Article by Steve Dietz, Clackamas Family History Society

This article was originally published in the Clackamas Legacy Quarterly Newsletter, Vol 31 Num 3

Published with permission of the Family History Research Library

You're enjoying your 25 mile, 5 hour stage ride from Noblitt’s Livery in Oregon City to Wilhoit Springs, imagining how wonderful it will be to soak in a hot mineral bath while sipping on cold mineral water, when suddenly, out of nowhere, two armed and masked men appear and bring things to a halt near Mulino. They fix their weapons on the stage driver and tell everyone to give up their money.

Something from the cinema or a dime novel? No, in July and August of 1895 and August of 1896 the Wilhoit Stage was held up on three separate occasions by two robbers as it passed through the Mulino area near Milk Creek. The first holdup occurred on July 15, 1895 at 11:00 A.M. when the stage was about half way down Howard Hill heading toward Mulino. Two men wearing white masks stepped out from the bushes on the left side of the road and commanded the stage to stop and the driver, Henry Mattoon, to put up his hands. “Shell out your cash, throw it right down there on the road,” was the order given, and while one bandit held Mattoon at gunpoint with a pistol, the other robber relieved a single passenger, Mr. Levy, of $35 before letting the stage proceed.

The holdups took place near the Milk Creek bridge and Howard Hill at Mulino. The “steep hill” referred to in one article is probably the one just north of Milk Creek.

News of the robbery made the newspapers over most of Oregon, and Clackamas County Sheriff E. C. Maddock published an offer of fifty dollars as a reward for the “arrest and conviction of the parties, who robbed the Wilhoit stage…”

Mt. Angel stage arriving at Wilhoit Springs during the 1910’s.

Howard Hill and Mulino where the stage robberies probably took place near what is now the intersection of South Alder Creek Lane and Highway 213. From this location the robbers could have fled east up Milk Creek. (courtesy Google Earth 2018).

The second encounter with the desperados took place on August 12, 1895 with Henry Mattoon again as driver, who later said he recognized the two masked robbers from the July 15 event. They were wearing false whiskers, long dusters, and handkerchiefs over their faces. Three passengers were relieved of $6.75, the small take apparently angered the thieves who took a shot at Mattoon as they rode off.

It appears stage passengers decided after the second robbery to protect themselves. The Oregon City Enterprise noted with some humor,

“It seems now as if the traveling public have resolved to leave their money in the bank-sand bank,-and carry pocket guns instead for convenience in making change with Mulino road agents. This is “free coinage” of lead into circulation through a bimetallic double standard, in which one or both glide into eternity.”

Perhaps deterred by the bad press, a year went by before August 5, 1896 witnessed the third stage robbery at about 4 o’clock, and this time turned ugly when the frightened horses bolted after the two bandits stepped out from the side of the road. The two lead horses were shot by the robbers and brought down bringing the stage to a halt. “Shell out and be quick about it,” was the command this time. Mattoon (yes, still driving) surrendered a gun and some coin, and everyone on board the stage was relieved of their valuables. While this was going on, a mail carrier, Thomas Duffy, just happened to come along and witness the holdup. After being shot at he fled the scene and informed a couple of local farmers, Phil Graves and a Mr. Woodside, of what was taking place. Graves and Woodside, with guns in hand, promptly made their way to the stage and began shooting at the robbers who returned fire while high-tailing it up Milk Creek. Twenty to thirty shots were fired during the exchange and a posse was formed “on the spot” and started a “hot pursuit” which continued for 15 miles until the trail was lost in the mountains.

This close call for the robbers seems to have brought an end to their depredations, as the stage was no longer harassed by thieves on future trips, something that Mattoon must have been grateful for. No accounts of anyone being apprehended and convicted for the crimes have thus far been found, although there is mention in the Oregon City Courier on August 14, 1896 of warrants being issued “for the arrest of several persons who are supposed to have been implicated in the late robbery of the Wilhoit stage. Just who these parties are will be known when they are in custody.” We still don’t know.

And in case you're wondering if this sort of event was at all common in Oregon, the Kalamath Stage was held up 7 times between November 1894 and December 1895 near Ager on the Topsy grade by at least two separate and lone gunmen whose modus operandi were the same as the Mulino robbers. Unlike the Mulino crew, one of the Topsy grade thieves was apprehended in November 1895 after a sheriff on board the stage unloaded his shotgun on C. Frick as he ran from the crime scene. It didn’t deter the other Topsy thief as the stage was robbed again in December. This all led Wells-Fargo to withdraw their support of the Kalamath stage line, something they had actually done years earlier to the same route due to similar stage holdups.

With more research, other accounts of Oregon stage stops of the negative kind might be found and the conclusion reached that Oregon was actually a part of the wild west. There are mentions of robberies in Lake County and also of the Louse Creek stage when in 1890 a group of bandits held up a stagecoach near Louse Creek in Josephine County, north of Grants Pass. That group may have been tracked down and done away with by locals, but not, as legend has it, before one of the robbers spoke of where the loot had been buried. Ever since, treasure hunters have sought to find the take without success. Care to join them?

CFHS Article: You Thought Stagecoach Holdups Only Happened in the Wild West or Movies? Think Again and Think Mulino!