by Joe Corso
Hank raised his brow. “I thought it best that experienced men went for the girl. If Longstreet or any of his pals surprised them, then at least these men would know how to take care of themselves.”
Parker pondered what Hank told him - then he nodded his approval. “I guess that makes sense. It wouldn’t do to send inexperienced men. Good call, Hank. Now all we have to is to wait for them to bring us the girl.”
Earlier, Jesse told Charlie Pitts and Bob Younger to find a place on the trail they thought Parker’s men might hide and wait for Abby. “Find a spot where would you position yourself if you were going to kidnap Abby.” The two men scouted the trail earlier and picked a good spot where they’d lie and wait.
Charlie disagreed with the plan. “Look, Jesse. If we have two of our men out there in the brush, one of Parkers men might see them and then they’d realize it was a trap. Why not leave the men here ready to ride? We’ll have two men in the buggy and the element of surprise on our side. Now if two of us can’t handle the likes of those three, then we should pack up our bags and leave town.”
Jesse thought for a minute, then he nodded in agreement. “Okay, that makes sense. The rest of us will stay here, ready to ride at the first sign of trouble. But you two will be in the buggy - and make sure you both have guns in your hand.”
To insure that everything looked normal at the farm, all the horses were put in the barn and the rest of the men kept out of sight in the house. Bob Younger brought the buggy with Clell hiding in the boot to the back of the house where he couldn’t be seen. “It’s time to roll, Bill. Let’s just hope that Parker’s men are in position.” Just then, a glint flashed in the distance . . . a reflection.
“Hold it,” Cole said. “I can’t see them, but I know they’re there because I saw the sun reflecting off of metal. And look, someone just lit a cigarette. The fools are so sure of themselves. They think they’re safe out there while waiting for Abby to leave for town.”
“Okay. It’s time for the show to start.”
CHAPTER 19
“Look, Sam, the girl’s getting into her buggy. Probably heading for town.”
“Who cares where she’s going, as long as it’s with us,” Billie Gould said lightly.
Huntley stood and brushed the leaves off his pants. “Let’s mount up. She has to pass this way to get to town so when she gets about there,” he said pointing to a spot on the road in front of them, “it’ll be easy to grab her. We’ll just pull her out of her buggy and take her to the ranch. Piece of cake.” The three men watched the buggy slowly head towards them.
Billy Gould pointed to the buggy. “Look. The poor darling has her scarf pulled high. She must be cold.”
“Yeah, well, I know how to warm her up,” another said.
The three men laughed. “Okay, here she comes; let’s get her.” They bounded out of the clearing and rushed along both sides of the buggy. One of the men pulled on the reins to stop the horse. While he was busy with the reins, gunshots rang out as Clell shot the man on his left and Bill Chaldwell shot the one on the right. The man in front let go of the reins and went for his gun . . . but it was too late. Chaldwell shot him through the heart.
After the bodies were brought back to the ranch, Jesse looked at Longstreet. “Looks like your idea worked, Charlie. Now what do you suggest we do with these men?”
“We’ll tie them to their horses and then we’ll ride out to Parker’s ranch, and when we get close enough, we’ll whack the horses on the rump and send them running.”
Cole raised his hands to get everyone’s attention. “I go along with riding out the Parker’s place, but that still doesn’t answer the question of how we’re going to handle the rest of his men. We’ll have to do that before we can get to his money. So does anyone have any ideas?”
Jesse shook his head. “This can’t be a fair fight. Not with two or three to one odds against us. We should do what we did with Quantrill; we’ll bushwhack them. Catch them by surprise and that means we have to get them somewhere where they’re all in one place and not spread out. Maybe we could lure them into town, maybe to the Longhorn Saloon.”
“No good,” Charlie said. “We promised the sheriff we’d keep our business out of his town . . . And I intend to keep that promise.”
“Okay. It was just a thought.”
Frank, who had been quiet up until then, put his two cents in. “If you ask me, I would treat this like a skirmish.” Everyone’s eyes turned to Frank.
“What do you mean, Frank?” Clell asked.
