Chapter 8

June — December 1850

Josie and I continued our courtship dance as I healed, until she had to make the resupply trip for her boss to the stops on the Oregon Trail. I still wasn't sure how I regarded her. She was a wonderful woman and we had a lot of fun when we talked together, but I had a hard time imagining what I would do with another wife. While she was gone my other wives and I were going to have to talk about Josie and the family.

Meanwhile I had other things I needed to do that took up a lot of my time. I had started having a second house built after I managed to dowse a location to sink a well for an indoor pump. I was expecting to have a raising but I found that my display of how simple it was to do balloon framing had led to a new profession developing, private contractors. They weren't licensed of course and didn't call themselves contractors but that's what they were. A crew of men was hired and I signed a contract for building the house.

Louise and Claire showed them what they wanted and soon the framework began going up. They made a trip to Oregon City again to furnish the house and buy the appliances, but this time I hired a guard to go with them. They complained, but when they saw I was adamant about the guard, they gave in with poor grace. They became much more forgiving when Josh and his wives went with them.

For the first time since we had been married Elizabeth and I were alone except for the children. I had refitted the attic into three rooms for the children and they spent much of the time playing with each other while I watched over them and Elizabeth took care of the farm. It felt strange to have only one woman in the house and Elizabeth told me that it was a lot harder to take care of everything that needed to be done, especially those things I wasn't able to do until my leg healed. One thing she did like was having me all to herself for the two weeks that the others were gone and I had to admit that I really liked having only one woman to satisfy. It was during this time that Elizabeth became pregnant with our second child although I wouldn't find that out until November.

Louise and Claire had purchased appliances for the new house including a kitchen stove with an oven and one of the new indoor toilets. A crew from the Hudson Bay Company returned with them to install it and I told them to build a septic system to handle the waste. They were just going to pipe the waste directly into the nearby stream until I told them I would not allow it. I had a hard time finding enough concrete and finally ended up making the system out of brick with the leach pipes out of large clay pipes that I had to have specially made. It ended up costing almost as much to put in the indoor toilet as the rest of the house. It was worth it though when I saw the pride and pleasure that my wives took in having it.

The second house was finished November 10th and Josie arrived back from her trip on the 15th. We decided to have the Thanksgiving dinner in the new house and invite our close friends. We had a great time and I was surprised that the main attraction in the house was the indoor flush toilet we put up in a small attached building. I had gotten a lot of knowledge about it just by watching the men install the toilet and was quickly asked how much trouble it was to put it in. I had an idea that the wives of several of the men would soon want one in the near future.

I had managed to buy one of the combines from a man near Portland who had decided to quit farming to go to the gold fields and the entire town wanted to use it. A big problem we had with it was its tendency to break down at the drop of a hat. I ended up using the older tools and taking most of our grain to our threshing mill rather than try to keep it running. I ordered a manual for the combine hoping that I could get it running again next year.

When Elizabeth found she was pregnant, she told me. I was happy, but I still worried about it as well since she had such a hard time of it during her last pregnancy. She still wanted to go to California and hunt for English Jim with me but I told her that almost losing her once to childbirth was enough. I hired a married couple to work the farm and help her do the chores. Claire and Louise agreed with me about her not taking any unnecessary risks and between the three of us we convinced her that she couldn't go with me. That's when Josie spoke up, "I'm free until the spring. I'll go with him and help hunt down the polecat." My wives agreed that they wouldn't object if Josie went with me. I didn't want to have let her go and expose her to the dangers, but finally gave in when they all told me that I had to take someone with me to keep me out of trouble or I wasn't going.

I had healed from my wounds and began to plan on going to San Francisco to look for English Jim in the spring. I was still a deputy and was looking forward to resuming my duties when we got the news about the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 being passed making it a crime for any public official to refuse to assist in returning a slave to their owner. A man made a claim to the magistrate that a black man living in the area belonged to him. I was ordered to arrest him simply on the man's claim that he owned him and he had not been officially freed.

I knew the man lied because he was notorious about never having more money than it would take to buy a jug of whiskey. I objected to the magistrate but was informed that the law made no exceptions for the truthfulness of the man making the claim. All that was required was that a claim be made. The black person named in the claim had no right to make any counter claims until the case went to court. I was damned if I was going to help any slave owner by returning anyone who had escaped! That's when I quit. I turned in my badge and suddenly was a civilian again.

When Claire and the others heard why I had quit they supported me quitting the deputy's job to protest the Fugitive Slave Act. The sheriff came out and tried to get me to reconsider quitting, "Alex I will guarantee that I will never ask you to arrest a black to return him to anyone."

I looked at him and said, "Will you do it, if ordered to?"

He looked around and whispered in my ear, "For some reason, every time I start to look for someone like that I get lost. Strangest thing isn't it?"

I whispered back, "And if one is brought in by a slave hunter?"

He sat back and said out loud, "You know I've been having the biggest problem with that sad excuse for a jail. I don't know how anybody can be kept in there against their will."

I thought about it, "Let me talk to my wives."

When we were alone I talked to them about the conversation I had with the sheriff. I wasn't expecting Josie to join in but my wives acted like they expected her to be there. Claire was the first one to speak out about it, "I think you should tell them no unless they publicly refuse to obey that immoral law!" Louise of course agreed with Claire.

Elizabeth was against me joining the sheriffs' department again but not just because of the Fugitive Slave Act, "I always worry about you when you go out. If you ever get killed I don't think I'd want to live either."

Josie weighed in then. She looked at my wives and snorted, "How much safer do you think he'd be running around as a civilian chasing English Jim? At least as a deputy he'd have the assistance of the local police when he tries to serve the federal warrant. Do you honestly think that he's not going to go after English Jim regardless of what happens now?"