by Matt Braun
“You come highly recommended, Mr. Ryan. Oliver’s letter was nothing short of a testimonial.”
The reference was to Oliver Logan, U.S. Marshal for Western Arkansas and Indian Territory. Ryan shrugged off the compliment. “Oliver tells me you’re old friends.”
“Indeed we are,” Stevens acknowledged. “We met some years ago in Washington. That was before his appointment west, of course.”
“And before you got involved with the railroad.”
“Exactly.” Stevens was silent a moment. “I understand you’ve resigned as a deputy marshal. May I ask why?”
“Oliver must have explained it in his letter.”
“I would prefer to hear it from you.”
“Why not?” Ryan said equably. “Last month the President appointed Joseph Story as judge of the Western District Court. Story is a crook and an incompetent, and I won’t work for either. It’s just that simple.”
“What do you mean by ‘crook’?”
“Well, for one thing, he’s appointed his cronies as chief prosecutor and court clerk. For another, the word’s out that payoffs will buy leniency in criminal cases. I don’t hold with corruption, so I quit.”
“Why doesn’t Oliver resign?”
“I guess he’s too old to start over.”
“And you’re not?”
“Judge for yourself.”
Stevens had already rendered judgment. He knew that Ryan had served with distinction in the Union Army. Following the war, he’d drifted westward, working at a variety of jobs. Then, at the age of twenty-eight, he had been hired by Oliver Logan. That was four years past, and by all accounts he had found his true vocation as a lawman. He had been assigned to Indian Territory the entire time and lived to tell the tale. He’d also killed nine outlaws in wilderness shootouts.
And now, scrutinizing him closely, Stevens understood why he came recommended so highly. He was whipcord lean, lithe yet broad through the shoulders, perhaps a shade less than six feet tall. His manner was deliberate and steady, somehow assured beyond his years. But it was his eyes, curiously pale and very direct, that set him apart. The effect of his gaze was striking, as though he looked at nothing and saw everything. His weathered features and sandy hair in no way dispelled the impression.
“Tell me,” Stevens said at length, “how much do you know about the railroad business?”
“Not a whole lot.”
“You’re aware we intend to build through Indian Territory?”
“So I’ve heard.”
Ryan actually knew a great deal about the Katy. Through Oliver Logan, he’d learned that Stevens was an influential man with influential friends. The Department of the Interior had ruled that the first railroad to lay track to the Kansas state line would secure the exclusive right to enter Indian Territory from the north. Last summer, in a dead heat with other companies, Katy construction crews won the race to the border. As an added prize the Katy was awarded 1,300,000 acres in federal land grants along its Kansas right-of-way. Only two days later Congress passed a bill opening government lands in southern Kansas to settlement.
The Katy reaped a sudden windfall. Homesteaders and immigrants were pouring into Kansas, more than sixty thousand settling there in 1870. The virgin soil, along with a favorable climate and abundant streams, made it appear the promised land. In the months that followed, the Katy easily disposed of its federal grant. The price was ten dollars an acre, generating cash revenues in the millions of dollars. Quite clearly, Colonel Robert Stevens had friends in Washington.
Still, the largest prize of all was on the horizon. By federal grant the Katy would be awarded five alternate sections of land per mile on each side of its railway through Indian Territory. The purpose of the grant was to provide sufficient incentive for a company to spend the millions involved in construction costs. And in the case of Indian Territory, the incentive was very great indeed. The Katy grant, similar to that awarded for the first transcontinental line, would be ten square miles for each mile of road constructed. In total, the prize would represent 3,064,390 acres.
“I’m curious,” Ryan said quietly. “How do the Indians feel about it? Won’t a railroad through there open the Nations to settlement?”
“The price of progress,” Stevens remarked. “Indian Territory is the key to a railway system throughout the entire Southwest. Here, let me show you.”
Twisting about, he took a rolled map from the desktop. Then he leaned forward and unfurled it between them. His finger stabbed at the map.
“The shortest route to Texas is through the nations of the Five Civilized Tribes. A straight line between the Kansas border and Colbert’s Ferry on the Red River.”
