Did 1878 stagecoach robbers relieve detective of clothing?

Editor’s Note: The Yuma Sun is reprinting articles from past newspapers honoring Yuma’s unique history. This column is one in a series written by local historian Frank Love that appeared periodically in the newspaper.

The newspaper accounts of the stage robbery do not agree, but Portland’s Morning Oregonian on Aug. 19, 1878, claimed, “Evans was the only passenger on the stage going to Tucson. The robbers relieved him of his clothing and arms.”

If the Oregon paper was correct, Detective Evans must have been left in a very nude condition.

The stage horses weren’t as accommodating to the bandits as Evans had been. They cut the animals loose from their harnesses to the stage, planning to ride them away from the place. But the horses refused to move, and the robbers had to leave them rather than ride them away.

Another account of the same stage robbery in the Salt River Herald newspaper of Phoenix on Aug. 17 reported, “Detective Evans was robbed of all his valuables and his gun.” (Was what he was wearing “valuables?)

If it was, the Phoenix reporter missed the best part of the story.

But whether Evans was the nude victim of a stage robbery or not, he must have had an exciting career as a detective for the California and Arizona Stage Company. News stories about him often appeared in Arizona newspapers between 1877 and 1883.

Evans’ name first appeared in Arizona papers in January of 1877. Then employed as a mail guard for the stage company, the coach he was protecting was held up by M.V. Alexander and Thomas Berry. When driver Jesus Lyon stopped the coach because a rope was tied across the road, the two bandits stepped from behind rocks and ordered, “Hands up!”

It appears mail guard Evans was taken completely by surprise. Ordered off the seat where he sat with driver Lyon, he obeyed.

One outlaw climbed onto the stage, taking the mail sack and the locked express box. The robber then slammed the box against a stage wheel, breaking it open to search it.

They next examined the mail sack and took some contents. Finished, they ordered the stage driver to continue toward Skull Valley.

When the coach got there, Evans left to go into Prescott and report the robbery. U.S. Marshal Standefer and a posse left there with Evans to hunt for the bandits. The posse caught the two about a mile and a half from Skull Valley. Both denied the robbery, but they had letters taken from the mail pouch that led to their conviction.

Five months later, another stage robbery near Ehrenberg resulted in bullion being taken by bandits. It came to Evans’ attention that the robbers responsible were camped near town. He gathered a posse that set out to arrest them.

A desperate battle resulted, with Evans and another posse member wounded. One robber, Tom Johnson, was hit by gunfire resulting in injuries which proved fatal. Johnson’s partner, Sutton, was captured. A third managed to escape.

An investigation followed disclosing that a secret agent of the post office department, John Mantle, was involved. He gave information to Johnson and Sutton about the bullion the stage was transporting and advised them how to steal it.

If a news story in the Prescott paper on June 1, 1877, was correct, his partners gave the loot to Mantle to hide for them. Instead, he turned a portion over to officers, blaming Johnson and Sutton for the robbery while keeping a greater part for himself.

The scheme failed. The Prescott Miner reported that Mantle was arrested later and awaiting trial for his involvement.

Probably irate after having been robbed twice in little more than a year, Evans went on the trail of the third robber along with mail agent Mahoney. They captured him near Camp Thomas, bringing him into Yuma where he was jailed.

The bandit said his name as John Rhodes, but it was soon discovered that his real name was John Stout. Two other men, Andrew Kirby and Jack Swilling, had been blamed for the robbery and were in jail in Yuma. Kirby was released, but Swilling unfortunately had died while locked up.

Evans’ name didn’t appear often in the papers afterward. A short item in the Salt River Herald of Feb. 26, 1879, accused him of taking a bribe from some people living near Texas Hill who he claimed were violating internal revenue laws.

Two months later, he was reported in Olympia, Wash., on the trail of robbers. He arrested both, but they later managed to break out of jail. No report could be found that they were recaptured.

The last story about Evans this writer found was in Tucson’s Daily Star on June 13, 1883. By then, he was a deputy U.S. marshal. It reported him to be transporting some robbers under indictment to Tucson.