The Sentinel=record., 1915-04-04
OLD STAGE DRIVER
 WITH IOl PIONEERS
TRAVELLED ACROSS COUNTRY AS SMALL BOY WITH BULL TEAM
 AND PRAIRIE SCHOONER.
Became Stage Coach Driver and Fig ured in Many of the Holdups That Were Common in Early History of the Country

One Of the picturesque figures of the TOT Ranch Wild West show. which exhibits in Hot Springs next saur. day, April l0 is 'Rocbv Mountain Hank Walker, the veteran. long haired stage driver Hank as he is familiarly known. is true figure Of the old west of the day of Indian massacres, bad men who toted three guns, horse thieves and stage hOldups in narrow mountain paths He is one of the pioneers of the great country lying beyond the Mississippi having been born in 1850 in Missouri. then wild territory of which little was known.
 Hank, who was the oldest son. and his father tried to join the army at the outbreak of the civil war. but lack of physical fitness. the father be- ing cripple and the son too young. prevented them So they stdid and worked their little farm until Price and his raiders swept through the country burning destroying and de-. vastating Their homestead was in the path of destruction and when nothing remained but blackened em- bers the elder Walker and his five sons emigrated 10 the Kansas country. That was in 1864, when Hank was stin in his teens
 team of bulls and an old prairie schooner was the outfit and few blankets were the furnishings of the outdoor home During the journey the constant rumors Of Indians kept the little party on its guard for al. tacks and several slight brushes with the savages convinced them of the truth of the rumors However. no harm was done to the pilgrims and they reached the promised land in safety Then Hanks lfa. Of which his present existence is an ech0iug portrayal, began
 In a short time the father and four brothers went back 10 their Mis- scuri home, but hand said He liked the country and promise Of ad- venture The stage lines were nov. city that were just being introduced. and the demand for drivers was great CT than the supply The promise of life of adventure and thrills was too much for Hank, and he jumped at the chance to take one of the jobs;
 His first trip was between Atcha son and Denver. in 1870, in the ide,,n tical coach he drives in the hoi,,.,r scenes oi the show. The routeaoi,, through the widest country i. tn able, infested with wild anima frit,l dians and outlaws. On thes rho trip a lone man held two gu,o forco5 young drivers head, while tbo r,so him 10 apply the matcl tly box
 which blew open the mon .n,nro arto.
 He drove for two years h, .I.nna the first holdup before anothe. onIy Jack appeared on the horizon ~ this time there were two HanR whipped up his horses at the com. mand to stop, and to this day carries a bullet hole in his right arm for his temerity. Another passenger was shot and killed. and when the near. est station was reached Hank joined the posse which went ont after the highwaymen and had the pleasure or seeing the two dangling at ropes ends before two days
 He then applied for a job on the pony express, running between Wich. tta and old Las Vegas, N. M., on the old New Mexico trail Several h. dian fights occurred on this run and once the intrepid driver was captured and forced to accompany the savages 100 miles with the prospect of torture stake before his opportunity to es- cape came
 One night when the camp was asleep, Hank throttled the lone sen- tnel and escaped, wandering twelve days before, fatlgued and nearly dead, he was dragged in from the out skirts of Las Vegas and recuperated in an improvised hospital
 When he was able to get out he re- sumed his place at the reins.
 On July 1, 1874, a memorable occa- sion for the old plainsman, he wit. messed the Pat Hennessy massacre, for which nearly 200 Indians were hanged and imprisoned later on. The massacre took place few miles