by Bobby Dennis
“Talked to Prescott Wellington and tried to get him to see our point of view.” Wally stated sharply.
“Damn fool,” said Oscar. “Don’t you know he’ll warn the spooks!”
”Don’t that beat all.” said Bull. “How can we trust someone who would go warn a nigger lover about what we plan to do.”
“I didn’t even get that far.” said Wally. “We just talked, that’s all.”
“Anybody ever tell you, you talk too much.” said Simon menacingly. “I think we need to get the Klanvern together and see if this sympathizer should remain in the order.”
Bull and Oscar nodded in agreement.
“Now hold up there fellas. You got this wrong.” Wally said pleadingly. Wally knew that if he was kicked out, he wouldn’t be long for this world.
“I think we’ll just keep this to ourselves for now, if there is any indication that he’s helping Wellington or the Niggers, we’ll ride on his ass!” said Bull.
“Well that’s settled, so when do we ride?” asked Oscar.
“Tomorrow night’s as good as any.” said Bull. “You boys go spread the word.”
* CHAPTER # 12 *
The Kanes met Tigger Wells at the place where they would build their first still. Raven looked at the gathering of men and had to smile. He though back to the times when he and his brothers went on forays with his father. Now he would go out with his sons and grandsons. He wished his mothers and father could see them. He was gripped momentarily by sadness, but the warrior spirit that survived across the seas and time rose within him.
“Ransom, I think you and some of the boys should ride into town and check on the whiskey. If it’s there, then you know where to store it. Anything else you think needs doing, do it.” Raven said.
“Alright Pa,” said Ransom. “Come on Lao, Trace, Turk, Tim, and Pat, we’re taking three trucks.”
The six men got in the trucks and pulled out.
“You know shit is gonna get thick brother.” said Falcon.
“Yeah, I do.” Raven replied. “To tell you the truth I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
“Me too,” said Hawk.
All of the older Kanes nodded their agreement.
“It’s been way to quiet for my taste these last few years anyway.” said Eagle.
“You got that right brother.” said Cougar. “In the old days we didn’t have to wait for action, it was all around us. The land was wide open, but now look around. All you see is so called civilization and damn if it ain’t more barbaric than the old days.”
“No need to harp on changing times brother.” said Wolf. “It is what it is.”
“Good thing our Pa looked ahead though.” said Raven. “He prepared us for the times, that’s why it was so easy for us to make the change.”
“There’s work to be done.” said Blake smiling.
* * * * Ransom and the others drove thru town, then pulled up to Tyrus Biggers place. Tyrus and his sons, along with Sonny and Bart Lumpkin, were standing in the front yard. Tyrus Biggers was a small man, maybe 5’3”, and 140 pounds. He was jet black with close cropped hair. His voice was deep, it sounded like it came form a well. His sons Price and Elmore, looked just like him, except they were both at least 6’2”, and nearly 200 pounds. Tyrus looked like their little brother. The Lumpkin’s were high yellow men, both rail thin and rangy.
“How’s it going boys?” asked Tyrus.
“It’s alright Ty.” said Ransom. “Let me introduce you to my kin. This here is Trace, my cousin, Lao my cousin, Tim my cousin, Turk my brother and Pat my cousin.”
Ty shook hands with all of them, then he introduced his group. The men walked to the back of the house and sat on the porch.
“Any word on the whiskey?” Ransom asked.
“We got to pick it up from the dock.” said Ty. “It’s gonna cost $8,000.
“We made an agreement for six.” said Ransom. “What happened?”
“I don’t know, the man said he’d talk to you only.” said Tyrus.
“Let’s get it done then.” Ransom said.
The men all piled into trucks and drove toward the docks. As they drove thru town a police car pulled in behind them and turned on the siren. Ransom and the others pulled over and Cad Lowe, got out of the police car followed by Con Majors.
“All of you niggers get out of the trucks.” shouted Cad.
