THE TOWN OF IMELDA

Announcing my painting service!

2012-01-06T11:34:00.004Z

As the world is going to end this year I have decided to jack the rat race and go full-time with my painting service. My website is now live but still a WIP LINK . This blog, as well as my others will remain hobby related. Apart from the little advert on the top right and bottom of the the blogs and this short post I will not be commercialising them. So if you like what you see and you either got to much cash or to much lead for Christmas, send it my way!

all quiet on the western front

2010-09-02T10:35:00.003+01:00

If you are wondering why it has been so quiet, i have been busy working on my Napoleonic collection. you can check out my other blog here
link

Heading south

2010-08-26T09:37:00.002+01:00

I am heading south for SELWG in October, I will be staying at Daves so we have decided to use it as an excuse to get in to some more old west trouble.
As you can tell by the lack of updates on the blog the town of Imelda has been very peaceful of late. To wake up the locals I need a posse. I am unsure whether to take an all mounted bushwhacker posse or crack on and finish the renegade Indians I started a while back.
I know Dave will be using his mountain men which have an awesome mix of long range fire power and close combat skills. so it may be good to close in quick on horse back then blast a way with 6 shooters. Or i could use lots of sneaky braves which can be hard to hit then close in an use tomahawks to scalp the hairy headed mountain men.
Other people may also be playing so its probably best to take a well rounded force. Whatever i decide it is sure to be fun and the updates will be coming in thick and fast.

Colins new blog

2010-03-11T16:58:00.001Z

Colin has just launched his long awaited blog.

for some great inspirational buildings have a ganders at

www.wargamingbuildings.blogspot.com

Native American posse

2009-12-21T09:08:00.003Z

Stephen the heathen used to ride with Rob Johnsons rebs, now he is leading his own outfit of renegade Injuns. More to be painted over Christmas.

This little lady, was painted by my little lady Isabella aged 4. She has even tried to dot in the eyes.

MOUNTAIN MEN POSSE

2009-12-15T13:14:00.005Z

Here is the start of my mountain men posse that i hope to game with over the Christmas period

A few of the pics didnt come out to well, i hpe to take some more soon. If it all goes to plan i will be able to take some pics whilst actually playing a game! it has been far to long......

new posses WIP

2009-12-01T10:59:00.002Z

I took advantage of Wargames Foundrys Christmas discount the other week and bought myself over 150 new old west figures!

Not that i would ever need 150.....

plus I already have around 100 sitting on a box waiting to be painted from Artizan, Obelisk and war paint ranges.

So over the next couple of months expect to see a good few new posses as well as all the civilians I have been hoarding to populate the town with.

To finance the project I will be painting some goodies up and selling them off on Ebay.

You never know I may actually get a game in to!

DEAD MAN'S BOUNTY

2009-11-05T13:14:00.004Z

I have just finished watching deadmans bounty, the strangest western I have ever seen, featuring possibly the smallest little western town, three buildings in all!

A strange story which has Val Kilmer cast as the corpse, probably the best acting he has done in a long while....

It seems to be both a parody and a homage to the spaghetti western and it is hard to know if you should be taking it to seriously

I will not give the story line away in case you should ever watch it, which you should if you are into the genre and have a spare afternoon free.

If nothing else it shows you that you dont have to have lots of buildings for your wild west scenarios!!

it has also got me thinking of a fun scenario for my next game of LotOW

watch this space!!

mount up

2009-08-30T17:57:00.005+01:00

To fit in with my bushwhackers raiding background i have mounted them up. I painted these horses around 6 months ago but have only just got around to basing them after being enthused by the magnificient mounted posse Pat has painted(see below).

Rob Johnson

O'Reilly

Stephen the heathen

Comical Jake thornton

English Tony

Frank T winklebottom

And this is the Colonel, a renegade cavalry officer who will be joining the posse as soon as I have enough dollars to convince him.....

I hope to be using this all mounted posse in a game soon, so i will let you know how they get on.

US Marshal

2009-08-25T10:55:00.002+01:00

A new US Marshal arrives in the town of Imelda, hopefully this means there will some more action in town very soon......

Marshall Jethro Black, Jet to his friends.

good ol' southern boyos

2009-07-28T09:31:00.004+01:00

Here are a few pics of a posse freshly painted by Pat Smith. All have the option to mount up!
figures are all from Wargames Foundry.

Spansh buildings

2009-05-21T10:28:00.008+01:00

Colin has been up to his magic again with these new Spanish flavour buildings, which can be used in adventures in lots of areas of the world

an update on my thumb

2009-03-10T21:11:00.002Z

Before I dislocated it, I didnt realise how much I used the bloody thing. Without my left thumb I cant do anything. All my hobby related interests use my thumb, painting, writing, weight training , martial arts. The only thing I have managed to do is go running with my dog.
I went back to the hospital for some more Xrays and they reckon I will have my cast off in three weeks. I dont know if my sanity will last that long?!?!?!
So what have I been doing...? well not a lot......
I have started a few articles for the blog, they all just need finishing off. Mainly I have been watching DVDs. Western wise I watched Appolosa, a very good film based around a lovely town, plenty of ideas for extra buildings when the time is right. Not a lot really happens but some great characters in it. If you havnt seen it do!
I have just started on the prison break DVD box set. Just watched season 1, now I am on to the season 2. I dont know if I will make it all the way through season 2 and 3. Hopefully my hand will get better so I can do something more constructive.....
Although I cant paint I have been planning more posses and have orders ready to go with Foundry, Artisan and Dixons. The good thing is the enthusiasm is still there (for wargaming not prison break.)

i dont think i will be painting for a while.....

2009-02-25T15:30:00.007Z

Howdy,

last night i dislocated my thumb, just my luck i am left handed.....

So no painting for me for a while, which is a real bummer as i have a very busy schedule of commisions to get through before i treat myself to painting my next posse.

it didnt hurt at the time but it sure did when the doctor with the help of 2 nurses at A&E pulled it finally back into place,

heres a picture for the not to squemish...

looking on the bright side i will have sometime to update the blog with a few things i have been working on and you never know i may actually get a game or two in!

To take your mind off the sickening piucture above, Colin has just popped a couple of his new buildings on ebay, so here is some pretty pics

EBAY LINK http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/28MM-OLD-WEST-BUILDING_W0QQitemZ250379326794QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Toys_Wargames_RL?hash=item250379326794&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1688%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

EVEN MORE CHRISTMAS PICS!

2009-02-13T18:20:00.026Z

Lots more pretty pictures of our weekend, this time from the talented hands of Colin.
Including lots of pics of Imeldas twin town 'El Ugley', the home of many a mean hombre.

Pats Christmas in Imelda pics

2009-02-11T12:43:00.009Z

Here are a few pics from Pat 'windy' Smith of the goodies he brought with him for the Christmas gaming weekend,

The Bearp Brothers

Bearp Brothers posse, beautifully painted they are to!

This is a trophy that Pat created for the winner of the campaign weekend

Prize fighter Dave "pretty boy" Marks's vignette made by Pat to say thanks for hosting the game.

Fantastic stuff i am sure you will agree!

CHRISTMAS IN IMELDA

2009-02-10T10:03:00.031Z

Over the Christmas holidays we played a two day campaign using the rules from the "showdown" supplement. The first game was a now "infamous Stinky Pete" scenario. He had been drinking to hard again like every other time he comes down from the hills with bags of gold...
This was a multipler game, each posse had to grab as many bags of gold from the centre of town whilst dodging lead from Stinkys buffallo gun as well as each others. We started the game at 2100 and finished at 0230!!

Since it was so long ago and my notes have disappeared here are some pics of the action.

A goat is tethered behind the saloon, dont get to close it is a bit moody!

two ladies take a stroll down main street

Its not just the town that is sleepy.....

The good folk go about their business in peace

A view down main street

Come on boys I have a stage to catch!

The noon stage prepares to leave

The town in all its glory as the posse start to arrive

Pat "windy" Smith brings his boys in for some action

With the sight and more importantly the smell of the mountain men the peace loving locals decide to scarper

The bushwhackers use their military tactics to go into an all round defence as they see some possible enemies heading for the gold

The dismounted buffallo soldiers engage at long range with their rifles

Stinky Pete harrasses a local in the centre of town

The Daves mountain men and Pats lawmen get stuck in to each other on the outskirts of town

Mountain men with buffallo guns take up good firing positions to cover main street where most of the stashes of gold can be seen

The bushwhackers take their first casualty, shot in the guts by a mountain man

The buffallo soldiers take cover behind the stagecoach

the close combat continues as more reinforcements form both posses get involved in the fisticuffs

The casualties grow amongst bushwhackers.....

It was a great opening game with much fun had by all. It was the first time anyone had used a mountain man posse and everyone was impressed by their mix of long range fire power and hand to handiness...

The next game saw my bushwhackers up against Colins buffallo soldiers in an "avert the massacre" scenario. This looked like it was going to be deadly for me as I had to cover a lot of open ground to get in range with my predominately sixgun armed posse, all under fire from the rifle armed soldiers.

With a mix of bad dice rolling and slow reloads, my boys managed to get in close and bring
their weight of numbers and shotguns to bear. A great tense game which i was eventually lucky to win.

The bushwhackers close in on the buffallo soldiers

Making use of what little cover their is

It gets close and deadly, before hte soldiers have to make a tactical withdraw

Another game continues with Mexican peons protected their herd of horses from rustlers

masses of me-hi-kans

The town looks peaceful again before the final battle, a multiplayer shootfest with the winner being the last man standing

The playes set up for the finale

This dog soldier was a real hand to hand killer, many scalps were earned that day

THE RED DOG SALOON

2008-11-08T11:36:00.014Z

A new saloon opens up in town "RED DOG". Colin buildings just keep getting better and better!!

I hope to construct a 6'x5' board for the town, with a lot more townies, cattle, horses , dogs and a few more buildings over the next few weeks if time allows..... Extremely busy with my commission work, so Imelda has been on a bit of a back burner.

Game wise myself and Patrick got together a few weeks ago, Wint was hoping to free one of his boys from the gallows, but the Pinkerton's got wind of their plan and shot them up as they entered the outskirts of town. Now Wint is planning his revenge with a new posse.

here is a few pics from the game

The bell tolls.....
The Pinkerton's escort their prisoner...

...to the gallows

Man down, Patricks plan of closing the distance and opening up with two barrels of death lay in the dust...

My Little helper checks the range for her next shot, never to young to wargame!

Fisticuffs outside the jailhouse

Patrick counts the cost of his daring rescue attempt.

A difficult scenario for the attacker this one. My Pinkerton's were able to cover the open ground with their repeating rifles making it literally a killing ground. Wints boys moved forward bravely being covered by their rilfeman who managed to take out a couple of detectives. The early lose of the rescue horse and passenger wielding a shotgun was a big blow. From then on my Pinkertons managed to outshoot the outlaws and secure their prisoner.

This was only Patricks second ever game and i have a feeling that he will be third time lucky!

WINTS BOYS by Patrick Serjeant

2008-10-05T12:58:00.004+01:00

Wint Geoghan scratched with a blackened twig in the white ashes around the edge of the fire as the last of the sun's brightness faded over the western horizon. His brother Rich grunted , turning in his bedroll, Pat Kennedy snored and Stitch lay on his back staring silently into the sky's limitless depths.
It was not a happy camp up in the foothills of the Dark Peak. Wint seethed with bitterness and frustration, sucking at the taste of jack rabbit in his whiskers and sipping at a tin cup of Arbuckles. Losing Mike O'Neill had been a blow. Such a good man, hard as nails, he had deserved better. His brother would be arriving to learn bad news, but Brendan himself was a tough man.
It was not just a matter, now, of freeing Jimmy Mac before the fateful day, it was a matter of revenge. That Sheriff would be a pushover without those Pinkertons to back him up, but Pinkertons or no they were going to have their say pretty soon.
He settled uneasily down to drift off to sleep in thoughts of the impending clash and this affair's bloody resolution...The hanging was set for the second of September... in a few more days it would not be a blackened stick stirring ashes, but hot lead and cold steel stirring up all kinds of Hell in Imelda...
I hope that Wint has the date right. Was everything cleared with Imelda’s mayoress?

Monday broke clear and, rising fresh from a sound sleep, Wint Geoghan surveyed the landscape from a rocky promontory. The town of Imelda seemed to be asleep still, though he knew that folks would be up and about their morning chores. Later the place would bustle and maybe Pat Kennedy would make his way down for a look around... to see how things lay.
Stitch Schneider's visit on Saturday had revealed that the hanging had been postponed for a week, but he'd been pleased to report that the Sheriff's face still bore the marks left by Michael's fists, giving the lie to his cockiness.
Another week. Time for their anger to cool. Wint's eyes narrowed as he felt not a cooling, but a cold certainty crystallising behind them. He could keep his boys in check, soothe them like the cool touch of a gun barrel against their cheeks, but once the trigger was squeezed... they would boil up fast and whip like bullets into the town of Imelda. Wake it to living nightmare!

Patrick has been champing at the bit since our initial encounter in Imelda, he hopes to settle a score soon.
so watch this space!!

Games day 2008

2008-09-17T15:19:00.023+01:00

At 0500 on the 28th September I was waiting eagerly by my front door sheltering from the wind, which seemed to be attempting to blow over the terrain boards stacked up against my fence. Colin had bravely volunteered to drive to Birmingham, and seeing as I had only had two hours sleep I was very grateful.

We loaded up his wagon with a boot full of figures and a few buildings more and headed down south. Fight our way through the fog we arrived at the NEC around 0700 and joined the small queue of helpers waiting to set up their displays.

We finally got in and made our way through the huge deserted aircraft hanger called the NEC. making our way past a life size space marine rhino, i was happy to see our demo area was right next to the cafe. So getting a coffee would not be a problem!

a shot of the deserted Main street in a deserted NEC

The only thing stirring in town is Mr Chou's washing....

Daybreak
Gold on the gallows

The action heats up

The enthusiastic participants!

there it is!

Dave takes all comers on an adventure in Imelda

Stinky Pete with a hangover!
Rev Boil looks out from Christ church

Jane protects her property

More news for the spirit of the times newspaper (not that it is unusual to find a corpse full of lead in Imelda)

the Pinkertons pose outside their office

wide shot

The Corral

Colin and I were joined by 2 other Ugley boys, Dave and Sam who had travelled up from London.

At 10 o'clock the doors were opened and a huge cry went out, followed by thousands of screaming hobbyist vying for position in the queue to buy the as yet unreleased space marine codex.

People then started trickling towards our area and Dave took on his role as games master
and the first of many games was underway.

The day was based around "Stinky Pete and his lost hoard of gold" scenario, which is one of our favourites and a great choice as a beginners scenario. Each participant was given a three man posse, which included a leader and two deputies.

Dave is a natural GM and made the games flow well and got everybody involved.

I was surprised how fast the day went, and even though we had started out at 0500 four o'clock was soon upon us and i realised that my trip to the Forgeworld stand to buy tanks was going to have to wait for another day.

The day was great fun and i was pleased by all the people that joined in the game enthusiasm and fun. Apart from a couple of heavy handed kids removing a few roof tiles and a staircase in their lust for the gold, all went well.

hopefully we will be their again next year, with more buildings and a new scenario!

i would just like to thank Colin for all his hard work and driving us there. Dave for being such a great GM, Sam for helping out and Rob Broom for inviting us.

Pinkertons defend jailhouse

2008-08-29T10:17:00.016+01:00

Well it has been a long time, but i finally managed to fit in a game. New pal and enthusiast PATRICK SERJEANT and I had an introductory shootout, It being Pats first game of LoToW. I played with my Pinkerton models using the lawmen posse rules and Pat used outlaws. We rolled for the scenario which came up as jailbreak. The Pinkertons are acting as Lawmen in Imelda until a man brave enough to pick up the sheriffs badge arrives in town and have a horse thief in a cell. As dawn breaks Patricks desperados arrive in town to free their friend..

The outlaws sneak up on the jailhouse at dawn

The Pinkerton detective sees movement in the nearby buildings and alerts the rest of the posse

The adversaries close...

The outlaws are now across the street from the jail....

Patrick positions his boys..The pinkertons get in position to defend the jailhouse

A fistfight ensues in the lawyers office as a tough takes on the Pinkerton boss, punching him through the door and out on to the street!

Two detectives wait for the outlaws to break from the back of the building, then fill them with lead!!
An aerial with of the northern quarter...

After the loss of 2 outlaws in the hotels rear yard along with 2 more outlaws in the street Patrick had to start testing to see if his posse would head to the hills. He managed to pass twice which gave him time to take out a few more pinkertons. Eventually he failed and what was left of his posse decided to regroup outta town. This left his kid still in custody.

The Pinkertons intend to Hang him next week, will the outlaws be able to rescue him from the gallows? we shall soon find out!

With hindsight the Jailbreak scenario was probably not the easiest scenario for a new player to warm his barrels on. it was good fun and has lead on well to the next scenario, luckily i now have a gallows to use to!

NEW BUILDINGS!

2008-08-14T18:25:00.010+01:00

Colin and I are working on some new stuff to showcase at games day next month.

First up is these 2 new buildings. I think you will have to agree they are splendid!!

Next up will be another corner building and some more townies!

NEWS FLASH

2008-08-06T12:08:00.002+01:00

the 'Town of Imelda' will be going on tour this year. We will be attending GAMES DAY on the 14th September at the Birmingham NEC along with WARHAMMER HISTORICAL. If you are going feel free to come and chat to us or even better, join in the "STINKY PETE" participation game. If you cant make it check back for the write up of the days events as well as plenty of pretty pictures!

MORE MEXICANS.....

2008-07-11T11:09:00.007+01:00

Carrying on with the Mexican flavour here are a few pics of Colins bandito posse paint by Pat 'Windy' Smith and a few peaceful peasants painted me.

Adios Amigos!

WEEKEND OF WARGAMING WASHOUT...

2008-07-07T13:40:00.006+01:00

I was looking forward to last weekend as i had a GREAT one planned. I had booked Saturday night off work a few weeks back and was planning to travel down south for a great WAB wargame based on the Macbeth play hosted by Dave "shami" Marks and Sunday i was hosting a LotOW game with Colin to playtest the rules for "Pinkertonmen" posse i have been working on.

Saturday was a no go when work decided that i hadnt given them enough notice and couldnt authorise my absence. So unless i went AWOL the Norwegian contingent i was hoping to lead into battle would have to count as lost at sea.

a few of my vikings i was hoping to use at the weekend

I would of loved to have been there, but it was not the end of the world, As i knew that Sundays game was going to be great fun.

So after finishing work at 0230 Saturday night/ Sunday morning i decided to put in a few extra hours at my painting station to get a more townsfolk painted up for the coming game.

I finally put my head down at 0500 only to be woken up two hours later by my 3 year old daughter. Even this i didnt mind as i could sit her down after breakfast painting stones whilst i finished off my townies, and prepared myself for the forthcoming shoot out.

But it was not meant to be as i received a message from Colin who was unable to make it due to his car breaking down (i was beginning to worry that i smelt like a wargamer).

Colins car...........

All being well, Colin and I will get a game or 2 in next weekend and i will be able to test out the pinks and post some great pics and a battle report from the mean streets of Imelda

WHIRLWIND HITS IMELDA!

2008-07-07T13:08:00.007+01:00

Whirlwind Milly hit the town of Imelda last night, a quick but deadly assault which took out the water tower and the backyard of "the spirit of the times" newspaper office!

I was quietly laying out my town just to check for gaps before commisioning Colin to build a few more fantastic buildings, when Milly my eight month old mastiff puppy lumbered into the room. With one paw she managed to take out the backyard and the water tower, before i managed to grab her and push her out of the room before the whole town was destroyed. I feel i got off quite lightly and have learned my lesson, "Do not put your lovely cherished buildings on the floor where they might be stamped on"!

Anyway i have now come up with my wishlist, mainly from perusing the fantastic photos which can be found on http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/ a great site for reference material and a fun idea for a holiday travelling around the US of A photographing old ghost towns (trouble is i dont think my wife would agree).

the destruction from above.....

The rear yard......

The wrecked water tower and yard....

What MILLY had to say about the incident.....

MILLY and my Boxer dog ODIN recovering after a game of rugby...

a few more dudes head west

2008-07-04T19:28:00.014+01:00

A few dudes from wargames foundry, painted by myself for a fellow enthusiast out in the old west.

HEY GRINGOS! this town is mine!

2008-06-29T20:19:00.028+01:00

Howdy! sorry for the lack of action, thigns have been peaceful in Imelda lately. So i thought i better give you all a little something just to let you know that there are a few of us still alive.
So here is a "Mexican town" showcase, as ever all the buildings were made by the great Colin Rush. cheers Colin

next weekend we will be oiling our sixguns for another shoot-out, so please pop back for some more fun and action in the Town of Imelda. thanks for looking

Steve

CLOSE UP PHOTOS OF PINKERTON MEN

2008-04-05T20:19:00.005+01:00

Here are some close up photos of my new pinkerton posse, hopefully soon to be used in a scenario i am working on for the campaign.
These were great figures to paint, the top six are Artizan designs the bottom one is a Foundry miniature.
With this posse i wanted to give them a professional look without being uniformed. So i went for the same brown base colour on their coats . Then highlighted them using various buffs and browns. If you want more details on how i painted leave a comment and i will get back to you.

PINKERTON DETECTIVE AGENCY

2008-04-04T13:23:00.008+01:00

With all the trouble going down in Imelda, the Pinkerton detective agency has opened a new office.

Building by the very talented Colin Rush, Pinks a mix of Artizan and Foundry painted by me.

THE PINKERTON DETECTIVE AGENCY

"WE NEVER SLEEP"

Founded by Allan Pinkerton, a Scottish immigrant in 1850, the Pinkerton Agency quickly became one of the most important crime detection and law enforcement groups in the United States. Born in Scotland on August 25, 1819, Allan Pinkerton worked as a barrel maker before immigrating to the United States in 1842. Settling near Chicago, Illinois, he went to work at Lill’s Brewery as a barrel maker. However, Pinkerton soon determined that working for himself would be more profitable for his family and they moved to a small town called Dundee, some forty miles from Chicago.

Making barrels once again, he quickly gained control of the market due to the superior quality and low prices of his product.

Allan Pinkerton, 1862, courtesy Library of Congress.

Always thrifty, Pinkerton thought that he could save some money by not paying someone else for poles to make barrel hoops. Before long, he found a small deserted island in the middle of the Fox River and rowed out to cut down a supply of his own. However, when he got to the island he found signs that someone had been there and knowing that counterfeiters had been working in the area, he wondered if the island might be their hideout.
When he returned, he notified the local sheriff of his suspicions and the two teamed up to stake out the island which soon led to the arrest of the counterfeit band. However, they failed to catch the ringleader. Soon, Pinkerton found himself involved in the search for the leader and soon tracked him down, as well.
This accidental involvement in justice led to Pinkerton’s appointment as a deputy sheriff for Kane County and in 1850 he became Chicago's first police detective. That same year, he, along with Chicago attorney, Edward Rucker, founded, the North-Western Police Agency.
In the meantime, Allan's brother, Robert, had formed his own business called "Pinkerton & Co" as early as 1843. Robert's organization was originally established as a railroad contractor, but somewhere along the line, he began to work as a railroad detective. Through his contacts in the railroad business, Robert had also secured a number of contracts with Wells Fargo to provide guards on stagecoaches. Robert's business grew so rapidly that he hired several men as railroad and stagecoach detectives and guards.
When Allan and Rucker's business dissolved a year after it was formed, Allan joined his brother Robert in his already established company and the name was changed to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. The "new" company provided a variety of detective services, from private military contractors to security guards, but specialized in the capture of counterfeiters and train robbers. Though there were a few other detective agencies at the time, most had unsavoury reputations and the Pinkerton Agency was the first to set uniform fees and establish practices, which quickly earned respect for the organization.

In 1861, while investigating a railway case, the agency uncovered an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln, where conspirators intended to kill Lincoln in Baltimore during a stop on his way to his inauguration. However, with Pinkerton’s warning, Lincoln's itinerary was changed. During the Civil War, President Lincoln hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to organize a “secret service” to obtain military information on the Confederates and sometimes act as Lincoln's bodyguard. Working diligently, Allan Pinkerton travelled under the pseudonym of "Major E.J. Allen."

Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Major General
John A. McClernand, 1862, photo by Alexander Gardner.

