by Edson, J. T.
Filled with a sense of grim foreboding, the doctor raised his eyes. They passed over Levi’s pants and a gunbelt with a staghorn handled Colt Civilian Model Peacemaker revolver carried butt forward in a holster set higher than was generally the case, a dark blue shirt, an open brown jacket that had its right side stitched back and a tightly rolled multicolored bandana knotted about a throat having darker skin than the displayed hands. Reaching the grim tanned face above them, his gaze confirmed what he feared.
‘You!’ Grantz gasped.
‘Me!’ Waxahachie Smith confirmed, remembering the last time an identical exchange—albeit in Spanish—had taken place.
The explosion set off by Donald Garfew Beech had blown open the safe and shattered the bottles containing the tainted blood. To ensure the complete destruction of the potentially dangerous liquid, he and the Texan had started a fire which gutted the hacienda. While this was happening, Ruiz ‘Paco’ Cervantes had removed the other major participant in the scheme by arranging for him to meet his death in what appeared to be an accident whilst trying to halt the stampeding cattle.
With the mission which had brought him to Mexico ended successfully, Smith had returned to Bonham County and found a letter from Mrs. Freddie Fog waiting for him at the Union Jack ranch. She had warned that, despite exerting all their influence, she and her husband were only able to obtain one concession in his behalf. He had considered it to be a mixed blessing. Although they had been told that criminal proceedings would be instituted against him if demanded by the Mexican Government, these would only be enforced if he was found in Texas. She had suggested, to prevent this happening—with the attendant possibility of hostility being aroused by the facts which would emerge during the trial—he left the State and did not return until he received word from her that the incident was forgotten and it would be safe for him to do so.
Accepting the advice, Smith had set out in search of the man who had removed his forefingers. Nor had this presented too many difficulties, given the assistance he could call upon and his own experience in such matters. After Sheriff Daniel Tobin had learned of the transferred bank account, he went to Taos and picked up the trail. Despite Grantz having adopted an assumed name when the money was in his possession, his appearance and less than amiable demeanor had ensured he was remembered everywhere he went.
Already having learned the doctor’s nom deplume, Smith had located him within half an hour of reaching Wilson!
However, the Texan had decided to wait until the confrontation could be made in a public place!
Grantz’s habit of playing poker regularly at the Red Dog Saloon had offered the opportunity!
‘W—What do you want?’ the doctor croaked, crouching on his chair with a demeanor very different from his normal bombastic posture.
‘You know what I want,’ Smith replied. ‘Get on your feet and, happen you’re not toting a gun, I’ll be obliged if one of these gents will take his out, cock it and put it on the table where you can reach it easily.’
Silence, broken only by the scraping of wood against wood as the other players shoved back their chairs and came to their feet, fell over the room. Everybody within hearing distance realized what was implied by the words. Furthermore, although they might have if Grantz had been a more likeable person, not even the men around the table offered to point out he was a member of the medical profession or intervene in any other way. In fact, the only response was from the winner of the last pot.
‘You can have my gun, Doc!’ the big and burly miner offered, dropping a hand to the Colt Artillery Model Peacemaker in his low hanging holster.
‘I—I—I—!’ Grantz spluttered, coming to his feet and cringing with both hands rubbing jerkily at his torso.
However, regardless of an attitude of fear which was only partly simulated, the doctor had no intention of trying to avoid the confrontation. He was aware that, as long as Smith lived, he would never be free from the threat of retribution. Nor would pleading his position as a man whose life was devoted to healing gain the sympathy and support he wanted when the crowd heard why the Texan was behaving in such a fashion. Therefore, he knew he must deal with the situation once and for all immediately.
Doing so, the doctor told himself, would be easy!
Like many other medical men in the West, Grantz was always armed. He had realized that his way of life had given him an even more potent reason than many of his contemporaries for doing so. This awareness had encouraged him to practice drawing and using the Remington Double Derringer he carried in a concealed pocket of his vest with reasonable proficiency.
