Chapter Fifteen
The meeting was scheduled for seven p.m., and the sun was a large orange disk hanging just over the Laramie Mountains as the county residents began arriving by horseback, buggy, surrey, buckboard, and wagon.
The residents of the town watched the ranchers and farmers arrive, most with a sense of curiosity as to what they might decide, but some with a barely subdued animosity. Nearly everyone in town wanted the railroad, and they were resentful of anything, or anyone, that might prevent it. They were afraid that the planned meeting might have just that purpose in mind.
For the children of the ranchers and farmers, it was an exciting adventure, and even the rural women enjoyed the opportunity it would give them to visit. Such opportunities were rare because they lived so far apart. As the men went into the Cattlemen’s Hall on the corner of Swan and Third Street, the women and children scattered throughout the town.
After dinner with Meagan, Duff had joined Elmer at Fiddler’s Green Saloon while waiting for the meeting to begin.
“Will Meagan be comin’ to the meetin’?” Elmer asked. The meeting was closed to anyone who wasn’t a member, or who had not received a specific invitation to attend, but, like Elmer, Meagan was a partner in Sky Meadow and because of that, a member of the Association.
“I asked her if she wanted to come and she said she dinnae think she would.”
“I wonder if Charley Blanton will show up?”
“I expect he will, ’twas his article in the newspaper that got everyone all fired up.”
“Yeah, and speakin’ o’ fired up it also more ’n likely got his newspaper office burnt down,” Elmer said.
“Aye, that is probably true.”
Biff Johnson had been standing at the door looking out over the batwings down toward Cattlemen’s Hall. He went back to Duff and Elmer’s table. “If you two are going, I should tell you that quite a few of ’em are gathered down at the hall now,” he said.
“Then ’tis best we go,” Duff replied. “I would nae want Webb to get all nervous worrying about us.”
Webb Dakota, owner of Sundown Ranch, was the president of the Cattlemen’s Association, and he had already asked Duff at least three times if he would be there.
“You may have a bit of trouble tonight,” Biff suggested.
“What kind of trouble?” Elmer asked.
“Elmer, I don’t have to tell you that there are a whole lot of people in town who want the railroad to come through, and they’re looking at this meeting of the cattlemen as an obstacle that might prevent it.”
“Aye, like they looked at the newspaper as an obstacle to prevent it,” Duff said.
“No, I don’t think so,” Biff said, shaking his head. “At least, not the same people. Charley has spent quite a bit of time in here today. I mean, without the newspaper, where else would he go? Anyway, Charley isn’t blaming anyone in town for it. He thinks it was the railroad people themselves who burned down his paper.”
“It could be, I suppose,” Duff agreed. “But we’ve nae way of proving it.”
“Yeah, that’s just what Marshal Ferrell is saying,” Biff replied.
Roy Streeter and Hank Mitchell were in the little building next door to Martin Gilmore’s Law office, the building that the town had provided for the railroad.
“It worked out just like you thought it would,” Streeter said to the man sitting behind the desk. “Half the people think it was someone in town that burnt down the newspaper office, ’n most o’ the others think it was maybe somebody from Walbach or Uva.”
“Good. We no longer have the newspaper to worry about, and as long as we have everyone at each other’s throats, then nobody will be paying that much attention to us, which means we can keep on with our plan.”
“Yes, well, the people in the towns might be for us, but the ranchers are something else,” Streeter said. “They’ve got a big meetin’ goin’ on down at the Cattlemen’s Association building right now, ’n I’m tellin’ you, boss, this could wind up bein’ trouble for us.”
“If they do try and cause any trouble we have enough men to resist, and we can resist with force. Remember, we have the law on our side.”
Hank Mitchell chuckled. “Yeah, we’re railroad police. I never thought I would be a badge packer, but here I am, a-wearin’ one.”
* * *
By the time Duff and Elmer stepped into the Association Hall, every rancher and farmer from the valley was there, and the two had to look around for a seat. When everyone was gathered and seated, Webb Dakota picked up his gavel and called the meeting to attention.