After the war, Allan Pinkerton returned to his duties at the detective agency, which was often hired by the government to perform many of the same duties that are now regularly assigned to the Secret Service, the FBI, and the CIA. The agency also worked for the railroads and overland stage companies, playing an active role in chasing down a number of outlaws including Jesse James, the Reno Brothers, and Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch.
On their three story Chicago building, their logo, a black and white eye, claimed “We Never Sleep.” This was the origin of the term “private eye.”
When Robert Pinkerton died in 1868, Allan assumed full control of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. However, just a year later, in the autumn of 1869, Allan suffered a paralysing stroke, which nearly killed him. Both Robert and Allan's sons then took on most of the responsibilities of running the business. However, there was rivalry between them, and the agency struggled without leadership. At the same time, the agency began to suffer financially.

Early Pinkerton Agents.

Despite the challenges, by the early 1870s, the agency had the world's largest collection of mug shots and a “criminal database.” During the height of its existence, the Pinkertons had more agents than the standing army of the United States of America, causing the state of Ohio to outlaw the agency, due to the possibility of its being hired out as a "private army" or militia.
Fortunes were to decrease once again for the agency when, in 1871, Chicago suffered the Great Fire which began on the evening of October 7th. Before it burned itself out three days later, the entire business district was destroyed, including the Pinkerton buildings and many of their records. When the fire was finally extinguished, martial law was declared in Chicago and guards from the Pinkerton Detective Agency were hired to prevent looting. Robert's widow, Alice Isabella Pinkerton, and his dependents were also left homeless. When she approached Allan for assistance, he encouraged them to return to Great Britain. Offering to pay for the journey, Alice and her sons accepted his offer and sailed for Liverpool, leaving the agency entirely in the hands of Allan and his sons.
When Allan Pinkerton passed away in 1884, the agency was taken over by his sons, Robert and William. They soon became involved in the labour unrest of the late 19th century when they were hired by a number of businesses to keep strikers and suspected unionists out of their factories.
However, the rapidly expanding agency soon became known for less admirable activities as they often became the “law” in of themselves. Accused of using heavy handed tactics, such as firebombing Jesse James’ mother’s home and using intimidation against union sympathizers, the public support began to turn away from the agency.
Many labour sympathizers accused the Pinkertons of inciting riots and their reputation continued to suffer. The most notorious example of this was the Homestead Strike of 1892, when Pinkerton agents killed 11 people while enforcing strikebreaking measures. In order to restore order, two brigades of state militia had to be called out.
Continuing their involvement against the labour movement into the 20th century, their reputation was harmed for years in the public consciousness.

However, the agency endured. In 1907, the agency was inherited by the founder’s grandson, Allan Pinkerton II and his great-grandson, Robert II, in 1930. However, when Robert Pinkerton II died in 1967, without a male heir, family direction of the corporation came to an end.
However, Pinkerton's Inc. has since grown to a $1.5 billion organization that provides a wide range of security services. The company has its U.S. headquarters in Westlake Village, California, and is a subsidiary of the Securitas Group of Stockholm, Sweden, a world leader in the security industry.

A fascinating history of a very charismatic agency, ideal for a posse in LOTOW!

"Courtesy of legendsofamerica.com"

bank robber pics

2008-03-27T16:22:00.003Z

Just spent a bit of time looking at my collection, its my birthday in a few weeks so i thought i would see what gaps i had left to fill......

more photos to follow!

A FEW NEW CHARACTERS REACH IMELDA

2008-03-27T14:18:00.010Z

"WILD BILL HICKOCK" My fave Artizan wild west figure "COOKIE" from wargames foundry, beautiful figure to paint

"BLONDIE" pure classic from Artizan designs

"THE MAGNIFICIENT LEE VAN CLEEF"

"THE RAT"

"DOC HOLLIDAY"

"BANK ROBBERS"

er......"LOVEJOY?"

The "GYPSY ROSE" saloon

2008-03-04T08:30:00.005Z

Front elevation

Rear yard

First floor detail

Ground floor bar

The Gypsy Rose saloon another fantastic building by Colin.

the "Grand central hotel!

2008-03-03T19:29:00.006Z

The Grand central Hotel

First floor interior detail

Ground floor detail

Rear yard.

This is one of my favourite buildings so far with lots of nice little touches. But they do just keep getting better and better!!

Imelda still underconstruction

2008-03-03T18:55:00.003Z

Here is an "under construction" building which adds great flavour to the town and is an interesting gaming piece.

Spirit of the times 7 HANG 'IM HIGH!

2008-02-29T13:59:00.020Z

Incorporating the Imelda Gazette
Issue No. 7
HANG ‘IM HIGH!
It was another rainy day in Imelda. Yet despite the deluge, the townsfolk had gathered together to witness the hanging of the injun Dakaya for the murder of Eddie Barnes. The luckless young cowpoke had only recently joined the Fargo posse. In his first foray, he had met his untimely death by way of a hatchet in the forehead, courtesy of Shami’s deadly brave - Dakaya.
As ill-luck would have it, young Eddie was the youngest son of William Fitzgerald Barnes, Senator of Arizona. The Senator was incandescent with rage upon hearing of his youngest son’s death, and he was determined to see the “damned heathen redskin” hang for the killing of his boy. At first, the finger of blame had been pointed at Wells Fargo. He had recruited the fresh-faced Eddie into his brother Jake’s posse and, in doing so, some had held him responsible for placing the boy in harm’s way. Yet this charge had soon evaporated when Senator Barnes learned that the Feds had his son’s killer chained up in custody in Imelda jail.
Things were looking pretty bleak for Dakaya, but Shami was not about to let one of his favourite braves do a lonely dance at the end of a rope. An unlikely alliance had been hurriedly forged between the Apaches and Windy Valdez with the aim of rescuing Dakaya on the day of the hanging. The Fargo posse was also in town, mainly at the behest of the Feds. Although Wells had been cleared of the blame, he wanted to make sure that the sentence was carried out without a hitch. Word was out that Shami and his riotous redskins were going to try to save his man’s neck. Literally.
The hanging had been set for an hour after dawn. The Feds and the Fargo posse were already in town. Lt.House’s bluecoats were in charge of the proceedings and Jake’s cowboys were there to provide some extra security on the west side of town. Shami and Valdez had camped overnight in the timberlands to the south of Imelda. They made their approach before sun-up, and as the first dripping grey rays of dawn broke over the town, they were already in position on the fringe, near to the livery stable and the Overland Express Staging Post. With most of the townsfolk morbidly preoccupied with the hanging which was to take place in the middle of the northern part of Main Street, Valdez was confident that he and his injun allies would be able to sneak up on the proceedings without being seen.
Windy and Shami come a-sneaking into town…
well, that’s how it started out.

However, Windy hadn’t reckoned with the impatient fury of Shami’s apaches. They were in no mood to be sneaky. All they wanted was to rescue their brother brave, and take out as many of the palefaces as they could in the process.
Somewhat recklessly, Shami let his seething braves off the leash and allowed them to rush headlong into the Livery Stables and its adjoining corral. The flickering flash of their feathered headbands and their glinting tomahawks didn’t go unnoticed. They were spotted by Federal lookouts posted on top of the Grand Hotel, and immediately the alarm was raised. Shami was heard to mutter in his native tongue: “Dazza dreela dumha-dinga doo” which, roughly translated, means “That’s a totally stupid thing to do!” Few would have disagreed, and certainly not Valdez who, until that moment, had been quietly confident of bagging himself some booty from Imelda’s temptingly unguarded Staging Post.
Jake was quick to react to the alarm cry. He led a couple of his posse members towards the Clinton Hotel at a run, while brother Wells limped determinedly along Main Street with the remainder. The wound he had suffered to his right thigh during last week’s encounter at the Black Hills Mining Camp, was causing him some serious grief. Jake’s group raced into the lobby of the low-class hotel. Its south side windows looked out upon Injun Alley, where a couple of months earlier Jake’s posse had been decimated by Shami’s bloodthirsty injuns.

Jake Fargo gets a nasty feeling of déjà vu leading his men towards the Clinton Hotel and Injun Alley.

Meanwhile Valdez, having abandoned all hope of making a stealthy entrance to Imelda now that Shami’s braves were a-whoopin’ and a-hollerin’ all over the show, got himself into position near the giant cactus located at the south end of Main Street.

Peon-tu acting as a Windy shield… yet again!

Using his trusty Peon as both a shield and a rifle rest, he cocked his scoped buffalo gun and took aim at Jacob Skinton, one of the Fed lookouts on the roof of the Grand Hotel. On a clear day it would have been an easy shot, but Shami’s Medicine Man had been up to his old tricks and it was sheeting it down (as usual!) With visibility and range severely curtailed by the rain, Windy’s shot splashed harmlessly short in the mud of Main Street. The reverberating echo of Valdez’s rifle shot signaled the start of some serious lead-slinging. Mustachioed Rico took a pot-shot at Bill Bascom which went wide, and Bill returned the compliment. But his slug did little more than drill a neat hole in the side of the parked stagecoach. Charlie Plain drew a bead on Windy’s human shield, Peon-tu, and despite the rain, he managed to get the range. But that’s about all he got. Peon-tu survived the duck test and stood his ground, unflinchingly. Up on the roof, Jacob Skinton leveled his rifle and fired down on Lobo who was scurrying towards the Stage Post door, making him duck for cover as the .44-40 slug tore a big chunk of timber from the door jamb.
Over in the Clinton Hotel, things were now hottin’ up for Jake and his boys. With sidekick and comrade, Bushrod Wilkes, by his side, Jake covered the ground floor window with his shiny nickel-plated six-gun. He didn’t have too long to wait. Shrieking like a bat out of hell, in through the window came Numboy – the latest Apache recruit. Shami was seen to wince and shake his head in disbelief when he saw his impulsive apprentice hurl himself headfirst though the window. He was welcomed at once by a hail of Fargo lead, and peppered with holes all the way from his headband to his moleskin moccasins. Strike one injun. Jake was feelin’ mighty fine.

Jake Fargo & Bushrod Wilkes play “Splatteroo” with Numboy – novice apache and human colander.

Upstairs, Chuck Kershaw and three of the Fargo posse had installed themselves cozily in the Clinton Hotel’s best room. It had a commanding view of Injun Alley, the Livery Stables corral, and the western approaches to the back streets of Imelda. A couple of Shami’s braves vaulted over the corral fence and fired their bows at the upstairs window, making Mr Kershaw duck back to avoid getting a skewered forehead. One arrow whistled past Chuck’s craggy jaw and lodged in the timber-framed ceiling, while the other thudded harmlessly into the edge of the window frame. Chuck led rip a torrent of invective at the hapless apache bowmen, followed by a flurry of hand signals that displayed a rare talent for gesticulatory vulgarity. This prompted a brief round of applause from his fellow posse members, and quizzical looks from the two apaches who had installed themselves in the upper floor of the livery stable, directly opposite Chuck’s window.
At the north end of town, Lt House was busy marshalling his men into position around the Grand Hotel. Foxy Fargo had taken up a vantage point on the front balcony of the Golden Nugget Saloon and was covering the approaches to the hanging tree with her faithful Winchester repeater. Wells Fargo, feeling decidedly unwell, stumbled into Carter’s Dry Goods Store which is located next door to the saloon. Here he found a camp bed in the back room and decided to take the weight off his gammy leg for a while. Windy’s banditos had made good progress over on the east side of town, and had advanced as far as the Main Street Chapel without losing a man. The heavy rain was aiding their movement by keeping them obscured from Lt House’s eagle-eyed Feds.
Most of the exchange of fire was centered around Injun Alley. Hoo and Crow got into position at the loading bay on the first floor of the Livery Stable from where they let loose a flurry of arrows and thrown tomahawks at the hotel window opposite. Kershaw cackled as they thudded harmlessly into the outside timbers, then he blasted back at the skulking injuns with his pearl-handled sixgun. Despite the fierce exchange, not a drop of blood was spilled. Diyin scrambled through the ground floor window and narrowly missed being hit by Jake’s rifle bullet. His courage paid off and he was able to launch himself into a melee that pushed both Jake and Bushrod back to the far wall. The tide looked like it was beginning to turn for Shami’s manic rescue crew.
Meanwhile, back at the Golden Nugget, Foxy caught sight of Shami and Taklishin as they came riding hell for leather down the Main Street. They had circled wide around the west side of town and both were now making an audacious bid to rescue Dakaya from under the noses of the Feds and the Fargo posses. She drew a bead on Taklishin and fired, but the slug whistled a hand’s breadth past the injun’s bobbing head.

Shami & Taklishin make their move to rescue Dakaya.

In the next instant, fiery Foxy found herself confronted by two red-skinned savages – Mahklo and the Medicine Man. They had sneaked up the side stairs of the saloon while nobody had been watching. The murderous Mahklo led the pair and he hurled his tomahawk at Foxy as he closed upon her. Fortunately, the deadly axe was deflected off the Chantilly lace headband of her ranch hat and, remarkably, she survived this glancing blow without a scratch.
Foxy and Mahklo get up close and personal on the balcony of the Golden Nugget Saloon

.
Galvanized into action by the unexpected appearance of Shami and Taklishin, Lt House screamed the order to his men: “Fire!” A hail of bullets whistled from the guns of Bill Bascom, Jacob Skinton, and Charlie Plain… and not one of them found its mark. As the frightened townsfolk scattered in all directions before the thundering hooves of the apaches’ horses, Shami’s wildly audacious move was now looking like it might just pay off.
Back in the Clinton Hotel, things were getting decidedly unfriendly between Diyin and Jake. The brave injun attacker pushed the posse leader and his sidekick, Bushrod Wilkes, all the way back to the far wall of the lobby and was setting about them with his razor-sharp hunting knife. Upstairs, the exchange of fire between Kershaw and the injuns in the livery stable opposite continued unabated. Shami’s braves were pouring relentless showers of ill-aimed arrows into the upstairs window, so many in fact that the side of the hotel now resembled the back of a giant porcupine. Its owner, Fat Jack Clinton, later remarked that he was grateful to Shami’s boys. He intended to leave the arrows in place, as they would save him the expense of installing a fire escape.
Over on the east side of Main Street, the Mexicans had finally gathered themselves together behind the Main Street Chapel. Little did they know but Lt.House’s Feds were approaching them from around a blind corner.

Looks like it’s all about to kick off between
the Feds and the Mexicans.

Rico was the first to catch sight of the enemy and he got the drop on Gunslinger Keith, wounding him. Trooper David East winged Vasquez in the return fire, but the wily Mexican laughed off the bloody hole in his forearm with a guffaw of disdain (‘cause he still had 1 wound in reserve). Newbie Trooper Mohrah fired at Estavez but failed to secure a ‘duck for cover’ when the tortilla-chewer made his saving roll. Glen O’Reilly, a recently-promoted Pistoleer, fired off a noisy barrage of shots but failed to hit a solitary thing. Under cover of his not inconsiderable gunsmoke, Gunslinger Keith drew a bead on Rico and plugged him squarely in the forehead. The Meican’s eyes rolled skywards and he crashed heavily to the muddy ground with a soggy splash.
On the balcony of the Golden Nugget, things were going seriously pear-shaped for Foxy Fargo. Mahklo had swiftly swapped places with the Medicine Man, and this risible rainmaker had pushed the fair Foxy to the very brink of the balcony’s edge. Faced with the difficult choice of either fighting the feisty fiend or a leaping to the street below, Foxy chose the latter. With a sickening thud, she hit the muddy ground and dashed her head against the highway. Foxy was down and knocked well and truly out.

Taklishin gets stuck in to the townsfolk of Imelda.

Whooping with delight in a maniacal blood-frenzy, Taklishin galloped his horse into a trio of petrified townsfolk and began hacking them to bits with his tomahawk. As this wanton carnage took place, Shami reached the noosed-up Dakaya and cut through the hanging rope with consummate skill. Then he bundled the grateful brave across the back of his Appaloosa. Nearby, Lt House stood transfixed as he watched Shami’s audacious rescue plan coming to frightful fruition. As leader of the execution detail, and as the man standing nearest to the hanging tree, he knew that he was the only one who could do something to prevent the courageous Injun chief from spiriting away the condemned man.

Lt.House faces down Shami and Taklishin.

Taklishin slew the last of the hapless townsfolk. Spattered liberally with the blood of his victims, he pulled his steed away from their mutilated bodies and urged the horse to follow in the wake of his leader’s mare which was now heading south along Main Street. But the way out of town was not open. The fracas between the Feds and the Mexicans had spilled out from behind the Chapel and Shami soon found himself on a collision course with the plucky and determined Lt.House. Taklishin powered his horse alongside Shami and together they bore down on the steadfast officer. To his great credit, the lieutenant didn’t even flinch as the two injun riders closed in on him. He stood his ground and fought them both off with a potent mix of skill and good fortune. Shami lost 2 x Fortune in the encounter before he was able to disengage himself from this unexpectedly difficult melee.
Having been dislodged from the back of Shami’s horse during the fight, Dakaya now found
himself wandering around on foot in the middle of Main Street. On any other day save this it might have been a pleasant excursion for him, but not today, and especially not at this precise moment. A couple of Jake Fargo’s men had noted that Dakaya had lost his ride and was now standing alone, bemused, and vulnerable. Curly Spinks and Big Jim Douglas came high-tailing it down from the upper floor of the Clinton Hotel by way of the side stairs, and rushed straight across Main Street towards the unarmed injun. Seeing the danger, Shami turned his horse about and rushed to intercept the cowboys. As he galloped upon Curly Spinks, he let him have it with his tomahawk and dropped the cowpoke to the mud with one deft axe-swipe to the side of his bald head.

Shami clobbers Curley on the bonce… ouch!

Elsewhere in town, the action was just as fast and furious. In the foyer of the Clinton Hotel, the battlin’ injun Diyin was joined by fellow brave Naiche who came leaping through the open alley-side window. However, the tide was turning back in the favour of the cowboys, and Jake won this combat against the newly arrived Naiche while wily Bushrod Wilkes managed (against the odds) to get a wound in on Diyin. At the same time, just across the street, Gunslinger Keith was taken down by a scoped rifle shot from Windy Valdez, who let one slip in relief and celebration. Peon-tu was unfazed by the rancid stench now wafting over his shoulder. He had long become an expert at holding his breath.
Upstairs at the Clinton Hotel, history was about to be made. Chuck Kershaw, dangerously overconfident in the face of ineffective enemy arrow fire, decided to approach the window (which was bristling with spent apache shafts) and fan the livery stable opposite in the hope of hitting the two pesky bow-twangers who were hiding there. No sooner had his frame filled the open window, than a (dare I say) lucky arrow from Smaha’s bow pierced poor old Chuck’s windpipe and dropped him to the floor. He died, gurgling in disbelief. This was the first ever recorded kill resulting from arrow fire in the entirety of the campaign. The Apaches were elated. Their faith in the weapons of their forefathers had been vindicated at last. Shami henceforth proclaimed that the tribe would forever forego the use of firearms and, as we all know, the rest is history.

Chuck Kershaw – first man ever taken out by an arrow. How embarrassing is that?!

Barely audible amidst the murder and mayhem on Main Street, from the rear of Carter’s Dry Goods Store could be heard the faint chimes of a silver fob watch. It belonged to Wells Fargo and had been gifted to him by his father, M.Bargho Fargo, on the occasion of his twenty-first birthday. Wells had set the chimes to ring an hour after he settled down on the camp bed to catch forty winks, and rest his goddam aching leg. Stirred from slumber by the chimes of his pocket watch and the noise of the fighting outside, Wells rose stiffly from the bed and limped to the store’s front door as fast as he was able. No sooner had he emerged from the store and taken a few faltering steps onto the muddy, bloody Main Street, than he found himself being attacked by two fearsome, blood-spattered apache savages answering to the names Taklishin and Medicine Man. The nap must have done Wells a power of good for, despite the heavy odds against him, he engaged the attacking injuns and beat them both fair and square. Shami was aghast to see his beloved Taklishin stagger and fall face first into a muddy puddle. With his face submerged, and no bubbles to be seen, the Apache leader knew at once that Taklishin had just been dispatched with a one-way ticket to the Happy Hunting Grounds, courtesy of Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo sends Taklishin to the
Happy Hunting Grounds.

Across the street, Pistolero got the drop on the ‘new Fed in town’, greenhorn John Nicolson, and sent him tumbling to the mud with a bullet in the chest. Vasquez also found his form again and dropped John Thorne with a well-aimed shot from his trusty .45 cal. sixgun. Back at Clinton’s, the tables turn once more for Jake Fargo. This time he was on the receiving end of a vicious knife thrust from Diyin that robbed him of a precious wound point, while his sidekick – the irascible Bushrod Wilkes – was pushed back by a determined Naiche.
Elated by having witnessed Wells’ slaying of Taklishin, Sam Sturgis came running into the fray and wounded the Medicine Man before said savage could exact his revenge upon Wells for the death of his fellow brave. Fortunately for the cowboys, it was enough to persuade the ranting rainmaker to cease and desist his maniacal attack.
To Windy’s surprise, and somewhat muted dismay, he witnessed the death of Estavez. The swarthy mariachi-mangler was taken down by Gunslinger Keith, shot in the back as he exited the Overland Express Staging Post.
Shami’s shock at seeing Taklishin hit the mud with a thud, soon turned to thoughts of vengeance. He rallied Mahklo and the recently released Dakaya and led them in an attack against Wells, Sam Sturgis, and Big Jim Douglas. The cowboys literally fought for their lives and two of them, Wells and Sam, were very lucky to escape when they were pushed back in a hard-fought melee against the screamin’ injuns. Big Jim was not so fortunate. He was dropped by Shami, who was still wild-eyed and distraught following the demise of his gifted and favoured brave. To cap off a bloody, body-strewn penultimate round, Jacob Skinton took down Peon-tu with a well-aimed rifle shot, and Bushrod Wilkes redeemed himself by dropping Naiche in melee in the foyer of the Clinton Hotel.
Gagging for revenge, Shami pursued Wells Fargo as he retreated back towards the sanctuary of the Dry Goods Store. With great courage, Sam Sturgis bought Wells just enough time to get away when he rushed headlong at Shami and engaged him in a desperate hand-to-hand grapple. On paper, the injun chief should have beaten the cowpoke with casual ease, but the dice were to roll a different, unexpected outcome. Shami got blocked from reaching Wells and was then pushed back by gritty Sam in the ensuing melee.
Robbed of his revenge, but ever mindful of the mission in hand, Shami disengaged from the fight against Sam Sturgis and signaled to his braves to head south along Main Street and out of town. They had succeeded in rescuing Dakaya, but the price had been very high indeed. Taklishin subsequently lost his resolution roll; his demise is therefore permanent. It may have come as some small consolation to Shami that Jake Fargo was taken down in the last minute of the match by a determined Diyin. However, for Jake the final outcome was very different. He made his resolution roll and will return to fight another day.

Diyin does the dirty on Jake

Post Mortem
Federals
All of the Feds survived the encounter, although the loss of the convicted man and the deaths of several innocent townsfolk did not play well with Lt.House’s superior officers. In his favour, the courageous stand he made against Shami and Taklishin during their attempted escape from town was duly noted, and he was mentioned in dispatches. Possible disciplinary action against him was reduced to a $6 fine for spitting on the Imelda sidewalk, and a three-month deferment of any promotion.
Trooper Gen O-Reilly added +1 Fame
Jacob Skinton added +1 Pluck, as did Gunslinger Keith.
Perhaps the most surprising outcome was newbie Mohrah. He became a hero.
Veteran Bill Bascom gained +1 to his Shooting.
The dollar dice yielded a useful $25.
Apaches
Shami’s boys achieved their mission but paid a heavy price in the resolution rolls.
Taklishin, Naiche and Numboy were all killed outright.
Shami achieved a personal advance and gained +1 Grit.
Dakaya survived with his neck intact and gained, appropriately, +1 Fortune.
Smaha added +1 Wound
Crow gained +1 Grit
The dice, enhanced by a successful mission result, brought in a total of $49.
Windy’s Banditos
Having been shot up in right royal fashion, Rico developed a Bitter Enmity against the Feds. He also has a new skill = Trigger Happy.
Estavez and Peon-tu headed off to Boot Hill – may they both RIP.
Windy “El Flatulencia” Valdez gained +1 Wound. He now has 3 Wounds. That makes him one tough muchacha!
Pistolero aptly gained +1 Shooting.
Vasquez added a new skill to his repertoire = Fast Draw. Perhaps we should offer him a job as Lead Cartoonist at Sign of the Times?
The dice of dosh brought in $26 for ol’ Windy.
Fargo Inc.
Curley Spinks received a fatal blow from Shami’s tomahawk. He’ll be resting in Boot Hill tonight – may he RIP.
Jake Fargo and Big Jim Douglas both survived their take downs and will return next game.
Foxy Fargo suffered brain damage as a result of her swallow dive off the balcony of the Golden Nugget Saloon. Jake and Wells have shipped her back to the home ranch in Abilene for some rest and recovery. Her return to the posse is not expected to be a quick one.
Wells Fargo advanced and added a new skill = Rifleman.
Jake added +1 Pluck
The dollar dice rolled a mean result for the cowboys. Only $9. C’est la vie.

