Glacier County chief., 1940-01-26

The messenger always carried
henry rifle, ready for business, and a
Colt Al. The driver was armed only
with six-shooterS. In the event OF
holcup his hands would be pretty well
taken up with the reins Of the six
horses, and it was impossible for him
! to use a rifle.
/ Broncho Charlie was a trifle wary of
the conspicuous manner in which the
driver and guard were mounted on the
coach. The seat of the driver and the
messenger was sure a challenge to
Providence. Why, say, where they sat
! up there 1t was just as If they was
hopin' to be target for arrows of In
Clans, or the bullets of some ornery
road agent. And when a run hap
pened to be peaceful, there was always
plenty Of trouble with the wind or rain
or hot sun in summer or sleet in win
ter. like the time when I was drivin'
I'm here to tell you that drivin' the
Overland Stage was a mans job"
1t was 80 and 40 below most of the
time that Charlie was driving, and
there was sometimes to 10 feet Of
snow. He kept from freezing with
buffalo coat and heavy boots, as well
as many blankets piled over his legs,
Was Bit Too Perky
Wei, made the firs. trip Just
flne. and I come into Butte on the
run. feelin' like they ought to have
the band out 10 meet me, and flags
WaVln! / reckon l vas feelln' too
perky, because on the return run, when
I come into Deer Lodge, Just after
Id delivered my passengers and mail.
and was gettin' set for flourishin'
turn in front OF the station. l dropped
my whip on the board walk and cot
down from the boot to get it. I had
to get in between the swing team and
the Wheelers-and just then some dad
burned young 'un threw a SNOWFALL
and hit one Of the half-broke swing
team. He went plumb loco ana started
10 KICK like a steer, and somehow he
got across the pole. That like 10 scared
the other horses to death. and they
all began to run like passel of wolves
was after EN-.
That old stage rocked like she was
IN gale at sea. and I could almost
at the sight I made!"
The horses turned in at a farmyard
and ran right into the side of a barn
The wagon tongue splintered and
killed one Of the horses. Broncho
i Charlie fell under the hoofs of ali
fore he was injured.
Charlie thought he would lose his
Job over this incident. but MS en-
pIoyers only laughed and signed him
I up for the regular run-out of Deer
Lodge to Butte, and then from Deer
/ bOIBC " fltltlld. outlaws ana rOaL
agents were plentiful:
The next trip I had three passen-
gers, two men and woman. You know,
the driver always looked over his pas
sengerS before startin out, to see if
some OF EN- looked suspicious I
thought this young woman looked as
if she might have somethin' up her
j sleeve, but let her ride anyway. I
didn't reckon as how she could do
much. and the two men with her were
on the level
We'll, we started out all right. but
when we come to a sharp turn in the
road. just after We got through Warm
Springs valley, two men stepped out
onto the road, just like they'd come
out OF the ground. They both had guns
pointed at me and the messenger.
Hands up!' one of EN- says, mighty
brusque and mean like.
Il wrapped the lines around the
brake and reached high pronto I never
argue with the business end of a "A
when another fellows managin the
trigger.
Throw out the bullion this hom-
bre says.
II haven't got any aboard I tells
him.
The other fellow comes closer then.
and see that its a man who'd been
watchin' me careful the last few days
IVA l
Hes got it inside. see him yesterday
in Deer Lodge. fiXin' a place for it
The horses began to plunge, and I
said. Boys. let ME get down and hold
my horses. You take look inside the
stage
They let me get down, and they
took my guns away from me. had
my hands full OF reins. so OF course I
couldn't keep EN- in the air The mes
Senger kept his hands high and threw
out the box and the mail They put
the nail back under the boot. but they
took the Wells Fargo box II wasn't
what they wanted. OF course. they was
after big shipment OF gold bullion
that Id carried down a day ahead OF
time. SOS 10 fool any enterpriSin
bandit
These two bandits opened the stage
door and said. Keep your hands up
and tumble out quick
7 knew right then that Id been
right about the woman The two men
as cool as If they was aSkin' her TO
join in a dance. They all got out and
stood in the road reachin' for the sky
The two road agents looked under
everything and they was so blamed
mad when they didn't find the gold
that they was like to have frothed at
the mouth! They took everythin' of
value from the two men, and then
they hit EN- over the head with the
butts of their guns, just as sort of
souveneer. They didn't take a thing
from the woman and never touched
her, which made me dead certain sure
that she was in cahoots with EN-"
The bandits then turned their at
tention to the driver and the guard
The only thing I had that was
worth a tinker's cuss was a great big
heavy silver watch that Id got in a
trade with miner when We was both
drunk. At that, I must have been
drunken than the miner, because he
got the best Of the bargain. l traded
him a real good six-gun for this here
monStrosity I was always sorry. be
cause the blamed thing was SO heavy
to tote that couldn't get around rea'
Spry. and I often wondered why the
horses didn't complain about the extra
weight they had TO haul