Murder By A Bandit A Lone Robber’s Crime in Attempting to Hold Up a Stage in California. Submitted by: Mollie Stehno

An attempt was made to rob the mail stage from Ione to Jackson last evening by a lone highwayman about five miles from here. The stage had four passengers inside, two of whom were ladies. On the outside were the driver, Clinton Radcliff, Wells-Fargo's guard, Michael Tovey, and one passenger. The robber was concealed behind the rocks on the side of the road. When the stage was opposite this place of concealment, without the least warning, a discharge of a weapon was heard and Tovey instantly fell forward. Radcliffe grasped him by one hand and held him. The ball struck Tovey behind the right shoulder and is supposed to have pierced the heart. Six horses were attached to the stage, and the crack of the rifle frightened them into a gallop.

The robber fired again and this time the ball grazed Radcliffe’s back, producing a slight flesh wound. The horses continued to run and the highwayman fired twice more, wounding two of the animals.

The stage was carried along by the uninjured horses for two or three hundred yards, when the driver halted and turned two of the injured animals into a field and came on bringing the body of the murdered messenger to Jackson. The robber made no effort to follow the stage. Several farmers working in a hay field near by heard the firing and they came running to ascertain the cause. The robber escaped into the thick brush. There was treasure on board the stage both from Amador City and Jackson. Tovey had been a messenger for Wells-Fargo for twenty years, and had been wounded three times before by road agents.

| The Hennessey Clipper Page |  | Mollie's Corner Page |  | Home |