Show PIONEER HIGHWAYMEN Story of the First Stage Robbery in Montana Great Falls Correspondence of the Anaconda Standard I have just finished fin-ished reading the story of the first vigilante vigi-lante execution as printed in Thursdays Thurs-days Standard said a whitehaired pioneer who dropped into the Northern Montana office of the Standard this I afternoon and its a straight story I from start to finish I was living in I Southern Montana in those exciting I days and to read all about those early events now when I am old almost makes me feel young again Its a good deal like history and I could read many of those stories over a dozen tim sand s-and not get tired But I say my boy you never heard about the first stage robbery in what is now the proud and prosperous state of Montana did you Well Ill tell you but I guess the incident in-cident occurred when you was some thins of a kid and hadnt entered your intellectual brilliancy on newspaper news-paper work eh Let me see it was back in 63over a third of acentury agothat the first stage holdup took place and I tell you the robbery created a deal of excitement excite-ment I was a young man and a miner in those days and had arrived in Virginia Vir-ginia City the year previous in 62 That fall the vigilantes were organized and In my day I saw a pile of the good I work that organization accomplished Nowadays we dont hear much about that law and order crowdunless some piefaced pilgrim refers to em as the early stranglersbut I tell you they did some good work and of its living members the state should now be proud as the boys brought law and order out of chaos and hell itself Now about that first stage robbery Nobody in those days ever thought seriously ser-iously of highwaymen for it was quick judgment to detect or catch men in crooked work in those days In the fall of 62 I think it was a man named Caldwell not JoseyJoe of old Benton days established a stage line between i i Virginia City and Bannock as that i ivas the most feasible route out of the country then Business was good and stages were run every other day Alder gulch and Virginia City were then booming and hardly a trip was made unless on board was some miner with a stake of gold dust But nothing ever happened In Virginia City at that time was a fellow named Dan McFadden a royal good fellow more familiarly known as Bummer Dan Everybody liked him and he could have almost anything he wanted in the camp Dan was a prospector pros-pector and during his stay in Virginia City had made two or three strikes and I had blown the money in After a strike he lavished favors generously and no matter how much of the yellow metal he harvested from the sluice boxes it all went and a few months later Dan was broke and dependent on friends for another grubstake He was industrious though and after his jollifications returned re-turned to work hopeful of the future It was after a rich strike in the fall of 62 that in the following spring Dan found himself broke and thrown on the chilly mercies of a frigid world Bill Manning took him in tow and soon Dan I was prospecting again with a good grubstake A few weeks rolled around when one morning the camp was electrified with the announcement that Bummer Dan had made the strike of his life and tire announcement was true a3 Dan reached town the next day and confirmed the news He had struck rich pay dirt and was heeled for life A few days later Bummer Dan sold out for 15000 and with this stale determined to go into the outer world and live comfortably for the balance bal-ance of his life Salt Lake was the goal for which he was headed He was paid for the claim in gold dust and after weighing out 2500 which he gave to Manning Dan quit the camp and went to what was then called Dempseys ranch located a few miles out of Vir ginia City He now brings us to the thrilling features of the story I It was 01 the morning of Oct 23 1SG3 the stage coach drew up in front of the hotel and two passengers for I Bannack got aboard Caldwell was sick that day and had lugged a fellow named Bill Rumsey to drive for him that trip About 9 oclock the coach left the hotel and proceeded on its way At Dempseys ranch Bummer Dan got on board He was dressed comfortably comfort-ably and wore a heavy blue flannel shirt About his waist was a wide leather belt to which underneath his shirt was attached four sacks of gold dust Outside on either hip was buckled two navy revolvers and in the belt were probably a dozen cartridges car-tridges Dan climbed on and the stagecoach stage-coach rolled away until Rattlesnake creek was reached This point was a changing station but on arriving there Driver Rumsey found that all the extra ex-tra horses had strayed away and the coach was obliged to remain there overnight over-night All night long Rumsey searched for fresh horses but without success and in the morning the old stock were hitched up and the journey continued The forenoon passed and the tired horses did well but at noon they gave out and although the whip was vigorously vigor-ously applied they could not be urged beyond a walk About 1 oclock the coach entered a narrow gulch coming out just around the brow of a hill Just as the wagon was opposite two riders with blankets over their heads and shotguns ready for action rode swiftly up Look out boys road agents are coming hide your dust cried Rum sey from his seat as he tried to urge his wornout horses on But it was too late Throw up your hands came the order and two shotguns were leveled lev-eled at Rumsey He stopped and a moment later was ordered to comedown come-down from his seat and one of the passengers pas-sengers was ordered up in the seat vacated to watch the team Now go through the pockets of the passengers and pile the stuff on the ground came the order to Rumsey who with a shotgun at his head obeyed instructions Guns were taken off and piled up first Then pockets were gone through and probably from 12000 to 15000 laid on the ground beside be-side the weapons Thats all said Rumsey as he completed the imposed task But the thieves were not satis fied Have you anything more on you Z was asked of the man who was holding the horse The line dropped and the fellow howled Dont shoot i dont shoot Yes I have more Rumj sey was then ordered to make another Search all around From Bummer Dan he had taken but one small sack and protested that he could find no more Search Bummer Bum-mer Dan again exclaimed the robber chief hes the man we want to pan out today Dan was again searched and Rumsey was obliged to pile up two more of his sacks With this the robbers were satisfied and after order ing the coach to proceed threatened death if aught was said and Vode off Bannack was reached that evening when Dan found that he had iust left 9000 with the road agents Bill Burton Bur-ton one of the other passengers left about 33000 and in all the highwaymen got about 15000 When Dan reached Helena in reciting the incident he said Well Ive played a whole lot but never got such a short run for my money before At Helena Dan met Sheriff Plummer to whom he told his story and received an assurance that as soon as Plummer got his divy he would turn it over to Dan The robbery caused great excitement excite-ment and it was not long before it was known that Frank Parish and George Ives lieutenants of Plummer did the job All however paid the penalty of their crimes and died with their boots on In the following January they were strung up for that and other crimes It was in November 1S63 when one day Ives went to Andy OConnell now of Helena and informed him that he heard Dan accuse him of the holdup OConnell knowing full well what it meant if Ives thought this hastened to explain that he had the day before talked with Dan who had no idea of who did the job Ives believed this and went away Early in December Dan packed up his grip and with a stake of about 3000 started for Colorado We only heard from him once after He was then in Leadville the same old Bummer Bum-mer Dan without a cent and no dif ferent than on the day he was a vic tim of the first coach robbery that ever occurred in Montana |