“Let’s do what we did in the war. Since they outnumber us, we can’t fight them one on one. We have to get them when they’re all together, and there’s only one place we can be certain they’ll all be together - and that’s in the bunkhouse.”
Charlie smiled. “Brilliant, Frank.”
“That’s the only time they’ll all be in one place together. Once they’re disarmed, we can get their parole and send them on their way.”
Jesse waved his hand. “No good, Charlie. I say we kill them all and be done with it. Why take a chance that they won’t honor their parole?”
“No,” Frank added. “The Kid is right. We’re not butchers. If we get their parole, we can send them on their way without a fight.”
“Bullshit,” Jesse argued. “That’s just more men for us to watch out for in the future.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way, Jesse. If they see that there are no more paydays for them, they’ll be moving on. Put yourself in their place. What would you do if your employer couldn’t pay you any longer?”
Jesse looked at his brother. “Look, Frank, I’ll go along with whatever we all agree too, but I want it known that I’m not happy with letting those men go. I just don’t like watching my back all the time.”
Cole chimed in. “Look, Jesse. If the shoe was on the other foot, if it was you that was woken up in the wee hours of the morning with a gun pointed at you, you’d think you were a dead man. But what if you were told that your boss couldn’t pay you and you were given a chance to walk away - wouldn’t you take it? Would you think of killing the man who just gave you your life back? No! You’d be as happy as a pig in shit and you wouldn’t think of retribution. I say we go along with Frank’s plan and I’ll tell you why. We’re professionals who rob banks for a living. These guys aren’t bank robbers; they’re ex-Yankee soldiers and they’ll move on rather than fight. I’m with Cole. Who’s with me?” Everyone raised their hands; even the sulking Jesse James reluctantly raised his hand.
Charlie banged the table twice with the handle of his gun. “Listen up. I have a suggestion. Let’s take the three men back to Parker’s ranch, but let’s not send them in at a gallop tied to the saddle. I say we raid the ranch tonight. We’ll tie the horses to a tree and we enter the bunkhouse. There are enough of us to totally surprise the sleeping men. Even if we make noise entering the bunkhouse, they’ll just think it’s one of the guys returning from the outhouse or from town. They’d never dream that we’d pull a stunt like this. What do you fellas think?” Everyone agreed that it was a good plan and decided they’d do it tonight.
Charlie pointed to Buntline, who was busy writing in his journal. “Ned, you’re staying here. This is our job. We’re experienced in this type of guerrilla warfare.”
Buntline rose from his chair so fast that the chair tipped back and went flying. “Like hell I will. I’m just as much a part of your gang as anyone and I’m going with you.”
Cole raised his hands defensively. “Man, don’t go getting yourself so riled up. If you feel that strongly about coming, then who am I to say ‘no’?” Then Cole stared coldly at Buntline and pointed a finger at him as if it were the barrel of a gun. “You’ll do exactly what you’re told. Understand?”
Buntline laughed. “Understood. Damn, but this is exciting business. It’s too bad, though.”
“Why’s that?” Cole asked. Ned looked at him with those large hound dog eyes of his.
“Because if I wrote about what w
e did tonight, my readers would think I’m making it up. They’d never believe that Ned Buntline rode with the James-Younger gang.”
CHAPTER 20
THE PARKER RANCH
The door to the bunkhouse opened at precisely two thirty a.m., and nine men glided silently into the dark room. They waited a moment for their eyes to adjust to the dim light of the full moon that filtered through the windows. The light from the moon allowed just enough light to discern the snoring men asleep in their bunks. Jesse was used to this sort of silent action when he served in the army. He walked like a cat, quietly removing guns from holsters placed in nooks in the wall. One man lifted his head, noticed Jesse collecting the guns, and was about to sound the alarm, but before he could, Frank clocked him over the head with the barrel of his gun, silencing him. When the weapons were collected and piled near the front door, they woke the men one at time, and then silently motioned for them to get out of bed. A whispered command from Frank told each man as he awakened to stand at the back of the room, facing the wall. Buntline was impressed with the way the men had systematically collected the weapons, awakened the men, and herded them to the back wall. Everyone knew what they had to do without a word being said. Clell Miller had his gun trained on the men in the rear. No one told him to do it; it was just the right thing to do. That was what made this gang special. The ability to anticipate commands without being told - that, and their utter ruthlessness.