Confident his secret weapon would serve its purpose, the doctor snatched for it under the pretense of acting nervously!
Having heard a story told about Marvin Eldridge ‘Doc’ Leroy following the Western medical habit of carrying a weapon readily available for use, lviii Smith had not overlooked the possibility of Grantz being armed. In fact, he had considered this to be very likely where such a man was concerned. Nor did the suggestion of abject fear lull him into a sense of false security or over confidence. He knew there were few creatures more dangerous and liable to attack than a cornered rat.
The moment the Texan saw Grantz’s right hand change its rumblings into a determined motion, he responded!
Still experiencing a slight twinge of pain in his back, serving as a reminder of his changed circumstances, Smith allowed his trained reflexes to control his movements. Turning his right elbow outwards and almost to the level of his shoulder, he twisted his hand towards the staghorn grip of the Colt with the speed of a striking snake. Strengthened by the exercises he had taken, his second and third fingers wrapped firmly about the butt and, as he had discovered doing so offered added support, he hooked the fourth digit under its bottom. While this was taking place, his thumb coiled over the hammer’s modified spur. By snapping his elbow in, he not only twisted the revolver from its form-fitting holster but cocked the hammer without further effort by the thumb.
Even as Grantz’s Remington came into view, the four and three quarter inches barrel of Smith’s Colt was turned his way!
Aiming by instinctive alignment, the Texan relaxed the grip his thumb was applying. Freed from restraint, the hammer lashed forward to plunge its striker into the priming cap of the waiting cartridge. Leaving the muzzle to the accompaniment of the crash of detonating black powder, the ejected charge was not a single bullet.
Struck in the chest by the lethal triple ball load, Grantz was thrown backwards with the Double Derringer flying unfired from his grasp. Shattering the chair from which he had risen, he crashed to the floor. For a couple of seconds, during which the silence continued around the room, his gross body twitched and writhed. Then it was still.
‘I’m not meaning to sound all nosey-like, mister,’ the burly miner declared, ensuring he kept both hands in plain sight. ‘But I’d say you must reckon you’ve a mighty good reason for coming after “Doc Bother’’ like this..’ lix
‘You could say that,’ Smith confirmed, thumb cocking the slip gun without allowing its muzzle to point at anybody in particular around the table. However, every one of the six recognized the implied threat behind the action and all stood as if turned to stone. Satisfied there would not be any hostile moves against him, once again he displayed the three fingers of his left hand and turned the right to show it was in the same mutilated condition. ‘He did this to me!’
‘No matter he was a lousy son-of-a-bitch in everything else, he was a damned good doctor,’ the miner stated. ‘And it looks to me like he did a real good job of taking ‘em off.’
‘He did that!’ Smith admitted, satisfied his quest for vengeance was at an end and wondering when he would be able to return to his beloved home State. ‘Thing being, there wasn’t anything wrong with them when he cut them off!’
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APPENDIX
Throughout the years we have been writing, we have frequently received letters asking for various terms we employ to be explained in greater detail. While we do not have the slightest objection to such correspondence and always reply, we have found it saves much time consuming repetition to include those most frequently requested in each new title. We ask our ‘old hands’ who have seen these items many times in the past, to remember there are always ‘new chums’ coming along who have not and to bear with us. J. T. E.
1. We strongly suspect the trend in movies and television series made since the mid-1950’s, wherein all cowhands are portrayed as heavily bearded, long haired and filthy arose less from a desire on the part of the productions companies to create ‘realism’ than because there were so few actors available—particularly to play ‘supporting’ roles—who were short haired and clean shaven. Another factor was because the ‘liberal’ elements who were starting to gain control over much of the media seem to obtain some form of ‘ego trip’ from showing dirty conditions, filthy habits and unkempt appearances. In our extensive reference library, we cannot find even a dozen photographs of actual cowhands —as opposed to civilian scouts for the Army, old time mountain men, or gold prospectors—with long hair and bushy beards. In fact, our reading on the subject and conversations with friends living in the Western States of America have led us to the conclusion that the term ‘long hair’ was one of opprobrium in the Old West and Prohibition eras just as it still tends to be today in cattle raising country.
