Chapter 1

Keith Murray was one of those people who could be used as a model for The Good Samaritan. He never met a stranger, and he was free and easy with all of his material possessions. His wife often smiled in wry tolerance as he handed out another free meal to some poor soul who hadn't eaten in days. On occasion, she had admonished him when he gave away his own food to help someone in need. His generosity was famous around the county, and he was often contacted for charitable donations, which he always tried to honor.

Keith worked a small farm in Parson County in southwest Texas. It was in the summer of 1858 that the world collapsed onto Keith Murray's head. As usual, Keith was spreading his kindness around, in this case handing out food to some Comanche women and children who came begging at his door. Most people would have looked askance at this, but not Keith—if you were hungry, he would feed you as long as he had the means to do so.

It was a trap! Keith and his wife were doling out food to the women when 4 Comanche braves suddenly swooped down upon the Murray family. The first one in was swinging a heavy war club. He aimed at Keith's head and would have smashed it to a bloody pulp but for a peculiar accident. Keith heard a strange noise and turned just as the brave swung. Keith's foot slipped and he started to fall just as the club made contact with his head. Instead of catching him over the ear, the club caught him in the top of the head. The blow tore Keith's scalp open and blood flowed everywhere; the blow also knocked Keith unconscious. He fell in the doorway, pouring blood from his head.

The brave who had swung the club started through the door and was met by a musket going off, putting a .76 caliber ball in his gut. The ball, in its progress through the Comanche's body also severed his spinal cord, causing him to fall on top of Keith. Keith's wife had fired the musket, but she had no time to reload before she was swarmed under by the Comanche women. Those women were past masters in the art of torture and kept the White woman alive for over 2 hours before she died.

The Murray children, a boy and a girl, were too young for the Comanches to consider them as enemies and they were taken by the Indians to be raised as Comanches. The Comanches assumed that Keith was killed by the blow to his head, and all of the blood from his torn scalp made everybody think that someone else had already scalped him; therefore, he was left where he lay when the Indians departed.

Not long after the Comanches left the vicinity, Keith finally regained consciousness and managed to struggle to his feet. He stumbled into the kitchen and saw what the Comanches had done to his wife, whereupon he fainted again. He was unconscious for only a few minutes this time, and he looked through the two rooms of his cabin for his children, fearing that he would find them dead, too. He could not decide whether he was relieved or not when he found no sign of the children; he had to assume that the Comanches had taken them.

Keith's wife's body was in such a mess that he could not bring himself to try to bury her. Instead, he collected those items that he thought would be useful before he burned down the cabin around her. He took no mementos or anything else to remind him of his wife or what had happened this horrible day. He didn't plan to forget, but he needed nothing beyond what he had seen in the house to remind him of his loss.

In those few hours, Keith Murray had changed completely from a loving, caring, compassionate person to a roiling, boiling mass of hatred! He hated all Comanches for what these few had done. He immediately subscribed to the saying that the only good Comanche was a dead Comanche, and he intended to make as many good Comanches as he possibly could.

Keith salvaged a change of clothes, some cooking utensils, and a little food. He had his bowie knife and the .44 caliber Dragoon Colt he had used in the Mexican war, but he wanted a rifle, too. He knew of a widow who might sell him her husbands '41 Mississippi rifle, which had been converted from flint lock to cap use, since she certainly would not be using it.

The Comanches had stolen his mule, so he was reduced to walking. He took the time to make a small sled which he could drag behind him as he walked. He packed his supplies and spare clothes on the sled and started walking toward the widow Jones' house. He had been walking for about 2 hours when he saw some smoke in the distance. He cached his sled in the bushes and ran toward the smoke.

The smoke was coming from the widow's barn, where it was a smoldering ruin. The house still had visible flames, but it was not burning fiercely, so Keith went inside. Inside the house, he found the widow Jones tortured to death much as his wife had been. There was evidence that she, too, had been feeding the Comanche women when she was attacked.

Keith went through her house to see if there was anything he could use. He found a little money in the form of gold coins and the Mississippi rifle he had been interested in buying. Obviously, no one else had any immediate use for these items, so Keith took them, along with some powder and shot he found. Out of pity for the widow, Keith rekindled the fire to cremate her sad remains. By this time, he had no more tears, but he did promise to avenge her murder!

Naturally, the Comanches had stolen all her stock, so there was nothing to worry about there. Keith jogged back to his sled and set off in earnest to track the Comanches. These Comanches were so arrogant that they were making no effort to hide their trail, knowing that the women would fool any Whites who saw them into thinking that it was just a small family group on the move. The Comanche War had begun to wind down, but many Comanches had not given up the fight; witness this raiding party!

The Comanches were in no hurry; their speed was limited to what the women and children could do. Keith figured that he could catch up to them in a few days, depending somewhat on whether or not they found any more unsuspecting people to attack. Keith followed their trail as long as there was enough light to see the traces. He camped when it got dark and was up with the dawn. They did not attack anyone that day, so Keith was still following them when he ran out of daylight, again.

About mid-morning of the next day, Keith caught sight of the Comanche column as it marched steadily on. He raced to catch up and was close enough when they stopped to find shelter from the midday heat. He saw that there were 3 men, 5 women, and 4 children in the group. He agonized over what to do. Keith knew that he was going to kill the 3 men, but what was he going to do about the women and children? The women were as guilty as the men, but who would watch out for the children if he killed all of the women? He didn't know how to handle that; he would just have to work it out, later.

Keith's first project was to eliminate the men. This would be a little tricky, since the men never got off their horses except to eat, sleep, shit, or piss. He decided that his best bet would be to attack a lone man when he left the group to shit. If he used his knife, he could keep the noise down and have a better chance of getting away. Then he remembered the war club that had been used against him that fateful day. He kept an eye out and was able to find a stone which was near enough to the proper shape and weighed about 2 pounds. He found a suitable stick to use as a handle on his war club and set out to fashion what he needed. The result was a 2-pound pointed rock fastened to a handle about 1 inch in diameter and 24 inches long. Keith spent a day fashioning the club and getting used to swinging it. He knew that he did not have time to gain enough skill with the club to use it in battle, but it would be quite satisfactory for making a silent kill following a silent stalk.

Keith maintained his pursuit of the Comanche band while making and testing his club, so he was ready when one of the braves suddenly turned away from the band and made for a stand of trees. Keith followed at a safe distance until the Indian reached the trees. When the Indian dismounted and went among the trees, Keith abandoned his sled and carrying only his club and his pistol, hurried after the Comanche.