The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-08-24

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 command of John Wheeler, the
woman often dressing in mems
clothes. Hodges was held up five
times in one year (1SS2,) each time
on the Sonora Milton road in Cali
fornia.
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
orders 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 Greedy was max
ing a tour of the Pacific coast and
was scheduled to make speech at
Placerville. He went aboard the
stage driven by quaint Hank Monk
and as he stepped in he shouted:
"Mr. Monk, I must deliver a lee
ture in Placerville tomorrow night.
Can you get me there on time?"
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
Greedy, the only other passenger
humping about within the rolling
coach without being able to help him
self in the least. At last the digni-
fed 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 mouthful Of tobacco
juice and giving a sharp crack with
the whip to the leader replied musi-
cally: "Keep your seat Mr.. Greedy;
I'll get you there on time" Greedy
got there on time as he demanded,
but the lecture was jolted clean out
of him.
Hodges was associated with the
famous twin stage drivers, Curly
Dan and Curly Perry, fearless and
careful men, whose innocent decep-
ton of passengers, owing to their ex-
treme likeness, was the cause of
great hilarity. It happened that Dan
would start out with the stage in the
early morning from Placerville and
at midnight would arrive at the
changing station, where he would
give his seat on the box to his broth
er, likewise curly haired and featur-
ed. 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 without sleep since
the morning of the day before. Perry
used to have a great time convincing
the curious passengers, that he was
not his brother, but his brothers
brother.
When President Grant did 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 a 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 suiteds the
old warrior. He complimented Hodges