-otP
shotgun not to let him get the drop, but to
blaze away as soon as he shows up.
The gun is sawed off for the greater con-
venience of the messenger in potting road
agents. 1t is loaded with buckshot, and
scatters like charge of bribery fired into
a California legislature. The length of the
gun is such thai when the muzze rests upon
the footboard the locks are level with the
messengers knee, and he can swing it into
position very readily. II he gets it pointed
anywhere near the robber some of the buck
shot are sure to hit
An old Nevada drivers modification of
the messengers gun was a sip gle barreled
shotgun, worn in his right boot, the muzzle
pr6truding through the bottom near the
heel. When "held up" he stuck out his leg
toward the robber, as if he were feeling for
the brake, and pulled the trigger. Only
one hand was required to work the gun,
and the effect was something in the line OF
painful surprise.