Chapter 8

September 24, 2024

The weather turned nasty in the new year. We had our New Year’s Eve party as usual, the weather was fine when the party started, but by ten o’clock it had changed for the worse. Snow was coming down so fast that by twelve o’clock and the new year came it was already a foot deep and drifts were almost three feet. Jill and Gladys went back to the gatehouse by way of the tunnel, some of the others went to the Church by way of it’s tunnel, the majority of people stayed in the castle. We had plenty of firewood, food and blankets so nobody would starve or freeze. All of the animals were in the barns; a tunnel had been carved out of the sandstone to them as well. The storm lasted for five days and dumped three feet of snow. Well, much of the snow in the canyon had blown off of the ground above the north side cliff. There was a lot of snow, but everyone was safe and warm inside.

On the sixth day the wind had stopped blowing and the sun came out, I went up to the Gun Deck and started removing the snow accumulation. It has a roof but the sides are open and the snow had blown in. Using a snow shovel I was almost halfway through when I noticed a large lump in the snow about two miles away. I wouldn’t have noticed it at all if the sun’s movement had not cast a shadow from it. I love coming up here, the tallest part of the castle, taller than the surrounding cliffs of the canyon. I know what is out there and that lump was not natural. It was straight out from the front gate. The only way something artificial could have gotten there was by human hands. I rang the alarm bell vigorously then three measured rings followed after twenty seconds by three more, I repeated this several times. The three rings were part of a code, three rings were similar to three shots fired in the air to summon help. Five vigorous rings were an alarm for an attack. So everyone coming knew that something was up, but we weren’t being attacked.

I met everyone downstairs at the door, I explained the bell to the twenty men that had responded,

“There is something out buried in the snow making a large lump in the landscape. It might be people, it looked as if they were heading here, it may be Indians, so come armed just in case. Get the sleigh hooked up, ride sleds pulled by two ropes tied to the sleigh so we have room if we need it. We leave in ten minutes!”

About fifteen minutes later we were on our way to the front gate! We had to shovel the snow from the gate’s path, but we had come prepared for that. We were through the gate and the horses were pushing through deep drifts, the sleds being pulled behind packed the snow down even more than the horses had. Twenty minutes later we were almost to the mound of snow, we listened for signs of life and were met with silence. Going to the windward side, the right, or north side where there was less snow, we started digging. Buried two feet beneath the snow was a leather patchwork of antelope and deer skins sewn together. It was frozen solid, we all knew that we would find Indians inside. I began cutting the stitches holding the pieces together shoulder high, as soon as the hole was large enough I stuck my head inside.

That was a mistake, I almost immediately began to feel faint, I waved my hands frantically, Frankie pulled me out. My head began to throb, I sat gasping for the sweet clean air. When I noticed Frankie start to put his head in the hole, I managed to stop him.

“Let it air out, there’s no hurry, they are all dead! I would have joined them if Frankie hadn’t pulled me out when he did. Thank you my friend, thank you!”

“But what almost killed you and did kill all of them?” He asked.

“You know you always have to have fresh air coming into your house or tent! You were taught that when you were small as I was! A scientist Claude Bernard figured out why that was true in 1846, that carbon monoxide gas, an odorless, and colorless gas will be absorbed by your blood instead of oxygen. You must have oxygen to live. When your blood becomes saturated with the wrong gas you die. I’ll bet they lit a fire or a lantern to add some heat, they may have had a vent hole, but it became covered with snow, they fell asleep and then died. If I’m right their skin will be blue, like the veins beneath your skin.”

After waiting for thirty minutes we opened the seam some more and looked inside, we would leave them where they were. Tribal shamans may want proof that they died as I would tell them. They were blue as I had predicted, we found a lantern without oil in the center of the shelter. Above was a hole covered by snow. I recognized a few of them, they were a family that had stayed with us in the winter before. They were from the Osage tribe, White Feather’s family. Twenty two people had died, some very old, the largest number were under fifteen. An entire family’s lineage wiped out in just a few hours, the only good thing about it, was that they died painlessly. A very small comfort to those who knew them. Just two miles more and they would have been welcomed into the canyon and safely.

