Chapter 1
Pre - Civil War, Late 1850’s
On a hill above Shawneetown in southern Illinois sat five riders.Little did they know in this small river town what was about to take place. Shawneetown, located on the south eastern side of Illinois was an active center for business along the Ohio River. It was readily used to bring in trade goods from other countries into the interior parts of the U.S.
This was a day no different from any other day as far as the locals were aware of. Traffic on the river was normal as was business on the river front. However sitting in the vault of the local bank, the State Bank of Illinois, was the largest single individual deposit ever made consisting of gold coins and
was valued at $500,000. Having been transferred from the mint in San Francisco, this was intended to make
payment for goods being purchased from Europe for a large company in the central part of the state.
The bank having secured the deposit did not want to bring any attention to the patrons of the bank, or for that matter the rest of the town, that there was anything out of the ordinary going on. Business was as usual as far as they were concerned. You see it was not normal for large transactions such as this to be handled in this manner, however, the seller insisted on payment in U.S. gold coin.
Ozark Van Patton, one of the five men waiting on the hillside knew different. Being the leader of this group he was made aware of this purchase and the details of the transaction by his young friend, Doc, who also was one of the five riders. Ozark met Doc in jail after having been arrested for starting a fight in a local saloon. Doc
was sleeping off his usual nightly drunk. After finding out who his cell companion was Doc struck up a conversation with Ozark letting him in on all the details of the purchase. Not knowing how to complete his desire to get his hands on the gold Doc thought Ozark was the perfect one to help him steal this treasure.
No one knew what Doc’s real name was, wanting to become an animal doctor while growing up, he was given the nickname Doc which stuck with him the rest of his life. Ozark also brought into his gang Jesse and John Harper, two brothers from Missouri, who he had done a couple other jobs with. He liked their company finding John measy to talk to because he was the smart one of the two. Jesse was no dummy either, but Ozark
found him stubborn and sometimes very mean. The fifth man in the group was Cherokee Red, the half breed
son of an English immigrant and a full blooded Cherokee squaw. Red was the key to Ozark’s plan because he grew up in the area and spent most of his childhood roaming those southern hills knowing most of them by heart. He was to become the group’s get-away leader.
The five slowly back tracked around the hill to get back on the road wanting to come into town on the road just like any other normal visitor. Having already located the whereabouts of the bank and the position of all the doors, one front door and two side doors, they were ready to set their plan into motion. They rode up in front of the bank and slid off of their horses casually looking around to see if anyone was watching them.
Satisfied they were not noticed, Ozark, Jesse, John, and Doc went inside while Red waited outside on the steps of the bank to watch for any trouble. As luck would have it the bank was empty except for a couple of the bank employees diligently going about their work. The bank president, the only officer of the bank, was in his office while the clerks were positioned one at each of the bank’s two teller windows. No guards were present, which was the custom of this small town bank having never suffered even one robbery until now.
Ozark walked up to one of the windows and told the clerk, “I would like to speak to your bank president. I have a problem I need him to help me with.”
The clerk replied, “Yes, wait just a moment please and I will get him for you.”
Going in to get Isaac Walton, president of the bank, the clerk explained the situation to him. Mr. Walton returned with the clerk and walked over to the window directly in front of Ozark.
“What may I help you with, sir” he questioned?
Ozark answered back, “It is my understanding that you have $500,000 in gold coin sitting in this bank that we intend to take so raise your hands and take us to it.”
Having pulled his revolver as he made this request the three raised their hands to oblige these men. Jesse, John, and Doc followed Ozark’s example by pulling their guns also. Ozark told the two brothers to tie up the clerks while Mr. Walton led him and Doc to the vault. The vault was a small room with shelves behind a very heavy iron door. Ozark watched very carefully as Walton worked the combination on the big door. Once the door was open, Ozark and Doc both noticed a big metal safe inside and knew the gold coins had to be inside. Even though there was cash on the shelves their focus was completely on the coins in that safe.
Looking at Mr. Walton Ozark barked, “Get it open and be quick about it.”
“Yes sir,” whined Walton, “but you will never get away with it.”
