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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2908250" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 137, “Wyatt Earp the Fugitive”, Wednesday, March 22nd , 1882, 9:00 A.M. They arrive at a bluff with the cabin in the distance a quarter-mile away. They then spot a lone rider who they recognize as Warren Earp alongside aside a rocky outcropping near them. He rides forward and says, “Follow me.” As they near the cabin they pass areas where two more gunmen are strategically positioned behind large rocks. Warren comments, “If anybody has following you they’ll handle it.” Cassidy asks, “Are those guys Turkey Creek Johnson and Sherm McMasters?” Warren nods back that they are. They reach the cabin, where Wyatt is waiting for them and ushers them inside. Warren ties up the horses and then follows them into the cabin. Wyatt says, “I asked you guys here so that Warren and I can formally resign from our duties as lawmen.” He then hands Cassidy both badges. Jake states, "I suppose you know that Behan has a posse looking for you, and that Buckskin Leslie has a badge on in Tombstone. What are you going to do now?" Earp replies, "Yes, I heard that Behan had deputized Leslie and two of his friends. That’ll make those three off limits for now. If we were to kill a lawman they would have the authority to send the Arizona Rangers and other Territorial law after us. I’m just glad that Behan is leading the posse instead of Buckskin Frank. Behan’s no outdoorsman, so we should have no trouble avoiding that group. Ringo had told his men that “The time of reckoning is at hand“. He is correct, but he’ll find himself on the receiving end. Without the restrictions that come from that badge there will be no stopping us. I do have to keep Virgil out of this. In Tucson I made sure that he stayed by the train and had nothing to do with Stilwel. If Behan is able to force him out of the Marshall’s job then Tombstone goes to Hades-in-a-hand-basket and the Cowboy’s win. “It’s time to strike while the iron is hot. The Cowboy Gang is now in a state of disarray. If we can hit them before they reorganize the gang can be shut down for good. Cook, you have as big a score against these guys as I do. You’re welcome to ride with us. Otherwise it's just me, Warren, Johnson and McMasters.” Cassidy asks, “About Johnson and McMasters, can you really trust those guys? They were part of the Cowboy Gang.” Wyatt says, “Yes, I trust them wholeheartedly. If they were going to betray myself and Warren they had the perfect opportunity to do so in Tucson when we were moving up on Stilwel. They stuck by us then, and will going forward. And you just saw what the Ringo did with Gifford, these two know there's no turning back. They’re now committed to this as much as Warren and I are. They’ve also been invaluable in filling us in on the history and inner workings of the Cowboy Gang, which will help immensely with dismantling it.” Jake says, "It's no secret that the Cowboys been trying to put us in the ground for some time now, I'd be happy to return the favor. Depending on what you have in mind and when, there are others that would help. Before we discuss this any more, Neil do you want to hear this or not? It see that Wyatt trusts you, but you don't have to lie about not knowing what is being planned if you don't listen." Neil says, "Do you take me for a coward Cook?" Wyatt interjects, "Nobody's saying that Neil, he's just making sure you realize the stakes here. I knew that you two played poker together and I am usually a good judge of character. I figured that you were of the same mind as us on these matters. But Cook's right, if you stick around you'll be hearing some rather frank talk about recent encounters with the Cowboy Gang that the papers only detailed a fraction of. You can head outside the cabin in you want and none of us will think any worse of you." Cassidy replies, "I came here to talk with you Wyatt. That's what I'm doing." Wyatt replies, "Fair enough, I expected as much. That's why I asked you to not bring Fly. His wife is heavily affiliated with the town’s Vigilance Committee. If word gets back to them of some of our extracurricular activities there’s no telling how they’d use it against both of you in the future. Plus Roger's brother Buck is good friends with Johnny Ringo so there's no point in us taking unnecessary chances." Ruby sat by silently listening to the men talk about war. She was desperately hoping Jake wasn't signing himself up for his funeral. As much as she disliked Wyatt and the Earps, at least they had been trying to protect their family. Ringo, now there was a man she despised, forcing them to choose sides in his little war. And the Cowboys had openly come after them to get what they wanted, so the choice was obvious. But what Wyatt was proposing was extremely dangerous, and Ruby knew it. She sighed and continued to watch and listen to the men talk. Jake turns to Cassidy and states, "Like Wyatt said, no offense Neil, just giving you an out. I'm up to my eyebrows in trouble with the Cowboy gang. Remember when the Barkley family were around and they shot up the Cowboy gang? Well that was us, with some help from the Barkleys. I tried to keep it quiet, but Ringo knows. They'll be after me, my friends and my