The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-28
THE NAN OF THE MINUTE
Modest and Mysterious Until the Moment
to Shoot.

Il was one OF four passengers on the
eastward bound stage that left Siler
City, N. M, at 5 o'clock in the after
noon," said E. S. Kirkbridge, who for
merly travelled for a Saint Louis firm
in the southwestern territories. The
stage vas a three-seated blackboard,
with -four mules ahead, and besides the
passengers it carried the United States
mail and the overland express pack
ages. A trip on the overland through
| New Mexico in those days-it was 1877
was apt to prove a little trying to
a man Of quiet tastes, for the Apaches
| always were liable to be lying in wait
| for the stage, and o agents were un-
usually industrious that year. In act
there seemed to be an epidemic Of stage
robbing o this time, for in the past
five weeks the stages had been held up
five times between Siler City and
Mesilla, and the company was at it's
wits end to find how to put a stop to
the business. The sheriffs of Grant,
Dona, Ana, and Ell Paso counties had
done their best to trace up the robbers,
but, although they fit certain that
f? all the hold-ups were the work of one
| gang, led by Tom McGuff, they could
not catch the road agents red-handed
! or find sufficient evidence on which to
| arres tany of the suspected men.
w were talking about these things
on the stage in the first two hours Of
| the trip. While daylight lasted, as we
spur along in the fresh, exhilarating
| air, with the mules unraveling eight or
ten miles Of the smooth trail every
hour, the idea Of these dangers were
interesting rather THAI unpleasant,
for they seemed far away. But as
night shut down, closing around us, we
began to think Of roa agents and
Apaches in another light. In the dark
ness the mezquite clumps n cactuses
took on queer and uncertain shapes,
| and seemed to move with life as we
| passed them. We had been pretty
talkative, but now every man kept his
| thoughts to himself, and the only voice
! raised was that of the driver as he
swore at the mules. It was a relief the
few minutes We stopped at Apacheho
| station to change mules, and most
| Of us got off the blackboard there
to stretch our legs. Then we were off
again with Cooks canon between us
and the mex station at Fort Cum
mings.
None of us liked the looks OF be-
havior Of the man who got in the stage
at Apacheho. He was of medium
height, strongly built and deliberate Of
movement. So much of his face as
could be seen under the wide SON.
brero showed a straigh, rather promi-
nent nose, a mustache above straight,
thin lips, and a %resolute, jaw. With
u speaking he had the air Of being
master of the situation, and this effect
was helped out by the bulge in his
coat at each hip in the place where
pistols are usually carried. He CHM
ed into the blackboard at the station
and without a word took a front seat
beside the driver. When the passenger
who had occpied hat seat came back
and ventured to demonstrate, the
stranger gave him one ook which
ended the matter, and the passenger
meekly took a rear seat. The driver
evidently did not know the man, and
it was equally clear hat he judged
him to be a person safe to be let alone.
There was very little companionship
or confidence in the company as the
mules bowled us along toward Cooks
canon.
"'Mein Colt, my friend, I like not
the looks Of hat man. whispered a
German Jew from Tucson who sat next
me on the middle seat. This is a bad
country, you know
H expressed the opinion of the pas
sengers generally, all of whom, no
doubt, like myself, had made up their
1l1AO l1dl lax SlAdu6CA pIoOdUly was
a rOad agent, who was varying the
usual methods of his craft by taking
passage on the stage to the point
wher he meant to rob it.
Cooks canon has had the worst
name of all localities in New Mexico
for Indian massacres and robberies
and murders by white outlaws, and
these things were going right on in
1877. The moon had risen when the
blackboard passed into the canon, but
the steep rock walls shut out the light,
! leaving the trail mostly in darkness.
The driver gathered the reins tightly
in hand and put the mules to a smart
pace, and we all felt what a relief it
would be to draw up safe at Fort
Cummings at the other end Of the
canon. The stranger beside the driver
on the front seat seemed to be asleep.
AS he sat leaning a little forward his
head was sunk between his shoulders
so that only his hat and back could
be seen from behind.
well, the holdup came, sure enough.
The mules had slowed their space as
they took a stretch Of steep upgrade.
They were half way to the top when the
call Halt! Hands up everybody came
stern and sudden from Just ahead on
the right. and I saw opposite the off
wheel mule a man who had appeared
in the darkness; he wore a block cloth
mask, and the shotgun he carried was
levelled at the drivers head.
"Mein Colt, we are held up cried
the Jew by my side. as the driver
brought the mules ack On their
launches with a pull al if his saliva
ton depended on it. But before the
Jew had spoken h driver braced
back OF the lines enough to check the
mules. Following the order to halt two
pistol shots rang sharply from the
front seat OF the blackboard, and the
masked robber went backward to the
ground and lay still with his gun fallen
across him, while another man, whom
! had not seen before. fell across the
trail in front Of the lead mules. The
shots had come from the strange pas
aopror who with the second crack If