The Forrest City times., 1894-09-21
'REsT CITY, ARK, FRIDAY AFTERNOON SEPTEMBER 21 1884,

uozen passengers, ana soon forgot the fellow on the inside.
 Coming to bend in the road. where the ascent of the first steep mountain is begun, Bloomer fell into a reflective mood and remarked to the nigh wheel CT that the fellow on the inside might possibly rise to an apprecia- tion O the society of stage driver and his hosses if the muzzle of a double-barreled shotgun should hap pen to appear at the window of the coach"
 Of course Boomer was not really ex- pecting such q surprise for his unso- ciable passenger: so when the shotgun , appeared, with three others. and ac- companied by an order to throw down them ribbons and throw up them hands he was himself so completely surprised that he obeyed without a word of protest.
 If he was surprised at this sudden appearance of road agents, he was really dumfounded at what followed. For five minutes there was rattle of shotguns as if a miniature battle were being fought. When it was all over, two stage robbers were fatally wounded and the other two surren- dered to Sheriff Barney-and the man of straw on the inside was literally shot to pieces. And this is the way it all happened, us Bloomer himself was fond of telling it:
 You see, they didn't put me on Never seen a sheriff yet that thought a stage driver had nerve enough to play out his hand in game like that; an don't know but feller would git a little bit rattled a. wonderin' how he's a-goin to come out at the end O the game. It's purity ticklish bizness to be a-sittin' on stage through the long, dark hours O the night n a-guessin whether yer goin' ter drive back CT ride in box. But the way it all happened was like this:
 You see that kid what stole the handkerchief done that for blind. His ol' woman she put him on. She writes note ter France m tell the kid ter drop it in his pocket m steal his handkerchief, CT anythin' else he could git his hands on, 'n' then kinder loitef : 'roun SOS to git caught. We'll, sir. that ol Black Rosa was corker. She gives the whole snap away in the note, n she tells France ter have the boy put in jail. m that'd he tip for hei that he gets the note. Then she sets 1 up howl n throws the gang off, an havin' bin drinkinl considerable an 1 feelin' a leetle bit skeered that her play wouldn't win, she was knocked clean out--excited-'n' tainted on the dead square.
 'sSo France, wen he gifts the oP wom ans note, he just quietly lets Barney in. m Barney he tells him his system, n 1 they plays it to win. W'n France he goes up to his room, Barney he goes n gifts his team n meets France at the back door n they goes out n lays for the gang. $ only one place on the road where job O stage robbin' could be done n the robbers git away, an Bar ney he knows the place, an that's where they camps m waits for the gang an they gifts 'em dead to rights ''That inside passenger s wat knocked me cold. They puts the stage straw man-w'atye calls a dummy-'n' he loads him into the stage sos to fool me n the road agents both.
 Il reckon Blac,. Rosa didn't know how near she was e-callin' the turn wen she prescribed death for gringos. She didn't git the ones she was after in the fust place, but l reckon the death of her ol man n Pete Johnson suited her notions better, wen she come to size up the job, fer they was both gringos--one was American m t'other Swede.
 They say them Mexicans has al- ways got grudge ag'in somebody, but never remembers kindness; but the way that play was made it looks like ol' Black Rosa didn't fergit John Frances kind words to her wen the miners was a-joshin' her.
 "Yes; perhaps the two silver dollars did have somethin' to do with it = sil- yer was great power n Colorado n them days. Lewis Eddy, in N. Y. Advertiser.