If this story is prohibited in your area, you are underage or gay sex offends you, then please leave! If you are looking for hard core sex, you won't find it here. However, some sex and reference to sex will be found. The story plot and characters are fictional and any resemblance is just coincidental. Please feel free to email me and be sure to include the title in the subject line. joecollins7420@yahoo.com
Have you made a donation to Nifty? If you have THANKS! It is through donations that keeps Nifty going!
Now just sit back and enjoy!
On the move West Chapter 1
My father made it big in the steel manufacturing business and became a wealthy man. My mother died and shortly thereafter, my father died at an early age of fifty. I, the only heir, inherited everything.
According to his will, all of his slaves and indentured servants were to be given their freedom . I followed his instructions exactly, gave them their freedom papers, a sum of money and outfitted them with wagons, teams, and supplies so they could move west to establish a new life for themselves. They all decided to stay together and headed for the farmlands in Central Canada.
I had lots of time with nothing to do. I made appearances at the plant but still nothing to do. I had a plant manager who ran the factory and all I had to do was a little paper work here and there and give the workers their pay at the end of the week. I paid them good and had them working decent hours and hired no children under the age of 18. I started working along with the workers. Before long, I had a body to be proud of. The workers rewarded me by giving me a good honest day of work. My business continued to thrive.
Everyone was after me to get married. I had no interest in marriage and started avoiding social events. There was always a young lady and/or her mother trying to attract my attention but with no success. I was just really trying to avoid all the 'gold diggers'. I don't know how many dinner invitations I turned down. I simply wasn't interested in women and marriage was the last thing on my mind. I would on occasion visit the local saloon and take one of the girls upstairs. I had to be very careful or the church and maybe the whole community could turn against me and then I would really lead a lonely life and would be completely isolated.
The war between the states ended. I, Jim Turner, lived in the north just over the dividing line and I supported the North. However, I, too, lost everything. My house and outbuildings had been completely destroyed and burned. All my cattle had been butchered and my horses and mules taken. My crops were all burned. My only living relatives, three uncles and their families were gone(killed).
I sold my bottom land farm and my steel manufacturing business both for a very handsome price. I now had a very large nest egg, in fact I was very rich. I would start my life over in the west. I bought three wagons, four mules and twelve oxen to pull the wagons and for use on a farm in Oregon. I purchased twelve oxen because of the weight of the farm equipment. I knew they would be needed. Until the going got rough, I planned to rotate the oxen giving them a break, work a team of four and give them two days off before working them again. On steep up hill climbs and hard climbs, I would hitch six of the oxen to each wagon. I wanted to save my animals for work on the farm. I had converted all my cash to gold and put in it under a false bottom in the wagon not filled with farm equipment.
I got my neighbor, David White, a lad of 18, to drive one of the wagons and I would drive the wagon in which the heavy farm implements would be loaded. I would walk beside the lead oxen to lighten the load. Thus, I would essentially be walking to Oregon.
David's step-brother, Samuel, age 19, was going to drive their own wagon. They had lost their entire family during the war and was willing to go with me and start over. Like me, they lost everything. We could not get a good price for their land. Not a problem because I had already decided to use my fortune for all my friends to start a new life.
Fortunately, their house only partially burned and we were able to salvage most of the household furnishings that we wanted to take with us. When we started loading, we discovered they needed another wagon. I got them another team and wagon. The boys got an neighbor who was a widower to drive the extra wagon. He wanted to leave and go west and live near his own family. His grandson, age 14 would drive the extra livestock and oxen.
I hired a driver, Jeff Temple, for my third wagon. Jeff had lost everything in the war. He had a young wife, Judy, and absolutely no money. I bought them some clothes and bedding and completely outfitted them will all the other necessary essentials. I made them a promise that when we arrived in Oregon that I would set them up with a place of their own.
I thought I would claim land under the 1862 homestead act and buy the boys two farms, one for each of them because they were under age and could not homestead.
Jeff and Judy could claim land also. I would have a house built and equip the farm and house, so they could start life anew. Meanwhile, they could cook and eat with the boys, Mr. Smith, his grandson, and I. We became one large family with five loaded wagons.
We were just going to wait and see. We were not in a hurry. Oregon was still a long way off and anything could happen. We might even find some land that we liked before we made it to Oregon. Since money was not a problem, we could settle anywhere if we found a place to our liking. In fact, we didn't need to apply for homestead land grants, which would probably be a lot more work to establish our homes and farms. However, none of us were afraid of a little work.
