The Great Train Massacre

by William W. Johnstone

  Kelly learned quickly that Logan had failed in his attempt to kill Matt Jensen. And while he still believed that it would be easier if Matt Jensen were dead, as it was now, he had no alternative but to follow Conroy’s instructions in locating Hellman and Ladue. As the discussion with Sheriff Ames was going on, Dan Kelly was meeting with the two men Conroy had suggested that he find. He returned to the Pick Axe Saloon, where he asked the bar girl, Lil, if she knew them.

  “Yes, I know both of ’em. They work for Mr. Garner.”

  “Who is he?”

  “He runs the stable.”

  A few minutes later, Kelly found the two men mucking out stalls. Their boots and the lower part of their trousers were covered with horse dung, but it didn’t seem to matter to them.

  “What do you want?” one of the two asked, when they saw Kelly staring at them.

  “Are you Hellman and Ladue?”

  “Yeah, I’m Hellman, he’s Ladue. What of it?”

  “Does the name Lucas Conroy mean anything to you?” Kelly asked.

  “Yeah, it means something,” Hellman said. “Does he have a job for us?”

  “Yes.”

  “What does he want done?”

  “What have you done for him before?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Have you ever killed for him before?”

  “Are you the law?”

  “No. I’m working for Conroy. I have been instructed to pay you to take care of a job for him.”

  Hellman looked around to make certain there was no danger of their conversation being overheard.

  “Who does he want killed?”

  “There are three of them.”

  “Three of them? Two of us, and three of them?” Ladue asked.

  “Yes, but only one of them is wearing a gun. And one of the three is a woman,” Kelly said.

  “Only one with a gun? All right, I can’t see as it can be much of a problem to handle the job,” Hellman said.

  “How much are we getting for the job?” Ladue asked.

  “You’ll get fifty dollars apiece when the job is done,” Kelly said. He had already decided to keep for himself half of the money Conroy had sent him and all of the money if they failed.

  “Who is this two men and a woman he wants kilt?” Ladue asked.

  “Their names aren’t important.”

  “The hell the names ain’t important. We got to know who it is, don’t we?” Hellman asked.

  “They are passengers on the train that’s having to stay here for a while, because they are replacing a wheel on the tender. But you will need to do it soon, otherwise they’ll be back on the train.”

  “How are we going to do this?” Ladue asked. “I mean, we can’t just shoot them down in the street in front of the whole town. We’d get hung for murder.”

  “The three of them are riding in a private car, and it’s down at the depot, setting off on a sidetrack way over by itself. There are some trees alongside the track, and I figure you two could wait in those trees until you see them coming back. That’s where you can do the job, because there won’t be anyone there to see you.”

  “All right,” Hellman said.

  While this discussion was going on in the Pick Axe, Logan’s body was removed from the Miners’ Saloon, and everything returned to normal. Matt and John were still there, but they had moved from the bar to a table.

  “What do you think of my daughter?” John asked. The question had come out of the blue, and for a moment Matt wasn’t sure how he should answer it.

  “Why, I think Mary Beth is a beautiful and intelligent young woman,” Matt replied.

  “Don’t you think most men would think the same thing?”

  “Yes, I’m sure they would.”

  “Then I’d like you to tell me, if you can, Matt, why Mary Beth doesn’t have any serious suitors? She’s twenty-three years old with no husband, and beyond that, there is no husband in sight. I’m leaving her the entire company, and before I die I would like to think that she had a husband by her side to help her run it. Of course, she’ll have Drew to help her . . . but Drew is as old as I am, so he won’t be around forever either. For crying out loud, I should be a grandfather by now.”

  “Give her time, Mr. Gillespie. There is no way I could ever see someone like Mary Beth Gillespie becoming an old maid.”

  “I wouldn’t mind giving her time if she would ever show any interest in anyone.”

  “I think women have a feeling about this,” Matt said. “You wouldn’t want her to wind up with someone who was marrying her just for the money, would you?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then let her make up her own mind. Like I said, most women can tell if the man is worth their attention, and from what I’ve learned about Mary Beth, I would say she would be better at it than most.”

  “You’re probably right,” John said. He glanced over at the grandfather clock that stood against the wall next to the piano. “Speaking of Mary Beth, I think she may be finished looking around at all the stores by now.”

  The two men finished their beers, then left the saloon.

  By the time they stepped outside, it had grown dark.

  “I should have been paying more attention,” John said. “I hate for her to be out in the dark all alone.”

  Seeing that the dress shop was still well lit, Matt and John stepped inside, their entry marked by the tinkling of a bell attached to the door.

  “Papa! We’re back here!” Mary Beth called.

  When the two went into the back of the store they saw Mary Beth sitting with two other women.

  “This is Mrs. McCormack and her daughter, Susan,” Mary Beth said. “They were nice enough to keep their shop open until you came for me.”

  “Darlin’, I’m sorry I’m late. We got to talking and . . .”

  Mary Beth laughed. “Heavens, Papa, you don’t have to apologize. I know how men are.”

  “Mrs. McCormack, it was very nice of you to keep the store open for my daughter,” John said.

