Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-10-09
FIELDS OF ADVENTURE,
THRILLING INCIDENTS. AND DARING
DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA,

A Deputy sheriff, Unknown to Fame
who Broke Up a Gang of Stage Rob
bers In Five Minutes Charged til,
Federal Troops With a Frying Pan
81 was one of four passengers OF,
the eastward-bound stage that left Sill.
YER City, N. NJ, at 5 O'Clock in the af
ternoon," said e. S. Kirkbridge, who
formerly travelled for st. Louis firm
in the Southwestern Territories. "rhe
stage was three-seated blackboard,
with four mules ahead, and besides
the passengers it carried the United
States mail and the overland express
packages. A trip on the overland
through New Mexico in those days-it
was lS77--was apt to prove little
~ SO .~--------- -s..:~ ~ +~~t.~.~s- Al
Apaches always were liable to be ly-
ing in wait for Il stage, and road agents
were unusually Industrious that year.
In fact there seemed to be an epidemic
of stage robbing about this time, for
in the last five weeks the stages had
been held up five times between Silver
City and Mesilla, and the company
was at it's wits end to find how to put
stop to the business. The Sheritfs
of Grant, Dona Ana and Ell Paso Coun-
ties had done their best to trace up
robbers, but, although they felt GER
tain that all the hold-ups were the
work of one gang, led by Tom Nc Cuff,
they could not catch the road agents
red-handed or find sufficient evidence
on which to arrest any of the suspected
men.
"We were talking about these things
on the stage in the first two hours of
the trip. While daylight lasted, as we
spun along in the fresh exhilarating
air, with the mules unravelling eight
or ten miles of the smooth trail every
hour, the ideas of these Hangers we're
interesting rather than unpleasant, for
they seemed far away. But as night
shut down, closing around us, we be-
gan to think of road agents and Apaches
in another light. In the darkness the
mezquite clumps and cactuses took on
queer and uncertain shapes, and seemed
to move with life as we passed them.
We had been pretty talkative, hut now
every man kept his thoughts to him
self, and the only voice raised was that
of the driver as he swore at the mules.
1t was relief the few minutes we
stopped at the 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 next
station at Fort Cummings.
"None of us liked the looks or 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 brim of
his sombrero showed straight, rather
prominent nose, mustnche above
straight, thin lips, and a, a,.resolute jaw.
Without 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 usually are carried. He
climbed into the blackboard at the sta
ton and without word took the front
seat beside the driver. When the
passenger who had occupied that seat
came back and ventured to remon
strate, the stranger gave him one look
which ended the matter, and the pas
senger meekly took rear seat. The
driver evidently did not know the man,
and it was equally clear that he judged
him to be 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.
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 up the reins
tightly in hand and put the mules to
smart pace, and we all felt what re-
lief 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 little for
ward his head was sunk between his
shoulders so that only his hat and
back could be seen from behind.
SWELL, the hold-up came, sure
enough. The mules had slowed their
pace as they took 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 1
saw opposite the off wheel mule man
who had appeared in the darkness; he
wore black cloth mask, and the
shotgun he carried was leveled at
the drivers head.
'"The driver braced back on the
lines enough to check the mules. Fol-
lowing 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 I had
not seen before, fell across the trail in
front of the lead mules. The shots
had come from the strange passenger,
who, with the second crack of the pis-
tol, jumped to the ground, laaped past
the men fallen. in. the roadway, and
dashed into the darkness up the, trail
ahead. In a few seconds more-they
were long seconds to us on the buck
board-there rcng down the canon the
sound of revolver shot, then another,
then three or four almost together.
There came a last single shot, and
then all was silent,
"We got ont of the blackboard rs
soon as the driver could calm the
mules down o little--they were wild
with fear over the shooting and the
robbers in the road-and every man
who carried pistol got it out and felt
brave, or pretended it. At last we
heard footsteps coming toward us down