“That’s Cad Lowe and Cad Majors.” whispered Tyrus to Ransom. “Just be cool bro.”
The men got out of the trucks and stood there, as the two deputies approached.
“Where you niggers headed?” asked Cad
“We’re going down to the docks, Mr. Cad.” said Tyrus timidly.
Ransom knew it was just an act. He had seen Tyrus in action and knew the man was a fierce man if need be.
“Some of you nigger ain’t from round here, where bouts y’all from?” asked Cad.
“They from LaVilla sir.” Tyrus said.
“You the spokesman for these niggers or something? They can’t talk for themselves?” Cad asked.
He walked up to Tim and looked at him closely. He noticed the nice brown suit, white shirt with brown string tie, beige waist coat, highly glossed Brown Wellington boots and the brown derby cocked at the rakish angle. “What’s your name boy?” He asked Tim.
Tim stood there staring in the man’s eyes not answering.
“Can’t you hear boy?” Cad asked menacingly.
“Tim.” Ransom said softly.
“I’m Timothy Kane.” Tim replied.
Cad looked at Ransom then back to Tim, and asked. “You niggers brothers?”
Ransom nodded. “Yes we are!”
“These some silent ass niggers Cad.” said Con.
“I don’t like to see too many strange niggers in my town, so you boys be careful or you could find yourself in deep shit.” said Cad. “Now get on bout your business?”
The men got back in the trucks and pulled off.
“I didn’t know they had that much work at the docks.” said Cad.
“They don’t for white men, but there’s plenty of shit work for the Jigs.” said Con. The two men laughed as they walked back to their car.
Ransom and the others got to the docks and were directed to a warehouse. They stopped outside the warehouse and Ransom, Trace, Tyrus and Lao walked to the office. A weasel faced white man named Grady Spates, who introduced them to Lomas Tappen met them . The men were seated in the office.
“I thought we made a deal for $6,000.” said Ransom. “I wanna know when that changed!”
“I can understand how you feel, but please let me explain.” said Grady.
“Go on,” said Ransom.
“What happened is this. Some people had ordered more than they could pay for, so I thought you’d wanna go on and buy the excess.” said Grady.
“As long as that’s all it is, we can deal with that.” said Ransom. “I don’t know how regularly we’ll need shipments, but try to keep the same amount on hand and we’ll take care of it.”
“It’s in plain crates. Get your trucks in and we can get you loaded.” said Grady smiling.
The men walked to two big bay doors. Lomas Tappen pulled a long chain and the big doors swung open. Ransom motioned for the men in the trucks to drive in. They drove into the big warehouse and to an area that Grady pointed out. The men jumped form the trucks. No introductions were made. The men loaded the trucks, then covered the crates with tarps and drove off.
“Did you notice they didn’t even check the merchandise?” asked Lomas.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to cross these boys.” said Grady. “I sense something dangerous in those men and I wanna be on their side.”
* * * *
“Turn down there.” said Tyrus pointing to a dirt road. Ransom turned onto the road.
“We’ll use the back roads until we get in your neck
of the woods.” said Tyrus. “We don’t wanna get caught with
this sh
ipment. The crackers would probably try to steal most
of it and leave just enough to hide us in prison.”
“Ain’t gonna be no prison.” Ransom said forcefully.
“It’s either we stop them from taking it or we go to prison.
Them or me, too bad for them!”
“I know how serious you are about this, but we can’t
be killing police.” Tyrus said.
“They’d kill us.” Ransom said with conviction. “It’s
all or nothing bro. You in all the way or out?”
Tyrus looked at the big handsome man as he
navigated down the bumpy dirt road that was little more than a
trail. “I’m all in and things are gonna get hot.”
“I’ll be there just like in France.” Ransom said. Automatically both men minds went back to 1917,
and the Argonne Forest, where they were under heavy enemy
mortar fire for two days and nights. The trees that were once
festooned with the beautiful colors of fall had looked like
skeletal fingers reaching up into the smoky sky. After the
bombardment, then came the enemy troops and shortly after
that close combat. Who could count the number of times they
had saved each other’s lives. Their bond was deep, as only the
closeness of death can force.