WILD WEST FACTS
In late 1849 Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson led the pursuit of a band of Jicarilla Apache who had kidnapped Mrs. J. M. White and her child from an emigrant caravan. Carson and a company of Taos soldiers tracked down and defeated the Apache, but they were too late to save Mrs. White, who was found with an arrow through her heart. Carson discovered a dime novel lying near White's body, featuring Carson as the hero of a story where he single-handedly fought off eight natives.
One of the earliest cattle barons of the great Southwest was the unlikely Jesuit explorer and mapmaker, Father Eusebio Franciso Kino. He came to southern Arizona in 1687 to found missions, but while he was there he introduced European livestock and ways to plant grain to feed them.
In Colfax County, New Mexico, Chunk Colbert invited Clay Allison to dinner with the plan of killing him. Colbert chatted amiably through the meal and then drew on his guest, his gun barely clearing the tabletop before quick-draw Allison shot him dead. Later, Allison would say of the event, "I didn't want to send him to hell on an empty stomach."
When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, the American population was 5,308,483. Two-thirds of the people lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean. One out of every five was a slave.
The Mayflower Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, not because it was their destination, but, rather, because they were running out of "victuals and beer." Had these vital supplies not been so low, they would have continued on to their original destination of Virginia.
In 1855, Los Angeles, California was a rough cow town, which averaged a murder a day. In one instance, the city's mayor resigned his position so that he could head a lynch mob, which stormed the jail to remove and then hang an inmate. When the inmate objected to being hanged by Mexicans, the Americans in the crowd took the rope and did it.
When Jesse James was killed, most people assumed that he had left a wealthy widow, but that was not the case at all. In fact, the only valuables that they owned were a few weapons, a bit of stolen jewelry, and assorted memorabilia. Zee James, Jesse's wife, was forced to sell most everything in the household in order to pay the creditors.
Contrary to popular thought, most cowboys didn't shoot up the many towns that they arrived in, as most of them didn't carry guns while they were riding. Carrying a gun was a nuisance to the riders that scared both the cows and the horses.
In the Old West, it was popular to take pictures of dead bandits after they were shot or hanged. The photographs would then be sold, for sometimes as much as one dollar, a heft price in those days for such a souvenir.
Harry Tracy, the last of the Wild Bunch riders escaped from prison in 1902 and was trapped on a ranch by possemen. Shooting it out to the last bullet, he saved one for himself rather than return to prison. His body was later displayed for all to see still clutching his six-gun.
Newspapers of the
Old West
Part Four
Kansas Territory
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 brought a new form of journalism to Kansas. This act granted self-determination to the citizens of the new territory on the question of slavery. For this reason, almost all of the newspapers in the territory took a stance that was clear to the reader of whether the paper was for or against slavery. The volatile issue created a rip-snorting style of journalism which resulted in many scathing editorial attacks. This style lasted for over a decade.
Following the Civil War, the role of the press in Kansas changed. The advent of railroads and the shipping of cattle brought a change in the newspapers. In the 1860's millions of acres of land were opened by the Homestead Land Act. This land was well suited for grazing, thus, Kansas became the terminus for a new industry -- cattle. With the advent of a new industry came the need for new towns along the "cow trails." Needless to say, where these new towns appeared, many also had newspapers. Ads for shipping of cattle are abundant.
A final bit of trivia on Kansas newspapers: In 1873 the Smith County Pioneer printed for the first time the words of the famous ballad Home on the Range. Discovery of the edition of the newspaper with the printing ended the long controversy over the ballad's authorship. (It was written by Dr. Brewster Higley.)
Idaho-Montana Territory
In 1860 gold was discovered along the Salmon River. Lewiston, Idaho was only a tent city then, but it was the closest supply post for the gold seekers and for trappers. Thus it became a logical spot for a newspaper. A. S. Gould established The Golden Age on August 2, l862. It was the first newspaper of the territory. As if the problems of producing a newspaper in the backwoods weren't enough, Gould had a major problem in keeping the paper going. In his first issue he denounced the common practice of ill treatment of the Indians by the miners and trappers. The records indicate that while his paper did last for a brief period of time, the editor disappeared after the first issue got off the press!
While there were many teenage editors in Old West journalism, one of the youngest was Lee Travis. In 1873, at the age of 14, he was editing a paper titled The News Letter. By no means was it a crude publication. It was a full-fledged newspaper. In addition to handling all the editorial and printing tasks, young Travis continually traveled over three rugged counties in a buckboard to promote subscriptions and advertisements! Before he died of acute bronchitis in 1882 at the age of 21 he had become a respected newspaperman who established several other newspapers, among them the Helena Morning Capitol.
Deadwood
Deadwood, named after the dead trees found in its gulch, is the county seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota.
The Treaty of Laramie of 1868 had guaranteed ownership of the Black Hills to the Lakota people. However, in 1874, Colonel George Armstrong Custer led an expedition into the Hills and announced the discovery of gold on French Creek near present-day Custer, South Dakota. Custer's announcement triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood, which quickly reached a population of around 5,000.
In early 1876, frontiersman Charlie Utter and his brother Steve led a wagon train to Deadwood containing what were deemed to be needed commodities to bolster business, that included gamblers and prostitutes, which proved to be a profitable venture. Demand for women was high, and the business of prostitution proved to be a good market. Madam Dora DuFran would eventually become the most profitable brothel owner in Deadwood, closely followed by Madam Mollie Johnson. Businessman Tom Miller opened the Bella Union Saloon in September of that year.
Another saloon was the Gem Variety Theater opened April 7th, 1877 by Al Swearengen who also controlled the opium trade in the town. After the saloon was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in 1879, it burned down again in 1899 causing Swearengen to leave the town.
The Gem in 1878
The town attained notoriety for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok, and remains the final resting place of Hickok and Calamity Jane, as well as slightly less famous figures such as Seth Bullock. It became known for its wild and almost lawless reputation, during which time murder was common, and punishment for murders not always fair and impartial.
As the economy changed from gold rush to steady mining, Deadwood lost its rough and rowdy character and settled down into a prosperous town. In 1876 a smallpox epidemic swept through the camp, with so many falling sick that tents had to be set up to quarantine them. Also in that year, General George Crook pursued the Sioux Indians from the Battle of Little Big Horn on an expedition that ended in Deadwood, and that came to be known as the Horsemeat March.
Deadwood 1876
A fire on September 26, 1879, devastated the town, destroying over 300 buildings and consuming everything belonging to many inhabitants. Without the opportunities of rich untapped veins of ore that characterized the town's early days, many of the newly impoverished left town to try their luck elsewhere.
A narrow gauge railroad, the Deadwood Central Railroad, was founded by Deadwood resident J.K.P. Miller and his associates in 1888, in order to serve their mining interests in the Black Hills. The railroad was purchased by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1893. A portion of the road between Deadwood and Lead was electrified in 1902 for operation as an interurban passenger system, which operated until 1924. Apart from a portion from Kirk to Fantail Junction, which was converted to standard gauge, the railroad was abandoned in 1930. The remaining section was abandoned by the successor Burlington Northern Railroad in 1984.
Some of the other early town residents and frequent visitors included Al Swearengen and his employees Dan Doherty and Johnny Burns, E. B. Farnum, Charlie Utter, Sol Star, Martha Bullock, A. W. Merrick, Samuel Fields, Harris Franklin, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, the Reverend Henry Weston Smith, Buffalo Bill, First Federal Judge Bennett, General Dawson, and Madame Canutson (woman bull-whacker)
Second Life Simulation
The town of Deadwood is a western role-play sim in the popular online game Second Life. The RPG occurs in the town during the 1870's, and the simulation is famous for being a close to exact replica of the town at that time.
HBO Television Series
Deadwood, the American television drama series, premiered in March 2004 on HBO. The series is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, before and after its annexation to the Dakota Territory. At the time, Deadwood (a real town in the modern state of South Dakota) was little more than a makeshift camp, but it was a popular destination for those prospecting for gold in the Black Hills.
The series charts Deadwood's growth from camp to town, incorporating themes ranging from the formation of communities to western capitalism.
Deadwood features many historical figures, such as Wild Bill Hickok, Seth Bullock, Sol Star, Calamity Jane, Al Swearengen, Wyatt Earp, E. B. Farnum, Charlie Utter and George Hearst. The plotlines involving these characters include historical truths as well as substantial fictional elements. Some of the characters are fully fictional, although they certainly may have been based on actual persons.
The show was created by David Milch (NYPD Blue), who also serves as executive producer and head writer. The theme music was written by David Schwartz.The third and final season premiered on June 11, 2006 and ended on August 27, 2006. Although there were plans to conclude the series with two special made for TV films, the plans have yet to come into fruition. Several of the series stars have since commented that the series is now unlikely to return. As of 10 October 2007, however, HBO has reasserted the possibility of the two movies, declining to support the notion that the show is dead.
Glossary of American Mountain Men Terms,
Words & Expressions
Part Six
R
READ HIM A PAGE FROM THE GOOD BOOK
To give someone a tongue, lashing, or perhaps something a little more forceful.
RAISE, TO
To steal from another's cache. Any man found doing this was likely to become wolf meat.
RAISE HAIR
To scalp an enemy.
RAWHIDE
The dried, dehaired but untanned hide of any animal, usually cattle or buffalo. Very strong and useful.
READING SIGN
Interpreting the tracks, etc. when tracking.
REDSTICK
Indian.
ROBE HIDE
The winter-killed hide of the buffalo. usually used to make buffalo robes.
RUBBED OUT
Dead or killed. This expression comes from the early attempts of the Indian to learn English. To erase is to rub out, anything rubbed out no longer exists, so must be dead. Adopted by the mountain man with the same meaning.
S
SANTA FE TRAIL
A well-used route between Independence, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
SAW BUCK
A cross-frame used for cutting wood. Also a pack saddle.
SCALP FEAST
A time for counting coup, feasting dancing, and chanting over battles won.
SCALP LOCK
A challenging lock of hair grown on the crown of the heads of the warriors of some Indian tribes.
SCALP POLE
The pole used to display scalps taken from enemies.
SEGUNDO
The second-in-command of a large party or company
SHARPS
A breechloading percussion rifle invented by Christian Sharps.
SHINING
Splendid. To shine means to be extra good at something.
SHINING MOUNTAINS
An early name for the Rocky Mountains.
SHONGSASHA
A form of tobacco made from the bark of the red willow, sometimes mixed with Indian tobacco plant leaves.
SKIN TRADE, THE
The fur trade.
SKOOKUM
Good. An Indian word much used in mountain man slang.
SLEDGE
A flat-decked sled used for transporting provisions.
SLINGING
A method of securing provisions to the back of a mule.
SLUSH LAMP
See "Bitch".
SNAG
A dead tree in a river. Capable of sinking a canoe.
SNOW EATER, A
A chinook.
SOURDOUGH
Fermented dough used for making bread, biscuits flapjacks, etc.
SPUDS
Potatoes.
SQUARE
A term of respect. Any man of courage, honesty, self- reliance, and devotion to what he believed to be right was " square " and darn proud of-it.
SQUARE SHOOTER, A
See "Square".
SQUAW CAMP
A camp for women and children while the men were away hunting or at war.
SQUAW HITCH
A simple hitch used in place of the Diamond Hitch.
SQUAW MAN
A White man married to an Indian woman.
SQUAW WIND
An unexpected warm wind in the middle of a very cold spell. Like a chinook, but in the dead of winter.
SQUAW WOOD
Small dry sticks used for starting a fire or tending a very small. hard-to-see fire for cooking.
STIRRUP
Bread made from flour, fat, and water. It was baked in a Dutch oven or on a stick placed over or near a fire.
SWEEP
The steering oar on keel boats, rafts, etc.
T
TANGLE FOOT
Whiskey.
TAOS LIGHTNING
A whiskey made near Taos New Mexico.
TERRAPIN
Dog meat.
TINDER
Fine, shredded Birch bark or other highly combustible wood. Used for starting fire with flint and steel, or with a fire drill. Charred cotton was also used as tender.
THERE GO HORSE AND BEAVER
An expression meaning "I just lost everything I owned or had with me".
THRUMS
The fringe on buckskin or leather clothing.
THROW IN WITH, TO
To join a group or party. To go into partnership with someone.
THROW SMOKE, TO
To shoot a firearm
TIMBER WOLF
A large, gray wolf found at one time throughout the United States, now found only in the far north.
TOMAHAWK
A small hatchet used by the Indians and mountain men for fighting and woodcraft.
TOMAHAWK TALKS
Councils of war. Treaty councils. The tomahawk was an important symbol in both war and peace.
TIPI
The conical lodge used by the Plains Indians. (Teepee)
TOW
Unspun flax used for cleaning firearms. Also used as tinder.
TRACE, A
A trail.
TRADE GUN
See " Fusees".
TRAPPER'S BUTTER
Marrow from the leg bones of large animals.
TRAPPINGS
Accouterments, especially for a horse.
TRAVEE
A travois, a form of sled made by fastening two long poles together over the back of A horse or dog, then building a platform near where they drag to support a pack or cargo of some sort.
U
UP TO BEAVER
An expression meaning a very cunning persons one who can hold his own in any situation.
V
VALLEY TAN
Mormon whiskey.
VARA
The Spanish yard (33 inches); the unit of measurement used by many early traders.
VOYAGEUR
A trapper for one of the very early fur companies. Most voyageurs were French-Canadian.
W
WAGH
An exclamation, used by both Mountain Men and Indians, usually denoting admiration or surprise. This grunt-like sound is supposed to resemble that made by a bear. It is, in fact, believed to have ordinate from the sound made by a bear when mildly surprised.
WAMPUM
An Indian term for belts of small beads or shells that were used as money. Many mountain men adopted this term to mean all money.
WAR PATH. ON THE
A person spoiling for a good fight is said to be "on the war path,"
WASNA
Pemmican. (Dahcotah word)
WATTAPE
The fine root of a coniferous tree, used as thread or twisted into rope. (Voyageur)
WAUGH
See "Wagh "
WENT UNDER
To die.
WHITE INDIAN
A White man who went native and joined a tribe of Indians. Many captured White children became White Indians.
WICKIUP
The lodge of some southwestern Indian tribes.
WIGWAM
The dome-shaped lodge of some eastern Indian tribes.
WILLOW KILLER
The first real cold spell of Fall. When the leaves all fall off of the willows due to the cold, it is a sure sign that winter has arrived.
WIPE OUT, A
A massacre. Many a so-called "massacre" was not really one at all, as both sides had weapons and were able to and did fight.
WOLFER
A man who made his living hunting wolves for bounty. The wolfer was only considered a degree or two better than the hide hunter. Neither were ever considered a part of the skin (fur) trade.
WOLFISH, I'M
I am hungry.
Y
YELLOW LEGS
Dragoons.
YUNKS
Children.

great new buildings!

2008-02-24T18:29:00.010Z

Court house

All carefully created by Imeldas master builder Colin Rush.

Colin accepts commisions, see links to for contact info if you are interested....

a few black scorpion cowboys

2008-02-17T11:35:00.013Z

some dudes in fancy duds

2008-02-15T12:40:00.000Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2007-12-29T18:30:00.000Z

Imelda has been quiet the last few weeks, will soon be back in full sixgun totting action!

All the best for the new year from the residents of Imelda

keep on gaming!!

Pats Texas rangers

2007-11-11T19:20:00.000Z

A lovely pic of Pat Smiths gorgeous looking Texas rangers posse. Not in the campaign, yet.......

2007-11-07T15:47:00.001Z

Issue No. 6
STINKY PETE HAS LAST LAUGH!
Ol’ Stinky Pete Bogg had been shootin’ his mouth off yet again. Half a bottle of Red Eye Whisky was all it took to loosen his tongue and get him to spill the beanz ©™-WindyValdez about the apple-sized nugget of gold he’d found last week at the Black Hills mining camp. The old mine head and its deep shafts were abandoned three years ago when the rich gold seam was thought to have finally paid out its last speck. Only Stinky Pete has remained at the mine, subsisting on a diet of skunk meat broiled in urine garnished with cow chip sprinkles, and stubbornly clinging to the hope that there is still some more gold to be had in them thar hills.
Nobody usually pays much attention to ol’ Stinky, except to keep upwind of him when he stumbles into town. The drunks and n’er-do-well patrons of Grim Jim’s Booze Shack are apt to turn a deaf ear when he starts into ramblin’ about hitting pay dirt up at the old mining camp. But this time it was a different story. Ol’ Stinky got nervous as soon as he let slip about his gold find, and scurried out of the bar leaving his whisky half-finished. As far as the other drinkers were concerned, this was all the proof they needed that Stinky had been telling the truth. He’d never before been known to leave a drink un-drunk!

Word spread like wildfire of Stinky Petes find.
At daybreak next morning, a couple of gold-hungry posses were already making their way into the hills to go a visitin’ Stinkers. Jake Fargo and his brother Wells had been hiring cowpokes and were now in need of funds to kit them out good and proper. Windy Valdez was feeling the pinch as well, though this was soon sorted out by a traveling proctologist who hails from Gaseous City, Arizona. Still, his treatment had punished his purse and a quick cashflow fix was duly in order.
Stinky Pete’s nugget would plug the gap nicely (… behave!).

The word had traveled all the way to Fort Brannigan as well, and the US Army was mighty interested to hear it. The Black Hills mining camp was now federal property, and if any gold had been prised out of its tired old seams then it rightly belonged to Uncle Sam and no-one else. Lt Norman House and a troop of troopers were detailed to go and investigate at first light.
Dawn broke grey and wet over the mining settlement. It was the height of summer yet the sky was blanketed by heavy thunder clouds. The posse leaders were all forming the same conclusion as they approached the derelict mine head. Had they taken a wrong turn and some how ended up in Manchester, England? No. The reason for the heavy rain was more logical and more credible than that – Apache leader Shami’s Medicine Man must be doing the rain forest foxtrot, yet again.

Black Hills Mining Camp – twinned with Manchester

Stinky Pete was doubly smellier than usual. Paranoia had that effect on him. He knew he’d put his foot in it down at the booze shack the previous evening, and in the resultant panic he’d been up all night trying to find somewhere safe to hide his precious nugget. He’d dug several holes around the mine head with the intention of burying it, but when, at last, the dawn broke, he was still too boozed-up to remember what he’d done with his booty. Aside from his intoxication, his digging had been further hampered by the moonless night and a rhumba of rattlesnakes that had come slithering down out of the surrounding hills, looking for someplace dry to nest.
Ol’ Stinkers first caught sight of Windy Valdez’s posse skulking in the damp foliage to the south east of the settlement. The fug of drunkenness had worn off and he was now determined to defend his hard-won fortune. He was, after all, the proud owner of a newly acquired Wibbly & Clunk scoped buffalo gun, and woe betide any man who got caught in its crosshairs.
Barely minutes after Stinky sighted Valdez, three other gold-greedy varmint posses were seen approaching the derelict settlement. Jake’s boys were making a bee-line for the mine from the South West, Shami’s rain-lovin’ injuns from the North West, and Lt House’s Fed from the North East. Stinky was surrounded. Determined to defend his nugget, Pete loaded up his rifle and stood his ground defiantly. He knew he needed to scare them away so that he could go search for it himself.
Shami and his Medicine man were wreathed in peace pipe smoke as they led their fellow braves down towards the settlement’s abandoned livery stables. The Apache leader was confident of victory; the pipe smoke was working its charm and Shami knew he’d get another roll of the dice on his first ‘head for the hills’ test. Jake was not quite so confident. He was mighty sick of all the unseasonable rain and feared that his pants would be forever damp whenever he confronted his old Indian adversary. Nevertheless, the plucky trail boss and his eagle-eyed sister, Foxy, had spotted something that gave them hope - two freshly dug and covered holes on either side of the settlement’s south road. They were resolved to get in quick and check them out.
Stinky made his way along the alley that runs beside the livery stable, aiming to keep out of sight of Lt House’s Feds who were now swarming around the mine head. As he peered around the corner at the distant troopers, he was unaware that Shami and his Apache posse were coming down the narrow road behind him. Then Shami caught a glimpse of Stinky’s buffalo gun and had second thoughts about rushing the malevolent miner from behind. Stinky thought he heard something and, as he turned his head, Shami’s braves scattered. The heavy rain, and his even heavier hangover, clouded his vision and he failed to see that the alley was alive with would-be Apache assassins.

The Feds investigate the mine head

Meanwhile, Jake and his posse had entered the town and taken up a defensive position among the abandoned stock of an old hardware emporium. Jake sent Sam Sturgis forward to take a closer look at the recently dug and covered pit on this side of the road. Obediently, Sam ran forward and started to scoop the wet soil from the top of the pit with his bare hands. He soon discovered that it had been heaped onto an old washboard that was covering the base of the pit, and when he lifted the board away, he got a very nasty surprise. Rattlesnake! The feisty critter took a lunge at the startled cowpoke and grazed the back of his left hand with its venomous fangs. Sam snatched his hand away and instinctively sucked the poison from his grazed knuckles. Luckily for him, this did the trick. He survived the bite and from now on he would be known as Sam ‘Snakebite’ Sturgis.
Windy Valdez and his chihuahua chumkins had been making steady progress through the back alleys to the South East of the camp. Sam’s digging hadn’t gone unobserved, and Windy soon realized the significance of the freshly dug pits. He’d spotted the two that Jake has seen, and he’d noticed two more nearer the centre of the camp. He ordered a few of his banditos to go and take on Jake’s posse, but he hadn’t reckoned on getting such a fiery reception from the trail boss and his men. Jake and sister Foxy legged it to the cover of a corral fence on the Mexican side of the road and opened up on Valdez’s man – Lobo – with their Winchesters. Despite the rain, they drew their beads on the swarthy Mexican and took him down with two well-aimed shots. It would have been first blood to the cowboys, but technically that honour had already gone to the rattlesnake.
Snakebite Sturgis drew his six-gun and blew the feisty rattler clean out of the pit. No saving throw for that one. Jake signaled to his men behind the boxes and bales, and they responded by slinging lead a-mucho in the Valdez posse’s direction. Big Jim Douglas criticalled Concho who had, up until then, been making a good recovery from his intermittent bouts of madness. The downing of half-sane Concho panicked his compadres and sent them flying for cover in all directions. Angry at seeing Concho floored by Big Jim’s .45, Vasquez returned fire and put a hole in Big Jim’s bowler. It was close, but he didn’t win any prize for that one.

Jake’s boys open up on the Banditos

Having almost been spotted by the buffalo-toting bacterial bio-hazard, otherwise known as Stinky Pete, Shami had now changed his plan of attack. Instead of heading for the centre of town, he and his braves were haring it towards Jake’s posse from the rear, taking advantage of the fact that the cowboys were busy gunning it out with El Flatuloso and his banditos. Like a trio of face-painted and fluffy feathered bats out of Injun hell, Shami, Taklishin, and Dakaya came galloping straight into the middle of Jake’s posse. Dakaya felled the new cowpoke recruit, Eddy Barnes, with a well-aimed tomahawk blow to the forehead. Shami and Taklishin hurled their toms just prior to closing for the melee, but their injun axes went sailing over their targets’ heads… as is so often the case. From his place by the corral fence on the far side of the south road, Jake could see that things were going seriously wrong for his men positioned among the bales and boxes. He turned to shout a command to Big Jim, but in doing so he exposed the top of his head to bandito Rico. With a sneering grin, the ruthless tortilla-chomper loosed off a shot that clipped Jake’s skull. The posse leader was down. Fearing Jake had been killed, Foxy broke cover and ran bravely to her brother’s side. But before she could cradle him in her arms, she too was felled by a Mexican’s slug. Estavez winged her head with his pistol bullet and knocked her down, just as Rico’s round had previously dropped Jake.
Still seething from seeing Concho go down, Vasquez blazed at Big Jim and criticalled both him and his friend, Bushrod Wilkes. The tables were turning. Jake’s posse were now getting shot up pretty bad by the Mexicans, and mauled mercilessly from behind by Shami’s Apaches. As Big Jim was falling to the ground, Gonzales, Pancho, and Mexanche all discharged their pieces in his direction. Lead peppered the ground around where he lay but none of this metal left its deadly mark on the unconscious cowboy.

