West of the Big River: Boxed Set of Eight Western Novels

by James Reasoner

  The engine inched along to a precise spot near the tower just short of the station man’s red lantern then halted. Sam and the others waited out of sight, in the dark, next to the building. Everything seemed to be going as planned.

  When Willie and Tom came in from opposite sides of the engine just as it came to a full stop, the engineer and fireman both stood erect and held their hands in the air. Willie instructed the two men to turn around. "Just keep lookin’ straight ahead," he ordered. "And don’t worry about your schedule. We won’t be keepin’ you long!"

  Jack and Sam hurried down the side of the train to the express car’s sliding door. Jack stood right in front of it. He pounded hard on thick planking. "Open up! This is a holdup!" The kerosene light that had flickered through the cracks around the portal abruptly disappeared, the squeal of metal against metal coming as the door slid open to a darkened interior and the loud bark of a six-gun from inside. Instinctively, Jack dropped into a crouch beside the car and then stuck his six-gun into the opening and fired three quick shots into the darkness.

  Sam, who had been standing to the side of the door on Jack’s right, began firing his six-gun as well. There was a grunt, and then a thud as whoever had been shooting at them fell to the floor of the car. Wary, Sam ducked down, but there were no further exchanges.

  Jack stood looking in Sam’s direction. "I think you got that bastard, I heard him hit the floor!"

  From inside the car, there was the sound of coughing. "Don’t shoot anymore," a voice begged. "I’m hit!"

  "Throw your gun out!" Jack ordered. After a moment, a pistol clattered on the floor of the car and bounced out the door.

  "Let’s see what they’re so damned protective of!" Jack said, climbing inside. Sam was right behind him. They found the wounded man sitting against the side wall illuminated by moonlight. "Is there a lantern in here?" Jack demanded.

  "Over to your left," the man ground out.

  Jack found the lantern and struck a lucifer to light it.

  Sam stepped over to the downed man who was holding his right arm, blood oozing between his fingers. "Let me see," Sam said. He ripped the man’s shirt sleeve to view a holed arm. "Give me your handkerchief." The man reached inside his pocket and produced one and Sam immediately tied it around the wounded arm. "You’ll live. It didn’t hit the bone. Who are you?"

  The man’s face betrayed his surprise at the question. "My name’s Charlie Miller. I’m the express messenger."

  Jack was busy looking at the large safe that was bolted to the floor. It was locked. He walked over to the bleeding man. "Need you to open that safe."

  Charlie Miller looked up. "I can’t open it. There’s a timer set. It can’t be opened until the time has expired, which is about when we reach Omaha."

  Jack hit him in the jaw with his pistol. "Open it, damn you, or I’ll shoot you again!"

  Miller shook his head and spat blood from a split lip. "On my honor, I don’t know the combination. I’ve got a paper here that says so." He attempted to reach his inside jacket pocket but Jack Davis batted his hand away, then reached and took out the paper himself.

  Davis held the paper out to Sam. "What does it say?"

  Unfortunately Sam had never learned to read or write either.

  Jack became furious. "You better open it up, I’m telling you!" He screamed at Charlie and then hit the man another vicious blow with his fist.

  Charlie Miller fell to the floor muttering, "I can’t open it."

  Alerted by Davis ’ yelling, Joel Collins swung up into the car to see what was happening. Grabbing the piece of paper Davis was waving in front of Collins’ face, he read what was written and verified Miller’s story. "Let him be, Jack, he can’t open it." He shifted his gaze to Miller. "But you can open the way-safe, can’t you?"

  Miller nodded. Grimacing, he stood up and hobbled to the smaller safe and opened it. Inside there was four hundred fifty dollars in cash and a gold watch.

  Sam found an axe attached to the back wall of the car. He took it and pounded a few times against the combination lock on the big safe, but the axe blade was useless and he gave up.

  Joel watched Charlie Miller while Sam and Jack ransacked the express car and eventually found three wooden boxes that were sealed in wax. Jack Davis took the axe and broke open one of the boxes. Twenty dollar gold pieces scattered across the floor. Each box had one thousand coins inside, twenty thousand dollars per box, sixty thousand total. Grinning, the three men carried the boxes from the express car.

