The Old Marshal's Last Gunfight

The Old Marshal’s Last Gunfight

By Del David

Published by Del David at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Del David

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapter 1 Death of Tom

Chapter 2 Dave joins the Texas Rangers

Chapter 3 Dave gets his training

Chapter 4 Dave’s first assignment

Chapter 5 Dave and Johnny

Chapter 6 Dave’s second assignment

Chapter 7 Dave shoots his first man

Chapter 8 Dave brings in an outlaw

Chapter 9 Dave gets more guns

Chapter 10 Amarillo and Red Thunder

Chapter 11 Colorado City and the fence

Chapter 12 Texas Rangers disbanded

Chapter 13 Santa Fe and Baldy Jones

Chapter 14 Dave gets shot

Chapter 15 Trouble in Santa Fe

Chapter 16 Dave leaves for Texas and buys a ranch

Chapter 17 Dave gets married, elected Sheriff and Maryanne dies

Chapter 18 Big trouble in Anson

Chapter 19 Storekeeper murdered

Chapter 20 Cattle rustlers and death

Chapter 21 Dave is appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal in Big Spring

Chapter 22 Tracking down the killer

Chapter 23 Bringing in the killer

Chapter 24 Rustlers and Rattlesnake Gap

Chapter 25 Dave faces four gunmen

About Author

Connect with Del David

Acknowledgements

I am deeply indebted to F. W. Dixon (Hardy Boys), Clarence E. Mulford (Hopalong Cassidy), Fran Striker (The Lone Ranger) and Zane Grey for sparking my lifelong desire to devour books and at the same time put myself into the story as the main character. I am especially thankful for the wonderful westerns of Louis L'Amour, Max Brand and others who enriched my life with their lifelike stories of the old west. To my friends Leonard Lay, Dean Reading, Jeffrey Jamison, James Rogers, Wyatt Straus and Tommy Worrell who were responsible for me becoming a gunfighter re-enactor. Then my friends Gary Clarke, James Drury, Bob Hinkle, Robert Fuller, James Best, Buck Taylor, and Clint Walker who are responsible for me wanting to become a gunfighter actor. All of these people are responsible for me wanting to write about an old Marshal from the old west.

Prologue

The year was 1908 and he sat at his desk contemplating his life up to this point. He knew that soon he had to go outside and down the street to face the four gunmen. They were waiting by the livery stable and they were all fast with a gun; he knew that from the reputation they carried with them. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to as he had not drawn his guns against anybody in years. He was however, still fairly fast with both of them as he practiced a couple of times a week down by the stream where he usually sat fishing and thinking about life in general. At seventy years old, he sometimes felt he had lived too long a life. Especially when most lawmen either were killed or retired before they reached their fortieth birthday. He had lost his loving wife twenty six years earlier (one very cold winter) to the flu. Dave slowly got up from his desk and reluctantly walked outside.

Chapter One

Dave Stoutman was born back east on Mar 21, 1838 and grew up on a spread about fifteen miles from the town of Abilene, Texas. His father had come here from the East when he heard that Texas had vast open spaces where a person could start a new life. His family had a little money from the sale of their property back East and when they arrived in Texas they found free government land and staked out five hundred acres for the ranch. His family took most of the money they had and purchased the material to build a ranch house, barn, smokehouse, bunkhouse, and corral. They also managed to buy a few head of horses, a milk cow, and some chickens. There were many Spanish longhorns running wild so his father and his two older brothers managed to round up about one hundred and fifty head to get the ranch started. As Dave was only ten years old at the time; they left him at the ranch to take care of the livestock and help his mother. They had a good life for the next few years.

However, it was hard work with long days taking care of the cattle and the ranch. As the land was still open range; the cattle had a bad habit of wondering off to look for greener pastures. As the herd multiplied Dave’s father bought more ranch land from the sale of the cattle and expanded the ranch to one thousand acres. They were all fortunate as the town of Funston was only twenty four miles from Abilene where many cattle buyers were located. It was the time of the great drives to Kansas and his father never had any problem selling the cattle for a good price.