Mexicans happy to see the injuns arrive… for now!

Inside the circle of bales and boxes, Shami’s lads were getting stuck in to the last of the luckless cowboys. Taklishin fought a vicious hand-to-hand combat with Jake’s brother, Wells, and knifed him repeatedly until he fell limply to the ground. Bravely, cowpoke Curley Spinks stepped over Well’s prone and bloodied body and managed to push back Dakaya as he was closing in for the kill. Taklishin and Shami pulled away, confident that the fight with the cowboys had now been won, and turned their unwanted attentions to the Mexicans on the opposite side of the street. The injuns were feeling pretty good. They had some reinforcements on the way: four braves led by the bow-toting Hoo.
Hoo loosed off an arrow at Vasquez as his band of braves made their approach, and this missile passed close enough to send the Mexican diving for cover. Stinky Pete, who had up until this point been wandering the back alleys of the mining settlement with nothing but murder on his mind, finally got a clear view of Pancho through the teeming rain. He aimed. He fired. The boom of his mighty weapon shook fillings loose from teeth for fifty yards around. But this was the only damage inflicted by the fearsome rifle. Its heavy slug tore through the rotten planks of the overturned wagon behind which Pancho was taking cover. The leery Mexican gave the miner a toothy grin and indicated with a flamboyant gesture of his hand that Pete was a bit of a monkey-spanker on the quiet.
With five men down, including himself, Jake knew it was high time he and his boys headed for the hills. Curley Spinks did the honours, rallying the few cowboy survivors and seeing to the wounded while the injuns and the Mexcianos got stuck into each other on no uncertain terms. Neither side was in any mood to give quarter.
Gonzalez took a pot shot at Shami with his shotgun as the Apache leader charged his pony towards the startled banditos. The blast missed and Shami, with nerves of steel, closed in for the kill. Meanwhile, Valdez himself had carefully avoided getting personally involved in the bloodbath that was taking place around the south road corral. With his ubiquitous peon shields in position before him, he made his way towards the middle of town while keeping a wary eye open for Stinky Pete and the Feds. With the entire action taking place in and around the south road approach, Lt House had had free reign over the centre and northern parts of the settlement. Curiously, he decided not to search all of the freshly-dug pits that he came across while conducting his slow and meticulous sweep of the mining camp.

Valdez & Co. bump into Stinky Pete

Valdez and his human shields turned a corner to approach the middle of town when unexpectedly they were met by Stinky Pete. He was striding towards them with his scoped rifle at the ready. However, the gun was now empty and so Pete decided to lay into Emiliano - one of Valdez’s protective peons - with its sturdy walnut stock. Valdez, true to form, began firing into the melee without any concern for the health and safety of his employees. His reckless shot hit his second peon, known as Peon-tu, in the back. Fortunately, the man has two wounds and could afford to lose one of these to his errant boss. But this was not the first time that this had happened to him, and he was beginning to think it was time for a career change. Wrestling alligators in Louisiana was now looking to be the safer option. Stinky was riled by the thought of these thieving Mexicans getting their hands on his nugget, and he began hitting out every whichway with his empty rifle butt. He slugged Emiliano and knocked him back, then promptly he tripped over his own feet and landed on the helpless peon. Deprived now of his human shields, Windy got very windy and slipped one out. He wafted it discretely towards the entangled duo with the butt of his rifle. Even though its throat-searing pungency brought a tear to Stinky’s eye, the malodorous miner recognized class when he sniffed it.
"Mighty fine vintage you’ve bin a-brewin’ thar, Mister" he said. "Reminds me of a skunk stew I had made back in ’73. Dang thing smelled jus’ the same when I got ‘round to heatin’ it up and eatin’ it… last month."
Over at the south road corral, Shami’s braves were taking the fight to Valdez’s hard-pressed burrito-burpers. Taklishin had closed with Estavez and was in full fury mode, getting in two attacks for every one the Mexican could muster. The plucky bandito did well to survive the encounter and get pushed back. Dakaya attacked Vasquez who has been having a fine time of things so far. The injun brave pushed him back, but Vasquez then turned the tables on him and took him down. It was his third kill of the game and it secured for him a well deserved ‘Man of the Match’ award. The injun, having been dropped unconscious, was captured by the Mexicans. This was later to have serious consequences for Shami and his posse.
Back in the middle of town, Valdez had by now legged it away from Stinky Pete before the manic miner could reload his rifle and take a shot. Gunslinger Keith, the Fed’s hired hand, got a clean line of fire at Stinky and opened up on him, but surprisingly to no effect. John Thorn did likewise and made Stinky dive for cover when his heavy pistol bullet drilled a hole in the pocket of his buffalo skin overcoat. Cursing the Feds, Stinky scrambled to his feet and high-tailed it away from Norman’s blue-bellied boys before they could close in and surround him.
The bloody battle was continuing unabated at the south road corral, mostly around the overturned wagon to the east side of the street. Crow tomahawked Vasquez and missed, but he quickly closed on him, so eager was he to get the upper hand. Rico fanned his six-gun into the combat, missing his comrade Vasquez by a gnat’s whisker and forcing the injun to retreat. Shami dived headlong into a fierce hand-to-hand melee against Pancho and Mexanche. In a bloody flurry of knife blows, he scored wounds on both and killed them. Shami strikes! Shami scores!

Fierce fighting to the south of the encampment

Estavez managed to wound Taklishin but the fearsome Apache was saved from an early bath by a point of fortune. Rico was outsmarted by the Medicine Man when he called a ‘yee haw!’ so as to get the drop on his adversary. While this fight ensued, Vasquez and Gonzalez found themselves surrounded by no less than five bloodthirsty savages. The Mexicans got the drop but were unable to shoot at the injuns as they were now surrounded and entangled in a fierce melee.
Bill Bascom took a shot at Stinky Pete as the rancid ore-scratcher peered out from cover. His rifle bullet splintered wood close by Pete’s face, but it didn’t stop the stinky one from returning the compliment with his now-loaded buffalo gun.
Meanwhile, back at the ‘far-from-OK Corral’, the carnage continued unabated. Vasquez now found himself up against Crow and the Medicine Man. Crow got in two attacks but failed to hit both times. Vasquez was beginning to see a glimmer of hope that he might be able to extract himself from this desperate situation, but the glimmer turned out to be the reflection of grim grey daylight on the blade of the Medicine man’s hatchet. With a harsh war-cry, he slammed it down on the bad bandito’s bonce. Vasquez, the man of the match, had been taken down in last few minutes. This just left Gonzalez to face the screaming Apaches. Defiantly, he whirled his empty shotgun around his head and tried to scythe down the injuns as they closed on him from all directions, but he was only delaying an inevitable outcome. Mahklo ducked below the whirring shotgun butt, then he took down the screaming bandit with his sharp Apache blade.

Rico and Estavez under pressure from Team Apache

It was now all over for the Mexicans bar the shouting. Shami and Taklishin put the cherry on this cake of carnage when the Apache leader took down Rico, and Taklishin made Estavez retreat from melee. Rico was the last straw for Valdez and the peon-persecuting posse leader was forced to concede that it was ‘head for he hills’ time. As Valdez high-tailed it back towards the cover of the rain-soaked timberland, Stinky Pete grabbed the chance to escape while the coast, at least on the South East side of the encampment, was clear.
With the Mexicans and the Cowboys now longer around, Shami and his braves were able to search the pits in the south part of the mining camp while Lt House and his boys investigated those to the north, which mostly were dotted around the mine head. The Medicine Man discovered another pit with nothing but a riled rattler in it, as did David East when he dug up one by the entrance to the mine. The others were all found to be empty of snakes… and empty of gold as well.
It had been a very unlucky twenty-four hours for Stinky Pete. Not only had he lost a good night’s sleep, but he’d come darned close to losing his life as well when those greedy bandits and busy-body Yankees had invaded his camp. And then, to top it all, he couldn’t remember where the heck he’d buried his nugget last night. It was no good - he’d just have to hide out in the hills and wait until the posses left the camp. Then he could go back and start searching for it.
In the meantime he decided to find a dry spot to sit it out. He knew a shallow cave about a mile from the camp where he could at least get some shelter. As he trekked his way through the sodden timberland towards the distance cave, he noticed the hole in his coat pocket where John Thorn’s pistol bullet had entered. He’d been very lucky not to have been wounded by that slug. He was looking for the exit hole when he suddenly realized that there wasn’t one. Digging deep into his pocket, he found the bullet. And he also found something else; a large nugget of gold into which the bullet was deeply embedded. Stinky began to laugh. These past twenty four hours hadn’t turned out so unlucky for him after all.

Post mortem

Apaches
Dakaya was abandoned by the Mexicans and captured by the Feds. He was accused of the murder of Eddie Barnes, the young cowpoke who had only recently joined the Fargo posse, and he was sentenced to be hanged in Imelda in one week’s time.
It turned out that Eddie was the youngest son of William Fitzgerald Barnes, the Senator of Arizona. The Senator was not going to stand for any "damned heathen redskin" killing his boy, no matter how fair the fight may have been. At first, the finger of blame had been pointed at Wells Fargo for having recruited young Eddie into the posse and, by so doing, placed him directly in harm’s way. But this charge was quickly dropped by Senator Barnes when he learned that his son’s killer – Dakaya – was being held in custody in Imelda jail. Besides, Wells’s pappy, M.Bargho Fargo, has been a lifelong friend and hunting buddy of the Senator’s. They’d fought side-by-side with Davy Crockett at the Alamo back in ’36. There was no way Wells was going down for the death of young Eddie, not so long as there was a heathen neck available to fit the noose.
Mahklo advanced and gained a new preferred skill – Dirty Fighter.
Taklishin advanced and gained +1 Fortune.
Naiche gained +1 Pluck
Shami added 4 experience points (3 for kills and 1 for surviving), as well as gaining +1 Fighting and +1 Pluck.
Smaha and Crow got experience, and Hoo advanced to ‘hero’ status.
Diyin gained +1 Fighting
Medicine Man gained +1 Pluck.
The money dice brought in $28 for Shami’s boys, of which $15 went to pay for the Medicine Man.
Infamy Rating (TBA)

Feds
Lt Norman House advanced and gained +1 Fame. He is now 3 Fame.
John Thorn added +1 Pluck
David East got +1 Shooting and acquired the nickname "Snake Charmer" after successfully surviving the snake bite he received when searching one of Stinky’s pits.
The money dice yielded $38 for the Feds, of which $10 went to meet the Gunslinger’s costs.
Infamy Rating 119

Valdez
Gonzalez was killed. May he RIP.
Vasquez and Lobo made a full recovery.
Mexanche died before the day was out.
Pancho and Rico recovered fully.
Estavez suffered a deep wound and will be forced to miss 1 game while he recovers.
Valdez advanced and added +1 Pluck
Estavez gained +1 Fighting
Vasquez, the man of the match, gained 4 experience and 2 advances. He added +1 Shooting and +1 Wound. A well-deserved result for this gritty fighter.
Concho added +1 Shooting
Pancho added +1 Fighting
Lobo and Peon-tu each gained +1 Fighting.
The money dice brought in $10 which, when added to the Mexicano stash, gives Valdez just enough to buy himself a buffalo gun.
Infamy Rating (TBA)

Jake Fargo
Jake himself made a full recovery.
Eddie Barnes died (see the Apaches’ post mortem for the full story on the consequences of this outcome).
Bushrod Wilkes made a full recovery, as did Big Jim Douglas and Foxy Fargo – after she bought herself some genuine snake oil that is. Result!
Wells had a pretty tough time of it, sustaining multiple injuries, not only to his person but also, albeit temporarily, to his good reputation. A deep wound to his right thigh leaves him with -1 to movement, even though it healed up quick and permits him to take part in the next game. He became Fearless as a result of his wound, but he lost all of his equipment in the melee.
Foxy, Wells, Big Jim Douglas, Curley Spinks, Sam Sturgis, and Chuck Kershaw all enrolled in the Annie Oakley Shooting School and emerged one week later, each with +1 Shooting. Bushrod Wilkes failed to qualify in the finals, but said he was pleased and satisfied to have gained +1 Wound for his advance.
Money dice yielded $8 – just enough to buy Wells a new six-gun and a fighting knife in time for next weeks hangin’.
Infamy Rating 73

WILD WEST FACTS
Three bandits who robbed the Adams Express car in a passenger train near Bannack, Montana were rounded up by vigilantes and promptly hanged, a fate that became all too familiar in the lawless West when citizens, angered over vacillating courts, meted out their own brand of swift justice and self-satisfying justice.
From 1778 until 1871, the U.S. Government ratified 370 treaties with the Native American Tribes. After 1871, acts of Congress, executive orders and executive agreements replaced the rarely enforced treaties.
California bandit Black Bart robbed alone and wore socks over his boots so he could not be tracked. His real name was Charles E. Boles and was known as a gentleman outlaw who enjoyed writing bits of poetry which he left in empty strongboxes to confuse pursuing possemen.

By the 1600's beaver was extinct in Britain and extremely scarce in other parts of Europe, giving rise to a great demand for American beaver skins and thus the many trappers that would roam the vast west.
One practice that is credited to the old west is that of taking the scalp of an enemy. However, that actually started in the French and Indian War when General Edward Braddock offered £5 sterling to his soldiers and their Indian allies for each French soldier's scalp. The Indians actually picked up this nasty habit from the British. e
Isam Dart one of the few black gunslingers of the Old West was killed near Brown's Hole by the feared stock detective and bounter hunter Tom Horn.

On the vast prairies where firewood was often scarce, cowchips were regularly used for fires. Camp cooks relied on them, as when they were dry, they made a hot fire. Of course the burning chips gave off an unsavory smell, but, thankfully, it did not affect the food. One old range cook who used his hat for a bellows claimed that in one season he "wore out three good hats trying to get the dammed things to burn."

With the great Chinese migration to the West Coast following the Civil War rose intense racist hatred which burst forth in riots against these hapless Orientals. In one such case in Denver, Colorado thugs attacked many of them in Chinatown, beating them ferociously and cutting off their pigtails. In Missoula, Montana, cowboys were known to chase the Chinese through the streets and when they caught them, they would tie them up, cut their pigtails, strip them naked and often, shoot off their toes and fingers.

NEWSPAPERS OF THE OLD WEST

part three

Dakota territory

The first newspaper in the Dakotas was printed at Sioux Falls City on July 2, l859. That paper was The Dakota Democrat. It must be distinguished that this paper technically wasn't a "territorial" however. The Dakotas didnt officialy become a territory until March 2, 1861.
This paper was printed on an irregular basis and before long the name was changed to the "independent". It was still in business in 1862 when the Santee Sioux Indians raided the village.

They dumped the press in the river and made off with the type metal. They melted the type down to use to make their inlaid designs in their peace pipes.

The Homestead Law in l863 provides an interesting aspect to the content of the newspapers in the area. (I once read that the Homestead Law was a great gamble in that "the government bets you 160 acres of land against your $18 that you will starve to death before you live on it for five years!') At least in the beginning, not all newspapers in the Dakotas were established because of any great editorial desires of the editors to bring news to the area.
Homestead Laws was the advertising of "proving up" notices. During the height of land development many newspaper editions carried as many as 2000 of these legal notices -- at the rate of about $5 each! This meant plenty of profit for the publisher! (Other territories had much the same "journalistic phenomenon" but not to the extent that the Dakota Territory did.) Yet another ingenious solution to publishing a newspaper in the less than normal conditions that the Old West provided was solved by one editor. W. A. Laughlin became too ill to continue publishing his Black Hills Pioneer in 1866, but this didn't stop him. Saturday nights at Deadwood is where most of the printers from the surrounding areas came to celebrate the end of the week. Since typesetters were abundant in the town on Saturday nights, he came upon a unique idea. His paper was published weekly, so each Saturday night he sponsored a contestfor typesetters. The prize was a bottle of good whiskey. By the end of the contest he had his entire next edition all typeset and ready for the press! There is a final interesting story to relate about a newspaper and the Dakota territory. Then President Benjamin Harrison, was about to sign the proclamations which would admit the 39th and 4Oth states to the Union. He had his secretary place each document inside an identical edition of a newspaper. He then shuffled them back and forth until no one present could tell which document was which state. Just enough of the proclamation was left exposed for the President to sign. He signed them and then shuffled the papers again before the documents were removed. Because of this "shell game", no one will ever know which of the Dakotas was actually the 39th or 4Oth state! When President Harrison signed the documents on November 2,1889, South Dakota had 275 newspapers and North Dakota had 125.

THE OREGON TRAIL
Pioneers traveled across the Oregon Trail, one of the main overland migration routes on the North American continent, in wagons in order to settle new parts of the United States of America during the 19th century. The Oregon Trail helped the United States implement its cultural
m the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Theregon Trail spanned over half the continent as
th
kilometers) west through territories and land later to become six U.S. states (Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon). Between 1841 and 1869, the Oregon Trail was used by settlers migrating to the Pacific Northwest of what is now the United States. Once the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, the use of this trail by long distance travelers diminished as the railroad slowly replaced it.

Astorians

The first land route across what is now called the United states that was well-mapped was that taken by Lewis and Clark from 1804 to 1805. They believed they had found a practical route to the west coast. However, the pass through the Rocky Mountains they took, Lolo Pass, turned out to be too difficult for wagons to pass. In 1810, John Jacob Astor outfitted an expedition (known popularly as the Astor Expedition or Astorians) to find an overland supply route for establishing a fur trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River at Fort Astoria. Most of Astor's partners and all of his staff were former employees of the Northwest Company, known as Nor'Westers. Fearing attack by Blackfeet, the expedition veered south of the Lewis and Clark route in what is now known as South Dakota and passed through what is now Wyoming and then down the Snake River to the Columbia River. Members of the party, including Robert Stuart, one of the Nor'wester partners, returned back east after the American Fur Company staff there sold the fort to British Northwest Company staff, who took over the outpost in the War of 1812 via the Snake River. The party stumbled upon South Pass: a wide, low pass through the Rockies in Wyoming. The party continued via the Platte River. This turned out to be a practical wagon route, and Stuart's journals were a meticulous account of it. Fort Astoria was returned to United States control at the end of the war. However british Hudson bay company came to control the fur trade in the region, especially after its merger with the North West Company in 1821.

Great American Desert

Westward expansion did not begin immediately, however. Reports from expeditions in 1806 by Lieutenant Zebulon Pike and in 1819 by Major Stephen Long described the Great Plains as "unfit for human habitation" and "The Great American Desert". These descriptions were mainly based on the relative lack of timber and surface water. The images of sandy wastelands conjured up by terms like "desert" were tempered by the many reports of vast herds of bison. It was not until later that the Ogallala Aquifer would be discovered and used for irrigation, and railroads would allow farm products to be transported to distant markets and lumber imported. In the meantime, the Great Plains remained unattractive for general settlement, especially when compared to the fertile lands, big rivers, and seaports of Oregon. The route of the Oregon Trail began to be scouted out as early as 1823 by fur traders and explorers. The trail began to be regularly used by fur traders, missionaries, and military expeditions during the 1830s. At the same time, small groups of individuals and the occasional family attempted to follow the trail, and some succeeded in arriving at Fort Vancouver in washington.

Elm Grove Expedition

On May 16, 1842 the first organized wagon train on the Oregon Trail set out from Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers (members of the party later disagreed over the size of the party, one stating 160 adults and children were in the party, while another counted only 105). The party was led by Elijah White, appointed Indian Sub-Agent to Oregon, the first U.S. official in the region (never confirmed by Congress). Despite company policy to discourage U.S. emigration, John McLoughlin, Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, offered the American settlers food and farming equipment on credit, being unable to watch able-bodied people starve.

Free land

The biggest driving force for settlement was the offer of free land. In 1843 the settlers of the Willamette Valley by a vote of 52 to 50 drafted a constitution that organized the land claim process in the state. Married couples were allowed to claim up to 640 acres ( a "section"
which is a square mile, or 260 hectares) at no cost and singles could claim 320 acres (130 ha). In 1848, the United States formally declared what was left of the Oregon Country a U.S. territory, after it effectively partitioned it in 1846. The Donation Land Act of 1850 superseded the earlier laws, but it did recognize the earlier claims. Settlers after 1850 could be granted half a section (320 acres) if married and a quarter section if single. A four year residence and cultivation was required . in 1854 the land was no longer free, (although still cheap
£1.25/acre, or $0.51/ha).

Opening of the trail

In what was dubbed "The Great Migration of 1843" or the "Wagon Train of 1843", an estimated 800 immigrants, led by Marcus Whitman, arrived in the Willamette Valley. Hundreds of thousands more followed, especially after gold was discovered in California in 1848. The trail was still in use during the Civil War, but traffic declined after 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was completed. The trail continued to be used into the 1890s, the modern highways eventually paralled large portions of the trail.

Other migration paths for early settlers prior to the establishment of the transcontinental railroads involved taking passage on a ship rounding the Cape Horn of South America or to the Isthmus (now Panama) between North and South America. There, an arduous mule trek through hazardous swamps and rain forests awaited the traveller. A ship was then typically taken to San Fransisco, California.

Routes

The trail is marked by numerous cutoffs and shortcuts from Missouri to Oregon. The basic route follows river valleys. Starting initially in Independence/Kansas City, the trail followed the Santa Fe Trail south of the Wakarusa River. After crossing The Hill at Lawrence, Kansas, it crossed the Kansas River near Topeka, Kansas, and angled to Nebraska paralleling the Little Blue River until reaching the south side of the Platte River. It followed the Platte, North Platte, and Sweetwater Rivers to South Pass in the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming. From South Pass the trail approximately parallels the Snake River to the Columbia River at The Dalles, Oregon. From there, several branches and route variations over time led to the Willamette Valley, including boats down the Columbia river, the Santiam Wagon Road, the Applegate Trail and—the most popular route—the Barlow road.

U.S. Highway 26 follows the Oregon Trail for much of its length.

While the first few parties organized and departed from Elm Grove, the Oregon Trail's generally designated starting point was Independence or Westport on the Missouri River. Several towns along the Missouri River had feeder trails and make claim to being the starting point including Weston, Missouri; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Atchison, Kansas; and St. Joseph, Missouri. The Oregon Trail's termination point was Oregon City, at the time the proposed capital of the Oregon Territory. However, many settlers branched off or stopped short of this goal and settled at convenient or promising locations along the trail. Commerce with pioneers going further west greatly assisted these early settlements into getting established and launched local micro-economies critical to these settlements' prosperity. At many places along the trail, alternate routes called "cutoffs" were established either to shorten the trail or to get around difficult terrain. The Lander and Sublette cutoffs provided shorter routes through the mountains than the main route, bypassing Fort Bridger. In later years, the Salt Lake cutoff provided a route to Salt Lake City. Numerous other trails followed the Oregon trail for parts of its length. These include the Mormon trail from Illunois to Utah, and the california trail to the gold fields of California. Remnants of the trail in Idaho, Kansas, Oregon and Wyoming. Have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Landmarks

Many rock formations became famous landmarks that the Oregon Trail pioneers used to navigate as well as leave messages for pioneers following behind them. The first landmarks that the pioneers encountered were in western Nebraska, such as Courthouse and Jail Rocks, Chimney Rock, and Scotts Bluff. In Wyoming, names of pioneers can be seen carved into a landmark bluff called Register cliff, and in Independence rock. One Wyoming landmark along the trail, Ayres natural bridge, is now a state park of the same name.

Ayres Natural Bridge

Travel equipment
The Oregon Trail was too long and arduous for the standard Conestoga wagons used in the Eastern United States at that time for most freight transport. These big wagons had a reputation for killing their oxen teams approximately two thirds along the trail and leaving their unfortunate owners stranded in desolate, isolated territory. The only solution was to abandon all belongings and traipse onward with the supplies and tools that could be carried or dragged. In one case in 1846 on the California Trail, the Donner Party, en route to California, was stranded in the Sierra Nevada in November and three members are suggested to have resorted to cannibalism to survive.

This led to the rapid development of the prairie schooners. The wagon was approximately half the size of the big Conestogas but was also manufactured in quantity. It was designed for the Oregon Trail's conditions and was a marvel of engineering in its time. The covers of the wagons were treated with linseed oil to keep out the rain. However, the covers eventually leaked anyway.