I sent back the sleigh and asked Frankie to bring my box wagon. I would take photographs of everything to show the tribal elders that I speak the truth.

The Osage tribe had purchased almost 1.5 million acres between Tulsa and Ponca City. It was almost due south of here about 130 miles. It was going to be a tough trip, I pondered which means of transportation I should take, my box wagon was too heavy, the sleigh was good unless the snow melted, so in the end I decided on taking two horses and a mule. The mule would carry a tent, food for myself, corn and oats for the horses and mule. They would find the grasses under the snow to supplement the grain. I packed warm clothes, a beautiful buffalo robe, a fine decorated dress, deer skin pants and a shirt for meetings. I sent a telegram to the tribal Chief Little Bear to let them know that I was coming. I told them that they could expect me in six to ten days. I didn’t tell them why I was coming.

I gave instructions that the bodies not be touched, but to gather snow and pile it high over them to keep them frozen. You never know what the weather in Kansas is going to do!

I left the next morning early, both horses had extra large blankets under their saddles. I changed horses every four hours. The lead horse that I was riding broke through the drifts, the other two animals were on lead ropes behind me. By changing them out they stayed fresh and we made better time. I stayed off the roads and rode cross country.

The first night I was fairly worn out. I fixed myself a stew on a smokeless fire of wood gathered from sheltered areas. I gave the animals corn to give them the energy they would need to stay warm. I brushed them down and put the blankets back on them but reversed them in case there was moisture on the layer that had been against their bodies. The brushing helped dry them down to their skin. I also checked their hooves, finding a rock caught between the frog and the hoof that would have made the horse lame had I not checked, I hobbled them as I checked. I brought them as much water as they would drink from a stream of snowmelt I had camped by. The tent went up quickly, it even had a small metal stove with a chimney that stuck out the back. The two flaps making up the door were tied loosely to provide fresh air. The animals seemed to take turns taking naps or moping, which is when they are standing and sleeping for short periods of time. They all also took turns laying down and sleeping for two hours of deep sleep.

Knowing that the mule would definitely wake me and the horses would probably wake me! Especially Sam! I slept very well. I was up with the sun and chose to chew on some jerky for breakfast. The animals got some corn and fifteen minutes in an area of thick grass under a thin layer of snow. They each cleared the snow away and ate the grass until they seemed like they had eaten enough. Checking my compass I once again headed due south.

Just before mid day I started hearing a cow lowing like she was in pain. That usually meant one of two things, either it was calving, or it hadn’t been milked this morning. The first would most likely take care of itself, the other would require a calf to suckle, or a human to milk it. And that was a concern, any farmer would take care of his cow, why hadn’t that happened? It wasn’t very far out of my way and there is an unwritten code in the west that we take care of each other.

I rode over a hill and saw a well constructed house and barn down in a valley. There was no smoke coming from the house. The temperature was in the forties, there should have been smoke. I changed horses, Sam was dependable if gunfire were to erupt, and a fresh horse was always a good idea when approaching an unknown situation.

As I rode into the yard I saw a man, obviously dead, laying on the ground between the house and the barn with a bucket next to him. He had been ambushed, he was unarmed. The front door looked like it had been kicked in, I was positive I wasn’t going to like what I found inside. The woman had been tied to her bed and repeatedly raped, they then slit her throat. I can’t think of a more cowardly act! I covered her up. I noticed that she hadn’t been dead very long, within an hour. There was a chance I could catch up to these sorry bastards. I went through the rest of the house, in a bedroom upstairs I noticed clothing for a little girl, maybe about ten years old. Could she be hiding in the house somewhere?

I stabled my animals, taking saddles off of the horses and the pack saddle off of the mule. I then milked the cow using the bucket next to the man’s body. I put the bucket in the cold cellar I found. I buried the couple together in a shallow grave and placed slabs of sandstone I found leaning against the barn over it. I called out to the girl, but she was still too afraid to join me. I said a few words over the grave, and promised them that I would find the people who had done this. I was putting my saddle back on Sam and getting ready to leave when a voice called out to me,

“Mister, did you mean what you said to my folks, that you would go after the men that killed them?”

