"The Young West" The Joey Zackary Story

By Will Welton

In the old American west young girls and boys, at times, had to grow up fast. One day they might be playing with dolls or shooting make believe bad hombres or Indians. The next day they might have to deal with their parents and kin folks being killed by Indians or desperadoes. Some times they had to care for the younger children or just try to survive the pearls which came their way.
The fortunate were adopted by folks and some of the folks were as bad as not having anyone to depend on for the future. Some folks that took the children into their home not only beat them but also worked those hard and long hours with little or no food. The good folks nurtured the children, raised them as one of their own, and provided for them. While other children survived anyway they possibly could by what ever means available to them.
The basic story about the young man in the book actually happened to a person which I had the honor to know in his old age. He lived near Dustan Oklahoma and was a friend of my fathers. He also told me more of his early days as a Deputy U.S. Marshal which I will try to garner from my memory and what few notes that I have on what he said. Also I have researched about the law in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma and have found his name on several documents.
This novel is part of the YOUNG WEST series. Other books are Cane Longbow Range Detective and Spoof’s Treasure with more to be published at a later date. There will be more to come about the young people of the old west.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Will Welton
• Release date: Feb 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476019666

Will Welton

I grew up during the 1940’s and 1950’s, in the Choctaw (McCurtain and Choctaw Counties) and Creek Indian (Okmulgee County) Nations of Oklahoma, with the spoken languages of Choctaw, Ojibwa, Spanish and English was an asset in my knowledge of story telling. Most of the time I lived on Jamaica Street in Idabel Oklahoma. My stepfather knew a lot of the old outlaws of the late 1800 and the early 1900. there were a lot of old men living on the street that my stepfather said were old outlaws and old lawmen from earlier times.When I entered school I had trouble with writing down the English language for the way we spoke where I lived was not what I was being told so my writing was atrocious. As I advance in the grades at school my writing was not getting better. I got a job working doing part time work at the State Theater when I was only ten years old. A reporter, that worked part time at the theater when the owner was out of town or needed to do other things, for the McCurtain County Gazette told me, “Write down the stories and the things you have done in life for some day they would be useful in keeping the tales of the old folks alive after we all are gone.” I took his advice and he helped me in my writing of what I heard in the neighbor hood and it helped me immensely in junior and senior high school at Idabel.I was working various jobs from the age of twelve doing things from cowboy, working with cattle, loading lumber or fence post on to trucks, building fences and farmer, hoeing cotton, picking cotton, stripping corn, and plowing. When got my driver licenses I started driving small trucks and hauling freight and hay. Form there I went to work for the Saint Louis San Francisco Railroad as a labor and later carpenter rebuilding wooden bridges to holding, the positions of Foreman of a bridge gang.I enlisted in the army as a buck private and worked my way up in rank to hold the position of Command Sergeant Major of a battalion in the Army. The experience gave me the opportunity to meet a wide variety of people. I was medically discharged from the military with an honorable discharge. After a few years and I got my health up and running, so to speak, I did construction work until finally being forced to retire completely because of my health.Moving near Russellville Alabama because my two sons came to this area to work and raise my grand-children. After over twenty years here on the mountain top my wife and I bought coming to this area we enjoy the people and the country side. Now I live and play near the Crooked Oak community near nine of my grand-children and my one great grand children.I have written short stories, young adult books, free lance magazine articles, articles for several news papers and write novels about the tales of the old folks when I was growing up. In addition, to the western novels, I have also written two mysteries of modern day times.

Book preview

Introduction

In the old American west young girls and boys, at times, had to grow up fast. One day they might be playing with dolls or shooting make believe bad hombres or Indians. The next day they might have to deal with their parents and kin folks being killed by Indians or desperadoes. Some times they had to care for the younger children or just try to survive the pearls which came their way.

The fortunate were adopted by folks and some of the folks were as bad as not having anyone to depend on for the future. Some folks that took the children into their home not only beat them but also worked those hard and long hours with little or no food. The good folks nurtured the children, raised them as one of their own, and provided for them. While other children survived anyway they possibly could by what ever means available to them.

The basic story about the young man in the book actually happened to a person which I had the honor to know in his old age. He lived near Dustan Oklahoma and was a friend of my fathers. He also told me more of his early days as a Deputy U.S. Marshal which I will try to garner from my memory and what few notes that I have on what he said. Also I have researched about the law in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma and have found his name on several documents.

This novel is part of the YOUNG WEST series. Other books are Cane Longbow Range Detective and Spoof’s Treasure with more to be published at a later date. There will be more to come about the young people of the old west.

