Читать книгу Vigilante Days and Ways. The pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and Idaho онлайн

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The confidence of the owner of a train of pack-animals in their sagacity and sure-footedness relieved him of all fear of accident by travel, but he could never feel as well assured against the attacks of robbers. All the men in charge of a train were well armed and in momentary expectation of a surprise. Frequently on the return trips they were entrusted by merchants with large amounts of gold dust. Opportunities of this character seldom escaped the vigilance of the robbers,—and any defect in the police of the departing train insured an attack upon it in some of the difficult passes on its route to the river.

The packer of a train belonging to Neil McClinchey, a well-known mercantile operator of the Upper Columbia, in October, 1862, when four days out from Florence, on his return to Walla Walla, was stopped by a masked party of which Harper was supposed to be the leader, and for want of sufficient force robbed of fourteen pounds of gold. As he gave the treasure into the hands of the assailants, the villain who took it said in a consoling tone, “That’s sensible. If every man was as reasonable as you things would go along smoother.”