La Junta tribune., 1898-10-29

the Walla walla division the country Is all
settled up and changed, hut you couldn't
fool old Hank on the rivers and noun
tains l drove once alone from Waiia
Walla to The Dalles, 240 miles, In about
is hours Them river Injins up In that
country was bad too-cowardly cusscs,
sneak m crawlin. shootin from l,ishcs and
won't give you anything like fair
fight as the Injins east of the Rockies
Tho way of that drive WAS this: had just
got In off my 20 mile run, washed up. had
my supper. dressed anu was startin for
dance down In The Bottoms when met
the Wells Fargo office agent comm arushin
up the street.
Hank. no says, Il was huntin youl
We're In devil of n fix We've got nearly
$40 200 In gold bullion just come In that's
due in The Dalles by tomorrow night at
the close Of business hours or one OF our
best shippers stands to lose lot Of money
already paid on "a mine 1t ought to have
been down yesterday. but our down stage
throwed u wheel and missed the regular
connection for The Dallcs I've been to
the stage Office. but Haworth says for mo
to see you. What can you doS'
(" Get the bullion TO The Dallcs by noon
tomorrow.
But it's 24O mile
Nobody knows that better than I do,
Mr.. Price. but you get your bullion ready
and in half an hour send 1t down to tho
stage stab es in wagon. And i went
on down the street The superintendent
was still at the stables
Did you see Price. Hank?
Yes, sir. l says.
Can you make its
Sure thingr | says.
IAN right Pick your teams.
"I had the stock tenders hook up six
horses that picked out, then went to the
boardin house changed my clothes and
went back to the stables with two two gal
lon demijohns of whisky Price was there
with the bullion. 1t weighed Just l04
pounds had em put It in the bottom OF
the stage and throw II lot OF sacked feed In
on top of II. then climbed up to the seat
Three or four shotgun messengers started
to foller me, and l said: Hold up. gentle
men; one man. II enough on this trip. The
only trouble that I'm likely to run into
that can't handle myself Is at Willow
Springs, where there's always u crowd Of
r.stlers One man may get through all
right, but II they re lookin for trouble or
suspicion anything you icllers wouldnt
last as long ms n snowba in hi You'd
only be nn advertisement for trouble ]
had my way and drove off with tho bul'
lion. feed and four gallons of whisky and
knowcd that II passed Willow Springs
al TlREU l Il tHhhc ~ Hc "u'
the toughest place on the road. and when
ever there was IA holdup WE could bank ON
1t being by some OF that Willow Springs
gang made up as II was OF cattle rnstlers.
hoss thieves road agents and nll around
bad men Haworth hau give mo u pointer
that he thought the gang was lookin for
the bullion. and the last thing he said
WAS: Now Hank. look out for your team
and yourself Let the express go II It
comes to n show down.
i got to the Springs long In the night
Toward mornin l was hittin the trail
mighty fast, l tell you knowed they
be u gang there, for ut the last station
passed they told me that the regular had
been held up the mornin before 81 long
bciore I got tD the station ] coininehc.si
whoopin ard yeilin and singn ils loud as
could and sure enough when rolled mp
there was about 2D of the toughest lookin
fcIiers you ever saw. all heeied and didn
look like they had been to bed Lord
wasn't / drunk WhHe' Most OF en-
knowed me, and the antics lcut niatie en-
laugh was too drunk to pay any atten
tion to the station keeper or the stock
tenders. but grabbed one Of the deini
Johns, and yeIlin tor the boys to come on
staggered into the house poured about
half u pint Uf good. strong whisky into
each one of them fellers. and in my drunk
en- way managed to tell EN- that ! was
takin the coach down to replnce an old one
ON the south end and had load OF food
for the way stations.
II told the station keeper that five OF
the sacks OF grain on top was for him and
for him to have 1t taken out Then sang
another drunken song and staggered out
to the coach Tor the other demiJohn !
reclcd up to the coach. where the station
keeper was takin out the grain. and spoke
quick and low I'm runnin extry to The
Dalles with bullion Have the tenders
change my team for the freshest and best
you've gOt-quick. man
".oh. I'm jolly stage driver
Stay with it. boys Here's moro And
staggered buck with the other demijohn
Well, sir, in 10 minutes had that gang
fixed-plenty What wasn't on the floor
or the ground outside was n-tryin to fight
over the balance Of the whisky saw my
team was hiiched up md innde runnin
Jump for the front boot, grabbed the lines,
and how l did cut loose from there
Whoopi Well. l eat my dinner in The
Dalles and got mighty we'll paid for that
trip The Willow Springs gang held up
the regular that follered me the next day
They was dead on that the bullion was
due all right
-.Comin back struck q wagon train of
10 families, and they was in trouble The
cussed Injins had made rush and STAN
peded some Of their hosses. You could see
the Injins five or six OF EN-, a-drivin the
hoeses across the valley two or three miles
away The women and children In the
train were cryin and yellin. purity nigh
scared to death The men was scared.
too, and didn't know how they was goin
to pull out I wasn't on schedule time, so
took out a leader, tied the others up, grab
bed my Henry of the seat and yelled for
IRE men to come on. The Injins was
! headin for a mountain, but I xnowed the
country too well to believe they was goin
there, 80 rode to head ON OF below. My
thoroughbred was too fast for the others,
and Was soon in range I cut loose and
unloaded two ponies, and the other Injins