| Show rnkI1r C r R P fJf LL S 2 J 2 ijr i I Jr gTh 4iP c fr7 41L 1 TH J H J4fli I f Mr I r SO1fThENN5 ci1ic Jd p V t z I The brilliant possibilities offered by the Vet to a young man with industrious in-dustrious habits and a trusty sixgun thirty t years ago are amply shown by the careers of Nlckanora George Iamberl Georijc Smock Patsy lIu rley No 1 Jim Hunter I I and a scoro of other worthies who made their headquarters at tho then bustling and prosperous mining mi-ning camp of Plochu The Outlaw Hero It was necessary fOI the ambitious youth not only to aim high but to aim straight and teaching the young Idea how to shoot was a lltcjal responsibility responsi-bility instsad of a picturesque mela phoi The hero of that region prior to 3S72 uas the outlaw Ntckanura a lexlcan halfbiucd As with other horoc his exploits tyrew is they traveled from moulh to mouth I and he was fjlven the credit for many daring deeds willy performed by other men but he did enough himself lo entitle I I him to a jrnmnl mien t place in I ilu pantheon panth-eon of crime Nioknnoras Last Stage Robbery It was in the yinr 1S72 unit Nlclrri nora and two members of his gang went on their lat raid In Nevada and su ftired the loot that cost Nick companions compan-ions their t lives For year they I had been terrorizing the peaceable Inhabitants Inhabi-tants running i niT stock holdlnc sip stages and committing any ort nf I depredation that t promised ni honest t J jiennj j Information i caiw to ihc gal j that a certain stage hilo Ploche was going to be pretty well loaded down with money and bullion and rticka nora told off George Lumber and Ocorg Smoolr to go with him after the spoils Held Up the Stage They stuck tip the driver about four miles north of Ploche on the Eureka line The drlvor I VMS drawing his salary for driving and was allowed no extra I I compensation for stopping bullets I bul-lets so he pulled up while Ih I bandits riflod the Rlroig box themall I I sacka and tile passinfers Tho loot amounted to several thousand dollars Jn order to luimper the stage and thus delay pinsuit the roobcr removed the kingpin king-pin from the coath before making away Into the hills with their plunder l j Posse Organized I I They circird aboul I the town and se lecting t suiiublc spot on tin flat south of it cached the proceeds of the enterprise enter-prise and used the kingpin of llu I coach us a stake to mark the location Qic robbery I roupkd i l with she other outrages uamniiitMt by Xlclranorns gang made the imbUe feel hal t they had passed the Hiuits of dtvorum for men of heir profession and Short Kane 1 orsanlxsid i largrc posie and began Hcourhu the country lor the three holdups I hold-ups The oilicers know just whom to I look for as the slagi drivnr had 1 < cog ra > d them all In spite of a careless at tempt at disguise llaced in Jail The posse did Its vorl sn woll thnr TItJiln a few days the leader of the sang and his assistants wrn brought In and placed In the t cnbbkstonc Jail at Ploche They werc tried iJ2foro a Kad cril court on thc charge of robbing the mulls and convicted l Pendng Uu I ir removal re-moval to a United States pcnltentiai tiiy vero kept In the Jail I Secured Their Liberty Many olhor numbors of the gang were HlIl at hirco and one of them I mrnnged in iume way to Bmuggle the kingpin of the coach through the bar Every diy they veri 1 roloaspd froni heir l clh to get AJilMu IXICIHC in Hie corridor After one of these spoils of exercise George Smock with the pin in bia hand hid behind l the door to the corridor and when Deputv Joe Hose cams Imht to lOck tip his pVison t mrs Smock rmnckcd him on the bend with the iron instrumojt Hugo romptly became I ipsersibli and the nlago robbeis look I his Leys and walked ouL9f I MIQ I prlunn They veio accompanied accom-panied by another prisoner named Kennedy Ken-nedy One of Kennedys friends had died a few days before and bemuse a few minutes prior to his death Kennedy had stuck a knife into his body thirfcn times the authorities suspected Kennedy Ken-nedy of hastening hlR frlerdfs duntlsa and arrested him Such injustice so wounded the Tulcners sensitive nature that he shook he dust of Ploche from bis feel and vua never seen In thiiL I I section