The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1908-09-02
STAGE DRIVERS.

Last Sundays oregonian had NJ
extremely interesting article on the
Passing OF the Stage Driver" II
was OF more than passing Interest
TO this community. since two Of our
Knights OF the Ribbons were the sub
jecta Of the Illustrations In the ar,i-
cle--Al Decker and James sampson.
Mr. Sampson 10 the oldest stage driver
In the state. having followed that
calling for over tifty years. In speak.
Ing Of II he said:
No. . stage driver Is no good any
more. There was time when he was
important. He had to know his bus
mess and you bet he was taken care
OF properly because the stage line
needed good men. but now u driver
In lucky II he gets to sleep with the
wheel horssa.
II must admit that the stage driv.
er was more needed In the early days.
The whole business has degeneratcd.
In the olden times We had good stag
-, the stock was well-fed. the har-
ness kept shiny and some pride was
taken In the business. But nov the
lines are being crowded out by the
railroads and the owners do not ex-
pect to have their routes for very
long. % cannot afford to spend much
on keeping them up. People regard
u now ~ a hardship II they must
travel by stage instead OF railroad.
They have forgotten their old friend
the stage driver to meet their new
friends the conductor and the enEin.
Ger. and have relegatcd the stage
coach to the scrap heap In order to
ride on the cushions Of the railway
cars. The way Il is now I would rath-
er do anything else than drive stage
but how can I? Fifty years In the
business has unified me for anything
else and guess ! will hang onto the
job somewhere as long as there In a
line running or step from the box
and lay down the reins To the new
order OF things.
What becomes OF the old drivers?
Oh. don't know. A lot of them die
and the others guess Just give up
and sit down and walt TO die. Why
shouldn't they? The business Is very
nearly done for and once stage driy-
Or. always q stage driver.
The pay used to be better than Il
10 now. or course q man can make
Q living driving q stage as he is paid
= salary and board. but the worst fea-
ture 10 that there IL no discrimins.
tion - the value Of q man. A first
class driver who can be depended up
on 10 take care Of the horses and the
passengers and properly protect the
mall. gets no moro than some green
horn who thinks he can drive"
Mr.. Sampson has on q number OF
occasions In the early days been chas-
ed by Indians and managed to find
shelter In a stage station and time
and again he has been held up by
robbers.
II have never tried TO fight when
held up" said he. 1T Is the height
OF folly for . driver to start any
shooting when the robbers have the
drop on him for II only endangers
the passengers and someone gets kill
ed. The robbers will get you anyway
~ they only have to kill q horse In
order to stop your escape.
II will never forget one time | was
hold up In New Mexico. There was
$4,000 In bullion on the stage and
this was all taken. Old John CHS
holm. the cattle king. was q passen-
Ser. The robbers took all he had with
him In money and also q fine $500
gold watch. This had been present
to him from friends and he valued
Il highly. He offered TO send $500
10 the robbers At any place they
would dssisnats II they would only
return the watch. but he never got
II back. The old cattle man also had
. bottle Of whisky and he rsbsllsd at
swing this up. He insisted that the
ROBBERS taks just one drink and leave
him the rsst and TO this they agreed.
The sold. Of course. was never re.
covered and It was good haul for
the hiShwaymen. ] hayo frequently
carried large sums Of money ON the
stage and In those days when we had
vauablss we generally anticipated
trouble"
NJ. oeWpson has never had any
seriovs accidents. has never caused
the death of n nasaen ssr ma h.. ,.t,