  Not wanting to miss the opportunity for an even bigger haul, Joel decided to stick with the original plan and to rob the passengers as well. "Skeeter and I will get the horses and keep watch. Sam, you and Jack go on in and finish the job. I’ll go get Willie and Tom when we’re ready to leave."

  Jack entered the passenger compartment first. "Hold up your hands and keep still," he commanded as Sam followed close behind with an open sack. The men passengers stood grimly, the few ashen-faced women stood motionless. Sam stepped forward to each person in the line as they worked their way down the aisle, watching as the man or woman dropped their wallet or jewelry into the sack. The women would methodically open their purses and produce a few dollars or coins, and then reluctantly remove whatever jewelry they were wearing. When Sam was sure he had all that was to be had, he continued on.

  When Sam came to an elderly man who had only one arm, he stopped. "Take your stuff back," he murmured, "we don’t need your money. Sit down and keep still." The man complied and Sam stepped to the next person in line. It took only minutes to take all the money and jewelry that the passengers produced, although some people further down the line had in all likelihood manage to stash a ring or cash in a pocket or the bodice of a woman’s dress.

  The bandits were in too much of a hurry to search, question, or threaten. Sam exited the car while Jack held his six-gun on the wide-eyed passengers, then he too backed out the door and jumped to the ground.

  The six rode hard away from the train for the next quarter hour before Joel had the others slow their horses to a walk in order to cool them down. When he brought his horse to a halt, he slid from the saddle, fished in his saddle bag, and brought out the bottle he’d bought at the store. He took a long swig and then handed it to Sam who stood nearby.

  "That ol' boy in the car opened up on Jack as soon as he opened the door!" Sam said excitedly. "Jack and I both shot into the car. One of us hit the sucker! I’m surprised his shot didn’t hit you, Jack! You’re mighty damned lucky, but we got him good though."

  "Too bad we couldn’t get that big safe open," Joel said, "but we made a good haul, a lot of cash."

  "You think they’ll be coming after us?" Sam asked.

  Joel was quick to answer, "Yeah, I do, just as soon as that train makes it to town. They won’t take lightly to us getting that gold. There’s bound to be a posse coming right soon. I think we ought to ride north. We’ll cross a few streams to throw them off, then we’ll double back and go into Ogallala in the morning to see what kind of hornet’s nest is stirred."

  They rode north under the bright moon. Sam’s mind whirled as they rode along. He had never felt guilty about stealing and he was still exhilarated from the robbery. He was not denying that robbery was now his chosen profession for the thrill it gave him. Sam enjoyed taking cash and property from others, using force to silence their objections, and lording over them while in complete control. He wondered how Joel could remain so calm. He also realized that every time the gang made a move it was because they were reacting to one of Joel’s new found schemes.

  Sam hadn’t planned to shoot that man in the express car. It had just happened and now there was nothing he could do to undo what was done, but at least the man would recover. Now that they had made a good haul, he had thoughts of going back to Texas but kept quiet as they rode along.

  At about three a.m. Joel called a halt next to a tree-lined creek. "I’m ready for some coffee," he announced, "and we need to rest and so do the hor
ses."

  Sam began making a fire and Willie took care of the animals while Joel seated himself on a nearby log with the sack of booty taken from the way safe. Watching from a distance, he observed Joel counting out six equal stacks of cash.

  "Comes to seventy-five apiece," Joel announced, "and there’s a watch here, if anybody wants it."

  Sam remained silent when he walked over and scooped up a stack of bills, as did Willie. All six men, tired from the robbery and the riding, were soon napping on the open ground.

  At the first light of dawn on the eastern horizon began to show, Joel was up and bent over a skillet cooking some bacon when Sam and the others begun to stir. Quiet now, they dined on fried bread, bacon and coffee.

  Joel finished the last of his bacon and spoke up. "I think we ought to stash this loot someplace and ride into Ogallala and check things out."