again nclcaiora Settled the Dizpute NJckanoru Lambert and Smock found fast horses waiting for them CLIK made I a hasty trip through Arizona toward Old Mexico They lingered at Ploche however long enough to dig up their t buried loot When they yalned the Mexican boundary ah attempi was made to divide too plunder Smock and Lambert could not agree as 10 their rcnpeutive shares and verc having 1 nuch a row about the matter that Nlckanora who was a peaceloving man settled the question by killing them both and talcing the goods himself I him-self He was never heard of again so Jt is supposed that he returned to his j I J I native M xlco and settled clown to enjoy I en-joy UK fruIts of bh virtuous toll Pat Trialleys Escape and Recapture The Phkhe Jail was an ideal edillce from the stjndpolnt o the Inmalofa There was lots of morfir between the stones and it was an easy mattel to burrow through the wall It is related that an Irishman called on a friend In durance vile I wish I was out said the prisoner Sure and wh > do ycx slay thin In iiuired his visitor in surprise so the prisoner walked through The wall and got out His example was followed by a no loious stage robber 1 called Patsy Marley Xo 2 the number being added probably prob-ably because he was not a number one man He took refuge In what was called the t Meadow Valley wash The Sheriff and nls deputies got after Patsy and followed I him down the stream The fugitive came lo IL place where the banks arose to high cllfto and the I water imprisoned between ihein I became very deep Being winter time I ii > stream was fairly high and filled with floating blocks of ice PIt ly I looked at the 1 water and shud deiecL He saw the I Ice and shuddered again Then he scaled one of the cliffs and crawled into a erevlre near the top After awhilo the officers came along and discovered Patsys hiding place Come down Patsy wo have found you and you are Il they culled Patsy refused lo be ealled down A council of war was held by the pos e He 1 may hnvi a gun up there was suggestod and be could pick off the whole tall before we could get I1way to the top The theory seemed so probable that It was accepted by h the I whole party and it was decided that the safer IC the Jonfeer way was to starve the I fugitive out Accordingly 1 guard was posted and relieved at Intervals Patsy held nut for nearly thive diy Ik I suffered some from hunger but more from thirst He eould bear below him the dashing of the ice cold water which he Unred nol attempt to reach because of the hchlcgirs He begm negotiations from his rocky eyrie and was permitted to t come down and give himself I up llisi fate Is I not recorded Hunter Held Himself Up One day In UK early jOI th n stage I due nt Ploche from Pony Springs was several hours late and Home employees of the I rompany wont out along ihe I road to discover the cause Witjiln few miles of Pioehc at a plnru noted for the frequency of Its holdups they found the coach The six horses were gone the rita II bags hud been cut open and the TVollsFargo express box lont id No passengers wen In the coach A short distance away the relief party found the driver llm Wunter I wllh a gag III his mouth and tied to a tree I When released he tearfully told howl how-l J masked men had stopped the stage t I1L the horses loose overpowered Mini placed him In the I position In had occupied occu-pied when found and taken all the I valuables from the mall I pouch and expiCHs box Hi description of the robbers was very vague and the other elieunistanees of the cape were BO suspicious sus-picious that i Hunter was arrested Ha was tried but he 1 evidence did not convince con-vince the Jury and the verdict was for acquittal I i TTuntrr lay around Pioclu leading a gladsome existence for sometime I some-time and the inside fuels of the robbery rob-bery RiiauualJv eiiino GUI The driver became aware that 1000 was to ne sent In tbij mall 10 the Slate bank He thought that he could make an good use of tin money as could time bank so he selected I the spot where holdups were the most common to do his act There I lu cut the hoiMies loose robbed tbe mall hiding the I money in u safe pbiee gaggod himself I mi and tied himself to the tree Hunter was n vlrtlm