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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2989285" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Sixty, “Joining or leaving Promise City”, Wednesday, May 31st, 1882, 8:00 A.M.Alison Caine knocks on Minerva's front door.    An apprehensive Nakomo answers the door and begins babbling before Al can even introduce herself. He takes her arm and pulls her inside. "Senorita Minerva came in looking really sick. She went straight to her room without a word. I called out to her a bunch of times but I don't think that she even knew I was here. I keep checking on her but she isn't moving. I told Nanuet that I would take care of her... I don't know what to do. I was going to go get a Doctor but I'm not supposed to leave the house alone and.... Please! Can you help me?" he says. "Sure," says Al a bit hesitantly. "Why don't you show me to her room first of all? Lemme take a look."   Nakomo leads Alison to Minerva's room and opens the door. He waits for her to enter.Back at the town hall, as soon as Isby calls for a break Jake says to Neil, "Overhear this conversation," and gives him a nasty looking grin. He then walks over to Chumbley.  "Big happenings Mr. Chumbley, and to think you get all this and a big front page. There is one thing interesting though, when Eaton spoke he said 'yes'. Now you could argue that he was answering Watkins. However, legally, he should have been giving the judge his vote. One could therefore argue that the Vigilance Committee voted four to one in favor of the question of racial rights. Isn't that interesting," Jake finishes and scratches his chin."Excuse me," Kate said to Jake and Mr. Cassidy as she got up and hurried over to Pedro with a bright smile. "I'm so happy for you," she said and hugged him. "And Dorita and Sonoma and Mr. Gonzales.... for more friends than I can count."Pedro seemed to be in shock but pleased. Kate laughed and squeezed his hand before she went to speak to her parents quickly. They were smiling as well, her father saying again how proud he was although Kate knew her own words didn't have much effect today. During the recess Judge Isby approaches Bill Watkins and asks him to leave. Watkins says, "What? I have a right to be here." Isby replies, "And you forfeited that right when you attempted to begin a brawl inside this room. If you are still here when I resume the meeting I will have you arrested." Isby then walks away.   Chester comes up to Watkins and takes his arm. "Mr. Watkins? This way, please." Watkins angrily pulls his arm out of Chester's grasp. "I'm going. Get your hands off me." He marches out of the room.Emery Shaw, Jeff Mills and Meagan O'Hara each approach and speak to Isby before he heads back up to the stage.  After a few minutes Kate saw Emery Shaw speak to Judge Isby. When he was finished Kate approached him and said, "I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you about the Association. Things have been rather hectic for me this week. I'd like to accept your offer if it's still open."Shaw replies, "Good, we'll be meeting tonight at 7:30 P.M., I just asked Isby to announce it." Emery Shaw then approaches Jake and says, "Mr. Cook, would your saloon happen to have private dining rooms? If so I would like to rent one for this evening at say 6:00 P.M. or so. And I wouldn't mind if you joined us, as well as any of your friends who were with you on that afternoon in March when we dealt with Bill Claibourne." Jake replies, "You are certainly welcome to a room at the Lady, I will have it setup. I will charge you exactly what you charged me for a ride back from your ranch. As for myself, I would be happy to be there and I will invite the others from that day as well."Judge Isby resumes the meeting, stating, "Before I get back to business I have a few announcements. Jeff Mills has asked that anybody interested in joining the Promise City Fire Department should contact him either today or tomorrow at the Lucky Lady Dance Hall and Saloon.  Tomorrow there will be a solar eclipse. Famed Astronomer and Professor Pickering of Harvard is in town and will give a lecture here tonight at 7:00 P.M. for those interested in hearing more about what a solar eclipse is and the best way to observe it.   The Sulfur Springs Cattleman's Association will be holding their first business meeting this evening at 7:30 P.M.  