business if they aren't stopped. I'm glad to have you on board, I hope you don't regret it." He glances at Ruby and then turns back to Wyatt. "I don't know what you know about the latest activity. You probably know by now we raided the Cowboy ranch to free the Indian and Chester Martin. Sadly, none of the Cowboy gang who we found there lived to tell the story. I believe that guy Len was there, and they had a Gatling gun that we destroyed when the barn burnt down. Later on we ran into more of the gang on the road. Fortunately, the Shaws were with us." Jake raises an eyebrow, "Once again, sad to say, none of the Cowboy gang lived to tell the story. Seems to be a pattern. Claibourne died there on the road. Between the ranch and road about twenty Cowboy gang members went on to their rewards. Lastly, there was some shooting in Promise City just three days ago and Martin killed Pony Deal. Earned him a job as Deputy Marshall." Jake looks sharply at Wyatt. "The only other thing I could say is we are pretty sure that Hamilton Fisk is one of the money men for the gang. Now I'm sure you know a whole lot more than me...." Wyatt replies, "Well, that consistent with the history I've got from Johnson and McMasters. Guess I'll start from the beginning. The Cowboy Gang started was the brainchild of the Clantons. The Clantons own a ranch outside of Tombstone, been around since before Tombstone was founded. Old Man Clanton organized the cattle rustlers, which at one point numbered as high as three hundred. Most of the cattle they stole were from across the border in Mexico, so they didn’t have to worry about the United States law. But last August the Mexicans got wise to them and lured Old Man Clanton and around a dozen of his rustlers into an ambush, killing them all. After that his sons Phineas, Ike and Billy all tried to lead the gang. First off they decided to avoid Mexico so as not to share their father's fate. So they branched out to ranches as far west as California, as far north as Utah and as far east as Texas. Since they were now operating in the states they needed protected so they started bribing the County Sheriff, not just Behan but the ones before him too. But we messed up that plan when my brother Virgil became Tombstone's Marshall and couldn’t be bought. Also, none of Old Man Clanton’s three sons were much as far as gang leadership was concerned, Phineas not being much of a risk taker, Ike being a drunk and Billy being a hothead. That's when Curly Bill Brocius stepped in and took charge. Things went well for them after that. The silver had played out in Galeyville so the remains of that town soon became a magnet for criminals to gather, increasing the Gang's ranks. Curly then set up shop in the hills nearby with the cooperation of the Apache chief Geronimo. But then Curly Bill messed up and invited Deadeye Douglas to join the gang. That was last January. Curly wound up dead, Deadeye getting the credit for killing him, although we know it was you guys who actually did it. Deadeye was happy to take the credit for that killing since it made the gang afraid of him. He then organized a series of six stagecoach robberies. I guess don’t have to tell you folks about that Ruby and Jake since you had the misfortune to be riding on the stages during two of them. Only two of the six robberies were successful, with several dozen Cowboy Gang casualties. That resulted in Deadeye getting into a heated argument with the Gang’s three top lieutenants, Billy Claibourne, Johnny Ringo and Frank Stilwel about the future direction of the gang. They all decided to stop going after stagecoaches but couldn't agree on what next. Deadeye wanted to switch to robbing banks while the others wanted to go back to cattle rustling. About the only thing they could agree on is they needed to get their sawbones back.” Ruby suddenly speaks up, "What's a sawbones?" she asks with furrowed brows. Earp replies, “Sawbones? Oh, that’s a nickname for a doctor. A couple of things that never made any sense to me was why Dudley Yeats took those shots at me, or why his wife suddenly decided to become an outlaw. Turns out that those two had been affiliated with the Cowboy Gang for well over a year at that point. Dudley and Pamela Yeats had both worked in an Army Hospital for many years, met there in fact, and while neither were licensed physicians they both knew a lot about doctoring. Their Trail Dust Saloon in Promise City was just a front, where they ran an unlicensed medical practice from the back room of their saloon with the Cowboy Gang as their customers. That incident at the Trail Dust happened on the afternoon of the day when you had taken on a bunch from that gang in the morning. You had left a bunch of wounded, some of whom had made their way into town for doctoring. So when I showed up at the Trail Dust that afternoon to ask Dudley about his Merchant’s Association dues there were Cowboy Gang members recovering from wounds in their back room, including Claibourne. When I started walking towards that part of the building Dudley panicked and began shooting to distract me. So I arrested Dudley Yeats, he was sentenced by Judge Isby and was then shipped off to Tombstone. Johnny Ringo allowed himself to be arrested and jailed on unrelated charges just to be there to make sure that Yeats hadn’t