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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1913)
P&ge Fourteen East Oregonian Round-Up Souvenir Edition Pendleton. Oregon, Thursday, September llr 1913 Twenty-four Pages Stage Robbing a Recognized Business in the Early Days At Times the IIoWkts Got Caught, But Sometimes They Did Not Ijot Ijvennore Was Wells Fargo Agent t'FSy Fred Lokley In Oregon Journal) "Thirty years ko robliing stages was one of the recognized businesses of eastern Oregon," said Lot Liver more, Pendleton's oldest pioneer. "I xme ;rUy near knowing, for I was the Wi lis Fargo agent as well as the Lgenl for the stage line for many years. One day word came to us that the stage from Pendleton to Umatil la had been robbed. It was held up u&t about where Hermiston Is now lo--teJ. 1 went down there with the deputy sheriffs. It had rained Just before the hold up, so we were able to track them till we lost their tracks un the mountains this side of Sleach im. "A few days later John Bowman, the liveryman, told me he had heard of a t-ouple of strangers camped near Wes ton. He suggested that we drive up there and see who they were. As we were putting up our team at Weston, we saw a horae that corresponded with the description we had gotten of the horse ridden by one of the outlaws. The liveryman thought the other man rtad ridden on to Walla Walla. Bow man went on to Walla Walla while I hid in one of the stalls to wait for the owner of the horse to turn up. Presently he came in. The liveryman save me a nod. I stepped out. 'Hands p, I said. He whirled like a flash on me. He saw he was covered. 'All right, jou've got the drop on me,' he said and stack up his hands. We searched him and I turned him over to a couple of men I could trust. In a little while word came to me that the outlaw. I met him and we spent all nfternoon looking for the burled treas ure, but he could not seem to get the lay of the land from his son's de scription. I told him I would dead head him through to Portland and pav his expenses if he would go to the penitentiary at Salem, see his son and get a map of the place the money was buried. He was a farmer near La Grande and a good citizen. "He went to Salem, secured the In formation and came back to Umatilla, where he was met by H. C. Paige, one of our division superintendents. The stag went through Pendleton at 2 o'clock In the morning. Maxon wanted to stop and have me go along, but Su perintendent Paige would not consent. He said he was in charge of the case and he would not let me come nlnnr Maxon said Very well, I will stop off nere ana see uvermore. I will not go a step unless he goes along,' Paige cursed and stormed and threatened but Maxon wouldn't give In. so they came past my house, woke me up and i eni aiong. "When we got to the camp Maxon tf.ok out his directions and read them to us. They read: 'Go to the elbow of the prairie Just above our camp. At the point of the elbow there la a deaJ I pine, the only tree there. Look due ;ea.t to where a large fir has been j stripped of its limbs on the south side by a falling' tree. Beside this bog fir . there are two trees down, one across jthe other.' We recognized the place. W. C. Paige said: 'One of you fellows bear off a little to the north and one v ...I i$S mm other man was still in town and wasjtc the south and we will all meet at at the hotel eating dinner. I went jthe fir. You may see some other there, made him put up his hands and j tree stripped of its branches ' We re marched him out and turned him over : fusei to go elswhere till we had look to the guards I had with the other ed under the down tree. Billy Maxon n;an- had said the treasurer was hidden un- "I returned to Pendleton and got aider the down tree, not buried. We warrant for their arrest and sent the , scratched under the tree and found depuly sheriff to Weston for them, j first a baking powder can full of cuv- "They were tried, convicted and , rncy. Then we struck two buckskin sentenced to 10 years. One of them,' Billy Maxon. became very friendly ' with me. On the morning the sheriff lefr with-them for Umatilla Maxon asked the sheriff if he could speak to me. H-; told me he wQUld locate the stolen treasure from the Wells Fargo express box if we would try to get his senteroi- shortened. I told him I could1 rot muke promises for the company. "A few months later Superintend ent M- iris, at Boise, told me to go to Mt'ach'j.m and meet a passenger way sacks, one with $S00 and the other with $900 In gold dust. Next we found a gold brick valued at $2500. We located all the treasure and Paige took It with him to Boise. Maxson had been promised $1200 if he recovered the contents of the Wells Fargo chest. Paige went to him and told him they had decided to prosecute him as an accessory to the crime. He scared the old man badly and prob ably had him sign a receipt for J 1200 raying him $200 and claiming he would have to use the $1000 to buy the big officials off. Some time later our division superintendent, Paige, pulled off a very successful stage rob bing himself. We never recovered the treasure he took. The Jury was hung though his guilt was perfectly clear." The Young Idea Relieves Itself Asraln Domestic Science includes cooking, working and physical culture. A Buttress is a female goat. A straight line is one which always runs in the same direction unless It is bent. Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. September Woman's Home Companion. WHEN you come to the Round-Up you will want our Celebrated Round-Up Chocolates and Bon Bons. We made them especially for you. S?e DELTA Frank Quintan, Proprietor Iron ana steel exports of the Uni ted States in February were more than three times as great as in the same month ten years ago Swiss Guide Climbs High Peak of Canadian Rockies CALGART, Alberta. To cut six teen hundred steps in snow and ice of which six hundred were in hard ice. was the stupendous and nerve Wiled ts Williams and to go with him I racking task which had to be done by to the camp of the outlaws near Mea- Conrad Kaln, a Swiss guide employed cham. We had discovered where the j by the Alpine Club of Canada to as two outlaws had made camp in the ' sist In the ascent of Mount Robson, timber near Meacham and the pas- j highest peak of the Canadian Rock eenger waybilled as Williams was in , ies. according to the official account reality the father of Billy Maion, Uio'of the climb as given by A. O. Wheel er, director of the club. "The three ascents of Mount Rob son with the object in view of reach ing its summit were confined to six men," says Director Wheeler, "of vhoni two' were professional guides. Of the other four W. W. Foster, dep uty minister of public works of Brit ish Columbia and A. H. McCarthy of Wilmer, B. C . were the only two who succeeded In making a complete as sent led by the club's professional guide Conrad Kain. The two who failed to make the complete ascent were B. S. Darling or Vancouver and H. Prouty of Mazama Mountaineer ing Club of Portland, Oregon. "The first attempt under Kain was successful, the party of three making the first absolutely complete ascent of the mountain that has yet been made. The ascent was made on the one side and the descent on the other so that a complete traverse was accomplished. On this occasion one night was spent on the mountain at an elevation of 9,000 feet without food or covering. "The second attempt by Darling and Prouty In charge of a Swiss guide, Walter Schauffelberger, failed when within four hundred feet of the sum mit owlnfj to the lateness of the hour and the fact that a storm was about to burst. To have been caught In It on the bare Ice slopes would. In all likelihood, have meant death to one or more of the party and It wag forced to retreat with victory In sight. On this occasion two nishts were spent on the mountain at high altitude. "The third and last attempt was made by the two guides accompanied by Darling and McCarthy for the sec ond time. The object was to ascertain a feasible route up the south face. Again storms interfered and when as cending a steep Ice ridge five hundred feet from the summit a fierce snow blizzard threatened to blow the climb ers out of the steps in the ice by which they were ascending. So bad was the storm that it was impossible to see ten paces ahead and the flying ice particles blinded the men. Con rad, who can do anything possible In mountain climbing and often what seems impossible, declined to go any further saying It meant death. With great difficulty and danger a retreat was made in safety. Notwithstanding the object of the climb was attained for the party Joined on this south route with that previously made from the east and so established the feasi bility of an ascent from tbe east and south. "the mountain is a difficult and dangerous one to climb, rising to 13 06 S feet above sea level. It Is subject to very frequent and wild storms which come on at a moment's notice. The entire crest Is covered by Ice and snow blown by fierce winds into gro tesque shapes and making It extremely difficult to find a path through their labyrinths. "When it is known that to reach the summit on the first ascent, Conrad Kain had to cut no less than sixteen hundred steps in snow and Ice and six hundred of these were In hard Ice ne cessitating hours of patient waiting while this labor was being performed, the difficulties will be partly under stood. During this yeary waiting the frozen debris from the step cutting was blown for hours into the faces of the climbers and this fact alone ex emplifies the great courage and de termination necessary to attain suc cess That first climb took thirteen hours of incessant labor from the Robson Glacier whence a start was made to the summit." Tlio "Boml toro" A DRUG STORE that specializes on pure drugs, correct compounding of prescriptions and attentive service Our Motto "Reliability" See our page advertisement in Saturday Evening Post ot September 13th. 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