FOILED THE STAGE ROBBER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 584, 12 July 1913, Page 3

FOILED THE STAGE ROBBER.

Tli * Into Senator Carter related this story to some friends in the smoking compartment of a Pullman car recently : "(iv: day in the early 'Su's while I was Attorney for the Wells-Far.go Express Company at Helena I was sitt inir in my office looking down on Main Street, when my attention was attracted hy two men wlio passed and repassed on the opposite side of tlie .street. One of them seemed to be labouring tinder some strong excitement. While I was wondering v, hat was liisturbiiiir him there came a knock on my door, and then this fellow hurst into the room. " 'Are yon the attorney for the Well.--ViiViro Company ?' he demanded. "When I replied in the affirmative lie locked the door. I speculated on what trrievance he had against the company that he was going to' take out on its attorney when the fellow bolted into my private office and beckoned for me to follow. '" 'I want to see you .privately,' lie whispered. "Another look at him convinced me he was labouring under the strain of some terrible fear. I followed him, and he closed and locked the door of the private office. " 'The Marysville stage is going to be held up and robbed next Tuesday,' he blurted out. "I was startled, recollecting that that day the Drum Lummom bullion, amounting to a sum between 25,000 dollars and 50,000 dollars, would be carried out on that stage. '• 'How do you know this?'l asked. " 'Because I'm one of the men that is going to hold it up,' was the reply. ' I don't want to, but I'm afraid if I don't my partner will kill me." "'Then the fellow unburdened his soul. His partner, a great, hairy, powerful man, more like a human gorilla than any man I\ ever saw, had carefully laid the plans for the holdup. He had worked for months preparing for the job, had learned the time when the big shipments of bullion were made 'for the mines, and had carefully selected the spot where the stage would he plundered. "This was in a wooded gukh where the road wound down from a heavy mountain grade. My informantfa.nd his partner had been working together on a ranch. a nd day after day the partner sprang t.hn holdup idea until at last his less strong-willed companion consented to take part. "The fellow was afraid for his life, and overruled every plan I suggested to frustrate the holdup. He was convinced his partner would kill him before the officers could prevent it. At last I hit upon a plan which met the approval of the confederate. "When the stage left Marysville it carried four guards. I 'insisted, however., that they should go unarmed, as I was determined to prevent; bloodshed. The safe was placed in the boot. Instead of bullion it was Allied with lead. "A companion and I left Helena on Monday at midnight, and hiilliu; ourselves in the timber above the point selected in the road for the hoV-lun waited for the stage to pas'. We had field-glasses, and from our place of vantage could look down info the gulch. "About nine o'clock we heard the rumbling bt the stage it ca-TC clattering down the road. Soon it swept into view t , the horses swinging along at a brisk trot. It dipped down the grade and swung into the gulch. "Through the glasses' we suddenly saw two men jump from the brush on each side of the road directly in front of the stage. Both were armed with rifles. One sprang to the heads of the horses and grabbed the bridles. The other covered the di'fver with his gun. "When the stage stopped the robber at the horses' h»a<is—my Informant —came hack to where his partner was standing. First, the safe was thrown off the boot, th:n the .driver was compelied to clamber down, and then the stage door was opened, and my four guards died out and were lined up on the side of the road. "Leaving his confederate to guard the prisoners the leader seized an axe he had brought with him and attacked the safe. He was just striking his third blow when his partner whirled, and using his rille as a club, smashed him over the head. He went down in a heap, and the guards were immediately upon him. He was trussed in ropes, his partner was similarly tied, they were put in the stage and taken to Helena, where they were placed in jail. The big fellow believed he had been knocked out by one of the passengers,. never having tbe slightest suspicion that his partner had turned traitor. The men were kept in jail three or four months, and the big fellow slipped messages to his partner almost daily, warning him to remain silent. "When the case came to trial the confederate was the first witness called. Many men I have seen angry, but I hope never again to see the look of rage that swept over the countenance of the big fellow when his partner turned against him. 'The man was convicted and sent to the penetentiary for life, as I recollect. His partner was set free the night the leader was. taken to prison, lie came to me for the standing reward the Weils-Fargo Company then offered for the apprehension of stage robbers. " ' Where are ywi going ?' I asked him. " 'To South America, as quickly as 1 can get there,' he replied. " If that fellow ever escapes h< won't rest satisfied until he kills me.' "- M "' ~a" ni" - MiimMMi