The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-10-03

barreled shotgun should happen to appear
at the window Of the coach"
OF course Bloomer was not really ex-
pecting such a surprise for his unsociable
passenger; so when the shotgun appeared,
with three others. and accompanied 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 APP
pearance of road agents, he was really
dumbfounded at what followed For five
minutes there was a rattle Of shotguns as
if miniature battle was being fought.
When it was all over, two stage robbers
were fatally wounded and the other two
surrendered to Sheriff Barney-and the
man Of straw the inside was literally
shot to pieces. And this is the way it all
happened, as Bloomer himself was fond of
telling it:
You see, they didn't put me on. Never
seen sheriff yet that thought a stage
driver had nerve enough to play out his
hand in game like that; an l don't know
but Teller would git leetle bit ratified
a-wonderin' how he's agon' to come out
at the end O. the game. It's purity ticklish
bizness to be a-sitting on a stage through
the long, dark hours O. the night m
a-guessin whether yer goin' ter drive back
er ride n a box. But the way it all hap
pened was like this:
y on see, lNdL klQ what stole the NdnQ-
kerchef done that fer blind. His OF
woman she put him on. She writes a note
ter France n tells the kid ter drop it
in his pocket m steal his handkerchief, er
anythin' else he could git his hands on, n
then kinder loiter round SOS to git
caught. Well, sir, that OF Black Rosa was
a corker. She gives the whole snap away in
the note, m she tells France ter have the
boy put in Jail, m that'd be a tip fer her
that he gets the note. Then she sets up a
howl m throws the gang off, an havin
bin drinkin' considerable an feeln' a leetle
bit skeered that her play wouldn't win, she
was knocked clean out-eXcited-'n tainted
on the dead square.
$50 France we'en he gifts the OF woman's
| note, he just quietly lets Barney in. n
Barney he tells him his system, m they
| plays it to win. W'n France he goes w
| to his room Barney he goes m gets his
| team m meets France at the back door
n they goes out m lays for the gang
| s only one place on the road where 9
| job O stage robbin' could be done n the
| robbers git away, an Barney he knows
| the place, an that's where they camps n
waits for the gang-an' they gifts 'em deac
| to rights.
THAT inside passenger S what knocked
| me cold. They puts the stage agent onto
| the play, m he fixes up a straw man
wat ye calls a dummy-'n' he loads hin
| into the stage SOS to fool me n the roae
| agents both.
| Il reckon Black Rosa didn't know how
near she was a-callin' the turn Wen she
prescribes death for gringos She didn't
| git the ones she was after in the fus1
| place, but I reckon the death of her oil
| man N Pete johnson suited her notions
| better, wen she come to size up the JOB
| fer they was both gringos-one was Ameri-
| can n tother a Swede
They say them Mexicans has always got
| a grudge agn somebody but never remem-
| bers kindness; but the way that play was
| made it looks like OF 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-silver was a
great power m Colorado n them days"