Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Damn good question. Who in the hell has that kind of clout?" Fairchild asked.
"There was some talk that a land office was going to be opened here, well, here and several other places that did not have one," Tyndall informed them. "A way of normalizing what the lot sizes are throughout the territory. I believe there's a man they were talking about, a family man, at least he's married, I don't know about children. But one usually follows the other. Can't recall his name, but word was her has an education. That means the people they are looking for are educated in the field."
"I don't like that, not at all. I'm all for being able to buy land without some citified yokle who has no goddamed idea how we live out here. Even if we're talking about the numbskuls in Helena, that damned Governor Samuel Thomas Houser! He needs to be, well, best. I say no more about him. If he hears of it, he's liable to send his Territorial Marshals this way again. We don't heed that." Elias said, airing his views on the Governor and government intrusion into the lives and communities of the frontier.
"Couldn't agree with you more, Elias." Carson Tyndall agreed.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
The room fell silent. It was true that Governor Houser had the power to send Territorial Marshals wherever he deemed necessary. However, there was no evidence that Houser disliked Elias enough to send Marshals to Kalispel. However, if Elias was to continue to push the envelope, anything was possible, even though Houser seemed to have a soft spot for Kalispell.
"You know, Elias, I've never heard anything from Governor House about you." Tyndall professed, "In fact, I've never heard the man say anything about Kalispell, ever."
"Well, that's good isn't it? So, the man authorized the land office which may well complicate any land acquisition that one might have. Damned Houser and his need for progress. But maybe this new man will be equally as bad as Old George Bell had been, I mean he had announced the change after the first of the year, and here it is nearly mid-March, so the man has barely arrived to disrupt what we are doing, And this would affect not just us, but Elinor as well."
"Actually, if this new man is nothing like George Bell, this would mean everything would be looked at, not just anything new. He'll review everything Bell was working on, or had done in his time here." Fairchild pointed out, "Even idf the clerfk tried to straighten out Bell's errors."
Everything, yes, that would be true." Elias said, "Now that would mean every transaction, in town or out. The railroad's right of ways, new land bought or claimed. Yes, this just might upset Elinor's applecart, I mean, you don't suppose she would buy up property legally if there was another way of getting it do you?"
"No, I do not, however, what if Elinor had already bought up what property she was after, and it was all handled by either Bell or this clerk? What then? The property is bought, paid for, and there is nothing in error because the clerk handled the entire transaction without Bell knowing about it." Fairchild suggested.
Elias sat up a bit straighter.
"And how long had Bell been gone, or had allowed the Clerk to handle whatever he was behind on, or needed the work straightened out on. If she was covering up his errors and keeping a record of them in an effort to get the job, but Houser simply hired this new man, the need to look at everything might be negated," Tyndall offered.
"Yes, that is a possibility. It also means Miss Susanne Atwell is still the clerk she always was, well, the last year and a half, and everything that she did was legal, and whatever Elinor may have gotten away with, she got away with, and who's to say it was done illegally." Elias said bluntly, then asked, "But what did she get away with?"
"Well, we would need to know what name she used, or was it a corporation of some type? Elinor is not dumb, and there are ways to disguise what is really happening with property deals, especially out here. In the East, these deals are handled by professionals who do this sort of thing all day, every day, and they are looked at regularly with a sharp eye. This man Houser hired would be a man with an education and a reputation to protect, but we can look."