“And after that?” Ryan asked.
“An empire!” Stevens said expansively. “We already have a grant to extend our road from Indian Territory through Texas to the Rio Grande. We’ll eventually link Old Mexico and the Far West to the eastern markets. Just think of it!”
“Sounds like you’ve been burning the midnight oil.”
“We have indeed. But what we’re after now is to win the race to the Texas border. Then we’ll connect with our Missouri division and establish an outlet to St. Louis and the East.”
“What do you mean by a ‘race’? I thought you had right-of-way through the Nations.”
“Only the north-south route,” Stevens advised him. “The Atlantic and Pacific has east-west right-of-way, and they’re building from Missouri right now. We have to shut them off from the western markets by extending track to the Red River.”
Ryan’s expression revealed nothing. Yet he understood that Stevens was talking about establishing a monopoly of trade with Texas and the Far West. After a moment he shifted in his chair.
“How does all that involve me, Colonel? Your letter to Oliver wasn’t too clear about what you have in mind.”
“Have you ever seen a camp at end-of-track? Where we establish our supply depot until the next leg of the road is built?”
“Not that I recall.”
“Well, it gets rough, very rough. There’s always lots of money at end-of-track. Usually a settlement of some sort springs up as well. So it attracts whiskey peddlers and gamblers and prostitutes. What some people call the sporting crowd.”
“I’m familiar with them,” Ryan noted.
“You’re also familiar with Indian Territory. Which in itself adds considerably to our problems. So I’d like to offer you the job of special agent.”
Ryan looked at him without expression. “What exactly does a special agent do?”
“Keep the peace,” Stevens answered. “Hold down violence and make the sporting crowd toe the mark. Enforce the law.”
“Whose law?” Ryan rocked his hand, fingers splayed. “In the Nations, there’s Indian law and there’s white man’s law.”
The problem he alluded to was essentially one of bureaucratic bungling. Of all the legal tangles created by federal government, law enforcement in Indian Territory was perhaps the most bizarre. White men, whatever their crime, were subject to arrest only by federal marshals. On the other hand, federal marshals could not arrest an Indian unless it involved an offense committed against a white. Light Horse Police, who enforced tribal law, were unable to arrest whites regardless of circumstances. The situation oftentimes became confusing and dangerous.
“To be quite frank,” Stevens said, “I’m not worried about Indians.”
“You should be,” Ryan observed. “There are still some savages in the Five Civilized Tribes. They just don’t like tibos—white men.”
“Perhaps so. But my main concern is with the sporting crowd, or perhaps I should say with the safety of my construction crew.”
A moment elapsed while the two men stared at one another. Then Ryan spread his hands. “What legal authority would I have?”
“I’ll arrange to have you appointed a deputy sheriff here in Kansas. That should suffice until we reach the Texas border.”
“Sounds pretty thin.”<
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Stevens smiled. “Any badge is better than no badge at all.”
“How much does the job pay?”
“Five hundred a month plus a bonus when we cross the Red River.”
Ryan whistled softly. “That’s a lot of money.”
“You’ll earn it.”
An instant of weighing and calculation slipped past. Finally, with a tight grin Ryan nodded. “Colonel, I guess you’ve just hired yourself a special agent.”
“Excellent! I’m delighted to have you on board, John.”
There was a rumbling knock at the door. Then it opened and the entryway seemed momentarily blocked of light. The man who entered was tall and burly, with massive shoulders and a cannonball head. His hair was wiry and red, and his ruddy features were complemented by bushy ginger eyebrows and a ginger mustache. He lumbered across the room.
Stevens rose, motioning to Ryan. “John, I’d like you to meet Tom Scullin, our construction superintendent. Tom, this is John Ryan, our new special agent.”
Scullin stuck out a gnarled, stubby-fingered hand. “Pleased to meet you. By your getup, I take it you’re not from the old country?”
“A ways back.” Ryan quickly extracted his hand from the big man’s crushing grip. “My folks came over in ’thirty-nine.”
“Aren’t you the lucky devil. Most of my boys are fresh off the boat, and there’s a fact.”
