Chapter 15

Roland and Wayne have done some more thinking about the war wagon and have decided to keep the basic design, but to change the armor to steel plate mounted on a wooden frame. There was some concern about the ability of the wood to stop modern bullets and a potential problem with fire. The engine appeared powerful enough to handle this extra weight in further tests, so the decision was made to switch.

Also, a decision was made to switch from conventional narrow, large diameter wheels to much wider, smaller diameter wheels made all of steel. This new wheel design should overcome a tendency of the conventional wheels to get stuck in loose sand and to break when forced to flex. The decision was made even though the smaller diameter wheel would cut into the top speed of the war wagon, but it would give a mechanical advantage of almost 2 to 1 over the conventional wheel design.

These two changes would be made immediately. Since the war wagon was still basically a prototype, even more changes were expected as the vehicle evolved.

Some consideration was given to improving communication and warning systems all over the ranch. Signal flares appeared to be a good choice. Particularly useful would be some means of signaling a warning among the fort, the dam, and people working in outlying areas. Initially, it was decided to use a red flare to signal an "attack" and a green flare to signal an "all clear." We might need additional flares to signal things like "send help" or "keep away."

"A number of our lower echelon people in the Alamogordo sector have disappeared. We have been directed to investigate this unexpected development and report to the NMT Supreme Council of the Brotherhood."

Christmas decorations had been put up all over the place. Sarah expected this to be a particularly festive occasion and she had an announcement she was "dying" to make. With so many new people around there was more hustle and bustle than the house had seen in many years. Everybody, no matter what his or her age, was looking forward to being a child, again.

On Christmas morning everybody went to church. There was a Catholic mass and a Methodist service held one after the other in the church; many people went to both. This was followed by a hearty breakfast, with, as a special treat for me, Alabama-style grits!

The Organization members who were present assembled in the parlor of the main house beside the Christmas tree. There were presents for everybody and a great time was had passing them out and opening them. Once the excitement of the presents has dissipated a bit, Sarah called for everyone's attention. She said, "I have an announcement to make. I am going to have a baby. I expect it in July."

This brought about the expected burst of congratulations from everybody present. I collapsed on the sofa in stunned disbelief! Sarah had not mentioned it to me. In just a few minutes, all of the women had disappeared into another room to discuss the baby and all that event would entail. Meanwhile, Bill brought me a shot of whiskey and began to sympathize.

"The January, 1900, meeting of the New Mexico Territory Supreme Council of the Brotherhood will come to order."

"A situation has come to our attention which is of such importance that we will postpone regular business to discuss it at this time. Two entire echelons of the Alamogordo sector have been assassinated! We must formulate a response without delay.

" As soon as the information arrived, a special committee was formed to analyze it and come up with a recommendation for action.

"The perpetrators of this heinous act have been traced to the York Ranch in

Otero county. These scum have caused trouble to the Brotherhood over the past several years, but particularly in the last seven months. An individual named Mat Sullivan has been a troublemaker during this latter time and is believed to be the king pin behind our difficulties in the Alamogordo sector.

"The special committee has recommended that Mat Sullivan and Sarah York Sullivan be eliminated forthwith. Any other individuals present at the York Ranch are to be considered expendable and eliminated at the same time.

"Previous efforts to eliminate this irritation have been a failure, partly because no one with enough authority within the Brotherhood has been involved in the planning and execution of the project. Therefore, I, as chairman of the NMT Brotherhood, have decided to take charge and direct this matter personally."

"I will report on the situation and our progress at our February meeting. I assume that I have the full support of this council.

"We will now return to our regular form of business."

Strangely enough, as far as we had been able to discover, none of the people from the Brotherhood whom we eliminated have been replaced. We could not find any sign of the Brotherhood anywhere in Otero county. They were just gone! This was worrisome because it meant that we had completely lost contact with the local Brotherhood, even though we did have that contact in Santa Fe. Jake Jakobs was not having much luck in identifying any more members beyond Asa Gooding. All we could do was continue to be alert.

We began making detailed plans for our construction projects coming up this season. Our cement plant was producing at its maximum capacity; it was doing so well that we were able to stockpile cement for our coming construction, and still have surplus for local sale and for making concrete blocks, which were a sensation. At this rate, the cement plant would pay for itself earlier than expected and we might wish that we had gone for more capacity when we first installed it.

The scarcity of local wood suitable for construction had always made adobe the building material of choice, but multistory buildings were becoming popular, so our concrete blocks were finding more and more acceptance. The added fire resistance over wood was a definite "plus." The shipping costs added to the basic cost of wood as a building material just added to the attractiveness of "York" blocks. However, we were meeting with considerable sales resistance in our contacts with the US Army and the railroads. "Oh, well, win some, lose some."

Sarah had gotten so heavily into sales of the cement and York blocks that she called on Sue for help. Sue's experiences with her interviews for "The New Mexico Territory Historical Preservation Society" had aroused her interest in a sales career and she proved to be outstanding at it. She met a lot of initial resistance since she was a woman, but Sue's charm and the novelty of meeting a female sales agent was enough to get her an appointment. After that, her knowledge and intelligence often got her the contract.

The whole product line did so well that Sue quickly became sales manager of "York Concrete Products" with a staff of salesmen she trained, herself. One of the "secrets" of Sue's success was that she insisted that her sales crew get away from the railroad route and visit towns accessed only be stagecoach or carriage (horseback, only, was not practical for delivering concrete blocks!). If it could be reached by wagon, it was a prospect. She even managed some exports into Mexico; the concrete blocks sold at a premium because of the novelty.

"The February, 1900, meeting of the New Mexico Territory Supreme Council of the Brotherhood will come to order."

"As at the last meeting, we will postpone our regular business to consider the York Ranch situation. Our plans have progressed to the point that we are ready to schedule the appropriate action.

"The Brotherhood will assemble a large attacking force and besiege the York Ranch in a determined effort to wipe it out. We will have such overwhelming force present that we will succeed. We will assemble all of the Brotherhood's men, supplemented by Mexican mercenaries, in sufficient numbers to insure our success. Furthermore, the Brotherhood's men will be distributed among the mercenaries to insure that they do not slack, and attack with the utmost zeal that we will be paying for.

"We will allow for one week of battle, though it should not actually take more that one or two days, to reduce the York faction to dust. While we are about it, we will destroy the cement plant and the dam. We will wreak such devastation that no one will dare oppose us, again.