talk. Deadeye then managed to bust Yeats and some of the other Gang members out of jail, and since they were then obligated to him for the rescue, were convinced to join him for the bank robbery. You know all about that one too Cook, since you got shot up pretty bad. That failed robbery caused a big revolt in the Gang’s leadership since two men got killed for almost no reward. Deadeye felt a sense of obligation to mount another jailbreak to free the captured Pinto Joe Weems and Pamela Yeats. Claiborne, Stilwell and Ringo strongly disagreed with that idea, figuring it was just another bad idea, plus by then they had lost their confidence in Deadeye as leader. So Douglas quit the gang, taking Shotgun Sally Fox and Mongo Bailey with him, he mounted a successful jailbreak, and then left the Territory and were last seen in Wyoming. In hindsight that was a pretty stupid move on the Gang’s part, as they not only needed Deadeye’s reputation to help hold the gang together but loosing Pamela Yeats left them without a Doc. Seems she was the top sawbones, not her husband. In the two months since the Gang was in flux, with each of the three remaining leaders not supporting one another but instead organizing their own factions and securing their own sponsors. Stilwel’s faction was headquartered in Tombstone, Claiborne’s at the farmhouse near Dos Cabezas and Ringo’s in Galeyville. Things heated up two weeks ago when Morgan caught some rustlers moving cattle through the Dragoon Mountains. He shot and killed all four of them, but there were two more that he hadn't seen who escaped and reported back to Stilwel. He called a council with Claibourne and Ringo and they decided that this was now their time of reckoning against the Earps. They started preparing for war, stocking large quantities of weapons and ammunition at the farmhouse while Ringo tried to simultaneously recover some items of his that he said he needed which were lost when Curly Bill died. Claiborne managed to steal a Gattling gun from Fort Huachuca and they were bringing it back to the farmhouse when your friends Martin and Nanuet has the misfortune of running into them on the road. As Gifford had just been caught in Promise City before that they assumed Martin and Nanuet were heading to Tombstone with a message for me. You guys managed to mess up their war plans by then hitting Claiborne’s stronghold, killing Claiborne and all of his followers and destroying all of their stockpiled weapons including the Gattling gun. You were right in thinking that you didn’t leave any witnesses, so they naturally assumed that we Earps who were responsible. Probably still think that unless you’ve told folks otherwise. Stilwel and Ringo jointly decided to make Virgil and me suffer for what we did by first killing off our siblings. Among their planned targets were my brother James as well as his wife and daughter. That went beyond the pale for Johnson and McMasters. If the leaders had kept it just to the lawmen it would have been one thing, but James and his family were totally innocent. When Johnson and McMasters objected Ringo backtracked and convinced those two he’d abandon that plan and come up with something else. But was lying to them and went ahead with the attacks on Morgan and Warren anyway. That’s when Johnson and McMasters decided to change sides.” Ruby states, "That's a lot of information Mr. Earp, you must trust us. To be honest, we tried to stay out of all this. But Ringo came to the Lucky Lady and threatened us and the Saloon. Then he implied that he kidnapped Mrs. Kale's ward to get those items you referred to back. So I can understand wanting to protect the people you care about and keep them safe. What are you planning next? What do you want us, or Jake, to do?" Ruby asks the last question a bit nervously. Earp states, "At this point I have to trust some folks, and since you've actually killed far more Cowboy Gang members that I have why shouldn't I trust you? Right now the Gang is divided. You killed all of Claiborne’s group and part of Ringo's. With Stilwel and Deal now gone that creates further chaos and a deeper leadership vacuum. Leslie is now caught up with Behan's posse so can't do much gang leadership without implicating Behan. So that pretty much leaves only Ringo to try to keep this together. Johnson and McMasters were with Stilwel's faction and know who almost all of those guys are, so we're going to pick them off one-by-one until there aren't any more left. You're welcome to join us. Or, if you'd prefer, head back east and see what you can do about Ringo and his Galeyville faction. Sounds like that might be more of your immediate concern anyway, but with Warren gone he might just leave Promise City alone." Ruby closes her eyes. "I don't think Ringo is going to leave us alone." She opens her eyes and looks right at Wyatt. "Do you have any advice on how we can get to him? We've tried to shoot him and something seems... amiss." Earp replies, "I'm not sure exactly what you mean. He might leave you alone though. He thinks we were responsible for the farmhouse and that shooting in Promise City on Sunday was targeted at Warren. Since there is no telegraph service to Promise City the Cowboy Gang figured that the first word of Morgan’s death wouldn’t arrive until the Sunday evening stage arrived, so