Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-03-18
LONE BANDITS NERVE.
Held Up the Coaches And Stole
$4,000.

The Wylie stage coach of the Wylie
Tourist & Outing company wound its
way slowly upward toward the summit
of the high divide that lies between
the Old Faithful Inn and Lake Yellow
stone, in the far-famed Yellowstone
Park $. p. Gaskin of Orlando, Fla,
turned to the driver for the purpose of
asking some trifling question in regard
to the innumerable points of interest
that were in evidence upon every hand.
The question was destined to remain
unspoken, for even as the words trem-
bled upon Mr.. Gaskins lips the driver
slammed the heavy brake forward to
the last notch, at the same time swing
ing back upon the lines of his four
horse team with suddenness which
stopped the coach abruptly, causing the
eight passengers it contained to per-
form various acrobatic feats in their
efforts to regain their equilibrium.
The cause of the sudden halt was the
wholly unexpected appearance in the
road ahead of a masked man, who,
gazing over the long, blue tubes of
couple of very business-like revolvers,
shouted sternly, Stand and deliver"
The holdup occurred about five
miles from the Upper Geyser basin on
the morning of Aug. "a, 1908, at lone
ly spot along the banks of Spring
creek tributary of the Firehole river,
where the road narrowS suddenly, be-
ing bounded on one side by a high
cliff and on the other by deep Sulch
The coach on which Mr.. GaSkin rode
was the first of a long string, for the
tourist season was at its height. 1t
had just wheeled round a sharp turn
which occurs at this spot when the in
cident befell.
Staring in amazement at the strang-
er, the passengers saw that ne was a
roughly dressed fellow, with a BAN
danna handkerchief covering his face
below his eyes.
Stepping briskly up beside the
horses, he ordered the tourists to
Climb down and shell out" COM
mand that was promptly complied
with.
The halt was made, Mr.. Gaskin
says, so that the front wheel of the
coach just touched small log which
was fastened across the road. This
stopped the coach in such a manner
that the rear wheels of the vehicle were
hidden by the rock point round which
it had just turned.
The driver and passengers, as they
descended stepped down out Of sight
of the following coaches, the occupants
of which as they saw them prepare to
alight. would merely think that an on
binary stop had been made to view the
wonderful scenery.
Mr. Gaskin describes what happened
as follows:
was ordered to come cut and hold
Il sack which the bandit had Slung over
his arm tn contain the plumber h" col
lectcd from his victims. The first man
ed contribution was my stepfather, Mr.
Drew. He lost $50 in cash i'm the deal.
Thereafter the fun" from the bri-
yamd'S point of view. grew fast and flu
rinuS. do not think that ii took
more than three minutes for the pill
Laying Of each coacn from the time it
was halted until it was sent on its
way. Each driver was warned under
penalty of death not t. start his team
until h" was told. The solitary BAN
dts language was piCturesqu" in the
extreme. and h" kept up IL running fire
Of quaint and characteristic remarks
that would have been highly amusing
under any other circumstances.
As the third coach came up and the
aStoniSncd and frightened passengers