Death Deals a Hand
Page 23
Jill was smiling, too. “I think that can be arranged.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Though it wasn’t quite six o’clock, passengers were filtering into the dining car in search of breakfast. Mr. Gaylord returned to the table with a fresh pot of coffee. “We’re going to start serving, so you folks go ahead and mark your meal checks.”
“Suddenly I’m ravenous,” Doug said, reaching for a menu and a check. “Bacon-and-eggs ravenous.”
“I know what I want,” Pamela said. “The railroad French toast.”
“Same here,” Jill said. “With bacon.”
“Crisp, but not burned.” Mr. Gaylord smiled as he took their meal checks.
They had a leisurely breakfast, then Jill asked Pamela for her luggage check. “I’ll go up to the baggage car to see what I can do about your suitcase.”
“Oh, thank you.” Pamela dug around in her purse and gave the check to Jill. “I appreciate your doing this, Jill. May I call you that?”
“Yes, Pamela, you may.”
It looked as though Pamela might become a member of the family. Jill hoped this onboard romance would work out. Of course, Jill had an onboard romance of her own.
She pocketed the baggage claim check and left Doug and Pamela at the table. She walked forward, heading for the chair cars and ultimately the baggage car. But she had a stop to make first.
The new conductor’s name was Barney Spicer. He and the brakeman, Edgar Higgins, were in the conductor’s office on the Silver Mustang, drinking coffee, when Jill dropped by to introduce herself.
“I read the wire Mr. Dutton sent from Wendover,” Mr. Spicer said, “and he briefed me when he got to Winnemucca. I do have some questions for you, Miss McLeod.”
He got the details about what had happened. Then he changed the subject, talking about their delayed status. “We’re still running late. I think we’ll be able to make up time between here and Gerlach, but once we get into the Sierra, we certainly won’t be running at top speed.”
After she left the conductor’s office, Jill headed for the baggage car, where she retrieved Pamela Larch’s suitcase from the San Francisco checked baggage. It took her a few minutes to do so. That done, Jill headed back through the train to the Silver Crescent. Pamela wasn’t in her bedroom, so Jill left the suitcase just inside the door. Then she returned to her compartment to update her trip report. This is going to be a long one, she thought, adding another sheet of paper.
The California Zephyr made up some time during this leg of the journey, stopping briefly for passengers in the small Nevada towns of Gerlach and Herlong. Then it crossed the Nevada–California border and entered the six-thousand-foot-long tunnel at Chilcoot. When it emerged, the train went through the tiny town named for a famous mountain man, James Beckwourth, who had established a trading post in that area.
By the time the Silver Lady rolled into Portola, California at a quarter after eight, it was about thirty minutes late. The cars were no longer silver. They were covered with a layer of grime collected during the run from Chicago. It was here at Portola that the CZ went through the train wash, a series of curved pipes that sprayed water on the cars, clearing the dirt from the Vista-Domes for the scenic trip down the Feather River Canyon. When the weather was good, as it was today, watching the train go through the wash racks was a popular sight in the small railroad town. As the train pulled into the station, Jill saw a line of spectators approaching from Portola’s small business district along Commercial Street.
Doug and Pamela stood in the vestibule of the Silver Crescent, their luggage at their feet. “I’ve written a letter to Earl,” Pamela said. “I’ll send it to him special delivery, along with the engagement ring. Doug and I are going to get married at Lake Tahoe. I understand we can do that right away in Nevada.”
“Sure can,” Doug said. “Now that I’ve got you, I’m not letting you get away.”
“You’re really going to do it?” Jill asked. “So soon?”
Doug and Pamela looked at each other and laughed. “Strike while the iron’s hot,” he said.
“It feels right,” Pamela added.
“So you’re not going to see San Francisco,” Jill said. “Not this trip, anyway.”
“We need to have a honeymoon sometime,” Doug said. “As soon as my friend and I sort out this business deal, we’ll head down to the city by the bay. It’ll be nice to see Aunt Lora and Uncle Amos. Jill and her fellow can show us the sights. Besides, I have to meet this guy Mike, to see if I approve.”
“I approve,” Jill said. “And that’s the important thing.”
The train came to a stop. Pamela pulled several bills from her purse and handed them to Lonnie Clark.
“Thank you, Mr. Clark,” she said. “You’ve been a great help during the trip and I do appreciate it.”
“Thank you, miss,” the porter said, taking the tip. “Best of luck to both of you.”
Jill followed Doug and Pamela down to the platform, to say good-bye. Then she reboarded the train. They weren’t in the station long. After going through the train wash, the California Zephyr continued its westward journey, 116 miles down the Feather River Canyon, then into Oroville. It would take approximately two hours and fifteen minutes and encompassed some of the most beautiful scenery on the route.
