Lieutenant John Holbrook, Sergeant John Wheeler

by Laszlo Endrody

  “Pink would be nice,” Cindy said.

  “Okay, I will get a gallon of pink. Lydia, why don’t you hire Cindy to help you and pay her 5 dollars a week? I can give you the money,” he stated.

  He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a 5 dollar gold piece from his pocket and handed it to Lydia. He then told them, “What I would do is put everything on the big table, but you can work it any way you want.”

  When he went to work, he took the two girls by the orphanage and Lydia talked to the priest about having to stay home because they were adding three rooms to the house. Pete wanted Lydia there to monitor everything that was going on.

  The priest told Lydia, “That’s not a problem, Lydia. I will give your job to another girl, but you can come by anytime to help if you find time for it. The kids love you.”

  “The kids can always walk over to my house if they want to see me. I will be at home working with Cindy,” Lydia said.

  Chapter Five

  Pete came over to my house and I asked him about the shooting. We talked about bandits during breakfast and then we went to work.

  “I hear that some farmers picked up the U.S. branded horses and took them home. The army or the U.S. Marshal will pick them up if they find them. I hear you got a nice mare,” I said to Pete.

  “She was pretty big, she must be close to foaling,” Pete replied.

  “The vet will have to come check her. I can put a gelding with her when she can work,” I told him.

  “I’m sure she will be working by next spring,” Pete stated. “Where can I find a stud for her, after she foals?”

  I told him, “Sergeant Bexter has one that’s two years and 8 months old. As soon as he can work, you can put your mare with him. He is a nice big horse.”

  “That’s great!” Pete said. “Well, I better get over there and go to work, no bandits today.”

  Pete went over to the Wilson’s place and went to work. David and Burney were there and all the boys were starting to plow. Burney was filling up the grain drill with wheat. David had the small wagon full of wheat. Pete locked up to the harrow and went to work.

  Two nights later, Pete heard a noise out behind his house. He grabbed his Henry and went to the back door. Two men were tying up his mare to a buckboard. He shot the man that was tying up the mare and then he shot the other one. Both seemed to be dead. He went out and unhooked the traces and untied his mare. He went to the two dead men and went through their pockets. One had 6 dollars and the other had 4 four dollars, so he left the money. He needed to call the sheriff. He took their wagon and drove into town and told the deputy that two bandits had tried to steal his horses and he had shot both.

  He went home and put their buckboard next to his. He put the two horses in the corral and hung up the harnesses in the hay shack and gave the horses some hay. The sheriff came out early that next morning and looked at the two dead men.

  “Well, the Maxwells won’t be stealing horses anymore,” the sheriff stated. “They are from Michigan and have been stealing horses for years. Where are their horses?” the sheriff asked.

  “There was a third man that ran away with all of their horses,” Pete told him.

  “Probably their younger brother,” the sheriff said. “Well, I’ll have the undertaker pick them up. There may be a reward on Joe. I will check.”

  The sheriff looked in their pockets and took the 10 dollars then said, “No sense in giving that money to the undertaker. He will charge the county.”

  The sheriff left and Pete got the new gelding and mare and hooked them to his buckboard and drove it over to the Wilson farm. He told David about what had happened the previous night. He had his horses with harness in the back.

  “I will leave my other two for plowing,” Pete stated.

  “I will harrow with them. Go to town with your horses and in another plow,” David told Pete. So Pete hitched up his two.

  Sergeant Bexter came over and Pete told him that two bandits had tried to steal his mare but he shot them.

  Pete said, “They were the Maxwell brothers from Michigan. The sheriff knew them because they’ve stolen horses before. But, the sheriff doesn’t know that I took these horses from them, so I need to keep them over here.”

  “That’s fine,” David assured him. “Go get the plow and tell them that it is for the Holbrook farm.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Sergeant Bexter told him. “I want to look at the new discs they have so that we can save on plowing.” The next payday, Pete got 70 dollars in his pay envelope. He was getting rich from just his plowing wages.

