Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-08-07


| The attention of the loungsrs about
the hotel office was attracted to these
loudly spoken words of John France /;
but they did not hear what he said in
hurried undertone to the sheriff, SO
there was a murmur of indignation
against the man who would seek the
punishment of q child for stealing
a silk handkerchief-and that after II
had been returned.
John France laughed and went to
his room, while the sheriff smiled, as
he always smiled in danger and out,
and led the boy away. The crowd
looked puzzled.
"He had my boy locked up, did
; he !" shrieked Black Rosa when the
details of this little episode were re.
lated to her. The face OF the little
Mexican woman seemed ablaze with
indignation. "He shall pay for this :"
''Senora forgets the two silver
dollarsl' taunted Robber Dan; 81
thought the sonora might feel sorry
| that We had planned to rob this fine
1Americano. But it's all right now
is it. dearest ?" he added mockingly.
''Rob himl Murder him!" yelled
Black Rosa, and she staggered from
her chair az if she would carry out hel
own command, but fell on the floor in
heap.
Dan and his pals lifted the woman
to bed, and the leader remarked
that she would sleep till morning and
be neither help nor hindrance. II
had been known for twenty-four hour
that the money-some ten Thousand
dollars-for the Bull Domingo pay
roll had been received, but, until an.
nounced by Manager France, it wal
not known when that gentleman
would start for the mine.
At twelve o'clock that night foui
men, heavily armed, rode out of Du
range.
| Two hours later the stage followed
them, with one occupant on the inside
and the driver alone on the front boot
1t was lonely ride. Bloomer, the
driver, might as well have been en-
tirely unaccompanied SO far as the in
side occupant Of the coach was con
cerned. But he was used to these
| lonely rides, and when a passenger
preferred to be exclusive it simply ex
hibited to Bloomer the poor taste o.
the passenger. So he talked to hi!
horses. and sang to them, and passed
the lonely hours as comfortably as ii
he had been surrounded ny q naIr-
dozen passengers, and soon forgot the
fellow on the inside.
| -
the ascent of the first steep mountain
is begun, BIoomer fell into arefective
mood, and remarked to the nigh
wheeler that the fellow on the inside
might possibly ttris; 10 an apprecia-
ton O. the society Of stage-drive,
ind his HOSES II the muzzle of I.
touble-harrel shotgun should happen
TO sppear ct the window OF the coach. II
OF course Bloomer WIS not really
expecting such . surprise for his IN
,ocishle passenger; SO when the shot
gun appeared, With three Others, and
accompanied by an order to sethrOv
aovn them ribbons and throw up them
hande, he vas himself so completely y
surprised thst he obeyed without .
kord Of protest
| If he wss .r-pr;r-.1 1T .his --d'e-
appearance Of road-agents, he was
really dumfounded at what followed.
For five minutes there was a rattle OF
!ishotguns, as if miniature battle were
being fought. When it was all over,
two stage-robbers were fatally wound
ed and the other two surrendered to
Sheriff Barney-and the man Of straw
on the inside was literally shot to
pieces. And this is the way 1t all hap
pened, rs Bloomer himself was fond OF
telling it:
"You zee, they didn't put me on.
Never seen a sheriff yet that thought a
stage-driver had nerve enough to play
his hand out in a game like that; an
1 don't know but q feller would git a
leetle bit ratified n-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 a stage through the
long, dark hours O. the night n a.
guessin' whether yer goin' ter drive
back er ride n box. But the way 1t
all happened was like this:
| "You see that kid wat stole the
Handkerchief done that fer blind. His
oil woman she put him on. She writes
la note ter France n tells the kid ter
drap it in his pocket n steal his hand
kercher er anything else he could GIT
his hands on, n then kinder loite,
'roun' SOS to git caught. Well, sir,
that OIL Black Rosa was q corker. She
gives the whole snap away in the note,
n she tells France ter have the boy
put in Jail, n that'd be tip fer hel
that he gets the note. Then she set'
up a howl n throws the gang off, an
hsvin' bin drinkin' considerable n
feelin' leetle bit skeered that hel
play wouldn't win, she was knocked
clean out-excited-'n' tainted on the
dead square.
$50 France, wen he gifts the OF wo
mans note. he just quietly lets Barne!
in, n Barney he tells him his system
m they plays it to win. Wen Franc,
he goes up to his room, Barney he goe
n gifts his team n meets France at th'
back-door, N they goes out n lay
for the gang. g only one place OF
the road where a 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 TO
the gang-an' they gifts 'em dead t.
rights.
''That inside passenger'sw'at knock
ed me cold. They puts the stage
agent onto the play, n he fixes up
straw man-w'at ye calls Q dummy
n he loads him into the stage SOS *
fool me n the rosd-agents both.
81 reckon Black Rosa didn't know
how near she was a-callin' the turf
wen she prescribed death for gringos
She didn't glt tho ones she was afte'
in the fust nlace., hnA.I .I.xaoko1 tn