Some of the currency names in the old west consisted of

the following as they were called.

Two Bits- was 25 cents or a quarter

Four Bits- was 50 cents, a half dollar, or half a cartwheel

Six Bits- was 75 cents

Silver Dollar- was a dollar or called a cartwheel

Two and a half- a coin worth $2.50 dollars

Half Eagle or Single Eagle - was a ten dollar coin of gold

Double Eagle - was a twenty dollar coin of gold

Yellow Backs- came in fifty and one hundred dollar denominations thought to be backed

by gold standard.

Of course there were other names for money in the west but the above is the basics names most people used.

Glossary for words used by some of the folks of the west is located in the back of the book.

Also included in the back of the book is the list of characters which play an important part of the book and the next one which is in the works.

Chapter One

Joey had been walking since early that morning at a fairly brisk walk. The morning had started off cool with a cloudless sky. However, as the day progressed, it had turned to hot and muggy with clouds building up in the north. The time he had stopped at Macintyre had been a waist. Macintyre was a two building place with a two horse type of town. One of the buildings was just an outhouse and the two horses were tied to a tree near the store, if you wanted to call it that. There was more dust inside the store on the floor and shelves than out on the road in front. He had bought a can of peaches, which had no label, for his lunch for a change of fair and a pound of coffee beans. However he had walked another hour before he stopped to open the can. He soon found out the man at the store would lie to you for the can only contained four small potatoes.

He stopped walking and set on a boulder near the road, dropped his haversack on the ground, and pulled his right boot off of his foot. Dumping a few pebbles out of the boot he could see the hole in the sole was growing in size and the stitching, which held the sole to the top of the boot, was coming loose.

You had better get these boots fixed or invest in another pair of foot wear. Maybe this Maple City up ahead will have something in your size or a boot repair shop. Joey said out loud to no one but himself since it had been hours that the last horseman had passed him on the road. You should have had it sewed when you stayed at Winfield them two days. Since it was getting over in the day with the sun about one hand above the horizon he decided to walk up the creek, which angled toward the road, and maybe set his three snares and have rabbit for supper if he happened to catch a rabbit.

Joey got to thinking about what Mister Chatsworth had said about a man could out walk a horse and he could travel farther on foot in a day then a horse unless the horse was run. However he had said that if you bought a horse to travel with that someone would try to steal the horse and saddle for their own or to sell. Yuaha even though that was sound advice I’m thinking about buying me a horse pretty soon because I’m tired of walking. Joey said, as he looked the brush over.

Joey slowed down his walking pace as he neared the creek bank where scrub oak, willow, and a few cedars were growing. He spotted a rabbit or small game trail through the brush where small animals had used in going to and from the water at the creek. It took him only minutes to set the leather string into a trap which would be tripped as the animal ran through the string and the animal would be caught in the slip noose, jerking the string loose from the hold down stick setting the limb loose to yank upward. Being about fifty feet from the road he decided to move on up the creek and look for two more places to set his string trap.

He had gone another fifty or so feet and he was working his way into the brush line and found another animal run. There he sat the second string trap and then moved on up the creek. Instead of finding an animal run he found a wide place where it looked as if something had been dragged into the woods.

Looking back across the grass land he could see where the drag marks started over a hundred feet from the trees. Looking the way towards the creek there was small brush crushed and broken. There were bloody marks on the grass and the brush all along the dragged area. He did not know whether to easily move back to where his traps were set or go on down toward the water.

Joey you should just leave and not get involved with whatever is down there, he said out loud and it scared him. He has never talked much to himself before yesterday and it had been six days since leaving Ellsworth. Macintyre was the only other place he had heard another voice. After thinking a minute he said, What the hell someone might need what little help I can give them. He moved slowly walking down the drag marks and as he neared the water he could see what appeared to be a man lying on his back with his head into the water.

Hey Mister are you awake? There was no answer or movement from the man so Joey said louder, Mister! Hey you need some help? There was no reply to his asking and the man sure did not move so Joey walked on down to the creek bank to near the man’s head whose hair was in the water. The man was lying face up and there was blood all down his face and the front of his shirt.

Joey walked back up to a more level place away from the creek and dropped the bedroll and haversack from his back. He then returned to the man and said as he took hold of the man’s arm, Mister we need to get you to higher ground in case it rains and the creek swells up over your head. Joey tugged on the man’s arm and did not move the man one bit. He got another hold on the arm and dug in his heels as he leaned back putting his leg and arm muscles in a hard strain. He put all of his one hundred ten pounds of weight and his five foot frame in the next pull. The man moved about two feet from where he had been lying. After four times of dong this Joey had to rest and he could see he had moved only about eight feet.

