- Loving Wives
- Carlyle
- Page 4
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Click here"They've been trying to hire one ever since Billy and me whupped the old one but I don't think they got anybody."
That wasn't enough for old man Clayborn. He didn't get where he was by taking chances. "Finch, Lucky, you two check out the sheriff's office. If there's anybody in there make sure they don't interrupt us."
"Yes, Sir, Mr. Clayborn." The two dismounted and cautiously walked down the wooden sidewalk. Lucky peeked in the window and saw Roberts sitting at his desk. He nodded to Finch then looked back and waved to his boss before they both entered the sheriff's office with pistols drawn.
As soon as Clayborn felt his only threat was removed he and his men thundered through town, quickly pulling their horses up in front of the hardware store. Before Hez realized what was happening the men stormed inside and rushed the two of them. Mattie screamed as three of the men grabbed her. Hezekiah struggled in an attempt to aid his wife but it was useless. The rest of the men had him completely incapacitated.
Clayborn saw the cuts and Hez's swollen eye and knew he had the right man. "You killed my boy," he flatly declared.
Hez was still trying to break loose as he answered. "It was self-defense," he yelled.
"I don't care. Come on boys, I got a rope on my saddle. Somebody get it. We're going to string him up in the front of the livery stable and leave him hanging as a warning for the rest of the people in this lousy town. C'mon!"
Eric grabbed Mattie who was still screaming wildly and slapped her across the face. "Shut up!" he yelled. "We're going to take you out and let you watch your murdering husband hang, then we're taking you to the ranch where you can entertain the hands until we all get good'n tired of you."
"Let her go! She had nothing to do with it," cried Hezekiah, but his plea fell on deaf ears.
"Somebody put him on a horse," yelled the old man.
One of the men tied Hez's hands behind his back as the cowpunchers pushed and shoved the two into the street. Several of them lifted him up on a horse. The rope they grabbed was already tied with a hangmen's noose. Clayborn mounted his horse and walked it in the direction of the stables.
Surrounded and unable to break free from the blood thirsty mob, Mattie screamed at the top of her lungs. "PLEASE DON'T, SOMEBODY HELP, PLEASE, PLEASE HELP US," she implored, but the doors and windows of Carlyle stayed closed.
The vengeful mob herded Hezekiah to his fate. Just as one of the men threw the rope over a big timber that was used to haul hay up to the loft, two shots rang out from the sheriff's office.
Eric grinned up at his pa. "I guess they'll be looking for a new sheriff again."
Ezekiel wasn't concerned with the sheriff, he was eager for vengeance. "Bring his horse alongside mine," he ordered. Mattie was still screaming frantically as Ezekiel got ready to slip the noose over Hezekiah's head.
"HOLD IT!"
The booming voice broke through the chaos and everyone stopped to look. Standing alone in the street was the tall slim figure of Carlyle's new sheriff holding a double-barrel shotgun.
Eric glanced in the direction of the jail wondering how he got past Lucky and Finch. He realized the two shots they heard meant his friends wouldn't be returning to the ranch.
Ezekiel broke the silence. "You going up against us all, sheriff? Don't be silly. It's fifteen against one, you don't stand a chance. Get out of here and we'll let you live, otherwise..."
The hero of Pleasant Valley stood pat. "I assume you're Ezekiel Clayborn. You got here fast. We weren't expecting you until tomorrow. I guess now's as good a time as any though. I got double-ought buckshot in this thing. You might get me but I'm going to take five or six of you to boot hill with me—and you're definitely going to be one of them."
"You won't shoot," replied old man Clayborn, "you could just as easily hit the store-keep here, or worse, his wife."
"The mayor's going to die anyway and for what you have in store for his misses...well, I'm sure she'd rather be dead."
Not a sound was made during the twenty or thirty second stand off until the overconfident Eric decided he was fast enough to drop the man where he stood. The deafening blast from one of the large barrels almost blew the older brother in half.
Clayborn's horse spooked as he was going for his gun and Robert's couldn't get a bead on him. Just as Ezekiel leveled his Scofield forty-four on the lone lawman another shot rang out from above and the king of ranchers flew from his horse, landing in a pool of blood.
Roberts had no idea where the shot came from but he was going make the most of it. "Alright, everybody hold it. You're all covered," he yelled, pointing the other barrel of his twelve gage.
They all looked back at their former boss as they raised their hands high in the air. "Everybody line up and drop your guns into the dirt. Then march towards the jail," he told them. "Mattie, go help your husband off that horse and go home. It's over."
She was almost hysterical as she ran over to Hezekiah. As soon as he was on the ground she untied his hands, threw her arms around his neck, and sobbed uncontrollably. He embraced her trembling body and tried to calm her. "It's okay, honey. I'm okay."
While escorting what was left of the would-be lynch mob back to jail, Jim noticed a young man with a Winchester thirty-thirty exiting the front door of the hotel. "You," he called out, "you want to give me a hand here?"
