“What is the matter with the Confederate countryside?” Martha asked.
“Well, hatred I guess,” he answered.
“Do we hate you, David?” Martha asked me.
“Well, I am such a loveable person, everybody just loves me,” I said sarcastically. “I don’t know about anybody else. How come you are leaving the army, Major?”
“I had a choice to stay in, but if I stayed I would be rerated to lieutenant. I don’t want to be a lieutenant out in Arizona somewhere, fighting the Apache. I want to get in to freighting or working for the railroad and hunting buffalo for them. I have some connection with the Union Pacific, and the boom will be on in a couple of years from now. I just want to be ready for it.”
“It’s very interesting how we have been thinking about the same things and we do not even know each other,” I told him.
“Don’t you even think about leaving here, David. We need you right here as our sheriff,” Martha said.
After we finished eating, Martha then had us to go in the other room to relax.
“Actually Martha, I better start back because Liz stays up until I get home,” I told her. “What I originally came out for was to bring you some material for you and the kids. That will be my Christmas present to you and I wanted to deliver it early so you can start sewing,” I told her.
“Well David, I thank you. You have been a life saver to me.”
“Where do you think I can find a place to bed down, Sheriff?” Major Fernley asked.
Martha suggested that he could go up in the attic room and bed down for the night there.
“Are you sure that would be alright, ma’am?” he enquired.
“Sure, you can go in to town with me in the morning and talk to the doctor. Then the sheriff and you can decide about the horse.”
“Thank you very much, ma’am.”
“Call me Martha,” she told him, “Everybody does.”
“Would you please call me Mark?” he insisted.
“Okay, Mark.”
I got up and grabbed my coat. Mark came up and shook hands and thanked me for helping him.
“See you in the morning, Mark,” I told him.
Martha came to the door with me and told me to be very nice to Liz. I told her I am always very nice to her.
“Just in case you don’t already know, she is very much in love with you, so be careful you don’t hurt her,” Martha cautioned.
“You’ve got to be kidding. She is just a little girl.”
“You just be nice to her and look at what’s going on around you once in a while,” she advised.
I gave Martha a kiss and went home. Liz was waiting up for me as usual. I told her about the major that I found and how I took him to Martha’s and all about his plans and my plans of eventually going west.
As I got up to my room, I turned to her and said, “Elizabeth, you are really wonderful.” Then I went inside my room and she came to the door.
“David, you are wonderful too. Goodnight.” The way she said it, I knew Martha was right.
Chapter Ten
The next morning, I went with Moses to the school and we were running up the flag when Martha and the major arrived. We had one surprise after the other. Moses took the wagon and we jumped on board. Moses then informed me that he had started a fire at the jail and put on a pot of coffee. I thanked him and then asked him to drive us over there. The place was nice and warm, and we had a cup of coffee together. The colonel came in and I introduced him to the major; he also had a cup of coffee. This was his regular stop. I saw the doc heading toward the store, so I stopped him and asked him to come in and have a cup of coffee with us. I introduced him to the major and asked him if he would mind looking at a horse out at Martha’s. I explained to him what the problem was, and he said he would come out.
We went out to Martha’s and he looked at the leg, Moses looked too. It was Moses that pointed out a hump-like swelling on the leg. The doc told us that it was definitely a torn ligament. He told Moses to get some sacking and they wrapped it up. The doctor told Mark it would be a long rest for the horse, probably two months, but it would be better to wait until spring just to be safe.
“Now what am I going to do?” Mark asked.
I told him I would be willing to trade for his horse.
“Not a chance,” he told me. “Where can I stay until spring?”
“Right where you are, probably. Why don’t you talk with Martha and make a deal with her on rent and you can probably accomplish what you were going to up north right down here,” I suggested.
We went over to the school while they had their lunch and Martha said we could talk about it tonight. She asked me to come out for dinner, so I could weigh in on the discussion. I asked Moses to saddle Fatima and Abdul for me.
When the kids came home from school, I asked Liz to go out to Martha’s with me. This recognized her as a grown up. We had a nice dinner at Martha’s. After dinner, we went in the living room and asked Mark what he wanted to accomplish while he was stuck with the horse. He told us that we wanted to raise all that he could in food for himself and his helpers, also food for the horses. He had to get the wagons and the teams and start a breeding program for future replacements. I told him that was what I was shooting for too.
“I have seven teams already in partnership with my young friends,” I explained. “There are no horses to be had in this county. Every horse here is needed.”
Mark said that he would have two years to get them, and he had no feed for them anyways.
“How much rent would you be willing to pay?” Martha asked him.
“I would pay fifteen dollars a month and help you here on your farm with my one team if needed. I would pay twenty dollars if I could get my food. But I need some land for oats and some for pasture. I would hunt and help out with anything else you needed as well.”
“When tax time comes, and some horses go on sale, would you buy them and stay here to help with your teams to get another crop in?” Liz asked him.
“I would if I could pick up the other items I would need like wagon’s and harnesses and such.”
“Would you help the sheriff if he needed help, as a deputy?” she probed.