Right now the train was on the North Fork of the Feather River. The next sight was the Clio Trestle, looming 172 feet over the Mohawk Valley, with glorious views of the surrounding mountains. Then the train went through the Spring Garden tunnel, 7,344 feet long. It emerged on the Feather River’s Middle Fork, then descended into the Williams Loop. This was a complete circle that gave the train a one-percent grade as it headed toward Quincy Junction and the Keddie Wye, a towering Y-shaped trestle. Past that, the train would cling to the river’s banks as both meandered down the curving canyon, going past the Tobin and Pulga Bridges.
Now that the train was out of Portola, Jill headed for the dining car, which was full of breakfasting passengers and busy crew. Jill saw Mrs. Warrick and the Ranleighs at one table, the Carsons at another, and Miss Margate talking with Miss Brandon. She smiled as she passed them, heading toward the dining car steward’s counter and the public address system.
“Join us for some coffee, Miss McLeod,” Miss Margate called.
“I will, but first I have to make an announcement.” Jill picked up the microphone and launched into her familiar spiel.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Jill McLeod, your Zephyrette. I hope you all rested well.” She smiled, thinking of her own restless night. “We are now in the famous Feather River Canyon. The Feather River received its name from Don Luis Arguello, the Spanish conquistador who discovered it in eighteen-twenty. He was intrigued by the vast quantities of wild pigeon feathers that floated on its ripples. He called it Rio de Las Plumas. In Castilian, that means River of the Feathers.
“Back before the Gold Rush, a trailblazer named James Beckwourth found the pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains that still bears his name. It was a better place to cross the ridge than the route the emigrant wagon trains were using, as it was about two thousand feet lower, but the country on the west side of the pass was very rugged. It was not until the eighteen-sixties that pioneer Arthur W. Keddie surveyed a practical railway line down the various forks of the Feather River. The line was not built until nineteen-nine, when the Western Pacific Railroad was completed.
“Gold was discovered at Bidwell’s Bar on the fourth of July in eighteen forty-eight, just a few months after James Marshall made the strike that started the big California Gold Rush. Millions were panned from the shining sands of the Feather River. There’s still gold there, too. Most likely you’ll see a prospector or two today, working down at the river’s edge.”
Jill replaced the microphone and joined Miss Brandon and Miss Margate at their table. Mr. Gaylord appeared, pouring coffee for her.
“Miss Margate’s been telling me about your adventures,” Miss Brandon
said, raising a cup of tea to her lips.
“It’s over now. I’m just glad to have things back to normal.”
Jill looked out the window at the beautiful canyon. The April sky was blue, and the morning sun bathed the tall pines and the gleaming rocks of the surrounding mountains. It looked like a golden day for the Silver Lady.
Afterword
A few years ago I was in the lobby of the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, looking at photographs of notables who had stayed there, including President Theodore Roosevelt—and Al Capone. Yes, Al used to vacation in the Colorado Rockies, along with a lot of other gangsters. And most people who grew up in the Denver area, as I did, have heard of Colorado’s own crime family, the Smaldones. The three brothers—Eugene (“Checkers”), Clyde (“Flip Flop”) and Clarence (“Chauncey”)—dominated organized crime in the Mile High City for years, starting in the 1930s. There was also organized crime in southern Colorado, in the Front Range city of Pueblo, and farther south in Walsenburg and Trinidad. Italian immigrants who came to work in the coal fields brought with them the Mafia and the Black Hand.
Both the books in the California Zephyr series required research, not only into organized crime in Colorado, but trains as well. When writing about a historical period or a particular subject, I strive to be accurate in conveying information. I may have tweaked facts from time to time for the sake of plot, characters, and a good story. Any errors are my own.
Many thanks to two of the Zephyrettes who worked aboard the historical streamliner known as the California Zephyr. Cathy Moran Von Ibsch was a Zephyrette in the late 1960s and rode the Silver Lady on her last run. Rodna Walls Taylor, who died recently, rode the rails as a Zephyrette in the early 1950s, the time period of the book. I greatly appreciate their generosity in answering my many questions. I couldn’t have written this book without them.
We are fortunate to have railroad museums to preserve the remaining artifacts of this country’s rail era, particularly the streamliners like the California Zephyr. Both the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento and the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden have excellent research libraries as well as rail cars and locomotives. The Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California, is a treasure house of rolling stock.
I recommend the California Zephyr Virtual Museum, at: http://calzephyr.railfan.net. Here I found old timetables, menus, and brochures, as well as information on the Zephyrettes.
The Amtrak version of the California Zephyr is not the same as the sleek Silver Lady of days gone by. But it’s great to ride a train through most of the same route, getting an up-close look at this marvelous part of the country. The journey may take longer, but the scenery is spectacular and the relaxation factor is 110 percent.
The California Zephyr story, and that of railroading in America, is told in books and films. Some of them are listed below, along with other sources I used in writing the California Zephyr series. Many of these books are full of photographs and first-hand accounts of working on and aboard the trains.
