Welcome To The Bullpen
Anna’s Prayer
Lowell A. Ziemann
CH 1
With the setting sun warming his back, Marshal Dan Zach rode slowly back to Fairview. The beauty of the shadows creeping up the slopes of the White Mountains with various shades of gold and green suited his somber mood. A tall man, he was splendidly dressed in his Sunday best; grey suit, white shirt, with string tie. His badge peeked out proudly from his vest. His grey hat sat straight on his head. His eyes, usually alert or narrowed with concern, seemed vague and drifting. He rode unusually relaxed. His mind wandered over the peaceful events that had transpired that Sunday…the small church on the edge of town, the congregational picnic, the ride with Anna to her ranch, and the comfortable conversation.
“Lord, please send an angel to protect Dan…”
Before the picnic meal Dan heard her words. Anna had taken his hand in both of hers and with a whisper responded to Pastor Beckwith’s request for public supplications. Only Dan and the Lord had heard her prayer. For the Marshal it seemed a mixed blessing.
He had known Anna for only two months. Her husband, John, was an innocent victim of a botched bank robbery when he had attempted to rush one of the robbers. Since the funeral, Dan had spent his infrequent time helping her with the legal requirements needed to maintain her ranch.
She was a pretty and able woman, strong and determined to overcome the tragedy of young widowhood. She wanted no pity and would not allow anger to rob her passion for life.
Dan’s original pity had turned into something more. He knew it, but was timid to express it. After all, he reasoned, being a lawman is a dangerous job, not something to burden a young widow with…especially one who already had lost one husband to violence. But Anna had invited him to the church picnic and he accepted even though he knew some parishioners would criticize her for not observing an adequate mourning period.
The suffocating strain of the Marshal’s job since the robbery and murder had been an oppressive burden. But this day of brief respite was more than welcome. Allowing this passing reverie was a complete reversal of the vigilance that dominated his demeanor of the last few weeks.
“Lord, please send an angel to protect Dan.”
Did the prayer indicate an admission of shared love or simply a request to protect a friend?
When the shod hooves of his mount clattered on the wooden bridge that spanned the creek just outside of Fairview, Dan was jolted back to his profession. Lawman! Alert…part predator, part prey, but always detective. As he turned down the street toward his office, and for the hundredth time, he relived the events following the crime.
CH 2 Three Weeks Earlier
The long rambling adobe ranch house looked more like a fortress than a home. Gun slits adorned the two large front windows and the heavy oak door. The front veranda ran the length of the house. On it stood the hulking figure of Caleb McCLinton. He stared down the wagon trail at the shape of an approaching rider. As was his custom he carried his rifle; a habit developed years ago when an approaching horseman could have meant danger. He did not immediately recognize the rider, but soon saw the rider was mounted on the large grey gelding usually ridden by Marshal Zach.
Caleb had little use for law of any kind. He had settled matters his own way for 30 years. Apaches, Mexican bandits, cattle rustlers, and farming squatters had all felt his wrath and now gave him a wide ‘trail.
“What brings you way out here?” Caleb asked, not bothering to follow common Western hospitality by asking a visitor to step down.
“I have Garret in jail”. was the Marshal’s direct reply.
“Jail! What for? Drunk again I s’pose”
“Attempted robbery and accessory to murder.”
“Don’t use those fancy law dog words on me…Garret has some faults, but he ain’t no killer!”
“Six weeks ago 3 men attempted to rob the Fairview bank. Garret was standing lookout for them. When a bank customer interfered, the two in the bank shot him down, grabbed $50 from his hand and ran to their horses. Garret’s mount tore loose of his grip and took off with the two murderers. My Deputy caught him as he tried to run away. I need him to testify against the Hoff brothers who Garret said did the killing.”
Caleb paused. “I’ll come and get him and bring him here…you have my word that I’ll bring him in when you need him.”
“No! The Hoffs will surely try to kill Garret, and I can’t let him out”
“I’ve heard of the Hoffs…thieves and killers, hard men… but I can handle them or any others. Zach, you let me take Garret out and I’ll protect him and get the Hoffs too.”
“Sorry. He’s a witness. Anyway you’ve never kept him at home before and if you take him now he’ll disappear and without a witness we cannot hang the Hoffs.
“I told you…I’ll get the Hoffs or I’ll hire a gun or two to do the job. I got no liken for the law…never needed it…let me deal with it my way!”
“No. This is a job for the law” The Marshal turned and rode out of Caleb’s yard. He heard Caleb yell a threat after him.
“You better protect Garret…or I’ll come after you!
Dan Zach turned and yelled, “You take the law into your hands, and I’ll come after you!”
Ch 3
The Marshal rode East intending to ask the Polks who owned the Strawberry Ranch if they had seen anyone who matched the Hoff’s description. It was late afternoon when he rode up to Polk’s ranch. Emma Polk was weeding their garden.
