by Robin Furth
WHORES WHO ACT AS AMMIES: SAM SHUNT (or Shunt the Cunt) owned all of LITTLE DEBARIA except the mine itself. (That belonged to big bugs in GILEAD.) Twice a year, Shunt ran races for the miners to enjoy, though he paid for the event by taking entrance fees out of the miners’ wages. When the SALTIES got injured during the games, some of the whores acted as AMMIES, or nurses. W:276
SALTIES: See SALT MINE CHARACTERS: SALTIES, below
SHUNT, SAM (SHUNT THE CUNT): Sam Shunt didn’t own the LITTLE DEBARIA SALT COMBYNE—that belonged to big bugs in GILEAD—but he owned the company store, the bars, the whores, and the skiddums, (or shacks) where the miners slept. Twice a year, he set up races for the miners—footraces, obstacle course races, and horse races. He took the entrance fees out of the miners’ wages to pay his expenses. The winners got a year’s worth of debt forgiven at the company store. However, the interest was so high for the other miners that Sam never lost out. W:275–76
WEGG, WILL: Will Wegg was the constable in LITTLE DEBARIA. Thanks to his sand-colored handlebar mustache, yellow duster, and brass knuckle-dusters, he was easily recognizable. Wegg always bet on the SALTIES’ biannual races, so he knew which miners could ride horses and which ones couldn’t. This piece of information was critical when it came to rounding up SKIN-MAN suspects. (Roland and JAMIE DeCURRY knew that the saltie responsible for the skin-man murders could ride a horse.) When the skin-man was finally forced into revealing his identity, he turned into a man-sized POOKIE and bit Will Wegg on the arm. Wegg died from the poison. W:270–77, W:281–92 (291 bitten), W:299
SADDLETRAMP (DRUNK): See WIDOW BRAILLEY, below
SALT MINE CHARACTERS:
MINE BOSSES: The men who owned the LITTLE DEBARIA SALT COMBYNE didn’t come from DEBARIA; they were rich men from GILEAD. Unfortunately, these greedy men didn’t care about their workers, only their profits. W:282
BANDERLY (FOREMAN): Banderly was the SALTIES’ bull foreman. When an eerie, bitter green light was seen shining through a crack in the salt plug, the salties told Banderly about it. Banderly saw the light for himself—the way it shone bright then dim, like a heartbeat, and the way it seemed to beckon the miners to enter it—but he knew that the MINE BOSSES would refuse to close the plug. Instead, he had the crew block up the crack with rocks. This was a mistake. The ancient evil artifact that gave off this light transformed OLLIE ANG into a skin-man. W:282
SALTIES (SALT HOUSE FOLKS, SALT MINERS, MINERS):
GENERAL: Long before ROLAND and JAMIE DeCURRY arrived in DEBARIA, the DEBARIA SALT COMBYNE was a thriving business. However, by the time our story takes place there were only about two hundred salt miners, or salties, left, all of whom worked in the company’s single remaining plug. In the old days, the miners lived in the SALT-HOUSES, or cliff-face caverns that were part of the mining network. (Each of these caverns had tunnels in the back that led into the earth.) But in the time period of our tale the salties had an encampment of their own, a few wheels west of Little Debaria. Although bigwigs in GILEAD owned the Combyne, most of the salties were permanently indebted to a man named SAM SHUNT, who was not-so-affectionately known to the miners as Shunt the Cunt. Shunt owned Little Debaria’s bars and whores. He even owned the skiddums, or shacks, where the miners slept. But worst of all he owned the company store, which meant that the miners were permanently indebted to him. In essence, Shunt owned the miners. To Roland, the salties’ lot sounded little better than slavery. W:58, W:62 (in Little Debaria), W:64 (skin-man is one of them; woke a demon in new plug, 200 miners), W:65, W:67, W:76, W:78 (they know skin-man is one of them; a saltie is not a proddie—not riders), W:83, W:84, W:85, W:86, W:101, W:104, W:267, W:270–94 (all the salties who can ride horses; 274 into bar; subject of discussion until 277; 279 ten with blue rings)
BLUE-RING SALTIES: Any saltie with a blue ring tattooed around his ankle had done time in BEELIE STOCKADE, and so was marked forever as a criminal. W:278–94 (salties who can ride, all the salties with blue rings)
ANG, OLLIE: See SKIN-MAN, listed separately
