The Legend of Eli CrowChapter 47
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Fort Smith, Arkansas
November 2, 1875
Before Duncan had completely recovered from the injury to his head, he was laid up with pneumonia. He’d gotten caught in a heavy downpour and arrived home wet and chilled. He spent two weeks recovering, with the first week spent in bed the whole time.
Eli and Moses were split up again, since they were short-handed.
“Eli, which way you headed this time? It looks like I’m headed up toward Kansas where you ‘n Duncan come from when he got whacked on his head,” Moses said.
“I’m headed over to Muskogee, at least we get to ride part way together this time before you cut north.”
“Eli, I didn’t get the chance to tell you; me ‘n Suh got married at the church when we went. She asked me if we could, and I talked to Rose about it, since I didn’t know the first thing about any of that. Rose talked to the preacher when we got there, and he married us right there in front of everybody. Can you believe all them folks came up and welcomed us to church and wished us well in our marriage? I told Suh we were going back there again, if they let us come in there like that.”
“Rose told me about it, Moses. I’ve already told you, you’re the same as me or any other man on the inside. Stop thinking about you being different and others won’t think it either.”
“Eli, you just make things sound a lot simpler when I talk to you like this.”
“Most things are simpler, Moses. You just got to stop worrying about what you’re afraid someone else will think. Just do what you know to be right.”
After they crossed the Arkansas, they split up.
“Moses, I’ll see you back in Fort Smith I reckon. Be careful out there, and remember what happened to Duncan. Don’t trust no man at your back, kill’em first if you have to.”
“I’ll remember that, Eli. I sure don’t want to go through what Duncan did. You ride easy over there to that Tom Starr’s place. I heard him and his kin were the worst horse thieves and outlaws around that part of the Territory.”
“Yep, I heard Duncan tell of them, I just never run upon them. Reckon I’ll just go have a look for myself.”
The next day when Eli came to the K-T Railroad he knew he was north of Muskogee and turned south, following the railroad. He knew according to the maps he had, he’d come to the Canadian River and Muskogee soon. From there, he’d only have a few miles down to the Eufaula area, where the Starr land was supposed to be.
Duncan had told him once that Tom Starr was a Cherokee Indian who owned his land separate from the reservation and that he’d been known to steal horses and cattle. He was also known to provide a haven for others who were running from the law; amongst them, what was left of the James and Younger gangs.
This woman he was after, Myra Maybelle Reed, was said to be living here with Sam Starr, the son of Tom Starr. The warrant said she’d been friends with the James Gang and the Younger Gang in Missouri, and here in the Territory too during her growing up years.
Eli had arrested some women, along with the arrests of those they rode with, but he’d never been sent to arrest one particular woman. He wondered just how bad this woman could be. He remembered the Salters, they were bad enough, but he didn’t have a name for them until he got there. They got arrested because they rode, robbed, and raped with Y.B. Yoes.
He was still north of the Canadian and couldn’t see any sign of a railroad bridge or a town, when he got a whiff of food cooking. He stopped his horse and turned to find the wind. When he turned to his left, he smelled it again. The smell was strong and he knew whatever it was, he was getting close.
Loosely tying his horse to a bush, he slipped into the brush to the side of the railroad, sniffing the air to keep track of where the smell was coming from.
He came to a small clearing and saw two horses tied off to one side. He saw the campfire with a skillet on the red coals. There was smoke coming from the grease in the pan and whatever was cooking was about to burn.
He stayed low, looking around until he heard a grunting, groaning sound.
Moving just a little to his left, he saw a man and woman lying naked on some blankets. The man was on top and she was grunting, as he thrust his body against her.
The man’s foot was pushing against a small tree that looked to have fallen in a storm. The top of the tree was resting on a big pile of brush and each time the man pushed against the woman, the treetop moved and shook the brush pile.
Eli knew this was the best time to get the drop on them, while they were so intent in their coupling. As he stepped out of the bushes behind them, he saw movement. There were two rattlesnakes ready to strike, their rattles shaking, not three feet from the man’s foot.
As he looked at them, he saw two more snakes wrapped and entwined in the limbs of the brush pile. This was a whole damn nest of rattlers. One snake struck at the man’s naked foot and hit just short of its mark. Eli pulled his pistol and killed it, then shot the other snake that was coiled, ready to strike.
The man and woman rolled over, screaming as if they had been shot, as Eli killed two more snakes in the brush pile.
“Get to your feet before you get bit by a snake,” he yelled as he pointed his gun at them.
The man started for his own gun lying nearby and Eli fired once more, right next to the man’s gun holster.
“I’m trying to save your lives. Now get your naked asses covered and stand over away from this brush pile, there’s a nest of rattlers in here.”
The man and woman grabbed the blankets off the ground and stood aside as Eli rolled the cylinder on his Colt ejecting the spent shells and dropping five more live rounds in. He watched as the man looked over toward his gun.
“You’ll never make it. Just rest easy and you won’t get shot. Now tell me your names and what you’re doing out here.”
“Fuck you,” the woman screamed at him.
“The way them rattlers were about to strike, you both would have died getting your last one. Now you just mind your mouth and talk to me.”
“I’m Sam Starr and this is Belle Reed. My father and I are Cherokee and he owns this place, you’re on our land.”
“I have a warrant for both of you signed by Judge Isaac Parker. Eli Crow here, United States Marshal out of Fort Smith, Arkansas.”
“You have no reason to arrest us, we’ve done nothing against the law,” the woman spoke.
“Then I reckon you’ll be set free after you’ve faced the judge. But until then, you both just get down on your knees in the dirt and put your hands behind you.”
Eli whistled shrilly and heard his horse thundering through the brush. His horse stopped beside him, his reins dragging the ground, a small limb still tied where he’d pulled loose.
After making them lie on the ground, he shackled the man’s left hand to the woman’s right hand, then her left foot to his right foot. They lay back to back, arms and legs twisted and tangled, as he cuffed them together.
With the man and woman taken care of, Eli pulled his knife and walked to the brush pile. He looked carefully for more rattlers, before reaching down to pick up the first one he’d killed.
