William Johnstone - Snake River Slaughter

“I heard it was a whore he kilt,” Scraggs said.

“Like I said, he killed a young woman.”

“If you see this man, Matt Jensen, you might tell him that he is going to have to answer to me for killing my friend,” Scraggs said.

“You aren’t making a threat, are you, Scraggs?” Marshal Sparks asked.

“You must excuse Lieutenant Scraggs, Marshal,” Sherman said. “He and Poke Terrell were particularly good friends.”

“Yeah,” Marshal Sparks said. “I can see how he must be just all broken up inside, what with Terrell being such a nice fellow and all.”

“Marshal, I get the impression that you don’t much approve of us,” Sherman said.

“That’s pretty observant of you, Colonel Sherman.” Again, Marshal Sparks emphasized the word colonel.

“I must say, that’s rather disappointing. Don’t you have respect for your fellow lawmen?”

“For fellow lawmen? Yes, I respect other lawmen. But I don’t consider you and your group to be lawmen,” Marshal Sparks said. “You are in this for yourselves.”

“You don’t understand, Marshal. Unlike you, we do not have our salary paid by the federal, territorial, or local government. That means that every case we undertake must pay for itself,” Sherman said. “You call that self-serving, I call it practical. At any rate we are both doing the same thing, and that is enforcing the law. So, if we can’t respect each other while we are here, we can at least stay out of each other’s way.”

“As long as you don’t break any law while enforcing the law, you’ll have no problem with me,” Marshal Sparks said. “But break any of my laws, and I’ll be down on you like a duck on a June bug.”

“Break any of your laws, Marshal? Interesting. I would have thought they would be town or county laws.”

“Town and county laws are my laws,” Marshal Sparks said.

“I see.” Sherman stared at Marshal Sparks for a few seconds, then he turned to Scraggs. “Come, Lieutenant,” he said. “We need to get quarters for our men.”

Sherman and Scraggs left the sheriff’s office, and once again the town was treated to the sight of a well-disciplined body of men riding as one as they moved down the street from the sheriff’s office to the Del Rey Hotel.

“Dismount. Horse holders, post,” he said. “The rest, with me.”

Sherman and every one of his men except for four who remained outside to hold the horses tramped into the hotel lobby.

“Yes, sir what can I—oh my,” the hotel clerk said, looking up and seeing so many armed men, all of whom were dressed just alike. “What is going on?”

“Innkeeper, I am Colonel Clay Sherman, and we are the Idaho Auxiliary Peace Officers’ Posse. We are here on official business, and I shall need nine rooms.”

“Nine rooms?” The clerk shook his head. “Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that is impossible. I don’t have nine rooms available.”

“How many rooms do you have?”

“I only have six rooms available, but the Union Pacific asks me to keep at least two open until the late train arrives. That’s for any passenger who might need one.”

“You are telling me how many rooms you have available. But the question I am asking you is this. How many rooms does this hotel have?”

“Well of course the hotel has ten rooms, but four are…”

“You have ten rooms? That’s perfect. Like I told you, I only need nine.”

“And I am trying to tell you that four are permanently occupied,” the clerk said, speaking slowly as if explaining something to someone who clearly didn’t understand what he was trying to say.

“Move them out.”

“I beg your pardon?” the clerk replied, blinking his eyes in surprise, not sure he had heard what he clearly heard.

“I said move them out.”

“Move them out? Sir, I can’t do that.”

“My men and I are here to enforce a territorial law,” Sherman said. “I am exercising eminent domain. Move them out.”

“Eminent domain? I don’t understand. I don’t know what that means.”

“That means you have to give me the nine rooms I asked for, even if you have to move someone else out. Otherwise, you are in violation of the law, and I would be within my rights to enforce that law.” He pulled his pistol. “By any means necessary,” he added, ominously.

“Take the rooms, take the rooms! You can have them!” the clerk said, his voice on the edge of panic.

“A very wise decision,” Sherman said. He put his pistol back into his holster. “Lieutenant Scraggs, go upstairs. Take Grimes with you,” Sherman ordered. “If you find anyone in any of the rooms, turn them out.”

“Yes, sir, Colonel,” Scraggs answered. “Come along, Grimes.”

Scraggs and Grimes went upstairs to carry out Sherman’s orders.

Up on the second floor, there was a long hallway that ran from front to back. Ten doors opened onto the hall way, five doors from either side. Scraggs started down one side, and Grimes the other. The first four doors they opened were empty. Then Scraggs tried a door that was locked. He banged on it loudly.

“Who is it?” a muffled voice answered. The voice was obviously that of a woman, thin with age, and hesitant with fear.

“Open the door.” Scraggs called out in a gruff voice.

“Go away,” the woman’s thin voice replied.

Scraggs stepped back from the door, raised his foot, and kicked hard just beside the doorknob. The door popped open and the woman inside screamed.

Scraggs stepped into the door way, filling it with his presence. The occupant of the room, a woman who appeared to be in her seventies, cowered on the other side of the bed.

“Get out,” Scraggs ordered.

“What?” the woman asked.

“I said get out,” Scraggs said. “We need this room.”

“I won’t get out. This is my room,” the woman insisted.

Scraggs stepped quickly into the room, crossed to the other side of the bed, grabbed her roughly by the arm, then pulled her out into the hallway. “Get out,” he said shoving her so hard that she hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway and fell to the floor. She cried out in pain.

“Get up,” Scraggs ordered, again grabbing her by the arm and lifting her from the floor. “Downstairs with you, you old hag. Get out of here.”

By now Grimes had also dragged a woman out of the room. The two women moved quickly away from the men and, clutching each other in fear, watched as a third woman and an elderly man were pulled from their rooms. Like the first two women, they stood in the hall, terrified and confused.

“Who the hell are you? What are you doing?” the man shouted angrily. When Grimes reached for him, he pushed his hand away. “Get your hands off me, you son of a bitch!”

Scraggs laughed. “He’s a scrappy old shit, ain’t he?”

“Down the stairs,” Grimes ordered. “Go downstairs now before I kick you downstairs.”

More than anxious to get away from the frightening men, the four occupants of the hotel hurried down the stairs to the hotel lobby. They halted when they reached the bottom step and saw that there were several other men in the lobby, all of whom were dressed exactly as the men who had rousted them were dressed.

“Elmer,” the first old lady said to the hotel clerk. “Elmer, who are these terrible men? Why did they come into our rooms and tell us we had to leave!” she complained.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Rittenhouse, I had nothing to do with it,” the clerk replied.

“Who are these men?” Mrs. Rittenhouse asked, looking at all the men in the lobby.

“I apologize, ma’am,” Sherman said, dipping his head slightly. “I am Colonel Sherman of the Auxiliary Peace Officers’ Posse. We are here on a matter of the law and I require quarters for my men. By the law of the United States Government, as well as the law of the territory of Idaho, I have the right of eminent domain. I have exercised that right to take your room, and all the other rooms in the hotel. I’m sorry if this has inconvenienced you, but it is a matter of necessity.”