Publications about the California Zephyr, rails, and rail travel in the United States
Portrait of a Silver Lady: The Train They Called the California Zephyr, Bruce A. McGregor and Ted Benson, Pruett Publishing Company, Boulder, CO, 1977. Full of beautiful photographs, lots of history and technical information, and firsthand accounts of what it was like to work on this train.
CZ: The Story of the California Zephyr, Karl R. Zimmerman, Quadrant Press, Inc., 1972. Excellent overview of the train’s history, with lots of old photographs.
Zephyr: Tracking a Dream Across America, Henry Kisor, Adams Media Corporation, 1994. An account of Kisor’s journey westward on the Amtrak California Zephyr.
Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service, James McCommons, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2009. A thought-provoking account of the author’s travels on various Amtrak routes and his interviews with passengers, employees, rail advocates, and people in the railroad business, with discussions about the future of passenger rail in the United States.
A Guidebook to Amtrak’s California Zephyr, Eva J. Hoffman, Flashing Yellow Guidebooks, Evergreen, CO, 2003, 2008. There are three volumes: Chicago to Denver, Denver to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City to San Francisco. I discovered these courtesy of a railfan while riding the Amtrak CZ. A detailed milepost-by-milepost guide to what’s outside the train window, with history and anecdotes thrown in. A useful resource for finding out how far it is from one place to another and how long it takes to get there.
Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class, Larry Tye, Henry Holt & Company, 2004. There is also a PBS video. The book discusses the history of the Pullman Company, African Americans working on the railroad, and their legacy.
The Pullman Porters and West Oakland, Thomas and Wilma Tramble, Arcadia Publishing, 2007. A look at the lives of porters in Oakland, CA. Full of wonderful photographs.
Publications about organized crime in Colorado, Al Capone and Prohibition
Mountain Mafia: Organized Crime in the Rockies, Betty L. Alt and Sandra K. Wells, Dog Ear Publishing, 2008. A look at the Black Hand and the Mafia in Colorado, including the Smaldones and their predecessors and rivals, through the twentieth century, and the Colorado crime syndicates’ links to organized crime in other areas of the United States.
Smaldone: The Untold Story of an American Crime Family, Dick Kreck, Fulcrum Publishing Company, 2009. A history of Denver’s own crime syndicate, active from the 1930s to the later twentieth century.
Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America’s Most Wanted Gangster, Jonathan Eig, Simon & Schuster, 2010. The rise and fall of Capone, America’s most notorious gangster, with a look at his vast illegal operations in Chicago.
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, Daniel Okrent, Scribner, 2010. A detailed overview of Prohibition, the reasons for its enactment, the crime that rose from it, and the aftermath.
Information on the 10th Mountain Division can be found at:
http://www.drum.army.mil/AboutFortDrum/Pages/hist_10thMountainHistory_lv3.aspx
Much of the information about World War II rationing and crime that arose from it comes from various sources on the Internet.
Films
The California Zephyr: The Story of America’s Most Talked About Train, Copper Media, 1999
The California Zephyr: Silver Thread Through The West, TravelVideoStore, 2007.
The California Zephyr: The Ultimate Fan Trip, Emery Gulash, Green Frog Productions, Ltd., 2007.
American Experience: Streamliners: America’s Lost Trains, PBS Video, 2006
Promotional films from the CZ and other trains are viewable on YouTube.
The original California Zephyr appeared on film in the 1954 movie Cinerama Holiday, as well as the 1952 noir Sudden Fear, starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance. During the train portion of that movie, a Zephyrette comes to Joan Crawford’s bedroom to tell her it’s time for her dinner reservation. That Zephyrette is Rodna Walls, whom I interviewed for this book.
I hope you enjoy Death Deals a Hand. Now go ride a train!
About the Author
Janet Dawson is the author of the Jeri Howard PI series, which includes Kindred Crimes, winner of the St. Martin’s Press/Private Eye Writers of America contest for Best Private Eye Novel, and Bit Player, which was nominated for a Golden Nugget award for Best California Mystery. The most recent series entry is Cold Trail. Two of Dawson’s short stories were nominated for a Shamus and another won a Macavity.
In addition to a suspense novel, What You Wish For, she has written Death Rides the Zephyr, the predecessor to this book. A past president of NorCal MWA, Dawson lives in the East Bay region. She welcomes visitors at www.janetdawson.com and at her blog, www.getitwriteblog.wordpress.com.
Mystery fiction by Janet Dawson
THE JERI HOWARD MYSTERY SERIES
Kindred Crimes
Till the Old Men Die
Take a Number
Don’t Turn Your Back on the Ocean
Nobody’s Child
A Credible Threat
Witness to Evil
Where the Bodies Are Buried
A Killing at the Track
Bit Player
Cold Trail
SHORT STORIES
Scam and Eggs
SUSPENSE FICTION
What You Wish For
Death Rides the Zephyr
Death Deals a Hand