It was almost four feet long and as big as his arm. Eli counted ten rattles as he laid the snake out on the ground and put his foot on its head. He cut the rattles off and stuffed them into his pouch. Then he slipped the point of the knife under its skin at the tail and slit it right up the belly all the way to its head as he held it stretched tight.
He cut the head off and pulled the skin from the snake. Spread out wide, the skin was nearly four feet long and a foot wide at the big end. Eli laid the skin aside and skinned three more snakes, before taking a stick and striking the ground near a big hole in the ground under the brush pile.
He heard more rattles and kicked the brush out of the way. Another big rattler struck at his moccasin. Just as quick as the snake, Eli trapped its head with a stick until he could get his foot on it. As he reached down to take hold of the big snake’s head, another one struck at his hand. He jerked his hand back, as the snake turned and moved back away from him.
With his foot pinning the first snake’s head to the ground, Eli leaned over and grabbed the one crawling away. This one was a lot bigger, and Eli grabbed it by its tail, swinging it in a circle over his head. He’d seen his Pa pop the head off a snake once. With the big snake already trying to ball up and strike back at his hand, Eli snapped it forward, popping it hard like a whip.
Blood splattered his leggings as the snake’s head snapped against the dry ground. The bottom part of its mouth was gone. Eli pulled it back again and popped it hard, this time popping it in the air like a whip. The snake rolled into a bloody, writhing ball as Eli turned it loose, its head completely gone.
The one pinned to the ground under his foot was coiled and twisted all around his leg, trying to pull itself free.
This rattler had to be the granddaddy of them all. He had twenty one rattles and was as long as Eli is tall. He reached down with his knife and cut the head off right next to his moccasin.
When he’d killed all that came out, he had fourteen full grown rattlers and six smaller ones. He skinned all of them out, stacking one skin on top of the other on the ground, then he took a large dry limb and broke off a two foot long piece of it over his knee. He rolled all the skins tightly around the stick and put them in his saddlebag.
These skins would be welcomed by Little Duck, Eva, and Catt.
Eli walked over to the shackled couple and threw the woman’s long dress at her. Belle Reed had been lying on the ground, shackled back to back with Sam Starr, watching this crazy ass Indian mess with these snakes like they were play toys. She just knew he was going to get bit at least a dozen times and they’d all die out here.
He loosened the shackles from her hands, leaving one of her feet hooked to the man.
“Get yourself covered, then lay back on the ground.”
“Marshal, you’ll be sorry for this, I’ll see to it,” she said hatefully.
“You may be right, but until then, you ‘n Sam are headin’ back to Fort Smith wearin’ these irons.”
Eli loosened Sam Starr the same way and with his hands free, he pulled his shirt over his head. Eli hooked one of his hands back to the woman and freed Sam’s feet so he could pull his britches up.
When they were dressed, except for their boots, Eli saddled their horses and brought them over. He searched the saddlebags and removed the guns and cartridges from them. He took the rifles from the boot and tied them behind his saddle, putting both their handguns in his saddlebags.
Eli tied a short rope between the bridles of the two horses, then with the man’s right hand shackled to the woman’s left hand, he made them walk between the horses and mount up. With one set of leg irons, Eli looped each end through the stirrups and shackled the two together, foot to foot with a three foot length of chain between the horses. With their feet chained to their stirrups, then to each other as they sat on their saddles, Sam Starr looked at Eli.
“You crazy bastard, if these horses spook, we’ll be both dragged to death,” the man said.
“Then you best hope they don’t spook, and you best listen to me good right now. I’m gonna tell you something you need to try real hard to remember, if you want to live a little longer.
“You cuss me again, and I’ll be the one that slaps them horses across their asses with a rope and see how long you both last. I aim to deliver the two of you to the Fort Smith jail to wait for your time before Judge Parker. You can go in one piece, or I can roll the pieces that’s left of you in a blanket, and take you over the saddle. That’s about the only thing you got any say so on this whole damn mess you’re in.”
“Marshal, if you’ll let us go, we can make you a deal that’ll pay a lot more than you draw as a marshal and be a lot more pleasurable too,” the woman said, trying again to keep from being taken to Fort Smith.
“You got nothing to deal with. I got more women than I can take care of back there in Arkansas. I like bein’ a marshal and I aim to live long enough to see a lot more of this land have my name on it one day.”
“We can get you all the land you want, Marshal. You’re part Cherokee like me, you can own land now. You don’t have to wait, just set us free,” Sam Starr joined in.
“I already got my own land, I don’t need your help. I got nothing personal against the two of you. You’re not as bad as some I’ve been sent to bring back. If you’re not too deep in your thievin’ and breakin’ the law, you’ll get off before long.”
“Marshal, I got two young kids back there across the river, you can’t take me away from them,” the woman said as they headed east.
“It was alright for you to be out here layin’ naked in the brush. They’ll be alright when you get back, if you come back. You sure don’t want them to go with you, now do you?”
“No I don’t. Look, Marshal Eli Crow, Sam and I haven’t done anything you wouldn’t do out here. This is a hard country and we just try to help others and make a small living, we’re not outlaws,” she pleaded as they rode.
“Says on the warrant, you and Sam have been helpin’ the wrong folks though. For that, you’re going to Fort Smith. Like I said, I ain’t got nothing personal against you two. If you didn’t have a warrant out for you, I reckon we’d even be likeable friends. I hope you do get off, but until then, you’re my prisoners. If you act half way right, I’ll be a little easier on you. If you make me mad, I’ll drag your asses behind them horses all the way back to Fort Smith.”
“Damn Eli Crow, you’re a hard man,” Belle said as she gave up.
“No I’m not, but I aim to stay alive and raise my kids here in the Territory when it gets settled, and all the hell raisers are gone.”
“They’ll never all be gone Marshal, there’s too many of them and this place is too big.”
“There’s over two hundred of us out here, marshals and deputies all told. We’ll put a stop to the wrong doin’, one way or the other. Even if we have to kill every damned last one of them.”
“How long you been a marshal?” she asked, still making talk as they rode three abreast.
“A few years.”
“How many men you killed?” she asked, hoping to trip him up somehow.
“Never counted, but I reckon I’ve had to kill at least a coupla dozen since I started bein’ a marshal, maybe another dozen before that,” he answered.
