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Submitted: 9/12/20 • Approved: 10/29/20 • Last Updated: 10/29/20 • R9403-G0
Born 1845 in Augusta, Maine
Died June 27, 1884
Age 37
One of Wells Fargo's great shotgun messengers
He moved to Virginia City, Nevada at the age of 20 and tried his hand at mining. Not being successful at that he became a jailer and was listed as a policeman in the 1870 census. He moved on to Lincoln County and became a deputy sheriff in the wild town of Pioche, Nevada. By 1872 he was working for Wells Fargo and moving around the west with that company. He worked California, Montana, Utah and back to Pioche. He occasionally drove the stage coaches but he gained fame as their most formidable expressman. In February 1876 he arrested a notorious highwayman by the name of Richard "Idaho Bill" Sloan in Pioche. He then had to guard Sloan as he was delivered to Salt Lake City. Blair told Sloan, "Bill, I heard your friends are going to get you away from me if they can. Likely enough they will, but it is fair enough to tell you that it'll never do you any good, for I shall shoot you dead at the first break they make." In April 1876 he shot and wounded Gentleman Jack when he attempted to rob the stage. In February 1877 he fatally wounded John Carlow when he and a companion attempted a robbery. A few days later he tracked down Jim Crawford, the other highwayman. In September 1877 "Big Jack" Davis and three companions tried to rob Blair's stage. A wild gun battle left Davis and one companion dead and the other two escaped temporarily. Wells Fargo and Blair decided that his days of riding shotgun should come to an end. Years of riding atop stages in bad weather had taken a toll and his lungs were giving him trouble. He settled in Bristol, Nevada and worked first as a mine superintendent and, according to the 1880 census, as a butcher. On October 5, 1882 he married 23-year old Nellie Leahigh. On Feb 3, 1883 a wagon accident almost took his life. He recovered and fathered a daughter, Loretta, on February 16, 1884. He tried to regain his health in the warmer climate of San Diego, but once again was near death. He was taken to Auburn in Placer County, California where he died. The New York Sun observed, "He lived in an atmosphere of danger for years" and "that he was spared to die quietly in bed is the marvel of all who knew him." Wells Fargo paid for his funeral and had a tombstone erected on his grave.
Contributed on 9/12/20 by tomtodd
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Record #: 9403