Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1908-09-30
The eCowardIyGuard

road agents, and I confess felt some
 what nervous. was told by the Wells
 Fargo people that the coach woull Lc
 guarded by one of their men. Di..k
 Steele. whom they considered worth
 1Rslf q dozen ordinary men. This sat
 3shcd me, for from the time l entered
 T9e state l had heard of the brave
 deeds of this same Dick Steele
 When we were about to start and
 Steele was pointed out to me l was
 surprised. He was a little fellow about
 Eve feet five inches, and couldn't
 see Ipow he could terrfy even single
 2,ohber, and there were often several ia
 ..he parties " lio robbed coaches How
 ever, he had all eye which. like his
 -.anle, was steel and cold ing
 steel at that, aHd l put him down fo. Gane of those men in whom nerve takes
 t1e place of muscle
 l made the trip out and back with
 Sseele and there was 10 occasion for she Wells-Fargo man to show his met Gt+. When l left Denver for Cheyenne so take the Union Pacific railroad for the east Steele was again the guard
 This time when we were midway on ouE journey We heard the cry ahead
 Hold up your hands," and the cca Il 2ame to stop \ man came and stood ou one side of the coach, holdin" us all severed With a brace of rcvolvcrs.
 Nhile, two others on the other side oLeneu the stage door, threw down the steps and called to us to aligilt Steele MRS in the middle seat and next person fo ihe open door. We all expected him to. suddenly briste with weaponS and Kill the two men before they knew what hurt them. Instead of Chat ht fumbled out with his hands in the air KS nlnbly as q young fawn
 Seeing that we had no protection FTuIn this raunted hero. we all got out and stood in line while the road aypn;>, relieved us of everything about us of ary value. Evidently they had never ses.n Steele before, for they treated hiln just like the rest of us thought serhaFS Inc might sioop and pull d pa!. h reNolVerS from his boots: but. al 1 Though he had no especial watching hc did not make the slightest move nlent. When tue robbers were through Tltli us they ordered us back into the eelclt and told the driver to move on.
 As soon as we were free from the robberS there was great outburSt against Steele. "You're a pretty guard" "Where did you get your reputation f"r bravcry:" The biggest coward in tie coach.' These were some of the protests that were hurled against the nsan of much reputation Hi, conduct i1x bearing them convinced every one that he was not only not brave, but unusually coWardly. He did not resent a single one of these insulting re proaches. Indeed, he did not seem to hear them, keeping his eye out the window looking at the ground we passed over and watching for some ttllrg
 Q H., <, tltc coach passed around it and behind B clump of trees. Steele flung open the eoach door, jumped out, unstrapped Winchester from under the boot and started back, stepping among some bushes so as not to be seen
 l am not q brave man, but am a . cry curious one. Seized with Il desire to sec the rest of the story for my self, ali@htcd and went aiter the guard. We had gone about half { aiile from the spot where We had been robbed. and Il third of this distance "as q depression in the ground Talk ns position ia tai5 depression. could sec a9 wanted 10 see saw Steele 1 Iedgia-z J long q short diStance ahead 3f fHe, and ahoat the salae distance 1eyond hiH were the robbers diyidin. Inc swae they had taken froa uS Ihen from out q clump of sagtl#j.eh saw puff of smoke, heard the crack of Stcclc's Winchester. and rofber Gell. Before could have counted tive there were a4"!l i,ufr and crack, aal Sliotiltr robber fell The third man mad only time to look wildly #bout him when he, too, went down. {
 Then Steele advanced cautiously. As he approached one of the robbers raiS- esl himself on his elbow and was abou: 1 to fire at Steele when the guard drop ped him, this time for good <; ,ele went to the place where the l ,ies lay, gathered up their spoil, t d and came slowly back. Wleu h. ne l> npNto me I remarked to h ''# 'a had been very lucky to fl ! l.. ne bers engaged, and he replit I'.'. I4,N \ usually divided the plunder "t nee, so that eacfl man could shift for himself 1 without losing his share