Jeremiah Tucker The Gunfighter - Book One

by James Butler

  “What’s your name, mister?” said Lilly.

  “Jeremiah Tucker.”

  “Jeremiah Tucker, the gunfighter?” said her partner. I nodded yes.

  “Well, I’ll be goddamned.”

  “What will they do to us?” asked Lilly.

  “They’ll probably hang him,” I said. “I don’t know what they’ll do to you. If it was up to me, I’d hang the both of you. People as stupid as you two shouldn’t be left alive. If I’d given you my money, what would’ve been your next move?”

  “We’d just wait till the next town and then disappear into the crowd.”

  “And did you think I’d just sit here and do nothing? What if I forced your hand and made you shoot me? Then what would you have done? Those double-barreled shotguns would make quick work of you.”

  “I guess we never thought it all out.”

  “No kidding. Now, shut up and let me get some rest and don’t try coming over here. I don’t wanna get wet.”

  We drove on to Independence, Missouri, where we dropped Lilly and her partner off with the sheriff, changed horses and picked up more passengers. There were reporters there hanging around the sheriff’s office always looking for a story. The new passengers were a young mother with her two children, two boys about six and seven.

  “If you want something to eat,” said the driver, “now’s the time to get it, otherwise we’re gonna hit the trail.” I said I could wait till the next stop. I could finally get some sleep if the kids would stay quiet. We had another hundred miles to go before we stopped for the night. Hopefully, those kids weren’t outlaws.

  I didn’t say anything to the sheriff, but secretly I hoped they would go easy on Lilly and her friend. Times were hard for everyone. They were just two kids who were desperate like the many others the war had left in its wake. Once the North had beat the South, they didn’t know what to do with it.

  Did you ever hear what happened to them? asked a novelist.

  No, I never did. I stayed on the move pretty much back then.

  Chapter 5

  As we pulled out, I was sitting across from the mother, another pretty lady. We introduced ourselves. Her name was Alma Simpson and she had been a school teacher in Independence. She was going back to her hometown just outside of Council Bluffs, Iowa, to live with her mother. She was small like my mother and reminded me of her except she had red hair.

  “My husband was killed at Shiloh,” she said.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Mrs. Simpson. I’m headed for Alaska,” I said. “I’ve got to get away from this heat and the Yankees.”

  “I hear tell they have mosquitoes the size of horseflies.”

  I never was much of a talker, especially to a woman. I think she could feel my uneasiness. The boys were jumping around, looking out the windows.

  “You kids behave yourself and let Mr. Tucker sleep.”

  I couldn’t tell her what I did. Being a gambler and a gunfighter isn’t exactly the kind of man a woman wants her kids to be around, even on a short stagecoach trip.

  She had the reddest hair I’d ever seen.

  By the time we reached Anderson County and stopped at Garrett, it was ten o’clock at night and we were all dead tired. I helped Alma and her kids get settled in the Garrett Hotel and bid her goodnight.

  “I know who you are, Mr. Tucker,” she said. “We had newspapers in Independence and there were articles about you quite often. You’ve been a real gentleman on this trip and I appreciate your gentleness around my children. Thank you for your help with our things and getting us settled in. Will you be going on tomorrow or will you wait until the next stage?”

  “Thank you for the kind words. I think I’ll be going on in the morning. I’m kind of in a hurry to get out of here. We’ve still got a long way to go. What about you and your children?”

  “We’ll be going along in the morning, too. I overheard the stage driver telling some men on the street how you single-handedly captured two outlaws on the stage before you got to Independence. I think it would be an honor having you ride along with me and my children.” I didn’t know what to say.

  “Well, I wouldn’t call them outlaws. I don’t think they had ever done anything like that before. They were just kids. This war has changed people. I hope it’s better in Alaska.”

  No one had ever talked to me that way before. ‘An honor’ to have me along.

  We were up and ready to go by six in the morning. I helped Alma and the kids into the coach and we were off. Alma sat next to me. It had been a while since I’d sat that close to a woman for such a long time. It was nice having a woman’s fragrance around again. I didn’t understand why she sat next to me, with her kids and all. It was almost like we were family. She told me about her and her husband and how they had only been married for three years when he was killed. I didn’t like talking about the war and I sure didn’t want to talk about gambling and shooting people, so my part of the conversation was mainly about something I knew nothing about: Hunting for gold and, of course, her. With my limited experience with women, there’s one thing I’ve learned and that is women like to talk about themselves. I caught myself dozing off once in a while and when I’d wake up, she’d still be talking. I guess being a school teacher she had to talk a lot. It’s hard to break old habits.

  We were only a few hours out of Kansas City when the coach came to a stop. The driver opened the door with a lantern in his hand although it was still light. “You folks might want to stretch your legs for a spell.” He handed me the lantern. “There’s a little creek here and we always stop so the horses can suck up a little water.”

  We were glad for the rest. We climbed down and went straight for the water. We walked down the creek a ways until we found a good spot, then the kids and Alma took off their shoes and sat on the bank dangling their feet in the water.

  I said to her, “You know there’s a new train that’s coming to Kansas City now. It probably hooks up with another line somewhere between here and California.”