  When they got to the equipment dealer, the dealer said that he only had a used plow. They had some new ones coming later.

  “Later will be too late,” Pete told him.

  Sergeant Bexter bought the disc Pete was looking at and Pete drug it to Sergeant Bexter’s place. I went over to talk to Bexter and saw the disc. Pete told me that we could stop plowing the ground that had been plowed last year. He said, “Just disc it up and plant. The new ground is what needs to be plowed now.”

  When Pete and the rest of the crew got to the field, they took off the plow and the new team started plowing while Pete went harrowing.

  “Every little bit helps,” David said.

  I told Sergeant Bexter that if the disc worked, we would need two because it would save us a lot of plowing. It took two big horses to pull it.

  I had to go to a blacksmith and have him make me a brand. Pete took off for home; I guessed his wife was cooking lunch. When he got home, Lydia and Cindy were making dinner. Coffee was ready so he had a cup.

  “Where is the new team?” Lydia asked.

  “Over at the sergeants corral,” Pete told her.

  He looked out back and the buckboard was still there. He wanted that buckboard for Lydia.

  “Has there been anyone around recently?” Pete asked her.

  “The sheriff came by and said that they caught a man with six horses going to Michigan and he’s in jail. He also said that you’re going to have to go to court to testify too,” Lydia told him.

  The sheriff came by later that afternoon and told Pete to be at the courthouse at 9:00 a.m.

  “How many horses did the man you caught have?” Pete asked.

  “Six,” the sheriff said.

  “Who gets the horses?” Pete asked.

  “That’s up to the judge.”

  “I’d like to have that pinto mare,” Pete said.

  “What pinto mare?”

  “The one he had,” Pete said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that you wanted them before?” the sheriff asked.

  “You didn’t ask,” Pete said. “Maybe he traded it with somebody before he got caught.”

  The next day Pete told David and me that he had to go to court. Then he went back home and picked up Lydia and Cindy. They went to the courthouse and went inside. Pete seated his wife and Cindy and then went and asked the sheriff to let him look at the horses. The sheriff said that it was too late and that the horses had already been distributed.

  “I got one and the deputy got one,” the sheriff told him.

  “Any white on them?” Pete asked.

  “No,” the sheriff said. “The one the judge gave to the mayor had white socks, but there were no pintos.”

  “Did you see if he had traded the mare?” Pete asked.

  “I tried but I found nothing.”

  The judge called the trial to order and called the sheriff to testify.

  The sheriff went up and told the court, “Pete here came into the office and told me what had happened, so I went out to see for myself. The men he shot were the Maxwells from Michigan, known horse thieves. Then I learned that there was a third man on the other side of the house who had 5 or 6 horses heading for Michigan. After Pete told me that, I started looking for a man with 5 or 6 horses heading for Michigan, and low and behold I found him.”

  After the sherif
f testified, the judge thanked him and then called Pete to testify. When Pete got to the stand, the judge then ordered the prisoner to stand up.

  He then asked Pete, “Is this the third man you saw?”

  Pete told the judge he wasn’t sure and needed the man to put his hat, so the judge ordered him to put on his hat. The man put on a Texas hat and Pete asked him to turn around. Pete then said, “This is not the man.”

  “Are you sure?” the judge asked.

  “Yes, sir. There is more to it than just his looks. The man I saw had a pinto mare with him, but he didn’t have a pinto mare when he was captured. All of the horses he had were geldings. I guess it is possible that he could have traded the mare and got a new hat. But from where I stand, he is not the third bandit,” Pete stated.

  The judge then asked the prisoner, “Tell this court how you got six horses.”

