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stage robber

Outlaw and highwayman[1] along the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage Line[2] in 1877.[1] (May 9, 1945 – April 23, 1911)[2]

On February 24,[2] 1877 in the Wyoming Territory, the stage robber and his partner held up[1] the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage south of Fort Laramie, bound for Cheyenne.[2] Bret Maverick and Lefty Dolan were the only passengers aboard. Dolan had Bret step outside and to tell the robbers he was the only passenger while Dolan hid in the coach below the window with his gun drawn. With his hands in the air, Bret addressed the stage robber and told him he was riding alone. The stage robber was disappointed at the slim pickings of such an empty stage, but Bret assured him it wasn't so slim, as he was caring the winnings of six other men from a poker game[1] in Fort Laramie.[2] The stage robber order Bret to drop his gun belt and told his partner to look inside the coach. As his partner got close enough, Dolan shot and killed him, but caught a bullet from the outlaw's gun in return. The gunfire distracted the stage robber long enough for Bret to strike and subdue him, and recover his gun. Bret told the stagecoach driver to tie up the stage robber while he checked on Dolan. Dolan died, but Bret and the stagecoach driver had captured the stage robber,[1] loaded him into the coach and turned him in to the authorities in Cheyenne at the end of the line.[2]

Bret and the stage driver split a modest reward for the stage robbers capture and a month later, the prestige of helping to apprehend the highwayman led to the stage driver getting elected as Mayor of Junction Flats. The stage robber was found guilty of highway robbery and sentenced to six years in the Wyoming Territorial Prison.[2]

See: The Long Hunt