And the Niles Hoover Memorial School will hold a Dedication Ceremony Friday at Noon at the school's front entrance. Now on to election issues, Voter registration will begin today once this meeting closes and run until 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, June 4th. Candidate and Party registration can also begin as early as today at the close of the meeting and must be completed by 5:00 P.M. on Friday June 9th. Candidates for office must include a $ 10 filing fee and petition with the signatures of support for twenty-five registered votes. Each citizen may only sign petitions for one mayoral candidate, one marshal candidate and no more than five council members. Political parties require a $ 50 filing fee and must have at least two candidates running for office. Once registration is completed no new candidates may enter the race although Political Parties may make substitutions up until 5:00 P.M. on Sunday June 18th. The campaigning will last until midnight on Monday June 19th with the election to be held on Tuesday, June 20th from 7:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. Winners of the election will be sworn into office and begin their two-year terms of office starting at noon on Wednesday, June 21st."Isby states, "The final order of business for today is to find out if the various outlying mines, ranches and farms with to be part of the Incorporation community of Promise City. I will ask for Deputy County Recorder Dennis Winston to read the names. Winston begins "County Records show mining properties in the region under ownership by twenty-two different ownership groups. We were unable to locate the owners of five of these properties and suspect that the owners may no longer reside in the County, however we will continue to seek them out. Of the remaining seventeen, the owners of four have declined the offer to join the township, those properties being the Goldhammer Mine owned by the dwarf Brill Goldhammer; the Silver Star mine owned by Gary Miller, Stephen Wicks, Slim Decker and the Hoover Mining Trust; the Ordway Mine owned by Jasper Ordway; and the Kort mine owned by the ogre Kort. The owners of the other thirteen should be present today and the names will be read the names in descending order by land size and you can then tell the Judge your answer." He begins, "Number One, the properties owned exclusively by Hamilton Fisk." Fisk says, "Yes". "Number Two, the properties owned by the Morand-Seawell Mining Company" Michael Seawell says, "Yes". Number Three, the Fisk Mountain Mine owned by Hamilton Fisk, Ralph Elliot, Humphrey Lewis, Torvald MacNaulty and Jacob Cook. Fisk says, "We vote Yes".Number Four, the Last Ditch Mine owned by Vidkan Gerhardsen and Svein Odinsohn. A dwarf yells out "Yah". Numer Five, the Happy Strike Mine owned by Michael Chan and Krall. An ogre is present and says, "Yeah". Number Six, the Fisk-Seawell Gold Mine. Fisk again says, "Yes" "Number Seven, the Thibault Mine owned by Louis Thibault." The man says "Oui, Yes." "Number Eight, the Beatrice Mine owned by Dudley Jobin, Paul Messier and the Hoover Mining Trust." Jobin speaks up, "Yep, we're in." "Number Nine, the Kurtz Mine owned by Jaxon Kurtz". A rough shabby looking man stands and says, "Y'all can go to Hades, I ain't joining' no bunch of Injun-lovers." Isby says, "I'll take that as a 'No', please continue Dennis." Winston’s says, "Number Ten, properties owned by Harry Rote and the Hoover Mining Trust" Harry yells out "Yes". "Number Eleven, the Cunningham mine owned by Ray Cunningham and the Hoover Mining Trust." "The man stands and states "Yes". Number Twelve, the Walters mine owned by Ned Walters. Harry Rote says, "Ned's not here. He was here for Monday's meeting but had to get back to his mine, he is planning to join. He'll be back in town on Friday afternoon." Isby says, "Fine, we'll confirm it with him them." Number Thirteen, the Sharpaxe mine owned by Eric Sharpaxe and the Hoover Mining Trust." The dwarf stand and says in a Minnesota accent, "You Betcha". Isby says, "And the Ranches?" Winston begins "County Records show eleven properties in the region being run as ranches. Two of these have declined the offer to join the township, those properties being the Philips Ranch owned by Ned Philips and the Crazy-8 Ranch owned by Claude Buckley. The other nine should be present today and the names will be read the names in descending order by land size and you can then tell the Judge your answer." "Number One, the Rocking-H Ranch owned by the Morand Family." Forest Morand states "Yes". "Number Two, the Lazy-S Ranch owned by Emery Shaw." Shaw states "Yes." "Number Three, the Bar-W Ranch owned by Anse King." Mr. King says "Yes." "Number Four, the Thayer Ranch owned by Nicholas Thayer." Thayer states "Yes." Number Five, the Perez Ranch owned by Ricardo Perez. The half-elf says, "Yes". Number Six, the Circle-R ranch owned by Calvin Oldfield. Oldfield says, "Yes" Number Seven, the ranch owned by Katherine Kale, Sonoma Figures and Nanuet."   "Yes," Kate answered confidently, feeling much better about joining the town knowing that both Sonoma and Nanuet would be able to vote in their new town.    