  No one objected to the suggestion, and after cleaning up, they immediately saddled their horses.

  When the town came in sight they located a spot protected by a grove of trees. The ground was moist and covered with knee-high prairie grass, and the terrain littered with an abundance of rocks both large and small. Dismounting, they found what appeared to be a collapsed cairn, a long abandoned boundary marker that had fallen into ruin. Joel determined it would make the ideal place to stash their loot.

  Then, two at a time, the men leisurely rode into town. Paired off, they lounged around the saloons, feigning surprise as they heard the news about the robbery.

  By mid-afternoon a good number of the men in Ogallala had ridden out to Big Springs to have a look at the scene of the holdup. Amos Leach, the owner of the store where Joel Collins and the others had bought their goods two days earlier, went along. In an area that had been used to hold the horses, Leach picked up a scrap of calico that had been torn from a larger piece. He recognized the cloth and remembered selling two yards of it to Joel Collins and rightly suspected the material was used as masks for the gang. He went on back to town but kept his finding of the cloth a secret.

  Upon his return to town he learned of a ten thousand dollar reward being posted for the capture of the men who had robbed the Union Pacific Express at Big Springs. He remained mum and returned to his store to finish off the day.

  Joel met up with all the bandits at The Big Chief Saloon. In a quiet corner of the saloon he addressed them. "I think you all found that the town folk are doing quite a bit of talk regarding the holdup, and now a ten thousand dollar reward has been posted by the railroad. I believe, though, that we have escaped suspicion. On toward dark we need to go get the loot and head out of this country before it’s filled up and crawling with reward hunters. I heard the railroad has complained to the Army and they may send some soldiers out to scour the hills. So let’s go over to the store and get some supplies before we take off."

  Leach was on duty when the six men came into the store. He recognized Joel Collins from the time he had bought the calico cutting. "Have you heard about the big reward?" he asked.

  Joel Collins was digging in his pockets for money to pay for his items. "I could sure use that ten thousand dollar reward, but somebody else will most likely get it. I’ve never been one to have such luck."

  Leach was suspicious. He studied each man as they paid for their purchases and watched as the six of them went in different directions to gather their horses before leaving town. Closing up his store, he went and got his own horse. He waited until the last two men left and then followed at a discreet distance. When they stopped in a grove of trees just outside of town, he waited out of sight, silently watching. Ten minutes later the six men mounted and rode away.

  Leach was able to follow from a distance until it was late in the night and the six men stopped to make camp. He was surprised at how careless they were leaving such a clear trail, and even more astounded when they failed to post a lookout. Creeping up just beyond the light of their campfire, he watched as Joel Collins divided up the loot, five hundred gold coins to each man plus cash and jewelry from a separate sack. He listened intently when Joel Collins began to speak.

  Collins was on his feet beside the fire. "We need to split up. A six-man trail is too easy for the posse to dog. Since we’ve managed to escape suspicion, it would be better if we travel in pairs."

  "Can I ride with you, Joel?" Skeeter was quick to ask before anyone else had the opportunity.

  Joel smiled and nodded. "I plan on going back to Texas, Skeeter. If you want to ride with me, that would be fine. Hell, I might even go on down to San Antonia and square up with Hardenson and Cranston," he chuckled.

  Tom and Willie paired off and said that they were going to head toward Willie’s home in Missouri. That left Sam and Jack Davis. Sam turned to face Jack. "I reckon to head south."

  Jack nodded. "Sounds good to me. I’ve had enough of this northern country."

  Sam threw the dregs of his coffee into the fire and then walked over to his horse. "Once we get into Kansas we can decide where to go from there."

  The men came together for a final farewell and all shook hands. Then, pairing off and mounting their horses, they headed off in their chosen directions.

  Leach had seen and heard enough. There was no way that he would confront any of the paired bandits, but figured he could sure enough notify the authorities in hopes of receiving a portion of the reward money for his efforts.

  Thanks to Leach, by the end of the next day descriptions of the bandits had been sent out. Law enforcement officers in southern Nebraska and northwestern Kansas were informed by telegraph of the bandit’s intended routes. Within a day, posses hungry for the ten thousand dollar reward posted by The Union Pacific Railroad were combing the alerted areas of Nebraska and Kansas.

