The copper era and Morenci leader., 1912-12-20
DEPUTY SHERIFF Is IMPLICATED IN
 HOLD-UP
New Mexico Deputy is Placed Under Arrest at MogolIon Charged By Federal Officers With "Fram-
 ing Up" Stage Robbery.

A telegram to the El Paso Herald from Silver City dated Dec 18th, says:
 The stage coach between this place and Mogollon, containing United States mail and a sack of money for miners pay, was held up and robbed last night by three highwaymen.
 Federal officers however, had re- ceived information that the hold-up was to be perpetrated and were on the scene at the time. The three Silver City by federal inspectors, Ralph Smith, of Denver and Patrick Moran, of Santa Fe.'
 News of the stage "hold-up' which was to have taken place between Sil- yer City and Mogollon, have been re- ceived in Clifton.
 According to the stories brought to Clifton on Friday, by parties who were present in Mogollon at the time the arrests were made, a constable and deputy sheriff at Mogollon, a man named Jim Harris, about fifty-five years of age, is alleged to have been implicated in the af' dr and was placed under arrest.
 Government officials say they receiy ed a tip from the stage driver, who drives between Silver City and Mo- gollon, that the stage was supposed to be held up on the night of the 18th. The stage usually carries a consign- ment of money to the merchants at Mogollon which is used to cash checks of the miners on pay day. According to the story told by the driver three men were implicated in the hold-up. A man called ed"Whitey''who is a black smith and postmaster at Glendale, a small postoffice about fifteen miles south of Mogollon; Dick" Higgins, a half breed Mexican, who runs a store at Glendale, and Jim Harris, the deputy sheriff at Mogollon. the driver a trap was laid.
 The driver has made a statement to the effect that he was approached with the proposition to permit hold- up of the stage to be pulled off There were to be two hold-ups. One on the night of the 18th and the second on the night of the 18th. For failure to offer resistance the stage driver was to receive one thousand dollars for the first job and $500 for the sec ond hold-up.
 The driver according to his story, fell in with the plans of the three men, but later became suspicious He was afraid that on the second night the would kill him, so he decided to make a clean breast of the business to the Sheriff at Silver City which he did. Federal officers were notified and with the cooperation of the driver a trpa was laid.
 Instead of ''Whitey' and Higgins holding up the stage as planned, they are alleged to have extracted the registered packages from the mail pouch at Glendale and ordered the driver to go on and when he had reach ed point about half way to Mogollon to take the sack in the brush and cut it open, throw it away, and report that he had been held up upon his arrival in Mogollon. This the driver did, according to instructions. The place where the hold-up was to have taken place was surrounded by officers. When the highwaymen failed to make their appearance the officers divided. Officers Forndof and Jim Blair pro- ceeded to Mogollon where they placed Jim Harris, Deputy Sheriff and Con- stable, under arrest. In the mean time Sheriff McGrath and deputies re- turned to Glendale and arrested the man known as ''Whitey" and Higgins.
 The mail pouch contained bogus money packages. These were dis covered hidden in an ash pile not far from the postoffice. The disclosures made by the stage driver created a big sensation in that section.