Chapter 103

Tulsa, Indian Territory August 3, 1889

Eli arrived at the office early that Saturday morning. Jon David, Amanda, Sissy and Analisa were already there, huddled together over Jon David’s desk before they heard him. He saw them folding papers hurriedly as they tried to hide what they were doing. He knew they were up to something.

He saw Sissy and Amanda shooing Analisa toward him, as if trying to get him to stay away from Jon David’s desk until they could remove the large book and papers they had spread out.

Before he could call Analisa aside to tell her what he wanted, she ran to him smiling and flirting. Eli calmed her down before the others saw her being so frisky and asked her how long it would take for her to do one of her best drawings, explaining that this would be a special gift to the man who was coming for a visit.

“Señor Marshal Eli Crow, father of our son-to-be-born, Levi — for you I will make this my most special and most elaborate sketch yet in my lifetime. I will use the new art paper Jon David and Amanda purchased for me and I will make you proud that you let me be your woman and allowed me to bear your son,” she said as she leaned close, looking into Eli’s eyes. She loved to flirt with him and she did each time she had the chance.

“You’ve made me proud of you many times, Analisa. When you first told me you would deliver me a son next spring and his name would be Levi, I realized then just how much I loved you.”

“Eli?” Analisa said his name, looking at the man she worshipped, as if she wasn’t sure what she’d just heard.

“You have never before told me that you love me!” she cried and leaped at him.

“It takes me a long time to say those words, Analisa, but I do love you.”

“Oh Eli. I cannot tell you what is in my heart. I am so happy to hear those words. I will give you my best sketch ever and you will be even more proud you let me be your woman.”

“Proud enough to give us a baby girl too?”

“I would be so proud to give us a beautiful baby girl so she can grow up with her sisters and brothers on Crow Ridge and be as wild and free as they are.”

“Let’s don’t let her get too wild yet. I’ve got enough wild-ass older girls as it is.”

“She will be the wildest among them all, and the most beautiful of all the Crow girls in all the land.”

“If she’s like her mother, she will be.”

“Oh Eli!” Analisa grabbed Eli and kissed him as she hugged her arms around his neck.

“Analisa! Jon David, Amanda, and Sissy are right over there, now calm down. I need to go to the train station and meet my friend,” he told her as she stepped back.

“Eli, may I tell Amanda and Sissy that you love me?” she asked as she walked to the door with him.

“If you tell them when you’re alone with them.”

“Thank you, Eli. You have made my life complete.”

“I feel the same way, Analisa.”

Eli stepped close to kiss her cheek then turned to leave.

Analisa stood watching him through the glass part of the door. She was smiling as he mounted then waved back to her. He was leading the gaited mare she always rode as he headed to the train station to meet his special friend from Washington, D.C.

“Analisa, we knew you could keep him distracted long enough for us to get those papers folded and off my desk. Dad gets so flustered when you make a fuss over him with us around,” Jon David told her when she hurried back to where they once again had the brochures, catalogs and information sheets spread out showing private Pullman car ordering details.

“Jon David, I love to make him fluster too,” she told him, making Amanda and Sissy laugh at her silliness.

“SO, all of you agree that these are the three units we want to buy Dad for Crow Oil’s private Pullman cars?”

“Yes, Jon David. We’ve looked all of them over and we like the details in this sleeper and the sleeping capacity is the largest of all we’ve seen. This business coach also has the most seating capacity of all the coaches we’ve looked at,” Sissy told him.

“I agree on those two. The whole family will be able to travel in our own Pullman coaches without having to worry about the kids being so rowdy,” Amanda said.

“Are the three of you sure about the diner car? I left that one totally up to all of you.”

“Yes, this one is the largest and best outfitted of all the models they have. Beside, you said Mr. Coleman told you they have one of these ready to ship except for putting Crow Oil’s name on it,” Sissy told him.

