The Cheyenne Daily Leader

A MODEL STAGE LINE.
A Terrible Tale of Suffering from Omaha Men's Who Foolishly Took a Trip Over the Sidney Route,

Mr. Charles Weston, of Omaha, who arrived here here on Friday last, tells a terrible tale of the sufferings and privations of a party of which he was a member, while coming out of the Black Hills on one of the so-called stages of the so-called Sidney route. Mr. Weston states that the line is partially stocked with broken down horses and mules which, it is believed, were purchased at a government sale of condemned animals. There are no stations on the route between Red Cloud Agency and Deadwood, a distance of 150 miles, and the passengers were compelled to camp out on the bare prairie, with insufficient blankets and poor provisions. The horses and mules were jaded, lame and really broken down, so that the party were compelled to walk the entire distance, besides helping the stage up hills and through sloughs, which abound on the Sidney route. When within thirty-five miles of Red Cloud the team and stage broke down, and the passengers started to walk into the agency. Storm, wind and mud were against them, however, and they gave out after a walk of ten miles, abandoning all hope of reaching the Agency, falling by the wayside, where they would certainly have perished had not Providence sent them relief in the shape of a team and wagon, with Homans, also of Omaha, on board. In consideration of a $5 greenback from each man, Homans threw off a load of freight with which he was en route to Deadwood, and turning around, conveyed the exhausted men into the Agency. The next day the "stage company" loaded them into an ordinary freight wagon and started them for Sidney, but when within ten miles of that den of cut-throats, their conveyance broke down, and they were forced to walk the rest of the way. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to state that they are somewhat disgusted with the Sidney route and its "stage line," and will never travel over it again. Some of them had valuable baggage, which is out on the plains somewhere, but they are too thankful at getting out alive to worry much about their effects just now.