Blue View - The Last Stage Robbery

The jarbidge mail stage in 1917, the last stage to be robbed in the u.s.

Jarbidge got its start when gold was discovered nearby, and today, it is still a gold mining town. Gold miners are a rough lot, and the old gold rush towns could be pretty rowdy. When we were there, we learned that the town was the site of the last stage robbery in the United States.  This is the story: On a cold, snowy evening in December of 1916, Fred Searcy was driving the mail stage from Three Creek, Idaho to Jarbidge. He’d only been driving the route for a few weeks and was having second thoughts about the job. It was already bitterly cold and winter was just beginning. As the wagon approached town and was rounding a curve, one of two robbers jumped onto the wagon from his hiding spot, and fatally shot poor Mr. Searcy with his .44 revolver. The two men stopped the stage and removed the money and mail bags. Then they wrapped the driver in his blanket, propped him up, and sent the wagon on its way into town. 

A local resident, Rose Dexter, heard the shot and checked the time. It was 6:30pm, and she thought at the time that it was a little early for the local boys to be celebrating. A few minutes later she heard the stage go by. 

When the mail stage from Three Creek hadn’t arrived by 9:00 pm, postmaster Scott Fleming phoned the Rattlesnake Station, the previous stop along the route and was informed that the stage had left there several hours earlier. He then called Rose who told him she heard the stage go by almost three hours before. In a small town with a party line phone system and not much to do, news travels fast, and by then, several men had arrived at the post office to help look for the missing stage.

It took them more than an hour to find the stage. The horses had wandered down a small road off the main road and come to a stop near a clump of willows. On the seat was the snow covered body of Fred Searcy, wrapped in his blanket. His body was taken to the post office and guards were posted at the wagon.

The next morning, the area around the wagon’s route was searched. Several items pertaining to the crime were found, including a torn and bloody coat, a slashed and empty money bag, and several opened letters, including one with a bloody handprint. About $3000 in cash was missing, as well as whatever money may have been in the first class mail. A bag containing $182 in coins was found in the river nearby, and this turned out to be the only money ever recovered.

Two of the local townsfolk remembered seeing a local man, Ben Kuhl, wearing a coat very much like the coat that was found at the scene of the crime. Ben was a drifter who had been in town doing odd jobs for a few months. He had a criminal record, having served time for larceny in California and horse theft in Oregon. He had also been arrested for trespassing in Jarbidge, and was out on bail awaiting trial. 

Ben kuhl. Courtesy nevada department of corrections

Ed Beck (aka Cut-lip Swede). Courtesy of nevada department of corrections

He hung out with a small gang of toughs. The local constable arrested Ben as well as three of his friends, Ed Beck (aka Cut-lip Swede), William McGraw and B.E. Jennings. After the arrests, their lodgings were searched, and a blood stained .44 revolver was found in Ben Kuhl’s room. A few days later, a preliminary hearing was held. Jennings was released for lack of evidence, but the other three were taken to Elko by the county sheriff.

The jarbidge jail where ben kuhl was Held temporarily

There are two ways to see the jail

This Might have been ben’s cell. The sheriff kept neither him nor me for very long here.

When it was determined that the presumed murder weapon, the bloody .44 revolver found in Kuhl’s room actually belonged to McGraw, he decided to testify against the other two. At the trial, McGraw stated that the two others told him of their plan to hold up the stage, and that he loaned his revolver to “Cut-lip”. He also testified that Beck told him after the robbery that Kuhl was the one who shot the driver.

With the considerable circumstantial evidence plus the testimony of McGraw against the two suspects, the district attorney, Ted Carville, would likely have gotten a conviction. The real clincher, however, was the bloody handprint left on one of the envelopes found near the crime scene. Two fingerprint experts from police departments in California were asked to testify for the prosecution. Based on the forensic science of the day, they both stated that they had no doubt whatsoever that the bloody handprint on the envelope belonged to Ben Kuhl. While fingerprints had been used as evidence in U.S. courts of law since 1911, this was the first time a palm print had ever been used.

The left image is the bloody palm print left on a torn envelope near the crime scene. THe right image is Ben Kuhl’s palm print. Two experts testified the prints were made by the same man. Photos courtesy of nevada state library, archives.

Both men were convicted. Kuhl was sentenced to death and given the choice of hanging or a firing squad... he chose the latter. His conviction was appealed, primarily based on the admissibility of the palm print, but the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s judgment. His execution date was set for December 20, 1918, but a week before he was to be executed, the Nevada Board of Pardons commuted his sentence to life in prison. He was eventually paroled after serving 28 years at the age of 61. He died of tuberculosis shortly after. Beck was given a life sentence and was paroled after serving slightly more than 6 years.

There were three interesting details about this story. Two of them you already know... it was the last stage robbery in the country and the first time a palm print was used to convict anyone in the U.S. The other interesting aspect is that Ben Kuhl’s parole was granted by Nevada governor Carville.. the same man who served as the Elko County District Attorney in 1916 and who got the conviction against Ben.

And as the late, great Paul Harvey would say, “Now you know the rest of the story”. 

Stay safe and see you next week.

Elko county district attorney and later nevada governor ted carville