History: Barricade bravery

Living History: In the real Old West, the outlaws didn't always win

Excerpt:

In mid-December 1882, five men robbed John Devine's store at Deep Creek (now Ibapah), Tooele County, and fled toward their hideout, pausing en route to rob a sheep camp and a cattle ranch.


A posse went in pursuit, but the bandits seized them, relieved them of their guns and horses and sent them back to town on foot.

One month later, the engineer of the Central Pacific's Train No. 1 pulled into the Montello water stop, just west of the Nevada-Utah line, at 1 a.m. The engineer climbed down to investigate the red caution lights blinking frantically on the tracks ahead. He was immediately surrounded by masked men who robbed the train crew of their watches and cash, then locked them in the tank house.


They then ran to their real prize, the Wells Fargo express car. Its safe, guarded by a single expressman, nearly always carried large sums of cash and gold.


Aaron Y. Ross, the quick-thinking Wells Fargo guard on duty that night, awoke to the sound of the bandits pounding on his express car door. "Give me time to get my boots on, will you?" he called, as he piled boxes in front of the door and barricaded himself behind piles of merchandise.

Comment: Interesting Wells Fargo history article from Utah.