“I am so excited that we’re doing this for the family. I know Dad will be so proud of them and I can hardly wait until the other women can see them. They’ll be like us, they’ll be ready to take off on a trip right away,” Amanda told them.

“I may have located us a locomotive at a good price also. Mr. Coleman told me about it and the bank in St. Louis is supposed to have it brought here for us to look at. If we can get our hands on it, we’ll be able to travel when we want and where we want,” Jon David told them.

“Jon David! Did you really? You mean Crow Oil will have our own locomotive and it will also be here soon?” Amanda asked as she and Sissy looked at each other.

“Yes, and from what I was told, it will be here by the time our three Pullman coaches arrive from Chicago. It’s a year old and has never pulled a train. The company who ordered it specially built defaulted on the loan at the bank and the bank needs to sell it.”

“You’re getting as bad as your dad about keeping secrets from us,” Amanda scolded him, then hugged his neck.

“I have never even seen the inside of one of those coaches, but I do like the interior pictures of the coaches you’ve chosen. I can hardly believe that I am sitting here with you, helping you make plans to buy three private coaches for Crow Oil that will cost the company over eighty-thousand American dollars,” Analisa told them.

“Analisa, WE are making plans, not just us. You are a part of this company now and you’re a part of our Crow family too. You need to start thinking like a Crow woman and accept the fact that Eli Crow loves you just as he loves all of us. After all, Grandmother has already told us she is positive you’ll have his son next spring,” Sissy fussed at her.

“Oh Sissy, I have come to love you and Amanda so much for all the encouragement you have given me. This is all still so new to me and I would be thrilled just to sit in that little corner room of this coach and look out the tiny window as America passes by,” Analisa said, pointing to a small window.

“Analisa, that is the ladies toilet! You’ll be seated in the coach with the rest of us and we’ll all travel to see places in America that even we’ve never seen before,” Jon David told her.

“Jon David, how long will it take to have all three of them delivered here if you order them today?” Amanda asked.

“They’re already built and will arrive here from Chicago within a week. While Dad has gone to meet Attorney General Miller, I’ll place a call to inform Mr. Coleman we’ve decided on the coach, sleeper and diner car we want and that we’re mailing the check today.”

“And they will already have Crow Oil Corporation on the sides?” Sissy asked.

“He said that would take a day, another day to dry, then they would be in Tulsa by this time next week. I decided to have The Crow Oil Limited painted on the cars. I wanted to do it up right for Dad.

“The two coaches, the diner car, coal car and the locomotive will all be here well before our planned visit to Crow Valley to see the Bucks and the Crow Girls. We can make that trip our maiden voyage for our new Crow Oil Limited.”

August 3, 1889
Noon
Tulsa Depot

At forty-nine years of age, United States Attorney General William Henry Harrison Miller was a striking figure of a man. Though not considered tall, he struck the image of an educated man of power and position. His graying hair was receding on his forehead, his beard and mustache sprinkled with gray.

He seldom laughed and hardly found many things to amuse him enough to smile. He took his position with the Department of Justice serious and took pride in his ability to get the job done.

Today he stepped from the Pullman car at Tulsa and saw United States Marshal Eli Crow standing before him. He’d met Marshal Crow previously back in June 1885 while working as an assistant at the Justice Department when Marshal Crow was there to receive a special service commendation. He had been very impressed with the tall half-breed Cherokee marshal. The two of them became instant friends though they were from different backgrounds and different lifestyles. There was an air of acceptance in their meeting like none he’d ever experienced.

He’d read the many, many entries included in the thick file of Marshal Crow’s and though the man had some rather unusual experiences recorded there, he quickly learned Marshal Crow was exactly as the Chief Deputy at the time so aptly described him, solid to the core.

This was the first time since being appointed Attorney General in March of this year that he had traveled to meet a U.S. Marshal on his home ground. Normal protocol would have a deputy or a marshal summoned to his office in Washington, DC if there was ever a need to face them.