2.‘Clip’ point: where the last few inches of the otherwise unsharpened ‘back’ of the blade—when laid in a horizontal position with the ‘edge’ down and the handle to the left of the viewer—joins and becomes an extension of the main cutting surface in a concave arc. This is the characteristic which many authorities claim identifies a ‘bowie knife’.
2a. What happened to the knife possessed by the alleged designer of such a weapon, James Bowie—many claim this was actually his older brother, Rezin Pleasant—after his death during the final attack upon the besieged Alamo Mission at San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, on March the 6th, 1836, is told in: GET URREA! and THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
2b. A ‘spear’ point, which is less utilitarian than a ‘clip’, is formed by the two sharpened ‘edges’ of the blade coming together in symmetrical curves. It was generally used for purely fighting knives such as the ‘Arkansas toothpick’ or assassin’s weapons.
Although the military sometimes claimed it was easier to kill a sailor than a soldier, perhaps tongue in cheek, the weight factor of the respective weapons had been responsible for the decision by the United States’ Navy to adopt a revolver with a caliber of .36 while the Army employed the heavier .44. The weapon would be carried upon the person of a seaman and not—handguns having been originally and primarily developed for single-handed use by cavalry—on the person or saddle of a soldier who would be doing much of his travelling and fighting from the back of a horse. Therefore, .44 became known as the ‘Army’ and .36 as the ‘Navy’ caliber.
Introduced in 1873 as the Colt Model P ‘Single Action Army’ revolver—although with a caliber of .45 instead of the erstwhile traditional .44—was more generally known as ‘the Peacemaker’. Production continued until 1941, when it was taken out of the line to make way for the more modern weapons required for use in World War II.
4b. Between 1873 and 1941, over three hundred and fifty thousand were manufactured in practically every handgun caliber from .22 Short Rimfire to .476 Eley; with the exception of the .41 and .44 Magnums, which were not developed commercially during the original production period. However, the majority fired either .45 or .44-40. The latter, given the designation, ‘Frontier Model’, handled the same cartridges as the Winchester Model of 1873 rifle and carbine.
4c. The barrel lengths of the Model P could be from three inches in the ‘Storekeeper’ Model, which did not have an extractor rod for dislodging spent cartridge cases from the cylinder, to the sixteen inches for what became known to the public and firearms collectors as the ‘Buntline Special’. The latter was also offered with an attachable metal ‘skeleton’ butt stock so it could be used as an extemporized carbine. The main barrel lengths were: Cavalry, seven and a half inches; Artillery, five and a half inches; Civilian, four and three-quarter inches.
4d. Popular demand, said to have resulted from the upsurge of action-escapism-adventure Western series being shown on television, brought the Peacemaker back into production in 1955 and it is still in the line. During this period, because of interest arising from the use of such a weapon by actor Hugh O’Brian starring in the WYATT EARP series, Colt for the first time produced and gave a Model the name, ‘Buntline Special’, albeit with a barrel only twelve and a half inches in length.
5. We consider at best specious—at worst, a snobbish attempt to ‘put down’ the myth and legends of the Old West—the frequently repeated assertion that the gun fighters of that era could not ‘hit a barn door at twenty yards’. While willing to concede that the average person then, as now, would not have much skill in using a handgun, knowing his life would depend upon it, the professional pistolero on either side of the law expended time, money and effort to acquire proficiency. Furthermore, such a man did not carry a revolver to indulge in shooting at anything except at close range. He employed it as a readily accessible weapon which would incapacitate an enemy, preferably with the first shot, at close quarters, hence the preference for a cartridge of heavy caliber.
