Doos will go straight to bed and sleep.
Get a bath in the morning and have a good breakfast and check on his dog.
And walk him a bit. Collar and lead purchased.
After a quick step in at church.
He will stop in on his lawyer friend, Mr. Houston, if he's available in his place of business.
"Hello sir, how are you, wondering if I could go thru some old reports and newspapers you have, or perhaps you have heard anything of a gang or person with a propensity to leave cards at a scene of a crime?" .
If not, he will walk around the city a bit and catch up with DT.
"Not like the military, very quiet, perhaps we should see if there is any excitement going on, a picnic, horse racing or a game of some sort to pass the time? Hit it hard on Monday."
Doos
Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
”Well Sgt Denton, good to see ya all patched up! You’re looking far better than I saw ya last. I diagnosed one of your wounds had an infection setting in. I treated it for you. Glad to see you well.jemmus wrote: ↑Wed Jun 04, 2025 1:07 am
DT goes to the Rangers office and finds Frank Denton holding down the fort with another Ranger he hasn't met before. Denton sits at a desk with a sign on it reading Sergeant Frank C. Denton. He looks well and heeled up, though as sunburnt as a three weeks out cattle drive cowpuncher. Denton recognizes DT and stands up to shake his hand. Good to see ya again, Dr. Crocket. It's my job to remember faces and names, but I can't credit my memory for rememberin your name. I was a little under the weather at the time, and my recollections of it aren't very clear. And a couple of things have happened in the intervenin time. I recall the name because you all were reported to have cleared out that Shepherd Brothers-McLaury gang of rustlers and stage robber operatin on the Burnet and Fredericksburg highways. That was high on the Rangers list of things to do next-- but it seems that addin new things to the list can prevent gettin any old ones off the top of it.
Are ya comin from Fredericksburg? I hear one of y'all got shot up pretty good in a gunfight with the criminals, and y'all were healin up there. Is the man alright? And how was your ride to Austin? Everything peaceful and orderly along the highway?
Yessir, what ya heard was all true.
As for our ride in, well, that’s exactly why I stopped over here as soon as we arrived in town and settled up with Mr Fox over at the Wells Fargo office. … DT will relate the story of the way station, Mrs Weber, and their losing the track.
He’ll tell of Gidean acting so bravely to bring his own brother in.
He’ll finish by telling what they found at the site of the June 7th robbery. “Hearing that doesn’t happen to bring up any ideas on who the culprit might be, does it? Ring any bells?
Also, have any of y’all had any interactions with a Mr Harvey Adler down in Hays County. We think he’s mixed up in this trade in stolen horses…an accomplice of the Duncans and Shepherd-McLaury gangs. What can you tell me?”
—————
From the other table, DT speaks hurriedly:The table is silent and the dealer pauses in the midst of dealing the next card. Everybody’s waiting for the man’s reply. His face is flushed, his jaw is tensed, and his breathing has become fast and shallow. He’s enraged, and at the same time feeling the pressure of having to act or back down before his peers in humiliation and shame.
”Sir, before ya do anything rash, you should know that Mr Gidean McLaury here is the man who captured his own brother, Phineas, and brought him to Fredricksburg for trial. Now that ain’t an easy thing for any man to deal with. So you’re going to want to think long and hard on what you do next. If it was me, I’d cool down some and cut Gidean a little slack for being grumpy.”
DT will be gripping a pint glass of beer ready to throw the glass at the man’s face should he reach for a gun or knife.
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Frank Denton listens to DT's story about the Wells Fargo highway station and tracking the Comanches. He looks over at the Ranger. That's bad news, Dr. Crockett. We appreciate y'alls effort at trying to save the lady. With y'all's tracks on top of the Comanches' tracks, the trail oughtn't to be hard to find. But as y'all suspected, those Comanches could be a hundred miles from the site by now. With some we could track them to their village. Which they would have probably moved deeper into Comanche territory, after those boys showed up with a Texan hostage.
I haven’t heard of anybody leavin a card at a crime scene. But Sam Bass used to leave little jokes to tease… or maybe provoke… the Rangers lookin for him up in Denton County. Like, there’d be a newpaper clippin nailed to a tree that said, “Rangers close in on Flower Mound robbery site, find Sam Bass Gang already gone.” And there’d be a silver dollar on the ground sayin, “Thank you for your hard work. Y’all have a beer or two on us. Good bless the great state of Texas.” Stuff like that. They wouldn’t be signed, but everybody assumed it was Bass funnin on them.
