Fool's Gold: Claim Jumpers

Fool's Gold: Claim Jumpers

By DFWBeast

Author's Note: This was supposed to be my main contribution to the Wine and Old Lace event. Due to real life issues, I'm late. Duh! My deepest thanks to outofshadows, kimi1990 and blackrandl1958 for their beta reading and editing. They made this into a much better read than it was. Of course, any errors are mine since I always mess with the story before I submit it!

Note: This is a period piece that takes place in the Colorado Rockies in 1885. It's set during the Colorado gold and silver rushes, and also occurs around the railroad wars of 1877-1880 in that area. Although some of the supporting characters are historical, most, including the main characters, are fictional. I've obviously taken literary license with some of the facts, so if you're looking for complete historical accuracy, this ain't it.

Warning: This story is more like a historical mystery with the story slowly being revealed layer by layer. If you're looking for action and adventure or a lot of sex, I'd skip this one! LOL!

Also, there's lots of slang and bad grammar in this story. Some of the more uncommon historical slang terms have been listed at the end. If interested, look through them, it may make this story a more enjoyable read.

*****

Crested Butte, Colorado

Late-Summer -- 1885

Abigail Hawthorne stood atop of the steps leading down off the train. She was immediately assaulted by the competing smells. The fresh evergreen wind off the Rockies battled with the mechanical steam odor of the train, as both mixed with the smoky haze that emanated from the small town. It only had a few hundred residents but supplied the thousand or more miners in the area.

She adjusted the bustle of her dress and tucked the small pillow she'd been sitting on under her arm. Thankfully, her dress wasn't the Victorian styled full bustle that was common back East, or the train ride would've been intolerable.

Looking down, she saw her three traveling companions staring back up at her. Two of the three were very distinct looking, compared to the townsfolk.

The first was a short thin balding man who was very well dressed and wore spectacles. Edmond Horace was a lawyer from Denver, who had been her father's attorney for the past several years. It bothered Abby that he rarely smiled, and when he did it made shivers run down her spine.

Dwarfing them and most men, as well, was the man they called the Swede. Jonas Swanson was a mountain of a man. He was almost two heads taller than Mr. Horace, and about three times as big around his chest. Abby wondered how he could find suspenders large enough to stretch over all those muscles and keep his britches up.

Besides his imposing physique, he was covered with bright blonde hair. From his long unkempt mane to his full beard to his hairy chest and arms, he reminded her of a huge golden bear.

The third man she'd recognize in any crowd. Even though he was dressed like most there in the town, Abby knew she'd recognize the way he walked and talked anywhere. He was a good looking man with black curly hair and a full black beard. His big blue eyes and outgoing personality separated him from most. Besides that, he was Abigail's husband for the past five years, Thomas Hawthorne.

"Stay close," warned her husband as he helped her down. "This is certainly no place for a lady."

'You should know,' she thought to herself as she fought back bitter comments.

She knew this was in his blood. It had been his life for more than a decade before he'd come back home. She looked into his eyes and could see the excitement he was trying to hide. It was a look that a year ago would've made her heart skip a beat, but now it was just a reminder of those things she'd given up.

'Like a moth to the flame or Icarus to the sun,' she silently sighed

"Mrs. Hawthorne," Horace interjected, "please remain very close to us. Unfortunately, up in these parts, an attractive woman is rarer than the gold and silver these men are seeking."

"Thank you, Mr. Horace, both my husband and the Swede are packing iron and I know the Swede has his rifle close by, as well. I feel quite protected. Still, I'll be careful and stay close."

Horace nodded and turned to the Swede. "Grab our things and I'll go find this Buckman and his transport."

The big man grunted and nodded. The Swede rarely spoke. Abby always believed it was because he didn't speak much English, however he seemed to understand it very well.

Abby looked over at her husband and could see his smile partially hidden within his beard. His eyes searched the town as if he was looking for something.

"Do you really miss this?"

"What?" he replied, his face showing some surprise.

"You were looking at this place like it was your long lost lover."

"Well that's a bit dramatic, but yeah, I miss this every now and then."

"So planning on leaving again?" she hissed.

"Dammit, woman! Save your venom for someone else! Yeah, I miss this, but I'm still here ain't I? I'm still married to you and living on the ranch.