“Damn, Marshal, how many have you taken back alive?” Sam asked.
“About the same number, maybe a few less.”
“Then you can damn well bet we’ll take our chances with Judge Parker,” Sam Starr spoke up loud and clear.
They spent the night on the trail, with Sam and Belle hooked together, feet and hands. He was behind her, with his hands crossed in front of her and shackled. There was no way they could even stand.
When Eli turned them over to the jailer the next day, he stood looking at them for a minute.
“Sam, if you ‘n Belle get out of this without a lot of time spent, just go back there and stop all your theivin’ and robbin’. If you don’t, I’ll be back to get you.”
“We’ll get out of this, Eli, and we’ll be alright once we get back out there. We’re not bad folks; we’re just trying to make a living the best way we can,” she told him.
Eli knew she was lying. He knew as soon as they got back over there in that damn wild country they’d be right back amongst the other outlaws and thieves. He kinda hoped he wasn’t the one that was sent back after them. He kinda liked them, in a way.
Eli had a short talk with Jefferson before leaving the courthouse. He was happy to hear that Doctor Harrod was already applying for the names of Lettie, Nadalee and Hadalee to be added to the next session of nursing school there at the St. Louis hospital. The three of them would leave tomorrow on the Aunt Sally, as she made her way down the Arkansas and then back up the Mississippi to St. Louis.
“Eli, I used some of the money you gave me to pay for their passages. I knew you’d want me to do that. They’ll have to take enough with them to pay for the schooling. They’ll have food and lodging at the hospital in exchange for working there when they’re not in school.”
“Jefferson, you done good. I’m just proud them three girls will get the chance to learn about nursing and medicine in a professional school.”
“I am too, Eli, and those three girls would leave here walking today, if that was what it took for them to get there.”
“How long will they be gone, did you find out?”
“They’ll be in school for six months, then work fulltime at the hospital for three months, then back to school for a few more months. They’ll be back here by fall of next year.”
“That’s a long time, but I reckon when they get out, they can come back here and maybe we’ll have us a hospital one day like the one in Little Rock.”
Eli rode straight to the barn when he got home. Carl was behind the barn working on some more chicken pens and tall turkey pens when he rode up.
“Carl, how’s it going? You about to get all the building done for the women?” he asked as he stepped from his horse.
“No Eli, not even close. They told me this morning to start another bunch of men to working across the river and build ten of the two family houses and ten of the one family houses.
“I got one crew of men working on the new saddle shop next to Little Duck’s leather shop already. We should have them both finished in a few weeks.”
“You’re doing a good job, Carl. When are you and Sundy gonna get hitched?” Eli asked as he pulled the saddle from his horse, glancing over at Carl as he spoke.
“Eli, I’d marry her today, if you told me I could.”
“Then go tell her you want to marry her. We’ll send your brother for a preacher and do the wedding right here. You two need to be together, making a family. You spend most of your time here anyway.”
“Thanks Eli, I’ll be right back. I know Sundy is gonna be so happy, she’ll beat me back out here when I tell her you’re here.”
“I’ll be up to the house in a bit, just keep it quiet about me being here, for now.”
“I will, Eli. Thanks for letting me be in your family.”
“You more’n earn your keep, Carl. We’ll keep on paying you just like we do now, and you keep building whatever the women want.”
Carl left his tools lying and ran toward the house. Eli went to his bank and pulled a sack of money out. He counted out three thousand dollars, thinking that would be plenty for the schooling and for the nurse students to live on for a year.
Unbuckling his holster and hanging it over his shoulder, Eli stuffed the money into the waist of his buckskins and pulled his shirt down over it. He was on the back porch before anyone in the house saw him.
Jessie and Sundy were coming out the kitchen door when they saw Eli. They screamed as they both ran to him, grabbing him around the waist and hugging him as they laughed.
Eli reached down, and with his arms around the two young girls, he lifted them up and kissed both on their faces as they squirmed and giggled and laughed.
With both girls hanging onto his neck, he carried them into the kitchen to see all the mommas and young’uns sitting around the kitchen table.
“Eli, you surprised all of us this time. We were wondering what Sundy and Jessie were yelling about on the back porch,” Mary said as she jumped up and hugged him, reaching her arm around the young girls as she did.
“I saw Carl out at the barn and asked him not to tell I was back, I wanted to walk in on all of you. How’s my boy?” he said as he leaned down to rub his nose on the sleeping boy.
“He just went to sleep, they’re all eating and sleeping and growing like crazy.”
He put the two girls down and went around the table, hugging and speaking to the mommas, kissing them on their cheeks and looking down at the sleeping girls and boys.
Though he tried not to, he couldn’t help but pay special attention to his girls. Tin Yu and Clarissa sat next to each other and Eli knelt between them, looking at the two baby girls as they slept. He kissed Tin Yu’s cheek then turned to kiss Clarissa’s cheek, before making his round to the boys and their mommas.
Duncan was sitting next to Juni, with a grin on his face as wide as the Arkansas River, holding Isaac on his lap.
“Eli, you made it back a lot faster this time, did you have any trouble?” Duncan asked as Eli sat beside his friend.
“No, just didn’t go as far this time. I stumbled upon the ones I was after out in the bushes.”
“What were they doing out in the bushes, Eli?” Clarissa asked. She was writing in her tablet as she held their baby girl in her other arm.
“Well, they were too busy to even see or hear me when I walked up,” Eli laughed and they all laughed when they realized what he meant.
“Jessie, run out to the barn for me and look in my saddlebags. I brought something back for Little Duck and her girls to use in the leather shop,” Eli said.
Before he was even through talking, Jessie was out the back door, and running across the yard to the barn.
“While she’s gone to get that, I want all of you to know that Carl and me talked out at the barn and I told him it was time him and Sundy got married and started a family. We need to get the preacher over here and get these two hitched.”
“So that was what Carl whispered to Sundy when she pulled Jessie out on the porch to tell her the secret,” Rose said and they all laughed.
“When Carl told me about him and Eli talking, I thought he was just teasing me. I wanted to believe him and I wanted to tell Jessie too. She and I have been talking about that and I told her I wanted to be Carl’s wife. I didn’t know Eli was here until he walked up on the porch,” Sundy said as she laughed and hugged herself to Carl.
