Abstinence from liquor is requested, but if you must drink, share the bottle. To do otherwise makes you appear selfish and unneighborly.

If ladies are present, gentlemen are urged to forego smoking cigars and pipes as the odor of same is repugnant to the Gentle Sex. Chewing tobacco is permitted, but spit WITH the wind, not against it.

Gentlemen must refrain from the use of rough language in the presence of ladies and children.

Buffalo robes are provided for your comfort during cold weather. Hogging robes will not be tolerated and the offender will be made to ride with the driver.

Don't snore loudly while sleeping or use your fellow passenger's shoulder for a pillow; he or she may not understand and friction may result.

Firearms may be kept on your person for use in emergencies. Do not fire them for pleasure or shoot at wild animals as the sound riles the horses.

In the event of runaway horses, remain calm. Leaping from the coach in panic will leave you injured, at the mercy of the elements, hostile Indians and hungry wolves.

Forbidden topics of discussion are stagecoach robberies and Indian uprisings.

Gents guilty of unchivalrous behavior toward lady passengers will be put off the stage. It's a long walk back. A word to the wise is sufficient.

The Concord Mail Coach

The Concord mail coach was manufactured by the Abbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire. From 1830 to 1900 some 3,700 coaches were sold to customers in the United states, Canada, Europe, South America, South Africa and Australia. The cost varied between $1,000 and $1,200, depending on accessories and model.

Multiple coats of pomegranate red paint were rubbed down with pumice, followed by two coats of spar varnish producing a blood-red mirror-like finish. Landscape scenes could be added to the door panels for an additional $20. The metal trim was painted black, the undercarriage was straw colored. The name of the stage line was placed above the doors and on the drivers box in either gold leaf or gold paint.

When Abbot-Downing finally went out of business in 1927 because it was unable to compete successfully in building trucks, the name was bought by Wells Fargo.

Probably the most famous stagecoach was the stage driven by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. The coach is smaller than the regular models and although its origin is uncertain, it was reportedly ordered by for the Pioneer Stage Company in 1864. From California it made its way to Deadwood, Wyoming where Cody acquired it for his Wild West show. Wells Fargo acquired the coach in the late 1930’s.

Wells Fargo favored the one-ton, nine passenger model. There were three seats inside. One seat facing forward, one facing the rear and one seat in the middle with no backrest

The double-barreled, hammer-fired, "cut-off" shotguns, as Wells Fargo called them were marked with "W. F. & CO. EX.". Up to the mid 1880’s Wells Fargo weapons were obtained from A. J. Plate & Co., Liddle & Kaeding and Shreve & Wolf of San Francisco. Messengers on the stagecoaches were normally issued 10 gauge shotguns while all others were normally issued 12 gauge shotguns.

The twenty by twelve by ten inch boxes weighed approximately twenty-four pounds empty and bore the white lettering, "Wells Fargo & Co.". They were made from ponderosa (yellow) pine and oak. A San Francisco father-and-son carpenter team made the chests between the years 1862 and 1906. When loaded, a strongbox could weigh between 100 and 150 pounds.

Wells Fargo suffered its first robbery in 1855. Rattlesnake Dick robbed a Wells Fargo mule train near Mt. Shasta of $80,000.

The first attempted stagecoach robbery occurred in 1856 when Tom Bell and five members of his gang tried to rob the Comptonville stage. Forty shots were exchanged and the robbers driven off. One passenger was killed, two were wounded. The wounded driver managed to drive the stage to Marysville.

When finally caught by the law, Rattlesnake Dick was shot and Tom Bell was hanged from a tree.

Probably the most prolithic stage robber was Black Bart. His real name was either Charles E. Bolton or C. E. Boles. Black Bart robbed a total of twenty-eight stagecoaches for a net haul of $18,000.(this amount does not include monies stolen from the United States mail0 Bart was always nattily dressed and usually left poetic ditties at the scene of the robbery signed "Black Bart, the Po8". Bart never rode a horse (he preferred walking) and used an unloaded shotgun during the robberies. Bart was arrested in 1883 at the age of fifty-five and sent to prison, serving four years in San Quentin. Upon his release, he was never seen or heard from again.