The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-10-03

omins Charlie Met His Death Through
tho Pluck of Woman.
"A stage with six passengers m It held
up by one man, and the paper says they
were pack Of cowards," said the man in
the seat ahead as he turned himself round
well, let me tell you there's another
side to IT, I've been right on deck on sew
eral occasions when holdup didn't work
worth cent. The papers never seem to
get hold Of the other side though"
Let's go and have q cigar and talk about
road agents. II you have been held up
give lis the particulars"
Eyes, I've been held up" he said as ",
got seated In the smoker. my first ex
perience Was about l2 miles from Tuscaro
ra, New. There were seven men in tn
coach, and every one of us had shootint
irons and sand enough to use them. W,
were stopped just where we didn't expect
it, and that was the trouble.
Before we knew what was up fellow
had us covered with two revolvers. ]
wasn't his guns that made us take waite
SO much MS his general demeanor Yo
had only to glance at him to realize that b,
was devil and held human life us chen,
as dirt. He could keep all OF us covered
but we had no show at him. If one of u
had fired and missed, he'd have downe
the whole crowd before he stopped shoe,
ing l believe that any one of us il alon
In the stage would have pulled down 0,
him, but as 1t was each one feared
draw his vengeance on the rest He too.
watches, rings and money to the value @
5000 from our crowd. He had us stucl
up for half an hour, and there wasn't !
second in TINT time he didn't have his ey
OH every man and hold himself ready for {
shot. That chap stopped over do2e
stages before he got his dose"
And you spoke of several failures"
Eyes, l have witnessed several. OF a
the road agents in the west for the last
years not more than five or six had IN
business to take TO that line. The otheI
were chumps and failures. Why, "
been from Cheyenne north when we'd pas
three or four dead bodies in day-corps,.
of chumps who'd tried to make holdul
and got left. One day, about 10 mile
south OF the Platte, when there were five
us in the stage, fellow jumped out ant
yelled his yell Every man in the stag,
knew he was a galoot by his antics and th,
trembling of his voice, and we wercn'ta Bit
surprised when the driver out with his gun
and dropped him without checking tn,
gait Of his horses"
Then man has got to be n good one te
make successful holdupi" asked.
There's where you hit hard pan, /" he an
swered. "There may be towards travelling
around ont west, but never met any. The
idea that five or six well heeled men are
going to submit to being cleaned out b,
one If there's show to stop him is all bosh
It's all in the man and his way of doing
business. II he's got n voice with sort ot
laugh to it; If he's got gun in either hand
and keeps 'em moving about like the head.
of snakes travelling through the grass; Il
his eyes seem to be looking right through
you and watching everybody else at tn,
same time, don't make fool of yourself"
You mean give up your boodles"
Exactly and don't be too long about It
either, for those chaps are always in l.
hurry. These newspaper men seem to i'm
agine that the passengers in coach sit
with revolvers in their hands throughout
the trip. Their guns are right down. in thei,
hind pockets, of course. Give lem five miu
utes to get ready and they'd clear the road
but they don't have five seconds When
you get the hail, you know you're covered
Ouly one mantle one next to the door
could do any shooting anyhow, and he'C
be more apt to miss than to hit. What
then? Why, the robber would turn loose
and kill or cripple everybody inside quick
erin you could count.
You have probably noticed a limp in my
gait? That comes from u bullet got IL
my left knee when the Dendwood stage wa.
held up by Wyoming Charlie 1t was ii
the afternoon, and there were six of us. A
tenderfoot had the seat by the window.
and he thought he'd show his sand BY
opening fire with his pop. The robbei
wasn't Is feet away, and the idiot had thre,
shots at him without touch. The shoot
ing made him mad, and he began firing
right and left into the stage. He killeu
two men and wounded the other four, an,
all of us were robbed besides. The tender.
foot was one of the killed, and can't say !
was ever sorry about it,"
VI think | remember reading that Wyo
ming Charlie was killed while holding III
stage somewhere out west"
Yes, down near Plum creek, In Ne
braska and it was curious how it can't
about There were seven passengers, an,
one OF 'em WAS a woman-the wife of cat
tleman. She was with the driver, on ton
Charlie took the outfit at a turn in TIT
road and made complete surprise, Ii,
got the men out and in line, and when his
back was turned the woman fired at him
with derringer.
Her bullet passed through his hat, and
as he wheeled about to see what was going
on one of his own guns was accidentally
discharged, and the ball entered his groin.
saw him Mt Plum creek before he died
He was tough looking customer, and even
in dying he boosted Of the number of men
he had killed. forget his figures, but ev
erybody was willing to believe he had killed
a full dozen. He'd been robbing for year
or SO and had several thousand dollars
planted somewhere along the Niobrarh
river.
IF he had any relatives, he didn't care
for 'em, and When he found he was goin
over the creel he tells the woman who sbo
at him wher, he had cached his plumb,
and just how to find it. l had this rigL
from her own lips, and l know that hei
hlIG lnnn nffarNpurfl I,,