Chapter 2

This period was a great time for me. I was sleeping next to a woman whom I loved and who loved me just as much. Our family was growing up. They were all being educated by Kenny who was getting older, but was still just as sharp as ever. Samson was the brightest one of the kids who lived on the ranch. He was ten in February, 1890. On his birthday, Kenny, myself, Mary Eustis, and Jessie withdrew to the living room, banishing all others from listening to what Mary Eustis had to say to my wife and later to her son.

Jessie would be told of my liaison with Mary Eustis and Samson would be told I was his biological father. Mary Eustis spoke to Jessie. "Jessie, you have been a daughter to me. Not once have you ever minded that I am of native blood. I have kept something from you as has Sam. It is time you learned what it is."

"Oh, you mean that Sam is the father of Samson? I've known that for years. First I think it was either on our first Thanksgiving or the first Christmas that Sam told us what his father looked like. In another couple of years Samson will be as big as Sam. The curly brown hair is another giveaway. I found out another way as well. Cynthia overheard you and Kenny discussing it and came and asked me if I knew. I didn't until that time and I asked her to keep quiet about it. I don't think she has even told Judy.

"Samson was conceived before Sam knew I was a free woman from my first husband Bradley. I know Sam has been true to me all of these years and I know you have been true to Kenny. I'm fine with this, although I am curious how it came about. I take it this meeting is all about you telling Samson who his father really is. I predict Samson will take it in stride and continue to look on Kenny as his father. I don't believe he will be disappointed in knowing he was sired by Sam either."

Jessie turned and smiled my way. I reached for her and hugged her to me. "I knew I was blessed to choose you for a wife."

"No, I am the one blessed. That brings up something else. What about Felicity and the attraction she and Samson have for each other? Is anyone here going to object? To tell you the truth, I think it is going to continue and eventually they will want to marry."

We were all in agreement that we wouldn't throw up any roadblocks. The question how Sarah and George would feel about a union between the two was discussed. They are grandparents to Felicity and well aware that Samson is half Indian. It was decided that George wouldn't have any objection and even go as far as to promote them coming together in marriage. We had made sure over the years that Felicity spent time with her grandfather. Samson, of course, went with her, so he knew of what was transpiring. Samson, with his inquiring mind, had got hog butchering down pat and often helped George when he visited with Felicity's grandfather.

The same took place when Felicity went to visit her grandmother, Samson being in attendance there as well. Three years ago we had to explain to both kids the relationship of Sarah and George. We had cautioned them to always show respect and to never ask any questions of their grandparents. If they needed to know anything, they should come ask me, as I was friend to both. They accepted this and as far as I knew there had never been any uncomfortable situations that needed answering.

I was away from the ranch most of the time tending to my duties as sheriff. Pat was now living as a pensioner. Gramps didn't have any duties but was always ready to lend his expert advice on matters relating to managing the ranch. Two years after Jessie and I had settled into married life, the cowhand and hero of the trail drive, Keith Brannigan, arrived looking for a job. At the time, he was looking at being twenty in a few months. Young and ambitious, he was slowly taking over as ranch manager. He saw no difference in having Indians as hands than he did our regular ones. Mary Eustis was the one who suggested he become manager sooner than the thought occurred to Kenny and myself.

Keith made a great companion for Judy and Cindy. Before the two girls left for the east he squired them to dances and the socials that were the frequent events about the area. When they came home, he and Jonathan became friends and it was Keith who continued to be the squire of Cynthia. Keith came to me and informed me that he had plans to ask Cindy to become his wife. Again that pang of jealousy stabbed me.

It would be a good match, I knew that, and told him not to hesitate in his quest to make her his wife. The evening he was to ask her, he set out for town with high hopes. He had purchased a new store-bought suit and had slicked up. He had also been listening to Jonathan on how to go about making the proposal such as they did in the east. Jessie and I were at the same dance and we watched as Keith led Cindy out of the ballroom onto the upstairs verandah to ask her in a more private setting.

