Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-07-07

| nerve or the guards and their guns
| lay negligently upon their knees sud
denly the concert was brought to an
abrupt halt by the resounding report
| OF a slug loaded shotgun. Down went
| the nigh leader. The other horses
plunged and kicked and the shock
| nearly unseated the driver and mes
senger. Even the highwaymen were
astonIshed at the instant result Of the
| shot and hesitated for the fraction Of
/ a minute and in that time the mes
Senger tlreu. One OF the robbers pry-
ing at the lock of the treasure box
dropped, while the other took to the
brush.
Fourteen times Billy Hodges was
| called to stand" He was the first
victim of the notorious Black Bart,
who began his operations at point
near Reno. Hodges was Gathering
along at a good pace when the robber
| stepped out from behind a rock, point
ing double barreled shotgun at mes
senger and driver"
IF they Shoot" cried Bart, give
| them a solid volley, boys!'
The guards, gazing round and about
| them, saw a dozen rifle barrels peep
| ing out from the bushes and cheer
| fully held UP their hands. Later
| ripple of laughter swept the state
when it was learned that Black Bart
had worked the neateSt of bluffs, the
supposed boys" in the underbrush
| being suggested by the protruding
ends of wooden sticks fashioned to
have the appearance Of genuine fire.
| arms. Again in 1888 Billy Hodges
was held up by Black Bart and his
coach robbed.
Another famed bandit who ex-
changed the courtesies Of the road
with him was Tiburcio Vasquez, a
heartless wretch, who after long
| criminal career was captured and
hanged at San Jose In 1875. Before
the interesting event, however, Vas
quez introduced himself to Hodges by
shooting a hole through his hat.
On the famous Geiger Grade, about
four miles from Virginia City, Billy
faced the rifles of six bandits and the
treasure box was dynamited, the rob-
bers carrying away more than $4,000.
Again he was stopped near Virginia
City. This was In 1865, and in Six
Mile Canyon, below the Gould & Cur
ry mill. The team was forced to stop
by a barricade of old sluice boxes,
which the bandits had placed across
the road. The five desperadoes robbed
all the passengers save one, a pretty
schoolma am.
The notorious John Wheeler and
party undertook to stop Hodges at
Robbers Bend, near the Nevada line.
Whether the Infamous DR.. La Barr
and his wife were with the gang at the
time he does not know. At any rate,
he says, the two were under the COM
mand of Wheeler, the woman often
dressing in mans clothes Hodges
was held up five times in one year
1S82,) each time on the Sonora Mil
tom road in California
BY the beginning Of 1884 he had
saved up considerable money and de-
cided to quit the highway. He had
made money on the side by taking or
ders from ranchers, as did his asso-
ciate drivers. Frequently, he said,
his hat was filled with memoranda,
embracing orders from a case Of rum
to a piece of blue ribbon.
Hodges tells many anecdotes of the
men he has known and associated
with, both famous and notorious
drivers and robbers. He tells of the
time when Horace Greely was making
tour Of the Pacific coast and was
scheduled to make a speech at Pla-
cerville. He went aboard the stage
driven by quaint Hank Monk and as
he stepped in he shouted:
"Mr. Monk, l must deliver lecture
In Placerville tomorrow night. Can
you get me there on timer"
Monk assured him that he could
and started off the team along the old
corduroy" road, paved with small
saplings half buried in clay. Miles
and miles they went, with Monk
whistling merrily and Horace Greely,
the only other passenger humping
about within the rolling coach with
out being able to help himself in the
least. At last the dignified passenger
could stand it no longer. When he
had been thrown for the fortieth time
against the wooden frame Of the coach
door he cried out: Mr.. Monk, don't
you think you are going pretty fast?"
Monk let out a mouthful Of tobacco
juice and giving a sharp crack with
the whip to the leader replied musi-
cally: Keep your seat, Mr.. Greely;
I'll get you there on time" Greely
got there on time as he demanded,
but the lecture was jolted clean out
Of him.
Hodges was associated with the ia
nous twin stage drivers, Curly Dan
and Curly Perry, fearless and careful
men, whose innocent deception Of pas
sengers, owing to their extreme like
ness, was the cause Of great hilarity
1t happened that Dan would start out
with the stage in the early morning
would arrive at the changing station,
where he would give his seat on the
box to his brother, likewise curly
haired and featured The passengers
being asleep, they were not aware of
the exchange, and next morning when
they espied a man whom they thought
to be Curly Dan upon the seat they
| supposed he had been driving with
out sleep since the morning of the
day before. Jerry used to have a
great time convincing the curious pas
sengers, that he was not his brother
but his brothers brother.
When President Grant did a little
staging in the west in 1879 there was
great rivalry among the drivers as to
who should handle the reins in the
coach that took him from PlacerVille
to Virginia City. Billy Hodges got
the honor, which was plum" be-
cause of the additional money in the
job. When they started out Grant
looked at the frisky six horse team
and then at the driver, who looked as
lively and as frisky as his animals.
That's a frisky team and a frisky
driver, but he's got good eye and a
white nose!" exclaimed the president
Grant marvelled at the speed With
which they travelled, and the way
they dashed into Virginia City on
that memorable day just suited the
old warrior He complimented Hodges
on his work with the reins.
Henry c. Ward, better known as
Old Wardy, who graduated from stage
driver to Wells-Fargo gun messenger,
was often on the seat with Billy
Hodges. AS gunman Wardy made a
record. one occasion placing him on a
page OF California history. The stage
was held up and in the battle that
followed Wardy's trigger finger was
shot off his right hand. Bleeding as
he was he sat there without a whim-
per until the robbers had secured
their loot and departed. He knew
the Typography of the country thor
oughly, and after the bandits had dis
appeared around the hill he stopped
the stage and jumping down ran
around to the left Of the hill where
he knew the bandits would come out
on another road to divide their spoil.
He got there opportunely. caught
them red handed and shot them down
In spite of his manned hand.
During the years from 1870 to 1884
Wells Fargo lost. incidental to rob-