Just as soon as the door was open and Ozark could see the gold he hit Mr. Walton on the back of the head with the butt of his pistol. The blow was hard enough that it ended Walton’s life even though Ozark really didn’t mean to actually kill him; he just wanted to knock him out.
“What did you do that for?” cried Doc, not seeing the reason for ending Mr. Walton’s life.
“He made me mad,” Ozark boldly replied. “No one tells me I will never get away with doing something I’ve put my mind to.”
Doc got hold of Walton and pulled him away from in front of the safe so he and Ozark could get to the bags of gold coins. Reaching into the safe, he got hold of one of the bags, pulled it out and openedit. Looking inside he was overwhelmed at the sight of the gold and turned to smile at Ozark.
“We actually did it, we pulled it off!”
“We aren’t out of here yet.” Van Patton reminded his young friend knowing of his excitement as he eagerly reached into the safe to help with the bags.
Having taken care of the clerks, John and Jesse appeared into the room to help fetch the bags as their two companions pulled them from the safe. The four of them filled their saddlebags with the prize, after which they hoisted them up to their shoulders grunting to the effort.
Emerging from the bank’s front door Van Patton’s eyes locked onto Red’s gleaming face. The two looked at each other with expressions of satisfaction knowing that this was about as smooth as a robbery could go. The five mounted the waiting horse flesh easing into their saddles again not wanting to show any unusual behavior to anyone passing by. As they were making their way down the main street and were at the town’s edge a scream tore into the air.
“He’s dead, Mr. Walton has been killed. Those men just killed Mr.Walton and robbed our bank.”
The five picked up the stride as they listened to the shouts coming from the bank, a patron having emerged from the bank with news of the robbery. It didn’t take long for the small town to get up a posse to follow after the five scoundrels who had just violated them.
Red said “Okay it’s my turn to show you boys what I can do. Stay close and follow me.”
This is alittle over three pages of the first chapter to give you an idea of the story. You can go to FriesenPress.com or Amazon.com and hit the goggle button to read up to the first 20 pages of the
story. That will give you a real good idea where it's going!
Pre - Civil War, Late 1850’s
On a hill above Shawneetown in southern Illinois sat five riders.Little did they know in this small river town what was about to take place. Shawneetown, located on the south eastern side of Illinois was an active center for business along the Ohio River. It was readily used to bring in trade goods from other countries into the interior parts of the U.S.
This was a day no different from any other day as far as the locals were aware of. Traffic on the river was normal as was business on the river front. However sitting in the vault of the local bank, the State Bank of Illinois, was the largest single individual deposit ever made consisting of gold coins and
was valued at $500,000. Having been transferred from the mint in San Francisco, this was intended to make
payment for goods being purchased from Europe for a large company in the central part of the state.
The bank having secured the deposit did not want to bring any attention to the patrons of the bank, or for that matter the rest of the town, that there was anything out of the ordinary going on. Business was as usual as far as they were concerned. You see it was not normal for large transactions such as this to be handled in this manner, however, the seller insisted on payment in U.S. gold coin.
Ozark Van Patton, one of the five men waiting on the hillside knew different. Being the leader of this group he was made aware of this purchase and the details of the transaction by his young friend, Doc, who also was one of the five riders. Ozark met Doc in jail after having been arrested for starting a fight in a local saloon. Doc
was sleeping off his usual nightly drunk. After finding out who his cell companion was Doc struck up a conversation with Ozark letting him in on all the details of the purchase. Not knowing how to complete his desire to get his hands on the gold Doc thought Ozark was the perfect one to help him steal this treasure.
No one knew what Doc’s real name was, wanting to become an animal doctor while growing up, he was given the nickname Doc which stuck with him the rest of his life. Ozark also brought into his gang Jesse and John Harper, two brothers from Missouri, who he had done a couple other jobs with. He liked their company finding John measy to talk to because he was the smart one of the two. Jesse was no dummy either, but Ozark
found him stubborn and sometimes very mean. The fifth man in the group was Cherokee Red, the half breed
son of an English immigrant and a full blooded Cherokee squaw. Red was the key to Ozark’s plan because he grew up in the area and spent most of his childhood roaming those southern hills knowing most of them by heart. He was to become the group’s get-away leader.