“Mrs. Polk.” The Marshal tipped his hat. I’m looking for two men who tried to rob the bank and killed a man in the process.”
“Get down Marshal, Patrick is inside, we’ll have a coffee.”
“Patrick…how are you?”
A short stocky man got up slowly from the table to shake the Marshal’s hand. “Gettin along OK, rhuematiz, what brings you out this way?”
“Looking for two killers…Hoff brothers.”
Bad men I’fe heard…Don’t know ‘em, but two men rode in here yesterday and then split up, one may have been hurt and he went up the Rim trail and the other headed down the Fairview trail. They were pretty near wore out as was their mounts. Paid me $50 cash for two of mine…The one heading toward Fairview wore an old derby hat.”
Dan immediately recognized the danger. Adrian Hoff was headed back toward town.! There could be only one reason to take such a risk…to kill Garret McClinton.
“Thanks for the coffee. I better be going back. I think the one who headed for town is out to kill a witness I have in custody.”
Ch 4
It would be dawn before he reached town. The commotion in the street told Dan that he had arrived too late.
Charlie relayed the story: Adrian Hoff, figuring that Garret would be alone in the jail after midnight, had crawled on top of the hardware store next to the jail, peered in the jail window and waited until he had a clear shot at Garret and then shot him in the back. Charlie, who was sleeping on the cot, grabbed his Colt, ran outside and saw Adrian crawling down from the roof of the hardware store. In an exchange of gunfire, Charlie dropped Adrian with a shot through head. Charlie was nicked under the left arm. Doc Zelke patched up Charlie, but was unable to do much for Garret who died in about an hour.
Seventeen year old Garrett, was Caleb’s only son. He was a spoiled and pampered kid, short on assigned and meaningful duties on his father’s vast spread, but long on idle time and restlessness.
His wealthy, widower father excused his every indiscretion resulting in his having no ambition beyond planning his next night of carousing. Caleb McClinton believed only in himself… Before law arrived, he hanged rustlers and killed trespassers without regard. He was accustom to giving orders and demanded their execution. Practiced in ways of rugged self reliance, he was not a man to trifle with. His only evident softness was in the spoiling of his son.
Garret apparently fell in with two Hoff bothers. Known only by their soiled reputation around Fairview, Adrian and Billy Hoff were drifters living in various dugouts on the Rim. Known to deal in stolen stock, they had evaded the law with their uncommon knowledge of the mountain country to the North. They roamed the Verde Valley robbing small ranchers and other defenseless homesteaders., always escaping to the tall pines on the Rim.
Red Falcomb owner the Green Mill Saloon was closing up when he heard the shots. Red was a man who enjoyed standing on the edge of excitement and someone else’s danger. Bartending gossip of activities on both sides of the law was how he spent his time. Injecting himself into the problem he volunteered to take Garret’s body to Caleb’s ranch.
A day later he returned with a message for the Marshal and his Deputy. With smoldering anger and poisonous, weeping eyes he told Red to, “Tell the two lawdogs, that their failure to do the job cost me my son! Now I’ll judge the remaining Hoff bastard and when I get through with him I’ll be coming for them!”
When Red relayed the message, his voice dripped with false concern. Dan saw no decency in a man who would gleefully bring a death threat to a lawman. Charlie looked directly into Red’s eyes and said sarcastically, “Well then Red, I guess we can count on you to stand with us when Caleb comes a callin…or will you be too busy pouring drinks for the spectators?”
How many times Dan had run all of this through his mind, he didn’t know, but he realized that there was a reckoning coming and try as he might, he could not find a way to avoied it. He only wished now that he had not relayed most of the story to Anna. He again pondered her prayer.
CH 5
With these thoughts whirling in his mind, Dan entered Fairview and turned the big gray gelding down the main street. As he neared the office he saw Charlie standing on the board walk.
“How was the picnic?” Thinking of Dan and Anna, the Deputy hoped for a detailed answer.
“Fine”.
“Abe Bing is in the last cell. Lucy crowned him with a beer bottle! I threw him in there to heal up and sleep it off”.
“Big Lucy Bing can be feisty. But I saw her at the picnic and she said Abe was home with the croup.”
“Ol Abe got to feelin better when he heard there was a poker game at Red’s” Charlie laughed. “I guess when Lucy got home and discovered Abe was not there acroupin she knew where to find him. She came into the saloon and clobbered him with a beer bottle when he was trying to come up with excuses. Worst part of it was that my beer got spilt and I was holding a winner I never got to declare…3 kings!”
“Like I said, Lucy can be feisty”
“The old battle axe is more mean than feisty. At any rate, Abe won’t be there when you get to your room at their boarding house tonight.”