“We’ll get you some arms for your people and you
can teach them to use them.” Ransom said.
“How soon can you get them, cause we’re gonna
need them?” said Tyrus.
“If you want, we can Load a truck with it and bring it
back when we unload the shipment !” said Ransom. “That would be good, but make sure to leave me
some liquor. We can start on that right away. We’ll water it
down, then rebottle it.” said Tyrus.
“No, we sell it like we bought it. We didn’t get
cheated, we ain’t cheatin nobody and if somebody cheats us
that’s their ass.” said Ransom.
“Man you’re serious, I say again!” said Tyrus
smiling.
“Them crackers gonna get rich off our people, why
should they? I answer, they shouldn’t.” said Ransom. The men drove to the house where they stored the
majority of their weapons. Each of the Kanes had choppers
and were prepared to use them. The elder Kanes arrived with
the young men. Raven watched as they stacked the liquor,
then went to a crate and opened it. He pulled out several
bottles, then called out.
“Turk, Price, Cellus, Brooks. Y’all get two bottles a
piece and crate up these for me.” He passed them the bottles
he held. “That’s for my engagement party!” Raven said. ”I don’t know what the Maces have in mind, but I’m
going top shelf. They can serve shine, I’m serving good
scotch whiskey.”
The men laughed, then Raven said. ”Hold on, I got a
surprise for y’all.”
He walked to his car and came back with a big
cardboard box. He sat the box down and opened it. He pulled
out two black garments and turned to the other men, and said.
“I gave this some thought. And I had Mamie the seamstress,
to make these for us.” In his hands he had a black conical
hood and a black cape.
“They were easy to make and there’s enough for
everybody. We can just ride around with them in our cars. I
talked to Wiggens, the welder too, and he’s gonna make us
false beds for the trucks. And compartments for our cars so
we can get by a cursory search.” said Raven.
All of the men gathered around and the hoods and capes were passed out. Tyrus looked around at the men assembled and knew he was with real men. He didn’t get a hood or cape. The Kanes would be the enforcement arm, as well as the managerial staff and distributors. They loaded up a truck with choppers, grenades, and dynamite. They had left several crates of whiskey. They loaded into the trucks, except this time Brooks drove and Tyrus directed. They were headed to Tyrus’ headquarters.
* * * * “Lucy Pearl, it’s getting late. I think you should be heading on home before it gets dark.” said Prescott.
“I’m almost finished, Mr. Pres.” said Lucy Pearl.
“You can finish tomorrow. Whatever you’re doing can wait, now go on and get home.” said Prescott firmly.
Lucy Pearl walked from a back room, followed by Elisabeth. Elisabeth hugged her, then said. “We can finish tomorrow. It’ll give us something to do.”
Lucy Pearl walked to Prescott and he threw his arms around her. He hugged her tight, then whispered. “Don’t tarry. Go on home.”
Alright,” she said as he held her at arms length. Lucy Pearl walked to the door, waved, then walked out into the rapidly fading sunlight.
Prescott watched her and thought, there goes my heir. As Lucy Pearl walked swiftly down the sidewalk, she heard her name called. So she stopped and turned toward the sound. She saw Bobby Rodgers leaning against a building.
As always he was dressed nicely. A navy blue double breasted suit with chalk white pin stripes. A freshly starched, snow white shirt. Black shiny brogues and a black fedora cocked at a jaunty angel. When he smiled, the gold caps on his teeth flashed in the waning light.
“Hello beautiful!” he said in a silky smooth voice.
“Hey Bobby.” she replied batting her eyes flirtatiously.
Bobby Rodgers was about 6” feet tall and well built. He had a coco skin complexion and long glistening hair, that he kept pressed and greased. “Pearl, you know I been wanting us to get together. I know you been busy, but make time for me.” said Bobby.