They were absent for almost an hour, returning just as the music started up again after the band's recess. The dance was a quadrille and Jessie and I were in the same set. While he and I were standing side by side waiting for the women to come across, he said, "Cindy turned me down. She said I was too much a brother to her to be more. That was her only answer. I wonder if she will ever marry. I do still have her for a friend, though. Oh well, marriage with her was too much for me to hope for."

The women came across and swung into our arms. Cindy smiled up at me when we did the right hand left. Around the circle, she swung into Keith's arms, much like brother and sister as they had been before. Jessie was puzzled by Cindy's refusal of Keith and I had to say I was as well. "Not our business, Jessie. Cindy is deep and keeps her thoughts to herself. It is unusual for a woman to want to work in a bank and live alone in a hotel. I guess she just wants to be independent. If that is the way she wants to live, so be it."

The world was open to us now with the railroad our access. There was a downside to the rails being here as well. They moved what the ranchers had to offer. The problem was the railroads could and did dictate what the farmers and ranchers had to pay to move their produce. The rates were many times exorbitant. In the eastern part of the country unions were being formed to combat the excesses of the banks and the manufacturers. Over time, here in the west the farmers and ranchers saw the power the unions had and wanted the same.

The Grange movement sprang up with farmers and ranchers forming to combat the monopolies of the railroads, the banks and factories. The banks set the interest rates on the money the farmers depended on to buy seed, fertilizer and equipment. There were other forces at work. Gold and silver were being mined here in the west and this gave the western states power to hold their own against the eastern interests. The country was in such turmoil, something was bound to happen.

The year of 1893 opened and the country was in panic. The countries of the world made a run on the gold held in our treasury. The Federal Government was basically bankrupt with only $100,000,000 left in its coffers. The country was now in recession. In 1894 the Reading Railroad on the east coast collapsed. The strike at the Pullman factory in Chicago shut the railroads down all over the country. Everywhere the workers struck the factories, the railroads and businesses alike, asking for a fair wage for a day's work.

Strike-breakers were sent in to force the workers back to work. Clashes occurred and men were dying. It was especially bad around Chicago. It came home to us when Judy wired us. "Sam, I'm coming home as soon as I can find a way. Jonathan has been estranged from his father for months and has been siding with the strikers. He was killed yesterday when he and several others were trapped in the yards and beaten to death."

A letter followed immediately. "Papa Turbin appeared at my door with condolences, but I wouldn't give him entrance. He tried to force his way in, saying I must let him have access to his grandson and granddaughter. I know he wasn't directly involved and must feel bad, but I want nothing to do with the system that allows good people to starve while his cronies get richer and richer. The trains can't stop for too many months and I will bring what is left of my family and come to you as soon as I can. I need to listen to Kenny and Mary Eustis and their wisdom to understand why this has happened."

I hoped she could make it very soon, for Kenny was ailing and not long for this world. We all sent condolences, but had no way to reach out to her to give support, while she alone buried her husband. We would miss him, for although an easterner he had become one of us. It was five weeks before a special railcar was shunted onto the siding in Ryeback.

Judy had relented after finding Papa Turbin a broken man over Jonathan's death. Within days of the death of the younger Turbin, Mama Turbin succumbed from a weakened heart.

We folded Judy back into our family. Two more youngsters to grow up on the ranch. Papa Turbin at first lived out of his rail car, but took his meals at the Seldon House. He became friendly with many that dined there and eventually made the decision to move into the hotel permanently. One day his car was there and the next day it was headed back to Chicago without him.

He came out to the ranch with several trunks, two small ones were very heavy. "Sheriff Jones, could you find someplace to store these where they are safe? My grandchildren's inheritance is stored in them. I don't feel as if the local bank is stable or safe enough at the present time."

"Certainly, sir. We have come to the same conclusion from what Judith's sister who works at the bank has inferred. We have taken the same precautions." In fact the bank was nearly insolvent after three years of the country's deflation and resulting depression.

Those of us on the Ryeback ranch were weathering the downturn quite well. First, our cattle were still going to market paid for by the federal government to feed the Indians on the reservation. Second, I was drawing pay as sheriff and I suppose, double dipping as United States Marshal. I earned my pay though, as there was more crime because people were hungry. I often let perpetrators off if there were no injuries to the victims.