by Susan Thomas
Then one day Amos told me he was going off to meet Mr Habicht and wouldn't be back until the next day. He would camp out overnight with the man and get a verbal report on how the survey was going. I felt a real sense of mischief build up in me. What a perfect opportunity to play with Amos' gun collection. I had no desire for another hairbrush spanking, so had shied away from it, but with him gone until well into the next day, I could get to examine it all, and take a few out to fire. Amos had also been complaining about a repeating rifle he had... it was an early Henry. That is, it was designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry, and was one that had been bought by one of his relatives for the Civil War, but never fired as the relative had been killed. Amos said it kept sticking and jamming.
I began with that. Martha saw me and told me off, "Ruth, you'll get such a spanking if Amos finds out. You'll be sitting on a cushion for a week."
I laughed. "He's not going to find out Martha, and what he doesn't know can't hurt him. Now I am going to have a bit of fun."
Martha predicted I would regret it but she went off. She was also in ignorance about my expertise. I examined the Henry and began taking it apart with the tools Amos kept by the gun cabinet. Whoever had bought it had not been thorough in choosing his weapon. There was a slight manufacturing fault in the lever mechanism; it resulted in the jamming about every third time it was used. It was easy to rectify. I could imagine my father's voice explaining it all to someone. I then cleaned and oiled it thoroughly and then took it out to the edge of my garden. I rested the barrel on a tree branch and fired a good dozen shots. No jamming at all. Satisfied, I took it back, re-cleaned and oiled it all, and put it back in the collection. Later, after his return, Amos took the Henry out to see if he could work out what was wrong with it. I heard him exclaiming with surprise that it was now working perfectly. It did amuse me. Unfortunately, I was emboldened by my success and made odd trips to the gun cabinet when Amos wasn't around.
Amos had a good report from Mr Habicht. Although his survey was not quite finished, and the report would have to be written up, he was confident that we had no coal bearing seams anywhere under this valley. That was wonderful news: once the report was finished it could be sent to the coal company, at the heart of all the trouble, and that would be the end of it.
Just a few days later Amos made another trip out to see Mr Habicht; it was now confirmed that there was no coal and Amos discretely began to circulate the news to those who formed the resistance to the coal companies. As soon as the report was prepared it would be sent off and that was now a matter of days only. Mr Habicht was going to make two copies: one for the coal company and one for Amos to keep. However, after three days there was no sign of the man, and after five days Amos and several of our friends set off to search for him. They didn't find him but they found his tent, his equipment, his horse and his mule. Now a search began for the man himself and the sheriff was alerted. After several days Amos came back disheartened. He was confident that McBride was behind the disappearance and he feared for Mr Habicht's safety.
Unfortunately for me he came back when I least expected him. I had been out firing both the Cooper and the Colt New line; I felt the Cooper a better weapon but of course it was a chore to load. I came back and had cleaned and oiled both guns and put them back, so it wasn't the worst situation. I was now by the gun cabinet, looking and thinking about what I might like to examine next.
Amos was very displeased. Again I wasted the opportunity to tell him I was a gunsmith and had repaired his Henry. I don't really understand why; it might be because I was determined to be the obedient wife I was reluctant to argue with him. Whatever the reason I got a severe telling off and was sent to our bedroom to stand in the corner. I knew exactly what was going to happen and I was right: Amos spanked my bottom very hard indeed. Afterwards he warned me that if he so much as saw me looking at the guns again he would wear out several switches on me. I didn't know a great deal about being switched but Elizabeth told me it was terrible and to be avoided at all costs. My bottom was still burning from my spanking when a rider came galloping to the house with urgent news.
Mr Habicht, that poor man, was dead. His body had been found shot once through the head. The news was a terrible shock to us all. Amos was angry in a way I'd never seen before. He didn't shout or rant but it was if he was burning inside. He disappeared for hours, sometimes days, at a time and always came back looking determined ... but one day he came back looking exultant.
"I've done it." He sounded grim but pleased. "I've found witnesses... two of 'em and they're willing to testify. It was, as we all knew, McBride and those two thugs of his. God willing, they'll not have destroyed his report."
I rather doubted the report would still exist. Why should McBride keep it? However, I said nothing about that but asked a nasty question. "Are they respectable witnesses, Amos? It's no use them giving testimony if they're drunks or layabouts because no jury will believe them. McBride seems perfectly respectable on the surface."
Amos laughed. "Oh yes, very respectable. In fact, McBride made a bad mistake. They came upon him just when he was shooting Mr Habicht; but he pretended he was the town sheriff, and convinced them that Habicht was a dangerous confidence trickster who had been cheating the elderly and poor widows. He should, of course, have murdered them too."
"Yes, so why didn't he Amos? How can you be sure they are respectable?"
"For the same reason McBride hesitated to murder them. My witnesses are none other than the Reverend Jeremiah Phillips and his good wife, who had been on their way to a new church they have been invited to lead about fifty miles from here. They had their wagon with their possessions and a whole stack of Bibles, hymn books and... I tell you Ruth this is almost comical, a Smith American pump organ. Perhaps so much sanctity was too much even for McBride, or possibly he just thought he'd sold them his story, and they'd be far away and no bother. Anyway he let them live."
