XI
THE PASSING OF PEG-LEG
In the early part of September, '91, the eastern overland express onthe Denver and Rio Grande was held up and robbed at Texas Creek. Theplace is little more than a watering-station on that line, but it wasan inviting place for hold-ups.
Surrounded by the fastnesses of the front range of the Rockies,Peg-Leg Eldridge and his band selected this lonely station as bestfitted for the transaction in hand. To the southwest lay the Sangrede Cristo range, in which the band had rendezvoused and planned thisrobbery. Farther to the southwest arose the snow-capped peaks of theContinental Divide, in whose silent solitude an army might have takenrefuge and hidden.
It was an inviting country to the robber. These mountains offeredretreats that had never known the tread of human footsteps. Emboldenedby the thought that pursuit would be almost a matter of impossibility,they laid their plans and executed them without a single hitch.
About ten o'clock at night, as the train slowed up as usual to takewater, the engineer and fireman were covered by two of the robbers.The other two--there were only four--cut the express car from thetrain, and the engineer and fireman were ordered to decamp. Therobbers ran the engine and express car out nearly two miles, where, bythe aid of dynamite, they made short work of a through safe that themessenger could not open. The express company concealed the amountof money lost to the robbers, but smelters, who were aware of certainretorts in transit by this train, were not so silent. These smelterproducts were in gold retorts of such a size that they could be madeaway with as easily as though they had reached the mint and beencoined.
There was scarcely any excitement among the passengers, so quickly wasit over. While the robbery was in progress the wires from this stationwere flashing the news to headquarters. At a division of the railroadone hundred and fifty-six miles distant from the scene of the robbery,lived United States Marshal Bob Banks, whose success in pursuingcriminals was not bounded by the State in which he lived. Hisreputation was in a large measure due to the successful use ofbloodhounds. This officer's calling compelled him to be both plainsmanand mountaineer. He had the well-deserved reputation of being asunrelenting in the pursuit of criminals as death is in marking itsvictims.
Within half an hour after the robbery was reported at headquarters,an engine had coupled to a caboose at the division where the marshallived. He was equally hasty. To gather his arms and get his dogsaboard the caboose required but a few moments' time.
Everything ready, they pulled out with a clear track to theirdestination. Heavy traffic in coal had almost ruined the road-bed, butengine and caboose flew over it regardless of its condition. Halfwayto their destination the marshal was joined by several officials,both railway and express. From there the train turned westward, up thevalley of the Arkansas. Here was a track and an occasion that gave themost daring engineer license to throw the throttle wide open.
The climax of this night's run was through the Grand Canon of theArkansas. Into this gash in the earth's surface plunged the engineer,as though it were an easy stretch of down-grade prairie. As the enginerounded turns, the headlight threw its rays up serried columns ofgranite half a mile high,--columns that rear their height in grotesqueform and Gothic arch, polished by the waters of ages.
As the officials agreed, after a full discussion with the marshal ofevery phase and possibility of capture, the hope of this night's workand the punishment of the robbers rested almost entirely on three dogslying on the floor, and, as the rocking of the car disturbed them,growling in their dreams. In their helplessness to cope with thisoutrage, they turned to these dumb animals as a welcome ally. Underthe guidance of their master they were an aid whose value he wellunderstood. Their sense of smell was more reliable than the sense ofseeing in man. You can believe the dog when you doubt your own eyes.His opinion is unquestionably correct.
As the train left the canon it was but a short run to the scene ofthe depredation. During the night the few people who resided atthis station were kept busy getting together saddle-horses for theofficer's posse. This was not easily done, as there were few horses atthe station, while the horses of near-by ranches were turned loose inthe open range for the night. However, upon the arrival of the train,Banks and the express people found mounts awaiting them to carry themto the place of the hold-up.