“Your boys?”
“Our construction crew,” Stevens interjected. “Tom has dubbed them the Irish Brigade.”
“So now,” Scullin went on bluffly, “you’re to be our guardian down among the red heathens. Have you had experience at it, then?”
“Some.”
“Some!” Stevens echoed. “John’s too modest by far. For the past four years, he’s served as a deputy U.S. Marshal. And all of it spent in Indian Territory.”
“You don’t say.” Scullin wagged his head appreciatively. “Well, John Ryan, I’d think you’ll do very nicely. Very nicely indeed.”
Stevens resumed his seat. “Enough of your blarney, Tom. Why aren’t you on your way to end-of-track?”
“Would you have me leave without sayin’ good-bye? The construction train’s loaded and we’ll pull out within the hour.”
“Which brings us back to the question you keep avoiding. Our plans for Indian Territory are delayed until we have a direct link to Missouri. So I ask again—how soon will you reach Sedalia?”
“By the Jesus!” Scullin said in a booming voice. “A mile a day, and there’s my word on it. You’ll have your connection in thirty days, no more.”
“Good. I’m pleased to hear it. And I’ll hold you to your word, Tom.”
“You’ll have no need! Trust an Irishman to deliver every time.”
Scullin winked at Ryan and walked toward the door. When he was gone, Stevens laughed and shook his head. “It’s like pulling teeth to get a commitment. But Tom hasn’t failed me yet. He always delivers.”
Ryan appeared thoughtful. “I heard him mention thirty days. Are you planning on me starting then or now?”
“Consider yourself on the payroll as of today, John.”
“You mean to let me loaf for a month?”
“Hardly. We leave for Indian Territory tomorrow morning.”
“Any particular part?”
“The Cherokee Nation. You can act as my guide.”
“You’ve never been there?”
“No, never.”
Ryan smiled. “You’re in for a shock, and then some.”
CHAPTER TWO
Ryan and Stevens rode out of town shortly after sunrise. They were trailed by a packhorse loaded with victuals and camp gear. Where they were headed accommodations for travelers were virtually unknown.
Their route southward was along the Texas Road. Originally blazed by traders, the trail began on the Red River and meandered northward through the nations of the Five Civilized Tribes. At the Kansas border, it made a dogleg northeast and terminated at old Fort Scott.
Only a few years ago the Texas Road had been a major trade route. Herds of longhorn cattle were driven to midwestern railheads and quickly shipped on the hoof to eastern markets. Then in 1867 the Kansas Pacific Railroad laid track to Abilene. Located in central Kansas, Abilene cut time and distance to the Texas border. Cattlemen quickly switched to the Chisholm Trail, which bisected Indian Territory some miles west of the Nations. Abilene boomed and longhorn herds along the Texas Road became a thing of the past.
As Ryan and Stevens rode south, they steadily moved backward in time. Where the railroads ended, the borderlands of the frontier began. Squatters were homesteading the Cherokee Strip, which extended along the border and acted as a buffer between Kansas and Indian Territory. But settlements were often a day apart, connected by flinty backcountry trails. Some freight wagons, drawn by mule or oxen, still plied the Texas Road. An occasional stagecoach hauling passengers between Dallas and Kansas City clattered past, but Ryan and Stevens pretty much had the road to themselves. White men seldom ventured on horseback into Indian Territory.
Upon crossing into the Cherokee Nation, Stevens became quietly attentive. He scanned the terrain with a railroader’s eye, measuring grade and topography. Kansas was composed largely of windswept plains and offered no particular obstacle to laying track. But the Nations were a land of rolling hills, and farther south, certain parts were distinctly mountainous. The rainfall was also heavier, and dense woodlands covered much of the terrain. Spongy bottomland along the Neosho River was choked with canebrakes and vast thickets of blackjack. Mulling it over, Stevens concluded that Indian Territory presented a formidable challenge. Both the people and the land were decidedly inhospitable.