We loaded everything that David and Samuel wanted to take into the wagons. We took all of their kitchen paraphernalia, all the large steel cooking pots, two large copper kettles which were big enough for bathing and washing clothes. We loaded a large iron pot which had a tri-pod which could be used over an open fire for cooking and to heat water. There was also several cast iron cooking pot and skillets, Dutch ovens, bedding, our clothes, food supplies, and other household miscellaneous items.
The boys were among the more fortunate, they had photos and other personal memorabilia. They loaded their mother's organ in the wagon with the farm equipment. With everything loaded, we headed for Missouri, where we would join a wagon train going west.
We were glad to leave our past and bad memories behind. We had each other for company and could assist each other when need be. We made a pack not to remember the past and especially not to talk about it. All we wanted to do was forget, of course, we would carry the memories of our loved ones forever in our hearts. Nothing could ever take that away.
We joined a wagon train. Most of the people on the train were from the South. I paid for all five wagons. We usually stayed by ourselves because those from the deep south were very bitter and didn't want to associate with `Northerners'. They were very determined to make our lives miserable.
The wagon train left St. Louis far behind and we were making good progress on our westward movement toward Oregon. The towns were getting fewer and fewer. The people were also decreasing and were living farther and farther apart. So far, we enjoyed beautiful spring weather and had suffered no real hardships. Indians had not been a problem. We had lots of fodder for our animals Things were certainly looking good.
We crossed the Continental Divide and started down the other side. One day, just before making camp for the evening, we came upon three wagons stopped along side the trail with no animals of any kind . We knew right away that something terrible was wrong and the owners were in trouble.
I was driving the lead wagon in the train. David and Samuel were right behind me in their wagons. The Temples and Mr. Smith followed. We stopped and ran over to the wagons.
We found a Negro woman, Betty and two children, Jacob and Lisa, all covered with blood huddled under one of the wagon, more dead than alive. The woman asked us for a drink and told us to look in the other wagons. I knew right away that all three were in terrible shape.
We gave them a small drink of water, by now, a crowd from the wagon train had gathered. Soon the people started shouting for us to leave them and return to our wagons. Samuel challenged the group and refused to leave. The wagon master told us that they were going to leave us and go on without unless we left immediately. He said that we would have to fend for ourselves because we had wasted too much time already.
"Look, Mister! These people are in no shape to travel and can't be left alone. We are their only hope and we are staying. We would like to have our money returned as we are leaving the train!" I yelled.
"You had better reconsider! You won't be able to survive without us. These people aren't worth all the trouble they will cause," said the wagon master.
"I hope the whole lot of you rot in hell. These people are human beings and need our help. I would rather stay with the these people and take our chances than travel with a bunch of bigots such as the likes of all of you. We are going to give them all the help we can. .I would rather take our chances for survival than travel with a bunch of worthless, heartless, cruel people that you are. . I pray for your souls but I think you all are going to need a lot more than prayers. I just hope that we are not too late with our services. I pray that we can help these poor people. I hope we can give them another chance on life. Now, I'll go with you to get our money!"
"You signed on for us to take you to Oregon. I can't return your money." the wagon master replied
"Oh, yes you can. It was you who said you were leaving us and going on without us. You are breaking the agreement we signed with you. You are not living up to your end of the agreement." I wasn't really concerned about the money, but I just wanted to let him know that he couldn't push people around and get away with it. After much mumbling and grumbling, he agreed to refund our money.
Three other families, (Myers, Manning, and Long) ,all from the North, said they were staying with us. Much to our surprise, two Southern families(Watson and Quinn} wanted to join us. They said they wouldn't support the South during the war and had suffered because of it. All the families told the wagon master the same thing that we had already told him and also got a refund.
Boys would you move our wagons up here, please. Thanks Boys! You that are staying with us, just pull your wagons out of line and bring them up here, also. I will get busy helping these people. I am glad that we came along when we did. I don't think they could have lasted much longer without our help."
Sarah Myers, Elizabeth Manning, and Donna Long had started washing the dried blood from the woman and children`s faces. The helpers were giving them little sips of water.
I went the next wagon and found a man, Larry Brown, his wife, Mary, and two teenage girls, Joan and Cindy, all very near death. I called Mary Watson , Susan Quinn, and Judy Temple to come and help. They were to put some water on a washcloth and squeeze a little water in each of their mouths. Soon they were able to drink little sips at a time.
I went to the next wagon to check of the ones inside. I found a priest, Father Matthew, two young Indian men, Adam and Luke and a young negro man, Joseph. I guessed the young adults were about my age, which is 27. All of them, the priest included looked like they had been severely beaten like all the others, and had been left for dead. With a lot of special care, I thought that they might get lucky and survive. Thank goodness, everyone was still alive. I gave thanks and praised the lord. I had my hopes up that we could pull them all through. I put Jeff, Mr. Myers. And Mr. Manning tending those in this wagon.
I asked Oren Watson and Clark Quinn to take charge of the animals and prepare the camp for the night.
I sent David and Mr. Long to gathered some wood and start a fire so that the women could start making some beef broth for the injured. One of the teenage girls confirmed that they had nothing to eat or drink for three days. We had to get a lot of liquid and nourishment into their bodies and quick. Dehydrations and starvation had already started.
Tom Myers, Don Long, and Charles Manning pulled two wagons together. They took the canvas off one of the wagons and stretched it between two wagons to make shade and protection for all the injured. We made beds under the canvas. Now all that was left was to move the wounded and put them on the beds.
"David and Jeff, would you please get the large iron pot with the tripod and fill it with water and put it on the fire to heat. Thanks! I want to clean everyone and see how bad their wounds are and if they will need stitches or have any broken bones. Samuel, take the older children and gather some herbs to put on the cuts. Leave the younger ones and we will watch them. You know which herbs I want. Hurry!"
"Jim, you sound just like a doctor. I certainly hope that you are because we will probably need one before we reach our destination," said Tom.
"Yes, I have gone to medical school and have my license but I have never had a practice. I went to work in my steel mill and I got a lot of training during the war. I want to get a good farm in a community that needs a doctor. So that I can do both."
When Samuel and the children returned, I had him crush the sagebrush, rabbit brush, wild onions, and other wild herbs into a fine powder. I sent him to my wagon to get some dried carrots and bring my medicine kit when he returned. He also striped some bark from an elm tree growing near by and crushed it also. He put all of this into a kettle with a small amount of water and milk. He began steep them over the fire. He continued to mash the ingredients. Finally, he added some old hard biscuits to make a thick paste for a poultice. I would use the poultices to draw infections or pus out of the cuts and breaks in the skin. I had Donna go to my wagon and bring back a bolt of white muslin. You can't miss it. It is just inside the back flap. She was to tear some strips to be used for bandages.
"Let's put the women and girls together and put a curtain between them and the men. I want to start cleaning them and get them into clean clothes . I just hope we can find some in their wagons. If not they will just have to `borrow' some of ours".
Mary and Susan started cooking the evening meal, a huge pot of stew and biscuits. The other women finished cooking the beef broth and now came the task of feeding all the patients. Each Adult was told to take a bowl of broth and go to one of the wounded. Everyone was cautioned to give only a very small spoonful at a time and to go very slow. I didn't want any choking or scaled mouths. Their bodies had to get use to having food in their stomachs. Again, another reason for slow feeding. All the helpers were to talk with their buddy and were to gather as much information as possible without prying and causing them to be uncomfortable. Poor Father Matthew! Robert Long just about talked his ears off but Father Matthew enjoyed it and relaxed and even had a smile on his face.
I had one of the Indians, Adam, and to my surprise, he spoke very good English. Adam and Luke had attended a missionary school back east not far from St. Louis. Father Matthew had been instrumental in getting the two Indian boys to go to school. They had completed their stay and training. Now they had a very good education. Father Matthew joined a cavalry unit headed east. He went to the school to got them and they were on their way home when misfortune over took them.
My buddy and I were very close to Father Matthew and Robert. I heard Robert ask, "Father, Can you tell me what happened here. We need to know, and maybe we can find the guilty ones." I thought to myself. Robert, keep it up. You're doing just fine. I hope you pump him for more information.
"Robert, are you sure you want to know. It will not be a pretty story and may be rather scary."
"Oh, yes! I want to hear it all. It can't be any worse than what I have already witnessed. I saw and heard some terrible things during the war. I guess you can say that I had to grow up very fast."
"Only if you are okay with all of this. By the way, just how old are you?"
"I am only 12 but my dad says I am going on 30."