After the robbers had finished their work during the fore part of thenight, the train crew went out and brought back to the station theengine and express car. The engine was unhurt, but the express carwas badly shattered, and the through safe was ruined by the successivecharges of dynamite that were used to force it to yield up itstreasure. The local safe was unharmed, the messenger having opened itin order to save it from the fate of its larger and stronger brother.The train proceeded on its way, with the loss of a few hours' time andthe treasure of its express.
Day was breaking in the east as the posse reached the scene. Themarshal lost no time circling about until the trail leaving wastaken up. Even the temporary camp of the robbers was found in closeproximity to the chosen spot. The experienced eye of this officer soondetermined the number of men, though they led several horses. It wasa cool, daring act of Peg-Leg and three men. Afterward, when his pasthistory was learned, his leadership in this raid was established.
Peg-Leg Eldridge was a product of that unfortunate era succeedingthe civil war. During that strife the herds of the southwest wereneglected to such an extent that thousands of cattle grew to maturitywithout ear-mark or brand to identify their owner. A good mount ofhorses, a rope and a running-iron in the hands of a capable man, werebetter than capital. The good old days when an active young man couldbrand annually fifteen calves--all better than yearlings--to everycow he owned, are looked back to to this day, from cattle king to thehumblest of the craft, in pleasant reminiscence, though they will comeno more. Eldridge was of that time, and when conditions changed,he failed to change with them. This was the reason that, under thechanged condition of affairs, he frequently got his brand on someother man's calf. This resulted in his losing a leg from a gunshot atthe hands of a man he had thus outraged. Worse, it branded him for alltime as a cattle thief, with every man's hand against him. Thus thesteps that led up to this September night were easy, natural, andgradual. This child of circumstances, a born plainsman like theIndian, read in plain, forest, and mountain, things which were notvisible to other eyes. The stars were his compass by night, the heatwaves of the plain warned him of the tempting mirage, while the cloudon the mountain's peak or the wind in the pines which sheltered himalike spoke to him and he understood.
The robbers' trail was followed but a few miles, when their coursewas well established. They were heading into the Sangre de CristoMountains. Several hours were lost here by the pursuing party, as theywere compelled to await the arrival of a number of pack horses; sowhen the trail was taken up in earnest they were at least twelve hoursbehind the robbers.
In the ascent of the foot-hills the dogs led the posse, six in number,a merry chase. As they gradually rose to higher altitudes the trailof the robbers was more compact and easy to follow, except for theroughness of the mountain slope. Frequently the trail was but a singlenarrow path. Old game trails, where the elk and deer, drifting inthe advance of winter, crossed the range, had been followed by therobbers. These game trails were certain to lead to the passes in therange. Thus, by the instinct given to the deer and elk against thewinter's storm, the humblest of His creatures had blazed for thesetrain robbers an unerring pathway to the mountain's pass.
Along these paths the trail was so distinct that the dogs were anunnecessary adjunct to the pursuing party. These hounds, one of whichwas a veteran in the service, while the other two, being younger, werewithout that practice which perfects, showed an exuberance of energyand ambition in following the trail. The ancestry of the dogs wasRussian. Hounds of this breed never give mouth, thus warningthe hunted of their approach. Man-hunting is exciting sport. Thepossibility, though the trail may look hours old, that any turn of th
etrail may disclose the fugitives, keeps at the highest tension everynerve of the pursuer.
All day long the marshal and posse climbed higher and higher on therugged mountainside. Night came on as they reached the narrow plateauthat formed the crest of the mountain, on which they found severalsmall parks. Here they made the first halt since the start in themorning. The necessity of resting their saddle stock was very apparentto Banks, though he would gladly have pushed on. The only halt hecould expect of the robbers was to save their own horses, and he mustdo the same. Forcing a tired horse an extra hour has left many anamateur rider afoot. He realized this. Knowing the necessity of beingwell mounted, the robbers had no doubt splendid horses. This was areasonable supposition.