Yet for all its drawbacks, the Nations were unquestionably a wildlife paradise. While the buffalo herds had migrated westward, there was still an abundance of game. Great flocks of turkey swarmed over the woodlands; at dusk the timber along the creeks was loaded with roosting birds. Deer were plentiful, and grouse and plover, pound for pound the most toothsome eating imaginable, were everywhere. Fat, lazy fish crowded the streams and river shallows, eager to take a hook baited with grasshopper or worm. It was truly a land where no man need go hungry.
Every night Ryan pitched camp along the riverbank. Stevens was strictly a tyro outdoorsman, more hindrance than help. But Ryan was amused rather than critical and gladly undertook most of the chores. After staking out their horses, he would walk off into the woods with his shotgun. He would return shortly with a young turkey or a bag of grouse and kindle a fire. By sundown a spit loaded with wildfowl would be roasting to a golden brown. A quick trip to the river produced catfish or trout, which were soon simmering in a skillet. With the coffeepot bubbling, there was nothing to do but wait and savor the rainbow of aromas.
On their second night out Ryan took a seat before the fire. Stevens, who was lounging nearby, watched silently as he swabbed out his shotgun. The weapon intrigued Stevens, for it wasn’t a run-of-the-mill scattergun. An expensive double-barrel Greener, it had mule-ear hammers with a single trigger, and the barrels had been trimmed to half their normal length. Until now Stevens had restrained himself from prying. Tonight his curiosity got the best of him.
“Tell me, John,” he asked in a casual tone, “why do you carry a shotgun? I thought everyone out here preferred a rifle or a saddle carbine.”
“Most folks do.” Ryan paused, peering through the barrels from the open breech. In the firelight the twin bores looked big as mine shafts. “Lawmen generally stick to a scattergun, though. I reckon I just got in the habit.”
“What makes a shotgun preferable?”
“Well”—Ryan glanced up at him—“when you shoot a man, you want two things to happen. You want him to go down, and you don’t want him to get up. That’s what ends fights.”
“I see. But don’t those short barrels put you at a disadvantage? You’re awfully limited on range.”
“You’d be surprised. I’ve never yet tangled with a man at
any considerable distance. Seems like it always happens fast and too close for comfort.”
Stevens was tempted to ask still more questions. Like most easterners he’d never before encountered an authentic mankiller. Ryan’s sidearm, which was a Colt Army .44 converted to metallic cartridges, was no less intriguing than the shotgun. But the railroader sensed that Ryan would indulge his curiosity only so far. He wisely changed the subject.
“How much farther to Boudinot’s?”
“Couple of days. Maybe a little less.”
“You’re not altogether keen on the idea, are you?”
“I’m not being paid for my advice.”
“I’d still like to hear your reason. What do you have against Boudinot?”
“Let’s just say I don’t trust turncoats. Anyone who sells out his own people won’t think twice about doing it to a tibo.”
“I disagree. Boudinot is widely respected in Washington. And I might add he’s one of the few Indians who is.”
Ryan shrugged. “I think you just made my point.”
Ostensibly the purpose of Stevens’ trip was diplomacy. He planned to conduct negotiations with William Ross, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. But he had also arranged a secret meeting with Elias Boudinot. Some months ago in Washington, they had concluded a business deal known only to themselves. He meant to assure himself of Boudinot’s support before calling on Ross.
The delicacy of the situation was compounded by tribal politics. William Ross and Elias Boudinot were avowed enemies, leaders of rival factions. A dedicated Unionist before the Civil War, Ross had nonetheless approved the Cherokees’ alliance with the Confederacy. Circumstances, and the proximity of Confederate troops, left the Cherokee Nation no alternative. Ross, who considered it a white man’s war, sought only to preserve his people.
Elias Boudinot, on the other hand, was something of an opportunist. Casting his lot with the South, he had served in the Confederate Army throughout the war. Afterward he’d been instrumental in forming the Southern Party, which stood in opposition to Ross’ Union Party. In 1865, following the cessation of hostilities, federal commissioners were appointed to negotiate treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes. As spokesman for the Southern Party, Boudinot had actively courted the favor of the commissioners. He had also formed alliances with railroad companies lobbying to acquire right-of-way through the Nations.
