The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19
THE NAN OF THE MINUTE.
,,odest and Mysterious Until the
Moment to Shoot.
From the New York Sun.


= 4, at o'clock in the afternoon" said
: Kirkbridge, who formerly Travelled
- St. Louis firm in the Southwestern
--i,ories. 1.-THE stage was three-seat-
boo5board. with four mules ahead. and
dos the passengers it carried the
--.ts5 States mail and the overland ex-
%. packages. A trip on the overland
s.,-,vh New Mexico in those days-it was
VAS apt to. prove a little trying to a
., of ouiet tastes, for the Apaches al
90. we're liable TO be wing in wait for the
80 and road agents were. unusually
57strious that year In fact there SEEM
IN he an epidemic of stage robbing
o5ort this time, for in the last five weeks
~ srages had been held up fiVe times be-
tD.esn Silver City and Mesilla, and the
company was at its wits end TO md how
t,nut a stop to the business. The sheriffs
~ Grant bona Ana, and Ell Paso coun-
rs had done their best TO trace up the
others bur, although they felt certain
tbat all the hold-ups were the work of
,ne gang. led by Tom McGuff, they could
MT catch the road agents red-handed or
S,7 sufficient evidence on which to arrest
any Of the suspected men.
1--WE were talking about these things on
tho stage in the first two hours of the trip
y,1ile daylight lasted, as We spun along
in the frseh, exhilayating air, with the
r,ules unraVeling eight or ten miles of
the smooth trail every hour, the idea of
these dangers were interesting rather than
,lrn'easant, for they seemed far away.
Rut as night shut down, closing around
me we BEGAN to think of road agents and
Anaches in aonther light. In the dark
ness the mezquite c.umps and cactuses
took on queer and uncertain shapes, and
seemed 10 move with life as we passed
them. We had been pretty laxative, but
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 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 next station at Fort Cummings.
None of us liked the looks or behavior
of the man who got in the stage at Apa-
cheho. He was of medium hight, strongly
built and deliberate of movement. So much
of his face as could be seen under the wide
brim of his sombrero showed a straight,
rather prominent nose, mustache above
straight thin lips, and 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 usu-
ally are carried. He climbed into the buck
board at the station and without a word
took the front seat beside the driver When
the passenger who had occupied that seat
came back and Ventured to demonstrate,
the stranger gave him one look which end
ed the matter, and the passenger meekly
took a rear seat. The driver evidently did
not know the man, and it was equally
clear that he judged him to be a person
safe to be let alone. There was very little
companionship or confidence in the COM
pany as the mules bowled US along toward
Cooks canon.
Mein Colt, my friend, I like not the
looks of that man. whispered a German
Jew from Tucson who sat next me on the
middle seat This is a bad country, you
know
He expressed the opinion of the pas
sengers generally, all of whom, no doubt,
like myself, had made up their minds that
the stranger probably was a road agent,
who was varying the usual methods of his
craft by taking passage on the stage to
the point where 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 go
ing right on in 1877. The moon had risen
when the blackboard passed into the ca
non 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 be-
side the driver on the front seat seemed to
be asleep. AS he sat leaning a little for
ward his head was sunk between his Shout
ders SO that only his hat and back could
be seen from behind.
"Well, the hold-up came, sure enough.
The mules had slower their pace as they
took stretch of steep upgrade. They
We're half way 10 the top when the call
Halt. Hands up everybody! came stern
and sudden from just ahead on the right,
and ] saw opposite the off wheel mule
man who had appeared in the darkness:
he wore a black cloth mask, and the
shotsIa 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 back on their launches with a pull
as If his salvation depended on it. But
before the Jew had spoken the driver
Draced back on the lines enough to check
Inc 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 /
mad not seen before, fell across the lrail
IN front of the lead mules. The shots hal
come from the strange passenger, who,
with the second crack of the pistol, jump
ed TO the ground, leaped past the men fall
eli In the roadway, and dashed into the
darkness up the trail ahead. In a few
second more-they were long seconds to us
On the oucKboard-there rang down the
canyon the sound OF a revolver shot, then
another, then three or four almost togeth-
e.. There came a last single shot ari
lAen all was silent
We got out of the blackboard as soon
Us the drive could calm the mules down
IUlle-tney We're wild with fear over
Tue shooting end the dead robbers in The
lodd-and every man who carried n pistol
so' 1t out and felt brave, or pretended It,
At last we heard footsteps coming toward
Us DOWN the trail, and the stranger ap
peaIed rom the darkness with two men
.natching before him, one limping alcng
SHl me other supporting his left arm with
ans Llgnt hand as he walked.
.. Rave any OF you gentlemen a gum?
re slran ger asked politely, with a httla
us OF command beneath his suave tone.
~ n3d been fighting remember An,
o o,o. We'll! Win you kindly stand guard
AZ "a Two men while L take a look
,s sle men in the road?
ust 3'audlng guard over the two men, one