As for Harvey Adler, what I know of him is he's a big horse trader down in Comal County. Got himself elected county sheriff a month or so ago. I haven't had a chance to meet him yet. Horse rustling ring, eh? If what you suspect is true, that's something serious. I don't know when the Rangers will get time to investigate something like that. Especially if local politics are involved. We're better at dealing with Comanches, bandidos, and rattlesnakes. Things that don't talk back at ya. The survivin Duncan and Shepherd gang men are locked up in the state prison here in Austin. They might talk to ya if they thought it might get them early parole.
He says to the Ranger, Jim, would ya hold down the fort for a while while I report this and the Comanche raid to Captain Watson? Thank ya for the information and y'all's good work, Dr. Crockett.
~~~
DT goes to lawyer Temple Houston's office and finds the window shades drawn down and a sign flipped to Closed behind the front door's window. But on a hunch, he leans and peers through it. Houston is there, writing away, hair tousled from running his fingers through it. At Doos's gentle rap, he looks up with some absent-minded confusion, and smiles and rises to open the door. Judge Doos! He shakes Doos's hand, then looks him over. You seem fit and healthy, Mr. Doos. I'm so glad to see that the septis didn't set in.
At Doos's question about the playing card, the man with the mind for research, legal logic, and moving oratory as well (and former river boat worker hiding his identity of the President of Texas's son) says, I'm sorry, Judge Doos, I haven't heard of any such thing here in Texas. They was a break-in artist-- a burglar of jewelry stores in New York City-- who used to leave playing cards behind. To taunt the police. To my knowledge, he was never caught. It seems that he may have escaped by ship to Europe.
And there's Sam Bass, who is known to be popular with ordinary folk and to like to make a big show. It's possible that he threw a card down to taunt the lawmen and add some excitement to the chase. He was known to do things like that. The one story I heard of-- and it may be apocryphal or embellished--- was that he asked a hog farmer to “rent him a hog and a mule.” Specifically, a sow with suckling piglets. When he robbed a stage in Denton County north of Dallas, he had the sow and mule along. The sow went directly back to her piglets, of course, and the mule back to its barn. When the sheriff and Rangers followed the tracks, they found the sow lying down with the suckling piglets with heavy silver chain and a silver locket around her neck. Inside the locket was a little folded note: “I confess. I did it. I grew up in a pig sty, my daddy was swine, and my mama was a fat, mean ole sow. You can take my jewelry, please give them to the widows and orphans.
~~~
The man at the faro table stares at DT. He says, Well, looks like McLaury here brought a friend with him. Two against one, I don't favor them odds. And I don't favor playin cards with a bloody-handed killer's brother who has the brassiness to show his face among honest men. He takes his fairly slim winnings from the table, touches his fingers to his brim to the dealer and local players. Flem, Danny, Dawes, Pete, y'all have a good evenin. The men nod politely and one kind of mumbles, You too, Earl.He heads out of the Silver Dollar Saloon trying to look nonchalant. Gideon sighs a little, then nods a "Thanks, roadin partner" to DT. He puts a silver dollar on a square on the table. Alright then, let's git back ta business. Dealer, let's see that next card ya got.
I haven’t heard of anybody leavin a card at a crime scene. But Sam Bass used to leave little jokes to tease… or maybe provoke… the Rangers lookin for him up in Denton County. Like, there’d be a newpaper clippin nailed to a tree that said, “Rangers close in on Flower Mound robbery site, find Sam Bass Gang already gone.” And there’d be a silver dollar on the ground sayin, “Thank you for your hard work. Y’all have a beer or two on us. Good bless the great state of Texas.” Stuff like that. They wouldn’t be signed, but everybody assumed it was Bass funnin on them.
As for Harvey Adler, what I know of him is he's a big horse trader down in Comal County. Got himself elected county sheriff a month or so ago. I haven't had a chance to meet him yet. Horse rustling ring, eh? If what you suspect is true, that's something serious. I don't know when the Rangers will get time to investigate something like that. Especially if local politics are involved. We're better at dealing with Comanches, bandidos, and rattlesnakes. Things that don't talk back at ya. The survivin Duncan and Shepherd gang men are locked up in the state prison here in Austin. They might talk to ya if they thought it might get them early parole.
He says to the Ranger, Jim, would ya hold down the fort for a while while I report this and the Comanche raid to Captain Watson? Thank ya for the information and y'all's good work, Dr. Crockett.
~~~
DT goes to lawyer Temple Houston's office and finds the window shades drawn down and a sign flipped to Closed behind the front door's window. But on a hunch, he leans and peers through it. Houston is there, writing away, hair tousled from running his fingers through it. At Doos's gentle rap, he looks up with some absent-minded confusion, and smiles and rises to open the door. Judge Doos! He shakes Doos's hand, then looks him over. You seem fit and healthy, Mr. Doos. I'm so glad to see that the septis didn't set in.