Dan rode to Abe and Lucy’s Boarding house and put is horse up in the barn out back. He felt fortunate to have Charlie for a deputy…loyal to a fault and accurate with a gun. They had been friends since their youth and could communicate with a glance or a nod. They shared a confidence that few men can count on. They had both been involved in gunplay before, but this fight would be different. There was simply too much time to think about it.
CH 6
“Mornin…How did you sleep?” Dan greeted Charlie.
“Fine…Sent Abe home at sunup. By the way you didn’t’ tell me anything about yesterday’s picnic…just how did you get along with the widow Anna?”
Despite their closeness, Charlie and Dan seldom spoke of the women in their lives. But Charlie knew of Dan’s caring for Anna.
“She offered a prayer for us…Asked God to send an angel to protect us from McClinton.”
“Really? Well we could probably use a little divine help to protect us from that hard old wrangler. I doubt if any of the fine citizens of Fairview will offer help.”
“The stage is due in today, isn’t it?”
“Around noontime”
The lawmen knew that any day now they could expect a visit from Caleb and perhaps a hired gun or two. And they still needed to find Billy Hoff.
An hour late the stage rolled into Fairview and stopped in front of the hotel. A tall stranger climbed out, dusted himself off and looked over the street. He wore a low slung holster.
“Professional gunman,” muttered Charlie. “Do you think he’s a McClinton hire?”
“See no other reason for him to be here.” Dan answered.
“Looks like judgement day is comin,” opined Charlie.
“I’ll go down to the saloon and ask Red to report anything he hears. Red seems to be in the know on any outlaw doings, “ said Dan.
“I’ll see if the stage driver can give us any information,” said Charlie.
CH7
“Spect you’ll be earnin your pay soon,” said Red with a look like a child about to open a birthday gift.
“A bloody gunfight is always good for business, ain’t it Red?” Dan’s disdain was hard to hide.
Red ignored the insult. “I saw big Jim Carr get off the stage. Did McClinton hire him? Think he’s here for you?”
Dan’s pale blue eyes pierced through Red’s arrogant façade and he pushed a forefinger in to Red’s apron.
“Red, I know you are not man enough to stand for right. But do you think you have the guts to relay any information you might hear that would help Charlie and me?”
Remembering a couple of fistfights he had seen the Marshal win, Red simply dropped his chin and nodded.
Dan met Charlie who said, “Stage driver said that the passenger introduced himself as ‘Jim’. He didn’t say much, just read a telegram he had a time or two and cleaned his 45. He didn’t talk to any passengers.”
As the week passed, tension grew. Jim Carr stayed out of trouble. The Marshal and his deputy did not ask for help.
CH 8
Three days after the stage came in, about mid-afternoon, Vin Benton came to the Marshal’s office with a body slung over his packhorse. “Found him hanging in that big oak, near the south end of the lake on my ranch. Bullet in his back too! You know him?”
“Billy Hoff” said Charlie.
“That leaves only Caleb McClinton and whatever gunmen he’s hired and you and me.” He said to Dan. “Looks like Caleb took the law into his own hands…should we go after him?”
“No need,” said Dan, “he’ll be coming here.”
CH 9
On Thursday morning, just before sunup Red was banging on the door of Bing’s rooming house.
“Abe, Abe, I need to see the Marshal!”
Abe opened the door, still in his long handles and quickly asked, “Is McClinton in town?”
“Just get the Marshal, damn it”
Dan heard the commotion and was half dressed when Red entered his room.
“Thought you should know Marshal. Carr had a visitor last night. Stranger…gunman. They ordered a bottle and sat at a back table talkin real quiet. Then walked out and rode off together 3 or 4 hours ago.”
“What’ed the stranger look like?”
“Short and stout…maybe 5’4 or so…left handed I think, wore high boots and a long coat.”
“Thanks Red…how does it feel to do your duty?
”Don’t know about that…but if the word gets out, it is probably my last good deed!”
“Once in your lifetime is better than none”
“Marshal? Good luck.”
Dan informed Charlie of the news and then sent a wire to Cottonwood and Prescott. “Men who travel with Carr usually leave a stink somewhere.”
A return wire came back. “Possibly Fletcher Moss…hired gun…watch your backside” Sheriff Grendal.
CH 10
Early Saturday morning Anna asked her foreman to hitch up the buggy for a trip into town. “I want to go and clean the church for Sunday services,” she explained. With no news for a week she just had to find out if Dan was alright and what the latest information was with Caleb McClinton. It was true that it was her turn to clean the church, but this time it was more of an excuse than a duty.
She thought of John, then of Dan. “Oh Lord keep Dan safe”. It was her constant petition.
She entered the little white frame church. It was the only white painted building in Fairview. “How serene God’s house is” she thought, “and in the middle of all of this violence.”
