The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-07-21

to die out the stage men were met
with new enemies who proved
equally dangerous. These were the
highwaymen who infested the over
land mail route during its latter
days. Most of these valued human
life not at all, and many stage
drivers and passengers were killed
in holdups. On the Bitter Creek
division, between Denver and Salt
Lake, stage was held up and rob-
bed of $4,000. Once the coach in
which Ben Holiday was riding
was held up. Holiday had few
hundred dollars in his pockets and
$40,0 900 in money belt, besides an
emerald pin in his necktie that was
valued at 5000. He managed to
save the $4,000 and the pin, and
lost only some $500.
Completion Of Union Pacific in
1869 Ends Overland Stage Service
The completion of the Union Pa
cific line on May 10, 1869, ended
the overland stage service and one
OF the most picturesque periods of
western frontier history. Many
tributes have been paid to the old
stage coach. The following APP
peared in the Atchison Champion
quarter of century after the
overland route had closed to stag
ing:
The old stage coach has ended
its career-made its last trip. Here
and there what remains of it stands
beneath the rickety shed of some
wayside inn. a relic of bygone days
- weather-worn. storm battered,
rusty and abandoned. Its leather
springs are cracked and broken, its
doors gone, its sides and back
smashed in, its boot the refuge of
rats and bats; its wheels bent, its
axle-trees twisted-a poor forlorn
remnant of its former proud and
glorious self. Ghosts of buried
past now hide in it. Shades of the
occupants it carried once have en-
wrapped it. Spectral forms of the
road agents who once surrounded
it to rifle the contents of its boot
now troop around it when nightly
shadows enfold it.
"The old brake that so often and
so faithfully checked its down-hill
speed. grating out assuring, harsh
sounds to the travellers ear when
the road was steep and dangerous,
is bent and broken and useless now.
The mated steeds that drew it over
long, weary, dusty miles are gone.
In the seats where the worn and
exhausted journeyers once slept,
nightmares now revel. The imper-
ious and impressively confident
driver is gone From his nerveless
hands the lines have fallen, and
the shrill notes of his horn have
died away on the air of the vanish
ed years. Poor thing! there it
stands under the old tavern shed,
wrecked, dismantled, forlorn. No
one halls its coming with eager,
beating heart; no one weeps as it
rumbles away with its precious
freight of affection and friendship.
Decay and rust settled down up
on it years ago and pre-empted it;
strange mustiness now dominates
it. The blasts of winter have fray
ed its trappings; the winds of aut-
umn have shredded its curtains.
Its chains, once so bright, are tar
nished with rust of decades, but
their links bind us to well-remem-
bered past. It's gloss, which shone
in the suns that set in that far yes
terday, is blurred and faded out.
And all that now remains of it is
a combination of broken straps,
hinges. latches, steps - wheels,
hubs, tires, seats-all one of times
most effective and lasting COL
lapSeS.
Had it tongue to speak what
forgotten stories it could tell; what
secrets-social. commercial, politi-
cal-it could divulge; what scenes
and experiences it could describe;
what recollections it could revive;
what history it could disclose.
But, alas! it cannot speak. Poor
old coach! there it stands, one of
the most magnificent has beens' of
a romantic period of our lives"
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