Daniel B. May: Shotgun Messenger

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

As you know, I've been talking about the life of Daniel May as a guard
for the Deadwood Cheyenne Stagecoach line in the 1870's. He's an
interesting character because he helped save many lives and protect
gold shipments as well as passengers on the first commercial road
between Deadwood, South Dakota and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Deadwood Cheyenne stage around 1880:

source

Most people have never heard of him even though he and his fellow
guards or "shotgun messengers" played a vital role in the development
of the first travel route between the two cities.

Today I wanted to tell you about one of the many skirmishes that
happened in which Mr. May played a part. There was an encounter
with robbers, a gang of 6 men, who held up a stage coming from
Cheyenne. For some reason there were no guards, I reckon because
it carried no gold.

There were just two passengers, a man and a woman. The thieves
took money from the man but left the woman alone.

Now, you gotta ask yourselves..what kind of thieves are these? They
leave the woman alone? She may have had jewelry.. I don't know but
compare that to today's muggers, would they have left a woman
alone? Even the thieves had respect for women back then!

Well, they went through the mail bags and took what valuables were
there and let the stage go, which heading toward Deadwood. There
was also a stage coming FROM Deadwood which was guarded by
May and another messenger and they were on horses.

When the stage from Cheyenne met them they warned about the
robbers up ahead. May and the other guard rode about 2 hundred
yards behind the stage to stay out of sight to the robbers.

This coach was hauling a gold chest with $27,000 worth of gold in it.
So back then that was a bloody fortune.

In fact, $27,000 back then would be comparable to $680,794 today.
And when a good paying job earned $100 per month, you can see
how far that much money would go. I mean, even split up among
5 or 6 guys they could live off that cut for years!

Sure enough, the gang stopped the coach and began rifling through
the mail bags for valuables with May and his partner approaching on
foot, May with a shotgun and his partner with a rifle. When they got
to within 15 ft of the coach the robbers saw them and a gun battle
exploded.

May blew away one of the bandits with his shotgun and the rest took
off, 2 of them limping. The stagecoach driver whipped his horses and
the stage took off, May and his partner mounted and escorted it safely
to the next station.

A group of men from the station went back out to the spot of the
holdup and found a pool of blood where the dead robber laid but
there was no body anywhere.

Now, remember this situation because it ties into the next major
robbery and one of the most bizarre actions you'll ever hear about,
at least in regards to a United States Marshall. So remember the
missing dead bandit for the next post.

In the next post the robbers get smart. Instead of trying to capture a
stage on the road they just take over a station and wait in ambush for
a stage with a gold chest to arrive.

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

ps- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:

Your wife's best pair of shoes are steel-toed Red Wings!
(nothing wrong with that, I say! lol.)