5b. With the exception of .22 caliber handguns intended for casual pleasure shooting, those specially designed for Olympic style ‘pistol’ matches, the Remington XP100— one of which makes an appearance in: THE LAWMEN OF ROCKABYE COUNTY—designed for ‘varmint’ hunting at long distances, or medium to heavy caliber automatic pistols ‘accurized’ and in the hands of a proficient exponent of modern ‘combat’ shooting, a handgun is a short range defensive and not an offensive weapon. Any Old West gun fighter, or peace officer in the Prohibition era and present times expecting to have to shoot at distances beyond about twenty feet would take the precaution of arming himself with a shotgun or a rifle.
‘Make wolf bait,’ one term meaning to kill. Derived from the practice in the Old West, when a range was infested by stock killing predators—not necessarily just wolves, but coyotes, the occasional jaguar in southern regions, black and grizzly bears—of slaughtering an animal and, having poisoned the carcass, leaving it to be devoured by the carnivores.
‘Up to the Green River’: to kill, generally with a knife. First produced on the Green River, at Greenfield, Massachusetts, in 1834, a very popular type of general purpose knife had the inscription, J. Russell & Co./Green River Works on the blade just below the hilt. Therefore any edged weapon thrust into an enemy ‘up to the Green River’ would prove fatal whether it bore the inscription or not.
‘Light a shuck’, a cowhand term for leaving hurriedly. Derived from the habit in night camps on ‘open range’ roundups and trail drives of supplying ‘shucks’—dried corn cobs—to be lit and used for illumination by anybody who had to leave the campfire and walk about in the darkness. As the ‘shuck’ burned away very quickly, a person needed to hurry if wanting to benefit from its illumination.
The sharp toes and high heels of boots worn by cowhands were functional rather than merely decorative. The former could find and enter, or be slipped free from, a stirrup iron very quickly in an emergency. Not only did the latter offer a firmer brace against the stirrups, they could be spiked into the ground to supply added holding power when roping on foot.
Americans in general used the word, ‘cinch’, derived from the Spanish, “cincha”, to describe the short band made from coarsely woven horse hair, canvas, or cordage and terminated at each end w
ith a metal ring which—together with the latigo—is used to fasten the saddle on the back of a horse. However, because of the word’s connections with Mexico, Texans tended to employ the term, ‘girth’, usually pronouncing it as ‘girt’. As cowhands from the Lone Star State fastened the end of the lariat to the saddlehorn, even when roping half wild longhorn cattle or free-ranging mustangs, instead of relying upon a ‘dally’ which could be slipped free almost instantaneously in an emergency, their rigs had double girths.
‘Chaps’: leather overalls worn by American cowhands as protection for the legs. The word, pronounced, ‘snaps’, is an abbreviation of the Spanish, ‘chaperejos’ or ‘chaparreras’ meaning ‘leather breeches’. Contrary to what is frequently shown in Western movies, no cowhand ever kept his chaps on when their protection was not required. Even if he should arrive in a town with them on, he would remove and either hang them over his saddle, or leave them behind the bar in his favorite saloon for safekeeping until his visit was over.
‘Hackamore’: an Americanized corruption of the Spanish word, ‘jaquima’ , meaning ‘headstall’. Very popular with Indians in particular, it was an ordinary halter, except for having reins instead of a leading rope. It had a headpiece something like a conventional bridle, a brow band about three inches wide which could be slid down the cheeks to cover the horse’s eyes, but no throatlatch. Instead of a bit, a ‘bosa’—a leather, rawhide, or metal ring around the head immediately above the mouth—was used as a means of control and guidance.
13.‘Floating outfit’: a group of four to six cowhands employed by a large ranch in the ‘open range’ days to work the more distant sections of the property. Taking food in a chuck wagon, or ‘greasy sack’ on the back of a pack animal, depending upon the expected length of their absence, they would be away from the ranch house for several days at a time. Therefore, as they would not be under supervision by the boss or foreman, they were selected from the most competent and trustworthy members of the crew.