I could see why Amos was so pleased. He had spent hours scouring far and wide for any hope that someone might know something. Now these witnesses would be believed. Who would doubt a minister of religion with a wagon full of church goods?
Amos sent messages out to everyone who'd paid a contribution to Mr Habicht's fees, to gather at our farm and assist the sheriff in arresting McBride and his two cronies. Our sheriff was a good man. He was fine for dealing with town drunks and rowdy youngsters but men like McBride were too much for him. He'd plainly been scared of tackling McBride and there was no way, even with a couple of deputies, that he'd tackle the man to the point of arresting him for murder.
My task was to organise refreshments for all the men before they set out; I soon discovered that a lot of the wives wanted to come here too. They were scared; McBride may have deceived the Rev. Phillips but he had made enough threats, and intimidated half the valley, so that no one here was deceived by him. He was nasty, dangerous and downright evil. Only Amos was unafraid. Our neighbours were just ordinary men; dealing with men like McBride was something they were not used to. They were all for tackling him, but their wives were more realistic, knowing their menfolk could be hurt or killed.
Soon my task became much more. The wives wanted to be in town and equipped in case the men were hurt. It seemed to fall to me because I was Amos' wife. He was the leader of the men so I must be the leader of the women. Well I had no experience of such matters but Martha helped me. She had experienced warfare during the big civil war between the north and the south. Her owner's house had been used as a medical station on more than one occasion. With her practical knowledge and my organisational skills, we managed very well. We assembled medical supplies, food, bedding, and brandy (for medicinal purposes). We decided that we would use the big church hall as our base. Pastor Brown's wife gave permission and as the men assembled with their horses we women loaded our supplies onto our wagons and buggies. Annie and Martha came with me. There was almost a carnival atmosphere about the whole thing which really was downright foolish.
&n
bsp; Looking back, we were so naïve; we had made no secret of what we were doing, messages had been flying around and there had been a lot of excited chatter. It was while we were setting up in the church hall that I realised, for the first time, how silly we had all been... men as well as women. We were actually setting up for either a triumphant feast or a hospital or a mixture of both. I was busy and at first didn't notice we had a visitor, but then I found Martha at my elbow looking worried. With her was another woman of colour whose clothing gave her away as one of the 'ladies' who used the rooms above the Arcade Saloon. They were, of course, whores, and we respectable women were not only meant to avoid them but not even to speak of them.
Martha, however, simply said to me. "Ruth, you'd best listen to what Blanche has to say."
I suppose, looking back, that Blanche approached Martha first as she was another woman of colour, but in fact she could have chosen no one better. Many of the women wouldn't have even looked at her. Martha makes her own mind up about things and is pragmatic.
"Yes Blanche, how may I help you?" That may sound a bit stiff and formal, but I had never spoken to a whore before, and felt at a total loss as to how I should act. Blanche didn't seem to take offence.
"Y'all think ya men gonna arrest McBride and his brutes, but ya not." I was shocked she knew why we were all in town and that was when I realised how silly we had all been. "McBride's gonna to kill 'em all. Wound 'em at best." Her accent was one I was unfamiliar with and I had to listen very hard to understand her. "He knows yuse cummin. He's hired more. They're behind the livery stables and they's gonna come out and ambush ya men."
That is as near as I can get to how she spoke. I guess her work didn't require her to speak much. I was a bit suspicious. Why would she tell us? Being a plain and straight Lancashire lass I asked her. "So why are you telling us, Blanche?"
"McBride and them other two... Joe and Chas... they done hurt the girls they with. Nasty stuff... left scars. Mary, she got it bad. They cut her..." Suddenly she stopped, clearly unsure of a polite word to use and indicated her breasts. I felt angry. Wasn't the job hard enough but that these men had to abuse the girls so.
"Right! Blanche we're in your debt. I'll speak to you later if I may but now we have a job to do."
Just to make sure she knew I was serious I gave her a kiss. She looked astonished. There was a stage in the hall; I quickly stood on top and called on all the ladies to pay attention. I told them in as few words as possible about the ambush and called for ideas. Well, talk about spirited. Women may be all meek and mild most of the time but threaten their children, or their men, and you're dealing with tigers. The plan was simple: arm ourselves, with whatever we could, and go now to the livery stables before the action began and disarm the thugs. Blanche said there were about twelve of them there. We had far more menfolk than that but ours weren't used to fighting; twelve armed, experienced, men could destroy our group.
I was surprised at how quickly we armed ourselves. I longed for a gun to use but between us we had only a few shotguns. However, I did manage to get a vicious looking hand axe and found myself at the head of a column of angry, determined women. I had tried to stop Annie joining in but her lad Caleb was among our men. I made an effort to bar Elizabeth but she just muttered, "Tim," and pushed past me.
Finally, I tried to get Martha to stay behind but she just put her hands on her hips and said, "Ruth, the four people I love will be out there. I am going and that's that." I realised she meant Amos, Elizabeth, Annie and me and wanted to hug her but that would have to wait.
