Friends Travel Adventures

LEGENDS OF THE LOST No One Knows What Happened to the Loot the Hooded Bandit Purloined from Stagecoaches

In 1878 the population of Tucson was just over 3,000 souls, and the Southern Pacific Railroad did not yet cross the vast deserts of southern Ari-zona. All mail services, including military payrolls and other shipments of money, were performed by overland stages obvious and easy targets for highwaymen and the inspiration for this particular tale of lost loot. On a hot July 31, 1878, driver Arthur Hill was making the regular run from Tucson to Florence. His passengers included John Clum, owner-editor of the Arizona Citizen, a Dr. Wheatley, and a Chinese man whose name has been lost. Afternoon thunderheads tempered the heat as the stage approached Point of Mountain, a watering spot in a mesquite grove 18 miles northwest of Tucson. The horses were walking a sandy section of trail when a figure appeared from behind clumps of bushes and aimed a carbine at the driver. A white muslin sack with eyeholes covered his head and shoulders, and a red bandanna had been sewn onto the mask for a mouth. In his left hand, pressed against the stock of his rifle, the masked man held a six-shooter. "The first one that moves I'll kill deader than hell," said the robber. "You may get me, but I'll get some of you first, and I'd just as soon die as not." The driver and passengers were quickly relieved of their cash and valuables and then sent on their way. It wasn't much of a haul for the bloodymouthed bandit - $37 and a pair of gold earrings but John Clum had a great story for his paper. In his report, he noted that the bandit and his horse fit the description of the person involved in several robberies near Silver City, New Mexico, and others in Arizona. The night of the robbery, an effort was made to track the bandit, but the summer rains came in hard, washing away the prints left by his horse. The following Thursday, Arthur Hill was on the same run. This time one of his passengers was John Miller, a