Sundy was over her shy ways. She talked openly about her and Carl and everyone knew how they felt about each other. They were all proud they were going to marry.
“Sundy, why don’t you and Carl go get Donald to find the preacher for you? We’ll just have us a wedding here today,” Rose told them.
“Tell him to saddle my horse and ride him over there; he needs to be rode so he’ll be ready for me in a few days,” Duncan told them as they went out the kitchen door, holding hands and grinning.
“Eli, did you and Moses go to the same place this time?” Suh asked when the room had settled.
“No, he went back up past Tulsey and I went almost straight west. He’ll be back by the last of the week, I reckon,” he told her.
“You needn’t worry none, we’ve all talked and we’re not gonna be taking chances like we been doing. I’m gonna ask Judge Parker if maybe the three of us can’t start back ridin together again. I know he’s let some of the other deputies do that, cause there’s still too many of them outlaws and killers out there,” Eli told her.
“Eli, I hope we can ride together like we did them other times. As bad as it was, it was better than being out there and nobody watchin our backs,” Duncan said as Jessie came back with the snake skins.
“Lord have mercy, Eli! Where did you ever get all these snake skins?” Mary asked as she saw what Jessie was carrying.
“I ran up on a nest of rattlers over there close to Muskogee on the Canadian River. I knew Little Duck, Eva, and Catt would like to have these skins to make bags and belts out of.”
“She was just talking the other day about wishing she had some; she’ll be tickled to get them, Eli,” Catt said as she and Eva looked the skins over.
“Those things give me the shivers. I wish all of you would take them off the table and out of the kitchen. I can just see those big snakes still crawling,” Clarissa said and they all laughed, until she too laughed at herself.
“Where are the four sisters? I got some good news Jefferson told me about when I was at the courthouse,” Eli told them.
“They were out there with Mr. Robertson a while ago. Want me to go see if I can find them?” Jessie said.
“Yes, and find Lettie too.”
“She was with them, I’ll find them for you,” she said and took off running again.
“Eli, she’s got her eyes set on Donald. We’ve all been watching them just like we did Sundy and Carl,” Mary told him.
“How old are they?”
“They’re both almost eighteen,” Rose answered.
“I want all our girls to be happy. Do you think we need to see if they’re ready to get hitched too?” he asked.
“They’re awful young, Eli, but we were eighteen when we married,” Mary said.
“Tin Yu, you’ve talked to Jessie more than us, what do you think?” Rose asked.
“They in love, she tell me they want to be together. I know how she feel, I was fifteen when I met Eli first time. Now I am here with family and happy with his baby girl.”
“She’s right, Eli, me and Tin Yu are now women, when a year ago, we were scared little girls. When Sissy and Jessie first came here with Lettie and Sundy, they were all just little girls except Lettie, and they all looked to her like a momma. Lettie wants Jessie to be happy and she likes Donald too,” Juni told him.
“That will just leave Sissy. Where is she?” Eli asked.
“That girl never rests during the day, she’s always cleaning somewhere in this house. She thinks she owes us something. I’ve tried to explain to her that she’s our daughter now and we love her like she was born here. She told me she was afraid the Judge will come get her and send her back to where she came from,” Mary said.
“I’ll go talk to her, after I tell the sisters and Lettie the good news,” Eli told them.
“Here they come now, all of them running races across the yard,” Mary said as she looked out the back door.
“Eli, we didn’t see you come in, you slipped right past us this time,” Lettie said as she ran to him and hugged him around his shoulders as he sat at the table. Hadalee and Nadalee were right behind her and took their turns as Eli turned in his chair to look at them.
“I got something for you three girls. I want to tell you that you have made us proud by wanting to do something good with your lives. Here’s some money for each of you. You’ll need it to pay for your schooling. You need to be packed and down at the river to board the Aunt Sally tomorrow morning. You’re going to St. Louis to nursin’ school.”
“OH ELI,” they all screamed and woke all the kids, as the three of them laughed and cried.
Everyone in the room was hugging and talking and planning and laughing.
“How long will we be gone, Eli?” Hadalee asked.
“Jefferson told me it would be about a year. I hope you three stick it out and make nurses out of yourselves.”
“We will, Eli. We’ll make all of you proud for helping us like you have, you’ll see,” Nadalee told him.
“Lettie, there’s three new leather clothes bags in your room. Little Duck, Adalee, and Cadalee made them for all of you. We already knew you would to get to go,” Eva told them.
“OH, you all are going to make me cry again, I’m so happy,” Lettie said as she started toward the stairs.
“Wait a minute, Lettie. Hadalee, Nadalee, all of you look in the top drawers in the chest in my room and you’ll find new underwear and new dresses we sewed for you three. We wanted you to have some new clothes for your stay in St. Louis. I know they’ll have you in nurse’s clothes most of the time, but we wanted you to have some everyday clothes too,” Rose told them.
“Girls, I’ll be up and tell you all about where to go and where not to go in St. Louis. We all want you to have a good time up there while you’re going to school. This will be the best times of your lives. When you come back, you’ll all be nurses and you won’t have much time to enjoy things like you do now,” Clarissa told them.
“We’re so excited, we’re going up to start packing our new clothes bags before we start crying again,” Nadalee told them as the three turned and ran up the stairs.
“I’m so happy for them, I may start crying myself,” Clarissa said and laughed at herself as she wiped her eyes and wrote some more in her tablet.
An hour later, Donald rode right up to the back porch with the preacher sitting behind him, on the back of Duncan’s horse. It was the same preacher who had performed the ceremony for Moses and Suh.
Jessie ran upstairs to find Sissy and get Lettie, Nadalee, and Hadalee to come back down. Little Duck, Adalee, Cadalee, Mr. Robertson, Carl and Suh all came in too.
Jessie pulled Donald over close to her, as she stood next to Rose. She kept looking up at her and moving as close as she could.
“Jessie, you and Donald will be in front of that preacher soon, won’t you?” Rose asked as she put her arm around Jessie.
Jessie pulled her down to whisper in her ear.