FRANE, BOBBY: This saltie was almost as old as STEG LUKA. He had a mangy white mustache, dirty gray hair that fell to his shoulders, and a sinister squint in one eye. Roland thought that this squint was probably caused by nearsightedness, not meanness. Roland was right, since when Bobby Frane paraded past BILL STREETER so that the boy could see his blue ankle-ring, he tipped his hat to the lad. W:286
LUKA, STEG (OLD FELLA OF THE CREW, GRAYBEARD): Gray-bearded Steg Luka wasn’t ashamed of spending time in BEELIE STOCKADE, since his crime was stealing a loaf of bread to feed his wife and children. (Sadly, his two children died anyway.) By the time Roland met him, Steg was so old that his Beelie Stockade ankle-ring had faded to a blue ghost, and his bare feet were as gnarled as old tree stumps. Despite his age and poor physical condition, Steg had an iron grip and was mighty trig. He was the only saltie to connect the strange, bitter green light in the NEW SALT PLUG with the OLD PEOPLE’s evil artifacts, and with the sudden predations of DEBARIA’s shapeshifting SKIN-MAN. As he confided to Roland, all of the miners had seen the light and had felt the pull of its seductive, whispered promises. Steg believed that one of his fellow miners had entered the crack when the mine was officially closed and had been changed forever, and not for the better. When Steg found out that his theory was correct, and that his fellow saltie, OLLIE ANG, was actually the skin-man, he attacked Ang, calling the man a liar and a murdering trullock. But Ollie, ever bloodthirsty, transformed into a POOKY and jammed himself into Steg’s mouth, killing him. W:278 (stole a loaf of bread), W:279–91 (281 Steg Luka; 282 something belonging to the Old People is in the plug 291 killed), W:292, W:293
OLD WOMAN AND TWO BABBIES: Steg Luka stole a loaf of bread to feed his wife and two children. The children died anyway, and Steg was sent to BEELIE STOCKADE. W:278
MARSH, JAKE: Jake Marsh was one of the younger men to have spent time in BEELIE STOCKADE. When Jake paraded past BILL STREETER, his trousers rolled up to expose his ankles, he stuck his tongue out at the boy. His ugly tongue was stained yellow from bingo-weed tobacco. W:286
YOUNG SALTY: This young man didn’t want to take off his boots so that Roland could inspect his ankles. He said that if Roland shot him, at least he wouldn’t have to go down into the mine plug anymore. W:278
YOUNGEST SALTY: This young man was about Roland’s age. According to him, salties were always afraid. W:278, W:286
SALTIES’ FAMILIES: In the old days, salties and their families lived in the salt-houses, or caverns, in the SALT ROCKS. By the time Roland and JAMIE DeCURRY arrived in town, most of the salties lived in shacks, or skiddums, a few miles outside of Little Debaria. The shacks were far from ideal, but at least they weren’t underground. W:58
SKIN-MAN: See SKIN-MAN, listed separately
SHERIFF’S OFFICE:
ANDERSON, PEA (HIGH SHERIFF-THAT-WAS): In the days before HUGH PEAVY wore Debaria’s silver star upon his chest, Pea Anderson was Debaria’s High Sheriff. It was during Anderson’s stint as head lawman that the CROW GANG rampaged through Debaria, thieving, train-robbing, and kidnapping. Just after a rancher’s wife named BELINDA DOOLIN was kidnapped, STEVEN DESCHAIN came to town. With the gunslinger’s help, Pea Anderson, Hugh Peavy, and Anderson’s POSSE tracked the Crows to their hideout in THE SALT ROCKS. Steven Deschain wanted to surprise the Crows by coming to their lair from the HIGH PURE to the east, but Pea Anderson wanted to march straight to their hideout. Flouting the elder Deschain’s advice, Anderson took his posse and rode for the salt-houses. Unfortunately, the Crows saw them coming and slaughtered them at AMBUSH ARROYO. W:55–57 (57 named), W:58, W:59
POSSE FOR CROW GANG: These seven men followed the old High Sheriff, PEA ANDERSON, when he, HUGH PEAVY, and STEVEN DESCHAIN tracked the CROW GANG to their lair. When Anderson and the gunslinger disagreed about how to approach the Crows’ hideout, this posse followed Anderson rather than Steven Deschain. They paid for this mistake with their lives. W:57–58
DEPUTATION: Roland
sent this group of men to LITTLE DEBARIA so that they could round up all of the SALTIES who could ride horses and who had also spent time in BEELIE STOCKADE. See PEAVY, HUGH (above); CANFIELD, BILL (JEFFERSON RANCH CHARACTERS, above); DeCURRY, JAMIE; FRYE, KELLIN (below); FRYE, VIKKA (below)