Winston continues, "Number Eight, the Rattlesnake Ranch owned by Denny Garuin" The man says "Yes". Number Nine, Pete's Ranch owned by Flint Greymountain." The dwarf says "Yes". Isby says, "And the farms?" Winston begins "County Records show six properties in the region being run as farms. Two of these have declined the offer to join the township, those properties being the Tunks Farm owned by Ken and Rhonda Tunks and Sunset Farm owned by Kansas Clem Hawkins. The other four should be present today and the names will be read the names in descending order by land size and you can then tell the Judge your answer." Number One, the Green Valley Farm owned by the Greene Family. Number Two, the Soares Farm owned by Garcia and Felicia Soares. A female wood elf stands and says, "Si, Yes". "Number Three, the Pine Creek Farm owned by Greg and Violet Walker." A man rises and says "Yes". "Number Four, the Covington Farm owned by the Covington family." A man rises and says "Yes". Judge Isby says, "Very well, a map will be drawn up showing the new boundaries of the town. Mr. Winston, where possible include on the map any unowned land between and connecting these various outlying properties. At such a time when the land is purchased the new buyer can make a determination then if they wish to remain." Isby looks up towards the audience, pounds his gavel and says "Public Notices with ongoing information regarding the election will be posted on the doors of this building and the Arizona Territorial Office as well as being printed the Promise City Mirror newspaper. I call this meeting adjourned." Tomlinson and Winston then begin taking voter registrations with their priority being the outlying miners, ranchers and farmers who want to head back to their property.Kate spent just a couple minutes in the hall talking to some of the other members of the Merchant's Association, then to her parents before she hurried over to her school. She hoped more of the human children would come, and that those who had come yesterday would return. Her shining face told the story of the meeting without her having to interrupt the classes already underway and she got down to a very pleasant day with her students and fellow teachers. When the children went happily out into the sunshine at the end of the day and the teacher's waited for the Committee for Racial Equality to arrive.   Kate notices that young Burt Hoover is now enrolled in the school. They are split into the three groups, with Ginnie currently acting as the facilitator of the most advanced in Kate's absence.She greeted Burt, making sure he was settled into his new class. While she did that she kept an eye on Ginnie, seeing how she did as the leader rather than a student. After a minute or so she relieved her so Ginnie could go back to her own studies and continued the lesson.    Ginnie quickly rattles off the information that has been covered and hands Kate a piece of paper. The paper is covered with quick sharp strokes listing which questions and answers had been covered the student that had provide answers and notes on which students had difficulty or seemed uncomfortable with their answers or the subject and which seemed to have more advanced information on the topic. She then goes into the corner with her astrology text and a group of world maps she has been notating on and seems to shut out the rest of the world.Kate looked over the notes, noting that Ginnie made much better notes than she herself did. She watched Ginnie for a moment, reminded that she hadn't yet talked to the Professor about talking to the students. Since the eclipse was tomorrow it was probably already too late, but she'd be sure to ask him tonight and remind parents that he would lecturing in the town hall at 7:30. After the meeting, Chester seeks out Zach Morand. "Morning, Zach. How're my people doing with the silver runs. I haven't heard of any trouble on the route, but I wanted to check."  Zachary says that things are going fine thus far. They are only just starting to get ore from the first mine up near Dos Cabezas. He also adds that the new daily stagecoach run they are making to Wilcox will work in their favor, as it travels within a mile of the mine and has already helped with getting workers to and from town.Chester replies, "Sounds good. So, who are you supporting in these elections?"   Zach says, "Too soon to tell. My brother is one of the leaders of the new Cattleman's Association. I'll probably go along with whatever slate of candidates they decide to support."   Chester nods and says, "I expect most people will vote for who they know. Thanks, Zach. I'll see you around."   Zach tells Chet to have a good day. Jake runs into Chester and tells him about the 6:00 P.M. dinner meeting with Shaw at the Lucky Lady. After the meeting Jake takes Ruby to the stage to see her off properly.   After the knock on the door and Jake’s departure, Ruby snuggled on Jake’s side of the bed and dozes on and off for about an hour, surrounded by his lingering scent and warmth. She is content from her time with Jake and finally content in her heart that she is doing the right thing in the right way.  