of chronic rheumatism rheu-matism and was drawn and disllguml by the disease so that bin peculiar appearance ap-pearance If 1 well I remembered by the oldtimers In southern JCuvada He had a passion for race horses After he wearied of a life of idleness at Ploche he took a race hoiMi to Chicago Chi-cago There In a fight over a race he killed a man tmd wns cither sentenced to the penitentiary or executed 1 his Nevada acquaintances do not remem hem which J i the Reward of Honesty The old saying that honesty is the best policy IP I borne out by i the experience experi-ence of lack Harris who earned II snl any or SUnO her I month by 1 being hornsi It was doubtless very hard work for Jack f but no omr should ixpoct to got a good salary too easily Harris drifted Into Ploehe from the Comjtoclr whre he had i an enviable reputation us a quick man with a gun and could point wllh i pride to a large and growing private graveyard Humor Hu-mor hud connected him wllh 1 t various enterprises In which Mage coaches and passengers had suffered the loss oi various va-rious articles of S value Uhen he readied Ploche In 1X71 he found that his reputation I had come III aluad of him The ajrcnl I for the VeIls Fargo company called on him and said c have noticed Mr Harris that there have been numerous stage rob beries in the country you come from Now we do not want any here no dont reach around there Nothing personal per-sonal III my remarks I simply want to make you a business proposition If you will make it a point not to meet any of our stages we will put you on 011 payroll as a special agent How much do you think it would be worth 7 f Harris named his price and m the agent m closed the deal Every month Harris walked proudly up to the oiHce of the company and drew his check conscious that the company had value received for every cent of it His Job of being honest lasted for about three vanrss Then the bullion business giew POOl ani time commercial value of Harriss integrity integ-rity declined Ills salary finally got so low that he quit the Job in disgust and pulled out for Montana where honest nvn are appreciated at then I rue worth worthBen Ben Tascars Gang Few of lie early Nevada outlaws were more enterprising and successful than Ben Tascar He hail l gathered as choice a lot of desperadoes and cut throais about him as tic I West nfford Id I Thieve were i froni six to ten regulars regu-lars and If he had a job on band that I called I for tunic be eould recruit tinin at a moments notice Tascars hangout was near the present pres-ent 1 town of Modonn 1 where he piesided l over Ills motley court and planned hlc daring crimes The only superior recognized rec-ognized by the master ruffian was avery a-very 1 black colored woman who was his consort as well as queen of the gang So far I as known she never led the band on its i forays hut she > xailed the most servile obedience In i her own < hoI inahn ho-I I the feudal I castle nf Tascar Hen had a fancy for bullion and planned most of his holdups ltb a view to gelling the silver bars with I which the rtages were frequently la denbul lip was loa good a business nnin lo neglect any i1Hlu try that promised good returns He found that there was good money in cattle and wllh his vnqueros ran mans a m herd from Utah over Inlo Nevada and In order lo keep from coming back empty would pickup pick-up a bunch of Nevada horses and move them to his Uloh ranch To facilitate t this traffic he established corrals and stations along his private stock t trail Tasoar was frequently arrested and tried I for laieeny murder or whatever the authorities preferred l It I did nol make much difference to Tascar He treated hese l eptsodes as minor details de-tails of his business that micht bo expected I ex-pected to come up at any time and always al-ways had a good alibi and plenty of I witnesses tp prove IL Resides the t Juiics all know him and were afraid that thcyi might not have an alibi when Tu tar or his sang came to call on them after the trial Alter his business declined he went south to Aivonn and probably followed fol-lowed Niekanora i into Mexico I wbeuj he may have I founded a family qulen sahe Drawbacks to t Stage Robbery It must not be atsunud tluit