Talton B. Scott (1851-????) was a stagecoach robber who robbed the Silver City Coach on three occasions. Scott came from Plattsburgh, Missouri but little is known about his life before he robbed the stagecoach. His first encounter with the Silver City Coach occurred on February 2, 1876 in the early hours of the morning. Scott took the treasure box which contained $35 in gold coins and $240 in currency. Scott and his accomplices escaped and the wrong men were arrested the following day. They were released however and the search continued for the robbers. Along with John W. Miller, Scott robbed the Silver City Coach for the second time on the night of April 19. However this time the treasure box was empty, but again the robbers escaped. Scott and Miller tried again in the early morning of April 25. This time the driver planned ahead and fired a shot to warn the nearby town of the robbery. Although they took the box, again it contained no contents. The town searched and finally found Scott and Miller about a week later. The Idaho Statesman interviewed Scott and the editor described him as:
“A young man of medium size and height, and apparently about twenty-five years old. He is physically as fine a specimen of young manhood as we have ever seen. His features are regular and classic in their outline, presenting a model for the most critical and fastidious artist. A head shaped with all the requisites for the ‘dome of thought’ and covered with hair of a rich brown, while his ‘goatee’ and unshaven beard is of a lighter hue. His eyes are large, somewhat prominent, blue in color…he is decidedly the handsomest man in Boise City.”
The following Tuesday, Judge W.W. Glidden charged Scott with the robbery on February 2 and set his bail at $3,000. While in jail awaiting trial, Scott used a knife to saw away at the iron bars of the trap door above the jail. Discovered by Undersheriff Oldham, Scott was shackled but that did not stop him. On July 10, Scott escaped taking a rifle and shotgun in the process. Scott and Miller passed out of town through the alley between Main and Idaho Streets, and crossed Seventh Street near the Central Hotel. They eventually settled at Lemp’s brewery. Sheriff Agnew put together a posse to look for Scott. Agnew found Miller near Ruby Gulch, but Scott went off in a different direction. Not long after, they found Scott and took him back to Boise. Since Scott escaped, the jail underwent preparations to make it more secure. However, that did not prevent Scott from trying. During a night in October, the jailer heard Scott sawing away at his shackles. Sheriff Agnew examined the shackles and found they were nearly sawed through but he could find nothing which allowed Scott to do that. Scott stayed in the Idaho Penitentiary briefly, but returned to the jail in early December before his trial. Agnew discovered another attempt to escape from Scott, this time from picking the lock. On December 23 the grand jury found Scott guilty of stagecoach robbery and sentenced him to seven years hard labor at the penitentiary. However, Scott also escaped the penitentiary on more than one occasion, even using a banjo string to saw away at the bars. Scott’s last escape proved successful for he never returned to the penitentiary again.
(Source: R. Michael Wilson. Great Stagecoach Robberies of the Old West Guilford, CT: Two Dot Publishing, 2007).
(Source: James B. Hume, John N. Thacker and R. Michael Wilson. Wells, Fargo and Co.: Stagecoach and Train Robberies, 1870-1884 Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2010).
