The Coolidge examiner., 1931-10-09
STAGE COACH
TALES
B y E. C.. TAYL o R
The Bandits Nemesis

- noted of all the stage coach
drivers on the old BaraboO- Xii.
bourn line when Wisconsin was
little more than wilderness and
the roads were quagmires and
rough, rocky trails through the for
ests.
Tall and fearless, Currys word
was law along the stage line. and
his fearlessness and the respect in
which the new inhabitants of the
country held him proved the undo
Ing of one of the most desperate
bandits and gunmen in the old
Northwest.
Curry's stretch of the road was
miles of sandy trail north of Bara-
boo. He drove coaches over this
route from 1860 until the Chicago
& North Western railroad extended
its line from Kilbourn to Baraboo
in 1871. During the last niue years
Of this period he owned the stage
coach line, but continued to drive
through the bad" section.
In the late COS the entire coun-
tryside lived in fear of Pat Wild
rick, one of the most noted bandits
in the history Of the American from
tier. Pat was leader of a band of
lawless men who stopped to any
crime tO do hic hiddiDO
BaraboO was already thriving
community, and the railroad line
ran to KilbOurn. Curry's stage
coach line made its chief revepue by
carrying money from the railhead at
Kilbourn to towns along the route,
but principally to the bank at Bara-
boo. The people trusted Curry so
greatly that they never thought of
having their packages of money in
sured, and many farmer or house
wife would turn money over to him
after stopping his coach along the
road, and have him pay their bills,
or buy things for them at KilbOurn
or Baraboo.
Curry received 80 cents for each
$1,000 cash he transported across
the country. One nigh: he was
handed $4,000 to be cnrried to the
Terrell Thomas bank at RarabOo.
Just as he was leaving two stran-
gers crawled into the stage coach,
sat in the rear seats and conversed
in whispers.
AS the stage crossed the river
and entered a section thick with
pine woods, the two strangers con-
tinued to talk in low tones.
Curry recalled that Pat Wildrick
and his gang some time before had
attacked S. S. Gates and his wife
near the same spot, and while the
authorities were hunting Pat, a pal
of the bandit chief had murdered
Gates at this same spot on the road.
Curry whipped up his horses,
fully convinced that besides the
$4,000 in cash he was carrying two
of Pats bandit gang. He expected
to be attacked at any moment.
Arriving at Bara0oo, Curry
breathed sigh of relief. There he
learned that the two strangers were
law-abiding persons, who talked low
as matter of habit.
The entire countryside was uD-
easy when Pat was at large, and
Curry was constantly on the lookout
for the bandit.
Pat once escaped from the Bara-
boo Jail, and posses searched the
woods for miles around for him. AS
Curry drove his stage coach peace
fully along the road near Oschnerm
park, he spied the bandit leader
hiding in e woods. He drove
along for a short distance as though
nothing unusual happened, until he
met some of the posse. He called to
them, and led them back to Pats
hiding place. The bandit was
speedily recaptured. AS Pat was
hurried back to the Baraboo Jail
he shouted to Curry: -
Young man, I'll see you later"
The Irish bandit had a habit of
keeping his word, and Curry and all
Of Baraboo knew what he meant by
saying he would "see him later"
Curry was wary thereafter, but
the Irish bandit must have realized
that it would be dangerous for him
to attack the stage coach driver, as
Curry was well guarded constantly
from the day of the threat by
friends who liked the driver. At
any rate, Curry was the one man
in the whole countryside whom Pat
did not dare raise a hand against.
Pats career ended soon after
that, at the end of a rope in the
hands of mob at Portage, Wis.
C0. 1881. Western Newspaper Union)
M..r;eJ Cchool T~..ha-.