tin profession pro-fession of stage robbMj I Wit = uniformly uniform-ly I successful I That would have been too I easy ami I he mines i liat hpped out their bullion would have piled it on the dmm I and told i the baniils to come on and help themselves Many nn ambitions am-bitions young road agent jio sinned out full of enthusiasm and bright prom 1St to practice bis railing I I I wiii carried away Oil a board after rnnklnir a rani failure of his first case After such a 111tco thE YOUIlh graduate t usually retired re-tired from business either lo a cemetery ceme-tery or fL penitentiary One ot the most notable failures in this line was time attempted robbery of a liulIionboarliiK stage near I Ward Nev by W C or Doc Pell lose Yalkhis 11m Crawford and a man whoso jmn was nev r learned The fJiur men armed with shotguns hid themselves on a little Hat ncar the foot of a low hill behind some sage brush When the coach was about lo pass to men mUse up on each side of the road UtL net their artillery I I on 1 I be driver and ordered him I to slop on pain of death The driver pulled up his fourhorse tci 1111 and al the same moment a IC < port rang our and a bullet from Lime Interim of the t coach cut the t clothing of the foremost robber The company warned by previous experience hud employed a guard to accompany the treasure The bandits dropped behind their jjtige brush cover and opened 11 rapid lire on time coach which was returned re-turned with Interest In tho fusillade Eugene Dlalr thc messenger Pt a bulet in the strange robber whose name was never learned The dose was so effective that the patientwas then and there cured of hit lIOleIUtitY for stage robbing Blah I did not escape unscathed but was put ojit of I commission by some scattering buckshot When the bandits bad ex hausted their ammunition they threw down their arms Hell and Wat kins did nol attempt to run beingtoo familiar with the deadly aim of the I guards Well 1 guess you have us shouted jell as they threw up their hands Crawford was game however and bending IKS low as he could made off through the I page brush while the huh lets hummed about his cars The guards assisted by the driver and passengers made Bell and Walkins come up to the t coach Hire off their masks and tied them securely Crawford was pursued and captured at Patterson thirty miles north of Piocbe The I prisoners claimed that tue dead robber had joined them I while I they were on their way to the scone of the attempted holdup and that they never learned his name The trio were tried for attempting to rob the United States mulls and sentenced to Sing Sing for life After serving a few years Bell and Walking were pardoned by the President and later went to Texas Tex-as Orawford would probably have shared in the clemency of the I executive had he lived but bis I order of release came from a higher source lie died In prison I This robbery was witnessed by Wesley Wes-ley Vllllal1 Who was a passenger on the I coach A few years a 150 he accompanied accom-panied a picnic party to the places and rearranged the scene as he remembered remem-bered It A photographer who was along snapped lulL camera on the tableau tab-leau and made the plttlure that accompanies accom-panies this article Tales of Hidden Treasure The chief agency In keeping green the memory of these old la ml pirates of the I5atileKOI Slate Is the stories of caches supposed to contain n good part of their illgot tell gains that lOP up 1 from lime I to lime A man with a good yarn about the discovery or location of a 1 ImJdon tieasurc t i cia always command a hearing and if his laic Is embellished with I enough Phd Li iCSitie nourishes be can usually md men willing to advance a reasonable amounjpf cash to investigate investi-gate the matter Thde gentlemen who are still prominent promi-nent citizens of Phoebe look a flyer in one of these 1 speculations only a few years ago Their downfall was due to the persuasive eloquence of one Billy Boll a wellknown frequenter of Ploche barrooms Billy had been mixed up in many a thrilling episode of frontier I life and he was credited with having more sifrets than a thirtythird degree Mason Ma-son a belief that Is I doubtless founded on Ictloiu When he was feeling