Sheriff Tucker

by Laszlo Endrody

  Chapter Twelve

  May came and Mark left for St. Louis by himself. The next event was Little David being born. He was a healthy, big boy. All three girls were continuously doing something for him; the little guy did not have any grandmothers, instead he had three mothers.

  Mark came back three weeks later and told us that he had bought a small farm with a five-room house and he wanted the girls up there. Martha, Liz, Vicky, and little David went up while the rest of us got ready with the wagons. After a lot of goodbye’s and good luck’s we left Sand Rock and headed north in late May. Big Bertha was teamed up now with her daughter, Big Lil. Behind every wagon were two young colts or mules; except for the last wagon with our cow and calf. Mark had Diablo harnessed up and we kept Abdul and Fatima out of harness. I was riding Abdul most of the time, and Fatima’s colt would run behind us. We hired a Negro to drive for us, so we had all the wagons manned. Mary was driving the food wagon; she was getting to be a big girl now.

  Just outside of Huntsville, Mark busted a wheel on one of his wagons. I went on in to Huntsville and bought two new matching wheels for Mark. They wanted to work on the busted wheel before too long, so I figured we would get it fixed in St. Louis and keep the new one’s for spares. From Huntsville, we headed for Nashville and from Nashville we went to Evansville where it rained for three days straight. Then we went on to St. Louis and on to our new home.

  I liked the farm that Mark bought, especially when I heard he only paid 300 dollars for it. We talked things over between us about finances. He told me that he was a little short because of the purchase, so I suggested to him that I pay for the farm and then I would give him back the purchase price. While I was looking around the area, I found a farmer that had a Clydesdale stud. In no time I had Big Bertha and Big Lil over there to get bred. I also bought two Clydesdale geldings from him. I found a wagon maker that built large heavy freight wagons, and I bought one for 105 dollars. Now I had my five wagons. Mark went and ordered two just like the one I bought. He also bought four teams of mules. Mark was negotiating with a friend of his to haul for the survey gang that was going to spearhead the builders.

  I was shopping all over town to buy the extra things we would need; cooking supplies, lanterns, shovels, picks, more blankets. I bought myself and Jeff a Spencer rifle; I could shoot one now, resting the stock on my hook. I found a gun smith that was converting pistols to copper cartridges, and I left one of my Navy Colts for conversion.

  A week later I was going in to town to pick it up. I had another stop to pick up my suit and Liz’s new dress; so I picked those up first and then my gun. I liked the feel of it and it was a lot easier for me to load with my one good hand. I loaded it up and left the store.

  As I was loading things up, the sun was starting to go down. I had the gun in my belt and I also had an open holster that I carried loaded with another Navy Colt. The first gun usually came out of my belt.

  It was getting dark and the fog was coming in from the river with no breeze to clear it up. I was walking over to the livery stable where I gave the boy 20 cents to groom my horse for me. A carriage was going down the road very slowly. I noticed a little ways from me that two men had run out into the street and grabbed the carriage horses and held guns on the occupants. Without hesitation, I pulled my gun and shot the one on my side. I saw him stagger and I ran out into the street to get a shot at the other. He wanted me because he stepped away from the horses. I shot him too. I then asked the fellow driving the carriage if he was alright.

  “My lady friend just fainted,” he said.

  “You’d better get her home,” I told him. “I will get the police to look after these road agents.”

  “Thank you very much for your help,” he stated and then he went on his way.

  One of the men I shot was still alive. He was shot in the shoulder and he was moaning. A deputy came down the street and looked at the two. He knew them both.

  “You should have killed him, now we will have to hang him,” said the deputy. “Both of these men were wanted for murder.”

  He put my name down and said there was a reward on both. He asked me to come by the sheriff’s office the next day to give them a statement.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Over on River View, the carriage pulled up and a young man ran up to the door and rang the bell. The butler opened the door.

  “Good evening, Mr. Morris,” greeted the butler.

  “Come down to the carriage, James, and help me with Miss Linda.”

  James went down and carried Ms. Linda into the house and put her down on a couch. Everybody came down to see what the commotion was all about.

  “Linda fainted,” explained John Morris. “We were held up by two bandits, and a gentleman stepped out in the street and shot both bandits. I don’t know who he was. He wore good clothes; he was an ex-soldier and had on a blue campaign hat. He was a pleasant chap that only had one arm.”

  Mr. Belden came down to see what was going on. His wife was sitting next to Linda. Linda was still looked peaked.

  “Bad experience for you, my dear,” Mr. Belden stated.

  John explained everything to Mr. Belden and then Linda said, “It was Jonathan. He came out of the fog.”

  “Get a hold of yourself,” said Mr. Belden.

  “This man was no ghost, Mr. Belden. This man held a gun and certainly knew how to use it.”

  Linda jumped up and down and ran to her room. She came out with a picture and put it in front of John. She was certain that this was this man she who had helped them. He looked at a picture of a young sergeant in uniform.