When Parker’s men were all together in the back of the room, Cole asked them. “Do you men know who we are?” There was a murmur of agreement and the nodding of heads. “Good - because I have something to tell you boys that I think you’ll be interested in. Parker, the guy who pays you, will be broke tomorrow. You boys don’t owe him any loyalty - at least not enough to get yourselves killed. And are you gonna back his play when payday comes and he won’t have a dime left to pay you with, ‘cause we’re gonna rob that bastard of everything he owns. Now as far as you boys go, we’d ordinarily kill the lot of you and head home, but instead, we’ve decided to give you fellas a choice. Give us your parole that you’ll leave town right now . . . Or - you can refuse our offer, in which case we’ll kill you. Now how many of you will give us your word that if we give you your parole, you’ll leave here now? Raise your hands.” All of the men raised their hands. “Good choice, men. You fellas know us by reputation so you know that we’re not bullshitting you. We’re giving you a chance to live, so don’t go and spoil it by forcing us to kill a few of you. How many of you fought for the South? I want to see a show of hands.” About two-thirds of the men raised their hands. Cole pointed to one man. “Where’d you see action?”
“I was with Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Chancellorsville where I’m sorry to say Stonewall was killed by one of his own men. Saddest day of my life.”
“And mine too,” Cole added. “I guess the rest of you boys were blue bellies. But that don’t matter much now because you boys gave me your parole too. Now I don’t know any of you personally, so I’m afraid I can’t be takin’ any chances by givin’ you back your irons. But I’ll leave them by the gate leading into town where Parker had some of you boys takin’ money from innocent homesteaders.”
The man who served under Jackson asked Cole under promise of his parole if he could have his gun now. “Afraid not, partner. You see, if I gave you a gun I’d get to wondering if you might use it against me, and that would leave me with no choice but to kill you - you know - just to keep you honest.”
“Yeah but I gave you my parole.”
“Go ahead, Cole, give him his gun,” his brother Bob said. “After all, he did give us his parole and that’s from a good old southern boy who fought under Stonewall Jackson, and that’s good enough for me.”
Cole looked at Charlie - unsure if he should do it.
Charlie nodded. “Go ahead, Cole. Give him his gun, but first take the bullets out, then when he’s on his horse, put his iron in his saddlebags.” Charlie motioned for the men to put down their hands and relax.
“We’re going to walk to the stable, then you’re going to get on your horses, and you’re gonna ride out of town. The Kid says for me to empty your guns and put them in your saddle bags, so instead of leaving them by the gate, that’s what I’ll do. Sorry to inconvenience you boys - and you may not like us doing this, but cooler heads among us saved your lives, because we were going to come in here and kill the lot of you and that’s the gods’ honest truth. So be thankful that you’re riding out of here alive. - Now go on, get going.”
Charlie and his buddies watched the men ride out under the large wrought iron metal P with the fancy wrought iron scrollwork on it until they were out of sight. It was still dark when Cole asked the Kid what he thought they should do. “I don’t think Parker has more than one, maybe two men with him. I counted thirteen men that rode away. If he hasn’t hired anyone else since yesterday then there should be no one else with him but Hank Slinger. We could do one of three things. One - We could wait here until daybreak and wait for Parker to come to us, because he’ll be wondering why he hasn’t seen any of his men. Or two - we could enter his house and confront him.”
Jesse asked, “You said we could do one of three things, what’s the third?”
Charlie had a thin smile on his face. “The third is we go into his home, have him open his safe, and we rob him of every cent he owns.”
“I like that one,” Jesse said, grinning and showing a set of pearly white teeth. “Let’s go with number three. Let’s go in there and rob his safe.” Jesse turned to the others. “Who’s for number three, boys? Raise your hands.” Everyone raised their hand. “Okay, let’s do it,” Jesse said.