Near midnight the marshal and posse set out once more on the trail.He was compelled to take it afoot now, depending on his favorite dog,which was under leash, the posse following with the mounts. The dogsled them several miles southward on this mountain crest. Here waswhere the dogs were valuable. The robbers had traveled in some placesan entire mile over lava beds, not leaving as much as a trace whichthe eye could detect. Having the advantage of daylight, the robbersselected a rocky cliff, over which they began the descent of thewestern slope of this range. The ingenuity displayed by them to throwpursuit from their trail marked Peg-Leg as an artist in his calling.But with the aid of dogs and the dampness of night, their trail was aseasily followed as though it had been made in snow.
This declivity was rough, and in places every one was compelled todismount. Progress was extremely slow, and when the rising sun tippedthe peaks of the Continental Range, before them lay the beautifullandscape where the Rio Grande in a hundred mountain streams has herfountain-head. With only a few hours' rest for men and animals duringthe day, night fell upon them before they had reached the mesa at thefoot-hills on the western slope. An hour before nightfall they cameupon the first camp or halt of the robbers. They had evidently spentbut a short time here, there being no indication that they had slept.Criminals are inured to all kinds of hardship. They have been known togo for days without sleep, while smugglers, well mounted, have put ahundred miles of country behind them in a single night.
The marshal and party pushed forward during the night, the countrybeing more favorable. When morning came they had covered many a mile,and it was believed they had made time, as the trail seemed fresher.There were several ranches along the main stream in the valley, whichthe robbers had avoided with well-studied caution, showing that theyhad passed through in the daytime. There are several lines of railroadrunning through this valley section. These they crossed at pointsbetween stations, where observation would be almost impossible eitherby day or night. Inquiries at ranches failed on account of the lackof all accurate means of description. The posse was maintaining a duesouthwest course that was carrying them into the fastnesses of themain range of the western continent. Another full day of almostconstant advance, and the trail had entered the undulating hillsforming the approach of this second range of mountains. Physicalexertion was beginning to tell on the animals, and they were compelledto make frequent halts in the ascent of this range.
The fatigue was showing in the two younger dogs. Their feet had beencut in several places in crossing the first range of mountains. Duringthe past nights in the valley, though their master was keeping asharp lookout, they encountered several places where sand-burrs wereplentiful. These burrs in the tender inner part of a dog's foot, ifnot removed at once, soon lame it. Many times had the poor creatureslain down, licking their paws in anguish. On examination during theprevious night, their feet were found to be webbed with this burr.Now, on climbing this second mountain, they began to show the lamenesswhich their master so much feared, until it was almost impossible tomake them take any interest in the trail. The old dog, however, seemednothing the worse for his work.
On reaching the first small park near the summit of this range, thepursuers were so exhausted that they lay down and took their firstsleep, having been over three days and a half on the trail. Themarshal himself slept several hours, but he was the last to go tosleep and the first to awake. Before going to sleep, and on arising,he was particular to bathe the dogs' feet. The nearest approach to aliniment that he possessed was a lubricating tube for guns, which hefortunately had with him. This afforded relief.
It was daybreak when the pursuers took up the trail. The plateau onthe crest of this range was in places several miles wide, having aluxuriant growth of grass upon it. The course of the robbers continuedto the southwest. The pursuers kept this plateau for several miles,and before descending the western slope of the range an abandoned campwas found, where the pursued had evidently made their first bunks.Indications of where horses had been picketed for hours, and whereboth men and horses had slept were evident. The trail where it leftthis deserted camp was in no wise encouraging to the marshal, asit looked at least thirty-six hours old. As the pursuers began thedescent, they could see below them where the San Juan River meandersto the west until her waters, mingling with others, find their outletinto the Pacific. It was a trial of incessant toil down the mountainslope, wearisome alike to man and beast. Near the foot-hill of thismountain they were rewarded by finding a horse which the robbers hadabandoned on account of an accident. He was an extremely fine horse,but so lame in the shoulders, apparently owing to a fall, that itwas impossible to move him. The trail of the robbers kept in thefoot-hills, finally doubling back an almost due east course. Now andthen ranches were visible out on the mesa, but in all instances theywere carefully avoided by the pursued.