Bobby was a hustler and well known womanizer. Lucy Pearl had been warned about him and others like him by both her mother and Elisabeth, but still she found him exciting and attractive.
“Let me drive you home sweet heart.” said Bobby.
“No my mother would kill me. I can just walk, it won’t take but a minute.” she said smiling and waiting to see what his next move was.
He walked towards her, his eyes eating her up. He stopped, stared down in her lovely eyes and whispered. “You were made for me.”
Lucy Pearl shuddered and felt herself getting wet just being close to him. She was a long way from being a virgin and it had been a while since she last had sex.
“I got to go.” she said tearing her eyes from his, turning on her heel and walking off.
Bobby watched her as she walked away, thinking. “For that, I could stop chasing all the others.”
Lucy Pearl hurried down the street then turned a corner. It would take her at least twenty minutes to get home, if she went the long way. So she decided to take the short cut through the woods, which would cut as much as seven or eight minutes off her walk.
She veered off and walked onto a well defined path. It was getting dark quicker than she thought it was and she saw danger in every flickering shadow. She picked up the pace, then tripped over a root, twisted her ankle, and crashed to the ground.
She reached down and gripped her ankle, then slowly rose to her feet. She winced, as the pain jolted thru her ankle. Limping, she tried to Hurry from the copse of trees.
* * * * The Klan had chosen their time to ride and made all of the preparations. When they rode, they used horses to ride thru and spread their reign of terror. They had split up in two groups and were heading towards their victims.
Deputy Anton Billings, Thomas Bellamys, his brother Ron, and their cousins Chester and Manley, along with the Stanley brothers, rode their horses down a back road. Their robe’s glowing a ghostly white. There were 3 more members of the Klavern with them.
As the men slowly padded down the road, there was a loud rustling in the bushes. Th
e men halted their horses and sat silently. A figure tumbled from the bushes into the road, then stood and gingerly placed weight on one leg that appeared to be injured.
“Well, well, what have we got here?” asked Anton. Lucy Pearl looked up, saw the Klansmen and turned to run. hobbled by her twisted ankle, she didn’t get far.
The men spurred their horses forward and crowded in on her. Randy Stanley bumped her with his horse and she fell to the ground. Quickly he dismounted and snatched her up. All of the men got off their horses and surrounded her. Randy Stanley grabbed her dress by the neck and in a powerful motion tore her dress open exposing her full young breast to the darkening night. She fought and kicked, until one of the men smashed his fist into her jaw stunning her. Randy ripped the dress from her body, then tore at her frilly bloomers until she lay naked and exposed before the men.
She shook her head form side to side to clear the grogginess. She thought she saw lights, but she was still dazed and unsure. She felt her legs being held, then spread apart. Automatically her hands went to her mound. Her arms were grabbed and she found herself spread eagle to the night sky. Frantically she looked around at the men, who had started to unbuckle their pants and pull out their flaccid penis’.
“This looks like some young stuff here.” said Ron from behind his mask. “It ought to be good too.”
The men laughed, as one of the townsmen got on his knees between her legs. His penis was pink and seemed to glow in the dim light of the night. She wiggled from side to side, as he tried to penetrate her.
“Be still damn it!” the man said and slapped her viciously across the face.
She saw the lights again and heard the rumble of what sounded like a motor. She didn’t know if it was the effects of the blows or reality. She felt the man’s rigid penis pierce her and she screamed out in anger. “NOOOOO….!”
He thrust into her hard and fast and she wiggled to buck him off which only made it good for him. The men were so engrossed in what was before them, that they never heard the trucks that pulled up or the sounds as the men got out of the trucks.
Turk had been turning the lights on from time to time, to navigate on the bumpy road. That was the light Lucy Pearl saw. The men quickly came up on the Klan and Price turned on the truck lights. All of the Klansmen froze, except the one that was thrusting wildly in Lucy Pearl.