He told her that he would. Martha then told him that it would be alright for him to stay if the room in the attic was good enough for him. On the way home, I told Liz that she had a sharp mind to think of the tax pressure in relation to buying horses.
“I wish I had more cash and not so much credit,” I confessed. “I would like to buy a new wagon. They can make them over by Fort Baker, but they want cash.”
Liz asked how much credit we had piled up at the store.
“We are piling up thirty dollars a month,” I told her. “Part of my pay.”
“How about asking the storekeeper to line up a wagon for us and he can pay for it in credit?” she suggested.
“I think that is a good idea. Let’s go over there and talk to him in the morning.”
“Alright, David.”
The next morning when Mark came to town with Martha he stopped by the jail and had some coffee with me. I told him there was a wagonmaker over by Fort Baker who made fine big freight wagons, but they cost 90 dollars.
“Would you be interested in one?” I asked.
He said he would. “What do you have in mind?” he asked.
I explained to him the shortage of cash and how everybody was working for credit at the store. I told him that he, of course, did not work for credit so he was a cash customer. “How about ordering the two wagons together? And we can let the storekeeper make the deal,” I proposed.
The storekeeper told me it was very possible, he would have to go over and talk to them. Liz was also with me, and we got some Christmas candles. The storekeeper told me that he would like me to take the leftover wheat seed over to the
mill and bring back the flour.
“We have five tons, two wagon loads,” he said.
“Alright,” I told him. “It would be good to work the teams some.”
I sent Jeff and Moses. I got 70 percent of the profit credited to me plus the original cost on the wheat. I felt it was more than fair. I bought a sack of my own flour for the Christmas baking. We let Mary and Vicky bake cookies and take them to school for all the kids. We butchered a hog and had the regular butcher over to make us some smoked sausage. We shot two deer, most of that went with the pork trimmings into the sausage. The butcher made good headcheese and blood sausage too. We had fresh lard for baking.
Our heifer finally had her calf and Moses started milking her a little every day, so we had some milk. All in all, my family was living very well.
Chapter Eleven
Christmas morning we went to church. All of us were wearing something new. Martha and Mark came over after church, along with the Smith’s and we had a nice ham dinner. Martha and Mark were now very close, everybody figured there would be a wedding soon.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if one day they got married?” Liz asked.
“It would be nicer if you and I got married on the same day,” I replied.
She looked at me and said, “Are you funning me?”
“Liz, I love you,” I confessed. She came into my arms and we embraced. She then told me that she had loved me from the moment she met me.
By March we were married, it was a very nice wedding and everybody said so. Our sow had 11 piglets that night and we agreed that was a sign of good luck. A couple of weeks later, Martha and Mark got married too. I was Mark’s best man.
April brought with it the town’s tax notices. The colonel and the storekeeper figured out the taxes for everybody. They gave us until October to be paid up 80 percent, then by December first all remaining taxes had to be paid. Everybody was hiring, but most could see some light in the future.
In April, we bred Fatima and one other mare to Mark’s stud, Diablo. I bred the other two mares to Mr. Baker’s jack. With spring, came more plowing. Everybody wanted every acre plowed and planted for maximum production. We worked for IOU’s now, and all my teams were busy. I kept a team back for wagon work delivering corn and oats. Jeff and Moses went with the horses mostly. Corn had to be planted by the tenth of May and oats could be planted anytime. We plowed until July in new ground where they planted oats.
In August, the harvesting started. We had to get help from other counties and from some Negros who were just wandering around. We gave them work and food. The peas had been harvested already. Our girls went to pick peas at Carl’s and Martha’s and got paid in peas. We had enough peas for a year.
We dug up a big garden that kept everybody busy. We put on a lot of horse manure so it was produced well. Danny carried all the left-over manure to his place and dug a garden, about an acre and a half. Everybody had vegetables, and everybody was putting things up for winter. Liz and the girls were picking beans and tomatoes. We put up a lot of tomatoes; every jar or bottle was used. We even made sauerkraut.
Our cow produced a lot of milk, so we had butter to trade for the things we had no seed for. The grain harvest was good, but it was hard to sell since nobody had cash.
Mark and I went to Fort Baker and got an order for 30 sacks of wheat flour, 10 sacks of corn meal, 50 sacks of corn, and 200 sacks of oats. This was cash money. The first corn that was ready was at Carl’s place, and I started delivering to the army. The flour had already delivered. I was able to sell some of Martha’s corn, and we hauled oats. I owned practically 100 tons of grain myself in the warehouse. Every time we got a buyer that would pay part in cash, we delivered. I traded for 20 head of cattle and paid for it in grain. I then sold all 20 to the army. Other towns wanted our flour, but they had no money. We sent them messages demanding ten percent cash and then we would accept calves, cows, steers, and hogs for remaining payment.
Later on that year, I was able to sell the army 20 more beef. Carl, Martha, and several others paid their taxes, others only paid part; the tax money was going to the army at an acceptable rate. Every time I went to the fort I took some packages of butter and cottage cheese to the officer’s wives; we were well liked.