  “I met three different sets of bandits in Arkansas and we shot it out with them. We killed the bandits, but my partner got killed too. Two of the bandit’s horses were U.S. branded so I turned them loose. I went on with four horses and crossed the river in Memphis. I met a Yankee sergeant at a station and he had a gelding. We got a packsaddle for one horse and I bought three sacks of oats for the three-saddled horses. Then we met some bandits in Tennessee and got three more horses. I shot two of the bandits and the sergeant shot the other. He went east into Kentucky with his horses and I came north going to Michigan with my six. I was hoping to sell five horses for 100 dollars each and then go west,” the man answered.

  He had an attorney and the attorney demanded the return of the man’s horses. The sheriff and deputy returned their horses, but the mayor refused saying, “He must have stolen the horses in Mexico city. I’m keeping my two.”

  The lawyer sued for false arrest. The mayor saddled up his horse rode it downtown. The Texan whistled to his horse and the horse dumped the mayor. The mayor broke his arm. The Texan rode to the corrals and got his other horse. He let the gate open and everything the mayor had took a walk to the cornfield for a snack, which caused considerable damage. Everyone laughed.

  Tex thanked Pete and asked him if he could leave his horses with Pete.

  He told Pete, “The mayor wants me to hang for stealing in Mexico City.”

  Pete brought Tex out to my house where he put his horses in the corral and stayed in the bunkhouse. I asked Tex if he wanted to work cutting hay and he did.

  “Go have breakfast,” I told him. “Afterwards, you can go cut hay.”

  He cut all day and did a good job. He had lunch and dinner and the girls were all very nice to him. I talked to him about cattle and he said the only way to raise cattle was to have them graze.

  “They need 1,000 acres of grass to graze. If you’re looking to get some cattle, Herefords are a real good breed,” he told me.

  “I have some dry cows and some calves,” I said.

  “You should get a bull to use on the dry cows. A Hereford or Longhorn bull,” he said.

  “Why a Longhorn?” I asked.

  “Smaller calves that are easier on the cow or heifer. Herefords aren’t bad on the milk cows either. Get some white face calves. Butchers like the Hereford calves, steers, and cows,” he replied.

  “Do you know where can I buy a Hereford bull?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but the butcher may know,” he stated.

  I figured I would fence Burney’s section and get some grass started and then I could get some heifers with a Hereford bull and start raising cattle.

  I went in and talked to the butcher and he gave me the address of a Hereford farm where they sold bulls. I wrote a letter to the man and he responded stating that he would send me some bulls by railroad from Ohio. I wrote him again and said I would pay the railroad on delivery. He said he could send two bulls.

  Three weeks later, we picked the bulls up at the railroad station. Tex and I went in on horses and drove them home. We kept one at my place and the other over at the Pilsner’s where we had four dry cows and three heifers.

  The next day we had some excitement. Dexter came by with his wagon and he tried to steal David’s four horses in his corral. Two of them were his team, and the other two belonged to Sergeant Bexter. David heard something outside at 2:00 in the morning. He grabbed his rifle and went out and there was Dexter leading his gelding out of the corrals. Dexter pulled a gun, so David shot hm. Dexter had three horses tied up behind his wagon. One was David’s mare, but he didn’t know who the other two belonged to. He took all of the horses Dexter had and put them in the corral. He looked inside Dexter’s wagon, but no one else was with him. He unhitched Dexter’s mules and put them in the corral as well.

  At 5:30 a.m., David came over at my place to tell me he was going to get the sheriff to come out. After I finished my breakfast, I went over to David’s place.

  The sheriff recognized Dexter right away. He said that he saw him alone at the bank the day before; his wife wasn’t with him. He was going to question the banker to see what Dexter wanted.

  The sheriff hitched up Dexter’s mules and took the wagon with him. I looked the wagon over and told the sheriff that if they were going to sell the wagon, I would give them 40 dollars for it. We didn’t hear what happened with it, but he had a wife somewhere. Nobody knew where except the banker.

  About a month later, Mrs. Dexter came to Ft. Wayne and went to the bank. She wanted to withdraw Dexter’s money. The teller told her that there was no money in his account. She then went to the sheriff and he advised her to get a lawyer to sue the bank.