The kid couldn't have been more than twenty but he didn't hesitate to back up the sheriff. Once everyone was safely behind bars, Roberts had a talk with him. "I'm guessing you're the one who took the shot that put Clayborn down."
"Yeah, I had to. He was going to shoot you."
"Well I'm obliged. What's your name?"
"Joshua, Joshua Hicks. My dad was the town sheriff here...until the Clayborn brothers beat him half to death."
"I see; so that shot was just for revenge?"
"No, Sir. I...I want a good place to live. I thought about what you said at the church. You were right, first it was my pa, then the mayor. Who would be next? I've got me a fiancé. Her name's Molly. She's the prettiest girl in these parts. I thought about her. What if they came for her someday? I couldn't let that happen, Mr. Roberts."
He liked what he heard. "What about that job as my deputy; you interested?"
He answered immediately. "Yes, sir."
"Alright," he said, opening the drawer where he saw the deputy's badges. "The first order of business is to stop calling me sir, the name's Jim."
"Yes, sir, Jim; thank you," he said while pinning the badge to his shirt. "I hope you don't have a bad opinion of the people here. They're not bad, honest. They've...well, they've never had anyone they could feel they trusted before. My dad tried to keep the peace but he was just no match for the Clayborns. I'm pretty sure that after today you're going see the people won't be so scared."
"I hope you right, Josh. I'm getting tired of moving around. I'm kinda hoping to settle down—maybe here, we'll see."
Things did change in Carlyle from that day forward. Under the training of sheriff Jim Roberts, Joshua Hicks became a first rate deputy. Between the two they commanded a new respect for law and order in town. Joshua was also right about the people. The few times they need the town's backing it was there. Carlyle's reputation discouraged the criminal element around and encouraged more decent people to take up residence.
Mattie and Hezekiah never did move. In fact, as the town grew so did their family...by two healthy, strapping sons and one beautiful daughter. Hezekiah remained the mayor for years. They even started paying him.
Jim Roberts also stayed on the job. With his trusted deputy at his side the town's people just wouldn't let him step down. He finally left Carlyle behind one night when he passed away while doing his rounds at the age of seventy-three.
The End.
- COMMENTS
Legendary. A classic hollywood story of the old west that still resonates in picturesque Arizona. A quick draw pistolero defeated by a doubled barrel shotgun. A city girl that likes dominant men... (who knew?)
To the gentleman who used my story as a platform for his own political rant, I deleted your cogitations. They had nothing to do with my story, and as I have said on many occasions, I do NOT allow politics in my comments.
You missed a paragraph about a public mass hanging of the animals from the lynching mob. Dropped to 3 stars because of that.
Nicely developed as a Western history lesson. The good guys always win. Thanks
Thanks for a well-written and very enjoyable read! As for the language, it quite fit the time frame and added authenticity to the piece. Keep up the good work!!
What happens the next time she wants to save her husband? Stupid, her genes need to be removed from the gene pool. Imagine what she would teach her kids. LM
I gave this story 4 stars. I also agree with invisible_bridges. No one ever ran rough shod over a town in the old west. Almost all of the male citizens were veterans of the Civil War or the Indian Wars. And everyone back in those days knew how to properly use firearms. But I did enjoy the story and I hope you keep writing westerns.
Western movies give a distorted view of Western town folk. The actuality would be more like our stereotype of a Southern town full of good ol' boys.
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The barber keeps a shotgun in his shop. He's a combat vet of the Civil War, with more kills than any sheriff or outlaw. The wheelwright next door has been hunting game to feed his family since he was 8 years old. He's an expert marksman. Etc.
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There was a reason that bank robbery was so rare in the Old West. Those gangs that gave it a go -- the James-Youngers, the Daltons, the McCartys -- wound up shot to pieces in the street not by the law, but by shopkeepers.
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Anyway, liked the story.
Great story as are all of yours I hope you write more westerns it was very well done thankyou
this story although fictionalized, is based on a true incident and a real-life sheriff.
So unrealistic,not even funny. Read your history, things like this just didn't happen. Usually ltw has good stories, don't have a clue why ltw went of the rails with this one.
Reading this great story again makes me think it's time for another Western event. This is one of the best of the genre I've seen in LW. Laptop can write anything he sets his mind to.
No sympathy for Hezekial should have got shotgun right away
Not been caught without anything
Of course took away something from son
So?
In this story remind me of the people in the movie "High Noon". Just a bit of trivia about the movie, watch at the very end when Coop throws his badge down into the dirt. You can see just covered in the dust by his boot another badge from an earlier take. Just keep on writing LTW, us old codgers have to stick together. Signed: BTW
Great job. I had to check a fime or two to check I was still on Literotica. I thought I was reading a classic western by the best Western writer of them all.
detroitdave
It was a pretty good story, even had a happy ending. The spelling errors another commentor mentioned didn’t really bother me. What did bother me was the lack of reality. In the era of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday, the people who emigrated to, and settled in the Arizona territory were not your meek, mild, mousy types. It took people of strength and fortitude to make a home in that desert. And I have to believe that in a town like “Carlyle”, just about every grown man would have a gun. A shotgun at least, and many with rifles and handguns too. So when the Sheriff in this story asked for help from the townspeople and no one stepped forward, it strained the credulity of the story a bit too far for me. Three Stars.