Time passed and Ruby finally gets out of bed and dresses. She checks her bag a final time and drags it down into the foyer. When Jake returns from the meeting they share a final quiet meal together before Jake walks her to the stage.  As her bag is being loaded Ruby grasps Jake tightly in a hug. She doesn’t want to let go, her arms unwilling to listen to her head. She raises her face to look Jake in the eyes. She rests a couple of fingers on his lips to quiet him. “I just want to say something to you before I leave. You know how much I love you and what you mean to me. After everything we’ve been through, nothing can break our bond or change how I feel about you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I won’t ever forget it. And I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was the best thing for all of us.” She pauses briefly. “I won’t be far, if you need me or even if you just want me, you know where I’ll be, so send for me and I’ll return. I’ll try not to be gone too long, I’m sure I won’t be, I just can’t seem to stay away from you.” She smiles up at him then replaces her fingers with her lips, kissing him long and soft, committing every second of him to her memory. "If you miss me just look up at the stars, for I will be looking up at them and thinking of you and our certain love too. That will always be true Jake." Before Jake can speak and change her mind, she lets go of him and hurries onto the stage. She quickly takes a seat and tries not to cry. As the stage drives off she hangs out the window, waving and blowing kisses, and calls out one final “I love you baby!” Once the stage is out of view of Jake she leans back in her seat and gets as comfortable as she can. She keeps herself from looking back on Promise City, only looking forward to what she has to do now, not letting herself imagine that is the last time she will see her lover and best friend, Silver Jake Cook.Jake then spends most of the late morning and early afternoon catching up on sleep he missed. He makes arrangements for the dinner meeting as Shaw requested and notifies the others of his friends that are still in town of the invite.Kate got back down to her work, and when 3:30 came she got he chairs from her kitchen table to give the Committee for Racial Equality somewhere to sit when they arrived.  All five men arrive promptly at the appointed hour. It is obvious that Neil Cassidy is the ringleader of the group and the other four take their cues from him. They then sit down and each formally introduce themselves to the teachers, explaining what they each do in town.Kate listened attentively to each man even though she knew most of their work already. She introduced Mrs. O'Hara and Mrs. Caudell for those who hadn't already met them, then got down to business.  "I know I've said it before, but I'd like to thank all of you again. You've made far more possible here than I could have done running the school for tuition, and you've given us the chance to properly honor a friend. The sign and the dedication ceremony are sure to be wonderful.  We made our arrangement in haste, so there are a few things we need to iron out. One being how much direct involvement in the school the committee wants to have, and another being a fair salary for the teachers here."   Cassidy says, "It's your school, I see our involvement as being financial in nature." Travis Calhoun says, "I don't know much about teacher's salaries, what would you suggest?"  Mollie Caudell spoke up and said, "Well, back in South Carolina where Nate was teaching an experienced teacher made upwards of 40 dollars a month. Some places it's less, some more."   "We don't expect to earn what a very experienced teacher would, of course," Kate said, picking up the discussion. "And we don't want to bankrupt you gentlemen. I believe we would be satisfied with a salary of 35 dollars a month each."Neil says, "That sounds reasonable. I would suggest that we get together one night a month for a board meeting. You could update us on how the school is going and review expenses." Roger Fly says, "We can use the dining room at my boarding house for the meeting, we'd just have to have it after the boarders have finished their evening meal. We could even make it a dinner meeting for us if you'd like, I'll just get Janet to make more of whatever she is cooking.""I believe Mrs. Fly is expecting Ginnie and I for dinner some night soon," Kate said with a smile. "A dinner meeting once a month sounds fine. Let's consider today the first meeting and schedule the next a month from now. I'll get a ledger started so we can keep track of what money goes out and what for. Since the school is already set up, expenses shouldn't be too much here at the start. I did lose a good number of books in the Tombstone fire that will need to be replaced. And speaking of eating... Hannah Milford suggested she could provide lunches for us as she does for other businesses. What I'd like to do is rotate between places and build good will for the school