  Willie Jacobs and Tom Nixon headed east along the north shore of the Platte River, figuring to out-guess or dodge any posse they assumed would be looking for anyone passing into Kansas. They planned on going all the way to Lincoln City and then it would be a short trip to the northwestern corner of Missouri.

  Joel Collins and Skeeter Wilcox took a straightaway southern route hoping to get into Kansas and do more or less as Sam and Jack had prescribed, maybe blend into one of the cowtowns before traveling on.

  Chapter 7

  Eight days after the robbery, Joel Collins and Skeeter Wilcox came to a store at a crossroads called Buffalo Springs in Ellis County, Kansas, which was a few miles distance from Hays. They bought tobacco and some potatoes and coffee. While lounging outside the building, Joel was startled to see a reward poster tacked to the wall. It gave a description of himself, Sam Bass, and the other members of the gang. He ripped the poster off the wall, folded it and stuffed it in a pocket. He nudged Skeeter with an elbow. "Time for us to go."

  A man who had been sitting in a chair in front of the building had watched as Joel Collins took the poster off the wall. When Joel and Skeeter mounted and left, the man stood and walked over to his horse. He rode a short distance outside town to a nearby camp where the Ellis County Sheriff, John Bardsley, was bivouacked with a detachment of ten soldiers.

  Sam Bass and Jack Davis had taken a southeastern route toward Texas, hoping to pass through Kansas using familiar cowtowns as landmarks. Then it would simply be a matter of following old cow trails into Texas. The pressure of numerous posses crawling everywhere forced the pair to do some shrewd riding to elude them. On one occasion, they merely pulled their horses to a halt behind some squat black oak trees and sat watching as the posse rode right past them.

  They soon learned to spend their days lying in the shade of tree-lined ravines where they could nap out of sight in thick brush. Travel was done in the dark of night which enabled them to spot the various campfires of their pursuers and easily avoid them. After a few nights' travel, Jack’s horse began favoring a left rear hoof, perhaps having bruised the frog. Jack examined the hoof but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. However, before long the horse began limping.

  It was just after dawn when they came t
o an open field, possibly a pasture for cows or horses. Sam sniffed the air. "I smell wood smoke and coffee. Let’s see if we can find where it’s coming from."

  "It might be a posse camp," Jack cautioned.

  "We haven’t seen any camps this far south all night," Sam assured. "This field has been worked so I figure there’s a homestead somewhere nearby. Maybe we can get breakfast and see if they might have a horse that we could make a deal on."

  In an open clearing they spotted a rough board cabin free of paint. Smoke curled from a rusty stove pipe situated on a sagging roof. It was a pinchpenny homestead, long on work and short on cash. The corral was pieced together with poles, some being wired together. The barn and other outbuildings were covered with salvaged lumber, possibly from a neighboring farm whose owner had given up.

  A bare-headed, slender man wearing a patched shirt and loose bib overalls had a milk bucket in hand as he walked pigeon-toed across the yard on the balls of his feet as if his thighs were galled or he had a bad case of piles. The man didn’t exhibit any signs of alarm when he became aware of the two strangers approach but merely stood still and watched as the men walked their horses up close to him.

  "Morning," Sam offered cheerfully. The man nodded.

  "We saw the smoke from the chimney and smelled the coffee. We’ve been out all night and are sort of lost. Don’t mean to be a bother but we were wondering if you might allow two hungry men some morning coffee?" Sam inquired. "We’ve got money to pay," he added.

  The man looked at the ground. "We ain’t got much, but I suppose you could have a little of what we do have. Are you part of the posse that’s been chasing after them train robbers?"

  Sam decided to play along. "Yeah, we’re like every other damned fool around, trying to figure out how to get in on that reward money. Why, with all the folks beating the bush, I believe it’s almost like a gold rush." He removed his hat and gestured toward his companion. "I’m Joe Hayes and this is Mack Anderson,"