Wanted! Belle Starr! (24 page)

5. “Gone To Texas”; at odds with the law,
generally in the United States of America at the time the saying
came into general usage. Many wanted men and fugitives from justice
entered Texas during the colonization period which had commenced in
the early 1820s, due to the Mexican Government offering land to
“Anglos” so they would act as a ‘buffer state’ against marauding
Comanche Indians and continued until annexation as a State of the
Union on February 16, 1846. Before the latter became a fact, such
miscreants had known there was little danger of being arrested and
extradited by the local authorities. Therefore, like Kenya from the
1920s until the outbreak of World War II, in spite of the great
number of honest, law-abiding and hard working folks who genuinely
wished to make their homes there, Texas during the days before
independence was obtained from Mexican domination gained a
reputation for being a ‘place in the sun for shady people’.

6. “Mason-Dixon” line, also erroneously
called the “Mason-Dixie” line. The boundary between Pennsylvania
and Maryland as surveyed in 1763-67 by the Englishmen, Charles
Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. It became known as the dividing line
separating the Southern “Slave” and Northern “Free” States.

7. “New England”: the North East section of
the United States, including, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine,
Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island, which was first settled
primarily by people from the British Isles.

8. “Light a shuck”; cowhands’ expression for
leaving hurriedly. It derives from the habit in night camps of
trail drives and roundups on the open range of supplying ‘shucks’
dried corn cobs to be lit and used for illumination by anybody who
had to leave the campfire and walk in the darkness. As the ‘shuck’
burned away very quickly, a person had to move fast if wanting to
benefit from its light.

9. In the Old West, the jurisdictional
powers of various types of law enforcement agencies were
established as follows. A town marshal, sometimes called
‘constable’ in smaller places, and his deputies were confined to
the limits of the town or city who appointed them. Sheriff, elected
by and confined to his own county as were his deputies; however,
Texas and Arizona Rangers could go anywhere within their respective
States, but were technically required to await an invitation by the
appropriate local peace officers before participating in an
investigation. During the Prohibition era, as we explain in the
Alvin Dustine “Cap” Fog series, Company “Z” of the Texas Rangers
was allowed to initiate operations without awaiting an invitation.
Although a United States marshal had jurisdiction everywhere in the
country, his main function was the investigation of “Federal”
crimes.

10. The high heels and sharp toes of boots
worn by cowhands were functional rather than merely decorative. The
former enabled afoot to be slipped into or out of a stirrup iron in
an emergency. In addition to help hold into the stirrup iron more
firmly, the latter could be spiked into the ground as an aid to
controlling an animal which was roped when a-foot.

11. “Summer name”: an alias. A person in the
Old West could supply any name he or she which on being introduced.
The only acceptable way in which to express doubt was to ask, “Is
that your summer name?”

12. “Pick up his toes”: to inflict
punishment. The term was derived from the name cowhands gave to a
roping throw intended to trap the forefeet of an animal while it
was in motion. Generally, the method was only employed to punish a
horse which persisted in breaking out of the wrangler’s rope coral
when part of a remuda. While extremely dangerous to carry out, the
throw was used on a basis of ‘kill or cure’. If the offender was
allowed to go unchecked, the other members of the remuda could pick
up the habit. A description of how the throw was made and its
effect is given in: TRAIL BOSS.

13. Other incidents which took place during
the visit of Amelia Penelope Diana “Benkers” Benkinsop to the
United States of America are recorded in: BEGUINAGE IS DEAD! and
Part Five, Belle ‘the Rebel Spy’ Boyd, “The Butcher’s Fiery End”,
J.T.’S LADIES.

13a. According to the researches of Philip
Jose Farmer, q.v., by tradition, regardless of who the father might
be, the eldest daughter always bore the name “Amelia Penelope Diana
Benkinsop”. Information regarding a descendant of “Benkers” can be
found in: BLONDE GENIUS and Part Two, Amanda ‘the School Swot’
Tweedle, “Fifteen The Hard Way’, J.T.’S LADIES.

Raven Head, only daughter of
Chief Long Walker, war leader of the
Pehnane
Wasp, Quick Stinger, or Raider Comanches’
Dog Soldier lodge and his French-Creole pairaivo
^xxix
married an Irish Kentuckian
adventurer, Sam Ysabel, but died giving birth to their first child.
Baptized “Loncey Dalton Ysabel” although we doubt whether any
minister of a church officiated the boy was raised after the
fashion of the Nemenuh.
^xxx
With his father away on the family
business of mustanging catching and breaking wild horses
^xxxi
and smuggling, his education had
largely been left in the hands of his maternal grandfather.
^xxxii
From Chief Long Walker, he had
learned all those things a Comanche warrior must know. How to ride
the wildest freshly caught mustang, or make a trained animal
subservient to his will when raiding, a polite name for the
favorite pastime of the male Nemenuh, stealing horses. To follow
the faintest tracks and just as effectively conceal signs of his
own passing.
^xxxiii
To locate hidden enemies, or
keep out of sight himself when the need arose. To move in silence
through the thickest cover and on the darkest nights. To know the
ways of wild creatures and, in some cases, imitate their calls so
that even others of their kind might be fooled.
^xxxiv