by patronizing the town's restaurants. Would you consider that under expenses?"Travis asks Roger, "Couldn't Janet cook them lunch, you're right next door and she'd be cooking any way." Fly says, "No, our boarding house only provides breakfast and dinner for the boarders, Janet doesn't cook up a lunch." Neil says, "Then I think that a lunch rotation among the places in town is a good idea." Rufus Davis says, "I would suggest that you start with either the El Parador or Lucky Lady as their chefs could make a variety of both wood Elvan and human cuisine. The lunches would just be for the teachers but they could probably also make a snack or dessert for the students. Getting the students exposed to one another’s cultures should be a goal of the school and finding out what each other likes to eat is a great place to start."Kate replies, "That's an excellent idea. A snack for the students will help keep them focused instead of hungry, give them something new to try, and be an advantage of putting a child in our school rather than the Vigilance Committee's. I'll talk to Dorita in the next few days.  So we'll meet again in a month. If the day falls on a weekend I suggest we then push it back to the following Monday. Also, I'd like to suggest making payday every other Friday. Is there any other business?"That covers the business and the men head out. "That went very well," Mollie comments.  Kate answers, "I think so. We might have been able to get a little more in salary, but I wasn't lying when I said I didn't want to overburden them. The salaries along with the lunches and supplies will be a large expense that I don't think they imagined footing when they created the committee. Things are going better and better."  After school was over Kate went over to the El Parador to spend the hours with her family. Chester's day is going rather quietly until Mitch Berg catches up with him at around 4:30 P.M. and says "Come with me, we have a problem."  Chester trails Berg. "What's going on, Marshall?"   "Follow me Chet." The two of them head west on South Street, going behind Rudy Baines butcher shop and smoke house. They continue past the Lucky Deuce Mine and are heading towards the house owned by Sam Slade. Berg then directs Chet towards an alcove in the hill where a pair of men are standing over a body. The two men are Deputy Marshall Eduardo Rodriguez and town undertaker Richard Lester. The body looks familiar to Chester but he can't place the name. The cause of death is rather obvious as the man's throat has been slashed. Lester says, "I'd say it happened between one and two hours ago." Berg says, "Okay, that gives us something to go on."   Chester says, "This guy looks familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen him. Is he a miner?"Berg says, "No, a rancher. His name is Claude Buckley, owns the Crazy-8 Ranch around ten miles northwest of town. He was in the front row of that lynch mob last weekend. Nile's dropped him with that first shotgun blast which hurt Buckley pretty bad. It took Doc Eaton over two hours to get most of the shotgun pellets out of the leg and for a while he thought he'd have to amputate it."  Chester says, "Now I remember him. He also decided to not join the town. Damn. I'll go tell his family."  Berg replies, "I don't think he had any."  Dick Lester says he has to go get his hearse wagon. Once Lester is out of earshot Berg says, "Look, I know you didn't have anything to do with this Chet but I have to ask anyway, where were you between one and two hours ago?"    Chester takes off his hat and scratches his head. "Me? I was in my room at the Lucky Lady going over payroll for my mine security operation. Then I came downstairs to have a drink when you found me. Who do you think did this? This could be trouble. If people think that he was killed over the riot or not joining the town, then things will get sticky."   Berg answers, "That's what I'm worried about." Chester searches the area for clues or tracks.  He finds three sets of tracks other than his and Berg's. He concludes that one is Dick Lester's. Another is the size of a woman's shoe which go to and from a nearby house over on South Street. He tells that to Berg who say "Those are Lila Singer's, she's the one who found the body and reported it to me. I don't think she's involved." He checks out the final set of tracks, which only go one way, heading from the two-story brick building on South Street immediately west of the Singer house. They stop at this point and based upon the boot Chester concludes they belong to the dead man. When Chester tells that to Berg he replies, "That building...that's Hamilton Fisk's House."   Berg suggests they try to keep things quiet for the time being, adding “We should plan on riding out to the Crazy-8 Ranch.  Too late to do that safely tonight, let’s go in the morning.”  Chester agrees.</blockquote>

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