The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-23

bil no ndu pun tn0 money Ill tnO Dunk. u
he might get intoxicated and go to gambling.
Valuables used to be put into all sorts Of
strange places on the Tombstone stages which
the hiehwaymen would not suspect. The treas
ure box has sometimes been filled with blocks
OF stone OF the size OF silver and gold bricks.
while the treasure itself would be wrapped
among the horse blankets and put on the driv-
er's scat. People used to carry their coin and
ereenbacks in several small buckskln sacks
tied across their chests and backs. The cueh-
ions OF the stage coach have carried many n
fortune In greenbacks to and from Tombstone.
the money having been secretly and carefully
sewed In them before the coach started on it's
journey.
The outlaw gang most dreaded by the
drivers and guards on the Tombstone stage
coaches was that Of which jose Aeuilar was the
head. Aguilar was caught along the Rio
Grande in the winter OF 1855 and was
lynched by cattlemen among whom he and his
followers had committed many outrages.
There were seven or eight men in the gang
known as the Sonora hand, from the fact that
they came from the State OF Sonora. Mexico.
ARuilar was a dapper little fellow. about five
feet five inches tall and about 115 pounds
weight. He had an ~uncommonly good educa-
ton. and his mother and rich aunts had pro-
jected a priestly career for him. From his
youth he led his companions into adventurous
and criminal ways. He possessed a zeal to do
big things in the way OF thrilling people with
deeds OF boldness and nerve. He was a muir
derer and hiRhwayman at 81, and. but
for his flight into the San Rita Mountains
across the boundary into Arizona. he would
have been hanged In Mexico for his crime.
Aguilar attacked the Tombstone stage sew
eral times in 1890. and once or twice in January
and February. 1881. Once he and his men got
$500 In silver bullion. an assortment OF
watches. and a half dozen purses and wallets
OF money. Another time. when the guard had
been picked off by a sharpshooter who lay con-
cealed among some mesquite chaparral. the
driver refused to throw of the treasure box.
and while the bandit Was parleying with the
driver a man on the inside OF the coach thrust
a sawed-oh shotgun loaded with buckshot
through the folds OF a leather curtain in the
stage and shot Aguilar's first lieutenant in the
abdomen. The bandit screamed as he toppled
forward to his death. and the three accompany
ing outlaws we're so disconnected for a moment
that they offered no resistance. while tho nervy
driver dashed his horses and drove of down the
grade while bullets whistled about his head.
II was one Of the nine passengers on tho old
red and yellow Tombstone coach on the day the
Sonora gang got fully $1,000 In booty said
James G. Phillips the other day. THE mar
ration OF the incident will show how q stage
robbery was conducted In those days. and
especially how easily a trained gang can
hold up four times their number OF armed and
really nervy mon and rob them as easily as
lambs. We had been riding some twenty-six
hours. and we're going through a sandy cut In
the Santa Inez Mountains. twenty miles east
from Eckert's Springs In southern New Mexi-
co. It was intensely hot weather. In June. 1880.
.~I "a -arn al va1l-ptph axha,aknl h- th>
heat and lack OF sleep. In our party was Col.
Hopkins. who has since been keeper at the
Santa Fe Territorial Penitentiary and as brave
q man as ever lived on the border. There was
also Capt. Wilcox. who was q scout in Gen.
Crooks campaign against the Apaches.
I'VE had joked about what we would do II
the stage were held up. and some Of us had ac-
tually planned how best to use Q pistol and con-
ceal our money II any rash bandits should In
~terfere with US. Several OF us felt too proud
to conceal our personal valuables. because
that is on the frontier quasi confession OF lack
OF nerve. We were just finishing a sort Of
meal from our grips and paper sacks one morn
ing just at dawn. when bangl banel bang!
came three shots.
"Of course. we old-timers in the Territory
knew what It meant. but do you know We were
so completely taken of our guard we thought
only OF how We might keep our valuables by
concealing them. The coach was In q narrow
cut. whore the sand made the travel 80 hard
that the wheels Just turned. A German saloon
keeper from Ell Paso. who was going out to
Tombstone to collect whiskey bills. dropped a
can OF picked CLAIMS from which he was max
ing his breakfast. and said
"'Vell. I'll be TANNED
Then we heard a man call out: Don't
lower your hands. There are eleven OF us. and
every man but me has got a gun sighted at ye.'
That was from the leader OF the gang. Here.
you fellows on the inside. he continued. hist
out OF therel No guns allowed. gentlemen.
Come out on this side and keep your hands up.
Now mind. one move for your guns and you'll
never breathe again
Now. a man would be a fool to try to reach
down under the coach seat for a gun or to pull
one from a holster at such a moment. l guess
every one OF us felt about the same way that I
did. You see. not one OF us knew how many guns
there were out among the boulders aimed
plumb at each OF us and none OF us wanted to
take chances. So out we climbed from the
coach. each OF us with palms up. We had been
caught and 1t would have been suicidal to re-
sist. It makes me smile now to think how we.
with both Of our hands on a level with our ears.
meekly followed in single fle Town out Of the
coach. while the driver stood up on the box
Win MS ndlluS several lnCHeS dUON6 MS neau.
When we got up on the bank above the cut
we saw two masked men not n yard away. I
remember seeing two rife barrels showed out
from among the rocks. about sixty feet away.
straight toward US. Ono OF the men had a
sawed-of double barrelled shotgun. which was
cooked. With that in his hands he kept run
ming his eyes over us from under his mask
The spokesman kept up a running series OF
orders and advice for us.
Island still. there. gentlemen he said.
You. driver. don't move. You're all covered
by dead-sure shots. You'd be - fools to he
killed. wouldn't you. when you can 60 your
wsy by leaving me and my pards a little cash
for grub money
This was all done 80 quickly that my telling
It makes the incident seem long. Giving one
quick glance about him to see whether his en-
posed and concealed comrades were at their
posts. he said:
want your money and diamonds. gentle
men. Don't want no watches. We've a bushel
Of EN- over at camp now. Here, you old chap
referring to Col. Hopkinsl. pull of that dia
mond. Don't fool. Now put your wads and
sparklers in that box pointing to an open cigar
box which had been placed close at hand. and