Chapter 38

The trek up the Arkansas was only the first of many over the next four years, as the men took the boys out to spend a week at a time, teaching them things all men who live in Indian Territory needed to know if they are to survive. They made two more treks the next month, practicing gun skills, learning how to use a knife and especially how to use their fists. They learned how to fight when the odds were against them. Moses taught them that there no such thing as a fair fight. Gang up, whip asses get it done and over with it. Use whatever it took, fight hard, fight dirty and fight to win!

Upon their return from their second trek, the women of the family and the girls too, noticed the swagger of the boys as they walked like grown men. They even looked the part and no longer looked like boys in their actions and even when they spoke.

They weren’t allowed to wear their guns when they went across the river to Tulsa, but they were told to wear their new hunting knives wherever they went.

The men at the depot noticed the difference in the six boys from over on Crow Ridge when they came in to check for telegraph messages for the marshals. The men at Perryman’s Store, where the post office was located, saw the difference too. None of them could pin down just what made them different, but there was a noticeable difference in the way the boys walked and talked.

Tulsa, Indian Territory August 11, 1884:

A few weeks after they returned from their second trek up the Arkansas to learn trail survival, fisticuffs, and gun handling, they came out of Perryman’s to see four older boys being disrespectful to a woman and her three daughters. The woman had just arrived and was attempting to step down from the wagon wheel, when the eldest boy walked up and put his hands under her skirts in a disrespectful manner, causing the woman to quickly step back up into the wagon.

Little Eli turned to look at his brothers, then back at the scene in the street. The young man was talking loudly and rudely to the woman about her and her daughters. There was a crowd beginning to gather as the commotion attracted the attention of people in the stores and on the street.

“Git them young women down from that wagon old woman, we might want to show them how to kiss and love on a man,” the older of the young men said loudly, then turned to grin at his friends. He looked around at the crowd that had gathered, becoming even more arrogant and brave in his vulgar words.

“Come on down here girls, me and my brothers want some loving and we don’t aim to wait much longer before we come up in that wagon and get some,” he taunted. It was obvious the four had been drinking, by the way they slurred their words.

The woman grabbed her reins up from where she had them wrapped around the brake release and spanked the mules with the leather reins to get out of there. One of the four brothers stepped up to grab a mule by its bridle and held the nervous team still.

“Come on down from there before we come up and git what we want right there in that old wagon with folks watchin.” The young man said loudly, his brothers laughing as they looked around at the crowd.

Little Eli stepped off the boardwalk into the dirt street and most of the crowd of onlookers recognized him as Marshal Crow’s son. The crowd began to back away as the other Crow boys stepped into the street behind the four drunken brothers.

The brother who held the mules in place saw them and pointed to them as his brothers looked around.

“What in the hell are you damned heathen Injun kids doing out here? Git your asses back over on the reservation before I kick your skinny asses back across that damn river my own self.” The young man yelled at them as he started toward them with his hands out.

Little Eli backed away from his brothers toward the store porch and the young man turned to face him. As soon as the drunken man’s back was turned, Pike dropped to the ground on his hands and knees right behind him. Little Eli quickly shoved the young man backwards, over Pike and into the dirt. Before he could get to his feet, the older brother was beaten to a bloody pulp all over his face, neck and ears by all six of the Crow boys.

The young man’s brothers ran to his defense just as Isaac and Ezra stood and stepped aside. They tripped the first two, causing them to fall on top of their older brother. These two brothers were beaten about their heads and faces with a flurry of fists, until they rolled over, covering their faces and ears with their hands and arms. The fourth brother charged into the midst and was caught by a fist from either side of his face, as Caleb and Micah rose from the ground and waylaid him in his tracks as he ran between them. He screamed in pain as he grabbed his bloody, broken nose and fell to his knees.

The eldest of the brothers rolled over and rose up from the dusty street; he was bloody and covered in dirt as he came at Little Eli again, his legs spread wide, his arms outstretched to grab hold of him. He caught a fist to his groin as Little Eli ducked under his arms and swung from the ground as hard as he could.