  “Well, what with all the trouble we had yesterday, the miners killing the Chinamen and all, I just didn’t feel good about Miss Gillespie being out on the street by herself.”

  “I told her that you would buy me the most expensive shawl she had,” Mary Beth said with a broad smile.

  “A shawl?”

  “Yes. Oh, and it is beautiful, Papa. Besides, I may need it in Chicago, because it will probably get quite cool there.”

  “I expect you’re right. All right, Mrs. McCormack, where is this shawl?”

  Mary Beth held up a package. “She’s already wrapped it up for me.”

  “Pretty confident that I would buy it, weren’t you?” John asked, smiling as he withdrew the money from his wallet.

  “Of course,” Mary Beth replied. Then to the shopkeepers, “Mrs. McCormack, Susan, thank you very much for being so nice to me.”

  “Oh, it was a pleasure, Mary Beth. And do have a safe trip to Chicago,” Mrs. McCormack replied.

  Leaving the dress shop, they had dinner in the Palace Café. They lingered over dinner for a while, then John looked at his watch.

  “Oh, heavens, it’s after nine o’clock. I think we should go back to the car,” John said. “I asked the stationmaster to arrange to have the teleprinter connected so I could get in contact with Drew. And we may as well wait in the car until the repairs are made, and we can get underway again.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  “I gotta take a leak,” Ladue said.

  “Well, hell, do it. It’s dark enough so that no one will see you. Not that you’ve ever worried about that.”

  “What if they come while I’m pissin’?”

  “How long you plannin’ on pissin’?” Hellman asked.

  “Till I’m through.”

  “If you had started doin’ it when you started talkin’ about it, you’d be done by now,” Hellman said.

  “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Ladue began relievi
ng himself.

  The two men were waiting just inside a line of trees no more than one hundred feet from the private car.

  “You ’bout finished?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good, ’cause here they come,” Hellman said.

  “You sure that’s them?”

  “There’s two men and a woman, just like he said.”

  Hellman was able to point out the two men and a woman because there was a lamppost near the private car, and the three were passing through the patch of light.

  “We goin’ to shoot from here?” Ladue asked as he buttoned his trousers. “On account of it seems to me that this is pretty far away.”

  “We’ll get a little closer, but we need to shoot ’em before they get out of the light. Shoot the one that’s wearin’ the gun first.”

  “Yeah, good idea,” Ladue said.

  Both men pulled their gun, and they heard the trill of a woman’s laughter as the three approached.

  “Now!” Hellman said, and both men fired.

  Concurrent with the sound of the gunfire, Matt heard a bullet whiz by.

  A second bullet kicked up dirt in the rail ballast very near him.

  “Get down!” Matt shouted as he made a lightning-quick draw. He couldn’t see the shooters because they were in the dark. However, he had seen the flame patterns made by the muzzle flash, and using that as his reference point he fired twice.

  “Move quickly out of the light,” Matt said, and John and Mary Beth did so.

  Matt also moved out of the light, purposely going to the opposite side from John and Mary Beth, then, with gun in hand, and using the dark for cover, he moved, cautiously, toward the place where he believed the shooters to be.

  When he got close enough, he saw two men lying on the ground, and approaching them, leaned over for a closer examination. Both were dead.

  “It’s all right,” he called back. “There’s no danger now.”

  He looked down at them for a moment, then walked back toward John and Mary Beth. John had his arms around his daughter.

  “Are they dead?” John asked.

  “Yes.”

  Not wanting to leave John and Mary Beth unprotected, he had them come with him when he reported the shooting to the sheriff.

  “You again?” Sheriff Ames asked, when Matt reported having killed two men.

  “He didn’t have any choice, Sheriff,” John said. “It was either Mr. Jensen kill them, or they would have killed us.”

  “Who are you, and why would they have wanted to kill you?” Sheriff Ames asked.

  “My name is John Gillespie. You may have heard of me.”

  “Why should I have heard of you?” the sheriff asked. Then he frowned. “Wait a minute. The John Gillespie? Are you telling me that you are the industrialist John Gillespie?”

  “Yes. This is not the first attempt on my life. There have been several over the last few days. I hired Mr. Jensen to escort my daughter and me safely to Chicago, and, fortunately, he has successfully turned back every previous attempt.”

  “Why is someone trying to kill you?”

  “I can’t answer that question. I know only that from the moment we started this trip that someone has been trying to kill me.”

  “Well, let me ask you this, Mr. Jensen,” Sheriff Ames said. “Do you think the incident in the saloon, with Logan, was related in any way to this?”

  “Yes, I do,” Matt replied. “I think that someone figured out that if they could get rid of me, they would have an easier time of it with Mr. Gillespie.”

  “Where are the bodies of the two men you just killed?”

  “Unless someone has moved them, they are still lying back at the rail yard, not too far from Mr. Gillespie’s private car.”

  “All right. Let’s go see them.”

  “Hell, these two men weren’t trying to kill you,” Sheriff Ames said.

  “Then why did they shoot at us?” John asked.