“Wait, we have another couple wanting to be married,” Rose said, pulling Jessie and Donald over to stand with Sundy and Carl.
The four Nightwalker sisters were standing next to each other, the two youngest standing with their beaus, Bill and Jack Robertson. They watched as the preacher stood ready to marry the two couples. Everyone kept looking at the four of them; they knew they were itching to be married.
The terrain was becoming rougher than they’d experienced so far. The fifty miles took them almost two days, as the trail twisted and turned, and back tracked through the jagged rocks of the first foot hills as they came closer to the Southern Rockies. By the mid-afternoon of the second day, they had ridden down into a big grassland that covered most of the valley. The horses were hungry for fresh grass and they stopped to let them graze near a cool, clear river. Juni and Tin Yu were naked...
Sissy and Joe came home while they were still sitting around the table. Joe was wearing a Deputy United States Marshal’s badge, grinning that crooked grin, and Sissy was hanging on him like she was shackled to him as she came in grinning. “We’re married, Daddy. I’m a wife now and I love my husband. Judge Parker married us and he cried, he was so happy that we let him. He told us not to worry about that trouble over in unassigned lands, he would take care of it.” “Momma, I’m taking my man...
Fort Smith, Arkansas October 12, 1883 When Eli, Duncan and Moses rode into Fort Smith, they went straight to the courthouse to tell Judge Parker about the flash flood, and finding no rustlers. Before they even got upstairs to his chambers, they were met by Jefferson, and told of a jailbreak. “Eli, it was that Larry Parkins kid, the one who hit Duncan. He was in the cell with L.W. Ward and Clyde Pickens, the ones you brought in from down toward Fort Towson when we got Kia, Michi, Lorene...
“Sundy, you put this shirt on and slide over here on my horse with me. We’re going up there and scout this trading post,” Eli said as he unlocked her shackles and pulled a buckskin shirt out of his saddlebag. “Marshal, you be watchful of Sundy if there’s shootin. We’ve took a liking to her and want to see her do good, now that her kin have been arrested,” Jessie said. “I’ll be alright, I know Marshal Eli will keep me safe,” she said as she hugged her thin body to his back. “Duncan, I’m...
“This big horse wants to run, Duncan. You want to make some time?” “Let him run, Eli. We have almost 700 miles due west to ride and I’m ready. It’ll take us over 2 days hard riding to get to Tulsey Town, over on the Arkansas River.” The two deputies rode hard for over an hour and then slowed their spirited horses to a long easy lope as they talked and laughed as friends, starting a partnership that would be remembered in Indian Territory and surrounding states for years to come. The...
Oklahoma Territory Crow Ridge Cattle Company August 4, 1889 Jon David, Amanda, Sissy, and Analisa told Eli yesterday that they needed to be at the office early this morning. They let Chane and Jon Jr. spend the night with Shawn, Karly Jo, Clara, and Maryanne. Eli stepped out on the front porch earlier than usual that morning since he had all his Little Bucks here for the day. He drank the last of the coffee from his mug and stood looking down at the river before turning to look over toward...
Doctor Harrod came out just a few minutes after Eli and Jefferson walked into the lobby and sat down. They both jumped up as soon as he came through the door, hurrying to meet him. “Doc?” Eli said as he looked at the young doctor. “Duncan is fine. He’s sleeping now and you’ll both be able to see him in a few hours. I drained the wound where the injury had become infected. There was a bone fragment just as I thought. It was wedged in a clump of hair that had pushed into the tiny skull...
Indian Territory June 15, 1884: “Eli, look at all them dark clouds down yonder south of here. I sure hope we don’t run into any bad weather on the way home,” Duncan said as they rode on into the late afternoon after getting Joe patched up. “I’ve been watching them too, Duncan. I hope they’re between us and home, I’d hate to know our place was being hammered by storms.” By nightfall, the dark storm clouds had moved east of where they were heading, but the air was still damp and heavy like...
With the arraignments and hearings coming up for the criminals that Eli, Duncan and Moses had arrested in the past weeks, they were all required to be in the courthouse most of each day for a week. After that, they were told by Judge Parker they needed to be on call for another week as the prosecutors, lawyers, and public defenders obtained information from them. Though this was a rough two weeks for the three of them, who were used to being out in the open. They did enjoy their time at...
The next morning early, the three had ridden no more than half a mile from camp, when Eli pulled his horse back. “We got riders coming in, hold up and get your guns ready,” he told them. They were suddenly surrounded by sixteen members of a cavalry patrol, handguns drawn and hammers backed. “Stand your position men, United States Cavalry here. You’re trespassing on government property,” a big sergeant in front of the troop yelled. “Mister, you best put them pistols away before we shoot...
As the three rode back to the courthouse, they felt good about the girls going to learn about nursing. They felt good about getting to ride out together again too. Jefferson had their warrants, since Judge Parker was already in court for the day. “Eli, this big horse wants to run some, let’s get stretched out and make some miles. It sure does feel good to be out here again,” Duncan said. They poked their horses up to a good hard gallop and let them run for miles before they pulled them...
They left the courthouse and headed straight home to see the family. Duncan, Moses, and Eli could hardly wait to see their kids. Moses was extremely proud of his and Suh’s boy. They’d named him Pike Longfeather Kidd in honor of Moses’ father. Duncan and Eli’s young’uns were seven, and the two marshals could hardly wait to get home from a trip. Pike was about six months younger than the other boys, but he felt he could do anything the others could – the other boys expected as much of...
It took another hour to get from the high knoll over to the far side of Fayetteville, but they were at the old trading post at last. Eli helped both women to the ground. They were about frozen from being on the trail most of five days. He tied their horses to the hitching rail and rapped on the solid wood door. “ELI IS HERE,” he heard a scream and the door swung wide as Tin Yu, Catt and Eva ran out to him, nearly knocking him over backwards as they grabbed him in a hug, jumping up and...
The next morning, when Rose and Mary came down to the kitchen to start breakfast, Jefferson already had a warm fire built in the cookstove. As they filled the big coffee pot with coffee and water, they heard a noise on the back porch. Jefferson stepped to the back door to see the two nannies and the two kids on the porch, with the billy standing in the yard, looking up at them. Corinne and Lorene were next down the stairs, carrying the two babies, since they had taken it upon themselves to...
