Chapter 90

Las Cruces, New Mexico Territory May 4, 1889

“Yes Sir, what can I do for you?” The man behind the hotel desk asked as Eli walked up to the front counter.

“I’m Eli Crow and I’m here to settle up on a due bill from yesterday.”

“Yes Sir, Marshal Crow. I’m glad you came in this morning while I was here. I want to apologize for my dining hall manager’s rude behavior toward you and your friends yesterday. I’ve already taken care of your bill personally, compliments of the hotel.”

“There’s no need in you doing that. We ordered the steaks, we ate them and I’m here to pay for them. Mighty fine steaks they were too, I might add.”

“Thank you, Marshal...

“Marshal, do you have a few minutes to spare? I’d like to talk business with you in private.”

“I reckon I have a few minutes. What’s on your mind?” Eli asked as he stepped around the counter and followed the man through a door marked, Private Office.

“Marshal, the mayor met with me here at my office last night and told me who you were and all about you. What I got in mind is you buying my hotel, lock stock and barrel for what I got in it!”

“Why in the hell would I need to own a hotel way down here in New Mexico Territory? I live up in Tulsa and I got more than I can tend to up there,” Eli told the man.

‘These people down here are crazier than hell’ Eli thought as he looked at the wide grin on the man’s face.

“Marshal, my name is James Gordon Truesdale, and actually, I need a buyer for my entire hotel chain. I am in desperate need of cash and I am needed back in England to tend to my family estate since my father died recently.”

“Mr. Truesdale, I’m sorry about your father passing, but I’m in the oil, coal, land, and cattle business clear up to my neck, and I don’t know the first thing about hotels or how to run them.”

“You just keep the managers I have in place and they’ll practically run themselves. I have an accounting firm in New Orleans where my home office is, and they audit the books at each of my hotels then report back to me with their audits. They would gladly continue the business if you bought me out.”

“Bought you out? A hotel chain? What in the hell would I want a hotel chain for?”

“Well, just think about it. When you take your wife and family on a trip to say, New Orleans, or St. Louis, or Chicago, you’d already have an entire suite on the top floor to stay in.”

“Yeah, well that’s a thought alright. But still ... Hell man ... I mean...

“How many hotels are in your chain anyway?”

“Twenty.”

“TWENTY?”

“Yes, but you could always build more if that isn’t enough. I have two under construction in Florida with completion dates set as early as this fall and I have plans in place and property purchased for three more besides those. I could throw all of those in the deal too and give you a very good price on the whole kit and caboodle.”

“Where are they? Besides the ones you named off,” Eli asked.

‘Just for the hell of it’, he reasoned with himself.

“This one, then there’s one in Santa Fe, one in San Francisco, two in Chicago, one in St. Louis, one in Boston, two in New York City, one in Denver, one in Seattle, one in Minneapolis, one in Atlanta, one in Charleston, South Carolina, one in Memphis, one in...

“Hold it, hold it, that’s enough.

“How much? Just in case I run into someone who’s interested.”

“I’ll sell you all of my real estate holdings in America for one and three quarter million. That is if you can pay me in full with cash or a cashable check within thirty days. That will pay my outstanding debts and recover what I have invested in the business.”

“How many rooms do each of them have and how much income did you have last year, just on the ones already in service?”

“Gross income was 2.6 million last year and 1.9 million the year before. Each of them is built exactly like this one and have forty rooms furnished as fine as any hotel in America.”

“Then why sell for a million and three quarters cash?”

“I’m cash strapped, Marshal. It has taken all I’ve made over the past two years to pay off my builders and pay my start up expenses, fixtures, and furnishing fees on the hotels.

“I’m in debt up to my ears, and if I don’t get back to England within sixty days, my younger brother will have mismanaged our father’s estate into ruins. I stand to lose 15 million U.S. Dollars if he gets his hands on my share of the inheritance and squanders it too.”

“Where do you want the check sent to? That is if you trust me for it. I don’t carry that kind of money on me, you know!”

“Marshal, the mayor told me he would stand good for your honor as a businessman. I can honestly say, I already trust you far more than I trust anyone else I’ve discussed this deal with to date.

“I’ll give you the name and address of the hotel in New Orleans, plus I’ll have a representative of my accounting firm travel to Tulsa to meet with you. I’ll have all the paperwork signed and ready for your signature once he has the check in his hands. No offense to you, Marshal.”

“No offense taken, Mr. Truesdale. I’m a business man too.

“To make it happen even quicker, I’ll have my oldest son who happens to be an attorney and handles all of our legal dealings, contact your accountant in New Orleans. He can travel by train to New Orleans as soon as he returns to Tulsa. He can look the books over and if everything is as you say, he’ll write the check while he’s there and close the deal without me. He’ll be down there long before thirty days is up too.”

“Marshal Crow, here’s the keys to this hotel, and to the office and executive suites in New Orleans where I made my residence.