Joey was sure glad the man was not more then five foot five and looked, as he did not weigh much more then one hundred fifty pounds. The man still lay below where the water line had been when the creek was on the rampage and out of the creek banks.

After he rested a few minutes he took hold of the man and with determination he keep at it until he had the man up to where he wanted to stop. Joey lay back for a while letting his muscles rest and then he got up and removed the man’s pistol from the holster around the waist and the long knife. He placed the items over by the haversack and opened the haversack. Taking out his small pan Joey then went to the creek and filled it with water. Returning to the man Joey took a clean handkerchief, from his haversack, and proceeded to clean the man’s wound. The gash ran from the left side of the head to the right side and was down to white skull bone. Joey finally got the wound cleaned of dirt, hair, and two pieces of felt. He then pulled the gap together and after seeing it would not stay closed he retrieve his needle and thread from the haversack. Since the man’s head was so low to the ground Joey put the haversack under the man’s head to raise the head up to where he could sew the cut.

Joey carefully put eight stitches in the man’s scalp and then took the wet handkerchief and laid it over the gash. Setting back on his heels he said, That surly ain’t a perty stitching but it should hold till you can get a doctor to look at the cut. Joey rose and replaced his needle and thread in the top of the haversack. Joey gathered up some of the dead limbs the trees had shed for lack of sunlight and then he made a fire ring out of the stones lying close to the creek. He then took the last of his line traps and walked up stream until he could find a place to set the trap. As he was fixing the trap he heard a horse stomp and then came a snort.

Joey rose up and listened for it was not long until he heard the horse stomp again. He got his bearings on the direction the horse sound had come from and he maneuvered through the brush. As he walked he was thinking of what he was going to do with the man if he died. Joey said, Shoot fire leave him lay or bury the man. That is when he heard the horse snort close to the water. Joey angled down towards the creek and could see the horse standing near the waters edge with his head straining to turn towards the water.

Joey could see the horse had the bridle reins tangled up in the brush. Joey talked low to calm the horse as he neared and the horse did not try to pull away or try to run. Joey chaffed the horse’s nose as he untangled the bridle. He then let the horse move on down to the water and drank thirstily. When the horse finished drinking Joey turned the horse and led him back to near where the man was lying at the edge of the woods.

Joey tied the reins to a small tree and then he started to tug on the cinch leather holding the girth strap under the horse’s belly. It took all of his strength to get the saddle loose and then he pulled on the stirrup until the saddle fell on the ground making the horse shy sideways a few steps. He then looked into one side of the saddle bags and in the first one he found a small coffee pot, a short rope with leather straps and buckles on each end, and a small frying pan. Joey rebuckled the saddle bag, put the hobbles on the horse, and took off the bridle from the horse’s head letting the horse loose for the night. He then untied the man’s bedroll and sack which was on top of the bedroll. He looked into the sack and could see several cans, paper sacks, and some other items. He took his find over to where he had laid the fire, deposited the items on the ground, and then went to the creek to fill the coffee pot.

Returning to the campsite he noticed the man had turned on his side and seemed to be breathing easier. However the man had his eyes closed and Joey could not tell if the man was awake or asleep. The last rays of sunlight were going through the trees and Joey took he items from the bag and laid them down to see what the man had brought in the way of food. To his surprise he found a block of matches wrapped tightly in oil paper, coffee, salt, bacon, flour, along with two cans of beans, two cans of peaches, and two cans of tomatoes. The best find in the sack was a small sack of brown sugar in cubes.

Joey lit the fire and he remembered the old man Mister Chatsworth he had talked to in Ellsworth that had been a hunter. He had said about keeping the fire small and being sure to put the fire out before it got dark. Mister Chatsworth also had said, Not to camp where you build a fire but you need to move on a mile or so before rolling out your blankets to sleep at night. Well at least he could keep the fire small and put it out before dark. Joey used the big knife of the man to slice four pieces of bacon into the small skillet and put it on the fire to cook. The coffee water was bubbling and Joey moved it from the flames. He tried to think what he had heard about how much coffee to add to the water with a pot this small and came up with four pinches using his thumb and two fingers.

While waiting for the coffee to seep he turned the bacon several times before he thought he had cooked it enough. He set the pan from the fire and the he scattered the sticks, sticking the burning end into the ground. He then scattered the coals and took the big knife digging into the ground covering the coals with dirt. Next he then added several pinches of sugar into the coffee pot, stirred the coffee with a clean stick, and tried to sip some of the coffee from the pot since he did not have a cup. He burnt his lips before setting the pot down and he remembered there was a cup in the saddle bag. He got up, went over to the saddle, and retrieved the cup from the saddle bag. When he got back to the fire he poured half a cup of coffee and let the coffee cool in the cup a minute before drinking from the cup.