The fight was over just that quick.

Little Eli and his brothers walked over to introduce themselves to the woman and her daughters. The crowd began to disperse as the bloody and beaten brothers crawled or limped over to their horses and slowly mounted.

“You God Damned heathen young bucks best be gone from here when we get back. We aim to go get some guns and kill every God damned last one of you scrawny little bastards!” The eldest yelled as he looked down from his horse at the six brothers.

From behind the young man, one of his brothers yelled for him to lookout but it was too late as a hickory shovel handle caught the side of his head, breaking his jaw and tearing most of his left ear off. The young man screamed and slapped his hand over his bloody ear hole, then looked down to see his ear in the street, covered in dirt.

“Us Young Bucks, come from up on Crow Ridge over there across the river. We don’t take no cussing from no man and if you and your brothers want some more of what you just got, come and get it. We aim to put a stop to your kind causing the womenfolk embarrassment in this little river town. If you don’t want our daddies to come see you personally, you best stay away from Tulsa for a while.

“My name is Eli Crow Jr. and these are all my brothers. You best remember us and that name for years to come,” Little Eli told him as he took the pointed end of the shovel handle and flipped the bloody, dirt covered ear up in the young man’s face. Little Eli wiped the blood from the hickory handle on his buckskins and placed the new shovel handle back in the rack with the others on the store porch.

Doc and Lettie had heard the commotion from the clinic next door and walked out to see the whole incident taking place. Doc looked at Lettie and both smiled as they walked back inside the clinic when the four beaten and bloody riders headed west out of town.

For a long time, the boys never spoke of the incident when there were others around, not even in front of their sisters or Kit and Ruby. Doc did tell Jon David about it, describing how the six, nine year old Crow boys beat the four young men to a bloody pulp and sent them packing with their bloody heads down ... their tails between their legs like whipped pups.

A few days later, Jon David told Eli, Duncan, Moses, and Joe about it, with the promise they’d never confront the boys about what they’d done.

“We’ve already heard about it from Mr. Perryman and some of the others who saw it. They told us we should all be proud of these Young Bucks of ours. Seems that young man gave the Crow boys a new name to go by,” Eli told him as they sat in the barn and talked.

“Doc said it wasn’t even a fight, Eli. He said the Young Bucks were on those men before they even knew what was about to happen. All of you must have really taught them the rougher side of being a man out there on the trail.”

“We did, Jon David. We aim to take them back before long for a third week on the trail. We know there’s folks out here in Indian Territory who’d like to get one of our family members out away from us and do harm to them. We’re just making sure things are a little bit tougher for that to happen,” Duncan told him.

Jon David walked back to the house and the marshals talked among themselves about the incident and what they thought they ought to teach the Young Bucks next.

“Well, all those lesson in dirty fisticuffs Moses showed ‘em must have stuck with them the way Jon David and Perryman told it,” Joe said.

“I’d like us to work with them some more on their knife handling and throwing skills the next time we go out,” Eli told them and Duncan grinned at him. He knew of Eli’s knifing skills better than the others. He already knew Eli wanted the boys to be as good with their knives as he and Moses.

“I hope we get to work on the gun handling with the Colts some more. I need it as much as they do,” Joe told them.

“Joe, I thought you was pretty dad-burned good with yours, myself,” Moses told him.

“After seeing you ‘n Eli and Duncan shoot your Colts, I knew I was needin’ some more practice.”

“Just keep workin on it, Joe. It don’t just happen all at once,” Eli told him.

“Eli, have you given any thoughts as to when we’ll let them Young Bucks start carrying their Colts full time when we’re not around?” Duncan asked.

“I’ve thought a lot on that, Duncan. The best I could come up with, is when they all reach their double ten numbers in age. I figure by the time they’re thirteen, they’ll have enough gun savvy about them to think like a man and be accountable for their actions. I was twelve when I started carrying a gun. I was tall and skinny like them boys are now, and that old Army Colt felt like a cannon hanging on my hip. I learned to pull that thing with one hand and shoot what I was looking at though. When I took that fancy Colt from a feller I’d killed, I started taking it real serious then, making sure I could kill with each shot. Don’t take near as many bullets that way,” he said and laughed when the others laughed at what he’d said.