Spending a night in these hills, the posse prepared to make an earlystart. Here, however, they met their first serious trouble. Both ofthe younger dogs had feet so badly swollen that it was impossibleto make them take any interest in the trail. After doing everythingpossible for them, their owner sent them to a ranch which was in sightseveral miles below in the valley. Several hours were lost to theparty by this incident, though they were in no wise deterred infollowing the trail, still having the veteran dog. Late that afternoonthey met a _pastor_ who gave them a description of the robbers.
"Yesterday morning," said the shepherd, in broken Spanish, "shortlyafter daybreak, four men rode into my camp and asked for breakfast. Igave them coffee, but as I had no meat in my quarters, they tried tobuy a lamb, which I have no right to sell. After drinking the coffeethey tendered me money, which I refused. On leaving, one of theirnumber rode into my flock and killed a kid. Taking it with him, herode away with the others."
A good description of the robbers was secured from this simpleshepherd,--a full description of men, horses, colors, and conditionof pack. The next day nothing of importance developed, and the possehugged the shelter of the hills skirting the mountain range, crossinginto New Mexico. It was late that night when they went into camp onthe trail. They had pushed forward with every energy, hoping to lessenthe intervening distance between them and the robbers. The followingmorning on awakening, to the surprise and mortification of everybody,the old dog was unable to stand upon his feet. While this was felt tobe a serious drawback, it did not necessarily check the chase.
In bringing to bay over thirty criminals, one of whom had paid thepenalty of his crime on the gallows, master and dog had heretoforebeen an invincible team. Old age and physical weakness had nowovertaken the dog in an important chase, and the sympathy he deservedwas not withheld, nor was he deserted. Tenderly as a mother would lifta sick child, Banks gathered him in his arms and lifted him to one ofthe posse on his horse. To the members of the posse it was a touchingscene: they remembered him but a few months before pursuing a flyingcriminal, when the latter--seeing that escape was impossible andturning to draw his own weapon upon the officer, whose six-shooter hadbeen emptied at the fugitive, but who with drawn knife was readyto close with him in the death struggle--immediately threw down hisweapon and pleaded for his life.
Yet this same officer could not keep back the tears that came intohis eyes as he lifted this dumb comrade of other vi
ctories to a horse.With an earnest oath he brushed the incident away by assuring hisposse that unless the earth opened and swallowed up the robbers theycould not escape. A few hours after taking up the trail, a ranch wassighted and the dog was left, the instructions of the Good Samaritanbeing repeated. At this ranch they succeeded in buying two freshhorses, which proved a valuable addition to their mounts.
Now it became a hunt of man by man. To an experienced trailer likethe marshal there was little difficulty in keeping the trail. That therobbers kept to the outlying country was an advantage. Yet the lattertraveled both night and day, while pursuit must of necessity be by dayonly. With the fresh horses secured, they covered a stretch of countryhardly credible.
During the day they found a place where the robbers had camped for atleast a full day. A trail made by two horses had left this camp, andreturned. The marshal had followed it to a rather pretentious Mexicanrancho, where there was a small store kept. Here a second descriptionof the two men was secured, though neither one was Peg-Leg. He was soindelibly marked that he was crafty enough to keep out of sight of sopublic a place as a store. These two had tried unsuccessfully to buyhorses at this rancho.
The next morning the representative of the express company leftthe posse to report progress. He was enabled to give such an exactdescription of the robbers that the company, through their detectivesystem, were not long in locating the leader. The marshal and possepushed on with the same unremitting energy. The trail was now almostdue east. The population of the country was principally Mexican,and even Mexicans the robbers avoided as much as possible. They had,however, bought horses at several ranches, and were always liberalin the use of money, but very exacting in regard to the quality ofhorseflesh they purchased; the best was none too good for them. Theypassed north of old Santa Fe town, and entering a station on the lineof railway by that name late at night, they were liberal patrons ofthe gaming tables that the town tolerated. The next morning they haddisappeared.
