The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-23
4 RO ID AGENT SC.fCYE.
He Was Polite and Managed to Acquire a
 Surplus of &25OOO

From the Detroit Free Press.i
 Joe Quinn was neither terror nor d desperado in the days before the two great railroads crossed the West. He was a gambler-a prospector--a miner -a man who could and did shoot when occasion required, but not one to be warned away by a vigilance commit tee because he was worse than the av- craze. Joe went broke on cards, got cheated out of rich find of silver. and one day left Virginia City to pick up a new occupation. had known him per sonally for two or three years, and from his conversation and general bear ipg I had no doubt that he was well educated and had been brought up as a gentleman. He left Virginia City to blossom out as. road agent, and he had no partner I had the honor or misfortune toIbe passenger in the first stage he tried his hand on. The spot was between Virginia City and Silver City, and the time Il o'clock in the forenoon There were seven men of us besides the driver, and while the four horses were being watered at a creek crossing the road Joe stepped out with a gun in each hand and called for the passengers to descend. l had a seat with the driver. and Joe called me by name as he called me down. It was the first hold up for a year and no one was prepared for it. As fast as we dropped to the road he looked to see that all weapons had been left behind and as we lined up he took position be- tween us and the vehicle. He had a clear mellow voice, and there was nc menace in his speech as he said:
 "Gentlemen, I have failed at gam bling, prospecting and digging. l am now going to try this profession for awhile. want your money. I propose to rob you in a genteel way. Use me like a gentleman and I will respect your feelings in return. MT. Blank here is my friend, but under the circum- stances he will shell out with the rest of you. I will now ask him to intro- duee me to each one of you in rota- tion."
 Joe took from me fourteen $20 gold pieces, and then introduced him to a MT. Bascomb, who happened to stand next to him. They Shook hands and said they were pleased to see each other, and MT. Bascomb handed out s13O in gold. So it went clear down the line, the robber trusting to every mans integrity to hand over his entire poodle. In this instance believe every one of us did, as he got about $500 from the crowd. He did not ask for watches or jewelry, and when some told him he had forgotten the stage driver, who stood holding the leaders by the bits, he laughed and called out:
 How much cash have you got about you, Sam" '~-
 About sso," replied the driver as he produced the coins.
 You are too small pickings, and I know you have wife and child to sup port. Now, gentlemen, I don't want your firearms, and don't believe any of you will be fool enough to fire on me when you get hold of them. Pile into the coach and drive ahead Should you meet with another gentleman in the same profession it will console you to realize that you have no cash to be robbed of." rz ''2' *'1
 A week later, though there were fifty men out looking for him., Gentleman Joe" as we had titled him from the first hold up, stopped another stage on that line. It contained two women and five men, and one of the men was badly crippled with rheumatism. He stopped the horse at turn in the road, tied the leaders to tree with rope provided for the occasion, and was fired upon three times by the passenger on the drivers seat before his work was finished and he approached the vehicle and said:
 Mister man, you are altogether too fresh for this country! Will you beg my pardon or will I shoot the top of your head off?'
 The passenger replied that he would beg, and Joe said 1t was all right. The four men he ordered down but spoke a few words of sympathy to the cripple and gallantly informed the ladies that they need be in no fear whatever, as he did not wage war on their sex. He put the four men on their honor to shell out all their cash, but the aggregate sum proved to be 10 small that his suspicious were aroused. He took s55o from the man who had shot at him and