The recommended amount of food to take for an adult was 150 pounds (70 kg) of flour, 20 pounds (9 kg) of corn meal, 50 pounds (25 kg) of bacon, 40 pounds (20 kg) of sugar, 10 pounds (5 kg) of coffee, 15 pounds (7 kg) of dried fruit, 5 pounds (2 kg) of salt, half a pound (0.25 kg) of saleratus (baking soda), 2 pounds (1 kg) of tea, 5 pounds (2 kg) of rice, and 15 pounds (7 kg) of beans.

Statistics
Immigration to Oregon Territory increased vastly between 1840 and 1852, the year of greatest migration. According to Oregon Trail Statistics by William E. Hill, the figures rocketed from 13 in 1840 to 1,475 four years later, nearly doubled the following year, and hit 4,000 in 1847. Emigration declined considerably prior to 1850, when 6,000 people trekked to Oregon. In 1851 the number dropped again (3,600) but sustained a huge comeback with 10,000 in 1852. (That same year some 60,000 people emigrated to Utah and California, a stand-alone record.) Another 13,500 people moved to Oregon in 1853-54, with 5,000 more making the trip as of 1859, the year of statehood.

In the 20 years from 1840-1859 some 52,000 emigrants moved to Oregon, but nearly five times that number opted for California or Utah.
Though the numbers appear significant—and they were, especially in context of the times—vastly more people chose to remain at home in the 31 states. Part of the explanation is attributed to scout Kit Carson who reputedly said, "The cowards never started and the weak died on the way." According to some sources, one tenth of the emigrants perished on the way west.

Legacy
The western expansion and the Oregon Trail in particular inspired many songs that told of the settlers' experiences. "Uncle Sam's Farm," encouraged east-coast dwellers to "Come right away. Our lands they are broad enough, so don't
be alarmed. Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm." In "Western Country," the singer exhorts that "if I had no horse at all, I'd still be a hauling, far across those Rocky Mountains, goin' away to Oregon."

When purchasing a new vehicle from 1995-1998, Oregonians could purchase special commemorative Oregon Trail license plates for their cars for an added fee.

Computer Game
The story of the Oregon Trail inspired a popular educational computer game of the same name, “The Oregon Trail”.

Glossary of American Mountain Men Terms,
Words & Expressions
Part Five

N
NEAR SIDE
Left side
NOON IT, TO
To stop for the mid-day meal and rest.
NO-SEE-UM
Buffalo gnat.
NUTRIA
Although actually the common name of the myocaster coypusv many mountain men used it to mean "beaver".

O
OFF SIDE
Right side.
OL' COON
A friendly nickname used between mountain men.
OL' EPHRAIM
Grizzly bear.
OL' HOSS
See "Ol' Coon".
ON HIS OWN HOOK, HE IS
A free trapper.

P

PAGAMOGGON
A very effective Indian weapon made by attaching a 2- foot long leather-covered handle to a 3-pound stone. Used as a club.
PALAVER
Talk.
PANNIER
See "Kyack".
PAPOOSE
An Indian word used by many frontiersmen and mountain men to mean any Indian child.
PARFLECHE
Rawhide made from buffalo hide. It is exceedingly tough. In fact, its name (French) comes from the fact that it could not be pierced by arrows or spears. The word also refers to a carrying case or envelope made of dried buffalo hide and widely used by both Indians and mountain men in place of a trunk.
PASS
A passage through a range of mountains.
PEMMICAN
Indian food made by mixing powdered jerky with dried berries and hot tallow, then packed and stored in skin or gut bags. Used by Indians and mountain men. This is a high energy survival food.

PENOLE
Flour made from parched corn.
PILGRIM
Usually immigrants, people moving west. The term was also sometimes used by the mountain men to mean any man new to the fur trade.
PINCE
The pointed bow and stern of a canoe. (voyageur)
PIPE
The jornada of the voyageur. The distance between rest stops, which were the only times his pipe could be lit up and enjoyed.
PLEW
Beaver pelt (skin).
PONCHE
Trade tobacco.
POO-DER-FE
A destructive, frigid west wind. (Crow Indian word)
POOR BULL FROM FAT COW TO KNOW
To know good times from bad. Either term could also be used alone, such as: "Them days war Poor Bull and that be a sure fact", meaning, "those days food and plews were hard to get and that is a fact".
PORTAGE
A trip between waterways or around a waterway obstruction, carrying everything along with you.
PORTAGE TRAIL
The trail used to carry a canoe and supplies between waterways or around a waterway obstruction.
POSSIBLES
The personal property of the mountain man, Such items as a bullet mold, an awl, knives, a tin cup, his buffalo robe or a blanket capote, his pipe and tobacco, flint and steel, sometimes a small sheet-metal fry-pan, and other accouterments he considered necessary. Firearms were considered "pieces" or guns" and not possibles.
POSSIBLES BAG
The leather bag in which the mountain man carried his possibles. everything from his pipe and tobacco to his patches and balls. What could not be carried in the bag were hung on the bags shoulder strap. Shooting needs were given first priority, kept where they could be found with ease and speed.
POUDRERIE
Dry snow driven through the air by a violent wind.
POW-WOW
An Indian word meaning a meeting followed by dancing and feasting. The mountain man's term for any discussion between two men, or for a planned meeting.
PRO-PELLE-CUTEM
The motto of the Hudson's Bay Company, meaning "for a pelt, a skin".
PSALM SINGER
A very religious person.
PULL FOOT
To turn tail and run

new sheriff in town

2007-11-07T12:00:00.000Z

a couple of pics of a Foundry gunslinger Imeldas new jailhouse

armed townies

2007-11-01T14:05:00.001Z

A few more of Colins posse he used at warhammer world LOTOW campaign weekend.

soon to come.....

2007-10-29T11:49:00.000Z

Been a bit busy the last few weeks and have not had the chance to update blog,

soon to come.......

Two new battle reports from Imelda.

pics of nice new buildings and miniatures

"Bushwhackers go on tour" a report form the Warhammer historical weekend

Cheers
Steve

cowboy pics

2007-10-29T11:44:00.000Z

A few pics of some cowboys painted by me for Colin the master builder. All from the Foundry miniatures range.

Rob johnsons Rebs, the story so far.....

2007-10-09T09:54:00.000+01:00

CAPTAIN ROB JOHNSON
The leader of the bushwhacker posse, Has come through unscathed in all of the opening battles. He was lucky to still have a posse after the poor start in the first shoot out where he managed to take out a few of his own men before heading to the hills on the first turn. Since then he has managed to notch up 5 kills in 3 games and now leads the "top six gun" chart. Rob has been putting in some training and now has a fight value of 6 and exp 20

SERGEANT BAKER the 2IC survived both opening battles unscathed before being
Tko’d during bank robbery by a deputy, he is now hardened.

COPORAL O’REILY Has not had much luck since moving to Imelda. he was
Taken out grey on grey at the battle of gold creek, then had his throat cut whilst assaulting the church, during the bank robbery he was again TKO'd. All this has left him hardened with a bitter enmity towards sheriff shirley. He did manage to avenge the deaths of his family when he killed their murderer in the "showdown in Imelda", so its not all bad....

STEPHEN THE HEATHEN kills2
A Kid armed with a repeating rifle and riding a horse, He was captured at gold creek by Apaches and ransomed back for $15. fought well at the raid on the church and now has 2 kills to his name. Tko’d a deputy during the bank robbery before being shot off his horse. has gained
+1 fortune and +1 wound and is now hardened.

BOW LEGGED BILLY
Is a Tough armed with a rifle. He fell off the back of Stephens horse at gold creek. got a confirmed kill during the attack on church and the bank robbery, obth victims were lawmwn which i guess makes him a wanted man...

DUTCHIE
Rowdy made his debut during the bank robbery armed only with a knife, where he carried off some loot whhich he used to buy himself a sixgun.

JOHN PALMER ESQUIRE
A Tough with a sixgun one of only three to get out of Gold creek without being full of holes....
he was Tko’d during the bank robbery by one of Shirleys posse now has Grit 5

ENGLISH TONY is a Tough now armed with a repeating rifle. His first shoot out was the bank robbery where he took out a deputy. He now has a shooting skill of 4+. He was used as a sniper in the last shoot out, where he spent most of the game climbing up to the roof of the press office to find pout he was out of range of all the action.....

FRANCIS T WINKLEBOTTOM
A Tough armed with sawn off shotgun, he was shot in the rump during the confusion at Gold creek. He killed a lawman during the attack on the church, now has Grit 5 and pluck 4

JAKE THORNTON was killed during the "showdown in Imelda" and now pushedup daisies in boot hill..

So with much blood spilt after four games, the boys have been lucky to only lose one of their comrades. The south is still strong and if Rob Johnson is to be believed "The south will rise again!"

Buildings of Imelda

2007-09-25T13:46:00.000+01:00

All the following buildings were created by Colin Rush of CR Models. If you wish to contact or commision Colin see links section.

Archies undertakers, probably the busiest business in Imelda! This building has a large yard area and outbuilding.

Joe's cafe, if your ever in town he does a corn beef hash!

Durells gun shop for all your posses necessities!

The first national bank and Lawyers office. Exceptional building, great to look at and extremely player friendly!

rear secure bank yard for dropping off bullion

Bank interior: safe room, cashiers office and customers area.

perkins livery stables

highly detailed interior of stables with stall, ladder and hay loft.

Lady Isabellas Dress makers and Chinese laundry.

This was a scene of much heavy fighting during the recent shoot out between Sheriff Shirley and Johnsons Rebs.

Some of the garments available.

oooh suits you sir.....

Shami is still head honcho!

2007-09-25T12:34:00.000+01:00

Dave Marks -Shami-leaves-no-Marks Apaches: 121
Samuel Marks - Lt Norman House US infantry: 114
Steve Hall - Rob Johnsons Rebs outlaws: 114
Pat Smith - Wind of Valdez Bandidos:105
Joe Dever- Jake Fargo cowboys: 69
Mike Howe - Sheriff Shirley lawmen: 67

After 4 games apiece the redskins are still leading, although it is very close between the top four. Lt House and Johnson joint second with windy currently third with lots of spare dollars just waiting to be spent!
Jake and Shirley are lagging behind but that could easily change as a couple of strangers have been seen in town.
The renowned United States marshall Kaleb Bishop is here to invstigate the hanging of a deputy. If he discovers the truth the Johnson and his boys best beware.
A mysterious stranger has also been seen in town, No one knows his name and his motives remain unclear......

ROB JOHNSON IS TOP SIX-GUN!

2007-09-23T11:13:00.001+01:00

Rob Johnson is top six-gun with 5 confirmed kills, 4 of which occured in the showdown in Imelda! He will now be shadowed by "the spirit of the times" reporter Nathan Vanderslice. Who knows if he becomes really infamous they may actually write a dime novel about him?

Imelda Gazette issue No.5

2007-09-22T12:57:00.000+01:00

Incorporating the Imelda Gazette
Issue No. 5

SHOWDOWN IN IMELDA!

O’Reilly stood on the veranda out front of Joe’s café. His last gunfight had left a bitter taste in his mouth, even more so than the muddy coffee he was attempting to drink. He was having flashbacks about the old days when he was a peaceful farmer living with his young family in Missouri. One fateful night in ’62 that had all changed. Slim Jim Butler and his band of jayhawkers had got it into his head that O’Reilly’s politics weren’t neighbourly. So, as a fearful warning to the other slave-owning farmers in the vicinity, they set out to murder him.

The night they came for O’Reilly, he was away on business. But this did not stop their violent aims. They slaughtered his wife and his two innocent young boys, and then they burned his farm to the ground. An eyewitness said he saw Slim Jim laughing maniacally as he went about his bloody business.

O’Reilly was totally heartbroken. He threw in his lot with Rob Johnson in a hope that one day he would find Slim Jim and get a chance to avenge the murder of his family. For many long years his desire for vengeance had gnawed at his broken heart.

The day he had dreamed about finally came. It started like any other day in Imelda, calm and peaceful. He had just breakfasted and was strolling along Main Street when, in the distance, he saw the silhouette of the man who had been haunting his dreams ever since that terrible night long ago.

Slim Jim was walking along the Main Street towards him, seemingly without a care in his black heart. O’Reilly was frozen with shock and couldn’t help but stare as the murderer of his family steadily approached. He had come to within twenty yards of O’Reilly before his initial shock disappeared and the red mist of hatred cleared away from his disbelieving eyes. Almost without thinking, O’Reilly checked that his trusty shotgun was loaded and then he stepped out into the middle of the street.

“Hey! Jim Butler!” he shouted. Jim squinted at the lone figure who’d called out his name. Almost nonchalantly, he sneered and then turned slowly to walk away.

“Slim Jim Butler! If you don’t stop I’ll just have to shoot you in the back”. The bitter tone of this warning got Jim’s undivided attention. Slowly he turned back to face the angry man.

“Is that you, O’Reilly?” he answered, disdainfully. “You wouldn’t want t’go an’ shoot a lawman in the back, now would ya?”

“Lawman or no, you’re still a murderin’ son of a bitch!”

It was at this moment that Stephen the Heathen rode up behind O’Reilly on his dappled grey steed. O’Reilly heard him approaching and knew who it was, but this didn’t stop him carrying out the act he’d been dreaming of doing all these long, painful years. O’Reilly took aim at Slim Jim and fired off both barrels of his trusty sawed off shotgun… and missed his target.

O’Reilly and Slim Jim Butler exchange a few pleasantries

This classic Wild West showdown scenario was played out with the addition of the “duel” rule. O’Reilly and Slim Jim started out in the middle of the Main Street while the rest of the posses came into play on a 4/5/6 die roll. The Bushwhackers gained the initiative in the first 3 turns, but the majority of them failed to realize that there was anything amiss going down in town.

Sheriff Shirley’s boys came on immediately, and in force, but to no useful effect. Stephen the Heathen came to within 6” of O’Reilly before any of the Sheriff’s lawmen had got anywhere near to Jim, and this enabled O’Reilly to take action. He blasted Jim with both barrels, but when the smoke had cleared, his hated enemy was still breathing and in one piece. He’d ducked for cover behind the nearest wall and was hurriedly reloading. As the echoes of the initial gunfire faded, the posses proceeded to close on one another. Some walked boldly down Main Street in full view of their rivals, while others (the wiser ones) took to the back streets and alleyways of our beloved town.

Sheriff Shirley directs his posse up the back passage… ( titter ye not! )

As the gap between the rivals closed on Main Street, the Rebs got the drop… again! Stephen the Heathen leveled his rifle at Freddy Krueger and took him down with a crack shot. First blood of the morning to the Rebs. Rob Johnson led from the front and blew away Jack Splatt at close quarters; Splatt by name, splattered by nature.

Vigilante Legless Billy, incensed by Jack Splatt’s splattering and he returned fire at the Reb’s head honcho. He hit, he wounded, but luckily for Rob he managed to roll his fate and then pass his pluck test to survive what turned out to be a wincingly close shave.

It starts raining lead, so the boys rush to the laundry to get their washing in.

The posses closed in on each other around the town’s laundry and drying yard. For the first time in the game, Sheriff Shirley got the drop and, with his first shot of the game, he took out Frank T Winklebottom. Seeing Buckshot Bull about to let fly with his sawed off, Sergeant Baker cried out: “Fire!” Palmer fanned, Baker and Dutchie took careful aim, and all nine shots flew like an angry swarm of hornets towards Bull. Miraculously, he emerged unscathed. Bull then returned fire, but he did little more than drill half a dozen holes in the side of the clapboard latrine. It’ll be mighty drafty in that privvy this winter!

Meanwhile, back on Main Street, Rob espied Slim Jim skulking around inside the bank. He took aim through the window and squeezed off a round that shattered the glass and scraped a furrow of skin and hair off Jim’s skull, knocking him out cold.

Legless Billy took aim with his rifle and drew a sure bead on Palmer as he came hurrying along the middle of Main Street. The shot dropped him to the dirt. Finally ol’ Bowlegged Billy make his roll and came into play. Running just as fast as his bandy legs could carry him, he made his way towards the sound of the shootin’. Both posses continued to exchange fire in the laundry yard and around the bank. Dutchie fanned his six gun through the bank’s shattered window and hit lucky Bob three times, but still he failed to wound him. Lucky or what!? All the other shooting in this round proved to be just as close and equally as ineffective.

After taking 5 turns to reach the roof of the print works, English Tony realizes that he may be out of range… doh!

Sheriff Shirley and Legless went prone behind the laundry, and none of the Rebs managed to spot this dastardly trick. Johnson soon proved why he is the posse boss when he took out his third lawman of the morning. Buckshot Bull fell with a bellyful of Rob’s lead before he could squeeze both triggers of his sawed off. Sheriff Shirley lost his cool and blazed back, shooting Stephen the Heathen clean off his horse, but his bullet barely grazed this Civil War veteran and he was able to recover quickly, without any serious wound.

At the start of the next turn the lawmen were forced to take a Head for the Hills test. Unluckily, Sheriff Shirley got the drop. Then, miraculously, he proceeded to roll a double six!
During this critical round, all shooting turned out to be spectacularly ineffective. Rebel Rob charged into the bank and struck at Lucky Bob. He sensed an easy victory was to be had, but he ended up getting a smack on the nose. That’ll teach him to be so cocky!

Foul words and fisticuffs in the bank!

The lawmen won priority yet again and things started looking a bit dodgy for Rob Johnson and his bad boys, even though the odds were now 8:3 in his favour. Legless took out Dutchie on Main Street and Sheriff Shirley hit Stephen but failed to wound. Lucky Bob was still slugging it out with Rob Johnson in the bank and scored a lovely right hook, leaving Johnson nursing a humdinger of a black eye. He was now down to one wound.

Thornton saw his boss taking a pounding from what appeared, at least to him, to be a pugilist, and he rushed in to the bank to help him out. O’Reilly, Baker, and bowlegged Billy, all let loose a rebel yell and charged headlong at Legless who was standing in the middle of Main Street. While this was going down, Stephen the Heathen and Sheriff Shirley continued to hurl lead at each other, back and forth across the laundry yard.
Billy finds himself surrounded by damned Rebs!
With the odds doubled against him, Lucky Bob’s luck finally ran out. Rob Johnson got the critical on him and claimed his fourth victim of the morning. Outside on Main Street, Legless had little-to-no chance of surviving. Baker held him while O’Reilly took out his anger on his face. Realizing he had been left all on his lonesome, Sheriff Shirley decided the time had come to retreat.

Once the fighting was over, O’Reilly began to search for his hated foe: Slim Jim. He found him in the bank, just as he was regaining consciousness. Slim Jim squinted through blurry eyes and saw the grim reaper approaching, in the shape of O’Reilly. For the aggrieved Reb, this seemingly ordinary day in Imelda had turned out to be the day he’d been preying for for many long years. It was vengeance and judgment day all rolled into one.

Slim Jim was unceremoniously dragged from the bank, hog-tied, and then slung over the back of Stephen the Heathen’s horse. The lawmen escorted him out of town to the gallows tree where Sheriff Shirley passed a summary sentence of death upon him for several counts of cold-bloodied murder, and for one count of arson. When asked if he had any last words, the condemned man preyed for the forgiveness of the Lord for his crimes. O’Reilly was permitted to place the noose around Slim Jim’s neck and kick the log from under his feet, thereby sending him off to meet his maker. After several minutes of him swinging on the end of the rope, Sheriff Shirley pronounced that Slim Jim was dead and that justice had finally been served. The Sheriff ordered that Slim Jim’s body be left to hang for a week before burial, as a warning to others of the fate which awaits them if they are minded to commit murder and arson anywhere in Imelda County. Time for a lynching!

Post mortem

Lawmen
Although his posse was reduced to just a single man, Sheriff Shirley had some luck come his way at the end of the day. His entire posse survived the fighting, except for Slim “murdering son of a bitch” Jim Butler, who got what he richly deserved.

Jack Splatt became a pistoleer, and Legless gained +1 Pluck.

Rebs
Jake Thornton, the new boy, proved himself to his new boss. Alas, this was by dying like a hero. Ah shucks!

Posse boss Rob Johnson, with his hard won hand-to-hand experience took a few lessons with a journeyman and gained 2 advances on his fighting skill.

All the other Reb posse advances were centered around Pluck.

$41 dollars were found on the body of Slim Jim which was donated to the Rebs collective cause.

O’Reilly got the revenge he sorely craved. Perhaps he’ll now be able to sleep at night? Well, maybe, if only Baker didn’t snore so loud.

Shakedown
IN
Ambush Valley

Scenario briefing

Following the decimation of his posse in the back streets of Imelda at the (bloodstained) hands of the Apache, Jake Fargo hightailed it to Albuquerque to recruit brother Wells and sister Foxy into a new posse, entitled “Fargo Inc.” Pistoleer Dwight Wright skedaddled away to Texas after falling out with Jake during their hasty escape. Wells mustered an additional five cowpokes to the cause: Big Jim Douglas, Curley Spinks, Sam Sturgis, Chuck Kershaw, and the irascible Bushrod Wilkes. On their way back to Imelda, eagle-eyed Foxy spotted some half-smudged out pony tracks in the dirt of the Imelda Turnpike. They were Apache tracks. Jake was certain that these belonged to the nemesis of his previous posse, none other than Shami-(almost) leaves-no-Marks and he resolved to track down the itinerant injuns. As he crested the peak of Roughrider Ridge, located 5 miles west of Imelda, he spotted the redskins lying in ambush. On the main trail into town was a convoy of three covered wagons accompanied by a military escort. Barely able to believe his luck, Jake briefed his new posse to get ready to reap their vengeance on the Apaches. Then Foxy saw something that made Jake hesitate. On a ridge opposite the skulking injuns she had caught a glimpse of a swarthy-faced man waving a sombrero. Was he signaling to Shami? Or had Windy Valdez just let another one rip?

Set-up

This scenario was played out on a 6’ x 4’ table representing a rugged area of valley terrain five miles west of Imelda. Ideal ambush country. The main turnpike cut across its centre heading west to east.

Objectives

Lt. Norman House and his men had been detailed to escort the wagons safely through these badlands and into Imelda. For each wagon that reached the eastern edge of the table he would be rewarded with 3d6$s worth of bounty. Windy Valdez and Shami-leaves-no-Marks were set up ready to ambush the wagons as they approached the final, most dangerous leg of their journey into town. For each wagon they captured and held at the end of the game they would receive an extra 3d6$. Jake’s posse was hell-bent on avenging the deaths of the first posse members. For every Apache they took down, they would be rewarded with an extra d6$s.
If you go down to the woods today…

Deployment

Lt House and his feisty Feds deployed on the western edge, in column of march escort on either side of the convoy wagons. The last wagon in the line had its rear base edge touching the eastern baseline. The Apaches and the Bandidos cut the cards for choice of either the north or the south side of the table. Shami won and chose the north side; Valdez settled for the south. Their posses started within 6 inches of their respective baselines. Fargo Inc. began the game off-table. They needed to roll a 6 to come on during the first round, a 5 or 6 for the second, a 4 / 5 / 6 for the third and so on. It turned out that they were to arrive at the start of the third round. Jake’s boys (and girl) had to deploy along the western baseline.

Experience

Each fighter who survived the game gained 1 experience point, as per normal, but this applied even if the fighter was taken out of action during play (just so long as he survived the resolution rolls and lived to fight another day). Additional experience points were up for grabs by fulfilling these special conditions:
Jake Fargo: +1 experience point if the Apaches headed for the hills.
Lt Norman House: +1 experience point if he managed to get a minimum of 2 wagons off the eastern edge of the table.
Shami: +1 experience point if he secured at least 2 wagons
Valdez: +1 experience point if he secured at least 2 wagons
Fighters: +1 experience point for every enemy figure they personally put out of action.

Every breath you take… I’ll be watchin’ you!

How it went down…

Lt. House and his boys had really picked the short straw this time. The rest of Fort Brannigan breathed a collective sigh of relief when they heard that they’d escaped the dangerous duty of escorting the sutler’s wagon convoy to Imelda. To reach the town, the convoy of three covered wagons would have to traverse the valley below Roughrider Ridge. The army called this notorious stretch of badlands ‘Ambush Alley’, and for good reason. This place put the bad in badlands.

As soon as the feds and the wagons came a-trundling into range, Windy Valdez took a pot shot at the lead wagon driver with his repeater. The bullet tore a neat hole in the canvas cover barely inches from the startled teamster’s head.
This alerted the Lieutenant to trouble and he ordered his best rifleman, David East, to return the compliment. East’s bullet punctured the Mexican leader’s sombrero and had him ducking for cover among the rocks. His accompanying bandidos cursed the federal sharpshooter; the near miss had caused a toxic hiss to issue from El Flatulencia, and they now found themselves engulfed in a mini methane maelstrom. Yuk-uloso!

