The Old Santa Fe Trail: The Story of a Great HighwayInman, Henry
History
The Old Santa Fe Trail: The Story of a Great Highway
Inman, Henry
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); New Mexico -- History; Santa Fe National Historic Trail
"There were four passengers in the coach, all men, but their hands went
up at the same instant that the driver dropped his reins and struck an
attitude that suited the robbers.
"Then, while one of the men stood guard, the other stepped up to the
stage and ordered the treasure box thrown off. This demand was
complied with, and the box was broken and rifled of its contents, which
fortunately were not of very great value.
"The passengers were compelled to hand out their watches and other
jewelry, as well as what money they had in their pockets, and then the
driver was directed to move up the road. In a minute after this the
robbers had disappeared with their booty, and that was the last seen of
them by that particular coach-load of passengers.
"The men who planned and executed that robbery were two cool,
level-headed, and daring scoundrels, known as 'Chuckle-luck' and
'Magpie.' They were killed soon after this occurrence, by a member of
their own band, whose name was Seward. A reward of a thousand dollars
had been offered for their capture, an this tempted Seward to kill them,
one night when they were asleep in camp.
"He then secured a wagon, into which he loaded the dead robbers,
and hauled them to Cimarron City, where he turned them over to the
authorities and received his reward."
Among the Arapahoes Wooton was called "Cut Hand," from the fact that he
had lost two fingers on his left hand by an accident in his childhood.
The tribe had the utmost veneration for the old trapper, and he was
perfectly safe at any time in their villages or camps; it had been the
request of a dying chief, who was once greatly favoured by Wooton, that
his warriors should never injure him although the nation might be at war
with all the rest of the whites in the world.
Uncle Dick died a few seasons ago, at the age of nearly ninety. He was
blind for some time, but a surgical operation partly restored his sight,
which made the old man happy, because he could look again upon the
beautiful scenery surrounding his mountain home, really the grandest in
the entire Raton Range. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad
had one of its freight locomotives named "Uncle Dick," in honour of the
veteran mountaineer, past whose house it hauled the heavy-laden trains
up the steep grade crossing into the valley beyond. At the time of its
baptism, now fifteen or sixteen years ago, it was the largest freight
engine in the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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