Chapter 3

The Johnson/Goodall family had been in Sacramento for just over three weeks and they were already on their way to becoming "rich." Eddy had collected $56.25 in wages as a deputy marshal and their company had collected $300 for delivering heavy freight more quickly than the customer had expected. Eddy had already been contacted by potential customers for other jobs which they were now ready to handle.

Over the next week, Jeb and Josh earned $53 for moving a load across town in two trips and $26 for a single trip delivering cargo from the dock to a hardware store. They could have earned even more if they had the wagons and oxen to do the job. A family/company meeting was called for.

At the meeting, the following job titles were assigned: Boss—Eddy; Bookkeeper—Mary; Teamsters—Jeb and Josh; Manager—Martha.

It turned out that Mary's father had been a bookkeeper and she remembered enough to be able to take over that function in the new company.

They discussed the possibility of buying another wagon and having two wagons with a pair of oxen pulling each one. They could go back to the four-oxen team when the load called for it. Eddy's father had bought a farm just outside Sacramento, so Eddy suggested that they might buy his cross-country wagon, since it was too large to be practical for the average farm. He'd ride out there tomorrow to see. The wagons could be converted from two oxen to four oxen by two men in less than five minutes just by changing the tongue.

Mary closed the meeting with the happy thought that if they could get 4 jobs a week at $20 per job, they could make $4160 in a year and, in 1862, that was a LOT of money, even by California's standards.

Eddy had a quiet night, so he and Martha had vigorous hour together in the bedroom when he got home that morning. Martha said that she was getting so big that she was afraid that they would have to stop the fun and games pretty soon. She reported that she had found a highly recommended midwife and she was going in for an examination next week.

Eddy rode out to his father's farm and looked at the wagon. His father was willing to sell the wagon and the oxen for a low price just to get rid of them, so Eddy paid his price on the spot. He would send the boys out for the wagon and oxen tomorrow.

Eddy ate lunch with his parents and brought them up to date with his doings. They were very happy for his success, so far, and wished him well. Eddy invited them to come visit at their first opportunity and returned home.

He told his family that he had bought both the wagon and oxen—the price was too good to pass up. He planned to spend the afternoon looking for more business.

Luck was with him again this afternoon. Eddy found two jobs that needed more than one wagon load. Since the haul was just across town for both jobs, Eddy figured on having Jeb pick up the other wagon from the farm while Josh hauled the first load. The profit on both jobs would just about pay for the second wagon and team.

Eddy's second tour around town was something other than routine. He had varied his routine so that he was late getting back to the office. He was passing Aaron Soloman's gun shop when he noticed a flicker of light coming from the back storage room. He tried the door and found that it opened easily. Immediately, he smelled smoke! He ran to the middle of the street and fired both barrels of his shotgun into the air, meanwhile, shouting, "FIRE! FIRE!"

Once he was fully inside the shop, he found Aaron lying on the floor. Eddy dragged Aaron outside, safely away from the scene of the fire. By this time, the first of the neighbors began showing up with their buckets. A line quickly formed and water was passed hand-to-hand to douse the fire. Eddy had spotted the fire soon enough that it had not really gotten a foothold so that it was fairly easy to extinguish. Several of the fire fighters noticed the smell of coal oil, much stronger than would have been there from just a tipped over lamp. Eddy immediately thought, "ARSON!"

A doctor examined Aaron and pronounced him as sound as anyone could be after being struck by a blow to the head. Like most shop owners in Sacramento, Aaron lived over his store, so he was helped to bed by Eddy. The fire had not done any major damage to the building; it was safe for Aaron to go to bed upstairs. There was some water damage, but Aaron would settle for that. Eddy promised to stop by to see Aaron tomorrow after he had some rest.

The next morning, Eddy told the story to Mike. The two went to see Aaron before Eddy went home. Aaron couldn't tell them much, except that he had heard a noise downstairs and had come down to investigate. Two men had grabbed him at the foot of the stairs and one had said, "This'll teach you what happens to fools who defy the gang," just before he was struck on the head and passed out. The next thing he knew, he was outside and a doctor was examining him.

Eddy asked, "Who is this 'gang' he was talking about?"

"I don't know exactly, but a man came by last week wanting money to protect me from damage to my shop. I refused. I said that the marshal and his deputy were doing a fine job and I didn't need more protection. He warned me that I would be sorry and I haven't seen him since."

The marshal said, "Oh, shit! It sounds like somebody is trying to get a protection racket started in town. I'll ask if they have approached anybody else when I walk around today. Take it easy, Aaron, and we'll check back with you, later."

Outside the shop, Mike said to Eddy, "You go home and get breakfast. I'll look into this and tell you what I've found out when I see you this evening."

When he got home, Martha said, "You're late! I was worried about you! What happened?"

Eddy related the previous night's events while he was eating breakfast. All four of his listeners were excited by what they heard and begged to be kept up to date on developments. After breakfast, Eddy sent Jeb to pick up the first load and Josh on his horse to fetch the other wagon and team. Mary left for market so that Martha and Eddy were finally alone. They adjourned to the bedroom for the morning tryst.

Later that morning, Eddy checked on Aaron and found him up and around, cleaning up the mess in his store room. Eddy helped for a while and then invited Aaron home with him for lunch. Aaron turned out to be an excellent conversationalist. They found out that Aaron was a Russian Jew who had been forced out in one of the many pogroms. Aaron's wife and children had died of cholera as they fled through China. Aaron had taken ship and arrived in San Francisco a few years ago. He had been in Sacramento for four years.

Mary took an immediate liking to him and held on to Aaron's every word. She offered to help Aaron clean up after the fire, so she left with him after lunch. Eddy and Martha looked at each other in surprise, but they were happy that Mary had found an interest in a man of obviously good character.

Eddy took his usual stroll around town that afternoon, looking for more hauling business, but also asking for information about the "gang." No new jobs showed up, but he did find several more businesses that had been offered "protection." Eddy planned to compare notes with Mike that evening.

Josh had spent the time since he returned with the wagon and oxen in cleaning up the wagon and painting the sign on its sides. Jeb had managed to make the two trips with his job in that one day, so they both could show up tomorrow for the second job and complete it in one trip each.

After supper, Eddy rushed off to see Mike and to talk about the "protection" racket. They compared notes and formed a list of 13 business that had been approached by the gang. Eddy pointed out that this job was getting too big for Mike and him. There was simply too much to do with their routine work and dealing with this gang problem.

Mike replied, "You're right. Tomorrow, I'll talk to the City Council about hiring another deputy. If they agree to foot the bill, I'll hire another deputy to help you out at night."

That evening, as Eddy was making his first tour, he stopped by The Silver Dollar saloon to say hello to Jim Hanson, the bartender. He walked into the saloon and did a double-take: who should he see but Bill Thomas, one of the guards he had served with on the wagon train. "Bill, what are you doing here? I thought you had left for Independence."

"Howdy, Eddy. Yeah, I was headed there, but I had a little accident and broke some ribs as we were crossing the Sierra Nevadas. I couldn't keep up with the others, so I came back here. I'm looking for a job. Know of anything?"

"Yeah, I may. I'm a deputy marshal and we hope to hire another one in the next couple of days. You interested?"

"I sure am! What would I have to do?"

"Follow me around tonight and I'll show you."

"OK, lead on."

Bill stayed with Eddy that night and pronounced the job just what he was looking for. Eddy introduced Bill to Mike that morning and gave him Bill's background. Mike was pleased with Bill and said that he was hired if the City Council approved; he'd have an answer pretty soon.