  She then said, “This man looked like this boy, but he was older; probably an officer. He was very sure of himself and a gentleman. Of course Johnathan would be older now.”

  “Well,” said John, “Whoever he was, he was no ghost. He was just as alive as we are standing here.”

  Mrs. Belden was crying quietly for her son. Linda showed John out and then went to her mother and said, “I am sorry mother, but it was such a shock to see Johnathan. I wish I wouldn’t have fainted.”

  Mr. Belden went to his office and reread the letter that he received from Johnathan’s captain. The captain stated that had been Johnathan was hit most likely by a cannonball that took his arm off. His corporal put a tourniquet on his arm and then they got overrun. He believed Johnathan to be dead. He wrote that Johnathan Belden was a very brave and able sergeant. They were considering him for battlefield commission, etc. Mr. Belden was wondering if his son was alive and why he had not come home. He sure could use an able son with all of his responsibilities.

  That next morning Mr. Belden got his carriage harnessed up and headed over to the sheriff’s office. His big dog jumped in the carriage with him. They stopped at the sheriff’s office and both got out. He went in while his dog picked up a scent and took off down the street. Mr. Belden was inside and did not see that his dog had run off after a scent. He went inside the jail and asked the sheriff about the shooting and the one-armed gunman that had saved the kids from getting robbed.

  “Did you find out who that gentleman was?” he asked.

  “Yes of course, he just left here ten minutes ago. That was Sheriff Tucker from Alabama. He was sheriff in Sand Rock. He naturally stepped in when he was needed. I guess him being an experienced sheriff and all he just reacted automatically to the situation,” the sheriff stated.

  “How can he be from Alabama? John Morris told me he wore a blue campaign hat.”

  “I asked him the same and he told me that he fought with the north. He was a pleasant young man, but very hard. I would hate to be a criminal and go up against him. I guess he will be working for you. Him and a major are trying to get a contract to supply your survey teams. They have ten wagons and teams and are looking for work.”

  “Interesting,” said Mr. Belden, who was the senior V.P. of the Union Pacific.


  Chapter Fourteen

  I picked up my wife at the doctors. She went in for a checkup because of a cold that seemed to settle in her chest. When I went outside, a big dog jumped up and tried to lick my face. He was a nice friendly dog, so I scratched him behind the ears and he licked my hand. We got up on the wagon and the dog jumped in the back.

  “That dog knows you, David,” Liz stated.

  “How could he?” I asked, “I’ve never been to this town.”

  The following day Mark came home and said, “We have a job.” I asked him if we got the contract for the spring.

  “Yes, my boy! But starting next week we are on standby to haul anything they need. By the way, who do you know with U.P.?”

  “No one, why?” I asked.

  “Well, I went in to check on things and a fellow asked me if I was Sheriff Tucker’s partner. I told him I was and then he invited me in to his office and told me we were on the payroll. Then he took me around and introduced me to everyone, I shook a lot of hands. The senior V.P. asked me if I have known you long. I told him that I was your deputy once and we became friends. He asked me how you could be a sheriff in a Confederate county, and I told him that was the first thing that I asked you when we met too. I told him that you told me the rebels liked the way you did your job.”

  That next morning we went in to meet the boss. He wanted to see both of us. His name was Belden. I figured that we had all better go meet the boss if we were going to be talking business, so I invited Liz to go with us. I put on my suit jacket, hiding my smock somewhat, and Liz put on her new riding skirt. She looked really nice. We rode in, Mark on Diablo and the two of us on the Arabs. The dog followed behind. We got to the Union Pacific’s head office and a man came out and took our horses.

  “Hi Duke,” the butler greeted the dog.

  “Is that your dog?” Liz asked.

  “That is Mr. Belden’s dog,” the butler replied.

  We went in and they sat us down and brought us coffee. Duke came in and plopped down like he owned the place. Finally, we went in to Mr. Belden’s office; he had us sit down. I seated Liz on a chair, Mark took the other chair, and I sat on the couch. Mr. Belden asked us to tell him our backgrounds. Mark told Mr. Belden all about himself, as well as his schooling and his commands in the service. Liz’s turn was next; she told him that she and her siblings had lost their father in a shootout with the sheriff and that her father ended up dying from his injuries. She then told him that the sheriff took her and her siblings in, and that she later married the sheriff and they had a little boy.

  “Do you always go with the men?” he asked her.

  “My husband wants me along. He tells me I have a sharp mind.”

  Duke the dog came in and jumped up on the couch and put his head in my lap, I started to scratch his ears.

  “Our dog seems to know you, Sheriff,” Mr. Belden said.

  “He stayed with us last night,” I replied.

  “I was wondering where he was. Well, Sheriff, I am thinking of putting you in charge of the whole survey party. Do you have someone that could take over your wagons?”

  “Yes sir, Mr. Belden, my brother in law, Jeff McGregor, can run the freighting for us. He is my partner anyway.”

  “Major, I would like you in the number two job; but that’s up to Sheriff Tucker,” Mr. Belden stated.

