The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-07-20

"neh lllo stage was rumbllng
+, along through the San Miguel Pass, and
~ seemed tit opportunity for Elkins
TO make another raise of money. Judge.
bennett, now of San Gabriel, Cal, was
one OF the passengers that day, and
he tells Of how the robber worked his
desperate game. *.
We on the inside of the coach had inst
ben talking" says the Judge. "of tho
roober1es that Elkins and his nartner
Wilbur, had made in the TERRITORY. and
the shame that an organized effort was
liot mace TO go and keep after the vii
mans until they were killed, even if It
tcok year, when we heard a rifle crack.
anu man shout to the driver: Come
now STOP those horses, or you'll dron
dead! 5z 1z. ~
l. we were travelling through a rocky
| region among the foothills and each Of
US knew instantly that we were in for a.
!ioAo up tnen and there. Every man Won
dered what his neighbor would do with
his pistol.
/ Ill be damned said big man from
Ie6as' II Ill stand this Internal nom
| sense as he snatched, his big shooting
] IRON from the seat at his SIDE
| Inc driver put on the brakes and the
stage was stopped at once, when we
heard from outside saying:
| Nov, you fellers on the inside get ont
on thls side. The first man that gets out
on the other side will drop dead as a
sheH. Don't be lazy. Now all of you
| 'nroW down your shooters as you file out
o1 the coach, for there's lots of rifle shots
thats got their eyes you and are hid
| ing IN these here rocks to lay YOU out
cold dead If you don't mind what I'm tell
ing you!
Throw up your hands, gents said the
masked robber when we were on the
ground, and our pistols lay there in a pile
BY the side of the coach wheels
| Now, get in line there, quick, and
race this way. Keep your hands above
your heads; don't move; keep your
mouths shut, or you'll know how quick a.
nan can go plumb to hell!
I'VE got in line, facing our commander
| n moment, and none of us could extend
lis hands quite high enough.
Now, you young Teller with the mon
Key whiskers,' said the highwayman, you
lust shell out there where you stand.
| Turn your pockets inside out so me and
! my pards over in the rocks can see that
you're dealing fair. That's right. Now,
while me and my pards keep you in gun
range you search that next man, turn his
pockets out. Keep your hands up high,
| gents, and save trouble. Don't speak
In few minutes that seemed like
ages of an awful silence each man was
searched, and we all stood there in a row,
with our pockets turned out and Tapping
in the morning breeze, our hands a foot
above our heads, and a small pile of wal
| let's, watches little pocket leather and
cloth bags of coin lay at the feet of the
young man of our party, who had been
| compelled to search his companions.
Now, you driver throw your money
box off damned quick while my pards
keep you in range said the chief robber
when we had been searched. There
that's right. Be lively. 1t may cost you
your carcass. Get that ak under the
back seat and chop the box open. Hurry
up. Don't speak and don't get behind
that coach or you'll DROP
The ak was got, the driver chopped open
the box near us, while we stood there
ink =:-t1nileS In front Ul clothing stores.
When the box was split apart and the lit
tie Of money value there happened to be
in the chest on that journey was taken,
the highwayman, all the time keeping his
rifle muzzle slowly moving up and down
our line of silent, nds-uplifte1 men,
said: = q FL.
"'Now, driver, get up on your seat. You
gents get into your coach. Don't lower
your heads and don't let me hear you
peep Driver, lick your horses up fast
and get out of this. III
"'Now, gents said he, as the last of
us had got back into our seats weaponless
and moneyless, you can brag that you've
been held up by a single-handed man in
the profesh. I don't mind telling you
that I'm all alone to-day and that I need
your money awful bad. Tell them Tomb
stone fellers that Dan Elkins has new
trick in his line Of business. E.
1.-The horses were whipped up, and the
last we saw of Dan Ellsins he stood there
on that big boulder keeping his bead still
on US until we turned in the foothil1 road
a mile away. think the rascal must
shave got $1,000 that day. You see, we
did not carry much money on our per-
sons in those days, when there was dam
ger Of highway robbery. Not one of us
in the coach so much as spoke for several
miles, and then we talked of everything
but stage robbing and how easy it is for
lot Of passengers to assert their rights
If they only want to-
It seems strange now that the whole
Territory Of Arizona was not aroused at
the frequent robberies of Elkins and Will
bur and did not turn out in body and
capture or kill the robbers. But in those
days the Tombstone mines had the atten-
ton Of every one in that region. The peo-
pie were too wild with excitement over
the big money there was in mining to
give much attention to- an occasional rob-
berry Of $1,000 or $1,000 Of a stage coach.
Nine out Of ten Of the men were too busy
with their own particular mining schemes
or prospects, which were going to bring
untold riches, to go out chasing bandits
across the burning alkali waste, without
| food and water, to risk the chance Of be-,
Ing shot to RICH. some one else's wrongs.
Besides, nearly all the people who were
robbed by the bandits were rich, and the
big mining companies were the main SUI
ferers, and they occasionally lost only q
very small fraction Of what they were
digging out OF the earth. Even the sher-
ifs themselves did not want to spend any
more time than necessary to chase ban
dts when each of them was watching an
opportunity to become a millionaire at
the diggines.
In the winter of 1880, however, The
reeklessness and bravado of Elkins and
| Wilbur became unbearable, and the more
businesslike people of Arizona began to
see that the stage robberies were hurting
the name Of Arizona and keeping good
people from coming to the territory, SO
that an unusual effort was made to get
the rascals An extra reward for the
capture Of the men was offered, and two
or three detectives from Los Angeles.
Cal, began work. Several half-breel
Apache Indian trailers were hired, and