"Listen, Abby," he sighed. "I know you got your back up 'cause of this trip. I ain't looking forward to facing him, either."

Abby took a deep breath and calmed herself. She knew her husband was right. She'd been on edge for the past four months, since everything seemed to be falling apart. Now she was going to face her ex-husband and that promised to be a nightmare.

"I'm sorry, Thomas. You're right, this trip is upsetting. Things haven't been right since Sarah ran away last May. Now having to face Jeremiah again is bringing back a lot of bad memories."

"You know this meeting has to happen. As for Sarah, well, I told you I didn't do what she said I did. She's still mad about her father. I am sorry she ran away though."

"I know," Abby replied. "She never forgave us for getting married. You were drinking pretty heavy back then."

"Dammit, Abby! Not here, not now!" he snarled at her.

Abby turned away and looked over the little mining town. She forced herself not to dwell on the past several months. She remembered better times.

She'd moved to the Colorado Territory with her father, Henry Thompson, when she was only six. They'd left Pennsylvania a few months after her mother had died. It was 1860, just a few years before the Great War between the States. They'd arrived in Colorado several years after the "Pike's Peak or Bust" gold rush.

Her father wasn't searching for gold, but was seeking riches of another kind. He'd purchased a ranch that was one of three covering a small valley on the southeast base of Pike's Peak. That valley had the potential to become very valuable if the railroad ever went through.

Their ranch was adjacent to the two others in the valley, the Old Wilson place and the Hawthorne ranch. Old Man Wilson lived up to his name and seemed to have a bone to pick with just about everyone. The Hawthornes had been heaven sent. With so few other children in the area, she'd been lucky to have two that were close to her age as neighbors. Abigail had immediately befriended the two Hawthorne brothers, Thomas and Jeremiah. She was the same age as Jeremiah, and Thomas was a couple years older. The three grew up and became inseparable.

Abby smiled, thinking back to the hours and hours the three had played together after their chores were finished. Even back then the brothers were polar opposites. When they were out playing Jeremiah always had to be the lawman, while Thomas was the outlaw. She'd always played the damsel in distress or the princess.

'Funny how I was drawn to the one with the wanderlust even back then,' she chastised herself. 'Well I caught him, mores the fool! I sure shouldn't be surprised he's restless now.'

They had only been on the ranch a few years when the war broke out. It hadn't touched Colorado much, but it did affect the Hawthornes. Mr. Hawthorne had left his wife and two young boys to go fight when Thomas and Jeremiah were only eleven and nine. He was only gone two years, but when he came back he was a changed man. Abby remembered him as loud and full of laughter, before, but what came home was a crippled, broken man.

He'd lost his right arm and was partially blind in his right eye. He'd also lost his spirit. Abby could count on one hand the number of times she'd heard him laugh after he came home. Her father had said he'd died in the war, but his body just hadn't lain down yet.

His condition was a strain on his family. Mrs. Hawthorne nursed him, but everyone knew she wasn't very interested in the ranch so Thomas and Jeremiah basically ran it under their father's oversight.

It was Abigail's dream to stay in the valley and raise a family, and that seemed to be Jeremiah's, as well. Thomas had other dreams and wasn't interested in a life on the ranch. His outlaw personality and craving for adventure matched his vagabond spirit.

She'd loved both Thomas and Jeremiah back then. Jeremiah had been her castle, her knight in shining armor while Thomas had been her pirate, the one who stole her heart. Like most dreams, reality crushed hers when shortly after his seventeenth birthday, Thomas left to seek his fortune looking for gold and silver in the Rockies.

It had broken her heart but made her choice easy. Jeremiah was her future. At the ripe old age of sixteen, she and Jeremiah were married.

Their marriage had started out rough. Things were tense when Jeremiah found out Abby wasn't a virgin. She'd given herself to Thomas just before he'd left. It took a bit, but they were able to work through it and the marriage began to get better.

The only other rough patch during those first years was after she'd given birth to Sarah. The birth had been difficult, but her daughter was born healthy. Unfortunately, Abby was never able to carry another child more than a few months after that.

Abby had been heartbroken, but Jeremiah had been her rock back then. His love and attention had covered her and her love for him grew.

'But it wasn't strong enough, was it?' she thought to herself.