The five slowly back tracked around the hill to get back on the road wanting to come into town on the road just like any other normal visitor. Having already located the whereabouts of the bank and the position of all the doors, one front door and two side doors, they were ready to set their plan into motion. They rode up in front of the bank and slid off of their horses casually looking around to see if anyone was watching them.
Satisfied they were not noticed, Ozark, Jesse, John, and Doc went inside while Red waited outside on the steps of the bank to watch for any trouble. As luck would have it the bank was empty except for a couple of the bank employees diligently going about their work. The bank president, the only officer of the bank, was in his office while the clerks were positioned one at each of the bank’s two teller windows. No guards were present, which was the custom of this small town bank having never suffered even one robbery until now.
Ozark walked up to one of the windows and told the clerk, “I would like to speak to your bank president. I have a problem I need him to help me with.”
The clerk replied, “Yes, wait just a moment please and I will get him for you.”
Going in to get Isaac Walton, president of the bank, the clerk explained the situation to him. Mr. Walton returned with the clerk and walked over to the window directly in front of Ozark.
“What may I help you with, sir” he questioned?
Ozark answered back, “It is my understanding that you have $500,000 in gold coin sitting in this bank that we intend to take so raise your hands and take us to it.”
Having pulled his revolver as he made this request the three raised their hands to oblige these men. Jesse, John, and Doc followed Ozark’s example by pulling their guns also. Ozark told the two brothers to tie up the clerks while Mr. Walton led him and Doc to the vault. The vault was a small room with shelves behind a very heavy iron door. Ozark watched very carefully as Walton worked the combination on the big door. Once the door was open, Ozark and Doc both noticed a big metal safe inside and knew the gold coins had to be inside. Even though there was cash on the shelves their focus was completely on the coins in that safe.
Looking at Mr. Walton Ozark barked, “Get it open and be quick about it.”
“Yes sir,” whined Walton, “but you will never get away with it.”
Just as soon as the door was open and Ozark could see the gold he hit Mr. Walton on the back of the head with the butt of his pistol. The blow was hard enough that it ended Walton’s life even though Ozark really didn’t mean to actually kill him; he just wanted to knock him out.
“What did you do that for?” cried Doc, not seeing the reason for ending Mr. Walton’s life.
“He made me mad,” Ozark boldly replied. “No one tells me I will never get away with doing something I’ve put my mind to.”
Doc got hold of Walton and pulled him away from in front of the safe so he and Ozark could get to the bags of gold coins. Reaching into the safe, he got hold of one of the bags, pulled it out and openedit. Looking inside he was overwhelmed at the sight of the gold and turned to smile at Ozark.
“We actually did it, we pulled it off!”
“We aren’t out of here yet.” Van Patton reminded his young friend knowing of his excitement as he eagerly reached into the safe to help with the bags.
Having taken care of the clerks, John and Jesse appeared into the room to help fetch the bags as their two companions pulled them from the safe. The four of them filled their saddlebags with the prize, after which they hoisted them up to their shoulders grunting to the effort.
Emerging from the bank’s front door Van Patton’s eyes locked onto Red’s gleaming face. The two looked at each other with expressions of satisfaction knowing that this was about as smooth as a robbery could go. The five mounted the waiting horse flesh easing into their saddles again not wanting to show any unusual behavior to anyone passing by. As they were making their way down the main street and were at the town’s edge a scream tore into the air.
“He’s dead, Mr. Walton has been killed. Those men just killed Mr.Walton and robbed our bank.”
The five picked up the stride as they listened to the shouts coming from the bank, a patron having emerged from the bank with news of the robbery. It didn’t take long for the small town to get up a posse to follow after the five scoundrels who had just violated them.
Red said “Okay it’s my turn to show you boys what I can do. Stay close and follow me.”
This is alittle over three pages of the first chapter to give you an idea of the story. You can go to FriesenPress.com or Amazon.com and hit the goggle button to read up to the first 20 pages of the
story. That will give you a real good idea where it's going!