“Gentlemen, I don’t expect I’ll have to give you a reason why we’re having this meeting. This railroad business is getting out of hand. First, we have seen thousands of acres of free range gobbled up.” He held up his hand. “Yes, I know that the free rangeland is government property, but our cattle have grazed on it for as long as we have had cattle here. And losing that grazing land is workin’ a hardship on all of us. But it didn’t stop there. A few days ago we saw our first example of what they are calling eminent domain. Jonas, I’m going to let you tell the others what happened.”
Jonas Perkins came to the front and looked out over his fellow ranchers. “Well, by now, I reckon you have all heard that Poindexter and some of his men from the railroad come to see me the other day. And the visit warn’t nothin’ you could say was a sociable call, neither. ’Cause what they done was, they bought up all my land that was watered by Bear Creek.”
“They bought it, you say?” Dale Allen asked. “Well, that’s somethin’ isn’t it? I mean at least they didn’t just take the land like they been doin’ with the free-range acreage.”
“Yes, they bought it. They give me sixteen hundred dollars for eight hundred acres, and told me it belonged to the C and FL Railroad now.”
“What? Are you actually saying that all they give you for that land was sixteen hundred dollars? Are you serious?” David Lewis said, literally shouting the last word.
“Sixteen hundred dollars,” Perkins repeated.
“Why, that’s only two dollars an acre, and that land is worth fifty dollars an acre, easy!”
“Yes, maybe even a little more because it’s well watered. But I wasn’t able to set the price. According to the railroad, it was the government that sets the price.”
“And they dammed up Bear Creek too, which means I’m not gettin’ any of the water, either, and that ain’t right,” Goodman added. “There ain’t nothin’ that’s right about it.”
“Tell them what happened this mornin’, Jonas,” Dakota said.
“Wait, don’t tell me. They bought up some more of your land,” Earl Davis, of the Davis Ranch said.
“No, this mornin’ they came back to see me with a proposition,” Perkins continued. “They offered to let me buy my land back.”
“They offered to let you buy your land back? Well, that’s good. It could be that some of our protestin’ is gettin’ through to ’em,” Lewis said.
“Not quite. Remember, I told you that they bought it for two dollars an acre. Now they say I can buy it back from them for twenty-five dollars an acre,” Perkins said bitterly. “Oh, they did point out that I would be getting the land for less than it is worth.”
“I thought I was the only one they had done that to,” Dale Allen said. “They took my free rangeland, then offered to sell it to me for forty dollars an acre, pointing out to me that it had never been my property in the first place.”
“Gentlemen, none of this makes sense to me,” Dempster said. Though Dempster was a banker and not a rancher or farmer, he did so much business with them that he was a member by default. This was the first time he had spoken since the meeting began.
“What do you mean, it doesn’t make any sense to you?” Dakota asked.
“The C and FL is a subsidiary of the P R and M Corporation. The Poindexter Railroad and Maritime Corporation is one of the most highly respected companies in America, and they are known for their honest and decent business practices. That’s why I say this makes no sense. I have certainly followed the founder of that company over the years, and he is the textbook example of the American entrepreneur who got where he is today by his own intelligence and industry.
“What do you mean?” Dakota asked.
“Well, for example, he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth; he didn’t inherit a railroad and a shipping company, he didn’t even inherit any money. Why he was once an ordinary seaman himself, starting out on the very ships he now owns. And even there he prevailed because he went from ordinary seaman to ship’s captain. No, sir, from everything I have read about Preston Poindexter, he is a man of honor and integrity.
“Who?” Elmer called out. “What was that name you just said?”
“Preston Poindexter,” Dempster said. “He is the one who owns P R and M Corporation, and he’s the father of Jake Poindexter, the man we’re dealing with.”
“Are you sure his name is Preston Poindexter ’n that he once commanded a ship?”
“Yes, I’m positive.”
“Elmer, what is your interest in all this?” Dakota asked.
“Because if the Preston Poindexter that you’re talkin’ about is who I think it is, I know him. I know him real personal.”