Chapter 26

Sheriff Red Neely sent the telegraph message to the Circuit Judge in Topeka, requesting a hearing and a trial as soon as possible, with a brief description of the charges.

The next morning early Sheriff Neely got his reply. The judge would be here within a week with plans to stay until the trial was over.

He directed the sheriff to make sure the four men were represented by council beforehand. There wasn’t a lawyer in Stockton, Kansas so Sheriff Neely sent another telegraph message down to Sheriff Wade down in Hays, for a lawyer to be brought up to defend the four men accused of rape.

Eighteen days from the day of the rape of the two Crawford girls, the jury of twelve men found the four men guilty as charged and Circuit Judge Ray Williford sentenced the four men to twenty five years in the Kansas State prison in Leavenworth County, Kansas.

The next week they were escorted by three State Marshals to Leavenworth County to start serving their terms. The one legged man was found dead the next morning after they arrived in prison. Three weeks later two more of the rapists were found stabbed to death and witnesses among the inmates swore they’d killed each other in a fight.

The fourth man tried to attack a prison guard and escape, he was killed by another guard.

Sheriff Red Neely rode out to the Crawford farm himself and told Wes and his family the news of the last rapist being killed in prison. There was some satisfaction in knowing that justice was carried out and that even in prison, there is a code of ethics among the prisoners.

The Crawford girls were married in a double ceremony five years later to local boys and raised their families on the farm in rural Kansas.

Will McDonnough and Mac Willamacher were still itchin about the way they’d been put down by Tom Cooper. They knew that one day they’d get their chance to set him straight once and for all.

Tom and Cal had stayed for the trial since they were the key witnesses. When the prisoners were taken into custody by the marshals, they said their goodbye’s to Sheriff Red Neely. They headed over to Osborne County to meet with Sheriff Gene Williams in the town of Osborne.

Tom and Cal were riding east to the county line between Rooks County and Osborne County. They were glad justice was done as promised by Sheriff Neely and Tom himself to the Crawford family.

“Tom, reckon what would have happened if those four were not found guilty?” Cal asked.

“Well Cal, you know there was a lot of folks that wanted to string them up as it was. I reckon those men wouldn’t have lived very long if that little fast talkin law attorney had gotten them off.”

The acres of farmland outnumbered the fenced pastures two to one along this area. There were a lot of smaller fenced areas, most to the south and east corner of Osborne County. The rains had been good to this part of Kansas in recent months. The grass as well as the farm crops was dark green and growing. They made it over to the town of Osborne in one long day and found the small sheriff’s office locked up. They figured the deputy or who ever was in charge was on his rounds of the small town. There were only a few stores and one saloon, the only stable was at the blacksmith shop the same as it had been in Stockton.

They did see a sign that read ‘Boarding House’ and a smaller sign that read ‘meals served’. After they had their horses taken care of, they walked over to the pump near the blacksmith shop and washed up as best they could.

“What do you say we try to get us some warm food Cal, before we turn in for the night?”

“Sounds good to me, for some reason I’m about starved.”

The front door to the boarding house stood open and the two men walked in. The furniture was old but solid, there was a worn braided rug on the floor and painted pictures on the wall. There was no one in the front room and hearing pots and pans being banged, they walked over to see where the dining room was. The room they looked into was the kitchen where a short bald man was at the big wood stove turning pieces of meat in a skillet, there was one young girl washing dishes and another one loading plates with food from the pans on the stove and on the long table in the middle of the room. The girl washing dishes looked up to see the two strangers standing there and smiled as she wiped her hands on her apron and walked to them.

“You men looking for a room or a meal, or both?”

“Well, we’re kinda hungry and could use some of that good smellin’ cooking we see there,” Tom said.

“Follow me,” she said as she took them through another door into the dining room.

The girl was tall and slender, almost to the point of being skinny. She wore a long white straight dress that touched the floor with a white apron tied at her neck and waist. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a small bun. Tom figured her to be about a year or two younger than him. The other girl was almost as tall and looked to be even younger. She was dressed the same as the one leading them to the table. Tom glanced at the girl as she turned to seat them, he noticed that she was nearly as flat chested as a boy, and barely had bumps under her tight dress.

