Chapter 1

Robert Thornton was a fool! It was 1868, and the war was over. The whole country was suffering under another financial panic, and businesses everywhere were failing because they couldn't get the credit they needed to buy new stock. Robert had been operating a haberdashery in Philadelphia, but suddenly decided without consulting his family to sell out and move West. He knew absolutely nothing about farming or anything else about life outside a major city. But how complicated could it be to run a farm? All you did was put some seeds in the ground and wait until the crops were ready to harvest—any fool could do that, so Robert was sure that the was a prime candidate to become a gentleman farmer.

One of the major reasons for the failure of his inherited haberdashery was that he had spent too much time in a local saloon listening to stories of the great opportunities to be found on the unclaimed federal territories in the west. Anyway, Robert decided that the best thing for him was to settle a claim for land in the West under the terms of the Homestead Act of 1862. Knowing absolutely nothing about the West, he got the idea that he should move his family to Tucson, Arizona Territory and start a "ranch" there where he could relax on his veranda and watch his cattle herd grow as his crops also grew. The fact that there was little or no good farm land left to be found around Tucson was just another manifestation of Robert's stubborn foolishness.

One day, he came home from work (at the saloon) and announced that the business had been sold for enough money for them all to move West. All kinds of protests arose from his wife and 4 children, but it was too late—the business had been sold, and Robert had the money in his pocket. (He would be damned if he would deal any way but in cash in this time of financial unrest. His only smart decision!)

There were two weeks until the end of the month when the lease was up on their apartment, so they had "plenty" of time to get ready for the move. His plan, such as it was, was to take the train as far west as they could before buying a wagon and the necessary supplies for the rest of the trip to Tucson. His family now had the choice of move or starve, so they agreed to move.

The trip by train to Sedalia, MO, was uneventful, but very tiring. The trip took 2 weeks because of all the times that they had to change trains, but they finally made it. Robert now set out to equip them for a trip by wagon to Tucson. Robert had only the vaguest idea of how to get there or what he would need for the trip, but he had his son Bobby (Robert, Jr) along to keep him from being too badly cheated.

Bobby was only 12 years old, but he already had an uncanny knack for knowing when somebody was lying. Bobby's mother had insisted that Bobby go along with his father, and further insisted that his father listen to what Bobby had to advise. The implication was, not too subtly transmitted, that Robert would be spending his nights sleeping alone if he ignored what Bobby had to say. This ability to detect lies and some other traits were just beginning to show themselves as Bobby entered puberty. He had not mentioned these abilities to anyone because he assumed that everybody had them. Bobby looked somewhat older than his 12 years, so he was able to get adults to take him seriously, but this may also have been a manifestation of one of his capabilities. Bobby never thought about it.

After a lot of serious negotiating, Bobby and Robert, who naturally took all of the credit, had what they needed to make the trip. Robert was advised to wait for a wagon train headed for Santa Fe, but he was too impatient to assume the duties of a country squire to wait around for a bunch of ignorant peasants. Therefore, the Thornton family set out with its single wagon drawn by 4 mules. Robert pretended to drive, but Bobby's 9-year-old brother, Jesse, actually led the mules by a lead rope as he walked ahead of them down the road.

Bobby was appointed as scout for the expedition, so he had a horse to ride as he ranged ahead of the wagon, keeping an eye out for trouble. Bobby had learned to ride at a school in Philadelphia, so he had some bad habits to unlearn, but he did that quickly as he mastered the art of riding a Western horse while mounted on a Western saddle. Robert had wanted Bobby equipped with an Eastern saddle like they used in Philadelphia, since that was what gentlemen used, but Bobby insisted that, since they were now "out West," they should use the same kind of saddle the locals used. Robert was somewhat disgusted at Bobby's insistent choice, but maintained that HE would never be seen on anything but a gentleman's saddle. Bobby's mother finally put her foot down, and the issue was dropped from further discussion.

Bobby's mother had been talking to some of the women she met in the hotel where they were staying while the supplies were being procured, so she was not as innocent as her husband. She insisted that Bobby be equipped with a rifle and and pistol for his scouting duties for protection against wild animals. Bobby took the time to learn how to handle his Henry rifle and his Remington .44 caliber pistol before they left. Robert fumed at the delay, for he was certain that the women his wife had talked to were just trying to scare her and were not to be taken seriously. That is why nobody else in the family was armed.

They had gotten a few miles out of town when they ran into their first obstacle: they were stopped by 3 bushwhackers who wanted to collect a "toll" for them to use the public road. Robert was about to pay when Bobby rode up behind the toll collectors with his pistol drawn and cocked. The rest of the Thornton family was shocked when Bobby threatened to "blow their fucking heads off" if they didn't go away and stay away. Bobby later had to explain to his mother why he had used such crude language; he said that he had to use the kind of language the ruffians could understand. But, for whatever reason, they were not bothered again by toll collectors.

Robert insisted on a proper meal each of the 3 meals per day, so they were making very slow time as they rode across Missouri to Oklahoma. They crossed the river at a ferry, Bobby never could remember the name of the place, and Bobby had to finger his gun to keep them from being cheated. Of course, Robert took credit for the negotiations. At last, they were in the Choctaw Nation, and Robert gloried in the fact that they had finally reached the "true West." Of course, he had no idea that they had hardly come half the distance they had to travel to reach Tucson.

A day or so later, they were finally out of sight of the river; their rate of progress had slowed even more. Bobby was sure that they would never get to Tucson at the rate his father wanted to travel, but there was nothing that he could do about the foolishness. Out of pure boredom, Bobby had begun to range farther and farther ahead of the wagon; he was now 10 miles ahead of the rest of his family, and it was going to take 3 days for them to travel this far at the rate they were going.

Bobby was riding along, letting his mind coast in idle, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. The pain got worse, but it was not so bad that he couldn't act. Somehow, he was not sure how, he knew that the pain was coming from his family back at the wagon. He turned his horse around and raced as fast as it could carry him back toward the wagon; he gave no thought to the safety problems in running a horse this fast over rough ground.

It took him almost 40 minutes to reach the wagon, and he recoiled in horror. Six Indians were torturing his family! His father and brother were already tortured to death, which was probably hurried because the Indians were anxious to start playing with the women. All three women were stretched out on the ground being actively raped while the other three Indians were standing around and laughing at the antics of the White women. Actually, Bobby's 7-year-old sister was already dead, having bled to death during her first rape experience; this was the fourth.