“Yes, I meant it! Men like that don’t deserve to live with decent people. They did it here and they will keep on doing it until somebody stops them! I’m leaving my spare horse and my mule in the barn. Can you take care of them along with the cow? The cow needs milking twice a day.”

“I can do it, mister! Are you coming back?”

“Sure, I’ve got to get my animals, and you, we need to figure out what to do with you!”

“I’ll be here when you come back! I’ll gather up the important papers for you. And they missed the cash box my Daddy hid.”

“What’s your name girl? Are you sure you’ll be ok here alone?

“My name is Rebecca Ann Elkhart, but everyone calls me Becky! My parents raised me to be independent. I can cook and sew, I can milk the cow and feed the livestock. I can shoot a six gun and a rifle. I’ll be fine Mister?

“Zilas Jones, at your service ma’ mam, did you see the men who did this?”

“I saw one of the four, he had a big scar down the left side of his face. The others called him Clancy, the other three were rough looking men. One of them rode an appaloosa. Please get them Mr. Jones! Please kill them for me!”

“I’ll do what I can, I’ll promise you that! I should be back in two or three days, if I’m not back in five I most likely won’t ever be coming back, you go into town and get help.”

I rode after the men, I noticed a “V” notch on the right rear shoe of one of the horses. They had stolen two horses from the farm. They didn’t seem to be in any hurry, they evidently thought they had gotten away clean. They were traveling due west, I followed at a canter, moving twice as fast as they were. I would stop every once in a while and check their trail. As it got dark I slowed down and did more listening than tracking. As soon as I heard the muffled sounds of men’s voices in a grove of trees I got off of Sam and led him around their camp. I found their horses and hobbled all six of them, including the Appaloosa.

They were sitting around a fire without a care in the world, Scarface was facing me and it was clear that he was the leader. They were talking loudly, too loudly! The hair on the back of my neck bristled, they knew I was there, they were bragging about what they had done to the woman. They were evidently trying to make me mad and break cover. They would pay with their lives. They had six horses, they all had saddles, and bridles. They must have picked up two more men. Two men that were out here in the woods looking for me, but two, in this case even three can play that game.

I walked quietly away from the group at the fire keeping the tree between me and it. I moved slowly, occasionally I would feel a rock or acorn beneath my moccasins and I would stoop down and pick it up ... the fourth time I knelt, and immediately leaned over to find the object. The knife almost parted my hair, I fell to my right pulling my knife and tucking it under my body. The knife thrower yelled “I got him!” In a girl’s voice. It saved her life, I don’t kill girls or women. A voice from the fire yelled “Don’t go near the body!” But it was too late, she had run to me excited to have made her first kill of a human being. I wrapped her in my arms covering her mouth, then I pinched her carotid arteries and held them until she was out.

I stripped off her leather shirt and quickly cut it into strips then hogtied her then stuffed some of it in her mouth and tied it in place. Then I retrieved her knife and carried her further out into the woods. No sooner had I gone far enough not to be seen a man burst into the area we had been. It was a clear night and the starlight was bright but not bright enough to show our struggle, it was in the shade, my tracks might be visible to a well trained man. He wasn’t one however. I layed the girl down in the middle of several trees and quietly covered her in branches to break her shape.

I returned to the hunt for the second hunter. I moved to the right slowly pausing behind the bigger trees. I threw some acorns and rocks when I stopped trying to draw the hunter to me. He wasn’t being lured in! He was sitting somewhere waiting for me to come to him. I moved even farther from the fire. I hadn’t gone thirty feet when I tripped over the legs of a body. It was a woman, she had been older, perhaps the girl’s mother? She had taken her own life, her knife thrust upward under her ribs into her heart. Could she have done it because she thought her daughter was dead? Just the thought of those cowards sending two women out to kill me was infuriating. They would pay!

