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So
was the expert who had changed the combination. All in the office were
thunderstruck, as they had stood by and witnessed the entire operation,
and how the sack could have been taken was a mystery. But, suspicion
pointed too strongly to that one person and his absence was corroborative
proof. Three
stage and fast freight lines were running from there to Elko,
and at once, the wires were set to clicking with instructions to arrest
the party if found. He was caught there on the arrival of the
stage the
next morning, but he didn't have the money and simply denied it and
declared his innocence. However, he was taken back, examined and committed
to jail to await the action of the grand jury. He proved to be a
celebrated cracksman, but the most puzzling part of the matter was that he
had no baggage, no confederates, exhibited no uneasiness, and as the old
saying goes, he simply "sawed wood and said nothing." The money could not
be found.
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Persistent efforts were made to get him to confess, but he simply denied
all knowledge. Nearly a month elapsed, when one of the other
stage lines
discovered a satchel in their Elko office that when examined was found to
be empty. It was unclaimed baggage, but the proprietor suspected Tom
----, a former employee, of a little crookedness. At this juncture of
affairs I was in Elko on a visit, when one of the proprietors said to me,
without any further explanation, "Dick, I must go to
Sacramento
tonight, keep an
eye on Tom. If he starts away on any train you go along with him and tell
him to return. He will do so if you catch him going, but if you watch him
and keep close to him he will not go. When the express comes in from
Virginia tomorrow morning if he gets a letter and finds you watching him
he will go to my office and leave a check for a large sum of money. Follow
my instructions and it will be all right." He left and I did as he told
me, keeping close around Tom all the time and saying nothing yet wondering
a great deal what it all meant. I was present when the express arrived on
the next morning, with an eye on Tom. He received a letter, put it in his
pocket, and with a furtive glance walked out the door. I followed with an
indifferent look. The train was just moving out past us.
Tom
looked uneasily at it, and then at me. The train was out of reach in a few
seconds. Then, Tom turned with decision and asked me to accompany him to
the
stage office. I did so and he laid down a check and asked the agent to
give him a receipt. It was soon written, though the agent knew not what it
meant any more than I did. Tom took the receipt and walked off without a
word of explanation and without an inquiry from us. A few days later, the
cracksman was discharged from the Hamilton jail, and the case remained a
mystery to me for many years. A year ago, I met John Gray in the Palace
Hotel in Reno and he told me that he recovered his money by giving an
indemnifying bond to the
stage proprietors, but he never knew where his
money came from. I knew. The cracksman had taken passage on one
stage line
and sent his satchel by the other to Elko in another name. Tom got the
sack after it had lain some time uncalled for, and sent the money to
Virginia
City.
When he was casually asked if he could remember when it came to Elko he
got scared, confessed, returned it and was forgiven, but was promptly
discharged. The cracksman would never admit anything, but he skipped very
quickly when he was turned loose.
Article in the Reno Evening Gazette,
April 23 , 1891
 Celebrated Whips -
The old pioneer
stage drivers were
nearly all possessed of some marked characteristic that distinguished each
from the other, so that they could almost be recognized in the dark. Some
would rarely ever speak; others would talk a little to be social, or
for the same reason, listen attentively to a stale joke that was dinned in
their ears everyday by smart alecks traveling at other people's expense;
while some were full of Joe Miller jokes, which they would repeat daily
"just to see some sucker bite." All had pride in their calling, petted
their "stock" and would beat the opposition, even though they had to
"pound 'em on the back" to make time.
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Among the crack whips,
Billy Blackmore was noted for his devotion to duty; his foot was always on
the brake, with stock always in hand and whip ready to touch a leader.
Billy was so attentive while on duty that his nightmares were a repetition
of his run, and when asleep his dreams were always of the dangerous places
on the down grades. At such times, he would pull himself up by the
blankets and press the foot board off the bed, muttering "Whoa, there!
whoa!" believing all the time he was bearing down on the brake. He was a
terror to the landlords, who finally adopted the plan of building
bedsteads that he couldn't kick down.
Baldy Green was noted for his ill luck in being selected by the road agents, or
highwaymen, for robbery. In Six-mile Canyon he was stopped so often that
the stage company concluded he was either in with the gang, or else a
hoodoo, and they transferred him to the
Austin
drive. That broke his heart and he left the road and went to hauling
freight in Pioche.
Tom
Reilley Was a wag and always "joshing." He had a ready joke for every one,
even when wakened out of his sleep. On one occasion, when his drive ended
on the new road from Eureka to Palisade, at midnight, at a station
consisting only of a corral, when the stock was cared for, Reilley laid
down and was soon sleeping. Waking at the hostler's movements, Reilley
yawned and said "Tim, for God's sake put up the bars' or we'll both take
cold." His favorite expression of approval or condemnation was "He's a
lizard," and his meaning of its application was the manner in which he
said it and squinted his eyes. His eyes were weak and always half closed.
Coming out of the hotel at Palisade one noon time from dinner, he stopped
to look at two Italians lying asleep on the front stoop. One of them, made
restless by the flies, raised his foot and gave a little kick, at which
Reilley said to his comrade, "It's alive Billy, I saw it move."
Vic
Koensin was noted for his earnest expressions uttered in a deep guttural
of broken German. He possessed great powers of endurance, and during the
muddy roads of the spring break-up in the Reese River valley, he was
frequently out on the box twenty hours in his drive from East Gate to
Austin. It was a daily drive, and
Baldy Green said he walked around the rest
of the day for exercise.
Dave
Red was noted for his thin, cadaverous look, and ghastly smile when the
bottle was passed, at which he would say "Here's a go," and after taking a
swig, pull up on the lines and start the team on a spin to the next raise.
We rode with him once to
Idaho ,
and in crossing the Owyhee River went over the ferry ahead of him, leaving
a bottle concealed in our baggage. An hour afterwards, the
stage got
across and Dave -- well he had found the bottle. We dropped it under the
wheel to save his neck, and when we reached the end of his drive at Jordan
Creek, he was sober as a deacon, and merely said "Take care of yourself
Billy till I see you again." Poor Dave, he was found dead and boiled to
pieces, a year or so afterward in a hot spring at Keosin's Station, midway
between Austin and Battle Mountain.
Jim
Miller was known by his striking dress. In stature over six feet tall, his
clothing gave him a look as grotesque as a clown. But, his clothes always
fit him and were made to order under his special directions. In winter, he
wore a long blanket overcoat and pants, with the wide stripes arranged for
cuffs and collars and high water marks. The buttons were big silver
dollars, and across his bright red vest was a silver watch chain with
links like a trace chain, which went clear around his neck and weighed
four pounds. It was further weighted down with silver horses. The watch
was a monster one and had cases so thick that he could run his coach over
them without endangering the works. Of course, he wore a white beaver hat
of the finest make -- all the drivers did that in those days -- and as a
further mark of oddity, he wore very high-heeled boots with soles an inch
and a half thick. When he would arrive at Austin with his fast freight
wagon from
Virginia
City ,
he attracted as much attention as the camel train that was then used in
freighting. And, he enjoyed the notoriety better than Barnum ever did "The
biggest show on earth."
Uncle
John Gibbons was the hero of the Sazerac Lying Club, and to him is
attributed the proposition to graft grapevines onto the sagebrush, and
thus turn
Nevada
into a vast vineyard.
Reese
Hawley was noted for his daring bravery as a Pony Express rider. After it
was succeeded by the
Overland Stage ,
he pulled the reins over a team in and out of Austin, until he secured a
moderate nest egg, and then resigned and retired to an Iowa farm, and was
noted as one among the few of the old boys that saved a competence for his
old age.
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