Our butcher made good sausage. He learned his trade in Bavaria as a boy. Now that we had beef, hogs, and all the ingredients he needed, I started taking some of these sausages to the army wives along with eggs just as presents. Then the commander ordered 200 pounds of smoked sausage and 50 slabs of bacon. We delivered and gave him a good price on our products. We bought two more new wagons. This time I paid cash for my wagon and Mark paid with IOU’s.
We were back to plowing the fields again. Everybody wanted full production for the following year now that everybody had seed. They planted winter wheat and then we would cut hay for the winter. I earned most by working with my teams. Then we went back to cutting wood again.
One day four men rode in while I sat in the jail with Mark and the doc, drinking coffee. The four rode by and I could see trouble coming. I could tell these were hardened, fighting men. I handed Mark two Army Colt .44’s and asked him to back me. I started to walk down the street after the riders. They stopped in front of the sore and saw me coming and then turned my way to see what I might want.
“Good morning, boys. I am the sheriff in this county and we don’t allow armed men on our streets in town,” I told them.
“You planning to take our guns away from us?” said one of the men, laughing.
“If you want, just turn around and ride right out of town before anybody gets hurt,” I suggested.
A bearded man said, “We will leave just as soon as we get all of the supplies we came after.” Then he half turned around and pulled his gun.
I shot him, and the rest reached for their guns but I kept shooting. When we laid them out and looked through their gear, we found 10,000 dollars in gold. I told everybody that it was stolen money and that I would lock it up in the jail. We put their horses in the corral behind the jail and all their guns and saddles and everything else went inside.
A captain and ten troops rode into town. This was Captain Brown from Fort Baker. He rode up and told me he was after four outlaws.
“Did you see them?” he asked.
“Yeah, we saw them Captain.”
“Which way did they go?”
“Over that way,” I directed.
He saw a couple of feet sticking out of the wagon.
“What did they do?” I asked.
“They held up the train to Memphis and got ten thousand dollars.”
“The money is locked up in the jail,” I assured him.
Mark came over and asked how much the reward was. The captain laughed and said, “If there is any, you men will certainly get it.”
The colonel came over and saluted Brown. Then the captain asked what happened to the men’s gear. I told him that since we cannot keep any tax money to maintain the sheriff’s office and we must bury them, we usually auction off anything worth auctioning. The captain seemed to think that was fair.
“Even sheriffs have to eat,” I mentioned.
“How much does it cost to maintain your office?” he asked me.
“Around one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month,” I stated.
The captain promised that he would talk to the colonel about giving our county a tax credit to maintain the sheriff’s office. “You have been a lot of help to us, Sheriff,” he told me.
The captain went back to Fort Baker with the money and two weeks later we got a letter giving us the tax credit to maintain the sheriff’s department. With that, our taxes were paid. So for those that did not have their money yet, they could pay the colonel with IOU’s.
That next Saturday we auctioned off the four horses; cash first, no bids. Then the real bidding started. There were three geldings
and a mare. I got one gelding for 19 dollars. Mark got the mare for 22 dollars. The colonel got a gelding for 16 dollars and a farmer got one for 17 dollars. All IOU’s.
Mark now had two teams and two wagons. My mares started to foal now. Big Bertha had her little mule, so our replacement teams were coming. Captain Brown found Mark five geldings and he went after them.
Mark and I decided that we were going north in June and would winter somewhere around St. Louis, so that we could get working in the spring. Mark told us that he would line up the work; he was convinced that there would be plenty. Mark fixed up one of Martha’s wagons for her and the kids to live in. He was going to load the other two with grain and oats, mostly. My smaller wagon was going to be loaded down with enough food to feed us all for a year.
Martha taught school again that winter. Christmas was a little better too because more things were now available. We still had the meat contract with Fort Baker, but Mr. Jones, the storekeeper, was managing it. Slowly I was getting my money that was owed to me. Liz figured that we would be worth over 1,000 dollars when I had all my money. Martha had a cousin down south that lost his farm and he was coming up with his family to run her farm. Everything was shaping up fine. Our cow had another calf.
Because of the horse shortage, a lot of the farmers were training oxen for work. Mark picked up four more horses at Fort Baker. He was going to leave one team on the farm and go with the rest. In May, he planned to go to St. Louis by rail with Martha and rent a small farm for pasture and hay so that when we got up there we would have a place to stay.
Liz was pregnant, so I told him that she would be going by rail too. I talked to John and Danny and they were coming with me with the wagons, then back by rail after we got to St. Louis.
We did a lot of freighting in the spring and Jeff and Moses did a lot of field work. We got enough canvas to cover all the wagons. I finally paid off all that I owed and collected my money from Mr. Jones at the store. I talked a lot to the colonel and told him to handle the sheriff’s job himself until John got back so the county would receive credit for running a sheriff’s department. All of the taxes in the county were paid up. We were the only county in Alabama where all the taxes were accounted for.
Sheriff Tucker Page 7