"Well, someone needs to love them." He said, referring to Buller's statement about the man being an Indian lover.
"Hmph! Someone needs to exterminate 'em!!" countered Buller.
"Looks to me like this plan of yours has come to an abrupt end. I've no taste for a partnership in an endeavor such as this one. However I am anxious to see hoe this turns out. My interest in this has warmed."
"Oh Sure!" the Colonel nodded "I'll stick around, I say I'll stick around to see how this here thing pans out. Might even throw in a bid or two to warm things up, Ha Ha Ha! Wouldn't go anywhere too high, though. Stage-coaching's gonna be a thing of the past real soon, I reckon, real soon. I'm on the lookout for a more longer lasting investment in these here parts." he said grandly.
@[JulieS]
@[Bailey]
Elias looked to Latham and back to Buller. "Things here aren't much like they used to be, what with Heck selling out and retiring. The place is growing, and maybe too fast and too big, now Latham here, and I had been discussing building a saloon and a brothel as an investment, aside from the Evergreen, that is. There's just the one in town. The Stardust Saloon and one brothel, The Club as it's referred to. Be a good competitive investment."
He shook his head, as if it was almost too big of a project, then went on, "There will always be a need for a good saloon and a good, clean, brothel. Like a barbershop. A good solid investment as it were. Much like the stage line that reachs a lot of places the railroad won't. So I'll stick around to see how all of this bidding goes, stating at what was it? Five thousand dollars? Steep."
@[JulieS]
@[Bailey]
He shook his head, as if it was almost too big of a project, then went on, "There will always be a need for a good saloon and a good, clean, brothel. Like a barbershop. A good solid investment as it were. Much like the stage line that reachs a lot of places the railroad won't."
"Cat House, huh?!" the Colonel asked "Well, if you treat the whores like you treat your cattle, you won't go far wrong! Rope 'em Tie 'em Brand 'em! Show the little bitches who's boss!" he declared vehemently. "Beat 'em personally! Break their spirits as soon as possible and terrify 'em so they're too scared to run away. That's the way I did it in Bozeman. Took care of training those sluts personally!" he boasted, gripping the handle of his walking stick convulsively in misogynistic, sadistic joy at the memory of it.
He was a jolly little fellow.
"Got a good man installed there now, managing the place. He doesn't give the little tarts an inch!" he smiled happily.
"So I'll stick around to see how all of this bidding goes, stating at what was it? Five thousand dollars? Steep."
"I'd rather put $5000 into your whorehouse than this risky business!" commented the Colonel.
"Interesting theory Colonel. Sounds about the way the slaves were treated before the war, and, I suppose, quite a while after." Cole Latham spoke up, and possibly out of turn. "I knew a Madanm in Kansas City, Kansas several years ago, her take was some different than yours."
Elias gave Latham a side glance, "I have known a good many Madame's in my time, and most all of them had their methods for control of their girls. They often said that their girls were for pleasure, and if pain was your pleasure, either inflicting it or having it administered to your person, there's a house down the street for that." Elias said almost nonchalantly. "Many a man has died for leaving a mark on a whore. Not how I believe I would conduct my business."
"It's just an idea for the time being, many things are transpiring in and around Kalispell at the current time, so it's sort of on hold for now. Just an investment idea that has a lot of potential, as well as a lot of potential headaches, such as tangling with Fortney and Hiram Priest, who's anything but. Considering a grocery store as well."
Javia
Buller nodded in full agreement when Steelgrave made the comparison between his methods of treating his working girls being like the way a slaveowner treated his slaves; the Kentucky man was no abolitionist before the war, although he had backed the North, purely based on his prediction that they would win. He was somewhat disturbed by the former hard-man's next statements, which seemed to imply that you could treat a whore like you'd treat your favourite niece and they'd still stay in line.