I went back to the girl, she was awake, I needed to ask her some questions, I whispered in her ear, “Will you talk to me quietly and answer my questions?”

She nodded and I removed her gag, “Yes, I promise!”

“Why did they send you and your mother out to find me?”

“They gave us knives and told us they would rape my little sister to death if we ran away or didn’t kill you! We have both already been raped several times by those animals! They caught us in our wagon this evening going home from a party. I was a virgin, my sister is three years younger than me, she’s only twelve! Please save her!”

“I’ll do my best! And I’m not going to be very nice to those animals!”

I told her to stay there as I untied her, she agreed, but I had a feeling that the amount of time she stayed put could be counted in seconds on one hand! I left her there and once again moved toward the fire, they had just put another piece of wood on the fire and I could see the embers reaching into the sky. Working closer I wasn’t surprised when a man jumped from behind a tree, his surprise was more lethal. A kick between his legs took his breath away and the follow-up knife to his throat took his life. I helped lay him down so a thud wouldn’t be heard as he hit the ground.

I advanced once more, finding the three men still at the fire, the only difference was that one man had the girl in front of him with a knife to her throat. That created a problem, I had to get the knife away from her throat. The only way I could think of was to try and shame them. But how do you shame a shameless person? The only way might be to attack their pride. I called out to them.

“I knew you were cowards but this has to be a new low even for scum like you! Hiding behind a little girl! I tell you what, if you throw down your guns, I’ll throw mine down and you three can fight me with knives, three on one. Move the girl away from the fire.” I threw my pistol toward them, they laughed, and didn’t throw their guns down, but they did move the girl, which was all I really wanted them to do. I stepped from behind the tree and threw my first shuriken at the man who went from his gun first, I aimed for and hit his throat. The blood spurted three feet from his body, his effort to stop it failed. He was dead within a minute. But I didn’t watch him, the second shuriken was on it’s way even before the first one had reached it’s target. The third one left my hand, thrown extra hard, it’s target was Scarface’s stomach. It sliced his shirt and through the skin, fat and muscles letting his intestines spill out onto the ground. He attempted to put them back, but that was impossible. I relieved him of his weapons, then I took off his pants, the smell was worse than the filthiest pigsty! At this point the guy was begging for me to put him out of his misery. I laughed!

This was the first time I had used the shuriken device. I have had it for years, but I just haven’t used it. It is strapped to the underside of my right wrist and could deliver four of the extremely sharp blades to my hand one at a time. It was similar to the device that delivers a derringer to the hand of a gambler.

I turned at a noise behind me, as I expected the girl had followed me, she had my Colt in her hand and had pulled back the hammer. I said, “Girl, I know you want to kill this scumbag, but wouldn’t it be better to let him suffer for a while? Suffer as your sister, mother, and yourself have suffered? Give me the gun and think about it as you untie your sister, please.”

She handed the gun to me, I uncocked it and released the cylinder lock and removed it after cocking the hammer again. then looking down the barrel and seeing dirt I blew through it. Looking again it was much cleaner, I removed one cartridge and reassembled it, placing the empty chamber under the hammer.

Both girls now free of restraints agreed that it was better that he suffer for a while longer. I called the girls over and had them sit together, I had to tell them about their Mom’s death. I didn’t want to come right out and say it, so I went at it a little differently.

“Girls my name is Zilas Jones, I own a ranch about forty miles north of here, so who are you?”

“My name is Mirabell Kelly, this is my younger sister, Jenny. Our parents are Elisabeth and Charles.”

“Where is your father?”

“They killed him when they grabbed us, he didn’t even have a gun, they murder him and hauled us onto their horses and came here.”

“I’m so sorry this has happened to you, and I’m afraid I have even more bad news, I found your mother, I tripped over her legs, she had killed herself. I think she thought you were dead Miri, and she couldn’t live with the thought of seeing Jenny’s fate. I’m very sorry!”

They lost it, holding each other and crying their hearts out. I let them cry for as long as they wanted. I went through the dead men’s things, not finding anything of value, then I drug their bodies to a ravine and dumped them in it. I looked after the horses, taking saddles and bridles off them allowing them to graze. I brushed them all down and shook out their saddle blankets and covered their backs to help keep them warm.

