Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1877 — TURPINS OF THE PLAINS. [ARTICLE]

TURPINS OF THE PLAINS.

A Veracious Account of a Recent Stage Robberj between Deadwood and Cheyenne, as Told by a Passenger. It was a wild country that we passed through. Foot hills all about us, deep and narrow gulches in the road, not a house or human being in sight for miles. The curtains were all up on our side of the coach, and were all down on the opposite side. I waß very Weafy from long traveling, and I Boon dropped away Into a light '* stagescoach” nap. I tried hard to keep awake, fdr I knew. We were within a few miles of the Cheyenne river, but I couldn’t. I had slept about half an hour, when I awoke and found the coach standing still. I heard voices outside, and in the first moments of awakening, not fully realising where I was, I put my head out of the window. “ Take in that head, or I’ll put a ballet through it. Don’t make such a break as that again.” I got all of myself inside the coach in the quickest possible time. I knew then we were in the hands of the highwaymen of the Black Hills. It appeared that, as th 6 mules pulled the coach down into a gulch, about fifteen feet wide and about six feet deep, and before they could pull out, four men sprang out from the side of the road. The mules balked, and the coach stopped. The Captain of the gang was on our side of the coach ; his three men on the others The driver and Keeler wefe “ cqyered*’ with gltnfc, and were told to “put up their hands,” which they didn’t hesitate to do. The Captain said i ‘ ‘ Driver, throw down your gun. ” The gun on the front of the coach is usually kept on the driver’s seat. This time it was down in the boot. Keeler reached after it, but the robbers thought he was the express messenger, and one of the three men said to him: “ None of that. Make no break, or you are a dead man. Throw up your hands. ” The Captain then made the driver reach down for liisgttn, bring it up muzzle foremost, and then throw it out upon the ground. The driver and .Keeler were theri made to descend fi'oitt their seats. The Custer box was taken out, broken open and nothing of value found therein. The work of removing the Deadwood box from the coach was commenced. The driver and Keeler were made to do the work. All the tools they had to work with were the stage wrench and a broken stage bolt. The stage was stopped at about 8:30 p. m., and, after they had worked about an hour one Of the gang said: ‘ * These fallows are d—d fools, boys; I have been in the penitentiary half a dozen times witli more iron than that about me, and I got out every time.” So he lent a helping hand, and, in half an hour afterward, the box was out of the boot and on the ground. While the removal of the box was progressing we wore busy secreting what valuables and cash we had. Mrs. TonU stowed her property away in a safe place. One passenger cut a seat open slightly and hid his watch so that he wasn’t able to find it himself until daylight. Another passenger put his watch on the floor of the coach, and he, too, could not find it until morning. Two or three of us stowed away what little cash we had reserved for expenses in the upper lining of the ooach, but unfortunately the nervousness of one of the passengers caused two packages of the money to fall out of the open wiadow, where it was lost.

The robbers were very jocose. They told Mr. Keelef that they got 013,000 the night before, They sent word by the driver to Luke Voorliees, of Cheyenne, Superintendent of the stage line, that he must send them up a pair or good scales. They had been dividing up the gold dust with a spoon, supposed to hold about six ounces, and they couldn’t make a fair divide, so they wanted the gold scales. They told the driver that lie needli't be afraid. They didn’t propose to bust him, so long as he made no “ break.” What they wanted was the company’s treasure. If he (the driver) was discharged they would not only take eare of him, but they would kill the driver who took his place. They wanted Jack Gilmer to come up the road, they said, so that they could make him get out and walk a ways. They didn’t fear the soldiers they heard were coming up the road. They were fighting for big money ; soldiers for a few dollars per month ; there were fourteen of them, and in a fight any one of them would take his chances with the fourteen rather than with the soldiers. They didn’t want to disturb the mails, as it was against the law. All they wanted was gold dust and currency. Drafts, etc., they would put back in the boxes, and leave them in the road where the next up-coach could get them and take them back to Deadwood. The proposition liad been made to go through the pockets of the passengers while the box was being forced off, but the Captain said. “No, not now.” In the meantime, one of the gang asked particularly whether Mrs. Tonn was on board ; also, if Dr. Edwards was one of the passengers. After the box was taken off one of the men who had been watching the road back of the coach came up, and said, “Now let’s rob the women.” The Captain emphatically said “ No !” to that proposition, and told the driver to drive on. As he did so, he said, “Our gang has divided up. There arc two gangs further down. Three miles from here you may meet the second detachment. If not, eight miles below you will probably meet the third gang. If you (addressing the driver) drive slow, and have no one outside with yon, you may pass them all, as they may see that we have the treasure box. ” So we drove on, and were not further molested that night.