The boy had proved an excellent
pupil in all the subjects. Furthermore, he had inherited his
father’s Kentuckian rifle shooting prowess and, while not real fast
on the draw, taking slightly over a second to bring out and fire
his weapon, whereas a top hand could practically halve that time he
performed passably with his Colt Second Model Dragoon revolver. By
his exceptional skill in wielding one, he had won his Comanche
man-name, Cuchilo, the Spanish word for “Knife”. It was claimed by
those best qualified to know that he could equal the alleged
designer in performing with the massive and special type of blade
which bore Colonel James Bowie’s name.
^xxxv

Joining his father in smuggling
expeditions along the Rio Grande, the boy had become known to the
Mexicans of the border country as “Cabrito”: a name which, although
meaning a young goat, had arisen out of hearing white men refer to
him as the Ysabel Kid and was spoken very respectfully in that
context. Smuggling did not tend to attract those of a mild mannered
and pacific nature, but even the roughest and toughest of the
bloody border’s brood had soon come to acknowledge it did not pay
to rile up Sam Ysabel’s son. Little in the Kid’s education and
upbringing had been calculated to develop any over inflated sense
of the sanctity of human life. When crossed, he dealt with the
situation in the manner of a
Pehnane
Dog Soldier to which war lodge of most savage and
efficient warriors he had earned initiation swiftly and in an
effectively deadly fashion.

During the War Between the
States, the Kid and his father had commenced by riding as scouts
for Colonel John Singleton ‘the Gray Ghost’ Mosby. Later, their
specialized knowledge and talents had been converted to having them
collect and deliver to the Confederate States’ authorities in Texas
supplies which were run through the blockade imposed by the United
States’ Navy into Matamoros, or which were purchased in other parts
of Mexico. It had proved hard and dangerous work, but never more so
than when they had become involved in the affairs of Belle ‘the
Rebel Spy’ Boyd.
^xxxvi

Soon after the end of the War,
Sam Ysabel was murdered. While hunting for the killers, the Kid had
met Captain Dustine Edward Marsden “Dusty” Fog and Mark
Counter.
^xxxvii
When the assignment upon which
they were engaged was brought to its successful conclusion,
^xxxviii
learning that the Kid no longer
wished to continue the family business either as a mustanger or a
smuggler, Dusty had offered him employment at the OD Connected
ranch. It had been in the capacity of scout rather than cowhand
that he had entered the service of the owner, General Jackson
Baines “Ole Devil” Hardin, C.S.A.,
^xxxix
and his talents were frequently
of the greatest use as a member of the floating outfit.
^xl

The Kid’s acceptance had been
of the greatest benefit all round. The ranch obtained the services
of an extremely loyal, capable and efficient fighting man. Dusty
acquired another trustworthy friend ready to stick by him through
any mind of danger. For his part, the Kid was turned from a life of
petty crime with the ever present possibility of his activities
developing to serious law breaking and became a most useful member
of society. Peace officers and honest citizens might have found
cause to feel grateful when he became law-abiding. His
Nemenuh
education would
have made him a terrible and dangerous outlaw had he been driven to
adopt a life of crime.

Obtaining his first repeating
rifle a Winchester Model of 1866, nicknamed the “Old Yellowboy”
because of its brass frame, although it was first marketed as the
“New, Improved Henry” while in Mexico with Dusty and Mark, the Kid
had soon became a master in its use. At the first Cochise County
Fair in Arizona, despite having been compelled to use one of the
newer model after his own was damaged in a fight, he had won first
prize in the rifle shooting competition against very stiff
opposition. This was one of the legendary Winchester Model of 1873s
which had qualified to be given the title, “One Of A
Thousand”.
^xli

It was, in part, through the
efforts of the Kid that the majority of the Comanche bands had
agreed to go on to the reservation following the circumvented
attempts to ruin the treaty signing ceremony at Fort Sorrel.
^xlii
Nor could Dusty have cleaned out the
outlaw town called Hell without his assistance.
^xliii
Although his attempt to acquire
the legendary weapon of Colonel Bowie had failed,
^xliv
he had received a pocket-knife made
from the same superlative steel.
^xlv
A chance meeting with Martha
“Calamity Jane” Canary had resulted in his accompanying her when
she went to claim a ranch she had inherited.
^xlvi

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