How did robbers find out about which stagecoach was carrying a payroll?
Brian Doyle
Denver, Colorado
Sometimes it was just hit or miss. Small-time bandits didn’t plan well and took their chances. If the stagecoach they were planning to rob didn’t have a shotgun messenger on board, it’s a good bet it wasn’t carrying a shipment. One might have to settle for a few dollars from the passengers.
The smart ones tried to find out ahead of time about payrolls and shipments. This wasn’t a s

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
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- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus