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    Burro's to Bisbee: Western Fiction Album
    Burro's to Bisbee: Western Fiction Album
    Burro's to Bisbee: Western Fiction Album
    Ebook162 pages3 hours

    Burro's to Bisbee: Western Fiction Album

    By Tom Leftwich

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    About this ebook

    This work is a collection of Five fictional early west tales of uncommon nature of the 1870 era in Arizona and New Mexico. All written to bring an enjoyable unusual, sometimes violent but satisfying story from that period of our southwest history. Follow, the trail of three misfits taking burro’s to the huge number of hungry miners in the town of Bisbee. Join a horribly beaten teen age boy as he escapes hanging and saves the life of a crippled Indian girl. Ride with a stormy red headed girl as she chases Mexican raiders bent on killing her and her mother; then follow the tale of an ex-outlaw assisting a young widow as they scavenge and search the Great Salt lake desert in Utah for an abandoned wagon train of twelve Conestoga’s. To complete, a fifty two year old outlaw sits waiting to die when fate steps in to put him in the middle of another outlaw adventure . Saying to his recently buried wife, “Maggie, you always said I’d die with a rope on a cow or around my neck . This waiting to die is mighty dangerous. A man might get killed!”
    Unusual moving adventures and incidents make for an enjoyable read. Thank you for reading this description. Tom Leftwich
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu.com
    Release dateDec 17, 2022
    ISBN9781387394456
    Burro's to Bisbee: Western Fiction Album

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      Burro's to Bisbee - Tom Leftwich

      Chapter  1 Burro’s to Bisbee

      You a dirty Squaw man ain’t you! this exclamation coming from  a hard looking thirty some year old Mildred Haynes cleaning  tables in the Doggerel Trading Post in Casa  Grande, Arizona territory. The man she spoke to was Thornton Davis who replied, Yeah, I was; there ain’t a white woman within a thousand miles of this rat hole town. You look like you might a been white at one time. What’s it matter to you? Ain’t you got a husband ? Mildred replied, ‘ No mister you got it wrong, names Millie. I was born right here. Couldn’t find a descent man nowhere. You’re like all the rest. Get you a squaw and bed down. No care , no responsibility. Take off when you feel like it. Wouldn’t know how to treat a white woman anyhow or make a home . Mister, I know , I’ve seen it all. I tried marriage two times; didn’t work. Too many pretty Indian and mex girls around. I never had street looks and couldn’t hold a man. Yeah you might a guessed, I wound up workin a saloon and you know where I wound up. That was the end for me ; just give up in Tucson. I had to look up to see the bottom of the barrel and here I am trying to get money to live on doin what I can for folks for a few pieces of silver. Sorry, but you asked. I didn’t mean to go off on you the way I did. Juan , the owner’ll be with you in a minute. I gotta finish here and get over to Dutchman’s Bar and clean it before noon or lose my job. That place is a pig pen. Davis replied, ‘ Guess I asked for it, my names Thor Davis. Millie , I’m on the rocks myself. Came in here lookin for work. Just got outta Yuma prison. Killed a man up in Phoenix accidental like , my aim was off a little. Damn judge gimme five years. They gotta new thing now they call manslaughter, which really means they didn’t think I was justified in shooting the bastard. He assaulted my squaw wife Tessa and I shot him. Meant to take off his manhood , but like I say, my aim was too high and he died a week later. Tessa died while I was in prison. Look , you know your way around this town pretty good. How about I go with you and help you clean the Bar and later you can point me in the right direction for a job maybe. I gotta do something; ain’t had much to eat in a couple of days; waitin for some money to come in."

      Millie looked at him and said, ok you’re on , I’ll split the dollar with you, but it’s dirty work. We’ll have to palaver later. Go on over now and start dumping spittoons, I’ll be over in two shakes. Just say you’re my helper. Thor took off at fast walk as Millie just shook her head thinkin, I reckon he’s worse off than me. Pretty dirty under that long hair and beard, but we’ll see how he works. Millie was a good twenty minutes finishing up and a big surprise hit her as she went into the saloon. Thor was busy sweeping out! The place looked clean! She said Mister you’re a real worker, you sure ought to find work easy in this town. You’ve got the place done , the whole dollar is yours. Thor said, ‘ No Millie , we had a deal and I’ll settle for half. Without your help, I wouldn’t get a penny. Millie said ok, you ain’t eat so come on , I’ll get some coffee and bacon goin. I’m through for the day. Thor said , I thank you Millie , but’ what’ll folks think bout you being seen with me. Might hurt your business. ‘ Millie laughed saying, I’ll tell you what they’ll say. Looks like that old saloon girl has a customer.  If I was in that business, being seen with me would help me out. Thor shook his head saying, You’re plenty plain spoken ain’t you? I guess you tell it the way it is. Millie replied,  ‘ Ain’t no use in sugar coatin the truth ; a lotta folks are blinded by their own thinking. Thor it’s your reputation ,you gotta worry about. I already have one. Thor said, I don’t know Millie, under those working clothes, I’d say there’s a good lookin woman. Millie scoffed saying, You been in prison too long!"

      Thor thanked Millie for the eats and went to the livery stable following her suggestion for a possible job. Hank Jarvis, an old codger and war veteran  was the owner.  He said, Sure cain’t pay you much more than grub money , but I do need stalls cleaned . you might pick up a little loading wagons for Tucson and Bisbee. Casa is kind of a jumpin off place for supply wagons headed for Yuma. That’s about all there is going on in this town. Unload one wagon and load the other. There’s some big mining going on in Bisbee and a lotta miners to feed. Every thing grown around here goes to Bisbee. That Mexican tick fever has everybody scared to eat beef down there. Some of the Ranchers have made cattle drives to that town, but water’s a big problem tryin to get there with a herd. Lose about half and that ain’t too good. There’s money to be made selling meat to them miners, but there just ain’t any. All the game in that country has been killed off. Thor asked, What about burro’s and horses. They’re good eatin. Hank replied, ‘ Yeah I’ve got a few ol’skates I could sell for good money there, but gittin there is the problem. I’m told a burro is their favorite eatin, but hard to come by. There’s hundreds of’em around here, but they’re here not in Bisbee. Thor asked where to start and went to cleaning stalls.

      Millie came to the stable the next day , to see how he was doing . Thor said, ‘ Doin Ok Millie, just shoveling cow and horse manure. Millie said, ‘ Juan’s looking for help when the freight wagons git in.; you might make a dollar or two.  They pay pretty good. Dirty and hard work. Good help just ain’t around  here in town. Thor said , ‘ Millie thanks for your help, I’ll check on it right away. She said , Gotta a good piece of beef for dinner tonight if you’re interested. It’s tote-ings  food  left over from the Dutchman and I cain’t eat it all. I help them put on a dinner and get the tote-ins left over to tote home. Come over when you git ready. Thor said, ‘ Thank you Millie! I can sure use a good bait. I’ll be over after the stage gets in, I’ve got an important letter comin .

      Later Thor was thanking her and said, ‘ Mill, I’ve got a proposition for you. ‘ Millie replied, Oh God! I sure didn’t expect that from you! Guess that five years in prison must really wear on a man, if you’re lookin at me. Thor quickly replied, No! I’m not talking about what you think! I’m talkin about putting together an outfit and going to Bisbee. From what you told me, you’ve been around plenty and being farm raised could be a good partner in what I’ve got in mind. I had a bank draft come in today . Money I got when I had to sell everything before going to prison. Tessa being Indian never spent it and we had a good farm going. All gone now , I never had time to prove up on my homestead. Anyhow I’ve got almost seven hundred dollars in that draft. With a little luck , I think I can get a rig together, don’t need a lot; I’ve got a chance to make some money but I need a partner. Cain’t do it by myself and you look plenty healthy to help.Millie exclaimed, ‘never had that kind of a proposition Thor, threw me for a minute. What you got in mind?

      Thor said, ‘ One of the cell mates I had in Yuma had a visitor. Talked about a hidden valley full of burros about a day’s hard ride from Bisbee. There’s a small creek runs out into the desert and dries up in a quarter mile or less. He claimed there was a tunnel going back into the rocky side walls that protected a hidden valley where wild animals lived. Said there was burro’s  and some cattle  but no horses. The tunnel was too narrow for a horse. You had to walk in on foot. The big thing is , I know where that dried up creek is. Went through there as a young boy with my grand pa it’s just off the trail to Los Cruces. We camped there on our way out here to Phoenix. I think I can find it pretty easy . Don’t remember a tunnel, but it’s gotta be there. That creek comes from somewhere. Burro’s are in big demand in Bisbee right now. We get lucky and make a few hundred dollars."