I whistled for Sam, he arrived a few minutes later, I brushed him down, I didn’t hobble him. The girls had quieted down, they were asleep holding each other. I went to their mothers body and brought it back to camp. I removed the knife and dressed her in my spare pants and shirt, then covered her with a clean blanket. I moved the girls over to the Buffalo blanket that is a gift to the Osage Indian Chief Little Bear. I didn’t think he would mind because I wasn’t going to tell him. I covered them up. Next I walked over to Scarface, he was on his last legs, mumbling incoherently. I kicked him in the ribs and asked,

“Do you have a camp somewhere where you keep stolen women to sell? He nodded, tell me where it is and I’ll end your life!”

He nodded and gave me the directions, about ten miles away. Using the girl’s mother’s knife I cut his cock and balls off. I had thought about taking all of their genitalia back to be buried with Becky’s fokes, but they were so disgusting I just let them lay. He hadn’t even cried out when I cut them and he quickly bled out. I dragged him to the ravine and dumped him in with the others. I used a shovel to carry his dick and balls and threw them in as well.

It was after midnight, so I turned in too.

We left the next morning and rode to their family farm. The girl’s dad was still in the footwell of their buckboard, the horses still harnessed to it. I fed them some grain from the barn and moved the man to the bed of the wagon, his wife soon joined him. It was a very nice farm with a nice house and barns, a milk house and large garden. There was a small cemetery at the top of the hill, it already had three graves, Grandparents and a baby of two years. The girls showed me where to dig, I asked if they wanted to invite people to the services and a preacher to read over them. And we talked about a headstone. The nearest town was five miles away and they had a Sheriff.

They volunteered to go in, order the headstone and invite the preacher and friends to come out, including the Sheriff. I gave them $100 and told them to take the family bible to get their birth dates and full names. I also gave Miri a loaded Colt and told her to use it if accosted. Before leaving they both took baths in a nearby creek. They put on pretty dresses and had ribbons in their hair. I let them ride Sam, I knew he would take care of them.

I started digging and like I had feared after two and a half feet of topsoil, I hit sandstone. I grabbed the pickaxe and started chipping away at it. Two hours later I had made it six more inches. At this rate they were going to have a three and a half foot deep grave! Two more hours past and another six inches I heard riders coming up the hill, I looked down the hill, it was Miri and Jenny and four others, one was wearing a star. As he came closer I realized that I didn’t like or trust this man. It seemed like he had a permanent sneer on his face, his partners were about the same.

Here I was, in a hole without a gun, but I’m never unarmed. The girls both looked frightened, he was going to pay for that! “What do you think you’re doing boy?” The Sheriff asked rudely.

“What does it look like I’m doing, asshole!”

He was taken aback, here was a guy digging his own grave but didn’t know it! And he has the audacity to get lippy with me! But rather than wonder why the man had called him an asshole, he started to draw his gun.

“I wouldn’t do that Sheriff, you kill me you’ll never find the 100 pound box of gold bullion Scarface had. I’ve hid it very well! Let’s start over, my name is Jupiter Smith, what’s yours?”

“Scarface never had two dimes to rub together. Where did he get that much gold?”

“He and his three friends robbed a Wells Fargo stage yesterday morning at least that’s what he told me. He must’ve gotten lucky because he sure didn’t look very smart!”

“That’s my brother, nobody talks that way about my brother!”

I nodded to the girls to let Sam take them away, but they all stayed, Miri pulled her pistol and I was forced to act. So I said, “He was ugly and that smell! He hadn’t had a bath in years and when he did, it must’ve been a pigpen!”

The sheriff reached for his gun again, so did the other four! Miri cocked the hammer and aimed at the closest man. She pulled the trigger and the man’s head exploded, then she realized that she could pull the trigger, it was a double action. That meant that it did two things, it forced the hammer back, and the cylinder moved to a fresh cartridge. Then if you kept pulling it would release the hammer and “boom”. The man beside the sheriff got my first Death Star, the next went into the Sheriff’s stomach. The third man got one in his forehead just as Miri’s second bullet hit the fourth in the neck.