As the men were about to open the front door, Charlie stopped them. “Listen, men. Let’s open the door and have a look around. Parker’s probably still sleeping, so let’s go in, make ourselves comfortable, and wait for him to come down the stairs. He won’t be expecting us to be in his house. Besides, there’s nine of us and there’s only him and when you see the look on his face when he sees us, that’ll be worth all the money in his safe.”
Jesse laughed. “Don’t bet on that, partner, because you’d lose, ‘cause even after seeing the surprised look on his face, I’ll still rob his safe.”
“Don’t worry; when he sees us, he’ll be as tame as a kitten. Did anyone see Hank Slinger?” Charlie asked. Everyone shook their heads. No one saw him. “Guess he must have made himself scarce, knowing we’d be coming here. Can’t say as I blame him.”
As the orange glow of the sun began to lighten the horizon for the start of another day, a cock crowed, and soon rustling was heard in the upstairs bedroom. A few minutes later, the bedroom door opened and a yawning Ted Parker, busy tying his bathrobe, started down the stairs. He scratched his head and yawned again - then he stopped halfway down the stairs as he noticed the group of men sitting in his large living room, staring at him. “Who are you men and what are you doing in my home?” He looked around the room, nervously hoping that his men would come to his rescue - but no one was there to help him. Then he noticed Charles Longstreet sitting there, smiling gravely at him. “Good morning, Ted. Did you sleep well?”
“Why, yes, yes I did,” he replied.
As he said that, Jesse grabbed him roughly by the collar. “Where’s your safe, Ted?”
Parker tried pushing Jesse’s hand off of him - but couldn’t. “Why do you want to know where my safe is?” he blustered, knowing full well that the notorious James-Younger gang was about to rob him. Jesse pulled his gun from his holster, cocked it, and placed it against Parker’s chest.
“The safe,” Jesse whispered ominously. Parker, deflated, led the men into his den. Jesse nudged Parker, who was seemingly in a fog and still not quite awake. Parker walked dazedly to his bookcase, still not believing this was happening to him. He reached down and pressed a hidden button and an audible release was heard as a section of the bookcase covering the safe snapped open to expose it. “Open it,” Jesse ordere
d. He moved his gun from Parker’s chest to his temple. Parker turned the dial nervously with a shaking hand and opened the safe on the second try. Jesse pushed the sweating Parker aside and told Cole to watch him and he began to empty the safe. Jesse took out a leather pouch and opened it. His eyes lit up. The pouch was filled with cash. “Must be at least ten thousand dollars in here,” he said, tossing it to Frank. He reached into the safe again and pulled out papers and bankbooks, which he handed to Longstreet. “Take a look at these, Charlie, they may be important.”
Longstreet glanced through the papers and discovered they were deeds to various properties. Charlie quietly folded them and put them in his pocket. He made up his mind to return them to their rightful owners the first chance he got. Next, he examined each of the bankbooks and his brow narrowed as he read the figures, keeping a mental tally of the amounts in each account. Satisfied with his calculations, he put the bankbooks in his pocket with the papers. The men watched with thought-provoking interest as Jesse checked to see what other valuables he’d find. Cole shifted over to Charlie and whispered, “Looks like you were right. We might not have to rob both places at the same time; this jerk is making it so easy that he’s making me feel guilty taking his money.”
Charlie smiled. “Fat chance you’d feel guilty of stealing this guy’s money, Cole.”
Cole gave him a broad smile. “You got that right, partner. It’ll be a cold day in hell when I feel guilty taking money from the likes of this greedy bastard.”
Jesse turned to the boys. “Looks like that’s all there is. Except for this little bundle.” He tossed it to Frank, who opened the small blue velvet bag and dumped the contents on the coffee table - and watched in amazement as diamonds spilled out of the little bag and cascaded onto the table.
Charlie Pitts picked up a fairly large diamond and examined it. “Wow - would you look at the way this pretty little thing sparkles. These diamonds must be worth a fortune.”