b'TERRITORIAL STAGE BANDITSTERRORIZE 1870s & EARLY 80sBarn Company PART 2 By Bill Roberts Reprinted from The TravelerA r er during a stage holdup on the Black Canyon tomurdoute near the Tip Top Mine in last months story led the gallows.Domingues was captured, tried, convicted and sentenced to hang. He had the distinction of being the first man legally hung in Phoenix. The trap door on a scaffold built in the southeast corner of the Phoenix graveyard especially for the occasionwas sprung at 1:13 p.m. on November 26, 1880.His grave was dug just to the right of two other victims of the rope, Keller and McCloskey. They were lynched on the Plaza in Phoenix for killing Luke Monihan and John La Bar respectivelyin separate murders. They were placed on the tailgate of a wagon with ropes around their necks by aroused citizens,and the wagon was pulled away.Agua Fria Route Hit Again As dusk began to fall the next Saturday evening,felt a hard object pushed into his back and his rifle was More than a year after Thomas was murdered nearSeymour set out from town with his rifle and a couplejerked from his hand. The startled blacksmith saw a man Gillette, the stages of the Black Canyon Line runningof burlap bags rolled under his arm. He headed in thestanding beside him with a six-shooter pointed at his the Agua Fria route were plagued by a series of holdups.opposite direction of the stage route. When away fromchest. The games up boys. You got me. Seymour said Authorities were baffled when the stage was robbedthe small mining camp, Seymour changed direction andweakly, knowing he could do nothing against the gun at continuously in 1880 and 1881 by a lone highwaymancut across to where the stage road began its turn intohis chest and the one held against his back.who disappeared from the scene without leaving a trace.Gillette, stopping long enough to tie the burlap bags No tracks of either man or a horse could be found at thearound his boots. He soon was standing in the thickAyers and the two deputies looked over their prisoner, scene of these holdups. His target was the semi-monthlybrush next to the stage road, waiting. When he heard thepulling the bandana down to reveal Seymours familiar payroll for the Tip Top Mine. Somehow he knew whenstage approaching he tied a red bandana around his face,face in the light of a match. The next match revealed the payroll was on board.leveled his rifle and stepped out into the road. the burlap tied around Seymours boots to allow him to walk without leaving any discernable boot tracks. Each robbery occurred along a partly straight stretch ofWhen driver Bill Ayers heard the command halt heSeymours face wasnt seen around Gillette anymore. the road that ran from the ford of the Agua Fria severalquickly reined the team to a stop. Throw out the bag andHe was sentenced to ten years in the Territorial Prison miles south before the road took a sharp turn around amove on, was the next order. At that instant, Seymourat Yuma.hill and ran back to the river at Gillette. Thick brush ran along both sides of the road along this stretch. Bill AyersHighwaymen Lynched In Jailwas driving the first time the payroll was taken. SomeIt was August 1883, when a lone man rode into Florence, three months later, the driver was Shorty Thompson.sold his horse and carried his saddle and bridle down Like Ayers, Thompson threw down the payroll when theMain Street. He loafed around for several days, always Your arizona man stepped from the brush with a rifle leveled at himmanaging to be around when the stage left for Globe. and did not challenge the highwayman. Each time, theHis name was Red Jack Almer.MD Barn Company bandit ignored the passengers. He took the payroll sack solutions team and disappeared into the brush. On the evening of August 10th, Red Jack was there when a heavy express box was loaded into the boot of the Sheriffs deputies finally decided that the bandit mustGlobe stage. Red Jack paid passage and loaded himself, be from Gillette. They checked the whereabouts ofhis saddle and bridle for the trip. When the stage everyone in and around the small town on the days theapproached Riverside Station at the Gila River crossing, stage was held up. Finally, a Mexican boy told them heRed Jack began to sing loudly. Two men rode out of a had seen the blacksmith, Henry Seymour, leave townmesquite thicket, circled the Riverside station and rode near dusk on the days the stages were held up. The boyon up the road to Globe.told deputies that Seymour carried a rifle and burlap bags with him each time. Further inquiry revealedThe stage stopped at the station and Red Jack got off Seymour was a hunting and drinking companion of thewith his gear. Wat Humphrey was driving and Johnnie paymaster at the Tip Top. Collins was the messenger. Humphrey left the station by the light of the moon, his four-horse team making good The paymaster agreed to help deputies snag thetime across the flat ahead of him. When they approach highwayman. Next time he and Seymour were drinkingthe foot of the grade that ran up into the oncoming together, the paymaster casually told the blacksmith thatmountains, gunfire flashed from a clump of brush he could not join him hunting the coming Saturday sincenear the road. Johnnie Collins fell onto the boot dead. he would have to work late and then meet the stage withThe shots missed Humphrey, who yelled, Dont shoot the payroll.Red Jack Gang anymore. Youve already killed a man!continued on page 20ArizonaRealCountry.com December 2019 19'