Mature Content: Yes, violence.
Turk lit up a cigarette then tossing the matchstick onto the street, he began a long slow walk down one side of the small but bustling town of Kalispell. Truth be told he wasn't much for towns, even less for cities but this place seemed decent at least. After a long pleasant conversation with his old friend, Caroline Mundee, Turk had been talked into staying at least for maybe a week or so. It's not like he had pressing business anywhere else and the reward money from his latest successful bounty would keep him in spending money for a decent stretch of time.
He had also heard enough talk about some real local tension between the two big ranches in these here parts and how one in particular, Evergreen, had stocked up on the likes of gunmen more so than cowpokes. One didn't pay out that kind of money for hired guns and then not use them at some point, it was otherwise an extravagant waste of funds. But Caroline had set him straight about this Evergreen place. She and most of the town despised the owner and warned him away from even thinking of hiring on there. Turk would never do such a thing and upset the saloon girl. He wasn't romantically in love with her but she was more like a young sister to him. Another point - she had quite a volcanic temper if you got her mad. Nope, he wasn't about to poke that hornet's nest.
So, if he was going to stay for awhile, he needed to find a place to stay. Hearing of the hotel prices, too rich for his blood, he had now narrowed down his options to seeing if the local boarding house had an opening. If not, Caroline promised him she'd make sure he didn't sleep someplace without a roof.
A few of the citizenry walked by him in the other direction. He was met with one or two perfunctory nods or answered a 'hello' with a civil 'howdy' back. That was until suddenly he did a full stop upon catching sight of a man walking straight toward him. He knew the man instantly even after all these many years.
When your life once revolved around the deadly feud that had been Bloody Kansas, you never really forgot those brutal times nor faces. He was staring at one of the men who had once rode with the pro-slavery faction back then. Turk had been a young volunteer with the anti-slavery Jawhawkers. Both of them had come not just from the same county but their farms had been right next door to each other. Well, that was until the Flagg farm had been torched in a raid. His family had been lucky to escape with their lives, except for his brother, Thomas. Thomas, all of fifteen, had tried to resist the raid and had been shot dead. His mother had told Turk ever since that she had saw the faces of these raiders and one of them had been none other than one of their own neighbors, the very man who now was walking straight toward him.
Turk's eyes narrowed as he spit out the cigarette onto the boardwalk. Of course that late unpleasantness, the War Between the States, was over but....well....somethings were never over.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
Eethan Noolan, a hired gun, was interested in word which came his way that there could be work on a spread a bit north of here, the Evergreen. Now word had it that a range war was shaping up and men were needed, but it seemed only one ranch was hiring, it was like the other spread had no idea what was coming, but for Noolan that mattered not at all.
He had tied his horse just up the street from the mercantile where in had stopped in for some tobacco, he had an eye to stop in at the saloon, so his horse was hitched close to the place. Then the plan was, ride out to this Evergreen and see what was what. If there was no job, he would push on. It was how things went. That range war might already be over.
Twenty years past he had been involved in a lot of trouble in back in Kansas, in May of ‘56, he had participated in the sacking of Lawrence Kansas and that was only the start. He attacked and burned his neighbors farms who disagreed with his pro-slavery beliefs. He would be back seven years later with William Quantrill as one of his raiders. Between those years he rode with the ‘Fire Eaters”, pro slavery Democrats burning, killing, and looting. Then the war and another four years with Quantrills Raiders, but when they ambushed Quantrill, causing his death, it ended Eethan's participation with what was left of the Raiders, and he moved west. Life had been good.
The man coming at him had a familiar look about him, perhaps one of the Raiders. Many a man had come west after the war.
Of course he had been a lot younger back then, Turk wasn't the callow youth he had been during those bloody times but the expression on the man's face indicated he didn't seem to recognize him. Well, Turk sure knew Ethan Noolan, former neighbor and one of the murderers of his little brother, Tom.
Noolan! After all these years.....you don't know me? The Flagg farm, yer neighbors. The farm you helped burn down. And then there was Tommy, my brother. Ring a bell now?"
Even as he called the man out, emotion and hatred in his voice, Turk's gun hand was lowering toward the holstered pistol on his right hip.
They weren't really going to talk, there was nothing to talk about. This was only going to end in someone's death for this was a blood feud that even the close of a long and terrible war could not bring to a conclusion.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Noolan! After all these years.....you don't know me? The Flagg farm, yer neighbors. The farm you helped burn down. And then there was Tommy, my brother. Ring a bell now?"
He saw the man's hand move, the challenge was instantly followed by action. Eethan was fast, there could be no doubt about the blur that was his draw. he was fast and more important he was as accurate as any man who made his living by the gun.
