TERRITORIAL STAGE BANDITS
TERRORIZE 1870s
One of the most unusual of the early stage robberies occurred on the Prescott to Ehrenberg trail somewhere between Black Tanks and Wickenburg in mid-1877. In Prescott, at the time, was a man named John Mantle. He had been commissioned by the Postal Service in Washington as Director of the Postal Service in the Territory and was given the mission of investigating mail robberies and bringing justice to the highwaymen who were foolish enough to pillage the U.S. mail during their robberies. Only two or three stage agents were informed of Mantle’s mission, by a secret letter from Washington, according to findings of the 2nd judicial district Grand Jury that convened in Yuma late in 1877. No officials of the Territory knew of Mantle’s mission, nor did any U.S. or Territorial lawmen, the Grand Jury found. It also found that Mantle, while in Prescott, planned with others to rob the Prescott to Ehrenberg stage, its mail and its passengers along with any cargo of value. The planned robbery took place on May 12, 1877. Mantle had two accomplices, men named Sutton and Brophy. One of the passengers on the stage was Edward F. Bowers, Sheriff of Yavapai Country. Bowers had not been informed about Mantle and his “secret mission.” He had in custody on the stage a woman who had been judged insane and who he was escorting to Stockton, California to be institutionalized. One who had been informed was the stage agent in Wickenburg, one Doc Pierson, who later would become famous after it was revealed that he poisoned passengers staying at his station, relieved them of their money and gold, and buried them on the hill behind the Wickenburg stage station. He had been informed of Mantle’s mission but had told no one, including Sheriff Bowers. The Sheriff was relieved of the $450 he was carrying by the stage robbers. He testified that if he had known of Mantle’s mission for the U. S. Postal Service, he would