Crow Ridge September 21, 1884:

The marshals – the oil field men, Smitty, and the Young Bucks gathered at the loading pens to start hauling the first two derricks to the backside of Crow Ridge where they’d planned to drill the first hole for oil. They’d already piped the water over to the site from a windmill and had the water tank full.

They used two of the steam tractors to pull the derricks, after Smitty built a set of steel dolly wheels for them to roll on. It was a long slow trek with the steam tractors creeping along as the men sat on the frames of the derricks or rode the fenders of the tractors while they talked excitedly about drilling their first oil well.

Joe’s shoulder was almost completely healed from his two gunshot wounds and George Barkley was beginning to remember some of the things of his past. He still couldn’t remember the day of the storms or being in bed for nearly a month.

He was right with his brothers though, as they helped get the two derricks moved across the rolling lands of Crow Ridge Cattle Company.

When the men and boys returned from moving and erecting the first derrick on the far side of their land, they put their horses in the barn, and fed and watered them.

As soon as they walked through the kitchen door, the women and girls started yelling ‘Happy Birthday’. Seven of the boys and girls were celebrating their ninth birthday today. Their mommas and aunts had fixed a big supper, along with cake and coffee. Pike, Kia, Michi, and the Halloran sisters were just as happy as the birthday kids. They knew the pecan harvest was coming up soon and they were excited about getting to go to Pecan Ridge. The boys felt like another year older made them closer to being men.

Crow Ridge Cattle Company September 27, 1884:

Crow Ridge Cattle Company was blessed with an unusually early killing frost. They’d already had a few light frosts up to now, but this one looked like a young snow when they looked out at daylight that morning. Over each of the next three days, they had big killing frosts and started speeding up the plans to head over to Pecan Ridge Cattle Company and harvest pecans. The women started packing supplies and clothing to take on the trip.

Moses had gone down to Perryman’s a month before and ordered three dozen, ten pound sledge hammers to take with them. When he went to pick them up, he bought two, three hundred foot spools of cotton plow line to use on the pecan harvest. He saw ten, large woven willow baskets and bought them. He knew they’d need baskets to load the wagons.

Starting in early September, in preparation of this event, Jon David and Howard sent telegrams to produce buyers in Kansas City that Howard knew. Through a friend of Howard’s, they were able to find a buyer in New York City who was willing to pay top money for new crop pecans.

Wm. H. Marconi & Sons Produce Company sent them a detailed contract to buy all the pecans they could ship by December 31. They sent Jon David the pre-paid bills of lading for shipping pecans by rail directly to their warehouse in New York City. Jon David sent inquiries to two law firms back east that he had dealt with in the past, and they assured him that Marconi & Sons Produce Company of New York City, New York, was honorable, upright and trustworthy.

Based on what Eli had told him about the pecans trees in that area of the Territory, Jon David sent them a signed contract for their entire pecan crop, at twenty one and a half cents per pound, noting the pecan harvest may well be in excess of the eight hundred and fifty tons they had first estimated.

The men had already gathered up all the heavy wagons they could find in and around Tulsa. They managed to find twenty nine wagons with running gear solid enough to haul a heavy load. They took them down to Williams at the lumber yard and had him build tall sideboards for them to haul pecans. They took four of the five wagons they already owned over to Williams for sideboards too and when those four came back, they put canvas covers on five wagons for the women to ride in and to haul clothes, supplies, and feed.

“Marshal, you must have a thousand trees to need this many wagons,” Williams told him as they made the deal.

“I reckon we got close to double that, maybe even more. We never took time to count ‘em.”

“I’ll put some men on it and they’ll have ‘em ready in a couple of days. When are you leaving out?”

“As soon as you get them wagons ready to roll.”

