I also noticed that throughout the world there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt!” –Ecclesiastes 3:16, NLT
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There was sunshine hitting the far peaks when I arrived in Silverton not long before dusk. The air had a chill that sort of bit right through you when the wind stirred it up. Shops would be closing in the next hour so that would keep movement on the streets to a minimum. I was traveling light, carrying only saddlebags and my trusty Greener. Instead of going up Greene Street then over to the jail, I decided to go along the tracks a ways, then cut up to the jail. It was located just a block and a half from the notorious Blair Street. Good location for a jail.
I could hear the racket coming from around the corner from the saloons and other places of vice. Catching myself shaking my head, I never could figure out why a miner, especially one with a wife and kids, would go to one of those places and spend all their hard earned wages. However, once Brewlinski took me down a shaft and I began to get a glimmer of why. Those men worked with death all around them in the darkness of a hole where the only light was from the light on their helmet and lanterns in the shaft. They came out of that hole and went to party, laughing that they had escaped death another shift.
Arriving at the jail, I could see that there was a dim light inside, but upon trying the knob, I found it locked. That puzzled me. “Open up!” I hollered banging on the door. “Marshal Forrest!”
I thought I saw movement by the window, then I heard the door being unlocked. A man with a badge greeted me with gun in hand. Not to my liking.
“Come in Marshal, hurry!” he rumbled, his eyes darting in the coming darkness. “Hurry, before someone sees.”
After entering, he quickly locked the door again. “Come away from the windows,” he commanded, the fear coming from his tone. “I’m Lucius Tanner, deputy.”
He didn’t bother to reach out his hand as it still held the gun. At times it was pointed toward the floor, other times at the front of the jail, and there were those times that it landed on me making me somewhat anxious. Finally I said, Put that gun away!”
Looking at me with wild eyes, I thought he might take exception, but did as I ordered and holstered his pistol, then wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. This boy was scared.
“Where’s Charlie?” I asked receiving no answer. “Sheriff Gold, where is he?”
“Back in the first cell. I didn’t dare try to get him to Doc Minton.”
Pushing by him, I marched to the cell finding Charlie laid out on a cot. Blood was on his shoulder and the side of his head. “Have you sent for the doctor?”
“No, I didn’t dare go out. I tried to clean him up the best I could, but I had to watch the door.”
I went to Charlie and found him breathing. He had lost a lot of blood, but I saw the wound on his head was just a scratch. Head wounds tend to bleed, and it must have rattled Tanner seeing all that blood. As I rolled Charlie over, I heard a groan, that was good and I quickly saw that the bullet had gone through, that was also good, but not much was done in the way of care.
“Get me some rags and hot water,” I ordered. Tanner just stood there, looking over my shoulder at Charlie. “Now!”
He scurried away, while I began to remove Charlie’s clothing away from the wound. It needed cleaning, and then I could make a better assessment. At least for the most part it had stopped bleeding, that was also good.
It took a few minutes to get water heated and after I had Charlie’s clothes removed, I went to see Tanner. “Can you tell me what in the world is going on that’s got you in such a fright?”
“They’re dead,” he cried. “They’re all dead.”
“Who’s dead?”
“All the deputies, shot down. McGinnis and, and that…”