Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-07-31
STAGE ROBBERY.
One That Was Well and Cleyerly
Planned.
A TlMID MAN In THE STAGE COACH
How Sam Brown Relieved a Driver of ,
Big Box of Gold COMA Nevada
Hold-up.

Speaking of the Nevada desperadoes
in the palmy days of the new mining
camps" said an old Comstock lode
miner to New York Sun man. "did
you ever hear how Sam Brown robbed
the Bodie stage? At least it was laid
to him, though nobody cared to say
very much about it so long as Sam was
alive. After Sam got filled full of
slugs and buokshot from Van Sickles
shotgun and was put away under
ground, Simmons himself said that it
was the long-haired Brown that held
him up. Simmons, you understand,
was the stage driver; everybody in
Nevada knows Simmons. or did at
that time.
ION the morning of the day this
happened the stage pulled out for
Bodie with Simmons on the box and a
box of gold coin under the seat con-
signed to the Standard company. The
owners chose to send it that way rather
than take chances with the express
company. which was getting robbed
pretty frequently about that time.
There was full load of passengers
inside, made up of about the usual
rough kind of crowd that travelled over
Nevada stage lines in those days, but
there was one exception, in the shape
of mild and pious-appearing man.
who gave his fellow passengers to un-
derstand that he was Il Clergyman who
had come out from the east to intro
duce little gospel and morality into
the ungodly community gathered about
the bonanza mines.
IA man of that sort. so innocent and
unsuspioious, was looked on as prize
by the rough-and-ready passengers, and
they had no end of sport with him, fill
ing him up with terrible stories of
killing and stage robberies, and telling
stories and using language that in no
way were proper for clergyman or
any one else to hear. He looked
shocked. but stood it pretty we'll. and
when they made general showup of
their weapons. for his benefit, he seemed
little shaky at first, but afterward
showed considerable interest, and ex-
amined the shooting irons one by one.
asking questions about them and how
they were carried and loaded and fired.
"He was handling with sort of hor-
rified interest No. 40 revolver that a
rough ranchman bad passed to bir',
when the coach stopped while Sim
mons got down to knock a cobble- stone
out of the off leaders, hoof. They were
at the foot of rocky slope, ON which
was a growth of tall, scattered pine
trees.
"How do you use this weapon when
you wish to kill anything?' he asked.
hesitatingly. holding the pistol timidly
at arms length.
why, you just take aim and pull
the trigger, said the ranchman, wink
ing to the others. Let's see you bring
that squirrel down from the limb over
head. Look out and fire ahead of you
or you'll hit some of Us.
1.-THE pious man raised the pistol
gingerly. with the air of bracing to a
serious situation, without seeming to
take aim, and shut his eyes and fired.
Down tumbled the squirrel to the
ground, with its head shot clean Off
If you'd aimed at that ERE
squirrel with your eyes open, you
wouldn't "a hit him, said passenger
from Missouri, with loud haw-haw
at his own wit. The whole party
laughed and had great fun pretending
to compliment the clergyman over his
remarkable shot.
1.-THE day wore on to evening and
from the twilight of the valley the
stage passed into the deeper duskiness
of canyon. The conversation some
how had fallen again upon the subject
of firearms and all of the four pistols
in the coach happened to be in the
clergyman hands or within his reach,
just as somebody out in the road ahead
hailed the driver. The stage stopped
and at the same instant the clergyman
pushed open the door, scooped in all
the firearms, stepped to the ground. and
turned with a pistol in each hand
cooked and presented at the passengers
who attempted to follow him.
''Will you oblige me, gentlemen,
he said, in very polite but decided
tone, by staying quietly in your seats
You at the windows please hold you
hands outside; you'll find it quite
comfortable to rest your elbows on th'
casing. Now all stay just as you arr
and there'll be no unpleasantness
We want nothing of you but to keel
still.
"There was not firearm left on tn
inside of the coach-it might hav
made no difference had they all beel
there-so the passengers kept quiet ant
listened to what was going on outside
Sam Brown, thinly masked by
: black veil, and in no way disguised a
to his voice, was holding a converse
1 IL IL. L. ~, xs.acI fr.n1-