they planned on the afternoon assassination of Warren before he even knew that his brother was dead. Ringo and Deal went there to kill him. Ringo was checking to see if he was in the jail while Deal checked out our rooms at the Great Western. If Warren been in either place he would have been killed. As it was though, he wasn't even in town. I had sent a rider overnight with the news about Morgan and Warren left on that morning’s stage unbeknownst to the Gang. It’s funny, well over half of Promise City had known that since it was apparently announced at the worship service that morning, but cattle rustlers and murderers don’t regularly attend church services. So they went to all that effort for nothing, with Ringo blowing the alibi that he was working so hard to establish." Ruby excuses herself and makes her way outside of the house. Before she sits on a bench she notices one of the men behind the rocks smoking a cigarette. She glances down the road and figures enough time has gone by that if someone were following them they would have known by now. She makes her way over to the man. Without asking his name she asks, "Can I get one?" He looks her up and down but she ignores him and asks again, "A cigarette, can I have one?" He smiles, nods and lights one for her. "Thanks." She heads back to the porch and sits on the steps, nervously smoking her cigarette, waiting for the rest of the meeting to be over. Inside, Jake says, "I don't believe that Ringo is going to leave us alone, best we could expect is for him to regroup and get stronger which only delays the reckoning. With Deal dead and Leslie busy in Tombstone who else is Ringo going to rely on as top men?” Earp replies, "Can't think of anybody other than the Clantons." Jake asks, “Do you know how many men he may have in Galeyville?” Earp replies, "No, not much is known about them, which is why they needed Gifford dead. He was with that group and could have told everything." Jake says, “How long do you think it will take you to clean up the rest of Stilwell's men? If it was fast enough I'd say we work together to finish that job and then we go after Ringo, the last real leader needs to be put away quickly. If you think it is going to be many days, then I don't think I can leave Ringo that much breathing room." Earp answers, "With Behan after us it could take weeks. It's a safe bet that they'll be expecting us to hit the Clanton Ranch so we'll strike elsewhere instead until we can draw them away from it." "Weeks." Jake repeats. "I can't disappear for weeks. Besides fighting this war in Promise City, what do you need from me? How do we work together?" Earp says, "I could get word to you on occasion. If you could find out more about the Galeyville group that would help. Other than that I'm not sure, we'll be playing this day-by-day." "So that's it then for now?" Jake turns to Neil and asks, "What are you planning on telling folks about how you got the Earps resignations and the badges?" Neil replies, "For most folks we could just say that they were left for us at either the Cosmopolitan Hotel or Oriental Saloon. But I think that we should probably tell both of the Deputy Marshalls the whole story." Jake says, "Wyatt, are you going to use this place after we leave? I'm not sure we should tell the whole story, won't that put the Deputies in an awkward situation?" Wyatt says, "No, I doubt I'll be coming back here. Please pass on to Eduardo what I have told you, he may need to know that. Honestly, I'm sorry now that I asked him out here." Jake offers Wyatt his hand, "Good luck then, good hunting." As Jake and Ruby begin to walk away Wyatt says, "Miss. West, may I speak with you for a moment?" "If there's a law against smoking you can't arrest me now, Mr. Earp," Ruby smiles. Once she sees the look on his face she continues quickly, "I was only kidding Wyatt, of course." She takes his arm and walks him to a more private spot. They stop walking and she looks at him curiously. "What can I do for you?" He asks, “Could you please get a message to Josie for me? Ask her to get out of Tombstone as soon as she is able. I’d hate for anything to happen to her." He pauses and then says, "This is insane! She’s Behan’s gal! And I just met her for the very first time last week, and yet there’s a connection there….kind of hard to explain. Now I’m trusting her, a relative stranger and the girlfriend of my enemy with my very life and yet I have no worries about her betraying me. Does that make any sense to you Miss West?” For once Ruby gives Wyatt Earp a genuine, warm smile. "Yes, it makes sense. Sometimes fate has more plans for you than you have for yourself. I will give her your message and make her understand the urgency. By the way, how do you know Behan is with the Cowboys for sure? There is someone I know who would like that kind of information." Wyatt replies, "Sherm McMasters saw Behan and Stilwel planning together. I've always suspected his involvement, this just confirms it." Ruby takes a puff on her cigarette. "Thanks, I appreciate that information. I'll get that message to Josie." She starts walking away, but turns back. "Take care of yourself." With that she walks back to Jake. When everyone is ready, they mount up and head back to Tombstone.</blockquote>

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