particularly partic-ularly good he would look wise corner some gentleman at lie I end of the bar I and drop Incoherent hints about some exclusive knowledge that would sometime I some-time make him us Independent as an ice man In the summer Billy Procrastinated The three prominent citizens above alluded al-luded to finally pressed ISIlly pretty hard and In order lo make good he added a few gorgeous tints now and then to the fabric of his dream It was to the effect that be had In some oc cull way become apprised of the hiding place of enough of old NIckanoras bullion bul-lion to I make the whole town rcasonablj wealthy The revelations did not come all at once but were vouchsafed from time to time I under the influence I of meal tickets ancl stimulants The treasureseekers were Impatient hut Illlly was a practical man md attached at-tached more value to a meal ticket and a loaded flask In I hand Hum to a smoltor ful I of bullion In I Ihe t bush especially when he realized in his lucid moments that both I bullion and bush were the products of an hypertrophled Imagination Imagina-tion To proloiiK the t blissful present and postpone lime Umax he suggested that t the bullion would have lo be run over and that a small furnace would he needed lit I effeel t the Ira I rjmsfornmt i liSI proposition i did not flaunt I the bullion I lion hunters They bought time furnace and sent clour to Salt Lake for a supply of coke A I last everything waw ready Billy tried In vain i to think up some further fur-ther excuse for delay and reluctantly setout set-out with his three benefactors for tho t Imaginary i cache They went In I the dark of night with bullseye lanterns picks shovels I and sacks Hncl jtfuclf Digging Billy led them mysteriously to the f flat south of town pretended to observe certain peculiar murks paced off various vari-ous distances looked wise and suddenly exclaimed It I In burled hereWith here-With feverish hnsle the treasure hunters fell loo with pick and shovel and excavated a celler that would have done very well for a tensloiy skyscraper sky-scraper but they enqounlercd no bullion bul-lion It was hard digging the ground being composed chiefly of boulders and solid rock Billy was puxzled Surely his memory mem-ory had not failed him He went back to his base paced the ground over again and halted in a new place Scratching bin head thoughtfully he re mnrkoi F I believe this Is the place Uevlvtd by l fresh hope and sundry draught from a black bottle the party again al tacked the petrified soil and tore out the giant boulders by thc roots To make a long story short thev t dug up the whole tint and might have been digging yet but for the coming of day lightSome lightSome Some one musl have dug it up said Billy dolefully VVou blunkety c blank blank old liar rctortod one of the perspiring diggers there never vas any bullion here and you knew it1 Billy was grieved at this sad lack of i E e lTIdaLlddhs4 t i 1i t J I i I t I 1 fWo t t r k t 0 lt ff pi Li t < 4 i f ot L 11rtf = t 1J I W J 1 r 7 to Ii C 1it 1 f r J r > 1 I j I s j Q 1 f Q 1 J 7 i > r r J tir ifB v fl PtJtT i Il r I r R r k 4l J1 t J 1 < h t I 1 l J I j ft I i I i 4 4 t 1L I L 3 lt i f t S P 4r t 5 t Iav 1 < 1i 1 I I i f l 4l r 1 i J1j N r It R1 on I I J T f Yt t frtf J I y J Ii t 1 1If 1 j tr J 1 71l I 1 t j J t fl r 1 1 i m Jo l J JJ l l 1 M4 it + A 4t lr Jf t f J r f J tfjIJ fi r r 1 4 L < z j lr t i r t f j II ce 10 I ft I I rt r J JrJO Jf tJ i f r r iJ h 0N n f 4 i i C ¼ r Jl i p f 4br4 l 1j r Ji l ym 1 1 rJi11 r r il 1 T l ttl J r J 1 L i f 4 i t 1 f fri rl 81 tIt I i m I A t J rt hffl i 1 t 2 a 1 > i Ji l n t 10 < J t TI Reproduction of Stage Robbery in Vhich Unknown Bandit Was Killed by Express Messenger Scsnc Arranged Ar-ranged by One of Parlicipanta In Ilobbcry iF confidence and pro tilled thathe hilt misjudged His plti had the opposite effect from what I lie intended and iddud to the wrath of the dupes AVhon the party returned to town Billy vxplalned to Ills cronicn that h sol varlona scratches liruiscs and contusions by falling down il shaft IIf hud IL real secret UKTI but ho was notable to keen IL and so the whole story of the midnight mid-night search finally became public property prop-erty |