“Marshal Crow,” he said as he stepped over to shake Eli’s hand.

“Mr. Miller, it’s good to see you again. I hope your trip here was as pleasant as mine was when we met back in ‘85,” Eli greeted the man.

Both men smiled.

“Marshal, this is an amazing country and I felt the need to see it for myself. When we visited in my office and you described this land and the people here, I read every article I could find about Indian Territory. I must say, you painted a perfect picture of the land and the miles and miles of uninhabited country awaiting settlement.”

“We love it here, Sir. I moved my family here from Fort Smith a few years ago when I was able to buy my ranch from my brothers of the Cherokee, who live near where I live now. I have raised my young boys and girls here and saw to it they were educated and taught respect for this land and the people who live here.

“Sir, I am proud to call what is now Oklahoma Territory my home. I am honored that you would come all this way to see me. I remember you telling me that you loved to ride as a boy, and back when you served in the army. I brought another horse with me, hoping we could ride as I show you my ranch and you tell me what it is that brought you here.”

“Marshal, may I call you by your name? My given name is William.”

“My family and friends call me Eli.”

“Thank you, Eli. Let me get my luggage, then I’d love to ride with you. I have always enjoyed the peace and solitude I feel on horseback.”

“I know the feeling well, William. I’ll tie your bag behind your saddle and we’ll ride for a spell.”

When they’d ridden across the wagon bridge, they turned to go along the river bank, with Eli’s home and the homes and barns of all his family and friends at the top of the ridge to their right. Eli was talking as he pointed out his home and the others as they rode.

They walked their gaited horses up the slope, not in a hurry and not discussing business. Stopping at the big house where Duncan, Moses and Joe sat on the porch, Eli briefly introduced them before continuing their private ride.

The trip led them north past the Barkley home place, then turned toward the northeast with the oil wells in the distance.

“Eli, are those your oil wells?” he asked as they rode toward the north oilfields.

“Yes Sir. A few years ago I was lucky enough to meet some men from back east who knew all about them. The Cherokee brothers of mine had already told me about the black water pools where the buffalo wallowed and how the slick black water killed ticks.

“We started out with some used equipment from back east that we bought out of bankruptcy and drilled our first well. We struck oil just before Christmas in ‘84. Now we have over two hundred wells producing a good flow of oil.”

“I never knew this about you, Eli. How many acres do you own here?”

“I’d have to guess we own close to twenty-thousand acres here on Crow Ridge. My adopted son Jon David could tell you to the half-acre how many we have. He takes care of our books and sees to it we get the best prices for our oil, whether we refine it ourselves or sell it as crude.”

“You own your own refinery too?”

“Well, we own the biggest share of it and we operate it too, so yes we do.”

“Eli, you have all this and yet you still want to be a marshal?”

“William, it’s what I was born to do. I’d be lost if I quit.”

“Eli, that’s your oil and cattle loading terminal back east of Tulsa, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Does that matter any, with me being a marshal, that is?”

“NO. I’m just amazed. You have to be a millionaire many times over, yet you want to wear your buckskins and a badge to enforce the law here in Oklahoma Territory. Most men would travel and see the world if they had your money.”

“William, I want to be here when we become a state and I want to help make that happen. I have no interests in the rest of the world, as long as it stays where it is and holds Oklahoma Territory together so we can become a state one day.”

“Simply Amazing! You are an amazing man, Eli Crow.

“Tell me, Eli, how was Abilene the other night? Did you have any trouble getting your four boys out of jail and away from down there?” Attorney General Miller blindsided Eli with his question.

But it would take more than that to stump Eli Crow.

“It was a fast trip and I was able to meet the Sheriff of Taylor County, since my boys were held in the county jail. The sheriff is friends with some local friends of mine down there. My friends worked it out with the county judge to sign a release for my sons when I posted bail. My boys were pretty beat up and bloody, so we left there that night as soon as they were released.”