The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 196
546 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
hours while waiting for the stage from the opposite direction.
The time passed rather quickly for the passengers for the
robber was very talkative and a good entertainer. He even
wrote out certificates for each of them, stating that they were
a brave and worthy group, commending them to any other
robber whom they should meet, and stating that they had
already been robbed once. When the other stage failed to
arrive, the robber coolly sent his victims on their way, wishing
them a pleasant journey.27 The other incident had to do with an
"honest" robber. After holding up a stage near San Angelo,
he learned that one of the passengers he had robbed was a
citizen of Mason who had befriended him a year before. The
robber went to Sweetwater and mailed his benefactor $40
with an appropriate apology.28 The last mention of stage rob-
beries in the San Angelo area is the following item from the
Mason News, September 18, 1888:
"San Angelo is now a railroad point, and the lone
highwayman has gone to California, seeking better
fields."
The year 1888 witnessed the beginning of bank robberies in
West Texas, a form of lawlessness which has persisted through
the years and which has been augmented by the advent of good
roads and automobiles. In February, 1888, several masked
men held up a bank at Cisco and made off with $6,000."" A
posse gave chase, but the robbers, being armed with longer
range guns than the posse, held the pursuers at bay until they
could escape. No account of their capture appears in the news-
paper files.
People as a whole took a philosophical attitude toward hold-
ups. Such things were to be expected, and no one bothered
much about them. At no time do we read of spontaneous dem-
onstrations, grim-faced posses, or the relentless hunting down
and hanging of the robbers. The only ones who took hold-ups
to heart were those whose money was taken. At no time were
there demonstrations of outraged public opinion.
Murder was a matter of even less consequence. The public
concerned itself little over an ordinary killing. The law was
usually permitted to take its course. The murderer stood a good
27Albany News, April 26, 1888.
28Mason News, July 5, 1888.
29Mason News, February 25, 1888.196
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941, periodical, 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/216/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.