The one big problem with Abilene, Texas; it was kind of like Abilene, Kansas in that it was a city also filled with undesirables. It was here in town one Saturday afternoon that his oldest brother was forced into a gunfight. Sure, his father and brothers wore a six-gun but they were mostly for rattlesnakes and such. The family had come to town for their once a month shopping trip to pick up a few staples such as flour, sugar, coffee, beans, bacon, etc. Dave’s other brother Jim had stayed at the ranch to look after things. As they left the general store a cowpuncher that had too much to drink bumped into his brother Tom and started cursing him. Tom asked him to please not use that type of language in front of his mother and the drunken puncher went for his gun. Tom pulled his to defend himself but not being a gunman; he was much slower and the puncher put two shots in Tom’s chest before Tom could pull the hammer back. The puncher then jumped on his horse and rode off before the Sheriff showed up

Sheriff Lee was not the most energetic person in town for sure; so when he heard the gunfire from half-block away he slowly removed his feet from his desk, got up and went outside to see what was going on. He saw the commotion at the general store and a cowpuncher high-tailing it out of town. He sauntered on over to the store and got the details of the event. He then told Mr. Stoutman that Tom should have had better sense than to confront a drunken cowpuncher. Mr. Stoutman asks the Sheriff, Are you going after the killer who just killed my son? The Sheriff replied, Your son provoked the cowpuncher and it would be a waste of my time to go chasing him. He then sauntered on back to his office as if nothing happened.

Although Dave was only fifteen years old at the time, he made a decision right then that when he became a man he would become a Texas Ranger and track the killer down and bring him to justice. That is; unless the killer made the decision to go for frontier justice and reach for his gun.

The family loaded up the buckboard with Tom’s body and the supplies and headed back to the ranch. After the wake and burial by the big tree that Tom loved to sit under on the ranch, Dave asked his father, May I have Tom’s six-gun? His father replied, Why do you want it? Dave said, I want to practice with it and someday when I’m a man, become a Texas Ranger and bring Tom’s killer to justice. His father said, Son, the Good Book says, Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord and you should not go after this killer someday with vengeance in your heart. Dave replied, I haven’t forgotten the Lord’s teachings and I pray that by the time I am a man the thought of vengeance will have left my mind and I will only be interested in justice. As his father gave him Tom’s Colt Dragoon, Dave bowed his head in prayer asking the Lord to never let him use the gun in anger.

Dave’s father then asked Dave to follow him into the back room. I know you’ve watched Tom mold bullets before, but I want to be sure you do it safely. Dave’s father then got out a lead bar and a melting ladle. They went outside, built a small fire and then heated up the ladle. As it was heating he put some lead into it and waited for it to melt. While they were waiting Dave’s father told him to be careful and not breathe the fumes as he knew of men who had lost their minds from breathing lead fumes. After it melted he poured it into the bullet mold and let it set a few seconds, then he dropped out the molded bullet. He did several more and then watched as Dave molded a few. They then had to wait until they were cool enough to handle before they carefully cut the neck off so they were as round as possible. He told Dave to save the necks as someday he may have trouble finding lead. Afterwards Dave’s father got out a can of gunpowder, a few boxes of percussion caps and Tom’s powder horn. The powder horn had a charger on one end to measure the powder. Dave’s father impressed upon Dave the importance of learning to reload quickly. He then showed Dave the proper steps of loading the revolver: measured powder first, lead ball, using the ramrod and then placing the caps on the nipples. After the six-gun was loaded he showed Dave how to fire it and hit the target. If you shoot ten to twenty shots a day you can get real good at it, his father said. You have to pretend it is an extension of your finger so you can look at the target and hit it instead of looking at your gun sights.

From that day forward, Dave practiced every day except Sunday. He not only practiced for speed but for accuracy. When he wasn’t doing ranch work he could be found about three hundred yards back of the ranch house shooting at tin cans. As he became more proficient he made a man size silhouette target and practiced on that. As the years went by he wore out many targets and by the time Dave reached eighteen years old he had become quite proficient with a six-gun and a Hawken .50 plains rifle his father had bought him for his sixteenth birthday.

Chapter Two

June 1856, three months after his eighteenth birthday he packed up to leave for the Texas Ranger Station in Haskell which was about thirty miles north of the ranch. He knew the Rangers required that he have a six-gun, knife, rifle, one hundred rounds of ammunition, and powder in addition to a good horse. Of course, his mother cried a little as she did not want to lose another son. His father reminded him of their discussion they had when he was fifteen and Tom’s six-gun was handed over to him with the awesome responsibility to use it for justice only. Dave hugged everybody, forked his horse and rode off to the north, stopping at the ranch gate to wave goodbye.

Dave camped out that evening just a few miles from the Ranger Station by a small arroyo and with his head propped on his saddle, he marveled at the stars in the sky and the full moon rising in the east. He thought long and hard about what he would do as a Texas Ranger. He prayed again to never have anger in his heart but to be firm and brave in his quest to help bring order and justice to that part of Texas.