Seconds after East perforated Windy’s sun bonnet, Shami signalled to his brave, Smaha, to let loose with his longbow at the federal flankers on the north side of the convoy. Predictably his arrow missed its target (have the injuns ever hit anything with their bowfire? I think not!), but it was enough to send a soldier ducking for cover on the valley’s rock-strewn floor. Fellow brave, Naiche, let twang his bow and another Apache feather-tailed pointy-stick was sent arcing away into oblivion. Jake’s posse heard the opening exchange of rifle fire, but they were still frustratingly out of sight of the action.

Shami’s redskins get stuck in to the convoy

The second round came around, but the Fargo posse were still nowhere to be seen. Shami had forgone his usual custom of having his tribal magician conjure up a downpour to dampen the powder and reduce visibility for the enemy lead-slingers. There was so much cover along the valley road that maybe he figured he didn’t need no deluge this time. The Apaches came screaming out of their wooded hide with ‘Shami-I’m-so-cool’ leading the attack on horseback. Pvt. Glen O’Reilly soon found himself the target of Shami’s disaffections. The injun leader’s tomahawk came whirling through the air at him, straight towards his trembling torso. Fortunately, the fed was wearing his oversized oval belt buckle which neatly deflected away the deadly
axe head. In his panic, O’Reilly fanned off a volley at the approaching Apache leader but to no discernable effect. Once again Shami had been saved by his kevlar fun furs. Whoopin’ and hollerin’, the Apaches covered the ground between their hide and the convoy and closed in quick for the melee. Lieutenant House signalled to his hired Gunslinger – the Man with No Name but who Everybody now calls Keith – to go after the two injuns who had remained behind in the hide of trees. He took aim and fired at the shadows lurking among the pine trunks, missing a critical but causing one of them to dive for cover. Meanwhile, Jacob Skinton got in a good shot with his rifle at Mahklo, one of the injuns near the rear of the attacking horde. The slug criticalled him fair and square, and Jacob gave thanks to the Lord for the point of fame resulting from his dropping of this reprobate redskin. Taklishin also got hit by a slug from the Lieutenant’s trusty heavy pistol, but a point of fortune saved the moccasined marauder from an unscheduled one-way trip to his Happy Hunting Grounds. The feds had pulled together a hasty firing line to counter the Apache attack, and their concerted fire caused a further two braves to duck for cover rather than press home their charge and join in with the bitter fray. Veteran Bill Bascom, and the spectacularly insignificant Charlie Plain, attempted to shoot the remaining two Apache tree skulkers but they were unable to spot them this time around.

Lieutenant House bravely stands his ground

Shami was in fighting mood par excellence. He declared it was ‘Time for a Whoopin’ on beleaguered Glen O’Reilly and a particularly tough hand-to-hand combat ensued. All credit to Pvt. Glen for fending off the furious Shami long enough for him to rejoin the federal firing line. The Apaches pressed home their attack and one helluva fight bust out around the wagon line. Daikaya hurled his tomahawk and missed. Have the injuns ever hit anything with a tomahawk throw? Where do they get their supply of tomahawks and arrows from… Naff Toys R Us? In the heat of the fight, plucky Lieutenant House found himself quickly surrounded by five howlin’ heathens. It was a close run thing for the federal leader, but he survived the fracas despite the odds being stacked heavily against him. Among his assailants, Hoo took 1 wound, Crow took 1 hit, Diyin escaped injury (barely), and the other two pulled off in poor order, muttering oaths about the Lieutenant’s claimed half-blood ancestry. The Lieutenant took 1 wound but he lives to brag about it; he did manage to fend off the enemy single-handed after all. Well done, son! Meanwhile, a dozen yards away from this unholy scrum, the Medicine Man and Taklishin were setting about Jacob Skinton. Taklishin took him down with his two attacks, but despite being brained unconscious by the blow, ol’ Jacob was destined to return at the end of the day. Dirty Daikaya charged Gunslinger Keith on horseback but the tough hired gun swiftly sent the arrogant Apache packing with his tail between his legs.
Windy Valdez with a pair of ‘human shield’ Peons

Meanwhile, Windy Valdez and his burrito bandidos were moving through the scrub and boulders to the south of the valley road. The injun attack had drawn away the federal flankers from his side of the convoy and he had his beady eye set on snatching the wagons from under Shami’s nose while the injun chief was caught up in the fight. And ol’ Shami was soon very much caught up indeed. O’Reilly’s retreat to the fed firing line had drawn the Apache chief forward, and he now found himself surrounded by four belligerent bluebellies. But in typical Shami style, ‘Le Grand Fromage’ of the injuns shrugged off their attempts to unseat him from his apollonian, and he made them all fall back.
Lieutenant House rightly considered his position to be untenable and he duly sounded the retreat. His decision to head for the hills necessitated abandoning the wagons, but it was either that or face inevitable slaughter at the hands of Shami’s Apaches and Windy’s opportunistic oppo’s.

Fargo Inc. Foxy, Jake and Wells.

The start of round three finally saw the arrival of the Fargo posse on the western baseline. Shami took one look at Jake’s grim visage and decided it was time to head for the hills. Eight angry palefaces with an axe to grind, and all of them armed with loaded sixguns ready to fan in his direction; this was more than enough to persuade the Apache chief to abandon the sutler wagons and haul his braves off into the hills. Shami’s pride may have taken a tarnishin’, but he and his ramblin’ redskins would live to fight another day.

Windy Valdez could barely conceal his glee as he and his compadres emerged from cover to claim the wagons without a fight. The Feds and the Reds had hightailed it to the hills, and Fargo’s newly-arrived posse were still too far distant to prevent the Mexican from getting his chilli-stained mitts on the convoy. Jake settled for the experience bonus gained from seeing Shami and his boys go hill-wards. He’s been denied his vengeance this time, but his newly formed posse had all gained experience at negligible risk.

Post Mortem

Feds
Glen O’Reilly gained +1 wound. Jacob Skinton survived his critical and gained +1 Grit. Charlie Plain picked up a pluck, and Bill Bascom gained a new skill. He’s now a Pistoleer. Oh joy! The Feds had to forgo gaining any experience on account of them heading for the hill voluntarily, and their payoff roll was a little less than impressive. $28 dollars to add to their stash.
Infamy Rating = 114

Apaches
Mahkro made a full recovery and gained +1 grit. He’s now Grit 5. Dakaya gained experience and added +1 to his shooting. Taklishin gained 2 experience points; he advanced and gained a new fighting skill. He’s now a strongman. All of the remaining injuns (Naiche, Smaha, Crow, Hoo, Shami, Diyin, and the Medicine Man) made no advances this time around. Shami took in a paltry $31 with 7 dice, and had to promptly pay back $15 of that for his Medicine Man’s upkeep.
Infamy Rating = 121

Windy Valdez
The clear winner of the game by a long chalk, Valdez grabbed all three of the wagons and made a great stash roll with the enhanced dice loading that the scenario gave him. 18 dice rolled for a total of $59. Mucho Pesos for ol’ fartydraws. Double helping of beans all round. Of his eleven man posse, only three made advances this time though. Rico added +1 to his shooting, Vasquez gained +1 fighting, and the lowly Peon Emillio picked up +1 wound. Looks like he’s now an armour plated human shield. Way to go, Emillio!
Infamy Rating = to be posted

Fargo Inc.
Jake picked up 2 experience points (the extra one coming as a result of Shami’s Head for the Hills) and he advanced this time around. He added +1 Pluck, making him 5 Pluck in total. His green posse all gained experience but didn’t get to advance this time. The stash roll brought in $27; not a bad day’s pay just for showing up at closing time!

Infamy Rating = 69

WILD WEST FACTS

Theodore Roosevelt was sent to live in North Dakota for health reasons. He fell in love with the West and wrote a book titled "Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail" before becoming a US president. The book was illustrated by famous Western artist Frederick Remington.

Tombstone, Arizona in 1882

The famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral did NOT occur at the O.K. Corral. When the Earps and the Clantons shot it out in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881, their famous battle took place in a vacant lot between Fly’s Photograph Gallery and the Harwood house on Tombstone’s Fremont Street. The O.K. Corral was located nearby, however, and somehow its name became attached to the famous shootout.

The famous Lewis and Clark expedition covered 7,789 miles. Thomas Jefferson estimated that the trek would cost $2,500, but, in fact it cost $38,722.25.

Wyatt Earp once operated saloon in Nome, Alaska. In the late 1890’s U.S. Marshal Albert Lowe slapped an intoxicated Earp and took his gun away after Wyatt threatened to demonstrate how guns were handled “down Arizona way.”
About 1/3 of all gunmen died of "natural causes," living a normal life span of 70 years or so. Of those who did die violently (shot or executed), the average age of death was 35. The gunfighters-turned-lawmen lived longer lives than their persistently criminal counterparts.
1776 miles of track were laid during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad from Sacramento, California to Omaha, Nebraska. On April 10, 1869, 10 miles of track was laid in one day. This outstanding achievement has not been surpassed to this day in this country.

The Battle of Little Big Horn also known as Custer's Last Stand took place on June 25, 1876. Lieutenant Colonel Custer's forces—including more than 200 of his men were wiped out in less than 20 minutes.

America’s first train robbery is believed to have occurred on October 6, 1855 in Jackson County, Indiana. The two bandits, John and Simeon Reno, took $13,000 from the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad.

Prostitution was tolerated in Deadwood, South Dakota until the last brothel closed down in October of 1980.

There were about 45,000 working cowboys during the heydays of the cattle drives. Of those, some 5,000 were African American.

Sixty-Five U.S. Deputy Marshals were killed in the line of duty between 1875 and 1891 while enforcing the law for “hanging Judge” Isaac C. Parker of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Bannack, Montana Sheriff Henry Plummer secretly led a band of outlaws who robbed or killed more than a hundred victims. His hidden life was eventually discovered and in 1864, he and his gang were hanged by Montana vigilantes.
In 1876, the lawless town of Deadwood, South Dakota averaged a murder a day.

During the Wild West days in Billings, Montana, the cowboys and ‘scarlet ladies’ of every saloon performed impossible dances atop bars, tables, and in some instances upon atop the pianos.

Newspapers of the
Old West
Part Two

California Territory
There is an interesting story to relate concerning a particular newspaper from California. It was a Pro-Confederate and, thus anti-Lincoln, and was published in San Francisco with the name The Democratic Press. Shortly after Lincoln was assassinated, a group marched to the newspaper offices and literally destroyed the press and equipment. Editor William Moss had to change the name of the paper and soften his anti-Lincoln stance before he could safely re-open. He changed the name to the Daily Examiner. It was this paper that George Hearst ultimately bought in 1880 to lay the Foundation for the building of a newspaper empire.

The Lincoln assassination also played an important role in launching to fame another California newspaper. The Democratic Chronicle was edited and printed by two brothers named Charles and Michael De Young. The paper saw its first issue on January 16,1865. The brothers were 17 and 19 at the time! (Incidentally; the only other person working for their paper at the time was Mark Twain.) At any rate, on April 15, 1865 all of the San Francisco papers were already on the streets by 8 AM and none made mention of the news of the assassination. On their way home from working all night in getting their paper out, they stopped at the telegraph office to see if anything interesting had come through. There was a telegram relating that Lincoln had been shot the night before. They took the telegram and hurriedly produced an "Extra" with news of the assassination and got it on the streets. These two teenagers "scooped" all of the other papers in town. From that moment, their paper was destined for a new journalistic career.

Colorado Territory
There is an interesting story relating to how the first newspaper in Colorado came to be. In 1859 there was a "Pikes Peak Gold Rush" which turned out to be a false alarm. John L. Merrick came to Denver City with the intention of starting a newspaper. Four days later William Buyers came to town with the same intention.

Soon the pending competition became evident. Both publishers worked frantically to put their newspaper off the press first. Both were faced with many problems. One such problem to face was that the roof leaked and the rain was pouring over their presses and work area. Canvas was stretched over the presses to help keep them dry and in working order. Excitement was mounting among the townspeople. Bets were placed on just which would be the first paper off the press! Buyers produced the first copy of The Rocky Mountain News on Saturday evening, April 23, 1859. Just a mere 20 minutes later Merrick had the first copy of The Rocky Mountain News on the street. Very soon thereafter, Merrick so1d his press and left to seek his fortune in the gold fields.

Samuel Colt

Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut on July 19, 1814. He died in Hartford on January 10, 1862. He was an American inventor and industrialist, and founder of the Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (which is now known as Colt's Manufacturing Company). He is widely credited with popularizing the revolver pistol. Colt's innovative contributions to industry have been described by arms historian James E. Serven as "events which shaped the destiny of American Firearms."

The Early Years

Samuel Colt's father, Christopher Colt, was a farmer in Connecticut, who moved his family to Hartford when he traded professions and got into business. Colt’s mother, Sarah Caldwell, died when Colt was almost two. He was one of seven siblings, 4 boys and three girls. Two of his sisters died in childhood and the other committed suicide later in life, but his brothers would be a significant part of his professional life. His father remarried when Colt was four and from then on Samuel was raised by his stepmother Olive Sargeant.

Samuel Colt acquired a horse pistol at an early age and his fascination with it led him to his eventual life’s profession.

He was indentured to a farm in Glastonbury at age 11, where he did chores and attended school. At Glastonbury he was influenced by the Compendium of Knowledge, an encyclopedia of scientific nature which he read instead of doing his bible studies. This encyclopedia contained articles on Robert Fulton and gunpowder, both of which provided motivation and ideas to the young boy. Reportedly on trips to the store as part of his chores Samuel overheard the military talk of the success of the double barreled rifle, along with the impossibility of a gun that could shoot five or six times. When reading Compendium of Knowledge “he discovered that Robert Fulton and several other inventors had accomplished things deemed impossible-until they were done” and “decided he would be an inventor and create the 'impossible' gun.”

In 1829 Colt began working in his father’s textile plant in Ware, Massachusetts, where he had access to tools, materials and the factory workers' expertise. Using the ideas and technical knowledge he had acquired earlier from the encyclopedia, Colt built a home-made galvanic gunpowder battery and exploded it in Ware Lake.
In 1832, his father sent him to sea to learn the seaman's trade. While sailing from Boston on the Corlo, Colt served on a missionary trip to Calcutta in an effort to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. Colt would later say that the concept of the revolver was inspired by his observations of the ship's wheel during this voyage. He discovered that “regardless of which way the wheel was spun, each spoke always came in direct line with a clutch that could be set to hold it...the revolver was conceived!”

When Colt returned to the United States in 1832, Colt's father financed the production of two pistols, but would only hire cheap mechanics because he believed the idea to be folly. The guns were of poor quality: one burst upon firing, and the other would not fire at all.

During this same period, Samuel again began working at his father's factory. He learned about nitrous oxide (laughing gas) from the factory chemist. He soon took a portable lab on the road and earned a living performing laughing gas
demonstrations across the United States and Canada.

During this time, he also made arrangements to begin building guns using proper gunsmiths from Baltimore. In 1832, at the age of 18, Colt applied for a patent on his revolver and declared that he would "be back soon with a model."

Making Guns

In 1835 Samuel Colt traveled to England, following in the footsteps of Mr. E.H. Collier (a Bostonian who had patented a revolving flintlock) and secured his first patent (number 6909), despite the reluctance from gun makers and British officials, because no fault could be found with the gun. He then traveled to France to promote his invention, where according to the "Spirit of The Times," he learned of the emerging conflict between the United States and France. Colt's patriotic ambitions were to serve his country, and he steamed for home, however, upon his return he learned of the mediation that England had brokered, and his ambitions to serve his country were foiled before he had a chance of disclosing them. It is thought that it was this incident that brought the manufacture of his firearms to Paterson, New Jersey. Shortly after his arrival home he rushed to Washington and on 25 February 1836 he was granted a patent for a "revolving gun" (later numbered X9430). "This instrument and patent No. 1304, dated August 29, 1839, protected the basic principles of his revolving-breach loading, folding trigger firearm named the Paterson Pistol."

Colt quickly formed a corporation of New York and New Jersey Capitalists in April 1836. Through the political connections of the subscribers the corporation was chartered by NJ legislature on March 5. It was named the “Patterson Arms Manufacturing Company”. Colt was given a commission for each gun sold in exchange for his share of patent rights, and stipulated the return of the rights if the company disbanded.

It was this first "practical revolver and the first practical repeating firearm," made possible by converging percussion technology, that would be the genesis of what would later germinate into an industrial and cultural legacy and a priceless contribution to the development of war technology; that was ironically personified in the naming of one of his later revolving innovations, the Peacemaker.

Colt never claimed to have invented the revolver, as his design was merely a more practical adaption of Elisha H. Collier's revolving Flintlock, which was patented in England and achieved great popularity there. Fortunately for Colt, he managed to secure his patent nearly two months before the Darling brothers (rival inventors with similar claims).

He did however greatly contribute to interchangeable parts. "Unhappy with high cost of hand made guns, and with the knowledge that some parts of guns were currently being made by machine, Colt wanted all the parts on every colt gun to be interchangeable and made by machine. His goal was the assembly line." In a letter to his father Samuel Colt wrote, “The first workman would receive two or three of the most important parts…and would affix these and pass them on to the next who add a part and pass the growing article on to another who would do the same, and so on until the complete arm is put together.”

Early Problems & Failures

Having trouble convincing the company’s owners to fund this new machinery to make the interchangeable parts, Colt went back on the road. Demonstrating his gun to people in general stores did not work, so with a loan from a cousin he went to Washington and President Andrew
Jackson himself. Jackson approved of the gun and wrote Samuel a note saying just that. With that approval he got a bill through Congress for a demonstration for the military, but no appropriation for them to purchase the weapon. A promising order for fifty to seventy-five pistols by South Carolina fell apart when the company did not move fast enough to start the production.

One recurring problem Colt had in selling his revolvers was that “it was not possible to change the provisions of the Militia Act of 1808. Any arms purchased under the Militia Act had to be those in the current service to the United States.” In other words, state militias could not officially allocate funds towards the purchase of weapons not also used by the United States military.

When Martin Van Buren took office, the ensuing economic crash almost ruined the company. The company was saved by the war against the Seminoles in Florida which provided the first sale of the revolvers, both pistols and new revolving muskets. The soldiers in Florida loved the new weapon, but one problem with them did emerge. It so happened that “there was the unusual hammerless design, sixty years ahead of its time…But at the time it lead to difficulty training men to use exposed hammer guns and many curious soldiers took the locks apart. This resulted in breakage of parts, stripped screw heads, and jammed actions.” Colt soon reworked his design to leave the firing hammer exposed.

In late 1843, after problems with the Militia Act and numerous other setbacks, including the loss of payment for the Florida pistols, the Patterson New Jersey plant closed.

The Two Sams

Colt did not stay out of manufacturing long however. Soon after, in trying to once again market his underwater electrical detonators, Samuel Colt met Samuel Morse. They became friends and both tried to lobby for funds from the government. The details on Colt's waterproof cable become valuable when Morse ran telegraph lines under lakes and rivers, or through bays, and especially when he joined men trying to lay his new telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean.

Getting appropriations from Congress toward the end of 1841 because of tensions with Great Britain, Samuel Colt began to show his underwater mines for the US government. In 1842 he was able to destroy a vessel while in motion to the satisfaction of the navy and the president. Opposition from John Quincy Adams, who personally disliked Colt, scuttled the project.
Colt then concentrated on manufacturing his waterproof telegraph cable, believing the business would boom along side Morse’s invention. Colt was to be paid $50 per mile for the cable. He began promoting the telegraph companies so he could create a wider market for his cable.

The Return of the Revolver

An order for 1,000 revolvers from the U.S. government and Capt. Sam Walker and the Texas Rangers, who had previously acquired some of the first productions of the Colt revolvers, in 1847 in the Mexican-American War made possible the reestablishment of his business. Not having the factory anymore, or a model, Colt hired out the help of Eli Whitney Jr., who was established in the arms business to make his guns. Colt and Capt. Sam Walker drew up a new improved model. Whitney produced the first thousand then another order for a thousand more and Colt took a share of the profits $10 a pistol. He later built the Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company factory at Hartford. His revolving-breech pistol
became so popular that the word "Colt" was sometimes used as a generic term for the revolver. The gold rush and western expansion made his business boom. He was continually forced to expand the Hartford factory.

Colt received an extension on his patent because he did not collect on it in the early years. He then waited for someone to infringe on it and sued. Samuel won the suit and received royalties on guns the rival company made, forcing the company to discontinue production. With a virtual monopoly, Colt began to sell his pistols abroad to Europe, where demand was high due to tense international relations. By telling each nation that the other was outfitting with Colt's pistols, Colt was able to get large orders from many countries fearing falling behind.

The Later Years

Colt later purchased a large tract of land beside the Connecticut River, where he built a larger factory (Colt Armory), manor (Armsmear), and workman housing. He established a ten-hour day for employees, installed washing stations in the factory, mandated a 1 hour lunch break, and built the Charter Oak Hall, a club for employees to enjoy with games, newspapers, and discussion rooms. In this way he was a progressive employer concerned with his employee’s well-being.

Now being completely successful in his professional life Colt wanted to also enjoy his personal one. On June 5, 1856 he married Elizabeth Jarvis, the daughter of the Reverend William Jarvis, who lived just downriver of Hartford.

When Samuel Colt died in 1862 his estate was estimated to be valued at around $15,000,000. This he left to his wife and son, while he turned the factory responsibilities over to his brother-in-law, Richard Jarvis.

Glossary of American Mountain Men Terms,
Words & Expressions
Part Four

J
JERKY
Dried meat made by cutting meat into strips about one inch wide, 1/4 inch thick, and as long as possible. This was then sun-dried on racks often with a small hardwood fire under the meat to smoke it and to keep insects off it. In good, hot weather the meat would be dry and ready to use in 3 to 4 days.
JORNADA
A day's journey. A journey between pre-determined points.

K
KEEL BOAT
A 60- to 80-foot long flat-bottomed boat about 16 feet wide. In wide use before steamboats.
KEENER
A man who is an exceptional shot.
KINNIKINNICK
A firm of smoking tobbaco made from the leaves of the tobacco plant plus the leaves and bark of other plants, the actual formula depending on the tribe making it.
KYACK
A rawhide box designed to be strapped to a pack saddle.

L
LARRUPT TO
To eat in a hasty and sloppy manner
LARRUPING GOOD
Anything which has an extra fine flavor.
LASH ROPE
The rope used to tie a load to a pack saddle.
LAVE HOI
Time to roll out of bed. This expression, usually given in a good, loud voice, was used to awaken a partner or a whole party.
LEGGINGS
The buckskin, later blanket, trousers of the Indian.
LIGHTS WENT OUT, THE
He died.
LOBO
Timber wolf.
LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL
In total; the whole thing. For examples "He sold his shop, lock, stock, and barrel". This expression comes from the 3 major parts needed to construct a muzzle loading rifle or pistol.
LOCO
Crazy.
LODGE
The living quarters be it house, cabin, tipi, hogan, tent, or lean-to, of the Indian or mountain man.
LODGEPOLE
The main cross-supporting pole of a lodge.
LODGEPOLE PINE
(Pinus contorta) Once one of the most valued trees in the Rocky Mountains, due to its many uses. Also known as "Screw pine" and "Tamarack pine".
LONG FORM
A crude bench long enough to seat three or more people.
LUMPY DICK
An early pudding made by stirring dry flour into boiling milk until thick, then serving with sweet milk and molasses or sugar.

M

MACKINAW
A boat approximately 40 feet long, 10 feet across the beam, and 4 feet deep, pointed at both ends. This boat, widely used on the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River systems, was capable of holding a cargo of approximately 10 tons. Often these were used for downstream travel only.

MADE WOLF MEAT, HE WAS
A dead man left where he fell, for the wolves to dine on. An act of contempt.
MAKE BEAVER, TO
To get a move on, to travel in a hurry.
MAKE MEAT, TO
To hunt for and lay in a good store of meat.
MAKE MEDICINE, TO
To hold a pow-wow or meeting. To pray for spiritual guidance. To hold a religious service. To actually look for and find herbs, etc. to be used as medicine.

MAL DE VANCHE
An illness common to the mountain man and voyageur, It was caused by eating too much fat or fatty meat and not enough vegetable matter.