The three marshals rode for two more days, pushing their horses, keeping them fed and watered, as they made their way toward the Cherokee Outlet, known all over this part of Indian Territory as no man’s land. The third day on the trail after they’d met the cavalry patrol at the mouth of the Chikaskia where it emptied into the Salt Fork of the Arkansas, they met another patrol headed east. Abraham Walker was the scout. “Marshal Moses Kidd, you have made good time. Lieutenant Carpenter is...
The trip back to Fort Smith took three days longer than the trip over to the Panhandle. Twice along the way, Eli killed a small deer late in the day, so they could cook it all night and be gone at daylight, eating the cooked meat along the way. The rest of the time, they only stopped long enough to feed and water the horses and relieve themselves. The prisoners were left to their own devices, as for relieving themselves. While riding on the boards of the rough, bouncing wagon bed, they...
The travelers broke camp at daybreak after an early breakfast. They were still most of a day’s travel from Pecan Ridge and the MacEagle brothers wanted their new friends to visit the Cheyenne Village and meet their grandfather on the way. The Young Bucks and the Crow girls knew White Elk and they were excited about going to the Cheyenne village to meet with him again. They were even more excited to be there when he welcomed his grandsons home after they’d graduated from the private boarding...
Saturday, May 3, 1884 Cherokee Lands Indian Territory Iron Hammer’s Lodge “Eli Crow, I see you have returned and now you bring all the marshals and little Crows to see me. I see my own brothers, the Barkleys, with you. How am I so honored this day?” “Iron Hammer, I came with my friends and young’uns to tell you of a cattle deal we made in Kansas City this week. My little Crows have gifts for your little Hammers and me and my friends are always happy to sit with Iron Hammer and his brothers...
Tulsa, Indian Territory Crow Ridge Cattle Company June 2, 1884 The big house on the hill was full of happy talk as they gathered in the kitchen to talk and catch up on the latest trip into the Territory. Clarissa was typing on her typewriter as fast as she could to keep up with all that was said. She was getting faster at typing and this was the first time she didn’t make notes to type from later. They let the ten youngest travelers talk first, each of them telling their version of the...
A week after the marshals returned from their last trip, Eli rode across the river to Tulsa with Little Eli and the other boys and girls. The young’uns thought they were almost grown now, getting to ride the big high stepping horses all the way across the river with him and going to the post office at Perryman’s. He gave them enough money to buy some candy and even some gum, for the first time in their lives. The boys saw some baseball bats, gloves, and balls and each of them wanted baseball...
December 27, 1884 Tulsa Depot Tulsa, Indian Territory Jon David and Joe were at the train depot when the train pulled in from Kansas City. Jon David had gotten a telegraph message that there would be twenty-one, young Negro women aboard the train arriving on the twenty-seventh. There were only two Pullman cars and a caboose connected to that train. The preacher from the Negro church in Kansas City had made the trip down to Tulsa, escorting the young women personally, since the young women...
Indian Territory October 5, 1884: As the light of dawn began to spread across the plains, they harnessed the mules and hitched the teams to the wagons. They were all ready to meet the others at Pecan Ridge Cattle Company and start the pecan harvest. They saw how the nearby trees were loaded with pecans and knew this pecan crop was going to be a big one. Eli and Moses had been out before dawn, riding the western perimeter. Duncan and Joe had also been riding the eastern perimeter behind...
They did make that trip in September. Eli wanted the family to visit their hotel in Santa Fe then come back through Albuquerque on their week-long trip. They even made it down to Las Cruces to stay two nights at that hotel before heading back home. Eli knew the women would be having babies in the spring and he was already planning trips to Kansas City after the babies were born. In April of 1890, Eli took his Cherokee brothers, Iron Hammer, Iron Hand and Iron Eyes, with their families for a...
Tulsa, Indian Territory Sunday, July 28, 1889 While Moses, Isaac and Little Eli were loading the horses, the engineer yelled and waved to Eli again just as he stepped down from the Pullman carrying Little Eli’s traveling bag. “Marshal, if we’re gonna make a fast run down to Abilene like you want, the fireman will need some help from your bunch to keep up the steam,” he yelled above the noise of the locomotive. “We’ll ride up here with you. I want to keep this this thing red hot and smoking...
Miranda turned and sat sideways on the top rail as she watched Little Eli run over to get on his horse. Lee Yu, Lilly Beth, Kia, and Michi were all waiting for him. They all waved to her when they saw her looking. She felt like getting off the fence right then and grabbing Eli Crow. She was so in love with him and his family. No matter if it was right in the middle of the cattle pens, and right in front of all the men, she could have thrown him to the ground and loved him right here. They...
Across the small hotel dining room, there were three well-dressed men wearing tall white hats, drinking coffee and smoking fat cigars. One of them moved closer to sit at the table nearest the Young Bucks. “Excuse me please, but did I hear you say you have an exceptionally fast horse bred from Cheyenne horse blood?” The man asked from behind Eli. Eli turned to look back at the man, “Yes Sir, we sure do. He’s never been beaten in about thirty races,” he told the man. “We’re here to meet the...
After their meal, they rounded the young’uns up and headed them back upstairs. The elevator had to make two trips to get them all to the top floor. By the time they had the younger ones settled and into bed, it was after ten o’clock and they had a busy day planned for tomorrow. The baseball game started at one o’clock and they were scheduled to play two games before dark. The grownups talked for another hour before heading off to their separate rooms and to bed. They still wanted to spend...
“Trapper, there are at least two dozen turkey-buzzards circling overhead back west of here,” Micah told him as they rode north. Trapper and the others turned their horses to look back to where Micah was pointing. “Looks like we could have a fresh one for you men to check out. Let’s get on over there,” Trapper said and spanked his horse with his reins. They topped a small rise to see at least two dozen more buzzards on the ground tearing into a dead calf. When they rode up, the buzzards...
After their performance on their first assignment in Colorado back in October of 1896, the six Young Bucks’ names became well known at the Western District U.S. Marshal’s Service office in Kansas City. During the next two years they were called upon time and time again to settle disputes. They were sent to the Missouri border town of Fort Scott, Kansas, to help settle a railroad union dispute that had already gotten out of hand with clashes of violence by the time they arrived. With strong...
