R. Trembly - Madigan

“Try to remember that, but I’ll not have to worry about much if that happens, at least not for long. Now, Mr. Madigan, what I really want to know is, should I give your horses some corn or not?”

“Give them grain,” Madigan answered.

Madigan watched as Talley led the horses into a well-cleaned stall out of sight of the casual passerby. He had no reservations about leaving the buckskin and packhorse with the old marshal. They would be well taken care of, no doubt, and he was glad to have the opportunity to meet this once-legendary lawman of a day that Madigan was sure was fast coming to a close.

Rights of citizens to carry a gun for their own protection had already been taken from them in some of the eastern cities like New York, although most men still carried them hidden under their coats.

And Madigan had to admit that the basis for the law wasn’t altogether bad in some places-places where a strong lawman did a good job of protecting the townspeople. Trouble was, there just weren’t many places where a few men could protect the whole. And Madigan, like many of his breed, feared that in the end it would be the law-abiding people that lost out to the politicians that would take all from them.

Disarming the population just made it easier for the crook to steal from, and murder, the honest men and women. Yet, deep down in his heart, he knew the day was coming where the honest men and women carrying a sidearm would be a thing of the past if something wasn’t done to prevent it. Madigan hoped it would not come within his lifetime.

“By the way,” Madigan asked, “where did you learn that trick of tying the trigger back?”

“There was a time when I was young and ornery enough to bite a rattlesnake. Got somethin’ in my head in those days, and a person would be hard put to change me from it.

“Some Texas drovers came to town at the end of a drive and got all liquored up. Most of the time the trail boss kept ‘em out of trouble, but not this time. A real hard case outfit this bunch was.

“Couple of the boys got into it with one of the men from town. If I remember right, he was just crossin’ the street when, for no other reason than pure meanness, one of these hombres started a fight with him. It came to fist and before you know it, the drover was down for the count and everything should have been over. ‘Cept the drover and his friend didn’t see it that way. They ambushed the townsmen and shot him in the back. Good man he was, too. Had a wife and child and was respected.”

The old lawman looked Madigan straight in the eye. “Now I’m no bleeding heart, but after I jailed these murderous cutthroats I started hearing talk of lynching my prisoners.

“Didn’t give a damn about the jailbirds, it was the good townspeople I was worried about. Lynching’s bad business. If they were to get caught and have to go before the wrong judge, they’d stand a chance of gettin’ the noose themselves.

I decided to get the prisoners to the county seat for trial, but it was a full day’s ride and there was only one of me to do the job. And to make matters worse, I knew that I stood a good chance of being met on the trail by some of their friends. And that’s what happened a couple of hours out of town, but I was ready for them.” The old man laughed like someone remembering something funny from the past.

“They rode out in front of us and blocked the trail and just waited for us to ride up to them. You should have seen their faces when they saw I’d tied the triggers down and only my thumb was holding both of the hammers back! I’d had the blacksmith bend both hammer spurs so they came together at full cock, so it was real easy to hold ‘em back with one hand.

“At close range a sawed-off double-barrel makes a hell of a mess and these boys knew it. Didn’t take ‘em long to figure what would happen to their friends if I took a bullet. They just rode off sayin’ they’d get ‘em out of jail in the next town or somethin’ to the like. Didn’t though. They both swung the next day at noon, with nary a sight of the boys that were to save ‘em.”

“That’s quite a story, old-timer, and I’d say you were known for that Greener like I’m known for my Sharps! And if I remember right, they called you ‘Shotgun Talley’ after that,” Madigan said.

“You’re right on that account.”

“Where’s the best place for a tired man to stay the night?” Madigan asked Roy when he came out from feeding the animals. He waited as Talley scratched his head, then took a bite from his plug of tobacco.

“There’s always the Palace down the other end of town. It’s got rotgut and women who’ll spend the night with a lonely man for the price of a few drinks and a short meal. Course, you wouldn’t get much rest and would probably have a fight on your hands before the night was over!”

“Why’s that, Roy?” Madigan asked, already knowing the answer.

“Like I said before, there’s five or six real bad looking boys staying down there. My years as a lawman taught me to tell the real bad ones, and they’re about as mean as they come! Now if you don’t mind a short ride, there’s Anny’s Hotel about a mile down the road. She doesn’t allow no booze or women, but the rooms are clean and the food’s the best anywhere within two days’ ride of here. Hell, within a week’s ride to be sure! Got her an Injun girl that does some of the cookin’ and I’m tellin’ ya, man, it’s the best I ever ate! Why every time that girl’s not working, I just about starve to death trying to eat my own grub,” he said with a look of disgust. “I’ll be heading that way in a few minutes so you can ride with me. In the morning just tell Anny to hoist up the flag and I’ll send old Errand Boy out to fetch you back here.”

“I’m a pretty early riser, and I wouldn’t want to disturb anyone to come and get me. I can just walk,” Madigan said, but like most Western men of his time, not really liking the idea.

“Wouldn’t hear of it and neither would Errand Boy! No matter what time you want to come in, he’ll be rarin’ to go.”

“Must be some kind of man to do that,” Madigan remarked.

The old gentleman chuckled. “Ain’t no man. He’s a horse! Anny and I trained him to walk back and forth from the livery to her hotel. He knows when he gets there he’ll get a bait of corn for his trouble. Saves me from having to drop what I’m doing to ride over.”

Madigan was curious about something, knowing the type of men that frequented the area, so he voiced his curiosity.

“Aren’t you afraid someone will steal him some night?”

“Hell, no! It’s been tried! The fellow who took him didn’t know his way around these parts and that horse just kept edging his way back towards town, came in from a different direction. That poor boy thought it was a different town altogether. Didn’t think so when we threw ‘em in jail. Yep! That horse really likes his corn!”

Remembering the face in the window, the idea of staying at Anny’s seemed like a good idea. “How long before you’ll be ready to go?”

“Just as soon as I feed and water the rest of the stock. I’d say not more than fifteen minutes at the most. You got time for a quick look around if you got the desire. I’ll wait for you before I head out.”

Madigan thanked Roy and stepped into the darkness of the alley. He wasn’t about to walk out in the light from the windows until he was sure all was quiet. There was no way he could be sure that he hadn’t been recognized by the man in the window when he looked out on Madigan from above.

All appeared peaceful on Main Street, yet he felt an uneasiness about him, such as when one is in the woods and has the feeling of being watched, yet has no foundation for feeling that way. It has been said that it is caused by some primeval sense that we all still carry within ourselves, a throwback to our beginnings when we were often the hunted and not the hunter.