  “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” Sheriff Ames corrected himself. “They probably were trying to kill you, but I doubt it was because of any scheme. I know these two men. Their names are Hellman and Ladue, and I would bet a month’s pay that they never even heard of you. Over the last few years, they’ve spent as much time in jail as out. It’s more’n likely that they heard about someone riding in a fancy railroad car and thought a payday had just dropped into their laps. I would guess that they figured to kill you, then rob you.”

  “They shot first,” John said. “They made no demands for cash.”

  “Cowards like these two are likely to do it that way,” Sheriff Ames said. “I’ll get the undertaker to move their carcasses out of here. I can’t expect it would be too pleasant for you in your car, knowing they are still here.”

  “Thank you for that, Sheriff,” Mary Beth said.

  “Just common courtesy, ma’am,” the sheriff replied.

  “Sheriff, will you need Mr. Jensen to stay behind for any reason? I mean after the train leaves. Because if you do, let me know, and I’ll arrange for my daughter and me to stay as well. I’ll also hire an attorney if you think we need one.”

  “I see no need for Mr. Jensen, nor either of you, to have to stay behind,” Sheriff Ames said. “It’s as I told you, these two have been in trouble for as long as they have been in town. And based on what everyone in the saloon told me about your run-in with Runt Logan, I don’t imagine this was much different. You’re free to go on, when the train leaves.”

  He gave a low, grunting laugh. “In fact, I’ll be more than glad when you are out of here. Ever since you’ve arrived, the body count seems to have piled up.”

  “Do you think that’s what it was, Matt? Do you think they were just trying to rob us? Or was it another attempt to kill us?” Mary Beth asked as they walked back to the car.

  “I don’t know, the sheriff was probably right,” Matt said. “It could be that they were trying to rob you. But I wouldn’t count out the possibility that they also were working for the same person who has been trying to kill you.”

  “But how could two strangers here in Rock Springs be involved?” John asked. “I mean, how did they know when we would be here?”

  “I expect that whoever is behind trying to kill you has someone on the train who has been keeping him informed. And he may also have people set up waiting for you all along the route,” Matt replied. “That’s what I would have done, if I had been the one setting this up. I would have people stretched out between San Francisco and Chicago, just waiting for you.”

  “Yeah,” John said. “Yeah, that would make sense, wouldn’t it?”

  When they reached the car, the lantern was burning low so that it was dimly lit. Mary Beth walked over to turn it up, causing the car to be well illuminated.

  “Good,” John said. “I see that the wire has been connected. I’m going to send Drew another message.”

  WE ARE DELAYED IN ROCK SPRINGS FOR A FEW HOURS FOR REPAIR TO THE ENGINE TENDER. EXPECT TO BE UNDERWAY WITHIN ANOTHER TWO HOURS. WILL CONTINUE WITH REPORTS.

  “It will probably be tomorrow morning before Drew gets the message, but I may as well keep him up on what’s going on with us,” John said.

  At Matt’s suggestion, John had said nothing about the attempt made by Hellman and Ladue.

  “You know, Matt . . . so many have been killed because of me,” John said after the three of them settled into the overstuffed chairs that made up the parlor area of the private car. I can’t help but feel guilty about that.”

  “Would you rather it be you?” Matt replied. “Or Mary Beth?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then, if you will excuse me for being blunt, feeling bad because people who are trying to kill you, are themselves killed, is stupid.”

  “I . . . I guess it is. You’ve done this before, haven’t you? I mean, you’ve had to kill before.”

  “So do soldiers in war,” Matt replied.

  “I suppose that’s right.”

&nb
sp; “My mother, father, and sister were all three killed when I was quite young,” Matt said. “I was partly raised in an orphanage but mostly by a man named Smoke Jensen, who became my teacher and my friend. And he once told me that I should never kill because I can, I should kill only if I must. I paid very close attention to those words, and I have followed them for my entire life.”

  “Jensen? You are related?”

  “No. My birth name is Cavanaugh. But I took the name Jensen out of respect for the man who taught me so much.”

  “I must say, he taught you well,” John said.

  A light knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Mary Beth started toward the door, but Matt held out his hand.

  “I’ll get it.”

  It was the conductor.

  “Yes, Mr. Kelly?” Matt said.

  “I wanted to ask Mr. Gillespie if he was ready for his telegraph machine to be disconnected. If so, I have some people here who will do it now.”

  “Yes, Mr. Kelly, I’m through with it, thanks,” John called.

  “Go ahead, take it down,” Kelly said to someone down on the ground. He turned back to Matt. “I’m told you had some trouble earlier this evening.”

  “Who told you?”

  “I . . . I’m not sure. Maybe whoever it was, was wrong.”

  “Someone tried to rob us,” John said.

  “Oh. Well, I’m glad they didn’t succeed. By the way, the repairs have been completed, and the engine will be here to pick up this car soon. Then you will be connected to the rest of the train, and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Thank you,” John said. “It will be good to get going again. What will be our next major stop?”

  “That would be Cheyenne,” Kelly said. “We’ll be there at nine thirty tomorrow morning.”

  “How long will we be there?”

  “No more than half an hour. I had better get back to the train.”

  After Kelly left, Matt came back in and sat down again. He had a very pensive look on his face.