Only the sheriff was alive but not for long. He had tried to pull the shuriken out and had lost two fingers in the attempt.

“So sheriff, what is your name? Your real name?”

“Joe Trimmel, I’m Sheriff Joe Trimmel!”

“Now sheriff, I asked for your real name, I think I know what it is! But you need to tell me what it is!” I reached down and pulled on my Death Star. He almost fainted, but this time he answered correctly.

“Clint Armstrong, my real name is Clint Armstrong!”

“You used to be a Wagonmaster and guide wagon trains to Oregon?”

“Yes, I guided three wagon trains across to Oregan and two more to Sacramento, California!”

“And if a woman’s husband died you forced them off of the train, no single women. Whose rule was that?”

“That was my rule, single women cause trouble, the married women always suspected them of being after another husband! This creates feuds and dissension, the people on a wagon train have to cooperate in order to survive the trip. I never left them in the wilderness, only at forts or towns!”

“But you took their valuables! You left them with nothing, the only recourse for a lot of them was to become prostitutes, do you think you were fair to those women?”

“That wasn’t my problem!”

“Maybe not, but I’m happy to send you to hell where you belong!” I retrieved my Death Star from his body, it took him several more agonizing hours to die. I had no sympathy for the man!

Mimi related what had happened when they arrived in town of El Dorado,

“We went straight to the Sheriff’s office. He seemed surprised to see us. I told him what had happened. He became furious yelling and throwing things, then he called out to those four men and they forced us to ride back out of town, they wouldn’t let us talk to anyone. We came directly here. He kept saying that our farm belongs to him now!

“We really need to get your parents in the ground, the hole is four feet deep now, two more feet would take another eight hours! Frankly I’m pooped, I need to wash up, eat and go to sleep. We will take these animals’ bodies into town tomorrow. The funeral will be tomorrow afternoon, which will give those who want to attend time to get here. Everyone agreed?”

“You’re asking us? We’re just kids!”

“You both have a stake in this. You are going to have to make decisions soon that could affect the rest of your lives! You both need to start listening and understanding your options so you will be able to make intelligent decisions. Now, would either of you like to change those plans?”

Both girls were incredulous, no adult, including their parents, had ever asked them for an opinion much less making changes to their plan. This tall man was interesting and handsome, the incredible way in which he killed those men so quickly. They began to believe that perhaps their future should be linked in some way with his.

They cooked fried chicken and mashed taters with white gravy with crushed peppercorns. It was delicious and I told them so. I did the dishes in spite of their protests. Afterward I bathed in the creek, the water was cold but I was quick and it felt great to get clean of all the sweat and chips of sandstone. I washed my clothes and just walked to the barn in my long Johns to the barn. I brushed down the horses, we had quite the collection of tack along with the nine horses. They were in the adjacent corral, I left them alone, other than pitching them some hay from the loft. I bedded down in the loft, and was quickly asleep.

We were all up early, and had a great breakfast, ham, eggs and hash browns, once again despite the protests, I did the dishes. Their parents’ bodies were wrapped in blankets and locked in the barn. They helped me harness the horses to the buck board then they picked five horses to carry the dead, just using a saddle blanket on their backs and bridles, we tied the reins to a long rope and brought a few piggin strings. I saddled Sam and we were ready to go.

It was a pleasant morning, cool but not freezing, the bright blue sky just becoming fully lit as the sun rose behind us. We went up the hill and I threw the bodies over the horses using piggin strings to tie their hands and feet together under the horse. I didn’t think they would fall off, or turn upside down, but if they did they were certainly beyond caring. We went back to the road and headed to El Dorado, the road was nice, with few holes or ruts. When I commented on the fact, the girls told me that their dad was paid by the county to grade a mile past his place all the way to town. He had to purchase what they called a road grader. But he made $25 a month and had a nice ride into town.