I split our angry column into two and we circled around either side of the livery stables. There were indeed twelve men lounging around at the back awaiting whatever signal had been arranged. A nastier more thuggish group you couldn't hope to meet. Their surprise when suddenly facing our large group of angry women was almost comical. I called on them to put their weapons down on the ground and line up against the wall of the stables. They didn't know quite how to react; their leader made a brief attempt to tell us to go away, but Martha stuck a pitchfork up against his chest, and told him to shut up. They then did as they were told. Now we had a good supply of revolvers, rifles and shotguns.
I was reluctant to leave them behind us so ordered them to take off their boots and strip down to their union suits. They refused but in a blink of an eye they had knives and hatchets right at their throats and heads and they thought better of it. Their language was as foul as the state of their red flannel suits. I can't tell you how disgusting some of them were; I doubt they ever changed the things. I had now armed myself with a Colt Navy revolver. It was really too heavy for me but it looked impressive and at least I could shoot it accurately which is more than most of the women could. The man I had taken it from had one in his holster and two stuck in his belt; all were preloaded.
We marched them around into the main street and immediately the large crowd that had gathered to watch the arrest of McBride and company started guffawing at the sight of the twelve men in their underwear marching with us women a horseshoe around them. Honestly, if they had really tried they could have fought their way out; but I think they were so surprised by the whole thing, and intimidated by our anger, that they complied. Maybe there was a residual feeling they shouldn't fight women. I don't know, I was just relived they did as they were told.
We arrived at the sheriff's office to see our men in the middle of the road, with Amos at their head (the sheriff standing slightly behind him), confronting McBride and his two thugs whose names I now knew to be Joe and Chas. Our men were in a semi-circle in front of McBride so I directed that we form another half circle effectively trapping McBride in the middle. It was a foolish thing to do. It meant our men couldn't fire for fear of hitting us, nor we without hitting them, but luckily no one realised that. In my excuse I was a very new general!
I shoved my revolver into the ear of the leader of our twelve; the stink of his union suit was bad. I snarled, "Lie down on the ground."
He used a word I had never heard before but saw the look on my face and did as he was told. His men followed and all twelve were soon face down in the dirt of the street. It wouldn't have made much difference to those filthy suits.
I shouted, "Your plan's not worked, McBride. Your men are here on the ground and we are armed; put down your weapons and surrender."
I'll say one thing for the man, he was calm and unruffled. He looked at all of us and his twelve thugs, now so humiliated, and smiled.
"Well, well Mrs Masters, you have been a busy little bee." With that he simply put his revolver down in the dirt and signalled Joe and Chas to do the same.
I was so relieved, for I had by then realised my folly in forming a half circle opposite our own men. McBride, Joe and Chas were arrested and locked up and we were all reunited with our menfolk. No one at all had been hurt. It really was quite an achievement.
The sheriff, quite rightly, refused to arrest the twelve. Amos was angry but I pointed out that they hadn't actually committed any crime. They may have intended to but they hadn't done it so couldn't be punished. It was the same argument I had used to end our regular Sunday spankings. However, the sheriff did confiscate their weapons, citing some town ordinance I am pretty sure didn't exist, and they were told to get out of town and keep going. They went.
We then went back to the church hall; I have to say we all enjoyed that feast. Lots of well-wishers came in bringing us gifts of food and drink. The alcohol was strictly against the church rules but either no one noticed or no one complained. I saw Caleb kissing Annie who was clearly enjoying it and Timothy Fallon kissing his still very new wife, Elizabeth. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled before they slipped away together. I gave myself no prize for guessing what they were going to do. We sent a whole pile of food and drink to the girls above the Arcade Saloon. I don't think everyone approved, but Blanche had saved the day and I insisted.
Chapter 9
By the time we got home that evening I w
as tired. We dumped everything in the kitchen and decided to clear up the next day. Amos and I went up to our bedroom. I guessed we would be intimate but I was shocked when Amos said, "Take off all your clothes Ruth. I'm going to spank you."
I exclaimed, "But why Amos?"
"You put yourself in danger. I warned you at the start of our marriage never to do that."
I have to confess I seethed with anger at this and was very cold with Amos. I obeyed. Well really there is little point in arguing with a husband as big and strong as him. I was so angry I didn't even feel that slight embarrassment I still felt at being naked in front of him.
When I was undressed completely he said, "Go and stand in the corner."
I obeyed that too, standing, as Elizabeth had done that time in the kitchen, facing into the corner with my hands by my side. I boiled with anger so wasn't even afraid.
"Come here Ruth."
I don't know how long I had been standing in the corner, but not long I guess. I turned to see Amos was sitting on the bed and he was also naked. He commanded me to lay myself over his knees and I did so coldly and without comment. I felt him rest his hand on my bare bottom and tensed myself for the spanking to come. At least he wasn't using the hairbrush. When the smack finally hit my bottom it was a shock: it was so light. Oh, it stung a little bit but not anything to worry me. Then he smacked the other cheek; that too was light. Soon he was into his usual rhythm except all the smacks were so light they weren't hurting at all. A warm sting began to build that was almost pleasant and then Amos stopped spanking and instead began gently rubbing my bottom.