  Alma looked up at me with despair in her eyes. “You’re not thinking of leaving us, are you?”

  “It’s still a long way to Council Bluffs and that would cut a lot off of my time.”

  We had wandered off down the creek and were walking back when we heard the first gun shot. I took Alma and the boys to a bluff where boulders had rolled down over the years, giving them good cover from gunfire. I gave Alma the lantern and hid them in the brush growing nearby. “Y’all stay here and keep quiet till I come for you.”

  “You be careful, Jeremiah.”

  I pulled out my pistol and started back down the creek towards the stage when several more shots were fired. Two were from a shotgun. By the time I got to the stage, both the drivers were dead and the bandits were throwing down the mail and a strongbox, looking for money. They had thrown down Alma’s baggage and were going through her clothes.

  “There was a woman on board,” one of them said.

  He held up her corset and laughed. They looked around wondering where she might be. They were dirty and looked like walking snakes, real low lifes. There were four of them in the beginning, but the drivers had taken out two. I had seen their Wanted Dead Or Alive pictures, but I couldn’t remember their names. With only two left, I took cover behind a tree. They were really interested in the strongbox. They weren’t looking for any passengers. I opened fire. When the smoke cleared, they were both laid out. I walked over and kicked them to make sure they were dead, then went back for Alma and the boys and told them what had happened.

  “You killed both of them?” said Alma.

  “I had no choice. They seldom give up without a fight and come along peacefully.”

  She waited until the boys ran back down into the water. They didn’t seem to realize what had just happened.”

  “I haven’t been completely honest with you, Mr. Tucker. I was a school teacher in Independence and my husband was killed in the war, but these two boys are my sister’s, not mine. S
he also died during the war alongside her husband. I’ve had the boys ever since, but I can’t teach school and give them the kind of life they deserve. I was going back home to my mother’s. With her help, maybe the two of us can make it. They’re just too much for me to handle and teach at the same time. I knew everyone would think they were mine and it would be safer for me if they did. I had no idea there would be so much danger on the road.”

  She hesitated for a minute. I could see she was having trouble telling me whatever it was she wanted to say.

  “So, now, here I am, not wanting you to go and I don’t know what to do.”

  She put her hand over her mouth as her lips began to quiver. I saw tears in her eyes.

  “You must think I’m awfully brash. We’ve only just met and I have no right to ask you to stay, but I’m afraid for our lives. I’ve seen something in you that’s rare in men these days and I know that, if you stay with us, we’d be protected. I’m not without means and if you’d please go with us to Council Bluffs, I’d pay you what I can and help you on your trip to Alaska.”

  I could see how embarrassed she was and she was really starting to cry.

  “I’m sorry to bring it up like this I must sound desperate to you and I guess I am. I just don’t know what else to do.”

  I stood there looking at her with her red hair blowing in the gentle breeze. She was too educated and handsome a woman to be interested in the likes of a gunslinger-gambling man like me. It had to be what she said. She wanted me for protection, but war does strange things to people. You never know these days what can happen. She wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what to do. She came to me with tears still flowing down her cheeks.

  “I don’t think you’re brash at all. In fact, I appreciate your honesty.”

  “Then you’ll do it? You’ll stay with us until we get home?”

  “Kansas City is still a ways off. I’ll think about it.”

  She stopped crying and a big smile came out like the sun. I had already told her about my mother being killed by the Yankees and my plans to go back there as soon as I could, but now, looking at that smile, that all seemed so far away in my mind that I almost forgot about it. All I could think about was that red hair. I was always a sucker for a woman’s tears.

  Chapter 6

  “There’re six dead bodies back there and if you’re afraid to see them or if you don’t think the boys should, then stay here until I get them loaded.”

  “I’ve seen dead bodies before,” she said, “and the boys had better get used to it.”

  The boys helped me and we put the outlaws over their saddles and tied them down, then tied their horses to the stage. We put the two drivers’ bodies inside the stage along with Alma’s clothes, the strongbox and what mail she could find, then we all climbed up top. Alma and I sat on the seat with the boys behind us and I released the brake. Alma cracked the whip and we were off again. She had put the shotguns behind the seat and, while I drove the team, she pulled them out and reloaded. It was my first time to ever drive a stagecoach, and for the boys and Alma, it must’ve been the most exciting day of their lives.

  “There’s one thing for sure,” said Alma, “being around you isn’t boring. I must say that, so far, it’s been a real adventure even though I was scared senseless.” She scooted over close to me and locked her arm around mine.

  “I’ve only been on this stage for two days and already I’ve had to capture two bandits and kill two more. I hope I never have to ride a stagecoach again, but all that aside, I sure think this trip’s been worth it.”

  I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. The boys giggled. It was more of a kiss to comfort her than out of passion. Well, maybe a little passion.

  The reporters laughed.

  When we got to Kansas City, I drove straight to the sheriff’s office. “You got all four of them,” he said. “It’s hard to believe. We’ve been after this gang for months. They’ve robbed about ever stage that comes through here.” He opened the door to the coach. “Well, that’s a shame. They killed old Sam and his shotgun driver, too.”