MANGEUR DE LARD
Voyageur term for a fur company recruit. These men, considered useful for common labor only, were usually fed salted pork, hence the name. The term was later adopted by the mountain men to mean any man new to the fur trade.

MANTILLA
A shawl used as a trade item with the Indians,

MEAT BAG, THE
The human stomach.

MEDICINE
The magic, secret charms of the Indian. Also the bait used in trapping.

MEDICINE BAG
The small bag, used to carry the medicine of the Indian. Adopted by the mountain man and used to carry anything small, especially the "secret" bait he used near his traps.

MEDICINE PIPE
The sacred pipe of the Indian. This pipe was used only during special ceremonies, was kept in a special, sacred bundle, and was NEVER allowed to touch the ground.

MEDICINE LODGE
A sacred lodge used only for religious ceremonies. In some tribes it could also be used as a meeting place for the secret societies of braves. The sweat lodge (an early American form of sauna bath) used by many tribes was also considered a "medicine lodge".
MESA
A table-top (flat) mountain or hill.

METATE
The stone mortar used for grinding corn and other grains. The word is Spanish, not Indian.

MOCCASIN
The buckskin or moose hide shoe of the Indian and mountain man. Light, quiet, and comfortable.

MOCCASIN MAIL
A postal system devised by the mountain man. It consisted of leaving messages concerning the condition of the trail ahead, time and place of a rendezvous, etc, in trees, hollow logs, etc. Such messages were quite often put in an old moccasin so they would be easy to see.

MUD HOOKS
Human feet. This expression is still often heard among country people.
MULA
Mule.

GAZETTE issue 4

2007-09-15T16:04:00.000+01:00

Incorporating the Ugley Imelda Gazette
Issue No. 4

FIRST NATIONAL BANK ROBBED!

Early this morning, while all the horse rustlin’ action was goin’ down downtown, the renowned rebel outlaw Rob Johnson and his boys were busy robbing the First National Bank.

Minutes before the daring robbery took place, the outlaws had the audacity to pose outside the bank for our staff photographer - Nathan Prentiss. Little did Nate know that all hell was about to break loose soon after this photo was taken!

Rebel Rob Johnson –
Outlaw or freedom fighter?

Sheriff Shirley Knott had been tipped off that Johnson and his boys were in town and up to no good, as usual, so he decided to split his posse in two and catch these southern bushwhackers in a classic pincer movement, or ‘the horns of the buffalo’ as ol’ Sitting Bull likes to say. Shirley’s lawmen headed down Main Street with Preacher in tow, while at the same time trusty Deputy Doug led fellow lawmen Herb and Tom through the back alleys to lie in wait in the grounds of Lady Isabella’s dressmakers shop, located just across the street and directly in front of the bank.

But wily ol’ Rob Johnson was expecting such a ruse from Shirley and he had taken time to position his best shot with a rifle - “Bowlegged Billy” – up on the roof of the bank as a lookout and sniper. Stephen the Heathen had his horse tethered out front and was watching from the front door, with new boy “English Tony” standing close by. This brave little Brit was eager to prove his mettle to his posse leader and personal hero - R.J.

Stephen & English Tony keep a wary eye on the street from inside the bank.

The first shot was fired by Billy who had sighted a member of the sheriff’s posse creeping about in the shadows of the livery yard. Too much breakfast coffee
had given him a touch of the caffeine jitters, and Billy’s aim was uncharacteristically off. The muzzle flash of his Winchester gave away his position, and he was lucky to only get a fleck o’ brick dust in his eye when his intended target immediately returned fire with a scoped rifle. Better you stick to decaf from now on, Billy!

Hearing this exchange of rifle fire, Rob yelled to his boys to grab what they could carry from the safe and get ready to skedaddle. Stephen the Heathen and English Tony left by the bank’s front door, intent on diverting the lawmen just long enough to enable the rest of their gang to make a clean getaway by way of the bank’s back yard.

Billy has a Nescaffé moment
up on the roof of the First National.
With the game now definitely afoot, Sheriff Shirley’s posse started to close in on the robbin’ Rebs. The lawmen were positioned on both sides of Main Street and were mighty confident that they had Johnson’s boys surrounded. Stephen the Heathen jumped on his horse and, out of the corner of one bloodshot eye, he caught a fleeting glimpse of Deputy Tom gettin’ set to draw his pistol. He shouted “Fire” to English Tony, who immediately obliged by quickly drawing, fanning, and dropping Tom before his Buntline Special had cleared its holster. Way to go, Tone! Stephen fired next and hit Deputy Doug, but Lady Luck was smiling upon him this fateful morning. The bullet skimmed the top of his Stetson and he was able to duck back for cover under the tables in Joe’s Café.
Herb, a model citizen (a 28mm model citizen in fact) was determined to do his bit to help out Imelda’s force of law and order. He espied the Injun and let rip with his six-gun. Sadly his aim wasn’t as good as his intention, and an errant slug hit Stephen’s horse in the butt which sent it bolting off into the adjacent alleyway. Stephen the Heathen was barely able to stay in the saddle as his ass-grazed mare bucked and bounced off the walls of the alley in its frenzy to get the hell outta there.
Lead starts to fly on Main Street

Steadfastly the lawmen continued to close in on the Bank as O’Reilly, Baker and Winklebottom crashed through the back gate, ahead of Rob and the boys who were laden with the loot.
Rob & Co. getting ready to run
Preacher saw the back gates to the bank swing open and he grabbed the opportunity to take a pot shot at O’Reilly. His .45 cal slug parted the grey hair on the Civil War veteran’s head, and coaxed from him a colourful expletive that would have made his old drill color sergeant blush. O’Reilly and Baker returned fire in a trice, sending Preacher diving to the dirt with a hasty prayer to the Lord on his lips.

As the rival combatants closed on each other with grim intent, Deputy Doug got the draw on the renegade Cherokee and knocked him out of his saddle. His left foot got stuck in the stirrup, and the luckless injun was dragged all along the Main Street and outta town. Ouch! Oh! Road rash a go-go!

Thereafter, O’Reilly and Preacher continued to hurl lead at each other but to little effect. Winklebottom fared better when he discharged both barrels of his sawed-off shottie into Deputy Doug. Palmer added to the risk of his imminent lead poisoning by shooting Doug at the same time with his six gun. Poor ol’ Doug was wounded by the volley but still he managed to limp unaided into the Undertaker’s Yard. A rare smile cracked the craggy face of the parlour’s owner, Archie Grimsdale. It’s not often he gets customers turning up to his establishment on foot.
Backdoor action at the Bank…
ooer Matron!
Seeing the Deputy disappear in a cloud of gun smoke, Johnson and his loot-laden lackeys mistakenly thought their escape route was now clear. Whistlin’ Dixie, the plucky band of bank robbin’ bandits hightailed it out of the bank’s rear yard gate and took off along a back alley that leads out of town.

Then to everyone’s astonishment, Deputy Doug came charging out of the graveyard in what seemed like an act of sheer suicide. Rob Johnson and Palmer whipped out their pistols and began blazing away at this banzai lawman. With ice-cold nerve and questionable common sense, Daredevil Doug seemed to glide in slow motion through their hail of lead. Completely unscathed, he proceeded to calmly level his six gun at Palmer and blow him unceremoniously off his feet with a single shot.
Sheriff Shirley texts for reinforcements

This unnerved both Rob and Dutchy who immediately dropped their heavy bags of loot and sought cover behind the nearest wall. Preacher, inspired by Doug’s heroism, aimed and fired at Baker and found his mark. O’Reilly started into gibbering as his old buddy bit the dust beside him. Fumbling to load his sawed-off shotgun, he proceeded to cuss the bible-bashing bar steward in a most un-Christian way. Tut tut Mr O’Reilly!

Sheriff Shirley was now finally closing in on his prey, but in doing so he left himself open to a shot from his rival posse boss. Mr Johnson got the drop and loosed off an accurate shot that wounded Shirley fair and proper. But God certainly seemed to be on the side of the law that morning, and the Sheriff duly passed his fate roll. O’Reilly continued to curse at Preacher as he leveled his now-loaded shotgun at the bible-basher’s chest. Preacher reacted quickly and scurried behind a wall, and in so doing he left a clear line of sight for Sheriff Shirley to take down the cussin’ Irishman once and for all.

“Go get the loot, I’ll cover you…”

Sensing that the law were now getting the upper hand, Johnson screamed at his men to charge. Memories of Gettysburg and Pickett’s last amble through the cornfields suddenly came flooding back into the minds of Rob’s beleaguered Rebs. With a fearsome yell, these sons of the south leapt forward and charged. Doug soon found himself surrounded by a bellowing bunch of cash-crazed confederates, and before he could say ‘Stonewall Jackson’, they had overrun him and coshed him unconscious.

Dime dancin’ in the Dust
Meanwhile, Bowlegged Billy was having a tough time of it up on the roof of the bank. Perhaps it hadn’t been a good idea to place a perambulatorily- challenged rifleman in a position from where he couldn’t easily escape without jumping. And jumping, especially downwards from a great height, is definitely not Billy’s strong point. Although he was now isolated on the roof, ol’ bandy legs did manage to snipe at Preacher and get a hit that knocked him clean off his feet. It was a wound that was later to prove fatal for this fiery man of god.
With bodies heaped around him and bullets ricocheting off the wall at his back, Sheriff Shirley reluctantly decided to withdraw with what was left of his brave lawman posse. The Rebs had secured the loot, but it had been no easy pickin’s for them. No sir-eee.

Rob Johnson rallied his rowdy rebs, gathered up the gold, and hightailed it outta town. All in all, he was very pleased with his morning’s work, even if the cost in terms of sweat lost and blood spilled had been a little higher than he’d hoped for.

Post Mortem

Rob Johnson’s Rebs

Stephen the Heathen rolled multiple injuries on the recovery roll… and got lucky. He became hardened by his
experience and he also gained an extra wound.

Sergeant Baker also became hardened and gained +1 Grit

Corporal O’Reilly, who has been TKO’d in every encounter so far, gained +1 Grit and now has a ‘Bitter Enmity’ towards Sheriff Shirley and his boys for taking down his pal Baker.

John Palmer made a full recovery.

Seeing the Rebs in action inspired a new boy to join them. His name is Walter Closet. Oh dear.

Infamy Rating = a fulsome 91

Sheriff Shirley’s Lawmen

Preacher - finally went to meet his maker. The worms will be feasting on Boot Hill tonight.

Deputy Tom - he got one hell of a
beatin’, but at least he’s still breathin’. He’ll have to miss out 3 games while he recovers from his wounds tho’.

Sheriff Shirley has now become so skilled they are calling him the ‘rifleman’.

However, some Imeldans claim the Sheriff is suffering from partial deafness due to all the gunplay he’s been involved in of late. Shirley may think people are calling him ‘The Rifleman’, whereas in actual fact they are calling him ‘The Trifle Man’, on account of him being so partial to desserts made from solidified custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.

Infamy Rating = a sweet 40

WILD WEST FACTS

The cowboy hat we have come to know today was first designed in the 1860s by a New Jersey man named John Batterson Stetson. Stetson, in Central City, Colorado for health reasons, saw a market for a broad brimmed hat for ranch wear. He opened a shop in Philadelphia and began designing hats under the Stetson name in 1865. By 1906 Stetson employed approximately 3,500 workers, turning out two million hats a year.

The first biography of Billy the Kid appeared only three weeks after his death.

Oklahoma is a Muskoegean word that Choctaw Allen Wright coined to mean "Red People." It was first applied to the eastern portion of Indian Territory in 1890.

dodgecity-longbranchsaloon.jpg (300x198 -- 6653 bytes)
Inside the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas.

The Long Branch Saloon really did exist in Dodge City, Kansas. One of the owners, William Harris, was a former resident of Long Branch, New Jersey and named the saloon after his hometown in the 1880’s. The Long Branch Saloon still exists in Dodge City and can be seen at Dodge City’s Boothill Museum.

Jesse James was called "Dingus" by his friends.

The last Old West outlaw of renown to die “on the job” was Henry Starr, who began his career as a bandit in 1893 and led a gang of mounted outlaws for more than twenty-five years. Starr’s
career finally ended on February 18, 1921, when he was shot to death trying to rob a bank in Harrison, Arkansas.

During these old west times a gunfighter was also known as a “leather slapper,” a “gun fanner,” “gun trapper," “bad medicine,” “curly wolf,” and a “shootist.”

The telephone was invented in 1876. The first community to have a telephone, after the White House telephone was installed, was Deadwood, South Dakota.

According to eye witnesses, Wild Bill Hickok could hit a dime tossed into the air nine out of ten times; he could knock an apple from a tree with one shot and then hit the apple again with another bullet before it hit the ground, all at 25 paces.
Cowboys driving cattle to the market could expect to make between $25 and $40 per month. A Trail Boss might make as much as $125 per month.

In addition to Christianity and horses, the Spanish conquistadors brought something else to the American Indians. The number of Native Americans living in New Spain decreased from around 11 million in 1520 to about 6.5 million by the 1550's, thanks to measles, cholera, and other diseases imported from Europe.

Doc Holliday claimed he almost lost his life a total of nine times. Four attempts were made to hang him and he was shot at five times.

For acts of bravery during service with the U.S. Army in the Indian Wars, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1872. But in 1917, the year of his death, it was withdrawn because of his status as a civilian scout.

Sometimes cowboys referred to beans as "Deceitful Beans" because they talked behind your back. Watch out, Windy!

Newspapers of the
Old West
Part One
Arizona Territory
In 1879 a newspaper by the title of The Nugget began publication in Tombstone. Shortly after that there appeared a second newspaper in Tombstone. Its title was The Tombstone Epitaph. Few newspapers in the Old West gained as much acclaim as The Tombstone Epitaph. It was edited by John P. Clum. It is said that when someone asked Clum as to how he came upon the name for his paper he replied "Every tombstone needs an epitaph." His newspaper was to be a statement of the era.

The Winchester Rifle
"The gun that won the West"

The Winchester rifle has become synonymous with the word "repeating rifle" (i.e. multishot rifle) which was manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and was commonly used in the United States during the latter half of the 19th century. The gun is colloquially known as "the gun that won the West" for its immense popularity at that time, as well as its use in fictional Westerns.

Characteristics
The original Winchester rifle was famous for its rugged construction and lever-action mechanism that allowed the rifleman to fire a number of shots before having to reload: hence the term, "repeating rifle."

Predecessors
The idea of a repeating rifle had been the subject of many inventions since the use of firearms began, but few of these had proven to be practical, mainly because the modern cartridge, which made repeating arms practical, had not yet been developed.

Repeating revolvers were popular in the mid 19th century. One of these revolving pistols, the Colt, was very successful, and a rifle version was produced, but it was not widely popular. The more successful Spencer rifles and carbines of the American Civil War were a notable step forward, but were not completely satisfactory in various respects.

The ancestor of the Winchester rifles was the Volcanic rifle of Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson. It was originally manufactured by the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, which was later reorganized into the New Haven Arms Company, its largest stockholder being Oliver Winchester.

The Volcanic rifle used a form of "caseless" ammunition and had only limited success. Wesson had also designed an early form of rimfire cartridge which was subsequently perfected by Benjamin Tyler Henry. Henry also supervised the redesign of the rifle to use the new ammunition, retaining only the general form of the breech mechanism and the tubular magazine. This became the Henry rifle of 1860, which was manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company and was used in considerable numbers by certain Union Army units in the Civil War.

Development
After the war, Oliver Winchester continued to exercise control of the company, renaming it the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and had the basic design of the Henry rifle completely modified and improved. It become the first Winchester rifle, the Model 1866, which fired centerfire cartridges and had an improved magazine and, for the first time, a wooden forearm. In 1873 Winchester introduced the Model 1873, with a steel frame and the more potent .44 Winchester Center Fire (WCF) cartridge. In 1876, in a bid to complete with the powerful single shot rifles of the time, Winchester brought out the Model 1876 (Centennial Model). While it chambered cartridges with more power than the 1866 and 1873 models, the toggle link action was just not strong enough for the popular rounds used in Sharps or Remington rifles.

From 1883, John Browning worked in partnership with the Winchester, designing a series of rifles and shotguns, most notably the Winchester Model 1887 and Model 1897 shotguns and the lever-action Model 1886, Model 1892, Model 1894 and Model 1895 rifles. Reproductions of the 1887 and 1897 shotguns, and the 1886 and 1892 rifles, are available today, though not from Winchester. The Model 94, and limited editions of the 1895 rifles, are still produced under the Winchester name, but no longer in the United States.

The 1866 was only available in the rimfire .44 Henry. The 73 was available in .44 WCF (.44-40), .38 WCF (.38-40), and .32 WCF (.32-20), most of which were also available in Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, Merwin & Hulbert, and other revolvers. Having a common centerfire cartridge in both revolvers and rifles allowed the owner to carry two firearms, but only one type of ammunition. The original 73 was never offered in the military standard .45 Colt cartridge; only modern reproductions are offered in that caliber. There was a limited number of 1873 Winchesters manufactured in .22 rimfire caliber, which lacked the loading gate on the right side of the receiver.

Winchester continued to dominate the American rifle market for decades with the introduction of Models 1876, 1886, 1892, 1894, and 1895 (which featured a box magazine, rather than the tubular magazine found on the previous models). The '76 was a heavier-framed rifle than the '66 or '73, and was the first to be chambered for full-powered centerfire rifle cartridges, as opposed to rimfire cartridges or handgun-sized centerfire rounds. It was introduced to celebrate the American Centennial, and earned a reputation as a durable and powerful hunting rifle. The Canadian Mounties also used the '76 as a standard long arm for many years. Theodore Roosevelt used an engraved, pistol-gripped half-magazine '76 during his early hunting expeditions in the West and praised it.

The Browning-designed Model 1886 continued the trend towards chambering heavier rounds, and was even stronger than the toggle-link '76. In many respects the '86 was a true American express rifle. The '86 could be chambered in the more powerful black powder cartridges of the day, including the .45-70 Government. Chambering a rifle for the .45-70 had been a goal of Winchester for some time.

Winchester returned to its roots with the Model 1892, which, like the first leverguns, was primarily chambered for lower-pressure, smaller, handgun rounds. The Model '92, however, incorporates a much stronger action than the leverguns of the 1860s and 1870s. 1,004,675 '92s were made, and although Winchester phased them out in the 1930's, they are still being made under the Puma label by the Brazilian arms maker, Rossi. In its modern form using superior materials, the 92's action is strong enough to chamber ultra-high pressure handgun rounds, such as the .357 and .44 Magnums, up to the mighty .454 Casull.

The 1892 was designed as a replacement for the 1873 by John Moses Browning. Browning went on to dominate the Winchester design team during the revolutionary period of the 1880s to the early 1900s, when smokeless powder forced all arms makers to go rethink every aspect of their firearms. Thanks to Browning's genius, Winchester was able to stay on top of the market during this explosive period. The company was the first to develop a rifle and cartridge for the new powder, the Winchester Model 1894. Though delays prevented the .30-30 or .30 WCF round from appearing on the shelves until 1895, it remained the first commercially available smokeless powder round for the North American consumer market. Though initially it was too expensive for most shooters, the '94 ultimately became Winchester's most popular rifle of all time, selling millions across North America.

In 1885 Winchester entered the Single Shot market with their model 1885 rifle, a rifle that had been designed by John Moses Browning in 1878. The Winchester Single Shot, known to most shooters as the low-wall, and the hi-wall, but officially marketed by Winchester as the Single Shot rifle, was produced to satisfy the demands of the growing sport of MATCH
SHOOTING, which opened at Creedmoor, New York, on June 21, 1872. Target shooting, MATCH SHOOTING as it was referred to, was as popular from about 1871 until about 1917, as golf in the US is popular today.

The Winchester company, which had built its reputation on repeating firearms, had in 1885, challenged the single shot giants of Sharps, Remington, Stevens, Maynard, Ballard, among others. Winchester not only entered the competition, they excelled at it, as MAJ. Ned H. Roberts (1866-1948 - inventor of the .257 Roberts) would state later, "...the most reliable, strongest, and altogether best single shot rifle ever produced." [7] There was a lot of truth to that, as Winchester produced their Single Shot from 1885 to 1920, with nearly 140,000 units. More importantly, the model 1885 had been built with the strongest falling block action known at that time, strong enough for the Winchester company to use the 1885 action to test all of their new ammunition with. To satisfy the needs of the shooting and hunting public, the model 1885 single shot had been produced in more calibers than any other winchester rifle. In 2005, after a break of 85 years, the Winchester Company reproduced a "Limited Series" of their Winchester Single shot rifles, in both 19th and 20th century calibers. The 21st century Winchester Single Shot rifles are built with the latest technology and modern steels, enabling them to fire modern cartridges. Original 1885 single shots, should be inspected by a competent gunsmith before firing modern high pressure loads or in some cases smokeless powder.

While earlier rifles and shotguns actually "won the West," the majority of lever action rifles seen in classic Hollywood Westerns are Winchester '92 carbines chambered in .44-40 and .38-40 (to utilize the "5-in-1" blank cartridge), which John Wayne famously carried around through dozens of films set in periods from the 1830s to the 1880s. Winchester rifles remained the most popular in the US through WWI and the interwar period. However, European advances in the development of bolt action rifles threw a long shadow.

These new rifles could chamber pointed "Spitzer" bullets, which no lever action with a tube magazine could. They could also cope with more pressure, and consequently chamber more potent rounds and shoot flatter than a lever rifle. On top of this, bolt actions as developed by Mauser and other European concerns had front locking lugs which stabilized the cartridge head very well, and allowed for phenomenal accuracy.
In response to the increasing competition from these bolt-action rifles, Winchester introduced the Model 70 in 1936. This was not Winchester's first bolt rifle, but it was by far their most successful. It was based on a modified Mauser Gewehr 98 design, but with modifications and popular North American chamberings which made it more appealing to American hunters than European imports or sporterized military rifles.

Glossary of American Mountain Men Terms,
Words & Expressions
Part Three

H

HAIR OF THE BEAR, HE HAS
The greatest praise a mountain man can say of another.
HALF BREED
A person of mixed blood, Indian and White.
HALF-FACED CAMP
A floor less shed, closed with poles on the back and sides, closed with skins and blankets on the front. The roof sloped from the rear of the shed to the front. This form of house or shed was greatly used by settlers until they had time to construct a log structure.
HAWK
Short for "Tomahawk".
HEFT, TO
A very old term meaning "to lift and feel the weight of".
HELLO THE CAMP
A traditional greeting given before entering any strange camp. Better given at a slight distance or the visitor may not leave in the same manner that he entered,
HIDE HUNTER
A rather low breed of man who killed buffalo for the hides only. Usually despised by all who came into contact with him. "Buffalo skins for the belts of industry."
HIVERANNO
An experienced mountain man. One who had lived many years in Indian country. (First Voyageur, later Mountain Man)

HOGSHEAD
A large wooden barrel or cask capable of holding from 100 gallons up.
HOGAN
A stick and earth lodge used by the Navaho Indians,
HOLLER CALF ROPE
Give up, surrender. An expression used by river boatmen.
HORRORS
Delirium Tremans. After the first night or two at the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous many a mountain man faced the horrors.
HUMP RIBS
The small ribs which support the buffalo's hump. Roasted they were another favorite of the mountain men.

I
INDIAN ANNUITY
Payment given to Indians as part of a treaty agreement. More often than not, a sizeable portion went into the pocket of some bureaucrat.
INDIAN BREAD
Corn meal bread.
INDIAN DOCTOR
Medicine man. Also, a White man well versed in natural medicine,
INDIAN FILE
Single file.
INDIAN GOODS
Trade goods. Often just trinkets of little value to the White man, but of great value to the Indian.
INDIAN HATCHET
Tomahawk.
INDIAN SCOUT
An Indian on scouting duty with the U.S. Amy.
INDIAN SIGN
Evidence of Indians in the area.
INDIAN UP
To sneak up on someone or something.

Shami still head honcho!

2007-09-15T15:56:00.000+01:00

After four shoot outs Shami-leave-no-marks and his Apache braves are still top of the leader board. Jake Fargo has limped out of town, threatening to come back with his bro Wells...

heres a pic of one of shamis ancestors Ambrosius Aurelianus, "Marksy" to his Teulu

There is no Top six-gun as there are a few contenders on three kills.

