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The terms "cut-down shotgun" or "messenger's gun" were coined in the 1860s when Wells Fargo & Co. assigned shotgun messengers to guard its shipments on stagecoaches in California. The company issued shotguns to its guards for defense. [2] The guard was called a shotgun messenger although the phrase riding shotgun was not coined until 1919. [3]
In the American Old West, express messengers of the Wells Fargo company typically carried a short (or sawn-off) 12- or 10-gauge double-barrelled shotgun, loaded with buckshot. The express messenger typically rode in a seat on top of the coach, on the left next to the driver, who typically sat on the right side, operating the wheel brake with ...
"Riding shotgun" was a phrase used to describe the bodyguard who rides alongside a stagecoach driver, typically armed with a break-action shotgun, called a coach gun, to ward off bandits or hostile Native Americans. In modern use, it refers to the practice of sitting alongside the driver in a moving vehicle. The coining of this phrase dates to ...
Wells Fargo only pressed charges on the final robbery. Boles was convicted in 1884 and sentenced to six years in San Quentin Prison, but he was released in January 1888, on good behavior. His health had deteriorated during his time in prison; he had visibly aged, his eyesight was failing, and he had gone deaf in one ear.
James B. Hume had an impressive record as a California and Nevada lawman before he joined the Wells Fargo freight company in 1873. In both appearances and actions he had all the characteristics of a model western lawman: tall, handsome, modest, reticent, quietly efficient, and resourceful in his use of modern detection methods, including the ...
On March 15, 1881, Head and three of his known Cowboy companions, Bill Leonard, Jim Crane, and Luther King, were set to rob a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The monetary gain, however, wasn't the only motive for robbing the stagecoach. Killing Bob Paul was reportedly a secondary objective.
[59]: 180 Bob Paul, who had run for Pima County Sheriff and was contesting the election he lost due to ballot-stuffing, was temporarily working once again as the Wells Fargo shotgun messenger. He had taken the reins and driver's seat in Contention City because the usual driver, a well-known and popular man named Eli "Bud" Philpot, was ill.
Bob Paul, who had run for Pima County sheriff and was contesting the election he lost due to ballot stuffing, was working as the Wells Fargo shotgun messenger. He had taken the reins and driver's seat in Contention City because the usual driver, a well-known and popular man named Eli "Budd" Philpot, was ill.