There was one long table covered with a white table cloth. Knives, forks and spoons were already set at each chair. There were already three men and a woman seated at the table on one side near the far end of the table. The young girl pointed to the two chairs on the opposite side and opposite end of the table from the others.

“Would you like coffee with your meal?” She asked as they took off their hats and sat down.

“I’d like water.” Tom said smiling at her.

Cal wanted water and she left to get their food.

The three men had looked up when Tom and Cal came in the room, but kept eating as they watched them take a seat across and down from them. The woman glanced up also and then went back to talking to the man next to her.

Soon the door opened and both girls came in the dining room with plates loaded full of food and a glass of water each. The second girl placed Cal’s food in front of him as he leaned back out of the way. He could smell her fresh smell and the smell of soap and food on her. She sure smelled good, he thought. When she leaned in to place the plate in front of him, he noticed that she wasn’t near as big up top as Helga Ehrlichmann had been. Cal’s face turned as red as a beet at that thought.

Tom and Cal looked at their plates loaded with mashed potatoes and gravy, fried corn, beans, and two pork chops, and a big piece of hot cornbread. The two girls stood looking at the two tall strangers sitting there and all four faces turned red as they looked at each other, not speaking. One girl turned and pulled on the sleeve of the other girls dress and they both hurried back into the kitchen, faces even redder now.

“You fellers looking for work or just passin through?” The biggest of the three men asked as he looked down the table at Tom and Cal.

Tom turned to look at the man and both men saw the badge on the other, for the first time as he did.

“Well Sir, we’re looking for the county sheriff, we have a message here from Sheriff Neely over’n Rooks County,” Tom said.

“I’m Sheriff Williams, I see you fellers have badges, are you deputies in Rooks County?”

“Yes Sir, kinda sorta, if you’ve got a few minutes to spare we’d like to visit with you after we eat.”

“Sure deputy, you fellers just go right ahead and eat and we’ll meet you over at the office when you’re done.”

Tom and Cal finished their meal and both girls came back in once again

“Would you like some apple pie?” One asked, her face red again.

“I’m just about full up myself that was some fine food,” Tom said.

Tom looked at Cal and he was looking at the other young girl, both were red faced as they smiled openly at each other.

“You strangers gonna be here long?” The girl asked Tom.

“Well, we have business with the sheriff and we’ll be here until tomorrow at least. What time is breakfast served in the mornings, I reckon we’ll be back to eat then.”

“We start serving at five thirty, but you can come on in anytime after five, we’ll be here,” She answered and both blushed again.

“Do you girls work here all the time?”

“Yes, that is our daddy back there and he owns this boarding house, we help him and momma with the cooking and the cleaning of the rooms.”

“Then we’ll see you again tomorrow morning I reckon.”

“Will you be staying here at the boarding house while you’re here?”

“No we’ll stay at the stables, my horse gets upset when I’m not close by.”

The girl looked disappointed at this news, but said nothing about it.

Tom looked at Cal and he was still smiling at the girl that stood smiling at him, both their faces were still red. Tom reached over and jerked his friends’ shirt sleeve and nodded to the door. Cal held out his hand to the girl, then jerked it back. He put his hat on then took it off and nodded at her. Then, nearly stumbling as he turned to leave, he took her hand and shook it. As they walked out the door, they heard both girls break out into giggles.

“Damn Tom I’m sweatin’ all over, that girl was smilin at me and makin me nervous.”

“I noticed that you were smilin back Cal, I reckon you like the way she looks?”

“You know Tom, I’m beginning to notice more about how girls are made. Helga was a pretty girl and her teats were stickin out like cannons, but this girl is built tall and slim like I am. I could just barely make out that she even had teats. I sure wish I knew more about all this boy girl stuff, it’s makin me get all itchy in my belly. When I get close to a girl, like just now, my peter gets all swole up so bad I’m scared they will see my britches stickin out.”