“Pick ‘em up at daylight, day after tomorrow. I’ll have two men greasing axles, checking wheel spokes and coupling poles while the others build sideboards. We’ll have ‘em ready for you.”

“I’ll bring you a good mess of pecans back, Williams, for getting them wagons done that fast for us.”

The night before they were to leave, Eli brought the six Crow girls and the six Young Bucks into the kitchen and sat them down for a talk.

“We’re all headin out for Pecan Ridge tomorrow morning early and it’ll take us four days to get there. I want all of you up, fed, and your horses saddled at first light. We’ll ride our horses over to the lumber yard and pick up the wagons we’ll be hauling pecans on. All of you have had chances to drive a wagon team, so you’ll ride two to a wagon all the way down to Pecan Ridge. You’ll be held accountable for tending your own team of mules there and back as well as when we haul pecans to Little Tree...

“We won’t have drivers for all the teams and wagons, since the women will ride together in the five covered wagons there and back. That means some wagons will have two teams of mules pulling empty wagons, tied behind you. You’ll tie your horses to the side of your wagon, with your saddle on him ready to ride. We’re gonna have thirty-four wagons and I want all of you to watch out for each other on them wagons.

“Young Bucks... it’s time for the six of you to step up and be the young men you were taught to be.

“We don’t know how many trips it’ll take for us to get all the pecans hauled over to Little Tree, but I expect all six of you to be ready to leave out on a wagon for Little Tree as soon as we get the first six wagons loaded. When we get down to Pecan Ridge, we’ll meet up with the Buffalo Soldiers and I want all of you to make them welcome as friends and partners to the Crow family. Those men will come back here with us to work in the oil fields when we’re through down there. They’ll be living in the bunkhouses over there that Carl and Donald have built for them.

“We’ll save back a couple of wagon loads of pecans to bring back with us for our family and friends here. I promised Williams down at the lumber yard I’d bring him a good mess back too. I figure a half a wagon load ought to make a good mess for him and his men.

“I know Sissy, Miranda and Grandmother have been schoolin you Crow girls on more than school stuff, dancin steps, and how to be ladies. I’m gonna let them give all you Crow girls something they told me you’ve earned and are ready for.”

Eli stood before them as he spoke and none of them had any idea of what he was talking about until Miranda and her grandmother came in with two large, heavy canvas sacks.

Miranda motioned for all six of them to line up, then stood before them, “All of you girls line up over here single file. As you pass by Grandmother and me, we’ll give you something you’ve all earned while the men have had those Young Bucks out on the trail.”

Lee Yu was first, followed by Lilly Beth and they were dancing in their moccasins they were so excited.

Lee Yu screamed as Grandmother handed her a new leather pistol holster with her name tooled on it. She was still grinning when she turned to see Miranda holding a six-inch barrel, Colt revolver bored for the .32-20 cartridge. They were made just like the Colts the boys had, except for the barrel length.

Lilly Beth screamed too and hugged her Grandmother as she took her holster.

Kit and Ruby were followed by Kia and Michi as all of them received their handguns and holsters after weeks and weeks of training by Sissy, Miranda, and their Grandmother.

The girls were buckling their gun belts around their slim waists and tying the holsters down on their legs as the men and boys watched them. When each of them had their guns strapped on, Sissy lined them up in two rows with their pistols showing, shortest ones in front as she took their picture.

Eli turned to the Young Bucks and told them to get their guns on, being sure there were no bullets in them. They made pictures with girls only and pictures with boys only. Then Sissy lined them up to take a picture with boys and girls together.

She and Miranda wanted a picture of the marshals wearing their guns and holding their hats. Sissy posed them with her daddy facing just a little to his right. Then she posed Duncan in front of him, facing Eli and looking to his left. Moses stood behind Duncan, facing the same way and a little to his left. Joe stood behind Eli, facing to his right slightly as they all stood with their hats held down at their sides. The men were standing tall, staring at the camera with a solemn look as Sissy exposed the plates.