      There’s thousands of them here in Arizona and all we gotta do is catch’em and get’em to Bisbee. They’ll give you a tussle ,but are pretty easy trained . you see’em wandering here in Casa every day. We could get twenty or more just hand feeding them, halter ‘em up and do a line trail drive for Bisbee. I’ve used ‘em for packing ever since I can remember. I’m thinkin ; get a wagon and  load of corn . With a couple barrels of water  and canteens on some of the animals , water won’t be a problem and we can do twenty miles a day pretty easy, whatta you say? Millie looked at him like he was crazy and said, Mister, you been drinkin the wrong stuff. Too much kerosene in your whiskey always makes for  wild dreams like that. Jackasses to Bisbee. Never heard of such a thing. No I don’t think I’m good for that kind of life style. Thor said, Whatta you got now Millie? Just a trail to boot hill and a tough one at that. Yeah, we might die out there, but it won’t be from cleaning Bar- rooms for what years you’ve got left. I’ll just bet there’s someone right now paying fifty dollars for a fat burro in Bisbee.’ Millie said, it sounds good Thor but there’s a lotta iffy in your plans. Aside from that, there’s Paco. An orphan Mexican boy I been sorta helpin out; lives on the street. I think he’s maybe ten years old. I feed him sometimes. Thor said , Great! we’ll take him along. He’ll be a big help with the burro’s. Now what about it? I’m gonna start getting a rig together tomorrow.Millie said, Thor, I really don’t know you. Let me sleep on it; see you tomorrow.Thor said, Yes or no is Ok, but send Paco to see me . I’m gonna try it. Bisbee money is waiting.

      The following morning, Thor was talking to  a man that owned a Calvary feeder wagon that he couldn’t sell.. It was too tall for burro’s but Thor figured he could lower it with smaller wheels to make it work. It was perfect for his plan and for fifty dollars he owned a wagon. There was plenty of room on board for supplies and sleeping. Later talking to Hank, he bought four good sets of old harness for ten dollars each. In answer to his question about horses, Hank said, Jake Helms has a couple of older stallions he’s been trying to sell. You could get’em for hog feed prices. They’re kinda rejects. One has developed a string halt condition that cripples it at a run and nobody wants to breed to him. The other is no longer useful for breeding due to injury of his sheath. They are pretty docile for studs. Do a little cutting and they might make a team. There are some mustangs folks wanna get rid of. You might find something there, but most are small for draft work.  Thor said , Line me up with these folks Hank . I don’t need heavy horses. My load will be light.

      Millie came to the stable after her cleaning was done. She brought the young Paco with her. Thor liked the kid immediately. He was a worker and went to shoveling manure to help him. Paco said to Thor’s questions, Yes sen’or Thor. I take  job . I go with you. I have no one and very little. What I ware is what I got. That’s all but blankets for sleeping. Millie said ,  That does it Thor, I’ll go too. Paco is like my own, but he needs clothes. Thor said, I’ll get him something Millie ; how about you and working clothes, you’ll need to wear mens clothes.’ Millie replied, Just like a man , you didn’t notice ; my cleaning outfit is mens. I won’t need too much more. Outfit Paco and he’ll earn his clothes. What’s next? Thor replied, I’m lining up some horses. Paco , you can hang out with me. We’ve got work to do. Millie walked away thinking, Whatever happens cain’t be worse than what I have now and Paco is sure wearing a big smile. He’ll love working with Thor. I better get my stuff together, because it don’t sound like we’ll be coming back here."

      A few days later and she couldn’t believe the change in Paco. Thor had taught him how to make bridals for burro’s and he had a pile already, but asked Thor for more  leather. Thor was busy with two stallions Hank had helped him castrate. Thor said , Ive greased the new wagon wheels and they’re solid. Another week Millie and we’re gonna be driving a team around. Hank’s gonna loan me a couple of leads to get these guys started. I’m looking at two mustangs for leads. Farmer says they’re too small for plowing. I’ll get’em pretty cheap. They’re just a feed bill for him. I’ve got that wagon knocked down Millie. It’ll feed twenty horses or mules at a time We might get thirty burros around it . Paco knows where there’s burro’s around town looking for hand outs. A little corn and we’ll see how many we can catch . He’s got two tied to the wagon already and we’ll put out a little more corn to bait more in. The more we get, the more will come in. we’ll soon have our twenty and I wanna be loaded and ready to roll. I’ve got dead loops on all the feeder stalls. Any burro sticking his head in will be caught. Any Jack’s will fight , but burro’s are pretty smart animals. They’ll settle down quick. We’ll cut any jacks we catch, so Millie I may need your help. Millie replied, I’m ok with that Thor, I helped Daddy do a lotta that on pigs and calves. There’s a few

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