This story really is a departure from your usual writing. I liked this story. I also like most of your other stories.
I know you asked to provide some forgiveness on spelling due to the nature and time window for the story. However some spelling was still incorrect.
Even in stagecoach days, brakes were not spelled "breaks".
Also, even then it was beeline, not "B-line".
And a dead body was a corpse, not a corp.
.. from one of the best writers on this site. Thanks.
5 Stars
There's always a but.
I love your stories, and they're always entertaining. This Western-themed one was no different.
However, the ending was lackluster and felt rushed. The vibe I got from it was a more sophisticated way of saying "and they lived happily ever after". No actual conclusion.
It's a shame, since this was a great story until the end.
Special kudos for knowing Wyatt Earp actually carried a Smith & Wesson American, not a Colt .45 Buntline and that's what he used at the "Gunfight in the Alley off Fremont Street Next to Fly's Photography Near the Back of the OK Corral."
A little like the movie High Noon, but just a little. Good story, well written. Thanks for posting, I knew you'd come up with a good one to read. Thanks again.
Is the wife supposed to be mentally disabled? Her scheme of kissing the bad guys was too moronic to get past.
Writing about mentally disabled people is noble, but not entertaining.
Excellent story. The people were not made of heroic material. The wife did what she could and made it out okay. They really shouldn’t have been surprised by a large group of men hitting town, but I guess the Patriarch kept them quiet and organized. Shooting the son and dad cut the head off the snake-it’s not always about numbers. When the wife kissed the two boys back, I thought, “uh oh, we are becoming a cheating wive’s tale..” but that’s not where the story headed- I had some idea she might take them out after exhausting them.
Seems to reflect the growing pains in the Wild West, Apparently all centers of population had to go through this ceremony.
Thanks for a good story. A couple of good twists moved it along. Thanks for a good effort.
....populated with low grass and tall weeds.
A couple of other stories stand out recently, bearing different, but fine fruit.
Thank you!
It's just a scrubby , little village where nothing really important will ever happen. What's the big deal ? Well that's what laptopwriter tried to show us . I liked it best when things were murky. When upright mayor was trying to entice mercenary lawmen to deal with likely lethal, local problem in his no - account burg for munificent sum of 75 dollars a month . The heavy hitters all but yawned in his face. Excellent !
The wife was a pacifist, but was no uptight quaker bride played by Grace Kelly from " High Noon " . She was ready to barter more then store merchandise to avoid scrubbing blood stains. Definite shaded of grey fodder . The bad guys, however, were unadulterated of both humor or nuance - my main complaint.
"They're making me run. I've never run from anybody before." - High Noon . I appreciate laptopwriter did not run from Blackrandl's " Wild West " challenge . How well did he aquit himself as an author?
To me , he did about as well as his fictional merchant protagonist who got bruised and battered when pedal hit the metal . But laptopwriter didn't run . He and Hezikiah did the best they could with tools and talents they had at hand . It would be unseemly and, churlush to rant on this story's shortcomings when the distance covered was farther then I've ever dared to go.
Bottom Line : admired the introduction where the stakes and steaks of Carlyle were too trifling to catch the interest of pulp fiction heros. Did things devolve from there ? Maybe by my idiosyncratic standards , but fellow commentators seemed to find solace in ceremony ritual where defenders of faith wobbled , wavered
but don't fall underground to Motley Cruel minions.
If those were the type of people were the demographic laptopwriter wanted to impress ? Mission accomplished.
Laptop writer, JPB and all the rest have given us a real treat with BlackRandi’s latest event. Thanks every one! And Yeeeee Haaaawwww!
And about 20 more in other categories, I'd say the few people who bitched about this just have some serious jealousy issues going on. Just finished reading this one. It's the last one here, and it's a great story. Now off to read the rest of them. What a great idea, and these guys (and girls) are hellacious storytellers.
Thank you all for the kind words.
Rarely do I delete messages but there are a few things that will trigger that action. I've mentioned them before so I won't go through the list but one such type of comment is that which is political in nature.
This is not a political forum so if you start throwing terms like "liberal" or "snowflake" or gun control panzies into your comment you can pretty much figure on it not standing too long.
Again, thank you, all for your comments and your scores.
You never disappoint, and this is a great job. I am very proud of you, coming in late, getting the story done and with such style and grace. You are a very superior writer, and this story shows that. Thanks again, Randi.
Thanks for your contribution and thanks too to BlackrandI. On to the next story.....