  “Mark would also be my choice,” I agreed.

  “I kind of figured that. I will have an office ready for you gentlemen in a couple of days. Then I will try to lay out the whole operation for you, so when you get out in the field you will be ready for the job.”

  Mr. Belden went home that night in deep thought. He sent for his doctor friend. When the doctor came, they went to his study and he poured two drinks. They sat down and Belden took out the letter about his son and let the doctor read it.

  “I just talked to my son,” he told the doctor. “However, my son does not know me. He seems to be fine and did a fine job as a sheriff in a southern town. What I would like to know is how could he forget who he really is?”

  “Shock after an injury as terrible as the one he sustained can cause complete loss of memory,” the doctor explained. “Sometimes it will come back. How does he look otherwise?”

  “Well, he looks like a tough young man that you don’t want to mess with. He has a hook for an arm, but after he is around you for a while you don’t notice it anymore. He doesn’t seem to miss his arm. He also has a lovely wife and a son.”

  “What are you planning to do?”

  “Well, I gave him one hell of a job. I’ve been wanting to can Wilson anyway; I just don’t trust him anymore. I want to see what kind of man my boy has made of himself.”

  When we got home, we all sat down and the first thing I said was, “Why me Mark?” Mark told me that Belden had obviously heard about me and liked what had he heard.

  “You may not know it, but you are one hell of a tough man Dave,” Mark said. “The reason no longer matters, but I think we can do a good job for old Belden; the kind of job that he will expect. I know just enough about surveying that no surveyor will be able to fool me.”

  “Well Mark, I don’t know anything about surveying,” I confessed.

  “So what? We will both learn all that we can.”

  “He should have picked you for the top job,” I said.

  “What difference does it make which one of us has the top job? We are in and that is all that counts. We work this out together and we will not fail.”

  “That is right,” said Liz. “Mark told me that you will both get paid same as line superintendents. What else could we want? Jeff can run the freighting for us and we will make good money with that too. The girls will manage the farm and with all of our replacement colts we will be busy.”

  The next day we went to the office and Mr. Belden was not there. I told one of his assistants that we would like to ride out to the railhead with our horses to look over the terrain. He told us that he would give us supervisor passes that would give us complete authority over any train crew. It was arranged that we would go with the work train the following morning. They would put a car on for our office and a boxcar for our mounts. The rest of the day, we studied maps that were available.

  We met two engineers, one oversaw the road-bed and the other was a bridge builder. The bridge super, as they called him, was an ex-army engineer, Captain Pierce. He was very happy about our appointment. He told us that he had nothing but problems working with Wilson in the past. He promised that he would work with us very closely. As it turned out, he had to get to the railhead himself. He was building a bridge over some canyon sized washes but he needed to get all of his supplies up there.

  We loaded Diablo and Abdul on a boxcar the next morning. Pierce was already in a bunk sleeping in our office car. However, he had coffee made for us. One of his foremen came in to wake him up and told him that they were not coupling on the cars with the timbers we needed. They were sending some big culverts instead of the timbers.

  The road-bed engineer arrived too, “Let’s get this train moving,” he said.

  I told him to have both cars coupled on and then I went back to the conductor and told him to couple on the cars with the timbers, as well as the cars with the culverts. He did what I said when I showed the conductor my pass.

  We took off down the line. We had food in the car and Pierce started the cooking as soon as he got his rest.

  Pierce told us, “On this job you must rest whenever you can. It is not the job, it is the politics that get you down,”

  “The first thing I want to see are the washes in question,” I told Pierce.

  We rode up there and there were actually three washes, with the center one as deep as a canyon. Pierce wanted to bridge the whole thing, but as soon as I looked at it I could see that no culvert would handle the center wash; however, the two side washes we
re going to be no problem. I told Pierce that we should use the culverts on the small washes and bridge the middle wash. I asked him to put that on paper to see how it would look. Pierce looked at it for a while, along with the other engineers, and they all decided that it was the answer. I asked Mark to get on the engine and get head of office’s approval so construction could begin. He was on his way an hour later.

  Two hours later, a message came through. The message read, Tucker Solution Approved. -Belden.

  Wilson rode back from his survey party. “What the hell do you think you are doing sticking your nose in to my responsibilities?” he questioned.

  “Your solution for the wash was unacceptable,” I said. “You can see how high the water has reached in the wash. Just roughly estimating the weight of the water, you should be able to see that no culverts will handle that amount of current and in no time at all it would be washed out. However, having the culverts in the smaller washes will make the bridging much simpler.”

  “I will not have that,” Wilson said.

  I showed Wilson the authorization from Belden. He walked away from me and wrote a message to Belden: Will not tolerate interference at the rail head by head office personnel. Get Tucker out of here or I quit.

  A message came back almost instantly addressed to Tucker: Fire Wilson. -Belden.

  I went over to Wilson and told him to pack up his gear, he was fired. I showed him the message, so there would be no more delays in everyone questioning who the boss was. I went over to the engineers and told them our solution had been approved by head office.