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through to San Diego and W. L. Baylor, A. W. Beardslee, and W. C. Bengon stopped at Tucson.
43. Austerman, Sharps Rifles, pp. 93-94.
44. WalterPrescottWebbandH.BailyCarroll (eds.), The Handbook of Texas, -Vol 2 (Austin: The Texas State Historical Association, 1952), p. 545 (hereafter cited as Webb and Carroll, Handbook). Some sources state “near El Paso” while others place the contact point at Fort Fillmore or Cooke’s Spring.
45. Austerman, Sharps Rifles, p. 104.
46. Wolcott, Hayes, p. 156. Austerman, Sharps Rifles, p. 99, quoting Woods’ report to the Postmaster General, contends that Doyle was un- able to dispatch the first eastbound mail until August 9. However, on page 97 the author claimed that Woods, in command of a supply train that departed Bexar on July 31 met the first eastbound mail on August 13 while still in Texas! Therefore, the first person report of Judge Hayes is more compatible with the other evidence.
47. Wolcott, Hayes, p. 163. Actually, the 34 days applied to the second dispatch. The first mail sent out on July 9, which arrived with that of July 24, took 15 days longer.
48. Ibid.
49. San Antonio Herald, August 4, 1857, p. 2; San Antonio Express, May 4, 1902, p. 22. Clifford was the first of 44 men Giddings would lose in the next 4 years and the mule herd losses would accrue to 1,300
animals in the same time period.
50. Theshiphadbeenthroughathoroughover-
haul, boiler repair, and a partial plating of the hull with copper just three months earlier.
51. EdgarA.Haine,DisasteratSea(NewYork: Cornwall Books, 1983), pp. 110-111 (hereafter cited as Haine, Disaster). One source, Hoffman, Western Travel, p. 170, claimed the treasure was valued at $8 million. The sunken wreck was located in 1989 by an underwater salvage team, however, and the treasure carried by the steamer was greater than either es- timate.
52. Haine,Disaster,pp.110-111. Thepositionof the foundered ship was given as 77 degrees 10 minutes west longitude and 31 degrees 21 minutes north latitude, nearly on the same parallel as El Paso, Texas.
53. Austerman, Sharps Rifles, pp. 112-116; Emily Chase Giddings and Emmie [Giddings] Wheatley Mahon, “The Jackass Mail,” Password, Vol. 2 (Aug.,
1957), p. 94 indicated that Birch’s widow transferred her interest in the venture to her step-father, Otis H. Kelton.
54. Thonhoff, Stage Lines, p. 15; Emmie Giddings Wheatley Mahon and Chester V. Kielman, “George H. Giddings and the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 61 (Oct., 1957), p. 234 (hereafter cited as Mahon and Kielman, “George H. Giddings”).
55. Austerman, Sharps Rifles, p. 121; Anson Mills, My Story (Washington: Anson Mills, 1918), pp. 56-57 (hereaftercitedasMills,MyStory). FrancisMarion
“Frank” Giddings is most probably also the Dr. Giddings that James Bell, the young Texas drover, lodged with briefly in 1854. Dowell’s saloon was also a gambling house, billiard parlor, polling place, the local post office, and served as a meeting place for political strategists. It was located at the junction of El Paso and San Antonio Streets.
56. Austerman, Sharps Rifles, p. 121.
57. MartinL.Crimmins,“TheStageLinesofthe Southwest,” Frontier Times, Vol. 18 (June, 1941), p. 419; The San Antonio Herald, May 28, 1858, p. 6 displayed an advertisement for passengers on the San Diego-San Antonio line.
58. San Antonio Herald, July 20, 1858, p. 1.
59. WilliamBanningandGeorgeHughBanning, Six Horses (New York: The Century Co., 1930), p. 117 (hereafter cited as Banning and Banning, Six Horses)-, Douglas De Veny Martin, Yuma Crossing (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1954),p.187(hereaftercitedasMartin,YumaCross- ing). When Giddings’ stages pulled out of Mesilla they were escorted by a convoy of six armed guards
to reduce the probability of Indian attacks.
60. Banning and Banning, Six Horses, p. 130. On this issue, sources universally state that the pas- sengers had to ride the 180 miles between Fort Yuma and San Diego on muleback. True, this is the dis- tance between the two points noted in Appendix C and specifically noted in an advertising broadside dated October 1, 1858, in Seymour Dunbar, A His- toryofTravelinAmerica(NewYork:TudorPublish- ing Company, 1937), p. 1303. However, a photocopy of an advertisement (dated July 1, 1858) in the Oc- tober 9, 1858, issue of the San Antonio Ledger, (Thonhoff, Stage Lines, n.p.) clearly states, twice, that the passengers would be obliged to forego coaches for 100 miles. This is the approximate dis- tance across the Colorado Desert from Fort Yuma
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