Chapter 7

The EP&N (El Paso & Northern Railroad) was in a passel of trouble. It seemed like they wuz getting hit right an' left by train robbers. They wuz being hit by a gang of bandits what was makin' life Hell fer the people tryin' ta make an honest livin' off the railroad. Reports of the size of the gang varied between eight an' thirteen members, but the leader always seemed ta be the same man.

I got a telegram from the EP&N General Manager offerin' ta hire me ta git rid of these bandits. I rode up ta see him an' we negotiated a contract. He agreed ta $3,500, plus expenses, with expenses ta include the wages of any special he'p I hired. Well, I knew there wuzn't no way I could take on eight men at one time, let alone 13, so I tried contactin' some of my old bounty huntin' friends. I managed ta find four of 'em, so I figured that the five of us ought ta be able ta handle this gang under most circumstances.

George McHenry an' John Goethels both were in El Paso, so I found them right away an' hired 'em as employees of The Hopkins Detective Agency. Times were kind of slow fer them, an' I knew they were good dependable men, so I hoped that they would stay with my company after this particular affair wuz resolved. I had ta hunt fer Eddy Houston an' Bill Ziggy, but I wuz glad ta git 'em both. I also wanted them ta stay with me fer use as detectives.

We met in my hotel room in El Paso, an' I explained the job ta them an' how much I wuz payin'. A course, I couldn't pay as much as they might git with a big bounty, but my pay came every week, come hell or high water, soz they wuz more likely ta do better workin' fer me than they could on their own. All four thought about it fer a while an' agreed that they wanted ta be regularly employed detectives, instead of hit-or-miss bounty hunters. I said that they could also expect a little bonus at the end of a successful job. This sounded right fair play ta them, an' they all knew me, soz we got off on the right foot the first day.

I got us passes for the EP&N, soz we could move around easy like. Every day, we rode in a train of the kind likely ta be hit, jus' lookin' fer trouble. I ain't got no idee why, but the bandits took some time off fer a while, soz we didn't have no excitement fer 'bout 10 days. Then they hit a train, but not the one we were ridin' on.

We hurried ta the station nearest the site of the robbery an' got some horses. We rode ta the actual robbery site an' looked around. Bill found where the hosses had been picketed an' some tracks leadin' away from there. We wuz about 24 hours behind the bandits, but thought that we could cotch up ifen we were lucky.

The robbery had taken place in Texas, soz the bandits had skedaddled fer NMT (New Mexico Territory), jus' like we expected. They likely hoped that any lawman what wuz chasin' 'em would quit at the border, but that didn't slow us down, a course.

We lost 'em on a patch of hardpan, but we split up an' found the trail, again, after 'bout an hour of searchin'. I wuz a bit worried 'bout the chance of runnin' inta a sinkhole, so we were careful as we trailed the bandits. As long as we stayed on the trail of the bandits, we wuzn't worried too much, cuz we figured that they would find a sinkhole afore we did. Whenever their trail curved around fer no obvious reason, we curved around, too, not ta take any foolish chances.

They wuz moving at a gentle lope, an' we wuz pushin' our hosses as hard as we could, soz we knew that we had ta be gainin' on 'em. The third day, we spotted a dust cloud ahead of us, so we slowed down ta keep from raisin our own dust cloud. Shit, this wuzn't gonna work! We couldn't even keep up ifen we went slow enough ta hold our dust down. We had ta take a chance an' speed back up in hope of cotchin' 'em afore they could git away.

We knew that we wuz followin' nine riders, so that wuzn't too many fer us ta handle. We speeded back up an' began ta close on the bandits. It was gittin' toward dark, soz we decided ta make camp an' pick up the chase tomorrow. We wuz just finishin' up our supper when one of the pack mules let out a mighty snort of fear. No camper ignores the warnin' made by a mule, soz we dropped our plates an' dove fer cover! Another snort was nearly drowned out by a blast of gunfire.

Nobody was hit, but it shore wuz enough ta make us keep our heads down. It looked ta me like we wuz up against some galoots what wuzn't as smart as they thought they wuz. They would p'robly of had us ifen they had spread out ta surround our camp. Instead, they stayed bunched up, so it wuz easy fer George an' John ta sneak out of camp while the rest of us kept 'em occupied. We three fired at the bunched up fools while George an' John slipped around behind 'em.

When they wuz in good position, George an' John opened up on the bandits an' must of scared the shit out of those they didn't wound or kill. There wuzn't no way we could keep some of the bandits from escapin', since they cut out as soon as the two detectives started shootin'. As it wuz, they kilt three an' wounded two more so bad what they asked ta be shot in the head when we showed up; we obliged 'em. That left four what got away, but we figured that they would leave a trail so big that we would have no trouble followin' it the next mornin.

We broke camp as soon as there wuz enough light ta follow the trail. I hoped they would lead us ta their hideout, since I figured that wuz the only way we wuz gonna find any of the loot from previous robberies. By doggies, they led us right ta their hideout! It wuzn't more than six miles away from where they tried ta shoot us, so it didn't take us long ta git there.

Their hideout turned out ta be a small cave. The problem with the cave from our point of view wuz that it had a small entrance. The entrance ta the cave wuz so small that they had ta keep their hosses outside. We found cover close ta the cave entrance an' stood guard while Bill an' Eddy rustled the hosses. Once the hosses wuz moved out of the way, I called out, "Y'ALL MEN IN THE CAVE! LISTEN TA ME, CUZ I'M ONLY GONNA SAY IT ONCE! COME OUT WITH YER HANDS UP! Y'ALL HAVE GOT FIVE MINUTES TA SURRENDER! OTHERWISE, WE'RE GONNA START SHOOTIN', AN' Y'ALL KNOW WHAT KIND OF MESS RICOCHETING BULLETS WILL MAKE IFEN THEY HIT YA. YER FIVE MINUTES STARTS RIGHT NOW!"

We heard some arguin' goin' on inside the cave, followed shortly by a gunshot. Then we heard a shout, "DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE COMIN' OUT!" A moment later, three men came out of the cave with their hands up.

When they wuz well clear of the cave entrance, I asked about the fourth man an' wuz told that he wuz lyin' dead back in the cave. We put cuffs an' leg irons on these galoots an' left them in front of the cave while we went inside ta take a look. We found five strongboxes full of gold coin, an' I knew damn well that not all of it could have come from EP&N robberies, there wuz just too much. Turns out, most of the coins come from bank robberies; they got relatively little from the railroad.

We gathered up the loot an' the valuables from all of the bandits we killed an' hauled it all back ta El Paso. We settled up with the railroad an' left the loot with the Rangers. We took the train back ta Eagle Pass an the men got hotel rooms. I rushed ta the ranch ta see Ann as soon as I could git away.

George McHenry fancied himself an expert poker player, an', wonder of wonders, he wuz. When he wuzn't out chasin' some crook, George could be found deeply involved in the nearest poker game. The funny thin' wuz, the poker game didn't have ta be fer high stakes ta grab George's interest, it wuz the challenge of winnin' that pulled George in, not the prospect of winnin' a lot of money. He would be jus' as intent on winnin' a penny ante game as he would any other, an' woe unto the galoot what foolishly interrupted George's concentration on his favorite pastime.