Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1895 — HE HAD NERVE [ARTICLE]

HE HAD NERVE

L 4 He Proved the Possession of it to the Passengers’ Satisfaction. Bill Henderson was driver on the Los Angeles, Santa Ana and San Biego stage line for twenty-one years. Foi years he drove eight horses and often ten. The railroads have deprived the 6tage lines of their bunlness, and Uncle Bill, like others of his calling, has gone Into retirement His tales of adventure are seemingly without limit. One of the stories he tells is as follows: “One trip we had a new driver who was going up the road to take his place. He was a handsome young fellow, who. from his unusual height was called Lanky Jim. He was a skillful relnsutan, but was cool and cautious, and took no desperate chances, as some of the drivers did. On reaching the break-Ing-in station we thought we would have a little fun at his expense, so I asked him to take the ribbons. He gathered up the lines, shouted to turn them loose, and away we went It was a wild ride for a mile or tv/o, and then he tried to hold up, but this the pas seugers objected to. “ ‘Turn ’em loose; this ain’t a hearse,’ shouted a big-nosed man. “ ‘Give them the silk,’ yelled a drummer. “ ‘Give Charley the ribbons,’ cried a miner.

“He stood it pretty well till I, too, began poking fun at him, when he cried: “ ‘Gentlemen, I can drive as fast as any one,’ and with this he suddenly leaned forward, and before I could imagine what he intended to do threw the Hnes out of his hands to the ground and began whipping his horses. Run? If you ever saw a team run those horses did that day. The coach rolled to and fro till I thought a dozen times it would tip over, yet that fellow stood up in his seat plying the silk and shouting: ‘Turn 'em loose; this ain’t no hearse!’ ‘Don’t put on the brakes’’ ‘Give the ribbons to Charley!’ and other expressions we had used. Fortunately for his neck, and aura, there was not a stick or stone, not a rock, clod or rut In the whole valley, or we would have struck something and tipped over. About a mile from the other station there was a stretch of sand, and here the norses had to stop their run. The moment they Bowed down Into a trot a dozen of us sprang from the coach and caught up the lines, thus stopping the team. As we handed him the lines he gathered them up as coolly as you please and only said: “ ‘Gentlemen, did we ride fast enough?’ There was no more attempt to try his' nerve.”