At Doos's question about the playing card, the man with the mind for research, legal logic, and moving oratory as well (and former river boat worker hiding his identity of the President of Texas's son) says, I'm sorry, Judge Doos, I haven't heard of any such thing here in Texas. They was a break-in artist-- a burglar of jewelry stores in New York City-- who used to leave playing cards behind. To taunt the police. To my knowledge, he was never caught. It seems that he may have escaped by ship to Europe.
And there's Sam Bass, who is known to be popular with ordinary folk and to like to make a big show. It's possible that he threw a card down to taunt the lawmen and add some excitement to the chase. He was known to do things like that. The one story I heard of-- and it may be apocryphal or embellished--- was that he asked a hog farmer to “rent him a hog and a mule.” Specifically, a sow with suckling piglets. When he robbed a stage in Denton County north of Dallas, he had the sow and mule along. The sow went directly back to her piglets, of course, and the mule back to its barn. When the sheriff and Rangers followed the tracks, they found the sow lying down with the suckling piglets with heavy silver chain and a silver locket around her neck. Inside the locket was a little folded note: “I confess. I did it. I grew up in a pig sty, my daddy was swine, and my mama was a fat, mean ole sow. You can take my jewelry, please give them to the widows and orphans.
~~~
The man at the faro table stares at DT. He says, Well, looks like McLaury here brought a friend with him. Two against one, I don't favor them odds. And I don't favor playin cards with a bloody-handed killer's brother who has the brassiness to show his face among honest men. He takes his fairly slim winnings from the table, touches his fingers to his brim to the dealer and local players. Flem, Danny, Dawes, Pete, y'all have a good evenin. The men nod politely and one kind of mumbles, You too, Earl.He heads out of the Silver Dollar Saloon trying to look nonchalant. Gideon sighs a little, then nods a "Thanks, roadin partner" to DT. He puts a silver dollar on a square on the table. Alright then, let's git back ta business. Dealer, let's see that next card ya got.
PCs
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Monday, August 11, 1873. 7:00AM
Cloudy, light rain again. Full Moon tonight
The Sunday night passed quietly at the Drover Hotel. The men enjoyed the hot baths and clean sheets they'd gotten used to at over two months spent at the Prinz Friedrich in Frederecksburg. Or in Andreas case, at his hardworking but rather prosperous and clean family's ranch house. The hotel guests have a good breakfast of coffee, fresh biscuits covered with thick cream sausage gravy, three eggs cooked to order, and a bowl of beef roast stew on the side. The bank will open at 9:00.
Actions for Monday after breakfast? Andreas is to report to the Wells Fargo office by 7:30 AM for travel to the stage station construction site with the crew. I don't think the other riders have much to do until Tuesday morning and the horse auction. Unless they want to look at selling guns today. As always, please state if walking or mounted when moving in towns. Riding with a longarm probably wouldn't draw much suspicion in Austin, Texas at all. But walking around with one might draw a lot. The same for showing more than one sidearm in public. It's the state capital, after all....
Cloudy, light rain again. Full Moon tonight
The Sunday night passed quietly at the Drover Hotel. The men enjoyed the hot baths and clean sheets they'd gotten used to at over two months spent at the Prinz Friedrich in Frederecksburg. Or in Andreas case, at his hardworking but rather prosperous and clean family's ranch house. The hotel guests have a good breakfast of coffee, fresh biscuits covered with thick cream sausage gravy, three eggs cooked to order, and a bowl of beef roast stew on the side. The bank will open at 9:00.
Actions for Monday after breakfast? Andreas is to report to the Wells Fargo office by 7:30 AM for travel to the stage station construction site with the crew. I don't think the other riders have much to do until Tuesday morning and the horse auction. Unless they want to look at selling guns today. As always, please state if walking or mounted when moving in towns. Riding with a longarm probably wouldn't draw much suspicion in Austin, Texas at all. But walking around with one might draw a lot. The same for showing more than one sidearm in public. It's the state capital, after all....
PCs
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
DT to Ranger Denton:
”Well damn. That’ll make investigating a County Sheriff reasonably difficult. I know you haven’t the time, but we’ll keep you aware of our investigation.
And we’ll go pay a visit to the prison tomorrow.
I figure Mrs Weber’s best hope is for Col Anderson to affect a prisoner trade for her. God help her between now and then is my prayer. I’ll send a letter out to Ft Clark to Col Anderson so he knows to ask for her specifically in case of another exchange.”