Dave Marks -Shami-leaves-no-Marks Apaches: 109

Samuel Marks - Lt Norman House US infantry: 94

Pat Smith - Wind of Valdez bandidos: 92

Steve Hall - Rob Johnsons Rebs outlaws: 91

Joe Dever- Jake Fargo cowboys: Headed for the hills, or should that be his Bro's ranch. Now back on his way to Imelda with a new posse: 55

Mike Howe - Marshal Mike lawmen: 40

GAZETTE issue 3

2007-09-13T07:30:00.000+01:00

Incorporating the Ugley Imelda Gazette
Issue No. 3
Horse Rustlers Hit Town!
After hastily defending Christchurch from marauding Apaches, renegade Rebs, and burrito-crazed bandidos, stalwart Lieutenant Norman House (US Army) returns to the fort to discover all of the horses have been stolen in his absence. A sombrero with an arrow through the brim was found in the empty stable, damning evidence pointing to an unholy alliance of nag rustlin’ varmints. Posse boss Jake Fargo lost two mounts from his corral, another victim of these sneaky midnight rustlers. Fargo reported the crime to Sheriff Shirley Knott. To his surprise, the Sheriff knew where to find the stolen horses: they were tethered to the rail outside the Clintons Hotel. The Sheriff remarked that there were half a dozen horses tied to the rails in that part of town. And they were all horses without saddles. Jake ruminated. Feeling much better for it, he decided at once to go and get his nags back.
Meanwhile, coming into town by the north road was Lieutenant House and a company of blue-bellied army boys. He’d heard about the horses too. Holed-up in the Grand Hotel were Windy Valdez and half his posse. Guests and staff were seen hurriedly leaving the hotel (holding their noses) soon after El Flatulencia and his calabazos arrived. Tied to the rail outside the main door were three horses; part of the bandits’ overnight haul from Fort Brannigan.
Directly across the street, outside the smaller Clintons Hotel, another three nags were hitched up to the rail. Two had Fargo’s brand; the third was U.S. Army. Jake eyeballed the brands and checked out the Apaches. Most of them were sleeping off a bellyful of rot-gut whiskey, upstairs in the first floor bedrooms. Fargo wet-panted it outta town to go fetch his posse. He was looking to make a quick raid on the snoozing squaw-lovers and get his horses back before they knew what had hit ‘em.

"How do I find Valdez?" "Easy… just follow your nose!"

Lieutenant House played it by the book. He had his men form into line and advance into town astride the north road. The plucky young officer had received word that some of the fort’s missing horses were tied up outside the Grand Hotel. A Mexican had been seen feeding them red chilies and tequila chasers shortly after sunrise. If there’s
one thing the Lieutenant can’t abide it’s 1
cruelty to animals. He was gonna make those lousy bastardiaros pay for their wanton dietary abuse of US Army livestock.
Snoozing on the porch of the Clintons was Crow Sleeplightly, the infamous insomniac injun. It was raining now, but despite the noise of the rain, it was the faint rustle of army equipment at 500 paces that had him wide awake in the blink of an eye. On the other side of the street, Concho clocked the injun leap up off the porch floor like his breeches were on fire. Only he wasn’t wearing breeches (it was more like a tasseled posing pouch with rhinestone accessories. Shami had spoken to him about this before the raid on the fort, but when it came to matters concerning the trouser department, the young brave was as obstinate as his father – Silver Thong). Crow yelled a warning to his brother braves, and Concho suddenly twigged that uniformed trouble was heading their way.

Fargo's posse gallops into trouble

With a noise like thunder, Jake and his posse rode into town at the gallop. They took the back route to the Clintons Hotel, not the most scenic part of Imelda but Jake was not interested in sightseeing; he was hoping to catch the Apaches fast asleep. But Crow had dashed that hope when he raised the alarm, and the bleary-eyed buffalo-worriers were now getting ready to give Jake and his pale-faced posse a very nasty surprise when they came a-callin’ at Clinton’s.

"come out, Valdez! we can smell your in there!"

Concho warned Valdez of the commotion and he and his honchos headed out onto the verandah to draw a bead on the Lieutenant’s advancing soldier boys. Using his sombrero, he signaled to the rest of his scattered posse to rally at the hotel. They had been posted to guard the west side of town, behind the hotel, just in case the U.S. Army came sneaking round the back in the dead of night, hoping to catch ‘em off guard. The army came alright, but unexpectedly they just marched straight down the main road into town. Sneaky is just not their style. Jake and his boys thundered towards the corner of the alley that runs between Clintons Hotel and Slim Pickin’s General Store. This alley will henceforward forever be known as ‘Injun Alley’, on account of the bloodshed that later took place in this passageway of pain. Shami’s braves got the drop on the cowboys and Dakaya took a shot at Jake with his bow. A soggy drawstring dropped the arrow short of its target. Fargo, Dwight Wright, and Frank Grant each let loose a fanned volley with their six guns that sent the redskins diving for cover, but not one round found its mark (or should that be Marks!). Concho opened up first on the army boys, but missed by a country mile. Then Valdez took aim at Pvt.David West and squeezed off a round. He’s a 3+ shooter, but Lady Luck was having none of it. He threw a 1, and then opted to add 2 points of fame to get the hit. So it was first man down against the U.S. Army. Another notch on Valdez’s gun grip as poor ol’ West went west. Peeved at having West’s brains spattered all over his freshly-pressed tunic, Soldier Charlie Plain returned fire at Valdez with his heavy pistol. The slug chewed wood a few feet from Valdez’s obstaculos (google it!) and ol’ Guacamole breath was forced to duck back for cover. Meanwhile back at Injun alley, Jake and Jed Crennan had dismounted and taken up firing positions on the first floor windows. Drawn by the fearful injun howlin’, Shami and a few of his braves approached the fight from the eastern fringes of town. They’d been up and out early to catch themselves some breakfast. Rattlesnakes. Mmmmm… scrummy! Frank Grant and Eli Cutter tried trampling the alleyway Apaches, but the meek mares they were ridin’ couldn’t have kicked their way out of a paper bag. Things got down and dirty in the ensuing knife fight, especially for Frank… seeing as how he didn’t have a knife. Hired gunslinger -the man with no name- who for the sake of convenience shall here forward be referred to as Keith, made his move for the Grand Hotel and drew a bead on Concho. The slug hit him in the head. This was one lucky muchacho. If the bullet had hit him anywhere else it could have been fatal. Concho dropped to the mud – unconcho - and Jacob Skinton took down Estavez with a round from his heavy pistol. Things were really hottin’ up at the Grand Hotel now. Lieutenant House got Valdez in his sights and let him have it. Despite the rain, and a line of sight blocked by horses, the young officer’s bullet found its mark. Valdez was wounded. The grinning salsa-chomper tumbled ass-backwards to the ground and let one rip that peeled the paint off the hotel’s window frames. A line of crows keeled over and fell off the roof, gassed stone dead before they hit the ground. Even the horses started retching. This didn’t go down at all well with the Lieutenant.

Pistolier Dwight Wright blazes away

Back in Injun alley, the Apaches now in their element in the ensuing close quarter bundle against Frank and Eli. Dwight Wright, pistoleer extraordinaire, caught sight of the Diyin’s ugly mug at an upstairs bedroom window, and he set both his guns to blazin’. He took down the Diyin, and another fellow-redskin called Naiche (not to be confused with the Seminole brave called Nietzsche, the philosopher, who wrote critiques of religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy, and science, and displayed a curious fondness for aphorism.)
More blood was about to be spilled, but it was Eli Cutter who did the bleedin’ this time. He was felled by Dakaya with the same knife he’d used to winkle out Sheriff Shirley’s left eye at Westboro Church not so long ago. Across the muddy main street, ‘Meh-hi-co’ Rico took down infantryman John Thorn, but he was soon to pay a heavy price when brazen Bill Buscon lobbed his lead load into the Bandido’s empanadas. Ouch!

"Hey horse- you staring at me?"

Round at the back door of the Grand Emillio and valdez were making a move using their posse’s $5 peon as a human shield. What a pair of low down dirty bandanas! Glen O’Reilly was incenced by the unscrupulous bandits but, with the innocent peon standing directly between him and his target, there was only one reasonable and responsible thing he could do. He raised his pistol and began blazing away. "How’d ya like those enchiladas, eh?" he was heard screaming. repeatedly.
Miraculously, the peon escaped beinf punctures. even more miraculously one of Glen’s slugs hit and dropped Emillio to the ground. Valdez seruptitously slipped one out as he ducked back for cover. He glared at the horses, but everyone knew it was him who’d done it. The townsfolk refrained from taking naked flames into the area for the next day or two.

Around back of the Clintons, things were taking a decidely ellipsoid form for Fargo. Shami was on a war-path all of his own, and he got quickly embroiled in a melee with Jake and Frank Grant. Frank managed to wound the injun chief, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. Saved by his extra thick fur bikini, Shami shrugged off the damage and laughed in the face of death; he still had one wound left after all.

In front of the General Store Dakaya was at it again with his nasty knife.This time it was Matt Polk who felt the bite of his blade, taken down like a lamb at slaughter time. On the opposite side of the street, Rico got shot by his posse leader - Valdez. The fetid fandango farter fired off a hasty round into a melee and took out his own man by mistake. No points for that one, El Windy.

tough fight in Injun alley

Soon after Matt Polk bit the dust, the Fargo boys' fortunes took a catastrophic turn for the worse. Hoo finally wounded Dwight Wright in a vicious knife fight that had already lasted more than a couple of rounds. His trail buddy – Frank Grant – got cornered by half a dozen blood-crazy savages and died in a crimson flurry of knife and tomahawk blows. The killing blow and his scalp were claimed by Taklishin.

Gunslinger Keith, who had been having a lean time kill wise since his noteworthy arrival in Imelda, finally got back into his stride and took down Lobo with an impressive shot from the hip. He would have given him two shots, but his other hip was empty and needed reloading.

Behind the Clintons hotel Jakes luck had finally run out. The injuns now outnumbered his posse better than 5 to 1, and the rain and close confines of the buildings were stopping Jake from using his superior firepower to best effect. Shami, still mounted, took down Jed Crennan with a crushing head blow that was to leave the cowboy permanently brain-damaged and dribbling. Jake took his chances and got away while he could, but his proud posse had been obliterated in the bloodsoaked back alleys of Imelda.

"Give it up Valdez. Ain’t no good you hidin’ in there - it ain’t got no roof."

In the Grand hotel Valdez was getting his trastero kicked in good fashion by the valient Lieutenant House. The Army had reclaimed their horses and Valdez had been given a damn good thrashing to boot. Final reckoning: Cowboys and Mexicans smegged, Feds and Reds triumphant with 3 horses each. Valdez contested the consensus that he'd been trounced by the
belly Yanks. He pointed out that he had attained a new personal skill and is now a Dead Eye shot. Also, all of his posse survived, though a couple had got a bit chewed up along the way. Concho went mad, Rico lost -1 grit due to the chest wound that Valdez gave him, Estavez stayed alive and survived, Lobo likewise, and the pitiful Peon lived and gained experience from his close call with calibre .45.
Thw Feds faired better. Casualty John Thorne suffered 3 multiple injuries. First was a chest wound costing -1 grit, the second was a head injury resulting in -1 Fight, and the third was a close encounter with a snake oil salesman with a difference. The difference being that this time the snake oil actually worked! His chest and head wounds healed up nicely and John is now back in the ranks, as bright as a shiny brass US Army regulation issue button.
Jake Fargo may of had a bad time of it going hand-to-hand against Shami’s braves, but the true extent of the disaster was revealed in all its painful glory in the final reckoning. Jed Crennan went mad from the head wound he received from Shami himself. Frank Grant trotted off to Boot Hill with life and equipment lost. Eli Cutter went the same way. So too did Matt Polk. Only Jake and Dwight Wright survived the alleyway action, with Dwight advancing +1 grit. Cold compensation indeed for what had been lost. Insult turned further to injury when the dice for cash were rolled. The three dice delivered 2 : 2 : 1. Yup, that’s right - a measley $5. Not even enough to buy a six gun.

"I’m gonna get my big bruvver on you!"

With four of his six posse members gone to meet their maker, Jake headed off to New Mexico. He had suffered a serious defeat and although he was down he was definitely not out. Jake paid a visit to his brother, Wells, in Alberquque. He and his bro have started a new homeboy posse and are already on their way back to Imelda. Woe betide any redskins who tangle with Jake and Wells now!
Shami and his boys were up all night celebrating their magnificent victory over the palefaces, with lashings o’ firewater and rattlesnake canapés. Wicasa became a sidewinder. The Diyin survived getting shot up badly by pistol tottin’ Dwight Wright, the Medicine Man added a +1 to his Fighting skill, Dirty Dakaya added +1 to his strength, Taklishin acquired the new skill of Fury, Crow Sleeplightly survived, and Hoo added +1 to his shooting skill. Shami picked up a lot of Fargo posse loot and made $23 on the horse sales. The only dampener, apart from the relentlessly rainy campaign weather, was a mediocre $27 payoff despite 9 dice thrown.

wild west facts

was shot in the back by Bob Ford on April 3, 1882, in St. Joseph, Missouri. Professed to be a friend of James, Ford was reviled for shooting James from behind and was forever known as a "coward." Ten years later, he himself was himself shot to death in Creede, Colorado.

The main characters of the Dalton gang-brothers, Grat, Bob and Emmett all wore badges before moving to the other side of the law.

"Boys i've found a goldmine." - James W Marshall whose discovery of gold started the California Gold Rush. The location was a saw mill where Marshall withdrew a gold nugget from the American River.

The famous Goodnight-loving trail was established in 1866 between Fort Belknap, Texas and Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Oliver Loving was later killed by Indians on the trail bearing his name. Goodnight, on the other hand, died a wealthy man in his nineties in 1929.

Clay Allison- after sititng in a dentist chair in Cheyenne, Wyoming , forcibly pulled one of the dentist’s teeth when the doctor drilled on the wrong molar by mistake. He would have continued pulling out the dentist’s teeth, but the man’s screams brought in people from the street.

On November 24, 1835, the Republic of Texas established a force of frontiersmen called the "Texas Rangers". The rangers were paid $1.25 per day for their services. The members of The Texas Rangers were said to be able to "ride like a Mexican, shoot like a Kentuckian, and fight like the devil himself."

Most professional gunfighters died in states or territories where the most shootings occurred: Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, California, Missouri, and Colorado.

Black Jack Ketchum was the only person ever hung in Union County, New Mexico. According the annals of American Jurisprudence, he was the only criminal decapitated during a judicial hanging. The only previously recorded example of this gruesome hanging mishap was in England in 1601.

The Pony Express was only in operation for nineteen months, from April 1860 through to October 1861. The Pony Express carried almost 35,000 pieces of mail over more than 650,000 miles during those nineteen months and lost only one mail sack. The typical Pony Express rider was nineteen years old and made the princely sum of $100-$150 per month plus room and board.

In 1884, the citizens of Montana Territory were fed up with lawlessness. After forming a large-scale vigilante force, they executed thirty-five horse and cattle thieves that year.

The famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral only lasted about thirty seconds. Mattie Earp, Wyatt Earp’s second wife, who was with him in Tombstone during the O.K. Corral gunfight committed suicide with an overdose of laudanum on July 3, 1888 in Pinal, Arizona. She was despondent because Earp had left her for another woman.

Lewis and Clark never knew it, but the Spanish sent out four expeditions between August, 1804 and August, 1806 to try and stop them. However, they failed in their mission as they were consistently turned back by the Indians. However, on one occasion they came close - near Red Cloud, Nebraska they were within 140 miles.

During the course of his 21 year tenure at Fort Smith, Judge Isaac Parker sentenced 160 men and women to death for convictions of rape or murder; of this total, only 79 men actually were executed on the gallows. The Judge only handed down the death sentences; he did not attend the executions or participate in them in any official capacity.

Belle Starr, the "Outlaw Queen," a horse thief, outlaw and part-time prostitute was the first woman to be tried for a serious crime by Judge Isaac Parker. She was sentenced to five months in prison for horse theft. In 1889 she was shot in the back and killed by an unknown assailant.

Wild Bill Hickok was killed by an alcoholic drifter named Jack McCall while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, on August 2, 1876. When he was killed he was holding a poker hand of aces and eights, thereafter known as the Dead Man’s Hand.

Despite Hollywood’s depiction to the contrary, Jesse and Frank James were never cowboys. Both were raised on a farm in Missouri, where many of their crimes occurred.

Henry Wells, of the famous Wells, Fargo and Company freight line never lived any further West than Buffalo, New York.

Windy Tales
Part 2:
'My Wind is still in tact after that bit of horse rustling. I did not lose any men, in fact I now have some extra Wind. I have recruited another peon and a Half Breed by the name of Mexanche. So as you see, my Wind is now getting very big but I also have slow Wind, due to not being very successful with the horse rustling. One of the biggest problems with the fight was my men were drawn to the Saloon and I had a big problem getting them out. Too much liquor inside and too much lead outside. I have some good news and bad news for you all. The good news, I killed another Americano today (3 x kills). The bad news, Valdez, the people's hero, the modern day Robin Hood, the Mexican in green tights, has to share his top six gun status with another. Dry your eyes my people, I promise you, I will be back as you have not heard the last of my Wind'
Proclamation !
The citizens and good people of IMELDA,
hereby declare that from this day forth, only legal horse stealing permitted. A pardon shall be granted and goods allowed to be kept, on condition, those known varmints who have partaken cease forthwith in their fixation with other peoples horse flesh. Failure to comply will result in the no good, yellow belly, horse stealing varrrrrmint,
to be hung by the neck until dead. And may the Lord have mercy upon their souls. Amen.

Wyatt Earp stated that trick shooting didn't decide a gunfight. It was an axiom among gunfighters that a man who won a shoot-out was the man who took his time. "Shooting at a man who is returning the compliment means going into action with the greatest speed of which a man's muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick shooting involves." He died a healthy 81 in Los Angeles, California, January 13, 1929.

Glossary of American Mountain Men Terms,
Words & Expressions
Part Two
D
DEAD FALL
A tree blown down by the wind or other force of nature. Also, a trap which utilizes a falling log or stone as the actual trapping mechanism.
DEAD MEAT
Carrion.
DIAMOND HITCH
A hitch (knot) used to fasten cargo to a pack saddle.
DIG UP THE TOMAHAWK
Start a war. Often the word "hatchet" was substituted for "tomahawk".
DRY, I AM
I am thirst, likely for something stronger than water.
DUMPLING DUST
Flour. This term originated from the early practice of mixing dough by pouring water in a depression made in the flour while it was still in the sack, causing small puffs of dust. Both the term and practice are still used by north woodsmen.
DU PONT
Gunpowder.
DUTCHMAN
Any type of temporary prop or support.
DUTCH OVEN
A large kettle with three feet and a dished lid. It can be used for both cooking and baking.
E
EASY WATER
Calm, smooth water on a river or lake.
ENGAGEMENT
A 3-year agreement between a trapper and a fur company.
ENGAGES
Company trappers bound for 3 years to sell all they trap to only one company.
F
FACTOR
Chief of a trading post or trading party, authorized by the company to sell or trade company merchandise.
FATHER OF ALL WATERS
Mississippi River. An Indian term.
FAT PINE
Pitch pine, very good for starting fires.
FEAST CAKES
Pancakes.
FILLY
A young, female horse; although just as likely to be applied to a young, shapely, good-looking woman.
FIRE WATER
Whiskey. This term comes from the Indian practice of throwing a cup of whiskey into a fire to see if it would burn. If it would not flame up, it would not be accepted.
FIZZ-POP
A very early soda pop made by mixing a little vinegar and a spoon of sugar in a glass of fresh water. Just before drinking mix in about a quarter of a spoon of soda.
FLASH IN THE PAN
A misfire. Also a man who spends a great deal of time bragging, but never seems to be around when it comes to proving himself.
FLESHED
Any skin or hide which had the flesh and fat scraped off before it was dried.
FLESHING

The process of removing the excess flesh and fat from a skin or hide.
FLAT BOAT
A large scow used to float up to three tons of fur and skins to St. Louis.
FLOAT STICK
A stick attached to a steel trap used to show the location of the trap and the trapped animal. From this comes the expression, "That's the way my stick floats" , meaning , " That's the way I feel about it."
FOOFARRAW
Any fancy clothing or anything fancy on clothing. Just about anything used for decoration
FORK A HORSE (or MULE)
Mount the animal.
FORT UP
Get ready to fight a defensive battle.
FREE TRAPPER
A trapper who worked for himself, trapping and selling where he wanted and to whom he wanted. As free a man as the elements would allow.
FUR COUNTRY
As the mountain men used the expression, The Rocky Mountains.
FUSEES
A fusil or trade musket
G
GALENA
Lead.
GALENA PILLS
Lead balls (bullets).
GALETTE
A basic flour and water bread made into flat, round cakes and fried in fat or baked before the open fire. (Voyageur)
GALLUS'S
Suspenders.
GANT UP
Tighten up on a rope or belt.
GET YER BRISTLES UP, TO
To get angry.
GEWGAWS
Beads, bells, small mirrors, etc. used for decoration.
GONE, HE'S
He's dead.
GORDOS
Flapjacks (hotcake, pancakes whatever).
GO UNDER, TO
To die.
GONE BEAVER
Said of someone who has been dead some time. He's about to go under; but once dead, he's a gone beaver.
GRAINED
See "Fleshed".
GRAS
Animal fat.
GRAS LAMP
See "Bitch".
GREASE HUNGER, I HAVE
An expression meaning "I am hungry for meat."*
GREASE AND BEANS
An expression meaning "Food".
GREEN HAND
A term used by early traders meaning an inexperienced man,
GREEN MEAT
Meat which still had the animal heat in it.
GREEN RIVER
A western river (see any good map). The hilt of a knife (from the old GR trade mark up near the hilt). A knife made by Russell Green River Works. A copy of a Russell Green River Works knife,
GREEN RIVER, UP TO
Anything of quality was said to be "up to Green River".
GRUB
Food. This very old term is still widely used.
GULLY WASHER
A very hard downpour of rain.

WINDY TALES part one by Pat Smith

2007-09-02T22:35:00.000+01:00

New recruits Rice and Emiliano

Sitting around the campfire drinking coffee and eating their beans, Valdez and the Windies were planning their next move.

They had lost Chino to Boot Hill and would avenge his death with the help of two new members to their posse. Rico and Emiliano.

Times were hard and Valdez had to spend his loot wisely. He decided he couldn’t afford to buy his men mounts at this moment in time as he needed all the firepower he could get but he did promise them some Horse Rustling pretty soon.

Valdez had killed two men in the last couple of days and was starting to get a bit of a reputation as the top sixgun in the area. Whenever he went into town he had this reporter guy following him around promising to make him famous.

Valdez laughed at this, Hahahahaaaaaaa! “You can follow me around Mr Reporter but its not you that will make me famous”. He looked over fondly towards his men and said”it’s my wind that will make me famous”.

Shami-leave-no-Marks is head honcho!

2007-08-31T22:22:00.000+01:00

Shami and his braves do the scalp

After the first two shoot outs of the campaign Shami-leave-no-marks and his Apache braves are top of the leader board. Well done Dave, but dont smoke to much of that peace pipe the war aint over yet!

Dave Marks Shami-leaves-no-Marks Apaches: 94

Samuel Marks Lt Norman House US infantry: 88

Pat Smith Wind of Valdez bandidos: 68

Steve Hall Rob Johnsons Rebs outlaws: 59

Mike Howe Marshal Mike lawmen: 53

Joe Dever Jake Fargo cowboys: 50

Valdez isTop six-gun!

2007-08-31T22:09:00.000+01:00

Valdez and the spirit of the times billboard boy

After two games in the campaign Valdez is top six-gun with to confirmed kills. His infamy has grown swiftly and he is lucky to be alive after receiving a grazed forehead from a crack shot by trooper Bill Bascom.

a few extra photos from first games

2007-08-31T18:14:00.001+01:00

Rob Johnson and his rebs at their starting (and finishing) positions a few minutes later....

Joe "dice-king" Dever strikes a pose

the Apache dismounts to dig up the gold

the cowboys lay down heavy fire from the treeline

US infantry take up position on the hill overlooking the creek

Jake "wetpants" Fargo earns his nickname

The creek begins to run red with blood

the hand of the almighty (Dave) plucks another casualty from the field

Sheriff Shirley is surrounded by redskins after his scalp

The bandidos use the ladies as human shields, some say they were a little to willing......

The hard fought melee continues in the rocky outcrop

With a rebel yell Johnson and his boys assault the ruined outbuilding

Blue bellies skirt the church closing in on the bandidos

the congregation is protected by the US army and the comforting words of the preacher