Who the man was, he couldn't place. The reference to the Flagg farm, lost over the years, the pain of the slug slamming into his ribs was all that mattered as his Colt came up, but he just could not pull back the hammer, he staggered and and went to a knee, still struggling with his pistol, which slipped from his grasp making a loud 'clunk' as it hit the boardwalk.
Something was terribly wrong, he was having trouble focusing and he was feeling his strength ebb away, finally falling back only to look up into the black hole that was the muzzle of the man's pistol as everything faded slowly to black while his final breath escaped his lungs.
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
Hearing the shot Speed looked out to see that one man had a gun in his hand and another man was down, but not moving he quickly got to the door and jogged across the street, pistol in hand.
"Drop it!" Speed barked. "Mister, you're in a heap of trouble! You best hope there's a good reason to gun down this man."
Storyteller / Shared NPC
Boone Dawson saw the whole thing unfold right there on the boardwalk across the street from him. Saw both men go for their guns, seemingly oblivious to the innocent people that had not moved as some of the others had. It happened in the blink of an eye, the way most impromptu shootings do.
They were fast, but one a mite faster than the other. He didn't see that his bullet passed through the man he had shot and slam into an awning post.
Noolan went for his gun, as Turk fully expected he would. Both men were obviously fast but Turk had the jump on the man who plainly was surprised by all this. Even a split second can make all the difference in a point blank showdown. Flagg's revolver shot struck his victim full in the chest and down he went, the fellow's own weapon dropping from his grip. As all eyes went to the sudden sound and a few of the closest on the board walk scattered, they needn't have at that point. It was already over.
Turk took a few steps then stood over the dying man, lowering his pistol just in case he needed to finish him off. He could see he did not though and calmly holstered the weapon. He could have made a break for it but he did not. Instead he glanced up at a wide-eyed citizen, a middle-aged gent, and merely stated, "He killed my kid brother."
Whatever the reason probably made no difference whatsover to the townsman who merely nodded and fell back a few more yards before turning to head the opposite way.
And it seemed the law was already there, as there was a harsh shout and Turk looked to see a man armed with a pistol but more importantly also wearing a star. US marshal.
"Drop it!" Speed barked. "Mister, you're in a heap of trouble! You best hope there's a good reason to gun down this man."
Turk knew better than to make any moves which might be taken as a threat so he simply stood there and raised both hands up in the air.
"It's holstered, marshal. Now if you say it's OK, I will very slowly take it out and drop it. You tell me," Turk called back.
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
McNue and Cook stood on the boardwalk in front of the Municipal Building watching a Speed retried the dead man's gun, wasn't everyday that there was a shooting in town and there was a crowd gathered in minutes.
Speed looked at the man, "Well, this way." He said as he took the man's arm and led him across the street. "Don't appreciate you shootin' someone on my street, not in the least." He led the man past the Marshals when McNue spoke:
"Well, well, Cabot 'Turk' Flagg." He smiled shaking his head, Cook already half way across the busy street to look at the deceased. Thought you know better'n to plug somebody on the street in front of God an; ever'body."
Cook was hurrying back as Speed stopped with his prisoner. "That's Eethan Noolan layin' there."
Once Turk was disarmed, the marshal approached to make sure he secured not just Turk's gun but also the revolver lying upon the boardwalk. Lest some eager kid pick it up maybe.
Speed looked at the man, "Well, this way."
"Sure," Turk was calmed down by now and went along easily enough.
Speed said as he took the man's arm and led him across the street. "Don't appreciate you shootin' someone on my street, not in the least."
"It weren't planned, just came up all of a sudden," Turk replied.
The lawman led Turk past the Marshals when McNue spoke up.
"Well, well, Cabot 'Turk' Flagg." He smiled shaking his head, " Thought you know better'n to plug somebody on the street in front of God an; ever'body."
"It's not my habit to. It just happened. Howdy, McNue, didn't know you lived in these parts," Turk responded.
Cook was hurrying back as Speed stopped with his prisoner. "That's Eethan Noolan layin' there."
Turk nodded.
"That's right. We was neighbors once...back in Kansas. He rode with a bunch who burned down the family farm and murdered my kid brother. There was eleven bullets in young Tom. And Tom weren't even armed."
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
"No, hadn't thought you were that reckless." McNue said, then, "Eethan Noolan? There oughtta be a circular on him! He ain't no lilly white that's fer shore.
Speed Looked at the two Marshals, "I'd say so. Now Mister Flagg, we'll just have us a sit down in my office. If That's Noolan, and if there's a circular then could be we'll not hold you for murder. Fact is, I'd wager there a reward." They entered his office and Flagg was shown to a chair.
Speed opened the drawer with all of the recent circulars and pulled them out, laying them on his desk. One by one he looked at then and sure enough. Eethan Noolan was wanted in Missoula for murder. Speed looked up, "So what you're telling me is you have paper on Noolan and he forced a fight? Is that it?"