“I know the feelin Cal, I reckon that’s just something boys have to live with when they’re around women folks. I reckon we ain’t much different from my horse when it comes to all this matin’ and stuff. I met a young girl back up in Newton, Nebraska that I reckon one day will be my wife, that is if she still wants me when I get back to her.

“She is prettier than any I’ve seen and she makes me feel like I’m real special. I really like lookin at her and listenin to her talk. When she laughs I just want to grab her and hug her and hold her tight. I reckon as near as I can tell, I love her Cal.”

“Tom, do you reckon I’ll ever meet some girl that I feel like that about? I mean I like lookin at all of them and wonderin about what it would be like to know them and set and talk a while. I just don’t know what I would say cause I can barely breath when I’m close to a girl. That day we sat on the porch with Helga, no matter what I did I couldn’t stop lookin at her teats. I know she saw me cause she would look right at me and see me lookin.”

“Cal, you worry too much, and I don’t know enough to tell you all about it. I did lay with a young girl for a while and we had more fun than I ever could imagine before. She got killed in my bed roll and I felt like I had lost part of me it hurt so bad. It’s hard for me to tell you about feelin’s that I can’t even explain to myself. I know that I love the girl up in Nebraska but I still liked being naked with the girl I was tellin you about.

“Then there was the two Sioux Indian twins up in The Dakotas that I spent the day with on a hillside out on the prairie.”

“Damn Tom, you mean you were with two girls naked at the same time and you were with another girl later and you got naked with her too. I never knew all that about you, and now you tell me that you still don’t know all bout this boy girl stuff. Man if I’d been naked with three or four girls I’d be knowin a lot more than I do now.”

“Like I told you Cal, once you do lay with a girl all naked and feel her next to you, it’s different than thinkin about it in your head, but that don’t make you know all about it. It sure does make you want to know more though and it makes you look at all women a lot different too.”

“Tom I really thank you for tellin me what you do know and I just hope that if I ever get naked with a girl I won’t be so scared I won’t even know what to do. Did you ever feel that way Tom?”

“Yep, I reckon that’s something that all boys worry about, but somehow it’ll all work out and even though you fumble around a lot, the girl seems to know how it all works. She does the part she does and you do the part you do and it feels like nothing else on earth when you get to doin it.”

“I just hope that when I do get to that part with a girl I can remember all you told me about it. I got so shook up back there with that girl grinning at me like she liked me, that I felt plumb light headed.”

The two friends had made their way over to the sheriff’s office as they talked about their personal feelings and how girls made them feel when they got close. Tom and Cal walked in the open door of the sheriff’s office and the sheriff was at his desk waiting on them.

“Fellers, I’m Gene Williams and I’m sheriff of Osborne County, now what can I do for you?”

“Tom Cooper here and this is my friend Cal Randal. We were hired down in Ellis County by Sheriff Wade as deputies. We were also hired as range riders by Gale Fortenberry, president of the cattlemens association. We’ve been riding through all the counties and came here to meet you.”

“I got the telegraph from Sheriff Bill Wade down in Ellis County. I don’t have but one deputy here and I reckon that if the other sheriff’s are buying into what you two and Bill Wade are trying to do, I’ll throw my chips in the pile too.

“We’ve had some problems here in the county, but from what I’ve heard, not as much as what goes on back down south and west of here.”

Sheriff Williams wrote out a letter identifying each of them as being legally sworn and duly authorized deputies of Osborne County.

“That was my wife and her two brothers back there at the boarding house. Her brothers own the largest cattle ranch in the county and all this trouble between the cattlemen and the farmers has really been an embarrassment to them. The folks here in the county respect the TTT Cattle Company as being upstanding and progressive in the future of Osborne County as well as the State of Kansas.

“I’ll ride out with you tomorrow and introduce you to them, they can tell you what they know of the problems. I can tell you now that they’ve fired three of their cowhands because of their attitudes against the farming community. I know they’ll be glad to have help settling the differences as fast as possible.”