"I think he is right. That young man with the doctor has a brother. Four days before you arrived, he and three of his friends arrived in camp with bad news for us. They had overheard bad guys talking at the fort. Evidently they did not know that one of them spoke English. He is the brother to that one over there. I wanted to send him back East but he didn't want to go. They knew where we were and came to warn us."
"However, it was to late for us to do anything." He said that a bunch of bad white men were coming and would hurt us and maybe even kill us. They would arrive in a day or maybe two. I asked him if he knew who they were. I already knew before he answered. There was a group of renegade raiders from Mississippi who live near the fort and my mission. They have been making trouble for anyone from the North and anyone of color. Nothing serious just making life uncomfortable for them. Just plain no good. They would hit small wagon trains and move on.".
Robert was not going to let up. "Father, I can tell by looking at all of you that you all took terrible beatings including the women and children. Evidently you were left to die. What happened to the Indians that came to warn you? Where are your horses and livestock? Why did the bad guys leave before they had finished you off?"
Good Boy, Robert! Keep up the good work.
"Hey, one question at a time. Doc, are you listening to all of this. I must say you have a live-wire in this one."
"Yes, Father, I am. He is just asking the questions that is bothering all of us. We need to know what we are dealing with if we are going to help stop this kind of activity and abuse. So Please continue!"
"We did not want the bad guys to get our horses and livestock because then we would really be in trouble. We had our Indian friends drive all of them into the hills and find a canyon in which to hold them until we built a large fire and put green boughs on it so as to send up a lot of smoke. They would then return with our livestock. Needless to say, we never got that done. I don't know if they are still waiting or not." Father Matthew paused and took a deep breath. "We took all our money and valuables over to that dead tree, dug a hole and buried everything. Then we erased our tracks and evidence of our work."
"Please continue. I know this is very hard but we really want to know what we are dealing with," I said.
"Our tormentors and there were 6 of them arrived and held us all at gun point. They wanted to know where all our animals were and we told them Indians had driven them off and taken all our valuables with them. This was not a lie because in actuality Indians had driven them off and helped bury our valuables," chuckle Father Matthew.
"Our hands and feet were all tied and they started beating and kicking us. I receive a hard blow to the head and passed out.. I was out for a long time. When I did regain consciousness, they were all gone and we were all untied. I don't know why they untied us but they did. I think maybe they believed us to be dead or dying. The women and girls were not violated. Thank God!"
"Father, Why were you traveling with such a small amount of wagons?"
"We were with a larger train. The rest of the train turned to head south. We were already close to out destination and thought that we would be safe since we were known to the Indians in this area. They are Adam and Luke's people."
"Father, I think you should rest for awhile and we will start tending to your needs," I said.
"Donna, Judy, Elizabeth and Sarah, I would like for you to clean the women and girls. I mean off with all their clothes and their bodies washed with warm soapy water from head to toes. If you find any cuts that need stitches just let me know. We will put the concoction that I mixed on all the infected areas with clean bandages. Thanks, Ladies! Tom, Jeff, Don and I will take care of the men. After they all have been cleaned, I'll dress the wounds stitch the large cuts and put the bandages on. Are you ready? Then lets go to work."
"Father Matthew, how are you going to feel when I strip you naked and start washing your entire body, including your privates."
"Jim, You are a doctor and I am a man in need of medical attention. I may be a priest but I am also a man. I have no quarrel with that. Just make me feel better."
"I hope that I can! I will give it my best shot." I cleaned Father Matthew, sewed up his wounds, applied poultices and bandages, gave him some medicine for the pain, and covered him with a blanket and moved on the next victim. We would clean all their wounds, stitch the bad cuts, put poultices, and dressing on their open wounds.
For the next hour and a half, my helpers and I worked steady and until at last the patient had been treated and in clean clothes. I gave every one something to ease their pain. The caregivers and their patients were almost completely exhausted.
It was time for our evening meal. Soon we were eating and discussing the events of the day. Our wounded, had improved enough to join us and we were able to discover more of the details of the beating. Betty's husband had evidently been taken with the tormentors. His fate was still unknown.
That evening Charles Manning, who is a minister, led us in a worship and prayer service. Every one including the wounded received a big up lift. It appeared that a big burden had been lifted from our shoulders.
After the service everyone decided to go to bed early. The men, including Samuel and David would take turns on guard duty and keep the fires burning. Nights can still get quite chilly. TBC