Henry Thompson had been busy about that time, as well. A small village at the mouth of the valley sprang up. It wasn't large, only about 50 people lived in it, but it had the basics of being a town. It had a general store, a church, a smithy and a boarding house with a tiny saloon attached to the back. Abby was aware her father owned a stake in almost all of those. Unsurprisingly, it was called Thompsonville.

She and Jeremiah had been married just over six years when Mr. Hawthorne quietly passed away. Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Hawthorne decided to go to San Francisco and stay with her sister. Jeremiah told Abby that his father had left the ranch to him and Thomas with a provision that they care for their mother.

A year later, in 1877, the Denver & Rio Grande Railway and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway went to war over access rights.

The most notable incident was a major standoff when Bat Masterson and his strongmen from Dodge City, who were hired by the AT&SF Railway, took over the roundhouse in Pueblo. A man from the D&RG railway ended up bribing them to leave.

During those several years, there were rumors of homesteads being burned and people being run off their land. The valley was tense with fear. That was when her father brought the Swede onto the ranch.

Despite the Swede's presence, the railway war touched the valley. The Wilson's ranch burned one night. His grandson and his new wife had just arrived a couple months earlier to help on the ranch. Old Man Wilson died in the fire and his grandson was badly burned.

Not a week later, the grandson and his wife had left, but not before selling the ranch to Henry Thompson. Her father had said they did it because the grandson wouldn't have been able to rebuild and they wanted to keep it out of the railway's hands, at least for a little while.

Jeremiah had always questioned the particulars of those events, and the relationship between her father and husband soured dramatically. It put a huge strain on her marriage and she felt like she was constantly defending her father to Jeremiah.

As the railway wars continued, Abby's marriage began to slowly fall apart.

They were arguing more and there were fewer and fewer nights that they didn't go to bed angry at each other. Gone were those nights of passion, the heat of his breath as he claimed her. Missing even more were those nights of tender love making, when she'd swear that they were one person. She missed his strong arms holding her at night and his soothing voice telling her they were going to be all right. She knew they'd both failed each other. She'd stubbornly rebuked most of his advances and he'd quit trying, giving in to his frustration and anger instead.

Sometime later, Jeremiah told her he needed to go check on something and would be gone for several days. When she'd questioned him he'd been vague and said he just wanted to be sure of something. He left two days later.

The next day the nightmare began at the Hawthorne ranch. It was two months later before Abby was able to confront Jeremiah.

With a deep sigh, Abby closed her eyes and remembered one of the worst days of her life.

*****

Thompsonville, Colorado

Spring -- 1880

Jeremiah rode warily up the ranch house. He knew things were wrong. The last two months had been frustrating. First he'd gone up to Leadville to check on his father's investment. Finding it safe, he'd gone to Denver to check on when Henry Thompson had actually put a claim on the Wilson ranch. Something hadn't seemed right, the dates he'd told Abby didn't match with how things seemed to happen.

He'd stopped by the law office Henry had used and asked some questions. They'd told him that he needed to speak with a Mr. Horace, who would be back in a couple of hours.

He'd gone into a saloon just across the street to wait. Not thirty minutes later a man accused him of insulting his family and hit him. A few minutes later, both he and the man found themselves in the Denver city jail. He was tried and convicted, despite his claim that he'd never seen the man before that day. Thirty days later, he was given another thirty days for unknown reasons.

After he'd been released, he'd stopped by the law office again, but was told Mr. Horace was out of town. He was also told that the documents he was looking for were missing. The man suggested Mr. Horace may have them for some reason.

He'd known things were strange when he'd gotten to Thompsonville. He'd stopped at the small saloon and found that Pedro and Maria Mendez were gone. The new owner served him and disappeared. Several minutes later he reappeared and let Jeremiah know he wasn't welcome anymore. Surprised and annoyed, Jeremiah left and headed home.

When he'd gotten to the ranch he found a welcoming party waiting for him.

Abby was there with her father. Besides them, was the Swede and a small well dressed man. To his surprise, Jeremiah noticed that Thomas was with them as well!

Jeremiah quickly dismounted and walked over to the group.

"Tom!" Jeremiah said smiling, "when did you come back?"

"About six weeks ago," Thomas said coldly.