  She had a recent deposit slip with her and showed it to her lawyer.

  The lawyer asked her, “Did you show this to the teller when you tried to make a withdrawal?”

  “No, I didn’t have it with me at the time,” she said.

  The lawyer set up a hearing in front of the judge. The banker claimed that Dexter didn’t have any money in the bank. He said the day the sheriff saw him at the bank he was asking for a loan.

  The judge asked the banker, “Did he come to your bank on the date of the receipt and deposit 120 dollars?”

  “No, not that I recall. If he did, Mrs. Dexter would have to have a deposit slip stating such,” the banker said.

  Then the judge called Mrs. Dexter to take the stand, swore her in, and she said, “My husband deposited 120 dollars and with the previous balance in his account, this deposit would have brought the total amount up to 270 dollars.”

  She showed the judge a recent letter she had received from her husband. Along with the letter, he also sent her the recent deposit slip as well. The lawyer read the deposit slip aloud and handed it to the judge. The judged asked Mrs. Dexter to step down and the judge asked the banker again if the 270 dollars was in his bank.

  “Dexter never had an account at this bank,” the banker stated. “He was a swindler and he could write anything. This means nothing.”

  The judge then showed the banker the deposit slip and asked if it was his signature on it.

  “It must be forged,” the banker stated.

  “You may step down, but you are not allowed to leave the court. Sheriff, you are to make sure he stays here,” the judge stated.

  The judge then called for the country clerk. The county clerk took the stand and the judge asked him if he had deposit slips in his files.

  “I have a whole bunch,” the county clerk said.

  “Bring them in here,” the judge ordered.

  “I am leaving,” the banker said. “You can’t hold a banker.”

  “Do you have leg irons with you, Sheriff?” the judge asked.

  “Sure do, Judge,” the sheriff said.

  “Put leg irons on the man,” the judge stated.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” the banker asked.

  “You are in contempt of court. You now have a 100 dollar fine,” the judge told him.

  The county clerk came back with a book full of deposit slips. The ju
dge carefully looked at the signature on the deposit slips and compared them with the signature on Mrs. Dexter’s deposit slip.

  “Mr. Banker, I am fining you an additional 500 dollars for lying in this court, along with three months in jail. Mrs. Dexter, you will get a court order to withdraw all of your husbands savings of 270 dollars, plus interest. I am holding this deposit slip as evidence again this banker,” the judge stated.

  He then turned to the county clerk and said, “You are to withdraw all of the county’s money from the bank and have Wells Fargo hold it in their safe. The teller who does withdrawals will open it. I want all of the banker’s property listed on record and turned into this court.”

  We figured that the banker had something to do with sending Dexter out there to get our horses. Apparently, Dexter had been stealing horses and depositing money into his bank. I think that the judge was going to run this banker out of this county.

  The sheriff came out and told me that the county was selling the wagon and the two mules for 120 dollars. I told him that I didn’t want the mules, just the wagon. The sheriff then told me that there was a list of properties coming up for tax sales, so I got a list and there was one section next to Burney’s section that had a big minimum bid. The owner had not paid his taxes for five years. It was the Turber farm.

  The next day, Sergeant Bexter and I went to see Mr. Turber. He was an ex-sergeant of the First Calvary and was missing an arm. He had a wife and two kids ages seven and nine. Burney knew him, so we decided to take Burney with us. I put a sack of flour on my buckboard and we went out to see him. When he answered the door, Burney introduced us and I told him that his section was on the list for tax sales.

  I said, “I just wanted to meet you, to let you know that I will be bidding for this farm at the tax sales. If you and your family want to stay in your house, you can work for us. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, you won’t have to move and can stay for as long as you’d like. We’ve all been in the service like you and I know how it feels like to be kicked out of the service. But you can work for us and keep your house.” I then asked him, “Do you have any livestock?”