Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-07-10

any such disposition of our weapons,
although none of us had them anyway
handy when the time of need for them
came.
THE first intimatiOn that any of US
had that anything was wrong was the
sudden stopping of the stage and the
climbing in of Il man with a pistol in
his hand He said In q tone of COM
mand there was no installing, Throw
up your handsr Eight hands went up
suddenly and without delay. He
crawled into the coach and proceeded
to go through each of us In turn. He
commenced with Nolan. whose pockets
he relieved of all cash and valuables
1 was sitting on the front seat and No
Ian ON the rear one opposite me. He
robbed the two men on the rear seat
first and then commenced with those
on the front one He had finished with
me and was then engaged with the
robbery of the man next to me. This
necessitated the robber turning his
back to Nolan. As he did so Nolan
deftly reached beneath the seat and
drew his pistol. Quick as a fash and
quicker than l could tell how it was
done Nolan shot him through the back.
He must have hit the robber In the
heart, for the latter fell over limp and
died without a word. There were two
robbers. The other had climbed up to
the top of the coach and taken his seat
beside the driver. There was a hole In
the top of the vehicle through which
Nolan had view of his back. He fired
through 1t and wounded him.
1.-THE second robber then jumped
down from the coach. mounted his
horse and rode around the vehicle, firing
twice toward ii and at those inside.
Nolan. seeing that he was endangering
the lives of all inside, pluckily jumped
out and, stopping a short distance at
one side of the coach, took aim deliber-
ately at the second robber and fired,
killing him dead with this shot. Nolan
only fired three shots OF the six in his
pistol. Every one of them told and
produced mortal wounds Two of the
three shots produced instantaneous
death. No one besides Nolan attempt
ed to fire, and to him alone belongs the
credit of killing the two highwaymen.
ut is evident that the robbers were
mere tyros and had never engaged in
such a venture before or If they had
must have dealt with victims whose
wits were lost by fright. If they had
been men of experience I'm their line of
business neither of them would have
entered the stage unless the occupants
had first been forced TO leave 1t, nor
would either of them have mounted
the seat beside the driver unless the
coach had first been vacated by him as
we'll as the passengers. l have never
read or heard of a successful stage
robbery wherein the robbers entered
the coach or got on top of it. In doing
so they both Numbered, and the blum
ders cost them their lives.
"Of course all of us but Nolan were
greatly agitated, and it took us some
time to collect our scattered wits and
articles that had been taken from us
by the robber who entered the coach.
The first thing that we did was TO sat
isfy ourselves that both robbers were
dead. Then we investigated to see il
there were any live companions OF
theirs left. If there were they evident
" vanished. Possibly there were, be-
cause l now remember that we only
secured the horse of one of them. The
horse of the other got away from us,
and it is possible If not probable that
the animal was led away by COM
panion who fed when he saw the other
two had been killed.
81 saw Nolan. who killed them, aft
erward repeatedly, and we spoke fire.
quently of the tragic affair. He told
me that his purpose in placing his PTS
toll under the seat was premedltated.