White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-03-03
STAGE COACH
TALES
;By E. C. TAYLOR
The Runaway Stage

lust as modern railroads some
- times are wrecked, shaking up or
even killing passengers, so the stage
coaches that were the chief mode OF
transportation between the Atlantic
coast and the Middle West along the
old National road century ago, had
their mishaps, sometimes fatal.
Runaways were infrequent, but sew
eral are recorded. In three or four
there was loss of life. but more oft
en- the passengers suffered only minor
injuries when the stages overturned.
David Gordon, who was driving for
James Resides June Bug" line-so
named by Resides rival, Lucius W..
Stockton, who said the line would
last only until the June bugs came
was driving west from Claysville. Pa,
soon after he had started handling
the reins when his horses ran off.
The coach carried full load of
passengers, and young Gordon, see
ing that the flying horses could not
be checked by ordinary methods
pulled the coach off the road and
turned it over against high bank.
The passengers were badly fright
| ened, but none was hurt. They at
tributed their escape from death or
injury to the skillfulness of the driv-
err. After righting the coach, which
was little damaged, Gordon proceeded
to Roney's Point.
This incident, or accident, gave Cor
don wide reputation as cool and
skillfu driver and he rapidly advanced
to the front rank of his calling. When
the June Bug" line was withdrawn
from the road, as Stockton had pre-
dicted, Gordon took service with the
Good Intent line and continued with
it until all through lines of stage
coaches were taken from the road.
Gordon was a very strong man. He
was 6 feet tall and weighed 200
pounds, and there was not an ounce
of fat on his body. 1t was said that
he could fight, but was not quarrel
some.
On one occasion he was compelled
to engage in Touchdown, in self de-
Tense That was at Triadelrlia, Va.
Three toughs fell upon him at that
place, declaring their intention OF do
ing him up" as the phrase then was.
They failed ANONYMOUSLY. Gordon
routed all three completely and de-
cisivey, and they never again sought
an encounter with him. And the eX-
ample of their fate rendered others
with pugnacious proclivities to be shy
about encountering him.
David Gordon was one OF class
of quiet, well hammered, soft-spoken
stage drivers who did much to keep
the reputation of all coach drivers of
his time on a high plane before the
public.
According to A. ]. Endsley, who was
born and reared along the old Ma
tional road, the old time stage coach
drivers. as a class, were better moral
ly than the old wagoners who drove
the huge freight wagons along the
highway.
When the great road was opened
these wagoners Immediately took pos
session, usurping all rights, and kept
to the middle of the highway with
their long trains of brightly painted
covered gondolas filled with the farm
products of the West, or the manu-
featured goods and staples Of the
East. forcing other vehicles to turn
around them.
The stage drivers resented this au
tocracy. and decided to put STOP
TO it. They armed themselves with
long poles. at the ends Of which they
placed spikes. On a given day, they
tarted out, and as they met the wag
ON trains. refused to turn out, driv
ing into the wagon trains with theil
make-shift lances and completely
routing them. The hardy wagoners
knew when they were beaten. and the
fast stages thereafter were given the
right Of way.
Endsley says that some of the old
stage drivers were given to blasphemy
and heavy drinking. but that the
worst of the stage drivers could be
beaten in those respects by most OF
the wagoners.
He named, besides Gordon and
Red" Bunting, as well behaved stage
drivers Thomas Grau, Alex Thomp.
son, John Mills, Charley Howell, John
High, William Robinson. Isaac FraZee
Isaac Denny, James A. Carroll. Sam.
uel Halsted, William White, Samuel
Jaco, Thomas Moore, William Bishop
and John Bunting.
Two Of the old stage drivers, Will.
liam Robinson and Pate Side, were
among the most noted penmen in the
country.
TO- 1891 Western Newspaper Union.)