“Hello Anna.” It was Pastor Beckwith. “Are you feeling alright? You look a bit drawn”.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Just here for the Saturday cleaning”
“Thanks for your service. I have a sick call to make. I’ll be back in an hour to ring the new bell and remind people of Sunday service. I sometimes wonder why we do that, but it might remind some to come on Sunday.”
CH 11
Dan pondered the situation. “I think we had better stay together. Alone we would be an easy target for either Carr or Moss. We would be in danger of being back shot for whatever money McClinton is paying.”
“What do you think we’re worth” Charlie said trying to lighten the mood.
“Well, I hear McClinton is a rich man, but I doubt if you’re worth what he’s paying” Dan joked.
Dan headed for the door.
“Where ya goin?”
“I’m going to the church. Anna has the Saturday cleaning duty.”
“I thought you said we should stay together…so…ahem…I think I better tag along…but I warn you if the conversation gets too romantic, you’re on your own.”
“Shut up and come along!”
CH 12
”Hello Dan” Anna’s greeting was a combination of concern and relief. Her smile lit up the cloak room in the back of the church.
“Is that you Charlie? Hello”
Charlie was standing at the bottom of the five steps that led to the double church doors. He grinned’ tipped his hat and walked a few paces away.
The Marshal took her hand and looked into her worried eyes. “I don’t know how to tell you…I don’t want you to worry…McClinton and a couple of hired guns will be coming here…maybe tonight. He has already killed the remaining gang member who murdered John.
“Please, please be safe…”
“I’ll be back”
“Prayer…” she said. “I will see you later”
CH13
Charlie met him in silence at the foot of the steps. A glance at the emotion in Dan’s eyes told him that the usual kidding would not be well received. He decided to change the subject.
“Do we have a plan?”
“We’ll wait. When they show we’ll end it one way or the other. When guns are drawn, you go for Carr first. You are faster than me. I’ll go for Moss. McClinton is so full of rage that he may not be thinking straight…Let’s hope he is not as quick or accurate as the other two.”
With a nod of recognition, Pastor Beckworth passed them on his way back to the church.
CH 14
With dusk approaching they saw them. Three riders entering town. The outside two were scanning the buildings…looking at every window and door, checking the rooftops. Wary eyes, dangerous eyes. The middle rider looked straight ahead with hateful purpose.
Now they could see them clearly. Carr, McClinton. Moss. Carr kept scanning the roof tops…worried that the lawmen night have recruited help. When they saw the Marshal and the Deputy they rode cautiously forward, dismounted and walked a few paces stopping about 20 yards from the lawmen.
“I see the lawdogs are alone!” Moss sneered.
“How did Billy die?” Dan asked.
“Same as Garrett…bullet in the back” was Calebs reply.
Carr said nothing…his eyes darted from the lawmen to building tops and alleys on either side of the street making sure that there was no one else around.
“Even if you win this fight, you will be hunted the rest of your life” Dan said.
“Not in Mexico…and I’ll have plenty to get there with!” said Moss.
There was a long minute of silence. Then Carr’s hand inched downward toward his gun.
Suddenly a loud clang rang form the church bell tower. Carr swung his gun up and fired creating another loud clang as the bullet careened off of the bell. With a curse Carr realized his mistake and swung his gun toward Charlie. But it was too late. The Deputy had fired and the bullet struck Carr in the chest and he fell backward firing a wild shot into the air. Moss and Caleb McClinton seeing Carr in action brought up their guns. Moss tried to get behind his horse, while firing at the Marshal. Dan felt a bullet singe his side, but he held steady, sighted slowly and dropped Moss with a shot through the outlaws heart.
McClinton was firing wildly and nicked Charlie in the left leg. Charlie kneeled and sighted McClinton and was about to squeeze the trigger when he heard Dan yell.
“Caleb! Don’t commit suicide. Throw down your weapon!”
McCllinton was crazy with rage. He raise his gun again when suddenly a shotgun roared from the street. Two slugs tore into his side and snuffed out his life. It was Red Falcomb!
Suddenly it was quiet. The shooting and the bell ringing ended and an eerie silence fell amid the dusty smoke filled street. People cautiously came out of the saloon curiously inspecting the damages.
Dan bent over Charlie and helped him to his feet.
“Saved by the bell” Charlie joked even as he grimaced from the wound.
“Saved by Anna’s prayer” Dan replied.
Red Falcomb came over. “Are you OK?” He seemed to be asking both lawmen.
“Fine…and Red thanks!”
“Two good deeds in one week,” Red said,”at this rate I may end up going to church on Sunday”
Anna rushed to Dan’s side and with one arm helping Charlie he managed to hug her with the other.
Charlie grinned.
“Do they ring that bell at weddings too?” He asked.
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