Jeremiah was surprised at his brother's reaction but quickly focused his attention on his wife. Striding up to her, he reached out to take her in his arms. Instead he felt her hand slap across his face!

"Bastard!" Abby screamed. "How could you do that to me?"

"What in blazes are you talking about, Abby?"

"Maria Mendez! And don't you play dumb with me!"

"I'm not playing dumb; I just don't know what you're talkin' about!"

"Maria and Pedro paid us a visit not two days after you ran away!"

"I didn't run away. I went to Denver to check on a couple of things before I talked to you about it. When I got there stranger accused me of something and then started a fight with me. I've spent the last two months in the Denver city jail!"

"Why were you up in Denver?"

"Abby, we need to talk about this, alone."

"No! We'll say everything we need to right here! I know why you ran, Maria told me everything!"

"What are you talkin' about, woman!"

"Maria said she was with child!"

"Oh gawd!" Jeremiah snorted. "Whoever the father is better run before Pedro gets ahold of them!"

"She said it was you, you bastard! She said YOU were the father!"

"Me?" Jeremiah replied in shock.

"And you're right," Henry interjected, "Pedro wasn't happy and came after you."

"Pedro never talked to me," Jeremiah stated. "This ain't funny y'all."

"No it's not, son," Henry said in a patronizing voice.

"Don't you ever call me that, you hear?" Jeremiah seethed. "I ain't your boy and I ain't NEVER touched Maria. Abby, you've got to believe me!"

"She said you did! And then you shot her Pepe!"

"What?" Jeremiah stammered. "Pedro is dead?"

"No," Henry said, "you just wounded him in the arm."

"I never shot Pedro and I sure as hell never slept with Maria!"

"That's not what they say," Henry continued, "and that's not what they told the Colorado Springs sheriff."

"That's a lie! Where are they? I'll get to the bottom of this."

"They're already gone!" Abby yelled with tears in her eyes.

"Yes," Henry said calmly. "They left shortly after they talked to the sheriff. I believe they were headed to Santa Fe, or further south."

"What, they just up and left their boarding house and saloon?"

"No, I bought it off of them so they'd have money to start over somewhere else."

"This stinks, Henry. It smells like someone's trying to frame me!"

Jeremiah turned to his wife. "Abby, you can't believe..."

Jeremiah's heart froze as he saw her in Thomas' arms being consoled. The look on his face went from anger to one of great sadness.

"No," he groaned. "Abby please tell me you didn't."

"Thomas, why are you holding my wife?"

"She was hurting, Jeremiah. After what you did, she was hurting."

"I didn't do anything!" Jeremiah retorted flatly, the anger beginning to return. "So you came back just in time to swoop down and take my place? It that what you're telling me, dear brother? How long have you been sleeping in my bed?"

Thomas said nothing and he held Abby tighter.

"You son of a bitch!" Jeremiah growled and started towards Thomas. Unfortunately he was so focused on the couple that he didn't see the giant shadow moving towards him. The Swede hit him once, but it was more than enough to knock Jeremiah out.

When he came to, he was laying on the floor inside. He struggled to stand and leaned against the wall to keep his balance. In front of him sat Henry and the smaller well dressed man. Beside them stood the Swede and behind them Abby and Thomas.

"Where's Sarah?" He croaked.

"She's back at my ranch," Henry said calmly. "We didn't think she needed to see this travesty."

"Ashamed of yourself, Henry? You should be."

"I'm sorry, Jeremiah, but that sounds mighty hypocritical coming from a man who impregnated a girl and then shot her father!"

"I didn't do those things."

"They said you did!"

Jeremiah searched the room for anyone who would believe him and found none.

"Regardless of your denials," Henry continued, "there are some things you need to know. The sheriff in Colorado Springs has created a warrant for your arrest. Mr. Horace and I have convinced him not to issue it yet."

"Mr. Horace?"

"Yes, Mr. Horace is my attorney from Denver. I've mentioned him before."

"He's the one I was looking for in Denver! They said you had the documents I was looking for, Henry's land acquisition on old man Wilson's ranch."

"Why were you looking for that?" Henry inquired.

"Because the date you said Wilson's grandson sold it to you doesn't match up with when it was supposedly written. If my calculations were right, those documents were written before old man Wilson died in that fire! That would mean you are lying about what you know about that!"