“I sincerely hope you’ll give the dining hall manager at this hotel another chance. He’s really a good man and runs the best kitchen in the southwest. I’ve already given him a talking to and explained that sometimes we do have to bend the rules, even if I make them myself.”

“What’s his name? We never got around to swapping names yesterday.”

“Harrington, William Harrington. He’s a good man, Marshal.”

“Who is the hotel manager?”

“Marshal Crow, as of right now, you are! That is until you hire someone to replace yourself. That was one of the reasons I was here in Las Cruces, to hire a good manager. The other was to meet with three potential buyers. Of course, as you can see, none of that panned out.”

James Gordon Truesdale laughed like a crazy man as he picked up his hat, his business satchel, and walked out the door.

“Mr. Harrington, I’d like to talk to you in private when you have a minute,” Eli said as he walked up to the dining hall manager who stood near the kitchen door.

“Yes Sir. If it’s about that incident yesterday, I’ve already told Mr. Truesdale about it and he told me he would resolve the differences with you personally. If you like, I can see if he’s in his office.”

“He’s not...”

Eli jingled the big ring of keys as he held them up.

“I’m not sure I fully understand what this means, Sir,” the man said, his eyes wide as his mind ran wild with crazy thoughts.

“Mr. Harrington, it means that you work for me now and I want you to know that we will serve anyone who comes here, who has the money to pay, and conducts themselves as a gentleman or lady, as the case may be.”

“Sir, are you serious? This is not a joke?”

“I am serious and I just hope the joke’s not on me.”

“Sir, the mayor came in last night and told Mr. Truesdale and me that you’re a multi-millionaire Cherokee United States Marshal out of Tulsa up in Indian Territory. Is that true?”

“I suppose he was real close to being right. Does that change things between you and me?”

“No Sir. I think I’m going to like working for you. Will you stay and run the hotel until you can hire a manager? Did you just buy this one property, or all of Mr. Truesdale’s holdings?”

“I need to leave here tomorrow if I can, but I’ll hire a hotel manager before I leave.

“To answer the other part, yes, I bought it all and I’d like to ask you to be my general manager in charge of all the dining halls and kitchens. Would you accept that offer? I need someone who can hire the best cooks and make sure the dining hall guests are treated in a way that they’ll want to return time and again. I’ll double your salary if you’ll take the position and I’ll pay all your traveling expenses,” Eli told him, his mind flashing back to the hotel in Kansas City and how they always made him feel welcome, even though he was a Half-Breed.

“Will you pay my wife’s expenses when she travels with me?”

“Hire her as your assistant. But I’ll expect twice as much out of the two of you if you do.”

“Marshal, may I shake your hand on this? I feel as if I’m in a dream.”

“I know the feeling, Mr. Harrington,” Eli said as they shook hands.

“I have just one question, Mr. Harrington. Do you happen to know if we own a hotel in Kansas City, Missouri?”

“Yes, there’s one up there. The Wyandotte, I think is what the one up there is called,” Mr. Harrington answered and saw a big smile cross Marshal Crow’s face.

“This really is amazing!” Eli said.

The cooks and servers looked on, wondering what the Indian lawman dressed in buckskins was doing back in the dining hall again today, after storming out of the hotel with his friends yesterday.

“Do you know someone you can hire to replace yourself, Mr. Harrington? I expect you to start your new job immediately.”

“My son is my assistant. He’s a good family man, he’s been to school to learn the food service trade and he’ll make you a fine dining hall and kitchen manager.”

“Hire him. I have to start trusting someone and I’ve hired you to take care of things like that. Just use good judgment when you hire, and remember when you were working in a kitchen, when you look at your employees.”

“Marshal, you amaze me. When I saw you yesterday, I had no idea who I was looking at, nor what a businessman you really are. You really know people well, don’t you?”

“I know people because I look for the good in them. Then I try to help them use what they have to succeed. I’d like to think you’ll do the same in your new job.”

“You can count on it, Marshal.

“Will you excuse me, I need to find my son and hire him to replace me. Then with your permission, I need to hurry home and tell my wife the good news. She’s always wanted to travel to San Francisco. She has a sister out there.”

“Then make that your second stop. You need to check in at The Santa Fe first since you’re this close. I hope before much longer, you’ll have visited all the hotels in our chain and let it be known of the new owner and the new rule about serving. If you ever need to get hold of me, send a telegraph message to me at Tulsa. They’ll get it to me sooner or later.”

“Do you not have telephone service there?”

“No, but my son is about to close a deal so we can bring telephone service there soon. I’ll have him call you in San Francisco the first time he gets close to one. Just be sure you always leave notice of your next destination when you leave one hotel and go to another one.”

“Marshal, I’m going to ask my wife to pinch me when I get home. I really think I may be dreaming!”

“Spur, I need to meet with you and your wife. You better be ready to back up what you told me earlier, because you just put her to work,” Eli said as he walked over to where Spur stood watching his men load cattle.