He didn’t remember when he drifted off to sleep but woke in the morning as his horse stomped his front hoof as if to say, Ok, get up and let’s get going! The fire still had a few coals in it so he stirred it up, put some more branches on it and soon had coffee brewing. Dave was glad his mother remembered to add some crushed eggshell to the coffee grinds as this kept it from tasting bitter. After coffee, and a nice breakfast of thick sliced bacon and hard-tack (biscuits); he dowsed the fire, cleaned up his gear, saddled up and rode north towards the Ranger Station.

Arriving at the Ranger Station about midmorning, he dismounted and hitched his horse to the rail in front and then went inside. Two Rangers were inside and asked him his business. Dave replied, I’ve come to join the Rangers. The two Rangers eyed him up and down and one of them said, The captain is not in yet. Pull up a chair; he should be here within the hour. Dave pulled up a chair, sat facing the back of the chair with his arms resting on the back. He then told them the story of his brother Tom’s death and how the local Sheriff would do nothing about it. Also, how he made a vow that day to become a Texas Ranger, track down the killer and bring him to justice. The two Rangers were really friendly and they talked about ranch life and life as a Texas Ranger sleeping out under the stars most of the time with the hard earth for a bed.

Shortly Captain Jack came in and after an introduction the other two Rangers left for the local café to have some coffee so the captain could interview Dave privately. Captain Jack then asked Dave, Son, why do want to join the Texas Rangers? Dave once again told the story of Tom’s death and how the local Sheriff refused to go after the killer. He also told him of his family’s teachings and of his almost daily six-gun and rifle practice for over three years. The captain was impressed when Dave told him about his daily prayer to never use his gun in anger. Captain Jack then invited him out back where some targets were set up so Dave could demonstrate his ability with a six-gun. After a few minutes the captain asked him if he was as good with a rifle. Dave retrieved his Hawken from the saddle scabbard and went back around the station where he emptied it at a distant target hitting it. He then reloaded and hit it three more times.

They then went back inside where Captain Jack explained everything about what the Texas Rangers were responsible for. Mainly, protecting the settlers from Indians and tracking down outlaws. He told Dave that there were times however that they were called in by local law enforcement to settle a disturbance that was too big for them to handle. He then asked Dave, Hearing all of this, do you still want to become a Texas Ranger? Dave replied, Yes Sir, I’ve lived the last three years for this day to come and I feel I’m ready to take on the responsibility. Good! The Captain replied, The pay is $2.00 a day for salary, rations, clothing and horse service. There is a six month minimum enlistment. Let’s get you sworn in and we can start your training right after we get you assigned a bunk here at Company Headquarters and get you some grub.

After the swearing in, which took all of three minutes, Captain Jack took Dave to the bunkhouse and he picked out an empty bunk. There were several empty ones there which prompted him to ask the captain the reason. Wel-l-l, he hesitated for a second or two, we lost a couple of good Rangers last month when they ran into a band of hostile Indians. They were all liquored up and itching for a fight. The Rangers attempted to ride around them but were attacked anyway. Most of the Indians were peaceable but the Comanche’s are great horsemen and some of them felt they had to prove how brave they were. We also have extra bunks to expand our force as soon as the Government releases some more funds to pay the new men.

Captain Jack then said, ‘Let’s go over to the café and get some grub. The Government pays for it and we like to eat home cooking whenever we can. They walked over to the café and Dave noticed the sign above the door; Mom’s Home Cooking it said. Going inside they joined the other two Rangers who the captain introduced as Wayne and Slim. He said, It’s close to lunch time so you boys might as well eat seeing you are already here."

About that time the prettiest girl Dave had ever seen came out from the back. He was expecting an older woman as it was Mom’s Home Cooking. As the other Rangers started laughing he realized he was sitting there staring with his mouth open. As she walked up Slim introduced them, Maryanne, meet our newest Texas Ranger, Dave Stoutman. Maryanne smiled sweetly, said, Hello and then asked for their order. As Dave was new, the captain said, This calls for a treat. We’ll have a nice thick slice of that great smoked ham, eggs, biscuits and coffee for each of us. When we finish that, we’ll top it off with some of your great apple pie. Dave was curious where Mom was as he didn’t see anyone else working there. Of course, after the other Rangers had been laughing at him, he didn’t dare to ask.

While they were waiting for the meal to be prepared they discussed the training he would start on right after lunch. Dave also found out they were all assigned to Company B, 3rd Ranger Battalion. He asked about the other Rangers and was told