FRYE, KELLIN: Kellin Frye was HUGH PEAVY’s best deputy. He and his son, VIKKA, traveled to the JEFFERSON RANCH with ROLAND, JAMIE, and Hugh Peavy so that they could assess the carnage left by the SKIN-MAN. (During their rounds, Kellin Frye found sai JEFFERSON’s lower jaw under a bunk, where the skin-man had thrown it after ripping it off sai Jefferson’s face.) Later in our tale, Kellin and Vikka traveled with Jamie to LITTLE DEBARIA to round up all of the SALTIES who could ride horses. However, when Roland decided to take the suspects into the BUSTED LUCK SALOON, Kellin refused to let his son enter. He called Debaria’s saloons whore-holes. W:63 (best deputy), W:70–75, W:84, W:86, W:270–73 (watching the salties’ backs), W:277–93
FRYE, VIKKA: Though Vikka Frye was just a boy, he played an important role in ROLAND’s plan to catch the SKIN-MAN. Under Roland’s instruction, Vikka told a boy named PUCK DeLONG that BILLY STREETER had seen the SKIN-MAN in his human shape. Roland wanted this untruth to reach the SKIN-MAN himself, so that he’d be easier to flush out. W:63 (son), W:70–74, W:86, W:270–93 (guards backdoor of the Busted Luck)
PUCK DeLONG: VIKKA knew Puck from Reap Fairday, where they did the three-leg race together. Under Roland’s instruction, Vikka told Puck DeLong that YOUNG BILL STREETER had seen the SKIN-MAN in his human shape. W:272–73
DA: According to Puck, his da wasn’t an ordinary saltie. He was the foreman of the miners’ night work crew. W:273
NOT SO GOOD DEPUTIES: HIGH SHERIFF HUGH PEAVY had one excellent deputy named KELLIN FRYE, and two not-so-good deputies. The not-so-good deputies were called PICKENS and STROTHER. W:83, W:95, W:100, W:102, W:105
PICKENS: Pickens had an undershot jaw and thought that Roland was awfully high-handed for a shaveling. Despite his resentment, he treated the young gunslinger with equal amounts of care and distrust. This unpleasant fellow had fond memories of BEELIE STOCKADE. When he was a boy, his family used to take picnics to the hangings there. W:95, W:96, W:97, W:98, W:102–4 (named, discusses Beelie Town and blue ankle tattoos), W:274, W:281
STROTHER: Fat Deputy Strother wore a tall black hat decorated with a gaudy rattlesnake band. Like PICKENS, he thought that Roland threw his weight around the sheriff’s office too much. Strother told Roland about both the fate of BEELIE TOWN (formerly the site at a militia outpost), and the BEELIE STOCKADE. (After the stockade closed and the militia departed, the town was overrun by harriers.) Strother didn’t believe the gossip which stated that the harriers who destroyed Beelie worked for FARSON. In fact, we get the distinct impression that Strother secretly supported the Good Man. W:95 (described), W:96, W:97, W:98, W:102–4 (named, discusses Beelie Town and blue ankle tattoos), W:274, W:281
PEAVY, HUGH (HIGH SHERIFF): Debaria’s High Sheriff, Hugh Peavy, was a big-bellied man with long white hair and a droopy mustache. His face was deeply lined and careworn, which isn’t surprising when you consider that he had seen his town deteriorate from a fine little city to a town filled with whores, gamblers, confidence-men, and poor, desperate SALTIES. According to STEVEN DESCHAIN, Hugh Peavy was one of the few good men left in Debaria. His confidence is not surprising since, many years previously, Peavy—then a deputy—had defied the old High Sheriff, PEA ANDERSON, and had stood with the elder Deschain against the wicked CROW GANG. (Peavy even dug PA CROW’s bullet out of sai Deschain’s arm.) According to Peavy, Steven Deschain had let him take most of the credit for defeating the gang and he’d been High Sheriff ever since.
When Steven Deschain sent ROLAND and JAMIE DeCURRY to Debaria to investigate tales of a murderous, rampaging SKIN-MAN, he told the two boys to report directly to Peavy. The sheriff was pleased to see the young gunslingers, but concerned that they had so few years between them. (He’d really hoped to see either PETER McVRIES or Steven Deschain himself.) However, when the two boys showed Peavy their sigul (a box containing the bullet he had dug out of the elder Deschain’s arm), Peavy was satisfied with their qualifications, and with the faith that Steven Deschain had in the two young men. However, even as he explained the layout of the town to Roland and Jamie, and the details of the attacks, Peavy confided that this case would be his last. He’d had enough of blood and mysteries and he was ready to retire.