"It's just an idea for the time being, many things are transpiring in and around Kalispell at the current time, so it's sort of on hold for now. Just an investment idea that has a lot of potential, as well as a lot of potential headaches, such as tangling with Fortney and Hiram Priest, who's anything but. Considering a grocery store as well."
"Well, don't, I say don't prevaricate, son, that's my motto!" Buller chided his fellow bidder. "Someone might just beat you to it!"
And he knew just who that someone might be.
"is that a fact?" Elias asked, wondering if it wasn't Buller himself who liked that idea. He smiled. "Well, if they do, they do. I've no claim to property at the moment, so I'd say that the idea would be open, and I doubt I'm the first to have it."
"A good deal of expense is involved as well, one of the drawbacks to our plan." Cole explained, "I mean construction of a new building to our specifications, furnishings, the whores from Kansas City and elsewhere where we have connections for that business. No sense some bedraggled well used women when we can obtain younger women willing to come west. I mean, Colonel, Kalispell is on the verge of becoming a boom town!"
"Precisely, which one would consider worth the risk, cash wise. But then again, we have no idea what the town Council will allow since we already have one house. So far, just a plan of ours." Elias added. And at the moment what both men had said was actually true, so far as their plan was concerned. "This stage line buisness will most likely go a great deal higher than the original five thousand. A tidy investment, I'd say.
"
A town is only as good as the timbers that form its buildings.
As Christoph and Mason Aldridge conversed about their plans for the auction, there was an outburst from the man who, it seemed, wasn't quite wealthy enough to bid on his own, as he approached Steelgrave and Buller. Christoph paused to watch and listen for a moment, long enough to catch that the two men had turned him down, then focused his attention on Mason again.
Until the man interrupted them and once again offered to put his $1000 towards a partnership. Christoph took a moment to hear the eager man's proposition and did some quick thinking. $1000 probably wasn't enough to make a difference if it came down to a bidding war and the bids soared, and this man probably didn't have much more cash to invest in either the bidding or a future partnership.
He smiled regretfully. "Mr. Aldridge and I are already taking a risk on each other, and to add a third into the mix is only asking for trouble, I believe. I'm sorry to have to turn you away, sir." He glanced at Mason. "Unless Mr. Aldridge thinks differently?"
Looking at the man, he said, "Sorry, I have to agree with Alders."
Now all they had to do was wait for the auction to start, which had been already delayed by the arrival of Colonel Buller. If they won, then the particulars of the deal with Alders would have to be worked out before any improvements to the stage line could be made. There were also other matters but they would come up through the course of working out the partnership. What matter now, was they beat Steelgrave and stop him from getting a monopoly on not just transport but anything else he desired.
@ [Bailey]
@ [Javia
Elias was tired of waiting around for these people, not that he had anything better to do, but as far as he was concerned this was getting nowhere and fast.
He leaned closer to Latham and said softly, "Watch this, we'll light a fire under them!" Then, quite loudly, "Six thousand." The stage line was a going concern and he knew it would be in use long after the railroad went through town, not that he really wanted the headache of a business that size. It would cost a lot of money to run it, staff the way stations with men and horses, plus the cost of supplies for those stations. But the returns just might be worth it.
He knew that he would not win it for six thousand, he just wanted the bidding to start and see who was really game to get after the line. He had decided to bid for a bit and see what happened. Of course, Colonel Buller could make this interesting, and fun if he played along and didn't throw out some outrageous figure and end the whole thing.
@Javia, @Bailey, @JulieS
"Six thousand."
Buller seemed to enjoy this and bellowed out a laugh.
"HA HA HA! This is more like it, boys!" he guffawed. He turned to the bearded man who had been repulsed by Mason and Aldridge.
"All right Baur, you dirty no good Injun lover! I'll take your money... you're in with me now!"
As the bespectacled man scampered back over to the Colonel's side, and tugged nervously at his beard, the old fellow bellowed out "Seven Thousand U.S. Dollars!! HA HA HA"
@[JulieS]