Chapter 1

Jane and Bill Austin had what some people would call an idyllic relationship. He was a successful lawyer, and she was a dedicated homemaker. They loved each other with undying measure and spent as much time as possible with each other. This all came to a crashing end one night in 1886!

Bill Austin had gone to meet a client at the Double Eagle saloon where they talked business and drank a couple of beers. While they were sitting at a table toward the back of the saloon, Curly Johnson, who was almost too drunk to stand, came up to the table and started making trouble. He launched into a tirade about how Bill had cheated him out of $100 that he had paid to be represented in a law suit that he had lost.

Bill was embarrassed that his current client had to listen to this tirade, so he stood up and asked Johnson to step to one side where they could discuss this without involving anyone else. Johnson lost what little control he had left and pulled his bowie knife from his belt. He jammed the knife to the hilt in Bills abdomen and ripped up as hard as he could pull. Not only did this rip Bill's intestines asunder, but it tore his diaphragm so badly that Bill immediately lost the ability to breath. He fell to the floor with Johnson's knife still wedged within his body and he died in about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, Curly Johnson sobered up enough to pull his pistol and threaten everyone in the saloon while he hurried outside; whereupon, he disappeared.

A doctor was called, but arrived much too late to do anything but pronounce Bill Austin to be dead as the result of a knife wound. The town marshal showed up about the same time and agreed to the cause of Austin's death. He talked to several witnesses and concluded that the deed had been done by one Curly Johnson in an unprovoked attack; therefore, he said that he intended to arrest Curly Johnson for murder.

The marshal went to tell Mrs. Austin of the untimely death of her husband and did it with no care or consideration at all. Mrs. Austin fainted and the marshal panicked; he summoned the doctor, who recognized the situation and called in a widow who had done some nursing for his patients. The woman put Jane to bed and stayed with her all night. Jane was so disturbed by the situation that it was several days before she could function well enough to be on her own. The nurse took care of Jane for the first few days and checked up on her each morning for the next week.

Ten days after the murder, Jane went in to see the marshal to determine what he was doing about arresting Curly Johnson. The marshal stalled her for a few minutes, but finally admitted that he was doing nothing to bring Johnson to justice. His excuse was, "Mr. Johnson is no longer in Silver City, so he's out of my jurisdiction. I have written ta the sheriff at the county seat an' asked 'im ta do what he could ta apprehend Mr. Johnson. Beyond that, there's nothin' that I kin do."

Jane spit in his face in disgust and stormed out of the office. She wrote a letter to the sheriff asking what he was doing to find and arrest Curly Johnson, but did not get a satisfactory answer. Jane realized that, if Curly Johnson was to be brought to justice, she would have to do it, herself. Therefore, she contacted some of her husband's former less savory clients for guidance. Invariably, she was told that no sane person was going after Curly Johnson; he was mean as a bear with a sore tooth and liked to hurt people. She answered that she was going after him and asked what she needed to accomplish this.

Jane was advised to acquire a shotgun of the largest gauge that she could handle and learn to shoot fast and reload fast. She visited the local gunsmith, who lent a sympathetic ear and advised her to select a sawed off 16-gauge double barreled shotgun. He further suggested that she have the stock modified into a pistol grip and learn to fire it without ever removing it from its carrying strap at her waist.

Jane was a rather large woman with big hands, so she could manage the shotgun rigged this way, but she was going to need a lot of practice. The gunsmith converted a shotgun to the necessary specifications, and a saddle maker made her a carrying strap. It was sort of a "Sam Brown" belt with a wide belt around her waist and a crossover shoulder strap running between her breasts and over her left shoulder to help distribute the weight of the shotgun hanging a little in front of her right hip.

The first time Jane fired this rig, it knocked her down with the recoil. She simply was not expecting such a heavy kick, even though she had been warned. However, she practiced with the gun religiously until she could control the recoil of both barrels fired at the same time. Furthermore, she became quite accurate with it and could bring the gun to bear faster than most men could draw their pistol.

The necessity of the gun's rig forced her to adopt man's attire, and she was commonly see around town in the type of shirt and trousers commonly worn by the local cowboys. The gunsmith recommended that, if she was truly going out into the world dressed like that, she also needed a pistol and a rifle. Jane was quite strong for a woman, so she could easily handle a large pistol. She settled on a cavalry model Schofield .45 caliber pistol and a Henry rifle in the same caliber. Her right hip was already occupied by the shotgun, so she wore the pistol in a shoulder holster under her left arm in a cross draw arrangement.

Jane spent 6 months practicing with the shotgun and the pistol to the point that she could have hired out as a successful gunslinger. However, she was still dedicated to finding Curly Johnson and bringing him to justice for the murder of her husband. Finally, she felt that she was ready to leave, so she had her hair cut in the fashion of a man and took on as many other male characteristics as she could. She even adopted the name "Jim Austin" to use in her male persona.

Jane had spent as much time as she could tracking down the whereabouts of Curly Johnson and had a report of him being seen in Holliston, about 25 miles away in the next county. She sold her house and other belongings and packed her saddle bags for her mission. Jim (Jane) loaded her remaining belongings on her horse and left for Holliston.

She rode into Holliston a sundown and registered in the hotel. The clerk remarked that Jim looked awfully young to be traveling by himself. Jane made some noncommittal remark and took her room key. She left her kit in her room and went for supper in the hotel restaurant. The meal was passable, but not something you would make a special trip to sample. From the restaurant, she went into the saloon, figuring that would be the most likely place to find Curly Johnson.

She walked up to the bar and ordered a beer. The bartender looked at her kind of funny, but served her, since there was no minimum age for customers. She was not used to drinking beer, but even she could tell that this was not a good brew. She frowned as she sipped from her mug. When there was a slow point in business, she asked if Curly Johnson was still around. Jane claimed that she owed him $5 and was ready to pay him the money.

The bartender could believe that somebody as young as Jim would want to pay a debt to Curly Johnson to keep him from being mad. The bartender said that he had not seen Curly for about 2 months and thought that he had left town, probably for Poke City. Jim cursed mildly and thanked the bartender for the information.

Jane visited the other saloons in town and received much the same information in each place, so the next morning, she left for Poke City. She had ridden 4 miles when she was accosted by a road agent. The bandit stepped out from some rocks and pointed a pistol in her direction. "Hands up! Give me all yer money or I'll blow ya ta Hell!"