W:39, W:45, W:54–66 (54 described, crow gang story, and Steven Deschain), W:67, W:68, W:69, W:70–75 (Jefferson Ranch), W:80–84, W:85, W:86, W:95 (Peavy’s desk), W:100, W:101, W:270–94, W:294
GRANDDA: When he was young, Sheriff Peavy used his grandda’s barrel-shooter to kill two members of the CROW GANG. W:59
WIFE: W:69, W:83
PICKENS: See NOT SO GOOD DEPUTIES, above
SALTY SAM: Salty Sam was an old drunk who often spent time in the sheriff’s cells. He rarely woke up before sundown. W:62, W:67, W:96
STROTHER: See NOT SO GOOD DEPUTIES, above
SISTERS OF SERENITY: See SERENITY, SISTERS OF, listed separately
STRINGY BODEAN (JUSTICE MAN): Before he decided to try his luck at raising horses in the CRESCENT, Stringy Bodean was DEBARIA’s Justice Man. When WIDOW BRAILLEY slit the throat of a drunk saddletramp who tried to rape her in her own outhouse, Stringy Bodean declared her not guilty by reason of self-defense. W:66 (declared Widow Brailey innocent)
TIMBERSMITH FARM CHARACTERS: See SKIN-MAN: SKIN-MAN’S VICTIMS
UNDERTAKER: During the SKIN-MAN’s reign of terror, DEBARIA’s undertaker was kept very busy. After the JEFFERSON RANCH massacre, he had to organize a convoy to pick up the dead. W:83, W:85
WIDOW BRAILLEY: The Widow Brailley ran the last boardinghouse in DEBARIA. Two years before Roland and JAMIE DeCURRY arrived in town, a drunk saddletramp tried to rape her while she sat in the outhouse. She slit the man’s throat. Although the Justice Man, STRINGY BODEAN, declared her not guilty of murder, she decided she’d had enough of Debaria and returned to GILEAD. W:66
DRUNKEN BUFFOON: Two days after the Widow Brailley packed her bags and left for GILEAD, this drunken fool burned down her boarding-house. W:66
DRUNK SADDLETRAMP: This man tried to rape the Widow Brailley in her outhouse and she cut him a new smile—right across his throat.W:66
WOMAN WITH BASKET: When Roland and JAMIE DeCURRY arrived in DEBARIA, they were spotted by this woman as she came out of the mercantile with a basket over her arm. When she asked whether the two young gunslingers had come to kill the SKIN-MAN, a MAN IN FRONT OF THE CHEERY FELLOWS SALOON AND CAFE retorted that the boys weren’t old enough to kill a bottle of rye. W:54
DEBORAH
See BIG COFFIN HUNTERS: DEPAPE, ROY
DECURRY, JAMIE (JAMIE RED-HAND)
Like CUTHBERT ALLGOOD and ALAIN JOHNS, Jamie DeCurry was one of Roland’s early ka-mates. Jamie’s nickname, Jamie Red-Hand, came from the fact that one of his hands looked as if it had been dipped in blood. Luckily this skin discoloration was a birthmark, not the result of an accident. When they were young, Jamie swore that Roland had eyes in his fingers and so could shoot blindfolded. Unlike his fellow apprentices whose chosen weapons would always be guns, Jamie preferred the bow and arrow as well as the bah (or crossbow) and bolt. In Song of Susannah we learn that Jamie was one of the gunslingers who survived the fall of GILEAD. Just after this horrific defeat of the WHITE, he, Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain experienced a BEAMQUAKE.
In Wind Through the Keyhole, we learn that—not long after the death of Roland’s mother—Roland and Jamie traveled to DEBARIA at STEVEN DESCHAIN’s request so that the boys could investigate murders supposedly committed by a shapeshifting SKIN-MAN. Just as Cuthbert and Alain each had unusual skills which helped Roland to deal with the challenges of his HAMBRY adventure, so Jamie DeCurry also had some exceptional talents that made him a valuable companion during Roland’s search for the skin-man. Although he didn’t like to read much, Jamie was
an excellent tracker. When it came to following a trail—whether on a map or on the ground—Roland often relied upon his friend’s superior skills. It was Jamie who, upon studying the pattern of attacks marked upon SHERIFF PEAVY’s map, realized that the skin-man must have been one of Little Debaria’s SALTIES, or salt miners (something that the sheriff already suspected).
Jamie’s skill at deduction was truly remarkable. For example, by studying the transformation of the skin-man’s tracks, Jamie discovered that the monster could morph from bear to bull to monstrous cat and then back to human form in a matter of seconds. It was Jamie who showed that the stealthy skin-man arrived at and departed from the Jefferson Ranch on horseback, proving the premeditated nature of the crimes committed there. It was because of Jamie that Roland was able to reduce the number of salties that he rounded up as murder suspects. As Jamie pointed out, salties weren’t proddies, and only a few of them would be able to mount and ride a horse.
Roland often stated that his mind was cold, like that of his father STEVEN DESCHAIN, but after reading The Wind Through the Keyhole, CONSTANT READERS can tell that Jamie’s heart was warm. When Roland decided to spread the story that YOUNG BILL STREETER could identify the skin-man in his human form, Jamie was dismayed. He did not approve of Roland using a young bereaved boy as trap-bait. When YOUNG BILL STREETER cried himself to sleep, it was Jamie, not Roland, who carried the boy upstairs so that he could rest in one of the JEFFERSON RANCH bedrooms.