  “Sam and his partner killed two of them. I got the other two when I snuck up on ’em.”

  “You’ve got quite a reward coming to you, Mr. Tucker,” said the sheriff. “You and the Missus can hang around for a couple of days, can’t you? We’ll put you and the boys up in the boardinghouse and take care of all the expenses while we wait for the wire.”

  Alma was standing right beside me and I was surprised when she didn’t tell him that we weren’t married. Instead, she took me by the hand.

  “The lock’s still on the strongbox, so I reckon it’s all still there.” He looked at me, expecting an answer.

  “I reckon so.”

  He arranged for us to have two rooms at a boardinghouse owned by his sister, one for the boys and one for me and Alma. He thought we were a family. I slept on the couch in the boys’ room and let Alma have the room all to herself, but late in the night, Alma woke me and took me to her bed. The boys were sound asleep.

  “I can’t sleep just thinking about you,” she said as we crept quietly over to her room. “I know we’ve just met and, under normal circumstances, we would have a long way to go before we reached this point, but I’ve never met a man like you and who knows what might happen tomorrow? You must think I’m a horrible woman, but I just don’t want to wait any longer.”

  Chapter 7

  I woke up before Alma and laid there looking at her beauty. I didn’t know how old she was, but from her looks, she couldn’t have been as old as me. I kissed her on the cheek and she smiled and opened her eyes. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she sat up in bed. “The boys. Are the boys up yet?”

  I got up and dressed and went next door to their room. They were just waking up. “I knocked on Alma’s door,” I told them. “ She’ll be ready to go eat in a few minutes. Are you two hungry?” They nodded yes and grumbled something. They were still tired from the trip. Alma came in and we all went downstairs to the kitchen where Katy, the sheriff’s sister, was already cooking breakfast for everyone.

  The boys finished eating fast and left the table.

  “What’ll happen to them?” I asked. “Can you and your mother take care of them without a man?” I saw that big smile again.

  “You’re not offering, are you?” I didn’t answer.

  “It’ll take us two more days to get to Council Bluffs. A lot can happen in two days.” I didn’t want to say anything else. Being with her was so intoxicating that I was still hung over from the night before.

  We’d been there in Kansas City for two days when the sheriff came over and told us the good news. The gang was called the Hodges gang, a bunch of low lifes out of Arkansas, but they had a goodly sum offered for their capture, dead or alive. It was nothing compared to the ten thousand offered for Jesse and Frank James, but at four hundred dollars a head, they brought me sixteen hundred. Enough to set me up in Alaska.

  Early that night, we went straight to bed.

  Why did you go to bed so early? asked one of the reporters.

  The others laughed.

  We had to leave early the next morning, you smart ass. Why else would we go to bed?

  Everybody had a good laugh, even me.

  The word spread fast with the wire service and newspapers and word of mouth. There was a gunfighter on the stage and he had captured or killed six outlaws. It was a stretch of the truth, but that’s the way you in the news business make your money. No one wanted to take a chance on getting killed. Thieves always want the upper hand or they won’t take a chance, being cowards in the first place.

  The rest of our trip was relatively uneventful except at night when we pulled into small towns to sleep.

  You did a lot of sleeping, did you? asked the reporter.

  Well, let’s just say that by the time we reached Council Bluffs, I was well rested.

  Alma had wired ahead and her mother and some of her kin met the stage in town and drove me to
the railroad station. The night before was when Alma and me really said goodbye. She wrote down her mother’s address and told me to write from Alaska. She cried and told me she was going to miss me. I felt like she wanted to say something else, maybe ask me to stay or even something more serious. The way she looked at me I knew that if she had, I would’ve said yes. I remember standing on the platform watching her buggy drive away wishing I had known her a little longer. If I had, I might’ve stayed or asked her to come with me, but as it turned out, I didn’t and I took the train that very day and was off to California.

  The one thing I remember about my first train ride was there were no bumps. You could smell the coal burning in the engine, but the ride was smooth and much faster than a stagecoach. We must’ve gone at least twelve miles an hour. I know, today trains are faster than that, but that was when the railroad first came to Council Bluffs and, for about sixty-five dollars, you got a third class sleeping car. I paid a little more and moved up to first class because of my windfall bounty money.

  Chapter 8

  There’s always a poker game going on somewhere on a train. Usually in one of the baggage cars, away from the women and children. I asked a conductor and he took me back to the last car and, sure enough, there was a game. I didn’t know any of the players, so the first night I just sat and watched. They were playing by riverboat rules: Tens through aces only. Card games are a good way to get yourself killed, especially when you sit and watch. It makes the players nervous. If you don’t have money in the pot, they don’t want you around, but these guys were amateurs. They didn’t know each other, they had just met on the train and wanted to play cards. Five card stud. Deal the first card up and the second card down. My personal rule was if I didn’t pair up on those first two cards, I was out. These guys were playing anything they got. I just sat and watched, but I kept my hand in my coat pocket. One of the players lost all he was willing to and left the table. I was asked if I wanted to take a seat, but I declined.