“We’ve never been up this way before, Daddy. Where are we going?” Little Eli asked. “We’re going up the Arkansas to the rough country where the Pawnee and Osage Tribes join lands. We’ll camp on the Arkansas and we’ll have our own school for you boys out here.” They had crossed the Arkansas River in a northwesterly direction, then followed along the west side of the river until mid-day. The boys were told to bring nothing but jerky in their grub bags, they were going to survive on what the...
Kansas City, Missouri July 21, 1889 Eli and Isaac were up and dressed, after washing up from a wild time the night before when they’d had champagne sprayed all over them and made love on the balcony. They were sitting out on the balcony again, looking down on the sprawling city below as people began to stir and fill the streets. The girls came out laughing and talking about the fun, crazy time they’d had last night. They were bathed, dressed and ready for a day of shopping and sightseeing...
Upon their return to Tulsa from racing Cheyenne at Vinita, Little Eli had met with Bill and Jack Robertson that day, asking them about making a lightweight saddle just for Cheyenne. After measuring and fitting him with the special built saddletree and pad, they made a saddle with no high pommel and no saddle horn. There were no fenders, just leather straps that supported the small brass stirrups. This saddle was half the weight of the working and pleasure saddles they used on the ranch. As...
October 1, 1881 While Eli was getting his latest prisoners turned over to the jailers, Jefferson left the courthouse through the back door and ran out to saddle his horse. He rode hard up the back way, cutting across an open lot and through someones yard as he raced home. He didn’t take time to put his horse in the barn, he knew Eli would see it anyway. He jerked the saddle off and turned his horse in the cow pen. When Eli rode into the yard later, it was almost sundown and there was no one...
When they arrived in Durant, the sun had been up a few hours and Eli herded them to the hotel. The fireman and engineer went with them as the local railroad workers filled the reservoirs with water and oiled the locomotive for them. This was the first chance Eli had for more than a few words with his Bucks since they’d boarded the caboose in Abilene. Eli and Moses sat across the table from them in the dining room and looked at each of them as they talked to their brothers and their...
“Kit, would you and Ruby want to wear buckskins like we do?” Caleb asked as they all talked, ate, and became friends. “We sure do. Marshal Eli told us we could, and said he’d even give us our own horse,” Kit answered. “We’ll have to round up our horses in the morning and see how many we have now. Daddy may have to get more horses from our friend, Iron Hammer. He’s the main man in the Cherokee Tribe that owns all the lands around us,” Little Eli said. “Momma told me we could all go down to...
Crow Ridge Cattle Company Tulsa, Indian Territory Thanksgiving Day November 27,1884: “Here come the Buffalo Soldiers, they’re crossing the river now!” Isaac yelled as he jumped off the back porch, headed toward the barn where the men, the girls, and the rest of the Bucks were gathered. The women had run the men and younger ones from the house so they could finish cooking and get the dinner ready. This was to be the biggest feast and biggest celebration they’d had to date. The men, the...
When they finished unloading the flatcar, they headed back to the house. Smitty, Leon, James, and Albert were on the wagon and Eli drove. “Smitty, I need to have a talk with you. Want to walk down to the river with me?” Eli asked. “Sure Eli, let me get a drink from the pump and I’ll be ready.” “I’ll meet you out front.” Eli went through the house and into the kitchen where the women were fixing supper. “Corinne, come go with me,” Eli said. “Eli, I’m not sure about this now. Can we wait...
After an early start in the cold hours of morning, they rode hard and steady all day, stopping to relieve themselves twice and eat from the grub sack. They made Kansas City, Missouri late in the day as the sun was sinking behind the cold flat horizon, across the river in Kansas. They stopped at a big fancy hotel and registered as Eli and Rose Crow. The desk man was hesitant at first to let the two Half-Breeds stay in his hotel, but saw the Deputy U.S. Marshal badge and the Indian Police...
“ELI! You’re back. Did you get the last one? Dal said you thought there was a woman with them too,” Sam Connor greeted his grandson when he came through the back door, stomping the mud off his feet. Eli was soaked, his buckskins wet and clinging to his body, his moccasins filled with mud and water. He hadn’t even put his long coat on when he left Young’s Store. The back of his coat was shot out anyway. “They’re all taken care of, Grandpa. How’s Grandma? She alright after all this?” He...
When they reached the river’s edge, Kit laid the fuses and caps on a stump. Ruby handed Kit a stick of dynamite and picked up a cap and a short fuse. Eli and the others watched as she inserted the end of a fuse into the open end of the blasting cap, then put her fingers about an inch from the end of the brass. She stuck this short end of the exposed brass into her mouth with the extra fuse trailing down her chin. They could see her straining her jaws as she bit down on the brass, clamping it...
Eli had planned their trip himself and since he wanted them to stay a few days in Boones Crossing without being in a rush, he decided to take his dad’s advice and travel to Kansas City first then come back to Boones Crossing. Though he and Isaac didn’t wear their guns, they did have their knives on their hips, with their guns packed in their traveling bags. Both were dressed in buckskins and their girls dressed in finery like the other women traveling on the train. They ate one meal in the...
Saturday October 3, 1896 Crow Valley, Oklahoma Territory “Let me see that map again, Deuce,” Ezra said. He stood next to Eli and Isaac as they looked at the map. They had just gotten their first orders as Deputy United States Marshals two days ago, and the six of them were excited as they saddled up. They’d packed the night before and already had their two packsaddles loaded with tents, food and supplies for at least a two-week stay once they reached their destination. They were being sent...
Dal Hopkins had been half asleep, half-awake as he worried about his town. He heard a man whisper something behind him in the cell. Was he dreaming? Could it really be? HE KNEW THAT VOICE... He’d know that voice in the middle of a windstorm on the plains or in a howling snowstorm on top of a mountain. No matter where on earth he was, he would know that voice... Eli was here. He knew it was him! How – he didn’t know, but that was Eli Crow behind him, he’d bet his life on it. “Marshal,...