At no time did the pursuers come within two days of them. This wasowing to the fact that they traveled by night as well as day. At thelast-mentioned point messages were exchanged with the express companywith little loss of time. Banks had asked that certain points on therailway be watched in the hope of capture while crossing the country,but the effort was barren of results. In following the trail themarshal had recrossed the continuation of the first range of mountainswhich they had crossed to the west ten days before, or the morningafter the robbery, three hundred miles southward. There was nothingdifficult in the passage of this range of mountains, and now beforethem stretched the endless prairie to the eastward. Here Banksseriously felt the loss of his dogs. This was a country that theycould be used in to good advantage. It would then be a question ofendurance of men and horses. As it was, he could work only by day. Twolines of railway were yet to be crossed if the band held its course.The same tactics were resorted to as formerly, yet this vigilance andprecaution availed nothing, as Peg-Leg crossed them carefully betweentwo of the watched places. Owing to his occupation, he knew thecountry better by night than day.
Banks was met by the officials of the express company on one of theselines of railroad. The exhaustive amount of information that they hadbeen able to collect regarding this interesting man with the woodenleg was astonishing. From out of the abundance of the data therewere a few items that were of interest to the officer. Several ofEldridge's haunts when not actively engaged in his profession werelocated. In one of these haunts was a woman, and toward this one hewas heading, though it was many a weary mile distant.
At the marshal's request the express people had brought bloodhoundswith them. The dogs proved worthless, and the second day wereabandoned. When the trail crossed the Gulf Railway the robbers werethree days ahead. The posse had now been fourteen days on the trail.Banks followed them one day farther, himself alone, leaving his tiredcompanions at a station near the line of the Panhandle of Texas. Thisextra day's ride was to satisfy himself that the robbers were makingfor one of their haunts. They kept, as he expected, down between thetwo Canadians.
After following the trail until he was thoroughly satisfied of theirdestination, the marshal retraced his steps and rejoined his posse.The first train carried him and the posse back to the headquarters ofthe express company.
Two weeks later, at a country store in the Chickasaw Nation, therewas a horse race of considerable importance. The country side weregathered to witness it. The owners of the horses had made large wagerson the race. Outsiders wagered money and livestock to a large amount.There were a number of strangers present, which was nothing unusual.As the race was being run and every eye was centred on the outcome,a stranger present put a six-shooter to a very interested spectator'sear, and informed him that he was a prisoner. Another stranger did thesame thing to another spectator. They also snapped handcuffs on bothof them. One of these spectators had a peg-leg. They were escorted toa waiting rig, and when they alighted from it were on the line ofa railroad forty miles distant. One of these strangers was a UnitedStates marshal, who for the past month had been very anxious to meetthese same gentlemen.
Once safe from the rescue of friends of these robbers, the marshalregaled his guest with the story of the chase, which had nowterminated. He was even able to give Eldridge a good part of hishistory. But when he attempted to draw him out as to the whereaboutsof the other two, Peg was sullenly ignorant of anything. They werenever captured, having separated before reaching the haunt of Mr.Eldridge. Eldridge was tried in a Federal court in Colorado andconvicted of train robbery. He went over the road for a term of yearsfar beyond the lease of his natural life. He, with the companioncaptured at the same time, was taken by an officer of the court toDetroit for confinement. When within an hour's ride of the prison--hisliving grave--he raised his ironed hands, and twisting from a blueflannel shirt which he wore a large pearl button, said to the officerin charge:--
"Will you please take this button back and give it, with mycompliments, to that human bloodhound, and say to him that I'm sorrythat I didn't anticipate meeting him? If I had, it would have savedyou this trip with me. He might have got me, but I wouldn't haveneeded a trial when he did."