The Principals
The primary persons associated with stagecoaches were the DRIVER and
the SHOTGUN
MESSENGER, or Guard, and the primary person associated with stagecoach
robberies was the ROAD AGENT.
Stagecoach DRIVERS were known by many sobriquets including KNIGHT or
KNIGHT OF THE LASH, WHIP, SAGEBRUSH NAVIGATOR, or the biblical reference
JEHU. Drivers were a hardy lot representing a cross section of the
nation’s citizenry. Many chewed or smoked tobacco to excess, and some
cussed mercilessly, but others were kind and gentle, especially toward
the ladies riding in their coaches. Drivers were the captains of their
vessels. They commanded all who boarded and were always respected,
usually appreciated, and often admired. Not every man could handle the
ribbons of a four-up or six-up and many times it was only a driver’s
iron will and bravado which brought the coach through bad weather,
across swollen rivers, over treacherous roads, with poor stock, while
surviving attacks by highwaymen.
SHOTGUN MESSENGERS sat beside the driver and shared the discomfort and
danger, more so in those rare instances of a robbery because the
messenger was the first target of a road agent’s bullets. Putting a
messenger on a stagecoach was a signal, to a spy, that there was
substantial treasure aboard, because if there was no treasure there was
no guard. A stage line operator would not pay a messenger to ride along
if there was no treasure to protect. Many lawmen, when not engaged in
their primary vocation, worked as messengers, and men such as Wyatt Earp
and Morgan Earp worked for Wells Fargo in that capacity at Tombstone.
However, there is not much in the record about their activities as
messengers since, as might be expected, their coaches were never robbed.
The term ROAD AGENT originated with a station keeper. Two men stopped
at his station, left but returned a short time later, then left again.
When the stagecoach arrived a robbery was reported and the description
of the robbers matched the two men who had stopped at the station. The
station keeper, in his report, referred to the robbers as “agents of the
road” and Wells, Fargo & Company adopted the term “road agents.” Road
agents followed a formula which varied only slightly, except in a few
instances. For example there were loners, but usually road agents worked
in parties of 2 to 4 men. Even when they acted alone they often made it
appear there were others lying in hiding.
One of the advantages in robbing stagecoaches was that the work could
be done at some isolated location, allowing the criminals time to escape
before a posse could be organized and ride to the scene. The scene of
the robbery was a place where the stagecoach would naturally travel at a
slow pace, such as when the coach was ascending a steep or long grade,
driving across soft sand, crossing a narrow bridge, or where there was a
sharp curve in the road. The coach could be stopped by almost anything,
or by nothing more than a man stepping in front of the horses, pointing
his gun at the driver, and ordering him to halt. Other methods included
placing a small obstruction in the roadway such as a log, a brush pile,
rocks, a long tree limb propped at waist level, or tying a rope across
the road. The road agents’ weapons included shotguns, rifles and
pistols.
A spy might be assigned to watch the loading of the treasure box at the
express office to see if it was heavy, or to watch for a shotgun
messenger to board which would signal there was substantial treasure
aboard. At the scene of a robbery, once the driver, messenger, and
passengers were covered by firearms, a road agent would order the driver
to throw out the treasure box. Sometimes the mail sacks would also be
demanded, but often road agents did not want to involve federal
authorities. Occasionally the passengers would be STOOD-UP and ordered
to PUNGLE, or the road agent would search them himself. If the robbers
got nothing for their trouble it was called a WATER HAUL, indicting the
value of the plunder was no more than “water.”.
Many stagecoach robberies were not solved because there was no
motivation to pursue the robbers. Lawmen had no budget to pursue road
agents. They had to put up the funds themselves to pay for a posse and a
pursuit, so there were instances where a posse numbered only one or two
men. Lawmen relied on the rewards for “capture and conviction,” or the
rewards for recovered treasure, to reimburse them their expenses; so, if
there was no reward there was no pursuit. Still, lawmen were relatively
effective and, if there was a pursuit, the road agents were usually
caught.
It was quite common in the old west that, upon being captured,
criminals confessed, and often they would “PEACH,” or inform, on their
partners-in-crime. Those who were jailed would then have an examination
before a JUSTICE OF THE PEACE who would weigh the evidence and determine
if it was adequate to hold the prisoners for the grand jury, and set
bail. The grand jury would INDICT the men [return a TRUE BILL] and they
would then be arraigned. They often pled guilty which, by their
cooperation, earned them a lighter sentence.
Road agents were sent to prison, and sentences typically ranged from 5
years to 15 years. Often one of the road agents in a case turned state’s
evidence and testified against their fellow road agents, and were
released after testifying. Stagecoach robbers were not legally executed,
though once in Del Norte, Colorado two young brothers were lynched for
the crime. However, circumstances during a stagecoach robbery sometimes
led to a murder, and first degree murder was a capital crime in all
parts of the Old West.
Part 4