Eli knew he had a battle on his hands convincing the mommas of his sons and daughters that his plan was the best way to keep the Bucks, the Crow girls and the rest of them from having babies and still let them spend time with their friends. He figured the best way to handle this was to get them all at once and get it over with. Miranda, Clarissa, Tin Yu, Catt, Eva, Rose, Sissy, Suh, Juni, and Grandma were gathered together out away from the others. Eli wanted all of them to listen to what he...
Boones Crossing, Kansas July 23, 1889 Little Eli, Kit, Ruby, and Isaac arrived in Boones Crossing early, making the short trip from Kansas City in only a matter of two hours. They had accompanied their friends to the train station the evening before and watched as they boarded the train to Colorado. This was a tearful parting of new friends with all of them vowing to meet again soon. The McInnis sisters especially took it hard, sobbing as they sat on the train and waved out the window to...
Crow Ridge September 1, 1896 “Come on in, Ezra. Your dad and I wanted to talk to you before you head back to Crow Valley,” Rose told her son. Jefferson was sitting up in bed with the covers pulled to his waist. “Dad, are you feeling any better?” Ezra asked as he walked over to sit at his bedside and lay his hand on top Jefferson’s right hand. “I feel better today, Son. This has actually been one of my better days in the past few months. “Dad, I suppose I’ve always taken for granted that...
When the Buffalo Soldiers rolled in from Little Tree with empty wagons, all of them jumped in and loaded them as quickly as possible. There were fifteen more loads to ship after they held back the last three loaded wagons to take to Tulsa. Willis turned fifteen of his men right back around, telling them to get on back so they could all head over to Tulsa and start learning to be oil well drillers. The next morning early, Eli and Jon David were sitting by the fire outside, drinking coffee...
Eli knew he had to get over to the women as soon as he could. He saw them laughing and talking with Analisa, pointing now and then toward where he stood. Even Sissy, Miranda, and Grandmother were huddled with the young Mexican woman, whispering and laughing. When Catt and Eva pulled her aside, they were laughing aloud and Eli knew it was time to go. “I see all of you have met Analisa. I hope you’ll make her welcome. I’ve asked her to work for us when we get back to Tulsa,” Eli told them when...
Two weeks earlier, when Duncan and Eli had split as they arrived in Tulsa, Duncan felt alone as he rode north toward Kansas. Though he’d been a deputy marshal for over two years when he met Eli, he’d grown to like hid friend so well that he missed his company and the friendship they shared together on their trips into the Territory. He rode into southern Kansas two days later, after riding late like he and Eli often did when they first met. He wanted to hurry and do his law business, then...
The men of Crow Ridge Cattle Company loaded the second trainload of cattle bound for Kansas City and knew there wasn’t time to load another fifteen cars before dark. The first trainload would have to make it to the next sidetrack, near the Kansas state line, before the two empty trains could travel on down to Tulsa. They made plans to start loading at daylight the next day. The empty trains would arrive during the night and have to lay over. They gathered around after the first day of...
The Waco Kid never raised his head as he reached out to pick up a stick and thrash it across the bedroll nearest him. “Get your asses up, we got a score to settle this morning and I’m ready to get started!” he said loudly. The other men began to stir in their bedrolls and The Waco Kid rolled over to sit up. He had yet to look up as he pulled his boots on, then picked up his two pistols and shoved them down in his holsters. He stretched his arms over his head, wincing at the pain in his ribs,...
Crow Ridge March 29, 1889 The family was up before dawn to see the Crow girls and the Young Bucks off. Even their younger brothers and sisters were up. Eli cornered Little Eli and Ezra as soon as they came downstairs and pulled them aside. “I need to give you men something. I’ve been wanting to tell you about this, but never felt like it was the right time until now. “Eli, back when you told me that you Bucks wanted to have a place of your own and still wanted it to be near each other, I...
Union Station Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania June 19, 1885 Eli had been on the train for four days when he arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had an hour layover there, one of many layovers they’d had on his long train ride from Indian Territory. After he’d found the toilets to relieve himself, he sat inside the huge train station and watched the hundreds of people coming and going. He’d never seen this many people in one place ever before, not even in Kansas City at the ballpark. He kept...
“This is absolutely beautiful. I just love the way the houses and barns look with all the pecan trees around,” Miranda said. “It does look good and shady back in them trees. We need to plant some pecan trees over at the other place to shade it a little, I reckon,” Eli agreed. “You boys get you some clean buckskins and go back behind the barn and get a bath,” Eli told the six boys. “Miranda, would you help Sissy get the girls back there and get them bathed?” “I will, but first we’re going...
There were snow flurries blowing in the wind, with a light blanket already covering the ground when the Bucks started out the next morning after saying their goodbyes to the family. They were dressed in their buckskins with their union suits underneath and heavy boiler overalls over their buckskins. Each had a leather fur-lined cap pulled down over their head and ears. They wore wool scarves backed with flannel over their faces, leaving only a slit with their eyes exposed as they rode...
Eli and Duncan headed out of town with their wagon load of prisoners. Bud Parkins drove the wagon, Duncan and Eli rode their horses. “Eli, I already like this horse pretty good. He’s as tall and long legged as that big stud you got.” “Yep, you got a good’un, Duncan.” They turned south at the creek crossing, and rode right by Noonan’s ranch. “You could at least let me see my wife before you take me back,” Noonan said. “I’ll go see if she wants to see you... “Duncan, you keep them headed...
“What can I do for you, Mister? You look to be part Indian. Are you?” The man behind the window at the train station said as Eli walked up to the window to send a telegraph message back to Little Tree. “I need to send a message over to Little Tree, Texas. Can you do that for me?” Eli said, ignoring the man’s remark. “I sure can. Who is it for and what name do you want on it?” “Put my name on it, Marshal Eli Crow. Send it to Hoke at the livery. Tell him I need him to get word to my folks at...
“Son, that was some race. We heard what Parkman’s jockey said. You did the right thing holding Cheyenne back, then letting him run away with the race after they’d tried to run him down like that. You’d think Sam Parkman would know better by now,” Eli said as he and Joe stood beside Little Eli when their picture was made. “Did you win big again, Dad?” Little Eli asked, knowing by his smile that he did. “We all won big on that race. I already have another big bet placed on the last race...