On Monday, DT will want to get the details of the Tuesday horse auction and deposit his checks in the Austin National Bank (actual bank in 1873 Austin) first then wire transfer the balance to deposit in Wells Fargo Bank in SF. He’s betting the Wells Fargo bank, supported by its other ventures, is one of the safe banks. Plus he intends to end up in California at some point in the future.
Second, he’ll want to sell the guns. He’ll propose they divide up into two groups and divide the weapons equally. Try to sell their wares at different hardware stores abd gunsmiths. Dont try to sell more than a couple revolvers and one long arm at each place. Ride with their weapons for sale in saddle bags or in long arm saddle sheaths. He’ll remind all that the cap and ball pistols are convertible by a gunsmith to cartridge revolvers, hence value should be around $10 still.
Thirdly, he’ll try to get the two esquires and Gidean to go with him to the State Prison. If Rex is interested in hearing what he’s gotten into, he’s invited to come along.
”Well damn. That’ll make investigating a County Sheriff reasonably difficult. I know you haven’t the time, but we’ll keep you aware of our investigation.
And we’ll go pay a visit to the prison tomorrow.
I figure Mrs Weber’s best hope is for Col Anderson to affect a prisoner trade for her. God help her between now and then is my prayer. I’ll send a letter out to Ft Clark to Col Anderson so he knows to ask for her specifically in case of another exchange.”
On Monday, DT will want to get the details of the Tuesday horse auction and deposit his checks in the Austin National Bank (actual bank in 1873 Austin) first then wire transfer the balance to deposit in Wells Fargo Bank in SF. He’s betting the Wells Fargo bank, supported by its other ventures, is one of the safe banks. Plus he intends to end up in California at some point in the future.
Second, he’ll want to sell the guns. He’ll propose they divide up into two groups and divide the weapons equally. Try to sell their wares at different hardware stores abd gunsmiths. Dont try to sell more than a couple revolvers and one long arm at each place. Ride with their weapons for sale in saddle bags or in long arm saddle sheaths. He’ll remind all that the cap and ball pistols are convertible by a gunsmith to cartridge revolvers, hence value should be around $10 still.
Thirdly, he’ll try to get the two esquires and Gidean to go with him to the State Prison. If Rex is interested in hearing what he’s gotten into, he’s invited to come along.
Last edited by Thumper on Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Andreas Larson attends church on Sunday, and otherwise pretty much rests up in his room except for meals. Monday he rises early to report for work at the Wells Fargo office, skipping breakfast.
gaming since 1980
cybersavant.proboards.com
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Andreas Larson; Law of the Gun <Boot Hill 3e>
Nah Olos; Earthquakes in the Jotens <AD&D 1e>
Asxerthsis ; In The Year 62,062 <SWN>
Rehtai Khtao ( Rehleh Tharee Dar ); Shadow of the Storm <Traveller MgT2e>
Carter Stone; Lore of the Plains <1e/OSRIC Weird Wester>
cybersavant.proboards.com
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -
Andreas Larson; Law of the Gun <Boot Hill 3e>
Nah Olos; Earthquakes in the Jotens <AD&D 1e>
Asxerthsis ; In The Year 62,062 <SWN>
Rehtai Khtao ( Rehleh Tharee Dar ); Shadow of the Storm <Traveller MgT2e>
Carter Stone; Lore of the Plains <1e/OSRIC Weird Wester>
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Charlie
"What guns are you selling? I might be interested in one depending on what you have."
"What guns are you selling? I might be interested in one depending on what you have."
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Hweres the raw list, I am not sure who scavenged what out of it:
1 Colt double action revolver
6 Colt single action revolvers - 1 taken by William, 1 by DT. 4 remaining
8 cap and ball revolvers
1 Winchester lever action carbine
1 lever action rifle (DT traded it in exchange for the Henry rifle)
1 Henry lever action rifle - taken by DT. 0 remaining.
1 single barreled shotgun - taken by Doos, 0 remaining.
= 46 lbs. weight
Also we cant forget these for the horses:
4 saddles
4 bridles
1 Colt double action revolver
6 Colt single action revolvers - 1 taken by William, 1 by DT. 4 remaining
8 cap and ball revolvers
1 Winchester lever action carbine
1 lever action rifle (DT traded it in exchange for the Henry rifle)
1 Henry lever action rifle - taken by DT. 0 remaining.
1 single barreled shotgun - taken by Doos, 0 remaining.
= 46 lbs. weight
Also we cant forget these for the horses:
4 saddles
4 bridles
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Charlie
"I would be like to trade my Winchester Rifle for the Winchester Carbine."
"I would be like to trade my Winchester Rifle for the Winchester Carbine."
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Charlie
"Will do. Thanks."
"Will do. Thanks."
Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere
Charlie
Pretty.
Pretty.
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