After eating and drinking two half cups of coffee, Joey put the food back into the bag, and then took the bag over to the tree and hung the bag from a limb. When he was through tying the bag to the limb the bottom of the bag was only about four foot off the ground. Joey unrolled his bedding underneath the bag so that he would be sleeping between the bag and the ground. That way the small animals would not try to get the food stuffs in the bag. He then took the man’s bedroll and unrolled it beside the man. He then pulled the bedding over the man and stood back for the man was breathing heavily.

It was getting darker and Joey was not yet sleepy. While he set there watching the man Joey got to thinking of Mister Chatsworth. Joey had helped Mister Chatsworth of a morning to clean the cuspidor spittoons in the saloon where his father did most of his gambling. He also helped in cleaning the stables where the old man had slept in the winter or when it was raining and he got paid a few dollars for the cleaning. Mister Chatsworth had tried to give Joey money on several occasions and Joey had refused saying that he needed something to pass the time while his father slept. His father played cards till the wee hours of the morning and at times till after daylight. Joey would leave the room when his father came in so his father could get some sleep without being interrupted.

Mister Chatsworth would tell Joey about things he had done and even showed Joey how to track, build small fires, make moccasins, and many other things down in the gully where the old man had a camp. He only stayed at the livery in bad weather because of his old bones hurting badly. Joey still remembers and had bad dreams about when Deputy Sheriff Burleson came to the room early one morning instead of his father. The Deputy Sheriff told Joey about there being a shoot out in the saloon and his father being hit by a stray bullet during the shoot out. The Deputy Sheriff had given Joey the four hundred ninety dollars that his father had on the card table and in his pockets along with his father watch, pocket knife, pocket .32 caliber pistol, and a locket with Joey’s mother’s picture inside the locket.

The clerk in the hotel had told Joey that day that the rent was paid to the end of the week which was four days from then. After his father funeral which only Mister Chatsworth, a preacher and the grave digger were present, Joey felt lost and down in feelings. Mister Chatsworth had set with him during the day and night. The next day Joey had helped Mister Chatsworth with is jobs and when they were finished they went back to Mister Chatsworth’s campsite.

Joey was in a daze and they talked about what Joey wanted to do with his life and if he was going to hang around Ellsworth. Mister Chatsworth had told him that if anything happened to him for Joey to come back to the dugout and take the things he might want or need to go on to Colorado as his father had talked about doing. It had been late when Joey went back to the hotel and to the room with out eating for he just was not hungry that night.

The next morning the knocking on the door awaken Joey to find the hotel clerk telling him that he needs the room and he gave Joey two dollars telling him to get his things and leave the hotel. The room had been rented to a man and his wife waiting in the lobby and for Joey to leave the room. The hotel clerk had even helped Joe pack what few belongings that was in the room and carried the small valise from the room and down the stairs.

The hotel clerk had set the valise behind the desk and had said that if a room became available for Joey to use and he still had the two dollars he could get the room. That Joey could pick up the bag later in the day. Joey hesitated about leaving the valise with the clerk because of the nine hundred dollars hidden in the bottom of the valise. That was his fathers hold money in case he lost his stake at the poker tables. Joey had not wanted to wage the bag around town and he had left the bag at the hotel. Then he went to the Texas Saloon to find Mister Chatsworth and talk with him. Joey entered the bat winged doors and could not see Mister Chatsworth.

Joey went over close to the bar and Harm the bartender said, Joey it’s about time one of you came in to clean up. Where is the old man Chatsworth this morning?

I don’t know Mister Harm. Hasn’t he come in this morning?

Naw he hasn’t made it yet. Have you looked down at his summer home?

No sir I’ll check at Mister Kelly’s livery because he cleans it today.

Well if you find him let me know.

Joey turned and left the saloon heading towards Kelly’s Livery. It was only a short walk because Ellsworth Kansas had fifteen buildings and that included the four houses setting back away from town. Most of the people lived in part of the building where their business was or at one of the hotels in town. The bawling of cattle could be heard in every direction because he had been told there were at least five to ten herds of longhorns waiting for the buyers or on rail cars to load the cattle into for shipment on the railroad. Joey passed Tillman Livery for there were two of them in town along with five different types of saloons.

He came around the front of the corral into the cool breeze way of the Kelly Livery and he could see that Mister Chatsworth had not been here today for all of the manure. Joey walked