Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1935-08-08

disturbing the peace by knocking too
loudly and too long on q neighbOr's
door with. 1t was afterwards reported
malicious designs on q female OF the
household" Gilman and Salisbury dis
cretely replaced their jerkies with Con-
cords.
Elsewhere, however, the b~uckboards
held favor with the travelling public.
AS early as 1881 a stage line was con-
templated between COulSon and Fort
Benton. 1t became a reality the next
year and jerkies were used exclusively.
In later years Robert Leavens, pres
ident Of the Leavens Livestock COM
pany Of Billings, held the mail COLL
tract between Billings and Lavina and
drove the route in a jerky.
The Coulson Cater the Billings) to
Benton stages were promoted by T. C..
Power OF Helena and they too were
jerkies.
The lighter rig had the advantage
Of greater speed. Where both types Of
vehicles made riding strenuous work.
the blackboard was preferable because
Of its lightneSs.
Although much has been written Of
the stage coaches robberies perpetrated
In the Billings area, few OF the holdups
netted enough to keep q modern gang
ster in gasoline money.
Most OF the tales Of robbery have
Holdup Cut on Five-Mile creek as their
locale. The thefts were petit larceny
affairs because the countryside expected
| them. Passengers left their money at
home and nothing Of value was sent
by mail or express.
One of few robberies on the Gilman
and Salisbury line evoked the Editor
Walter Matheson OF the Coulson Post
to dip his pen In vitrol.
On Feb. Is, 1882. three road agents
followed the westbound coach out OF
Miles City and snatched a mail pouch.
1T was bad enough" Editor Matheson
opined, when the pouch was taken
without the drivers knowledge, but
when the receiving postmaster does not
notice the absence Of all eastern mall,
it is time for an investigation"
The highwaymen did not get away
| scot-free, it is worthy to note. A month
or so later a bucko named Henry Mir
teer, also called "Shang," was arrested
in Coulson and admitted the theft.
His accomplices apparently escaped.
Probably the last stage robbery Of
Importance In the Billings area occur
red in the fall of 1887 on the Forty
Mile ranch near Fort Custer. The place
is also remembered as Halfway sta
ton.
Three men stopped the southbound
stage from Billings to Buffalo, Wyo.,
smashed open and looted its treasure
box and then relieved a Mr.. Sledmau,
a route agent for the stage firm, OF
his valuableS.
A few days later C. w. Petty, D. w
Williams and Cas- Wheeler were arrest
ed and accused of the holdup. They
were surrounded in a camp on the
Grow Indian reservation not far from
the scene Of the robbery. Other evil
dence pointed to their guilt.
The men, however, were freed when
they proved they were in another camp,
so miles from Forty-Mile, at the time
Of the stick-up.
Later they were tried and acquitted
on a charge OF ~obstructing the United
States mail.
The last hOrSe-draWn stage line TO
give in to the advance Of the steam age
was that between Great Falls and Lew
istown. 1t came into being in the '80's,
and continued daily in 1906. The
stages used on the line, however, were
not the numbering Concords of earlier
years but lighter vehicles built on much
the same pattern.
Several or this type OF carriage are &c
be found in the vicinity of Billings
Polytechnic has. or did have, such a
coach. 1t is reputed to have been once
in the Deadwood, S. D., rum. Another
lightweight veteran, used for years ir
Yellowstone National park, belongs &c
the Northern Pacific and is a fixture
in the Union station park. w. E. (See
Me- Baker had a priced coach for :
long time and probably could find il
tucked away in some obscure corner o.
his warehouse.
For it is in the darkened hooks thai
these veterans of the early trails art
rotting away their lives.
But around them fingers an aurS
of romanc that age and rust cannot
dispel. Worn and battered, theil
springs shattered, doors unhinged, up,
holstering eaten by moths, they still
stand bravely, refugees for the shades
OF the glorious past.